Michael Majalahti (born April 24, 1973) is a Canadian-Finnish professional wrestler, singer and artist, better known by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

"The Canadian Rebel" StarBuck. His active bands include Stoner Kings, Angel of Sodom and Crossfyre. Majalahti also worked for six years between 2009 – 2015 as a play-by-play commentator for the Finnish broadcasts of

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

programming on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. Majalahti headed up Fight Club Finland (FCF) up until 2017, and parted ways with the company in 2018. In the summer of 2018, Majalahti started his own SLAM! Wrestling Finland company. Majalahti has trained talent all across the Nordic countries and has won several championships across Europe. In 2010, Majalahti became a main eventer in Japanese promotion Smash, leading FCF's invasion of the promotion and feuding with the promotion's public face, Tajiri, for the Finnish Heavyweight Championship. He also defeated Tajiri in the finals of a tournament to become the first ever Smash Champion. Afterwards, StarBuck continued working in Tajiri's new

Wrestling New Classic was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling promotion, founded in April 2012 by Yoshihiro Tajiri. WNC was the follow-up promotion to Smash, which folded in March 2012. History On April 5, 2012, Tajiri held a press conference to ann ...

(WNC) promotion, winning the promotion's top title, the

WNC Championship The WNC Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. The title was a spiritual successor to the Smash Championship, the top title of WNC's predecessor, Smash. The championship was fi ...

, in February 2014. He has been called a "pioneer of the new generation of European wrestling" and " the most acclaimed professional wrestler arguably in history out of Northern Europe".

Early life

Majalahti was born to Finnish parents in

Timmins, Ontario Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population o ...

, Canada on April 24, 1973. Growing up as a fan of professional wrestling, Majalahti moved to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

in 1992 to pursue art college, before he started working for local wrestling promotion Rocky Mountain Pro Wrestling as a ring announcer and play-by-play commentator. Majalahti became friends with future

wrestlers

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

and

Lance Storm Lance Timothy Evers (; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadians, Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he works as a producer. He is best known ...

. Storm, after seeing the potential in him, agreed to become his trainer.

Professional wrestling career

Europe

Majalahti, adopting the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

StarBuck, made his professional wrestling debut on January 7, 1994, facing his trainer Lance Storm. In 1996, Majalahti moved to Finland due to Canada's economic recession and quickly made himself a name on the Nordic professional wrestling scene, working and training talent for the first Finnish professional wrestling promotion,

Valhalla Pro Wrestling In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvangr ...

, which went bankrupt in 2004. VPW was followed by Pro Wrestling Finlandia, which was in 2006 replaced by FCF Wrestling (FCF). Throughout his years in the business, Majalahti has wrestled in several countries around the world and won various championships. In July 2018, Majalahti started up his own wrestling company called SLAM! Wrestling Finland.

Smash (2010–2012)

After Tajiri worked for Fight Club Finland, he asked StarBuck to be part of his new Smash promotion. On May 29, 2010, at ''Smash.3'', he appeared in a video to start an invasion storyline involving wrestlers from FCF. The storyline led to StarBuck becoming an instant main-eventer in Smash. After several more videos and a match, where FCF wrestler Valentine lost the Finnish Heavyweight Championship to Tajiri, StarBuck announced that he was going come to Japan in person to reclaim his promotion's title. StarBuck made his Smash wrestling debut on July 24 at ''Smash.5'', squashing

Hajime Ohara is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the ''lucha libre'' style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style ...

, winning the match by pinning him with one finger after a

spike piledriver A piledriver is a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat. The technique is said to have b ...

. Later that same day on ''Smash.6'', StarBuck defeated Tajiri in the main event to regain the Finnish Heavyweight Championship, his fourth time winning the title. After the match, Hajime Ohara turned on Tajiri and joined StarBuck's group of FCF wrestlers. After successfully defending the title against Akira on September 24 at ''Smash.8'', StarBuck lost the Finnish Heavyweight Championship back to Tajiri on November 22 at ''Smash.10'', after which he was attacked by the debuting Austrian wrestler Michael Kovac, who announced his intention of taking over Smash. On January 29, 2011, at ''Smash.12'', Kovac defeated StarBuck in a grudge match and used the momentum to capture the Finnish Heavyweight Championship from Tajiri later that same day on ''Smash.13''. Meanwhile, StarBuck went on a win streak, scoring pinfall victories over

Super Crazy Francisco Islas Rueda (born December 3, 1973), better known by his ring name Super Crazy, is a Mexican '' luchador'' (or professional wrestler). In Mexico, Islas has worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and made appearances ...

, Tajiri on two more occasions,

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler, working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Championship ( ...

, Yoshiaki Yago, Leatherface and Shinya Ishikawa. After Tajiri agreed to let an FCF representative participate in the tournament to determine the first ever Smash Champion, StarBuck won an eight-man tournament in FCF in July to the second round of the Smash Championship tournament. StarBuck would win the tournament defeating Tajiri in the final to become the first ever Smash Champion. After the match, both competitors were attacked by the returning Michael Kovac, who had previously in the event revealed former WWE wrestler

Dave Finlay David John Finlay (, born 31 January 1958) is a Northern Irish former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a trainer and assistant coach at the Performance Center, as well as a producer. He is best known for his tenures with World Cha ...

as his new associate and now revealed that he was coming to Smash for the Smash Championship, before he was chased out of the ring by Hajime Ohara and Akira. On November 23, StarBuck represented Smash in

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

(AJPW), when he teamed with Tajiri and Akira to defeat BUSHI,

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and duri ...

and

Shuji Kondo is a Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler. Prior to becoming a pro wrestler, he played Rugby union, rugby. After starting his career in Dragon Gate (wrestling), Toryumon, Kondo eventually joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where h ...

in a six-man tag team match, pinning BUSHI for the win. The following day at ''Smash.23'', StarBuck lost the Smash Championship to Finlay in his third defense (the first two having taken place in Finland and Norway). On March 14 at ''Smash.Final'', StarBuck competed in Smash's final match, before the promotion closed its doors, where he and Ohara were defeated by Akira and Tajiri.

Wrestling New Classic

After Smash closed, in 2012 StarBuck became part of the Smash's follow-up promotion

(WNC). He joined with Akira and

Syuri , better known simply as , is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of God's Eye as well as the current IWGP Women's Champion in ...

under the name of "Synapse", feuding with Hajime Ohara. On July 16, StarBuck main evented his first WNC event, defeating Ohara. After several trios victories, StarBuck returned to singles action on August 6, losing to Tajiri in the main event. StarBuck also participated in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, but was defeated in his first round match by Hajime Ohara, following interference from his Kabushiki gaisha DQN stablemates

Jiro Kuroshio , best known as and known as , is a Japanese professional wrestler and internet personality. Kuroshio is known for his work in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was a former Wrestle-1 Result Champion and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion before l ...

and

Nagisa Nozaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. She started her career in the NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling promotion in November 2006. After the promotion folded in December 2010, she worked for independent promotions such as Pro Wrestling Wave and Worl ...

. StarBuck returned to WNC on March 31, 2013, when he teamed with Akira and Syuri in a six-person tag team main event during an afternoon show, where they were defeated by Ekaterina Bonnie, Emil Sitoci and Ivan Markov. Later that same day, during an evening show, StarBuck defeated Koji Doi in a singles match. After two months away from Japan, StarBuck returned to WNC on May 24 in a six-person tag team main event, where he, Akira and Syuri defeated WNC Champion

Osamu Nishimura was a Japanese professional wrestler. Nishimura was best known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and MUGA World Pro Wrestling (MUGA). Outside of pro wrestling, he was also a politician, having served as a member of the Tokyo Bunk ...

, WNC Women's Champion

Lin Byron Ray (February 14, 1982 – August 30, 2018) was a Hong Kong professional wrestler. After being trained by Emi Sakura, Ray made her professional wrestling debut in September 2003 and would for the next several years wrestle under different masks, ...

and Tajiri. StarBuck then went inactive from in-ring action to rehabilitate two herniated discs in his neck. StarBuck made his next return to WNC on February 27, 2014, when he defeated Tajiri to become the fourth WNC Champion. Post-match, Akira announced that the Synapse stable had decided to disband. StarBuck lost the WNC Championship to Belgian wrestler Bernard VanDamme at Fight Club Finland's ''Talvisota VIII'' on March 8.

Wrestle-1

After WNC went out of business and its male wrestlers moved over to the

Wrestle-1 was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed b ...

promotion, StarBuck made his return to Japan on October 10, 2014, working at an Akira produced Wrestle-1 event. In the main event of the show, StarBuck defeated Akira and

Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF) ...

in a three-way match.

Asuka Project and Tokyo Championship Wrestling

After a four-year hiatus, StarBuck returned to ring action in Japan on September 24, 2018, for Asuka Project, a small promotion in Tokyo featuring former WNC wrestlers trained by Tajiri. It was there that StarBuck tagged up with Utamaro against Shinose Mitoshichi and Shota Nakagawa, proving victorious as StarBuck pinned Shinose after his famed jumping spike piledriver. On September 27 at Shinjuku Face Arena in Tokyo, StarBuck and Utamaro lost a tag team match against Yoshihiro Tajiri and

Yusuke Kodama is a Japanese professional wrestler and currently wrestlers for All Japan Pro Wrestling as a freelancer. Kodama is best known for his time with Wrestle-1 (W-1), where he is a former two time UWA World Trios Champion, two time Wrestle-1 Cruiser ...

when Tajiri pinned Utamaro in the main event of the show for Tokyo Championship Wrestling.

SLAM! Wrestling Finland

In the summer of 2018, Majalahti started up SLAM! Wrestling Finland, which became a limited company at the end of 2019, operating and running, as well as selling, events in Finland and Estonia.

Other endeavors

Majalahti has coached several Finnish rock and metal vocalists and bands in better English, both in regards to lyrics and pronunciation/enunciation. Known acts that Majalahti has worked with in some capacity are

Sonata Arctica Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current lineup c ...

(Unia album),

Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band. Formed in 1984, they have released sixteen studio albums, six DVDs and six live albums. The band's line-up has changed many times, with no founding member left since the departure of drummer Tuomo ...

(Stratovarius album),

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...

(The Arockalypse and The Monsterican Dream albums), Celesty (Vendetta album), The Souls (The Grand Confusion), Widescreen Mode (The Hanging Man album), Godsplague (Evilution and Triumph albums), Thunderstone (Tools of Destruction album),

Timo Kotipelto Timo Antero Kotipelto (born 15 March 1969) is a Finnish musician best known as the lead singer of the power metal band Stratovarius, whom he joined in 1994, as well as fronting his own band Kotipelto. Biography He studied vocals at the pop/ja ...

(Coldness and Serenity albums), in addition to others. Majalahti has also created the characters of children's heavy metal band

Hevisaurus Hevisaurus are a Finnish heavy metal band that was formed in 2009 with music aimed at children. The band members are known for performing in dinosaur costumes. Hevisaurus's debut concert was at the Elämä Lapselle charity concert on 9 September ...

, and has illustrated the band's album covers. Majalahti is a licensed FAF gym instructor, serving as a freelance personal trainer and coach in Finland. He also works as a freelance graphic artist and illustrator and has been known to do perform translation work from Finnish to English for several companies, in addition to being one of the most utilized voice-over speakers in Finland in the corporate, B2B and export sector. In 2014, it was reported that

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

and the

Finnish Film Foundation The Finnish Film Foundation (, ) is an independent Foundation (charity), foundation with the task of supporting and developing Finland, Finnish film production, distribution and exhibition. It is supervised by the Department for Cultural Policy i ...

were working on a feature film on Majalahti called Spandex Sapiens, filmed over the past five years. The full-length documentary Spandex Sapiens movie was released throughout Finnish movie theaters on June 17, 2016 and in September of the same year it was featured prominently on YLE television in Finland. The movie won the Audience Favorite Award at the Night Visions Festival in Helsinki as well as the Critic's Choice award at the Helsinki International Documentary Film Festival. In 2016, news was released that Majalahti was signed to and would be playing a key acting role in Finland's first-ever superhero action movie, Rendel, slated for a September 22, 2017 theater release. Majalahti's autobiography about his life in professional wrestling was released through Crowbar Press on May 22, 2017, entitled Battleground Valhalla. In 2017, a movie version of 1980s hit video game It Came From The Desert was released and licensed throughout the world. In the movie, Michael plays the role of The Eradicator, the big idol the main characters in the film. In 2019, Majalahti and his southern rock band, Crossfyre, released a notable remake cover song and video of professional wrestler "Freebird" Michael Hayes' 1983 song, Badstreet USA. This noted the first time in history that a rock musician/pro wrestler tributed and covered this classic song, which was the first original theme music ever written in the annals of professional wrestling.

Discography

with Hallowed *2000: ''End of the Age'' (EP) *2002: ''Fear and Pain'' (EP) with Stoner Kings *2002: ''Brimstone Blues'' *2006: ''Fuck the World'' *2019: ''Alpha Male'' with Klaatuu *2008: ''Altars of Doom'' (EP) with Angel of Sodom *2015: ''Divine Retribution'' with Crossfyre *2010: ''Southbound'' *2014: ''Iron Horse'' *2016: ''No Limits'' with Overnight Sensation *2013: ''Life's a Bitch''

Personal life

Michael Majalahti was married to a Romanian girl, Diana (born April 27, 1987). She has worked for FCF as his valet, under the name of Miss D, between February 2013 and February 2014. Majalahti proposed to Diana in the wrestling ring in Lohja, Finland on January 4, 2013. Their engagement made headlines in the Romanian media. The couple divorced in May 2020 and do not have any children together. At the moment Michael Majalahti is engaged to Susanna Sihlman and the couple will have their big wedding on the 9th of September 2023, in Finland.

Championships and accomplishments

*British Wrestling Alliance **BWA World Catchweight Championship (1 time) *Deutsch Wrestling Allianz **DWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) *EuroStars **EuroStars European Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **FCF Finnish Heavyweight Championship (5 times) *I Mitti Del Wrestling **I Mitti Del Wrestling UE Championship (1 time, current) *Italian Wrestling Superstars **Italian Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **Italian Intercontinental Championship (1 time) *Pro Wrestling Finlandia **Finnish Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Smash **

Smash Championship The Smash Championship was a professional wrestling championship, owned and promoted by the Japanese Smash promotion. Championship reigns were determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors were involved in scripted rivalri ...

( 1 time) ** Smash Championship Tournament (2011) *STHLM Wrestling **Valhalla Nordic Wrestling Championship (1 time) *TopCatch **TopCatch Europameisterschaft Championship (1 time) *

(

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

)

References

External links

*
Majalahti
at Majalahti.com
Feature article
at Canoe.ca
Body Mike
at Bodymike.fi * {{DEFAULTSORT:StarBuck 1973 births Finnish male professional wrestlers Canadian male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestling announcers Professional wrestling trainers Professional wrestlers from Ontario People from Timmins Canadian expatriates in Japan Canadian people of Finnish descent