Overcoming Hurdles and Defying the Critics Breaking into the business and achieving your dream of becoming a professional wrestler isn’t the easiest thing to do . However, if you’re profoundly deaf or have cerebral palsy then it becomes that little bit harder. The doubters are out in force and you have to work even harder to dismiss your critics and make it in the business. Over the next few pages we interview Sean Midnight and Dan Edge, both whose stories are highly inspirational . We start with Sean who’s profoundly deaf but just recently won the PTW British Heavyweight title. We begin the interview by finding out the story behind that triumphant day and then look back at his career to date.

Before the match, I did feel nervous because I was having a title match, especially as it was the debut of the British Championship at the PTW show in Isle of Sheppey. Just before I made my entrance, I felt like "This is time for me to kick Marcus' ass!". The crowd was quite nice. especially some of the fans who cheered throughout the match. I won via my finisher, sitdown powerbomb. Soon after the referee counted the pinfall. I couldn't believe that I’d actually become PTW British Champion. I have been professional and never won any big thing, such as title. Now I've won the PTW British Championship. I felt great and over the moon. When we travelled back to my hometown, Birmingham. I had the PTW British Championship belt on the car seat, and I looked at the belt and felt 100% proud of myself and what I’d achieved. I do hope I will have a long reign with this belt. From now until then, I hope I’ll be able to win more championships. So now I can represent the Deaf community!

What first got you interested in pro wrestling and who were the wrestlers that inspired you to actually become a pro wrestler?
I do remember I was watching WWF (WWE) with my brother when we were young, I told my brother that I wanted to become a professional wrestler when I older. So we kept watching WWF, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was my favourite. He made me laugh, I loved him! Then in 1998, Kane made his debut to tombstone pile drive The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match against Shawn Michaels. I was very into that, I loved Kane. When I was 15 years old, I decided to attend K-Star Wrestling (KSW) to train to become professional wrestle. Soon after that I quit K StarWrestling, to go to Ultimate Championship Wrestling (UCW). Now, I am a professional wrestler, so I would say “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Kane actually inspired me to become pro-wrestler.

How did people react when you said that you were going to become a professional wrestler?
It all depends on the person. My mom was worried and she didn’t want me to be a pro wrestler as she worried that I may get seriously injured. But now she’s accepted it and she’s very supportive me, so is my dad. Some people say that because I’m deaf there’s no chance for me to turn pro wrestler. As I said it depends on the person.. Most people said ‘go for it’ and they’re proud to see the deaf guy step in the ring. Now there is one promotion interested in booking me to appear on their show in America! The promoter watched some of my matches on YouTube, visited my website, and contacted me for some match videos, and now he says he’s satisfied enough to book me. That;’s a big step for me. We still work on it. Finger crossed!

Who trained you and how more difficult did your deafness make that training?
I used be trained by Mad Dog Maxx at KSW, then Davey Jones at UCW. Davey Jones as a trainer was wonderful! That was much easier for me because he’s deaf as well. The communication was smooth. We used be trained together with another deaf pro wrestler, Lightning Lewis. Now we trained to new wrestler-to-be.

What are your memories of your pro debut?
I do remember my pre-debut match. I was travelling down to Trowbridge by train from Birmingham with my friends. I was worried and felt like going to be sick. My friends seem worried about me. When we arrived at the venue, the ring was in the middle of the l room with empty chairs around the ring. I sat down in a chair and I kept telling myself that I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to become a pro wrestler. My debut was against Lightning Lewis. The match was amazing. Especially as I turned heel to join Forecast Express. Lots of people seemed to enjoy our match, I did enjoy my debut match and I loved it.

Why did you choose the name 'Sean Midnight' and why are you always holding that clock?
Ha! Well, there was three reasons I chose Sean Midnight as my ring name. 1) My surname is Noone, Noone sound like as “noon” which mean afternoon. Opposite 12:00 afternoon is Midnight. So I use Midnight. 2) I normally stay up after 12:00am. 3) That sounded an awesome ring name and I liked that. So there’s the three reasons I chose ‘Sean Midnight’ as my ring name. Clock... Some of the wrestlers did ask me why I made my entrance with the clock.
Some of them think that I ripped it off from Boogeyman, But I didn’t.. The reason I carry a clock is because of “Midnight” which links with the time (12:00am). I also like to make an entrance with something else, otherwise I would look boring. Lots of children love my clock, so do people, some of the wrestlers as well. Peter Staniforth is just jealous! Ha!

How does the fact you're profoundly deaf affect your career and how do you overcome those problems?
I would say ‘Communication Breakdown’ to be honest. I found it was extremely difficult to communicate with wrestlers but we use paper/pen to solve the problem. To work with the crowd was difficult, I believe some of them seem scared to meet me and talk to me after the show, I think all because they didn’t know how to talk to me. I would like to talk to the fans after the show. It would be nice to talk to see if they did enjoy the show, etc. Some of the fans on my Facebook, I occasionally talk to them on there like Nisa who is one of the big fans of Power Trip Wrestling (PTW).

How does the fact you can't hear the fans cheering you affect you in the ring?
I normally work with crowd a little bit, as my wrestle style is as a grappler. That means I’ll be too busy to look to the crowd and wait for them to cheer. But I can make them cheer at my entrance and after the match. Some times, I make them cheer in the middle of the match and I can see them cheer. That wasn’t a big problem, really. But it would be nice if the fans stand up and cheer so I can know when they’re cheering or not..

You've had a few matches with Lightning Lewis, who's also deaf. What are your memories of those matches and what's he like as an opponent?
Actually I’ve only faced him three times so far and the matches were really tough Lots of people say we remind them a lot of Batista Vs Randy Orton, and most of them says the match made them feel it had a main event feeling which was great. I believe we always put lots of effort into the matches with big moves, lots of bumps, etc. My debut match was the most memorable, especially as I gave Lightning Lewis a handshaking to turn myself heel.

What reaction have you had to your appearance on the Community Channel in April?
I appeared on ‘WICKED’ on 20 April and I had a match for PTW on the 24th. Some of the wrestlers said they’d seen me on television, unfortunately, the ring announcer forgot to mention that I was seen on SKY Digital. That upset me for big time. But I asked Peter Staniforth to make sure that the ring announcer announces that at the next PTW show. That should be interesting to see what the crowds reaction is going to be like. There was lots of reaction from the Deaf community. I went to a rally in Tamworth on the 25th, lots of deaf people talked to me about wrestling, and they said they saw me on television. That was awesome. I just feel like as “At last! They all now know there is a Deaf Professional Wrestler!”. The programme can found here: http://www.bslbt.co.uk/wicked/programmes/episode_four/episode_four/

You're a regular in PTW, just what is Petey Staniforth like to work for and do you need to check the latest Luton Town result before chatting to him to gauge what mood he'll be in?
To be working with Petey Staniforth is awesome. He’s like my family, I just love to wind him up. But he can be nasty when he appears on the show, but I am looking forward to see us both in the ring at the same time so I can tell him to save his breath, because he can give you a mouthful but problem is I can’t hear it! Do I check the Luton Town FC result? Not really, no. I know if Luton Town FC lose, that won’t affect us. The interesting fact is that Luton Town FC chairman, Nick Owen lives up the road from me. I asked him for an autograph to give to Petey Staniforth. He loved that. He couldn’t believe that. His face was priceless.

What have been the highlights of your time so far in PTW?
Um.... I would say the Isle of Sheppey show, as lots of people kept
coming to the PTW stall to buy a promo picture of me, and asking me to sign it, take picture with kids, etc when I didn’t have any chance to go get changed to normal clothes from wrestling attire. That was my highlight at PTW. WICKED came over to film the match, as well where I was captain for team PTW against team LPW in a battle royal. Being captain for PTW meant lots to me.

What are your ambitions in pro wrestling?
There are two things that I aim for being a pro wrestler. First, I would like to become heavyweight champion where I can represent the Deaf and it would be good for the Deaf community, and also the disabled community. Second, I would like to get more bookings I always love to wrestle for other promotions including big promotions, again which would be good for me to represent the Deaf, but also the disabled community, as well. I would loved to wrestle overseas such as America.

How important do you feel it is that other people who suffer from deafness have role models like yourself so they can also forge successful careers?
I do feel that is very important. So Deaf people can achieve what they always want to as I have. I watched WWF and always wanted to become pro wrestler. Look at me now. I am a pro wrestler and there are ONLY three deaf prowrestlers in UK as far I know. The other role model in PTW is Dan Edge. He is disabled and he’s a wrestler as well. Even though he has limited ability he shows that his disability hasn’t stopped him becoming a pro-wrestler. I always believe that everyone can achieve as much as anyone else, no matter what they are, deaf, disabled, gender, age, and many more, it hasn’t stopped them achieve something that they always want to.

How can my readers find out more about you and your career?
I would say just visit the official website of Sean Midnight, which can be found https://sean-midnight.tripod.com/ or my FaceBook. Also visit Power Trip Wrestling website, www.powertripwrestling.co.uk