Professional wrestler with strong Clare links brings a ringside revolution to the Mid-West

AT JUST fifteen, Steve Savage could never have imagined that he could turn his biggest hobby into a career but that's exactly what he has done.

Originally from the Old Cork Road in Limerick, but having grown up in Parteen, County Clare hurling and football were the most popular and conventional sports in the community. However, that wasn't exactly Steve’s style.

“I first started training to wrestle when I was about 15,” he starts.

“The only school in Ireland was in Bray, County Wicklow. Travelling to Bray at 15 years of age from Limerick was a whole rigmarole.”

While the barriers were geographical and logistical, the fire within the young wrestler never diminished.

Life's currents carried Steve towards another form of artistic expression – tattooing.

“I swerved and became a tattoo artist, a line of work which I still do,” he shares.

Yet, his passion for wrestling remained a steadfast flame flickering in the background.

With each twist and turn, Savage's journey led him back to the wrestling ring.

“I started re-training as a wrestler in my mid-20s,” he reveals.

The allure of the squared circle never relinquished its grip on his heart, and an idea took root – a wrestling school back where it all began.

Having found an old unit in the city, a blank canvas awaiting transformation. The determination to create something meaningful spurred him into action.

“I'm going to start renting this unit,” he resolved.

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This decision gave birth to Hard Knox Pro Wrestling, a training ground where aspiring wrestlers could mould their dreams into reality - and not travel to Bray for the privilege.

“I would like to make memories for people from Limerick (and Clare) who might not be from the best area but still have a passion for pro wrestling like when I was a kid,” the wrestler says.

For Steve, he feels his journey has come full circle, from an eager teenager to a torchbearer in Limerick.

“It has come from a really small, little dingy gym ... now we're actually selling out venues,” he beams.

When it comes to training, Steve's objective is simple – “to keep each other safe.”

As a sport that thrives on spectacle, each move and manoeuvre is still a calculated risk.

Savage paints a vivid picture: “I can't lift a six-foot man above my head on an everyday basis, but I will in a wrestling ring.”

Amidst the piledrivers and suplexes - moves widely known in professional wrestling - there lies a commitment to safeguarding one another through every twist, flip, and slam.

For an onlooker, Steve agrees that audiences often question the show's theatrics.

Distinguishing between wrestling and professional wrestling, he stated: “It's different... this is more the art of wrestling.”

Be that as it may, one thing is sure, the performance can meander from laughable entertainment to shocking realism very quickly.

“The hits are real,” he states.

Having competed in Dolan's Warehouse in Limerick just days prior to this interview, Steve has the scars to prove it.

Rising his shirt up over his back, he shows tens of stitches dotted across his shoulder blades.

Unlike many sports there is no “off-season” in professional wrestling, but with a loving partner and family, along with a mother, who has supported him since his teen years, Steve has nurtured his hobby into something much bigger.

Now, not only a professional wrestler, but a torchbearer in many respects, he looks to the future.

Each scar, triumph, and struggle has become a chapter in the grand story of a life well-lived, and the showman wants to have no regrets in his later years.

“If you've no stories by the time you sit on that small porch when you're 70 years-of -age, what's the point?” he smiles.