Kennebec Journal columnist Dave Dyer, right, recently hit his fifth anniversary as a professional wrestler. Contributed photo from WillowPix.net

Five years ago, in the middle of the race track at Speedway 95 in Hermon, I made my professional wrestling debut.

The goal back then was simple. I entered the Limitless Dojo in Brewer in December 2018. At the age of 33, I was going to train just long enough to have one wrestling match, document it in a column and call it a career. A lifelong fan, I was perfectly at peace with my one-and-done performance.

And then the bug bit me.

The “wrestling bug” is an unofficial term within the business, meaning you have become addicted. My one match — then a battle royal for the North Atlantic Wrestling Association — simply wasn’t enough. I needed to be in a tag-team match. I needed to have a one-on-one match. Before long, I was making up dream matches in my head of who I’d like to work with in the ring.

I kept training. I kept working. Through bumps, bruises and sore muscles, I couldn’t let it go. And, in what seems a flash, five years has come and gone.

Professional wrestling has given me much over the past half decade, and I could share so much about my experiences here, but that would take days. Instead, I will give you three important takeaways from my time in the ring.

THERE’S NOTHING FAKE ABOUT IT

Feel free to read that again. Yes, professional wrestling is predetermined, and we as wrestlers are responsible for coming up with a match, together, that gets us to that predetermined ending. That’s where it ends.

I’ve said this before, but the bumps in a wrestling ring, or outside of it, are very real. The floor of a wrestling ring is wood, covered with a thin mat, which is then covered in canvas. I’ve taken hundreds of bumps. It hurts and your body never completely gets used to it. I’ve also been hit in the back with a steel chair, in the head with a broken piece of a wooden table and I’ve been slammed into an aluminum trash can. Those hurt as well.

The “F” word still gets thrown around by people who don’t understand it, or don’t want to. Professional wrestling is the ultimate form of physical theater, for your entertainment. People really do take a physical pounding to provide that entertainment.

THE STORIES OUTSIDE OF THE RING ARE AS ENTERTAINING AS THE STORIES IN IT

Thanks to wrestling, I’ve been booked all over Maine, and a couple of times, outside of it. I’ve wrestled in a park in my Waterboro hometown. I’ve performed in a high school gym in Calais, as well as a community center in Machias.

It’s commonplace to share rides up and down these long roads with fellow wrestlers, with hours to kill in the car. You make friends quickly, connecting on a variety of topics. The conversation almost always include favorite matches, favorite wrestlers or favorite venues to perform in.

It’s almost like being part of a college fraternity. Many friendships are made over the years at shows simply connecting over the same thing: Love for professional wrestling.

THE FUN KEEPS YOU GOING

Pro wrestling is just plain fun. I’m a heel, or a bad guy, in wrestling. I get to make fun of children and the elderly — acts that normally get you in trouble with the law — just on my walk to the ring. Making people angry at me is my job. And I absolutely love it. Those same kids that I make fun of at a show will come up to me and ask for an autograph after it. Name another gig where that happens.

“The Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer, right, had his first match in June 2019 at Speedway 95 in Hermon. Morning Sentinel file photo by Michael G. Seamans

I turn 39 in September. Age is not my friend. I don’t know how many years of in-ring competition I have left. I still have plenty of goals in my head that I would like to hit before I’m done. There’s still a ton of wrestlers to compete with, towns to perform in, organizations to wrestle for. I’ve yet to win a championship belt in pro wrestling; I certainly would like to achieve that before I’m through.

Wrestling in Maine is too good to leave right now, too. It’s a boom period in the state, with Limitless Wrestling and sibling organization, Let’s Wrestle, leading the way. Limitless, led by promotor Randy Carver, is putting together one of its biggest shows since its creation in 2016, on Saturday at The Colisée in Lewiston. The “Vacationland Cup” is the organization’s biggest show of the year, and will be headlined with a one-on-one match between former World Wrestling Entertainment stars Dirty Dango and Scotty 2 Hotty, both Maine natives. The card will also include WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas, who I had the pleasure of wrestling on an NAWA show in Massachusetts in 2022.

I’ll never leave wrestling. Whether it’s mentoring younger wrestlers or just helping out, I’ll always be around it. It’s too much a part of me now.

The bug bit. And I’m glad it did.