In June 2020, the Rasslin Merch Machine debuted his Behind the Gimmick Table column for Slam! Wrestling, which ran until January 2022. Spurred on by the COVID-19 shutdowns of spring 2020, Behind the Gimmick Table took a look at “how pro wrestling merchandise and collectibles have played a part in the lives of those involved in the industry as wrestlers, historians, managers, etc. from childhood to their careers in the ring and beyond.” But readers may not have known that the Merch Machine himself was a professional wrestler whose livelihood was directly impacted by the shutdowns.
The Rasslin Merch Machine is Toronto, Canada’s own Ross Aitken, who’s wrestled under a variety of names, but is possibly best known as “The Entertainer” Buck Gunderson, and most recently “The One Star” Cayden Felix.
Aitken has been wrestling for over 15 years, breaking in at Santino Marella’s Battle Arts Academy, where he was a presence from the very start, initially as a referee, through his first professional match against Tyson Dux, until he eventually began to coach there. He was even their first Light Heavyweight Champion. And then the shutdowns happened.
During the pandemic, there wasn’t much for professional wrestlers to do to make a living, so he focused on selling wrestling collectibles amidst a booming collectibles market, and he began to write his column. Aitken said the column helped him sell merch, and selling merch helped the column, but it wasn’t just Aitken’s wrestling career that was impacted by the shutdowns. At the time, Aitken was also a certified school teacher, and it was through teaching that he met a future business partner.
Aitken was teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to students from China at a private school in Toronto, when the principal approached him about a student they felt had a lot of potential to do better than he was doing.
Aitken said, “I used my interest in pro wrestling as an example for students that they could use their own interests as topics in class and I would help them to do so.”
Well, not only did this student create a stronger connection to his coursework, thanks to Aitken’s use of pro wrestling in the classroom, this student eventually began to train at Battle Arts Academy, which lead to Aitken and this student debuting as a tag team in China for MKW (Middle Kingdom Wrestling), where Aitken claims to be the first ever Canadian pro wrestler to wrestle in (mainland) China.
This is when MKW promoter Adrian Gomez introduced Aitken to a high-end wrestling collector, and eventual creator of KWK Kayfabe Heroes wrestling figures, Shawn Ng.
Like his meeting with Ng, Aitken said that many of his business opportunities “have come from happenstance and coincidence.”
After meeting Ng in China, Aitken interviewed him in April 2021 for his Behind the Gimmick Table column, and thanks to that relationship, Aitken is now the Canadian distributor for KWK Kayfabe Heroes wrestling figures, via his website Rasslinmerch.com, which means if you live in Canada and want to order a KWK Kayfabe Hero (such as their new Los Conquistadores figures), you order through Aitken.
Aitken said he’s “always been into wrestling collectibles,” and was “always a collector,” back since he was obsessed with Jakks Bone-Crunching action figures, and he’s run his own merch table, as well as set up as a vendor at toy shows, and sold wrestling collectibles through eBay and Facebook Marketplace, but being the Canadian distributor for KWK collectibles is still a “new challenge” that he’s “tackling.” Aitken said his business is still growing, he’s wearing multiple hats, and he’s “been instrumental in arranging licenses and contacting talent” in North America. He said his role gets more important every day.
Aitken really likes the vibe they’re going for with KWK Kayfabe Heroes, because it’s like they’re creating action figures for the types of wrestlers he used to watch on VHS, back when he was a tape trader, such as future KWK Kayfabe Heroes release, “The Original Black Tiger” Marc “Rollerball” Rocco.
But even as KWK’s Canadian distributor, Aitken keeps busy in the ring. You can currently catch him wrestling as “The One Star” Cayden Felix, which Aitken says is quite the change in persona from Buck Gunderson. Aitken said the “One Star” moniker for Felix is a reference to seeing himself as the one/top “star” in wrestling, but it’s also a winking nod to the ratings system popularized by wrestling critics and journalists. Aitken says he was always attracted to comedy gimmicks in wrestling growing up, hence his previous persona Buck Gunderson, but there’s no lack of comedy gimmicks in wrestling today, so Aitken said he “zigs” when everyone “zags,” and Cayden Felix is “dead f#cking serious.”
Aitken is also dead serious about wrestling merchandise, and he’s studied the practice of selling wrestling merchandise like he used to study English and film theory at the University of Toronto. In addition to his own gimmick tables and toy shows, where he aims to “provide an experience at the merch table,” Aitken worked the merch booth (as well as in sound production and pre-tapes) for TNA/Impact, and he said that working for VCW (Victory Commonwealth Wrestling) helped teach him different ways that wrestling can be monetized.
Aitken also said his time in Japan made him look at wrestling merch in a new way. He said, “It’s more explicit in Japan that fans are buying merch to support the wrestler,” so if you want to support Aitken, you can pre-order the new KWK Kayfabe Heroes Los Conquistadores figures and follow the Rasslin Merch Machine on Instagram and Facebook.
You can follow Cayden Felix on Instagram and Facebook, and he will be in action at CCW Wrestling at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, August 24-30 and September 1 and 2. Certain events will also feature Jerry “The King” Lawler, Tito Santana, Sam Adonis, and Scott Schwartz from A Christmas Story.
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