You’d think that visiting the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler would be enough to satisfy a life-long Dracula fan. Jack Vaughn, The Veteran, TikTok star, creator of “The Thigh Slap Heard ’Round the World,” certainly enjoyed strolling the streets of the ancient Romanian city, but he holds one slight grudge against his buddy Jake Omen.
“I told him, the town was much more interesting than Dracula’s castle,” said Omen on a recent video call.
Vaughn shook his head. He’s not buying it. He still wants to see the castle. Meanwhile the third member of this traveling group, Aaron Williams, longed for his favorite memory from that ancient village. “I had what I would consider the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
While Vaughn’s wish to walk the halls of Dracula’s castle remains a dream, he is grateful for the opportunities he’s has the last three years. He’s wrestled in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and the UK. He owes it all to one man.
“If you want to go to Europe,” he said, “You need a Jake Omen.”
There’s a reason they call Jake Omen “Mr. International.” Omen broke into the wrestling business in 2004, training at a school he acknowledges was not the best. In the coming years, he found friends and mentors who helped him to restart his wrestling dream the right way. One of those men was Jimmy Yang, who took Jake under his wing in 2009.
“I told Jimmy my goal was to get to Japan. Jimmy told me everything I needed to do to get there,” recalled Omen, who made his first overseas trip in 2014, traveling to Europe. Two years later his Japan dream came true. He founded White River Wrestling Academy, a training school just north of Indianapolis, Indiana, and he made traveling the world as a wrestler and trainer his gimmick. He’s been to Japan seven times and Europe 14 times. “I try to make two or three trips to Europe every year, trying to wrestle in as many obscure places as I can.”
When Vaughn returned to pro wrestling after taking a few years’ break, he made it his mission to take at least one overseas trip. The Cincinnati native knew Omen had taken other wrestlers overseas. He let Omen know if there was ever an opportunity, he was ready to go.
Omen took Vaughn on a tour of Scandinavia in 2022, where they wrestled in Finland Sweden, and Estonia. Omen made all the arrangements, both with the wrestling promotions and the airlines.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing the logistics of travel, getting from point A to B, especially in places where they don’t speak English,” said Omen. “It’s a pretty big misconception that if you speak English, you can get by in any big city. That’s not true at all. In Bulgaria, they not only don’t speak English, they use the Cyrillic alphabet. So it’s really important to know how to get by.”
“But, one thing Jake taught us on this last trip,” said Vaughn, “If you know broken English, you can get by a little. As funny as it sounds, a few key words like ‘food’ or ‘airplane’ can come in handy.”
Vaughn savored every moment of his first European tour. “The promoter in Finland and his wife took us out to Nuuksio National Park. We grilled food in the middle of the snow by a lake. There was a sauna by the dock, so we went into the sauna until we couldn’t stand it, then we jumped in the ice cold lake. Let me tell you, the heat of that sauna did not mitigate how cold that lake was.”
The breadth and depth of European history was was equally overwhelming for Vaughn. “Everywhere you go, there are so many statues and castles, and the history goes back so much further than American history.”
Present day current events proved to be eye opening as well, especially in Estonia. Omen and Vaughn were stunned when their Estonian tour guide told them what it was like living in the shadow of modern day Russia. “He told us, ‘Every night, as Estonians, we go to bed knowing we might wake up and be Russians,’” said Omen. “It’s very real, and very possible. They live with that fear every day.”
“You see all these things on the news, but you don’t appreciate it until you’re actually there experiencing it,” added Vaughn, “It makes you appreciate what we have. Things may not be great, but we don’t have to worry about waking up and being citizens of another country.”
Aaron Williams made his first trip with the group in 2023, traveling to Romania and the UK. “It was an incredible culture shock,” said Williams. “Obviously the language is different. But the spatial awareness is different as well. The way people move around is different. It’s weird, but it feels oddly safe compared to being in the States.”
Williams equated traveling from country to country with traveling from state to state in the USA. “We drive five hours from home and be in Chicago. If they drive five hours they’re in a different country. Everything is gorgeous, and the people were all very nice.”
“Romanian Pro Wrestling is based right in the capital of Transylvania, which is so cool,” said Omen. “I went over a few years earlier and became friends with the promoter. That’s when I got to see Dracula’s castle.”
The former Soviet bloc country is still struggling to catch up with the west, but Romanian Pro Wrestling managed to roll out the red carpet for the Americans. Each wrestler had their own one bedroom apartment for the duration of their stay, and the promoter took them sightseeing.
The Americans ended their 2023 tour with a trek through England, where they were surprised to learn the long time traditions of English wrestling are falling by the wayside. “Pretty much all of Europe is trying to copy the AEW or indy wrestling vibe,” said Jake Omen. “The old tradition of catch-as-catch-can and wrestling in rounds is disappearing.”
The changes to English wrestling meant the Americans didn’t have to adapt their style very much, and they spent some time with some great stars. “A guy named Lucian Phillips, who people really need to look up, drove us around to the shows,” said Omen. “We also got to spend time with James Mason, who is an absolute legend.”
Mason went along initially just to referee, but when one of the British boys got hurt, Mason was ready to step up. “I remember sitting by the curtain the first time he wrestled,” said Omen. “He was smooth as butter. Everything he did made sense. Everything was purposeful. He had the crowd in the palm of his hands from the moment he started moving around.”
Vaughn wrestled Mason on the last night of the tour, where the two men called everything on the fly. “In the States, I usually have to call a few spots in the back, but with James, we just went out and wrestled. It’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had.”
Mason’s strength and endurance also impressed Vaughn. “We did a double shot one day, and James Mason got to the second show before us. He pretty much set up the ring, which had the heaviest ring posts I’d ever lifted, all by himself. The man is an animal.”
“That dude is incredible,” said Omen. “I spoke to William Regal recently, and when I told him I had met James Mason, he lit up. ‘That man is the last of our kind.’”
The UK visit ended somewhat disappointingly. After enjoying some posh accommodations at the Bedford in London, the last promoter who booked the Americans didn’t bother to provide anything. “We found a hotel over a punk rock club,” said Vaughn. “We asked if they had three beds, and they said no.”
The boys stood outside in the rain for 15 minutes while Omen borrowed the hostel’s wi-fi and looked for another place on his phone. Finally, the owner of the hostel took pity on them and let them in.
“I slept with my arms around my gear bag so no one could steal it,” admitted Vaughn.
“Looking back it was hilarious, but not while it was happening,” said Omen. “It’s proof that all over the world, there are promoters who won’t bother to help a few good brothers out.”
The 2023 trip sparked an email from a new destination: Bulgaria. Vaughn received a message from a man who had just started Wrestling Academy Bulgaria. He invited The Veteran to make a trip to Europe to train his students in November of 2024.
“I basically told them, if they want to bring me over, they need to bring Jake and Aaron,” said Vaughn. “Which, why wouldn’t you bring them? They’re both better than me in every regard.”
Omen made the arrangements, scheduling not only a visit to Wrestling Academy Bulgaria but Prime Time Wrestling in Poland. The trip hit a snag a few weeks before their departure.
“Our flights got canceled, so I had to rebook,” said Omen. “Then I made the mistake of booking Aaron under his work name instead of his shoot name. So I had to figure out the steps to get Aaron’s name changed to the one on his passport.”
While the wrestling scene in Bulgaria is more or less non-existent, they were surprised to see around 30 students show up, eager to learn from the Americans.
“They came from everywhere,” said Williams. “Some of them traveled from other countries, slept on people’s couches.”
The training seminar lasted three days. Each wrestler took a day to take the lead in class and share their wisdom. The job was made easier because most of the students spoke the same language as their teachers. “Pretty much all the guys and girls spoke English very well,” said Omen. “Compare that to when I went to Spain, and no one spoke any English.”
All three Americans enjoyed working in front of the Eastern European crowds. “They really get into wrestling in general,” said Williams. “The storytelling, the athleticism. Even just the attempt at it. They’re very forgiving, compared to some American audiences.”
“A lot of the obscure places in Europe don’t have a lot of wrestling,” added Omen. “A guy who wrestles ten years over there might have the experience of someone who wrestled three years here. So I think the crowds have to be a bit more forgiving in that regard.”
Vaughn pinpointed one possible reason for the crowds being as receptive as they were. “I found out that Twitter, or whatever it’s called, is not really a thing in Poland or Bulgaria. So they don’t spend all day on the Internet arguing about wrestling like people do here. They’re just grateful to see live wrestling and enjoy what’s in front of them.”
The three Americans found it easy to get over in front of just about any crowd, even though each has their own unique style. Vaughn had the advantage of many fans already knowing him through social media, and Omen’s experience on the international scene made it easy. But Omen had high praise for Williams, who took a green, Polish wrestling student with only 11 matches under his belt and made him look like a main event star.
“I don’t know how you get a guy that green to go that hard,” said Omen, “But he did it.”
Williams shook his head, shrugging off the praise.
Omen did express one regret about the 2024 tour. “I had an 11-match win streak going. Right up until the last day.”
The boys hit one more snag on the way home. “One of our flights got delayed,” said Omen. “They rebooked us, but because of the name change on Aaron’s ticket, Jack and I flew back to Cincinnati via Detroit, but Aaron had to fly through Minneapolis.”
Vaughn, Omen, and Williams each made new connections on each trip with students and wrestlers. Some have stayed in touch, with one Bulgarian student in particular making a big impression.
“When we were in Poland, we got word one of the students had made artwork of each of us,” said Williams. “It’s one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me.”
Time will tell if any of the students from Eastern Europe are able to make their way to the US thanks to their new American connections. Omen has hosted European wrestlers he’s met on past trips in Indianapolis, and all three are open to hosting future visitors.
The Americans, meanwhile, are already fielding email inquiries for 2025. One of the most interesting prospects for the future is an offer from a wrestling promotion in Ukraine. “The logistics are not going to be easy,” said Omen. “The best way to get to the capital of Ukraine right now is to fly in to Poland and take a bus 24 hours into Ukraine, then 24 hours back to Poland, because there are no flights in or out right now. But talk about a cool story.”
While Vaughn’s best advice on getting booked in another country is to have a friend like Jake Omen, Mr. International offers a more practical suggestion, one most wrestlers will find familiar.
“It’s the exact same thing as in the United States. Keep harassing the promoter, and show up,” advised Omen. “My first time in the UK, I was booked on one show, and I showed up to four. I got booked on three. After that the promoters started contacting me. Granted, it’s a lot easier to travel to Chicago and show up at AAW than it is going to Europe. It’s a huge investment, but that’s how you get booked, here or anywhere.”
“It shows you how important networking is in wrestling,” said Vaughn. “Once you go the first time, once they see you’re willing to go, they’re more likely to reach out to you.”
“If you get the opportunity to take a trip like this, do it,” said Williams. “Not just for the wrestling, but for the experience. Being in another country, and the perspective it gives you, it changes you. I’m really grateful for that.”
TOP PHOTO: Jack Vaughn, Jake Omen, and Aaron Williams take on Europe. Contributed
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