When most people think of bees, it’s fair to assume that ‘honey’ and ‘getting stung’ are the most common immediate thoughts. In a word, bees can be polarizing.
Not to Paul London.
In an interview with SlamWrestling.net, the 25-year wrestling veteran described the thought process behind the unique stipulation of his upcoming Honey Trap match this Saturday with Brett Ryan Gosselin (BRG) at MLW’s Superfight 6.
“The original idea was to tar and feather. But I don’t think the people of Center Stage would like to have chemical fumes from melting tar, making them nauseous, or however it might be. Still, the concept stuck, pun intended,” London explained.
There had been a number of ideas discussed for this creative and unique match before the Honey Trap stipulation was settled on. Like a bee settles on a flower, it often tries a number of different flowers first.
During the interview, London was in a park feeding squirrels while surprisingly docile Canada geese leisured about. The interview was, at one point, briefly interrupted by a bee flying by. Call it kismet, if you like.
London has been wrestling professionally since 2000, and has worked for WWE, ROH, and Lucha Libre USA along with his current run in MLW.
His long and nomadic career has brought him to a place, MLW, where he’s never felt better and his only gripe with the promotion is that they don’t run a weekly show.
“[MLW] has been an absolute blessing. I just wish we had shows every week because I love the environment, I love the production,” he said.
Apart from maintaining his in-ring career, London, his brother, and a team of talented artists have collaborated and are releasing a comic book entitled Hero of the Prophecy. The Kickstarter campaign has another month left for donations and the project is close to coming to fruition.
“We grew up on Galaxy Quest. We grew up in a lot of these, the wrong guy, you know, in the wrong situation, kind of scenarios,” London said. “I’m really impressed. We’re really excited about it. It’s a real touching thing that my brother has put together. I mean, he’s really the backbone of this whole thing. But I’m really honored to be put into a comic book, so hopefully people enjoy it.”
When asked about what he hopes to get out of his in-ring career in 2025, London’s answer was simple.
“I’m trying to ramp up my consistency with just dates in general. For those of you wondering, I am open to Las Vegas for ‘Mania week. It’s a quick drive for me so you won’t have to worry about airfare. But I am planning on being out there for [WrestleMania] week.”
There will undoubtedly be a large amount of honey on hand this Saturday at Center Stage, but bees will very likely not be in the building. Then again, London has some tricks up his sleeve for BRG.
Both wrestlers will try to avoid the worst come Saturday in Atlanta. Try not to get stung!
TOP PHOTO: Paul London before a match. Photo courtesy of MLW.
RELATED LINKS
- Paul London archive
- Paul London socials: Instagram * X
- MLW website
