When people talk of some of the great talent to come out of Ontario in terms of wrestlers, one name that has to come
up is Larry Destiny, who is also known as the Canadian Sensation, and with good reason. The nickname doesn't earn him any
heat from American fans though. "It goes over well. I was given that name by an American," Destiny revealed to SLAM! Wrestling.
"Some guys who were running shows in Michigan early in my career said 'You're the Canadian Sensation.' and it just stuck ever
since."
Destiny, who's real name is Larry Brun and who wrestles at 240 lbs, grew up watching wrestling in his hometown
of Windsor and eventually decided it was something he wanted to do. "I always knew there was a school in Windsor," Destiny
said, "but I never took it upon myself to join. I regret that now because I wish I would have started earlier. I was in University,
but I wasn't stupid enough to quit school. I knew school was important and I had to do that first."
He studied Human
Kinetics at the University of Windsor and Massage Therapy at the Univerisity of Western Ontario, but don't look for Destiny
to become a part-time doctor, part-time wrestler. "That's just something I'm going to do when I'm not wrestling but I want
the wrestling to work out, so I'm going for that. I needed a career to fall back on."
"I started training my last
semester in University and just did it ever since." Destiny trained with Windsor wrestler,
Scott D'Amore. Destiny gives the nod to D'Amore as one of the biggest influences on his career, noting that D'Amore "oversaw a lot of my
training, gets me a lot of bookings and speaks very highly of me (to promoters). I respect him as a trainer and as a person.
He's a good wrestler and he deserves the chance."
His first match came on August 16, 1996 as Border City Wrestling's
'Mickey Doyle Retirement Card'. Brun teamed with 'Giant' Pat Ryan against the Canadian Destroyer (Doug Chevalier) and the
Death Dealer. Brun and Ryan lost when the Death Dealer hit Brun with a kendo stick, allowing the Destroyer to gain the pinfall.
Prior to the match, Destiny remembers thinking "I'm not nervous. I've been ready for this my
whole life." He also faced no adversity
to wrestling in front of his home town crowd early in his career. "It was incredible. It was just...invite all your friends
there to support you because they knew it was your dream. Even if they weren't wrestling fans, they came to support you because
it was me."
"I never get nervous wrestling," Destiny said, "Sometimes I get nervous talking, giving interviews and
stuff. I'm more confident with my moves than I am (talking)."
Destiny has won several titles throughout his career
including the ICW Cruiserweight Championship, the Northern Frontier Wrestling North American title, and the CWA Championship.
He remembers his first title win (for the Border City Wrestling Television title in La Salle, Ontario on January 26th., 1997),
as "just amazing, because I'd come a long way. It was even more amazing, because I got my best friend into the business (Sonny
Borrelli), he's a ring announcer, and our dream growing up was that he would announce me as champ, and that's what happened
when I won my first title." Destiny considers the match one of the highlights of his career.
While Destiny was grateful
for the chance to wrestle his early career in Ontario and Michigan, noting that "it was really good to start up with, to wrestle
different talent" but adds that "you have to get outta there, you can't stay there all the time. I tried to travel more, I
tried to get as many bookings as I can. I had 52 matches my first year, but I kept getting lower and lower and less people
running, but there's more now in Ontario. There's good talent in Ontario. I think I'm getting better that way as well. I've
been to Ohio, but sometimes your job and stuff only allows you to go so far."
In the days since his pro debut, he
has wrestled D'Amore on several occassions, including the Dan Curtis Memorial Card. Destiny says that wrestling with D'Amore
is "very competitive. You have to be very quick, stay on your toes. It's a thinking man's wrestling match."
D'Amore
and Destiny have also teamed on occasion, including a match against future WWF tag team Champions, the Acolytes, at the RAW
is War taping in Toronto in February 1999. "That was pretty good experience as well, just to see the different talent that's
out there."
"And sometimes you get some sense knocked into you." Destiny added with a laugh.
Destiny has wrestled
on WWF TV tapings on three occassions, also wrestling Jackyl and the Interrogator in a tag team match in Ottawa and facing
Bradshaw in a
singles match in Detroit. "Every
time, going down the aisle, it was like 'Look at this, I'm here'. I wrestled once at Joe Louis Arena, (the match against Bradshaw)
and that's where I grew up watching it. Even though you lose, you're kinda winning because 'Look, I made it!' and I was only
in the business two years and I was already there. My friends were in the crowd and this is where I grew up watching wrestling
and I got to walk the aisle and be in that ring, so I'd pick that as one of my best matches too."
The World Wrestling
Federation will be seeing more of Destiny, if he has his way. "The Fed (the WWF) is number one for me."
Destiny isn't
ready to go too far, too fast, though. "I'd really like to go somewhere, but I'm not ready yet. I'd like to add on a few more
pounds, naturally, of course. I want to become the best, but it's a process. Hopefully, it's the WWF one day."
