Meet the wrestler: Juntsu

Contributed by: Anthony Welch/YourHub.com on 3/27/2006

Robert Stewart Jr. suffers from a severe case of Jekyll and Hyde. But it's a good thing.

Most people know the 23-year-old Thornton resident as a nice, friendly guy who delivers doughnuts for Dolly Madison. But when Stewart steps into the ring for Fusion Pro Wrestling, he becomes an entirely different person.

"I try to portray a very intense person as a wrestler," he said.

Complete with the evil-looking face paint, the 5'10", 270-pound Stewart may be one of Fusion's more menacing characters, wrestling as Juntsu, which in Japanese means powerful.

Stewart has wrestled for 2 years. Like many of the grapplers on Fusion's roster, he grew up watching wrestling. He got involved with a small independent promotion in Denver that folded, before joining up with the Altitude Pro Wrestling Academy in Aurora and trainers Jeff Michaelis and Billy Roberts.

"Jeff and Billy took me under their wing, and I have been with them ever since," Stewart said.

A 2000 graduate of Thornton High School, Stewart played football and wrestled. He felt he was in pretty good shape following high school. When he started training as a professional wrestler, he realized that wasn't true.

"I found out it was a whole different type of being in shape, ring shape," he said. "It's more intense, it's harder on your body than other sports."

Stewart's first wrestling experience was a rough one. The organization he first trained with didn't have a ring and his first bump (different ways of taking a fall) took place on a concrete floor.

"It hurt, to say the least," he said.

Stewart loves the physical challenges of wrestling. Not to mention, it keeps him in shape and forces him to eat healthier and to constantly work out.

"It pushes you to a whole new level," he said. "I'm always in shape, and that helps."

Performing in front of a crowd of people is a huge "perk" of the job for Stewart.

"It's an adrenaline rush like no other," he said. "It's like a drug you can't get enough of. You'll work in front of 150 people in one show, then 200 in the next show. Then all of a sudden 200 is not enough. Every time the adrenaline rush gets a little bigger."

Stewart's friends are impressed with the fact that he's a pro wrestler. His family, however, isn't so sure about it.

"My family worries about me. They know that wrestling will never pay my bills," he said. "They worry about me getting hurt and not being able to work. When we start talking about getting smacked with steel chairs and stuff they tend to want to change the subject."

As far as his goals for wrestling, Stewart, like many of the wrestlers, dreams of a career in World Wrestling Entertainment. However, he knows that only a handful of guys get to live that dream.

"I want to take it as far as I can. If Colorado wrestling is as big as I can get, then I want to be the best Colorado has seen," he said. "As long as I give it all I have, I'll be happy."