We'll never stop bullying, but we're the Guardians of Blackpool and we want to make people more resilient
World champion Pro-wrestler Rossy Rascal and Titan the ‘World’s Strongest Freak’ have teamed up for an anti-bullying campaign, and are calling themselves the ‘Guardians Of Blackpool’.
The two athletic showmen want to spread the message that it’s okay to be different, and help anyone who feels victimised by online bullies to build ‘mental resilience’ and not give up on their potential because of hurtful comments on social media.
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“We will never, ever stop bullying. But what we want to do is to try and teach everyone from youngsters to older people, to become more resilient to bullying, because unfortunately, it's never going to go away.”
Steve Titan appeared on Britain’s Got Talent 2025, when his outrageous freakshow act wowed the judges - but led to abusive comments from online trolls.
The multiple-world record holder says: “I’m mentally strong enough to not let it beat me, but there are young people out there maybe just starting out in a sport or a hobby, with real potential, who will see those hurtful messages and give up. We want to stop that from happening.”
Ross Goodwin, who runs a community wrestling academy in Revoe, has also had his share of negative comments online, but sees it as a positive that he’s doing well enough that people are noticing. He shares the mantra: “Winners focus on themselves, losers focus on winners”.
Ross adds: “A young person could achieve something so great and post it online. And instead of people sharing that happiness with them, that it gets received with hate and animosity”
He likens it to the butterfly effect. “It can derail that person's brilliant future. It goes from aspiring, athlete, or doctor or whatever course they’ve picked to all of a sudden, I'm not going to do that.”
Steve says he was picked on as a child for wearing an eye-patch, and having a growth on his neck. “I was labelled a freak. Yeah, well, now, now I'm the world's strongest freak. I've took your insults and I've made it into something great and now I use that to make everybody else around me great.
“People are getting bullied just because they are different, but we want to encourage people to embrace differences, and let it shine for all to see.”
Although the campaign aims to help victims to build mental resilience, both athletes stress that the first thing to do if you are being bullied, is tell someone.
“Don’t keep it bottled up,” said Steve. “Tell a trusted adult, friend or support group. It’s really important to be able to talk, and to vent. But also understand that it’s not your fault. The most picked on people on the planet end up being the most successful people, because bullies are insecure in themselves.”