Wilbur McDougall’s journey from morbid obesity to larger-than-life character is yet another chapter in the story of a Renaissance man, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Replete in some of rock’s core cliches, Wilbur McDougall adjusts a bandanna, silk scarf, black singlet and denim jacket before launching into a spiel about his recent transformation.
He’s standing a stone’s throw (or bogan’s yell) from Princes St. Comprising a decent stretch of Dunedin’s main drag, it’s a place along which various car-goers used to hurl abuse. Given McDougall weighed almost 200kg, the nature of the comments was a little obvious, and certainly not witty to a man who possesses no shortage of one-liners.
Now McDougall’s the one doing the trash-talking, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek manner, inviting/challenging readers to attend the forthcoming premiere of the comedic feature-length documentary film Wilbur: The King in the Ring, of which he is the star.
Which brings us back to the notion of metamorphosis.
Wilbur: The King in the Ring tells the story of McDougall’s journey from a morbidly obese hobbyist professional wrestler who underwent gastric bypass surgery in July last year, partly in the hope of getting back in the ring but, more importantly, to change his life.
Gone is King Wilbur, the 197kg character who had a penchant for a fur-lined cape and faux Shakespearean accent. In his place is Dr Feelgood, a rocker whose taste for riffs matches his rapid-fire, if ridiculous, boastfulness.
The notion of art imitating life is alive and well here. McDougall’s choice of name for his new character has a resonance beyond the world of guitars and imagined groupies. Having lost more than 80kg (roughly the average weight of a Kiwi male), he is feeling a whole lot better.
"It’s the happiest I’ve been in 10 years," McDougall says over a quiet after-work drink at his local in Caversham earlier this week.
"I turn 31 in August ... I feel like I’m 18.
"I do think the film has been helpful to me, even though there were moments during the making of it when I was close to walking away. It does delve pretty deep. I was in a pretty sorry state of affairs for a while."
Enter German-born film-maker Jan Oliver Lucks (Ollie for short), who first met McDougall a decade ago while studying theatre at the University of Otago. Lucks recalls a "guy in the back yelling inappropriate remarks and disrupting the flow of the class". Initially, he found McDougall’s antics annoying.
Yet a friendship developed, one strong enough to prompt Lucks to raise the subject of his gregarious mate’s weight and health. He confronted McDougall, setting in motion the journey to gastric sleeve surgery, as well as a feature-length documentary.
Wilbur: The King in the Ring has its origins in a three-minute short film, Wilbur Force, which premiered at the 2015 New Zealand International Film Festival, and subsequently achieved more than 200,000 online views. Created as part of the Loading Docs initiative to help promote and develop New Zealand film-making talent, its popularity suggested a character worthy of further exploration.
When McDougall was told early last year he was a candidate for gastric surgery, the film-makers had the backbone of a bigger project: a charismatic protagonist facing a major turning point in his life.
"One day Ollie suggested I consider surgery, so I talked to my doctor, who told me it was free, provided I qualified via the health sector’s points system. Initially, I was 20 points from qualifying. But my surgeon pushed for it.
"I had to go on a mainly liquid diet and had to lose 15-20kg in the three months before surgery. I went from about 170kg to 150kg, proving that I could lose weight and keep it off."
The last time he checked, McDougall weighed just over 110kg. He suspects he might have lost a bit more lately, because his clothes feel looser.
"I’m just over 5 foot 10 and some people have commented that I seem shorter now, because I’m smaller. And a lot of my extra weight now is loose skin. If I can tick all the boxes and show that this loose skin is a hindrance on my life, there is a very small chance I could get it surgically removed."
McDougall says the issue of his weight only became apparent in recent years.
"I wasn’t really fat, but I was overweight as a child. Even when I was in seventh form [at Bayfield High School] I was still overweight but I was singing in a band, doing theatre and stuff.
"Then university came along and I found I wasn’t eating Mum’s home-cooked vegetables. I had bugger-all money so I was eating saveloys or the cheapest meats, was living the party lifestyle, not playing rugby any more ...
"But I had heaps of friends who loved me and weren’t saying anything to me about my weight. And every now and again I got a girlfriend."
McDougall didn’t finish his theatre studies degree. Having fallen in love and had his "heart broken" in his third year, he exited academia and got a job hosting Dunedin television show Cow TV in 2008. He headed to Wellington the following year, initially attracted by acting opportunities that didn’t quite pan out. Instead, he took up a full-time job at the Ministry of Justice.
"My weight crept up and up until I found I couldn’t put a seatbelt on; I couldn’t have a healthy relationship with a woman. I developed sleep apnoea and was falling asleep at my desk at work.
"I came back to Dunedin in 2013 because my dad got sick. I was also not enjoying the job I had and the wrestling company I was with in Wellington had stopped doing shows.
"By 2014, at the age of 27, I was morbidly obese. That was the point at which I thought, ‘holy ... I was on the sickness benefit for a year. I thought I was screwed. It was a pretty crappy time."
As the background chat in the pub grows, as families and friends discuss life, work and which dinner special they might order, McDougall’s mind is elsewhere. The subject of psychology has been raised. He barely pauses before disclosing that feeling small had a lot to do with him getting big.
"I’ve tried to dig deep and work it out," he says.
"At my worst, I never felt I was depressed or requiring medication. I haven’t gone to any therapist or anything.
"Eating was obviously a comfort. For years I felt I had a lot to give. I can play music, I can act, I can hold down a good job, but ... if I had a girlfriend and it didn’t work out, I’d possibly eat more. I recall feeling quite anxious at one time during a previous job.
"I would say it comes from loneliness, as well as seeing people from my university theatre class go away and kick butt, do plays and television. There is that aspect of Fomo (fear of missing out) and wondering why that isn’t me."
This from a person who has appeared in more than 20 stage plays; who recalls his earliest public performance was at the age of 8 as a lion tamer in a school show; whose desire to perform was nurtured by his creative parents (his mother Sarah is a playwright and his father Ewan an artist). That calling to perform, to be both loud and popular, manifested itself in a desire to enter the weird world of professional wrestling.
"I always loved it as a kid," McDougall says.
"Me and my older brother and dad would always tussle around.
"When I went to Wellington I knew some people who were doing it, so I started training with them. One day they were doing a promo, a pilot shoot for Prime Television, and needed a commentator. I had the flu, but I turned up."
Wellington-based company Kiwi Pro Wrestling invited McDougall to commentate for the entire 2009 season. He continued in that role until 2010, when he was urged to enter the ring. The character Wilbur Force was born, followed by King Wilbur and, now, Dr Feelgood, whose last bout was two weeks ago in Christchurch as part of Aftershock Pro Wrestling’s Southern Stampede.
His next event is Southern Pro Wrestling’s Southern Rumble at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club on July 22.
"The biggest attraction to wrestling is being in character and performing, selling that persona," says McDougall, who has also fought at the popular Armageddon Expo (as Dr Feelgood earlier this year and as King Wilbur in 2016).
"I love it, but I don’t see it as a career."
Beyond the ropes, music has been a longtime passion for McDougall, who says his singing has improved since his Bayfield High School band placed third at the regional finals of the Otago Rockquest when he was 18.
"I was the frontman. Someone threw underpants at me, and they weren’t men’s ones," he fondly recalls.
His latest group, The Sham, has plans to release an EP, having amassed a healthy set of original songs that touch on ’90s grunge-rock. In the meantime, he’ll continue practising, jamming out new material and gigging.
"Previously, at band practices, I’d struggle to get through an entire song. Now, my vocal range has improved," McDougall says.
"And I can move and dance without getting puffed.
"I’m much more active than I have been in the past 10 years. I play indoor football every week with some workmates — I scored nine goals the other night — as well as basketball with a mate."
Life is good, McDougall sums up. He has worked as a credit controller at PGG Wrightson since 2015. He’d walked into Winz’s Dunedin office intending to ask for an extension to his sickness benefit only to receive a phone-call, a follow-up after an interview, offering him a job.
He’d like a few other phone-calls though.
"I don’t have a girlfriend, but I’ve gone on dates. If I meet someone in person I have a chance. I can joke and tease. I’ve had much more luck in the past five months than in my entire life.
"It probably helps that I don’t look like I’m about to drop dead from a heart attack."
Again, the laugh. Big. Healthy.
The film
• Wilbur: The King in the Ring premieres at Rialto Cinemas, Dunedin, on Thursday, June 8 (8pm).
