You: Solution or Problem?

4:08 pm April 22, 2015

Please don’t expect me to top last week’s article.

Everyone has a dream.

Everyone wants to achieve their dream.

You need two things in order to try to attain whatever it is you dream: hard work and dedication.

In 2015, we live in a society where whether a team wins or loses, every kid gets a trophy. No matter if your first place or last, every kid leaves with a medal. If that’s not setting the next generation up for failure, I don’t know what is. The fact is thatВ not every person can win. Some capture their dreams. Some come close, attaining some level of success. Others straight up fail.В

Not everyone can make it in professional wrestling.

This goes for all aspects of the business: wrestler, commentator, promoter, ref, manager.

The 43 year old guy who wrote me last week proclaiming to be a wrestling manager has no business bothering wrestlers with his supposed “services.” He did absolutely nothing to earn a place in pro wrestling, and yet for some reason he thinks it’s okay to try and convince everyone, including himself, that he’s something that he isn’t . He’s even managed to trick quite a few people into thinking he can actually help their “career.” It’s wrong and manipulative.

If you’re not willing to sacrifice and you don’t put in the work, you don’t deserve to live your dream. Sorry.

I don’t care what’s wrong with you. If you want something bad enough, you work for it. I’ve seen a kid with down syndrome compete in a pro MMA fight. I’ve seen a story on a kid with worse C.P. than I have amateur wrestle, losing dozens of fights– but fighting none the less. I’ve watched Hush, a young man that manages Zach Gowen and I, wrestle– despite being legally deaf. Ironically, he listens better than the majority of wrestler I’ve competed with over the years.

Physical shortcomings or В I.Q. doesn’t set the l imit on what you can achieve… you do. If you want something bad enough, you find a way. If you don’t, you find an excuse. HARD WORK IS DIFFICULT.

Yes, wrestling is predetermined– or “fake,” as the ignorant would call it. The average person takes a look at wrestling and goes, “I can do that. It looks easy.” The reality of it is that it’s anything but, and the reality is until Average Joe steps foot into a ring and falls down on their back, he doesn’t understand just how real this “fake” sport feels.

There are three things that can happen once Average Jor steps foot into a reputable school and bumps for the first time. He either, one, quits and is never seen again. Two, he stays, tough it out, and tries to see how far he can take his dream. Or he does three….

…He goes to a less reputable school, and/or starts his own promotion.

I’ve seen it quite a few times actually. Back when I used to train regularly, I’d see guys show up for a couple weeks and disappear. Then months later, they would magically be wrestling on the crappy local shows in town, or starting their own wrestling schools, despite their poor in ring skills, physiques and training.В When I started, my trainer JT Lightning would say, “What I’m about to show you is a basic wrestling hold. If you can’t do this, I can’t continue training you.” Every time he said that, I took it as a challenge, and found a way around my disability to make it work and look as real as possible.

Looking back, I appreciate JT saying that to me so much more. Though he could be a con artist of sorts at times, he wasn’t out to steal my money. If I sucked, he wouldn’t continue training me. I wish other “trainers” were like that, but most have no credibility. There concern is draining as much money for training from naive individuals as quickly as possible. After a few months, to squeeze more money out of a kid who isn’t ready to perform, they book them on a show and make them sell tickets to their family and friends.

These students wrestle other students who are also selling tickets, trained by the same P.O.S. that started his own training center and or promotion. It’s the blind leading the blind. It’s old carny garbage.

The students don’t benefit because they can’t progress and get better, because neither knows what their doing, nor do they know any better because of who they are around (other garbage wrestlers). You only get better by learning from someone more experienced. The fans that bought a ticket don’t benefit. It’s our job as performers to make them forget that we don’t have the pyrotechnics, big screens, and bright lights of WWE. If a first time fan attends an indy show and sees two out of shape kids poorly executing moves, that is now that fans perception of independent wrestling. They’ll never come back.

The only one that gains short term is the “trainer/promoter.” He gets money out of the kids via ticket sales and the school. He gets one sale from that first time fan– who will never return due to the overwhelming unprofessionalism of the event.

Because of the idiots within the wrestling business that seemed to forget the word “business” and it’s meaning, we end up with crap like this:

Poor and misspelled flyers: