I have no questions as I have already been in the ring, done my training, and had what experience I needed. But, I do have a story. I thought I would share this one for those of you who might be entertaining the idea of becoming a professional wrestler.
I myself never wanted to be a professional wrestler as much as I wanted to learn how it was done. One day I was at this locally owned Video Game/Hobby store and I noticed a little flier by the register for some local wrestling company I had never heard of before. I took the flier and went home to check it out. I noticed there was a website on the flier so I got on the internet, went to the website, and to my surprise I noticed one of the subcategories was "Training". I was pretty excited to see that there was a local wrestling company that offered training.
Remember, this is Iowa and although I live in the major metropolitan area known as Des Moines, there are still quite a few major markets we are not privy to here in the mid-west quite yet. I always thought it I was going to learn how to wrestle I would have to go to either the east or west coast. I never thought there would be something right here in my own home town to give me the opportunity to pursue my dream, yet here it was right in front of my face.
The website didn't have any contact information, so I figured that if I wanted to get into contact with someone who could get me in the door I should go right back to where I started, the video game/hobby store. I figured that someone there had to know who to contact or had to know someone affiliated with this group or else they wouldn't have their fliers at the store. So I went back, and I asked the owner if he could give me any information on who to talk to about this wrestling deal. By a stroke of luck I came to find out that one of the owners worked at the store part time, and would be in the next day. The next day I went back and sure enough I found the guy and I asked him probably every question there was to ask him about training and what all it entails.
I learned quickly that what it all comes down to is money. You gotta pay to play, and if you can't pay you can't play. I worked out a deal with the guy to where I could pay his $1500 in installments as I went through the training, with some money down. I payed him my initial installment, I signed a contract with the company, and I was officially beginning my wrestling training. We would meet at the owners house every Saturday from 7-2 as well as attend every event to pay our dues helping out with whatever needed done. That was the plan.
I didn't do this alone. I had a friend who was interested too. I was nice enough to pay for him to start as well since he was hard up for money and really wanted to do this as much as I did. We wanted to train and wrestle as a tag team, we had a name, a gimmick, everything all thought out. It would have been perfect, but things don't always go according to plan.
We went to our first practice, and I can still feel the pain. First we had to set up the ring, just me and my friend. We got it done in less than an hour which is pretty fast for two people. We were the first ones there, we even beat the owner to his house, we were so excited. We started with a lot of basic work out exercises. We did jumping jacks, Hindu squats, some running, and some stretching. All of that was exhausting enough after setting up the whole ring, and that was just the beginning.
Keep in mind now I am a big guy, I am in decent shape, and I have played football, learned Tae Kwon Do, Western Boxing, and even gymnastics when I was a kid. I am no stranger to sports or working out or training hard. This was a little different though. We got in the ring, and I remember first learning how to take a bump. The instructor had us grab the middle rope, and arch our backs as far as we could, basically so that out crotch is touching the rope, and our heads are facing up. Then we were told to just let go, and fall flat. That first one was easy, everything else to come got harder.
Eventually we got to taking more back bumps by taking a step and flipping your body in the air to land flat on your back. Even for a big guy I can get some good air, so I was skying up really nice, and getting over, landing just right. After a few minuted thought I started to feel funny, and my stomach was unsettled. After I got up from a bump I went to the ring apron and puked all over outside the ring, it was a bad one. Everyone was surprised, they knew someone would puke, they just didn't figure it would be me. I just got a drink, and kept going like nothing happened. Actually I felt a lot better after that and training went much better. As time kept going, and we kept working harder and harder, eventually we all got tired, even the trainers. So we were going through the routine bumps we had just learned doing them over and over to the trainers satisfaction. I remember it was on one of my last few bumps I was tired and I didn't get enough air to get all the way over, and when I landed I didn't land flat. I came down at an angle. It happened so fast I didn't feel it.
Later that night I was at home with my friend who was training along side me, and my girlfriend. We were just watching t.v. and I had been really uncomfortable since training. My back and by sides just hurt, I figured it was just from taking bumps since I wasn't used to it. However, I was sitting there and all of the sudden I sneezed really really hard. It was one of those that just comes from nowhere but hits hard. I sneezed and at the same time I heard and felt a very loud pop in my sides that went all the way to my back. I literally jumped out of my chair in pain and shouted some profanity as I was writhing in pain. I was standing up, but I couldn't move. The pain was coursing all through me, and every little movement of my muscles or anything else just made it hit even harder. The next morning I went to the doctor and found out I had broken two ribs in different places. My first training, and I broke my ribs. I was so disappointed. I was told I would be sidelined for 4-8 weeks due to the nature of the breaks and the time it would take to heal, and even after that I would have to be careful not to re-injure them for a while.
The trainers were surprised when I told them. I was the biggest and stronger guy training, they had taken a special interest in me because I was a pure heavyweight with outstanding athletic ability, they could see I had a lot of heart and that I was a great acquisition. So, they were disappointed and felt pretty bad that I had got hurt like that the first day in there. That didn't stop me though. I got a brace to hold my ribs in place, and I still trained, I just didn't take any bumps for a while. I still set up the ring, did my running, no jumping jacks, still did my squats, ran the ropes, was able to do some spots, and work some punches and kicks. Just nothing that would put a high amount of impact on my torso.
After I healed I was fine, I went on and all was well. But, I thought I would share that story to show you that you can get injured very easily, and you have to do what they tell you to a "T". I got injured my first time in and I had never had a broken bone before in my life, was in decent shape, and up to the point that I got hurt was performing well above expectation. It's not for you if you are afraid of getting hurt. They tell you right away "This is not exactly good for your body, it hurts, and you will get injured form time to time no matter how good you are." It just comes with the territory. I was too hard for my friend, and he quit. I stuck around, got what I wanted out of it, learned how to wrestle, learned how the business works at that level, and got out.
I figured out that I didn't want to be injured all the time, and that as much as I loved wrestling in the ring and everything, it just wasn't for me. Maybe someday I will decide I want to get into it more seriously and re-train and do some shows, but right now and at the time that I got out of it, my life just wouldn't allow it. I had too much going on outside of wrestling to be able to devote the amount of time I felt was necessary to it. I have tossed the idea around quite a bit, and I might get back in the ring in the next year or so, I am just undecided. I want to, but I want to do it the right way. I just have to see how certain things in my personal life play out before I can give it the effort I believe it deserves. Those are things I think you should consider if you are thinking of getting into wrestling, it requires a great deal of commitment.