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08.30.05
• PLUG!!!!
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| 11.16.03
Seize The Moment #4: The Grizzly
by Samir
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Around here, it is said that very, very few of Quebec's top wrestlers got to where they are without going through "The Grizzly's Paws". Indeed, for almost a decade, Marc Pilon, aka Marc Le Grizzly, has been training wrestlers here. Although it is the rookies who are almost always the most generous with their praise for The Grizzly, that is not the only place his legacy exists. Even seasoned veterans have taken the time to train with The Grizzly. The NCW's Binovich Fouranov, himself a trained wrestler before joining NCW, writes on his personal site:
"Lors de mon arrivée à la NCW en Avril 2002, Marc fût mon comité, d’accueil. Je continuai à m’entraîner avec lui. Lorsque j’ai subi mon entorse cervicale le 13 Juillet 2002, il était le premier à venir à mon secours et je fus étonné de le voir à l’hôpital.
Avec le temps, je gravissais lentement les échelons de la NCW et quand je le pouvais, j’allais m’entraîner avec lui. Marc le Grizzly a fait de moi un meilleur lutteur et une meilleure personne. Il nous a montrés l’amitié, car plusieurs lutteurs qui se sont entraînés avec lui sont devenus mes meilleurs amis."
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Translated: When I arrived in NCW in April of 2002, my welcoming committee was Marc. When I suffered a cervical sprain in July of 2003, he was the first to rush to my help and I was stunned when I saw him at the hospital.
As time passed, I began climbing the ladder in NCW. Whenever I could, I would train with him. Marc le Grizzly made me a better wrestler and a better person. He showed us all friendship, in fact, many of the boys who trained together under his watch became great friends.
Glowing reviews, but not uncommon ones for the man who has trained almost everyone currently wrestling for NCW, trained many of the wrestlers who work for other big Montreal indies like the IWS. Along with The Rougeaus, Grizzly remains one of the most prodigious trainers in this region.
The astute among you will then wonder why I am currently being trained by the NCW's Cobra, as opposed to this Montreal indy legend. In the early summer of 2003, Grizzly gave up the trainer's position for NCW and departed from the company. Cobra, one of Grizzly's quickest studies, assumed the role of trainer and took over Grizzly's students in NCW. It was not too long after those events that began my own training, on August 1st, 2003. Yours truly is the first ever student in NCW's current farm system that had not, at one point or another, passed through the Grizzly's paws. It's a fact that I have mentioned to my Coach on several occasions, much to his dismay.
That, of course, was until Saturday, November 8th. The location was the NDR Center, the usual venue for NCW's bi-monthly shows. At 11 PM, after the latest show was wrapping up, the trainees were just warming up. Cobra had arranged a practice on the ring that was to take place from 11 PM until the wee hours of the morning. Let it be said that wrestling is absolutely NOT for someone who is not nocturnal! The practice was to be given by Cobra himself along with another NCW Vet, who goes by the ring name Bishop. However, at this practice, a special guest helped out, and his name was Marc Le Grizzly, apparently returning for one night only.
Upon learning earlier in the day that Grizzly was giving the practice with Cobra, I became somewhat nervous. For one, I had no idea what Grizzly was like at all in "real life", but he was intimidating based on size alone. Measuring about 6'3", tipping the scales north of 300 lbs., every time I'd seen Grizzly in the crowd at NCW shows, he'd be wearing a stern, stoic expression. Secondly, the guy who had trained Quebec "institutions" like Franky The Mobster and Chakal was now going to, for one night only, train me. Talk about big shoes to fill there.
In retrospect, the practice went about as smoothly as I could have expected. Cobra's rigor had paid off, as we were able to keep up with Marc's regimen, even after he jokingly called himself the "warm-up King". Grizzly may be the King of long, arduous warm-ups, but Cobra is certainly in the royal family, himself never forgetting to put us through any calisthenic or obscure muscle stretch. Grizzly showed phenomenal patience with many of the students, especially with me. At one point, we were practicing ring exits by vaulting horizontally between the 2nd and 3rd rope, a task that is slightly more complicated than it looks.
Actually, if I can regress for a second, sometimes I hate pros like Eddie Guerrero for being so good at stuff that it makes it look easy, because when it comes time for me to try, failure at an "easy" task is frustrating. Not surprisingly, my first few attempts at the ring exit were utter disasters. Either I would bang on the apron, or get my feet caught in the ropes, or what not, but I just wasn't "getting it". Grizzly calmly smiled and just had me do it over and over until I got it, even going so far as to let everyone wait for me to get it. In all honesty, I was amazed by his gentle approach, his warm personality, and his patience. Later on, during a drill that involved climbing to the 2nd turnbuckle, I began shaking violently and Grizzly instantly surmised my fear of heights. Again, Grizzly was great with me. He did not anger, but rather let me sit on the turnbuckle for 5 minutes to get used to the view. Like me, there were others who had their difficulties with certain drills. Rather than fume, Grizzly was always there to meet us with an encouraging "C'est pas grave, tu l'auras la prochaine fois." ("It's not a big deal, you'll get it next time.")
They say the legacy of a trainer is found in his students. It is the case with the late (great) Stu Hart, who is remembered by this generation not for his career as a pro-wrestler before pro-wrestling was a circus, but rather, as the Hart patriarch who trained a whole slew of wrestlers, his best students rising to the top of the industry with invariable regularity: Bret & Owen Hart, Davey Smith, Jushin Liger and Dynamite Kid to name a few. Although Grizzly's students are not nearly as famous as those, it is apparent the man has already developed quite a legacy to be remembered by in Quebec. It is certain that I will give credit about everything I know in wrestling to Cobra, but Cobra himself was passing through his paws in 1996. Now, I feel honored to have done the same, if only just for one night.
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Training Update
It's already been 3 months and 14 days since I've taken my first ever professional wrestling class. I think, in that short period, I can admit to myself that I've made some good progress. However, I still estimate that I am ever to step foot in a ring, there is still a long path ahead of me before that happens. I would describe my learning rate as average. I'm not especially prodigious, although I do some things very well. Some other things, though, are a bit more difficult for a guy like me.
After 3 months the one area I feel comfortable with now is bumping. Although my bumps are not superb, falling on the hard mats as become almost like falling onto my bed. The repeated drubbings, I think, have hardened my back. I remember in the early days, after a practice, I was almost unable to walk back to my car, shaken by headaches and back pains. Now that I've come to be accustomed to the impact, I'm able to relax much better. As a result, the shock is amortized in the muscles of my back and arms. Early on, I used to remain tight (perhaps in fear of pain), allowing the shock to go right into my spine and cranium. It seems so hard to train one's body to do something so logical as to keep the muscles loose as a cushion, but I suppose that training for wrestling resembles training for martial arts in that sense: it's more mental than physical. Ring bumping is a bit different and I'm going to need time to get used to that surface as well, but that's fine, I'm patient about it as long as I see improvement in myself.
I've also been able to observe a major problem I have during my own training, and it's a trap that always gets me. Being a lifelong thinker, it is possible to over-think oneself in wrestling. When I bump now, I don't think of slapping the mat with perfect timing or whatever. I just breathe out and do it, almost instinctively. By the same token, a dancer is not measuring beats in his or her head while moving to music, but rather letting the music move him or her. Sometimes, I'm unable to do the same in wrestling. I'll either miss the timing on a suplex and end-up sandbagging someone (not intentionally), or sell a move I know is coming a bit too early, or pause in mid-move and put myself at risk of injury. Does Brock Lesnar's shooting star press from Wrestlemania 19 come to mind? Yes, because I do it all the time. Not that I do shooting stars, but I certainly do the "hesitation" part of it! This is another aspect of my training that will require significant effort to correct.
So, with all that said, how far am I from "the show" ? In all seriousness, I don't even think about it anymore. It could be 9 months, it could be 12, it could be 24. I've come to realize one thing: It'll take the time it takes. I'd rather get out there after 2 years and look polished and credible rather than go out there after 6 months and look like shit. So that's where we're at now.
I'll keep you posted.
Samir
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