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08.30.05
• PLUG!!!!
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| 07.04.04
Seize The Moment #6: Checking in
by Samir
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Well it's certainly been awhile since I've written. Truth be told, the lack of time was only half the problem, because had I been properly inspired, I simply would have skipped sleep to hammer out another one of these. The fact of the matter is, training is somewhat repetitive, and it becomes hard to write a decent length column when there is very little new material. I suppose I could write a 500-word 'journal entry' but that certainly would be a disappointing thing to read and it would certainly not be up to the standard I hold myself to. So there it is.
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I think the physical difficulties of training to become a wrestler have been well-catalogued. Anyone familiar with wrestling in any measure knows that it's not ballet. It's close to ballet, but it's still different. The bumps, the bruises, the nagging injuries, the pain and the physical exertion, it's all common knowledge. However, there are a lot of other obstacles in wrestling, that I find are less talked about. This is perhaps because they are not as visible and perhaps because they are not as known among the fans. Perhaps in my discourse, I can suitably shed enough light on these difficulties to give the readers out there an appreciation for just how difficult it is to become a (good) professional wrestler.
I believe the hardest thing about becoming a wrestler is not physical. It's developing a sense of the ring, something Cobra always refers to as "wrestling instinct". If becoming a wrestler were merely learning how to do a few moves and learning how to bump, I'd have debuted a long time ago. The fact is, my bumps are quite good now and I have probably learned to perform over 100 moves, maybe not all perfectly, but passably. The hardest part of becoming a wrestler is learning how to follow an opponent, how to lead an opponent, how to read your opponent and get a good sense of what the hell is going on during a match and what should be done next in the context of the match. In short, it's the difference between making a good impression and making an ass of yourself in a ring.
This 'instinct', it's a very hard concept to grasp for someone never having trained, but perhaps some examples should shed some light on it. If we were to compare two wrestlers, say, for example, Triple H and Goldberg. On the surface, both have excellent tools to be wrestlers; they are blessed with big frames, they are physically tough individuals and they have a look. In comparing their repertoire of moves, one finds that both have a very limited set of moves that they fall back on all the time. Trips has his knee-based offense, his low blow and his pedigree while Goldberg has his array of power moves and his MMA-inspired strikes. Both are remarkably charismatic individuals, although Triple H is somewhat better on the mic. So, with very similar tools to ply their trade, Triple H consistently has better matches than Goldberg. Why is this? It's certainly not due to their opponents, both have faced a ton of great wrestlers, and it's certainly not due to coincidence. Rather, Triple H is a polished wrestler who knows what he's doing in the ring, and Goldberg isn't. It's hard to finger out exact instances where this is demonstrated, but it's easy to see when one looks at their entire matches. Triple H's matches engage the crowd on a consistent basis, even when he wrestlers against lame ducks like Kevin Nash. Goldberg's matches, unless he is wrestling a great wrestler, generally don't engage anything.
Triple H is polished, and he spent years working on wrestling instinct. That's why, with his limited set of moves, he can be more entertaining than even someone like Paul London, who has many more options in the ring, but perhaps does not use his repertoire as well. Triple H is a guy who, like him or hate him, gets the most done with the least. Other guys I'd place in that category are probably Bret Hart, Ricky Steamboat, Macho Man, Ted Dibiase, Jake Roberts, Steve Austin and The Rock.
I ask you, do you think it takes more skill to bring a crowd to their feet by doing a neck-breaking aerial maneuver, or by building slowly and steadily to a climactic moment in a match using the basic elements of story-telling? I'm pretty sure the answer is obvious. It's easy to jump and to dance, it's harder to 'wrestle'. Performing an insane high spot, while usually admirable for reasons of testicular fortitude and sheer courage is generally an inefficient short-cut to getting the crowd interested. I'm not saying high spots are bad, but on the whole of it, a wrestler is better served with good story-telling. Ideally, a wrestler should be able to do both, but very few are. And myself not being the most aerially gifted individual, it's pretty obvious, even at this early stage of my wrestling career, what I'm going to have to concentrate on.
Now, to continue onwards with this little exposé of mine, think about what wrestlers do. Two men re-enact a battle that is generally 10-minutes long, during which they will punch each other, slam each other, run ropes, duck moves, evade attacks, etc. Although it may seem easy to do, it's only because most wrestlers have practiced enough to make it look easy. Dance troupes spend months choreographing sets and routines. Wrestlers, on the other hand, have to either improvise or devise a match and work out the details in a few hours or less. Let me tell you, when you're calling it as you go and your inexperience shines through, that awkward moment of you and your opponent staring at each other having both drawn blanks happens pretty often. Or, for example, the times when you give someone a clothesline, and he is lying there prone, and the only thing in your mind is the dreadful "oh shit, what do I do now?". It's always easy in the arm-chair, but in a ring with even just your practice mates watching, it's exponentially harder. Shane Matthews of 2.0 tells me it's even harder in front of a live crowd. So you can imagine, then, how much mental training must happen for a guy to become a wrestler. Goldberg, I think, is a guy who probably gets the "oh shit, what do I do now?" in his head at least once for every 5 minutes he is in the ring.
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You know, much to my dismay, I've become somewhat irregular in wrestling. I had to miss most of tax season (I'm an accountant) because both work and school were simply too taxing (pun!!!) and any free time I had from January to April was spent either vegging out like a mellow melon or sleeping. Now that I've switched offices, I find myself logging more and more hours at work. This doesn't give me many week-days with free time and consequently, all my personal matters have to be attended to during the week-end.
To compound the problem, I recently suffered a severe shoulder sprain which kept me out of action for three weeks. For the first two weeks, I could barely lift my arm above my head without entailing a intensely piercing sort of pain. Now, I'd say it's slowly getting better and I've started practicing again. The combination of a heavy schedule and the injuries makes it very difficult to be regular at training.
When asked why I had reduced my practiced schedule by a certain NCW cruiserweight champion, I joked that wrestling is like a part-time job. I mean, on weeks where NCW has a show, a trainee is at the NCW arena for 18-21 hours. That's a huge chunk of time for anyone, but throw it onto someone in school and with a job that requires 50-70 hours a week and it becomes an almost crushing burden. I can say 100% of the last 10-12 practices I've been to, I've practiced extremely fatigued and operated on two things: fumes and the desire to be a wrestler. I'd love to tell everyone to start training in their late teens before they start a real job, so once the career comes calling, they can just focus on wrestling good matches and nothing else. Truth be told, it's what I wish I'd have done, started in my late teens instead of my twenties. However, I'd never want to discourage anyone from pursuing a career OTHER than wrestling while also learning to be a wrestler. It's obvious wrestling isn't exactly a stable, reliable money-making proposition except for a very select few.
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One from the road: July 2nd, 2004, veteran Quebec wrestler Marc Le Grizzly ran an event called Midsummer Madness, which re-grouped most of Quebec's best talent. The main event, as it was billed featured Kevin Steen vs. Ring of Honor's Samoa Joe.
After the event, I had heard that IWS stand-out and Montreal's own Beef Wellington had actually stripped down to his tightey-whiteys after his match. Unfortunately, I arrived at the show too late to see that event. After the show, I walked into the dressing room where Beef, El Generico, Samoa Joe and a few others were sitting. I popped my head in and said "Apparently I missed a certain sexy somebody in his underwear tonight!" which everyone knew was full-well directed at Beef. At that point, Samoe Joe who had just finished changing into street clothes got up, began undoing his belt, and said "Ok, ok, hold on, let me take my pants back off."
That Joe, what a sense of humor. |
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