So you wanna be a Professional Wrestler?

Apr. 13-16, 2006

Best Advice

Take it easy on the painkillers: After your first day of training, you’ll never want to go back again. Be careful as to how dependent you become on over-the-counter solutions to your pain and stiffness.
Practice in character: Perfecting your gimmick is half the battle in professional wrestling. You may be a great wrestler, but if you can’t sell yourself to the crowd you’re not of value to a wrestling company.
Communicate: Learn the lingo and practice using it as much as possible. Having to slow down a match to make sure that the next move is understood can bore an audience and damper one’s overall performance.
Relax: Nothing looks worse than a match that’s rushed to a finish. In the words of instructor Russell Simpson, “Less is more, so long as you’re really selling every move.”

By Austin Powell
Daily Texan Staff

Photos by Peter Franklin Daily Texan Staff

Ray Campos flips Patrick Palesano during a drill that teaches the proper way to perform a back-body drop.

This article could not have been written 20 years ago. At that time, wrestlers never broke from character. Who they were in the ring was who they were outside of it. Even family members were often left out of the loop as to the ins-and-outs of the business and the validity to the plot lines. The only way to break into the industry at that time was through the aid of a relative or a close friend who was willing to risk their own wrestling reputation to bring a newcomer in.

The times have changed. Professional wrestling training is now offered by nearly every independent wrestling promotion. However, there are many different styles of wrestling, running the gamut from Mexican to hardcore. You should be familiar with an organization’s history, as well as their reputation in the wrestling community before putting both your money and body in another’s hands.

Photos by Peter Franklin Daily Texan Staff

John Cartwright and other students go through a strength and conditioning exercise. Above, Ray Campos locks Luis Garcia into a submission move known as the “Mexican Surfboard.”

"Some companies take your dues, kick your ass and then kick you out the door,” Champions of Texas Power Wrestling promoter George Del La Isla said. “They build themselves up by tearing other people down.”

Champions of Texas Power Wrestling is the longest running independent wrestling organization in Texas. Their school, which offers beginners classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights, teaches the fundamentals of wrestling, specializing in old-school grappling and mat work.

CTPW’s training, put simply, is the best around. It’s helped launch the careers of numerous wrestling stars, including current World Wrestling Entertainment high-flyer Paul London.

“What you learn here is the same thing you learn at the WWE,” John Peterson Jr., a veteran CTPW said during one practice session. “If you can’t make it here, you won’t make it at the next level. So shut your mouth and listen to what they’re telling you. The elders deserve that respect.”

Peterson’s sentiments are validated through former CTPW student Russell Simpson, who now is a trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling, a premiere training and developmental facility for the WWE.

The first thing that Simpson or any other wrestling veteran will teach you in the ring is the value of respect. For your opponent is not actually your opponent, but your partner. It is your personal responsibility to ensure the other’s safety in the ring and to help them look good while doing it. If you don’t treat your partner with the respect they deserve, especially if they are a veteran wrestler, your wrestling career may painful and short-lived.

In professional wrestling, everything is practiced to the point where it becomes second nature. Though the training is done step-by-step, it won’t be long until you’re expected to be able to tuck your chin to your chest, throw your arms flat against the mat and fall flat on your back. The sooner you lose all inhibition, the easier it’ll become.

Please be forewarned though, the training to become a professional wrestler is extensive and extremely physical. One of Champions of Texas Power Wrestling’s favorite activities is “blow-up” drills, where a work-out doesn’t end until someone coughs up part of their last meal.

Photos by Peter Franklin Daily Texan Staff

CTPW promoter George Del La Isla addresses his wrestlers following another night of practice.

“Don’t you puke in my ring,” Ray Campos, an instructor for the organization, yelled one day to taunt his trainees.

But unlike other independent organizations, CTPW strives to be realistic in their presentation and doesn’t demand physical perfection.

“They [other organizations] need to be more true-life,” Del La Isla said. “Everyone isn’t thick and puffed out. You have to have the good, bad and ugly. They can have the look and the body, but they are so dull in becoming believable. People want to find a wrestler that can look like them and still do it.”

Wrestling Essentials

Books:
“Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment” by Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham
Vince McMahon single-handedly monopolized the wrestling industry and destroyed everything and everyone in his path to do so. Anyone considering a future in the business should first read this quintessential book on the man everyone loves to hate.

“Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks” by Mick Foley
Fans don’t chant “Foley is God” without reason. In this autobiography, the hardcore wrestling icon takes the reader behind each of his three personas (Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love) for an extremely intimate and entertaining account of the pain and sacrifice that professional wrestling entails. Bang Bang!

“The Buzz on Professional Wrestling” and “Tonight … In this Very Ring: A Fan’s History of Professional Wrestling” by Scott Keith
Together these two books give you the bottom line on all of the crucial wrestling knowledge you’ll ever need from the lingo and basic moves to the big names and key organizations. They also deliver an overview of the history of wrestling, both what is seen on television, and the real life drama and politics that occur behind the scenes.

Film:
“The Rise and Fall of ECW” (2004)
Extreme Championship Wrestling redefined every aspect of the wrestling industry. Its senseless violence and extreme attitude developed what is now known as “hardcore.” This six-hour video looks at the organization that Paul Heyman, the man that both built and destroyed the company. Keep in mind, this video was not made by the ECW, but by the competing organization that eventually bought them out, the WWE.

“Beyond the Mat” (1999)
This powerful documentary follows the careers of several professional wrestlers, including Jake “the Snake” Roberts and Terry Funk, as they suffer from the various wounds professional wrestling has inflicted upon them throughout the years. This is the other side of wrestling — the pain, the injuries, the loneliness, the drug and fame addictions — not shown on TV.

Video Games:
“WrestleMania 2000” (2000)
Every wrestling game today has a create-a-wrestler mode, but this one was not only one of the first, but it remains one of the best guides to learning how individual moves are done. Just wait to get some training before attempting all that you’ll learn.

“Showdown: Legends of Wrestling” (2005)
In the create-a-wrestler mode on this game, you can actually create characters from the local wrestling alliance, CTPW, like “Mr. B “and “Psycho Simpson.”

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