Indy Wrestling Training

[parallax1978]

So I've been kicking it around for quite some time and starting tomorrow I am going to start taking lessons/working in my local indy promotion. My friend is the owner and he, and Mrs. Parallax1978 have been trying to persuade me for a while to come and do it. I trained Shaolin Kung Fu for 5 years and have been following wrestling for as long as I can remember so I figured it would be a fun thing to try.

My questions are:

A) Any gimmick ideas? I want to incorporate my martial arts as much as possible and probably be masked but I'm not sure if I should go with a serious "assassin" type character (Iim not a very big guy so I'm not sure that would be believable or something more comical... or an entirely different direction.

B ) Would anyone be interested in me updating my experiences in a blog or in posts type of thing?

Either way wish me luck... my only real fear is ending up like Droz or something.
B

[Caliber]

How funny.

I've recently had a lot of people try to get me to get into pro-wrestling. I'm a big guy, 5'10 at 246lbs, with most of that being muscle, so I've got the build for it. I also have an awesome character planned and all that, but, I'm 29. I'm too old. I love me some wrestling, but I wouldn't want to do it unless I could go 100% and really have a go at it.


Here's my advice. Don't incorporate the martial arts. Look at Superstar Graham when he did it, Tensai, or Glacier. Hell, even Ricky Steamboat looked like a dork when he did the martial arts stuff, and he was too legit to quit. Eric Bischoff always looked like an idiot when he did his kicks and such, because unless you're a trained fight choreographer, it's tough to pull your kicks & punches and still have'em look cool.

I love martial arts. I've been into it, ninjitsu especially, since I was like 5. And there's nothing hokier than a western fella in martial arts garb.

I mean, if you didn't dress like it, and perhaps did something like akido, then you might have something. Doing wrists lock, flips, and all that rad stuff might work. If you stay away from the kicks, chops, and Tongan Nerve Holds, you'd be safe.

And yeah, I'd love to hear about you getting into the camp, and all that goes on. I find that stuff fascinating, and I think a lot of other folks will too.

[parallax1978]

I'm older than you (34) and I have no intention of doing anything with this other than being entertaining to the 200 or so people that show up every other week, being active, and having fun.

I will to some extent have to rely on my martial arts training as that is the only physical thing I have ever really done... and I am pretty sure I want to do a masked gimmick since I kind of don't want my colleagues in the "real world" to find out about it and I don't really want to do any promos or anything so I figured a martial arts gimmick would work perfectly... but I am open to other ideas.

I would like to do an "evil liberal" gimmick if I ever did get comfortable enough to do promos and such as I live in a very red state and can just think of a million things that would draw heat (i.e. bringing out a big box labeled 'your guns' and tell them I was there to take them away from them on behalf of Obama...) but I think that is a ways off.

I am going to start tonight so I will be back with an update tomorrow.

[Caliber]

Ah, an evil liberal. That's actually fresh. Usually it's the evil conservative. So I think that could work.

Yeah, no beef with you being under a mask, I understand that completely. I just imagined you dressing in the Bruce Lee outfit with the black silk shirt & white cuffs, and doing the kinda stuff that Glacier was doing.

I suppose if you're a lot more understated, then it could work.

You better be in some serious shape, big homie, because you're gonna go through physical hell.

[parallax1978]

I've dealt with pain before. I'll survive.

I start up a blogspot or wordpress or something in a while with details on how it went.

[scottyflamingo]

I think a Martial Arts gimmick can work, but you gotta go way over the top like Muta or Liger and have a flashy costume and mask or make-up.

The Evil Liberal is interesting, but here's the problem with political gimmicks, 50% of the audience is gonna agree with you. It would only work as a regional gimmick in a very Red State area.

We had an Indie wrestler down here (Alabama) whose gimmick was Damn Yankee, a south hater who talked about being from sophisticated NYC. Ton of heat, but it wouldn't work all over the country.

I'd stick with the MA gimmick. I didn't think the IDEA of Tensai (a white guy who absorbed Japanese culture) was bad, but it was executed poorly. You should have the gimmick of a kid that grew up a wrestling fan who became obsessed with Puro. You'd have some crazy outfit and paint or a mask and could bust out all the crazy Japanese gimmicks like mist and throwing salt.

[parallax1978]

Agreed that it would need to be some sort of costumed gimmick and I particularly want to have a mask so I can use multiple gimmicks if I decide to... I kind of like the idea of wearing a version of ninja gear so I can keep the promos to a minimum or not at all until I get more comfortable doing it.

As for the political thing I think it would play very well here (South Carolina) and I don't intend to ever work anywhere other than the shows we have at the school so there is no concern about different areas. I'm not ready for that level of gimmick yet though... which is a shame since I have come up with a million ideas for it (my cell phone rings in the middle of a promo with the ringtone going "Yes we can Yes we can Yes we can" I say 'The boss is calling!' I pull out a ridiculously old Zack Morris type cell phone that clearly reads "OBAMA PHONE" on it I talk for a minute and hang up and say 'He told me to have all you people sit down, shut up, and listen to what I have to say... and everyone has to do what the state tells them too!!!' I think it draw incredible heat here and be really fun.

www.facebook.com/C4WExplosiveWrestling?ref=ts&fref=ts That's the promotion in question...

[magoonie]

I would say do the mask thing if that's what makes you feel comfortable with keeping your identity a secret (although honestly you shouldn't be ashamed of your "real world" colleagues finding out, it's not their business what you do as a hobby on your free time) but I wouldn't go full on decked out in a ninja costume, it could come off laughable very easily. Although that might be an angle on it, somebody who comes out in full ninja gear but sucks at doing ninja type things. Like before a match, have somebody come out with a board, you bow to it, then when you punch it, it doesn't break. Have your assistant hold up his hand for you to do a spinning back kick and you keep missing it. Have your character take himself super seriously but is actually a complete goof. You could even try doing the crane in the middle of a match and have the guy grab your leg and put you in an ankle lock. I know it's not a flattering character but it could be something pretty funny.

I really like the evil liberal character and wish you would just start off with that. Although if you could find the confidence to do promos you can still wear a mask. Say something about how you need to keep your identity a secret from all these evil Americans, you could even make suggestions and inferences that you are or work for a Democrat/liberal politician (which would lead to your opponents trying to unmask you to find out who you are).

Good luck with it though, I hope you do really well and have fun. And please do a blog on this and keep updating it, pictures too please.

[parallax1978]

I figured I would give you guys an update on this.

1st of all I doubt I will be starting a blog, I am very busy and wouldn't update it often enough to make it worth the effort.

The training thus far has been much different than I thought it was. My martial arts skills do not translate as well as I thought they would, in fact they often end up getting in the way. For instance in the style of martial arts in which I am trained, the objective of a fight is to take your opponent to the ground while you remain standing, so looking at it from the reverse perspective your goal is to never go to the ground... so I found myself having a hard time learning to take bumps because my instinct was to catch myself. Flip bumps in particular were (and still are) difficult for me to execute.

The grappling aspect (headlocks, arm ringers, hammerlock, full nelson etc...) has been a bit easier for me as it has a lot more flow to it in that one move leads to the next, leads to the next etc... and I think I have gotten pretty good at that relative to the amount of time I have spent on it.

Selling seems to come pretty naturally to me and I think it comes off very believably because while I am in good shape I am very small so I can oversell a bit and it ends up looking good.

Pain. It is painful there is no doubt about it, anyone that thinks its fake should take 1 week of classes, then apologize to every wrestler everywhere. That said I don't find it to be an intolerable amount of pain. My previous training in martial arts has provided me with a pretty good pain threshold so I am prepared, though this type of pain is different. Not worse (or better) exactly, just hurts in a different way... but nothing I won't be able to handle.

Character development wise I am still developing it... I seem to be a natural heel though and will very likely stick with that. There is a stable that is fairly well known in the region called The Riders of the Apocalypse (War, Death, Famine, Pestilence) my friend who is also the owner of the promotion and "Death" wants to eventually turn face and have me come out as his "nemesis from the past" or something like that... since we both have martial arts background it just makes sense... and we could stiff the shit out of each other. As for a look I would likely have some sort of face paint... likely something in red and if I can get Mrs. Parallax1978 to authorize the purchase I am going to get contact lenses that make my eyes look like Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy games (they are quite expensive www.lens.com/contact-lenses/lens767.asp ) my moveset would likely be similar to The Great Muta as will much of the gimmick which I think will be fun and should get over pretty well.

That's about all I have for right now, I still welcome comments/thoughts/recommendations/criticisms etc... and I will keep you guys updated as I develop and have more stuff to say.

[scottyflamingo]

Good read.

Keep in mind that a lot of your audience is going to be a decent distance away and may not be able to tell you have contacts in with the Seperoth design. I think the "Possessed" set would look creepy as hell and be easy to see even from a distance.

Have you done any top rope stuff yet?

[parallax1978]

The arena I work in is quite small, you are right on top of the fans so you can interact with them a lot so they'll definitely be able to see them... I'll post a picture of the arena/set.

Haven't done any top rope moves. It kind of works like martial arts in terms of the way you get material except you get shirts instead of belts and I am working on the first shirt which is basic stuff, you can work a match with just that stuff... but it will look like a match from the 1970's. Top rope moves don't look too scary though, especially a Matt Hardy type leg drop... that is just a butt bump from a higher location.

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