Since I have been in & out wrestling dressing rooms since I was 20 years old, I have had the unique pleasure of meeting a wide variety of wrestlers, managers, referees,valets, & a few guys & gals who were trying to find a place in our sport, but hadn't yet.
When I first started, I had alot of ideas on how I would get myself over ( to make myself known & popular to the fans), and earlier today, I got to thinking about them and how I could tie the into a blog. Lucky you, huh?? lol
My first idea was to call myself Bonebuster Jack Stevens, a mecenary/ bounty hunter type not unlike Dog, the Bounty Hunter himself. Now, the bounty hunter idea was hardly fresh stuff in wrestling, but I thought the name was pretty cool, so I was pricing a big cowboy duster, leather biker boots,etc- I even priced photos with infamous "WANTED", Wild West style framing & color scheme- anything that would lend itself to the character, as is the more common term today. I wanted to establish this name as a real dangerous, renegade type guy; a force to be reckoned with in the world of professional wrestling.
Never mind that, at 20 years old, I was about 185 lbs..... tall & thin ( I wish thats was the case today....:)
I had a mullet which, as time has proven to us, doesn't exactly scream "dangerous renegade"......and, as part & parcel of being tall & thin, I wasn't particularly powerful with respect to my wrestling style- a guy with such a gimmick should be 1)physically intimidating, 2)be a good brawler & 3) show above average power- and of the 3 key elements, I had zero. I had, however, a real good looking leather vest & hat, so I was ready to move forward with the Bonebuster idea.
I proudly took this idea to Neil Superior, my wrestling instructor. As he listened to the idea, and looked at the detailed run down of the gimmick I jotted down on paper, he looked at me & asked me a very simple question: "do you even know who YOU are yet?" The question initially hurt my feelings & instantly made me defensive about the validity of my idea, but, as he was prone to do, he explained what he meant.
Basically, Neil was telling me that,while my idea may be good, it may not be good for ME- in other words, everything doesn't always fit a particular individuals style & skills; and that I needed to learn who I was as a wrestler- I didn't even have a dozen matches under my belt yet!
All too often, in meeting young guys & girls getting started, they have already decided that they are someone, and some of them don't even have as much experience as I when I approached Neil all those years ago....and sadly, its alot easier to try to do it your own way then follow someone else advice- and as most of us know, experience teaches you that it wasn't always the right way to go.
I recall a young guy some years ago who came to us for a try out match- right away, he explained that his character was that of a psycho ward inmate, and that he would, at one point in the match, would grab his head & start shaking violently- this, he told us that this was the voice of grandfather talking to him, trying to get him to do things that he ordinarily would not. "You see, he continued, my grandfather told me me hurt & torture these small animals as a child, which lead to my incarceration, which brought me to what I became- an patient at an insane asylum". Real likeable,huh?
He then proceeded to do every single spectacular wrestling move know to man at the time, high flying all over the ring as we all wondered a) what he would do next & b) how this all tied into his "character".
Afterwards, after we told him he was quite the impressive athlete, we ask how what he did in the match lent itself to his very explanation of who he was- and his response, which I will never forget, was " I guess some people get it, and some people don't...." Exactly.
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