I hope everyone of you had a great weekend, and to all the mothers, I hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day!

I spent my Saturday night the same way I have spent so many over the last 18 years, in a small town  way way WAY out in the middle of nowhere, in a small gym, armory or fire hall, wrestling in front of people usually so starved for entertainment they would take action on a fight between two local drunk bums- and in alot of cases, said bums would provide a more entertaining overall spectacle.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that while the number of actual wrestling promotions has grown considerably, the amount of actual wrestling TALENT has shrunk to an almost non existent level. Now, I was surrounded with a lot of familiar faces this weekend, but it doesnt change the fact that, as time wears on, it becomes more & more obvious to me why, with only certain exceptions, WWE & TNA will not look at most independent talent with any degree of seriousness.

Why, you ask, would WWE &TNA not be interested in wrestlers who have at least a level of experience? Well, I think I have a few answers, & alot of you reading this may not care for them, but they are, in my opinion, the truth serum so many of you need.

The thing, first & foremost, is that WWE & TNA are not interested in taking the time to try to "unteach" bad habits. Lets face it, if you been wrestling any period of time over 3 months, you should know how to properly apply the following holds :

1) collar & elbow lock up
2) standing headlock
3) overhand wristlock
4) hammerlock
5) armbar

Now, beyond that rudimentary level, is the next step up the rung of basic wrestling 101, which is the following:
1) hiptoss
2) armdrag
3) bodyslam
4) standing vertical suplex

Straight away, WWE & TNA will look at an athlete with no experience before someone who does, and the aforementioned moves & holds provide the entire reason: Why try to reteach some hardheaded indy guy who cant take the slightest of criticisms, when they can take a total greenhorn & show him the right way? Answer: they won't.

Another big critique is that they hire people who have "no passion" instead of the "hard working warriors" of the independent scene....shall we examine this criticism? Because, once again, you will not like the answers, which is a big reason why so many of you won't improve: You can't handle the truth!

If you are all so hard working & passionate about what you do, why in the hell don't you know to properly applying the most basic moves in the profession?? Usually, it has something to do with your lack of commitment to anything other than your gimmick, such as it is, & how to put yourself over...but in reality, your just exposing how little respect you truly have for the profession of the people you think of as heroes.

I was told years ago that theres no substitute for knowing how to actually wrestle-and if you know how, you can wrestle anywhere with anyone and have a good, entertaining match. Unfortunately, we are getting to the point that isnt so true anymore, because of the lack of guys who can do so.

There used to be a time of day that you could go almost anywhere & have a decent match with anyone, because most guys at least understood the basics, and you could build around that. These days, everyone is trying to do the most complicated stuff, without knowing the easy stuff- its akin to trying to put a roof on a house before you even bothered to build the foundation. And guess what? it NEVER works- at least not to the people who pad to see it, that is-all 30 of them, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Wrestling is an art- part athletics, part performance-and sadly, many of the guys I come across now in these aforementioned armories,gyms,& fire halls- don't posess either the ability or the desire to learn to do it correctly.

Not everyone on the independent scene is terrible,obviously, but the ones that are remain the biggest reason why the overall scene is degraded as second rate.

So for all the wrestling school drop outs who moved on,because you refused to learn & got booked somewhere, most likely by someone who walked the same path as you, I offer these words: please, please PLEASE do either of the following: learn the basics or please, go back out into the crowd- we need less of you in locker rooms, and more of you in the seats.

Just one mans opinion-I'm wide open to your thoughts,critiques & viewpoints. But lets keep it at a classy level- name calling & trash talking is for cowards & talk shows.

SSS