No Pain, No Gain!

Some sayings never die - No Pain, No Gain! I hear it all the time in the gym. I hear it all the time in, out and around the wrestling business. It really rings true. Especially, for this blog I'm about to type.

I want to describe what a professional wrestler feels like day in and day out. Many of you will never know how much punishment a wrestler's body takes. You'll never be able to fathom how tough it is, even when you're younger. Age has nothing to do with the everyday pain of being a wrestler... it's all about the punishment from the squared circle (the ring).

Driving a car. Yeah, simple task, right? Well, after a trip of ten minutes or longer, it does get a little tougher getting out. Your body aches like you've been beaten by a mob. Your knees constantly hurt. Ankles, toes, shoulders and especially your back. Now, don't get me wrong... you get a little warmed up and loose. But the constant weight lifting, running and wrestling takes a huge toll on your body.

And I'm only 24 years old.

I used to sit back and watch the old-school wrestlers move around. I would actually make fun of some of them for always being in pain. Of course, age was the punchline in most of the jokes. Now, after seven years in the business, I can see that age might not have very much to do with it. I wrestle maybe 150 days out of the year. WWE contracted wrestlers might wrestle 275 days out of the year. Some wrestle MORE. Just imagine how their bodies must feel!

Injuries are very common in wrestling. If you injure a wrist while wrestling, it actually affects your entire life. Now, because of your injured wrist, you can't lift. So, what do we do? Well, you can't miss a day in the gym... so, you lift the best you can on an injured wrist. Yeah, not too smart, eh? Well, I lifted weights with a fractured wrist. How? Simple... I taped it up, wrapped it up and sucked it up. I had to do what I had to do.

I injured a shoulder two years back. I hurt it to the point that I couldn't lift my arm. I freaked out. Most wrestlers don't have insurance, so they don't go to the doctor or hospital. I didn't, then. So, I didn't go. I continued to go to the gym, I continued to train and I worked through it. Now, my shoulder is all better.

My third training session, seven years ago, I broke a toe. Never went to the hospital or doctor... I just ignored the pain and worked through it. Because of that, seven years later, my toe and foot still feels pain from it not healing correctly before. Yeah, I know... I wasn't very smart.

My toes, ankles, shoulders, wrists... or whatever. No big deal. You would never understand what some of the other guys go through all year around. Could you imagine KNOWING that you need surgery, but you don't get it done because then you couldn't work? Could you imagine a doctor TELLING you that you need surgery... but you're too scared to get it done because of fear of losing your job? That's the way it goes in wrestling.

If you're injured and can't "go", someone else will. That's the way this business is.

Hey, Kid

It's a name that you never miss hearing. I hated it. It took a long, long time to get away from it. It takes YEARS... literally. No matter how hard you work. No matter how good you get. It's really hard to get away from. I just took it in stride when I was first starting out. I had an influential person, a veteran of the wrestling business, who was there to help me along. He told me point-blank, "Keep your mouth shut." And I did. There's not one single person out there who likes to hear, "Hey, Kid."

That's your name when you first start out in the wrestling business. But it's more than just a name. It's your character. It's your demeanor. Heck, it's who you are! You're the kid! You do what they don't want to do. You carry the bags. You run the errands. You might even buy lunch (if you, the kid, have lunch money!) It's not the fact that you're being FORCED to do anything. But the wrestling business has an unwritten code of law and I'm sure that most other sports do, too. It's the law of respect.

For instance, your mentor tells you to carry his bag for him. You may not WANT to do it... but you better. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not the fact that he may beat you up in the parking lot or anything like that. But usually, your mentor (or trainer) is the reason you're even in the wrestling business anyway. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be there to begin with. You show respect by doing some of the things that just may make his life a little easier. That's the way the business works.

Some rookies hated to be the kid a lot more than me. Some guys even speak up and say no. Those guys don't last very long. They usually won't make the next trip because they don't respect the business enough. Or if it goes far enough, they may end up in the ring with a veteran that might take advantage of them. What I mean by that is plain and simple... the kid will get stretched.

Being stretched is a term used by the old-timers in the wrestling business who will literally put you in a wrestling hold and stretch your body apart. If they have a hold of your arm, you may think your arm is going to be pulled completely off by the time they're done. Same thing with your legs or ankles. You may think they're literally going to break them off and hand them back to you. These guys aren't joking around. I've seen some guys gets stretched pretty bad... to the point that they're CRYING... in the ring! It's a tactic they use to teach the kids a lesson. A lesson in respect.

It's almost a form of hazing. But usually, it's not nearly that bad. That term may be a little too rough for what I'm talking about. There's constant joking and ribbing on the kid. For instance, I was in Nashville with one of the most popular tag teams to ever come out of Memphis, TN. One of the guys made me sit in the floor instead of on the sofa with them. "Sit in the floor, kid. And don't be lookin' at my wife either!" They'd laugh about it and go on with their conversation. What did I do? I sat in the floor and looked away from his wife. I was maybe 17 at the time. I was the kid.

The kid is usually put through numerous tests to see if he's tough enough to be in the business. You can't be a crybaby if you're going to be a professional wrestlers. Trust me, if you are... you won't have a long-term career doing it, that's for sure. Usually the kid gets booked with a few guys that will be a little extra stiff with them. The punches come a lot harder. The kicks are a lot harder. And even the body slams are slammed a little harder, just to see if the kid will complain. I've been beaten to a pulp by guys who are 6' 4" and 300 plus pounds. What did I do when the match was over (quickly over, might I add)? I went back to the locker room and shook his hand and thanked him for the match. Not only did that add character, but it was the ultimate show of respect. Plus, it makes me look tough... even though I was hurting pretty bad.

I finally realized that being the kid would pass with time. And it did. Sometimes, I'll see a few of the guys from the past and they'll laugh and say, "The kid..." Just as a reminder that they remember when I WAS the kid. Now, I can look back on it and realize that every rib they pulled... every beating they gave me... just made me a better wrestler and it definitely made me respect the wrestling business that much more. I don't think I would love it as much if it didn't happen that way.

Pulling Ribs

This is an essential part of the wrestling business. Just like an office meeting. Or maybe a conference call. You can even compare it the cup of coffee you prepare every morning before you go to work. Pulling ribs (pranks) is a normal everyday activity in the world of pro wrestling. I shudder to think of what the business would be like without them.

You see, no matter how rich or famous a wrestler is... no matter how young or old a wrestler is... there's always a rib to be pulled. We thrive off getting the better of one another. Whether it's spicing their drink up with a little hot sauce while they're off to the restroom, or simple tripping them as they walk by... a rib is a rib. Guys lay-in-wait for the opportunity to pull a good joke on a fellow wrestler. Some guys are legendary for their prankster status. A good rib never dies.

Some ribs are much worse than others. Some are in good nature and some bad. You want examples? Of course you do!

Bad nature? Okay, let's see how this one fits. Replacing a guy's bottle of Mountain Dew with a bottle of... well... urine. And yes, this is a true story... and yes, the guy DRANK it. A little rough for your taste? Yeah, mine too. And no, I didn't have any part of that rib.

Good nature? Something as simple as hiding a wrestlers boot. Just one of them. If you took them both, it would be too obvious. So, you snatch one boot and hide it. Now, if you've ever seen a pair of wrestling boots, you know they'd take a while to lace up. Sometimes they go as high up as your knee. So, the entire point of this rib is to hide the boot until the wrestler's match. When his music is playing for him to come to the ring... he still only has one boot on. Then, you can either make him wrestle with only one boot on. Or you could just give him the other and he'll have to rush to put it on. This is especially effective if you're doing live television. Promoters don't take too kindly to that sort of thing though.

How about another bad nature? This one is a little gruesome. Jerry Lawler tells a story in his book about his first few weeks with the World Wrestling Federation. Lawler apparently didn't have very many friends when he started for the company. Once, he came back to the dressing room to retreive his crown (he's the KING!)... only to find that someone had defecated in it. True story. This is a very bad nature rib. Now that I think about it, why are bowel movements usually involved with bad nature ribs? Hmm...

Wrestlers are the best at pranks. Whether they're hateful or they're playful. The ribs keep coming. It's part of the business.

Being a Heel

Let's start off with the obvious question. What is a heel? Quite simply... it's a villain. There's always a villain or a heel in every story. Whether it's a movie, play, any fight or a wrestling match. It's usually the good versus the evil. The superhero versus the villain. Or in wrestling terms, the babyface versus the heel.

Being a heel is more fun than you could ever imagine. Think about it for a minute. It's a job where you actually get paid to make people hate you. How great does that sound? You don't have to go out of your way to kiss babies and shake hands. You don't have to sign autographs or high five the fans. You don't sell pictures of yourself or even have to worry about what they even think of you. You just go out there and do every nasty trick in the book to make those people hate you.

I've done some pretty terrible things in and out of the ring, as a heel in the wrestling business. Heck, just this past weekend, I beat up one of the company's top babyfaces with a chair to the point where his younger fans were actually crying. CRYING. So, what did I do? I got out of the ring and yelled at them in a horrible manner. Now, you might think that this is in very bad taste? Well, I tend to agree... to an extent.

There's several different ways you can look at this. Number one: yeah, I made a few young girls cry because I was beating up their hero. Ok. I admit that. Maybe I shouldn't have rubbed it in and egged it on by getting out of the ring and yelling at them, to make matters worse. But if you look at it from a business stand-point, you'd be seeing a totally different story. Me doing something as terrible as that, it builds even more hatred into my character. Do you think those little girls will be back? Of course. Why do you think they'll be back? Well, it's quite simple... they'll pay to see me get my butt kicked, the very next week!

I've called people fat. I've spit towards fans (not on them). I've swung at them. Some of the things that I've said would definitely not be acceptable if I weren't inside the wrestling ring. I've made challenges to some of the male fans in the crowd... and they've accepted by the notion of trying to climb in there with me. Thank goodness for security guards.

In Puerto Rico, fans have been known to throw pennies, bottles of water, rocks and even batteries at the wrestlers that they didn't like. I've had fans key my car or pour things on top of my car. I've even had a group of guys waiting on me outside in the parking lot. They wanted to have a street fight with Five Starr, so to speak. I've been slapped by women, spit on by kids and even hit in the head with a cane by an old-timer. But the reactions let me know that I'm doing one helluva job out there. It's so much easier to be disliked than it is to actually be liked.

This is just another interesting thing you can add to the list that makes the wrestling business unique. You tell me another sport where you actually WANT the fans to hate you. Tell me another form of entertainment where the more the fans hate you, the better the crowds are. You tell me any other business out there where people will actually pay their hard-earned-money to see someone that they absolutely hate. You can't. Only in wrestling.

Visit next week to get the top five ways to be a better heel. Thanks for reading.