What I Miss About Wrestling

When you give 12 years of your life to something, it is hard to completely walk away.  I will always have some regrets about the way things played out and some choices that I made along the way.  There will always be doubts and wondering what if.  It is natural and it goes with the territory.  There is no way to be involved with something for 12 years and to walk about without any regrets or wondering how things could have been different.

I could not be happier for the guys and girls that I worked with that have gone on to great success.  When I see CM Punk and Daniel Bryan as world champions in WWE, it amazes me.  I will always think of CM Punk as the guy that wrestled on every IWA Mid-South show from like 2000-2003 and then still came in during 2004 and 2005 after making it bigger in ROH.  Seeing him as one of the biggest stars in the business makes me happy because I got to see the beginning of that greatness.  I got to see the hard work, determination and effort that he put in to make it to the top.  When he saw me at the Cubs game the other night when he got to sing the 7th Inning Stretch and gave me a hug and asked what I had been up to, it made me happy to see that he remembered someone that he met on his climb up the ladder.  That is a good measure of a man.

I smiled for hours when I read that Chris Hero finally got signed to a deal even if it did involve a name change to Kassius Ohno.  I got to spend even more time with Hero than I did Punk.  I got to work with and against Hero for several years.  Next to CM Punk, I don’t know if I saw anyone put in more time and effort working in the ring and studying and wrestling anywhere and everywhere to get experience than Chris Hero.  He should have been signed years ago but better late than never.

While I don’t watch RAW hardly at all anymore, when the day comes that Chris Hero and CM Punk lock horns again, I will be watching.   They put on the greatest series of matches that I have ever had the honor of seeing in person.  Their run of 60 minute time limit draws that finished with their 93 minute classic in Clarksville, Indiana in February of 2003 will always be the best match that I ever saw live…especially since I’ve only been to 4 shows in the last 3 years!

This leads into what I miss most about wrestling.  I miss the camaraderie of the shows back in the day.  The old Clarksville building was awesome.  2 dressing rooms – one for the good guys…one for the bad guys.  There were so many nights when Mean Mitch Page and myself were the only 2 people in the bad guy dressing room.  We would talk about life.  We would joke around.  Mitch would prank call people saying he was George Takei or something else silly.  Other times, it would be us with the BMFers of Bull Pain, Todd Morton and Mitch Ryder and Bull would draw on the walls making his SHIT LIST lol.  If it wasn’t the locker room in Clarksville leading to the bonding time, it was the long ass car rides around middle of nowheresville Indiana.  Hours in the car with Chris Candido making Balls Mahoney impersonations and making fun of Super Dragon for being so damn quiet was a riot.  Real life doesn’t provide those opportunities.

Another thing that I miss are the boos.  Hearing the crowd voice their displeasure with me the second I walked out the curtain with BJ Whitmer or Mitch Page or Bull Pain or Eddie Kingston or Rugby Thug Trent Baker etc was the kind of feeling that can’t be understood if you haven’t experienced it.  I know why Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and on and on and on can’t just walk away.  If 100 people to 300 people responding that way can create an adrenaline rush, I can only dream of what 20,000 can do.

Finally, the thing that I miss the most is having the best seat in the house to watch some of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.  The brutality that Necro Butcher, Mitch, Rollin Hard, Mad Man Pondo, Ian and everyone else would put themselves through is mind boggling.  The skill and grace that Punk, Hero, Cabana, Suicide Kid, Jimmy Jacobs, Alex Shelley, Delirious, Sydal (Evan Bourne) etc would display was amazing.

If Jimmy Jacobs were 5 inches taller and about 30 pounds heavier, he’d be right there with Punk and Hero battling it out on RAW in a year or two.  If Eddie Kingston keeps improving and working hard, he can get an opportunity.  BJ Whitmer should have been given an opportunity years ago.  Even though I hardly watch anymore, I still read some of what Nick Maniwa tweets and see who I know that is getting a chance to live their dreams.

Me…I’ll always have my memories of the good times and will hold onto them fondly but I will also remember the bad times and why I got out and pursued a different dream.

Best of luck to those in my past that are still working hard and hoping to get that chance.

 

With that, I’ll post some of my favorite photos and call it a night.

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Photo: Jim Fannin

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Photo: Rollin Hard, Jim Fannin, and Mean Mitch Page

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Photo: Rollin Hard, Mean Mitch Page, Jim Fannin

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