"So how was it"

"I didn't watch it sorry. I was talking to Dom".

I had just had my first match, still heart beating so fast, so scared I'd messed up big, blown spots, something, still in shock over having wrestled professionally, in front of paying fans,  getting a win no less.

 Wrestling. In a ring. In a mask. Wrestling.

It's been six months since I got the following email in response to a letter I wrote to CG Afi, after reading his interview on a small independent wrestling website here in Florida. I wrote CG asking him about wrestling, how to get trained, where he came from, and how he got into the business.

He replied:

Brother,  getting into this business is a lot easier than people think.  Trust me.  All i did was make a phone call.  but being good is a totally different thing.  Listen I would glad to help you out anyway I can.  Thats one thing I have vowed to always do.  Help someone get into this business.  But I got a good friend coming over tonight so I don't have time for an email.  Better yet though, stay in touch with me.  And I will help you anyway i can if you can meet me at the show on the 28th. 

p.s.  I am very much a mark to Blitz too.  The guy is unbelievable.

I was sitting at work, re-reading the mail, wondering if it was really him, marking out over a small, wiry Indy wrestler, who I'd never seen work, only heard tremendous things about.  Sitting there, imagining myself in the ring; hell, in my mind, I'd already ran through a hundred gimmicks that I'd be PERFECT FOR. I'd already picked out my style, my ring wear, my everything.

I hadn't even been to the gym in 2 years.

At any rate there was the invite, plain as day, and I ended up meeting CG, at the Sanford SCW show, watching him capture, of all things, the SCW Heavyweight Title from Bryan Austin.  CG weighed in at a modest 145 pounds at the time, so the gimmick was pretty over with the fans rooting for little guy.

I waited until the ring was being taken down, saw CG come out from the back, bruised, battered, and a bit dizzy. He looked right through me, even though I got the idea he knew who I was.

That kind of sucked.  Finally, I got the courage, (Yeah, I know, what a mark) to go talk to him, and see if he had time to talk.  I had to remind him about the email, about who I was, but once he shook his head a few times it came back to him.

He said he'd do what he could to train me, and we talked about a price, amount of work it would take, dates/times/places, and settled on working in Melbourne, at what was at the time Bill Weavers CCW Stomping Grounds.  It seemed like a great thing, getting to be trained by someone whose work I thought was really head and shoulders above most of the local talent in Central Florida.

A week later, I emailed him to thank him for agreeing to train me, and helping me get my first taste of the business.  The email came back saying he needed to talk to me, so I saw him at the next show.

CG was getting a shot at WCW and wouldn't be able to continue to train me, so I felt pretty much SOL.  I asked CG to hook me up with someone who could give me what he could, experience and skill-wise, and he didn't disappoint. He hooked me up with Frankie Capone, another guy who worked at a few local independent promotions, and was a really talented worker.

Note:
I see a lot of guys who work hard, but none as hard or as professionally as Frankie. He always gives 100% percent, and has a lot of charisma. I really expect one of the big three to give Frank a shot, he really deserves it. He's got the full package, and even though he's not the biggest guy in the world, he's built well, and performs incredibly. I think Frank needs a few really nice aerial highspots in his arsenal and he'd be complete. But who am I?

Anyways, Frank and I worked out the price for training and off I went..again.  We worked a lot on fundamentals, training discipline, basic bumps, how to control my body, callusing my back, etc.  It was really hard to sit there on the hard mat, watching all the students who were ahead of me, working in the ring, doing their thing, while I sat 30 feet away, smashing my back over and over.

Every night I'd find myself aching and pushing myself to find a reason to continue doing this. While most of the students are young, in their early twenties, I was 27..and not a good 27, a fat overweight, out of shape, graying 27. Yeah. So it wasn't easy, it was hard, and not really that enjoyable. Somehow I found the drive to continue, to push myself in ways I didn't know I could, and persevered.

I'm going to keep writing this column, if people are interested in it, and my writing, and as the weeks go on, I'll bring you up to date to where I am now, where I'm working, yes I've made it that far, and who exactly your average independent working man's wrestler is. 

It's been an interesting year, I hope that a few of you want to come along and hear about it.

I walked back behind the curtain, turned past some of the relatives of the workers, to the dressing room, walked up to Frankie, and excitedly asked him.....

"So how was it"

"I didn't watch it sorry. I was talking to Dom".

So much for the teacher taking pride in the student's accomplishment.  More next week.

Justin
special to [slash] wrestling