My Wrestling Camp Experience

[cawthon777 0]

I spent all day Friday at the Shelby Rec Center in Shelby, NC where Ricky Steamboat, Tracy Smothers, Terry Taylor, Les Thatcher, and Tom Prichard were holding an all day wrestling camp, with students coming in as far away as Boston and Vegas.

 

I'll be back later with some very in-depth and entertaining stories on the camp and the show that followed but I just wanted to quickly pass along some of the coverage I put together for the Shelby Star (my employer).

 

A brief overview:

http://www.shelbystar.com/portal/ASP/artic...ew.asp?ID=21497

 

A profile on one of the students at the camp:

http://www.shelbystar.com/portal/ASP/artic...ew.asp?ID=21522

 

The dominant photo of yesterday's paper:

http://images.snapfish.com/346359638%7Ffp3...C2%3C%3A9nu0mrj

 

Video footage of the drills (again, not taken by me):

http://www.shelbystar.com/video/February/p...stling_0001.wmv

 

If you read the articles and think "This could be much, much longer" - I agree. But the paper has this new strict policy of short and to-the-point stories that don't "jump" to another page later in the paper. I could easily have written a book on the camp if given the chance.

[Guest The Showcase]

IN the dominant picture, the guy with the blonde hair standing to the left of Tom Prichard is my roommate. He's the the student from Vegas that was mentioned.

 

No bullshit.

[Matt Young 0]

Thanks for sharing. That was all pretty cool to see, especially the WCW Nitro ring.

 

I'm interested in anything training related, because I am moving back to Springfield, IL, and training with New Midwest Wrestling. I plan on starting right after WrestleMania, only because if I start before, I will be forced to attend their First Blood event the night before WM22 rather than RoH in Chicago.

 

EDIT: Hey cawthon, have you seen either of the two former NMW wrestlers who now work for Highspots out there? Their names are "Mr. Elite" Jake Manning and "Texas Lightning" Bobby Houston.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Matt Young is gonna be a wrestler? Better get on the WWE "diet" early my friend.

[Red Baron 0]

I'm afraid that the needle will hit bone, or go right through him.

[cawthon777 0]

I was there all day covering Les Thatcher's EPWT training camp for the Shelby Star newspaper. Got there at 8:45 a.m. as they were setting up the ring.

 

Spoke to Les before things got underway and thanked him for an interview he gave me a few weeks back to preview the camp for the paper. He shared with me the fact that Al Snow and Mick Foley apparently have some very comical answering messages, ex: "Hi, my name is Al and I ask that you speak very slowly and articulately as I have sustained many chair shots."

 

Steamboat seemed a little distant. I thought about initiating conversation, outside of simply introducing myself, but what exactly do you say? "Hi, you're really freaking awesome" ?

 

I will say one thing, the trainers were really nice to me during the relatively brief time I spent with them. I appreciated that. The trainees were very cool as well. I guess once they realize I'm not some stupid reporter and that I actually know what I'm talking about, they're fine talking to me.

 

There was one point where Ricky was talking with some of the trainees before the camp got underway and he complained about being banged up and getting old. I said "Well, it beats the alternative." "What's that?" he asked. "Well ... being dead." I got a laugh out of it. "I guess I'm 2/3rds of the way there."

 

In the ring, Steamer told a story about how when you have a man in a headlock and he lands a few elbows ... don't create a gap between yourself and your opponent, keep him close if you're going to break the hold. He told a story once of being in the ring with a heel and when the headlock became too lose, the heel took Ricky's arms off of him, mouthed a yawn, and then put the hold back on himself. My jaw dropped at that.

 

Oh, and if you were wondering, yes Ricky did teach the guys how to work heel. It was surreal.

 

I got Steamer to sign my WrestleMania III poster, which he took some interest in. I think he stared at it for a good 30 seconds. Got Terry Taylor to sign my Survivor Series 89 poster, which he signed "Rooster" - even drew a little rooster pic with the autograph.

 

I met Quentin Michaels from Deep South. Really nice guy. He knew my name from The History of WWE (big compliment). We got to chatting about how Deep South is going, some general stuff about Johnny Ace, and what it's like working for WWE. He did some managing on that night's card.

 

The show that night started really late for some reason. I heard around 8 p.m. - "There's a lockerroom full of guys and no one knows the line up."

 

The card lasted until 11:30, at which time I myself was ready to head home. Matches were good and I was impressed with some of the trainees that worked the show.

 

The standout was probably the X-division gauntlet match featuring Chris Hamrick, Chase Stevens, Caprice Coleman, and about 7 others ranging in size and experience. Hamrick pulled off some great highspots including a standing backflip powerslam off the top. Hamrick was the star of the match but Stevens pinned Caprice to get the win.

 

The show ran so late that the Taylor/Prichard vs. Armstrong/Horner bout lasted all of 20 seconds. The heels come out, Taylor says "Cut the music and lets get this thing started" - which immediately made me catch on that they were short on time. The babyfaces come out, a quick brawl erupts, and before you know it the match is over. No one booed the quick finish, most just laughed.

 

Lots of fun and I hope Matt Holder did good enough business to come back soon. I think it drew just over 200 according to what I saw reported on Wrestling Observer.com.

 

I had a blast spending the day just listening to Les Thatcher, Terry Taylor, Ricky, Dr. Tom, and Tracy Smothers give pointers in the ring. I've never had a desire to get into the ring but I can listen to those guys talk all freaking day.

[cawthon777 0]

EDIT: Hey cawthon, have you seen either of the two former NMW wrestlers who now work for Highspots out there? Their names are "Mr. Elite" Jake Manning and "Texas Lightning" Bobby Houston.

 

I might know them by face but not by name.

[Matt Young 0]

EDIT: Hey cawthon, have you seen either of the two former NMW wrestlers who now work for Highspots out there? Their names are "Mr. Elite" Jake Manning and "Texas Lightning" Bobby Houston.

 

I might know them by face but not by name.

 

They've wrestled for CWA and some (other?) AWA affiliates.

 

"Texas Lightning" Bobby Houston:

 

"Mr. Elite" Jake Manning:

 

And to the people who doubt my aspirations to train- I have done so, briefly, before. Once at my current size, the first time while at afat 178 pounds. I got hurt once, had to move the second time. This time, I have started a workout plan which will continue throughout my training. I'm a naturally bigger guy (as in mass, not height) with aslow metabolism, so I gain weight quickly.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Nice recap Cawthon.

 

I really wouldn't know what to say to a guy like Steamboat myself. I'm sure I'd have dozens of semi-interesting things to say leading up to it but would freeze as soon as I saw him and barely stutter out "Nice to meet you sir."