Pro Wrestling: Men in Tights

The Avengers...My Addiction to Comic Books...

2012-05-29T11:27:00.001-07:00

So, I know that I normally write strictly about wrestling on here but I could not help it, I had to write something about the Avengers and all of the movies leading to Avengers 2. It’s been awhile since I have been on here because I am now writing for www.WrestleOhio.com , but I am back on here to talk about the Avengers. Also, I wanted to let everyone know that this blog will actually become a podcast very soon under the same name, Pro Wrestling: Men in Tights. Colt Cabana has been doing an astonishing job with his podcast, Art of Wrestling (which can be found on iTunes or at www.tsmradio/coltcabana ), but I want to get interviews with some of the lesser-known/up-and-coming talents out there today. I will let all of you know what is going on with that once I get all of the logistical bullshit figured out.

Now let’s get into some fucking comic book movies!!! Ha ha! Let me just start out by saying that I LOVED the Avengers and went and saw it twice (once by myself, and once with my lady). If you did not notice, “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross was in the movie dressed as a soccer player during the scene in Germany (or Cleveland, OH…same thing) when Loki makes everyone kneel to him before Cap kicks his ass. He is on the right-hand side of the screen and has a faux-hawk type hairdo going on. So there is some wrestling talk, since this is SUPPOSED to be a wrestling blog.

Thanos

I wanted to give everyone a chance to go see the movie and hear some of the spoilers before I got on here and gave my opinion on everything. This movie was great and they have already announced the Avengers 2, with Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Cap 2 all leading up to it. I am also pretty sure that everyone is signed on for a third Avengers movie, as well as Thor 3, Cap 3, and even another Hulk movie and talks of a solo S.H.I.E.L.D. movie. Personally, I say keep bringing the movies on. There are so many stories that they could go with that they could just keep pumping movies out, but I am about 100% sure that they are leaning towards the Civil War story, which is awesome. All that I do know is that the extra scene in The Avengers showed Thanos, so obviously they must be setting up for a Skrull invasion sometime in the future.

With that being said, Iron Man has already revealed his secret identity in the movies, so that piece of the puzzle is already set. There was some tension built between Iron Man and Cap in the Avengers, so that seed has been planted. All of the pieces are in place; it is now time to bring in those additional heroes that will play a major part in the overall Civil War storyline.

So let’s get into the movies that are leading to the Avengers 2, and what I would like to see in each of these movies:

THOR 2 – Release date of November 15, 2013

So Thor 2 is in the process of being filmed sometime this summer, so they are wasting no time on getting to this one. Just about everyone from the first movie is returning for the second and it is being said that they want to keep most of this movie “off of Earth” and give it a “Viking feel.” I agree with this. Also, they just got Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) to direct, so it should be awesome considering how badass Game of Thrones is.

Mads Mikkelsen

It has been said that Loki will be in the movie, but will not be the main villain. They actually just cast Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, King Arthur) as the main villain apparently. I would imagine that he is going to play either an Asgardian or someone from one of the other 9 realms. They could throw a curveball at us though and have him be some villain from Earth that somehow gets access to the Bifrost, which could be cool. All I know is that Mads Mikkelsen was an awesome villain in Casino Royale, and I look forward to seeing him in Thor 2.

I would like to see them build up more of the friendship/teamwork of Thor, The Warriors Three, and Sif. They did this a little bit in the first movie, but he was only in Asgard for a short period of time. Maybe have Jane Foster get kidnapped by the villain and have Thor and his buddies go after her or something like that. It would be cool to see some sort of cameo in this movie somehow, but not really sure who it should be or how they could do it. Whatever they do, I am sure it will be good either way.

IRON MAN 3 – Release date of May 3, 2013

This movie should be awesome, and sounds like it will be an integral piece of the Avengers 2 puzzle. Two people that have already been cast in this movie are Guy Pearce (the King’s Speech) as Aldrich Killian and Ben Kingsley (Prince of Persia) as an unspecified villain. Now the character of Aldrich Killian was introduced in the Extremis story arc and is a scientist that actually commits suicide but releases a dangerous serum known as “Extremis” beforehand for undisclosed reasons. One of his co-workers finds a note that indicates this, so she contacts Tony Stark about it and whatnot. It sounds to me like they may be using this serum as a replacement for Nitro from the New Warriors exploding in Connecticut, which is the catalyst for the entire Civil War beginning in the first place. So I guess we will see there.

Ben Kingsley

Honestly, I think that Ben Kingsley is going to be playing the Mandarin. I know that they had that dude from the first movie who was basically him, but I think that they may have re-cast the role. Cannot really think of another villain that Ben Kingsley could play, but it could be someone who is not necessarily an Iron Man villain in the Marvel Universe. So, once again, we will have to wait and see. They only thing that I say is to keep the villain out of armor in this one. Iron Monger was in the first movie and Whiplash had armor for whatever reason in Iron Man 2. Find a villain who could be a legitimate threat to Iron Man without needing armor or any of that crap. (*cough*…Mandarin…*cough*)

Ashley Hamilton will play Jack Taggert/Firepower

I have also recently seen that they have cast Ashley Hamilton (son of George Hamilton, Dancing with the Stars) as Jack Taggert/Firepower and James Badge Dale (The Departed, Lone Ranger) as Eric Savin/Coldblood-7. Jack Taggert is a guy that worked on an experimental suit like Iron Man’s called Project: Firepower for a rival businessman of Tony Stark, Edwin Cord. Long story short, it is basically Iron Monger from the first movie to a certain extent.

Eric Savin was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army that was put in charge of something called Project: Ultra-Tech. He steps onto a mine and is blown to pieces, but is soon operated on by the love of his life Gina Dyson. Gina does cybernetic surgery on Eric, which essentially turns him into a cyborg named Coldblood-7. He becomes a freelance mercenary and has quite a few run-ins with Deathlok along the way.

I kind of see Firepower as just re-doing Iron Monger from the first movie, but hopefully they do something different with it. Coldblood-7 should be pretty awesome though, as having a cyborg would definitely be something fresh and new that has not been done in a while. Personally, I see these two being secondary villains in the movie, but it should be interesting to see what they do with these two characters.

I would like to see something a little different in this movie than what they did in Iron Man and Iron Man 2. I love what they did with Tony Stark in the Avengers and think that they should stick with it. The fact that he was at Stark Towers and that he was an asshole who seemed to secretly have everything under control was great. Go with this model and please do one thing for me….SHOW THE FUCKING ARMORY!!! I want to see him use AT LEAST 5 sets of armor in this movie and have War Machine in it somewhere. The coolest part about Iron Man is the fact that he has a suit of armor for every situation, so show that. Get him into some situation where he needs underwater armor or something like that.

Many people keep saying online that they need to bring in more characters during Iron Man 3, and I have to disagree with that idea to a certain extent. I think that there are other movies that bringing new characters into would be better, but we will get to that in a minute. I say build the relationship with Tony, Pepper, War Machine, and Happy Hogan in this movie. In the comics, Happy is just as important as any of the heroes almost and he does not even have powers or anything. War Machine is really only brought in when he needs to be a lot of the time, so there needs to be some sort of threat where he is needed. Pepper is running the entire company now (I think) so show the fact that she is a badass and a genius, kind of like how they did for her short cameo in the Avengers, but take it to the next level.

CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 – Release date of April 4^th, 2014

This movie is a far way off, which I wish they would just move it to an earlier date, but oh well. So Cap is in the present world now, he is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he has no fucking clue what the hell is going on around him at all. Right there is your movie people. Show this guy who does not know anything about the modern world, trying to figure out who he is and what he is going to do now. He lost his woman, lost his best friend, got pumped full of steroids, saved the world from some aliens, and now he is just here. Let him take a breath for a second and take in his surrounding a little bit.

James "Bucky" Barnes as the Winter Soldier

I think it is pretty obvious to any comic fan that we will be seeing the Red Skull and Bucky again. Apparently, on the audio commentary, they say that the experiments performed on Bucky by Dr. Zola actually enable him to survive the fall that supposedly kills him in the first movie. So I guess we can all say “BRING ON THE WINTER SOLDIER!!!” And I personally feel like Red Skull is going to pop back up in one of the next 2 Avengers movies. He is one of those big-named villains that could be in that role as the main villain again in my opinion.

Ant Man & Wasp

I think that Cap 2 is the perfect opportunity to bring in those “extra” people that need to be brought in. People like Falcon, Wasp, Giant Man/Ant Man/Yellow Jacket, Black Panther, and so many more. The reason that I say this is because all of these people are being targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap is hanging around with Fury, Hawkeye, and Widow all the time. So it only makes sense that he is going to run into someone. Jack Flag, Captain Britain, and U.S. Agent could also be good additions to this movie, or to get REALLY obscure, they could have Nomad in it! I see Winter Soldier starting off as a secondary villain in the movie, but siding with Cap by the end of the movie somehow. And I would imagine that they will have Cap falling in love with the modern-day Agent Carter or something like that.

Baron Zemo

The main villain in the movie could really be anyone, but I think that I would really like to see them do something with Baron Zemo. Maybe give him a modern-day look of some sorts with a touch of the main characteristics that make the character overall. They can always go back and play off of the Red Skull/Hydra story from the first movie somehow. Re-working the character to make him a modern-day supporter of Hydra couls be kind of awesome. Almost like how Christopher Nolan has re-worked some of the Batman characters to make them more realistic. I think it could be something really cool actually.

Whatever they do with all of these movies, I am sure they will be awesome either way. Everyone is going to piss and moan about certain details, just because that is how comic nerds are. I say enjoy the fact that the fucking movie is being made in the first place, and have faith that the people they choose to put the movie out will continue to do it the right way.

Worst decision in pro wrestling history...

2012-03-28T06:22:00.003-07:00

Anyone that is a professional wrestling fan and has watched it religiously throughout their lives knows that there have been bad decisions made at times. Whether that is matches that were put together, or if it was directions for individuals, they were bad decisions nonetheless. Bad decisions are part of any business, it is how you rebound from these decisions and make sure not to make them again that measure success.

In my opinion, there is one decision in professional wrestling history that absolutely ruined the business over the past decade. This decision started off as one of the greatest moments in pro wrestling history, but the way that it was handled was awful and ended up leading to disaster. That decision was Vince McMahon’s decision to buy WCW in 2001.

Now I say that this was one of the greatest moments is wrestling history because it is one that always sticks out in my mind. I still remember my dad and me watching wrestling when this happened and saying “wtf is going on?” When Shane McMahon walked out onto WCW and the same show was being broadcasted on both channels, it was crazy. It was one of those moments that WWE could only wish to have nowadays. There was so much potential there, but I believe that they did not really have a plan in the first place.

I say that this decision was one of the worst ever for a few reasons:

1.) Vinnie Mac bought out his competition, therefore giving the fans only one choice for pro wrestling. I understand why he made the decision to buy WCW, but it did not do what he wanted it to. Vince wanted to be the end-all-be-all of pro wrestling, but all it did was make fans of pro wrestling in general say “I don’t like this product, therefore I don’t like pro wrestling anymore.” Nowadays, some of those fans have come back around and become pro wrestling fans again since there are other options, but there are still many out there that have not. To “normal people” pro wrestling is pro wrestling, no matter what company it is that they are watching. So if they do not like one place in particular, they do not like pro wrestling overall.

2.) The way that the purchase of WCW was handled was ridiculous. Rumor has it that the original plans for WCW were to have a legit second company where WCW would take over the Smackdown TV slot. WCW was to be run as a completely separate entity, rather than being the bullshit invasion group that it was on WWE TV. If this would have happened, it would have given fans “another option” to watch and continue to build that “competitive feel” between the two companies. Even though both companies were “technically” owned by WWE, the everyday wrestling fan would have still seen it as 2 separate companies because they would not know what was going on behind the scenes.

I still think that if WWE would have handled the purchase of WCW a different way, the professional wrestling industry would be completely different today. WCW would probably still be around to this day and be doing something completely different than what the WWE currently is. TNA/Impact Wrestling probably would have never even been created, or at least would not have gotten off the ground, therefore not making the stars that came out of there. Guys who are currently on the independents doing nothing could have been stars because there would have been another company to go to. Their lives would have been completely different if they would have had another opportunity with a different company. Maybe even ROH would not have been started at all, or would have been something completely different because there would have been different talent on their first shows. Who knows?

What I do know is that the business of pro wrestling has been down for the past decade, compared to what it was the decades before. It is not “cool” to be a fan anymore. UFC has taken many of those old pro wrestling fans and turned them into MMA fans, for whatever reason. Hey, if you want to watch two guys lay on the ground with each other for 10 minutes, wear Tapout and Affliction shirts, and not be entertained, then UFC is for you, “bro”. If you want to see action and entertainment, then turn on pro wrestling and enjoy.

What is in the past is in the past. WWE did buy WCW. WWE did drop the ball with how they handled WCW (and ECW). There is no changing that. The only thing that the WWE and all of us can do is to move on and try to find ways to make wrestling cool again.

I actually think that the WWE could realistically bring back WCW somehow in a newly re-packaged format. I have gone on record saying that the guys on FCW and NXT are more entertaining, to me, than the guys currently on WWE TV. Take those guys, bring back WCW, and make it into a show. The fans do not know that these guys are all signed by WWE. Most of them are good enough to hold their own in the ring anyways. Why keep them stuck in a corner of Florida? Put them on TV and start making money off of them now. My suggestion would be to bring in Dave Lagana (former head writer for Smackdown and the re-booted ECW) and have him write for WCW. The reason that I suggest Lagana is because he has a completely different vision for a wrestling show compared to the rest of the WWE, in my opinion. He could make a new version of WCW something completely different than the WWE, and use young talent from FCW & NXT to their full advantage.

The possibilities for WCW could have been, and are still, endless. So many things COULD have happened, but some many things CAN STILL HAPPEN! I was a WCW fan when I was a kid, and I would be a WCW fan if they brought it back. #BringBackWCW

"It's not gay, it's pro wrestling..."

2012-03-27T09:38:00.001-07:00

Hello, my name is Ernie Ballz, and I am a professional wrestler. (Hi Ernie…)

I wear tights and roll around with sweaty men inside of a box that is surrounded by ropes. I get naked in a small room with other men on a weekly basis. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

I strut around like a jackass just to get a reaction from people who normally would look at me like I am mentally ill. I wear the most ridiculous outfits that I can create in my mind that would make Elton John & Rupaul have an aneurism. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

I drive hours away for shitty money with 2-3 other men in my car smelling like farts and sweat. The “normal” public sees me as a weirdo, while I just see this weird shit as being normal. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

I walk through Target and get excited when I pass the toy aisle because I want to see what figures they came out with. I worship a man that used to play the bagpipes, wore a dress, and hit people with coconuts. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

Normal people do not understand the passion that I have; they just see it as a “phase.” I tell them about a show and they either look at me like a deer in headlights or laugh at me. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling.

I have spent 10 years of my life in an industry that most would not last 10 minutes in. I am 28 years old and feel like I am 50 because of the punishment that I have taken from other men. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

I worry more about my appearance more than a 14 year old girl whose boobies have not come in yet. Many of the men I wrestle with have made tanning a part of their everyday schedule. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

Pink is a color that is acceptable for men to wear in our industry. A man with the nickname of “the Hammer” and a man with a move called “the Thump” are legends in our industry. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

A man that dressed like a woman, threw flowers to the crowd, and called himself “Gorgeous” changed our industry forever. The more flamboyant and over-the-top that you are in our industry is the better that you are. It’s not gay, it’s pro wrestling…

I am an athlete…

I am an entertainer…

I am a professional wrestler…

Your website is "the window to your product"...

2012-03-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have been re-designing a few websites for wrestling promotions. When I do a website for anyone, I always go out and pull ideas from other websites in that given industry. I never steal code or copy an entire website, I just take a look at what everyone is doing so that I can get an idea of what I am up against as far as the competition in that field goes. It is important to know what your competition is doing, but you should never dwell on that or base all of your decisions around that. Being original and doing your own thing is still a very important part in any type of business decision, as long as it is a smart decision and the right decision.

Anyways, while I was going around looking at certain promotion's websites, I realized that many of these sites are never updated at all. Roster pages have not been updated in almost 2 years on some of these sites, and there are people on there that I know for a fact do not even wrestle there anymore. The news section is all out of whack and does not even have updated information on it. The last results posted were from a show that happened over last Summer. It's pathetic, to be honest with you.

I always learned that your website is "the window to your product." Basically, that means that your website is the first thing that people see when it comes to whatever you are selling. Nowadays, if someone wants to find something, they get on Google and they find it. So if someone hears about a wrestling promotion, they will Google it and take a look at your website or subsequent websites that talks about your company. If your website looks like shit and is not updated, then the people either think, A.) this promotion sucks because their site looks like shit, or B.) this promotion is not running anymore because the information is not updated.

Having a shitty website that is not updated will turn customers away. Let me put it to you this way; you can have the shittiest wrestling company in the world running shows, but they have an amazing website, so they have people coming to shows because those people think that this wrestling company is a bigger deal than what it really is, just based on what their website looks like. On the flip side of that coin; you can have the best company in your state running top-knotch shows, but their website looks like shit and does not translate what their product is to the end-user (the fan). Therefore, fans look at this website and assume that this place is a shit-hole and do not go to their shows.

This all becomes EXTREMELY important if you are trying to sell DVD's, shirts, or anything else through your website. If your site looks like shit, that fan assumes you are shit, and does not buy your products. Also, many of the sites that I ran across had way too much bullshit on their site that did not need to be there. What I mean by bullshit is JavaScript that makes pictures scroll or makes shit flash or blink or something like that. Many people call these "bells & whistles."

The overal goal of a wrestling promotion's website is to:

Give information about what the wrestling company is all about.
List a roster of wrestlers that actually wrestle there (not guest appearances or "legends").
List results from previous shows.
List upcoming events with information.
Showcase products for fans to purchase (DVD's, shirts, posters, etc...)
Provide contact information for whatever reason it is needed.

In my opinion, I feel that the "K.I.S.S." method comes into play, Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't sit their and add shit to the website just for shits and giggles or because you think it is cool. Only add things to the website that your feel are of actual use to the end-user (the fans). Think of how the website would operate for a brand new person visiting it. Is the information easy to find? Is the navigation simple to use and functional? Is the information updated on a regular basis? Etc....

There are so many other things that I could list here, but that would take way too long. Another piece to this website puzzle is social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you have social media sites on top of your actual website, then all of the sites should be linked together somehow, so that the fans can visit all of them, which will increase your web traffic and web-presence. Also, all of these site's information needs to match up with the other ones. Don't just post something to Facebook or Twitter and expect everyone to see it. Put the information on all of your sites so that you can ENSURE everyone will see it.

The biggest issue that I have with the advent of websites for wrestling promotions is the fact that promoters feel that this is the only way to contact people anymore. This is a two-fold problem as well, so let me start with the first part. The first part of this problem has to do with the fans. Promoters feel that they can just post their information about their upcoming shows online and expect everyone to see it and come to the show. Well, that may work for the people that frequently visit wrestling sites or your site in particular, but what about the "normal people?" What about the people that are not necessarily die-hard wrestling fans, but would probably enjoy checking out your show? How do they find out? That's why it is important for promoters to still use outlets like radio, tv, newspaper, or just good-ole-fashion fliers to promote thier shows as well.

The second part of this problem involves the promoters contacting the wrestlers who they want on their shows. I can count on 1 hand how many times that I have been formally contacted to wrestle on a show within the past few years. Many of these promoters just assume that I know that I am on a specific show. Fuck that. Pick up the phone and call me or send me an email or direct message somehow. I have no idea that I am on your next show asshole, and if you don't say something to me, I AM going to take another booking. Just because the promoter knows about the upcoming shows does not mean that all of the wrestlers do. It's a give and take relationship between promoters and wrestlers, and it takes both parties cooperation to make things work.

I think the point here is to just make sure that if you have a website, it is updated regularly, simple, and easy to use. Promoters, don't sit there and assume things. Contact your talent for the shows personally, make sure they are good to go and let them know what is going on. Post the info for your shows everywhere that you can and use other methods to reach "normal people" so that we can turn them into fans. When you assume things, that's when you get 50 people at your show, with 20 guys in the back that you need to pay. That's when promoters skip out at intermission and no one gets paid at all. That's not the way to do business. Be smart and do things the right way. I would say that 80% if business is common sense and that your website is a vital part of any business today.

Youth Movement in the WWE?...

2012-03-22T07:04:00.001-07:00

Recently, I began watching FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) on YouTube. Being the developmental system for the WWE and the fact that I know some of the people down there now, I figured I would check it out. Needless to say, I was blown away by how entertaining it is.

I have also been hearing about NXT a little more as of late as well, so I went and checked it out also. I used to watch NXT when it was on TV, but just felt that it was a hassle trying to watch it online and it was always fuzzy anyways. Since I bought an iPad, it is a whole different story. The picture is clearer than a computer and it is just like watching it on TV.

Anyways, my point is that both FCW and NXT are more entertaining than what they are featuring on TV, in my opinion. So I guess the question to answer is....why? I think that the reason that both of these shows are better to watch is almost like how college football is more entertaining. The guys on FCW and NXT are out there busting their asses to get a spot on the "main show." I am not saying that the guys on TV are not busting their asses, but the FCW/NXT guys are doing a lot of different stuff, while the "main roster" guys that just stick to what they do. These younger guys are more innovative, and putting together matches better than the guys on TV right now.

Maybe it is becaus they are hungrier and trying to earn their spot. Maybe things are a little more free-reign on these shows and they have more say in how they present themselves. I am not 100% sure what IT is, but I like IT. People like Tyson Kidd, Curt Hawkins, and Johnny Curtis have entertained me more in a few episodes than other people on TV have in years.

Both shows give off a ECW-type of feel to me. It's a feeling that I have not felt in years when it comes to watching wrestling. It's a good feeling, and I hope WWE takes notice of it and makes changes to put these guys on TV as soon as possible. There's a youth movement in the WWE, and I feel better about the future of our business after watching FCW & NXT.

Tag Team = Marriage...

2012-03-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's pretty well-documented that the majority of my career in the wrestling business has been dominated by being a part of a tag team. Along with my tag partner "The Natural" Brian Bender, we formed a tag team called Team Clash that lasted 6 years and turned us into one of the best teams in the Midwest. It is a time of my career and my life in general that I will never forget, just because of all of the good times that we had together.

Team Clash - Ernie Ballz & Brian Bender

I get people who constantly ask me why Bender and I were such a good team. I always answer that we were a legit team. We rode together, hung out together, and basically broke into the business together. The key to being a good tag team is to not try to make it, it just has to be. We were the real deal.

The name Team Clash came because we are two completely different people. Bender is more of a serious guy with a basic style, while I am a goofball with a little bit more of a flashy style. Even though we were different in so many ways, we pretty much had the same sense of humor, which I feel was our real connection at first.

Throughout the years that we tagged together, we just started to think alike and kind of know what the other guys was thinking as well. This is not something that can be taught, it is just something that comes with time together. We had done a lot of the same stuff in matches and watched a lot of the same footage for inspiration (mostly Brain Busters & Hart Foundation) and it showed in the way that we worked together.

When I broke my ankle in 2009 and had my surgery, Bender I held a few different sets of tag titles, which basically forced him to either defend them himself, or find someone to replace me. Well, it's not that easy to just replace a tag partner and expect the same results. It sucked, but there was not much that I could do about it. But it sucks even more because that was kind of the nail in the coffin for Team Clash overall and we have not really tagged up since.

Ohio Championship Wrestling Tag Team Champions

I would like to get the two of us back together, but Bender has a lot of other stuff going on in his life, and he does not seem interested in wrestling much anymore. I know that the two of as a team still have A LOT to offer, especially in the promotions that I currently work for. I plan on trying to get that ball rolling soon enough and hopefully Bender is receptive to it.

The point of this whole blog is that tag team wresling really is like a marriage. Bender and I constaly fought about things, but we always seemed to work together to get through it somehow and come out better on the other end. Tag wrestling is all about making a commitment and sticking to it. Going out and wrestling singles matches is almost like cheating on your tag team partner. And if the two of you do stick together, you get better year after year and turn yourselves into a hot commodity. Great tag teams are hard to come by, but I can honestly say that I feel Team Clash was just that, great.

I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to go off on my own while we were tagging, but now that I have, I miss having Bender there with me. It might sound gay or whatever, but it is a special bond that you make, especially when you tag as long as we did. We were together for 6 years, and hopefully we will tag again soon and revive Team Clash. Thinking individually and working collectively, that's what it is all about.

We make the business, the business does not make us...

2012-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

I know that I talk a lot about us changing wrestling for the better, but well, that's the whole point to this blog. Personally, I feel that things like UFC and reality TV have hurt our business over the past decade and the only people that can change that is us. We make the business, the business does not make us. Some people may disagree with that statement, but from an actual business standpoint, it is dead-on. A business is only going to be as successful as the people that are in it, no matter what industry you are in. Sure, a CEO can walk away from a company and that company will be fine, but the company makes sure that the new CEO is just as good as the last one, if not better.

The same logic can be used for the wrestling business; because it is only as good as the people that are in it. Whether that is promoters, wrestlers, managers, referees, or anyone else in the back, everyone does their small part to make this business better, or worse. I feel many people only focus on the bigger companies and not much on the smaller places.

I compare people in the wrestling business to voters; a small contribution is all part of a bigger picture. It's like any other industry, where each person does their small part to make a larger product in the end. So that is why I always talk about how important it is for even the smallest of indy wrestling company to treat things as a business, rather than a hobby. If even one company in a state treats it like a joke and does not care about making money at all, then everyone else feels that it is okay to do that also. We should be pushing each other to be better. We should be working together to make money, rather than acting like one place is better than another. NO promoter on the indies makes enough money to live comfortably, so technically, no one is better than anyone else, we are all equals.

I posted about all of this awhile back when I talked about running almost tiny territories. The idea is to build an area, build the buzz about pro wrestling as a whole. I said in that post that there is a power in numbers, and I really feel that many people do not realize that. One person tells this person, then they tell someone, so on and so forth. Put your pathetic excuse for an ego aside and work together man.

So I guess my point here is that each and every one of us in this business can make a difference somehow. Figure out what that difference is that you can make, and do everything you can to help this business that we love. Like I said, it is like being a voter, each person counts in the big picture.

We are not invincible...

2012-03-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, I went down to Coshocton, OH to train at the Big Guns Academy, which is Ohio Championship Wrestling's official training center. I have just been trying to stay in the ring a little more frequently, so that I can keep the rust off. Well, when I was down there, I really did not do much at all. But for some reason, I have had a pain in the right side of my neck for over a week now. The pain is so bad at this point that it is starting to shoot into my right shoulder as well. Pretty sure that it is just a pinched nerve or something, because I have done that before and the pain USUALLY goes away within a few days. This pain is hanging around for some reason and really starting to nag at me.

In 2009, I broke my left ankle in a match in Detroit, which forced me to have surgery. I now have a plate and 2 pins in my left ankle and it still bothers me every now and then to this day. The days that I spent in the hospital from that surgery were probably the worst moments of my life. I never want to have to go through that ever again.

Anyways, my point here is that none of us are invincible. None of us have thousands of dollars to pay medical bills, because most indy wrestlers do not have health insurance, for whatever reason. Most guys out there who wrestle think that it is just normal to get injured, get fixed, and get back into the ring. Well, that may be okay with some, but definitely not me. If I get hurt one more time, I am done with the actual wrestling part of things. I will probably stick around as a manager, commentator, referee, or something like that, but I will NEVER wrestle again.

I guess what I am trying to get at is, if you are going to wrestle, then get insurance, somehow. Whether that means getting a "real" job where you can have insurance, or paying for it yourself somehow. It is worth it in the long-run. It has almost been 3 years since I broke my ankle and I did not have insurance at that time. I am still paying off the bills from that to this day.

Don't be stupid. There is no use in getting yourself dropped on your head or falling from the top rope to the floor. The WWE is not looking for people that can do that crap anymore. Hardcore is dead. It's about being a smart competitor now with a personality and keeping yourself in shape and fresh. Work smart, not stupid.

Break out of your bubble...

2012-03-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to admit that I am not your normal "indy wrestler." Currently, I work for about 2-3 places on a regular basis and kind of just stay inside of "my bubble." I am comfortable with the places that I work, and the people that work there. The days of driving 4 hours away for $10 and a hot dog are over for me; I have been there and done that. Outside of wrestling, I have a pretty good job that pays me well. I have a girlfriend, a dog, and a house to take care of. I have friends, family, and other things to keep me occupied for the most part.

I have worked for the WWE and it was not my cup of tea. Too much walking around on egg shells and hoping that you don't step out of line and direspect someone. I'm really just proud that I can say that I am satisfied for once in my life, after stressing and worrying about things in wrestling for so long. I am comfortable with what I have done and where I am at in wrestling, and constatly look for other ways that I can contribute to the business as a whole. (like this blog)

In my opinion, it takes a certain kind of person to be successful in wrestling. Relationships, family, friends, a "real" job; those all take a backseat to wrestling. It's all about working as many shows as possible to make as much money as possible and get your name out there so that you can go to "bigger and better" places.

When getting into the business and first starting to try to get onto shows, I feel it is important to surround yourself with the right people. Find the people that you know are good, are in the main events of the shows you want to be on, and have been doing it for years. Pick these guys brains, offer to drive them to shows, basically, do whatever you need to do to learn from these guys. They are the ones at the top on your level, so they are the ones that you should be talking to. Be respectful, shut your mouth, and learn.

Once you do start getting bookings, work as many of them as you possibly can. If you are single, then why the hell are you not on shows all weekend long? Get your ass out there and work man. And when it comes to actually getting bookings, it's all about staying on the promoter's ass about bringing you in and having "something" to offer once they do. Some guys look like a million bucks but have no personality, some are fat as shit but are entertaining as hell. It's just about having "something" that makes you that much different than someone else.

Work any show that you can get onto for your first 2 years in the business just to get experience. Once year 3 rolls around, you should be getting booked by better places anyways, but, either way you can pick and choose a little bit. There are people out there like Colt Cabana and Sami Callihan that are known for being on a show here, then being on a show hundreds of miles away the next night. That's what getting your name out there is all about. It's about creating a buzz behind yourself somehow.

I guess my point here is to tell everyone to break out of "your bubble" more if you REALLY want to do this. The easiest way to get into the WWE now is to save the fucking money up and go to FCW, plain and simple. If you want to get to that level THAT BAD, then why are you not moving to Tampa? I will tell you what it is....EGO!!! People's egos get in the way and they something like, "fuck that, I have been in the business for 5 years, I'm not paying to go train again." Ok....well then I guess you don't want to work for WWE that bad then. You can't just sit around and wait for Kristen from WWE to call you to be an extra for the rest of your life and hope that William Regal likes your tryout match. That is literally like a 1 in a million shot. If you take your ass to Florida an pay for the school, you already have one foot in the door then. You have to get you ass out there and do what you have to do to get where you want to go. That's not just a lesson for wrestling, that's life.

Let's start a revolution...

2012-03-05T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ever since about Christmas time, I have become addicted with Colt Cabana's "Art of Wrestling" podcast. If you have not checked it out yet, then head over to www.WeLoveColt.com and check it out. Colt is one of the guys out there that is really trying to help the business and take it to new levels.

Anyways, on one of his podcasts, Colt interviews Kenny Omega. I was not familiar with Kenny Omega beforehand, but after listening to the podcast I went online and checked out some of his stuff. Not too shabby. During the podcast, Colt asks Kenny what his goals are in the wrestling business. Kenny answered by saying that he is really out to reinvent wrestling and make it "cool again." (which we have also heard from C.M. Punk as well)

The answer really made me start to think about things a lot. It was one of those things that just changes the way you think about things overall and opens the floodgates to all of these new ideas. Omega is right, because there is no flowchart for wrestling at all. Some people may think there is, but there really is not. It's all about giving the fans what they want, period. Giving each and every person that comes and pays money to watch the show an entertaining experience.

I really do feel that the business has changes, which many people would probably agree with me on. What people probably won't agree with me on is the fact that many of the "old school" ways are outdated and waste of time stressing over anymore. Things that worked in the 70's and 80's are not going to work today, just because the world is completely different, which I feel is due mostly to technology.

Things like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all other websites and whatnot has revolutionized the way that people see the wrestling business. The fans have a closer look to who each of us is personally. They have nearly unlimited access to videos of matches and promos. Social media has changed the way that many shows are promoted.

My point to all of this is that everyone is linked together nowadays. We should not be doing things "the way they always have been done" just because it is "the right way." We should be doing whatever the hell works, because that is the way to make money in this business and take things to a whole other level. Making money is "the right way," no matter what year it is.

Use all of these tools that we have nowadays to do something different. It's not necessarily about putting on a 5 star wrestling show anymore, it's about giving the fans "an experience." It's about making them walk out of that building, go home and tweet or post about the show on Facebook so that all of their friends find out about what is going on.

The problem with all of this is that people in general are just lazy and feel that one person cannot make a difference. EVERYONE, both fan and wrestler, can make a difference and take this business to a whole new level. Be proud of being a wrestling fan. Wrestlers, come up with something cutting-edge and relevant that the fans can get into. Promoters, pay the the extra money to use good talent and treat them well. It's all about little things that add up in the long-run.

My challenge to everyone who reads this is to step back, look at yourself and the business as a whole. What skills do you have that can make wrestling better? Take those skills and use them to help out. One person at a time, we will get the word out there. One person at a time, we will start a revolution. #LetsChangeWrestling

Be something different...

2012-02-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well, after my TNA/Impact Wrestling rant and calling out all of the people who hate my blog, but still read it for some reason, I needed to get onto a new subject. I have said it before, but the goal of this blog is to help the business of pro wrestling, not to sit here and piss and moan about shit 24/7. If you want to listen to pissing and moaning, go over to the Indy Board and read some of that garbage. But sometimes, in order to get the point across I need to go on a rant like that. I try not to as much as possible, but it does happen sometimes.

So lets get to the topic that I want to talk about today. I want to talk about being different in wrestling, from both a wrestler and promotional standpoint. There are so many personalities and promotions that have come and gone over the years. Some of these people and places made money and did good things for the business, and well, some did not. I don't really want to get into who did and who did not, I want to talk more about people and promotions trying their hardest to do something new and different.

I think it is pretty apparent that many things have already been done in this business. Whether that be moves, personalities, or a way that a promotion does things, pretty much everything has been done in some capacity. The goal in today's pro wrestling industry is to find a way to take something and put your own spin on it somehow. Believe me, I have seen a few original ideas pop up here and there as well, so they are still out there.

Let me first start with individual wrestlers. Who wants to see something that has already been done, but done by another person and not as good as the original? No one does. So try to be original. Mix ideas together and try to do something different that is going to make you stand out somehow. For example, I come out to the ring wearing some of the goofiest gear on the planet, strutting like a jackass, I have a good time in the ring, but I get pissed off and serious when I need to. I try to be as innovative as I can be, while still being functional at the same time. If a promoter does not like the way that I wrestle, fine, then don't book me. I will find promotions that do like what I do and go there instead. It's all about finding what works for you and finding the right places to work that pay well, plain and simple.

Now promotions are different. It seems to me like a lot of promoters just have no idea what they are doing and half of them just fly by the seat of their pants. You HAVE to have some sort of direction or idea behind who you are, what you are trying do, and why you are doing it. I have talked about branding before, and that is what this whole business is all about.

First of all, get an identity to your promotion. Spend the money to get a professional logo done, or shit, find a wrestler that does graphics work and get it for free. This is a starting point. Second, GET YOUR OWN BELTS MADE!!!! This is SOOOOOOO important. If you are going to spend $250 - $300 to buy a WWE replica belt, then pay for paint, stickers, and whatever else to decorate it, you might as well just spend the extra money to get a custom belt made. There are plenty of great belt makers out there, just get online and contact them. It's better to spend the money up front to look legit, rather than trying to fool the fans the whole time. Third, just make everything look good overall. The ring, aprons, entrance, music, talent, EVERYTHING. It's when these promoters try to skip on certain things that make their promotions look like shit.

Don't be the second-coming of someone, be something new, be something different. That's how you get noticed. Think outside the box and come up with new concepts, or at least a new spin on something.

Is it TNA or Impact Wrestling?...I'm confused...

2012-02-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

With all of the good feedback that I have been getting, I have also been getting I guess what you would call negative feedback as well. I have a few people saying that they have never heard of me and that I have no right to sit here on "my soapbox" and say how the business should be ran. Well, to those people I say "STOP READING!!!" This has always been my opinion, and no one is making you read this. I would like to say that even though you obviously do not agree with me, I do appreciate your support!

You may not know who I am, and that is fine. But I am more than qualified to give my opinion on whatever the hell I want to. Not only have I been in the wrestling business for 10 years, but I also hold an Associates Degree in Business and Web Design, am currently working as a Business Development Manager with 8 years of experience in sales, and I am also going back to school to finish a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science with a Business emphasis. I think when it comes to business in general, I am a little more qualified than you at least.

So, enough with the haters and onto an actual topic. One of the topics that I have had come through from a few people is for me to give my honest opinion on TNA/Impact Wrestling. First off, I just want to say that I do not even know what the name of the fucking company is right now. Are they TNA, are they Impact Wrestling, are they both? It's pretty confusing to me.

In my opinion, I find it hard to brand a company/product when you keep changing everything about it. What if Mountain Dew had just come out in 2002, and they are not getting the sales that they think they should, so they keep the name but change the taste of it. Well, a few years go by and they are still not getting the sales they want, so now they change the name of it to just MD. Purpose of all of this is that the product will not sell if you keep changing what it is all of the time. Find something, stick with it, and figure out how to sell it. That is TNA/Impact Wrestling's problem.

I have already gone on record saying that 2 of the things that killed any momentum that TNA had going for them was the fact that they got rid of the 6-sided ring and that they completely killed the X-Division. These were the 2 things that put this company on the map to begin with, and just because Hulk Hogan cannot get enough Rent-A-Center commercials to pay the bills, they have to change everything about their company. Unbelievable.

TNA/Impact Wrestling will NEVER be competition to the WWE, UNLESS, they get their shit together and start selling SOMETHING. Find a direction, and stick with it. Hogan cannot sell fucking TV's and couches for Rent-A-Center, or midget wrestling on TV, so what makes you think that he is going to sell anything at all? Sting is a joke that has to steal people's stuff from the indies to get himself over at all anymore. You have random people that pop up every now and then that I had no idea was even with the company. The women just yell at each other instead of actually wrestling. It's ridiculous, and there is no continuity at all. So what exactly is there to sell?

Pick a roster and make sure it is not that big. TNA has like 50 people on their roster or something crazy like that. Like I said, people pop up here and there, but don't really have anything going on. For example, I watched the entire episode last week (I know, it was rough), and I saw Robbie E on TV with the Television Title for the first time in like 6 weeks. A.) I had no idea that Robbie E was still with the company. B.) I had no idea that the TV Title was still around. So let me get this straight, one of you champions has not been on TV for 6 weeks? How do you get people to buy a PPV where this champion may, or may not, be defending his title against someone, when the guy is never on TV? Don't get me wrong, all of this is no bash on the actual talent, it is a bash on the people running the damn company. Robbie E had a great match with AJ in my opinion. It's just weird to me that a champion would not be on TV, in some capacity, every week.

I have always called TNA "A.D.D. Wrestling," mainly because there is so much shit all going on at one time, that you cannot pay attention to one thing. Seems to me like the logical direction is to streamline things a little more. It is a 2 hour show, once a week, with a PPV every now and then. Like I said, cut the roster down a little and focus on certain people, rather than throwing shit against the wall to see what will stick. I think that every promotion, no matter what size, can use this advice. There are so many promoters out there that want to use everybody and their brother on every show. Well at the end of the night, you have 40 people on the show, 13 matches, and no money in your pocket. If you cut down your overhead cost, then you have more room to make money in the long run.

I am not a fan of the "legends" that much either. Ask any of my friends what I think about "legends." "Legends" are pieces of shit that stick around WAYYYYY past their prime to suck stupid promoters dry, plain and simple. Half of them pull some carny bullshit to get their money and not have to wrestle also, which pisses me off. For example, I was on a show with a "legend" and he showed up with a leg brace on, TWICE, still got paid and did nothing. FUCK THAT!!! Tell that old piece of shit to stay at home and give his spot to someone who still cares about the business. These assholes only care about lining their own pockets. The only ones that care about the actual business are agents for WWE right now. Everyone else is jsut out for a paycheck, or to cling onto the slim glow of spotlight that they still have.

The point of that little rant on "legends" is that TNA should get rid of those people and start showcasing the ACTUAL TALENT!!! These "legends" are not going to be around 5 years from now to help your company, the Bobby Roodes, Alex Shelleys, and AJ Styles will be though. So put your faith into the people that can actually help you make money. Not a bunch of washed up sacks of shit that you are trying to get something out of their "name."

So I think the thing with TNA/Impact Wrestling is that they need to find their identity and market that. They need to let the younger guys, who are the future of the company stand up, take the ball, and run with it. I see them do 1 thing right, but then 5 things wrong. Ask yourself, what is going to sell? What do the fans want to see? That's where the money is.

New-age territories...

2012-02-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is ready, because I am about to drop another nugget of wrestling knowledge onto each and every one of you. This is a topic that I have put quite a bit of thought into, and I feel that it is actually the future of independent wrestling as a whole. So definitely give it a good read and let me hear some of your feedback on it, as I really am interested in hearing it. As always, you can reach me at these lovely online locations:

Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheRockshowErnieBallz

Twitter - www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz

Email - ernieballz@hotmail.com

So this idea for a new-age solution to somewhat bring back territories has evolved over the years from listening to both the ideas of promoters, as well as wrestlers. Territories are completely dead, and do not let anyone tell you differently. There are some people out there really trying to pull them back together, but they will never be as strong as they were back in the day. The solution is not to build actual "territories," but to build working relationships between promotions.

Most people are probably saying "that is what a territory is you dumb ass!" Well, I think of it a little differently I guess. See, the idea is to get 4 promotions to work together, use much of the same talent, and book one weekend a month each. This does somewhat build a tiny territory I guess, but it is between 4 completely different places, in 4 completely different areas. Each promoter can have their champs and do whatever the hell they want to. The idea is to make sure that no one is essentially running the same days as another person. Each promoter chooses one Saturday of the month and runs their show accordingly.

This working arrangement would work out great for everyone involved. The promoters are not running against each other, so they have their choice of talent, and the fans can go to all of the promotions rather than choosing between a few that are running the same day. The wrestlers are now booked for 4 shows, and really don't need to worry about finding work each month, unless they want to pick up a Friday or Sunday show. This whole thing will also build continuity between the promotions, and eventually help spread the word about independent wrestling as a whole throughout a given area.

I will give you an example. Let's say that there is a place running in a centralized part of Ohio. This promotion may run however many towns on their own, but only does one show a month. Well this promoter strikes up a working agreement with other promotions in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan. Now, these 4 promoters can pull wrestlers from the same talent pool, and each promoter will run a designated day of the month, so that no dates interfere with each other.

They key to all of this, as I have said before, is getting the word out there. Use the Internet for things like promoting on the actual promotion's website, social media, forums or message boards, youtube, and whatever else you can find. Shit, contact popular websites and see how much it is to purchase ad space on their. Basically any website that you feel wrestling fans would visit in your area or something. Hit the pavement an get yourself some sponsors to help cut down intial costs, and put up fliers wherever you can. It's all about the prep work people. The more planning and promoting you do, the better return on investment you are going to have.

So I guess my challenge here is to find a few other promoters that you can work with, and start implementing this system for 6-12 months to see if it makes a difference. I personally feel that this is the future of indpendent wrestling, and is the best way to get the word out about independent wrestling as a whole. We all need to remeber that "normal people" have no fucking clue what independent wrestling is. It is our job to let them know that there are alternatives out there to the crap that is currently on TV. #LetsChangeWrestling

What's the point?...

2012-02-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of times in this business that I say "what's the point?" Times when I have a shitty match and hate the business...what's the point? Times when a promoter stiffs me on pay and I end up spending $50 in gas...what's the point? Times when I cannot hang out with my girlfriend or my friends because I have a wrestling show...what's the point?

The point is, we are all addicted. We don't need alcohol, we don't need drugs, all we need is that feeling that you get when you walk through that curtain. That shot of adrenaline that courses through your entire body as soon as you hear that crowd reaction. That sound of hundreds of people cheering for you, or hating your guts. It's the only addiction that we need.

Lately since I have been helping out more behind the scenes, that question of "what's the point?" has taken on a whole new meaning. Now, it is more like, what's the point...in us putting on this show? Or what's the point in us doing this, or doing that? The question makes a lot of sense when you think about it though.

If you put on a show and pay 30 guys $50 a piece, then that is $1550 that you are spending. Then you add in the $300-$500 that you paid for the building, the $100-$200 you paid for food for the concession stand, and whatever misc expenses you have. The average cost to run a GOOD wrestling show is probably about $4,000.

Now, lets say that you have done all of this and only 100 people show up at $10 a ticket. That is only $1,000. That's not enough to even pay the talent, let alone all re-cover all of the other expenses that you had. Or, you could get 500 people at $10 a ticket and have $500 left over to put into your pocket, or put towards the next show.

My whole point here is that whether you run a good show or a shitty show, the question still remains, "what is the point?" Are you trying to make money somehow? Are you trying to get a TV deal? Are you just booking shows so that your shitty guys can get some work because no one else will book them? What is the point?

You can run all of the wrestling shows that you want, but there needs to be some sort of goal or light at the end of the tunnel to make it all worth something. If you are not making money, then why do you run? It makes no sense to me. I guess it is that addiction that I talked about earlier or something like that. But just ask yourself that question....what's the point?

My favorite is when Promoter A is pissed because Promoter B is running in "his territory." Well, territories do not exist anymore, sorry. And if neither one of you is making any money, then who gives a shit?!!?

The whole point to all of this is that you should run shows for a purpose, not just to run them. Run the shows to better the business and work towards a goal, rather than just for shits and giggles.

"You scratch my back, I will scratch yours..."

2012-02-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I have posted a new blog. Too be honest with you, I just started a new job today and have had the last 2 weeks off of work. I got a lot of random BS done, and also took some sewing classes so that I can start making gear.

I really just wanted to be able to make my own gear, but I plan on expanding out and doing stuff for other people as well eventually. Almost done with my first pair of bell bottoms for myself, so I will post pictures once they are done.

Just wanted to let everyone know how much I really do appreciate your support and reading all of these blogs. I have been checking the stats a little more now and they are really blowing me away. There are people reading this is the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia, Russia, Germany, and Japan. I guess that old "you tell a friend, then they tell a friend" quote is true. So let's keep it up and get the word out there more. I have actually thought about also starting a Pro Wrestling: Men In Tights podcast as well. Basically just talking to the lesser-known guys in the Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, an Indiana area. Let me know what you think of that idea guys.

In this blog, I want to talk about taking care of the business as a whole. When I was kid, my dad always used to say the quote, "you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours." It basically just means, if you help me out, I will help you out. I think that this is something that people have somewhat forgotten in the wrestling business today.

I have gone to shows for years, gotten paid $20 here, $50 there, a hot dog here, $100 there, etc... My point is that it blows me away how much this business has gone downhill. I talk to guys that have been in since the mid 90's and they talk about how they never got less that $100 and the crowds were huge. I am lucky to get $30, and that is the higher end of what I get paid at some of these shows.

In my opinion, if you are running a good show, then you should be paying each of your guys AT LEAST $50. There are probably promoters out there saying, "yeah right, never gonna happen." Here's the thing, if you would stop booking 12 matches a night, with 40 guys on a show, then you could afford to pay your guys that much. Plain and simple.

The biggest issue is that these promoters want to use every guy that is in their area, plus guys from other areas. You need to find yourself a group of about 20 people that you can rotate in and out for shows. Get like 6-8 singles wrestlers, a few tag teams, and maybe a couple of girls. Everyone does not need to be on every show. Rotate people around and make it work.

Now I know it is not the mid 90's an the business is in the crapper, but that just means that the promoters need to bust their asses more and find new ways to draw fans in. Think of it as you are a normal, everyday person, who knows nothing about wrestling. How are you going to find out about the show? The wrestling fans are easy, they find the poster or hype video online. It's about getting those new fans to show up. THAT is what is going to keep this business alive.

Going back to promoters booking 10-12-15 matches on one show. It pisses the fans off because they are there forever, and it pisses the wrestlers off because they end up with shorter time to wrestle. I think a good overall time for a show is 2.5-3 hours, and the AVERAGE time that a wrestler should be given for their match is AT LEAST 12 minutes. This gives the wrestlers enough time to do whatever they need to do and have plenty of time to do it.

I guess the point to all of this is that "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" type of thing. As a wrestler, you pay me well, I am going to be loyal and put on a good match. As a wrestler, if you pay me like shit, I am probably only going to work for you once and never come back. As a promoter, if I pay you well, then I expect a damn good match out of you and for you to do whatever I need you to. As a promoter, if I pay you well an you "phone in" your match and complain about shit, then your ass is gone and I will tell everyone else that you are difficult to work with.

People helping people. It's what makes the world go 'round. So here's my challenge to all of the promoters out there reading this....start booking less guys, and paying those guys that are loyal to you and busting their asses more money. It will pay off for you in the long-run. Like I keep saying, the only way the business is going to change is if we make it change. #LetsChangeWrestling

Yeah, we all know you are a pill-popping piece of shit...

2012-02-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys that it has been so long since my last blog. Had a lot of great ideas come through from people. Some of them I have already talked about, so I probably won't get into them again. Others are good suggestions for future blogs, but I have a lot of other things on my mind right now. As always, feel free contact me in any of these ways:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theRockshowErnieBallz
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz
Email: ernieballz@hotmail.com

Also, want you guys to know that there is an official Ernie Ballz website coming very soon. I have been working on one for quite awhile now, and think that I have finally settled on a final design. The site will have random BS about me, Pro Wrestling: Men in Tights t-shirts, Ernie Ballz t-shirts, and tons of other cool crap. Keep your eyes peeled for it. Let's just say that I will get it done when I get it done. Ha ha.

Today, I want to talk about the assholes, dickheads, douche bags, and all-around pieces of shit in the wrestling business. In particular, I would like to talk about the drugged-out "veterans" of the wrestling business who feel that everyone owes them something. Once again, just another example of why "normal people" look at the wrestling business the wrong way. We are all one big family, and one bad attitude makes everyone else look like shit.

Over the past year, I have had the chance to see both sides of a wrestling show. The actual "show" part, which I have seen for the past 10 years, as well as now seeing the booking/promoting part of things. It seems like no matter how hard I try to be professional in the back and try to keep things organized, there is always a handful of "veterans" who don't want to listen or help out at all. These are the tools bags that need to leave the business altogether.

So I am helping out at a show recently and I let one of the guys know what is going on. As he reaches into his bag to pop yet another pill (of some sort, not really sure what it was) he basically tells me that he is not going to do what we asked him to. Okay, well then. The only thing that I could think to do is go tell the other people involved in his match as well as tell the boss. Call me a snitch, tattle-tale, whatever you want. But honestly, when there is an entire show to think about, as well as other people's well-being, I don't really give a shit. I am going to do whatever needs to be done to get the result that we are looking for.

Don't really want to get into details, let's just say the this sack of shit DID NOT do what he was supposed to. Everyone else ended up doing what we had to though to get around it. Which is bullshit. If you are asked to do something on a show, then fucking do it. The promoter is the one running the show and paying your sorry ass, so if you want your money, do what you are asked. I really do not give a shit how long you have been in the business. It's about respecting the people that are still giving you an opportunity after everyone else has black-balled you from the business.

I am not the one that gets to make the decision on whether or not this guy comes back, but I am hoping he doesn't. Things can get done a lot easier if he was just not there, and it would open up a spot on the show for a guy that actually cares. This guy just wants his opportunity to pop pills, and act like people care about him for 15 minutes. He does not care about anyone but himself, period.

I guess the point of this whole blog is to tell promoters to stop using these kind of guys. They are losers, probably out of shape, and a shell of what they "used to be." Yeah, the guy might have been good 10 years ago, but if all he does is pop pills, not listen, and treat everyone like shit, then what is the point of having him on the show? Like I said, use someone that actually gives a damn. Someone that will go out there and bust their ass for you. Someone that appreciates their spot on the show and wants to do their part to help out. Help give this business a good name again by getting rid of the drugged-out pieces of shit that make us all look bad. I have said it before, and I will continue to say it as long as I write this blog, the only way that the business is going to change is if we all make it change. So let's make it change for the better.

Blowing rainbows and sunshine up someone's ass DOES NOT help...

2012-01-31T12:16:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing that I have definitely learned from pro wrestling, it is the fact that you have to be able to take constructive-criticism. Also, if you are the one giving the person advice, remember that blowing rainbows and sunshine up someones ass DOES NOT help. You need to be able to take the advice, no matter how tough it is to hear it, and make adjustments where they are needed. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time to ask that person for anything in the first place.

It doesn't matter if you are a promoter, a wrestler, or even the camera guy, you need to be able to take the criticism either way. There are people who are in charge that know what they want from you, so do what they tell you to. There are people in the business who have been doing it a hell of a lot longer than you have, so take their advice on things and make yourself better.

I cannot stand it when someone asks me what I thought of their match, then they get pissed off because I tell them the truth. It's the same shit that everyone else is thinking, it's just no one else has the balls (no pun intended) to say something. Don't ask me if you don't want to hear the truth. If I tell you that your match was okay when it really sucked ass, that is doing nothing for you then. That just makes you think that whatever you just did out there was good and that you know what you are doing, when really, you have no idea what you are doing at all.

This is how you learn in this business. Be humble, ask advice, take it like a man and make yourself better. I cannot tell you how many times people ripped me up one end and down the other about stuff. But the fact that I always took the criticism and that person's advice, made that person respect me a little more or at least see me as a little more of an equal, rather than a dumb kid.

If you sit there while someone is giving you advice and act like an asshole about it, then that person now thinks you are an asshole. They will tell the promoter, you probably will not come back there again, and now you are labeled as an asshole overall. Good job, way to get yourself blackballed.

The point is, telling somebody something just to make them feel better is not going to do shit. Tell them the truth so that they learn from their mistakes. And if you are the one asking for advice, take it like a man and actually learn from it.

The "black sheep" Hardy cousin who WWE did not sign...wonder why?...

2012-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

Once again, I want to thank everyone that has been checking out the blog, commenting on it, and sending me ideas. I actually checked the official stats today for the first time and was blown away by the amount of people that take time out of their lives to read my organized nonsense. Thinking of getting some shirts made up that will have the PRO WRESTLING: Men in Tights logo on them, then the address to the blog on the back. Contact me if you are interested in one so that I can get a headcount and sizes together. As always, you can contact me at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheRockshowErnieBallz
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz
Email: ernieballz@hotmail.com

I figured it was about time to post another funny story from shows over the years. There are so many of them that they kind of come and go in my memory. For whatever reason, this one popped into my head today and made me laugh, so hopefully it will do the same for all of you.

Pretty sure that this event took place in 2004, which would have been my 2nd year in the business. I went down to a show in Southern Ohio, Cambridge, OH to be exact. The building was pretty cool, it was almost like a giant airport hanger that had been turned into a rec center something like that. I actually just got to wrestle there again about a year ago for Ohio Championship Wrestling (http://www.ocwrestling.net/) and it made me laugh because of this story.

So I drove like 3.5 hours to this shitty-ass show in Cambridge, OH, where the only good part about the show was probably the building and the fact that I got paid before the show. The crowd was small, I had no idea who any of the guys on the show were, and the promoter was a creep-ball deluxe. This dude brought in Traci Brooks, ODB, and Christie Ricci (the wrestler, not Casper's friend), and had the three of them get into the ring and basically just play patty-cake for like 30 minutes. It was not a match, it must have just been some footage for this monkey's spank bank or something. It was weird either way, and I am sure the girls got paid a shit-ton of money either way.

Anyways, I get introduced to the guy that I am wrestling, and his name is "the Black Sheep" Brian Hardy. Apparently, he was the long-lost cousin of the Hardy Boyz that the WWE was not interested in at the time. He was not, but he thought he was. He tried to put this over the entire day, but I was not buying it. Let me just paint a picture for you of "the Black Sheep" Brian Hardy. Imagine a crackhead, with a receding hairline, a bad bleaching job on the hair he has left, Joe Dirt-esc facial hair, a dirty white wife-beater, faded black cargo pants with holes in them, and all of his top teeth rotted away. I am not shitting you, his top teeth were completely rotted away and his breath smelled like elephant shit covered in sewage. It's no wonder the WWE was not interested in this, obvious, cousin to the great Matt and Jeff Hardy. No member of the OMEGA roster would claim this guy. Joey Abs would not even claim ever knowing this guy, even if he was related to the Hardys.

Having this top-tier opponent, I knew that I needed to bring my A-game to the table. At the time, I was working a very technical type of style, so I asked "the Black Sheep" if he was any good at chain wrestling at all. Well, being the pride and joy of Cameron, NC, of course "the Black Sheep" had no idea what chain wrestling even was. Awesome. The legendary Brian Hardy then said, and I quote, "I am a fucking Hardy Boy! Don't you know what we Hardys do? We fly!" With this bold statement, I decided that I was just going to beat the shit out of this guy, and have a good time in the process.

I am standing in the back thinking of what I should do during this barn-burner of a match that I am about to have with this future hall-of-famer, and I decide that I am going to cut a promo before my match. This promo ended up being a turning point in my entire wrestling career, because I found out this night that I was actually REALLY good on the mic. I went out to the ring and just ripped the entire town apart up one end and down the other. Well, of course, this helped the magnificent, not at all lying, "Black Sheep" Brian Hardy get an amazing reaction when he walked to the ring like he had a turtle-head poking out.

This is the moment, my match with this amazing competitor had finally began. The bell rang (which was actually someone slamming a wrench against the ringpost) and Brian Hardy did nothing. He looked at me like a deer in headlights. So I speared him, punched him, kicked him, until finally, he gave me a not-at-all shitty excuse for a Twist of Fate, and when up top to hit his ever-famous Swanton Bomb. "The Black Sheep" tried to jump off the ropes, but ended up falling on his head instead. I rolled him up and pinned him, 1-2-3. Match of my career people.

Now, Dumbass McGee is laying in the middle of the ring because he landed on his damn head, because he fell off the fucking top rope. What an idiot. Matt and Jeff were probably crying in their sleep for weeks over this. The ambulance finally came and took this stinky, un-coordinated bastard to the emergency room.

I am ready to leave. It's the end of the show, ODB & Traci Brooks both gave me a kiss on the cheek, I have my money, let's roll. We are walking around saying goodbye to everyone, and what do you know, like a heroic knight in slightly dirty, smelly-ass armor, here comes the great Brian Hardy walking back into the building. The guy does not even hesitate, he comes after me and attacks me in front of whatever crowd is left in there. I thought he was joking around at first, but apparently he blamed me for making him fall off the top rope for some reason. Basically, I popped the guy a couple times, pushed him down, and got the fuck out of Dodge.

Never worked for the place ever again. Never saw the "Black Sheep" of the Hardy family ever again. All I know is, I cannot wait for the Hardy Boyz to get inducted into the Hall-of-Fame, because I bet good-ole' Vince already has it booked for the "Black Sheep" to be right there with Matt and Jeff when they are.

Working out helps more than you think...

2012-01-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

I am not the most physically fit pro wrestler out there today, but I still work out 4-5 times a week to keep myself where I need to be. For the past month, I have had somewhat of an awakening or realization when it comes to getting into better shape. I really just looked at some pictures from this past New Year's Eve and saw how much weight I have gained and told myself that this is not how I want to live my life anymore.

When I first started wrestling in 2002, I was 230 lbs and only had a little bit of muscle on me. I am 6 ft. 2 in. tall, so 230 is not bad at all for that height. Over the years, I have struggled with trying to put muscle on, but also take weight off. In 2009, I broke my left ankle and needed to have surgery on it. The time off from my ankle sucked ass. I put on so much weight, that I actually got all the way up to 285 lbs. This was the heaviest I have ever been. In recent months, I have sat around 265-270 lbs., but it is still way too heavy for me.

Coming back from the ankle injury was probably the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in wrestling. Not only was it tasking physically, but many of the promoters who were using me before the injury kind of just forgot about me and put someone else into that spot. I still feel that this injury was a contributing factor as to why I do not wrestle for many of these places anymore, but I have realized lately that a lot of it probably had to do with my weight as well.

Seeing the pictures of myself and what I have looked like the past few years, it disgusts me now. One of my only goals left in this business is to be a top guy in certain promotions, and I know that I cannot do that looking the way that I did. I really do not care if I ever work for WWE or TNA. I have done the extra thing at WWE and it was not my cup of tea personally. The only way that I am going to become a top guy in the places that I currently wrestle for is by getting into shape, working on my in-ring skills more and more, and setting an example of how someone should carry themself and how they should work in the ring.

Over the past month, I have lost 15 lbs and feel great. I am down to about 250, but it is still not enough. 230 is my goal, but I am honestly shooting for like 225-220. I am not really that worried about the actual weight itself, it is more about just how I feel overall I guess.

The only things that I have really changed is what I eat. Before, I would go to the gas station everyday to get a coffee and some sort of nasty-ass breakfast sandwich. Now, I make a protein shake first thing in the morning to speed up my metabolism and make my own coffee at home. My mid-afternoon snack before would be 2 hotdogs from the place down the road, but now I try to eat something better, like beef jerkey, nuts, or fruit. I still go out to eat every now and then, but I have just tried to pick something a little bit better for me to eat instead. Usually, I will let myself eat Taco Bell whenever I have show also, but that is only about twice a month right now.

So the next step is to cut out the rest of the shit and take things to the next level. I would like to start getting up around 6 in the morning to either lift or do yoga, on top of doing 60 minutes of cardio at night. My biggest issue overall is the fact that I CANNOT get up early in the morning. I have tried EVERYTHING to get up. I have gone to bed at 9, I have tried sleeping pills, and nothing works. I'm just going to keep at it and hopefully I eventually fall into the rhythm.

It took me until about my third year in the business to realize how important working out is. I started with mostly guys that I had never touched a weight or a treadmill in their entire life, so it was not something that was taught to me or anything like that. I eventually just started to feel like shit and that my body was hurting 24/7. So I started working out a little here and there and it felt great. I worked out VERY hard during high school, but I think I just got burnt out on it and that is why I did not do it much when I started wrestling.

Over the years, I have figured out what type of workout are important to being a pro wrestler and have started to focus on them more. Currently, I am trying to get into Yoga more and more, but I have been doing a very basic workout with resistance bands on top of 60 minutes of cardio 3 nights a week.

Yoga is something that I always thought was for girls, until I tried it. Holy shit! It is hard! Honestly, I think Yoga is the single best thing that any wrestler can do for themselves. It stretches you to no end and somewhat aligns your back and shit as well. Anytime that I do yoga, I feel like a million bucks the next day.

The basic workout that I do right now is because I do not really need much more size put on, I just need to cut up. I start out by just stretching out really good and do some random stuff for getting my heart rate up. The workout itself is a very basic, full-body workout. I do pushups, situps, hindu squats, then use resistance bands for everything else. Super easy, but also effective. The reason that I am doing this workout is just to do something while I try to cut down. Once I get to the point that I want to be at, I plan on getting back into the gym and actually lifting weights again. I really do love lifting, I just do not have the time to most days.

Cardio is something that I feel everyone needs to work their way up to a certain point. If you are just starting out, then only do like 15-20 minutes or something like that for about 2 weeks, then bump it up to 30-40 minutes after that. Continue to do this until you reach 60 minutes. I highly recommend the elliptical, just because it won't screw up your knees like a treadmill will. Matt Mason (wrestler from OH) also gave me the advice to switch up your cardio here and there, and it has really helped out a lot. I will do like 20 minutes on one thing, 20 minutes on another, then the last 20 on something else. It keeps you body guessing at what is coming next.

I guess the point of this entire blog is to let everyone know that if you are in the wrestling business, working out is the biggest part of it. Your body is everything; not only for looks, but for flexibility and whatnot as well. If your body feels like shit, then you are going to wrestle like shit. Take my story for example. I felt like shit in the ring when I was overweight, but now I am starting to feel good again. Your body is your main tool in wrestling, so make sure it is at a level that will work best for you.

What is wrong with wrestling?...

2012-01-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

First off, note to self: DO NOT hit the ESC key on accident when typing a blog. This is the same thing that I did during my last blog and I lost all of it and had to write it all over again. I had this one completely done and once again, lost it. So I will give it another shot here.

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has been reading the blog and passing it along, I really appreciate the support. I also want to thank everyone who has sent me ideas of things to talk about. Feel free to contact me at www.facebook.com/TheRockshowErnieBallz , www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz , or ernieballz@hotmail.com . Today's post is actually going to be one of these topics sent to me by an anonymous source. The person did not leave their name at all, but the topic is a good one, so thank you.

The topic that was given to me is "why do you feel that pro wrestling is not as popular as it once was?" This is a pretty broad question, but I am going to do my best to give my opinion on it. Obviously, WWE is the monopoly of pro wrestling, but I feel that with the right business decisions, ROH could be a big contender eventually. TNA is a lost-cause in my opinion and I will talk about that.

So, wrestling hit it's boom in the Attitude era when the Monday Night War was going on. The reason why is because WCW pushed the envelope and forced WWE to do the same. It was a constant question of "what will happen next?" THAT is why wrestling was so popular then. It was exciting and something new every week. People were jumping from WWE to WCW, ECW was the land of misfit toys that people wanted to get behind. It was amazing, but is something that will NEVER be duplicated in my opinion.

Let's talk about some of the problems with the business currently though. WWE definitely has a monopoly over the entire business of pro wrestling. They bought out all of their competition in 2001, which was probably to dumbest move they could have ever made. Without competition, there is no alternative, which means that there is no one else pushing your company to be better. That's why wrestling went down the crapper from the longest time.

WWE's main 2 issues are the fact that everything is about merchandising and money, and that they hold down younger talent. I am sorry, but maybe you should spend more time accentuating the second W in your name, which stands for WRESTLING, rather than selling multi-colored wristbands to 10 year old children. I understand it, I really do, but it is wrestling, so do some for a change. I think that they are starting to with people like Punk, Danielson, and Ziggler, but I think they need to pick it up company-wide.

My second issue with WWE is that they hold back a lot of their younger talent. There are tons of AMAZING talents that are either currently in development, or have been down there in the past, that should be given opportunities. It almost seems to me like they are afraid to bring these guys up to the main roster because they think that they are going to fail or something. Here's an idea, if a guy sucks, FIRE HIM!!! There are guys on that roster that are hella-nice people, but they are dumb as a box of rocks. If they don't know what they are doing, then get rid of them and hire someone else to a development deal that actually deserves to be there. I can think of countless people off of the top of my head that should be in development right now. Chris Hero, Sami Callihan, Roderick Strong, the list could go on and on. These dumbass guys that don't know anything about the business get put onto TV and take away spots from guys that really know what they are doing and would be 10 times as entertaining.

There are guys that have sat in development for years and were never really given a chance at all. There are guys donw there right now that I do not understand why they are not on TV. I have an ongoing discussion with many people about how WWE guys have no idea what to do other than what they are told to do. What are we going to do 20 years down the road? Who are going to be the top guys? Who are going to be the road agents that help the younger talent? Half of these guys now don't know what the hell they are doing. Give the younger guys that have been on the indies a chance. In the long-run, I feel it will help the business overall.

That's as far as I am going with WWE. They are the top of the heap for a reason, I just feel that there are little changes that could make it that much better. Let's talk about the train wreck that is TNA/Impact Wrestling. TNA is like the dog in the movie UP...they will be doing their thing, then all of a sudden...SQUIRREL!!! It's like A.D.D. Wrestling. One thing will be going on, then the next week it all changes. Generation ME/The Young Bucks are a perfect example of this. They starting off tagging with each other, then they turned on each other, then they were fighting, then they were back together like nothing ever happened. Makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever.

I also feel like TNA has the WCW Handbook to Booking in their back pocket. "Let's bring in all of these old bastards that no one cares about anymore, and build our entire company around them." I can understand using people like RVD, Jeff Hardy, Ken Anderson, because all of these guys can still wrestle and have something to offer to the company. Sting as a GM? Mostly drunk Ric Flair? Hogan in Affliction-esc shirts? Really? They are paying these "legends" a shit-ton of money to do nothing but show up on TV. Sting just comes out dressed like a jackass saying "it's showtime" and "I'm the boss." Well I am sorry Stinger, but Tony Danza is the boss. Flair comes out half drunk and just shouts nonsense. Hogan comes out dressed like a 21 year old Jersey Shore cast member and just says "brother" 20 times a night. I often think of what kids think of Hogan. They were not around for him when he was a big deal. They probably see him and say "Mommy, it's that guy from the Rent-A-Center commercials who is on that other show with the midgets!" No one cares about either of these guys. Can you imagine the amount of money that TNA could save by getting rid of them? Ridiculous.

Other than using guys from the retirement home on their shows, TNA has two other things that have completely ruined their product over the years. The two dumbest things that TNA ever did was 1.) getting rid of the 6-sided ring, and 2.) not focusing on the X-Division. These are the 2 things that made TNA different than any other wrestling product on the market and they just got rid of it. Why would you do this? If you are a sandwich maker and you have a sandwich that no one else can make quite the same way as you do, why would you take it off your menu? Stupidity, that's why. TNA brought in Hogan and Bischoff thinking that they were going to be able to do something for the company. The first decision they made was to get rid of the 6-sided ring, change the name of the company, and make their entire set look like Smackdown. WTF? So let me get this straight...you are going to take everything that has established this company, hit the reset button and just start all over again? Ok. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

TNA is just a mess overall, I could go for hours about them. Let's move onto ROH. Personally, I feel ROH is going to be the next big thing. They have a great show, that is the perfect mix of wrestling and entertainment. ROH's main downfall is that they are not on a good network. HDNET was not picked up by normal cable companies, so no one saw the show. This Sinclair crap that they are on right now only gets picked up in certain areas also. I am in Cleveland, OH and we do not even get it here. ROH needs to just keep their noses to the grindstone, find ways to make money, and take opportunities ASAP. I really do feel that ROH is a better product than TNA overall and feel that they could really do something. The problem that they have begun to run into is that some of the talent has moved onto WWE and TNA, mainly because they are going to get more exposure and money there. If ROH can find that perfect mix, they will be a major threat.

So that's it. I think the overall point is that wrestling needs to be about wrestling. There has to be an entertainment factor there as well, but I think that the wrestling is the most important part. Younger talent needs to step up to the plate and start showcasing themselves more. Whether these talents are signed or not, it doesn't matter. It's all about getting yourself out there and showing what you can do.

I you can't do it, then don't do it...

2012-01-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

I like to think that most of these posts kind of build off of each other and tell one big story overall. This post came to mind because of various different reasons and I decided it was time to get this out there. Let's just say that the theme here is "don't let personal crap mess with your business."

I don't care which side of the coin you fall on, whether you are a promoter or a wrestler. You should never let your personal crap mess with your business. The biggest problem when it comes to the wrestling business is that most people don't treat it like a business. I have already talked about this issue though, so we are not going to get into that much.

The problem is, the wrong types of people get into the business on both ends. You have Scuzzy Joe the Landlord that all of a sudden wants to play promoter, and of course, you have the ever-so-famous Jimmy Dipshit from the Seven Eleven who wants to play wrestler. I am not saying that you cannot treat wrestling as a hobby, but please treat it as a business either way. Whether you are the Chris Hero or Colt Cabana type that makes money primarily off of wrestling, or you are the, well, "the Rockshow" Ernie Ballz (me) type that mainly just wrestles a few times a month. Either way, there is a potential to make money, which classifies a business relationship. I am just saying enforcing what I have already said before, which is that there are people in this business ruining it for everyone.

If you have convictions from previous crimes, then stay away. If you do not have any money and want to promote shows but don't know how to actually make money, then stay away. If you "kind of" want to wrestle but have no athletic ability, STAY AWAY!!! One bad egg makes the whole bunch look like shit. Some of you may be saying, "well, if I get gear..." or "well, if I can get a sponsor..." You think that there are other things that can make you look good or look professional. I always remember hearing the phrase, "you can paint a turd gold, but it's still a turd either way." That's what you are, a turd. A turd in the punch bowl that is pro wrestling. You make the rest of us look bad.

For example, let's look at the promoting end of things. Let's say that there is a building that a good promotion wants to run to try to bring in some new fans and branch out a little bit. The problem is that there are a few other places that have run this town/building and their shows sucked ass, their talent looked like shit, and they left a bad taste in the fans and the owner of the building's mouth for wrestling as a whole. These shitbag promotions just ruined this town for anyone else that wants to come there, or even near there. They pissed the building owner off to the point that wrestling will probably never be allowed back there again.

The wrestling side of things is just as good. Let's say that there is a guy that wrestles from OH who gets booked by a promoter in Philly. This wrestler talks himself up to the promoter, name-dropping, and saying he is the best thing since Sliced Bread #2. Now this shitty wrestler goes and wrestles the show, looks like total crap, is not entertaining, and ends up hurting one of the guys he wrestled. The promoter is now going to say, "that is the last F'n time that we use ANYONE from OH!!!" So now, this dumbass just ruined the chance for any wrestlers from OH to wrestle for this promoter in Philly. Eventually, yes, the promoter will probably start using OH talent again, but it is going to be a long time until that happens.

My point here is, if you are told how the wrestling business is and you KNOW that you do not fit that mold, then PLEASE JUST STAY AWAY!!! It is how it is, and that probably will never change. So if you are sitting around thinking that something is going to happen, but in the back of your mind you KNOW it won't, find another hobby. Walk away while you still can.

Personal issues should never effect any type of business. So if you are that guy that has so many skeletons in the closet that are just waiting to come out and destroy you, then stay away from wrestling. YOUR personal issues WILL eventually come out, they will make YOU look bad, which will in-turn make EVERYONE in the wrestling business look bad. We are all in this together. It is ALL OF OUR JOBS to present this business a certain way. If you know that someone does not belong here, then speak up or do something about it. The longer these pieces of crap are in OUR business, the crappier we are ALL going to look.

It's a business, treat it that way...

2012-01-19T07:43:00.000-08:00

I only write these blogs when I feel that I actually have something to talk about. Rather than coming on here and forcing myself to type some bullshit, I want to have a point or tell a good story. I have gone on record saying that my last post was probably my best one yet, but I think that this one is going to be pretty good as well.

There is a term that many wrestlers say which is, "I'm in the business." Really? Are you? Because there are plenty of shitbag wrestlers and promoters out there that say that they are in the "business," but do not know the first thing about running a business.

Each and every one of us are small business owners when it comes to wrestling. If you are a promoter, then you have a service that you are selling, which is a wrestling show. If you are a wrestler, then you are your own product and need to find the right strategy to market yourself to promoters and fans. Either way, it is YOUR job to make sure that you know what the hell you are doing and talking about in order to run YOUR business the right way.

Wrestlers, you need to know how to market yourself, not only to the fans, but to everyone in the business as well. The more you know, the better you are, the better you are, the easier it is to get booked, the easier it is to get booked, the better chance to you have to present yourself to the fans, who will then buy your shit. Take Colt Cabana for example. This guy has always supplemented his income by having shirts, headbands, buttons, posters, DVD's, and whatever other stuff fans will buy. Now, he runs an AMAZING podcast called The Art of Wrestling, where he not only gets the word out on himself, his show dates, and his products, but he also puts over the business of pro wrestling as a whole. Colt has turned himself into a media empire in order to make a full-time living as a pro wrestler.

Promoters, you need to start finding ways to make money at your shows, PERIOD! All wrestling shows are different, the crowds are different, the style is different. The key is to hide your negatives, showcase your positives, and market your business accordingly. The first step is to figure out ways to get people into your shows. I have said it before, once you get the people in there, just let the wrestling and overall entertainment speak for itself after that. Then, eventually you can start making DVD's, shirts, and whatever else to sell to this fanbase that you have built up to make more money. It does not all come at one time though, you need to get a plan together, take small steps to better your company, and stick to it. It may be a year later, or it might be your next show, but the growth will come.

You also need to take care of your talent as well. Spend some money to have at least water and some kind of food in the back. For example, I have wrestled at W.A.R. Wrestling (Wrestling And Respect) in Lima, OH for years. Ever since I began going down there, they have ALWAYS had food and water in the back for the wrestlers. They have an entire catering company come in with food for their guys, it's AMAZING. If you know anything about business, then you know it is all about connections and networking yourself. That is what W.A.R. has done. They have connections for the food. Monster Energy is one of their sponsors now, so there is free Monster in the back for the guys. They have even worked out sponsorship arrangements with hotels in the area for their talent to get free rooms. THIS is how you take care of your talent. It is not about spending a shit-ton of money on this type of stuff, it's about working out some sort of arrangement where you can put over their company at the show or make them a sponsor or something like that. Start thinking OUTSIDE OF THE BOX for a change.

The issue in this business are these promoters and wrestlers that do not know what the hell they are doing in or out of the ring. Wrestlers who are "self-trained" and look like Jimmy Dipshit from the Seven Eleven. These guys have no idea what they are doing, so why are promoters booking them? Money. That's why. These shitty promoters who don't want to pay a dime for anything put these yard-tards on their shows because they will wrestle for free. Let me ask the promoters something...how is having these guys on your shows helping you at all? You cannot tell me that Jimmy Dipshit is drawing people into the shows. You cannot tell me that this guy is making you money. SO TAKE THESE GUYS OFF OF YOUR SHOWS AND PAY FOR REAL TALENT!!! These kind of promoters are the people ruining the business of professional wrestling. Giving these guys the OPPORTUNITY to be on your show makes all of the other yard-tards feel that it is okay to get into the business this way, which IT IS NOT!!!

Let me just put it this way...promoters, if you do not have the money to pay for REAL TALENT to wrestle on your shows, then DON'T RUN ANYMORE. Do everyone in the business a favor and just stop. Because this is a business, treat it that way. If you can't or do not know how to run a business, then go find something that you do know how to do and STOP RUINING PRO WRESTLING!!!

It's 2012, not 1975...

2012-01-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

I had this whole post typed out and ready to go, then something happened that I could not post it, then it was gone completely. So, here it goes again, hopefully it works this time around. These are the difficulties of doing these blogs I guess.

Anyways, I have talked about people lending a hand in this business already, but feel that there is one part that is EXTREMELY important, especially considering how the business is now-a-days. First, I would like to remind everyone that it is 2012, not 1975. The business has changed, and the quicker that EVERYONE realizes that, the better off we will all be in the long-run. Things like the Internet and Facebook & Twitter have changed this business drastically, and it is time to change along with them to make this business the best that it can be.

In today's wrestling business, I feel we have a lot of different kinds of promoters with many different promoting styles. You have the guys that do everything the "old school way," pounding the pavement, getting sponsors, and hanging up fliers. You also have the promoters that blow up your Twitter or Facebook with fliers and hype videos on a daily basis. My favorite though are the promoters that post 1 or 2 things about their show on their Facebook page, and then wonder why there is only 20 people at their show. That's when you get that infamous "well, the house is down a little" speech and walk out of the building with nothing but a frown on your face and swamp-ass from your tights.

The problem is that most promoters are stuck thinking that it is 1975 and think that there is only one way to promote a show. No, not even close buddy. What promoters need to start doing is mixing the "old school" with the "new school." Like I said, it's 2012 and the business has changed, whether you want to admit it or not. If you are trying to target younger fans, then Facebook and Twitter are the way to go, as well as any wrestling forums or websites that may post your info for the the show. For what I like to call "the everyday person," putting up fliers in local businesses, radio, and TV is the way to go. I think a lot of people in the business forget that "normal people" do not watch wrestling on a regular basis, they do not visit these wrestling websites, and they definitely do not have you on their Facebook or Twitter list as a friend. So the key here is to find ways to reach out to these "normal people" and convert them into, or back into, "wrestling people." CM Punk said it the best when he said that "we all need to make wrestling cool again."

The biggest issue here is that promoters are cheap asses, plain and simple. First rule of business is that you have to "spend money to make money." Spend a couple hundred dollars on fliers, radio, or TV if you think that it is going to help you. If you do, you may reach 25, 50, maybe even 100 more people, and should make your money back, no problem. Also, there are things like concessions and merchandise that should help you recover some of your overhead cost. Afterall, this is a BUSINESS, remember, so run it like one.

So we have talked about the promoters, now let's talk about the wrestlers. Wrestlers, you need to help with promoting also. I bet many guys are thinking that they are "the talent" and that promoting the shows is the promoters job. Well, that is true, but YOU are on the show as well. If YOU want people to come out to the shows to see YOU, buy YOUR merchandise, making YOU more money, then maybe YOU need to start helping out. Now I am not telling the wrestlers to get in their cars on a Saturday and go flier a Walmart parking lot. I am thinking more about the Facebook and Twitter type of stuff.

I talked about this before, it is not that hard to share a video or repost a flier for a show. It is literally one click away. I don't know about many of the other wrestlers out there, but I do know that I am out to help this business OVERALL, not just myself. So why not share the hype video for the show that YOU are on? Think about this scenario....you have a show coming up, the promoter has posted a video and a flier with all of the information for the show, then every time that you log onto Facebook or Twitter share the information really quick. If every wrestler started doing this could you imagine the amount of information that would be out there about wrestling?!!? It would be unbelievable. The power of numbers is a lot more powerful than what people give it credit for. There is no way that the business is going to change unless we change ourselves. Otherwise, it is just going to stay the way it is and not get any better. It's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Let me put it this way. When people find out that I am a wrestler, about 75% of the time I get this answer..."oh, is that still on TV?" The point of this entire post is that "normal people" do not know about wrestling, because they are not surrounded by it like we are. It is OUR JOB as wrestlers, bookers, promoters, announcers, managers, ring crew members, and whoever else, to get the word out there, somehow. It really helps to step back and think about, "how would I find out about this show if I was not in the business?" The problem is that we all get caught up in our "wrestling world" that you sometimes forget about the "real world." It's all about finding ways to reach those "real world people" and letting them know that wrestling is still out there, and converting them into, or back into, wrestling fans.

So here is my challenge to each and every one of you. Take this blog, and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, email, tell a friend, write it down if you want. Let people see this. Then, take the next show that you are on and share that information and see what the results are. Finally, report back to me and let me know what happened. Were there more people in the crowd? Were people asking you about the show more? Were there other people sharing the information? All we need to do is get the people into the shows and let the wrestling speak for itself. It all goes back to the thought of telling one person, then they tell their friends, and they tell their friends, so on and so forth. It's time to change this business for the better, and the only way that is going to happen is by making a buzz and getting the word out there. PRO WRESTLING IS STILL HERE!!!

WTF!??! We're wrestling in a barn...

2012-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Had a few people who emailed me and asked that I tell a funny story from the road or just weird stuff about some of the shows that I have been on. I have plenty of them, but this one just sprung to my mind.

I want to say it was like 2004 or something like that, which means I had been in the business for 2 years. A few guys that I wrestled with at the time, "the Homeless Avenger" Dick Nasty & "K-Nine" Sean Kindred, were heading to a show in central OH (I am not going to name the promotion though) and I decided I was going to ride along. The show was like 3 hours away from Toledo area, where we all lived at the time, and was hard as shit to find. Just a note to the readers who have never been to shows in Ohio, Indiana, or Michigan; sometimes these shows are in the smallest, shit hole towns in the middle of BFE that it is in your best interest to leave about an hour earlier than planned just to make sure you can find the place.

Anyways, we follow the directions and finally ended up finding the address, which was spray painted on the side of a shitty, old barn. Great. We all kind of looked at each other and said "this cannot be the right place." So we decided to get out and check inside this barn to see what was up. We walked inside and there were about 20 kids around the age of 14 or 15 "working out" (doing highspots) in a ring inside this barn. At that point, I said "WTF!??! We're wrestling in a barn!" K-Nine, Nasty, and I thought that we had seen it all for the day, but then we saw one of these kids climb up into the old hay loft in the barn and jump onto another guy who was inside the ring....before the show even started. Wow.

Nasty decided that he was not even going to work the show at all, so he sat in the crowd and watched this train wreck of a show firsthand. Smart man. First off, I just want to say that these kids treated all of us like we were fucking Rick Flair man. They bought us water & Gatorade, and we even got one of the kids to go buy is Taco Bell after our match. Though they treated us this way, K-Nine and I were booked against each other in the first match, for whatever reason. I guess it's important to save the hay loft dive for the end of the show or something. The only other thing they could do to top that is to shove fireworks up a guys ass and have him hit flying teabag on someones face.

K-Nine and I go out there and put on a fucking wrestling clinic compared to the drizzling shits that the crowd was about to endure. It was towards the end of the match, and I was going up to the top rope to hit an inside leg lariat on K-Nine for the finish. Just as I was jumping off, the rope (which I believe was a cable wrapped in a garden hose) snapped and I landed right on my face. Needless to say, K-Nine just about shit his pants in laughter, Nasty was in the crowd rolling on the floor, and I was fine, but could not stop laughing myself either. That was my finish, what else can I hit on this guy for the win? Since Nasty was having such a great time laughing his ass off in the crowd, I decided to pick K-Nine up and hit Nasty's finish, the Homeless Driver (which was basically a sit out body slam) and then proceeded to point at Nasty during the 1 - 2 - 3. It made me laugh even harder, and really, that's all that mattered.

When we walked into the back, every one of those kids on the show were like "oh my god, are you okay?" It was hilarious. These guys were not really paying us that much to begin with, but I want to say that I walked out of there with like $50 just because I fell off the top rope. I think that was partially because these kids knew that they were underage and did not want me ratting them out to their moms & dads, and probably because they thought I was going to sue them or something like that. Oh well, easiest money I ever made for falling down.

There are NO shortcuts!!!...

2012-01-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

I know that I just posted something yesterday, but I need to elaborate on my post about doing things the right way in this business. This past Summer, I attempted to open my own wrestling school, the Rockzilla Pro Wrestling Academy, which ended up with me training one guy, Eli McFly. I LOVE training people, and I feel that Eli having me one-on-one actually worked out better for him, because it was a little more personal and I think he picked up on things better that way.

The problem with running the school is that I get these people that say they want to train, but drag their fucking feet forever and make excuses why they can't. "I don't have the money right now." Okay, so GET THE MONEY!!! "I don't know if I want to drive that far." Okay, so don't. Everyone always says that "pro wrestling is all I have ever wanted to do." Well, if that is true, THEN DO IT!!! Make the commitment, find the money, and DO IT ALREADY!!! Don't sit here and talk about it for the rest of your life, get your ass motivated, change your life, and START TRAINING!!!

I eventually gave up on a few of the people because I could tell that they were not serious about it. They were those people that think "oh, well that might be cool." These people know who they are too, because all 3 of them read this blog and have contacted me within the last few weeks about a few things. Which in lies the problem.

The BIG problem is that I think these guys feel that they can just stroll into the business without having to train. Some of them have done backyard wrestling, gotten themselves onto indy shows, and probably think that they know what they are doing. I can tell each of you right here, right now, YOU DO NOT KNOW SHIT!!!!!!!!!! Just the fact that you are asking me to get you into promotions proves that you KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE WRESTLING BUSINESS!!!

Needless to say, I have taken a break from training for right now. I was using another guy's ring and building before, and that kind of fell through. Also, I want MY OWN place. I want to be able to say "this is MY wrestling school." So I am going to put things on hold and try to help point people in the right direction, like to Truth Martini's school The House of Truth in Detroit, MI, Jeff Cannon's school The Big Guns Academy in Coshocton, OH, and Cody Hawk's school Rockstar Pro in the Cincy area, until I get enough money behind my own place.

To all the people that want to get into professional wrestling, there are NO SHORTCUTS!!! If you want to do it, then find a school and get properly trained. If you are currently working indy shows and are not trained, get your ass out of that ring and into a school to train, because YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!