This is the third chapter of Alex Shane’s Guide to pro Wrestling – Volume 1. This article discusses what Alex believes is the single biggest secret for success in training to become a pro wrestler and who someone with zero athletic ability can do just as well as an Olympic Gold medallist. The full book can be purchased by going to www.alexshane.co.uk

Alex Shane’s Guide to Pro Wrestling
Chapter Three

In this chapter, I want to start getting a little bit more to the nuts and bolts of your wrestling training and how to advance your career regardless of if you’re just starting out or are already a respected pro. Now we are at part three in the series I feel we can start getting a little deeper into the juicy stuff. The real secrets that are the difference between making it or breaking it in this wildly fickle and cutthroat industry.

Some of this information is so simple yet so often overlooked that many schools are lucky if just five per cent of their students make it. The fact is that even though it is obvious that some students will come and go and some will get bored or grow out of it, at least 25 per cent of trainees should get to a point where they are good enough to appear on a small scale trainee show, even if it is just once. In martial arts at least one in three students make it to their second grading and many of those who do so are children who have been pushed into taking part by their parents as 70 per cent of the martial arts training business is with under-16s. Therefore, if we take on board that most pro wrestling schools do not take on students under the age of sixteen then we have to assume that most of these young hopefuls have decided on this occupation themselves and have not been pushed into it.

If we want to be really cynical we could say that at 25 per cent of these students just want some way of being around wrestling and don’t really have any intention of being a wrestler but that still leaves 75 per cent of candidates remaining. I also want to add that I myself would have fallen into the previously mentioned 25 per cent as I never seriously thought I would make it onto shows and had no real physical aptitude for the business. My point in all this is that more good wrestlers should be coming out of UK schools but even though there are many great new talents appearing on the scene, for every one that makes it onto a show there are around nine who do not.

I am currently about to introduce a UK grading system, which is something I have been working on for years and believe that this will help produce more well-rounded talent. For the moment we need to look at why so many students are quitting before they get the chance to see how they work with an audience. Wrestling is all about how you connect with the people who buy tickets. Therefore, to walk away before you have had a chance to see how you fare in front of the people who pay all our wages is a silly move. I am not saying that everyone is meant to be a wrestler as that would be silly. However, I hate the expression, “You’re just not cut out to be a wrestler.”

In some extreme instances it may be direly needed but for the most part that is a massive misunderstanding of what the business is about. Wrestling is designed in such a way that it can and should be moulded around the person that you are, not you trying to mould yourself into something you are not. Did Mick Foley make it because he decided to wrestle like Ric Flair or because he moulded his act around what he was born to be? Yet at many schools around the country students are stuck in ruts or falling behind because they are slaves to the misconception that you have to wrestle a certain way.

Many people who get into wrestling do so because they are not great at other sports and never were natural athletes. Those who normally excel in this side of the business, lack the passion or mental understanding of someone who was a wrestling geek. Look at Brock Lesnar, Dan Severn, Steve Blackman, Mark Henry and the plethora of people who have come into the business with legit athletic or shooting backgrounds but have fallen short of what was expected of them because they simply either could not grasp the mental side or had no real love of the game.

This is not to say that being a natural athlete is a hindrance at all. In fact, if you are and you combine that with the knowledge of the inner workings of the business then you are one of the chosen few who will stand head and shoulders above the rest. Yet for those who are not, it is of the utmost importance that you understand that athletic ability is no a prerequisite of the business. In fact, athletic ability is not only something that is not vital but is also something that you can acquire.

I can’t remember how many times when I was a kid that I got a new Transformer or computer game and never had to read the instructions to learn how to become proficient at operating them. Yet give me a science book and some test tubes and I had no clue what I was doing. Why? Was it because I was stupid? No, it was because one thing had my interest and the other did not. When I was at school, I always used sick notes to get out of games. I have always had no interest in sport and therefore felt no need to go through physical exertion over something that I was repelled to.

Just like now, when I speak to strangers about quantum physics (which I now write about and teach) many of them find it boring or alien and have no desire to listen any more than they have to and if they are not interested then I would not expect them to endure it for three hours every week. However, by the time I left school I was the only person from my year of over 200 boys who was being paid to go to a gym 5 times a week, cardio for an hour everyday and do something athletic in front of paying audiences. What brought on this sudden change? Simply, that I enjoyed wrestling, and because of this, had a natural incentive to work on my physical ability. It is amazing how the human mind can adjust to make someone an expert in a certain field after a tragedy. How many times have you heard of cases of parents losing a child to something that they later become experts in and help bring forward new laws and awareness campaigns because of it?

Your brain is a muscle and can also be strengthened in areas just like bicep and this is an example of that principle. Yet we need to learn that we do not always need a bad experience or trauma that leads to the feeling of necessity that invokes this change in us. The desire to change is simply that, a desire and you are in control of it on every level. I want to show you in this part of the guide that with one simple rule you can not only succeed in pro wrestling despite not naturally being that great physically but how you can actually change your athletic ability with something as simple as a mental readjustment. 

If I told you that there is one secret in wrestling that has been lost by all but a few of the current batch of wrestling training schools worldwide would you believe me? It is a secret that has been one of the main downfalls of so many young wrestlers and the major restricting factor of so many really good ones. Once I tell you it, you may think that it is so obvious that you can’t believe that I’m getting paid money to share it with you or you might want to slap your forehead in disbelief and shout, “That’s what I was doing wrong!” Either way this is the single biggest tip I can give to anyone who wants to get into the wrestling business and make a living between the ropes. Are you prepared for this, no matter how many illusions it may shatter into a billion little pieces? Ok then, here we go…

When done correctly good wrestling that makes money is not about the moves you do or how they are executed but simply about the personality of the person doing them.

Read that back and continue to do so until you have fully grasped it. With the exception of the one per cent of supremely gifted grapplers who use their movements or pure technique to make it to the big time, most of the people who make the real money from wrestling and for the longest time are not the best technicians. It is so important to understand this when you are trying to educate a class of young wrestlers into a group of good earners within the wrestling business.

There seems to be an increasing push towards the ‘move, move, and move’ style of wrestling in the UK, which I can be massively blamed for due to the FWA. Yet as one of the figurehead wrestlers of the company it is very fair to say that I did not fall into this category myself. The fact is that I will always believe that there is a place on the show for amazing high flying and technical prowess but it is not and never should be the be all and end all of the show. I was one of the first to promote a style of wrestling that had not been done in Europe before, yes, but it was not at the expense of strong characters and long-term storylines.

This is important to understand, as many old schoolers (read Chapter One for my opinion on them) often refer to spot wrestling as ‘The FWA style’ showing no clue at all what they are talking about just like their American counterparts used to say that brawling was ‘ECW style’ and failing to see everything else that came with it. There will always be a place for athletic moves and fast paced, pretty looking matches but not at the expense of everything else. Yet you’ll see teachers of wrestling schools, who used to be terrible athletes once themselves, trying to drum technical proficiency into their students over personality and uniqueness. Why?

I also say that the best thing you can be in this business, if you want to have longevity, is to be irreplaceable. If you are getting your bookings on the strength of your physical ability alone then you need to make your money fast. This is for two main reasons. Firstly if you are being booked purely for your athletic ability and your match quality then wrestling will take its toll on you a lot faster and you will likely have to walk away from the ring earlier than those who do a style based around their persona. Secondly if you are all about the matches you produce and the moves you do then god forbid you ever get injured (with is likely) and have to tone down your style or someone else comes along who can do things the next level up from you (we call that sports evolution) then you will be replaced.

This is why previous up and comers who had the wrestling world raving about them like Amazing Red have almost disappeared, whilst Hulk Hogan has outlasted almost everyone. His act is based around the fact that he is doing it and not what he is doing meaning that no one can do it better than Hogan. Even if they did his exact routine, technically better than he did (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t be hard) it would still just be a parody of him.

In this small example lies one of the greatest lessons in wrestling. Even compared to Ric Flair, Hogan knew best. Flair’s routine was built around being the sixty-minute man and taking his trademark bumps. That was great when he was 20, 30 and even 40-years-old but now was it such a wise move. Of course he will continue to do them to prove that he still can but to quote Chris Rock: “You can drive a car with your feet if you want to; that don't make it a good fucking idea.” Ironically, when he is retired and almost forgotten by the newer fans his lasting legacy that will echo around arenas for years after he is gone will not be his multiple title reigns or legendary performances but that fact that everyone shouts, “Whoo,” when they see a chop.

Hogan’s move set is based on no selling and offence and thus can be continued and milked for years to come even though I’m sure he often regrets his decision over picking that leg drop every time he passes the piles cream. No matter what their move set was, it is these men’s personalities that will forever be remembered by the fans and will continue to earn them a living from the business in some shape or form forever.

So why then has this seemingly been forgotten by so many aspiring young pros around the UK, and worldwide for that matter, in return for fast chain sequences and head-drops aplenty? Because we often forget who it was that made us a fan in the first place and then focus on what wrestling we think is cool once we get into the business whilst missing one massively glaring error in that notion. Wrestling can only thrive and in turn make its practitioners rich beyond their wildest dreams when it is attracting the Holy Grail. That’s right: casual fans.

Whenever there is a boom period, from Hogan to Austin and even to a lesser extent with the kids Cena, it is by drawing in casual fans. In fact, I would hazard a guess that 99.9 per cent of people reading this were lured into wrestling by a ‘name’ wrestler and then got into the cooler, more technically sound wrestling later. It also doesn’t help that, as we covered in the last chapter, most people who get into wrestling are not naturally cool in the first place so feel that it reflects better on their negative self-image if they are seen to be fans or proponents of a cooler style of wrestling.

This is all well and good for a handful that are well-versed at it but for most students who are not they end up trying to be something they are not and begin to feel like they are lacking in something or not cut out for it. This, in turn, leads to them either getting down with it all and quitting or working harder and getting better at it but still moulding themselves around something that may not be their natural strong suit. It is almost like me being an amazing swordsman and also above average with a kendo stick. If I enter a fight with a Kendo stick master, then I would be an idiot to try and compete with him at his strong suit. Instead I would work on my own and know that I had a better chance of winning. You never saw Leonardo fighting with Michelangelo’s nun chucks did you. All wrestlers should have a strong suit just like all people.

I once remember Jake Roberts telling me that the reason he didn’t like Chris Jericho was because whomever he was wrestling he would try and match them at their own style. If he fought a power wrestler he’d do power moves. If he fought a high flyer he’d do high flyer and if he was against a brawler he’d brawl. I nodded and agreed as most 21-year-olds would but I totally understand now how important what he was saying really was.

To get over you need to see yourself like a top trump card. What is your weakness? What is your strength? This not only makes your matches easier to plan despite making them more complex and engrossing for the viewer but it also gives you a definitive strength to work on and get over. It doesn’t have to be something that relies on you being a great athlete. It could be something as simple as that fact that you have one move in your arsenal that is so deadly that it can finish anyone if you get the chance to hit it. Just like that aforementioned Mr Roberts’ DDT was. It could be that your mind games are so clever that even though your wrestling technique is not so great you can mentally throw people off. It could be that your manager is so devious that your opponents are constantly at an unfair disadvantage and this helps you beat them. There are a million and one ways of giving yourself an advantage or novelty that separates you from everyone else on the card and this defining trait that is exclusive to you is the key to you getting over.

Getting over is the key to being a professional wrestler and not the moves you do or even how you wrestle. Once you have fully grasped this the wrestling world is your oyster and you can begin to find out what you can do to mould wrestling around you and not the other way around, just like it is meant to be. Every school has a great mat wrestler, a great flyer, a great talker and guy with a great look. However none of these schools have another you – of that I can assure you. Even a pair of identical twins I used to teach was not identical. They had their own great and unique traits and personalities meaning that it made those traits stand out even more as there was someone else to compare them directly to.

If you embrace what your own qualities are and not those that you see everyone else trying to emulate, you will begin to find that wrestling is unlike any other sport or athletic activity in the world in that it is meant to work for you and not against. It is, when done correctly, designed to bring out your own uniqueness and personality in everything that you do from the name you pick, to the moves you do and how you do them, to the outfit you wear all the way down to the stories you tell in your match. Wrestling is the most comprehensive and extricate form of artistic expression and personal reflection the world has ever know. Period.

This is what it is meant to be and there is no better or more detailed window to the soul that you can possibly bring to me that will convince me otherwise. This must then, clearly illustrate that to do it correctly, the reflection has to be one of you and facets of the many elements that dwell inside your mind and not just a soulless, pseudo athlete who mimics what they see on the indies to get a momentary reaction for a selection of thoughtless moves. In other words if what you’re doing is all about the moves and it’s not working for you and feeling difficult then you are making life harder for yourself then it needs to be.

Now back to something I said earlier. You can make yourself an above average athlete, even if you are not naturally gifted, by simply realising one important truth. Once wrestling becomes something that you find fun to do and you can see a real future in the way you do it, something amazing will happen. Firstly, you will begin to feel more comfortable in the ring over time because you have now dropped the approach you were using before, of trying to work against your own natural talents. We learn best under our own steam and natural desire to do so and not under duress.

Once we begin to find that moulding wrestling around our true selves is the way forward and not losing our true self to be moulded into a wrestler your body will begin to adapt and adjust to this new feeling of mental comfort between the ropes. You will begin to see yourself grow into a semi competent wrestler and may even find you being asked to appear on a few student shows.

Once you get a feel of how you react to a crowd and vice versa you can then and only then make an accurate assessment of whether you are cut out to be a pro wrestler or not. Tell Abdullah the Butcher that I’m wrong. Once you begin to see that you can work in front of an audience and that you are actually able to work a style that not only suits who you naturally are but actually makes you look good whilst doing it then you will begin to feel in the right frame of mind to begin working on the not so instantly fun elements of wrestling if that is what’s needed.

Elements like diet, weight training and cardio all begin to seem much less daunting when you realise that not only do you now have a reason to feel good about doing it because you are now a wrestler but also because you now enjoy performing. The key to getting more work is to improve all aspects of your act and image then you will feel completely inspired to do so. Remember, as I said earlier, it does not always have to be bad situations that lead us to making massive changes in who we are. Good reasons and aiming for goals can be just as powerful ways to manifest these changes, if not more so, but first, just like in a bad situation you have to see that the thing you are working for can actually happen to you and not just other people.

This obsession with work rate is turning away so many aspiring young wrestlers who could be the very person needed to be Britain’s first casual draw since Big Daddy. We sorely need one and my guess is that when we get him, it won’t be his top rope huracanrana that lead to every other worker on the cards he works on getting a pay rise. I’ve been to wrestling schools where a group of ‘cool’ technicians laugh at the trainee who dances around while doing a camp gimmick or grunts like a monster while working like a big man. I look at the people laughing and think, “You ignorant morons won’t be laughing when he’s getting paid more for grunting then you ever will for landing on your heads.”

There are so many people in this country and around the world that call themselves professional wrestlers but are not doing so professionally or never have. It is not their fault. Many of us, myself included, came from schools or learnt from people who had a blinkered and completely ignorant view of what wrestling should be and how to teach it. Many of these people learnt the same way from their teacher and so on and so forth, yet there comes a time when someone has to break the chain and think for themselves.

Wrestling is not MMA. This obsession with being a shooter that I constantly see makes me laugh. In fact the biggest offender for telling everyone what a shooter he is was a little midget from the US who would constantly talk tough and speak like he was 8 feet tall simply because he was insecure and felt that this was the way to get respect. His wrestling was superb and he would have got real respect if he had actually just been a decent person. Instead, everyone just thinks he is a dick and he will likely suppress his own success when he could have been a massive star despite his diminutive stature. His insecurity took over and the person he introduces himself as now is not the same person he was when I first met him as a young rookie over five years ago.

When people get caught in this wrestling tough guy act it makes them lose sight of the reason they are doing this. Wrestling is theatre so evolve your ideas and get over it. You have to be tough to do this, yes, but there is a massive difference between being tough and being a fighter. All our mums must be tough for going through childbirth but they are not cut out to be female cage fighters. In other words, they can take large amounts of pain but don’t have the self-belief and confidence in their physical abilities to fight for a living.

I am going to upset a whole bunch of people here but with the exception of a small number that make up around 10 to 15 per cent maximum, most pro wrestlers are pussies. Many of them lose their bottle in a real fight and most of them wouldn’t even know what to do even if they did have one. Now, before anyone thinks that this matter I want to state for the record even more clearly that ‘being hard’ is so massively irrelevant that it makes me sick when I hear ‘men’ on a night out trying desperately to prove their manliness by talking tough as if that is the key to being a secure person.

I will tell you a simple piece of my own philosophy right now. When the day comes when you have to defend something worth fighting for – and trust me, it will – then and only then will it matter how hard you can punch or how much bottle you have. Yet unless you are a paid fighter and do this to earn a living let us, as men, stop showing what un-evolved arseholes we are by focusing so much attention on how hard we all are. People who hide in a fake business and talk about being hard without ever doing anything to really back it up are saying more to flush out their own insecurities then twelve months in counselling can ever do.

This focus on exposing the business, working overly stiff and looking tough that some wrestlers and schools have is the reason that both you and your school will never reach your true full potential, no matter how far you think you have got. If it is a gimmick then that is great. Just remember that once the camera is off, it really makes no difference how tough you are because it is – drum roll please – cooperation and acting so there is no need to risk pushing away some geeky kid who could just be the saviour that the UK industry needs because you have unresolved issues from your childhood that make you act like a delusional idiot. 

In closing, remember that wrestling is all about you and whether the audience ‘get you’ or not. The moves that you do and how they are executed are simply ways of furthering the narrative that you require in your character’s matches. Wrestling is closer to cinema than it is to sport. Just remember that Arnie’s inability to perform Shakespeare never hindered him reaching his full career potential. Don’t let someone else’s limited grasp of the wrestling business prevent you from reaching yours.