Paying your dues is a thing of the past!

I am beginning to wonder if training to be a pro wrestler and paying your dues in the wrestling business is getting to be a tradition of the past when promoters just let anyone into a ring who will work for free to fill a spot!

It used to be that getting into the wrestling business was reserved for the elite athlete. Football players, olympic wrestlers, bodybuilders, some kind of athletic ablitity was a pre-requiste for entry into a pro wrestling centre.

When I ran the CWF Pro Wrestling Academy I just did not let anyone in.  I had guys that were former hockey players, competed in gymnastics, bodybuilders, guys who played sports until the end of high school.  They looked the part as well, worked on their bodies in the gym, had wrestling boots and gear.

Now it seems that a growing number guys with 11" inch arms and are lucky to be 135 soaking wet are giving chokeslams to guys 145 soaking wet!  They wear running shoes in the ring, have no gear, have no body, don't go to the gym, don't tan, wear t-shirts in the ring and don't know how to apply a basic headlock they learned from Playstation or X-box!

Why are these untrained "marks" allowed to step in a ring in the first place?  Is the promotion so hard up for talent that they have to fill spots with guys like this?  For me, I blame the promoter for letting these guys into the ring in the first place.  To me they have no respect for the business.

I understand as a former promoter, how hard it is to fill a card with a limited budget but if you are not prepared financially to be a wrestling promoter, then you should not be one.  Sometimes you are going to make a dollar, sometimes you might lose a dollar.  Like any REAL business, not everyday is going to yield a profit when you are holding events in cities like Winnipeg.  It is just a fact of the business.

I was asked to wrestle in a show recently.  Since I had not been in the ring in over 2 years, it was a simple match, where working the crowd was more importat than fancy moves.  Everyone on the crew goes to the gym to improve their body, has gear and looks like a wrestler. 

I put my opponent over in the second match, that was my job, we worked the crown, kept it simple so we would not take away from the main eventers and put in 25 minutes. 

This is what a professional does.  If you want a hobby, take up basket weaving and leave pro wrestling to the professionals and don't call yourself a professional wrestler on your facebook site because that is an insult to the greats of the past who paved the way for others to be a part of what once was a great business.

"Pitbull" Kerry Brown (1958 - 2009) RIP

Being that I am kind of still in a daze about the sudden death of Kerry Brown, it took me a few days to figure out what I wanted to say. I knew after reading Danny's "tribute" which told the details of the one tour he was lucky enough to get booked on with Kerry which not only violated what Kerry believed in "what happens on the road, stays on the road" but also took suttle shots at me, that is was not fitting for me to pay a "tribute" to Kerry in this way so I figured I would talk about the first time I meet Kerry and the last.

There are certain things that should only be told to the boy's ears. I think that would be the wish of Kerry from the long hours, days and weeks I spend travelling with him over 6 provinces during a 4 year period, sitting beside me, taking his turn driving the ring van when I got too tired so those will be left where they should be.

Now I apologize as I don't have a lot of pictures of Kerry on my laptop, most are on my PC and I am away for awhile so I will see what I can find when I get home.

I can't remember the year I first met Kerry but I think it was 2003. Rob Stardom was booking a crew for me for a few shows on a dry reserve and he told me Kerry would like to work for me. So Kerry was booked and off we went along with a number of local workers.

We ran the two shows and were staying in a house that one of the local people had given up for our accommodations. After the show I was asked by the people that brought us in to send a few wrestlers to the local dance as they were trying to raise some funds for a trip, so Stardom and his crew headed to the dance. Kerry, myself and Matt Fairlane stayed at the house, watched TV, talked then when to bed. I asked Kerry if he wanted to tour with me and he said he would be happy to.

That kind of started off our friendship, we travel thousands of miles together, on the winter ice roads for a few years and kept in touch when we were not on the road. Kerry must have done well over 100 shows for me, maybe even 150.

The last time I saw him was last year in the late fall. He was walking down Keewatin and I spotted him in the street. So I yelled "hey Brownie" out the window, I parked my van, he crossed the street and we talked.

He did not look right to me at that time as he lost lots of weight. This was a big man who very rarely was under 265 but he weight 225 at the time. Looked like he was not eating good. He told me he was on disablity, waiting for an operation on his shoulder but would like to go on the road with me maybe as a referee or anything just to get back on the road. We talked a little more, I gave him my number and never heard from him or saw him again after that.

Kerry taught me and many others that had the chance to work with him, a lot about what a wrestling match really is. His "ugly people" promos were classic as were his "26 years in the business" promos.

I turned him babyface for a while and he sold pictures like they were going out of style. When he was a heel, as soon as he walked through that curtain, the people hated him.

He brought reality to every show he was on and now that he is gone I will always have those memories and lots of tape of CWF Kerry Brown matches as well to watch and edit.