You know, it’s funny how sometimes it is the little things that teach you the most lessons. I know, it’s an odd thing to start a wrestling column about, but as usual, you will have to let me indulge myself.
In just one conversation I learned a lot from a professional wrestler and I am going to share what I learned with you.
As you know I met the Blue Meanie with Mitchell and not only did I learn from him, but from the attitude and demeanor of his fellow Americans.
Let me begin by the moment Mitch and I entered the area to wait for interviews we sat at a table and it would have taken a very blind or very stupid person to miss the group of wrestlers sitting down and socialising.
The thing that struck me was that some of these wrestlers may have never met before, maybe not, but they spoke to each other with respect at least and acceptance, there was no elitism, if you weren’t in bed, you were with the guys.
From experience, unless you are in a tight knit group of people who have worked together for a long time, in British wrestling, you’ll have your own clique groups. All usually backstabbing each other, or making comments. I realised that perhaps there is an attitude problem within UK wrestling that causes the problems the UK Scene to suffer.
Perhaps if we UK wrestlers didn’t spend half the time trying to belittle or prove ourselves better than other wrestlers then perhaps we could spend more time making good shows and proving to people out there that we are good at our craft. Unfortunately my view will be poo-pooed away as pure fantasy, I know myself, there are people out there who think only about their career and will happily piss on people from a great height.
That is the true doom of British wrestling.
I remember asking Mitch if he was ok, but in reality after making such a startling discovery, from such a little thing, I think I was really asking myself.
I got a few answers out of Anthony Booth that he trusted me not to give out, I promised him that it would stay between him and myself, I always try to stay close to my word and when I promise to do something, I do it. I will say this though, I was beginning to get an unsettling feeling about the whole affair and I informed Mitch of my concerns.
I’m not sure what it was that seemed to click with the Blue Meanie, the handshake, the eye contact, perhaps some sort of body language. I just seemed to have a rapport with him, but listening to him was almost like listening to myself.
Yes, Meanie was likeable, but he, in my humble opinion, was a role model for wrestlers. I do not understate that, everything that came out of his mouth I agreed with. The important thing was that he treated me with respect, he didn’t have to, whether he knew if I was a wrestler myself or not.
I came out of that meeting respecting a wrestler I hardly knew, I became a Meanie fan because I saw what I wanted to be in him.
I can think of worse role models, I also found how I should model myself in attitude and personal character.
However, it was made quite obvious to me after a while that we weren’t known and we were getting dangerously close to crossing a line.
I think that was when I told Mitch that I thought 1PW were done with us, however, as you can see the interview we got with Meanie made everything ok.
I was amazed by the amount of British workers that I bumped into, conversations with them held a bigger picture for me, I was shocked by just how many people knew me (There was also the “are you a wrestler” incidents, but that’s a little joke between me and the people there). I bumped into Blondie Barratt and his wife and spent a while chatting about things all and sundry.
It is amazing what you learn in conversation with people.
So I have to say that I took a lot out of the trip and found a few truths about things, people and wrestling.
Just two days in my life and I learned 2 years worth of lessons!
Saz