My British Wrestling Journey

[Woodsmeister]

History
I am 24 years 3 months old, i am 6'1 and around 235lbs, I have been a wrestling fan since i saw Wrestlemania 9 at my mums friends house, i watched WWF growing up when ever i could get the chance, WCW took my fancy in 1998 and the channel hoping began during the attitude era from Sky Sports to TNN (was on after paramount if i remember), I stuck with WWE when others who became fans during the Attitude era 'grew out' of it and found new appreciation for other feds like TNA, ROH and FWA who i watched on The Wrestling Channel, i began buying as many ROH DVDs as i could with 44 on my shelf at the current time, TNA and WWE are taped but they dont fully quench my thirst for good wrestling.

The Start
A few weeks ago while searching the web for modding info for TEW games, i came across good ol' Cagematch.de and started browsing as usual at the latest shows, for some reason the british scene took my fancy and i came across 3CW (Three Count Wrestling) which is based in Middlesbrough which seemed to be my closest promotion. I looked further and found 1PW who are based in Yorkshire, i hit the contact us button thinking they will never reply and told them about my ambition to be involved in some way in the business, at first i didnt think i could learn quickly enough to wrestle so i questioned whether a backstage role and an eventual booking position was possible.
I got a reply from Dan Richardson who with a little research i found out was known as Dragon Aisu and helped run 1PW and 3CW at some points, he said there was a chance to rise up through the backstage ranks but the booking position would only be given after earning trust and respect, he asked if i would show up at there show on the 26th September and he would have my help out with the ring etc...
It was at Doncaster but with the trains were dodgy and he needed me there at 1pm and i have a job which pays well so i told him i couldnt make it but could i help out with 3CW and maybe learn how to wrestle, he pointed me out to there website and i checked out there forum and in the training section, i looked up the trainer, EdEn, who has recently stopped being a regular on there shows to focus on training and recover from injuries.
He told me to pop down on the thursday for training and that is how i got into wrestling.

3CW Academy
First Training Session - 25/09/08 : I went to watch the first training session as the night before i was playing 5-aside football and tweeked my left knee and could hardlies walk never mind bump, the experience made me want it even more just watching everyone putting together little matches, taking bumps, selling and talking about wrestling was awesome, and there is some decent young flyers aswell.

Second Training Session - 02/10/08: We did a warm up and some stretches, and i watched them all take different bumps onto crash mats (clotheslines, hip tosses, arm drags and suplexes), then i was taken to the side with some of the lesser trained workers while the others worked on drills (a succession of quick/snap takedowns e.g. arm drags, shoulder tackles - moves that you would expect to pop back up from, then to end it with a few strikes and blocks leading to a stand off. I worked on bumping, back, front and flip bump. Next i learned how to tie up and turn it into a wrist lock and then a hammerlock, and then have it reversed etc... then i was bodyslamming, taking and giving clotheslines and given a sidewalk slam from the 6'8 lad - brutal (all of course with selling). To finish off we watched the others do there little drills and then it was my initation chop test in which around 10 of the chopped my chest - wasnt as bad as i thought it would be all though i hadnt recieved one from mr 6'8... yet. As a send off it was a strike fest battle royal (all strikes - no slams and show off your selling), i took a fair few more chops, forearms and clubbing blows and dished out my fair share, just when i was on a role i came face to chest with Mr 6'8 and BANG a overhand chop to the chest which of course i went to the ground from. Really enjoyed my first proper sesh and had a bloody red chest afterwards - AWESOME! i will upload a pic later.

Also was told there is a Academy show in November and PAC will be wrestling one of the academy wrestlers, i was told i probably wont be wrestling on it but i didnt expect to, just looking forward to learning more

FAST FORWARD >> MAY 2009
My First Match
My Second Match
Fourth Match - Part 1
Fourth Match - Part 2

[buck44f]

not bad, they seem to be pushing you along much faster then the one I was at for a bit did, could be good or bad thing I don't know. Good luck with this.

[Woodsmeister]

the rest of the group have been going 6-9 months so they are ready for some ring time, and with limited resources I guess he does what he has to do.

[Woodsmeister]

training was cancelled last night due to the trainer being ill

[machinesxe]

Hey man thats great. I used to wrestle in the NY, VT,MA,ME,NH,CT,NJ,PA for about 7 years on and off. If you ever have any questions brother let me know. Keep updating us with your progress it is good to see someone living the dream..

BTW just keep your head up and enjoy. You WILL deal with a lot of BS and you will get down on yourself. When this happens look in the mirror and ask yourself if when you get in the ring and the BS is in the back if you still love it, ask yourself if it is worth what your putting your body through and also ask yourself if the time you put in to everything is justified. If you answer no to any of those things walk away for awhile, if not forever. Either way enjoy your time and learn the craft, feel the rush of the fans and if your a heel like I was piss every fan off until they want to kick your ass while putting enough fear in their eyes that they don't have the balls to touch you.

Enjoy!

[Woodsmeister]

Thanks man, I am just doing it for the love of pro wrestling I never wanted to get to say 30-40 and think damn I wish I could go back and give that a go. I have a really good job in an office so this is possibly only going to be a local thing unless I get any good.

[Woodsmeister]

Third Training Session - 16/10/08: Only two hours again this week problems booking the hall or something, stupid kids football lol. Anyway we all warmed up and did our stretches, and we were paired off into two groups to practice bumps (back bump, front bump and flip bump with SELLING), i brought my mate Mick with me this week so ill let you know how he gets on aswell through the weeks if he keeps it up as he has kids and didnt seem to be as enthusiastic as i was afterwards so we will see. After the bumps we practiced the bodyslam (with back bump for the person recieving the move) apparantly i do a good slam so confidence was good, for now. Flapjacks (with front bump for the person recieving the move) were next and i seemed to be ok taking them as it was my first time, i didnt kick my feet out enough apparantly, i am to work on my bump when i am giving them as i didnt do it as good in sequence and make slam on the crash mat but im sure it will come with time, when giving the flap jack to Mick he kicked me in the crotch! OUCH!, Arm Drags (flip bump) i was first to give these as there was 6 of us and it was following a rotation, so the trainer gave me a run through, he said it was quite difficult to do at first, and it showed as i didnt lock my arm enough and the first guy was spiked on his head onto the crash mat, luckily he was ok but we tried it again and the confidence was there, it was a little better but still miles from where it needed to be, i like my flip bumps and took some decent arm drags apparantly, Hip Toss (flip bump) this went alot smoother than the arm drag and i think i was decent at giving and taking the hip toss as nothing was said by the trainer or anyone else so i took this as a morale booster after the head spike the last thing we learned was called a Tree Slam (back bump), its a bit like a D'Lo Brown Sky High but instead of lifting from the waist you grab them by the throat and they jump into the slam, and you sit out into a pinfall position, i didnt sit out properly the first time (i sort of gradually fell but i was more concered about strangling the lad i was lifting) the second time was better but he landed on my crotch DOUBLE OUCH!

We paired off and i was with Mr 6'8 again, because of size and build i was the obvious target as everyone else is either really skinny or too small, either way we practiced some chain wrestling in a small area of the mat which would reprecent the centre of the ring, we went from lock up, to wrist lock, to hammerlock then a reverse so the other guy would get the hammerlock and then a reverse again for a firemans carry and eventually we added a chin lock at the end and a reversal from that into a wrist lock, obviously Mr 6'8 isnt going to be doing this in matches as it would look a tad silly for his character, anyway we worked at it and with a few hand placements here and there it went ok.

The trainer gave us his and Mr 6'8s match layout to work with that they did in a practice match in training a few weeks back and we gave the first part ago, he told me about the four stages of a match and i dont remember there names but basically this is a good guideline to stick to (the only names i can remember are the shine and the comeback which were the two parts i would be playing as i was the babyface, so it would go down like this: First we would go for the test of strength with him winning and pushing me to the crash mat, then i would go for it again and for the second time end up on the mat, i would signal for the third one but duck under his arm and go for a waist lock, he would look for a way out with an elbow which i would duck and hit some shoulder thrusts to the gut, with him selling the thrusts i could bounce off the ropes (bairing in mind this bit is make believe as we are on mats and not in a ring) and hit a clothesline which he would sell but not go down, again i would attempt the clothesline with the same outcome, finally i would run and leap and be caught and dropped into a backbreaker, this is as far as we got due to time but basically that would lead into him dominating for a bit with me trying to make a comeback twice and then finally getting back into it and either getting beat or winning with a quick roll up. Simple yet affective

[mistaken]

love the updates man, how much pain is there the day after?

[Woodsmeister]

mistaken: love the updates man, how much pain is there the day after?

Suprisingly not much this morning (the morning after) my arms are like jelly but no pain at all, must be the crash mats, also i have not spent any time running ropes yet and ive heard that can be a killer. Glad your enjoying it bud

23/10/2008: Me and 'Money Mick' did the 30 minute drive to the leisure centre and found out we had a smaller room this week, and to our surprise there was more people (one was new and lasted a whole minute!!! - 5 back bumps i believe), we split up into two groups each with a crash mat and did bump races (the quickest group would not get chopped off the other but this apparantly didnt happen because no one counted) anyway, my back bumps must have improved as i had no pointers on them the only thing i got made aware of is how i get up from the mat afterwards, next was front bumps and then flip bumps, i started off ok but for some reason towards my 13th (ish) flip bump i started to sway towards one side

In our groups we practiced some moves and some bumps, first off was flapjacks (i was pulled up for one of my bumps because i tooked both hands in and looked like a flying kangaroo, but this was to protect my face as i thought i was heading just past the crash mat but i just apologised and got on with it, no other negative comments), next was japanese arm drags and flip bumps (wahoo! i didnt drop anyone on there head this week and no negative comments), next we practised whips into clotheslines and did it as drills (i jumped into one or two clotheslines which i was pulled up about but i think i sorted it as i went on), the trainer was disapointed with everyone's whips, i wasnt surprised as i had never learned it before but i guess for everyone else its important as the show is in november and if you can get the basics right the rest will hopefully follow, we practiced pushing the (whippee) to the ropes, wrist to wrist with your left arm and right hand on there left shoulder and placing your shoulder on there hand to push them backwards towards the ropes, then with enough room you ease them back first onto the ropes with an extended arm your launch them to the other side of the ring and push/tap there back when they go past, my whips were ok i guess as i had no negative comments but the trainer seemed to like my strides when i was whipped.

back to the groups and we practised taking and giving bulldogs with front bumps, i dont like bottom bumps but ill get used to them so i was sort of chris jericho(ing) them and landing on my back for most of them, the younger lighter ones decided to do Scotty Too Hotty ones (which was fround upon by the trainer a little). Im sure there was one more move but it espcapes me if i remember i will edit it and place it here.

For the final part of the lesson the trainer split us up into heavyweights and lightweights of course i was a heavyweight and we were instructed by the trainers friend who used to be a wrestler but retired due to knee problems (note to self get knee pads as the two former wrestlers have really bad knee problems due to not wearing them), anyway he was huge (in the gut) and around the same height as me, he told us we would probablies play the parts of heels because of our height and he went through the stages of a match with us which i remembered this week (THE SHINE: The opening to the match where the babyface uses there quickness and skill to out fox the heel. THE HEAT: The heels dominating part where he desimates the babyface and slows down the pace, and gets the crowd to hate him/her as much as possible. Picking a bodypart to work on and trying to thwart the babyfaces comeback attempts THE COMEBACK: The part where the babyface gets back into the match with quick whitty attacks leading to... THE FINISH which is obviously the end leading to a pinfall or submission etc... Then he showed us how to give a forearm properly and i asked how to have my jaw when taking one (which is not to grit your teeth to much but enough that it protects it from jacking to the side), i was with a guy who i had seen for the first time who was back in training after four years (and had put some beef on) i hit three forearms on him and the trainer told me i was a bouncer but he could sort it out, i kept my feet on the ground and hit another three, i didnt want to hurt the guy so i guess at first they looked a bit crappy, then it was his turn, the first two i took were ok but everytime he hit his third one he was a bit more stiff, it only hurt for a few seconds then it was ok so i cant complain really, we went back and forth with our strikes until the trainer called time, i shook everyones hand and said my goodbyes before i caught the eye of the trainers friend, i asked if he would give me some strikes to see if i was recieving them the same, he hit me with two softish ones and a back crunching one which i thought was going to knock my back teeth out, he said he is a bit stiffer with his strikes and i thanked him and left with Mick, he thought i was a tad disrespectful for asking but i wanted to know how he gave them and i didnt mean no disrespect.

Oh Robbie Brookside is going to be at the show on saturday (3CW show not the academy show in November), so everyone went through how to great him and the other wrestlers if they run into them, i wont unfortunatly as im going to my girlfriends, but apparantly he will be a bit miffed if he is not greated and disrespected.

Mick was working with Mr 6'8 during the warm up and he took a big forearm to the side of the neck (which was wrong it should be jaw line - well from what i was told) and almost went flying through the wall, everyone stopped and looked as he gingerly got up, he told me he was selling and fooled everyone but damn it was brutal lol

until next week peeps

[Woodsmeister]

30/10/2008: Started off with a 15 minute warm up and doing stretches. We were split into two groups (me and mick were not in the same group), did back bumps, front bumps and flip bumps (all with selling), i made everyone cringe with one of my flip bumps as i started to go off to one side while in mid-air and almost landed on my neck, but i think i got the others ok. In our groups still we practiced flapjacks (front bump with selling) and hip tosses (flip bump with selling). Then we had to incorporate three moves in a row, i did and took a hip toss, clothesline and DDT (not a spiked DDT so it was a front bump), then we did six moves 2 of each bump, so we did and took hip toss, arm drag, clothesline, back elbow, flap jack and DDT. next we were split to different sides off the hall, the taller/bigger trainees (including me) to one side and the smaller ones to the other,

We did tag team rotating chain wrestling, which consists of two people doing different chain wrestling and the others waiting for a tag, i was abit lost in there as i dont know much chain wrestling other than hammerlock, wrist lock, firemans carry and chin lock, the only good part was when i did the firemans carry to the Mr 6'8 and everyone popped (WHOOO!) then he tagged out and i was working with Mick we both didnt know much so i ended up putting him in a sick looking submission hold, both arms behind his back while he was on his stomach with my knee on top of his arms and grabbing his left leg which is the closest one to me and bringing it up under my arm, we both tagged out and let the two most experienced guys roll around (doing lots of roll up and roll through variations), then i got to work with Mick, going from full nelson into a mexican like reversal and then we learned how to reverse a headlock into a headlock. We then had to pick a body part and work on it while the trainer called certain people who were on the training show in to discuss who they were facing and what kind of match structure they had, obviously me and mick have only done 4 and 3 shows respectively so i knew we wouldnt be on it but Mick was a bit disapointed (but thats mick), we are going to help out (pay our dues) so i think its best as i would probably freak out in the ring as i know im know where near ready.

I did some work with Danny who wrestles on the 3CW shows but still comes to training to learn more and help the others, he was showing me how to work the arm, and how to sell the wrist lock convincingly and for better view of the crowd, he showed me strikes to the arm, an armbar. The trainer brought everyone in and said that Pac will be doing the training on the 13th of November which i am buzzing about cause he has been in ROH, PWG, Dragon Gate and he even had a match with Rob Van Dam in Spain or Italy. Mick wasnt happy on the drive back because he thought he focused on everyone else more than me and him but i explained to him it has to be that way they have worked at this for about 6-9 months we have done around 1 month, i think he was okay after he also saw my flip bump and said it looked sick and totally wrong, but i sorted it out after that.

Anyway until next week peeps

UPDATE: Got a text from my trainer who said me and Mick are improving every week he is pleased with our progress, our bumps are going well and we are grasping the wrestling. which was a nice little bonus i told him i would be helping out as much as possible with the show as we need it to be a success or there will be no more shows (just training) as he is using his own money (wedding and honeymoon) money for this to work, so as he is sacrificing so much i will do my best to help.

[ke13]

Any other updates? I quite like reading this.

[Woodsmeister]

Its every thursday night, so ill be going tonight and ill post an update tomorrow, glad your enjoying reading because i enjoy training.

[mistaken]

Originally Posted by Woodsmeister

Its every thursday night, so ill be going tonight and ill post an update tomorrow, glad your enjoying reading because i enjoy training.

we want you to keep posting this when you hit the big time! don't forget us when your on that WWE world tour!

[Woodsmeister]

LOL I doubt it would get that far but I won't forget this forum I like the games to much, I will be recording matches so when I get in the ring I will try to upload as many as possible.

[machinesxe]

Not trying to steal your thunder cause I am happy to see you taking your time and enjoying this but figured as I have explained that I had stepped out of the ring that I may be going back for a short time. That's awesome. I am not sure if you have ever heard of MTV's Made, but I may end up appearing on it and "try" to learn how to wrestle and get "Made into a Pro" I was contacted by MTV last week. This could be cool.