Hey what's up everyone, it's the "Native Son" one more gain!! Now I know it's been a while since I last posted anything, and I was going to post up something new, but i decided to let someone else post on my blog. Now it's not just anyone, it's my "baby girl". Yup, This is Jessica's first blog. Oh sorry baby, It's Jessie Phoenix's first blog. So here it is.
Why did I decide to become a wrstler? Well my inspiration to become a wrestler was my dad, Robby Phoenix. He has five (5) gold championship belts, so I want to be a wrestler like my dad, and win gold belts.
I am 9 years old, and an artist, so I draw alot at home. My favorite color is firery red. My favorite food is Pepporoni pizza. I grew up with wrestlers like Supreme, Carnage, and BC Killer in my house, and i've enjoyed watching them wrestle.
I am currently training at the Santino Brothers Wrestling Academy. Kaos and Mongol are the owners of the Santino Bros. Academy, Jezabell is a manager to Kaos and Rico Dynamite. With the help of my dad Robby Phoenix, Kaos, Mongol, Jezabell, Ray Rosas, Lucha Machine, and the rest of the Santino family, i know that i will be a great wrestler just like they are.
Well, there it is. My baby's first blog. I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think. Till next time c'ya!!!
And don't forget to check out www.santinobros.net, www.mongolsantino.com, look me up on facebook. And no I'm not going to plug "Gay Rosas".com
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Professional and Unprofessional
Hey what's up, it's your boy the "Native Son" Robby!
So since my last posting, I had my first title defense of the BPW Maximum championship. It didn't go to well. First off, I wresltled, scratch that, I fought against a big guy named "Roadhouse". "Roadhouse" supposedly has been around for a while, but did not show that in the ring. BPW usually puts "Roadhouse" in matches where he just displays his natural big man strength, and just mulls his opponents over. And his matches really don't go to long either. So he never really had to do much in the ring. But now our match was for a title, a championship match, and the semi main event. We're supposed to set the crowd up for the main event. This is where each wrestler needs to step up his game. So I guess against me, using his strength and mulling me over is what "Roadhouse" planned, but the "Native Son" is no ordinary man! So from the beginning of the match I realized this was not going to be a wrestling classic, but an all out brawl. This guy just didn't get it man! I don't know how he was allowed to be in the ring with anybody. "Roadhouse" was very dangerous. You know wrestling is a competition, nad even though you want to win, you don't want to hurt or injure anyone. Well that's what you learn if you were trained properly. You know, We at the SBWA hvae taught, and continue to teach our students how to take care of them selves in the ring, but we never teach them to injure anyone. So anyway, "Roadhouse" and I fought back and forth for a while, and finally I came out with an upsetting, frustrating, but successful title defense.This was the first time in my career that I threw a tantrum in the locker room. You see, I pride myself on being a professional in and out of the ring, and in my opinion, throwing a tantrum in a pro wrestling locker room in front of the "boys" is not being professional. So I had to apologize to the BPW officials for losing my temper. But I have never been in the ring with someone who was so unprofessional in my whole career. I have been in the ring with "greenhorns", and nervous guys. But they were still professional. I don't mind being in the ring with young guys. I mean that's all I do at the SBWA Dojo. I even had some matches at BPW with "greenhorns". And I was happy that I was able to raise their level, and stock in the company. I even heard that "Roadhouse" called me unprofessional in the locker room. If I was unprofessional that night, "Roadhouse" would have had a broken nose, or broken arm, But I still kept my senses, and some what composure, So who was unprofessional bro? I have worked just about everyone in the BPW locker room, so you can ask them if i have ever been unprofessional. I'll stake my reputation on the fact that they'll all say that i'm the most professional guy they've worked with. So in my opinion "Roadhouse" had, or has no business in a pro wrestling ring. Right now any way. I think "Roadhouse" needs to spend more time trining in the ring, honing his skills before he has another pro wrestling match. Now I think "Roadhouse" is a good guy. He is actually really respectful, he just needs to learn the business that he currnetly in.
And with that, I'm going to head out now, and do some training myself. Hey don't forget to check out myself, and all the rest of the Santino family at these upcoming shows:
LCW - Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010 in East L.A.
BPW - Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 in Los Alamitos
And don't forget to go to www.santinobros.net for all of the Santino family & SBWA info.
So since my last posting, I had my first title defense of the BPW Maximum championship. It didn't go to well. First off, I wresltled, scratch that, I fought against a big guy named "Roadhouse". "Roadhouse" supposedly has been around for a while, but did not show that in the ring. BPW usually puts "Roadhouse" in matches where he just displays his natural big man strength, and just mulls his opponents over. And his matches really don't go to long either. So he never really had to do much in the ring. But now our match was for a title, a championship match, and the semi main event. We're supposed to set the crowd up for the main event. This is where each wrestler needs to step up his game. So I guess against me, using his strength and mulling me over is what "Roadhouse" planned, but the "Native Son" is no ordinary man! So from the beginning of the match I realized this was not going to be a wrestling classic, but an all out brawl. This guy just didn't get it man! I don't know how he was allowed to be in the ring with anybody. "Roadhouse" was very dangerous. You know wrestling is a competition, nad even though you want to win, you don't want to hurt or injure anyone. Well that's what you learn if you were trained properly. You know, We at the SBWA hvae taught, and continue to teach our students how to take care of them selves in the ring, but we never teach them to injure anyone. So anyway, "Roadhouse" and I fought back and forth for a while, and finally I came out with an upsetting, frustrating, but successful title defense.This was the first time in my career that I threw a tantrum in the locker room. You see, I pride myself on being a professional in and out of the ring, and in my opinion, throwing a tantrum in a pro wrestling locker room in front of the "boys" is not being professional. So I had to apologize to the BPW officials for losing my temper. But I have never been in the ring with someone who was so unprofessional in my whole career. I have been in the ring with "greenhorns", and nervous guys. But they were still professional. I don't mind being in the ring with young guys. I mean that's all I do at the SBWA Dojo. I even had some matches at BPW with "greenhorns". And I was happy that I was able to raise their level, and stock in the company. I even heard that "Roadhouse" called me unprofessional in the locker room. If I was unprofessional that night, "Roadhouse" would have had a broken nose, or broken arm, But I still kept my senses, and some what composure, So who was unprofessional bro? I have worked just about everyone in the BPW locker room, so you can ask them if i have ever been unprofessional. I'll stake my reputation on the fact that they'll all say that i'm the most professional guy they've worked with. So in my opinion "Roadhouse" had, or has no business in a pro wrestling ring. Right now any way. I think "Roadhouse" needs to spend more time trining in the ring, honing his skills before he has another pro wrestling match. Now I think "Roadhouse" is a good guy. He is actually really respectful, he just needs to learn the business that he currnetly in.
And with that, I'm going to head out now, and do some training myself. Hey don't forget to check out myself, and all the rest of the Santino family at these upcoming shows:
LCW - Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010 in East L.A.
BPW - Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 in Los Alamitos
And don't forget to go to www.santinobros.net for all of the Santino family & SBWA info.
Friday, August 20, 2010
THE LIFE CHANGER
This blog is gonna be a story about the day my life changed.
When I first came to SBWA, I was in alright shape. I still wrestled in a t – shirt, but still in alright shape. But the “Bossman”, Kaos made it clear, that if we were going to train people, we had to be in very good shape. So we did every exercise that we asked the students to do. I was getting in better shape, I was feeling good about my self. Hell I even changed my eating habits to stay healthy. My family was paying me compliments, my peers were paying me compliments, and my wife couldn’t keep her hand s off me! Things were good, then, with one bang of my shin, my life changed.
I remember it was the first week of November 2008, I was at another great SBWA training session. I was excited, cause the next day, I was taking a road trip up to Modesto, Ca. to wrestle. Anyway, I was getting a drink of water, when Kaos yells out “ring up!” Everyone runs to the ring, including me. Now I lunge with my foot on the ring frame, metal ring frame. And that’s when it happened. I banged my shin on the edge of the wrestling ring. I t hurt, but it’s happened before, so no big deal. After training, I see that I have a bump on my shin, again no big deal. When I get home, I put ice on my shin, and got ready for my road trip the next day. Sunday comes, and I get up and get ready for my trip. I noticed that the bump on my shin was a little bigger than the day before. Still no big deal. I wrestled that night, and after my match, I take off my knee pads, and notice that my shin was swollen. I still don’t panic. A couple of weeks go by, and the swelling on my shin has not gone down, and it’s starting to hurt, a lot.
Thanksgiving is coming up, and every year the guys on the street I grew up on, come together, and play football. We call it “The Eastmont St. Turkey Bowl”. Now I haven’t missed a Turkey Bowl in four years, but this year, I have to. I was bummed out. I haven’t weight trained, or been to an SBWA training since my injury, and now I’m missing the Turkey Bowl. So finally, I can’t take the pain anymore, so the day after Thanksgiving my wife takes me to the emergency room. Of course before the doctor sees me, they give me blood tests, x – rays, and other tests. I finally see the doctor, and he tells me there’s an infection in my shin, and he has to cut my shin open to drain it. After the doctor drained my shin, he stuffed the hole in my leg with gauze, wrapped it, and sent me home with a prescription for antibiotics, and vicodin. I had to go back the next day for a follow up. But on the third visit, the doctor told me that my blood tests were in, and he informed me that I was diabetic. On top of that he was admitting me to the hospital, because at that point my blood sugar level was too high. I later found out, that if I would have came to the hospital just two days later than I did, I would have lost my leg. So now I’m scared, pissed off, and upset all at the same time, which didn’t help my blood sugar level. I was in the Hospital for seven days. I had a tv in my room, but didn’t watch it really. I mostly just laid in my bed feeling sorry for myself. My wife was the person who told everyone about my condition. My mom was not doing so well at the time either, but she still worried about me, and she called everyday. My brother, brother in – law, and nephews came to visit me a couple of times. Both of my sisters, my nieces, and my god daughter also stopped by to visit. It was hard to have them see me like that. You see to them I was big, bad Robby. I was rarely sick, and even if I was hurt, they would never know it. But this time I couldn’t fake it. It was hard trying to keep my emotions inside. Everytime my family came to visit, I would always fight to not break down. Of course my baby, my wife came to see me everyday. Now in front of her I would break down. Or I would just be so pissed that I would cuss at everything. I know it was hard for her, but yet every day she still showed up. I think she knew that I was just venting, and that’s what I needed to do. I missed my family. My wife, and kids. My son would call me to check on me, and my daughter drew me pictures. It felt good, but at the same time it upset me more, cause I wasn’t there with them. You know, writing this now, I feel sorry for my wife. She had to be a mother, take care of the house, go to work, and still find time to come visit me. At this point, I wasn’t a very fun person to be around, and yet my wife still came, and stayed strong. Supreme and Carnage called me while I was in the hospital, B.C. Killer and I text back and forth. It was extremely hard for me to deal with this. I really didn’t want my family and friends to see me like this. Needless to say, I was in a dark place at this point In my life.
All I knew about diabetes was all the bad things. People with diabetes go blind, lose limbs, and sadly die a slow death. This scared the sh!t out of me! The whole time I was in the hospital, I had diabetic specialists come to educate me about what diabetes is, and what I can do to keep my self healthy. What started to turn my spirits around was when the specialist started telling me the hard part was changing what, and how I eat. But when I told them my eating habits, they told me that I’m ahead of the game, and not to change what I’m doing. So, the day came when I got to go home. When I got home, the first thing I did was call Kaos. The whole time I was in the hospital, I didn’t contact anyone from SBWA. Like I said before, I was in a dark place, so I didn’t really want to talk to anyone. So when I got home I knew I had a task to confront. I talked to Kaos, and I told him my whole ordeal. “Bossman”, told me that he was happy to hear that I’m doing ok. I told him I would be showing up to training that Saturday, but not to train. Just to show up, and give moral support to the students. When I shoed up to training, I was greeted by the whole SBWA family with hugs. It was good to see everyone again. I haven’t been around for a few weeks, so it felt good to be back. Kaos acknowledged my weight loss. I went into the hospital at 220lbs., and came out at 189lbs. Hospital food will do that to you.
I still was healing from my initial shin injury, so I couldn’t really do much. After a coule of weeks my doctor cleared me to start working out again. When I came back, I came back with a chip on my shoulder. Well, that’s the way I worked out anyway. So I was back in the weight room, and back to SBWA. I got my body into good enough shape, that I started to fell confident enough to start wrestling shirt less. Well that’s a little personal story of the way things can change your life. I look at things different now. I know now that you don’t get diabetes just cause your overweight. You can get diabetes just cause it runs in your family. My mom, and my uncle are also diabetic, and I’m sure members of my father’s family are diabetic as well. I read that Latinos, and Native Americans have a higher percentage of getting diabetes. I’m both so it got me. But it if you have diabetes, it doesn’t mean a death sentence. If you take care of yourself, eat right, and exercise, you can actually reverse diabetes. That’s my goal. I’m doing really good right now. My blood sugar level readings have been the same as the readings of someone without diabetes. I’m still keeping up my healthy eating habits, and a steady work out regimen. I’ve even won a couple of championships since coming back. I really want to thank everyone who showed support, and sent well wishes to me in my dark time. I thank my family for always being there for me, I love you all! Thank you to the SBWA family for being in my corner, and for helping build myself back up. I will never be able to repay, or thank you enough. To my kids, thank you for just being you. Being around you kids, and being your father makes me want to stay healthy, so that I can see you both grow. I love you both. And last, but not least. I have to thank my wife. For being strong through all this, and helping me get back to where I am today. I couldn’t have done it without you. I love you lots!!
When I first came to SBWA, I was in alright shape. I still wrestled in a t – shirt, but still in alright shape. But the “Bossman”, Kaos made it clear, that if we were going to train people, we had to be in very good shape. So we did every exercise that we asked the students to do. I was getting in better shape, I was feeling good about my self. Hell I even changed my eating habits to stay healthy. My family was paying me compliments, my peers were paying me compliments, and my wife couldn’t keep her hand s off me! Things were good, then, with one bang of my shin, my life changed.
I remember it was the first week of November 2008, I was at another great SBWA training session. I was excited, cause the next day, I was taking a road trip up to Modesto, Ca. to wrestle. Anyway, I was getting a drink of water, when Kaos yells out “ring up!” Everyone runs to the ring, including me. Now I lunge with my foot on the ring frame, metal ring frame. And that’s when it happened. I banged my shin on the edge of the wrestling ring. I t hurt, but it’s happened before, so no big deal. After training, I see that I have a bump on my shin, again no big deal. When I get home, I put ice on my shin, and got ready for my road trip the next day. Sunday comes, and I get up and get ready for my trip. I noticed that the bump on my shin was a little bigger than the day before. Still no big deal. I wrestled that night, and after my match, I take off my knee pads, and notice that my shin was swollen. I still don’t panic. A couple of weeks go by, and the swelling on my shin has not gone down, and it’s starting to hurt, a lot.
Thanksgiving is coming up, and every year the guys on the street I grew up on, come together, and play football. We call it “The Eastmont St. Turkey Bowl”. Now I haven’t missed a Turkey Bowl in four years, but this year, I have to. I was bummed out. I haven’t weight trained, or been to an SBWA training since my injury, and now I’m missing the Turkey Bowl. So finally, I can’t take the pain anymore, so the day after Thanksgiving my wife takes me to the emergency room. Of course before the doctor sees me, they give me blood tests, x – rays, and other tests. I finally see the doctor, and he tells me there’s an infection in my shin, and he has to cut my shin open to drain it. After the doctor drained my shin, he stuffed the hole in my leg with gauze, wrapped it, and sent me home with a prescription for antibiotics, and vicodin. I had to go back the next day for a follow up. But on the third visit, the doctor told me that my blood tests were in, and he informed me that I was diabetic. On top of that he was admitting me to the hospital, because at that point my blood sugar level was too high. I later found out, that if I would have came to the hospital just two days later than I did, I would have lost my leg. So now I’m scared, pissed off, and upset all at the same time, which didn’t help my blood sugar level. I was in the Hospital for seven days. I had a tv in my room, but didn’t watch it really. I mostly just laid in my bed feeling sorry for myself. My wife was the person who told everyone about my condition. My mom was not doing so well at the time either, but she still worried about me, and she called everyday. My brother, brother in – law, and nephews came to visit me a couple of times. Both of my sisters, my nieces, and my god daughter also stopped by to visit. It was hard to have them see me like that. You see to them I was big, bad Robby. I was rarely sick, and even if I was hurt, they would never know it. But this time I couldn’t fake it. It was hard trying to keep my emotions inside. Everytime my family came to visit, I would always fight to not break down. Of course my baby, my wife came to see me everyday. Now in front of her I would break down. Or I would just be so pissed that I would cuss at everything. I know it was hard for her, but yet every day she still showed up. I think she knew that I was just venting, and that’s what I needed to do. I missed my family. My wife, and kids. My son would call me to check on me, and my daughter drew me pictures. It felt good, but at the same time it upset me more, cause I wasn’t there with them. You know, writing this now, I feel sorry for my wife. She had to be a mother, take care of the house, go to work, and still find time to come visit me. At this point, I wasn’t a very fun person to be around, and yet my wife still came, and stayed strong. Supreme and Carnage called me while I was in the hospital, B.C. Killer and I text back and forth. It was extremely hard for me to deal with this. I really didn’t want my family and friends to see me like this. Needless to say, I was in a dark place at this point In my life.
All I knew about diabetes was all the bad things. People with diabetes go blind, lose limbs, and sadly die a slow death. This scared the sh!t out of me! The whole time I was in the hospital, I had diabetic specialists come to educate me about what diabetes is, and what I can do to keep my self healthy. What started to turn my spirits around was when the specialist started telling me the hard part was changing what, and how I eat. But when I told them my eating habits, they told me that I’m ahead of the game, and not to change what I’m doing. So, the day came when I got to go home. When I got home, the first thing I did was call Kaos. The whole time I was in the hospital, I didn’t contact anyone from SBWA. Like I said before, I was in a dark place, so I didn’t really want to talk to anyone. So when I got home I knew I had a task to confront. I talked to Kaos, and I told him my whole ordeal. “Bossman”, told me that he was happy to hear that I’m doing ok. I told him I would be showing up to training that Saturday, but not to train. Just to show up, and give moral support to the students. When I shoed up to training, I was greeted by the whole SBWA family with hugs. It was good to see everyone again. I haven’t been around for a few weeks, so it felt good to be back. Kaos acknowledged my weight loss. I went into the hospital at 220lbs., and came out at 189lbs. Hospital food will do that to you.
I still was healing from my initial shin injury, so I couldn’t really do much. After a coule of weeks my doctor cleared me to start working out again. When I came back, I came back with a chip on my shoulder. Well, that’s the way I worked out anyway. So I was back in the weight room, and back to SBWA. I got my body into good enough shape, that I started to fell confident enough to start wrestling shirt less. Well that’s a little personal story of the way things can change your life. I look at things different now. I know now that you don’t get diabetes just cause your overweight. You can get diabetes just cause it runs in your family. My mom, and my uncle are also diabetic, and I’m sure members of my father’s family are diabetic as well. I read that Latinos, and Native Americans have a higher percentage of getting diabetes. I’m both so it got me. But it if you have diabetes, it doesn’t mean a death sentence. If you take care of yourself, eat right, and exercise, you can actually reverse diabetes. That’s my goal. I’m doing really good right now. My blood sugar level readings have been the same as the readings of someone without diabetes. I’m still keeping up my healthy eating habits, and a steady work out regimen. I’ve even won a couple of championships since coming back. I really want to thank everyone who showed support, and sent well wishes to me in my dark time. I thank my family for always being there for me, I love you all! Thank you to the SBWA family for being in my corner, and for helping build myself back up. I will never be able to repay, or thank you enough. To my kids, thank you for just being you. Being around you kids, and being your father makes me want to stay healthy, so that I can see you both grow. I love you both. And last, but not least. I have to thank my wife. For being strong through all this, and helping me get back to where I am today. I couldn’t have done it without you. I love you lots!!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Spot Light on Robbie Phoenix part 2
So I showed up to the XPW office that was located in Van Nuys, Ca. I walked in and was greeted right away by Kevin Kleinrock. He led me into an area where there was seats set up. I looked around and saw the set where Kris Kloss and Larry Rivera sit on the XPW TV show. As I sat down, I noticed four other guys sitting down. I didnt talk to any of them at first. Then Dynamite D walked in. He handed all of us a brochier that basically told us the schools cariculum. Then D went over the cariculum verbally. After D explained the cariculum, Supreme, who was there as well, gave a speech. I would go on to hear this speech plenty of times throughout my career. But I always get fired up after hearing the speech, even to this day. After the speech, we walked into a small room where the wrestling ring was set up. I looked around, and man was this place small. There was very little space around three sides of the ring, and on the fourth side there was no space at all. Because, the ring was up against a steele mesh fence. On one side of the fence was a wrestling ring, on the other side was aisles and aisles of porn.
Dynamite D and Supreme climbed into the ring, and decided to treat us to an exhibition wrestling match. The match wasnt long, but it showed us where we could be if we started training. So now D is about dismiss us, but not before he and Kevin could collect a down payment from each of us. So I gave Kevin a check for $500, and D gave me a list of things I would need for class. As we said our good byes, D informed us that class will start in two weeks.
The two weeks went by rather quickly. In order to train, I had to work out a deal with my supervisor at work. Training started at 6 p.m. till 8 p.m. My usual work schedule had me start work at 6 p.m. Luckily I had a cool supervisor, and he let me start work at 9 p.m. During the two weeks before the start of training, I had gone out and got the things that I would need, per Ds list. I got amateur wrestling knee pads, and some white athletic tape. I used the same wrestling spats that I still had from high school.
On the first day of training, the first thing D had us do was fill out a release form. The release form stated that XPW would not be responsible for any injuries we get from wrestling training. Then D put us through some stretches to help limber us up, and to make sure that we do not get hurt or injured. The next thing D showed us was rolls. We did forward rolls, backward rolls, rolls with the right arm, and rolls with the left arm. Dynamite D was extremely knowledgeable about wrestling, and the mechanics, the reason, and the history of everything he taught us. D stressed technique on everything we did. And even though D explained how doing the rolls correctly, and getting the technique down would save us in our wrestling career, I never appreciated that until I actually started wrestling. And for as many great wrestlers Ive worked with, well theres a few shitty workers Ive had to be in the ring with. Theres nothing scarier than a guy who doesnt know what the hell hes doing, and basically tries to dump you on your head. But thanks to Ds training I have avoided serious injuries.
After we learned the rolls, D put us through some cardio drills. Cardio was another thing D stressed to us. If you dont have air, you cant finish the match. D always told us. Some of the drills we did, I was actually familiar with from my football days, drills like up downs or Greenbays. Up downs is a drill where you run in place, then when the coach or trainer blows the whistle, you drop face down flat on the ground, then pop right back up. Two other drills we did that was from my football days were squats and lunges. Now, like I said I was familiar with these drills from when I played high school football. But, it had been a few years since Ive played football. So needless to say, I was pretty soar after those drills.
Before I started training for wrestling, I worked out with the weights, and did some running, so I wasnt totally out of shape. I knew training would be hard, but not as hard as it actually was. I think my classmates didnt think training was going to be as hard as it was, because they didnt seem prepared. I guess thats why Im still wrestling today, and theyre not. One guy whos name escapes me right now, was real short, and didnt seem to be in any kind of shape. He wasnt fat by any means, but you can tell that he didnt weight lift or run. So when he went through the drills, he blew up very quick. The guy was a little older than the rest of us. He decided to be a pro wrestler at 32 years old. There was also two best friends in my class. One guy was a short, skinny, long haired kid named John. And his friend was a big sloppy fat kid named Matt. John was actually able to get through the drills with some ease. But his boy Matt had troubles getting through the drills, and actually puked(haha). The next guy in my class was a guy named Jose. Jose was about my height, and thinner than me. And looked to be in good shape. You can tell that Jose worked out with the weights. Jose and I became pretty good friends. I still keep in touch with him. Jose also got through the drills with no problem. The last guy was a tall skinny guy named Brett. Brett started out in very bad shape, but later worked hard and got into good shape. Later on in our training, D actually pulled Brett and myself aside, and told us that Brett and I were two of his best students, and if we can help him with the training of other students. That was, and still is one of the highlights of my wrestling career.
Anyways, back to the first day of training. So after all the stretching, warm ups, and drills, I can safely say that the whole class was real soar. But D put us through some cooling down stretches, then D dismissed the class. I was extremely soar, and I still had to go to work. I know most people would have not gone back, but I was raised old school, where it was no pain, no gain. So if I wanted to be a wrestler, I had to suffer through the soarness, bumps, and bruises. And you know what? I would do all over again. Well I hope you enjoyed my story, and journey to becoming a pro wrestler. And if you have any questions, or want to hear any stories, just ask me when ever you see me, or hit me up on myspace. I just want to take this opportunity to thank the man who is responsible for me achieving my dream. Darren Dynamite D McMillan. I miss you, and love you. I would also like to thank the Santino Bros. Kaos and Mongol for allowing me to tell this story, and for allowing me to give back to what D did for me, and also for allowing me to be a part of the SBWA.
Dynamite D and Supreme climbed into the ring, and decided to treat us to an exhibition wrestling match. The match wasnt long, but it showed us where we could be if we started training. So now D is about dismiss us, but not before he and Kevin could collect a down payment from each of us. So I gave Kevin a check for $500, and D gave me a list of things I would need for class. As we said our good byes, D informed us that class will start in two weeks.
The two weeks went by rather quickly. In order to train, I had to work out a deal with my supervisor at work. Training started at 6 p.m. till 8 p.m. My usual work schedule had me start work at 6 p.m. Luckily I had a cool supervisor, and he let me start work at 9 p.m. During the two weeks before the start of training, I had gone out and got the things that I would need, per Ds list. I got amateur wrestling knee pads, and some white athletic tape. I used the same wrestling spats that I still had from high school.
On the first day of training, the first thing D had us do was fill out a release form. The release form stated that XPW would not be responsible for any injuries we get from wrestling training. Then D put us through some stretches to help limber us up, and to make sure that we do not get hurt or injured. The next thing D showed us was rolls. We did forward rolls, backward rolls, rolls with the right arm, and rolls with the left arm. Dynamite D was extremely knowledgeable about wrestling, and the mechanics, the reason, and the history of everything he taught us. D stressed technique on everything we did. And even though D explained how doing the rolls correctly, and getting the technique down would save us in our wrestling career, I never appreciated that until I actually started wrestling. And for as many great wrestlers Ive worked with, well theres a few shitty workers Ive had to be in the ring with. Theres nothing scarier than a guy who doesnt know what the hell hes doing, and basically tries to dump you on your head. But thanks to Ds training I have avoided serious injuries.
After we learned the rolls, D put us through some cardio drills. Cardio was another thing D stressed to us. If you dont have air, you cant finish the match. D always told us. Some of the drills we did, I was actually familiar with from my football days, drills like up downs or Greenbays. Up downs is a drill where you run in place, then when the coach or trainer blows the whistle, you drop face down flat on the ground, then pop right back up. Two other drills we did that was from my football days were squats and lunges. Now, like I said I was familiar with these drills from when I played high school football. But, it had been a few years since Ive played football. So needless to say, I was pretty soar after those drills.
Before I started training for wrestling, I worked out with the weights, and did some running, so I wasnt totally out of shape. I knew training would be hard, but not as hard as it actually was. I think my classmates didnt think training was going to be as hard as it was, because they didnt seem prepared. I guess thats why Im still wrestling today, and theyre not. One guy whos name escapes me right now, was real short, and didnt seem to be in any kind of shape. He wasnt fat by any means, but you can tell that he didnt weight lift or run. So when he went through the drills, he blew up very quick. The guy was a little older than the rest of us. He decided to be a pro wrestler at 32 years old. There was also two best friends in my class. One guy was a short, skinny, long haired kid named John. And his friend was a big sloppy fat kid named Matt. John was actually able to get through the drills with some ease. But his boy Matt had troubles getting through the drills, and actually puked(haha). The next guy in my class was a guy named Jose. Jose was about my height, and thinner than me. And looked to be in good shape. You can tell that Jose worked out with the weights. Jose and I became pretty good friends. I still keep in touch with him. Jose also got through the drills with no problem. The last guy was a tall skinny guy named Brett. Brett started out in very bad shape, but later worked hard and got into good shape. Later on in our training, D actually pulled Brett and myself aside, and told us that Brett and I were two of his best students, and if we can help him with the training of other students. That was, and still is one of the highlights of my wrestling career.
Anyways, back to the first day of training. So after all the stretching, warm ups, and drills, I can safely say that the whole class was real soar. But D put us through some cooling down stretches, then D dismissed the class. I was extremely soar, and I still had to go to work. I know most people would have not gone back, but I was raised old school, where it was no pain, no gain. So if I wanted to be a wrestler, I had to suffer through the soarness, bumps, and bruises. And you know what? I would do all over again. Well I hope you enjoyed my story, and journey to becoming a pro wrestler. And if you have any questions, or want to hear any stories, just ask me when ever you see me, or hit me up on myspace. I just want to take this opportunity to thank the man who is responsible for me achieving my dream. Darren Dynamite D McMillan. I miss you, and love you. I would also like to thank the Santino Bros. Kaos and Mongol for allowing me to tell this story, and for allowing me to give back to what D did for me, and also for allowing me to be a part of the SBWA.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Robby Phoenix - My Journey Part 1
My interest in pro wrestling started out as a fan. I loved wrestling. I couldnt get enough of wrestling, even though wrestling was on T.V. a lot back then (this was the mid 80s). Id watch the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) programming. Shows like, Wrestling Challenge, WWF Superstars, Saturday Nights Main Event, and Tuesday Night Titans. I would also watch the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and their T.V. shows, like NWA World Wide, NWA World Championship Wrestling, and NWA Saturday Night Wrestling. Then of course there was the WCCW (World Class Championship Wrestling), and the AWA (American Wrestling Association) T.V. programs. So as you can see, for a big wrestling fan like myself, it was great to be a fan in the mid 80s.
At this point I was consumed by wrestling. Wrestling was all I thought about. I would sit in class and draw wrestlers. When I was in the third grade, I had to write a paper on what I wanted to be when I grow up. You can probably guess what I wrote about. At home, if I wasnt watching wrestling on T.V., I was watching it on videotapes (Again, this was the mid 80s. No DVDs). I also collected the wrestling action figures. I still do today (What a mark).
By the time I was twelve years old I knew that I really wanted to be a pro wrestler. From that point on I lived my life acting like a wrestler. I remember one time, my sister was just messing around with me, and she pushed me. Now she didnt push me that hard, but I sold it hard. I threw myself into the wall, and fell to the floor, all the time selling that she really hurt me. My younger brother and I would act out wrestling matches. A lot of times we wrestled each other, but there were some times that we actually teamed together. Now that was crazy, cause when we teamed together we had to pretend there were opponents across from us. In other words, we had to wrestle the air. We would copy all of our favorite tag teams. We would copy The Road Warriors, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, The Rock N Roll Express, and The Midnight Rockers.
Back then I had two goals in life.
1 was to play football.
2, was to be a pro wrestler.
I accomplished my first goal rather early in life. I started playing football at eight years old, and continued in the sport till I was eighteen years old. While I was playing football, I still watched a lot of wrestling. And of course, when Nintendo came out (Old school baby) I had whatever wrestling games they had for the system.
Back then I was a pretty good street fighter, and I admit that I really didnt know how to really wrestle, but I thought I did. So one day, as I was walking home from school with some friends, and for some reason some guys walked up to us, and one guy got in my face, and asked me where I was from. Now in most towns people would think that this guy was asking me my country of origin, but I grew up in East L.A., so I knew that wasnt what he was asking me. I told him that I dont gangbang, but that wasnt a good enough answer for him. He pulled out a mini baseball bat. You know the ones that they give out at Dodger Stadium. Anyway, this little cholo( ha ha) pulled out a mini bat, and tried to hit me with hit. I dodged the swing, and now its on. I backed up a bit to give myself room, and waited for his second attack. When he did, I gave him probably the worst looking arm drag that Ive ever done. After the ugly arm drag, the bat flew out of his hand, but he still charged after me, so I gave him a well, placed super kick. The super kick hit the little cholo right in the nose, and broke it, but just to make sure that this fight was over, I walked over and picked up the mini bat, and walked over to the guy, and applied the camal clutch. But I didnt apply your normal camal clutch no, I applied it with the mini bat under the guys chin. Basically I was choking the guy out with a combo of the camal clutch, while pulling on the mini bat that was on his throat. The little cholo finaly gave up. And I won the fight (And won my first hardcore match).
While in high school, I did dabble in high school, amateur wrestling. I tried out for my high schools wrestling team my sophomore year, but I didnt last long. I found out real quick that amateur wrestling, and professional wrestling were, two different monsters. A lot of the moves I saw on T.V. were actually illegal in amateur wrestling.
So I quit the team. But not before I learned how to take care of myself on the mat. What I learned in that small amount of time has helped me still today in my wrestling career.
When I graduated high school, I had no idea where, or how to get into pro wrestling. A couple of years went by, and then one day I was at home listening to a cable T.V. radio show, and the host plugged a wrestling school that was located in Sun Valley, California. The school was called Slam U (Slammers University). I wrote down the number, and called the next day. I told the person that answered the phone that I was really interested in becoming a professional wrestler. So they took down my name, address, and my phone number, and told me that they would get in touch with me. A couple of weeks later I got a package in the mail from Slam U, and the SWF (Slammers Wrestling Federation). After I read through everything, I came across an order form, with a note on top of the form saying that I was required to order, purchase, and watch some video tapes in order to get an appointment with the owner of Slam U, Verne Langdon. So I ordered, purchased, and watched the videotapes. It took a while but I finished watching the two videotapes, and when I was done, I called Slam U to set up an appointment, but there was one problem, no one would answer the phone.
I tried calling for a couple of weeks, and still no answer. So finally I gave up. I later found out that Slam U, and the SWF had closed down right around the same time I was trying to get into the school (1st road block). So there I was, wondering when, and if I would be a pro wrestler. Another couple of years would pass before another wrestling company would start up a wrestling school. That company was XPW (Xtreme Pro Wrestling).
The school was the Asylum. The asylums head trainer at the time was The Real Deal Damien Steele. But by the time I contacted the Asylum, there was a new head trainer. His name was Dynamite D. Now I had been to a few XPW shows before I contacted the Asylum. So I was real familiar with XPWs product, and characters. Out of all the characters, or wrestlers in XPW, including some wrestlers that were previously in ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), there was four wrestlers that became my favorites. The first wrestler was a young dare devil, high flyer named Kid Kaos. The second wrestler was another athletic young guy named the Messiah. Now the third wrestler was a crazy, out of control, hardcore, human horror film named Supreme. The fourth wrestler was a real entertaining character, and a real good wrestler named Mr. 80s Dynamite D.
So now I contact the XPW office to start my training. The person I talked to was XPWs vice president Kevin Kleinrock. Kevin informed me that there would be an orientation a couple of weeks from our conversation. Kevin also informed me that I would be in the second Asylum class. There was an Asylum class that started when Damien Steele was the head trainer, so Dynamite D just took over that class. So now Im excited, Im finally going to start training to be a pro wrestler. Im going to live my childhood dream. The next week while I was at work, I was driving a stand up forklift. As I was passing by a big doorway, out came another guy on a forklift full speed, and crashed into me. The guy hit me so hard that I bounced out of my forklift and crushed my ankle (2nd road block). The day after my accident, I called Kevin Kleinrock, and told him what had happened, and also to cancel my orientation. Kevin was real cool about everything. He told me to give him a call when I was healed, and he also told me get well soon. Now heres a guy who number one, doesnt know me at all, and has a wrestling company with all kind s of wrestlers to worry about, but yet he still took the time to wish me well. I always thought that that was cool of Kevin.
While I was recovering, the then WWF was in town for Wrestlemania. Ten months of relaxation, and rehabilitation, and I was healed. The first thing I did after I went back to work was called Kevin Kleinrock. He told me that he was glad to hear that Im all healed up. We set up another orientation, but this time I would be in the third Asylum class. Now this is it, its now or never. I was going to be a professional wrestler dammit!!
Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!
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