Earlier Answers 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
'Think shoot but work
the match...'
In your LAW
interview,you talked about a system
of 'respect' that once governed wrestling. Can you tell us a bit more about
that?
| In the AWA, shooters like Brad Rheingans and Billy Robinson put you through your paces as part of the process of entry into the business - a sort of rite of passage. If you passed the test - of being worked over by the old shooters - you were progressively trusted with the 'inner secrets' of wrestling. You were then expected to show and maintain 'respect' for the business. That meant showing humility, paying your dues, respecting the generations above you, putting them over in their heyday with the expectation that they would, when the time came, step aside and put you over. That doesn't mean you were ever guaranteed a place in the business. There was always competition for spots - but if you proved you had guts and ability and staying power then, in time, you'd be given respect by the older guys and put over. | 
The shooter (Brad Rheingans, left) and the stiff... |
'Luger complained about Scotty ..... he just couldn't take the beating every night'
How was that system policed ? And what happened when people openly abused the rules?
 |
Well that was the job of the 'shooters'
or 'policemen'. If anyone got too far out of line, the shooter's
job was to pull them back. You remember I told you how Danny
Kroffat fixed
Stan
Hansen when Hansen was working too stiff and hurting people,
early in one of our Japan tours. Locker room gossip, ribbing and the sort
of pranks the Dynamite Kid talks about in his book were other ways of letting
people know that they were stepping outside the accepted boundaries of
'respect'. And it was always open to anyone to take personal action
against anyone 'disrespectful'. For example, you can simply sh## on another
guy's match. By that I mean, you can refuse to sell his stuff convincingly,
you can adjust the bumps you take for him, you can lay some stuff in stiff
- accidentally on purpose, so to speak. ("Did I do that? Sorry"). Or you
can mess up a high spot or two to rattle him or slow down the match and
make it boring. Or you can go really fast or get up from a fall faster
than your opponent to make him look slow and non-athletic. Or you can be
heavy in the ring or lean on your opponent so they have to breath harder
to catch their wind when they're blown up. That's just a few examples of
how you can teach 'respect'. Or repay a guy for 'stooging' to management.
(It's also a way of repaying a booker who's been abusing his position or
burying you -i.e., by making his booking look ragged). And, if none of
that works, then there's always the tough guy approach of just hurting
him inside or outside the ring.
left - Zenk, Hansen and Abdullah mix it outside the ropes in Japan
|
So I guess it must be almost a matter of pride to you that in 13 years, in and out of the ring, you never got hurt?
Yes, well I was hurt just once by Terry Taylor, after he got rattled by the crowd calling him "Red Rooster." But with both guys working well, no-one should get hurt. On the other hand, like it says in the Dynamite Kid's book, when the guys want to, they can really hurt you. For example, when the Rougeau Brothers used a roll of coins to smash in the Kid's teeth. So, in a way, not getting hurt over 13 years is, maybe, a sort of 'reward' or proof of the fact that I showed proper respect both for the business and for all the guys I worked with in the business. As I said before, wrestling is about respect and taking care of your opponents body in the ring. You look after him - he looks after you. The only time anyone gets hurt is when they lack skill or you lack respect.
I can't remember anyone "Great, I'm wrestling one of the Steiners tonight."
In his book,('PURE DYNAMITE')The
Dynamite Kid creates the impression that a lot of his fights were 'shoot'
or nearly real and if you didn't duck in time, he'd knock your head off.
How does that fit in with the idea that skilled wrestlers should make it
look
real without actually causing anyone any harm?
" you've also got to add
|
The aim is to come as close as possible to the real thing without actually hurting anyone.You grab a headlock and hold it firmly but not so as to put any pressure on the head other than holding it snugly - so there's no air between the arm and the head. You flex and work the hold as if it really hurts. The art comes from both men turning something so light as that into an image of someone ripping the other guy's head off. My motto was "Think shoot but work the match" That's probably what Tom Billington was talking about. The Kid had his skills perfectly honed but you've also got to add personality to the mix. And in this case The Dynamite Kid's personality was a legit tough guy. He had balls (and still does despite his physical pain). And his personal preference was to work tight or 'snug' or 'stiff' (i.e., 'more forcefully than most other wrestlers'). Some guys work stiffer than others. For example, nobody has ever accused either of the Steiner Brothers of being as light as a feather or a 'night off' or a pleasure to work with. Luger went to the office a few years ago and complained about being in a program with Scotty because he said he couldn't take the beating every night. Then again, some guys don't have the right touch or feel in the ring. They're too stiff. I know that a lot of fans value stiff workers highly. But I can't remember anyone in the locker room saying "Great, I'm wrestling one of the Steiners tonight." They are many others - Sid, Vader, Meng - just to mention a few. |
What are some of the difficulties associated with 'working stiff'?
Any match, but particularly with a stiff worker, requires a high level of co-operation. Some guys like Hansen are just too selfish in their work to provide that level of co-operation. In any case, it's best to work a program with the same guy over a sustained period to get familiar with each other's style and develop a series of spots that you're both comfortable with. It also means working within the capabilities of the guy you're working with - and that's always something I aimed for. If you exceed or overestimate their capabilities, then someone's going to get hurt. And, if you get hurt in wrestling, it's sorry, no money.
That's where the real fun begins with the present situation in WCW - when they eventually run out of wrestlers who know how to work. Seems the brains trust have shot themselves in the foot, again! . House matches have to be built slowly and that takes time to learn - unlike matches for TV which are shorter to match viewers' attention spans. All WCW booking is just the quick fix for TV - no-one is paying attention to grooming the younger wrestlers. And, in the end, that makes for not just bad wreslting but an unsafe work place. I just hope I'm wrong here.
