Guest Article: Running the Ropes with Marc P - Part 3

We left our hero full of confidence, full of hope for the future and loving the adventure that was before him, will it continue to be so? Lets find out...

Jay Lethal meets the Internet Sensation

My next session at Futureshock's training school was taken by Dave Rayne and consisted mainly of chain wrestling. Learning hammerlocks, wristlocks and the like. Up until this point in the classes I had tried to partner up with someone who had been on the induction day, just to help myself feel at ease. This week I decided that to try and break out of my comfort zone as I realised that the best way to improve is to work with people who are much better than me. I worked with a lovely chap called Steven who was not only great to work with but incredibly patient. I'm a very slow learner, and have to have things shown to me again and again and then again just to make sure I've got it. Steven didn't seem to mind at all and was full of helpful tips and pointers, making me feel at ease. Annoyingly though, despite the fact we didn't take ANY bumps that session I managed to tweak my upper back, meaning it started to spasm on my drive home, that wasn't much fun at all!


I missed the following 2 weeks sessions, both for different but valid reasons in my opinion...
The first session I missed was due to driving a few friends up to the Fierce Females show in Glasgow that they were performing on. The trip was long, hard and the single most tiring thing I've ever done, but it was still a lot of fun. Doing it the weekend after driving to Bournemouth for a show though gave me a certain, disdain towards Wrestling for a few days. In fact I believe the term I used when I let the guys know that I wouldn't be attending was "Fuck Wrestling!", that's how draining the drive was! 

Marc flyered outside, whilst Bray Wyatt did his thing.

A week later I missed class again, this time was the opposite of the above mentioned "Fuck Wrestling" this time I went along to The Manchester Arena in London, wait that's not right, in Manchester. WWE was in town to tape it's Smackdown show and the guys at Futureshock thought it would a good time to hand out some flyers to the people arriving at the show and try and get a few last minute at the final Futureshock show of the year which at that time was a week away. Travelling with my partner in crime Ryan Hendrix, we cheerfully stood by one of the entrances to the arena, chatting to fans about who they were looking forward to seeing and trying to get some interest in a local promotion. It was genuinely eye opening the amount of comments, especially from mothers, that had no idea that there was wrestling on, just up the road, for a quarter of the price that they paid so that their child could see WWE. 


This may sound odd but I genuinely do love the flyering/postering side of being a trainee for a couple reasons. Firstly, I think it shows dedication to the company and that I'm willing to give up my free time - even if I can only manage it once a week - to help out with something that I'm sure can be a very thankless task for the promoters. Secondly, it gives me a chance to get out of the house. Without going into too much detail my partner is disabled and I'm her full time carer so don't really get to go out too much so to spend a day flyering is actually very therapeutic, believe it or not!

One of Futureshock's regular trainers, Xander Cooper

As I write this my last session at Futureshock was now 2 weeks ago. And it was the night my confidence just utterly utterly failed me. When Xander Cooper said we would be learning headlock takedowns my heart sank. Anyone who read my first article in this series knows that I struggled so damn hard with this relatively simple move on my second session and did not relish doing them again at all. I mentioned on my first article as well that I get frustrated when I can't do something and that night was beyond frustrating. Try as I might I could not do a headlock takedown. In my head I knew what I was doing, knew exactly where to put my hands and feet yet when it came round to actually doing it I just couldn't. Which made me get annoyed. Rinse and repeat again and again and again to the point where I was shaking with silent rage and apologising constantly. Xander began to get frustated with me, not because of my lack of ability but because I apologised so often! "Don't apologise for learning" he told me more than once. What was worse was that we then did some counters and sequences out of the takedown, and, working once more with the amazing Henry Grodd (helped on by the awesome Bobby Cash) I was at least ok with all of them, although I was so damn mad at myself I was a ball of tension. We finished the session with walking headlock takedowns, where you grab your opponent as they walk towards you. The wonderful Ellie took me over like a pro on her first attempt but yet again when it was my turn it was a move that I just could not do. 


I left the session feeling so deflated, so ashamed of myself and my performance. As I write this I haven't been back. A combination of lack of funds and family emergencies have meant that training was pushed to the back of my mind. Realistically I can't see myself attending in the month of December at all as I'm going abroad for Christmas so need every penny I can get, and while I want to be dedicated to it, the chance to see my brothers for the first time in almost a year is top priority. I'll be back in the new year though, just try and stop me. 

Ever wanted to be a wrestler? Give it a try! Seriously its great. For all the details about Futureshock and it's school check out http://www.futureshockwrestling.co.uk/