Guest Article: Running the Ropes with Marc P - Part 4

I haven't been to wrestling training for a month or so, for various reasons, so, I thought I'd tell you guys something that happened to me recently instead.


"Really enjoyable first half, great stuff in the ring and I haven't made any mistakes yet!!"
I have no idea why I wrote that on Facebook at the intermission of my second ever Southcoast Wrestling appearance, lord only knows that writing something like that means that its only a matter of time until something goes very wrong. For me the matter of time was the length of the intermission, so approximately 20 minutes!

When I got the gig of ring announcer I knew that being in the public eye for long periods meant that I would have to look the part so dug out my Granddads old suit. Anyone who knows me will know that dressing smartly isn't really my style, I'm a jeans and hoody kind of guy. The flip side of dressing in the way that I do means that when you do put on the suit everyone is surprised but that's beside the point. The point is that I was in my suit, looking great and feeling great after watching three good matches, having some banter with the crowd and, as mentioned, not making a single mistake. 


I make my way back to the ring to the chords of "Dalton Wants It All", ROH wrestler Dalton Castle's theme music and welcome the fans to the second half. Our first match of the half is a gauntlet match so I run down the rules of the contest then introduce the first 2 competitors. Then it happens! As I step through the ropes I hear what in my head is the loudest thing ever, my wonderful suit trousers decide that THIS, is the moment that they want to try and make a desperate bid to become 2 individual trousers and split from the crotch to the left knee!!!!

Marc <3 Dalton Castle

Now obviously I cannot show any emotion as I step off the apron and return to my seat but boy did I panic when I sat down and saw that my boxer shorts were on show, I had only one thought running through my head at this moment...


SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! 


A quick think made me think that I could cover the rest of the gauntlet match at the table, but the main event of the evening was a title match and there was no way I could do that from ringside. The sound guy for Southcoast, an awesome man called Marty  had a solution, SOME SAFETY PINS!!!! Aww yeah it's all good thinks I! A few moments later and my pants are back together and I'm set to go. Or so I thought! 

There's more Southcoast action in February!

As the first wrestler was eliminated I stood up to announce wrestler number 3, confident that my lovely grey boxers wouldn't be on show, and, of course, all FIVE of the safety pins came a pinging out one after another! Back to square one eh folks?! At this point I can literally only think of one thing. Knowing that I had a few moments until the next wrestler came out I ran backstage, showed the bewildered promoter what had happened and put my jeans on faster than I probably ever have at any point in my 33 years! 


I went back to my seat, flashed a thumbs up at Marty and carried on my ring announcing duties for the rest of the night, including shaming a guy for swearing during the raffle by getting him into the ring and making him apologise to the boys and girls and doing my best work to date with the in ring introductions to the main event. 

I recently spoke to my friend Chris Brooker. Chris works at a few promotions and does a spot of ring announcing from time to time, he assured me that you aren't a proper ring announcer until you've split your pants, so I guess that makes me a proper ring announcer. Chris did it on his first! 

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/

Guest Article: Running the Ropes with Marc P - Part 1

Look who's back! Cheers to Marc Pearson for stepping in at the last minute to join our new guest writer cycle. Sit back and enjoy as Marc talks about starting wrestling training at Futureshock Wrestling School in Manchester.

I'm too old.
I'm too fat.
I'm too out of shape. 


3 motto's that I had clung to like the proverbial limpet whenever anyone from Futureshock Wrestling had ever asked if I wanted to give their Wrestling School a try. For four years these were the excuses that I trotted out time and again. Sometimes I would throw in a forth, just to make sure as it were, I am THE worst wrestler in the world. Anyone who had the misfortune of seeing me stink up matches in my old backyard fed (UBW - Ultimate British Wrestling, check on Daily motion if you have 10 minutes to kill and want to laugh at me getting the living snot kicked out of me) will know that I'm not great at the old wrestling lark. 


Unfortunately (for yours truly) 3 of my 4 mottos have been put to test this year. Namely that I've lost a boat load of weight and got heavily into keeping fit. So that's motto's 2 and 3 out of the window isn't it? We'll come back to numbers 1 & 4 in a moment. I'd given real "proper"  Wrestling training a try once before, a few years ago with Chris Curtis, in my hometown of Stoke On Trent with a group called BWA. On that day I'd taken a bump incorrectly and landed with all my bodyweight on my left elbow, tearing a ligament in there, an injury that ended both my pro wrestling dreams but also my backyard days as well. That was until earlier this year, when I was offered a chance to train for the day with the Runcorn based RWA. While I didn't do any damage to myself that day I was one of only 2 beginners there and that took me right out of my comfort zone and riddled me with self doubt, which only intensified when I performed an armbar takedown incorrectly and my opponent - a young girl - was driven face first into the canvas. It didn't matter that the girl took the bump on her nose instead of on her cheek, I was seriously shaken up and was glad when the session finished soon after. 


I forgot all about being a wrestler for a few months, well I say months, I mean weeks. As in late August, Futureshock Wrestling announced that they would be holding an Induction Day in September. I thought long and hard about whether to attend or not, as mentioned my motto's and excuses had already been dismissed by some of the guys who train at the school and because it was an Induction day, I wouldn't be the only newbie there, hell, because of my new found love of fitness, surely I wouldn't be the worst one there either. So I agreed to go.


And so, on Saturday the 19th of September, I made the drive to Failsworth in Manchester. I almost didn't make it as half way there I had a mini panic attack which made me drive round a roundabout 4 times as I tried to decide whether to go home or to stop being such a pussy and finish the drive. Obviously I decided on the latter and soon thereafter pulled up behind the old cotton mill that is Morton's Gym. Now I have to say (and you may have guessed) that I'm VERY shy, and very introverted with people that I don't know. I was expecting to be ok with this though as I've known the head trainer Dave Rayne for a number of years and  thought that I'd be alright with a group of newbie's. My heart sank then as when I pulled into the car park I noticed Futureshock Wrestlers Penny Dreadful & Henry T Grodd. For some reason I had expected the Induction Day to just be beginners. I walked slowly up the stairs to the top floor  and almost ran out of the building when I entered the training area so the sight of a room packed full of people.

Session One

Futureshock's Ring

Again, man up time for sure. I took a few brave pills and decided to stick around and see if the warm up was as hard as I'd heard it would be. And from the moment we started warming up I relaxed. Running on the spot I took the time to look around the room and realised in seconds that I wouldn't be the worst person there. As we progressed through various exercises - press ups, squats, leg raises, planks and assorted gubbins, my confidence swelled, while I'd never call it easy, it was easier than I was expecting it to be, and when I was partnered up with a wonderful man called Kevin, he not only pushed me further than I thought I could go but made me laugh doing it (it turns out Kevin is a stand up comedian so that kind of made sense). Turns out motto/excuse number 4 was another one that I couldn't use. 

After the warm up the group was divided into 2, one group being the usual advanced class that occurs on a Saturday morning (which explains why there were so many wrestlers there) and us newbie's. We were taught how to lock up, doing a drill where we had to do a lock up followed by a squat, 50 times! How do 3 different types of roles (something I was pretty good at having done many of them as part of my exercise regimes) then how to transition from a lockup into a headlock or a hammerlock. Head Trainer Dave Rayne not only showed us how to do the moves, but WHY they are done in that way. This was something I had never experienced and it really opened my eyes to some of the inner working of the art of wrestling. Dave is also an extremely patient teacher, it mustn't be easy when an idiot like me asks to be shown something for the 7th time but he never once complained and made sure that I understood everything. 

But then we all came back together and I had to show the whole class what I had learnt, feeling like I was at school again, hating the thought of all these wrestlers who I respect and admire watching me. Some of them I've criticized on my reviews of Futureshock shows so my paranoid brain told me they all wanted me to fail. Fortunately my partner at this time was a Mr Bobby Cash, who I've known for years and who went out of his way to make me look good. And then we were done. Dave held a brief Q&A and before I knew it I was on my way home. 3 hours had flown by and I was left feeling both elated yet massively annoyed with myself for how my confidence seemed to utterly fail me where I mattered the most. I resolved myself to not only return as soon as I could, but to have a  much, much better attitude than I had shown that first day. 

Session Two

My back after running the ropes.

With that, 3 days later I was back at the school. This time I learnt that the warm up we had done on Saturday was a legitimately easy one. Dave had us run to the bottom floor and back to the top 3 times, then do 120 squats, 40 press ups, 40 burpees and more! In my second session I tried my hardest to be more confident, I volunteered to try things even if it meant doing it in front of the group and worked as hard as I could. We learnt headlock takedowns and running the ropes that night. I can get quite frustrated when I can't do things and I couldn't figure out the actual takedown part of the headlock takedown and had to be taken to one side by former Futureshock Women's Champion Danni Hunter and explained that getting frustrated like that in a match situation would be really bad and that it's something I would need to nip in the bud immediately.

Unfortunately it wasn't all good that night. After the warm up we had been doing some drills which involved us slamming ourselves onto our fronts as fast as we could. On my 9th dropdown I landed really hard on my left knee and straight away knew something wasn't quite right. I carried on though, full of adrenaline and determined to be better than I had been on the Saturday. But when I got home and that adrenaline had worn off I began to realise that I couldn't put any weight on my left leg. A day later and a visit to A&E confirmed a torn MCL and orders not to train for 6 weeks. I write this after 2 weeks and the frustration of not being able to train is already driving me crazy. But at the same time I know I'll be back as soon as I'm able to. I believe I've got what they call "The Bug". And I'll be here to tell you guys all about it.

Oh and if you wondering about motto excuse number 1, I'm 33 years old, the response I got when I mentioned this.............DDP was 35 when he started training. Can't really say anything back to that can you?! 


If you want to find out more about the Futureshock Wrestling School, here's where to head.