Opinion: Running the Ropes with Marc P - Part 5

Hi guys thanks for dropping by, my whole life is up in the air at the moment so this month instead of writing about a particular topic I thought I’d left you guys know about a few things that are going on with me and the world of Pro Wrestling.

wrestling training……

As much as I enjoyed my time at Futureshock’s training school I’m afraid that I won’t be back there. Few reasons for this. Firstly and most importantly I’ve moved away from Stoke-On-Trent and am now living in the Cotswolds so to get to the school would be a 6 hour round trip! Secondly I’m sure dear reader that you remember that I tore my MCL in my left knee, well, truth be told it’s never really properly healed, still giving me a lot of pain especially at the moment when it’s cold. Lastly, you may remember that my confidence utterly failed me on my last training session, well, it never came back, the thought of making a tit of myself in front of people fills me with dread. So no more wrestling training for Marc P. Proud of myself for giving it a try though. 

live shows….

At the time of writing I’ve been to 3 shows this year, one each for Futureshock, Alpha Omega and Fight Club Pro. I promised myself after the 40+ shows that I attended in 2015 that I would drastically cut back on my live shows but MAN, I didn’t expect to cut down this much. Don’t get me wrong I intend you fully make use of my Season Ticket for the Stockport Futureshock shows, it’s just going to take me a while to find what promotions run in the local area. Guess I’ve got no excuse not to attend my first Attack show have I. Missing shows and missing my crew are the hardest part of this move, trust me on that one! Oh and my move meant I had to resign from my position at Southcoast Wrestling, that one hurt as well!

wwe……

I’ve barely watched any of WWE’s weekly programming in weeks, and that even includes NXT. Lucha Underground has taken NXT’s place as my must watch wrestling show as it has with so many people. Fastlane came and went and other than the pre show (that I fell asleep watching) I wasn’t bothered, Shane O Mac returned and both my Facebook and Twitter feeds lit up and I just wasn’t interested (seriously, why would Taker defend Vince?). My WWE network still gets used a lot but it’s always for old shows, on Friday night for example I watched WWF’s Royal Rumble 2000 but then last night I endured the Edge & Christian show and was so underwhelmed. How James manages to watch the product is beyond me and tbh its through his reviews that I still know whats happening in WWE! (Editors Note - Cos I'm a fucking maniac)

youtube.....

Ah the big one. Regular viewers of mine will no doubt have noticed that I haven’t made a video since the 8th of January, with no explanation really given. I don’t want to say Ive retired from making videos because that sounds so final, but, don’t expect to see any videos off of me anytime in the future. Truth be told I stopped enjoying making videos a long time ago and felt that they were a chore for the longest time. Watching the vids back that I made in the last 6 months they all feel very forced, that I’m relying on the same old dated catchphrases. Basically they just aren’t very good and my lack of motivation really shines through them. One day I may return full time, or I may just pop up to do the odd review at Wrestlemania time, or of course I could just say sod it and move on with my life. I am however, eternally grateful to anyone who has ever watched one of my videos. It means the world to me. 

Marc's Youtube Page
Marc's Facebook Page
Marc's Twitter Profile

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 2

For anyone who didn't get the chance to read Part 1 (shame on you) let me bring you quickly up to speed. I attended an open day at the Futureshock Wrestling School back in September and despite having being very very nervous I loved it. 3 days later I was back again, loving it again but a freak accident meant that I tore the MCL in my left knee. My Doctor recommended 6 weeks rest. Anyone who knows me knew that that was never going to happen, and that's where we begin this time...


I did plan to rest! Stop laughing I really did. I thought I'd take a few weeks off from the gym and forget about wrestling. That was until I saw a tweet from CJ Banks that read:" When I was 16 I tore ligament fibres playing football. I still went to wrestling training every Saturday and Sunday and took notes, no excuses!" I couldn't really argue with that could I? So, despite being on crutches, I hobbled up the stairs to the school to watch the guys train and to take notes. I must confess friends, that it was not the most enjoyable experience. That sounds awful so let me explain why. Dave Rayne took the class that night and taught the class about a thing called "Hope Spots". Now I know a lot about the wrestling world and consider myself to be your generic "smart fan" but I had no idea about a hope spot, what it entailed or how it was performed. So I sat leaning on my crutches being well and truly schooled, and loving it. The reason I say I didn't enjoy this is because it hurt that I couldn't join in with such an interesting session 

DAVE RAYNE!

Dave also showed the class how to throw a punch and a chop correctly. Now, I can sit and take my notes and watch the guys do the hope spots but there is absolutely no way I'm was not going to join in with that bit! Fortunately, my friend Chris was there to watch as well and was a willing guinea pig for me to practice said chops and punches on, I loved that, sorry for being a little snug with you, matey! Watching, and joining it a little was great but on the flipside it was horrible not being able to join in with the majority of what looked like a really fun class. 


I resumed my normal workout routine a week later as my MCL felt fine (6 weeks! More like 3!) In doing so I decided to attend a seminar at the school with TNA Wrestler Rockstar Spud. The night before the seminar I was once again my usual bundle of nerves and I barely slept as the prospect of making a fool of myself in front of a man who I admire greatly filled me with blind terror! Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about. Spud's seminar was mainly talking. If you wanted to get in the ring and do something you could, but, of the 23 of us there I'd say that only 10-12 actually got up and did anything in the ring, to which I was very grateful. The day was made up of Spud asking 2 people to get into the ring and getting them to tell a story, I didn't matter what the story was, just do something. Spud would watch the 2 men or woman wrestle until stopping them at a point and explaining either what he liked, where they were going wrong or suggesting a way to improve. It would take many pages to cover everything Spud talked about or showed us in those 3 hours. Suffice to say I learned so much, a lot of things that I had never even thought of, and a lot of things that hopefully I can look back on in a few months and think to myself "so that's what Spud meant"!

Three days later I was back at the school with a new challenge to face, a new teacher -  "The Man For All Seasons"  Xander Cooper! Now I had heard that Xander's warm ups could be used by Governments as torture on terror suspects so was just a little bit nervous going into this one. After a few stretches we had to do 140 squats. I can do about 60 before I start to flag so this was tough. Then we were paired up and had to do 50 squat lock ups (making 190 total squats, 190!), then high five press ups, leg raises and a nuts type of reverse sit up over the ring apron!!! I was a tired boy after all that, BUT, I got through it, which I was very proud of myself for as it meant that my fitness is slowly improving. 


Xander's theme for the class was trust. Trusting your body in the hands of your opponent. To do this we would be learning how to do a stalling suplex and a crossbody off the ropes!!! 
As someone who has never performed a suplex or a crossbody, the familiar nerves began to creep in. Xander paired us up and I was picked to work with a young lady called Hollie. I've liked Hollie since my first session, she has a permanent smile on her face which I love. It's actually quite funny watching Hollie get chopped and see that she's still smiling. She's also got bags of talent, a great attitude  and I predict that she'll go a long way in the business. As Hollie is currently studying her GCSE's I was really scared that I would mess up my suplex and end up dropping her on her head. Fortunately Hollie didn't share this fear, confidently telling me that she probably wouldn't mind if I did. That put me at ease and on our second attempt I hoisted her high into the air and was able to hold her up! Fortunately for both of us Hollie didn't have to lift me. A nice young man called Dan was given the unenviable task. But, with the theme of the class being Trust, I wasn't afraid, I jumped when told, pushed off hard off Dan's teigh and he held me up. I felt elated and to be honest with you, a part of me wanted him to fall backwards so we could finish the suplex, but a suplex bump is for another day. 

THE MAN FOR ALL SEASONS!

Next up was crossbodies off Bret's Ropes (the second and most dangerous of all ropes). Xander showed us how to catch your opponent then put down a crash mat in case we needed it. I was determined to show that I do have some strength and actually catch Hollie but my first 2 attempts saw us both crash to the mat, don't get me wrong I caught her fine I just really wanted to be able to hold her upright.  Attempt three though saw me feeling like Lex Luger as I caught her in my arms and held her there. If I was impressed with myself it was nothing to how impressed I was a few minutes later when I dived off the ropes only to be caught first time by wrestler, Henry T. Grodd! Even with my weight loss I'm still in the 14-15 stone range and he caught me like I was half that! We finished the session doing standing crossbodies which again was a lot of fun. 
'

At the end of the session I drove home and a couple of times I actually giggled! Because I'm getting to know my classmates a little bit more I was so full of confidence in myself which in turn made me so happy that I was able to train again! Even better, I'm starting to believe in myself, something I've always had an issue with. So much so than 5 days after this class I was stood in front of 150 people working as the new ring announcer for Southcoast Wrestling! If you had told me I would be doing something like that when I started back in September I would have told you that you were crazy. But training is helping me come out of my shell and for that I am so thankful. The best part is that I'm only a few weeks into this crazy journey, and I know its only going to get better. 


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/