This is not the usual HAMMER TYME that everyone has known or come to expect. I ask you bear with me and let me explain. I have chosen to break format because sometimes old school is better than new school. I have learned I am far from the greatest listener in the world. I became a victim to the bigger and better mode. When I began wrestling, it was all about the belt. I had to be the next Nick Bockwinkle; I was the Hulk Hogan of the next generation. Brock Lesner was only champion because I never met him. Yes, I was so full of myself and TOO big for my britches. I needed a reality check. I thought I had grown up but soon when I had the urge to get back into the ring it happened again.



I had met a friend who started his own wrestling federation and made me an offer that I could not refuse. Before I knew it, I was wrestling and the Heavyweight Champion of his group. I was living my dream and having the time of my life. Therefore, I thought anyway, it was not until one day I was leaving the gym and noticed it was work and not fun. I had enjoyed what I did. I was like a homemaker who had to tune in to see what happened on the next episode of wrestling, I had to buy every pay per view, check in on the websites and live wrestling. It overshadowed what I wanted to achieve. I just never realize it then.

I soon chose that I needed a break as I felt burnt out and unappreciated in reality it was that I had beaten myself. I was so looking for the next big challenge that I never stopped to smell the roses or enjoy my success.

I had decided I wanted one more match. I had a friend who owns a group and I sent him an email asking for a try-out. It was because I wanted it. I chose to return, not for a title or money but for my enjoyment and performing in front of a crowd. I was and am a big ham. I love to show off and make people smile and laugh. I think I should have been a circus clown. However, the performer soon was unfortunately overshadowed once more. Greed soon found its way in my heart. I fooled myself into believing I was better than I was. I did not spend much time training I said I was better than that. I thought I could just hit the track do three miles like the old days and my skills would take me to victory. I thought I was invincible. It got worse I was planning my next championship conquest?..Hey I have not had a match in 9yrs and I should walk in and be a champion. What arrogance and cockiness considering the company I was in. At best, I was an average wrestler and given my performance, I was occasionally less than average. My only benefit was that my friends did not want to hurt my feelings so they strung me along. I was carried like Rocky was and I see why that is a bad thing now. We fall into the trap of thinking we are better than what we really are. No one wants to be the loser. I had a guidance councilor give me the greatest advice in a question form. ?Why is everything black and white, win or lose, can't grey be acceptable?? At the time, I thought sure it was, but grey or loses did not pay the bills. WIN and Black paid huge. The offer of $160,000 for ECW and better if I went WWE too good to pass up especially for a young person. However, does life always have to revolve around WWE and the biggest?

Boy I thought it did. It became such an obsession that I lost sight on fun and found myself more determined than ever to be the biggest and best. Until that day in October when I climbed into the ring. I was to do a flip over someone. I had done it hundreds of times and could do it in my sleep. Except leading up to that day I did not train much or take it serious to me, it was oh my skill would save me. I was wrong, very wrong. I did not factor in that I added about 40lbs and was out of shape. I went up lost my balance and came crashing down on my neck and shoulders. I was fortunate not to end up paralyzed or worse. After that, I realized that I was not invincible. Instead of using that as a wake up call, I turned it into an excuse to run and hide. I gave up. I did not think, talk or watch wrestling. I quit the gym and felt sorry for myself. Then hid behind my injury. I talked up the injury to make it worse than what it was and used it to get sympathy. I learned I sold things well always did guess that is why I was a good wrestler or performer.

Growing up in the 1970's wrestling was American Wrestling Association (AWA) I was on Sunday mornings on NBC. It was on for an hour and usually consisted of two or three minor fights and the main event. Promos or interviews publicized house shows (not televised). There was not a lot of drama then mostly fighting. The under cards consisted of a Jabber vs. an upcoming star opened the show. The jobber might get a shot or two in but in the end, he is full to the star and made the star look good. Occasionally there was a tag match and then the Main Event or Feature Match. It was too big names and at least once a month the heavyweight championship. Back then, the ?RULE? was the champion only had to defend his title every 30 days. The champion fought jobbers most of the time unless publicizing a major event or storyline.

In the 80's it was all WWF. AWA fell out of sight. The 90's was WCW, which feuded heavily with the WWF. The interesting part during that time, all you heard when you spoke of Wrestling was the biggest promotion of the time. The smaller groups never got much press. Another interesting point was there was no GM. A ?mysterious? Championship Committee handled everything. It like any magic trick they never were revealed or seen. A president or promoter would make announcements regarding decisions or booking matches. In the early days house shows had things not seen on TV had matches that rarely saw a house show.

The house show on rare occasions messed TV up. A title would change hands and you never know how or maybe get a few clips but surprised nonetheless. In some cases a different champion than last week was on, which lead to confusion and choppy storylines.

Sometimes in an interview segment or opening of the show, they would catch you up on or what was happening and what the current days show would handle and give you a look ahead talking about future cards. It was still exciting to watch and gave us things to talk about until next show.

A bigger conclusion, we only talked about the Dominant or Main Show. Very few spoke of minor territories or lesser show. It was like Baseball or Football; the big league got all the press. I realized that still holds true. As I wrote my last article, I found it having a lot to do with Wrestle mania. So much so that it was not as demanded and postponed a week, which lead me to ask this ?Is there more then WWE?? The answer should be YES. There should be articles on TNA or their Superstars or the countless groups of independents. It is as if they are less important or not even worth mention. I think given that I spend one to three hours writing my column it is a convenience factor to write about popular as it quicker to research. However if it is not as demanded and it backlogs then it is actually worth time invested. Maybe a little more effort would create a better product. Next time I will return to the HAMMER TYME format and incorporate these few changes. Keep it fresh and interesting. There is a broad base of topics covering 100+ years. It should be simple to find things that do not always see press and give it some attention. If it made it to the show it obviously was worth mention good or bad, it made money or had a purpose for being included. We can have fun seeing why. Thank you for being faithful readers and except my thanks for breaking format to tell this story. Next week is business as usual.