I need to say how much I'm looking forward to this Saturday with the Kevin Kelly seminar at the Monster Factory. Because I REALLY am. Seminars themselves, besides what we already teach, are very important to helping our students at the Monster Factory learn and grow MORE than they already do. Yes we have Danny Cage who was an excellent amateur wrestler and Larry Sharpe's apprentice. We have Bill Wiles who is another excellent amateur wrestler who also did his time in ECW on tv and pay per view. We have myself who did time in ECW and WWE. And now QT Marshall who has done everything from ROH to NXT and back. You have all of us teaching at the school but it's important to bring in new AND different learning trees from which to pick leaves of knowledge from.
To me the Monster Factory is like a pro wrestling college. Instead of a classroom, we have a ring. Instead of study hall, we have tape study. Instead of books, we have boots, tights and weights. AND somwhat like of guest speakers that colleges pay to come in and lecture. We have seminars. Some other crafts and business call them workshops. My friends who do comedy do plenty of workshops. My cousin who is a minister goes to plenty of workshops. My friends in the music industry go to teach or learn from what they call clinics which are usually held at musical instrument stores. My friends in radio have done internships. My friends in the medical field have done what the call a residency. All forms of craft and professions have extra curricular avenues of which they pay for or do some work for the experience in which to learn from and better themselves. Pro wrestling should be no different. Especially now.
The practice of seminars in other realms are nothing out of the ordinary and are something pro wrestling could use in this day and age if done right with reputable people. Back when I broke in I was fortunate to learn from Al Snow. From Al Snow I went onto learn from Sabu while doing his shows. From there I went onto ECW and learned Paul Heyman, Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer, Shane Douglas, Taz, Tracy Smothers, Tommy Rich and Bam Bam Bigelow.
When I went to the WWE I attended the Dory Funk Dojo where I learned from Dory Funk and Dr. Tom Prichard. When I lost all my weight in 2000 I went to Memphis to try and reinvent myself and there I learned from Jim Neidhart and then William Regal. Heck, I'm STILL learning about the wrestling business. You can NEVER stop learning in this business......that is....unless you learn from the RIGHT people.
That's where I really feel bad for this and the next generation of wrestlers. Who is there to learn from? Where are the leaders to lead and the young guys who want to listen? Of course there are some great schools and promotions out there. But for every ONE good wrestling promotion and wrestling school there are five iffy schools and promotions. It's literally the blind leading the blind. From that is where wrestlers become what I like to call "indylicious" and form bad habits.
That's why WWE is starting to stray away from the independent wrestling scene. There are way too many bad habits out there on the scene and some are irreversible enough to make a performer perform up to what the WWE standard is. Unless that person comes with a stamp of approval from someone held in high regard already in WWE, the WWE itself will and has looked elsewhere like amateur wrestling and football. Not because they hate the indies but because guys from football and amateur wrestling are still raw and moldable to what they want and won't question advice that goes against whatever indy pro wrestling zen master has taught them wrong.
I love reading when guys on the indies get mad because the WWE hires football guys like it's some new concept. Has no one heard of Wahoo McDaniels? Has no one heard of Ernie Ladd? How about Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Brian Pillman, JBL, Jim Neidhart, Droz and Goldberg? I know there are plenty of names I'm even forgetting but football to wrestling is nothing new and it's something the WWE is leaning towards again.
Why? Because the indies are chock full of bad habits and THAT my friends is why seminars are vital to TODAY'S pro wrestling scene. That's why we at the Monster Factory are constantly looking to bring in different perspectives. We've had Glenn Ruth from the Headbangers return to help teach. We've had J.J Dillon come in. We've had Ring Of Honor veteran "Brutal" Bob Evans come in. We've even had Rikishi do an impromptu seminar. We had D'Lo Brown return to the Monster Factory and not only work our show but pulled every match to the side for a personal critique of each match of his own free will!! And most notably we had Gerald Brisco come in TWICE to check out our crew which is a privilege for the Monster Factory because Gerry doesn't go to EVERY wrestling school out there. He's scouting the amateur ranks for future WWE super stars and NOT the indies. Why? Again, independent wrestling is full of bad habits.
That's why this Saturday with Kevin Kelly coming to the Monster Factory is very important to us. Besides my personal admiration for Kevin the person who has helped me over my career. Kevin has BEEN there and DONE THAT. He's done it all from announcing to WWE talent relations. He is now the voice of Ring Of Honor and still has that eye for talent. If you want to know where you stand in the business. Come to the Monster Factory for a seminar. If you want to know what you need to fix mechanically and visually in your approach and appearance. Come to the Monster Factory. If you want to begin your career the right way COME TO THE MONSTER FACTORY.
Come to the Monster Factory where you WILL learn from Danny Cage. You WILL learn from Bill Wiles. You WILL learn from Q.T. Marshall. You WILL learn from myself the Blue Meanie. People HAVE LEARNED at the Monster Factory from Larry Shape, from JJ Dillon, from Bob Evans, from The Head Bangers, from D'Lo Brown, from Gerry Brisco and many more to come who we have in the works! Who will YOU learn from? Guys who've been to "the show" OR who guys who are at the same skill level as yourself...or WORSE? Who are YOU going to learn from? Guys who've been to "the dance" OR from guys who took 3 months of lessons elsewhere where they never finished training (or paying tuition for THAT matter) and now think they are qualified to teach others elsewhere? Who are YOU going to learn from? Guys who only teach "SPOT! SPOT! SPOT!" or guys who know the how, the why, the when AND the what to do of the things you are SUPPOSED to do. These examples are me presenting facts as I've seen and heard over my career.
So YES seminars are vital to wrestling. To me seminars at the Monster Factory are what we think is important for the future of this business. To learn. To grow. To hear the good and most importantly.....TO hear the bad. If you can't take the bad with the good then maybe The Monster Factory or wrestling in general isn't the thing for you. No babies or fragile egos need apply. If you ARE willing to take it all, then we have the right place with the right people for you. This Saturday with Kevin Kelly will be just another example of The Monster Factory giving a damn about making sure our crew and pro wrestling as a whole do better FOR OURSELVES AND MOST IMPORTANTLY.......BETTER FOR THE FANS WHO PAY HARD EARNED MONEY TO BE ENTERTAINED.
*MEANIE DANCE*
The Blue Meanie
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