Following a Dream: I Wanted to Be a Wrestler

By John Slater

Senior Staff Writer

Sometimes the reality of our goals is not as glamorous as the dream that motivates them.

As children we are all encouraged to dream. Not just little dreams, but big dreams. When I was growing up, I was a huge fan of professional wrestling. In fact, I was such a fan that pro-wrestling became that dream. In late 2005, I tried to become a pro-wrestler.

Los Angeles California, Saturday April 2, 2005: that was the day I first remember feeling that my purpose in life was to be a pro-wrestler. I know it sounds weird, but at the time it seemed normal. Here’s something to make it even weirder: I felt this way because of Hulk Hogan.

“Several people come to me and say ‘Well, should I get into professional wrestling?’ and my standard answer is no”. Those were the words Hulk Hogan spoke while giving a speech at the Universal Amphitheatre in Hollywood during the WWE Hall of Fame induction Ceremony. A few friends and I decided (for the fourth year in a row) to use all of our money and go to this ceremony as well as WrestleMania.

So imagine having Hulk Hogan give you the answer to a question that you have always wanted to ask him, but never had the chance. It was pretty weird.

Later that night, back at the hotel, I ran into Hogan. This time I took full advantage of the opportunity to ask him on a more personal level if I should try to get into wrestling. His answer was simple: if I loved the business and I didn’t mind leaving family behind as well as a possible college education, then I should go for it.

Now I had something to think about. In a very general way, I had just been told by Hulk Hogan to take a stab at becoming a pro-wrestler. That is like Babe Ruth telling a little- leaguer to try to become a baseball player.

On the plane ride home from California, I had a lot of thinking to do. What would my family say? Would my friends laugh at me? And above everything else, what if I never tried? That consideration made up my mind. I was going to become not the next Hulk Hogan, but the first John Slater. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.

At that point in my life I was also battling something else: the fact that I had about fifty pounds that I would not miss if I could somehow get rid of them. So here I was, faced with another decision. I was going to join a gym.

I joined Planet Fitness in Trumbull CT, and really gave it my all. After all, If I was going to wear a wrestling costume I’d have to have the body for it. At the gym I also met Paul Roma, a former professional wrestler who had been employed by World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince McMahon.

Roma helped me with a workout plan as well as a diet. He also gave me the avenue I needed to become a professional wrestler: he owned a wrestling school. His school is located here in Bridgeport, and it is the official school of the independent wrestling promoter, Connecticut Championship Wrestling. In order to make it to WrestleMania, I knew that I would have to start somewhere. This seemed perfect.

I eventually lost sixty-eight pounds, which was even more than I had originally planned. I was ready to go. In November of 2005, I became a student under Roma’s direction.

Anyone who has ever watched pro-wrestling has the same questions: “Is wrestling fake? Do they really hit each other with chairs?” And then there’s my favorite: “Do they teach you how to fall?” You will have the answer to those questions if you can tell me if anyone has ever taught you how to fall.

The next eight months with Roma resulted in things such as welts, bruises, many nights sleeping on heating pads, and an extremely strange need for Ben Gay. Think whatever you would like about pro-wrestlers, but I will tell you one thing: don’t try it at home.

 

My back after one night of wrestling school. Photograph by John Slater.

Despite numerous injuries, I felt as though I was living out a dream. I was completely convinced that I was born to be a wrestler.

Besides Roma, I was able to meet some of my other favorite childhood characters, such as Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, both of whom had been employed by and are currently active with WWE.

Meeting them was similar to meeting Hogan; surprising and unreal. After all, these were two of the wrestlers who I had grown up watching, both of whom I hated. But now I had the opportunity to learn their craft, which I had always admired, and they were going to be my teachers.

Wrestling school has the potential to make you a star. It also has the power to make you broke, and that is what it did to me. Needless to say, I am not a pro-wrestler. But I did carry a lot of debt away from the experience.

The cost of the school was $4,000. I did not have the cash lying around, so Roma obliged to my request for a payment plan. It was kind of like putting a dream on layaway.

After all the particulars were worked out, I was able to continue on with the training. I would go three nights a week from 7 p.m. until 12 a.m. It really was grueling. The surface of the ring is much less forgiving than anyone can imagine, and bouncing off of the ropes is comparable to getting beat with a belt. There were many occasions when I would come home with rope burn on my back and black-and-blues (which were actually purple and green) from my shoulder blades down to my waist. But then again, this was a dream.

Now, I can go on and on about how good it felt to chase my dream, and how disappointing it was not to fulfill it. The bottom line is that it should have just stayed a dream. If it had, I would probably still be a fan today.

While in the school, my eyes were opened to many things that fans are not supposed to know. I am not going to harp on them or even disclose them, but I will say that there is a definite line between what a fan’s perception of wrestling is, and what it actually is. Still, at least I can say I tried.

Maybe I was too much of a fan. At the age of 21, I still got offended when someone would put up the argument that wrestling is faked.

After going to all of the events and eventually making the decision to join wrestling school, many people in my life still wonder why I “gave up”. In reality, I never gave up anything. In fact, I gained the experience of having tried. But trust me, I still dream.

As far as pro-wrestling goes, the expenses combined with the pain and the realization of growing older all helped me realize that maybe wrestling wasn’t for me after all.

As I continue to grow older, I feel that I made a good decision by not pursuing a pro-wrestling career for more than 8 months. It seems clear to me now that pro-wrestling, as a career, should have stayed a dream. Once the magic had been unlocked, the awe and uncertainty seemed to disappear. It no longer seems “magical”.

But dreaming is still something that remains good. After all, those who realize their dreams are the ones who are daring enough to chase them.

The same road that led me to numerous Wrestlemanias, my conversation with Hulk Hogan, and wrestling school are all parts of the same road that has brought me back to school with my sights now set on a career in journalism. Maybe it is true when they say “one thing leads to another.”