Blowing rainbows and sunshine up someone's ass DOES NOT help...

If there is one thing that I have definitely learned from pro wrestling, it is the fact that you have to be able to take constructive-criticism.  Also, if you are the one giving the person advice, remember that blowing rainbows and sunshine up someones ass DOES NOT help.  You need to be able to take the advice, no matter how tough it is to hear it, and make adjustments where they are needed.  Otherwise, it is just a waste of time to ask that person for anything in the first place.

It doesn't matter if you are a promoter, a wrestler, or even the camera guy, you need to be able to take the criticism either way.  There are people who are in charge that know what they want from you, so do what they tell you to.  There are people in the business who have been doing it a hell of a lot longer than you have, so take their advice on things and make yourself better.

I cannot stand it when someone asks me what I thought of their match, then they get pissed off because I tell them the truth.  It's the same shit that everyone else is thinking, it's just no one else has the balls (no pun intended) to say something.  Don't ask me if you don't want to hear the truth.  If I tell you that your match was okay when it really sucked ass, that is doing nothing for you then.  That just makes you think that whatever you just did out there was good and that you know what you are doing, when really, you have no idea what you are doing at all.

This is how you learn in this business.  Be humble, ask advice, take it like a man and make yourself better.  I cannot tell you how many times people ripped me up one end and down the other about stuff.  But the fact that I always took the criticism and that person's advice, made that person respect me a little more or at least see me as a little more of an equal, rather than a dumb kid.

If you sit there while someone is giving you advice and act like an asshole about it, then that person now thinks you are an asshole.  They will tell the promoter, you probably will not come back there again, and now you are labeled as an asshole overall.  Good job, way to get yourself blackballed.

The point is, telling somebody something just to make them feel better is not going to do shit.  Tell them the truth so that they learn from their mistakes.  And if you are the one asking for advice, take it like a man and actually learn from it.

The "black sheep" Hardy cousin who WWE did not sign...wonder why?...

Once again, I want to thank everyone that has been checking out the blog, commenting on it, and sending me ideas.  I actually checked the official stats today for the first time and was blown away by the amount of people that take time out of their lives to read my organized nonsense.  Thinking of getting some shirts made up that will have the PRO WRESTLING: Men in Tights logo on them, then the address to the blog on the back.  Contact me if you are interested in one so that I can get a headcount and sizes together.  As always, you can contact me at:

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TheRockshowErnieBallz
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz
Email:  ernieballz@hotmail.com

I figured it was about time to post another funny story from shows over the years.  There are so many of them that they kind of come and go in my memory.  For whatever reason, this one popped into my head today and made me laugh, so hopefully it will do the same for all of you.

Pretty sure that this event took place in 2004, which would have been my 2nd year in the business.  I went down to a show in Southern Ohio, Cambridge, OH to be exact.  The building was pretty cool, it was almost like a giant airport hanger that had been turned into a rec center something like that.  I actually just got to wrestle there again about a year ago for Ohio Championship Wrestling (http://www.ocwrestling.net/) and it made me laugh because of this story.

So I drove like 3.5 hours to this shitty-ass show in Cambridge, OH, where the only good part about the show was probably the building and the fact that I got paid before the show.  The crowd was small, I had no idea who any of the guys on the show were, and the promoter was a creep-ball deluxe.  This dude brought in Traci Brooks, ODB, and Christie Ricci (the wrestler, not Casper's friend), and had the three of them get into the ring and basically just play patty-cake for like 30 minutes.  It was not a match, it must have just been some footage for this monkey's spank bank or something.  It was weird either way, and I am sure the girls got paid a shit-ton of money either way.

Anyways, I get introduced to the guy that I am wrestling, and his name is "the Black Sheep" Brian Hardy.  Apparently, he was the long-lost cousin of the Hardy Boyz that the WWE was not interested in at the time.  He was not, but he thought he was.  He tried to put this over the entire day, but I was not buying it.  Let me just paint a picture for you of "the Black Sheep" Brian Hardy.  Imagine a crackhead, with a receding hairline, a bad bleaching job on the hair he has left, Joe Dirt-esc facial hair, a dirty white wife-beater, faded black cargo pants with holes in them, and all of his top teeth rotted away.  I am not shitting you, his top teeth were completely rotted away and his breath smelled like elephant shit covered in sewage.  It's no wonder the WWE was not interested in this, obvious, cousin to the great Matt and Jeff Hardy.  No member of the OMEGA roster would claim this guy.  Joey Abs would not even claim ever knowing this guy, even if he was related to the Hardys.

Having this top-tier opponent, I knew that I needed to bring my A-game to the table.  At the time, I was working a very technical type of style, so I asked "the Black Sheep" if he was any good at chain wrestling at all.  Well, being the pride and joy of Cameron, NC, of course "the Black Sheep" had no idea what chain wrestling even was.  Awesome.  The legendary Brian Hardy then said, and I quote, "I am a fucking Hardy Boy!  Don't you know what we Hardys do?  We fly!"  With this bold statement, I decided that I was just going to beat the shit out of this guy, and have a good time in the process.

I am standing in the back thinking of what I should do during this barn-burner of a match that I am about to have with this future hall-of-famer, and I decide that I am going to cut a promo before my match.  This promo ended up being a turning point in my entire wrestling career, because I found out this night that I was actually REALLY good on the mic.  I went out to the ring and just ripped the entire town apart up one end and down the other.  Well, of course, this helped the magnificent, not at all lying, "Black Sheep" Brian Hardy get an amazing reaction when he walked to the ring like he had a turtle-head poking out.

This is the moment, my match with this amazing competitor had finally began.  The bell rang (which was actually someone slamming a wrench against the ringpost) and Brian Hardy did nothing.  He looked at me like a deer in headlights.  So I speared him, punched him, kicked him, until finally, he gave me a not-at-all shitty excuse for a Twist of Fate, and when up top to hit his ever-famous Swanton Bomb.  "The Black Sheep" tried to jump off the ropes, but ended up falling on his head instead. I rolled him up and pinned him, 1-2-3.  Match of my career people.

Now, Dumbass McGee is laying in the middle of the ring because he landed on his damn head, because he fell off the fucking top rope.  What an idiot.  Matt and Jeff were probably crying in their sleep for weeks over this.  The ambulance finally came and took this stinky, un-coordinated bastard to the emergency room.

I am ready to leave.  It's the end of the show, ODB & Traci Brooks both gave me a kiss on the cheek, I have my money, let's roll.  We are walking around saying goodbye to everyone, and what do you know, like a heroic knight in slightly dirty, smelly-ass armor, here comes the great Brian Hardy walking back into the building.  The guy does not even hesitate, he comes after me and attacks me in front of whatever crowd is left in there.  I thought he was joking around at first, but apparently he blamed me for making him fall off the top rope for some reason.  Basically, I popped the guy a couple times, pushed him down, and got the fuck out of Dodge.

Never worked for the place ever again.  Never saw the "Black Sheep" of the Hardy family ever again.  All I know is, I cannot wait for the Hardy Boyz to get inducted into the Hall-of-Fame, because I bet good-ole' Vince already has it booked for the "Black Sheep" to be right there with Matt and Jeff when they are.

Working out helps more than you think...

I am not the most physically fit pro wrestler out there today, but I still work out 4-5 times a week to keep myself where I need to be.  For the past month, I have had somewhat of an awakening or realization when it comes to getting into better shape.  I really just looked at some pictures from this past New Year's Eve and saw how much weight I have gained and told myself that this is not how I want to live my life anymore.

When I first started wrestling in 2002, I was 230 lbs and only had a little bit of muscle on me.  I am 6 ft. 2 in. tall, so 230 is not bad at all for that height.  Over the years, I have struggled with trying to put muscle on, but also take weight off.  In 2009, I broke my left ankle and needed to have surgery on it.  The time off from my ankle sucked ass.  I put on so much weight, that I actually got all the way up to 285 lbs.  This was the heaviest I have ever been.  In recent months, I have sat around 265-270 lbs., but it is still way too heavy for me.

Coming back from the ankle injury was probably the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in wrestling.  Not only was it tasking physically, but many of the promoters who were using me before the injury kind of just forgot about me and put someone else into that spot.  I still feel that this injury was a contributing factor as to why I do not wrestle for many of these places anymore, but I have realized lately that a lot of it probably had to do with my weight as well.

Seeing the pictures of myself and what I have looked like the past few years, it disgusts me now.  One of my only goals left in this business is to be a top guy in certain promotions, and I know that I cannot do that looking the way that I did.  I really do not care if I ever work for WWE or TNA.  I have done the extra thing at WWE and it was not my cup of tea personally.  The only way that I am going to become a top guy in the places that I currently wrestle for is by getting into shape, working on my in-ring skills more and more, and setting an example of how someone should carry themself and how they should work in the ring.

Over the past month, I have lost 15 lbs and feel great.  I am down to about 250, but it is still not enough.  230 is my goal, but I am honestly shooting for like 225-220.  I am not really that worried about the actual weight itself, it is more about just how I feel overall I guess.

The only things that I have really changed is what I eat.  Before, I would go to the gas station everyday to get a coffee and some sort of nasty-ass breakfast sandwich.  Now, I make a protein shake first thing in the morning to speed up my metabolism and make my own coffee at home.  My mid-afternoon snack before would be 2 hotdogs from the place down the road, but now I try to eat something better, like beef jerkey, nuts, or fruit.  I still go out to eat every now and then, but I have just tried to pick something a little bit better for me to eat instead.  Usually, I will let myself eat Taco Bell whenever I have show also, but that is only about twice a month right now.

So the next step is to cut out the rest of the shit and take things to the next level.  I would like to start getting up around 6 in the morning to either lift or do yoga, on top of doing 60 minutes of cardio at night.  My biggest issue overall is the fact that I CANNOT get up early in the morning.  I have tried EVERYTHING to get up.  I have gone to bed at 9, I have tried sleeping pills, and nothing works.  I'm just going to keep at it and hopefully I eventually fall into the rhythm.

It took me until about my third year in the business to realize how important working out is.  I started with mostly guys that I had never touched a weight or a treadmill in their entire life, so it was not something that was taught to me or anything like that.  I eventually just started to feel like shit and that my body was hurting 24/7.  So I started working out a little here and there and it felt great.  I worked out VERY hard during high school, but I think I just got burnt out on it and that is why I did not do it much when I started wrestling.

Over the years, I have figured out what type of workout are important to being a pro wrestler and have started to focus on them more.  Currently, I am trying to get into Yoga more and more, but I have been doing a very basic workout with resistance bands on top of 60 minutes of cardio 3 nights a week.

Yoga is something that I always thought was for girls, until I tried it.  Holy shit!  It is hard!  Honestly, I think Yoga is the single best thing that any wrestler can do for themselves.  It stretches you to no end and somewhat aligns your back and shit as well.  Anytime that I do yoga, I feel like a million bucks the next day.

The basic workout that I do right now is because I do not really need much more size put on, I just need to cut up.  I start out by just stretching out really good and do some random stuff for getting my heart rate up.  The workout itself is a very basic, full-body workout.  I do pushups, situps, hindu squats, then use resistance bands for everything else.  Super easy, but also effective.  The reason that I am doing this workout is just to do something while I try to cut down.  Once I get to the point that I want to be at, I plan on getting back into the gym and actually lifting weights again.  I really do love lifting, I just do not have the time to most days.

Cardio is something that I feel everyone needs to work their way up to a certain point.  If you are just starting out, then only do like 15-20 minutes or something like that for about 2 weeks, then bump it up to 30-40 minutes after that.  Continue to do this until you reach 60 minutes.  I highly recommend the elliptical, just because it won't screw up your knees like a treadmill will.  Matt Mason (wrestler from OH) also gave me the advice to switch up your cardio here and there, and it has really helped out a lot.  I will do like 20 minutes on one thing, 20 minutes on another, then the last 20 on something else.  It keeps you body guessing at what is coming next.

I guess the point of this entire blog is to let everyone know that if you are in the wrestling business, working out is the biggest part of it.  Your body is everything; not only for looks, but for flexibility and whatnot as well.  If your body feels like shit, then you are going to wrestle like shit.  Take my story for example.  I felt like shit in the ring when I was overweight, but now I am starting to feel good again.  Your body is your main tool in wrestling, so make sure it is at a level that will work best for you.

What is wrong with wrestling?...

First off, note to self:  DO NOT hit the ESC key on accident when typing a blog.  This is the same thing that I did during my last blog and I lost all of it and had to write it all over again.  I had this one completely done and once again, lost it.  So I will give it another shot here.

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has been reading the blog and passing it along, I really appreciate the support.  I also want to thank everyone who has sent me ideas of things to talk about.  Feel free to contact me at www.facebook.com/TheRockshowErnieBallz , www.twitter.com/ErnieBallz , or ernieballz@hotmail.com .  Today's post is actually going to be one of these topics sent to me by an anonymous source.  The person did not leave their name at all, but the topic is a good one, so thank you.

The topic that was given to me is "why do you feel that pro wrestling is not as popular as it once was?"  This is a pretty broad question, but I am going to do my best to give my opinion on it.  Obviously, WWE is the monopoly of pro wrestling, but I feel that with the right business decisions, ROH could be a big contender eventually.  TNA is a lost-cause in my opinion and I will talk about that.

So, wrestling hit it's boom in the Attitude era when the Monday Night War was going on.  The reason why is because WCW pushed the envelope and forced WWE to do the same.  It was a constant question of "what will happen next?"  THAT is why wrestling was so popular then.  It was exciting and something new every week.  People were jumping from WWE to WCW, ECW was the land of misfit toys that people wanted to get behind.  It was amazing, but is something that will NEVER be duplicated in my opinion.

Let's talk about some of the problems with the business currently though.  WWE definitely has a monopoly over the entire business of pro wrestling.  They bought out all of their competition in 2001, which was probably to dumbest move they could have ever made.  Without competition, there is no alternative, which means that there is no one else pushing your company to be better.  That's why wrestling went down the crapper from the longest time.

WWE's main 2 issues are the fact that everything is about merchandising and money, and that they hold down younger talent.  I am sorry, but maybe you should spend more time accentuating the second W in your name, which stands for WRESTLING, rather than selling multi-colored wristbands to 10 year old children.  I understand it, I really do, but it is wrestling, so do some for a change.  I think that they are starting to with people like Punk, Danielson, and Ziggler, but I think they need to pick it up company-wide.

My second issue with WWE is that they hold back a lot of their younger talent.  There are tons of AMAZING talents that are either currently in development, or have been down there in the past, that should be given opportunities.  It almost seems to me like they are afraid to bring these guys up to the main roster because they think that they are going to fail or something.  Here's an idea, if a guy sucks, FIRE HIM!!!  There are guys on that roster that are hella-nice people, but they are dumb as a box of rocks.  If they don't know what they are doing, then get rid of them and hire someone else to a development deal that actually deserves to be there.  I can think of countless people off of the top of my head that should be in development right now.  Chris Hero, Sami Callihan, Roderick Strong, the list could go on and on.  These dumbass guys that don't know anything about the business get put onto TV and take away spots from guys that really know what they are doing and would be 10 times as entertaining.

There are guys that have sat in development for years and were never really given a chance at all.  There are guys donw there right now that I do not understand why they are not on TV.  I have an ongoing discussion with many people about how WWE guys have no idea what to do other than what they are told to do.  What are we going to do 20 years down the road?  Who are going to be the top guys?  Who are going to be the road agents that help the younger talent?  Half of these guys now don't know what the hell they are doing.  Give the younger guys that have been on the indies a chance.  In the long-run, I feel it will help the business overall.

That's as far as I am going with WWE.  They are the top of the heap for a reason, I just feel that there are little changes that could make it that much better.  Let's talk about the train wreck that is TNA/Impact Wrestling.  TNA is like the dog in the movie UP...they will be doing their thing, then all of a sudden...SQUIRREL!!!  It's like A.D.D. Wrestling.  One thing will be going on, then the next week it all changes.  Generation ME/The Young Bucks are a perfect example of this.  They starting off tagging with each other, then they turned on each other, then they were fighting, then they were back together like nothing ever happened.  Makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever.

I also feel like TNA has the WCW Handbook to Booking in their back pocket.  "Let's bring in all of these old bastards that no one cares about anymore, and build our entire company around them."  I can understand using people like RVD, Jeff Hardy, Ken Anderson, because all of these guys can still wrestle and have something to offer to the company.  Sting as a GM?  Mostly drunk Ric Flair?  Hogan in Affliction-esc shirts?  Really?  They are paying these "legends" a shit-ton of money to do nothing but show up on TV.  Sting just comes out dressed like a jackass saying "it's showtime" and "I'm the boss."  Well I am sorry Stinger, but Tony Danza is the boss.  Flair comes out half drunk and just shouts nonsense.  Hogan comes out dressed like a 21 year old Jersey Shore cast member and just says "brother" 20 times a night.  I often think of what kids think of Hogan.  They were not around for him when he was a big deal.  They probably see him and say "Mommy, it's that guy from the Rent-A-Center commercials who is on that other show with the midgets!"  No one cares about either of these guys.  Can you imagine the amount of money that TNA could save by getting rid of them?  Ridiculous.

Other than using guys from the retirement home on their shows, TNA has two other things that have completely ruined their product over the years.  The two dumbest things that TNA ever did was 1.) getting rid of the 6-sided ring, and 2.) not focusing on the X-Division.  These are the 2 things that made TNA different than any other wrestling product on the market and they just got rid of it.  Why would you do this?  If you are a sandwich maker and you have a sandwich that no one else can make quite the same way as you do, why would you take it off your menu?  Stupidity, that's why.  TNA brought in Hogan and Bischoff thinking that they were going to be able to do something for the company.  The first decision they made was to get rid of the 6-sided ring, change the name of the company, and make their entire set look like Smackdown.  WTF?  So let me get this straight...you are going to take everything that has established this company, hit the reset button and just start all over again?  Ok.  Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

TNA is just a mess overall, I could go for hours about them.  Let's move onto ROH.  Personally, I feel ROH is going to be the next big thing.  They have a great show, that is the perfect mix of wrestling and entertainment.  ROH's main downfall is that they are not on a good network.  HDNET was not picked up by normal cable companies, so no one saw the show.  This Sinclair crap that they are on right now only gets picked up in certain areas also.  I am in Cleveland, OH and we do not even get it here.  ROH needs to just keep their noses to the grindstone, find ways to make money, and take opportunities ASAP.  I really do feel that ROH is a better product than TNA overall and feel that they could really do something.  The problem that they have begun to run into is that some of the talent has moved onto WWE and TNA, mainly because they are going to get more exposure and money there.  If ROH can find that perfect mix, they will be a major threat.

So that's it.  I think the overall point is that wrestling needs to be about wrestling.  There has to be an entertainment factor there as well, but I think that the wrestling is the most important part.  Younger talent needs to step up to the plate and start showcasing themselves more.  Whether these talents are signed or not, it doesn't matter.  It's all about getting yourself out there and showing what you can do.

I you can't do it, then don't do it...

I like to think that most of these posts kind of build off of each other and tell one big story overall.  This post came to mind because of various different reasons and I decided it was time to get this out there.  Let's just say that the theme here is "don't let personal crap mess with your business."

I don't care which side of the coin you fall on, whether you are a promoter or a wrestler.  You should never let your personal crap mess with your business.  The biggest problem when it comes to the wrestling business is that most people don't treat it like a business.  I have already talked about this issue though, so we are not going to get into that much.

The problem is, the wrong types of people get into the business on both ends.  You have Scuzzy Joe the Landlord that all of a sudden wants to play promoter, and of course, you have the ever-so-famous Jimmy Dipshit from the Seven Eleven who wants to play wrestler.  I am not saying that you cannot treat wrestling as a hobby, but please treat it as a business either way.  Whether you are the Chris Hero or Colt Cabana type that makes money primarily off of wrestling, or you are the, well, "the Rockshow" Ernie Ballz (me) type that mainly just wrestles a few times a month.  Either way, there is a potential to make money, which classifies a business relationship.  I am just saying enforcing what I have already said before, which is that there are people in this business ruining it for everyone.

If you have convictions from previous crimes, then stay away.  If you do not have any money and want to promote shows but don't know how to actually make money, then stay away.  If you "kind of" want to wrestle but have no athletic ability, STAY AWAY!!!  One bad egg makes the whole bunch look like shit.  Some of you may be saying, "well, if I get gear..." or "well, if I can get a sponsor..."  You think that there are other things that can make you look good or look professional.  I always remember hearing the phrase, "you can paint a turd gold, but it's still a turd either way."  That's what you are, a turd.  A turd in the punch bowl that is pro wrestling.  You make the rest of us look bad.

For example, let's look at the promoting end of things.  Let's say that there is a building that a good promotion wants to run to try to bring in some new fans and branch out a little bit.  The problem is that there are a few other places that have run this town/building and their shows sucked ass, their talent looked like shit, and they left a bad taste in the fans and the owner of the building's mouth for wrestling as a whole.  These shitbag promotions just ruined this town for anyone else that wants to come there, or even near there.  They pissed the building owner off to the point that wrestling will probably never be allowed back there again.

The wrestling side of things is just as good.  Let's say that there is a guy that wrestles from OH who gets booked by a promoter in Philly.  This wrestler talks himself up to the promoter, name-dropping, and saying he is the best thing since Sliced Bread #2.  Now this shitty wrestler goes and wrestles the show, looks like total crap, is not entertaining, and ends up hurting one of the guys he wrestled.  The promoter is now going to say, "that is the last F'n time that we use ANYONE from OH!!!"  So now, this dumbass just ruined the chance for any wrestlers from OH to wrestle for this promoter in Philly.  Eventually, yes, the promoter will probably start using OH talent again, but it is going to be a long time until that happens.

My point here is, if you are told how the wrestling business is and you KNOW that you do not fit that mold, then PLEASE JUST STAY AWAY!!!  It is how it is, and that probably will never change.  So if you are sitting around thinking that something is going to happen, but in the back of your mind you KNOW it won't, find another hobby.  Walk away while you still can.

Personal issues should never effect any type of business.  So if you are that guy that has so many skeletons in the closet that are just waiting to come out and destroy you, then stay away from wrestling.  YOUR personal issues WILL eventually come out, they will make YOU look bad, which will in-turn make EVERYONE in the wrestling business look bad.  We are all in this together.  It is ALL OF OUR JOBS to present this business a certain way.  If you know that someone does not belong here, then speak up or do something about it.  The longer these pieces of crap are in OUR business, the crappier we are ALL going to look.

It's a business, treat it that way...

I only write these blogs when I feel that I actually have something to talk about.  Rather than coming on here and forcing myself to type some bullshit, I want to have a point or tell a good story.  I have gone on record saying that my last post was probably my best one yet, but I think that this one is going to be pretty good as well.

There is a term that many wrestlers say which is, "I'm in the business."  Really?  Are you?  Because there are plenty of shitbag wrestlers and promoters out there that say that they are in the "business," but do not know the first thing about running a business.

Each and every one of us are small business owners when it comes to wrestling.  If you are a promoter, then you have a service that you are selling, which is a wrestling show.  If you are a wrestler, then you are your own product and need to find the right strategy to market yourself to promoters and fans.  Either way, it is YOUR job to make sure that you know what the hell you are doing and talking about in order to run YOUR business the right way.

Wrestlers, you need to know how to market yourself, not only to the fans, but to everyone in the business as well.  The more you know, the better you are, the better you are, the easier it is to get booked, the easier it is to get booked, the better chance to you have to present yourself to the fans, who will then buy your shit.  Take Colt Cabana for example.  This guy has always supplemented his income by having shirts, headbands, buttons, posters, DVD's, and whatever other stuff fans will buy.  Now, he runs an AMAZING podcast called The Art of Wrestling, where he not only gets the word out on himself, his show dates, and his products, but he also puts over the business of pro wrestling as a whole.  Colt has turned himself into a media empire in order to make a full-time living as a pro wrestler.

Promoters, you need to start finding ways to make money at your shows, PERIOD!  All wrestling shows are different, the crowds are different, the style is different.  The key is to hide your negatives, showcase your positives, and market your business accordingly.  The first step is to figure out ways to get people into your shows.  I have said it before, once you get the people in there, just let the wrestling and overall entertainment speak for itself after that.  Then, eventually you can start making DVD's, shirts, and whatever else to sell to this fanbase that you have built up to make more money.  It does not all come at one time though, you need to get a plan together, take small steps to better your company, and stick to it.  It may be a year later, or it might be your next show, but the growth will come.

You also need to take care of your talent as well.  Spend some money to have at least water and some kind of food in the back.  For example, I have wrestled at W.A.R. Wrestling (Wrestling And Respect) in Lima, OH for years.  Ever since I began going down there, they have ALWAYS had food and water in the back for the wrestlers.  They have an entire catering company come in with food for their guys, it's AMAZING.  If you know anything about business, then you know it is all about connections and networking yourself.  That is what W.A.R. has done.  They have connections for the food.  Monster Energy is one of their sponsors now, so there is free Monster in the back for the guys.  They have even worked out sponsorship arrangements with hotels in the area for their talent to get free rooms.  THIS is how you take care of your talent.  It is not about spending a shit-ton of money on this type of stuff, it's about working out some sort of arrangement where you can put over their company at the show or make them a sponsor or something like that.  Start thinking OUTSIDE OF THE BOX for a change.

The issue in this business are these promoters and wrestlers that do not know what the hell they are doing in or out of the ring.  Wrestlers who are "self-trained" and look like Jimmy Dipshit from the Seven Eleven.  These guys have no idea what they are doing, so why are promoters booking them?  Money.  That's why.  These shitty promoters who don't want to pay a dime for anything put these yard-tards on their shows because they will wrestle for free.  Let me ask the promoters something...how is having these guys on your shows helping you at all?  You cannot tell me that Jimmy Dipshit is drawing people into the shows.  You cannot tell me that this guy is making you money.  SO TAKE THESE GUYS OFF OF YOUR SHOWS AND PAY FOR REAL TALENT!!!  These kind of promoters are the people ruining the business of professional wrestling.  Giving these guys the OPPORTUNITY to be on your show makes all of the other yard-tards feel that it is okay to get into the business this way, which IT IS NOT!!!

Let me just put it this way...promoters, if you do not have the money to pay for REAL TALENT to wrestle on your shows, then DON'T RUN ANYMORE.  Do everyone in the business a favor and just stop.  Because this is a business, treat it that way.  If you can't or do not know how to run a business, then go find something that you do know how to do and STOP RUINING PRO WRESTLING!!!

It's 2012, not 1975...

I had this whole post typed out and ready to go, then something happened that I could not post it, then it was gone completely.  So, here it goes again, hopefully it works this time around.  These are the difficulties of doing these blogs I guess.

Anyways, I have talked about people lending a hand in this business already, but feel that there is one part that is EXTREMELY important, especially considering how the business is now-a-days.  First, I would like to remind everyone that it is 2012, not 1975.  The business has changed, and the quicker that EVERYONE realizes that, the better off we will all be in the long-run.  Things like the Internet and Facebook & Twitter have changed this business drastically, and it is time to change along with them to make this business the best that it can be.

In today's wrestling business, I feel we have a lot of different kinds of promoters with many different promoting styles.  You have the guys that do everything the "old school way," pounding the pavement, getting sponsors, and hanging up fliers.  You also have the promoters that blow up your Twitter or Facebook with fliers and hype videos on a daily basis.  My favorite though are the promoters that post 1 or 2 things about their show on their Facebook page, and then wonder why there is only 20 people at their show.  That's when you get that infamous "well, the house is down a little" speech and walk out of the building with nothing but a frown on your face and swamp-ass from your tights.

The problem is that most promoters are stuck thinking that it is 1975 and think that there is only one way to promote a show.  No, not even close buddy.  What promoters need to start doing is mixing the "old school" with the "new school."  Like I said, it's 2012 and the business has changed, whether you want to admit it or not.  If you are trying to target younger fans, then Facebook and Twitter are the way to go, as well as any wrestling forums or websites that may post your info for the the show.  For what I like to call "the everyday person," putting up fliers in local businesses, radio, and TV is the way to go.  I think a lot of people in the business forget that "normal people" do not watch wrestling on a regular basis, they do not visit these wrestling websites, and they definitely do not have you on their Facebook or Twitter list as a friend.  So the key here is to find ways to reach out to these "normal people" and convert them into, or back into, "wrestling people."  CM Punk said it the best when he said that "we all need to make wrestling cool again."

The biggest issue here is that promoters are cheap asses, plain and simple.  First rule of business is that you have to "spend money to make money."  Spend a couple hundred dollars on fliers, radio, or TV if you think that it is going to help you.  If you do, you may reach 25, 50, maybe even 100 more people, and should make your money back, no problem.  Also, there are things like concessions and merchandise that should help you recover some of your overhead cost.  Afterall, this is a BUSINESS, remember, so run it like one.

So we have talked about the promoters, now let's talk about the wrestlers.  Wrestlers, you need to help with promoting also.  I bet many guys are thinking that they are "the talent" and that promoting the shows is the promoters job.  Well, that is true, but YOU are on the show as well.  If YOU want people to come out to the shows to see YOU, buy YOUR merchandise, making YOU more money, then maybe YOU need to start helping out.  Now I am not telling the wrestlers to get in their cars on a Saturday and go flier a Walmart parking lot.  I am thinking more about the Facebook and Twitter type of stuff.

I talked about this before, it is not that hard to share a video or repost a flier for a show.  It is literally one click away.  I don't know about many of the other wrestlers out there, but I do know that I am out to help this business OVERALL, not just myself.  So why not share the hype video for the show that YOU are on?  Think about this scenario....you have a show coming up, the promoter has posted a video and a flier with all of the information for the show, then every time that you log onto Facebook or Twitter share the information really quick.  If every wrestler started doing this could you imagine the amount of information that would be out there about wrestling?!!?  It would be unbelievable.  The power of numbers is a lot more powerful than what people give it credit for.  There is no way that the business is going to change unless we change ourselves.  Otherwise, it is just going to stay the way it is and not get any better.  It's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Let me put it this way.  When people find out that I am a wrestler, about 75% of the time I get this answer..."oh, is that still on TV?"  The point of this entire post is that "normal people" do not know about wrestling, because they are not surrounded by it like we are.  It is OUR JOB as wrestlers, bookers, promoters, announcers, managers, ring crew members, and whoever else, to get the word out there, somehow.  It really helps to step back and think about, "how would I find out about this show if I was not in the business?"  The problem is that we all get caught up in our "wrestling world" that you sometimes forget about the "real world."  It's all about finding ways to reach those "real world people" and letting them know that wrestling is still out there, and converting them into, or back into, wrestling fans. 

So here is my challenge to each and every one of you.  Take this blog, and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, email, tell a friend, write it down if you want.  Let people see this.  Then, take the next show that you are on and share that information and see what the results are.  Finally, report back to me and let me know what happened.  Were there more people in the crowd?  Were people asking you about the show more?  Were there other people sharing the information?   All we need to do is get the people into the shows and let the wrestling speak for itself.  It all goes back to the thought of telling one person, then they tell their friends, and they tell their friends, so on and so forth.   It's time to change this business for the better, and the only way that is going to happen is by making a buzz and getting the word out there.  PRO WRESTLING IS STILL HERE!!!

WTF!??! We're wrestling in a barn...

Had a few people who emailed me and asked that I tell a funny story from the road or just weird stuff about some of the shows that I have been on.  I have plenty of them, but this one just sprung to my mind.

I want to say it was like 2004 or something like that, which means I had been in the business for 2 years.  A few guys that I wrestled with at the time, "the Homeless Avenger" Dick Nasty & "K-Nine" Sean Kindred, were heading to a show in central OH (I am not going to name the promotion though) and I decided I was going to ride along.  The show was like 3 hours away from Toledo area, where we all lived at the time, and was hard as shit to find.  Just a note to the readers who have never been to shows in Ohio, Indiana, or Michigan; sometimes these shows are in the smallest, shit hole towns in the middle of BFE that it is in your best interest to leave about an hour earlier than planned just to make sure you can find the place.

Anyways, we follow the directions and finally ended up finding the address, which was spray painted on the side of a shitty, old barn.  Great.  We all kind of looked at each other and said "this cannot be the right place."  So we decided to get out and check inside this barn to see what was up.  We walked inside and there were about 20 kids around the age of 14 or 15 "working out" (doing highspots) in a ring inside this barn.  At that point, I said "WTF!??!  We're wrestling in a barn!"  K-Nine, Nasty, and I thought that we had seen it all for the day, but then we saw one of these kids climb up into the old hay loft in the barn and jump onto another guy who was inside the ring....before the show even started.  Wow.

Nasty decided that he was not even going to work the show at all, so he sat in the crowd and watched this train wreck of a show firsthand.  Smart man.  First off, I just want to say that these kids treated all of us like we were fucking Rick Flair man.  They bought us water & Gatorade, and we even got one of the kids to go buy is Taco Bell after our match.  Though they treated us this way, K-Nine and I were booked against each other in the first match, for whatever reason.  I guess it's important to save the hay loft dive for the end of the show or something.  The only other thing they could do to top that is to shove fireworks up a guys ass and have him hit flying teabag on someones face.

K-Nine and I go out there and put on a fucking wrestling clinic compared to the drizzling shits that the crowd was about to endure.  It was towards the end of the match, and I was going up to the top rope to hit an inside leg lariat on K-Nine for the finish.  Just as I was jumping off, the rope (which I believe was a cable wrapped in a garden hose) snapped and I landed right on my face.  Needless to say, K-Nine just about shit his pants in laughter, Nasty was in the crowd rolling on the floor, and I was fine, but could not stop laughing myself either.  That was my finish, what else can I hit on this guy for the win?  Since Nasty was having such a great time laughing his ass off in the crowd, I decided to pick K-Nine up and hit Nasty's finish, the Homeless Driver (which was basically a sit out body slam) and then proceeded to point at Nasty during the 1 - 2 - 3.  It made me laugh even harder, and really, that's all that mattered.

When we walked into the back, every one of those kids on the show were like "oh my god, are you okay?"  It was hilarious.  These guys were not really paying us that much to begin with, but I want to say that I walked out of there with like $50 just because I fell off the top rope.  I think that was partially because these kids knew that they were underage and did not want me ratting them out to their moms & dads, and probably because they thought I was going to sue them or something like that.  Oh well, easiest money I ever made for falling down.

There are NO shortcuts!!!...

I know that I just posted something yesterday, but I need to elaborate on my post about doing things the right way in this business.  This past Summer, I attempted to open my own wrestling school, the Rockzilla Pro Wrestling Academy, which ended up with me training one guy, Eli McFly.  I LOVE training people, and I feel that Eli having me one-on-one actually worked out better for him, because it was a little more personal and I think he picked up on things better that way.

The problem with running the school is that I get these people that say they want to train, but drag their fucking feet forever and make excuses why they can't.  "I don't have the money right now."  Okay, so GET THE MONEY!!!  "I don't know if I want to drive that far."  Okay, so don't.  Everyone always says that "pro wrestling is all I have ever wanted to do."  Well, if that is true, THEN DO IT!!!  Make the commitment, find the money, and DO IT ALREADY!!!  Don't sit here and talk about it for the rest of your life, get your ass motivated, change your life, and START TRAINING!!!

I eventually gave up on a few of the people because I could tell that they were not serious about it.  They were those people that think "oh, well that might be cool."  These people know who they are too, because all 3 of them read this blog and have contacted me within the last few weeks about a few things.  Which in lies the problem.

The BIG problem is that I think these guys feel that they can just stroll into the business without having to train.  Some of them have done backyard wrestling, gotten themselves onto indy shows, and probably think that they know what they are doing.  I can tell each of you right here, right now, YOU DO NOT KNOW SHIT!!!!!!!!!!  Just the fact that you are asking me to get you into promotions proves that you KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE WRESTLING BUSINESS!!!

Needless to say, I have taken a break from training for right now.  I was using another guy's ring and building before, and that kind of fell through.  Also, I want MY OWN place.  I want to be able to say "this is MY wrestling school."  So I am going to put things on hold and try to help point people in the right direction, like to Truth Martini's school The House of Truth in Detroit, MI, Jeff Cannon's school The Big Guns Academy in Coshocton, OH, and Cody Hawk's school Rockstar Pro in the Cincy area, until I get enough money behind my own place.

To all the people that want to get into professional wrestling, there are NO SHORTCUTS!!!  If you want to do it, then find a school and get properly trained.  If you are currently working indy shows and are not trained, get your ass out of that ring and into a school to train, because YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!

Lend a hand DIPSHIT!!!...

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming response to the blog thus far.  This is something that I have been wanting to do for awhile now, and it is good to know that people actually read and enjoy it.  Really, I just see this blog as another creative outlet for myself and my opinions, so that I don't have to bug my buddies Jock Samson and Ben Boone on the phone all the time, ha ha!  People have been emailing me all weekend with ideas for future blogs, so I encourage you to do the same.  Any topics that you would like to get my opinion on, please shoot me an email at ernieballz@hotmail.com.

I have already talked about the fact that I have been in the business of professional wrestling for 10 years now.  Over those 10 years, I have wrestled, managed, booked, promoted, been in a movie, set up rings, set up chairs, unloaded/loaded trucks, set up the entrance & sound equipment, ran the concession stand, sold gimmicks for Doink the Clown (Not the real one, one of the 100 other ones out there), and pretty much done everything else that you can think of in this business.  This is called paying your dues, and a lot of the people in the business today think that they are above this for some reason.

Let me tell you something right here, right now.  If you have been given the opportunity to be a part of this business at all, you better thank your lucky stars and do what needs to be done to stay in it.  Let me give you an example from my own experiences.  W.A.R. Wrestling (Wrestling And Respect) is a company in Lima, OH and probably one of the best in US today.  They have been running since 2003 and have been drawing crowds of 300-500 ever since then.  W.A.R. was always a place that I wanted to get into and be a part of.  I decided one day that I was just going to keep showing up to every show from then on to try to get a spot.  I would get there, help set the ring up, help tear the ring down, and pretty much do whatever they needed me to.  I did that for 2 years until Bender and I finally got a spot as a tag team on the roster.  I have been at W.A.R. ever since and even help them out booking and putting shows together now.

My point is that EVERYONE needs to lend a hand from time to time.  This includes wrestlers on the shows that have been working for upwards to 10-15 years also.  With all of the technology out there today, is it really that hard to re-post a status about a show you are on, or share a hype video for a show you are on?  Do you want more people to come to the show?  Do you want the company to grow, make more money, so then you can also make more money?  Then quit being such a douche bag and do your part to help out.  Many of you are probably saying, "well that is the promoter's job, not mine."  Very true, but every little bit helps.  I don't think people totally realize how things like Facebook and Twitter work.  It's almost like when you would tell someone something back in the day.  That person would tell 2 friends, then they would tell 4 friends, so on and so forth.  One post is all that promoters ask.  The main reason why is because you may have friends on your page that the post will reach that it normally would not reach from just the promoter alone.

Basically, new guys need to pay their dues and do the grunt work to get along in this business.  It has always been that way and should continue to be that way until the end of this business.  It's not just about getting "newbies" to do all of the work, it is about respecting the people that have given you a chance at all in the first place.  And all of you assholes that are already in the business and feel that you are above helping out other than in the ring, screw you.  I am in my 10th year in the business and probably help out more now than what I did when I started.  Think of it this way, let's say that there are 500 chairs in a building, the ring, and the entrance way.  There are generally about 20 guys on a show.  If 5 of those guys helped with chairs, 5 with the entrance way, 5 with the ring, and the last 5 with cleanup, then everyone could be out of the building and out at the bar within about an hour, if not less.  It's pure laziness and people thinking that they are too good to help.  It's part of the business, suck it up and lend a hand DIPSHIT!!!

Do things the right way man...

I get a lot of people that ask me how to get into the wrestling business.  I know from experience that is is extremely important to do things the right way, rather than wasting your time at shit-hole promotions.  There are millions of stories of how people get into this business, but the most important part of all of them is doing the right along the way.  There's no roadmap to the top or anything.  Everyone takes different paths to get along in the business, but eventually they find their way on the right path.  Some start out in the wrong places, waste years of their career, but eventually figure things out and move in the correct direction.  Others get it from the beginning and just skyrocket to the top.  Then there are those guys that just never understand anything.  This blog is talking to you.

Starting a promotion in your backyard, not being trained properly, and thinking that you know everything are definitely big no no's in this business.  I hate, HATE, people who are not properly trained.  Just because you have watched wrestling your entire life does not mean that you know shit about what it takes to be a pro wrestler.  That is why there are wrestling schools in the first place.  Suck it up, pay the money, and do things the right way.  Honestly, if you are not trained properly, you're not going to get booked anyways.  If you do get booked, your'e just going to get the shit kicked out of you anyways, because you don't know what the hell you are doing.

The only reason that these "yarders" end up getting booked in the first place is because cheap-ass promoters put them on their shows so that they don't have to pay real talent.  That's why the business is in the shitter right now.  If you cannot afford to pay actual talent to be on your shows, and instead put Johnny Fuck-tard that works at White Castle on your show because he will come in for free, then stop running shows.  YOU, you dumbass promoter, are the one that is truely ruining the business of pro wrestling.

So I guess the point of all of this is; if you are currently wrestling for a place, are not making money, are not getting any better, then you probably wrestle for a crappy place and have no idea what you are doing.  Get the hell out of there, swallow your pride, and take the proper steps to reforming yourself in this business.  Wonder why you are not getting booked anywhere you want to?  It's probably because you suck, have no idea what you are doing, and look like shit. 

Get trained.
Pay your dues.
Get out there. 
Learn from everyone.
And most important...NEVER STOP LEARNING!!!

Getting into the business...



Ernie Ballz, 2002, my first year in...

 So I have been wrestling as "the Rockshow" Ernie Ballz for 10 years as of this year.  I figured that I would start telling some of my stories from over the years and giving some opinions on the business, and whatnot.  I guess the first thing to do is to give you the story of how I got to where I am today.  There's a lot to talk about in this first blog, so I hope everyone enjoys it.

Pro wrestling is something that has always interested me.  I used to watch wrestling when I was REALLY young with my dad, but only got to watch about 30 minutes of RAW, because my bedtime was 9:30.  Being a big fan of Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers as kid, wrestling kind of went to the wayside,  but once the NWO and ECW came around, I was hooked again.

I was totally a WCW and ECW kid through and through, without a doubt.  WWF was always just too hokey and whatnot at the time for me.  Screw Papa Shango & Marc Mero, I wanted to see Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, and all of the other cruiserweights on WCW, plus all 5,000 members of the NWO, especially Scott Norton and Vincent.  Ha ha.

My friends JJ, Shane, and myself actually got so into wrestling that we started our own trampoline wrestling league, which was obviously called TCW - Trampoline Championship Wrestling.  We would meet up on a Friday nights after school and basically just bounce around and hit moves on one another or smash pizza boxes over our heads.  There was no structure to it or any actual wrestling taking place, but we thought we were the shit, and that's all that mattered.  Eventually all of our bouncey-bounce fun came to a crashing hault when my friend JJ did a swanton bomb onto the trampoline and completely busted it.  It was fun while it lasted and is something that I will always remember like it was yesterday.

I played in punk bands all through junior high and high school though, so actually becoming a pro wrestler was just kind of one of those "that would be cool" type of things.  Up until the age of 17 I thought that my band was going to get a record deal and "make it big."  What I did not know at the time was that we fucking sucked ass and could hold a tune in a bucket.  Finally, I just flat-out got sick and tired of being in bands and dealing with other people's shit, so I quit playing altogether.

It was the Spring of my senior year of high school and I needed something new to do.  I had already started looking at different pro wrestling schools that I could go train at and actually found one in Toledo, which was only like 40 minutes aways from me.  This was perfect!!! 

At the time I was working at the recreation center in my hometown of Fremont, OH as an ice guard, which is basically a life guard on ice.  I came in one day to pick up my whopping $20 paycheck so that I could pay for gas and saw a flyer on the front desk that said "PRO WRESTLING" with todays date on it.  WTF?!!?  Wrestling?  Here?  No way!!!  I asked the girl at the front desk what it was all about and she told me that the "wrestling people" (love that term, BTW) were in the gym setting up if I wanted to go talk to them.

I walked into the gym and just about shit my pants as I got my first look at an actual wrestling ring sitting in front of me.  Holy shit.  My manager at the time was out there talking to this big-ass guy and called me over to him.  I walked up to them and introduced myself.  The guy I was talking to was Geoff Scott (not the drumboy from Canada, a different one), and he owned the Millennium Wrestling Federation, which was the same place that I had been checking into training at!!!  Great Scott!!!  They are here, in my hometown!!!

So I hung around the entire day talking to all of the wrestlers and continuing to talk to Geoff about training.  He told me to hang out and check the show out to see what I thought.  I did, and at the time, it was amazing.  Looking back, there were like 20 people in the crowd and most of the "talent" had no f'n clue what they were doing.  There was also a really annoying dude sitting next to me the entire time (we will get to that later though).  After the show, Geoff Scott told me to come up the following week to do a "tryout."  Without even thinking I said "hell yeah!" 

Now, I don't totally remember the actual reaction that my parents gave me when I told them that I wanted to be a pro wrestler, but it was probably something like "are you f'n kidding me?"  Ha ha.  They were not fans at first, to say the least, and even continue to tell me to quit to this day.  It know that they are just looking out for my best interest and safety though, so it's cool.

At the time, I drove a 1989 Chevy Celebrity and had never driven any farther than across town.  My mom decided that if I was going to make a trip to Toledo by myself, that I should take her phone with me, just in case.  I packed some shorts and a cutoff t-shirt and made my way up to Toledo right after school for my "big tryout."

MWF ran out of a mall in Northern Toledo called the Northtowne Mall, which we properly dubbed the "Ghost Towne Mall," because no one ever came there.  The "school" was in an old Leather Unlimited store or some shit like that also, which gave us that much more "street-cred" (as they say on the streets nowadays).  We had a floor ring in front of the building which was used for our "house shows" and it felt like you were falling on a giant picnic table, and then we had a big ring that was used for "traveling shows" in the back part which used to be Leather Unlimited's store room.

I am not going to outright trash talk anyone at the MWF school, so let's just say that some people were okay, and most were not.  Walking in, I looked around and saw that most of the guys in there were either fat, old, or partially retarded.  Considering the fact that I played football in high school, was in pretty good shape, and younger than anyone else there, I felt that I had a pretty good chance overall.  There really were a few gems in that bunch of guys that I started with who actually had some really good potential though.

When I got to the school, there was another guy there who I believe was in his mid to late 20's and looked like a chubbier version of One Man Gang, so we will call him 1.5 Man Gang.  I followed the 1.5 Man Gan into the "office" at the school and talked to Geoff Scott for awhile.  I don't remember the entire conversation, but it had something to do with us becoming stars and whatnot.  Sounded good to me.

My actual "tryout" consisted of learning to bump (fall down), running the ropes, and taking one body slam from Geoff, which hurt like hell and was the only time he ever stepped into the ring with me at all.  Geoff basically gave us the breakdown of how tuition works and said that if we showed up for the next practice, then he would know we were serious.  Hell yeah, I was a fucking pro wrestler, you better believe that I was coming to the next practice.

I don't want to go into too much detail about the MWF right now, mainly because there are so many stories from there that I plan on telling over time.  Let's just put it this way, it was a way for me to get a foot in the door of pro wrestling.  That's about it.

What I do want to say about the MWF is that my total tuition to train was like $2,500.00 and I only paid about $1,500.00 total.  Main reason for that is because I eventually realized that I was not actually being "trained" at all, which is what I was supposed to be paying for in the first place.  I'm pretty sure that I got a lot of heat for that and that people took it as me being egotistical or whatever, but I don't really care.  I was paying for a service, and that service was not being provided.  End of story.

MWF basically drove itself into the ground because of bad management.  Geoff Scott ended up selling the "company" to 2 of the wrestlers for an outlandish amount of money and things just went downhill from there.  I started looking for work elsewhere and stopped by every now and then to see some of the guys for awhile until the MWF finally just shit down.

So at this time, I was getting booked here and there in Michigan and starting to pay my dues and whatnot.  It was like the end of my 2nd year in the business and I realized that I still had no idea what the hell I was doing.  One person that I was still talking to on a regular basis at this time from MWF was a guy by the name of Brian Bender, and we decided to start riding together to a lot of these shows to try to get booked.

Remember the annoying guy that was sitting next to me at that first MWF show?  Well, funny enough, that guy ended up being Brian Bender.  Bender and I apparently worked together at the rec. center in Fremont, but we don't really remember it that well.  Anways, it is funny that the two of us would be sitting right next to each other during that MWF show, given the history that the two of us would create together.

Bender and I went up to a place called Price of Glory Wrestling, which was run by former WWF Superstar and UFC Original, Dan "the Beast" Severn.  Honestly, the only reason that we even got a spot on the show was because of Johnny Dynamo and Jack Thriller, who were two of Dan Severn's trainees that we wrestled with at MWF.  They basically told us to show up to the show and enter the battle royal that they were having, and more than likely we would be able to get a spot on their next show.  Long story short, we worked the show, got booked for a few more of their shows, and then were asked if we wanted to be a tag team.

The idea of being a tag team had never even crossed my mind.  I had wrestled in a tag team while in the MWF with a guy named Zaden Storm and we called ourselves XTC (have absolutely no idea why).  Bender and I talked it over and realized that being a tag team would probably get us more bookings overall, so we figured that we would give it a shot.  The more that we started thinking about things and talking, we realized that a lot of our favorite people to watch were tag teams.  The Brainbusters and the Hart Foundation are the two that come to mind off the top of my head.

Mark Pennington, who ran POG (Price of Glory), asked us to come up with some sort of tag team name so that he could announce us for the next show as an actual team.  I told Bender about an idea that I had of taking 2 guys with completely different wrestling styles, sticking them together as a team, and calling them the Clash.  Bender liked the idea, considering he had more of a basic style and I had more of a flashy style.

Bender and I ended up tagging as the Clash for about 6 years total, and in my opinion, become one of the best teams in the midwest.  But when we started tagging, it was only my 3rd year in the business and Bender's 2nd, and we realized that we still really didn't know what the hell we were doing.  I had a decent idea of how to wrestle and put on a good match, but we felt like we needed to brush up on some things.

At this time, a guy by the name of Mr. Main Event told me that he was opening his own wrestling school and asked if Bender and I would like to be his guinea pigs so that he could brush up on training guys.  Mr. Main Event did not train at MWF or anything, he just wrestled for them every now and then, so that is how we met him.  In fact, he was actually trained by Al Snow at the famous Bodyslammers Gym in Lima, OH.  Obviously, I had no problem telling him that I would be at the school as many days a week as he wanted me to be.

Starting with Mr. Main Event at his "Wrestling Room", as he called it, was not as easy as I thought it would be.  Maybe I had a big head at the time and thought that I knew more than what I did, but it was pretty tough picking up on what he was laying down.  He took me back to the absolute basics of the business and literally gave me a step-by-step (not the Patrick Duffy version) education in the business of professional wrestling.  Whenever Main Event could not make it to the school, I would work out with his brother Gary Dawson or another wrestler in the area, CK3, Conrad Kennedy III. (We will talk about CK3....ALOT)  After awhile, everything just clicked for me and I finally realized what pro wrestling was all about and felt comfortable in the ring with pretty much anyone.



Ernie Ballz, 2011 in W.A.R. Wrestling



I can go into detail about things since that time, but I am sure we will talk about all of that stuff eventually.  This has been a pretty descriptive account of how I got into the business anyways.  So I will just say that 10 years later, I continue to learn everyday and evolve in different ways.  I have had a major injury to my ankle that required a metal plate and 2 pins to fix in 2009 and am still here.  In 2011, I began learning about the booking and promoting end of things while helping out at W.A.R. Wrestling in Lima, OH and becoming their Representative to the Board of Directors.  Recently, I have begun to rejuvinate my wrestling career by taking steps to get back into shape and re-invent myself all over again.  Love for the wrestling business is kind of like a boomerang for me, I lose it every now and again, but it always comes back to me in the long run.  2012 is going to be a re-building year for me and I plan on making it one of the best for me overall.