Post by Tommy Victor on Jun 11, 2010 20:14:49 GMT -6
Alex Throwbridge is running the ropes in an empty training facility ring. He stops mid run and jumps high into the air and takes a picture perfect back bump. Gene Burns is talking to the camera man.
Gene Burns: No matter how good he is or how good he gets, there are still things that need practicing. Takin that perfect bump and getting the least amount of damage from it is the most important thing. You can't escape without damage, but if you roll through just right it's negligence...look, just watch.
Alex jumps up onto the middle rope, and jumps off into a roll off of the mat.
Gene Burns: You see that? He came off the middle rope and hit the mat, but went right with the momentum. At this point he's recoiling into a standing grappling position, and if his opponent were there he would make him apart of the mat. He'll tell ya, he's coming over here.
Gene walks out through the door and Alex leans over the ropes. He wipes the sweat from his brow and begins to talk to the camera.
Malcom Reed is a top-notch submissionist, Louis Armstrong is a world-class striker. These guys have scratched and clawed through the hardest wrestling academy on the face of the planet. We did not train in a dingy dungeon with an old man in his undershorts throwing us around on dirty old mats.
No, we trained in a gym that was padlocked from the inside. There was no way out for 9 hours when you walked into the facility in the morning. If you couldn't handle it you were left to suffer until you were set free at the end of the day. After nine hours of the most physical and intense regime of any sport, academy, or military facility most people wouldn't come back. There were four of us who did, and there were years between us.
This Academy, THE Academy is not a joke or an over-blown legend of an institution. We were real, and to this day are still real as can be. It took two decades to find four people who were tough enough to withstand the punishment, and in my honest opinion Gene was lucky enough to find that. I don't see any graduates coming out of The Acadmey in the near future or even the far future. I imagine Gene will be gone before anybody tough enough comes along again.
But, to come back to where I started, I am not a Malcom Reed or a Louis Armstrong. My submission skills and striking skills are very far above average: there's no way in heel Gene would have let anyone get through The Academy without very very very strong fundamentals in every area. But I am not an expert at either of those areas like my two stablemates are. I maybe can't one punch knock you out or submit you at the beginning of a contest, but, and this is a big but, I am an expert in tying a person up into a pretzel.
From the mat, standing, on the turnbuckle it doesn't matter. I can grab you from any position, be it advantageous or disadvantageous, and I can wrap you up like a bow. When you think you have me down I can reverse the situation faster than the snap of a finger. If you have me in a submission, headlock, or the top of a bodyslam I can roll through and drag your face across the mat. When you wake up in the morning you'll have mat burn so bad on your face you'll never want to leave the house without a bag.
Understand when I say these things that I have the greatest trainer of all time in my corner, and my skills are unmatched in the world. I'm not just blowing smoke - I am the real deal. I'm the example of the perfect technical wrestler, and when you stare at me from across the ring...I'm going to make an example out of you.
Gene Burns: No matter how good he is or how good he gets, there are still things that need practicing. Takin that perfect bump and getting the least amount of damage from it is the most important thing. You can't escape without damage, but if you roll through just right it's negligence...look, just watch.
Alex jumps up onto the middle rope, and jumps off into a roll off of the mat.
Gene Burns: You see that? He came off the middle rope and hit the mat, but went right with the momentum. At this point he's recoiling into a standing grappling position, and if his opponent were there he would make him apart of the mat. He'll tell ya, he's coming over here.
Gene walks out through the door and Alex leans over the ropes. He wipes the sweat from his brow and begins to talk to the camera.
Malcom Reed is a top-notch submissionist, Louis Armstrong is a world-class striker. These guys have scratched and clawed through the hardest wrestling academy on the face of the planet. We did not train in a dingy dungeon with an old man in his undershorts throwing us around on dirty old mats.
No, we trained in a gym that was padlocked from the inside. There was no way out for 9 hours when you walked into the facility in the morning. If you couldn't handle it you were left to suffer until you were set free at the end of the day. After nine hours of the most physical and intense regime of any sport, academy, or military facility most people wouldn't come back. There were four of us who did, and there were years between us.
This Academy, THE Academy is not a joke or an over-blown legend of an institution. We were real, and to this day are still real as can be. It took two decades to find four people who were tough enough to withstand the punishment, and in my honest opinion Gene was lucky enough to find that. I don't see any graduates coming out of The Acadmey in the near future or even the far future. I imagine Gene will be gone before anybody tough enough comes along again.
But, to come back to where I started, I am not a Malcom Reed or a Louis Armstrong. My submission skills and striking skills are very far above average: there's no way in heel Gene would have let anyone get through The Academy without very very very strong fundamentals in every area. But I am not an expert at either of those areas like my two stablemates are. I maybe can't one punch knock you out or submit you at the beginning of a contest, but, and this is a big but, I am an expert in tying a person up into a pretzel.
From the mat, standing, on the turnbuckle it doesn't matter. I can grab you from any position, be it advantageous or disadvantageous, and I can wrap you up like a bow. When you think you have me down I can reverse the situation faster than the snap of a finger. If you have me in a submission, headlock, or the top of a bodyslam I can roll through and drag your face across the mat. When you wake up in the morning you'll have mat burn so bad on your face you'll never want to leave the house without a bag.
Understand when I say these things that I have the greatest trainer of all time in my corner, and my skills are unmatched in the world. I'm not just blowing smoke - I am the real deal. I'm the example of the perfect technical wrestler, and when you stare at me from across the ring...I'm going to make an example out of you.