BREAKING & ENTERING – PART II
Here, we pick up where we left off last month, with more interviews with Harley, Al, Dory Funk and Dutch Mantell…
Harley Race (www.harleyrace.com) – Owner & Head trainer of “Harley Race’s Wrestling Academy”; WWE Hall Of Famer; Multiple time title holder in the NWA, WWE, among others.
Al Snow (www.tnawrestling.com) – Head Trainer of WWE/MTV Tough Enough; TNA Star; Multiple time title holder in the WWE, among others.
Dory Funk, Jr. (www.dory-funk.com) – Owner & Head Trainer of the “Funking Conservatory”; WWE Hall of Famer; Multiple time title holder in the NWA, WWE, among others.
“Dirty” Dutch Mantell (www.dutchmantell.com) – Owner & Head Trainer for “The University Of Dutch”; acclaimed writer; Multiple time title holder in various promotions.
What should the person look for in terms of a wrestling school?
HR: Check the credibility of the person that is running the school and what they have produced out of the school. Various things like that will tell you whether it will be worth your time and not something where you will throw your money away.
AS: I would suggest looking for someone who has a lengthy amount of experience, not necessarily successful experience in regards to they were a major attraction within the business but that they have some kind of experience over and above and beyond just the local circuit. They have to have made a living at it, so to speak. Not someone who has not made it just a part time thing but actually as a vocation where they pay the bills based on what they received from working in the wrestling business.
DF: At the Funking Conservatory we have three basic principles we work by. Number one is safety for the wrestlers in training and we have safety procedures throughout our wrestling school not only in the ring but in preparation for going into the ring, special calisthenics, and special techniques in the ring so that we don’t get people injured. I think that’s very important. Second, at the Funking Conservatory we work very hard on television for the wrestlers in training. We believe that being an asset for a wrestling company that fifty percent of it is your television training and fifty percent is your in-ring wrestling training. Television is absolutely necessary to get your personality across to the wrestling fan. It’s not only speaking on television which is necessary but it’s how you perform in the ring with regard to the television coverage you are receiving, it will get you into who you work for whether it’s the local audience or the millions and millions who are watching on television. Those things are very important. The third principle that we work on here at the Funking Conservatory is your technical ability to do the moves and to do the performance in the ring. Incidentally our !BANG! television show is seen in 126 countries and the marketing that you receive from coming to the Funking Conservatory Wrestling School is absolutely invaluable to your career as a professional wrestler.
DM: Just being a wrestler doesn’t qualify you to teach. You could take the greatest baseball player ever, move him up one level and let him manage the team and he can’t do it. Just because he can play the game doesn’t mean he can teach the game. Actually your best coaches were never stars, they were always second stringers. I’m using a baseball analogy now but the best coaches were the guys who played second string or were back-ups because they spent most of the time in the dugout watching the coach manage the team. That’s where they learned.
What qualifications should the person look for in a trainer?
HR: I vary the training part a lot because I don’t want anyone to become a carbon copy of someone else. That’s why my school varies back and forth between myself and two or three other trainers that I think definitely have good assets to the business that do the training. It varies and I think that’s made a big improvement in my overall school.
AS: I would try to find someone that has actually made a living at wrestling and understands the concept that it is a business and they have experience, whether it be positive or negative experience, in making themselves into an attraction therefore they can teach you based on their experience and know how best to go about doing that.
DF: In looking for a trainer, you would absolutely need to have someone who has experience in the professional wrestling business really from the standpoint of promotion to wrestling to marketing and I think in looking for a trainer, you would need to locate someone who has drawn money and has been in the wrestling business and someone who has good contacts with promotions today and someone who has demonstrated that he knows what it is to make money for a wrestling company because that’s what this is really about. It’s about what can you do for the company you are working for.
DM: You have to have patience, you can’t go out and verbally abuse anyone, you have to encourage them, make them want to go and do better. Just because someone is starting doesn’t mean they are messing up intentionally. When they do that, you have to call them to the side and tell them why they messed up and why this is not good to do and how to do a move and when to do it. It’s very time consuming and you have to have a lot of patience. That’s why wrestling schools are often expensive because it takes a lot of time to teach it.
News 4U, Norine, and I would like to thank each one of esteemed guests for taking the time to answer these questions. I would also suggest that if you would like to get into the business, but can’t relocate, to check out Jamie Dundee at “Jamie Dundee’s Wrestling School”. For information on costs and more, please visit www.jamiedundee.com. Additional artwork for this article was provided to us by Koriander Ake.
To find out more about Casey Carnage and Carnage Crew, go to www.carnagecrew.net. Audio interviews with some of wrestling’s biggest stars, pictures of live events, video interviews, and articles from around the world. To contact Casey, email casey@carnagecrew.net.
