Angry Young Man - Matt Dawg

As I sat at the Amazura Club Ballroom Hall on Friday night, I had the privilege of sitting with a person who has one of the best minds in wrestling, The Human Highlight Reel himself, "Bulletproof" Billy Reil. As we sat and watched Raven and Shane Douglas on the mic (before their match), he gave me an idea for a column. I decided, after attending the SSCW show on Saturday, to go with the column.

Now I know some people who read my columns say I have no place being in this business. No place near a wrestling ring even though I did train and I do know locker room etiquette as I introduce myself to everyone in the locker room and am pleasant as I can possibly be to everyone. Even if someone is my age or younger, I still call veterans sir and always show respect to those who have been in this business for years. An example, Steve Mack is younger than me. But I would never consider not saying hello to him or ever disrespecting him.

That being said, there is still a lot of people in this business worse than me. Plenty of people who have no respect for anything that goes on. Not just SSCW but there are still people in USA Pro who don't know what the hell they are doing. Some people are given opportunities while others, who sit on their hands waiting for theirs get shafted. Or veterans who sacrifice their own angles and opportunities for others and don't get the credit they deserve. Instead, they get people who blow spots, mess up simple angles and just don't seem to care or realize that the person helping them sacrificed a chance of a lifetime to do something for them. Others, who are new to a locker room, do not go up to people like Al Snow and say hello. They don't introduce themselves to Justin Credible as he is standing two feet in front of them. Why is that? Do they think that they are better than him? Do they think he isn't important enough since he isn't in the WWE anymore? Luckily for these people, Frank Goodman or Simon Diamond on their respective shows did not see this or else someone would have been yelled at, thrown out or gotten their ass kicked.

It was quite a sight seeing Raven in the USA Pro Locker room getting dressed as people walked in through the side door and walk right past him without saying anything as Raven looked at me and asked, "Is he/she with us?" not knowing if he/she was a fan or a worker. Or as I am getting changed in SSCW and listening to Al Snow discuss with his manager/friend how some people still haven't introduced themselves yet and the show was almost over was mind boggling.

Have these people ever attended a wrestling school? Do they know anything about the business? I can name some people who do know about the business. April Hunter, Alere Little Feather, Amanda Violet, Ariel, & Tara Charisma. Why? Cause all of those ladies were taught the right way on how to do things in the wrestling business. All of these women went up to Poppalishus (who has only been in this business a few years, probably less than April) and thanked him for the match. April was kind enough to thank him for doing business with her and putting her over because she doesn't get the chance to wrestle men as often as she would like. Did she have to? No. But that is what you do. It is sort of an unwritten rule to thank your opponent after a match. She really appreciated the fact that Poppalishus was willing to not only wrestle with her, but to put her over and sell for her. Sure I am breaking Kayfabe here by talking about this but it pisses me off to see other people wrestle and after their match, get dressed and leave. To see people not thank their opponents after the match but instead complain cause they didn't wrestle as long as they wanted. (even though they don't look like wrestlers to begin with since they are in shorts and sneakers).

Or how about Johnny Heartbreaker. A man who has done several dark matches and is a regular Velocity and Sunday Night Heat Jobber come up to me and thank me after the match at SSCW cause I took a bump off the apron into the guardrail for him and since I am only a manager now, I didn't have to. He thanked me for making him look good. Here is a guy who has been wrestling for WWE for the past year, a guy who has been wrestling longer than I have, THANKING ME for doing something as simple as taking a bump. Meanwhile, you have other people who don't even bother to walk up to Al Snow and say, "Hi, I am Joe Schmoe. Pleasure to meet you sir." Or people who get dressed after the match and leave instead of watching their peers work so they can try and learn something. I was very thankful on Friday for Low-Ki & Sean Hanson taking the time to discuss a match finish with me and explaining why something I wanted to do was wrong. I respect Danny Demanto for telling me that I did a good job on the microphone. I respect the fact that Papadon of the Solution asked me about my gimmick and had me explain it to him so he better understood what I was trying to get across and gave me some more suggestions on how I can do it.

And you know what, I made it a point to thank them. I shook all of their hands as I always do, when I first get into the locker room and as I am preparing to leave. That is something you should do. It isn't hard. It isn't brain surgery or rocket science. It is simple. Just walk up to someone, introduce yourself and walk away. This goes to both men and women.

Another thing to do, go over what you are doing. If you aren't good on the mic, practice. Stand in front of a mirror and work on your delivery. Make sure you know what you are going to say. If someone tells you how to say or do something, DO IT. It isn't that hard. Practice makes perfect. A lot of wrestling has to do with emotions and actions. You can be the best technical wrestler in the world, but if you can't sell an angle, a feeling (Anger, Sadness, Happiness, Joy, etc) then you aren't going to be successful, or as successful as you'd like.

Sorry if this is one big ramble and not up to par as my usual writing style but I just needed to get this off my chest. Feel free to fake post all you'd like about this on the message board. I will be reading so make them good.

Matt Da Angry Young Man