Children often talk about what they want to be when they grow up or how they have dreams they want to achieve. Throughout their growing years their dreams can and do sometimes change. From being wanting to be a fireman, a police officer or even wanting to be Superman himself. It is always good policy to encourage kids to reach for the stars and never putting limits on themselves.
For one five year old Brooklyn boy the dream was to become a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.
Sitting on the floor of the T.V. room playing with a tonka truck while using my sisters Barbies like they were buses for the tonka to crush them. A catchy rock song blasted over the sound system through the T.V. speaker and the intro to a show came on called WrestleMania came on the air live. It was a showcase of the best wrestlers in the world and some of Hollywood and the music industry biggest stars coming together to put on the big event. I sat there in amazement at what these real live superheros were doing in the ring. The art form that pro wrestling is fondly referred to as simply captivated me as a young child. It was at the conclusion of that live wrestling event that i had decided that I wanted to be a pro wrestler. Alerting my mother of the great news my mom she just chuckled then offered the textbook normal words of
encouragement. In retrospect I am very certain that she probably didn't even know what being a WWE wrestler even meant.
The other kids in my age would always keep short attention spans and go from one fun fad to the next. I never stopped wanting to be one of those larger than life superstars.
At the age of 12 I completely flattened the backyard landscape,broke down chain link fence and began construction on what was going to be my wrestling arena. The street that we lived on was called Plaza Drive thus I named my backyard arena “The Plaza Outdoor Auditorium”.
Collecting some old dinner table and other broken down chairs setting them for the soon to be paid attendance. Using Broomsticks as the four posts and three different sizes and colors rope to ensure we had turnbuckles and for the ring mat i layed down queen size mattress and covered it all with a huge piece of carpet I had my ring ready and my Arena set for my promotion called “Ruthless Wrestling Federation”.
My best friend Santos and I began as wrestlers, one cousin as the referee and another cousin pulling double duty as the camera man and ring announcer we were set to begin performing shows . We were going to be a tag team when we reached the WWE as “Slasher & Ripper The Night Stalkers” For our backyard arena shows we had to be opponents for now.
For at least 2 to 3 years we did this live event outdoor the plaza outdoor auditorium. At one point we began to draw 20 to 30 people each time even.
I was always a fan first. Owning every single wrestling figure toy, lots of posters and every video of every WWE event you could buy. Attending every sports memorabilia store that promoted wrestling and held autographed sessions to the point where some wrestlers in the WWE even began to know me by name.
This promoter invited us to a live wrestling event in San Jose for a tryout match after seeing a video tape I had produced and marketed and sent many wrestling promotions. We were finally getting a real break and chance in pro wrestling. Given an opening match or dark match as it's called , Santos and I were labeled with a generic gimmick called “The Hot Boyz” . They called us that due to not wanting to use our gimmick that we had done through so many years due to copyright issues. So with no actual real training or a real ring to practice our craft me and my best friend went out and put on the best match we could put together. Our performance went off without a hitch. Though by pro wrestling standards it was what they call an abortion skunk up the arena.
After the show I was approached by a promoter who managed a pro wrestling training school out of Hayward California. Receiving an invite to his office the following Monday for a
meeting it sadly the invitation was only for one. My tag team partner was a dedicated worker but my love for the business stood out and with my best friends blessing I accepted the invite.
Monday morning I walked into Pacific Coast Sports offices and began to discuss my desire to become a professional wrestler.
After a long conversation I was presented with a three-year contract that gave me free admission to his 12-month training school and 2 years for the promotion as a performer. All the while allowing 50% of all the earnings from outside bookings and any merchandise sales to be given to the promoter. Financially and creatively this deal would be laughed at and the contract should have been shredded. However when you have WWE dreams and their minor league affiliate wants to sign you. Thus giving you a feeling that you are much closer to your ultimate goal. That persuasion can pretty much make you willing to sign anything.
May of 1997 when I entered the ring for the very first time at all pro wrestling I was 5 foot 9 and I weighed 148 pounds. Now try to visualize and understand something imperative to that statement. This was a time when the average WWE superstar was 6 feet or taller and well over 200 pounds.
There was not and never had been a wrestler in the world that was my size and weight. The head trainer turned to the boss and the booker and said “Are you serious? This kid is going
to get killed in here.” He then replied “I know what I'm doing just train him to be good let me worry about the rest. In retrospect I probably should have been concerned for health and well-being and permitted myself to be more clear on what I was truly getting myself into. At that age of course I felt invincible so there was nothing that could stop me from my WWE goal.
There are three stages the training . The first 3 to 4 months consist of learning and taking the bumps you had to know how to do. A much better way to describe this process is that you are learning how to fall properly to minimize injury and pain. Repetition was necessary to develop a tolerance to the pain.
The second stage of training is to master basic olympic-style amateur wrestling. More commonly known as Greco-Roman wrestling, this adds credibility of your athleticism and you selling the fact that your an athlete.
The last stage of training was the process of learning to execute a series of basic professional moves and chain moves together to develop into a match. The rest of your skills, move arsenal and offense you would develop on your own. The more work you would put into that stage as a “Self Starter” so to speak would stand out give you the edge over others who did not put in the hours you did.
I went through the entire train and survived despite what my critics predicted in the beginning I was scheduled at both perform tonight very first match in a light show I remember
the promoter Roland for lunch at a food court Southland Mall in Hayward California it was Ben that we discussed what kind of character and I would be performing he had an image of this grunge somewhat depressed guy who had given up on the light BD's in the rink almost like you felt deserving of them as some kind of sadist . A real pro always finds that the best connects are always a genuine but exaggerated version of that wrestlers your personality so even though I knew I could do anything to ask for me I did not feel that this role nor a blown up version of myself with work I had a much different idea in mind.
size compared to the average they would make it hard to believe I would ever stand a chance against any also when I was younger watching my favorites on TV it was always the bad guy or the villain who got most of the attention in sports you have a good guy you have a very good bad ones with the bad guys getting as many fans as good guys nowadays there is no black and white anymore
so to be unique special unique stand out with how small I was my only chance of getting to the big time was to be the best I doing promo promos are the segments of the show where a dresser performing will talk on the microphone in front of the crowd and television do this well with a dress skills and a gifted dab can make or break a performance and I knew this was my
keys and my ticket to the big time there are very few workers who are able to draw characters where they are genuinely truly despise three men in wrestling history come to mine who were truly able to do this the one that I admired who I could relate most to me was television star Andy Kaufman Andy Kaufman was the star of Taxi as compared to vodka but he was a wrestling fan as well no more than 5 foot 9 + 135 pounds and understood.
Psychology of wrestling and look at it at as an art form. Kaufman and Jerry Lawler started a program together that brought in thousands and fans and made them both a lot of money. Their feud even earned them a spot on late night with david letterman. Playing the bad guy role and doing in a manner that could make the even the insider fans or “Smart Marks” as they are known as to loose it and hate you would not be an easy trick. If pulled off right and well I was certain that i would not be denied my life long ambition of being a WWE superstar and that's exactly what I intended to do. Having watched those whose role was to encite crowds with anger Kaufman was able to incorporate all the mannerisms and say all the right things to enrage the fans and give the hero or (good guy) a bigger following and support in hopes of his prevailing and the (bad guy) would get what he had coming to him.
To be able to take what Andy Kaufman did and build on it to make it my own was going to be my key to success and give the big time promotions incentive to want to invest in me. On june 21st 1998 at the sacramento arco arena a wrestling show began and when the opening national anthem completed the lights went out and the “Sir Mix A Lot's hit rap song “Mack daddy” hit the sound system. A spotlight came on and in it stood a 22 year old kid in a L.A. Lakers jersey , a baseball hat with the words “Smart Ass White Boy” in graffiti on it and black pants with neon green words down one leg saying “Mack Daddy” and the other leg Jimmy Ripp.
with a microphone in hand he spoke these words…. “ The only spotlight on should always be centered on the mack daddy! I know every man in this arena is mad as hell because every woman is jumping out of their seat trying to get a look at the Man the myth the legend. Sadly there isn't a woman in this crowd that deserves a second look unless i was whale watching. So pissed your eyes and fantasize cuz I am the straw that stirs the drink I am the heat machine a twisted Hill with sex appeal and compared to my opponent I may look half the size but I ain't sure you I am twice the man and after I beat him I'll still be talkin trash I am the Mack Daddy Jimmy Ripp
I begin the walk to the ring and as I went down the hundred foot long I'll I was pelted with insults and soda cans and cups and even people spitting at me when I entered the ring I turn in each Direction flexing mind you I was a hundred 49 pounds so there wasn't much for me but even more I had no grounds to be so full of myself when he came to the ring to grab the microphone and say these words Jimmy Ripp you say you're the straw that stirs the drink you look more like the toothpick in fact you look more like the crack daddy than a Mack Daddy and after I beat you you won't be talking trash I'll be throwing you in the trash
throughout our entire match I would run away a boy his attacks do cheap cheating moves and in the end of simple referee distraction to avoid it is called caitian I gave him a severe low bolt blow to the groin and use the ropes as leverage to pin him and Escape the Room very quickly when I came grab the microphone and said and I'm still talking trash it was a dirty move and they cheated win with a tainted Victory and best of all I escaped without getting my ass handed to me
as you can imagine the only the only thing that's did was in Rage the fans even more and their hatred for my character Gru greater the next show just seven days away I was called in to the main office during a training session the book ring head trainer asked me to sit down and
they close the door behind me I didn't know what this was all about but I was fearing I perhaps did something wrong and expressed my concern for the reason behind this meeting the promoter handed me a file and asked me to open it and read the first page I did I did what he asked and the first page was a print print out of an email thumbing through all of them quickly I pulled the first page and read and noticed they were all pretty much or blogs or posts on message boards and this is what the first one said
“attention all pro wrestling I am a loyal long-time fan and have been so since your first show in 1993 I know a lot of the over the years and learned a lot of what it's involved in behind the scenes to promote a show like how the guys train how the matches are put together etcetera so you can say I am a a smart Mark as the term goes for fans like me so I was of course in attendance at the show tonight in Sacramento. Great show by the way you always put on a million-dollar show and don't ever look like a low-budget indie that being said here's the reason for my email I know there are good guy rolls and bad guy roles and it's their job to make you do so however that guy that debut tonight Jimmy Ripp is forgive my French but nothing more than a piece of s*** a****** who needs to s*** kicked out of them when he did where did he come from the East Coast I hadn't heard of him but what a dirtbag egotistical sorry bastard front row I don't know if you plan on bringing him back next week but I don't recommend it I will be at ringside either way respectively you're loyal fam” Larry H
now this guy thought I was a wrestler brought him from somewhere else which means just long-time smart pan thought that I was a seasoned Pro rather than a rookie on his first night also the front row he was sitting in received I received a barrage of insults that I prepared use on the right fans knowing it would cause a chain reaction of people to become irate and their anger would resonate from that making me the most hated bad guy giving all the best heat
so I use such comments when people yelled at me like sit your five-dollar ass down before I make change Punk as I completed reading that first page I've been looked up expecting an angry boss and an angry trainer and what I saw was the exact opposite the trainer and Booker both had ear to ear grams is if they were asked to participate and judging the bikini contest or something I asked what was wrong and what was going on and was I in trouble or something and this is the response
“I got ripped as you know I took a big risk on you when you came here I mean 591 do ever were able to have a pro match that no one would believe you could hang and all the negative reaction would force our hand in removing you from the roster and hoping to find another role for you if you thumb through those 47 different emails I handed you you will see
things from fans that were so angry that they want to beat up you in the parking lot I had to give these things to Sacramento Police Department for an investigation due to there being a death threat made toward you as well as I interrupted with the phrenic apology for what seemed to be a big Dilemma to me I lost went on to say there's sorry no no no what plans we have for you over the next few weeks and to make sure that you are aware of the death red and angry forms to make sure that you were okay with proceeding if you are and then make sure you will not be going to be booked in any kind of a mattress throwing line when the show starts right after the national anthem you will interrupt the ring announcer and cut a promo just like you did the first time and employing such lines as you hate me cuz you can't be me and I fear no wrestler in the world so I ain't the least bit scared of any of you sorry idiotic fans so you are going to say that since no one wants to face you after you the beating you gave your opponent last week with Aaron and being he actually was the one who beat the hell out of you I do not cheated you decided to take the night off and just enjoy the show it will be a section taped off in the stands generically written up VIP booth sign above it and will have about three students from the training class act is your Raiders and three others acted your security in the main event
Max Justice retains his Universal heavyweight title with his back to the crowd you're sitting with you and Rush ring a snake to the ring and hit him from behind with one of your
finishers and stand over him holding his title as if it is yours we're going to see how that works and build off of that and if it goes over we'll brainstorm from there now in hindsight those hate males and death ribs 5 people could have been people crazy enough them they might have tried to carry that out I would have been very easy prey sitting openly right in the crowd as planned however thankfully nothing came of it except for some really good heat from me.
So the character I created was off and running and over the next 10 years , traveling to Mexico , Canada and everywhere in the United States living somewhat like a rock star I experienced things I cannot describe in words. I have stories that are so off the page they seem fake.
Then after 10 years spanning over 3 different decades and I am able to actually say I wrestled in two different centuries. When somebody asks me about wrestling or tells me asks me to tell them a story of something I always say the same thing and you standing behind that curtain your music comes on and there's 10,000 people either they are screaming her booing and you walk through the curtain in the lights are flashing and the cameras are pointed at you and the rush justs go through your whole body there is not a single drug and prescription or Street form that
can provide that kind of high you get from doing this the only problem you never get over the withdrawals.
when you dream you should always dream big when you reach you should always reach high and when you give it all to something make sure you're giving it all and don't ever let anybody tell you you can't won't shouldn't or better not especially not yourself don't ever quit don't ever stop you do what you got to do to get where you want to because in life you only get one chance you want to make every moment count and life is about a series of moments that you can cherish so you better appreciate them now and the ones you're sharing those moments with . Remember when you reach for the stars are bound to at least touch the moon. Keep mind, it's never how you start but how you finish that matters . Thank you for listening to my story now go make your own dream come to life!
