I haven’t written in a very long time, so thank you in advance for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. I’m going to try to use this site as an extension of my Politics Without The Crazy Pills page as well as a bit of my life in professional wrestling and now – politics. It should be a good mix of writing, and a good way to get to know the man behind the character of “Spiffy” Sean Styles.
I want to write a little bit about professional wrestling and something that I recently noticed while performing at a show. I broke in to the wrestling business in the late 90’s as a barely legal white meat babyface who just graduated high school and moved back to Pittsburgh, PA to try to figure out who I was. Professional wrestling was a great outlet for me, and I was lucky enough to meet some incredible teachers and trainers who brought me along and taught me a lot – Sometimes the hard way.
…Often the hard way.
One of the things that I know because I’ve been able to rub shoulders with some of the guys you see on TV every week: You present a certain image at all times. There really is no “off” season in professional wrestling.
Let me stop there: You’ll notice that I don’t use the term “Sports Entertainment.” There is NOTHING wrong with that term, but I broke into the business when wrestling was still wrestling, which is why I still call it wrestling. Part of my character in wrestling and life is now “The Last of the Old School” and as we know – The best wrestling gimmicks are rooted in reality.
I digress.
I arrived at the building and saw a bunch of fans sitting outside. Now, when I worked for TNA or Ring of Honor, I was always told to dress in business attire when arriving at the arena. It was an indy show, so I kept it nice – Slacks, nice button down shirt, sport coat. I was confused to see that I seemed to be the only performer dressed this way. Most of the workers were in gym shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, sneakers.
Nobody had on a jacket. Nobody had on a collared shirt.
One of the wrestlers asked if I was the ring announcer because I was dressed nicely before he recognized me.
When did that happen? When did guys stop dressing professionally? When did people looking for a better job stop dressing for the job that they want, not the job that they have? When did I turn into a crotchety old man?
So just a bit of quick advice for young wrestlers:
Look like a wrestler, both inside and outside of the ring. If a promoter sees you walking into his show in gym shorts and a t-shirt and I walk in behind you in a suit, it doesn’t matter that you are a better wrestler than I am (and trust me, you are.) – I’m going to make the better impression. The better impression could lead to a better push, a better match, a better opportunity, a better show.
I think a lot of guys take this for granted. I give tremendous credit to guys like Bob Evans and Coach Josh Gerry (And if you are not following them on Facebook and you are a wrestler, you are doing yourself a disservice.) because they are constantly posting great advice and trying to pay it forward in the business. I’m at a point in my career with 20 years as a performer that I feel I can give some good guidance as well.
Go get yourself a sport coat, young wrestler. I promise you won’t lose a booking for dressing too nice – But you might lose one for looking like a slob.
