My own "Tough Enough"
by Brandon Smith on 2001-07-17

So at long last, finally I got back to business yesterday and restarted with the old crew from the Portland ECCW House of Pain. It's now located in a flea market in Hillsboro, OR ran by former WWWF wrestler, and a helluva guy, Tito Carreon. I was marking out over the autographed Art Barr posters and pictures of Eddy Guerrero standing with Tito on the wall. The ring itself is stiffer and has higher ropes than the last one we were using before. I prefer this one, the other seemed too much like a trampoline, and bumping on this one just makes me feel so hardcore.

So away we go, starting off with a few push ups and squats, 100 of each to be exact. The squats I have no problem with. The push ups were a chore as I ripped through about 30 and my body started giving in. As I struggled through the final 70, I just forced myself to remember how bad I wanted this. Now I am nice and blown-up, not to mention sweatier than Roseanne jogging laps in Flagstaff.

After the warm-up, we get into bumping away, something I missed greatly during my 7 month lapse. It's probably the only thing I feel I do well at. I do a few standing on the mat, then a couple off the bottom rope, which don't seem too hard anymore. Then I venture into territories I have not been before, second rope bumps. I made the epic climp to the middle buckle, grabbed the top rope, and gasped "Holy s%#t!" under my breath. I realized how high up I was and turned off my mind to avoid further distraction. Then I let loose and dropped. When I was up there, I didn't give any thought to the fact my trajectory would be different from taking it from the first, so I landed on my shoulders and lower neck, and took a good bite out of the left side of my tongue on impact. Tony asked how it felt. As I stumbled to my feet in a dazed stupor, I managed to squeak out "Good!" From there he asked me to try another, so I climb again and jump back down in a moment of hesistation. I got back up there and did it again, fortunately not losing anymore taste buds this time.

We did a few tie-ups and ran a couple spots from there, but the damage was done. I struggled to hold my head up after the two middle rope bumps, but as always managed to survive another day. I walked Stu Hart style down to the MAX (the Portland/Metro light rail car), trying to move my neck around a bit to recover. Today, my neck still hurts, my tongue feels bruised, my elbow is banged up from God knows what, and my muscles are sore from my workout, so walking, eating, and even standing upright are great undertakings. Yes, I do love it and will be back for more tomorrow!