The Wrestling home of Moondog Manson

This is a very common question being tossed around locker rooms today. What with the veritable flood of young, barely trained, high spot happy kids getting involved in this business who turn around after a couple of matches with that "I am the man" attitude - it's almost enough to make a singing cowboy lament a sad, sad song.

Now, when I broke into wrestling ... I had to walk 18 miles backwards through waist deep snow to set up a ring and get stretched in the cold (sorry I couldn't resist).

In all seriousness, back in my rookie days there was no question about who deserved respect, who knew their role, and who knew when to keep their mouths shut.

Some veterans were very cool to meet and easy to talk to, while the others were to be honest a little intimidating. At the time, I never really understood why that was. But now that I'm going into my 8'th year of this wackiness, I find myself switching between both personas as the need arises.

Ironically enough, I'm fairly certain that I was considered a mouthy rookie who continually got himself into shit for saying the wrong thing, to the wrong person, at the wrong time. I can't count the number of times that I was buried, or stretched or just plain jobbed out for reasons things that I said that I didn't know were all that bad.

But these days, I hear kids - legitimate damned kids - who have had maybe a half a dozen "matches" with other half-trained kids sit at ringside and criticize the maches of actual trained veterans. Hell, if I got stretched for asking the wrong question, I wonder what guys like Chi Chi Cruz, Brian Jewel, Eddie Watts and Rick Patterson would do to these guys.

But maybe the problem isn't all with the rookies. Maybe it's our fault, as veterans. Maybe we're just too soft on these guys.

I have to admit, my first instinct when somebody makes a mistake is more likely to pull them aside, quietly explain why what they did was incorrect, give them a light scolding and then send them on their way. I always thought that I had a unique "kinder, gentler" approach. But maybe I've got it all wrong.

Maybe what the wrestling business needs is more guys with the attitudes of a Jewel or a Cruz. Maybe these rookies need to have the fear of God put back into them so that they know what happens to them when they "fuck up".

Maybe I just need to change my approach.

I guess we'll have to see.

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Take Care,

A.K.