Tuesday, February 20, 2001
Wrestling? Maybe I Love It Just A Bit Too Much
Written
By: Ryan Khan
Edited By: Saudia Jabar
Two more months on my contract with ACW (Apocalypse Championship Wrestling), and I’m gone. I talked with the promoter of the company Jim Helway today, and I ask him to sign a new contract after this one fades out. He says, “ I simply can’t afford it. I’m giving you a big push and for the things you’ll be doing, you’re going to need to be paid more”. I say, “I’ll wrestle for the money I’m getting paid right now which is about $150 a match.” He says, “I can’t, I wouldn’t feel right doing that”. I point out, “First you say, you’re going to give me a big push into World Title Contention and you’re going to pay me more money a couple of weeks back, and now you shoving this at me. This is really starting to get weird.” He says, “You might not be able to wrestle at the “Living on the Edge” (You’ll see why later on) event.” This is where I get my World Title shot at my home school. I’m really starting to feel very awestruck by this whole thing. I can find two things wrong with this:
1) I lose my World Championship match at “Living on the Edge”
2) I can’t fight at the event that’s held at my own school.
Well, that’s a life of a professional wrestler. I got a chance to talk to the current ACW champion, Troy Goldman a.k.a Justin Clearwater today on the phone. He’s in the hospital. He has internal bleeding from a car accident he was in, near the beginning of February. The doctors never noticed anything until last week. Well, the reason why I might not be able to wrestle at “Living on the Edge” is because we’d have to extend the date, and that would lead out to the end of my contract. Justin says he’s going through a great amount of pain right now. He says he’s going to need surgery; he’ll be out for 4 to 6 weeks. Since I entered ACW he’s always been there for me. Whether if it was help with training or help with lines to cut a promo, he’s been there 110%. Justin is also 3 or 4 years older than me, so he’s had more experience then I’ve had in this field. Justin, what you’re going through means more than a World Title shot, I wish you the best, and a very fast and healthy recovery from the surgery.
There's one thing that you people should know about wrestling, especially when a promotion is so small it's not even considered on the Independence Circuit scale like us, it's just like one big family. There was great disarray when the guys and girls in the back found out that there would have to be extensive surgery on Justin. Some were crying, mostly the girls, and Jim Helway was concerned about Justin and the future of the ACW World Heavyweight Title, with me just about to leave the picture what talent is left? I mean the “Troy Goldman”, “Ryan Khan” feud is the main story right now. Ray Austin is good in everyway; he can cut a promo, he can wrestle, he can carry an angle, and he can carry a gimmick. The only thing in the way is he’s still considered a mid-carter, carry these other two guys, Jeff Cold and Tony Extra. Right now the ACW is just one big mess. It's at a point where you just want to break down in stress. The last show we did was in January, since then...nothing. Jim is going through some family problems and no telling what would happen with him. With out of a shadow of a doubt, when it comes to wrestling and booking matches he's one of the best, money wise? Let's just say I wouldn't be in this mess right now.
I believe wrestlers do need a union. There's no pension plan or anything, when it's all done you leave with broken backs and fractures everywhere. So in the end there's nothing to gain. You go to work day in and day out; about 280 day's a year, which only leaves you two months for your self or family if you have one. I believe the theory of Bret Hart when he said, "Wrestler's are just a bunch of circus animals. Ladies and Gentlemen, that's a life of a professional wrestler. So for those of you out there, especially those idiots on WWF's Tough Enough, you think breaking into the professional wrestling business is easy, think twice when you’re throwing up during training.