LJ Idol - Week 7 - One Touch
Or, how pro wrestling saved my life.
A lot of people have asked me how I got involved with wrestling in a capacity other than fan. I suppose that moment that touched me and set me on the path to be where I am today is the perfect place to start.
As a kid I was into wrestling, but at some point stopped watching. My ex, Larry, was a fan and got me back into it over 10 years ago. Wrestling has, mostly, always been such a thing of joy for me. Regardless of real life, I can always look to wrestling to give me some fun and creativity. Sometimes it makes me angry or sad or even hurt, but there's no way I could ever not watch it.
January 2000 I lived in Florida and was working for CSC security at the O-rena. I had a friend who worked for the company in Tampa, that's how I found out about the job in the first place. I worked there for a few months, always busted my ass and took the crappy assignments - like being security at a warehouse a company was moving out of, or guarding Christmas trees in the park - because I'd established myself early as someone they could trust, and I knew by doing the crappy jobs I could have my pick of the fun ones later! I told them I wanted backstage spots for concerts and wrestling, otherwise I'd do any shit job they wanted. Nothing says fun like standing outside in Florida in a fucking sport coat during a basketball game, lemme tell ya. -_-
The way I gained the boss' trust was actually unintentional. Backstreet Boys had a show and I got a backstage spot for it. I was secretly psyched because I like their music (Shush! I was raised to appreciate ACTUAL singing, so I love boy bands! :-O) My spot was between catering at the dressing rooms. I was told to let NO ONE down that part of the hallway with a laminate. That's exactly what I did. I ended up keeping Brian's dad waiting there, because he had no laminate. I felt bad later, but hey, I was really just doing my job. I wasn't rude or anything. I also spotted AJ's brother and grandma there and while a big group was waiting to be checked off a list, I let them sneak on back. My boss' didn't know that part, lolz. But it was very obvious these two were related to AJ because they looked just like him. I also saw them about a month later at a solo show he did at the House of Blues and the brother nodded at me and smiled. He remembered me, so that was pretty sweet.
After the BSB show I got my pick of everything. One night I got to be the guard at the Magic lockerroom and got beat with a mic by Marv Albert because I wouldn't let him in. Looking back on that, I so couldn't sued his old ass, because he hit me in the sternum with it. But my night was made by making his miserable. ;-D When January rolled around WWE came into town for a Smackdown taping. I was so fucking psyched! My boss gave me my backstage spot and I ended up spending most of the night just at the entryway to where the wrestlers enter the arena. I saw absolutely everyone. I will never, ever forget that day.
Three years later I'd moved back to Texas and got a job with the same company in San Antonio. I had the same luck and got a backstage spot for another Smackdown taping. Again, I met everyone and it was just as awesome as before, if not more so. This was also the first time I met Paul London. I recognized him from magazines, as he'd just won the Super 8 tourney. We talked a bit and that was that. Once I was home I did a little research online and discovered he had no official website. I'd been running websites for quite a few years and I wanted to contact him about running one for him. It took me awhile, and after a few weeks I finally got in contact with him. I got an e-mail from him in Japan that was super awesome. This was my first time really *knowing* a wrestler, or someone famous.
Little did I know that meeting Paul in 2003 would eventually lead to me finding ACW and getting to work in the wrestling business. November 2009 my "career" in wrestling kind of came full circle when Paul came back home and worked for ACW. It was like all of this was meant to happen for me. My life since 2002 hasn't been perfect, not by a long shot, but even when I bitch, complain, or feel horrible, I know that the good parts absolutely outweight the bad and I owe most of that to wrestling.
Thank you, pro wrestling, for making my life what it is today. ♥
A lot of people have asked me how I got involved with wrestling in a capacity other than fan. I suppose that moment that touched me and set me on the path to be where I am today is the perfect place to start.
As a kid I was into wrestling, but at some point stopped watching. My ex, Larry, was a fan and got me back into it over 10 years ago. Wrestling has, mostly, always been such a thing of joy for me. Regardless of real life, I can always look to wrestling to give me some fun and creativity. Sometimes it makes me angry or sad or even hurt, but there's no way I could ever not watch it.
January 2000 I lived in Florida and was working for CSC security at the O-rena. I had a friend who worked for the company in Tampa, that's how I found out about the job in the first place. I worked there for a few months, always busted my ass and took the crappy assignments - like being security at a warehouse a company was moving out of, or guarding Christmas trees in the park - because I'd established myself early as someone they could trust, and I knew by doing the crappy jobs I could have my pick of the fun ones later! I told them I wanted backstage spots for concerts and wrestling, otherwise I'd do any shit job they wanted. Nothing says fun like standing outside in Florida in a fucking sport coat during a basketball game, lemme tell ya. -_-
The way I gained the boss' trust was actually unintentional. Backstreet Boys had a show and I got a backstage spot for it. I was secretly psyched because I like their music (Shush! I was raised to appreciate ACTUAL singing, so I love boy bands! :-O) My spot was between catering at the dressing rooms. I was told to let NO ONE down that part of the hallway with a laminate. That's exactly what I did. I ended up keeping Brian's dad waiting there, because he had no laminate. I felt bad later, but hey, I was really just doing my job. I wasn't rude or anything. I also spotted AJ's brother and grandma there and while a big group was waiting to be checked off a list, I let them sneak on back. My boss' didn't know that part, lolz. But it was very obvious these two were related to AJ because they looked just like him. I also saw them about a month later at a solo show he did at the House of Blues and the brother nodded at me and smiled. He remembered me, so that was pretty sweet.
After the BSB show I got my pick of everything. One night I got to be the guard at the Magic lockerroom and got beat with a mic by Marv Albert because I wouldn't let him in. Looking back on that, I so couldn't sued his old ass, because he hit me in the sternum with it. But my night was made by making his miserable. ;-D When January rolled around WWE came into town for a Smackdown taping. I was so fucking psyched! My boss gave me my backstage spot and I ended up spending most of the night just at the entryway to where the wrestlers enter the arena. I saw absolutely everyone. I will never, ever forget that day.
Three years later I'd moved back to Texas and got a job with the same company in San Antonio. I had the same luck and got a backstage spot for another Smackdown taping. Again, I met everyone and it was just as awesome as before, if not more so. This was also the first time I met Paul London. I recognized him from magazines, as he'd just won the Super 8 tourney. We talked a bit and that was that. Once I was home I did a little research online and discovered he had no official website. I'd been running websites for quite a few years and I wanted to contact him about running one for him. It took me awhile, and after a few weeks I finally got in contact with him. I got an e-mail from him in Japan that was super awesome. This was my first time really *knowing* a wrestler, or someone famous.
Little did I know that meeting Paul in 2003 would eventually lead to me finding ACW and getting to work in the wrestling business. November 2009 my "career" in wrestling kind of came full circle when Paul came back home and worked for ACW. It was like all of this was meant to happen for me. My life since 2002 hasn't been perfect, not by a long shot, but even when I bitch, complain, or feel horrible, I know that the good parts absolutely outweight the bad and I owe most of that to wrestling.
Thank you, pro wrestling, for making my life what it is today. ♥