#alexgracie

When Gracie Met the Grump headers

Well here we go, entry number 2. We are officially seven days into 2018, and I feel like now things are about to get started again for myself, after the Xmas Break and New Year celebrations. This week was a lot of the first of 2018 in some ways. First ‘Wrestling Drills Class’ of 2018, for those who have no idea what I am talking about. Some time ago now, I started running a wrestling class, that really focuses on the in ring cardio portion of wrestling. Even if you haven’t wrestled in a wrestling ring, anyone who watches wrestling, will realise like any sport that it requires a lot of stamina & agility. Myself and guys like Gabriel Kidd, Alex Gracie, LJ Heron, Visage, Garrett Bond among others, began to really push ourselves in this area, focusing on drills that we’d seen used in WWE try outs or the NXT Performance centre, along with HIIT Cardio workouts such as card workouts.  Towards the end of 2015 I started to become quite close with another UK wrestler on the scene, after admiring his promo ability, I got the chance to wrestle him one on one, this being ‘Savy Sid Scala’. Before I move on, I will also add that I think in terms of gimmicks on the independent scene Sid Scala is one of the top ones around, plus in terms of dedication and thinking about his craft once again Sid tops the charts in those areas. The reason I bring my friendship up with Sid, Is he became interested in taking part in these ‘Drills Classes’. He started to make the bus journey from London every week, just so he could do these classes with us. From there, I think this inspired other wrestlers from other parts of the country to start coming down. It’s really built a close group and friendship between a group of guys who may not have had the opportunity to spend as much time as we do together now. Names like Amir Jordan & David Graves for example travelling from Leeds, both who in my opinion are all ready in the process of having break out years for themselves in 2018. Both incredibly dedicated and skilled and have a lot to offer, which a lot of people are finding out currently. Then Saxon Huxley, who I met at a local show a couple of years ago. The first time I met him, I liked the way he carried himself and knew he was someone I could get on with. From being around each other from the WWE UK stuff, I can very easily say Saxon has become one of my best friends. Such a top gent, he loves professional wrestling and works bloody hard at it, and deserves all the success that will come his way. The reason I bring the background of this class up, for anyone reading this, is that this kind of stuff showcases what can be great about pro wrestling. Putting together a group of guys, different ages, different experience levels, different backgrounds but all who are dedicated and want to push each other to help them succeed. This Tuesdays class saw myself, Gabriel Kidd, David Graves, Amir Jordan, Visage, JC Thunder (Great Guy, Hard Worker) & some new faces Kip Sabian (Another guy that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know), Joe Nelson (One To Watch For Sure), Miles. Putting in a good start to the first class, looking forward to pushing myself along side these guys and others for the rest of the year.

Wow, I’ve just looked back and realised there’s a lot of paragraphs dedicated to one topic. Not sure if that’s a good or bad things. I will let you decide. Also as I finished my first blog entry, I mentioned I was going to take my Elevation class that evening in Leicestershire. That was fun, to see a lot of the guys for the first time this year, everyone worked hard and we kicked things off well. Once again, another thing I’m looking forward to this year, is seeing the Elevation students continue to grow as performers and seeing where this year takes them.

There seems to be a class/seminar theme to this blog. So I’ll end on talking about today (Sunday Jan 7th). My first wrestling gig of the year, I was asked by ‘Falling Star Wrestling’ based in Kings Lynn to come down and take a seminar for them. I will also add, by no means, do I think I know it all, when it comes to professional wrestling. That’s why I still continually train and try and attend seminars with professionals such as Marty Jones, Dave Taylor, Johnny Saint, Ricky Steamboat, Rockstar Spud among others over recent years. What I can do, when I’m asked to come down and help out at a school, is try and pass down knowledge that has been given to me. I can also try and help people not make the mistakes that I did. Don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes inside and outside of professional wrestling, it’s apart of life. Though having some experience in a field, allows you to try and help people from not making the ones you have made. I try and stress whenever I give my opinion on something, that, that is all it is an opinion and my opinion alone. That doesn’t make it right or wrong, whether you take the advice or not, is down to the person. As for anybody reading this blog, I could ask you all “Who are your favourite professional wrestlers?” or “What is your favourite movie of all time?” I’d bet money, that we would all have different answers to those questions. That’s why I lot of us love wrestling in the first place, is the fact that it is subjective. We don’t all have to like the same thing, because there is enough variety, that there will be something or someone that we do like. So I can’t hate someone for example for not liking me, it’s there opinion, there entitled just as I am to mine.

In regards to the class I was very impressed with the students who took part. They listened to what I had to say, they implemented a lot of the advice that I gave them, and as the class went on, in the small window of time we had together, I noticed improvements. There was definitely some faces in there, that I’d be be very interested to see where things take them in the future. I don’t want to leave out any names. The two females in the class I though had unique looks and did fantastic, one being Ashleigh who did a great job of portraying her character without me ever seeing it before. There was a young man there named Jack who I would later find out, is only 13 Years Old!!! Who was very impressive, reminded me a lot of Joe Nelson in the sense, that he seemed wise above his years, especially for someone so young. There was plenty of others who stood out, Falling Star definitely have some good young up and coming talent, and truly was a pleasure to be apart of their academy today. Thankyou for having me guys. (Photo From Todays Class At Bottom Of This Post) Well I think I will close it on that. Tomorrow I start the first workout of a new 6 week workout plan, that my good friend and fellow WWE UK Star Tucker has given to me. Wish me luck, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, if not, sod you ;). Until next time. P.S Thankyou to Shaun & Pat for their company today, especially to Shaun for driving. Top Gent