Post by Ricky Vega on Jun 30, 2017 1:56:10 GMT
“When I was a kid I used to watch ‘em on the TV all the time. They were my heroes, ya know…” I stood there holding a couple of flyers, paper cuts and everything I owned pertaining to wrestling in a little box. I stared at it for a couple of minutes and a side smile showed on my face. It was hard for me not to feel joy whenever I searched for that box. “I used to pretend I was them, whenever I played with my toys or whenever I went to the trampoline I got one Christmas. I wanted to be just like ‘em, not because they were the best… but because they were like me.” I pulled out a framed picture of myself when I was a kid, hoisting a toy belt over my head, standing on top of a sofa, with that floral pattern that every latino house seems to have had at some point.
“People used to tell me I wouldn’t achieve anythin’, not ‘cuz I wasn’t good… but because I was a small kid. I always showed my doubters pictures and flyers I had stored. What can I say, I wanted to be JUST LIKE ‘EM. There was no other choice for me.” I shrugged, shrugging had become my go to gesture in the past few weeks as I kept preparing myself to do what I wanted to do ever since I laid eyes on the two people that would become my role-models. “I’m a drop out, by choice… not ‘cuz I didn’t have the means to go to school. Simply, school wouldn’t get me where I wanted to be. So I took odd jobs here and there, always with the goal of gettin’ to be here… right here where I am today. Sure, this apartment might not be the biggest or the tidiest or the best place to live, but it would serve its purpose.” Delaware wasn’t my first choice when I decided to train up to become a wrestler. But then I realized I needed a place that would accept someone with little to no experience, but a lot of… what my parents called… energy.
“You might ask yourself why does a Cuban kid decide to pursue a wrestlin’ career… and honestly I wish I could answer you that question. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the only connection I have left with my grandfather, who came from Cuba before the revolution… maybe it’s just the fact that I never felt like I belonged in the ‘normal’ circles of life. Maybe I’m just crazy and pursuin’ a fools dream. Who knows…” In reality I knew exactly why I wanted to become a wrestler, it was because I wanted to face Dom Harter and Brian Stryker at least once in my career. There was a lot of time left for me to accomplish that, but I needed to go step by step... And one of the first steps was this sort of introductory video I presented my trainers as they debated what character should I be portraying. I knew I had a chip on my shoulder, as this was a do or die situation for me… if I failed in my quest to become a wrestler, then… it was all over for me and I had to go back to do odd jobs to support myself. Yet, I wasn’t going to let that happen, not today, not tomorrow… not ever. “Yeah… who knows.”
“People used to tell me I wouldn’t achieve anythin’, not ‘cuz I wasn’t good… but because I was a small kid. I always showed my doubters pictures and flyers I had stored. What can I say, I wanted to be JUST LIKE ‘EM. There was no other choice for me.” I shrugged, shrugging had become my go to gesture in the past few weeks as I kept preparing myself to do what I wanted to do ever since I laid eyes on the two people that would become my role-models. “I’m a drop out, by choice… not ‘cuz I didn’t have the means to go to school. Simply, school wouldn’t get me where I wanted to be. So I took odd jobs here and there, always with the goal of gettin’ to be here… right here where I am today. Sure, this apartment might not be the biggest or the tidiest or the best place to live, but it would serve its purpose.” Delaware wasn’t my first choice when I decided to train up to become a wrestler. But then I realized I needed a place that would accept someone with little to no experience, but a lot of… what my parents called… energy.
“You might ask yourself why does a Cuban kid decide to pursue a wrestlin’ career… and honestly I wish I could answer you that question. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the only connection I have left with my grandfather, who came from Cuba before the revolution… maybe it’s just the fact that I never felt like I belonged in the ‘normal’ circles of life. Maybe I’m just crazy and pursuin’ a fools dream. Who knows…” In reality I knew exactly why I wanted to become a wrestler, it was because I wanted to face Dom Harter and Brian Stryker at least once in my career. There was a lot of time left for me to accomplish that, but I needed to go step by step... And one of the first steps was this sort of introductory video I presented my trainers as they debated what character should I be portraying. I knew I had a chip on my shoulder, as this was a do or die situation for me… if I failed in my quest to become a wrestler, then… it was all over for me and I had to go back to do odd jobs to support myself. Yet, I wasn’t going to let that happen, not today, not tomorrow… not ever. “Yeah… who knows.”