Ask Scrappy: First Edition
By Adam Pearce

WELCOME TO “ASK SCRAPPY” FIRST EDITION
DISCLAIMER: The opinions presented herein are those solely of independent pro wrestler and wannabe columnist “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce. These opinions are in no way intended to be representative of those possessed by SocalUncensored.com or anyone affiliated. This broadcast may not be reproduced or rebroadcast without the expressed written consent of the Chicago Cubs or Major League Baseball.

timetapes asks:
“In your (about) 7 year career what's your number one, favorite match you've ever been in?”

AP replies:
“That’s a tough one. I tried to sit down and figure out about how many matches I have wrestled in 7 years, and I have to think it has to be somewhere around 650 or so. Obviously the vast majority of my matches came when I was living in Chicago and wrestling regularly in Milwaukee, Green Bay, St. Paul/Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Detroit. It’s really hard to break it down to one favorite match when there have been so many that were awesome to me for different reasons. I also have to keep in mind that my favorites may not have been my best. A few come to mind.

One would be my first WWF TV match in 1997 in Peoria, IL for RAW. It was your standard “job” match where I tagged with Rod Bell (Indy worker from Indiana) against Savio Vega and Crush (doing the Nation of Domination gimmick). I was 17 years old and remember being in shock coming through the curtain to a sea of heads. It went well, they gave me the hot tag, and I did the job to the old Demolition finish. Good times.

Another would be a tag match in St. Paul, MN for Steel Domain Wrestling in early 2000 where I was working my first shot back since declining the WCW offer. They had (and still have) weekly TV up there, and CM Punk was feuding with Ace Steel and Colt Cabana. Punk had been saying for a few weeks that he was bringing a mystery partner, which turned out to be me. The best part about that match was how hot the crowd was for everything. It was 450 people just alive and screaming for everything we did. They were banging their chairs off the floor, just going insane. It made everything so easy. Then at the end I turned on Punk there was a moment of absolute silence. We swerved the shit out of them, and a second later they were back to giving the best heat I can ever remember. Awesome times, and coincidentally that match is on my anthology tape available now.

Another one that comes to mind as being just absolutely fun was when I worked with Spanky at MPW’s last show in 2002. It was my first match in months, and being in there with someone like Spanky who knows how to work made it so easy. Everything flowed well, except for a blown fireball spot, but we covered it as best we could. Spanky bumped his ass off for me, He really made me look good. I remember being so blown up afterward but really humble and grateful that he wanted to work with me before he left for Cincinnati. Thanks again Brian.”

gurentai_pt1 asks the following 3 questions:
Does it bother you when workers who do a "smark workrate style" get more hype than the style you tend to do "Pure Ol skool American style" (or whatever it's called, you and everyone here knows what I'm talking about).

AP replies:
”You know Paul, I tend to think about wrestling differently now then I did 2 or 3 years ago. Back then I would have absolutely been pissed off. Now, not really at all. Look, I’ll cop to the fact that wrestlers have egos, and egos are easily bruised. That said, all of us who put on the boots want to be over. We want to be embraced by whoever will embrace us. And while those feelings don’t really change over time, they do lessen. There was a time that even I was doing moonsaults and huracanranas for no other reason than to get over. There was a time that even I would map out matches in the hopes that I would get good writeups on the net. A lot of guys are working that “style” because it IS what is getting pub. If throwing powder and doing fistdrops was getting everyone pub, then everyone would be doing that. Times change, and they’ll change again. Guys will always do the things that they think will get them the most coverage, thereby being “over”. These days I am not so concerned with getting over individually as much as I want my opponent, and more importantly my match and the show to get over. I do my job.”

Do you think fans should be allowed to talk about any "behind the scenes info" that makes its way public as long as it's not an invasion of non-professional privacy?

AP replies:
”Of course. We have the right in this country to talk about whatever we choose. Even though I was broken in towards the end of a time and more importantly in a place where kayfabe was still practiced (and still is to some degree), it’s gone now to the majority of the wrestling business. So everything from angles and finishes to who’s fucking who has become internet message board fodder. Such is life. You can’t expect people not to discuss information that is being put out there. If you think about it, before the net it was the sheets. People have always been talking, always will.”

Do you think you can "tell an interesting story" if you worked against say an B-Boy or Super Dragon? Even though your styles clash? (I think it can be done. )

AP replies:
”Absolutely, without even thinking about it, absolutely. I’d even go so far as to say I might be able to teach a few of them how to tell a story. I mean that without any offense intended. Telling a story involves more than execution of moves, counters, etc. It entails a certain connection to the crowd, to your opponent. It requires emotion. There has to be a point. The move-to-move execution is really secondary IF you are working a program that involves a story being told. The problem we run into is the time between shows can be so long at times, that it makes it very hard to tell a story that takes a while to unfold. This is why you see guys doing more and more physically in a match to try and get the crowd to come back next time. I am of the opinion that telling a compelling story takes more than one night. If you are booking a one-night only type thing, it can be done if the story is introduced early in the show and climaxes during the match. But for that to work, you have to have both guys willing to put the other over. That’s Wrestling 101. If I was to work with Super Dragon or BBoy, it is fair to say that there probably wouldn’t be too many outrageous spots, but I guarantee that everything would make sense. I’d sell for their stuff, they’d sell for mine. They might even have fun too.”

Next time Scrappy will tackle questions about his WCW experience, The Gold Bond Mafia, the State of Indiana, and why WWE isn't picking up more local talent...