ROH's Truth Martini Talks About Working With Roderick Strong, "Best In The World 2012" & More
Head of "The House of Truth", Truth Martini, stopped by Kayfabe Wrestling Radio to help promote ROH's "Best in the World 2012". Here are some highlights:
On why he quit wrestling and how he became a part of Ring of Honor: "I started in 1998, yes that makes me an old man, and I trained under Al Snow. So, I started going out there, doing my thing. In 2005, May 13th; I'll never forget that date; it was Friday the 13th, by the way, I actually broke my neck and was temporarily paralyzed. It was very, very scary... but I still continued to wrestle because either: 1) I'm very tough or 2) very stupid, I don't know which ever one you want to look at. But I was out there doing my thing and I was in just way, way too much pain. I came to my senses; it was just time to call it quits. So I called all the promoters I was working for and said 'write me out of whatever you got me in, because I'm quitting' and one promoter, by the name of Danny Daniels (he has a company called AAW) said 'why not try managing?' So, I figured I'd give it a shot; I went ahead and did a show for him, and then the next week I did a show near my hometown in Michigan and third time I managed in my life, it was for Ring of Honor. Adam Pierce was running things and he said "we want to hire you' and pretty much that was that; pretty crazy, huh?"
On his pairing with Roderick Strong (ROH World TV Champion): "The thing is Roderick Strong, he has all the tools, I mean he is wrestling's greatest athlete; he it the total athlete. But I saw he had the physical abilities but the mental ability was not quite there because he kept getting screwed around here and there. Let me put it to you this way: seven years, he was in Ring of Honor and he had multiple World Heavyweight Title shots and never got to what his destiny was, which was to become the ROH Champion. Six months with Truth Martini, he was ROH Champion. Now coincidence, I think not."
Getting lost in the moment of Elgin/Richards at "Showdown in the Sun": "That day at Showdown in the Sun was an amazing, amazing moment for professional wrestling. I hear people always quote '2-star, 3-star matches' whatever it may be. If that does exist, that match that night was definitely a 5-star match. I did get lost in the moment; I mean there was some magic in the air. It was great: Davey Richards and the 'Unbreakable' Michael Elgin, that definitely something to see and if fans out there haven't seen that, I encourage you to go watch that match. That right there is what Professional wrestling is all about, that match right there."
What is wrong with some in the wrestling industry today: "I do run a professional wrestling school, the 'House of Truth' wrestling school, and what I do is try to educate people on the proper way on how to get into the professional wrestling business. It just kills me some messages I get some days, where some teenager says 'Hey I want to get booked' and I'll say 'Yeah, who broke you in, who trained you' and he's like 'I trained myself'. I don't know what makes people think there's something about professional wrestling that makes people think they can do it and know what it's about without the proper schooling. I mean it's pretty ridiculous; if you want to be a doctor, you go to school, you want to be a lawyer, you go to school. Everything else in life you want to be in a profession, you have to get the proper training, but for some strange reason about professional wrestling, there are these guys who think they can do it (without training)."
The four qualities to make it as a professional wrestler and why managers are paired with certain people: "It takes four qualities to make a GREAT professional wrestler. If you have all four of these qualities, you're going to be a millionaire, there no way around it. One, you got to have a look. No one wants to pay to watch the guy next door; you got to have a certain look about you. Two, you have to have charisma; nobody wants to be bored to death. The channel will be changed if you are boring, so you got to have that charisma. Three, you have to know how to work; what that means, know what you are doing in the ring, which takes a long, long time to do. And finally four, you have to know how to talk. If you have all four of those qualities, you will be successful. I mean, nobody will be able to stop you. If you have three of those qualities, great; even two is fine. But when a manager gets paired up with a professional wrestler, that because he (the wrestler) may be missing one or two of those qualities... it is to accentuate what the wrestler is kind of missing."
For more information on the "House of Truth" wrestling school (for wrestlers, managers, referees) based in a suburb of Detroit, visit hotwrestlingschool.com. You can listen to the full interview by clicking here.
Source: Kayfabe Wrestling Radio