April 16, 2004 
This is the third in a series of articles on the subject of backyard wrestling. You can read part one here, part two here and part four here.
Hello and welcome kind sir and madam to the land that we like to call The Final Cut. A land where you may speak your mind in an unbiased fashion but don’t you dare say anything negative against your ruler, Dean Saliba, we still have the death penalty here you know!
Over the past month or so I have covered the topic of backyard wrestling and it seems that my columns on this topic have struck a nerve with a lot of people, judging by the amount of feedback that is still pouring into my email account from readers and irate backyarders.
One email that I received from a backyarder by the name of ‘Big Daddy Ace’ was the reason for this third column on backyard wrestling. As with my last backyard wrestling column I will give my own reply to his comments, points and straight out rants.
Big Daddy Ace Says: Let me start with a quote that you said in your article “The Final Cut” on 2/27/04.
“Backyard wrestling is a craze amongst bored youths who have nothing better to do with their time than to inflict injury on each other. A harsh statement? Minor & severe burns, nasty gnashes, concussions and in some cases broken bones are just part and parcel of this ridiculous epidemic of insania”
Bored youths? HA! Let me get one point through to you. The people who I wrestle with and I are not bored youths. And we do not inflict injury on each other. Here’s the low-down on what I do with my backyard wrestling federation -
We are essentially a company. My friends and I have built a legitimate ring of 15′x15′ in a space of my backyard. I realize it is 5 feet shorter then what a normal ring is supposed to have, but I’m working with limited Backyard space. But in our company, before you are admitted to the performing part, there is a written test that you have to take. And then, after the test, we go through extensive training before you even get into the ring for a match.
Dean Saliba Says: The quote that you cite was from my original article and through countless hours of surfing backyard wrestling websites, message boards and columns I have found plenty of evidence to back up my claims.
During the email that you sent me you did not state that you or anyone who is affiliated with your “company” is a qualified trainer, so your “extensive training” courses and “written tests” are quite pointless although I would like to receive a written test from you to see what is written.
Big Daddy Ace Says: I will admit, that we got our idea from watching Vincent Kennedy McMahon jnr.’s World Wrestling Entertainment programming. We watch it every Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Raw, Smackdown, Velocity, Confidential, Heat, PPV’s. But we don’t attempt to pull of the stupid crazy moves that they do. Piledrivers are illegal in our federation. Mainly because we don’t want a lawsuit on our hands.
Dean Saliba Says: Eliminating one wrestling move from your “company” does not make a blind bit of difference as you may know you can get severely injured by doing a simple lock up incorrectly.
Big Daddy Ace Says: We also have a contract written up that prevents any sort of lawsuit or any other kind of financial charge.
Dean Saliba Says: ……
Big Daddy Ace Says: How do we do our training?
In one book I own, entitled “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pro Wrestling” by Captain Lou Albano and Bret Randolph Sugar, it goes over different moves, from submission holds to suplexes to chokeslams.
It even gives you a hint on how to fall properly… take the impact with your feet, ass, and hands, making a slapping sound with your hands and arms. That reduces the force that is displaced onto your back.
Dean Saliba Says: You “train” your “wrestlers” from a book? Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds? Nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, substitutes a qualified training school with real trainers to guide you and train you.
Big Daddy Ace Says: “Whilst researching this column on the internet I stumbled across an article written by a backyard wrestler by the name of Chris Lewis Of Wrestling Envy and this is an actual quote from his column: “It’s a constant rush of adrenaline when you’re working a match with your mate – just like on the “big boys” do on television.”
That quote really does show the normal mentality that most backyard wrestlers have, and if that was not enough here is another quote from the very same article: “They (journalists like myself) know nothing about the sport. They know nothing about the people who do it.”
Normal Mentality? So I guess me and my company are of abnormal mentality, right? I agree with you in what you said in the following paragraph, which in conclusion meant that this is not a sport. Well, I would have to argue that point. Yes, it is the hybrid known as Sports Entertainment, but let me ask you something.
How is backyard wrestling any different then from about 9 or 10 years ago when people wanted to be like the great Michael Jordan, boxers wanted to be like Mike Tyson, and Football fanatics wanted to be like their favourite NFL player? It really isn’t. Allow me to elaborate. When we wrestle, we do not idolize any WWE or former WCW/ECW superstar.
Dean Saliba Says: When I said “normal mentality” I meant “Conforming with or constituting a social norm”. Just to clear that up for the people who emailed me about it.
“They (journalists like myself) know nothing about the sport. They know nothing about the people who do it.” – That was a quote I took from Chris Lewis as well (I added the bracketed words).
I am pretty disappointed you resorted to this argument so soon in your email. Michael Jordan was a basketball player; I have taken a quote from my reply to another backyarder who pitched the same question to me:
“When was the last time a person broke their neck hitting a variation of a moonsault whilst playing American Football? I really do wish you would think before you type.
The fact of the matter is that getting injured whilst playing football, soccer or basketball does not give that sport a bad name like backyard wrestling does. Backyard wrestling gives professional wrestling a bad name and drags it into the mud.
When a young person is injured and it turns out that he did it performing a high-risk move in a backyard wrestling “match” it is not backyard wrestling that gets the blame it is the World Wrestling Entertainment and the smaller Indy promotions that get the blame.
There is nothing wrong with idolising a professional wrestler, many wrestlers in the business will happily tell you they idolised certain wrestlers growing up and have even incorporated some of their patented moves in their arsenal.
Just take a look at Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit who both idolised Shawn Michaels and Dynamite Kid respectfully.
Big Daddy Ace Says: These performers have gone through extensive training and have put many years into doing what they do and developing the characters they have chosen. We understand that it is all choreographed and planned out, and they are all on the constant flow of story-lines written up by WWE Writers. What do you think we do? We write out everything… story-lines and all.
Dean Saliba Says: How can you say that your “wrestlers” go through “extensive training” when all you do is copy moves out of a professional wrestling book? Can someone please enlighten me on this?
Big Daddy Ace Says: I think the people who do the crazy crap like flaming tables and barbed wire stuff give Backyard Wrestlers a bad reputation nation wide. But we do sometimes get people who want to be like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or “HBK” Shawn Michaels, “The Game” Triple H, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Kane, Scott Steiner, Sting, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, John Cena, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar, The Rock, and others. I mean sure, it’s a long shot and it is all played and acted out, but it is still fun.
Dean Saliba Says: I don’t think this is true at all, I have done hours of research on the internet and most of the backyard feds and backyarders I have come across boast of being hardcore and ultra-violent. In fact only about 3% of the backyarders I spoke to said they disliked the hardcore image backyard wrestling has.
If you dislike it then get properly trained and enter the professional wrestling business.
As I said before there is nothing wrong with wanting to emulate your favourite star, there are wrestlers in Japan and Great Britain who actually make their living by dressing up as WWE stars. But the fact still remains that they are all trained wrestlers….
Big Daddy Ace Says: It IS adrenaline that rushes through your veins when you are in the ring, wrestling with your partner in a backyard quest for the “gold”. Yes, we even went as far as making our own title belts. How? One of the wrestlers had Metal Fab in High School (that’s what we are, we are all Sophemores) and he goes there every day and makes the belts. We have 3 done (World, Cruiserweight and Hardcore) and 1 in the making (US). Why? Because we can.
Dean Saliba Says: I personally do not see how boasting that you make your own belts at school will turn my head in anyway….
Big Daddy Ace Says: You say that we cannot call it wrestling… well in my opinion we can. Some of us were on the High School Wrestling Team (or are currently on) and we do wrestle. Yes, hitting someone over the head or back with a street sign is not wrestling, although televised in Hard Core style matches. We realize this. That is why there is the Hard Core Championship.
Dean Saliba Says: That is correct, it is not wrestling, it is a load of minor’s messing around in a backyard doing dangerous things to each other whilst untrained.
Being part of the high school wrestling team does not make you a fully-trained professional wrestler, when Kurt Angle, Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar (amongst others) took the step up to professional wrestling they had to be trained….
Big Daddy Ace Says: What we do is we mix it all for that belt. You cannot win by beating someone senseless with a chair or other object. That will get you suspended from the company. I know I used that word loosely but that is in fact what we are. We are a group of teenagers who have a love and passion for the business and ART of Backyard Wrestling.
Dean Saliba Says: I will omit from going into the legality of calling yourself a company without filling in the relevant documentation.
You state that you and your fellow youths have “love and passion for the business” if this was indeed the case then what is stopping you from attending a nearby wrestling school and taking that “love and passion for the business” to a higher level?
Big Daddy Ace Says: I know I speak for the smaller percentage of wrestlers who are like myself where we do train and go through days and weeks and months training ourselves properly. Most of the moves we do are impossible to do on our own, and that’s the fault with a lot of the backyard wrestlers today.
They don’t realize that your opponent is in fact your partner, and you both need to help execute the move to make it look good and painful but actually fairly painless. Why do we want to make everything look good? Because we tape everything. That’s right, we tape it all.
I am currently in the works of setting them up into the DVD format with menus and whatnot. Believe me, it is a thrill to do what we do and I hope this clears up any and all doubt that there are backyard wrestlers who take everything into precaution, who outlaw moves and who make things easier for the performers, who train and train to get the moves perfected, who take each others health into consideration, and who are damn good at doing what we do.
Dean Saliba Says: Throughout your email you make several claims about being safe and well trained but how can you be safe when you have taught yourself and others from a book and have not been to a qualified professional wrestling school?
You seem to be a rather intelligent person and you show a lot of passion to partake in wrestling but what puzzles me is why would you continue to do it in your own backyard when you could attend a training school and perform in proper rings in front of an audience
The only rational explanation that I can think of is maybe you do not wish to pursue a career in professional wrestling and wish to do it as a hobby or a pastime. This is not unusual as I know of several people who hold down good jobs and then at the weekend they bounce around rings for various promotions.
Final Thought
As I have said in my previous two articles on this subject, I do not agree with backyard wrestling at all, I feel that it brings down the credibility of professional wrestling and no matter what backyarders think this is true.
Getting trained by a qualified training school is so bloody easy these days that it is just plain stupid to continue putting you and your opponent in these kind of hazardous situations, whether you “train” yourself from a book or you ban several moves from being performed the real danger still stays with you, that danger is someone attempting moves only a properly trained person should ever attempt to do.
Until next time.
