Insider
Sports Entertainment
TRAINING AS A PROFES-
SIONAL WRESTLER
Professional wrestling is a blur to most people’s minds, as confusion
reigns over what is really is. Kimberley Self helps introduce and explain
what professional wrestling is and how it’s changed life for the better.
Professional wres-
tling. A two-word
phrase that gets as-
sociated with violence
and aggression, or in
contrast, the harsh
adjective of fake.
But as a trainee pro-
fessional wrestler
myself, it’s nothing
more than a mixture
of sports and enter-
tainment combined.
Our end product is a
show—it isn’t a gym-
nast competition, a
mixed martial arts
contest or a 90-
minute game. Each
match has a story
which we tell from
our structure and in-
ring characters,
which can reflect our
personality or allow
us to escape into uto-
pia.
Some wrestlers thrive
on their energetic ex-
citable personalities
whereas some are
innovative and create
whole new characters
to explore different
perspectives.
Some guys flip about
into blurs and some
guys like to throw
people around for
fun. The point is, is
that wrestling is real-
ly for everyone. Every
shape, every size and
every ability.
As with every other
hobby, professional
wrestling has its obsta-
cles and coming pain-
free *definitely* isn’t
one of them.
Our training allows us to
perform the moves
safely to an extent, but
we adapt to the pain
whilst forgetting that
every time our back
slams against the can-
vas, it’s doing everlast-
ing damage to our bod-
ies.
The logo
for School
of Slam, a
wrestling
school
that has
regular
training
and shows
for the lo-
cals in and
around
North East
Essex.
When I first begun
training back in the
summer of 2017,
even little motions
like running off of
the ropes caused
bruises to appear
on my upper back.
It still takes a lot of
repetition, practice
and endurance to
nail even the most
basic of moves, as
well as being able
to understand the
psychology of what
moves you’re put-
ting your opponent
through. The ques-
tion always asked is
why?
We train week in
and week out,
adapting charac-
ters, working on
move sets and run-
ning through drills
of new and old se-
quences. On top of
our weekly training,
sometimes we have
the luxury of train-
ing with some of
the world’s best
professional wres-
tlers in exclusive
seminars at our lo-
cal training school.
We’re treated well,
the list is exhaus-
tive!
The College magazine online: sixthformmag.blogspot.co.uk