TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
TNA News
TNA News: TNA champion explains survival and longevity in pro wrestling; what younger stars are missing Jan 12, 2009 - 2:49:15 PM
In part two of our coverage of Booker T's in-depth interview with Ch. 14 in Carolina from over the weekend, TNA Legends champion Booker T has plenty of advice to share with pro wrestlers who want to know how to survive in wrestling when no one is looking out for a wrestler other than him or herself.
Booker is from the generation of wrestlers who have accepted no unions, no pensions, and no net to brace a fall as part of the pro wrestling industry. As a result, Booker says he's learned how to survive and he's trying to pass along that knowledge to students at his wrestling school in Houston and to younger TNA talent.
"I'm giving them advice as far as what they need to do to become stars; what they need to do to create a fanbase; what they need to do create longevity," Booker told Ch. 14 in Charlotte. "Wrestling is not one of those businesses where have a pension - something at the end of the rainbow that's going to take care of us. We have to take care of ourselves."
Booker said he tries teaching the younger talent how to be a businessman and not buy into the accolades and nice things fans say because it could be gone very quickly if a wrestler doesn't plan for the future.
"They're not hiring a lot of out-of-work wrestlers," Booker said with a smirk. "We got to know how to take care of ourselves. ... We are businessman, so I try to teach these guys to make sure we pay our taxes, make sure we have a financial advisor, make sure our accountant isn't a crooked guy trying to take our money. A lot of times, these guys really don't realize this."
FYI: Booker T runs his PWA Academy in Downtown Houston, just minutes away from where the WrestleMania 25 activities will be taking place in April. Booker's PWA promotion runs monthly shows in Pasadena, Tex. and the next show is Saturday night with special guests LAX.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
