By Derek Burgan, Torch Media Guy

Torch DVD Review
In the Ring with Elix Skipper




Torch readers know what a big fan I was of the first two volumes of RF Video’s In the Ring series. Homicide’s DVD had a shoot interview while walking through the streets of New York along with a training session with the Notorious 187 teaching in-ring moves with indie superstar Azrieal. Steve Corino’s interview took place while driving through the neighborhood he grew up in, while Steve’s training session took place at the Pro Wrestling Unplugged’s Animal House and centered on the difference between “American style” pro wrestling and the “Japanese style.” Volume three stars TNA star Elix Skipper, who perhaps did the spot of the year at Turning Point, when Elix did a hurricanrana off the top of the Six Sides of Steel cage after tight rope walking the sides of the cage. Yes, it was insane as it sounds.

On to the DVD!

Unlike the previous two editions of Get in the Ring, Skipper started right off in the Animal House talking to a group of indie wrestlers. Skipper said that he started off at the WCW Power Plant and that he trained for one full year before being put on TV. Skipper was never taught how to behave backstage, or what the “unwritten rules of wrestling” were, and that is what he wanted to advise the youngsters on. Skipper talked about every aspect, including even minor things such as what locker to choose (just find an empty spot, but if someone says that it is their’s, give it up). Skipper explained that being quiet because of whatever reason (fear or shyness, for example) can cause people to think you’re an asshole. Be sure to introduce yourself to everyone in the locker room.

Even if you are not booked on a show, Skipper advises to still say hello to everyone. And if you get in the ring before a show? “Don’t f--- around.” Skipper said to treat the ring seriously because there are others who need it to practice. Get into that ring and you better be ready to work by running the ropes and doing spots. Always be on your best behavior as you never know who is watching and you certainly don’t want their first impression to be “what the f--- are they doing in the ring?!” Skipper said to be professional and to always be on your best behavior. This means not saying anything negative until you are in the car leaving the show.

Elix talked about the “Go position” (a/k/a the Gorilla position) and explained how it worked in TNA as the people working the position have the power to cut the time of a match just as the wrestlers are about to go out. When a wrestler is “on deck,” Skipper advised them to be ready and to have any questions asked and answered well before hand. “Don’t assume anything.”

Elix "Prime Time" Skipper

Elix asked the students how much ring time is in a match that is four minutes long. People guessed two, two and a half minutes, but Skipper explained that when wrestlers are told they have a four minute match than they have four minutes in the ring. Everything else, such as promos, theme music and the like are added in after the fact. The most important spot in a match is the “go home” spot and Skipper stressed that wrestlers should always build up to the go home spot, no matter what may arise during the match. Sometimes wrestlers will be told during the match to go an extra two minutes, or get two minutes taken away, and they should be prepared under all costs to make sure they don’t forget to build up to the go home spot. Skipper had no idea they could cut time from a match when he first started and told the students not to panic if something like that happens.

Skipper told the students that they have to learn to mat wrestle first and the stuff like walking on the ropes is icing on the cake. Elix advised them all to work on their cardio because “if you can’t breathe, you can’t think.” Skipper also said not to be so focused on the spots in the ring that you can’t hear the crowd’s response. Interacting with fans is a big part of the wrestler’s job. Skipper takes wrestling as serious as a heart attack and said that he got in the business eight years ago while adding “it was hard then and it’s even harder now.” Because the WWE is the only real game in town, they have the pick of the litter and you have to be the best at what you do if you want to get called up to the big show. One thing that was cool about Skipper is that he told these kids the facts straight up without any sugar coating. If you sucked, you weren’t going to the WWE and you might as well get that out of your head early.

Would you believe that before wrestling, Skipper was a manager of McDonald’s? It’s true, and not only that, he loved his job. And here I thought it was odd hearing Molly Holly say how much she loved working at Subway. Forget the indies like ROH and PWG, I think we need to scour fast food chains for the next big thing in wrestling. One day Elix didn’t get the raise he felt he deserved, so he quit to pursue his dream of becoming a wrestler and headed to the Power Plant. Skipper had a leg up on most because he had already been training in areas such as kickboxing, karate and other disciplines while also hitting the weights. Elix studied wrestling in his off time so that he was prepared to wrestle before he even started, but that didn’t stop Elix from being scared shitless when doing matches one month into his training. It wasn’t long before wrestling matches became natural to him and the ring became his new home. Skipper said that the students should be practicing their promos at al times, as that is the only way to get better at delivering them. I’m pretty sure that was Mick Foley’s advice in his first book as well.

Skipper said there were “no excuses” in terms of getting your body ready for wrestling. That means no eating donuts or saying “I’m too tired” to hit the gym. Make getting in top shape a priority. Skipper brings along Powerbars and home made meals with him when he knows he’ll be out for a while and needs to eat right. Skipper eats every two to two and a half hours and reminded the students that wrestlers don’t look the way they do because of luck, it’s because of hard work. Elix later went in-depth in the area of nutrition and detailed a week in his life in term of how he prepares meals. Skipper also detailed his workout regimen. The “no excuses” theme continued as it was stressed that if your upper body is hurt, you can still work the legs. Skipper is also serious in the gym and often wears a walkman while working out, which he doesn’t even turn on all the time. This reminded me of the fake phone calls that Jeff Jarrett, Jeremy Borash and others make while walking through areas that are populated with wrestling fans.

Skipper said that training for wrestling an hour a day simply wasn’t enough and if a student believed it was, they were fooling themselves. The keys to succeeding to wrestling, according to Prime Time, are hard work and being in the right place at the right time. When going to a wrestling show, a wrestler should always be prepared. “You go to a wrestling show and you don’t wear your knee pads? You’re an idiot.”

Skipper explains how to succeed in wrestling. Basically just watch what Teddy Hart does, and then do the opposite

One funny story came when Skipper was told that his gimmick in WCW was going to be “Prime Time,” after NFL player Deion Sanders. Management in WCW asked Skipper if he knew who Sanders was and he replied, “Oh yeah!” In reality, Skipper had no idea who Sanders was. WCW management asked Skipper how long he would need to work on his gimmick and Sanders said he could have the majority of it done by the next day. Skipper immediately asked former Natural Born Thrilla Mike Sanders who the hell Deion Sanders was. By the next day, Skipper had studied Deion’s entire career and showed that he understood Deion’s “Prime Time” character. Skipper worked on becoming more arrogant and cocky, which impressed WCW.

WCW, like many work places, had an Old Guard very protective of their spots. One of Skipper’s trainers, Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker, told the new guys to let the older wrestlers blow themselves up in the ring so that in time they would have to let the new guys get some spots in as they caught their breath. Skipper then took questions from the students. One asked about the six sided TNA ring, which Skipper said wasn’t all that different from a regular four sided ring. Skipper than said that when you hit the ropes, you just hit the one across from you, while adding that people make it harder (working in TNA’s ring) than it really is. Skipper said that he wanted to try a criss cross with three wrestlers at once, but no one wanted to screw up the spot on a PPV.

Skipper said that when the TNA wrestlers were originally told of an All Steel Cage PPV, they to-a-person thought it was a stupid idea and doomed to flop. Then the boys got together to make sure they wouldn’t repeat spots, and as we all found out at Turning Point, it turned out pretty damn good. I’ll admit when I am wrong, and I was way off on that PPV as TNA did a great job. That said, I still think it was a dumb idea.

A big theme that Skipper constantly tried to reinforce was the idea that cruiserweights need to sell more so that their moves mean something. Skipper thinks that the perception of “no selling spot monkeys” is what keeps the whole division down. Skipper said, “sometimes we kill our own things” when describing matches where there are too many spots in a row. I can certainly see what Elix is trying to say here as I’ve seen several matches that had more exciting moves in a ten second period than Hogan/HBK had in their entire match at SummerSlam, but all of those great highspots became instantly forgettable. Skipper talked about Tough Enough and said that the wrestlers who win those WWE contracts don’t need to be hated on as they need to prove themselves just like everyone else, if not more so. The moral of Zach Gowen’s story was told as Skipper talked about how Gowen hit it big but is now back working indies, so keep those egos in check. Skipper talked about TNA’s Gut Check, where the winners got $4000, a year of training and matches on TV. What ever happened to that?

We came full came full circle to Skipper’s time at the Power Plant in WCW and Elix talked off all the crap they were put through to weed out the group. Remember, this was during the Monday Night Wars and Batista was one of the guys cut by WCW. Can you imagine? Skipper said that on the first day of his class there were 33 students. The second day there were 15. Day three? Only nine remained. By the last day only Elix and Reno were left. Insane.

Time to GET IN THE RING!

***Okay, next up was the training part of the DVD as Skipper got into the ring with several wrestling students. Skipper told the kids that it was “the little things” that made wrestling look real and not stuff like back flips. Skipper explained how some wrestlers did things during a match and asked, “would you do that in a real fight?” Elix was big on making things look real. I can see that, to a point. I mean it is really odd coming from a cruiserweight considering that most of their arsenal would never be seen in a real fight. How many hurricanranas have been done on the top of UFC’s Octagon? In a real fight no one would ever go to the top rope, but “the Internet” (© Bruce Mitchell) goes apeshit every time anyone in wrestling “bans” top rope moves, whether it be Bill Watts in WCW or WWE telling Paul London not to do the 450.

Skipper shows how to properly execute a lock up

After learning lock ups (which isn’t as easy as it looks), the class did an arm drag drill as Skipper explained the different ways the move can be done and why he does them the way he does. Skipper also showed what can happen when even a simple move such as that goes wrong. I enjoyed how Skipper talked throughout his training session and I think he could have a great career as a trainer if he stops wrestling actively. It was great when Skipper would catch a kid not paying attention and quickly call him on it, not to make the kid look bad, but to stress that it’s important to always pay attention. It was also explained why it is important to do as much of the match as possible in the center of the ring, and now that I’ve watched this DVD I see examples every time I watch the WWE or indie DVDs that prove Skipper right. When you don’t work in the center of the ring, wrestlers taking a move can end up too close to the ropes, which makes them look like goofs when they eventually get out of the move and then get entangled in the ropes.

Skipper explained that the most important guy in the ring is the wrestler taking the move, as he is putting his trust in his opponent not to kill him. This is probably why everyone went apeshit on Teddy Hart back at ROH’s Main Event Spectacles. Skipper talked about how many wrestlers keep their arms down while they are in the ring when they should always be keeping them up and compared to boxing and MMA, where you would never see someone drop their arms. Skipper did a great job explaining how tall wrestlers have a tendency to “shrink” when wrestling smaller guys. “If he’s small, that’s his problem.” I loved that line. Elix said that the ring is elevated to make the wrestlers appear larger than life and they shouldn’t be doing things to take away from that. Good point.

Skipper went into a drill that went from a lock up to grabbing an opponent’s arm. Believe it or not, very interesting stuff as Skipper showed how to make it look like a “real” move and explained what can make it look dumb. Elix went on to show how to use that move to segue to other moves while talking about what you need to exaggerate to look good. Next drill up was a drop toe hold into a front face lock as Skipper explained why working loose is so much better than working stiff. There were varying degrees of skill in the students, but Skipper kept drilling into the students that the only way to improve was to get into the ring.

Skipper watches as students exectue moves

Skipper continued on and went through reversals, clotheslines and several other wrestling maneuvers. As much as I enjoyed Homicide and Corino, Skipper’s training is by far and away the best for anyone who wants to see what it is like to train and become a wrestler. Skipper explains everything in an easy to understand manner and constantly makes sure the students are understanding the “whys” and not just memorizing moves. I enjoyed how Skipper would go on to working on a new move, but start with an old one and made sure the students remembered what he taught. For example, Skipper always kept going back to a lock up and made the students get it right, each and every time. Skipper stressed that it is the basics which build the foundation of a solid wrestler.

Overall Thoughts: While Skipper’s Q&A session is interesting, as he covers a lot of the “unwritten” wrestling rule book that no one ever seems to talk about, where this DVD shines is in the training session. This DVD should be bought by any person that is interested in seeing what it takes before they even think about going to see a trainer. This review does not do justice to how good Skipper is at explaining the basics of prowrestling without making you feel stupid for not knowing. Skipper was tough, but fair, on the students in the ring and it was actually neat to see the different skill levels of the students and how they “learned” each new drill. I was always a big fan of Tough Enough though, so maybe I’m biased. After watching this edition of In The Ring, I left with a newfound respect for Skipper and am now looking forward to seeing his matches in TNA. This two disc DVD Clicking HERE or heading over to www.RFVideo.com and checking out all the other DVDs they have to offer.

Special Thanks to the Puroresu Power Hour’s Keith Lipinski and the Torch’s Mike Roe for their help with this review.

Upcoming Reviews:
Jeremy Wall’s UFC book
DOI Shoot Interview with Sean Hanson
Hardcore Homecoming: Platinum Edition
Straight Shootin’ with Bobby Heenan & Jim Cornette vol. 3

Recent Reviews:
101 Reasons Not to be a Pro Wrestler
Ultimate Insiders 3: with Bruce Mitchell and James Caldwell
Nora Greenwald’s (a/k/a Molly Holly) Shoot DVD
UPW: Overload (with five star Jon Heidenreich bonus)

Torch Media Guy Derek Burgan has been writing for the PWTorch website for almost four years. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at: derek@gumgod.com

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