In the spirit of Father's Day, I'm going to share some professional wrestling-related experiences I've had over the years with my father and grandfather.
My dad Jeff always has been supportive of my passion of wrestling and respected the performers as phenomenal athletes. But that's pretty much where his interest in wrestling ends. Let's just say he never jumps to grab a ticket and go with me to a show, and one time he did, he seemed more excited to learn they sold beer at the event than the event itself.
My grandfather Jim was the key person in my life when it came to wrestling, specifically to me eventually making it my career. I've spoke on various occasions about his time working with local shows and promotions throughout the state of Maryland. He was a right-hand-man type of guy always there to help out. Many of the promoters and Maryland Athletics State Commission guys were his friends.
Driving George “The Animal” Steele from airport to hotel and venue was one of the most memorable experiences. Past his days in WWE, Steele still liked to tour, perform and pick up a payday. Watching the transformation as he'd go from this gentle man chatting to my grandfather in the car to becoming “The Animal” was a huge eye opener. Things like this gave a 9-year-old boy a clear understanding of professional wrestling being about people playing characters.
I remember one conversation when he was telling us how he'd met this young professional wrestler. He said the guy looked a lot like him with his body type — bald and signature body hair. He told us he wanted to have him billed in the business as his son. That young wrestler was Matt Bloom, who went on to be Albert/A-Train/Lord Tensai/Jason Albert, and is now the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center.
So many other great memories spent with my grandfather around legends like the original Doink or him getting a laugh out of Bam Bam Bigelow making a point to scare me. Time and experiences shared that I'll cherish for a lifetime. I've never been able to thank my grandfather enough for them. I have so much appreciation for him and what I got to be involved in. For me, these experiences were even better than the biggest Batman fan getting to meet Bruce Wayne. I got to hang out in the bat cave as he transformed.
A more recent wrestling memory dates to 2011, my first big match as a performer on the independent wrestling scene. The main event featured me in the corner of Kevin Nash versus the man who went on to be Luke Harper in WWE.
The show was in Cleveland. It was on Internet Pay-Per-View. Nash was a guy my mom had always liked, and I had seen many times as a kid. Mom and dad, yes dad, traveled from Maryland to Cleveland and sat front row.
The show went off great. Thousands of people attended. One match got chaotic and went out into the ringside crowd. In the middle of all the action, someone accidentally spilled a beer down my dad's back. So even at that match, he got his beer after all.
I call that wrestling irony. Happy Father's Day!
Justin LaBar is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7949 or jlabar@tribweb.com.
