NINE QUESTIONS WITH CUEBALL CARMICHAEL (FSM 92; April 2013)

FSM: Did you have to convince your trainer to teach you about the business? If so, how difficult was it to do that?
Cueball Carmichael: I broke in back in 1982-83 in Hawaii. I asked a promoter there about getting trained, but he laughed at me. I then went to a second school that also tried to discourage me. Three or four times a week I was pushed away before I finally found out where the wrestlers trained, and after I showed up three times, they realised I wasn't going away, and invited me into the ring. I had sold everything I owned, left every friend I had, and moved 5,000 miles just to do that.

What did kind of training did you have to do? How hard was it?
From the day I started at The Palama Settlement Gym in Honolulu, it was the single hardest thing I ever did. I had played semi-pro [American] football for three years in New York, but the wrestling training made that seem like child's play. We didn't train in a ring; it was four ringposts at ground level, anchored in cement over a canvas mat, with a few inches of sand under it, and concrete underneath that.
I can never put into words how physical and brutal it was. After a few days, the guys would line up and get in the ring with me until they were tired, then the next one, and the next one, without me ever getting out.
After about eight weeks of training, we had a dinner to celebrate "High Chief" Peter Maivia's birthday, even though he had passed away the year before. I sat to the left of his wife, Lia, and after dinner she started a toast to Peter. It moved to her right, and after a few people toasted him, I realised it was going to eventually come to me. I can't recall what I said, except after I was done, Lia stood up and said, "The haole (slang for "white") boy is now family."
The next day in training, it was different; I was taught, and I was respected. I will never forget that night.

There are a couple of schools in the UK that still make rookies learn amateur wrestling before pro style. Do you believe that's still important these days?
Five years into my career, I had moved from Hawaii to Virginia, where I contacted Lou Thesz and attended his academy. I spent eight months there, and Lou had us learn all phases of amateur wrestling, shoot-style, and a little hooking. He said: "When you're in the ring with someone, I want you to let them know that if it was a shoot, there would be no question you could beat them. When you leave here, no-one will be able to take advantage of you." And he was right.
Needless to say, when I had a school and trained people such as Christian York and Joey Mercury, they were taught to protect themselves. I feel it is imperative to train in the amateur style for basics and for protection. I trained those guys in 1997, and the business has changed so much, but there is not nearly enough of the tough training or basics taught anymore.

How long did it take for you to begin to feel confident in your ability in the ring?
It took a while after leaving Lou's school, as it was a huge adjustment for me to go back to a "work" style, and guys didn't like it as physical as Lou was teaching it. I would say that I felt confident when I had about 300 matches under my belt.

Is there one thing in particular that you see is often missing in inexperienced wrestlers?
I honestly see several things. First off is training, which for the most part is lacking in depth and scope. I see guys on shows that have trained for three months, whereas it took me eight months at five days a week before I had enough skill to do this at a competitive level - a show in front of a crowd is nowhere to practise.
I also see young guys go to the ring in makeshift gear, sometimes without proper boots, and then when they come back to the locker-room, they mark out about all the nonsensical crap they did, never worrying about what the fans thought - they are just happy they got their 50 highspots in. People need to realise how this business works, and it is simple: the fans are the boss, and they pay you - the promoter is nothing more than a middle-man. The fan is the customer, and we make the customer happy.
I need to say one thing for the veterans, too: you need to take on a mentoring approach to these kids, because in most cases, they don't know they're not ready, and there are no bad students, only bad teachers. Guys like myself, and one of my best friends, Manny Fernandez, have accepted this, and now I get five or six matches a week sent to me by young guys to review. It's a very long process, as I watch the match once with no sound, then watch it back with sound, so I can judge the crowd reaction before I hear it. I write down where I think the match needed a pop, and where it needed some oohs and ahhs. I'll then watch it a third time for a final critique, so a 10-minute match is over two hours of time for me, but that's called giving back to the business. This is the only way to improve it, because bitching doesn't work - I tried that! (laughs)

How much did you work outside of your home territory, and did you find wrestling a different style valuable?
I was fortunate in that I lived centrally in the Northeast of the USA for many years, so I was on the cusp of the Southern areas, but also within eight hours of Atlanta and eight hours of Boston. I wrestled all over; in the South, we called it in the ring and guys were generally light. Up North, they liked to go over everything in the back, and worked much stiffer. In the MidWest, they liked an amateur style that was very tight.
I lived where I did because of the proximity, hence the reason I hate it when someone bitches and whines that they have to go 200 miles to train, or drive four hours to a show. Hell, a four-hour trip to me is like going to the grocery store.
It was crucial to be exposed to all these different styles, because at the WWF, there were guys from all over, and you had better be able to work any style, or your time there would be very short indeed.

Do you have suggestions on how a wrestler can study the business when not training?
This is the greatest age to be able to study, yet most guys just watch the wrong stuff. When I got in, you were lucky to get a fifth generation VHS tape; now, with YouTube and all the social media sites, and places that sell DVDs, you have the world at your feet. I recommend anything from the '70s and '80s in the UWF, NWA, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling - watch, learn, and understand what those guys understood: that the fans come first, that you've got to make each other look great, and that there is a way to work a money match.

The subject of working for free to gain experience is a big topic in British wrestling. Where do you stand on this?
You have to do what the market deems. Here in the States, if you work for free, it's usually because you're not good enough to get paid or get booked on a paying show. However, when I was in the WWF from 1996-2000, they paid us enhancement guys twice as much as some guys make today, so the business has taken a step backwards. If the market says you're skilled, and other skilled guys are working for free, you might have to do it to get experience. I don't agree with it, but I have the luxury of saying no if I get low-balled.

Is there one piece of advice that you received as a young wrestler that still applies to how you work today?
Psychology - if you want to make it in this business, you better learn it, make it second nature, and be able to walk and talk a match that makes perfect sense, and tells a story.
Then and only then are you not just a wrestler, but a real worker.