Five Questions with... Raven

FSM: For you, what attributes make a young wrestler easy to work with?
Raven: Who says any are easy to work with? I only enjoy working young wrestlers if they have half a clue - if they just listen and learn. If they don’t have a clue, and only want to “get their shit in”, they're a pain in the ass. Unfortunately, the minute anyone gets a little bit of star-power, it goes right to their head. I’ve never seen anyone that didn’t happen to at some point or another. Once they get past that - if they get past that - then it’s smooth sailing. Well, not smooth sailing, but an enormous hurdle is overcome.
When I work with younger guys, I try and slow them down, and make them see why it is more important to do stuff that makes sense, rather than stuff that will look good on YouTube. It annoys me sometimes when new guys think that it is lazy if a veteran doesn’t want to take all of their stuff. Why would I let someone drop me on my head 50 times when I can get more heat out of the audience by doing things that have good psychology behind them, and make more sense?

Some guys I meet on the indy scene are really good students, and respect what the veterans know enough to listen to us, and these are the guys that normally get far. They soak up our experience like a sponge, and then use it to make their own acts better. People like this, I enjoy working with; the others can end up being the start of a bad day for me.

How much of your match you do like to plan in advance?
It really depends on who I’m working with. I always plan the comeback and the finish; the finish is what the match is designed to build to, and the comeback is inextricably tied to it, so I think that has to be planned in advance as well. In fact, I’ve never seen a comeback that was made up in the ring go very well. It’s just too important to leave to chance.

In my seminars, I often tell the story about when I wrestled Alex Shane in Scotland. The promoter wanted a No Holds Barred match, but the audience wanted comedy that night. When we got out there, we both knew that what we had planned wasn’t going to work, so I tried something different. I took Alex’s belts, and gave them to a kid at ringside. Alex played along, took the belts back off the kid, and complained the referee. I got them back and put them on the kid again. Alex went and got them yet again, and it started to become funny to the crowd. The kid, who was about six, played along great, and I even got him to get in the ring. Eventually, it got funny enough that the audience was laughing real hard, and so was Alex, which made the crowd laugh even harder, because he totally broke character. As everyone was enjoying the moment, Alex got in the ring, and with a big, genuine smile on his face, shook my hand. The audience popped big as they felt “in on it”. At that second, Alex hit me with a low blow, told the fans, “Screw you!” and we instantly had them set up perfectly for our No Holds Barred match.

If we had not made it up on the fly, the match wouldn’t have got over the way it eventually did, the promoter would have not had the main event he paid for, and the fans would have not got what they wanted. Sometimes you need to go with the flow, even if you’ve planned most of your match. Being able to do this is what separates a good wrestler from a great worker.

What would you say is the secret to getting noticed by promoters, and gaining work worldwide?
Unfortunately, the secret to getting noticed by promoters and gaining national (and hopefully worldwide) attention is getting put over by the dirtsheets (Editor's note: rumour-mongers from dubious sources). They have way too big a say in what’s going on, especially since - and this is a very important point - what they like and what they put over is a style of wrestling that is not even remotely conducive to drawing money. So to get noticed, you have to wrestle a style that you will have to completely alter if you want any chance of being more than a mid-carder in WWE.

Word of mouth is also important. Having a respected pro put you over to a promoter has helped a lot of talents. Obviously, you have to be able to back it up with your actions and ability, but don’t overlook the importance of a good reference from an experienced veteran. Being smart to how you conduct your business is important, too; all promoters love wrestlers who promote the shows they are on, and of course, no-one wants to employ a no-name draw with a bad attitude.

Getting noticed is important, but staying on shows once you’ve had your first shot is just as important when it comes to getting noticed by the bigger leagues. If 10 people in pro wrestling think you’re a prick, that will become 50 people within a month, and one of those is likely to be someone you will want a job with sooner than you realise.

What mistakes do you see young wrestlers making either in the ring or backstage that could be affecting their reputation or work?

There’s not enough psychology, not enough selling, and a complete lack of respect for veterans and the sport. Know who it is that you’re going to meet on the shows that you’re on, and give them the impression that you respect what they have done, instead of the impression that you don’t. Don’t do this simply by sucking up, but actually learn to give a shit about the people who laid the foundations for you. No-one can teach you what they can, and all of them have been exactly where you are now, and have things that they would have done differently. Learn what those things are, and don’t believe you know better just because when you are their age, you think you'll be WWE champion. They all thought the same thing, no doubt.

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to find a wrestling persona that gets over?
Learn psychology, learn how to sell, and figure out how to accentuate your assets. Hide your deficiencies, be creative as hell, and once you figure out your character, know it inside and out. Know its likes, its dislikes, and how it would react in any situation, because if you don’t know that, you are just a gimmick, and gimmicks don’t last - characters do.

Very few people teach this as being more important than what you do in the ring, but it is. The top draws in wrestling brought in that money because they made a connection with fans via their character’s actions and traits. Don’t think a 820o splash will keep you over; sure, it might for six months, until someone does an 890o splash, but characters stick with people, and can be timeless. I cannot express enough just how many people are “working for the dirtsheets” now, and almost ignoring the character stuff. Why not try doing all the great in-ring stuff, but with an amazing character, too?

Surely that can’t be a bad idea, in order to get ahead of the pack?