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In the wake of SA seemingly going under I decided to check this forum to see how it was responding and to say my farewell as a longtime poster here-- but I saw the thread title and was curious to dig a little deeper to find out what was going on. I trained at Chikara more than 5 years ago for a time between 6 months to a year-- this was before its location changed from Huntingdon Valley to Philly. I was one of the only beginner students at the time although there were a couple students there before me that ended up quitting and a few others that joined who only lasted a few weeks. I was already in pretty good shape when I joined and just wanted to become a good worker as fast as possible. I'm proud to have trained with everyone I shared the ring with-- most of them are now wrestling in WWE and AEW and I'm so happy for them. I don't really have any dirt to dish on the sexual allegations but I can speak to what it was like training there in my own personal experience. I still prefer to remain anonymous both IRL and from my regular forum sn. I never posted about training there or ever mentioned that I was a worker because I felt that it went against an unwritten code of the wrestling, I know that Quack can be petty like Lowtax, and I honestly didn't wanna get doxxed or anything. I have all these paragraphs typed out but it's so loving long and I'm not sure if anyone would even care. I will paste a few selections and could elaborate or answer any questions later if anyone cares. First, I can confirm that Quack's persona off-camera is way different than how he presents himself in all of his videos. One of the allegations says that Quack would always talk poo poo about people behind their backs and give them stupid nicknames. This is true and always annoyed me. It also made me feel like I could never trust him. He did it to pretty much everyone even the people I thought he liked and were close to him. I have no doubt he must've done it to me too. But you know people who do that kind of poo poo typically have some serious mental issues and when you're in the business on the indies that long-- you've probably seen or done some pretty heinous poo poo that stays with you. I will say that I do think he's extremely knowledgeable about professional wrestling and I've respected him for that. I do believe that can provide you with the education and skillset to become a good worker and I think Chikara at times has been grossly under-appreciated for its depth of talented workers. But he's a worker and he's definitely a manipulator. I want to be fair to him and say that I do respect his passion for professional wrestling. I see him in those Til we Make it videos and want to believe he's less of a cheap rear end in a top hat than he was when I trained at his school. That said, I trained at the Wrestle Factory in Huntingdon Valley before it was relocated to Philly many years ago. In that building, there was this steel bracket hanging from the ceiling above the ring that was strapped and pulled off to the side by a bungie cord. Should anything have caused that bungie to snap or come loose while we were training in the ring, holy poo poo. In general, I'd see Quack no more than about once a week but there were many weeks where he wasn't there and I didn't particularly mind that too much because I felt like sometimes he'd spend too much time focusing on bullshit that wasn't important for anyone at the beginner level--- given that I could never get him to let me take the in-ring exam to get out of the 101 class as many times as I asked him. On the days he was there, sometimes we barely trained at all and instead spent a bunch of time doing these stupid little oddjobs like putting stamps on postcards and poo poo-- or folding shirts to sell for an upcoming show. Maybe it was just a night that Quack just didn't feel like bumping or something though idk. That said, there were times I felt he loved me and there were times I felt like he hated me. Sometimes after a weekend show, he would have us setup the ring before class and when learning to setup the ring-- I was always told to be careful about the turnbuckle eyelits not being screwed in far enough which could cause a rope to pop and get loose-- which if it's the top rope could be very dangerous when you're hitting the ropes. One particular day he seemed to be in a bad mood and wanted me and another guy to tighten the turnbuckles before we got started which wasn't real uncommon. After a few minutes I noticed there was an eyelit that was barely threaded-in and was on the verge of popping off so I grabbed the tool to start tightening it because I didn't want anyone to fall out of the ring and hurt themselves. Before we began tumbles, Quack saw me tightening the eyelit and flew into a huge fit, calling me a loving idiot or whatever--- and shouting over me to get out of the ring as I tried to explain to him that the eyelit was on the verge of popping out. (I also want to mention that there were no crash pads outside of the ring or even a thin mat-- just cold hard cement floor. One of my instructors now in AEW even expressed his annoyance that there were no crash pads provided at all to protect us). One time I was training with a member of the roster and Quack conspicuously walked over to hand him a white envelope and made sure we heard him express his "thanks". When Quack walked away, the guy turned to show me what was in the envelope was actually just a check and receipts for the ring-truck the guy rented for the weekend show. Apparently Quack wanted us to think he was paying the guy for working the show that weekend. It was so carny and like the classic shenanigans of cheap wrestling promoter-- I actually found it amusing but my compatriot wasn't so amused. There was only one time I ever saw a girl train at the Wrestle Factory when I was there, she was an active member of the roster at the time but I only ever saw her work on one Chikara show the whole time I was there. The time I trained with her it was just me, her, and one other instructor. I believe she's long-since retired but I do remember reading a rumor about her and Quack-- it might have even been from a previous Chikara thread on this very site. In any case, it didn't seem like the allegation came from her directly and at the time I did find the idea of her being involved with Quack in that way to be rather preposterous. But I'm reading some of the allegations even as I've been typing this and one of them does sound super familiar to this particular girl I'm describing but even theaw allegations present as being not-isolated incidents so I really can't say for sure. I wanna say I appreciated all of my instructors at Chikara. I also wanna note that Hallowicked was pretty much universally loved by everyone and praised as a saint in the wrestling business-- and I have to agree! Just from my training sessions and experiences with him-- he was always very careful, took a personal interest in helping you get better, and he never abused his position. Aside from his gifted talents in the ring, he's a real athlete and seemed to have a great stable life that I respect and admire. I can't imagine that any of the allegations that I've read could possibly be about him and I hope he is picked up by AEW or WWE should he choose to continue wrestling as a possible career path. I have more written out but I guess I'll just leave it there for now. If I don't say it on my main account, it's been great posting in the pagoda with you guys over the years and hopefully we'll be able to reconnect down the road or in Valhalla.
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Jun 26, 2020 05:38
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MorrisBae posted:Thanks for sharing! I never saw him at the Wrestle Factory when I trained, I never rode with him, and we never shared a room. Outside of seeing him at weekend shows, the only interaction I ever had with him was after someone asked me to hold onto a box of audio equipment or merch coming home from a weekend show. He came by my place a few days later to pick it up and we small talked for a few minutes before he left. I had actually forgotten about him until I saw him in AEW. My impression was that he was tight with Quack but I think he'd be a perfect example of someone Quack would say disrespectful poo poo about behind their back despite their loyalty to him. When it came to referees, there was a ref they had Dan who I thought was just as good-- and I know he even trained to become a pretty good wrestler himself. Super talented, smart, and great human being. I can't say enough nice things about him.
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Jun 26, 2020 21:08
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Troxartas posted:Did you cross paths with Chuck Taylor at all? I know he was one of the trainers ther for a while, but that might of been when they were in Philly Yes he was one of my instructors although he wasn't there every week. I really like him as a person and I'm glad he's finally made it to tv. He's been in the business since he was 14 so it's been a long time coming for him. Since yesterday I've actually gone into #SpeakingOut thread and read more of the allegations and while I'm not surprised at all at what I'm seeing-- I just want to say that I do not suspect him at all or anyone from the Colony of that type of behavior. I've shared a room with most of them and and they were pretty much always talking and thinking about the professional wrestling business. That said, I do believe the allegations; I did ride with other wrestlers who talked about trying to pick up girls on twitter and I did give rides regularly to someone who had a gf that even got my roommate's # from a show she attended as a fan before I moved there. A little creepy? After reading the allegations put forward--- yeah definitely. I believe the victims and I do have my suspicions but I can't charge anyone based on those circumstances alone. I remember one of my first days of training Chuck Taylor was there and they were teaching us how to take a splash while laying the ground. You basically keep your arms straight by your sides and raise your upper and lower body a little to brace for the impact. He warned me it would be bad if I relaxed. So I'm braced on the ground and ready for him to splash me but for some reason it felt like so much time passed and nothing was happening. I thought to myself oh I guess they're not ready to start so I'll just relax for a moment until we begin-- and as soon as I stop bracing he loving splashes on top of me and yeah it took the wind out of my sails. It wasn't intentional or anything just poor timing on my part-- but after that I never made that mistake again. I was ALWAYS braced up whenever taking a splash from that point onward. I think I won him over pretty quickly when they were showing us the 5 bumps. The other couple of beginner students who were there when I joined were not really in great shape and they only did the bare minimum before going back outside of the ring. I was hungry, dying to get in the ring my whole life, and began to practice bumping over and over-- especially the flat back bump. After about 5 minutes or so I asked if anyone else wanted to jump in and said I was sorry for hogging the ring. That made him laugh and I think he took a liking to me after that. Although when I was at the merch table at a show once he tried to set me up by standing next to me and saying how much of a hard rear end Drew Gulak was and trying to get me to agree with him. I would just smile and shake my head at him. I knew he was trying to test me and I was pretty sure they were good friends. Drew Gulak showed up about once a month and another student did warn me that he was the toughest trainer there. He was very tough but he was fair and didn't take liberties when he totally could have. What I am most proud of from from training at Chikara was knowing that I managed to impress him and earn his respect as a student-- the last few times I interacted with him at shows he was actually very kind and put me over on camera to another wrestler who had his mom recording us during intermission. So yeah, I'm happy to see those guys doing well now. Kittenmasque fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Jun 27, 2020 |
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Jun 27, 2020 03:57
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