"Roll like a 10p, not a 50p coin."
With a 4500-mile hop across the pond, it’s Robbie Brookside's first time back teaching his school since it reached the milestone of a brand new 18ft training ring. Fresh from the recently completed NXT UK Tour, Robbie usually spends his time in Florida coaching at WWE’s world renowned Performance Centre. On the 19th of June he began the seminar in Leicester, England with rolling drills.
Students were edged beyond their comfort zones with new rolling techniques designed to gauge their ‘ring awareness’. Diagonally from one turnbuckle to the other over their right shoulder, left, backwards over both shoulders and even with a 360 jump in-between for good measure.
“I haven’t rolled over my left in two years!” exclaimed one perplexed student. Robbie turned his back on the ring, explaining that he should not even be able to hear the rolls. They should be smooth like a 10p rolling, not clunky and loud like a 50p coin.
Next, the seminar continued with a discussion on match length. Consider this scenario:
You're waiting behind the curtain... Heart is thumping and your palms are sweaty. Your match time is cut from 12 minutes to 4. What do you do?
A) Retain your fantastic moveset... But rush to squeeze 12 minutes into 4.
B) Simplify. Evoke as much emotion as possible from the few moves remaining.
C) Drop everything. Walk your dog out to the ring. Cut a 4-minute promo on the dog.
If you chose option B... Correct! Don't rush, Robbie stressed. It means more to bring out true feeling from fewer moves than to jam pack a match with too much material and rush it all. And so began the next exercise: "Get out of a headlock for one full minute". Despair could be seen on the faces of entrapped students, trying desperately to escape as their heads were squeezed and squashed. At the minute mark they executed their reversals, seeking retribution from their opponent as they then applied a headlock of their own. It was now their opponent’s turn to escape.
As the day progressed and more exercises were practised, Robbie took time to teach us about the attitude he wished the school to have. No matter who we work with, he wanted us to help people. Even help the people you cannot stand. Our job is to treat the ring with respect, for instance by wiping our feet before we enter. The ring is also where we encourage other people and bring them up. It’s the complete opposite to the way Robbie himself broke into the Wrestling Business – with painful ribbing in the locker room, verging not only on bullying but cruelty. This past experience undoubtedly drives him to want to put back a helpful, kind attitude into the school and the business as a whole, drawing something positive from the bad. He explained that one of his proudest memories from his Leicester-based school is after he learnt that two young students overcame their classroom bully with the confidence they gained from promo classes at training.
The seminar wrapped up with a promo class to finish. 30 seconds speaking in the ring facing a camera - nerve wracking to some but a fantastic way to build confidence. Welsh, Finnish, Ugandan, Polish, Spanish, English and Irish – many dialects were heard that day as Robbie wanted us to enjoy where we had come from and show off our roots.
With a 4500-mile hop across the pond, it’s Robbie Brookside's first time back teaching his school since it reached the milestone of a brand new 18ft training ring. Fresh from the recently completed NXT UK Tour, Robbie usually spends his time in Florida coaching at WWE’s world renowned Performance Centre. On the 19th of June he began the seminar in Leicester, England with rolling drills.
Students were edged beyond their comfort zones with new rolling techniques designed to gauge their ‘ring awareness’. Diagonally from one turnbuckle to the other over their right shoulder, left, backwards over both shoulders and even with a 360 jump in-between for good measure.
“I haven’t rolled over my left in two years!” exclaimed one perplexed student. Robbie turned his back on the ring, explaining that he should not even be able to hear the rolls. They should be smooth like a 10p rolling, not clunky and loud like a 50p coin.
Next, the seminar continued with a discussion on match length. Consider this scenario:
You're waiting behind the curtain... Heart is thumping and your palms are sweaty. Your match time is cut from 12 minutes to 4. What do you do?
A) Retain your fantastic moveset... But rush to squeeze 12 minutes into 4.
B) Simplify. Evoke as much emotion as possible from the few moves remaining.
C) Drop everything. Walk your dog out to the ring. Cut a 4-minute promo on the dog.
If you chose option B... Correct! Don't rush, Robbie stressed. It means more to bring out true feeling from fewer moves than to jam pack a match with too much material and rush it all. And so began the next exercise: "Get out of a headlock for one full minute". Despair could be seen on the faces of entrapped students, trying desperately to escape as their heads were squeezed and squashed. At the minute mark they executed their reversals, seeking retribution from their opponent as they then applied a headlock of their own. It was now their opponent’s turn to escape.
As the day progressed and more exercises were practised, Robbie took time to teach us about the attitude he wished the school to have. No matter who we work with, he wanted us to help people. Even help the people you cannot stand. Our job is to treat the ring with respect, for instance by wiping our feet before we enter. The ring is also where we encourage other people and bring them up. It’s the complete opposite to the way Robbie himself broke into the Wrestling Business – with painful ribbing in the locker room, verging not only on bullying but cruelty. This past experience undoubtedly drives him to want to put back a helpful, kind attitude into the school and the business as a whole, drawing something positive from the bad. He explained that one of his proudest memories from his Leicester-based school is after he learnt that two young students overcame their classroom bully with the confidence they gained from promo classes at training.
The seminar wrapped up with a promo class to finish. 30 seconds speaking in the ring facing a camera - nerve wracking to some but a fantastic way to build confidence. Welsh, Finnish, Ugandan, Polish, Spanish, English and Irish – many dialects were heard that day as Robbie wanted us to enjoy where we had come from and show off our roots.