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I donāt normally address things like this, but Iām making an exception in this case in an effort to make a point.
On Sunday afternoon I wrestled for a promotion in Oconto, Wisconsin alongside my one legged tag team partner, Zach Gowen.
It was brought to my attention that a local āwrestlerā named āCooter Bocephusā had an issue with this, because I, a performer with cerebral palsy, was booked over him. In a statement on his Facebook profile, under the name Bo Cephus āwhich has probably garnered zero attention from the internet wrestling community until this very momentā he wrote the following:
āThis weekend a promotion had a man with cerebral palsy "wrestle.āā¦isnāt the goal to make what happens in the ring believable? Make you stop and think whoa, that guy or girl is a bad ass ā¦how does a person with a deformed arm/hand put a headlock on another person and make the fans believe it hurts, or the person really has the other locked in? ā¦my question is when is enough enough?ā
Let me address Mr. Bocephusā post, and if someone would kindly tag him, Iād greatly appreciate it.
"The Handicapped Heroesā were brought into Wisconsin to perform as what we in pro wrestling call āan attraction,ā or āa draw.ā You see, Cooterā if thatās your real nameā the goal of a wrestling promotion, or any business for that matter, is to get asses into your place of business and to spend (or ādrawā) their money, thus making the business profitable.
āThe Handicapped Heroesā, which features a wrestler with one leg from Detroit, and a wrestler with one partially functional arm due to cerebral palsy from Cleveland (thatās me), have a unique story and look. When you put us on a flyer and advertise us, itās an attention grabber. Furthermore, booking a one of a kind team like us helps attracts sponsors and could even get the promotion featured on the news as further promotion! In fact, our story was covered by ABC News Wisconsin that very day!
After I did some research, Iād argue that the character and story of āCooter Bocephus,ā an out of shape local wrestler that has never wrestled outside of Wisconsin or Minnesota that portrays a redneck in jean overallsā a character thatās already been done on a larger stage and much better, I might addā probably isnāt going to draw many eyes to the product or from local TV stations. Furthermore, based on your lack of name value and overall inexperience (according to Cagematch.net, youāve only had 27 matches since 2009) Iām going to assume that the cerebral palsy āwrestlerā didnāt take your spot, as Iām guessing that I cost much more money to book than you do.
Now letās touch on your headlock comment, Mr. Bocephus. I mean, this headlock issue seems very important to you. Youāre probably the same type of āwrestlerā that despite your lack of success in the industry and the fact that youāve averaged about 3 matches a year over eight years, you throw around insider terminology freely as if youāve traveled the road thousands of miles and know it all, despite never profiting a dimeā¦
ā¦actually I just checked your old posts, and you do. Go figure.
Yes, I do have cerebral palsy. And yes, while Iād never word it this wayā because it sounds ignorant and disgusting for anyone to do soā I do have a ādeformed right arm/hand.ā However, as I mentioned earlier in this post, itās āpartially functioning.ā While I shouldnāt even have to explain this, my left arm is still fully functioning, and thanks to incredible grip strength from years of only utilizing my left hand, I can still lock a tight grip on to my right fingers and hand, successfully utilizing a headlock. If it didnāt make sense, I wouldnāt do it.
I think itās fair to mention, though, that based on your pictures online, I think it could be argued that my ādeformedā arm has more muscle definition than any muscle on your entire body. Also, after watching one of your matches, your headlock, as well as your in-ring psychology, could definitely use some work (match is included in the comments below). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3_ZmMWwZHU&feature=youtu.be]
One more thing. One of the words that Cooter used in his post was ābelievableā when it comes to in-ring performances with cerebral palsyā¦
ā¦this is coming from a man whose finishing maneuver involves pretending to stick a rubber duck up his opponentsā rectum.
Hey, nothing against being silly if youāre over and drawing moneyā look at Joey Ryan. However, the fact is the only reason anyone knows āCooter Bocephusā is because I took 15 minutes out of my day to acknowledge his existence.
My point here?
If you want to go far in pro wrestling, or anything in life, work hard. Travel. Go out and get as much in-ring experience as you can. Diet. Exercise. Be able to properly assess your situation, and figure out why you havenāt got as far as you think you should be. Thereās always room for improvement. I try to improve daily.
Donāt be a Cooter, sitting on the internet, crying. Find an excuseā or find a way.
-Greg
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