"Wayne's World" - Introduction

Welcome to the reboot of "Wayne's World" here on L2L. Thank you to Gene Jackson for the opportunity and to all of you taking time to read my thoughts and opinions.

I suppose an introduction is in order before we go down this road. My first match was in November of 2006,but for twenty years before that I was fortunate enough to grow up in this crazy business. My grandfather was Buddy Wayne, who was synonymous with the Memphis territory for decades, first as a wrestler and later as a promoter. My father traveled North America working in Canada  for Stampede, as well as most of the United States and Mexico, was a semi-star in Continental in the mid-80s as 1/2 of the Nightmares with OVW founder Danny Davis. His last big run was in 1995 for WWC in Puerto Rico, where he tragically found his childhood friend Eddie Gilbert after dying in his sleep from a heart attack.

Eleven years later.. after helping promote shows, setting up and tearing down rings and chairs, refereeing countless matches, and hundreds of hours of training in the ring and gym..I finally wore light blue spandex trunks and made my debut in front a sold out 40 people at a VFW in Arkansas. Since then, I've been lucky enough to meet legends, Hall of Famers, current stars and the next generation of wrestlers all over the country. I was  privileged to have a few extra spots for WWE in 2009, 2010 and a random last minute spot in 2014. While it didn't result in a contract, learning from the absolute best in our industry is worth it and something I'd suggest to anyone who takes their craft seriously.

I've called this a "reboot" because not long after my debut, I was asked to start writing for a now-defunct website. At the time, I thought I was going to change the world with what I had to say. I'd watched something I loved so much transform in to something that made me bitter and angry. I hated the people that made this business a joke and essentially threw away my filter when writing. I made my point very quickly and made people hate me in the process. But I learned from it, A LOT..mostly that while there are lots of people that want help and to improve, there are more that simply don't care. Negativity doesn't help anyone and while I inadvertently slowed my career with the columns, I learned that none of us improve alone.

Fast forward to 2017 and I've developed the attitude I should have had years ago. Helping others benefits more than just the ones we help. Being open minded in criticism and new ideas will help all of us and the fans will only appreciate what we do even more. Don't be shocked though, we all have opinions and over the course of these columns, I'll be sharing them as well as anything else that might be interesting.

Thanks for spending a few minutes reading my rambling ..if you enjoy this please share! (If not, please share so others know what you're burying)

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Follow Eric Wayne on Twitter @MrWatchTheLeft for all updates and for booking info email BookEricnow@gmail.com