| Brian Stryker: Timeless Part 2 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 23 2018, 02:59 PM (168 Views) | |
| Brian Stryker | Feb 23 2018, 02:59 PM Post #1 |
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The scene fades into Brian and Richie on the couch as Brian turns the page of the book as he adjusts Richie on his lap. BRIAN STRYKER: And so our brave hero travelled the streets of his city alone. No sense of where to go. But soon his purpose would find him. In the least likely place. The scene cuts back to Brian sitting in his black arm chair. BRIAN STRYKER: So I was living on the streets for about 3 months at this point. I was miserable, I was hungry, I was in desperate need of a shower. I would walk into businesses and stores and ask to work for the day to earn enough money to get something to eat. It was no way to live. But that was how I meet the man who would change my life, Johnny Hodgkin. Scene turns to an older man with long silver hair. Subtitle says Johnny Hodgkin: Wrestler, Mentor of Brian. JOHNNY HODGKINS: I first Brian when he was like 15-16 years old. I was working for a company called Philly All Pro and we were setting up the ring in this crummy YMCA in South Philly for a show that night, when I saw this kid sitting up in the bleachers just watching us. He had this greasy hard that was down past his shoulders and he looked like he was just a warzone. Total mess. BRIAN STRYKER: Only reason I was in that Y that day was because it was storming pretty hard out and I just didn’t want to be outside. And I was watching these guys setting up a wrestling ring and for some reason I was just fascinated by it. That was when Johnny waved me over. JOHNNY HODGKINS: I can’t tell you why I did that. To this day I have no clue. Maybe I felt sorry for this kid. Looked like he needed some help. BRIAN STRYKER: He asked me why I was just watching them and why I looked like a walking pile of hot mess. JOHNNY HODGKINS: He told me his name was Brian Dougherty, how he was homeless and such after losing his mom and for some reason. The lightbulb in my head just flashed. Maybe it was the promoter in me but I say money in this kid. His story alone was a great sell so I suggested coming to train under me to be a wrestler. BRIAN STRYKER: When he said “You should try becoming a pro wrestler” that was like saying “Oh just become president.” I had no idea what the hell I was gonna do. How was I gonna become one? Was there a course I had to do? He then said meet me at this address the following day. JOHNNY HODGKINS: Told him to meet me at my training school just a bit away from that why and I was gonna see if we could turn him into a wrestler. BRIAN STRYKER: Had I known what was gonna happen to me that first week of training, I probably would have never gone. The scene cuts to home movie footage of a young Brian standing in a wrestling ring with the other trainees. He was the smallest one out of his group by a good 5 inches. BRIAN STRYKER: So I walk into his school and instantly I stand out. Everyone looked like something out of a muscle magazine and here was I. Barely 16, 5’9, 178 pounds wet. And the first thing Johnny asked was if I was interested in wrestling and I told him not really. Truth was I never even watched a lick of wrestling growing up. We didn’t have cable since I was 7 since it was just too expensive for us at the time. So my knowledge of wrestling was exactly zero. JOHNNY HODGKINS: When he told me he had no knowledge of wrestling period I was like, “This gonna be harder than I thought.”. So I had to introduce him to our business. BRIAN STRYKER: He takes me to his office and sits me in front of this old tv and vcr. He then hands me a stack of tapes about 6 high all full of wrestling matches and says “First lesson. Watch all of these.” JOHNNY HODGKINS: I knew he would never survive if he didn’t have an understanding of what we do. So I made him watch a bunch of old matches I used as teaching tools. BRIAN STRYKER: So here I am, watching this wrestling tape and the first one is this old match in like Texas between these two guys. One was Chief Warhammer the other was this guy named Ethan Stryker. And the moment he started wrestling I was hooked. Ethan was doing stuff that was so cool. He was doing dropkicks off the top rope, he was doing moonsaults, even using strength too. Those two wrestled to a 60 minute draw and the moment that match was over, I rewound it and watched it again and again. In fact it was the only match I watched on any of those tapes. JOHNNY HODGKINS: I come back at the end of the day and ask him what he thought. And he said he only watched the one match. But he said he watched it like 6 times in a row. So I asked him why. BRIAN STRYKER: I said cause this dude, Ethan Stryker is amazing. He’s like the greatest wrestler ever. JOHNNY HODGKINS: That was when the flashbulb went off again. So I looked at him and said, Alright you get through this and become a wrestler, you’re gonna be known as Brian Stryker then. To carry on the memory of Ethan. Now you gotta work hard so not to bring shame to that man. BRIAN STRYKER: And that is how I got the name Stryker. From that moment forward I was Brian Stryker. That was also when the real training began. And boy did it kick my ass. The scene cuts to a montage of clips of Brian training, taking suplexes and hip tosses. The other wrestlers toss him around with ease. BRIAN STRYKER: I was beaten up so bad during those few weeks of training. I mean these guys were giants and I was just the rinky kid. JOHNNY HODGKINS: It’s hard to believe but Brian was the hardest worker out of that group. Maybe it had to do with the fact he was smaller, but he was picking things up at such a fast rate, you’d think he was destined to do this. And I believe he was. BRIAN STRYKER: It took abit but things started to click and started becoming second nature in a way. That was when Johnny gave me some great news. He came up to me and said “Kid, two jobs for you. 1. Get a haircut. 2. Clear your schedule cause next week you got your first match.” I was over the moon. I never even considered wrestling before and after that time training; I never wanted to do anything BUT wrestle. DEREK ROMANO: I remember the first time I saw Brian since freshman year was on a poster for some local wrestling show that was hung in the supermarket. And I just remember thinking “That is the complete opposite of what I had in mind from Brian.” BRIAN STRYKER: Now things weren’t all roses. I was still struggling to get by, but I did manage to score a place to sleep with another wrestler I trained with who let me stay rent free till I got enough to get on my own two feet. But things were starting to lighten up. Clips of Brian wrestling in small indy shows in bingo halls, malls, and rec centers plays as he is seen cutting a backstage promo. BRIAN STRYKER: You’re looking at the next success story. Rocky will be a footnote compared to me. Just you wait and see! Scene then shows a man just a bit older than Brian with a buzzed haircut and tattoos across his neck. His name is Rex Tenson. REX TENSON: Brian was a blast to work with. Even so young into his career you just knew he was destined for something bigger. He had this unexplainable thing about him that just drew you towards him. We’d wrestle in Maryland all the time and guys were lining up to work with the guy. JOHNNY HODGKINS: Brian would go out and have matches that looked like something from someone who was in this business for 10 years. He made you forget just how green he really was with his personality. He was just out there and fun to be with. Scene cuts back to Brian. BRIAN STRYKER: For the next 18 months, I’m traveling up and down the east coast wrestling little spot shows. Slowly the money starts piling up and for the first time in I have no idea how long, I’m feeling happy with my life. And of course that was when life decided to kick m square in the nuts. Somber music plays as footage of Brain being back body dropped onto a table but the table doesn’t break and Brian lands square on the edge with his lower back. BRIAN STRYKER: Just after I turned 18 years old I broke my back. And when they told me I was like. “Broke my back? I’m 18. Breaking your back is for old men.” But it was true. I was out of action for about 12 weeks. Compression fracture and all. Said I was lucky it wasn’t worst. REX TENSON: I heard about Brian through a mutual friend and I was just gutted. It sucks getting injured in this job, even worse when you had so much momentum going for you and it’s all taken at the blink of an eye. Cuts back to Brian and his son on the couch. BRIAN STRYKER: Our hero found himself in danger. His injury will not life threatening would soon because the source of his greatest downfall of them all. Our hero unknowingly journeyed forth, ignorant to the danger that lurked around the corner. TO BE CONTINUED |
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