Teachers' Day Special: Role of mentors in professional wrestling

September 5th is an important day in India. This is the day of the year when the youngsters look at their teachers as pioneers, those who help them during the most pivotal phase of their lives.

That doesn’t mean the students don’t think the same way for the rest of the year, but the usual “I don’t know why they can’t give us a break” mentality goes out of the window on this day.

Mentors like Stu Hart (in the pic above) have an important role to play in professional wrestling

For one day, they realize the importance of having people around, guiding them through the most difficult times of their adolescence, when they’re trying to make inroads into the profession of their choice/dream.

The role of mentors cannot be taken lightly. Starting from childhood through college, we usually seek that one person who will stick with us and teach us the nuances of what we want to achieve.

Mentors are hard to come by and harder to let go. For the less fortunate, they have no choice, but to make it on their own, but it certainly helps to have the experience and expertise of people who’ve “been there and done that”.

Like in any other field, professional wrestling needs a lot of tutelage. One doesn’t become a professional wrestler overnight, but it is a gradual process that can take a decade to be fruitful. Just ask someone like Daniel Bryan, who started his career in ’99, sleeping in his car and travelling around the country, wrestling in local gyms.

Most of the veterans in the business try to pass on the knowledge by starting schools. Some of the famous wrestlers and wrestling families have followed this tradition for ages.

Starting from the most famous of them all, the ‘Dungeon’, which is the basement of the Hart Family; it has seen some of the greatest technical wrestlers moulding their careers and honing their craft.

Guys like Jericho, Benoit, Dynamite Kid, Bret and Owen Hart and the likes learnt the tricks of the trade from Stu Hart in the Dungeon. It was there that their passion and ambition took shape, and it was there that under the guidance of Stu Hart, they became some of the best wrestlers the business has ever seen.

Many other wrestlers, even the current veterans such as The Dudley Boyz and Booker T have started their own schools. It has been a practice for legends and veterans to run schools and workshops, which attract the best of the local talent with the dream of making it into the business.

From Triple Hs to Shawn Michaels, they were all part of these “wrestling schools” and were guided by legends such as Killer Kowalski. After years of training and hard work, they became who they are because of the people who helped them in realizing their potential.

Whether we talk about other famous schools such as the Funkin’ Dojo or the other schools in Japan, one cannot take the role of a specific person for granted. For example, a guy like Daniel Bryan wouldn’t have been the same if it weren’t for someone like William Regal.

Shawn Michaels initially saw potential in Bryan and took him under his wing, and taught him all that he knew about wrestling. Bryan’s next big help was William Regal, who then honed Bryan’s craft and polished him.

Bryan then travelled all over the world, wrestling in Europe, Japan and every other place imaginable. Shawn Michaels’s other major contribution was Lance Cade, who was a former WWE Tag Team champion.

The biggest testimony for its importance can be seen in the land of pure wrestling, or “Puroresu” as it is fondly known in Japan. Through the years, Japan has produced many outstanding technical wrestlers, and youngsters from all over the world travelled to Japan to learn and gain more knowledge.

People such as Baba, Misawa and the likes took the youngsters under their wing and taught them everything about professional wrestling. It is a very common custom in those Dojos for the students to show the utmost respect to their mentors, as a tribute to their legacy and their contribution in helping them understand the very essence of professional wrestling.

In the end, mentors play a huge role in a youngster’s life and career. There have been instances where current generation wrestlers cited a quote by a veteran, which motivated them and helped them during the beginning of their careers.

Professional wrestling, like any other art, needs constant practice and guidance, and that is why a mentor’s role is of the utmost importance.

Looking back, every major superstar was once a rookie, and got started in the business because of a person who believed in him, and it will continue to happen for a long time to come.