The WCW Power Plant was a professional wrestling school located in Atlanta, Georgia and owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling. The Power Plant, which was developed from a school operated by Jody Hamilton, was in operation throughout the 1990s. It stopped holding tryouts in December 1999 and closed in March 2001 when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation.
Contents |
Gym
The Power Plant was World Championship Wrestling's training gym located in a warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] It was equipped with four 18' by 18' (5.5 m) wrestling rings and a gym. The motto of the Power Plant was "Pain is temporary, pride is forever." The drop-out rate was 85%. The typical student would train for between six and nine months before graduating.
The Power Plant was in operation as early as 1995.[2] In February 1998, Paul Orndorff began managing the Power Plant.[3]
Criteria for entry
The Power Plant was advertised on WCW Monday Nitro. Once a month, open tryouts were held for applicants between the ages of 18 and 29.[1] If the applicants were suitably impressive, they would earn an invitation to join the school at a cost of $3,000 for six months training. Male applicants had to be at least 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) tall and 180 lb (82 kg) in weight.
Training routine
To succeed at the Power Plant, a trainee was required to display a great deal of strength and stamina, with less focus on basic wrestling skills. Bret Hart, who was forced to retire when a stiff kick from Power Plant graduate Bill Goldberg tore a muscle in his neck and gave him post-concussion syndrome, blamed the end of his career on the Power Plant training regime, saying "I don't think it was a priority to protect your opponent."[4]
A typical weekday would see the trainees begin at 9am with a half hour warm-up session consisting of calisthenics such as vertical squats, push-ups and sit-ups. They would then spend three hours practicing bumps. After a forty-minute break for lunch at 12:40pm, the trainees would take more bumps and then work on promos, finishing at 5pm. The daily fitness regime saw trainees perform between 500 and 1,000 squats for up to six hours. They would also execute 200 to 500 push-ups, 200 leg lifts and 200 abdominal crunches. In addition, trainees underwent weight training and cardiovascular conditioning exercises.
While researching professional wrestling for a BBC documentary, journalist Louis Theroux visited the Power Plant. He volunteered to take part in some training in an effort to show some respect for the business, but as he had asked Dwayne Bruce some questions about kayfabe, he was forced into very hard exercise. At one stage, Bruce encouraged the other trainees to call him a cockroach while Theroux was struggling to regain his breath. Theroux was later shown vomiting on camera.
Trainers
Male trainers
- Director Jody Hamilton
- Manager Paul Orndorff[3]
- Head Trainer Dwayne Bruce
- Bobby Eaton
- Michael Haynes III
- Lash LeRoux
- Harrison Norris
- Buzz Stern
- Big Ron Studd
- Mike Wenner[1]
- Pez Whatley[1]
Female trainers
Graduates
Male graduates
- Bryant Anderson
- Chad Brock
- David Flair
- Alan Funk[5]
- The Giant[2]
- Goldberg[6]
- Sean O'Haire
- Shane Helms
- Matt Wiese
- Mark Jindrak
- Chris Kanyon
- The Demon
- Kid Romeo
- Lash LeRoux
- Lodi
- Steve McMichael
- Ernest Miller[7]
- Shannon Moore
- Kevin Nash[8]
- Scotty O
- Diamond Dallas Page
- Chuck Palumbo
- The Renegade
- Reno
- Mike Sanders[3]
- Shark Boy
- Sonny Siaki[9]
- Sick Boy
- Elix Skipper[5]
- Bob Sapp
- Johnny Stamboli
- The Wall
- Alex Wright
- Jimmy Yang
Female graduates
References
- ^ a b c d "The Incredible Sinking Hulks". The New York Times. February 16, 1997. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/16/magazine/the-incredible-sinking-hulks.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ a b Milner, John M. and Richard Kamchen (October 6, 2004). "Paul Wight". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/pf-bigshow.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ a b c Powell, John (January 17, 2001). "Mike Sanders, a superstar in the making". SLAM! Wrestling. http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosS/sanders_01feb-can.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Hart, Bret. "School of Joe". SLAM! Sports. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Hitman/2004/08/21/595830.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ a b Stinson, Thomas (June 27, 2007). "Benoit a hero to fans, colleagues". Cox News Service. http://www.oxfordpress.com/sports/content/shared/sports/stories/2007/06/WRESTLER_SIDE_0627_COX.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Pearlman, Jeff (April 19, 1999). "Slam! Bam! Goldberg!". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1015663/2/index.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Oliver, Greg (January 10, 2001). "The early days of WCW star Ernest Miller". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosM/miller_ernest_01jan10-can.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Milner, John M. (October 21, 2005). "Kevin Nash". SLAM! Wrestling. http://www.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/nash.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ Milner, John M. (October 23, 2005). "Sonny Siaki". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/pf-siaki_sonny.html. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
