hephaestion2014's blog

Sometimes a truth will hit you. It'll be a simple truth. Something that is so obvious that you feel a total idiot for not realising it sooner.

In my case, it happened when I was wrestling with ImtiazAli.

I was feeling a bit cocky at one point in my match with him because for a brief second, I had rolled him but then in the next second I was tied up in a hold and resisting the urge to tap ... I tapped :)

I said something, I can't remember exactly what but something along the lines that I thought I'd have him on the defence and suddenly I was. Again it's not verbatim his reply but along the lines that you should be defending when you attack and attacking when you defend.

Simple huh?
Never thought about it that way. In my head, I have always been one or the other - I either defend or attack. I have been binary in my thinking. That probably explains whenever I have lost the lockup, I lose the bout.

I guess I had been importing the pro concept of jobber/heel into my subs. Once I'm in defence, I become "jobber-like" where it becomes all about withstanding, resisting the attacks but with a general sense that I'm going to be defeated.

It was clear to me in that second that my mindset had been wrong. I wasnt so much valiantly fighting and accepting inevitable defeat but giving away my power and control.

This made me think of another match.

A while ago, too long ago, I was talking to another wrestler about type of matches I'd like to have or like to watch. (Messy/mud wrestling is still in there folks!) I'm not sure how or who mentioned it first, but a rope match was mentioned that soon lead to the dog and collar chain matches that I used to enjoy watching as a kid/teen/"yoof" and always wanted to be in ... so A led to B which leads to C which resulted in a collar being placed around mine and my opponent's neck. A chained together. I trusted the other guy, felt at ease with him or else I wouldn't have done it. He had some experience, I hadn't so was nervous but he had reassured me that as I was new to it, it'd be okay if I played gently, cautiously and wasn't swinging him around and tying him up in knots with the chain whilst I worked him over ;)

What does this have to do with ImtiazAli's earlier wisdom? My rigid thinking.

I had never really thought of myself as a heel. I'm too nice and wombly to be a heel. I don't have that mean streak, I'll apologise as I kick you around the ring. Genuinely got a sub, and said sorry recently. But here I was in the heel role. Half of me wanted to be on the other side of the chain, but the other half of me, "Thug Jon", was enjoying be in that position of power/control

And I know in the case of that chain match, it was a false sense of power and control. He was much stronger than me, better wrestler than me and probably up there in my top five of wrestlers if he wanted to win ;)

As I grew more confident with how the chain and chain matches worked. How the chains weight felt in my hand and how it moved as we wrestled. When i grew confident that I wasn't going to accidentally injure him badly. ( Think only i got the nasty surprise choke ... never put your knee on your half of the chain #toptip) Then the power was gradually flowing from him to me because i was more relaxed and confident. I was a little less of a pretend heel. I was taking charge not being given it by the end. I know next time, I'll be a proper "thug" a little bit earlier ;)

I have always thought of myself as someone who thought in grey but it turns out when it comes to wrestling I have been thinking in black and white. That hasn't helped me at all with my wrestling. I've been adopting roles not giving myself to the fight.

Subs wrestling is different to pro because whereas Pro is about exchanging power, in subs, you can't. If you are in defence, you can't stay defensive, look for that chink in the armour.

Every attack isn't just a moment to resist but an opportunity to turn it into an attack. Every connection is a vulnerability. An arm extended is a lever, an invitation to grab and lock. A shifting of position is a momentary loss of balance and readjustment. Don't give your power and control away. Defend looking for that hole of attack.

And the heel/jobber dichotomy has no place in subs. I'll have to rid myself of that thought.

Sorry, I rambled on. Again.