Post by Snitsky on Jan 21, 2009 19:06:06 GMT -5
My Friend Vale has stated a column on www.1wrestling.com/news/newsline.asp?news=34682
INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN -- "GROWING UP WRESTLING!"
By: Vale Anoai
1/14/2009 9:32:12 PM
"GROWING UP WRESTLING"
By Vale Anoai
Hello everyone, and welcome to "Growing Up Wrestling", a brand new weekly column about the very, VERY interesting life I've led as the daughter of Afa "The Wild Samoan". Each week will feature a different personal (Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartfelt, sometimes both) story about a different wrestler who has made an unforgettable impression on me over the years.
From my very earliest days, it was never "just us" in the house. There was always at least one wrestler staying with us for some length of time, and it's quite an interesting Show and Tell session in grade school when one week you're bringing in a championship belt, one week you're bringing a shrunken head worn by your "wild jungle savage" father, and one week you're bringing in some other fascinating wrestling artifact. Needless to say, I was never, ever bored in my life!
Throughout the years, as I grew older and my dad began his WXW Wrestling federation, I was surrounded by a plethora of interesting characters, many of whom made it to the big time. Between that and the Wild Samoan Pro-Wrestling Training Center, my entire existence was totally enveloped in the wrestling world.
I thought I'd begin this first column by talking about one of my very dear friends, Gene Snisky. You all know him as that big, strange, lurking weirdo with the crazy teeth; but to me, he was a big and lovable brother. We became fast friends when he started training at dad's school and wrestling on our WXW shows. He was the ONLY person my very protective dad would let me go to concerts with. (Think about it, who would DARE mess with Gene??)
Who would DARE mess with Gene??
I was always a concert fanatic, and there was a great venue near the house that would have several of my favorite 80s rock and metal bands perform. So Gene would come to the house, pick me up, take me to the concert, we'd have a fantastic time, then he'd take me home afterward. Keep in mind, I was 17, and all my favorite bands played on school nights, so I'd have to be home by a reasonable hour (and more often than not, missed most of the performance of the band I wanted to see in the first place!).
Well one night, there was a Bret Michaels concert. I had JUST turned 18, but was still in school, and still had to be home at a decent hour. We happened to get so wrapped up in the concert that we lost track of time, and when we did finally get back home, it was after 2 in the morning. Oops... So Gene, the big, hulking, lurking, intimidating thing that he is, walks me to the door (there were glass doors leading to the den, where dad was up late on the computer). He walks me to the door, says "Ok, bye Pops!", then bolted away as fast as he could so he wouldn't get screamed at by dad. I just glared after him thinking "You big baby! Leaving me here to take all the heat for being late!! Thanks a LOT!"
It was pretty funny at the next training session, Gene was walking on eggshells until I told him dad wasn't mad anymore. I was back at another concert with him a week later. This time, we DID get back in plenty of time to "soothe the savage beast" that is my dad.
When Gene made it to the WWE, and he did that stunt where he punted the baby into the audience, my mom called him that night and laughingly said "I will never, ever let you babysit my daughter again." He went from being my concert "babysitter" to "baby killer"!
Now every time I see Gene, we always laugh and reminisce about the concert night, and the look of utter terror on his face when he bolted away from the house to avoid dad's wrath. It's something neither of us will ever forget!
Until next week, fans!
Vale
You can email me at Czarina.Vale@gmail.com
To get my published works go to stores.lulu.com/scarlettvain
You can also check out my My Space page ... www.myspace.com/scarlettvain
