On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Live with host, Bryan Alvarez and co-host, Mike Sempervive, the duo interviewed trainer and seasoned veteran of the business, Chris Silvio – to discuss subjects such as his and Matt Sydal‘s wrestling school, SYDOJO, and more. Here are a few highlights of the interview with Chris Silvio discussing: SYDOJO, the students who come into the school and Silvio briefly discusses former MMA fighter, Blake “Bulletproof” Troop, who just had his debut match recently. Here’s more…
Chris briefly talks about when the school operates and what kind of styles of wrestling he and Matt Sydal teaches:
“Matt runs two days a week and I run training Tuesdays and Fridays. He takes in a lot more of the beginners and smaller wrestlers. Oddly enough, you know the smaller Cruiserweight style wrestlers gravitate towards Sydal. So what’s really cool about him is he can teach them, you know, all of that technique that he’s picked up, where my technique is more technical, and amateur and pro wrestling based. So I get a lot more of the heavyweights a lot more than women, stuff like that. But it’s going good, man; we’ve been up and running close to two years now.”
Mike Sempervive asks Chris about the process of having amateur classes to start students out:
“I’m working more instead of just pumping out, you know, 10 indie wrestlers to go do whatever. I’m trying to pump people out that can go workplaces; work for the NWA. It’s AEW, NXT, all that stuff. So, like, a lot of the people that come in do so without sports experience of any kind, which nowadays is very frequent. They’re not used to being coached, they’re not necessarily used to being pushed, so it’s a little difficult getting through to them. Right now for my team, my Tuesday and Friday classes – I call my team team “Death Proof” – and you kind of have to have a prerequisite to do my classes of either a wrestling or fighting background, or some kind of high level sports.”
Chris Silvio continues to talk about some of the current students from SYDOJO:
“I’ve got Blake bulletproof Troop, my heavyweight that just made his debut on Primetime Live. He’s from the MMA world. Jennacide with the NWA. She was a high level swimmer, she does Muay Thai, she’s done some BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). I’ve got a female tag team that were former NCAA basketball players. I just took on a new guy this week to answer your question too, Mike, that was a collegiate Water polo and swimmer and he’s watched wrestling this whole life so he loves it – because he had that high level sports experience, he’s super easy to coach; he’s been with me just a few weeks now. Last night I had him, bro, and she had the high double legs. He’s learned how to grapple so, like, with somebody like him… I’m teaching him half legitimate wrestling and then half wrestling. So, he understands the way the human body moves. I find that, like, wrestlers… wrestlers, Jiu-Jitsu, you know, people like that have an easier time getting started because they understand the flow of body mechanics. So, if I can kind of teach somebody that out of the gate, it’s going to make life a lot easier when we start trying to do bumps and complicated moves and stuff you’re gonna see in 2021.”
Chris Silvio talks a bit more about Blake “Bulletproof” Troop and talks a bit about Blake’s MMA days and why he wanted to get into professional wrestling:
“He was in the finals of the snake pit USA catch wrestling, tournament at heavyweight. He’s had, I think, 15 MMA fights or something like that, but we’re pulling him out of that now and we’re going full steam ahead – pro wrestling style. He just made his debut on Primetime Live and did a hell of a job. If you haven’t seen the match, he took on Jordan Clearwater, a really good up and coming talent. I highly recommend checking that out. But yeah, he’s coming out of the gate swinging, quite literally.
Blake was a huge fan as a kid. Around his teenage years, he started training in some martial arts and that kind of became his passion. A few years ago, the wrestling bug bit and he kind of rekindled his bromance with wrestling, and he started with me about a year and a half ago. I do online Coaching as well, on Chris Silvio’s Superstar Seminars, and Blake signed up for one of my Psychology and Character Development courses – he had very little pro wrestling experience but he had a few training sessions. But he was as green as the guy can get. So I’ve worked with him on how to present Blake “Bulletproof” Troop, the MMA fighter in pro wrestling. I’ve always told him, you know, we’re going to keep you you and keep you in your wheelhouse because dude’s got size, he’s got a lot of Charisma. So I don’t want to change them and make them become a wrestling chef or put a mask on him, or something like that. I want him to be himself. So, after about six months of my online program, you know, he was finally ready to make the move to Tampa and he’s been training with myself and Sydal at SYDOJO for around one year now.”
Summary
You can catch the full video interview here, or the audio version here. For more information on SYDOJO and if you are interested in becoming a pro-wrestler, feel free to click here for more information. Feel free to follow Chris Silvio on twitter at @TheChrisSilvio, Blake “Bulletproof” Troop at @BigTroop22 or Jennacide at @JENNACIDE000 for more on where they will wrestle next.
You can catch Blake “Bulletproof” Troop next on October 30th at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, with Chris Silvio in his corner. Then on November 20th from Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. You can also catch Jennacide at Mission pro wrestling on November 20th at the Big Event in New York on Saturday, November 13th and Sunday, November 14th.
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