Ric 'The Equalizer' Drasin

Years ago when I started wrestling, I went to a small school upstairs at the Olympic Auditorium. This was the venue of the famous NWA and their big shows on Wed and Friday with Freddie Blassie, Pedro Morales, John Tolas, Mr. Moto, Kenji Shibuya, Buddy Killer Austin and many more. My cost to train was $135 a week and I came in from Bakersfield 5 days a week at my expense and time of 4hrs driving. I never complained about the money or the time. It was something that I dearly wanted and would do anything to achieve.

I was trained 'old school' and the knowledge from the old timers was invaluable, as they knew how to work a match. I never thought of getting rich or how much I was going to make in the end as all I wanted to achieve was to be a polished pro and be able to be as good as the ones before me.

Today schools charge $3000, $6000, initiation fees, monthly fees, application fees and then offer their students some 'high spots' and that's about it. Not much pride in their work and it's all about making money. I'm not saying all schools are like that but some that I've encountered.

I have trained people off and on for years and many I have trained for free cause Wrestling is a love of mine and if someone has the desire and the heart, then I want to see them trained properly from ground up. The groundwork, the holds, then the ropes, etc. Facial expressions, selling are top priority. Most students who come to me tell me that they know a lot and for me to watch them jump off the top rope. AS far as I'm concerned, at that point, they can jump back into their car and go home. I'm not interested in that. I want to see something different. If they can show me a convincing lock up to a headlock, then I'll work with them. It's that simple.

I trained 6 girls last year for free to prove a point that it could be done with people off the street if they had the desire. I used them on a show and they got over big.
I also have other students that I charge $35 per session, which is more than reasonable. If you figure that here in LA acting classes are at least $50 a class and you only get up once in front of the class. Here you are up for 2 hrs.

Recently I decided that I'm giving my time at my house, my ring and repairing it, etc that I should charge everyone and no more freebees. I told the girls that since they trained for free all year, that now I'd like $20 a class for my time and ring maintenance. One of them bilked at the idea and didn't like it as she said that she thought paying to train was no good as it led nowhere in the end. So basically she wanted a free ride.

I just want to say to all the students that feel this way, that Wrestling is a labor of love. There's no big reward and no pot of gold at the end. You do it because you like it. If you take guitar from a good teacher, you pay him. Same here, you are learning a profession from a pro. This cost money and any time you feel you shouldn't pay then you should find something else to do. Everyone's time is worth money. The Indy scene here works like this. You're lucky if you get booked and equally lucky if you get paid at all and if you do, it's usually $20. If you don't like that, someone else will take your spot. WWF is over stocked and there's one chance in ten million that you'd ever get on.

That's the way the business is, the way it's been and the way it's always going to be. Look at the number of Rock Bands in Hollywood that have to pay the clubs to get a session cause they want to be seen. It goes on every weekend.

One more thing. I trained for six months $135 a week around $3,700 give or take to get booked on TV for NWA at a rate of $15 a show here in the Los Angeles area.

What does that tell you?