----Eric Wayne's new column.
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| Cody Melton vs Kevin White |
Here we go again! Secrets of the South, Round 2. I decided to write a few of these since there are guys in the area that deserve some recognition. If you missed the first round...here's the story. There are a ton of guys around this area, and every area really, that just wrestle as a hobby. They're content with impressing their friends and don't mind staying within 100 miles of their house whenever they wrestle. But then there are the other guys. In this case, I've termed them the "Secrets of the South". Real wrestlers that WANT to improve. They WANT a career. They WANT to go other places. They WANT criticism and WANT to capitalize on any opportunity they have available to them. They WANT to be professional wrestlers and nothing else. Its been my dream since I can remember, sitting upstairs at the Mid-South Coliseum telling Jerry Jarrett to be quiet so I could watch a Jeff Gaylord match. So who is in round 2??
The first guy is someone that I've only been in the ring with a handful of times. There was even a time when, for whatever reason, we had heat between us. WE never had a problem with each other(that I know of) but the heat was created. Maybe its because we were trained at the two top schools in this area, I'm not sure. But the guy I'm talking about is Cody Melton. We were a tag team last year for one night and seemed to flow like we'd been tagging forever. When Cody first started, he made the same mistakes as all of us but he always seemed different. You could tell he was taking in the critiscm and wanted to improve. After not being around him for awhile we had the chance to wrestle each other in 3 tags at the first Memphis tapings and tore it up. The fact that he went other places and had DK to mentor him definitely helped. I remember a guy in Ripley that didn't understand psychology that well but at TV it was a different person. Its proof that to improve you HAVE to go other places and learn everything you can. Cody is one of those guys that can have an old 80s style Memphis match or a technical match or a spotfest or really anything you need. He's a plus to any show and we all need to keep an eye on him because if things keep going the way they are, he could be a big draw one day.
The next guy is a multi time award winner. He's a well-known name in the area as well. He has also developed a bad attitude towards wrestling as of late and its keeping him from fulfilling his dream. I've never had a bad match against him and in fact, we've scared people at times with the style we work. He might be more well-known as the Baron Malkavain, but I call him Dustin Ring. He was a backyarder that wrestled on his high school team. What more could you ask for? An athlete that will do crazy spots! When he's on his game, he's incredible. And even when he could care less, or is blown up, he still delivers. Whether its the Baron or Dustin he can flat out go... chain wrestling, high spots, it doesn't matter. Even as a vampire his work adds credibility to any show he is on. If/when he ever decides to make a full time return, all promoters would be smart to book him.
Of course, not every wrestler gets in this business to have a career. But the fact that they share the same dressing room with credible athletes will never stop bothering me. The Secrets of the South are guys that deserve a full time job and years ago would've had great careers in the territories. Its a sign of the times when people that want to improve take so long to actually improve because we usually have to worry more about protecting ourselves against poorly trained "wrestlers" than taking advice and wrestling people that we CAN learn more from. All the "Secrets" are on the right track because they constantly seem to improve and its only a matter of time before that big break is around the corner! Round 3 will be out soon, stick around and read it here first!
