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QUESTION: I am a life long committed wrestling fan, and working on breaking into the business soon. I am currently 17 years old, and have done a few 2 day wrestling camps. Starting next week I am going full time to a wrestling school and was wondering if you could help me out with an attire and possible gimmick ideas. To give you a little background of myself, I started competing in powerlifting competitions a few years ago, and broke world records, and won 2 JR Olympic gold medals. I am also working on becoming an actor, I have only been in a few short films so far. I've always been considered the serious type by people that don't know me, and hilarious by the people that do get to know me. I am 5'9, 230 lbs (trying to cut down to 215). http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o321/prodigy_0123/2011_04_17_5423_full.jpg
http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o321/prodigy_0123/2011_04_17_5453_full.jpg

There are two photos, one is a headshot, the other is closer to a full body.
To get a handle on what I can do, here is my last vid at a wrestling camp if you are interested. Mind you, the whole thing was coached, and I was injured during the camp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDcxGeDRqgM

The current gimmick idea my friend gave me was to be a heel, and use the name "The Prodigy" Brandon Ascari, and say I went to train in Japan, but was kicked out and deemed too strong for the strong style after injuring everyone I worked with. He thought that since I'm such a huge fan of it, then I could drop names easily, and such. My style would be like a relaxed strong style. I like the idea, but I want some others too.

For attire, I was thinking something like Hiroshi Tanahashi's attire, long pleather tights, and the pleather duster thingy he wears, just with different stuff on them.

Any way you think you could help me out? I would really appreciate it if you could. Thank you very much for taking the time to read all of this.

ANSWER: YAY! I don't get many fun questions like these, so, I'm kind of excited.

Now, I like the idea of the name, "The Prodigy", but if you talk about going through the Orient, you have to be able to back it up with strong Brazilian or Japanese style. That means you'll need to know Some Jiu Jitsu and most likely some Judo and Samba. Yes, while I know Samba style is most Russian, because many Russians go through Japan, it has caught on there.

So, if you can learn all these styles and be great at them, that gimmick works. If not, you'll need to pick another gimmick. Otherwise it will never go over big at any point because of the lack to back up how good you are. And with your size

Now, powerlifting is a thing that will obviously help you, seeing as you need strength. It also shows you know how to work in the gym to get the body you need.

Gimmick wise, you need to pick something that works. I see your from Jersey, don't go with that kind of gimmick, it's seriously played out and was never good to begin with. I'm from Alabama, but I'd never go with a Cowboy gimmick, ya know? Some things just don't work anymore, or never did.

Now, being 5'9 and 230, you are in a tough position. You can do one of two ways, you can loose weight like you mentioned and get down to 215, at which time you'll need to go for a flyer style. You can work technical, but it's just an unwritten rule that smaller wrestlers have to be able to do fly moves.

Now being 230, you could gain more pounds of muscle and go for a powerhouse gimmick. However, your height kills off how impressive you'd be in that regard. And I've never seen an over powerhouse of that size.

Being 17 however, you do have time to get a few more inches in. Most guys grow until 22 or 23. Some however, stop at 18 or 19. You may get to 5'11 or 6'0 at the most however. By the way, don't go for growth hormones like HGH, it won't help you at this point because you've already passed the age mark it would help.

Also steroids aren't good to go for in any way either, if you want to gain muscle, being a powerlifter, you know how. Work in the gym!

Now, I can help with styles if need be.

I looked at your pick, and because of how you look at the present time, wrestling shorts, which are pretty much what you'd see Triple H wear, would work best for you. Seeing as it shows off more of your better features.

If you were to lose weight, you could go for the type of wrestling pants Jericho used to wear for a while. Jericho actually is about your size. He's about 5'11 and when he came into WWE, he was just a little over 200. Nowadays, he's close to 225 or 230.

Really, the patterns, colors, or attachments only work when you pick a guaranteed gimmick of course. So, these two are just ideas for where to go if we had to just go without a gimmick and needed wrestling clothing.

Hope this helped! Sorry if I came off mean at all, never meant to come off that way of course.

Now, I can answer any other questions you have, or go into further detail on this if you'd like. Just let me know

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I actually have done about two years of Jiu Jitsu and Aikido. I'll look into Samba. Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it.

Answer
I'd also recommend Muay Thai, while it did come from Thailand, this is a sport that has made it's rounds to Japan. CM Punk actually uses this style a lot, as does many in Japan. Low Ki and KENTA among others are great at it.

Now, you'll actually see some familiarities with it and Jiu Jitsu. Sambo and Judo both have to do with wresting. Fedor, the MMA top name, is actually a master of this sport. He's from Russia, and anyone who fights at all there, learns Sambo. You'll probably use more of this and Judo in wrestling than Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu, but because of the gimmmick you're going with, you'll obviously need to know these things.

Basically, you have to know 4 Olympic Sports, which is not easy. This is why I was trying to make you think about your gimmick before you went with it, because it is going to be hard to back up.

But if you can learn all 4 of these, along with actual mat style wrestling, you'll probably be a guy most companies will hire. And heck, if that doesn't work out, MMA is always there! ;)

You're Welcome on the help, and just come back whenever you need anything else answered