JAH-C looks back on being trained by Seth Rollins.
In recent months, JAH-C has been competing for various promotions like Freelance, AAW, and Timebomb Pro Wrestling. He has also appeared on AEW Dark.
During an appearance on the Grapsody Podcast, JAH-C recalled how he always wanted to be a wrestler, and he considered training several noteworthy schools. But as fate would have it, an interaction with a customer during his days working at Fuddruckers pointed him towards Rollins' Black and Brave Wrestling Academy. He also recalled how he served Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal the previous day, and they didn't tip.
"Most of the time, when people ask me where I was trained by, I tell them I got trained by a black architect named Kyler. That’s pretty much it, man. Training at the Black and Brave [Wrestling Academy], man, growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a wrestler. So I was naturally looking for a way in. I’d be googling as young as 13 years old somebody around here to train. There was a guy, Rassling Rick, I remember he had this really crappy purple website that he probably paid somebody to make for it. I went from looking at Rasslin Rick to looking at Booker T’s place to looking at Lance Storm. I was working at Fuddruckers, man, as a bartender, and a group of guys came in. It was so serendipitous because the night prior, Sheamus, Jinder Mahal, and Drew McIntyre all came in also. I served them beer. They didn’t tip anything, but we’ll talk about that down the road. Hey listen, JAH don’t forget. The next night after those guys came in, there was a group of guys that were movers, and they were some regulars by then, and one of the guys was this big old blond-haired dude. He looked like he was being cast in the next Hulk Hogan movie. That’s what he looked like. But he had told me he was gonna be training down at the Black and Brave, which so funny because as a kid, guys, I didn’t know too much about indie wrestling. I knew Arik Cannon because he was local. I knew AJ Styles, Cm Punk. I knew the names, and then me and my brother thought Black and Brave the tag team was funny for two white guys. But then he told me he was going down there to train, and I was like well shoot, man, if this ain’t a sign, I don’t know what is," JAH-C said.
He went on to describe how he trained at the Black and Brave Academy for 13 weeks, and he called this decision the best one he's ever made. JAH-C noted that Rollins was a tough teacher because he was frustrated in the aftermath of a knee injury.
"The following year, the following January, 2016, went down there, trained for 13 weeks. Let me tell you, dude, greatest decision I ever made in my life. I remember vividly, there was a day, about two, three weeks in, and first of all, the first two nights, from in-ring training, legitimate, alright. Ain’t nothing to joke about, especially if you are electing to be trained by, at the time, the best in the world. Nobody can argue that in 2016, except for the fact that he was down with a knee injury. He was down with a knee injury as the champion at the time, just rehabbing himself. So let me put this into context for you. So not only am I going to be trained by the best in the world. I’m being trained by the best in the world who had his moment, his time on top, taken from him. So he’s pissed off, he’s bitter, he’s angry, and he’s vengeful. So all of our workouts, all of the warmups, he’s taking that all out on us. It’s 300 burpees if you hit the rope the wrong way. But in this world that we are living in of uber sensitive, and I don’t wanna sound too macho, but I react well to that beating that he would instill on us. That tough training stuff, I’m an amateur wrestler, dude. I was a terrible football player, but I was on the team. That level of communication and coaching and training and the level of expectation, I messed with that so heavy, so heavy. You ain’t getting a pat on the back or an ‘atta boy for being an average contributor down at the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy," JAH-C said.
JAH-C recently competed at Freelance Wrestling's Cheap Pop event, and you can check out the results here. Keep up with the world of wrestling using Fightful's results section.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
