Well, it looks like the title of my column is already inaccurate, because for the first time in a few months, I wasn't on the road this week. Despite the fact that I have not shared my earlier experiences with you because of the date of the launch of this column, I will not give you a best of the road column. My memory is too fuzzy these days. No, I will tell you what happens to a young indy guy like me when he has the week off. It was something I'm very used to…. I went back to school.

I attend the Chaotic Training Center in North Andover, Massachusetts. I train under Mike Hollow and Dukes Dalton. Hollow was the head trainer at Kowalski's when I began there a little over a year ago, and as much as I love the Killer, I made the decision to follow Mike when he started this school. I attend every week regardless of my show schedule, but since I had some time off from performing, I took the time to stop, step away, and take a look at where I am, and where I want to be. I took a tally of all my experiences, what's worked in matches, what hasn't worked, what the crowds popped for, etc. As usual, I found a thousand things that I could do to make me better.

That's what I love about this business. That's why I've dedicated my life to it. As a straight shoot, wrestling is the single hardest thing that I have ever done. I am driven by the challenge of becoming a great wrestler. And it's an enormous challenge. There are so many facets to becoming a complete wrestler that I know it will take me years to even find to the time to try to master each one. I learn new things everyday. I am taught and exposed to concepts and ideas that would otherwise never enter my mind.

Class yesterday focused a lot on when and why to use one's big moves. When I first started working, what I had learned was to use moves that I did well, and that made me look good. I have been trying different moves, rotating moves in and out of my matches, listening to the crowd, watching film, and decide which to keep and which to throw away. I think it would be presumptuous to pick one's moves without trying a range of them, so I haven't been entirely focused on cementing my repertoire. That's my philosophy on all my matches. I try new things every match, never doing the same match twice, because that's the only way to learn if it works; by doing it. In a sense I'm lucky that I didn't win and wasn't immediately thrust into the spotlight. I could have easily seen myself becoming conservative and boring, unwilling to try new things or take risks because I don't want to look like an idiot on national television. On this level I'm willing to try anything once, just to see what happens.

Yesterday's topics at school included the when, why, and how to use your signature moves. All the top level guys have Their Moves, like the Rock with the Rock Bottom, People's Elbow, Spinebuster, DDT, Sharpshooter, etc. You seen them almost every match. I've finally settled on a framework for My Moves, based on my new finisher, the Smart Bomb. The Smart Bomb is a viscous maneuver designed to injure the spine, so of the dozen or so moves that I have been rotating into the mix, I've picked five or six that fall into that motif and weaken the back. What I loved about that exercise was just how grounded it was in logic. It just makes no sense for me to expend my energy on a move that doesn't really prepare my opponent to succumb to the Smart Bomb. Just like that, I won't be using three or four of my regular moves, and will be adding a few more.

The when, why, and how to use your signature moves is such a vast topic that I could have written my thesis on it. We spent an hour discussing the natural progression of the devastation of your moves, the spacing, pacing, and timing of unleashing those moves, and the challenge of finding creative ways to get to those moves. When I watch a guy like Chris Benoit hit the cross-face, I am amazed that I rarely see him apply it the same way twice. As a worker, that is what I pop for. So I'm now on my way to my next challenge, applying everything I learned this week, and elevating my game to another level. If you get a chance to catch me vs. Arch Kincaid for Chaotic Wrestling in Upton, MA, on the 26th or vs. Kevin Landry for the Millennium Wrestling Association in Willimantic, CT, on the 30th, you'll see this new knowledge put to the test.

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