Jack Brisco, Bob Backlund, Kurt Angle…Laurent Soucie?
Why Putting Away the Medals Is A Necessity To Becoming A Successful Professional Wrestler.
#PWHS #Article #JackBrisco #BobBacklund #KurtAngle #LaurentSoucie
August 27, 1975 - Shreveport Times
Amateur wrestling has always been a regular supplier of performers to the professional wrestling industry. As a matter of fact, in the years before 1980, if you didn't have some amateur wrestling background-no matter how small-you usually did not find a way in to success in the professional ranks. Not every wrestler of note had an amateur background, but the overwhelming majority did. Amateur wrestling knowledge was prized in the older days of professional wrestling because of the constant fear that professional wrestling would be fully exposed as entertainment, and then the industry would surely die. By having many wrestlers possess an amateur wrestling background, promoters were assured that if the need arose, their "boys" could make professional wrestling appear to be very real. In later years, when wrestling was revealed as a scripted form of athletic entertainment-and actually prospered to unforeseen heights, the need and want for wrestlers who could actually mat wrestle became almost extinct.
It is interesting to note that the similarities between amateur and professional wrestling are almost non-existent. From the training, to the holds, to the tangible elements that ensure or deny success in the ring...even the rings themselves are completely different in both endeavors. Amateur wrestling and professional wrestling are as opposite as night and day.
It is these differences that accomplished amateurs have to overcome and adapt to, in order to have a shot at becoming successful professional wrestlers. In Jack Brisco's autobiography, he stated that the best advice he ever received was from veteran Joe Scarpa (later to gain great fame as Chief Jay Strongbow). Scarpa told the NCAA Champion to "put your medals in the closet". Scarpa related that the professional wrestling business was an entirely different game, and if Brisco wanted to succeed, he had to forget his amateur accomplishments and focus on the skills that were needed in order to become a top card draw in the profession.
Many amateurs took that advice and became widely famous and popular in the professional ranks, while still maintaining an air of credibility because of their mat wrestling prowess. Danny Hodge, Ray Gunkel, Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder, The Briscos, Bob Backlund, and later Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar all became household names. Laurent Soucie never did.
If mentioning the name Laurent Soucie causes you to ask "Who?!"-don't be embarrassed. The majority of wrestling fans are unfamiliar with the name. Laurent Soucie was a 2-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and 1975 NCAA Division I all-American from Wisconsin, who entered the professional ranks after some training at Stu Hart's Dungeon and Verne Gagne's Training farm, and made his debut in 1981. After a short stint in Gagne's AWA and Crockett's MACW promotion, he was hired by Vincent J. McMahon to come to the WWF. McMahon had success with Bob Backlund, and as Backlund's popularity began to fade, the elder McMahon decided to try the same formula again and brought in Soucie in the hopes of replacing Backlund down the line. Unfortunately, after a quick build up on the WWF television shows, Soucie quickly became a man who did the job for other wrestlers. He failed miserably. It was one of the few mistakes that McMahon made in his career.
Why did Soucie fail? He failed because he couldn't adjust to the demands of the professional wrestling business. He looked in disdain on his peers, his employers, the fans, the profession in general. That contempt showed itself in his work in the ring and fans quickly came to disregard him-as did his co-workers. Soucie was unable to stop being an amateur.
In an interview conducted in the November 28, 1983 edition of The Milwaukee Journal, Soucie explained why he entered the business and why he left so quickly.
"I'm an amateur athlete that they demeaned to make their sport look better."
"People like myself and Brad Rheingans…we tried to tie the gap between amateur and pro. We went out there and wound up looking terrible on TV. It (professional wrestling) demeaned my sport"
Soucie, clearly had no idea what professional wrestling was in any way shape or form. That is clear enough from his words. The man was somehow expecting to be honored for his amateur accomplishments. When that didn't happen (when fans didn't react to him) he became bitter and soon left the business. Soucie failed, largely in part because he couldn't let go of his amateur wrestling mentality. He failed to become a professional.
All of the other amateur standouts learned that to succeed in professional wrestling, you had to be entertaining and exciting enough to make a fan want to buy a ticket to see you. Fans may or may not have respected a wrestler's amateur credentials, but those credentials did absolutely nothing to make a fan enjoy the wrestler's work in the ring. In wrestling-as in most forms of entertainment-the going mantra is "What have you done lately?"
In professional wrestling, your skill is judged on how happy the fans are after you have finished your match. Not on how successful you were in a college tournament years before. All of the wrestlers who successfully transitioned from the amateur to the professional ranks in wrestling understood that to make a match a good match, both guys have to work together to give the fans the entertainment that they want. That lesson-among many others-was lost on a man like Laurent Soucie.
It is interesting to note that the similarities between amateur and professional wrestling are almost non-existent. From the training, to the holds, to the tangible elements that ensure or deny success in the ring...even the rings themselves are completely different in both endeavors. Amateur wrestling and professional wrestling are as opposite as night and day.
It is these differences that accomplished amateurs have to overcome and adapt to, in order to have a shot at becoming successful professional wrestlers. In Jack Brisco's autobiography, he stated that the best advice he ever received was from veteran Joe Scarpa (later to gain great fame as Chief Jay Strongbow). Scarpa told the NCAA Champion to "put your medals in the closet". Scarpa related that the professional wrestling business was an entirely different game, and if Brisco wanted to succeed, he had to forget his amateur accomplishments and focus on the skills that were needed in order to become a top card draw in the profession.
Many amateurs took that advice and became widely famous and popular in the professional ranks, while still maintaining an air of credibility because of their mat wrestling prowess. Danny Hodge, Ray Gunkel, Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder, The Briscos, Bob Backlund, and later Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar all became household names. Laurent Soucie never did.
If mentioning the name Laurent Soucie causes you to ask "Who?!"-don't be embarrassed. The majority of wrestling fans are unfamiliar with the name. Laurent Soucie was a 2-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and 1975 NCAA Division I all-American from Wisconsin, who entered the professional ranks after some training at Stu Hart's Dungeon and Verne Gagne's Training farm, and made his debut in 1981. After a short stint in Gagne's AWA and Crockett's MACW promotion, he was hired by Vincent J. McMahon to come to the WWF. McMahon had success with Bob Backlund, and as Backlund's popularity began to fade, the elder McMahon decided to try the same formula again and brought in Soucie in the hopes of replacing Backlund down the line. Unfortunately, after a quick build up on the WWF television shows, Soucie quickly became a man who did the job for other wrestlers. He failed miserably. It was one of the few mistakes that McMahon made in his career.
Why did Soucie fail? He failed because he couldn't adjust to the demands of the professional wrestling business. He looked in disdain on his peers, his employers, the fans, the profession in general. That contempt showed itself in his work in the ring and fans quickly came to disregard him-as did his co-workers. Soucie was unable to stop being an amateur.
In an interview conducted in the November 28, 1983 edition of The Milwaukee Journal, Soucie explained why he entered the business and why he left so quickly.
"I'm an amateur athlete that they demeaned to make their sport look better."
"People like myself and Brad Rheingans…we tried to tie the gap between amateur and pro. We went out there and wound up looking terrible on TV. It (professional wrestling) demeaned my sport"
Soucie, clearly had no idea what professional wrestling was in any way shape or form. That is clear enough from his words. The man was somehow expecting to be honored for his amateur accomplishments. When that didn't happen (when fans didn't react to him) he became bitter and soon left the business. Soucie failed, largely in part because he couldn't let go of his amateur wrestling mentality. He failed to become a professional.
All of the other amateur standouts learned that to succeed in professional wrestling, you had to be entertaining and exciting enough to make a fan want to buy a ticket to see you. Fans may or may not have respected a wrestler's amateur credentials, but those credentials did absolutely nothing to make a fan enjoy the wrestler's work in the ring. In wrestling-as in most forms of entertainment-the going mantra is "What have you done lately?"
In professional wrestling, your skill is judged on how happy the fans are after you have finished your match. Not on how successful you were in a college tournament years before. All of the wrestlers who successfully transitioned from the amateur to the professional ranks in wrestling understood that to make a match a good match, both guys have to work together to give the fans the entertainment that they want. That lesson-among many others-was lost on a man like Laurent Soucie.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Jack Brisco, Bob Backlund, Kurt Angle…Laurent Soucie?
Author: Harry Grover.
Published: Pre-October 2014.
Article: #41.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Jack Brisco, Bob Backlund, Kurt Angle…Laurent Soucie?
Author: Harry Grover.
Published: Pre-October 2014.
Article: #41.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Harry can be Read Here.