Scott Parker is your average Joe. He’s a man with a dream who’s trying to make it happen. He may lose his temper every now and then, but it’s for progression. Think of him as Mick Foley.
I interviewed one of IWA Unlimited’s stars and got his thoughts on wrestling, injuries and everything in between.
1) How long have you been a professional wrestler?
I started training in January 2008 and had my first match in October of the same year. I really wasn’t ready, but the company (IWA Productions, at the time) was short on people and really didn’t have much of a choice. So going out there and getting beat up every Wednesday was part of my training.
2) What made you want to become a wrestler?
Watching it on TV as a kid, like most people. I ended up reading Mick Foley’s first book and knew that I would love to be involved in that. Some years past, and I kind of just forgot about the whole thing until I went to a local indy wrestling show. During intermission, I was looking at the merchandise table and seen some flyers for a wrestling school. Before I could pick one up, a small, older gentleman asked me if I wanted to be a wrestler. The man was named Bud Chaplin and had a training school that was local and affordable, so I knew if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would always think “what if?” later on down the road. Unfortunately, he ended up passing away in July of 08. “Intimidator” Josh Totten and “Homicidal” Steven Davis picked up where Bud left off, which led to my first match.
3) Explain your character.
For my first two years, I was the Average Joe, working class, never say die good guy. After some of the bad guys started getting cheered and eventually turned good, I went the direction of, “If you enjoy cheering those guys, I’ll give you someone to cheer for.” From there I just became a jerk. I bully around the smaller wrestlers, cower from the bigger guys. If things don’t go my way I tend to get very vocal about it, which has earned me the name “Crybaby” with the fans. That lead to me going a bit crazy and bringing an over-sized baby bottle and diaper to the ring with me. The baby bottle (which ended up being revealed to be loaded with chains) was used to knock out opponents, while the diaper would get shoved over his head while I yelled “Whose the crybaby now?” at the fans.
4) What is your finisher?
I’ve used a belly-to-belly suplex for a long time. Recently I’ve been using a full nelson, which has been dubbed the Scott Knott. Sometimes I use a full nelson sit-out slam.
5) Who was your favorite wrestler growing up?
Mick Foley. Always loved watching him as Cactus Jack in WCW. Enjoyed it when he came to WWE as Mankind and was having vicious matches with the Undertaker. Then he went on to become the goofy underdog which I identified with in a way. When he ended up becoming champion, I almost cried I was so happy. It gave me hope, if this guy could achieve his dreams, anybody could.
6) If you could wrestle one wrestler, past of present, who would it be?
Bret “the Hitman” Hart in his prime.
7) What was your best match?
I’ve really been fortunate to get to work with IWA Unlimited and the great talent there. It’s really hard to narrow it down to one. As a good guy, I would say the matches I had with Jay Spade at the IWAU shows “The Hard Goodbye” and “War” are my best work. The matches I have been having lately with Shank Barzini have gotten positive feedback and I really feel have been some of my best work to date.
8) What was your worst match?
This is a bit easier. I was wrestling for a company that I had worked for a month before as a babyface. Had a good match with good wrestlers. The next month they bring me back and ask me to come back as a heel, with no explanation. Then they put me in there with a guy in a blood splattered clown outfit as the hero. The whole thing was a disaster. The guy was absolutely terrible with no athletic ability whatsoever, and I hadn’t had enough experience yet to know how to work around his limitations to have a passable match. After about 2 minutes, the guy was so winded and telling me to end the match. Awful
9) You recently suffered your first injury. Mind explaining it?
I caught a hard knee strike to the face which resulted in a fracture orbital bone. As soon as it happened I dropped to the mat and started swearing, didn’t think anything too serious happened at first. My nose was bleeding, but I thought it was no big deal. When I got back to the locker room, the guys were checking me out for any signs of a concussion or broken bones, but thought nothing major was wrong. My nose was still bleeding and would not quit. That was starting to scare me. Almost an hour after it happened one of the wrestlers who happened to be an EMT looked at me again and told me I looked like I had skull trauma and to get the ER immediately. After about three hours there, X-rays, CT scans and lots of waiting around they told me I was going to be held overnight in the ICU. It wasn’t until the next morning I was told what was going on and how severe the injury was. I had surgery a week later and seem to be recovering pretty well, but the time away from the ring is starting to get to me. I love what I do, even if it does cause bodily harm on occasion.
10) Any advice for aspiring wrestlers?
If you’re going to do this, be ready to put you’re heart and soul into it. Don’t get discourage if you don’t pick up on things right away, hardly anybody does. Always put your best foot forward, whether it be a training session or a big match. Be prepared to do things you don’t want to do, because it will happen. It’s a tough road, even if you’re a guy who only does it once or twice a week, like myself.
You can find Scott Parker on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ScottParkerWrestler), as well as the IWA Unlimited Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/IWAUnlimited) and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/unauthorizedIWA1) pages.