Last month during a brisk April morning, I found myself in the passenger seat alongside longtime pro and co-head trainer of the Stronghold Academy, Ryse Wrestling’s school for aspiring hopefuls, Dean Radford. There was some overcast in the sky around 9:45 AM, which isn’t surprising with the notorious Western Pennsylvania weather being slightly chilly when it’s supposed to technically be spring. Despite the bleak conditions outside, we were both energetic that morning, as Dean turned into the battle royal of cars that circled the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Similar to the countdown siren for the next participant of the Royal Rumble, Dean navigated the combination of traffic and people scurrying to the curb with their luggage to get the call to pick up Ryse’s guest that evening, the legendary Dr. Tom Prichard. He was known as many things during the decades that he spent in the squared circle. He was a Heavenly Body, a Body Donna, a villain, an occasional baby face, and a tag team champion. However, after a lifetime in the sport, Dr. Tom is probably known most as a teacher. He’s the guy that showed The Rock, Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, and countless others the ropes from their earliest days in a wrestling ring. Before there was an official developmental territory or a multi-million dollar Performance Center, Dr. Tom helped mold the stars of the future in the warehouse of the WWF TV studio in the late-90s.
One of the mission statements when 25-year veteran, Jason Clements founded Ryse Wrestling in 2016 was to allow the next generation of the business to get a solid start in the sport with its training center as a key piece of the puzzle for the success of the organization. Throughout its nearly eight-year history, Clements has emphasized his commitment to quality training and opportunities for the students that entrust him with their wrestling education. So, the organization, based out of the blue collar location of Uniontown, jumped at the chance to bring Dr. Tom to their facility to teach the students and youngsters of the area.
It was somewhat ironic that as I quickly jumped out of the passenger side before we pulled up to the automatic doors of the busy airport to allow Dr. Tom the front seat, I realized that this would be a reunion of sorts. Years before I started on the local Pittsburgh scene as a commentator, I bought tickets for events where Dean won championships. One of those shows was November 1, 2003 for a Norm Connors card promoted in West Mifflin, PA and earlier that day, Radford attended a seminar with Dr. Tom before Prichard watched the show that night. During intermission, despite being just 14 at the time, but still knowing Prichard’s extensive accomplishments, I had the audacity to ask the former grappler that trained some of the biggest stars in the history of the sport, if I ever had a chance to do anything in wrestling. He was very gracious and with his autograph inscribed, “Never give up!” As young Jim walked back to his seat in the third row, I was over the moon, writing about the experience for an assignment in English class the following week. I got a 90% on that paper.
So, 22 years after Dean attended a seminar in his formative years of wrestling, and I asked if it there could be a role in pro wrestling for me, Dr. Tom was holding a seminar at the training school where Dean teaches the next generation, and would be the guest of honor at the live event that night where I was one of the commentators for the broadcast.
“It is as like time repeated itself for me, hearing Dr. Tom at 65 years old do the drills and speak to all the young talent at the Stronghold Training Center. That took me back over twenty years ago Dr. Tom was my very first seminar as a professional wrestler, and it just made me realize how great he still is,” said Dean Radford.
Ryse’s school is located in the same Uniontown Mall complex where the live events are held. Their training space with event posters and banners of former students, including All Elite Wrestling’s Lee Moriarty and Lady Frost, and NXT’s Thea Hail that line the walls, also includes a weight room. The old storefront was transformed into a training facility, the same way that an old Sears building a few spaces over was designed as a wrestling arena with an entrance way, video wall, and concession stand.
More than 30 students were there that afternoon, eager to learn from Dr. Tom, who still remains active as a coach today. Located in Knoxville, Tennessee, the old stomping groups of Smokey Mountain Wrestling where he won tag gold with the late Jimmy Del Ray more than thirty years ago, Prichard chose a new tag team partner when he launched his own school in 2019, as he joined forces with the mayor of the city, Kane. The Jacobs-Prichard Wrestling Academy runs a 12-week course with a critical focus on the basics and fundamentals of the sport. The sessions are five days a week with a specific design not just on weekly progress throughout for its students, but also daily goals as well to ensure that students can steadily learn with a true understanding of the core principals of the squared circle.
“Knoxville is kind of a unique town. Tennessee is a unique place for wrestling, but Knoxville especially has wrestling fans, good wrestling fans. They still want to cheer and boo. They want to like the good guys and boo the bad guys and stuff like that. We were running Glenn’s campaign, doing his campaign stuff. We were having lunch and he said, ‘you know, we’re both in Knoxville, we should open a school’ It just sort of came up and we decided to start to do it,” Prichard explained via phone.
Of course, one of the many reasons that Radford and Clements looked forward to Prichard’s arrival that afternoon was not only his vast knowledge working as trainer for the WWE for more than 12 years during two different tenures with the organization, but also the chance for him to bring his JPWA curriculum to their students.
As I sat in a chair to observe the seminar for this write-up, I saw Dr. Tom pair the students together to work holds on various body parts for five minutes each before switching maneuvers, as a way to not only work on technique, but the key ingredient of selling as well. In total, the students worked through 12 different intervals, and I’m not sure if they realized it in the moment, but the reality set in at the conclusion of the drill when Dr. Tom said, “congratulations, you just did an hour.” Those that wanted to learn from one of the most notable trainers in the world found themselves dripping sweat onto the canvas and reaching for water before Dr. Tom assigned them the primary cardio drill on the afternoon.
“They’re called satans, I didn’t name them that, someone else did,”
That was the explanation that Prichard gave for the cardio drill that consisted of several sets of 10 of a variety of different in-ring exercises. From hitting the ropes 10 times, 10 pushups, 10 sit-ups, and a few other variations of 10, these students found out exactly why this drill was given that particular name. I diligently watched as some students eagerly slide in the ring to take their turn at this imposing routine, and I saw a few others that conveniently took a walk or went to the restroom rather than even attempt it.
“The man is a walking book of knowledge, and there were some at the seminar who just couldn’t hang with his in-ring workouts. The biggest thing to take away is this guy was and is the only measuring stick, and if you couldn’t hang with his drills it’s time to step up your game,” added Dean Radford
The rest of the four-hour session consisted of Dr. Tom critiquing promos and matches from the participants, offering specific advice for each student in an effort to allow them to make the slight adjustments needed to truly polish their performance. The attention to detail and his ability to offer advice with everything from in-ring mechanics to character presentation stood out as one of the biggest lessons that the students could take away from the seminar.
“I had the privilege to participate in the Dr. Tom Prichard seminar recently at The Stronghold Academy. Dr. Tom is world renowned as a performer and his ability to teach. He is full of wrestling knowledge that myself and the students of the seminar were able to tap into. Stuff like working the TV style of wrestling, calling a match, working a body part, and getting your character across to the crowd. I can’t thank Dr. Tom enough for all his help,” commented Johnny Norris, a powerful athlete that is regarded as one of the most popular grapplers on the Pittsburgh scene today.
“I just think he’s a really genuine person. Aside from being a really great trainer, giving a great seminar, what resonated the most about him for me was that he genuinely cares about people. He wants to get to know people on a deeper level and he asks really great questions about how we got involved with wrestling. He really cares to know our motivation and things like that,” added Kristy Clements, co-owner of Ryse Wrestling.
After watching Prichard deliver his Yoda-like advice to the students, I wondered to myself, “how does he stay so passionate about wrestling more than 45 years after he laced up his boots for his first pro bout?”
The almost half century that he has in the ring only tells half of his story.
Before he was Dr. Tom the wrestler, he was the toddler that fell in love with the squared circle at just 4 years old. Moving to Houston, Texas when he was 10 proved to provide a ripple effect that would shape the rest of his life. He was at ringside in the Houston Coliseum with a press pass to take photos for different magazines at the age of 12. By the time he was 15, he worked in the Houston office under the direction of one of the most legendary and powerful promoters in the industry at the time, Paul Boesch.
“Paul was awesome. He was a great promoter, he was a great civic leader, and he was a great man,” Dr. Tom said.
It wasn’t a bad gig for the youngster either, as he was paid $75 a week as Boesch’s assistant before he started there full-time after he graduated high school. The job had an opening because the promoter’s previous assistant pursued a career in the ring of his own, and it’s a name that longtime fans might be very familiar with, “Gorgeous” Gino Hernandez.
Originally told he was too small for a career inside the ring, Prichard still had the notion of being a pro in the back of his mind. When he wasn’t shuffling papers in the office, he worked out with notable grapplers like Mark Lewin. Finally in 1979, he had his first match with El Satanico II in Bryan, Texas.
“It was awesome, I was scared. I was nervous, but it was awesome. Man, It was a dream come true,” Dr. Tom said of his first pro bout.
Maybe his first opponent is the one who named that cardio drill?
That first match in Bryan, Texas set Tom on a path that saw him work literally all over the map. He worked for Bill Watts in Mid South, and at just 20, he found himself working the Los Angeles territory. He was able to zigzag from one side of the country to the other because while he enjoyed the scenery on the west coast, he cites Pensacola as one of the places where he learned the most.
“Every time I got to come into LA to work the Olympic Auditorium, I got to see the Hollywood sign. It was great,” he recalled.
As the regional territories consolidated under the weight of the WWF’s national expansion in the late-80s, Dr. Tom didn’t sweat it much, as he knew that he’d always have a place to go. When the racket-welding manager Jim Cornette started the previously mentioned Smokey Mountain group in the early-90s, it eventually opened the door for Prichard to work for the WWF, leading to his well-known role as a trainer by the late-90s. By the time he was 36, injuries from almost twenty years in the ring caught up with him and it was a logical transition for Prichard to take the role as a trainer when he was offered the chance to develop talent at a time when such a program was a newer concept.
“Well, WCW had the Power Plant, and Vince wanted something inside the company like that so I was just fortunate that he chose me to do that. It was an easy transformation for me,” Prichard remarked.
So, after 45 years, which will be honored with a special award for him at this year’s Cauliflower Alley Club, what keeps Dr. Tom so dedicated to the business?
“It’s the entire industry, it’s the wrestling business. It’s something that a lot of people think they can do and not everyone can. So, I enjoy doing it, I enjoy watching it, I enjoy seeing people learn, and I enjoy seeing people be successful,” Prichard commented.
When I asked if there was ever a time over the past 45 years that he thought that he would do something else, Dr. Tom simply said, “no, it was always wrestling.”
For more information about the Jacobs-Prichard Academy, you can go to https://www.jpwrestlingacademy.com/
To purchase Dr. Tom’s book, you can go to https://www.amazon.com/Wrestling-Curriculum-suggestions-stories-aspiring/dp/1478113235
For more information about Ryse Wrestling, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/rysewrestling
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
