"It all started in Cannon Falls, MN, in a strip bar."
That, friends, is your first clue that you are in for an adventure. Meet 4-foot-6 "Bad Boy Brian" Thoe, 37, professional midget wrestler.
He's also been a drummer in a heavy metal band, an Oompa Loompa, a security guy in the Jerry Springer Show and a human bowling ball.
"All I'm doing is living a dream," he said.
The dream began when Eddie Sharkey, a legendary professional wrestling trainer who counts Jesse Ventura among his students, approached Thoe in that infamous Cannon Falls club and asked if he was interested in becoming a professional midget wrestler.
"I was working at Fiesta Foods at the time, and used my vacation time to see what it was like," Thoe said. "I came home and gave my two week's notice."
Learning to wrestle "was almost like going into the military," Thoe said. "I trained at this gym in St. Joseph, MO with no air conditioning. It was a wood wrestling ring -- no air circulation. You learn each move and get up and do it again."
There are two things people always want to know. One is, if wrestling is fake.
"Yes, but no," Thoe said. "It is, but it still hurts. Sometimes they do hit you hard or stomp or kick. The bottom line is, it still hurts. If you don't have a pain tolerance, you won't make it."
The other question is if he's offended by the term "midget." That answer is a straight no.
"I call other people midgets," he said. "I don't care if they like it or not.
"I love midget jokes," he added, proving it by offering up a rapid-fire string of them.
Thoe has appeared on WWE shows, TNA and Whacked Out Sports and does a number of imdependent shows. Although he's a family man now, he still loves the road.
"The things I've seen happen on the road -- you name it, I've seen it. But knowing me, I'll probably be doing this until the day I die. It's in my blood, hardcore. It's like the world's strongest legalized drug. I'm addicted to it."
His only non-wrestling addiction, he added, is copious quantities of Mountain Dew.
"My Lifestyle now is Mr. Mom. But as soon as I leave, I'm Bad Boy Brian."
Thoe grew up in Lake City and now lives there with his fiance, their infant daughter, two stepchildren and assorted other family.
"I was baptized, confirmed, graduated in this town," he said. "I lived on the farm for most of my life. If I ever have a big contract deal, I'd buy the farm right back."
Wrestlers play different styles and call each other by their stage names at all times, Thoe said. His road family bears similarities to his Lake City one.
"You gotta get along or it just doesn't work," he said. "I avoid drama as much as I possibly can. Even if I know (what's going on), I don't know nothing. I just want to do my job and mind my own business."
For now, he's enjoying life as an entertainer.
"I study entertainment constantly," he said. "In the next 20 ore 30 years, I'd like like to find a movie producer or do a book on my history and experience in the entertainment inudstry.
"I have no regrets in my life. I live it to the fullest. If something interests me, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to die happy because I've given everything I've got, no regrets."
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2 comments:
I really liked this article. It made me wish to meet this little man. I liked the "inside" information feel in the way it was written. A couple of very minor points I noticed. One, independant,was spelled with an "im" instead of "in", two, lifestyle should not be capitalized and personaly, I would have used the word "and" before the word graduated in that sentence. Don't feel bad, I'm in no way perfect either, I just thought you might like to know you overlooked this. Cheers!
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