|
by
Les Honig
He may just hold the distinction of being Ultimate University’s longest rookie; but if time spent is any indication of future potential, then current standout student Mario Quezada has a future blazed in the heavens.
Beginning his training career nearly four years ago in November 2000, now 22 year-old Quezada has become seasoned by repeated stays at our El Segundo learning facility; beginning all the way back when he was a co-trainee with UPW super alumni John Cena and Jon Heydenreich (WWE’s Big John).
Raised as a largely quiet, shy kid who he self-describes as “sometimes a trouble maker”, Quezada grew up in L.A.’s Echo Park area where gang violence was a common everyday event; forcing him to spend much of his time at home to stay safe.
Still he developed some outdoor sports passions but none compared to his love of pro wrestling which he first began following on Saturday mornings in front of the T.V. When he finally decided at age 16 that he really wanted to enter the squared circle himself he began an aggressive personal campaign of lifting; attempting to fill out his formerly thin frame.
While his parents encouraged him to pursue some sort of professional career with post-secondary college training, Quezada became particularly driven to attempt a mat education after viewing the Discovery Channel UPW Training School documentary.
“I saw John Cena and Smelly (Mark Bell) on that program and then heard that they were gonna be at a UPW booth before a Raw taping in Anaheim so I went there,” he recalls now. “When I arrived I saw Cena posing and thought, ‘Wow, there he is!’ I took a few photos with him and also spoke with Samoa Joe who was manning the table and he gave me the scoop on the school.”
Contacting then-El Segundo instructor Kevin Quinn, he soon was enrolling and training with the likes of some of the very superstars he had seen on the cable feature. “I remember practicing with some of those guys and how hard it was to do stuff like body slamming a 280-pounder like Heydenrich. It probably took me about 6 times before I could do my first one with him.”
What was to follow next was the first in a series of training fits and starts for Mario, who found the challenges of college life; the occasional and unexpected injuries and the pressures of training and working just too much to balance; and this led to a rather prolonged but ultimately valuable long learning curve.
“About a month and a half into training I suffered my first ring mishap,” says Mario.
“I was working out with John Cena and Big John and we went in there and did a couple of rounds. Then at the end of the class drill they would bump me, bump me and give me the finishing move. Smelly went last and gave me his own finishing move, The Stink Bomb. I was thrown on my back and my knee hit my head and I became really dazed for a couple of minutes. The teacher that day said, ‘Don’t worry, you probably got a mild concussion. I’ve had 27 of them.’ That made me feel better for the moment but a few moments later I just passed out and woke up in the ambulance on the way to the emergency room.”
With a hemorrhage to his head, he was told by doctors to recuperate for six months, but the drive to compete pushed him back in half that time and he continued learning until the El Segundo training location temporarily shut down. Returning upon its reopening in mid-2001, Quezada once again left that November when “my parents decided they wanted me to finish school. I said okay; I’ll drop it now and try to finish but after I did I still thought about going back for months.”
In July 2002, Mario made another return to the El Segundo UU ring, mixing it up now with the likes of L’il Nate, the Miz and Antonio Mestre, but once again was facing a difficult choice once the school year began. “It was really tough. I would get up in the morning and go to college. When I’d get out I’d go to my job for a couple of hours, then work out and practice. It was overwhelming.” With the personal pressure mounting, Quezada was forced to leave once again, this time departing as the year came to an end. “I just needed to get away and think about this and see if it was really what I wanted.”
Beginning now his longest hiatus, one that was to last all the way through 2003 and into early 2004, Mario concentrated on a side career in the hotel hospitality field; working in various positions from waiter to room service to bartending; all while continuing at school.
Once again, however, that thought of squared circle fame started ruminating again in his brain and halfway through this hiatus he became determined to return soon again.
“I was watching Raw and it really hit me when I saw John Cena. I remembered how I had practiced with him and saw how he interacted with the WWE fans and that really motivated me. Then I saw Victoria win the women’s championship and I thought, ‘Geez, she was from UPW also!”
Then attending many Staple Center Raw events and seeing other alumni in dark matches and not wanting to forever lose his chance to try the career he had dreamed of entering since he was a teenager, he made the tough decision to once again return to the training wars, but this time with a real attitudinal difference and newfound commitment.
“People who I had wrestled with before had said I possessed considerable talent so I just didn’t want to let any more time go by and later regret not trying when I was young enough to succeed. So I decided to give it one more chance but this time with all my heart and soul.”
Now back for that final career push, Mario Quezada has already begun to click with many of his teachers and respected co-workers remarking how far he now has come and what great promise he now displays. Giving much of the current credit to not only the Ballards whose patience he finds remarkable, but also to his primo co-classmates, particularly Kevin Zacaula, L’il Nate and Tony Stradland, who have shown him the ropes, this seasoned young ring lion is sure to amaze and delight future Ultimate Pro audiences throughout our territory.
Debuting recently in Torrance as part of the Student Battle Royal, Quezada is now even more fired up and determined to strive for eventual greatness, so it is a near certainty that we shall see even more fabulous future action from August’s featured supercharged student UU athlete!
|
