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by
Les Honig
When you ask
Ultimate University instructor Shannon Ballard to point out one of his
school’s most outstanding current recruits the reaction is immediate:
Darold Taylor.
This 21 year-old super-talented rookie comes to us from the Long
Beach, California area and possesses many of the tools that others
before him have brought with them to achieve significant results in
the pro wrestling world.
Raised primarily by his mom, originally in Inglewood and then Hawaiian
Gardens, Darold and his five brothers and sisters faced a rough
growing-up period, with street gangs and illegal substances pervading
their neighborhood. Darold, instead chose the more positive path of
childhood sports, with basketball, baseball and football the
activities he most enjoyed. “I was really a pretty quiet kid and I
didn’t have too many friends. Most were on my teams. The other kids
around me would always be getting into trouble.”
Coming into high school, Darold sought out the wrestling team for his
new athletic pursuit, already being a pro fan who “watched a lot of
WWE and WCW during the attitude era”. His favorite superstar became
Chris Jericho who he loved for a combination of ring acumen and great
on-camera personality.
Experiencing considerable success himself at Long Beach’s Milliken
High School; first on J.V. and then on the varsity squad his senior
year, (a year that saw the team win their first CIF championship), the
newfound confidence he achieved through grappling convinced him that
he, too, could enter the pro ranks as a successful performer.
Faced with an immediate and crushing family tragedy, when his older
brother, who had encouraged him to seriously consider pursuing a
professional wrestling career, was suddenly killed in an auto
accident, he had to leave his job at a local Ralph’s grocery store to
move to the Riverside area with his mom to help support her and to
help run his brother’s business. (He had worked for the L.A. Times
organizing delivery there.)
With many sad memories surrounding them, however, and convinced that
he needed to return to the Long Beach area to actually enter El
Segundo training, he and his mom moved back home and it was then that
this hard-working prospect regained his job at Ralph’s and began
training.
“My mom promised me that if I could get re-hired and concentrate on
wrestling school, she’d pay for the tuition.”
Beginning in earnest in October, Taylor was immediately smitten by his
first visions of UPW training, “wanting to immediately jump into the
ring even though I was there to watch the first day.”
Admitting that despite his past athletic prowess he still woke up
after his first actual session, “barely able to move”, those first
difficult reactions to taking bumps soon faded and he was loving every
minute of training.
Thanking his “awesome” teachers, The Ballards, who show their usual
patience with his own mat education and Hardkore Kidd, who has shown
him other aspects of the business, Darold feels his biggest current
challenge is to master hold-to-hold “chain” wrestling but hopes to
master those skills completely in the coming months.
“I have developed a gimmick, too, a guy with a name Darold Legend, who
wants to be a John Cena type but cooler and more laid back; a kind of
cross between Chris Jericho, Sean Michaels, Razor Ramon; all put
together with in a new blend.”
With close class friends who he identifies as Rick and Francesca, this
new, hot prospect is delighting his teachers with his drive,
dedication and determination. His own goal is to “become a world
champion” and by entering the pro ranks to do for others what pro
wrestling will hopefully do for him.
“I want some kid back in Long Beach to have the same reaction as I did
when I saw my first pro match between Razor Ramon and Sean Michaels at
Wrestlemania XI. I want him to say when I appear on their TV screen:
‘I can do that too!”
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