|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
UPW Partners |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
 |
|||
|
|||
|
by Les Honig When you ask
Shane Roberts to describe how he developed his character of
Ma’koa, The Hawaiian Warrior, you will get a simple answer:
“It is the embodiment of the struggles of my own life and the
fighting spirit I have always used to overcome all odds.” And looking back
at the years that brought this awesome and gargantuan talent to
UPW, such descriptions seem more than valid.
Growing up a child whose family settled in California when
he was six, (moving from his birth-home in Oahu), the
then lanky, lean kid was made the butt of many neighborhood
bullies; forcing him to fight early on for street survival; even
though he says he was by nature a friendly, outgoing youngster. “On
my block there were many bullies trying to prove themselves by
picking on those who they saw as weaker.”
But Shane, as an indication of an ingrained battling
spirit, would not let this constant taunting deter him from
gaining the upper hand. When
for example a new boy in the neighborhood came up to the
unsuspecting Island kid and attacked him while five older friends
looked on “as back up,” Roberts was not intimidated. Rather,
“I waited for the right time several weeks later when he was
alone. I had this big bamboo stick and I beat him over and over
with it so hard that he ran home crying. From that point on, he
definitely left me alone.” Needing,
however, to defend himself against these unasked-for challenges,
Shane’s parents enrolled him at the age of 11 in a martial arts
dojo and soon he was mastering the skills of lima lama karate.
Couple that with a natural strength and power that had served him
well defending himself; augmented by his entrée into weight
training as he was ready to enter high school, and he was soon a
potent physical package, which resulted in his recruitment and
success on various varsity teams from football to basketball to
volleyball. Yet that
aggressive attitude remained; the hostility borne of years of
being the butt of homegrown childhood tormenters. “I was an
early bloomer and by the time I was in high school I was gaining
size and even more strength. Sports served as an outlet for my
aggressive tendencies.” As mentioned in
an earlier Student of the Month feature, Shane became a feared
fighter on the athletic field; with many opposing football players
avoiding his intense explosiveness. Yet who knew, even then, that this teenage fierceness would
later find expression in the center of the wrestling squared
circle? Perhaps one
person might have, though. That
was his dad, who had raised the young Shane watching many of the
pro mat world’s biggest names through the 70s and 80s; and even
though Roberts says he “passed in and out of” his following of
WWE throughout the years, as time progressed his fascination with
it grew and grew and he was a faithful fan for good by the
mid-90s. Becoming a
heavyweight bodybuilding phenom at the age of 17 as he entered and
won many teen competitions, it was later in the gym where Shane
was to make the crucial contact that was to propel him to eventual
UPW notoriety. Graduating high
school and attending some college; then dabbling in acting as he
did light modeling work and a few commercials, Shane also worked
for three years as a bouncer at local So Cal clubs until he
enrolled in accelerated tech training school; finally entering
Boeing as a data security man with what many would call a
prestigious white collar position. Still the constant desire to
escape a 12 hour-a-day desk job that prevented him from keeping
himself in the peak physical shape he always valued, Shane became
more and more dissatisfied as his “love handles” began to grow
and his enthusiasm for the corporate world continued to diminish. Continuing to
work out three times a week, it was in the gym in the late 90s
that he ran into Ultimate Pro alumni Hank Hill, a world-class
powerlifter and then UU trainee, who encouraged him to seek a
similar career in sports entertainment.
“I have always been a different kind of cat; someone who
took the risks when needed to radically shake up my life,” says
Shane, “so this was a natural step for me to take.” Quitting his job
to devote all his energies towards his new wrestling goals, Shane
enrolled at Ultimate University in June, 2002 and as his second
anniversary approaches he sees many positive gains emerging from
all his efforts. For these significant accomplishments, he is now
beginning to win even greater respect from his super-talented
classmates. “It probably
clicked for me about 8 months into training when I realized that
it was okay to mess up while learning.
I had come from a bodybuilder’s frame of reference where
you are always aiming for perfection because you have one chance
each show to prove yourself. So at first when I had trouble
mastering a move I would hesitate to try again, fearing that I
wasn’t doing it just right. Suddenly I saw that dedication to
learning was the only way to really master something and that it
was necessary to try over and over till you got it right.” Dedicating
himself from the start to attending class regularly while working
out to regain the prior amazing condition that this great-looking
talent once possessed, Shane now feels that he has returned to his
former competition level of fitness.
And as a result of his efforts to help others by giving
them pointers on how to get themselves into shape, (particularly
Tony Stradland who he has taken “under his wing” to help make
his already good body even better), other trainees are now coming
to this chiseled powerhouse for guidance as well.
“Suddenly guys are pulling me aside and asking for my
advice and I am more than happy to help them. It’s actually been
very gratifying to do that.” Realizing that
marketability is the number one priority for anyone wanting to
make it to America’s top federation, WWE, Roberts has been
privileged enough to be allowed backstage at a number of their
events in recent months as well as being allowed to participate in
a Stacker 2 YJ Stinger Extreme Energy Drink commercial and this
exposure has provided him with the chance to have invaluable
conversations with several top talents, including Rikishi and HHH. “Rikishi was
so down to earth and a really great guy and so was HHH.
During the filming of the commercial, we took a long break
and Hunter stayed for a half hour talking to myself, Lamar
(Sabbath) and Marshal Knox. He
talked to us about the business and what we need to do. He could
have just as easily gone back to his trailer and hung out by
himself. But instead the guy was just a million dollars. It was
golden information and it was something he took out of his
valuable time to share. He is one class act!” |
|||
| Past Wrestlers of the Month: | |||
