Ask Colt Cabana how many jobs he has right now and it’s going to take a minute to list all of them. And he might miss a few.
The 37-year-old remains very active as an independent wrestler as he approaches his 20th year in the business. Outside of the ring, he’s one-half of the Ring of Honor broadcast team, an entrepreneur selling wrestling merchandise, podcast host (“The Art of Wrestling” podcast), an actor and a comedian. He’ll next take the comedy stage on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at North Bar in Chicago where he will team up with Marty DeRosa for the annual ‘night before Thanksgiving’ event where they commentate bad wrestling matches.
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Now you can add one more item to the list as he is the co-author of the new children’s book “Wrestling Dreams." The book, loosely based on his childhood as an obsessed wrestling fan, is available for sale everywhere but anyone who purchases it directly from his ColtMerch.com website will also receive a personalized video from Cabana himself.
This coming weekend, he’ll be at the Ring of Honor live events in Florida not only working on the broadcast but also helping raise money for the United for Puerto Rico initiative with 100 percent of the proceeds going to help support those affected on the island by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
Sporting News recently caught up with Cabana about his packed schedule, being a merchandise trailblazer, proper etiquette at shows, and his new book.
SPORTING NEWS: Ring of Honor has two shows this weekend in Florida including Fort Lauderdale on Saturday and Lakeland on Sunday. Yourself and Ian (Riccaboni, Ring of Honor play-by-play host) are going to be offering something special to help raise money for United for Puerto Rico and the relief efforts there.
COLT CABANA: Come early and Ian and I will have the headsets on and you come to the announce booth and we'll take a picture, we'll both sign an autograph. That experience is $20 but it's a $20 donation towards United for Puerto Rico and the people of Puerto Rico.
All of the money is totally going to help give some relief to the people in Puerto Rico. It's so little for me to take a picture with somebody or sign an autograph and to make somebody's day. And now we can help make some kind of assistance. I'm really happy that we're doing it.
Ian grabbed the ball and ran with it. He plugged in the right people and started this all going. This is just me trying to help the world a little bit through Ian's coordination and with the help of everybody including Ring of Honor.
SN: I see a lot more wrestlers trying to raise money for various causes or for people in need. I wonder if people realize the name recognition they have and the impact that they have when it comes towards good causes. Have you come to realize that more?
CC: Yeah and I also realize the idea that I have something that's worth something that, whether it's just writing my name down or taking a picture, that has value. We're names or recognizable so let's use that and put that to help the people of Puerto Rico, I think that's the cool thing.
It's hard for independent wrestlers to do this kind of stuff because if you're just trying to be an independent wrestler, it's very hard to make a living. It's not easy to take away from some kind of income in order to give it away for charity. But that's what charity is all about and that's the sacrifices you make and I'm proud of it and a lot of the other wrestlers are too.
SN: You've been working with Ian for a little while now on Ring of Honor broadcasts. What's that experience been like?
CC: He's great. I know he's young and he has to follow Kevin Kelly which is a hard thing to do. I think that's the most important thing is you can tell his passion for wrestling, his love for wrestling. This is a guy who loves wrestling and looks the part, acts the part, sounds the part. We've been doing it a short while but a good amount of shows together and I'm excited to see where this relationship and partnership can be in two, five, 10 years.
SN: You've been making this transition into broadcasting although you're still very active as a wrestler. What do you do in your mental preparation when it comes to getting ready for a broadcast in comparison to what you do for a match?
CC: I guess on both I try to make sure I'm loose. It's a good question in terms of preparing and going out there for broadcasting and wrestling. When I'm wresting and I'm too restricted or tight and I'm too worried about what's going to happen, I don't allow my real character to come out in the true fun of pro wrestling. I try to keep that in mind too when I'm about to go out with Ian. Don't be so regimented. Don't really worry about making sure you get all the information and facts out. That will come. What I worry about is making sure I have fun out there and I keep it loose and I be myself.
I like to think I've been a voice for at least independent wrestling since 2010 when I put out my podcast. I've been this voice for a lot of wrestling fans over the years. So, I think it's kind of cool that it's not transitioning to television where I can be the voice for wrestling fans again, this time with the Ring of Honor product. That's kind of the mentality I keep in my head when I go out there.
SN: Obviously, merchandise is a huge deal for independent wrestlers like yourself and so many others. We've seen the Young Bucks and Bullet Club really take advantage of it as well. You were really the first entrepreneur when it came to taking advantage of selling shirts and merchandise. What was it like when you started to now following this huge spurt in selling merchandise?
CC: Ryan (Barkan) from One Hour Tees and I, we started Pro Wrestling Tees together. That was our collaboration. It literally was the genesis of all of it because that's when you saw Kevin Owens and The Young Bucks and Joey Ryan and everybody, Steve Austin and Jim Ross, taking advantage of the website, taking advantage of the idea that they don't have to do any work and they'll just get paid for it and they'll get to put out these awesome shirts to wrestling fans that love it. I was a teaching assistant along with being a wrestler and in 2003, I decided to quit my teaching assistant job and become a full-time professional wrestler.
I was with Ring of Honor and I was getting some decent paying gigs but it wasn't enough to actually make a living. If I wanted to be a full-time wrestler, I knew I'd have to subsidize it with making some extra money. That's when I really became this full-time "hustler" at the merchandise stand and merchandising myself and made it a big part of my business because I wanted to just be a wrestler.
In those early 2000's, it was just me at the merch table. It literally was just me and maybe the owner's wife was there also and maybe another wrestler, maybe a guy like Chris Hero. Now, if you go to these independent shows, it's 25, 30 wrestlers outside trying to hoc their wear. I've really seen the wave of merchandise at independent wrestling completely shift and I think
I'm a little bit responsible for it in terms of starting Pro Wrestling Tees and showing people the success that a t-shirt can make if you want to support your wrestler. And so many people were supporting, that all of a sudden a lot of wrestlers realized this is such an important part of the game. I'm happy to be a part of that shift. It's really cool to see how far that's come.
SN: When you go to shows and everybody is selling their merchandise and because you're Colt Cabana and helped get the ball rolling on this, do you get preferential treatment when it comes to your space and your table?
CC: I'd like to think so. (laughs) There's a little bit of me, like, I expect that should happen but sometimes wrestlers don't even know who I am. Or they just know my name. They don't even understand some of the stuff that I helped pave the way for. They just throw out their stuff. There's a whole etiquette to... You know how you hear about Enzo Amore getting thrown out of the locker room. There's locker room etiquette. There's also merchandise table etiquette that a lot of people don't know and don't understand. I just try to make sure I find somewhere to put out my stuff. But I'd hope that people would be willing to make some room for me if they haven't already.
SN: You've had so many experiences and have been wrestling for nearly 20 years, do you still get surprised by anything that happens in wrestling? Just this past week, I think a lot of people were surprised, myself included, with the announcement that Chris Jericho is going to work for New Japan and have a match with Kenny Omega. Do you get surprised by anything that happens in wrestling?
CC: Well, I've known about that Jericho thing for a couple months now. I can't say no. Of course, my brain is a little jaded from being around for so long. But sure, if something happens that I didn't think was going to happen. Yeah, I'll get surprised by it and I'll start texting some friends and be like 'tell me the story on this one'. I was surprised by Lio Rush's tweet. That surprised me. I didn't think that's something he should do and he did it. I kind of want to be like 'what's this guy thinking?'
SN: You are now an author and wrote a children's wrestling book titled "Wrestling Dreams". Where did the idea come about for doing the book?
CC: My best friend Sam (Weisz) is a dentist in Libertyville, Illinois. His wife is a children's book author and illustrator. We collaborated together. Like I said, there was a time when no one was at the merch table and there was a time when everybody was at the merch table with their t-shirts. Maybe wrestling fans have enough t-shirts so something that we thought was really cool was the idea of this wrestling book for children. And the idea that if you're a grown adult coming to a wrestling show or maybe a fan of my podcast, you see this wrestling book and say 'I have a child' or 'I have a nephew' or 'I have a young brother or sister'. I think this is so great that it's a way to share your wrestling love with a younger generation.
The idea of reading this book with a child or giving this book to a child to read and through that, sharing a love of wrestling. Hopefully, if you’re obsessed with wrestling like I am, it's a great way to hook a child into the wrestling world so they can be your wrestling friend for the rest of your life.
SN: Do you think this could lead to you writing a collection of children’s books?
CC: That would be fun because I thought you were going to say maybe this would start every indie wrestler doing a children's book which might be the case. Yeah, if it's a success I'd love to. I haven't even thought about that. That would be wonderful.
Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.
