Pro wrestler is passionate performer
Pro wrestler Trent James prepares for a bout. Photos submitted
By Tom Victoria
Trent James knows how to deliver a devastating clothesline, lock up with his opponent and hit the mat. The athlete is a pro wrestler.
Although many contemporary wrestlers have stellar athleticism, far fewer have nailed down the subtleties that comprise good pro wrestling. Trent, 20, of North Carolina has the charisma and timing in addition to the athletic skills to ensure a performance true fans can enjoy.
“Every single detail matters to me from the smallest nuances to the more complex parts,” he said. “I really believe the little things end up making the biggest difference overall and I’m always trying to improve my craft.”
Trent doesn’t want to be confined to one set of moves for every match.
“I want to use different moves every time you see me,” he said. “Some wrestlers get a bad habit. They like to use the same stuff or they’ll use different variants of stuff in different matches. To be honest, crowds get sick of that. They know what’s coming, so you got to give them something that they’ve never seen. I think that’s something I’m really good about is being different and I’m not trying to do everything that everybody else is doing.”
Trent makes up for size with talent and personality.
“I’m not the biggest or strongest, but I think I’m entertaining,” he said.
Trent said wrestlers must have personality.
“The crowd’s got to be invested in them,” he said. “If the crowd’s not interested in them, that’s gonna make it 10 times harder when you’re out there doing it.”
Trent utilizes different moves based on the size and style of his opponent.
“When I’m wrestling a bigger guy, I might have to break out even more different things,” he said. “If I’m wrestling a smaller guy, I’ll have to break out smaller things.”
Trent improvises some things he does during a match, including how to pin an opponent.
"It's more instinct than anything," he said. "Those kinds of moments just happen naturally for me in the flow of it without me overthinking them.”
Trent plans to wrestle many different people in many different locales.
“Travel around as much as you want to,” he said. “Don’t get stuck wrestling the same people over and over and over again. You don’t want to be wrestling the same people every weekend because you get so used to that. I’m already booked in Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida. I’m trying to knock out as many states as possible. I want people to realize that I’m really trying to do this thing and chase this thing.”
Trent carries on a family tradition. His dad, Perry James, has been a pro wrestling manager for decades.
“I’ve been around it my whole life because he’s been doing it for about 27 years,” the son said. “He was able to do it on a pretty big scale in the Memphis area. He was actually on TV.”
The elder James performed on Power Pro Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory run by Randy Hales, and managed such stars as WWF talent the Dog-Faced Gremlin Rick Steiner, Sherri Martel and Kamala, who allegedly hailed from Uganda but was in reality American James Harris.
“I was exposed to it really fast,” he said. “We would go to shows when I was 4 years old. We were in a locker room and I have a vague memory of Kamala scaring me and my older brother and stuff like that.”
Trent’s dad also managed other pros such as Deon Johnson, who now teams with Trent and now his son.
“Me and him actually hold the tag team championships of the promotion Action Packed Wrestling in Chester, South Carolina,” he said. “I’ve been around these guys my whole life. My dad never let me get in the ring and play around the ring until I was about 12 years old. It came a little bit more natural for me, but it was still hard. It was still very hard.”
Despite moving in the ring like a veteran wrestler, Trent has only been doing it professionally since January.
“I made my debut on January 3, so I’ve been in it for a very short time,” he said. “Before that, I trained for seven months at the Future Factory in Union, South Carolina. The head trainer there is Deon Johnson and my dad trained me as well. They got me really good guys to help me at the beginning. That’s probably why I’m a little bit better than not. I’m not trying to brag. They had me in there with some really good people.”
Trent found some wrestling moves harder to learn than he expected.
“The locking up and headlocks, those were way harder than I thought they would be,” he said. “That is the basics, but everybody can do the basics. But can the basics be done right and be done at a very high level. I can do the basics, but I can do the basics really good.”
Trent draws inspiration from a variety of older wrestlers, including one of the original Four Horsemen of the NWA.
“I watched a lot of Tully Blanchard,” he said. “I actually hit a move in a match that Tully Blanchard has done. I catapult him underneath the bottom rope and he chokes on the bottom rope. That totally came from Blanchard. Another one that I watched was Brad Armstrong. I don’t know if I necessarily compare to Brad Armstrong in the ring, but I watch guys like that.”
Trent also is a fan of contemporary wrestlers.
“I like A.J. Styles,” he said. “I still like Chris Jericho. A young Chris Jericho is really good. I try to take stuff from those guys.”
“There’s so many wrestlers around the world, you need to be something that they’ve never seen – a different variant or something that when they see you, you stand out with all the thousands and thousands and thousands of other wrestlers.”
Trent strives to be original though, working with his dad to create something new.
“Me and him always talk about new stuff and his whole thing is be something somebody else has never seen before,” he said. “There’s so many wrestlers around the world, you need to be something that they’ve never seen – a different variant or something that when they see you, you stand out with all the thousands and thousands and thousands of other wrestlers.”
Trent practices every week.
“I’ll go work out,” he said. “As far as in-ring working out, I’ll go to about every week down in Union at the Future Factory. You can never have too good of cardio when you’re in the ring. That’s something else I’m pretty good at. A lot of guys can get gassed really fast when they’re in there because that’s a different level when you’re out there and there’s a crowd watching. You just have to be on it. There’s no time to think.”
Trent is employing social media to promote his abilities.
“I’m trying to get my name out there,” he said.
Trent has aspirations to perform in the biggest wrestling stage of all.
“Madison Square Garden, that’s just historic,” he said. “That’s a big accomplishment and to main event it, too. That’s taking it a stretch.”
“You’re supposed to put them on a show and give them entertainment and they should be going away from there being like I’m so glad we went there and that was worth spending our money to come see that.”
Trent gets advice in the corner of the ring from manager Perry James.
Trent obviously would like to appear on the biggest show of the year someday.
“WrestleMania,” he said. “That’s the biggest of them all.”
Trent hopes fans get one thing from his performances.
“That they got their money’s worth from watching me,” he said. “That’s a big thing that gets overlooked, too. They’re spending their money. This is people’s hard-earned money to come watch you. You’re supposed to put them on a show and give them entertainment and they should be going away from there being like I’m so glad we went there and that was worth spending our money to come see that.”
Trent also opts for a unique look, wearing wrestling pants instead of tights, trunks or shorts.
“I had them made a certain way to where they wouldn’t look too wack,” he said.
Trent stays motivated to keep putting in the work.
“You just have to remember the end goal and why you’re doing it,” he said. “If your dream goal is just to make it to WWE, you shouldn’t get into wrestling. You should get into wrestling because you love wrestling. You got to be really good to make it to the top. The motivation comes from just loving wrestling. I’m just trying to prove myself. I thrive under pressure. When I would train, we had some people drop in every once in a while and they would get in there with me. I would just have to show people I can hang and that’s something.”
Trent offered advice to aspiring pro wrestlers.
“Make sure you really love it before you get into it because this is a very exhausting business,” he said. “If you have plans of making a family and all that – I’m not saying you don’t do that – but make sure you’re committed to it. If you’re going to do it, go full in and go all in with it. You got to devote a lot of time and a lot of money to it. If you truly love it, go for it.”
Trent’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trentjamespro/
Trent’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TrentJamesPro