The Art of Pile Drivers at the School of Hard Knocks

SAN BERNARDINO — The instruction is offered in tones that are happy, loud and insistent. The students respond eagerly by falling explosively on their backs and slamming their fellow dreamers to the mat.

“I said a pile driver, not a tombstone!” says Bill Anderson by way of evaluation.

Welcome to the School of Hard Knocks, where young men begin the journey they hope will lead to big money, big endorsements and big acclaim in major league wrestling. They also hope to cheat the odds stacked heavily against them.

Located in a former TV repair store and run by Anderson and his partner, Jesse Hernandez, Hard Knocks is considered one of the best. A wrestling school is known by its graduates, and they have some of the most famous.

Anderson taught wrestling to Steve Borden and Jim Hellwig, who went on to become the World Wrestling Federation stars Sting and Ultimate Warrior. Three recent Hard Knocks graduates have entry-level contracts with WWF, and star Papa Shango likes to tune up at Hard Knocks when he’s not on tour.

Hard Knocks is open Saturday mornings and three evenings a week. Anderson and Hernandez have to keep day jobs: Hernandez is a code compliance officer for San Bernardino County; Anderson, until recently, made pickups for a mortuary.

Like many in their field, the men are also independent promoters. The Empire Wrestling Federation schedules cards in San Bernardino, Victorville, Yucca Valley, Adelanto, the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles and Parker, Ariz.

Anderson likes his Hard Knocks students to put in six months of training--three sessions a week at $25 per session--before getting a chance at an Empire Wrestling Federation card. A general rule of the wrestling business is that someone who is serious would do well to figure on about $2,000 in lessons over a couple of years. About 50 to 75 students are enrolled at any given time and the dropout rate is high.

“They come here after watching wrestling on television and want to become famous as quickly as possible,” Anderson said. “We have to slow them down.”

One of the first lessons at Hard Knocks is how to hit the ropes at a gallop and bounce back. The trick is to hit all three ropes at once--the top with your hand, the middle with your buttocks, and the bottom with your calf.

Much of wrestling is falling--falling on your back without (much) injury but falling with great flourish so that the fans feel that great violence is being done.

The technique is to arch your back, keep your head and neck elevated, and absorb the blow on your shoulders by outstretching your arms and slapping the canvas. The slapping provides that ear-splitting sound that is the clarion call of wrestling.

A 19-by-19-foot wrestling ring is designed to make that sound: A thin sheet of canvas is spread over an equally thin layer of foam, with a sheet of plywood underneath. Some promoters amp up the sound by putting microphones beneath the plywood.

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Each wrestling maneuver has its own technique. With the pile driver, the trick is to wedge your opponent’s head between your thighs and sit down quickly and loudly while pulling your opponent’s legs upright so the soles of his shoes are staring at the ceiling.

If the maneuver is executed correctly, the opponent’s head never touches the canvas and the force of the blow is absorbed by the driver’s thighs and hands (although the fans will think otherwise). If the maneuver is executed incorrectly, the opponent will hear clashing cymbals in his head.

Anderson, a wrestler for 25 of his 42 years, knows the occupational hazards. He’s had a herniated disc in his back, 42 stitches, a shoulder separation, and more broken bones than he remembers.

If you can’t perform with pain, it is best to transfer to a night school course in real estate.

“Is he bleeding?” Anderson said as a student got flattened by an improperly done body slam.

No.

“Tough kid,” Anderson said admiringly. “He’s really paying his dues tonight.”