Paid to take a pounding
Tiffany Schaefer is one of female wrestling's rising stars.

By Jeremy Russell

YOU'LL FIND THEM after hours in a nondescript building in Hayward's warehouse district – the innocent, the eager, and the damned, devotees of All Pro Wrestling's training facility. Participants are pitted in classic gladiator fashion, knees dropped off the ropes, pile driven, and pummeled for the sheer pleasure of it. This is indie wrestling, and that Tiffany Schaefer is one of its brightest young upstarts surprises her more than anyone.

"Unlike most of my colleagues, I didn't grow up watching pro wrestling with dreams of becoming the next [Hulk] Hogan," Schaefer says. "It wasn't until a few years ago that ... I started to realize what amazing athletes these guys are – it isn't all fake punches and air head-butts."

She adds, "After about a year of watching wrestling, I found out that one of the most famous wrestling schools was located in Hayward." She is referring, of course, to APW's boot camp for wrestlers.

"It really was a boot camp," she recalls. "Kids were vomiting and falling down. We lost about five students the first night."

Having now completed her training, Schaefer has already wrestled a few times in team matches, and her singles debut is set sometime in the coming weeks.

"She's doing a great job," says trainer Vince Shipman, who also studied at APW and is one of the people helping Schaefer with her headlock takedowns, suplexes, and broad arm licks. "She's a great student, she trains hard, and she wants to succeed, and that's the key."

Shipman says he doesn't pull any punches with his prodigy: "It may sound harsh, but I train with [the women] the same as the guys; I don't train them any different."

Even in practice the wrestlers spring at each other off the ropes and land horrifying blows, blasting their opponents into the air and slamming them to the mat.

The ring is none too soft either. It's basically Styrofoam-padded wood on spring-loaded steel bars. The springs have a give of about four inches, but "you're still falling on wood with steel bars underneath it," Schaefer says.

Schaefer's friend Dina Becerra, whose day job is in sales and marketing, has been involved in wrestling for two years, but back, leg, and knee injuries have already stopped her from debuting twice. She's currently refereeing and hopes to be back wrestling in a couple of weeks.

All of which has her boyfriend a bit worried. "Obviously, when you see the best in the business getting injured you worry about your girlfriend," says Schaefer's boyfriend, Tobias Olson, who's been doing a lot more massaging since she took up the sport. "I wish it didn't cause her that much damage, but at the same time she's going to be great at it."

Wrestling is a bone-crunching ballet of pure pugilism, and it's clear watching Schaefer's eyes light up during practice that she loves every minute of it.

"You have to be willing to sacrifice all of your time at the expense of everything else," she says of her chosen vocation. "When you aren't in the ring, you should be thinking about wrestling, watching videotapes of wrestling, working out. You need to be able to travel at the drop of a hat if you get booked at an out-of-town venue. Aside from that, you also need the look, onstage charisma, and a body that can really take a beating."

Schaefer's gimmick is that she's the protégée of one of the most respected women in the business, but she's pretty sure promoters will turn that relationship on its head. A feud is brewing between them, at least in the minds of the promoters. But, then again, anything is a possibility. Even on the night of a match, the wrestlers don't know what their roles will be. The promoters decide who will win and who will lose, and what happens in between is an even bigger unknown.

"There's not time for choreography," Schaefer explains. "Someone who's a good worker can go into a match cold and know that it has to evolve in a logical fashion. APW is known for creating wrestlers who can work the ring."

Although everyone wants to play the villain, the "heel," Schaefer says the most important role in pro wrestling is the victim, often called the "jobber." Jobbers are there to make other wrestlers look good, to "really make it look like somebody took their head off with a clothesline," she says. "But, when you're taking heat, the hardest thing is you have to learn to open up for them and relax," she adds. This is especially true for women, who have a smaller strike zone in which they can get punched and not get hurt.

Nobody wants to get "stiffed," i.e., hit in an unsafe spot, but the danger is always there. In fact, jobbing is one of the hardest roles, with the most risks. Which may explain why, in the best of all possible worlds, all pro wrestlers would be good at jobbing. It is, after all, the people who take the most damage who make the sport seem so exciting.

That's why so much weight is placed on a move called "opening a person up." This means making them bleed, and when you open somebody up, you've got to go after that spot, you've got to work it. There is nothing more exciting for the crowd than the sight of blood. Although it rarely happens, some wrestlers even cut themselves with hidden razor blades to increase the drama.

"Yeah, people have bladed since I've been [wrestling]," says Schaefer, who adds that "99.9 percent of the time, the blood [in a match] is real."

So, is there any money in all of this punishment? Basically, no. Even on the APW Web site (www.allprowrestling.com), the school's president and CEO admits up-front that "it's no secret, there is no money in indy wrestling."

"Some people do make a career out of being in the indie circuit, making $100 here and $100 there," Schaefer says. But "most people's goal is to get into the WWE; that's where the money is."

If they don't dream of a World Wrestling Entertainment contract, then it's of travel to Mexico or Japan, where the sport is taken even more seriously than it is here. And when a person is determined to take a pounding and won't seek counseling, perhaps they should be encouraged to follow their dreams.

"If a girl really wants to get into pro wrestling, she should sign up with a good training facility," Schaefer says. "It would be nice to see some more females in the business who are aggressive and tough and who can really wrestle. Most ladies in the business just get boob jobs and walk around in skimpy clothing."

She continues, "There are plenty of women in action roles in movies and television, and even in real life. I don't know why there aren't more women that can actually fight in pro wrestling."

Ultimately, wrestling isn't that much different than any other career. It could even be described as a lesson in life. "When all is said and done," Schaefer says, "you still need the right look, the right gear, and you need to meet the right people."