WWE Smackdown Coming to Bristol

Jayson Paul was not born to wrestle.
But Paul sure has worked hard to wrestle.
Billed as JTG (Just Too Good), Paul grapples as one-half of the tag team Cryme Tyme. They will be among the throng to throw down at WWE’s SmackDown event on Oct. 10 at Viking Hall in Bristol, Tenn. When fans see them wrestle, they see a pair of chiseled rocks on legs. But what they don’t see is just how tough it is to make it as a wrestler in WWE.
“It’s real difficult,” JTG said by phone last week from his home in Los Angeles. “You have to be persistent and you have to love it to make it in the WWE.”
During the past several years, JTG has shuttled back and forth from the WWE to wrestling on the independent circuit. Look at the difference as akin to bouncing to and fro from professional baseball’s major and minor leagues.
“There’s ups and downs, but it’s all worth it when you go down the ramp and hear 13,000 people screaming for you,” JTG said. “It’s a natural high. All of the people yelling your name, the adrenaline is high. You feel no pain.”
Now that’s a good thing.
Yes, professional wrestling is choreographed to a point. Yes, wrestling features matches with pre-planned outcomes. It’s a show; it’s not a sport.
However, bumps and bruises and breaks of bones do happen.
“We have three to four matches per week,” JTG said. “But if we’re on tour, like overseas, it’s like seven or eight matches per week.”
Translated, wrestlers soar by night while walking to the ring to wrestle, but most are sore with pain by morning when climbing out of bed.
“The training is the tough part,” JTG said. “Wrestling is the fun part. When you train, you have to do it over and over again.”
Then again, the soft-spoken 24-year-old feels the effects daily of his profession.
“My back is killing me,” he said. “I didn’t notice it in the ring, but I do now. It happens.”
JTG and his tag team partner Shad have been up with WWE as Cryme Tyme since March 2008. They began working with WWE superstar John Cena several months later, then six months ago switched from WWE’s RAW brand to WWE’s SmackDown.
Cryme Tyme may appear to wrestle as heels or bad guys. They feature exaggerated inner-city thieving gang-banger personalities. First of all and for the record, it’s an act. Also, they wrestle as fan favorites.
“I’m totally opposite. I’m usually quiet,” JTG said. “That’s why I love my character, but my mother didn’t love it when she first saw me on TV. She was like, ‘that’s not my son!’”
Making it in the WWE and wrestling on live television in front of millions qualifies as a fulfillment of a dream for JTG. Then came some unexpected perks. For example, there was his recent ring experience with NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal.
“When I got called to do that I was like, ‘Shaq? The NBA superstar?’” JTG said. “He’s so tall. He has a great sense of humor.”
Now come Saturday in Bristol, listen for Cryme Tyme’s song. Turn and watch them come down the ramp as cascades of cheers greet them, and know that Jayson Paul as JTG is living a dream with each step taken toward the ring.
“We’re going to give them a show on Saturday,” JTG said. “Be there and we’ll give them their money’s worth.”

IF YOU GO
What: WWE SmackDown & ECW Live
When: Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Viking Hall, 1100 Edgemont Ave., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: $15-$60
Info: (423) 764-0188
Web and video: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown
JTG Video: http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/jtg/videos1/wordup1

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .