Imagine taking your passion, and turning it into your livliehood. For most people, it just cant be done. Sure, many would love to give up their unsatisfying office jobs to own their own coffee shop, write the great American novel, or become an astronaut, but they dont. They never make it into outer space. They may be afraid to give up the security, or there may only be so many of those job openings available. And what if your passion takes you to places that no one has been to before? How many people just want to paint wrestlers full-time and have the actual talent to do so? Just one, and his name is Rob Schamberger. He may be the only person in the history of the planet to have this occupation. From August 15-17, Rob will be at the SummerSlam Confidential Panel in Los Angeles, where hell be on hand painting a portrait of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He better hope he does a good job, because Austin has already threatened him on Twitter saying hell give him a Stunner if he screws it up. You can only wonder if hell give him the Lou Thesz Press first. Living in Kansas City, Rob has painted portraits of hundreds of wrestlers (along with a few videogame characters, some celebrities, and a Grumpy Cat or two along the way) as a full-time job for the past three years. If youve been a fan of the sport, youve most likely seen some of work through various websites, on social media or even seen it worn (you can get a pretty amazing Madness at Tiffanys Macho Man and Audrey Hepburn mix at Barbershop Windows). Hes gained a big following among fans and professional wrestlers too. His work can even be found inside of WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut where seven of his paintings are hung up. Vince McMahon has apparently said a portrait of him was Greaaaaat! (do your best Mr. McMahon impression while saying this). And if you watch Raw, youve most certainly seen his work on-air. The episode of Raw after WrestleMania will be most well remembered for the Ultimate Warriors last appearance in the company. Warrior was wearing one of his trademark brilliant coats, and it was Robs design that was on the back. It was a huge honor for the artist, and he was able to talk to Warrior a few times on the phone, before the event and even sat in his luxury box at WrestleMania XXX for the show. The connection between the two was random. It was so out of left field that Rob thought it was a rib. Rob was contacted by Warriors manager about doing some work with him, but then didnt hear back again until two weeks before WrestleMania. This presented a bit of a time crunch to finish two custom jackets, and one of them wasnt finished until 2 am the night before he had to drive to New Orleans! Robs relationship with WWE has continued to get stronger since then. He has videos on the WWE website that focus on his original artwork, and you can buy original portraits of his on their auction website. The videos (as part of the Canvas 2 Canvas series) are narrated by Paige (that lucky son of...), who became a fan of his after he painted a portrait of her after she won the NXT title. Despite her current feud with AJ Lee, Rob describes her as a real sweet gal. Unlike some of the most hardcore fans, Rob wasnt a lifelong one. He started watching wrestling in 1998 at the age of 18. His stepfather was flipping through channels, and landed on Ric Flair cutting a promo on Nitro and he immediately got it. The next week he discovered Raw, and has been watching it every week since. Hes become a student of the sports history, and now considers Bruiser Brody his all-time favorite. That history has greatly influenced his work, as hes in the process of painting every world champion from every major American company starting with George Hackenschmidt. WWE, WCW, WCCW, ECW, AWA, you name it, and Rob has either painted their world champions, or is on his way. So far, hes finished about 120 of the 250 or so of the wrestlers who held the big gold. Yes, every one of them is planned, and yes, David Arquette is already finished. It was actually Arquette who was the first champion to reach out to Rob after he revealed his plan on Twitter. Arquette was so impressed, he now has a painting of himself hung up in his living room. Besides the former Ready 2 Rumble star, Rob enjoys painting other off-beat characters just as well, and fans love them too. His portrait of The Shockmaster was his fastest seller ever. The buyer? None other than fellow questionable gimmick wrestler The Maestro from WCW. When asked who the most difficult wrestler to paint is, he provided some potentially scary news, as he confessed that its Stone Cold himself. Hes actually really tough to paint. For one he has no hair. And two hes a natural blonde, so his eyebrows and facial hair doesnt show up that well depending on how the light hits it. And then he doesnt have the crazy Abdullah the Butcher type features. You have to get it just right, otherwise he could look like Kane without his mask off. Looks like there could possibly be a Stunner in Robs future. Go see his work live at SummerSlam Confidential to find out. Check out Robs work at robschamberger.com, or auction.wwe.com, and follow him on Twitter @robschamberger.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
