10 Questions For Ken Anderson

9. On Current Training

AS: What do you think current schools now are doing wrong, and how can it be modernized?

KA: I wouldn't necessarily go as far to say that people are doing things wrong. We don't see a cookie cutter formula for anything. Each individual learns at a different pace, learns via a different style of teaching and that's what we want to tailor for each individual.

I always say that if there's somebody whose 375 lbs who comes through our doors, doesn't appear to have an athletic bone in his body, but wants to contribute to the wrestling business; I'm not going to tell that guy 'no.' Because in addition to being a wrestler, there are tons of other things that you can do in the business. You can be an announcer. You can be a commentator. He can be a valet or a referee for all we know.

I think the general consensus of the business is we only want the strongest, we only want the toughest, and so they bring guys in and they try to break them down and beat the hell out of them and get them to go away and never come back. Because wrestling hurts. It's tough on the body, so we're going to make them bump 1,000 times and hopefully they won't come back. And the ones that do come back are the ones that we really want in the business anyways. I just think that's sort of a dated mentality.

We would rather have a positive environment. Not to say that it's not going to be tough. We're not going to coddle people. But we don't believe in beating the hell out of people, and having that frat house mentality.