Have you ever heard the old expression about having the “taste slapped out of your mouth?”  Come on, who hasn’t heard that expression?  Everyone has heard it before.  I’m sure some of you have even heard it from your mothers and fathers!  But let me ask you this - have you ever HAD the taste slapped out of your mouth?  

Well, I have.

I love how people love to watch wrestling and talk about how fake it is and how silly it is.  Especially, if wrestling is on in the room with a few people who don’t normally watch.  They laugh about how phony it looks because they think it’s cool.  Well, there’s a lot of things about wrestling that is real… VERY REAL.  And I’ll be the first to tell each and every one of you that the slaps that you see in wrestling - they’re VERY REAL, as well.

I can remember one time in Brighton, TN when I was wrestling a tag match with Alan Steel and Derrick King.  DK loved to call a spot in there where I’d slap him (being the bad guy) and he’d eventually get to slap me back.  The crowd would go wild when the good guy gets to slap the bad guy back.  Especially, if it was a loud slap that everyone could hear.  Well, I guess you know what’s coming next.  I hate to slap anyone in a match because I know I’ll get it back.  

Keep in mind, if your ear is boxed during a slap, you could lose your hearing permanently.  If not, it could definitely be damaged pretty well.  It’s even more frightening to be slapped by someone who is very green in the business.  Someone who hasn’t wrestled many matches and doesn’t have much experience can be very dangerous.  Especially, doing something as simple as a slap.  I’m terrified of two things in life.  One - going blind.  Two - going deaf.  I have all the respect in the world for the folks that can actually make it through without hearing or seeing.  My hat’s off.

Back to the story though.  Naturally, I did what DK wanted and slapped him.  I got him pretty good, but I knew that I hadn’t hurt him at all.  I knew I’d taken care of him on it or else he’d be cussing right there in the middle of the ring.  Alan, whom was my partner at the time, he laughed about it because he thought it sounded pretty good.  He also knew what was coming next.  A few second later, I was slapped so hard by Derrick King in the face that I had to actually leave the ring and go to the floor to get my wits about.

I had a ringing in my ear that I had only heard once before (more on that in a moment).  My jaw was actually tingling and I felt like I was going to throw up.  My head just felt totally odd, all because of a slap.  I tagged out and stood on the floor regrouping for a while, after that.  I was so mad at Derrick.  

The other time that I will never forget, I believe I discussed once before.  Kid Kash slapped me on the chest so hard that my ears rang, his palm busted open and my chest was popped open, as well.  It was a very real moment in the ring when that happened.  I not only had to regain my composure, but I had to make sure that he didn’t do it again.  I booted him in the guts and turned him around.  Granted, I chopped him back… but he got the best of me on the exchange.

Why can’t wrestlers slap as good as girlfriends?  I was slapped once by a girlfriend and it didn’t hurt a bit - but it sounded off like a whip.  I’ll never forget that.  Instead of hurting, I was more shocked.  Like, “What the hell just happened?”  Can we get her to train the guys or something?