The key to professional wrestling, according to David Arquette, is learning how to take a hit. Which is almost too perfect a metaphor for his wrestling careera fighter who just cant figure out how to go down smoothly. In 2000, Arquette first entered the ring as a publicity stunt to promote a buddy comedy called Ready to Rumble. Less than two weeks later, he found out he was booked to win the heavyweight championship, which he knew would irritate serious fans. Sure enough, ever since he thrust that WCW belt into the air, a pair of low-rise leather pants clinging to his waist and his bruised eyes glazed over in a stupefied grin, hes been ridiculed by fans as one of the biggest punks wrestling has ever seen.
In reality, Arquette says, he had all the respect in the world for wrestling. And so, in an effort to redeem himself in the eyes of a fan base that credits him with tanking the WCW and degrading the integrity of the entire businessand fresh off a heart attack that earned him two stentsthe 46-year-old decided he was getting back in the ring. This time, he would do it right: He headed to Tulum to do yoga with Diamond Dallas Page, then to Tijuana to fight with the Mexican luchadores. He picked up boxing and jiujitsu to learn the instincts he needed. By the time he hit the independent circuit, he was 50 pounds lighter and completely sober.
Arquettes few months back in the ring are chronicled in his new documentary, You Cannot Kill David Arquette, which was set to premiere at SXSW and will now come out in drive-in theaters this Friday. The film culminates in a gory November death match where, after taking a smashed light tube at the wrong angle, Arquette stumbles out of the ring with blood gushing from his neckonly to climb back in and finish up the match once he figures out hes not about to bleed out. The incident put his wrestling career on pause while he recovered, and it brought up another wave of backlash from fans who still saw a half-cocked actor nearly dying because he got in way over his head.
But for Arquette, the minutes he spent thinking he was about to die made him all the more dedicated to learning how to wrestle wellafter all, if hed known how to take that hit, his neck would have stayed intact. Ahead of the documentarys release, Arquette told GQ how he prepared for his shot at wrestling redemption.
When you first entered the ring in 2000, had you trained at all?
I didn't have an opportunity to train. My run there was just a storyline, they didn't really want me involved. I heard there was a big insurance policy on me, so I couldn't get hurt. That also led me to want to properly train and learn how to wrestle so I could do it in the future. I wasn't in great shape back then, to be honest.
And then in 2018, you got serious about returning to wrestling with the proper training. Where did you start?
I started out doing DDPY, which is Diamond Dallas Page's yoga app. It got me ready to start losing weight. It's a form of yoga that involves tensing your muscles up a lot. He's a really inspirational guy. He inspired me as a wrestler, but he also inspired me to get in shape. I went to a retreat he had in Tulum, and I met with him and he inspired me more there.
Then I trained jiu-jitsu with Rigan Machado, an amazing jiu-jitsu champion. I trained with a multi-championship boxer named Ricky Quiles. And then I trained with Peter Avalon, as a wrestler. I did each at least once a week for an hour or two, but wrestling, I probably did two or three times a week.
So, that's tons of cardio. I got into weights too, every day. I don't do heavy weights, I do about a 35 pound barbell. I don't typically work out my legs because I have big legs to start with. I do squats and a lot of bench stuff, lot of curls, lot of pushups, a lot of sit-ups. But Im consistent. And I did a hike every day.
Originally posted here:
David Arquette Is On a Quest for Professional Wrestling Redemption - GQ
