Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 21, 1994 TAG: 9405230102
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Tonight, he'll return to Christiansburg Middle School as a professional wrestler, participating in a tag-team match with his mentor, Jimmy Valiant.
Parker has been training under Valiant for more than a year and has already had some 50 matches. He's wrestled in Ohio, Tennessee and Indiana, but this is different: he's coming home.
"It's definitely going to be interesting, going back to my hometown for the first time. I just hope we're going to have a good crowd," Parker said.
Getting used to traveling on the road has been the major adjustment for Parker.
"It definitely hasn't been a piece of cake, that's for sure. There's been many Monday mornings I could hardly move," Parker said.
When you're driving seven or eight hours to matches and sleeping only two or three hours, it's sometimes disheartening to "drive that far to wrestle 10, 15 minutes," Parker said.
"But it's been fun, too. Jimmy [Valiant] makes everything we do fun," Parker said during a break at a Sunday wrestling camp lesson.
Parker, 23, was looking into professional wrestling schools in 1992 when he heard that Valiant had moved to Montgomery County and was opening a camp.
He quickly caught Valiant's eye for his potential. Valiant believes Parker has what it takes to make it to the big-time of professional wrestling.
"He has everything," Valiant raves.
"To go all the way, to be a Ric Flair or a [Hulk] Hogan, you can't be short on no point," Valiant said.
Parker's got youth on his side, athleticism and good looks, too, Valiant said.
"You gotta have charisma, you gotta have agility, you gotta have everything. You cannot miss one thing and this kid has it," Valiant said.
"This kid's 280 pounds and he can jump over the top rope like a 120-pound man, an acrobat or something.
"Appearance is so, so important in our business. I just know in my heart that he's going to go all the way to WWF [World Wrestling Federation] and Atlanta and be a big superstar."
Parker is billed as Frank "The Tank" Parker, and much like in his football days, he is expected to mow down the competition. But instead of padded pants and football jerseys, Parker's attire is camouflage pants and kneepads.
Tonight, he'll compete in a "coal miner's match," where he and Valiant will take on Eclipso and Rolling Thunder to see who can snatch a coal miner's glove from an 18-foot-pole first.
They are at the top of the card where Parker is billed as "Christiansburg's own."
Parker has the support of his parents, even though they may not always be at ringside.
"Mom still can't watch," Parker said. "They support me 110 percent in whatever I do, but they're just not major wrestling fans. Mom still covers her eyes when someone starts working my legs or arms or something."
American Championship Wrestling, today, 8:15 p.m., Christiansburg Middle School. Eclipso and Rolling Thunder vs. Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant and Frank "The Tank" Parker in a coal miner's match; Roger Anderson vs. Dan Cooley in a pile-driver match; Bruiser Bob and Dangerous Darrell (from Giles County) vs. TNT Connection. Tickets are $8 at the door.
by CNB