Where were you the day your life took a detour? I know where I was. On April 4, 1993, I was sitting on the floor level of Caesar's Palace, getting ready to watch Wrestlemania IX. I had never gone to a wrestling show before, so for it to be Wrestlemania, it was truly a home run. How I got there, that's another story.
I grew up a wrestling fan, always hearing that "wrestling was fake". I remember the first time I saw a wrestling show, it was Saturday Night's Main Event. King Kong Bundy had smashed Hulk Hogan into the corner, leaving the champion with broken ribs and all of his Hulkamaniacs crying at ringside. I sat at home, watching the massacre take place, thinking that Hulk Hogan could never return and would have to forfeit the title. As things played out, Hogan returned to the ring, faced Bundy in a steel cage at Wrestlemania 2 in 1986. Hogan defeated Bundy and walked out with the WWF title that night. As a kid, I always assumed that Hogan was going to be the champion forever, so I was a little confused when Andre the Giant defeated him for the title on February 2, 1988, but to only be stripped of the title after we had the referee screw up take place. Months later, my dad brought home Wrestlemania IV for the two of us to watch. I was excited because not only was this going to be the event that showed how "The Macho Man" Randy Savage won the title, it was TWO TAPES LONG!!! Dad and I sat there for four hours, he slept through 75% of it. I saw Hogan and Andre get DQ'd and then, later on, Hogan helped Savage win the WWF title against Ted DiBiase, who had Andre in his corner. As a 8-9 year kid, this was awesome television. We had good guys and bad guys, all of them characters. I used to wonder what it would take for these guys to do what they do, even if it was considered fake.
On November of 1992, the Survivor Series was on pay per view. The WWF landscape was somewhat different. Hulk Hogan was gone as he took a leave of absence due to the steroid scandal that rocked Vince McMahon and the WWF. Savage was still there, and on that night, he teamed with recently turned babyface (good guy) Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. They were facing the team of Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and former NWA/WCW/WWF champion Ric Flair. I was captivated by the story line of Mr. Perfect turned good. As the show progressed, an ad for the next Wrestlemania was shown, and it was to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dad saw that, turned to me and said, "Trey, if don't do anything crazy for Spring Break this year, how would you like to go see this live?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, almost sounded too good to be true. In hindsight, I look at it more as this was a chance for Dad to have fun in Vegas. I agreed to our deal, and he went and bought tickets for the event.
Skip ahead to three weeks before the event, I'm sitting in my class and I get a call to the office. I head down and I see my mother waiting for me. She had informed me that Dad was in the hospital, suffering from pancreatitis. She told me that she was leaving for Santa Monica, California that day and that I was going to be home alone. I understood and she left. As we kept leading up to the event, I kept wondering, selfishly I admit, was I going to go to Wrestlemania? As time went by Dad's health seemed to get better, and I was told they were coming back on April 2, which was supposed to be the same day we were heading to Vegas. I asked my mom if I was going to miss the event, and she told me that Dad insisted I go and had made arrangements for his business partner, Wally Roker, to take care of me while I was out there. Wally Roker, a former member of the group The Heartbeats and Al Roker's cousin, and his wife were going to put me in the Rivera and make sure that I get to the event. Mom and Dad came home on Friday, and I headed for the airport on Saturday. The unbelievable began to happen then.
As it turned out, I was flying on the same plane that had Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, Sgt. Slaughter, and, as it would happen, I sat next to "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart. Starstruck doesn't even begin to tell you how I felt. I didn't want to whip his ass over asking him about wrestling, and I chose to sit there and just read the book I checked from the school library, Wired (the book about John Belushi). Jimmy saw what the book was and asked me if he could see it. I said yes, and handed him the book and he looked at the front cover and just said, "What a shame!" For those who don't know, Belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982. I told him I was a big fan of his, and then proceeded to ask a couple of questions about the business. Remember, at age 17, I was clueless to the real world, let alone the fake world of professional wrestling. He asked me who my favorite wrestler was, I told him Mr. Perfect and Randy Savage. He smiled, took out a picture of him, Hogan and Beefcake and signed it for me. As we landed, I got off the plane and saw Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake being greeted at the gate by WWF cameras and noticed on how lean Hogan looked at the time (he had gotten off steroids at the time and went from 315 to 275). I met with Wally, and we headed to the strip.
April 4 had finally arrived, and I was all stoked for the event. I had breakfast with Wally and his wife, our little inside joke was that I was their son, even though Wally is a light skinned African American and his wife Merge was also an African American. After breakfast, we headed to Caesar's Palace. They dropped me off at the arena and I waited in line to enter the buidling. As I entered the arena, I saw the wrestling ring. It looked so small in person. I found my way to the seat and the crowd started to pack in. This would be the first Wrestlemania to be held outdoors, and I was beginning to wonder if it was going to rain that day. The show started and off we went. I saw Randy Savage being escorted to the ring with a couple of girls feeding him grapes, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan riding a camel backwards, although I had no idea that this was Jim Ross' first ever WWE event as the play-by-play guy. As for the show, this wasn't your best Wrestlemanias but it was memorable. For the wrestling fan, it was The Undertaker's third Wrestlemania win (20-0 at this point), saw the WWF title change hands when Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart for the title, then to see Hulk Hogan come out and automatically get a title shot and win the title 2 minutes later.
As the show came to a close, a gentleman came up to me and asked, "Are you Trey McLean?" I said yes, weary of where this was going. He handed me a backstage pass and I got to meet some of the wrestlers backstage, at least those who didn't already leave. One of them happened to be Mr. Perfect. Curt Hennig looked at me and asked, "What do you think?" Confused, I turned to him and said, "What do you mean?" He smiled and said, "Wanna get in the ring?" I agreed and the two of us got the ring and squared off. He protected me, making sure I didn't get hurt, and then I was hooked! This was what I wanted to do with my life. How can this trip get any better? The next day, after Wally and Merge dropped me off at the airport, flying on the same plane back to Dallas was Randy Savage. I approached him, knowing that I would never get this opportunity again, and asked him for an autograph. He was cool about it, and I headed home, all the while wondering how can make this happen.
At the time, I was a 17 year kid with a stuttering problem. I weighed 150 pounds, and I had no self confidence, and my athletic achievements were few and far between. Let's face it, I was the fifth string wide receiver on a 4-6 high school football team and couldn't even get the coaches to play me on the final game of the year. What did I know about how to become a professional wrestler? My parents were definitely not for the idea of me pursuing this. So I went off to college! Well, Tyler Junior College to be exact, but it still counts. I made sure that I would be a part of a weight lifting class, all in hopes of getting bigger. After my first and only year at TJC, I weighed 185, I'm sure the Freshman 15 rule was in effect. I came home and looked for wrestling schools. I came across one in Dallas that was run by Gentleman Chris Adams, the same school that Steve Austin went to. I paid my money and learned the basics.....and that's it! Chris didn't do anything in teaching how to be a pro wrestler, but more of how to protect yourself in the ring.
After 4 months of training, and about 30 pounds heavier, I had my first ever wrestling match against The One Man Gang. Knowing that Trey McLean was not going to make it as a wrestling name, my friend Misty Swain (now Simons) and I came up with a concept of who my wrestling character would be. We came up with the name Clash. I would wear gold and silver, my wrestling moves were stolen from Mr. Perfect (neckbreaker, snap suplex), Bret Hart (russian legsweep, atomic drop), Randy Savage (flying elbow drop), and Ric Flair (figure four leglock). The One Man Gang finished me off in 10 seconds. Week after week, I got my ass kicked until Greg Valentine pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to get better. I told him yes, and we worked out a nice 30 minute matches, and all he wanted from me was 10 of my best moves. I was working the crowd, working the referee, taking orders from Valentine, and after the match, even though I lost, I earned the right to call my self a wrestler.
After three years of wrestling, my body had had enough. There would be times when I couldn't get from the bed to the bathroom (yes, I stole that line from Rocky, but still true). I didn't enjoy being Clash the wrestler, but the character Clash took over Trey McLean. Clash was sure of himself, funny, very opinionated, and didn't stutter. Around this time, wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero were changing the business and my style wasn't putting butts in the seats anymore. I learned that you have to stay relevant to stay in the business and you have to change with the times. I couldn't do either. I have always heard that once your love for the business dies, you better get out before you or your opponent gets hurt. In late 1996, I retired from wrestling.
While I didn't make it to the WWF (now WWE) and my dreams of headlining Wrestlemania came to an end, the fact that I was able to take my wrestling character and do something with him means everything to me. Through wrestling, I found myself and that's something that no one can take away from me. Those hot, smelly nights at the Dallas Sportatorium weren't for nothing. Just think, it all started 20 years ago!
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