We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Dodson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.
Ryan, thank you so much for joining us today and appreciate you talking about a sensitive topic. It’s unfortunately relevant to so many in the community as layoffs have been on the rise recently, and so we’d appreciate hearing your story and how you overcame being let go?
I spent almost 4 years working in my favorite U.S. city (and hometown) of Washington, D.C. on a trading floor with everything I needed: A budding career, lots of friends, family always nearby, upscale living and lots of bells and whistles to keep me comfortable. Being born with the gift of natural athleticism, I always felt as if I was trading (no pun intended) my God-given talents for a salary. I always liked working in the financial industry, but I didn’t love it. I knew that, despite my financial stability I was headed to a spiritual dead-end; in 10-15 years regret would certainly set in from spending my youth as mindless drone working for a company that didn’t really give a damn about me.
So I’m listening to a podcast one day and it mentioned a professional wrestling school down in Atlanta, GA. It only took me a few minutes to find the website and pay the entrance fee to sign up. A few weeks later, I found myself training with some of my heroes doing the thing I’ve loved since childhood. But how was I to balance my day job with my passion, at least until I can pick up a contract with a major wrestling promotion to replace my salary?
I managed to negotiate working from a remote location while living miles away from D.C. but the strenuous schedule of weight training and conditioning during my work hours, moving back and forth between putting out small fires on my work laptop and being fully present during my in-ring training led to me shirking my work responsibilities and getting fired only a month into my wrestling training.
So how did I handle it? Easy. I went ALL-IN and moved my stuff from Washington down to ATL and threw myself into professional wrestling. There was no turning back. I’d reached the point of no return. It was get a contract with a major wrestling promotion or go full hobo.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
So I got that performers’ contract that I wanted so badly after being fired from my spiritually bankrupt job but it wasn’t exactly what I imagined. I’d still be paid to travel the world putting on shows for packed arenas of screaming fans but it wouldn’t be as a pro wrestler…
1.5 years into my new, bold journey as an athlete I got cast to be on the big stage performing stunts for Jurassic World Live. This came as a BIG surprise because when I auditioned 7 months prior, I’d hit what I thought was a dead-end. I was recovering from a broken hand, living in a spider-infested shack with no central A/C! Rock bottom.
I managed to find work as a customer service agent for a mobile phone carrier and had simply mentioned to a good friend of mine (who was also my landlord and living next door to me) about this audition for Jurassic World Live and how much it would change my hopeless situation. Well I was already skating on thin ice with my employer at the time and couldn’t miss anymore days of work. The night before, I walked over to his house to tell him that I wasn’t going. It was the “responsible” choice. What chance did I have of being selected with a broken freakin’ hand anyway?
However, he didn’t let me give up. He made me find a recent photo to use as a headshot and asked me about all my training and experience while typing up a resume for me. He printed them both right there in his office and told me to come back at 7am to wake him up so that he could drive me 2+ hours to the audition.
7 months later I got the call that changed my life. During 2023, I have been to nearly 30 cities across the U.S. and Canada getting paid to do what I love. Jurassic World Live is set to pick back up in the southern states to complete our North American tour by the summer of ‘24 (at the time of this writing, I am on Xmas break).
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Creation comes from destruction. A willingness to fail and lose everything is needed to take a big risk on creating a new life. You don’t have to be nearly as reckless as I was, but the cushy office job you have no passion for is a small price to pay for a chance to live the life of your dreams.
Intuition and knowing when to pull the trigger. There was an intuitive nudge that kept pulling at me to start this journey. Had I waited until I was “ready”, things probably wouldn’t have worked out the same. So when you feel this tug, please don’t hesitate or second guess yourself. ACT!
And I couldn’t have done this without having a good network. Keep good friends around who inspire you to grow. Drop the dead weight of the naysayers and doubters. It will hurt to say goodbye to some people but you will only quicken your rise to the top once you do.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I mentioned my former landlord and good friend earlier who essentially FORCED me to attend the audition which changed my life (shout out to Baron Black & Shoot Taylor for connecting me with him when I was stranded without a place to live). During the time I lived with him, he helped me develop my character as a professional wrestler on a much deeper, psychological level. Improv sessions, in-ring storytelling, promos, booking training time with other pro wrestlers…you name it! Thanks to him, I never stopped training even when my hand was wrapped in a cast because if we couldn’t go to the ring, we’d work on my mic skills.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: RyanDodsonFIT
- Twitter: TheRyanDodson
Image Credits
M. Rice Photography Nightmare Factory Showcase Lens This Beauty
