A Closer Look at Shane Hollister

by Andrew Scott

[Shane Hollister captured in a photo as he enters the cage. Photo by soon-to-be-profiled photographer, Wayne McCarty.]

Growing up in Davenport, Iowa, Shane Hollister always wanted to be a professional wrestler. He was five years old when he and his dad watched wrestling on TV, his favorite wrestler being Shawn Michaels. From then on he was hooked. Friends and family always knew that he wanted to be a wrestler, but it wasn’t until the age of thirteen that he personally realized it. These same friends and family hoped he would eventually grow out of the obsession to wrestle.

His chance finally came and his dream started becoming a reality when he was in his last year of high school. Shane was in the eleventh grade with Danny Daniels and had a few friends that were in a pro wrestling school in Chicago, Illinois. In his senior year, Shane finally started training to be a pro wrestler. He originally hadn;t planned on training until after he graduated, but since his trainer started traveling to Davenport it made it a lot easier to train and do schoolwork.

After lots of hard work and grueling training, Shane was finally able to live his dream and have the first match of his young wrestling career. I asked Shane to describe his first match and how it affected him.

He replied, “Wow, my first match was very bad. I had the worst set of butterflies I have ever had in my life, but I was in there with very good wrestlers who I learned alot from. They say in this business you continue to learn until you don’t want to learn anymore. I would say you learn something new everytime you step through those ropes.“

So far Shane has been pretty lucky on the injury side of wrestling and hasn’t had any major injuries. Getting his two front teeth shoved up to the roof of his mouth and a having his nose broken are his two battle scars.

“Getting hurt and just going to get it fixed up is all just part of the job,” he said.

I asked Shane if at anytime he felt like he ever wanted to quit wrestling and he told me with a very confident answer, “No, I haven’t ever felt like leaving this business for one second. I love it so much.”

Shane has been in many matches so far, but his most memorable match in his own eyes was a tag match with Bryce Benjamin against Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, the Murder City Machine Guns (known in Total Nonstop Action as the Motor City Machine Guns). Speaking of Alex Shelley, Shane’s dream match is to have a singles match with him. If any promotions need a great main event then book this match. I know I would pay to see it.

Shane’s ultimate goal is the same as almost any pro wrestler, and that is to be on the biggest stage in pro wrestling, the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

Shane has won a few championship belts along the way. He is the Scott County Wrestling Heavyweight Champion and is also currently the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Iowa State Champion. He was also just crowned one half of the AAW Tag Team Champions. He has been a part of Scott County Wrestling, All American Wrestling, Ultimate Wrestling Alliance, 3XWrestling, F1rst Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, and Luchacore, among numerous others.

While on the road traveling from promotion to promotion, wrestlers get pretty bored in cars. Shane told me that when he travels, he has to find fun things to do to keep entertained. One thing he does for fun on these roadtrips is making big signs to show to cars. He said it is fun to see what kind of reaction he can get from people.

“My favorite sign has to be ‘I like to cuddle’. I love women’s responses. They look at you like, ‘oh, how cute’ or ‘oh, how creepy’. I love it!“

If you ever see a bunch of guys throwing up signs in a car window, remember that it’s probably a group of traveling wrestlers. You just might get to “cuddle”.

Shane has not been contacted by WWE or TNA yet, but he said that he has been in dark matches for Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestling recently. This is yet another step in his progression as a wrestler. I have no doubt that he will be wrestling on ROH DVD and Pay-Per-View soon.

Shane says that if you want to be a wrestler, “learn as much as you can and always ask for advice. Remember there is always someone who has been doing it longer and better than you.” Great advice for anybody, regardless of occupation.

The last part of this report is something new that I decided to try out. I asked a few wrestlers that have been around or worked with Shane in the ring to say a few words about him. This is what they said:

Tyler Black – “He is one of my best friends and has a very bright future in the business. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him making an impact in a major way before the decade is up.

Trik Davis – “Shane Hollister is easily one of the top up and comers in all of the Midwest. With his quick feet and lighting-fast right hands, he can go strike for strike with pretty much anyone. Even with only two years under his belt he has held his own with such wrestlers as Chris Hero, Jimmy Jacobs, Alex Shelley, Tyler Black, and Chris Sabin. This makes me believe that in another two years Shane should be one of the top Indy stars in the country.”

Mark Sterling – “Cool Hair. On ROH’s regular roster with in the next year.”

“Anarchist” Arik Cannon – “Shane Hollister is what many call an ‘up and comer’. The kid has loads of potential, and he’s slowly making his mark in the Midwest. In my opinion, he’s definitely somebody to watch. He’s an asset to any show he’s on, and I look forward to working with him in the future.”

That does it for me and this closer look at a great pro wrestler from right here in the Midwest. I want to personally thank Shane Hollister for putting up with all of my questions and allowing me to write this report about him. There were a few times that I told Shane that this will be the last question and before I knew it I was asking another one. Shane graciously answered it. I feel like I have a new friend in Shane after writing this report. Thank you again, Shane. You are an amazing wrestler and I can’t wait for that one day that we will all see you on TV. I have no doubt that it won’t be long!