Professional Wrestler to Teach Self-Defense in New Orleans Campuses
Posted by David Fox on 22 Sep 2014
From the New Orleans Advocate:
With the news that national pro wrestling powerhouse DEFIANCE was setting up permanent residence in New Orleans, many of its stars are settling into the Greater New Orleans region and ingratiating themselves to the community. One such star, Troy Matthews, who also goes by the name “The Jersey Devil,” has begun teaching self-defense classes for women and children in various schools and colleges.
“I’ve always been a believer in giving back,” Matthews told the Advocate as he prepped for a class being taught under the physical education department at Delgado Community College, “and DEFIANCE’s arrangement in the city makes it possible for me to reach out to as many people as I can. New Orleans is a beautiful city, and I want to help keep it beautiful by making sure as many people know how to protect themselves from an attack as possible.” Aside from his career as a professional wrestler, Matthews, whose real name is David Troy, had a career as a professional kickboxer that saw him fight in rings all over the world, as well as black belts in the martial arts of Tang Soo Do and hapkido.
“Transitioning from kickboxing to wrestling was surprisingly not that difficult; there’s obviously a lot more freedom in what you can do in wrestling, but on the flipside there’s the fact that there aren’t any real weight classes. When I was kickboxing, I could count on facing somebody close to my size. Now, I’m oftentimes the smallest guy in the ring. It’s a matter of being quick on your feet, and I picked that up back in my kickboxing days.”
This isn’t the first time Matthews has taught self-defense classes, either; he has taught in the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia, for both women and children.
“I’ll never complain about people being interested in martial arts, but there’s a right way and a wrong way about pursuing them as a means of self-defense,” Matthews remarked, lacing up a pair of sneakers (he insists his students wear shoes in class, a stark contrast to traditional martial arts dojos), “too many people think that it’s the sort of thing that’ll leave a purse snatcher writhing in pain, and either worry about legal action or think that they’re untouchable. I’m not in the business of giving people big egos and getting hurt; there’s no need to try and make somebody bloody when all you need to survive is to distract an attacker long enough for you to run. Don’t use an ace if a three will do the job, you know?” Matthews will teach how to deal with escalating degrees of threat, up to and including armed assailants. He has also made plans to take his classes to UNO and various public and private schools in the city.
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