Whether it’s running 70 kilometre super-marathons or taking flip bumps to the floor from the top rope, no one would argue that PCO certainly goes above and beyond in trying to reach his goals.
That was something we chatted about as part of our upcoming conversation for Love Wrestling, and especially as it pertained to a certain Canadian MMA legend.
“You mentioned that you were training with George St. Pierre a while back,” I commented near the start of our recent chat. “Just take me through how he inspired you and continued to motivate you, because, you know, they’re very similar worlds between the UFC and professional wrestling, but obviously very different as well.”
“Yeah, I think George was one of the most disciplined athletes that I’ve seen around me,” replied the French Canadian Frankenstein. “When I trained with him, it was just training from morning to night, basically. We had done the workout training in the gym, bodybuilding type of deal where everything (was) for the strengths, and then we would go to his house, and then we’d run some sprints, and then we would run like – basically a bunch of sprints. I remember it was during December, it was super cold, and [there was] a lot of ice and snow. We would go like every day. And after that, you know, I would do my own thing. So he was going to striking coaches, and then he had his jujitsu course, and then – he had like four or five [training sessions] per day. [He] was non-stop.”
“I trained with him for maybe three months, and I learned so much. I learned so much,” continued the former Ring of Honor Champion.
“When I saw him having all the success that he had, to me, it was no fluke, no luck.
A lot of people, sometimes they think someone is lucky to have like great skills or anything like that. He worked for everything that he had. Even on his days off, he would reinvest this money. Let’s say he had a big fight and he could have two, three months off. He would just go on a trip [to] Thailand and just find a place to train there. Or, if he would fly to Japan for conferences and things like that, he would find the time to train.”
“He just loves it, though. I mean, [he’s] still got to be disciplined, but he’s very passionate about what he does. When you got the passion [for] what you’re doing, that helps a little bit. But, sometimes I’ve seen other pros that didn’t train hard. I’ve sometimes had the feeling that a lot of guys trained because they had to train. But, George, I felt like he trained because he liked to train. It was just the way he was built, just the way he built himself because it’s all about habits. It has to become a habit.”
Of course, there are a multitude of comparables between St. Pierre and PCO when it comes to work ethic, something I I noted to the Canadian star as we chatted. “I think a lot of people would look at yourself as someone in Ring of Honor who would be an example of that,” I commented to him. “[Someone] who’s constantly pushing [and] constantly trying to better himself. Who are some people that you look to in the promotion as motivators or locker room leaders to steal another cliche.”
“You see a lot of them but we don’t really – it’s hard for me to see someone in a dressing locker room or meeting or just [the] roster getting all together and to pinpoint the leaders. That’s not hard during a meeting, but I don’t have the chance to see them at home, how they go and what they do. Like, no one knows really what I do and what – you know, pretty much everybody’s on their own once you go back home. You can go to the gym on the road, but it’s not gonna show. I think the real question is what we do when there’s nobody watching us. I think that’s where the real challenge is. It’s not when someone is watching you and says, ‘okay, there’s people watching. I’m gonna step in the ring and I’m gonna show them that I work hard all the time.’ If you don’t do nothing at home, it’s not going to – I don’t think it’s gonna work. I think it’s all what you do when there’s nobody watching you. I like guys like Jay Lethal. He’s a good leade for Ring of Honor. I believe he’s very passionate about what he does and he knows what he’s talking about. So I really like Jay Lethal as a leader. I think he’s a cool guy, [with] good knowledge of the business and things like that. Matt Taven’s another one who takes a lot of lead in Ring of Honor. There’s plenty. Jay Briscoe was another leader. Both Briscoes, but Jay’s a little bit more verbal. There’s plenty of good leaders. I mean, Dalton Castle, there’s so many.
It’s hard to just – I don’t like to mention names like that because sometimes I forget one name and someone messages me!”
Please credit Spencer Love with any of the above transcriptions used.
