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Rocco Steps Into New Role As Trainer For Hagen

Posted: Jul 15th 2008 By: CMBurnham

Looking at the bio of Rocco Valentino, there are many items which obviously contribute to his status as "The Oklahoma Legend": 7 Oklahoma Titles in 4 different federations, the creator of the Oklahoma Triple Crown, a career that spans over 10 federations (including the WWF) in 11 years. But one of the more overlooked factors in Rocco's accomplishments is that of trainer.

When Valentino was in the ring as a regular competitor, he was one of the best. But when Valentino was in the ring as a trainer, he was also one of the best and the products of his training school in OPW and OCW prove that. While it's fairly common knowledge that he trained NWA-OK Oklahoma Champion Brent Albright, that's just the most accomplished of the list that passed through Rocco's tutelege.

Many people believed that Rocco's influence on professional wrestling in Oklahoma ended when he lost the NWA-U Universal Title to Brent Albright on May 19, 2007. As a result of a pre-match stipulation, Rocco had to retire and he has been a man of his word, coming back only once as part of an NWA-OK benefit show for the victims of the Picher tornado disaster. But just because Rocco hasn't been competing in the ring doesn't mean he hasn't been paying attention. He's been a semi-regular at the ComPro shows and was involved in a brief fued with the Hall of Famers, specifically Rico Suave. He has also been a present whenever his fellow Compound Varsity members Justin Lee and ComPro Tag Team Champion Romero Contreras have called, usually appearing as a surprise to their opponents. And like any good wrestling veteran, he has been paying attention, watching the new stock of wrestlers.

The obvious conclusion from this would be that ComPro wrestlers would know who Rocco is and what his status is. But there always seems to be one person who has to push the envelope, hoping to make a name for himself. And that person happens to be "Handsome" Dutch Hagen.

Hagen's win-loss record is not too impressive. Twice as many losses as wins. And his attitude has not gained him any sympathy from the crowd either. But he stepped way over the bounds when he interrupted Valentino during the opening moments of the ComPro show on July 5.

Valentino had come to the ring to congratulate Romero Contreras for defeating Ray Martinez in a Title-Vs-Hair match. He was quite proud of his friend and couldn't help but take a few shots at Ray, calling Ray's new haircut "stupid". With Ray & Jesus Rodriguez on one side and Kitty and Romero on the other, Rocco addressed the crowd, running down some of the accomplishments of Romero when Dutch Hagen decided that he wanted some of the spotlight. Hagen arrived, unannounced and confronted Valentino in the ring, which was nothing new to Rocco. But the line was crossed when Dutch poked Valentino in the chest. Rocco grabbed Hagen's fingers and twisted them around, forcing Dutch to his knees. Then, like the veteran that he is, Rocco reminded Hagen just who he was. He brought up his titles, but he also brought up the people he trained. People like Romero, like Albright, like AWOL, Big Daddy Moore, Bull Schmitt and others. He even took credit for giving Ray Martinez his first break in the business, even though he couldn't stand him now. Hagen was humiliated and, when given the chance, fled to the back to avoid any further embarassment. But that wasn't the last we saw of Dutch or Rocco that night.

Before intermission, Dutch faced off against (and lost to) the returning Brian Lakewood. After this loss, Dutch demanded that Rocco come out to the ring. Rocco arrived and the look of incredulity on his face spoke volumes. He'd already humiliated the kid in the ring, did he need to go further? That wasn't what Dutch wanted. Barely able to get the words out, Dutch admitted that he knew Rocco's reputation. He knew what Rocco was capable of when it came to training superstars yesterday, today and for tomorrrow. He humbly asked if he could be trained by Rocco. Rocco asked Dutch if he was just tired of losing. He said he'd been watching the newcomer when he was around. He thought Dutch had the size and moves, but didn't have the class. If Rocco was going to train Dutch, Dutch would have to do everything Rocco's way. One slip up and he was done. To test this, Rocco ordered Dutch to drop and give him 10, which Dutch complied with (and Rocco made the last 2 harder by standing on his back). That was the physical part, then came the mental part. Since arriving in ComPro, Dutch had never held back in his opinion about the fans. Rocco ordered him to apologize to an older gentleman who sat by the entrance, someone who was a frequent target of Dutch's verbosity. Again, with tremors in his voice, Dutch slowly admitted that the reason he said those things was because he lacked self-esteem and apologised. But he then turned and insulted the old fans' wife! As Rocco ushered Dutch through the curtain, he turned to her and said, "Baby steps!" before exiting.

This past week, Rocco accompanied Dutch to the ring for his match against the Canadian Luchadore. Luchadore brought all the speed that fans were accustomed to seeing, but it seems the training of Rocco has already started to pay off as Dutch gained a win over the former tag team champion. The match wasn't completely in Dutch's favour and towards the end, Luchadore had Dutch on the ropes where he was heard to say something along the lines of having no more and wanting to quit. This brought Valentino out of his corner seat and into Dutch's face, where he berated his protege, saying no one ever quit on him. This motivation brought Dutch back and led him to the win and then Valentino entered the ring. Taking the microphone, he said that Dutch won, so he had earned another week of training, but he still had a long way to go and that during intermission, he would be working in the ring with Valentino on some moves that Rocco saw needed improvement.

Some people question just what Rocco has to gain by doing this and why pick Dutch of all people. No answers have been forthcoming about motivation. Rocco certainly doesn't need the money, but does enjoy the spotlight and with his wrestling career over, a mangerial career is a next logical step. If he can take someone like Hagen, who has all the tools but little of the knowhow, and mold him into the next great Oklahoma superstar, then the legend of Rocco Valentino can continue on as long as he wishes it to. And managing a superstar to a title is almost as big of an accomplishment as winning one yourself.

Tags: Rocco Valentino, WWF, OPW, OCW, NWA-OK, Brent Albright, NWA-U, ComPro, Hall of Famers, Rico Suave, Compound Varsity, Justin Lee, Romero Contreras, Dutch Hagen, Ray Martinez, Kitty, Jesus Rodriguez, AWOL, Big Daddy Moore, Bull Schmitt, Brian Lakewood, Cana