John Carson stood in the ring after its set-up on July 23, 2007
John Carson stood in the ring after its set-up on July 23, 2007. He had shoulder length brown hair and stood 6'6". He was 25 years old. It was the night of his Raw debut and he was visibly nervous. Truth be told, this was the first time he stepped in a ring in about a year. He would never forget the two men who helped him to get here.
(Flashback: July 23 2003) There weren't many standouts in the group of kids who were trying out for OVW. There were a few WWE superstars observing and looking for the next big thing. Ron Simmons, better know as Faarooq, took a particular interest in one student, 21 year old John Carson. Ron watched as Carson executed picture prefect power moves, displayed great technical skill and agility, and even a few high flying moves. Simmons pulled out his cell phone and started recording a video of Carson. "John will want to see this" Simmons thought to himself. After the kids finished, Simmons approached Carson and asked him for his contacts. Carson gave him his hotel room number and cell number. Ron then went to the nearest computer and transferred the video of Carson into the computer. He attached the video to and e-mail, typed "Watch this" into the headline and sent it along to John Layfield. Within a few minutes he got a reply from John. "I like this kid. You wanna train him?" Simmons replied by typing "Hell yeah." and sent the message back.
Later, Carson had returned to a hotel that he was staying at in Louisville, KY. He hoped to get there and have a message on his cell phone which he had accidentally left in his room. He checked his phone and there were two missed calls, one from his mother from back in Des Moines, Iowa and the other from an unknown cell phone. Carson called the unknown cell phone back.
"Hello" a familiar voice answered.
"Ron?" Carson replied, not expecting to hear from Ron so soon.
"Yeah, it's me. I got something to ask you." Ron said.
"I'm listening" Carson replied, trying to keep his excitement down.
"Well, I was talking to my partner, better known as Bradshaw, and we've decided to take you under our wings and train you. Meet us tomorrow at OVW." Ron said.
"Ok, thanks and believe me you won't regret it." John said before hanging up the phone and doing a victory dance.
He smiled at the memory but then remembered why he hadn't been in a wrestling ring for over a year.
So now we have the back story of John Carson. What kept him out of the wrestling ring for over a year. We'll find out in the next chapter.
