Pro Wrestler Nick Dinsmore discusses playing 'special needs' character Eugene

Nick Dinsmore as Eugene in WWE
Photo source: BBC

For most of you who read this blog, you know that I am very much an avid, diehard wrestling fan and because this is, after all, the Wheelchair Philosopher blog, disability is logically the common thread that binds this biosphere of topics together on most occasions.

Quite a few blogs back I profiled professional wrestler Colt Cabana's interview with fellow ring warrior Gregory Iron, the first professional wrestler born with Cerebral palsy in real life. But today, another detour in the journey of disability in professional wrestling is taken with fellow professional wrestler Colt Cabana's interview of Nick Dinsmore who portrayed "special-needs" character and wrestler Eugene for several years in World Wrestling Entertainment.

According to Dinsmore, Eugene's persona may have been modeled after one of WWE's writer's autistic son as a way to show triumph of the will in a new light for a new era. The premise of Eugene's story was that he would be a guy with a disability who grew up idolizing his favorite wrestlers and mimicking their moves with savant-like perfection so while having the disability, once in the ring, he would dominate his competition by being a harrowing hybrid of every great wrestler he grew up watching.

Colt and Nick discuss the controversy of the potential exploitation of a character such as Eugene and also the positives that have come out of the role.

Listen to the Art of Wrestling podcast with Nick Dinsmore at the link below.

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From the podcast:

Eugene was a WWE superstar. Nick Dinsmore portrays the special needs character, Eugene. Dinsmore [has] been wrestling a long time and is full of fun stories. Find the origins of the character along with much more as Nick and Colt sit down and talk wrestling.

http://tsmradio.com/coltcabana/2012/08/22/aow-109-eugene/

As you deal with life's detours, think about this

Hi guys, I'm back to bring you my rolling thoughts and insights of inspiration after a near two-week hiatus. I've been busy with life while starting up plans for a website in its infancy and beginning a side career as a mashup DJ. But folks, I've learned something. I have very clearly and lucidly realized and have had to make piece with the reality that my life has not evolved the way I first imagined it might have when playing and plotting it out a decade or so ago.

In the time of been away from the blog in my free time, I've been getting to know and catch up on stories on the hit television show How I Met Your Mother. (Watch it on Netflix here.) I have now gone through four seasons of the show and believe it or not, I've learned something from the show based on the real lives of its co-writers: I realize now, more than ever, that though we may dream of being a philosopher (as the character of Ted Mosby did in college), we may instead  become an architect who designs a rib joint shaped like a cowboy hat and the absurdity of that experience may propel and prompt our minds to ask ourselves what we really want out of our lives and thus allow us to become a professor in our field (and to somehow rekindle the philosopher in the teacher so to speak).

When I was younger, I wanted to be various things when I grew up: a toymaker, a comedian, to be a voiceover actor (which is something I can no longer do without the voice of a 10-year-old boy) among various other job titles like computer programmer and rapper/emcee—Yes, I actually did think about becoming a rapper, but I realized after less than two years contemplating what kind of rapper I was going to be, I no longer had that passion inside me.

In other news thanks to the same TV show and its dealings with subjects like fate versus free will and narrator and protagonist Ted Mosby's story of how he found "the one" made me realize that without certain setbacks like subpar SAT scores in math and lost transcripts from my community college, my entire life's trajectory would've been completely different. In fact, probably 90% of the social relationships I have not would not have ever come into being and the near-perfect fiancée I have now would likely never have come to my life—and though my life is not anywhere I thought it would be at 31, I can say I am the happiest I've ever been. My fiancée is my best friend I've ever, ever had. My friends are truly compatible with who I am, and though I do not own my own home yet or have the financial status of my ideal life, I see all of that coming more and more every day and I thank the universal source I call God every day for every breath of what to me is a very blessed life!

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Don't give up, you're almost there!

In life, we often regret what we didn't do. We expect to be somewhere by a certain point in life. I'm turning 32-years-old (or young) this December and I haven't finished that screenplay; I've postponed my wedding a bit longer and those two children I envisioned long ago have yet to manifest. But, my friends, remember that just because you don't see it yet, doesn't mean that great things are not coming sooner than later. Look deep within yourself no matter what life gives you, whether good or bad and see a learning experience and an opportunity to hope. I find that when we do this we find true happiness!

You're almost there! Don't give up!

Dedicated to Abby, Wanda, Chris A. and Justine

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Jessie J - Domino (Mikey Mystik Michael Jackson PYT Instrumental Remix)

Here's something of mine to hold you over until the next bit of bloggery....

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Photosophical: The only disability in life is a bad attitude

Do You agree?

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