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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- When you park at ShoppingTown Mall, and enter between Sears and the old Media Play entrance, you can't help noticing the stark contrast between what is and what was.
There's an emptiness in the parking garage and exterior that bustled a few years ago. Go a little further, and inside the void continues. Empty storefronts, house music reverberating through abandoned halls.Through a black curtain under one of those storefronts, some light shines through.
Pass through the curtain and a dim illumination greets you. It's hard to make out the various wrestling posters from local house shows in the past decades plastered to the walls. Painted banners that fans no doubt held up with pride during the events now drape the room's perimeter, motionless.
To the side, Derek Potoki's students quietly change their shoes, and stretch their calves and quads. Just beyond, a large ring - gold and purple ropes surrounding a flat red mat. It's appearance entices you to step inside, but the sights and sounds of bodies grimacing as they crash into its plywood platform give you second thoughts soon after.
Still, there is an energy in that dark room modestly lit by fluorescents, infused with dried perspiration. There is a tangible hunger in these young men and women - a desire to conquer that apparatus, and master the commands that their larger instructor doles out...whatever the toll might be on their bodies and psyche.
A Tall Order
Professional wrestling is often referred to as sports entertainment. Derek Potocki is very well-qualified for both aspects.
The 41-year-old Syracuse native is a veteran of the professional wrestling scene of more than two decades. Trained by the legendary "Killer Kowalski," the same man who trained WWE superstar "HHH," Potocki learned the rigorous ins and outs of the business.
Potocki said there were many times when he worked a full five days locally, then drove to Boston with his seven-foot-tall UPS truck driver friend, Bob Leo, to train for the weekend at the Kowalski school. At 6'3," and 232 pounds, Potocki said he rode the coat tails of his friend to break into the business.
"Kowalski saw him, a 7-foot guy, and liked him," Potocki said. "So I just went with him up to (Kowalski's) school."
After attending the school, Potocki said he hit the road with his taller friend, often wrestling multiple times a night, all across the country, on into Canada. Potocki said it wasn't long before promoters recognized his ability.
Where the Big Boys Play
When WWE owner Vince McMahon went to Killer Kowalski for enhancement talent, also known as jobbers, wrestlers whose main purpose is to enhance talent by losing matches to better-known wrestlers, Kowalski decided to use wrestlers from his school. As a result, Potocki, known as Zaquary Springate III, got the call.
"I got to do a lot of stuff, and wrestle a lot of guys, huge stars and big stars, and my idols growing up," Potocki said. "So, I had a good career."
Potocki recalled one particular night in Toronto, Canada, wrestling WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He said he was overwhelmed by the bright lights and the roar of the crowd.
"I remember seeing his shadow over me, about to do the splash," Potocki said. "I thought about all the people he did that to - Bob Backlund, and Don Muraco, just the legends...and he's about to do it to me."
Shopping for Talent
Now Potocki runs the school in Shoppingtown. He said he wants to give back to the industry that's given him so much.
The teaching is more than physical, however. As a former entrepeneurship teacher at Syracuse University, Potocki said he recognizes the value of an education.
"I try to tell my guys to go to school and get an education," Potocki said. "If you're just working a 9-5 job, and you plan on being a professional wrestler, you're going to be in big trouble."
Renaissance Man
The gritty grappler's exploits go far beyond the ring. Besides teaching at Syracuse University, Potocki has worked as an engineer for news stations, acted in several plays, and fronts an eighties cover band called Pop Rox. At a recent show at Roadhouse 48, just outside Thunder Island in Fulton, they belted out songs such as "Don't Stop Believing" and "Don't You Forget About Me." It's not hard to imagine a wrestling tie-in there.
Potocki said the opportunity to still perform for audiences with the band helps him deal with not performing for wrestling fans.
"There's nothing on earth that's like that, there's no high like that in the world," Potocki said. "It's tough to let go of that."
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