Sapolsky recalls the following in the blog, which you can read in its entirety by CLICKING HERE:
Rollins, then known as Tyler Black, was gaining a buzz for his team on the Midwest independent scene with Marek Brave in 2007. At the time, I was booking both Ring Of Honor and Full Impact Pro, which was based in Florida. The two Danny Daniels’ students showed a lot of promise on tape. Rollins displayed tremendous athletic ability, charisma and upside. However, if you read my blog on Dean Ambrose right here on The Heyman Hustle, you know watching some tape isn’t enough for me.
I am a big proponent of getting to know talent in person, seeing what drives them and learning about their personalities. I liked to bring talent to FIP before ROH back then. It gave FIP the rub of getting talent “first” before ROH, while it let me learn their strengths and weaknesses, both in and out of the ring, before they made their ROH debut.
Rollins and Brave jumped at the opportunity to be booked. In fact, they each showed immediate dedication and desire by making a 20 plus hour drive to the FIP event in Melbourne, FL in May of 2007. The show location was a run down community center in a bad part of town, and that’s putting it nicely. Rollins and Brave were immediately thrown right in the fire that night against the legendary independent wrestling tag team of Jay & Mark Briscoe. This would show if they could hang with one of the best teams in the world, while at the same time giving FIP a completely fresh match.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
