 
Finding Mr.
Wright
By
ANDREW LEVINE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 8, 2004)
In every walk of Scott Wright's life, one venture tends to
offset another. Balance, he learned at an early age, is the
key to finding the right path.
This came from a father who tripled as the mayor of
Sloatsburg, a volunteer fireman and a history teacher at
Tappan Zee High School; and from a mother who served as the
president of the Sloatsburg Fire Department on top of her job
as a registered nurse.
So it comes as little surprise that Wright, a social
studies teacher at Suffern Middle School, is the strength
coach for the varsity football team, earned his master's from
Western Connecticut State — where he starred on the basketball
team — and has had his hand in an amateur bodybuilding career.
But where does a pair of knee-high boots, tights, body
slams, and a second life of long bus rides under an alter ego
known as "Scotty Charisma" fit into the equation? The answer
comes from the man himself. He simply won't announce it over
the loudspeaker.
"I try to separate Scotty Charisma from Scott Wright," he
said. "When someone asks me, I tell them. I try not to
self-promote."
What was once word-of-mouth is now common knowledge and, in
fact, celebrated in Suffern — the man who writes up lesson
plans on federalism and throws pizza parties when his
seventh-graders score A's also is a pro wrestler.
Wright, a 1990 Suffern graduate, lives his weekdays in
front of a chalkboard, molding the 13-year-old minds of the
future. But his heart is in two places. Under an independent
organization known a East Coast Professional Wrestling, Wright
is chasing a dream, one he hopes will someday be realized by a
career in World Wrestling Entertainment.
The route there is a long, winding road. Wright packs up
his structured world of homework assignments and pop quizzes
on Friday afternoons and hops on a bus with a few dozen other
WWE hopefuls, entering a realm of pile drivers and drop kicks.
Each weekend brings with it the promise of two or three
wrestling shows, usually in small venues as far north as Maine
and as far south as Mississippi. Today he'll be wrestling in
the ECPW Mayhem in Morristown, N.J.
The average gig will provide him with about $75, he said.
But for Wright, who was first introduced to the business in
2001 by longtime friend James Maritato (a k a Nunzio of the
WWE) money isn't the motivation. If all goes well, that will
come later.
"You're not going to make much money wrestling
independently," Wright said. "If you make money in this
business, it's if you make it to the big time, after all those
years of sacrifice. It's like you're in a band. You go out and
play all over and don't make a dime. You have a day job and
hopefully a record company will eventually sign you."
For the most part, Mr. Wright the teacher and Scotty
Charisma the wrestler don't cross paths. Other than a few
wrestling magazine clippings scattered across his bulletin
board, history and current events are foremost in Wright's
classroom.
But the same enthusiasm that fuels his wrestling character
aids his teaching — from his pizza parties to assigning each
student a nickname. The revelation of his second career only
adds to his heroic stature among students.
"When I found out he was a wrestler, I just thought he was
an even cooler teacher," said 13-year-old Rich Barbera, whom
Wright nicknamed "Richie Rich."
It wasn't until last year that the two lives of Scott
Wright finally squared off in the ring, when ECPW held a
wrestling fund-raiser for the varsity football team at Suffern
High. It was such a rousing success that the event, tabbed the
"Rumble in Ramapo," returned to the school on March 12.
There, on a card with former WWE stars Tito Santana and
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, the hometown favorite shed his
shirt and tie and unearthed his chiseled 180-pound frame for a
crowd of roughly 2,000.
Playing his good-guy role — or "face" in wrestling terms —
Wright was the headliner in a match that pitted him against
Devin "Crowbar" Storm, a long-haired villain who teased the
crowd about its high school's success on the football field.
After defeating Storm in a 30-minute marathon match, Wright
emerged from a throng of autograph seekers and wandered over
to an adjacent hallway.
"It's really rewarding to be able to go out there and be
able to perform in front of your hometown like that," said
Wright, his chest red from the bumps and body slams he had
just absorbed.
Another wrestler, Vic D. Vine, who performed on the card
and has bounced around the business for the past eight years,
spotted Wright and congratulated him on a job well done.
"He's got it," Vic D. Vine said. "He's got what it takes."
Even if that is the case, what if Wright doesn't get his
break? What if he falls into the fray with the thousands of
other aspiring WWE wrestlers. So be it, he said. He's in
impeccable shape, he's healthy (his only notable injury was a
mild concussion last August), and he has another job he
already loves.
What's more, he has the unconditional support of his
family. So for him to ever walk away from his passion would
undermine the Wright way of life.
"It's about a philosophy that you can be a spectator or a
participant," said his father, Carl, who was on hand for the
Rumble in Ramapo. "Scott loves people, and people love him. He
has great character, and regardless of what profession you do,
if you have those characteristics, you're going to do well."
Send e-mail to Andrew
Levine
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