Why Afa Was Picked To Train Rourke for “The Wrestler”, Rourke’s Respect for Wrestling and more
There is an interview with Afa “The Wild Samoan” on “The Wrestler” Here are a few highlights:
Why Afa was picked to train Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler: “I was told by my good friend, wrestling Chatterbox first lady Georgiann Makropoulos that the director Darren Aronofsky’s people were looking for me. They followed my career and the success of my family and training program. They knew I was the uncle to Dwayne The Rock Johnson and they said that they wanted the best to train “the actor” whose name was being withheld at the time. I wasn’t told at that time what the movie was about but I agreed to meet with Darren.
Mickey Rourke respect to wrestling: For the most part we had a daily schedule. I picked two of my graduate students Jon Trosky and Tom Farra and made them my assistant trainers. The three of us would drive into New York City from Pennsylvania to train Mickey. Training was good. Mickey is a very good athlete and was eager and willing to learn. He trusted me completely and many times when someone would tell him to do something he would ask me first for my approval. After a couple of trainings, Mickey told me that he had his own idea about wrestling but now he understood what we go through and he didn’t know how I did this for over 40 years and he had a whole new respect for wrestling..
Afa’s daily work schedule to train Rourke: For the most part we had a daily schedule. I picked two of my graduate students Jon Trosky and Tom Farra and made them my assistant trainers. The three of us would drive into New York City from Pennsylvania to train Mickey. Training was good. Mickey is a very good athlete and was eager and willing to learn. He trusted me completely and many times when someone would tell him to do something he would ask me first for my approval. After a couple of trainings, Mickey told me that he had his own idea about wrestling but now he understood what we go through and he didn’t know how I did this for over 40 years and he had a whole new respect for wrestling.. For more on the interview>>>>>>
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