Dan Lambert - American Top Team & AEW

Summary:

In this episode of the Tragedy Academy, Jay welcomes Dan Lambert, owner of American Top Team, the legendary MMA gym. Dan grew American Top Team from an amateur MMA gym, doing it only for the love of the game, to one of the country's top professional sports gyms. He unknowingly became a pioneer of the sport and will go down in history as one of the firsts.

Key Topics Discussed:

🤼 [07:34] Getting into wrestling after MMA

❎ [12:50] Intersection between MMA and wrestling

🎭 [19:47] Wrestling is a soap opera

👔 [23:00] Mixing business and MMA/wrestling

🥊 [32:55] Fighters and their backgrounds

🏕️ [35:40]"You run this place like a concentration camp?" is the best insult he's ever received.

Timestamps:

🤼 Getting into wrestling after MMA was almost a happy accident. Dan would invite a wrestler from the Miami Convention center to share some of their wild stories. This time eventually led to hosting a hybrid MMA/wrestling event.

❎ Intersection between MMA and wrestling, some people hate MMA but love wrestling and vice versa. Yet, it's hard to argue that both sports have little in common. For one, their personality goes beyond a gimmick – it's often who they are in real life.

🎭 Wrestling theatrics can almost seem like a soap opera. It's not real, and most people know that, yet it does not take away from the excitement. One thing is for certain, the stunts and pain are real.

👔 Mixing business and pleasure does not always go over smoothly, and keeping a gym afloat takes a lot of capital. Luckily for Dan, he had other businesses that helped support his MMA/wrestling passion.

🥊 Every wrestler and fighter comes with crazy characteristics – some more nuts than others. Wrestlers like Mazada not only like to live in chaos, he thrives in it.

📊 One of Dan's biggest mistakes with running "American Top Team" was not treating it like a professional sports team gym. Now with real money on the line and dozens of members, it is one of the elite gyms in the country.

"You run this place like a concentration camp?" is the best insult he's ever received.

Quotes:

- "The wrestling industry harbors the most authentic people" - Jay

- "The more that their character reflects their true self, the more they get over" – Gary

- "As far as the reality base, those wrestlers take 10x the beating than MMA guys do" – Dan

- g"Some people work hard to make money because they want to go on their boat or go fishing or skiing – I like making money so that I can spend it on MMA," – Dan

- "That's what luck is - when opportunity meets preparation" - Dan

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