WINSLOW — Scott Garland sipped coffee as he set up his table in Sukee Arena. Among the items for sale were books, toys and photos he would be happy to autograph. Garland had his t-shirts, and was proud to declare that 100 percent of the money from t-shirt sales goes to Give Kids the World, a charity that helps families of children with life-threatening illnesses take a weeklong, cost-free vacation, where they can forget their health battle and simply have fun.
“The charity is important,” Garland said.
A native of Westbrook who now lives in Orlando, Fla., Garland is soft spoken. What does it take for him to become Scotty 2 Hotty, the former WWE champion wrestler?
“A lot of people. It’s hard to do right here. What we do is a combination of the music and the lights and the adrenaline you feed off,” Garland said. “Just to be here at the autograph table or at a meet and greet, it’s hard. I think any performer, it’s the same thing. It’s hard to turn it on unless you’re actually performing.”
On Sunday afternoon, Garland was on the bill for a Big Time Wrestling show at Sukee Arena. On Saturday night, he wrestled in Webster, Mass. Three weeks ago, he was in Australia. In February he joined his former WWE tag team partner Brian “Too Sexy” Christopher on a tour of the United Kingdom, wrestling in Wales, England and Scotland. In December, Garland performed in Japan.
“Last year and this year have probably been my busiest years since leaving WWE (in 2007). I don’t know if it’s the WWE network or kind of the nostalgia of the Attitude Era. There’s not a lot of guys out there from that time who are actually still wrestling that are independent. I was a big part of that time. I’m fortunate to be there, for my career to peak when the wrestling business was at such a peak. It gave me a ton of exposure,” Garland said.
Garland met fans for two hours before the show started shortly after 3 p.m. Being from Maine, many of the interactions turned to other times he’s come home. You met me in Sabattus 12 years ago, or you knew my dad.
Kobe Dodge, 12, came with his father from South Paris to watch Garland wrestle and to show him a school report he had done on Scotty 2 Hotty, his favorite wrestler. Garland posed with Dodge, the poster board presentation held between them.
“I want to be a WWE superstar like him, and he’s from Maine” Dodge said.
Garland would rather meet fans after a match, or at intermission. That way, the fans get Scotty 2 Hotty, the man they want to see, not Garland. Signing autographs and posing for pictures before the match is like going to see Kiss in concert, and Gene Simmons is hanging out in the lobby before the show without his makeup on, Garland said.
A young fan showed Garland an action figure of himself. There are at least 10 versions he’s seen, but this one is new.
“It’s pretty cool,” Garland said.
Garland studied to be a firefighter and an EMT, but never made it a career. Recently, Garland earned his license to sell real estate in Florida.
“It seemed kind of weird just sitting around a station waiting for something bad to happen,” Garland said about abandoning firefighting. “I keep saying, it’s a really cool time in my career, because I can kind of step back and enjoy it more than if you’re going 100 miles an hour and you’re in a different town every night. Now I also have the real estate thing going on, so it’s not like I need this to survive. It’s a little bit more relaxing.”
A fan asked about Garland’s signature ring move.
“Hey, can you still do the Worm?” he asked. The Worm is a chop drop to the opponent’s throat, and it comes after Scotty 2 Hotty slinks across the ring doing the worm dance move.
“You’ll see,” Garland said.
Garland is 41, and he’s had neck fusion and lower back surgery. He’s healthy now, and doesn’t see retiring from wrestling anytime soon.
“This is my line, man. I say I’ll keep doing it as long as I don’t need to wrestle in a t-shirt,” Garland said.
A couple hours later, at around 4:15 p.m. it’s Garland’s turn to wrestle. His opponent, Sean Burke, enters the ring first. Then the music starts. Garland jumps from the locker room, and the applause grows. He picks up a child in the second row, poses with him against the ropes, and the applause grows. He runs to the four corners of the ring, egging on a crowd already firmly in his support, and the applause grows.
The bass of the music thumps, and the applause grows. Scott 2 Hotty has arrived at Sukee Arena. Scott Garland is gone.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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