Saturday, January 23, 2021
Subscriber Login
SpotlightNews
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Community
    • Covid-19 Updates
    • Crime
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • The Spot 518
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
  • Classifieds
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber LogIn
    • Join us – Subscribe Today
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Community
    • Covid-19 Updates
    • Crime
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • The Spot 518
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
  • Classifieds
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber LogIn
    • Join us – Subscribe Today
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Spotlight News
No Result
View All Result
Home Towns Bethlehem

Wrestling his way to the top: Zack Carpinello — a.k.a. Zack Clayton — seeks a WWE career

Rob Jonas by Rob Jonas
June 1, 2016
in Bethlehem, Professional Sports, Sports, Towns
0
Wrestling his way to the top: Zack Carpinello — a.k.a. Zack Clayton — seeks a WWE career

Zack Carpinello — a.k.a. Zack Clayton

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

BETHLEHEM — In the wrestling ring, Zack Clayton is a bad guy who is willing to do everything he can to win.

Outside of the ring, Zack Carpinello is a man in his early 20s willing to do everything he can to reach the top level of professional wrestling.

Carpinello — a.k.a. Clayton — is currently climbing through the lower ranks of professional wrestling and training at Johnny Rodz’s Wrestling School in Brooklyn. The Bethlehem Central High School graduate is hoping to reach World Wrestling Entertainment someday.

“The end goal is to get to WWE — to be a champion there, to be the best I absolutely can be,” said Carpinello.

Zack Carpinello — a.k.a. Zack Clayton
Zack Carpinello — a.k.a. Zack Clayton

A football player at Bethlehem, Carpinello started down the professional wrestling road while attending Hudson Valley Community College. He trained for two years at In Your Face Wrestling Academy in Albany, where he had his first professional bout.

“After high school, I always knew I wanted to do it,” said Carpinello. “I was an athlete all the way through high school, up until college. I knew I didn’t want to continue football.

“I watched (pro wrestling) ever since I could remember. And looking at these guys on television, they were just huge — absolutely huge men, and how could ever be that big? How could you ever do what these guys are doing? The athleticism they had, for being so large, was incredible.”

Carpinello began building a larger physique in the gym, but it didn’t prevent him from gaining the bumps and bruises that comes with training to be a professional wrestler.

“The ring hurts — all about it, everywhere,” said Carpinello. “Contrary to popular belief, it’s not an easy, nice landing surface … It’s called taking bumps when you first hit the mat. It was shocking. Everyone is shocked that wow, that actually hurts because you see it on TV, and these guys are so used to it. It becomes like (second) nature, but it actually hurts. That took a minute to process.

“Being an athlete all my life and being into fitness all my life, I was hitting the ropes, I was taking bumps — learning the basics, what that’s called — it was just the most natural thing I’ve ever done. And for me to feel that and realize that so quickly was shocking to me.”

Carpinello had to develop a character for himself. He chose to keep his wrestling name close to his true identity — Clayton is his middle name — to “stay as authentic as I could,” he said. He also chose to make himself a bad guy.

“For me, it was kind of what I wanted to do because there was nobody telling me what to do,” said Carpinello. “It’s kind of what you do to get yourself out there. So, the saying in the business is you want to take the smallest part of yourself and blow it up to huge proportions. If you’re a bad guy, you might not really care what people think about you.”

Just because Carpinello chose to make his character a bad guy doesn’t mean he gets to remain one every match. “Wherever you go, they might have a specific job for you to do, so it’s not really always up to you of what you’re doing that night,” he said.

Thus far, Carpinello has wrestled mainly within New York state, alternating between the Capital District and New York City. His most recent bout was in Brooklyn May 21, and his next area appearance is scheduled for July 16 at Albany’s Polish Community Center. But, he knows the life of a professional wrestler can involve a brutal travel schedule.

“The guys that you see on TV, on WWE, travel 250-300 days a year,” he said. “There’s no other sport that does that. There’s no off-season for these guys.”

Still, Carpinello is willing to sacrifice his time and his body to reach the highest level of pro wrestling. He commutes between Albany and Brooklyn to train at Johnny Rodz’s gym, where he said he’s gaining the skills and knowledge he needs to take his career to the next level.

“You need to go where there’s opportunity, and within the last year I’ve really learned that to a T. I don’t do anything that won’t help me. I’m never satisfied. I want to get to the absolute top,” said Carpinello.

Fans can follow Carpinello’s progress through social media on his Facebook page (Zack Clayton wrestler) and on Twitter (@RealZackClayton).

Tags: professional wrestlingZack CarpinelloZack Clayton
Previous Post

Broadway roadwork: Expect lane closures as road is repaved and accessible sidewalks added

Next Post

The new kid on the block: The Rosenblum Companies purchases 1 million square feet of real estate from The Beltrone Group

Next Post
The new kid on the block: The Rosenblum Companies purchases 1 million square feet of real estate from The Beltrone Group

The new kid on the block: The Rosenblum Companies purchases 1 million square feet of real estate from The Beltrone Group

Leave Comment

Stay Connected with Us

  • 7k Fans
  • 4.6k Fans
  • 608 Fans
  • 357 Subscribers

Recent News

Albany man seen at BLM and Back the Blue protests arrested on weapon charges

Albany man seen at BLM and Back the Blue protests arrested on weapon charges

January 22, 2021
Albany County breaks hospitalization record; three more deaths

January on track to being the deadliest month in Albany County

January 22, 2021
Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

January 22, 2021
GUILDERLAND LIBRARY: Phased Reopening, Expanded Hours

GUILDERLAND LIBRARY: Cartooning workshop

January 21, 2021

Hot Stories This Week

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
POLL: 75 percent plan to get vaccinated; nearly half say Sen. Schumer will have a positive impact as majority leader

POLL: 75 percent plan to get vaccinated; nearly half say Sen. Schumer will have a positive impact as majority leader

January 20, 2021
Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

January 22, 2021
Albany County vaccinates 375 at TU center

Albany County vaccinates 375 at TU center

January 8, 2021
Pair arrested after luring man to Colonie hotel and robbing him, allegedly

Pair arrested after luring man to Colonie hotel and robbing him, allegedly

January 18, 2021
Albany man seen at BLM and Back the Blue protests arrested on weapon charges

Albany man seen at BLM and Back the Blue protests arrested on weapon charges

January 22, 2021
Albany County breaks hospitalization record; three more deaths

January on track to being the deadliest month in Albany County

January 22, 2021
Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

Moriah Formica debuts new all-female band, Plush

January 22, 2021
GUILDERLAND LIBRARY: Phased Reopening, Expanded Hours

GUILDERLAND LIBRARY: Cartooning workshop

January 21, 2021
Spotlight News

Spotlight News, The Spot 518 and Capital District Family Now are divisions of Community Media Group, LLC. Our local offices are located at 341 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054. You can contact us at 518.439.4949.

Browse

Follow Us

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact the Editor
  • Employment
  • Our Team
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2021 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Spotlight On Business
    • Spotlight on Finance
  • Sports
  • The Spot 518
  • Hot Spots Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Classifieds
    • Advertiser Login

© 2021 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949