It all started for Warren Hullander in 1996. That's when he became the professional wrestler known as Tank. That's when he began to walk that fine pro wrasslin' line between good and evil, hero and heel, leading man and also-ran.
"My first match was at a laundry mat-slash-arcade in Charleston (Tenn.)," recalled Tank, who played high school football at Red Bank with Marty Lowe, who went on to quarterback the University of Louisville, and John Becksvoort, who became a kicking star at the University of Tennessee.
"They put a ring up just outside the front door of the place. I lost to Alex Pain. I actually lost to him several times the first four or five months I wrestled."
Come this weekend at East Hamilton High School, those 21 years that the turnbuckle titan Tank has traveled the South's backroads in search of wrasslin' respect and riches will come to a close. His final match - or matches - will take place in the Scenic City Invitational charity tournament that benefits the Hurricanes' baseball program.
Tank hopes to go out on top. But he plans to go out for good, win or lose.
"I'm done," said the 46-year-old Tank of the figurative fuel still left in his tank. "I've spent the last 21 years beating up on people and getting beat up. I've become an old man in a young man's sport. I'd love to win my last match, but I've got a 9-month-old, 11-year-old and 18-year-old at home, and win or lose this weekend, I need to start spending more time with my daughters and my wife."
Featuring 16 wrestlers - including former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football star Gunner Miller, last year's big winner - the tourney will begin Friday night and conclude Saturday. Doors open at 6:30 Friday, and tickets begin at $10. Winners advance to Saturday night's finals.
"Being the defending champ just gives me more motivation," said the 26-year-old Miller. "And it's a big trophy. It's just an honor to come back and try to defend my title."
Hullander said Miller is on his way to becoming one of the rising stars in pro wrestling.
"Gunner's got a bright future," Tank said. "He's always asking questions, trying to get better. That's what young guys should do. That's what I did."
Returning the favor, Miller said of Hullander: "He's very well respected. He's been doing this 20 years. He makes the wrestling look real. Everybody's heard of Tank."
Miller doesn't have an alternative name such as Tank, but he does go by the moniker "The People's Captain."
"I'm not a good guy or a bad guy," he said. "I'm a prototypical jock in the ring. I'm just there to get respect."
Actually, that's not all he's there to get, not with the potential to become a household name on the Southern wrasslin' circuit at the very least.
"It's all about building your name up," Miller said. "It's all marketing value. Can you get people out to come watch you? That's why we post all my matches on YouTube. The internet can really help you."
The internet wasn't as big when Hullander began. He did make it as an extra on Monday Night Raw, and he's worked at the same events as WWE superstar John Cena.
However, Hullander's greatest contribution to Miller's career may be showing him by example that you need to have a steady day job with a promising future. Now in in his 17th year working for Coca-Cola - "I'm a weekend (wrestling) warrior," he said with a chuckle - Hullander has seen Miller land a full-time gig with Lipsey Logistics.
And though the former Moc pretty much works nonstop either at Lipsey or on his wrestling career - "I don't think I've had a weekend off all year," he said - when he's home, he does share the rent with fellow former UTC football players Synjen Herren and Zach McCarter.
"It's never dull," Miller said of his wrasslin' life. "I'm hooked, for sure. It's still fun or I wouldn't be doing it."
All of the wrestlers competing in the Scenic City Invitational can probably make a fun case for why they should win it, including Hullander's rugged opening-round opponent, Matt Riddle, a former mixed martial artist.
But only Tank could deliver the kind of feel-good ending to a career too few retiring athletes of any sport get to experience. Only a Tank triumph could create a memory daughters Ryan, Ronni and Kiersten and wife Kim would never forget.
"He could win it," said Miller. "And other than me, there's nobody I'd rather see win than Tank. But what I'd really like is to repeat."
Either of those scenarios - a Miller repeat or a Tank title in his final match - would likely become a YouTube sensation in the Tennessee Valley for weeks to come.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.