There was a time when the instructor, Shihan Wayne Shockness, was a generous, understanding, and…read morealso physically skilled martial artist. I quit this April because he became very unprofessional, was fooling around a lot instead of actually teaching, was verbally abusing and cursing at me to give him money for his personal expenses such as food, medical bills, etc. after I already paid the $250 a month dojo fee, was abusing me because I did not meet all his expectations for personal favors such as helping him move and set up furniture at his apartment, and throwing insults me with baseless allegations and projections of what he is doing, because I didn't meet all his selfish requests for money and personal favors that have nothing to do with Karate. He verbally abuses people for selfish gain and returns favors with disrespect, cursing, false accusations, and verbal abuse.
When I gave an example of a time when I was always available for him, by buying him medicine and masks when he was sick, he said: "No you did not. I called you to buy me medicine and set up my chair. After you brought me the food and medicine, and did the bedsheets, and I needed you to set up the chair you left and I am standing there. You went and did whatever. It took me three hours to put that chair together." Shihan continued, "I said I will never ask you for help again. That shows your bad attitude."
On December 21, 2025, Shockness asked me, "Can I have $20?" I said I could not and needed to take care of myself. He persisted in asking and insulting me. "Can I have $20? You need to stop being cheap." As he persisted, I would just respond to him in the same way and he would disrespect in the same way.
After a pause, Shockness continued. "I have big problems. God. You are disgusting. You know that? You bitch about spending $20. I have people who actually care about me. They spend hundreds of dollars on me for a new TV. Unlike you, I actually do have students that care about me."
I said his type of humor does not get old on me. "You need to stop being so cheap and selfish. People are going to hate you and resent you. Seriously? You think this is a joke? You just want to take."
By saying the following, he is trying to propagate an upside down reality that I am somehow the "selfish" one. He curses and uses insults that are projections of what he is doing onto me, which mental health experts describe as narcissistic, emotional manipulation, and deflecting of the offender's character defects to the victim.
"Your heart is void, It is not about the money, you dumb piece of ****. I am showing you how to be a good person. You are rude. You are disrespectful. Change your attitude. You bitched to me once that you spent $30 on food. Neriah and Helen spent hundreds. They never once came up to me with the same disrespect."
Shihan Shockness's inappropriate behaviors include abusive speech, cursing, raising voice aggressively, abusing people for for selfish gain (money and personal expenses), repeatedly making unwanted requests for money and personal expenses even after answering some requests, lying, falsely accusing, distorting events to project "selfishness" onto me when he is clearly the one who is self-centered, refusing to make things right with people who were victimized, and stealing (refusing to give back $250 for cancelled classes). Shihan Shockness's inappropriate and blatantly abusive behaviors are completely contradictory to the core values of Shotokan Karate, which include respect, discipline, and integrity.
I encourage him to take this opportunity for reflection and growth. Care for Shihan, but do not invest in his self-indulgence. He takes no responsibility for his immoral and abusive actions, and refuses to reconcile despite me reaching out to his friend and him. Instead, he pressures his dojo members to disassociate with me through unfriending me online. I wrote this review as a last resort.
