May 22, 2024 • 23 mins
In this exclusive interview, The AntMan sits down with the AEW Champion, Swerve Strickland, to discuss his incredible journey in professional wrestling. Swerve opens up about his iconic entrance, collaboration with Flash Garments, and the creation of his hit song "Big Pressure." He shares insights into his career transition from WWE to AEW, his time in Lucha Underground, and how his military background shaped his wrestling persona. Swerve recounts his battles with Hangman Adam Page, the unique challenges he's faced as a champion, and his upcoming match against Christian Cage at Double or Nothing. He also delves into his creative process, the importance of taking initiative, and how he navigates the pressures of being in the spotlight. Don't miss this in-depth conversation where Swerve talks about his personal growth and the legacy he hopes to leave in AEW. Tune in for a candid and inspiring look into the life of one of wrestling's most dynamic stars. #AEW #SwerveStrickland #DoubleOrNothing #WrestlingInterview #ProWrestling #Champion #LuchaUnderground #WrestlingJourney #BigPressure #WrestleChat
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
The champ.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's worst trickling. Welcome, how are you, sir?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm doing all right? Have everything good?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good to see if one of the best, the best
entrances in the business today. Big pressure goes hard every
single time, every single night. Tell me how this came
about with Flash Garments.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Honestly, it was like a mutual friend of mine of ours. Actually,
he just I reached out to him because I met
him when I was an NXT and when I was
let go, he was like one of the first people
I called because I've seen a lot of the moves.
He was making a lot of the connections that he had,
so I just reached out. It was like, hey, can
(00:48):
we get on a phone call. So I get on
the call with Blake of our buddy, and he was
just like I was just telling them about all the
things I wanted to do and I'm looking forward to
I just gotta let go from WW I have ninety days,
so what is some of the first steps I can
really make? So he just gets me in touch with
like a lot of these connections. But he was like,
out of all the connections, he was like this guy, Flash,
(01:10):
I think you too would get along really well. And
I was like, oh word. He was like yeah, I
think just y'all personalities and what y'all do, what you're
looking for. I think that's a good time for y'all
to meet. So he linked us up and I was like, hey, man,
got him to a zoom call. We talked, chatted, bro.
I invited him to an independent wrestling show that was
like down the street from him in LA and he
(01:33):
comes through and he the first person he meets his
xbox Sean Oman. So he was like, oh my god,
this is like one of my childhood favorites. Man, that's crazy.
So I think the next night he invited me to
the studio session at like two in the morning in
Los Angeles, and that Big Pressure was made that night.
Wow just turned around like that, Yeah, yep, the producer
(01:56):
was a prophet. Later on, maybe two months later, he
end up invite to be to Vegas to go to
the Grammys, and I watched the producer of a Big
Pressure win two Grammys at for his work on the Knus.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Album Unreal Unreal And here's the time in your life
too when you think crap, I'm let go. What's next?
You know? Prince Nana major major, part of this presentation too.
(02:30):
Do you ever take the time and I know you
got to stay in the zone, you know what you're
going to the ring for, but do you ever get
a chance to stop and take notice of guys you
know my age, maybe older, trying to imitate that dance
and if you notice them, how do you hold it together?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I scan like the whole crowd like one piece. Like
I feel like the whole crowd is one person. Oh,
I mean you have your sections of people that like
kind of one section makes more noise, one section is
more interactive. One sections waiting for that like that eye
to eye connection, that acknowledgment. Other sections waiting for like
(03:12):
you to come over and slap hands with them, but
as a whole, like I treat them as one entity.
So it was a lot of times it's just like
I just see who's out there, see who's vibe, and
see like all one section, one piece moving at the
same time. That's what I try to see. But I
never really cracked a brake on it. It's funny as
like the team us together, Like the idea was Tony
(03:33):
Kahan like or right off the back, He's like cool,
I think there's a good time and for what the
mobile Embassy Mobile affiliates to mogile EMBc we were they
were doing separately, it's a good time for like us
to really merge and create something. And that was his
idea from the gate that we didn't really like necessarily
understand it at first, but we definitely grew and molded
(03:57):
to one another.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
If I if I noticed a little grin next time
you're on the way to the ring, I know you
saw somebody. Oh yeah, a lot you were you were
an army brat growing up, right, Yeah, you have a
lot of good, good memories of your time in Germany.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
There was a remember this, like I was a little
chubby kid at when I was a little growing up.
So it was like like we lived across the set
from this big old hill and there's like little trail
that you could walk to and there was like there's
cows and cattle and farm animals and stuff. But there
was like there's one house at the end that they
were on the pizza shop within the house, and it
(04:38):
was like oven, Like I think that was the first
time I ever had like brick oven like big pizza wow. Yeah.
And so ever since then, every time I smell that
at any other restaurant I go to, that smell brings
me right back to that little walk, the path, the hill,
the path down to get to that one house with
(04:58):
this just like this love couple, lovely family that just
made pizzas all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's a that's a very strong tie the sense of
the sense of smell with memories and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's like I've heard that's like the closest connotation to it.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh wow, I know you served you served it well.
Thank you, Thank you so much for doing that. Not
only did you serve you also you incorporated your time
and experience in the service into your professional life and
pro wrestling as well, especially as kill shot over in
Luca Underground. Now, did you have a hand in writing
(05:36):
that character?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I wrote it all to myself.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
That's so awesome. How did they give you that much freedom?
You just go ask for it?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Kind of Yeah, just like like for me, I always
took initiative on things. When I'm not even asked to
do certain things, I just always come up, always have
something ready to go. That's kind of like how like
my career is half as like carved the way it has.
There hasn't been much like, oh, these are blank slate,
let's let's like put him wherever. It's kind of like, oh,
(06:06):
I don't want to just be like an empty shape.
I want to have like something, some life to it.
So I just always took it upon myself to just create.
So like when after they brought me in on season
one and I came up with the name kill Shot,
and they just kind of created a mask in a
kind of like an outfit, a costume based off of
what that name. I didn't really have like a background character.
(06:28):
So when season one had the break, going into season two,
I wanted to flush out the character a little bit more.
So throughout that time, I wrote the character out and
like put three different like different ways he can be
incorporated in the show. And the writer head writer was
Christa Joseph. He really liked all of them, so he's like, Okay,
(06:49):
I love that, So I'm going to kind of compile
and mix and match and figure out what we can
do to write this character into certain things. The next thing,
you know, kill Shot was born in the the and
yet so me doing combat in Iraq and the Army.
They started just like creating. So it was like collabed
effort in the sense that's where it really got to
where it became later on, and it got so like
(07:11):
really unique that it created another character within you know,
Dante Fox, and then it created match stipulations out of
the character from what I based it off of, because
that's when you give the idea. They started having fun
with it, and then I started having fun performing within
the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Man. That's really and I think that's one A character
can really come alive when you feel an investment that
you get to make and it's and that investment is
taken seriously.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
You know, it's also risked too. It's also risk too,
like those times like when like I remember I did
a random I did a random like a multiman and
NXT and every once in a while, every couple of months,
I went up to triplacious. But when I pulled them aside,
(08:00):
I'm always like made sure. I was like, hey, I
appreciate the opportunities, thank you for this, but what do
I gotta do to be one of your guys? And
then I would ask that over and over again every
couple of months, and then like then I think I
tore my mcl so I was out for like maybe
four weeks, like not too long would anybody all the
fans would notice my absence. So I was like, I
(08:23):
went to a TV and I was like, really frustrated.
I can like I feel like Trips could see me,
like at the table, like like fuming. He could see it,
and I wanted him to. So like after TV he
had his meetings, he spoke to everybody. I waited till
like maybe almost midnight, and I walked over to him.
I was like, Okay, so here's what I'm going to do.
(08:44):
I'm going to change up some things and I'm going
to come back and I'm going to be a little
different and I want to be doing this. And I
had no direction from it, and he was like okay.
And I came back colored hair, gold teeth, long tights,
and that's where me and Leon rough stuff this really started.
And then hit Row came from that. So that's once
(09:05):
again that me taking an initiative, just like in AW
like I didn't really tell Tony when after I got
put a coffin. I didn't tell Tony what I was
going to do coming out of it. I just did it.
And then people were like, this feels different. This feels unique,
and Tony was like he believes in it and he
trusts it go. So that's kind of how like every
(09:27):
step of my career, it was just me just like
I'm gonna take a risk and do it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well. You traded in the well traded in. You moved
from from from the gold teeth to the gold around
your waist and a exactly big that's a big did
you you know? Growing up, you know, in a a
service family, and you're you're planning out your career, thinking
about your career, what I want to be you want
to grow up? Did you consider then, I think I
(09:55):
want to be a pro wrestler. How do I get there?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Growing up? No? Not, I kind of grew up being
a fan of it and my friends would like back
to our wrestle and do a lot of like dumb
stuff who played the video games. But to make it
a career, not really. Military was kind of like my
backup plan in case that any type of like dream
venture that I was going to chase if I fell through.
I always had that, and you know, as a father,
(10:20):
you always make sure you had that backup plan. But
military was kind of like it for me. It started
becoming more and more of a reality the more I
started traveling. Once I started like traveling, getting up to
CZW and going overseas, and I was like, Oh, I
can really make this a job in a career. It's
just I'm not at that level yet, but I'm going
to still keep pushing and sacrificing and like going further
to try to chase that.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You know, we mentioned your time at Luca Underground. Do
you think a presentation like lucha would fare well in
the pro wrestling world today?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
No, No, that right now. I don't think so, because like
there's always people pulling something apart before really grows and
blossoms into his full potential. Even all the wrestling is
still blossoming into his full potential hasn't even reached that,
and people are already trying to pull the certain things
apart yet so to create something new in the atmosphere
(11:15):
that we're in. When they people want to like argue
attendance records and then ratings and argue booking and argue this,
and argue all these things rather than just sit and
watch and enjoy a product and enjoy certain things. I
think it's really tough. I don't think like even luchaanigraph
Force for what it was, never fully blossomed into his
(11:38):
full potential either.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You know, so now like in today's climate, it's just
really hard for anything new to really blossom, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
With the negativity that tends to come correct with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right,
let's talk about uh, let's talk about some of your
battles with Adam Page. These wore, These are brutal. Do
you consider these some of the most brutal matches that
you ever had?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Uh? Probably probably, especially on the stage in front of
that audience for that many people to see it, Because
I've had like violent battles, I've done cage to death,
but that's not wildly known to the world, so a
lot of people are just seeing me really get like
bloody and violent for the first time with Adam Page.
Like little know, like that's I've kind of had that
(12:29):
in my career for a long time. But I wouldn't
say it was one of the most brutal. It's definitely
one of the most unique and one of the most marveled,
marveled after, Like you know, you place that next to
like the text of death match right next to me
and Dante Fox of Lucia Underground The Hell of War Match. Yeah,
(12:50):
vastly different one, probably more brutal and more risk taking
in the other than the other one. But something about
like the story and the theatrics and all the animal
building up and to the stage that we didn't do
in a key a form in Los Angeles once again.
Los Angeles by Heights, Los Angeles he A Forum, Los Angeles.
There's levels up. It's kind of different, and it just
(13:13):
feels big. It just felt bigger. It felt bigger, but
definitely like the idea of like just me doing everything
that I did from Dante Fox just felt unique and different.
And that's what me and Hangman felt unique and different.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
For sure. Listen, I don't pretend to know all the
all the inside lingo. I'm a I'm a fan, but
I've heard guys use use the term. And tell me
if I'm even using this correctly, but call it in
the ring. I've heard him use that before. You may
already know the spot that I'm going to bring up
and refer to, But you bleeding and Hangman's hang Man's
(13:49):
mouth that was talked about a lot. Was that a
call that just that just happened in the ring or
is that something that that traditionally you would you would
have a conversation about before.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I can't tell you what goes on to hang Man
said at all you'll see. What do you see is
what you get a lot of times with them.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, going into your into your match with Christian Cage
Sunday at double or nothing, thirty one days, it'll be
a thirty one days plus. As as the champion, a
w champion, this is your this is your first real
test as the champ. Things have escalated quickly. It got
(14:32):
very personal, very quickly, as well as it seems that
things tend to do with with Christian Cage. How do
you mentally prepare to face a veteran like him?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It takes a lot of It takes a lot of honestly,
it's it's all mental. Like physically, I've gotten my body's
of the shape, the best shape it's ever been in.
But now it's a mental thing. It's it's anticipation, it's
learning your opponent and like kind of like the week's
leading up. You've seen a lot of attacks on me
and stuff, and one thing i'ven't seen was me stay down.
(15:06):
I've always gotten back up I've always like pulled something
from that, you know, and all these people putting more
things in front of me, you know, like mobile embassy
turning on me and everything, I've still got back up
and beat all them down to get to Christian. I'm
clearing all the negative things that were coming from the
past to haunt me to get to them. That shows
(15:27):
something that's like, I'm unlike anything that Christians ever faced either,
you know. You know, he's had Adam Copeland for like
twenty five years almost across from him. He's never had
anybody like me across from I've had veterans. I defeated veterans,
I defeated I've defeated legends, you know, I've defeated former
world champions time and time again. And Christian is just
(15:50):
another one that's going to be like in my in
my win column, you know what I mean. So I
plan to make an example out of Nick Wayne this
coming week in Bakersfield, and Christian is not too far
not too far after that, so I know he's coming
up and coming up soon. I'm pretty sure he's going
(16:11):
to be taking a nice little quick peek of the match.
He's not too far away from Nick Klane, But how
do I prepare for that thing? Just all mental?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, we've seen the last couple of weeks. As you mentioned,
you don't know who you can trust. You thought you
had had somebodies come to the ring with you or
show up for you, only to find out that they
were being paid under the table. So how do you
How are you looking over your shoulder all the time
yet still focusing on what's in front of you?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Oh? Well, truth be told. A lot of people wondered
why I got to where I'm at, and they questioned
how I got to where I'm at? People said it
was no, No. All the past two or three weeks,
I haven't had them. The fans are still just as loud.
People said, like, oh, it's always because the mobile emdasty
around them, protecting them, making them look cool, making them this,
(17:05):
making them that like this protective barrier. Well, I beat
all them down after they turned on me, so I
don't have them either. What's the criticism now? I got
beaten down and bloodied and all that stuff back up,
not to wrestle again. What's the criticism now? There hasn't
been a champion I wrestled this much. Well, here's me
with the belt. The people thought I'd take like less
(17:27):
dates and less opportunities, less times in the ring, and
I would be disappeared. Nope. I've been on Collision and
aw Dynamite for the past two three weeks. The only
one I missed was this past week and Collision. What's
the criticism now? All these criticism have been stacked against me,
and I proved them all within a month leading up
to double or nothing, you know, So that's kind of
(17:50):
been like where my mind's been at proving the lot
of they series wrong. Whatever they said, like, oh, putting
all these things behind me to make me who I am?
You get strip them all down, and I'm still met
in that ring. I'm still me walking out.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, let's look on the bright side, look on the
optimistic side. As you head into this battle, you come
out the other side still the ae W champion. What
will you say you would hope to leave as a
legacy as a champion, as the champion.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm still trying
to create that every week. That's that's that's pretty much
like you don't look at you don't really plan to
make that happen. You kind of after everything is all
said and done, you look back and you're like, man,
I'm happy with what I did. You know, that's one
of those things you look back on and not look
forward to creating, you know, because the more you try
(18:45):
to move, the more you try to create, while you're creating,
it gets further further away from what you're actually trying
to envision in your mind. So all you can do
is really like just to create, like focus on one
pay per view, one dynamite, win collision, one rampage, one match,
one promo, all at a time, and every time you do,
(19:07):
you try to grab a new fan, one week at
a time, every time, and then that's how it grows.
And then you look back at all the fans and
all the matches and all the promos, all the memories
you left behind, all the different like career milestones you've created,
and hopefully, like the ones I do create, hopefully somebody
(19:28):
beats those, some kind of can be beaten, because like
I'm the first of something. The first of anything is
always like they get the most scrutiny, they get, they
get the pounding to most, you know, But that's what
I'm like, kind of like asked for. And that's where
I'm like going to cons constantly keep like showcasing why
I am, why I do deserve that, why I chose
(19:51):
to put that out there, and why I am in
the position I am because I'm like who else could
do it? I have to do it. I'm gonna be
the one to show that I'm the one that deserve
to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Every champion has had a different mindset in aewn have
all contributed to what the legacy of that title will
have when it's all said and down a ten years,
twenty thirty, forty, fifty years down the line. And that
is a that is a mindset of a champion that
you have right there and explains why you have the
goal around your waist. How many how many tattoos do
(20:21):
you have?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I don't. I can't even count.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I have a full sleep anymore.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, I can account. I stop counting. So those
full sleep kind of counts are like thirteen different ones alone, okay, yeah, okay.
So and then the hand of my daughter's names on
my wrist. I have a goku on the back of
my calf, you know, so there's a lot. It doesn't
even cover ups too.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, I want to take this home, but I'm actually
going to go a little deep if you want it to.
It's it's totally up to you. But there's one tattoo
in particular, and it's right across your midsection, and it
says faith. What does faith mean you?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's when things were going really tough, and I kept
getting the answer no to a lot of things throughout
my wrestling career, not even just wrestling, but through life
as well, Like why can't I get the approval on
this apartment? No? Like why can't I get the loan
for this car?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
You know, like relationships, like even like you know, not
to possibly get married. No. Like I still kept the
faith and still kept finding positivity to push forward in
and with keeping faith, I found things that were better
and improved, like you know, I found like you know,
(21:43):
I got I finally was able to like just buy
a car flat out, like a new brand new car,
no loan, no pay, mister bone. And it was better
than the one I was trying to get approval on
years back. I got a bigger, better home that I
can just buy rather at least rent than apartment shaty
apartment that I was trying to get years ago, you know, like, oh,
(22:06):
I wanted to get booked at this independent promotion. They
told me no, Well I got signed to a bigger
and better one later on. You know, like relationships like
I'm with a better woman that I've like, you know,
the best woman I could ever meet in my life.
You know, all these things like went better because I
kept faith. That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's worth best of luck this weekend, this Sunday, Doubled
to Nothing Live from Las Vegas. Going in as the
champ facing Christian Cage or betting on you walking out
as the chant too.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
It's a better time than any been, double or nothing.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Aren't you there? You go? Good to see you, my man.
Thanks for taking the time.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Thank you,
The champ.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's worst trickling. Welcome, how are you, sir?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm doing all right? Have everything good?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good to see if one of the best, the best
entrances in the business today. Big pressure goes hard every
single time, every single night. Tell me how this came
about with Flash Garments.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Honestly, it was like a mutual friend of mine of ours. Actually,
he just I reached out to him because I met
him when I was an NXT and when I was
let go, he was like one of the first people
I called because I've seen a lot of the moves.
He was making a lot of the connections that he had,
so I just reached out. It was like, hey, can
(00:48):
we get on a phone call. So I get on
the call with Blake of our buddy, and he was
just like I was just telling them about all the
things I wanted to do and I'm looking forward to
I just gotta let go from WW I have ninety days,
so what is some of the first steps I can
really make? So he just gets me in touch with
like a lot of these connections. But he was like,
out of all the connections, he was like this guy, Flash,
(01:10):
I think you too would get along really well. And
I was like, oh word. He was like yeah, I
think just y'all personalities and what y'all do, what you're
looking for. I think that's a good time for y'all
to meet. So he linked us up and I was like, hey, man,
got him to a zoom call. We talked, chatted, bro.
I invited him to an independent wrestling show that was
like down the street from him in LA and he
(01:33):
comes through and he the first person he meets his
xbox Sean Oman. So he was like, oh my god,
this is like one of my childhood favorites. Man, that's crazy.
So I think the next night he invited me to
the studio session at like two in the morning in
Los Angeles, and that Big Pressure was made that night.
Wow just turned around like that, Yeah, yep, the producer
(01:56):
was a prophet. Later on, maybe two months later, he
end up invite to be to Vegas to go to
the Grammys, and I watched the producer of a Big
Pressure win two Grammys at for his work on the Knus.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Album Unreal Unreal And here's the time in your life
too when you think crap, I'm let go. What's next?
You know? Prince Nana major major, part of this presentation too.
(02:30):
Do you ever take the time and I know you
got to stay in the zone, you know what you're
going to the ring for, but do you ever get
a chance to stop and take notice of guys you
know my age, maybe older, trying to imitate that dance
and if you notice them, how do you hold it together?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I scan like the whole crowd like one piece. Like
I feel like the whole crowd is one person. Oh,
I mean you have your sections of people that like
kind of one section makes more noise, one section is
more interactive. One sections waiting for that like that eye
to eye connection, that acknowledgment. Other sections waiting for like
(03:12):
you to come over and slap hands with them, but
as a whole, like I treat them as one entity.
So it was a lot of times it's just like
I just see who's out there, see who's vibe, and
see like all one section, one piece moving at the
same time. That's what I try to see. But I
never really cracked a brake on it. It's funny as
like the team us together, Like the idea was Tony
(03:33):
Kahan like or right off the back, He's like cool,
I think there's a good time and for what the
mobile Embassy Mobile affiliates to mogile EMBc we were they
were doing separately, it's a good time for like us
to really merge and create something. And that was his
idea from the gate that we didn't really like necessarily
understand it at first, but we definitely grew and molded
(03:57):
to one another.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
If I if I noticed a little grin next time
you're on the way to the ring, I know you
saw somebody. Oh yeah, a lot you were you were
an army brat growing up, right, Yeah, you have a
lot of good, good memories of your time in Germany.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
There was a remember this, like I was a little
chubby kid at when I was a little growing up.
So it was like like we lived across the set
from this big old hill and there's like little trail
that you could walk to and there was like there's
cows and cattle and farm animals and stuff. But there
was like there's one house at the end that they
were on the pizza shop within the house, and it
(04:38):
was like oven, Like I think that was the first
time I ever had like brick oven like big pizza wow. Yeah.
And so ever since then, every time I smell that
at any other restaurant I go to, that smell brings
me right back to that little walk, the path, the hill,
the path down to get to that one house with
(04:58):
this just like this love couple, lovely family that just
made pizzas all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's a that's a very strong tie the sense of
the sense of smell with memories and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's like I've heard that's like the closest connotation to it.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh wow, I know you served you served it well.
Thank you, Thank you so much for doing that. Not
only did you serve you also you incorporated your time
and experience in the service into your professional life and
pro wrestling as well, especially as kill shot over in
Luca Underground. Now, did you have a hand in writing
(05:36):
that character?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I wrote it all to myself.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
That's so awesome. How did they give you that much freedom?
You just go ask for it?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Kind of Yeah, just like like for me, I always
took initiative on things. When I'm not even asked to
do certain things, I just always come up, always have
something ready to go. That's kind of like how like
my career is half as like carved the way it has.
There hasn't been much like, oh, these are blank slate,
let's let's like put him wherever. It's kind of like, oh,
(06:06):
I don't want to just be like an empty shape.
I want to have like something, some life to it.
So I just always took it upon myself to just create.
So like when after they brought me in on season
one and I came up with the name kill Shot,
and they just kind of created a mask in a
kind of like an outfit, a costume based off of
what that name. I didn't really have like a background character.
(06:28):
So when season one had the break, going into season two,
I wanted to flush out the character a little bit more.
So throughout that time, I wrote the character out and
like put three different like different ways he can be
incorporated in the show. And the writer head writer was
Christa Joseph. He really liked all of them, so he's like, Okay,
(06:49):
I love that, So I'm going to kind of compile
and mix and match and figure out what we can
do to write this character into certain things. The next thing,
you know, kill Shot was born in the the and
yet so me doing combat in Iraq and the Army.
They started just like creating. So it was like collabed
effort in the sense that's where it really got to
where it became later on, and it got so like
(07:11):
really unique that it created another character within you know,
Dante Fox, and then it created match stipulations out of
the character from what I based it off of, because
that's when you give the idea. They started having fun
with it, and then I started having fun performing within
the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Man. That's really and I think that's one A character
can really come alive when you feel an investment that
you get to make and it's and that investment is
taken seriously.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
You know, it's also risked too. It's also risk too,
like those times like when like I remember I did
a random I did a random like a multiman and
NXT and every once in a while, every couple of months,
I went up to triplacious. But when I pulled them aside,
(08:00):
I'm always like made sure. I was like, hey, I
appreciate the opportunities, thank you for this, but what do
I gotta do to be one of your guys? And
then I would ask that over and over again every
couple of months, and then like then I think I
tore my mcl so I was out for like maybe
four weeks, like not too long would anybody all the
fans would notice my absence. So I was like, I
(08:23):
went to a TV and I was like, really frustrated.
I can like I feel like Trips could see me,
like at the table, like like fuming. He could see it,
and I wanted him to. So like after TV he
had his meetings, he spoke to everybody. I waited till
like maybe almost midnight, and I walked over to him.
I was like, Okay, so here's what I'm going to do.
(08:44):
I'm going to change up some things and I'm going
to come back and I'm going to be a little
different and I want to be doing this. And I
had no direction from it, and he was like okay.
And I came back colored hair, gold teeth, long tights,
and that's where me and Leon rough stuff this really started.
And then hit Row came from that. So that's once
(09:05):
again that me taking an initiative, just like in AW
like I didn't really tell Tony when after I got
put a coffin. I didn't tell Tony what I was
going to do coming out of it. I just did it.
And then people were like, this feels different. This feels unique,
and Tony was like he believes in it and he
trusts it go. So that's kind of how like every
(09:27):
step of my career, it was just me just like
I'm gonna take a risk and do it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well. You traded in the well traded in. You moved
from from from the gold teeth to the gold around
your waist and a exactly big that's a big did
you you know? Growing up, you know, in a a
service family, and you're you're planning out your career, thinking
about your career, what I want to be you want
to grow up? Did you consider then, I think I
(09:55):
want to be a pro wrestler. How do I get there?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Growing up? No? Not, I kind of grew up being
a fan of it and my friends would like back
to our wrestle and do a lot of like dumb
stuff who played the video games. But to make it
a career, not really. Military was kind of like my
backup plan in case that any type of like dream
venture that I was going to chase if I fell through.
I always had that, and you know, as a father,
(10:20):
you always make sure you had that backup plan. But
military was kind of like it for me. It started
becoming more and more of a reality the more I
started traveling. Once I started like traveling, getting up to
CZW and going overseas, and I was like, Oh, I
can really make this a job in a career. It's
just I'm not at that level yet, but I'm going
to still keep pushing and sacrificing and like going further
to try to chase that.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You know, we mentioned your time at Luca Underground. Do
you think a presentation like lucha would fare well in
the pro wrestling world today?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
No, No, that right now. I don't think so, because like
there's always people pulling something apart before really grows and
blossoms into his full potential. Even all the wrestling is
still blossoming into his full potential hasn't even reached that,
and people are already trying to pull the certain things
apart yet so to create something new in the atmosphere
(11:15):
that we're in. When they people want to like argue
attendance records and then ratings and argue booking and argue this,
and argue all these things rather than just sit and
watch and enjoy a product and enjoy certain things. I
think it's really tough. I don't think like even luchaanigraph
Force for what it was, never fully blossomed into his
(11:38):
full potential either.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You know, so now like in today's climate, it's just
really hard for anything new to really blossom, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
With the negativity that tends to come correct with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right,
let's talk about uh, let's talk about some of your
battles with Adam Page. These wore, These are brutal. Do
you consider these some of the most brutal matches that
you ever had?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Uh? Probably probably, especially on the stage in front of
that audience for that many people to see it, Because
I've had like violent battles, I've done cage to death,
but that's not wildly known to the world, so a
lot of people are just seeing me really get like
bloody and violent for the first time with Adam Page.
Like little know, like that's I've kind of had that
(12:29):
in my career for a long time. But I wouldn't
say it was one of the most brutal. It's definitely
one of the most unique and one of the most marveled,
marveled after, Like you know, you place that next to
like the text of death match right next to me
and Dante Fox of Lucia Underground The Hell of War Match. Yeah,
(12:50):
vastly different one, probably more brutal and more risk taking
in the other than the other one. But something about
like the story and the theatrics and all the animal
building up and to the stage that we didn't do
in a key a form in Los Angeles once again.
Los Angeles by Heights, Los Angeles he A Forum, Los Angeles.
There's levels up. It's kind of different, and it just
(13:13):
feels big. It just felt bigger. It felt bigger, but
definitely like the idea of like just me doing everything
that I did from Dante Fox just felt unique and different.
And that's what me and Hangman felt unique and different.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
For sure. Listen, I don't pretend to know all the
all the inside lingo. I'm a I'm a fan, but
I've heard guys use use the term. And tell me
if I'm even using this correctly, but call it in
the ring. I've heard him use that before. You may
already know the spot that I'm going to bring up
and refer to, But you bleeding and Hangman's hang Man's
(13:49):
mouth that was talked about a lot. Was that a
call that just that just happened in the ring or
is that something that that traditionally you would you would
have a conversation about before.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I can't tell you what goes on to hang Man
said at all you'll see. What do you see is
what you get a lot of times with them.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, going into your into your match with Christian Cage
Sunday at double or nothing, thirty one days, it'll be
a thirty one days plus. As as the champion, a
w champion, this is your this is your first real
test as the champ. Things have escalated quickly. It got
(14:32):
very personal, very quickly, as well as it seems that
things tend to do with with Christian Cage. How do
you mentally prepare to face a veteran like him?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It takes a lot of It takes a lot of honestly,
it's it's all mental. Like physically, I've gotten my body's
of the shape, the best shape it's ever been in.
But now it's a mental thing. It's it's anticipation, it's
learning your opponent and like kind of like the week's
leading up. You've seen a lot of attacks on me
and stuff, and one thing i'ven't seen was me stay down.
(15:06):
I've always gotten back up I've always like pulled something
from that, you know, and all these people putting more
things in front of me, you know, like mobile embassy
turning on me and everything, I've still got back up
and beat all them down to get to Christian. I'm
clearing all the negative things that were coming from the
past to haunt me to get to them. That shows
(15:27):
something that's like, I'm unlike anything that Christians ever faced either,
you know. You know, he's had Adam Copeland for like
twenty five years almost across from him. He's never had
anybody like me across from I've had veterans. I defeated veterans,
I defeated I've defeated legends, you know, I've defeated former
world champions time and time again. And Christian is just
(15:50):
another one that's going to be like in my in
my win column, you know what I mean. So I
plan to make an example out of Nick Wayne this
coming week in Bakersfield, and Christian is not too far
not too far after that, so I know he's coming
up and coming up soon. I'm pretty sure he's going
(16:11):
to be taking a nice little quick peek of the match.
He's not too far away from Nick Klane, But how
do I prepare for that thing? Just all mental?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, we've seen the last couple of weeks. As you mentioned,
you don't know who you can trust. You thought you
had had somebodies come to the ring with you or
show up for you, only to find out that they
were being paid under the table. So how do you
How are you looking over your shoulder all the time
yet still focusing on what's in front of you?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Oh? Well, truth be told. A lot of people wondered
why I got to where I'm at, and they questioned
how I got to where I'm at? People said it
was no, No. All the past two or three weeks,
I haven't had them. The fans are still just as loud.
People said, like, oh, it's always because the mobile emdasty
around them, protecting them, making them look cool, making them this,
(17:05):
making them that like this protective barrier. Well, I beat
all them down after they turned on me, so I
don't have them either. What's the criticism now? I got
beaten down and bloodied and all that stuff back up,
not to wrestle again. What's the criticism now? There hasn't
been a champion I wrestled this much. Well, here's me
with the belt. The people thought I'd take like less
(17:27):
dates and less opportunities, less times in the ring, and
I would be disappeared. Nope. I've been on Collision and
aw Dynamite for the past two three weeks. The only
one I missed was this past week and Collision. What's
the criticism now? All these criticism have been stacked against me,
and I proved them all within a month leading up
to double or nothing, you know, So that's kind of
(17:50):
been like where my mind's been at proving the lot
of they series wrong. Whatever they said, like, oh, putting
all these things behind me to make me who I am?
You get strip them all down, and I'm still met
in that ring. I'm still me walking out.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, let's look on the bright side, look on the
optimistic side. As you head into this battle, you come
out the other side still the ae W champion. What
will you say you would hope to leave as a
legacy as a champion, as the champion.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm still trying
to create that every week. That's that's that's pretty much
like you don't look at you don't really plan to
make that happen. You kind of after everything is all
said and done, you look back and you're like, man,
I'm happy with what I did. You know, that's one
of those things you look back on and not look
forward to creating, you know, because the more you try
(18:45):
to move, the more you try to create, while you're creating,
it gets further further away from what you're actually trying
to envision in your mind. So all you can do
is really like just to create, like focus on one
pay per view, one dynamite, win collision, one rampage, one match,
one promo, all at a time, and every time you do,
(19:07):
you try to grab a new fan, one week at
a time, every time, and then that's how it grows.
And then you look back at all the fans and
all the matches and all the promos, all the memories
you left behind, all the different like career milestones you've created,
and hopefully, like the ones I do create, hopefully somebody
(19:28):
beats those, some kind of can be beaten, because like
I'm the first of something. The first of anything is
always like they get the most scrutiny, they get, they
get the pounding to most, you know, But that's what
I'm like, kind of like asked for. And that's where
I'm like going to cons constantly keep like showcasing why
I am, why I do deserve that, why I chose
(19:51):
to put that out there, and why I am in
the position I am because I'm like who else could
do it? I have to do it. I'm gonna be
the one to show that I'm the one that deserve
to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Every champion has had a different mindset in aewn have
all contributed to what the legacy of that title will
have when it's all said and down a ten years,
twenty thirty, forty, fifty years down the line. And that
is a that is a mindset of a champion that
you have right there and explains why you have the
goal around your waist. How many how many tattoos do
(20:21):
you have?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I don't. I can't even count.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I have a full sleep anymore.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, yeah, I can account. I stop counting. So those
full sleep kind of counts are like thirteen different ones alone, okay, yeah, okay.
So and then the hand of my daughter's names on
my wrist. I have a goku on the back of
my calf, you know, so there's a lot. It doesn't
even cover ups too.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Well, I want to take this home, but I'm actually
going to go a little deep if you want it to.
It's it's totally up to you. But there's one tattoo
in particular, and it's right across your midsection, and it
says faith. What does faith mean you?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's when things were going really tough, and I kept
getting the answer no to a lot of things throughout
my wrestling career, not even just wrestling, but through life
as well, Like why can't I get the approval on
this apartment? No? Like why can't I get the loan
for this car?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
You know, like relationships, like even like you know, not
to possibly get married. No. Like I still kept the
faith and still kept finding positivity to push forward in
and with keeping faith, I found things that were better
and improved, like you know, I found like you know,
(21:43):
I got I finally was able to like just buy
a car flat out, like a new brand new car,
no loan, no pay, mister bone. And it was better
than the one I was trying to get approval on
years back. I got a bigger, better home that I
can just buy rather at least rent than apartment shaty
apartment that I was trying to get years ago, you know, like, oh,
(22:06):
I wanted to get booked at this independent promotion. They
told me no, Well I got signed to a bigger
and better one later on. You know, like relationships like
I'm with a better woman that I've like, you know,
the best woman I could ever meet in my life.
You know, all these things like went better because I
kept faith. That's awesome. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's worth best of luck this weekend, this Sunday, Doubled
to Nothing Live from Las Vegas. Going in as the
champ facing Christian Cage or betting on you walking out
as the chant too.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
It's a better time than any been, double or nothing.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Aren't you there? You go? Good to see you, my man.
Thanks for taking the time.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Thank you,
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