September 7, 2021 • 29 mins
Rebel Kel talks about how she got into wrestling her trips to japan, also being in a faction with Hana Kimura and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What's up everybody? This is RebelCall from Seattle, Washington and you are
listening to King of Wrestling podcast.This is Johnny Swinger, that King of
Swing. You're listening to the Kingof Wrestling podcast and don't sing it swing
it Na. And you're listening tothe podcast number one. Ladies and gentlemen,
(00:20):
my name is Brian Pillman Junior,and you are listening to the Kings
of Wrestling podcast. This is ourYou're listening to the King of Wrestling podcasting
and now you're host. Yes,I'm the host who with the most.
I am the brilliant one. Iam Brendon Turner and welcome into King of
Wrestling podcast. And today's episode isbrought to you by you Saved Car and
(00:43):
Truck Rental in Columbia, Mississippi,where they can get you help to get
where you want to go. Somake sure you check them out as you
save in Columbia, Mississippi. Today, we've got a very special guest,
somebody I've been wanting to get onthe podcast for a while and now we
finally get her on the podcast.What's up, Rebel Kill? How are
you today? Hello? Hello,thank you so much for having me on.
(01:07):
Oh no, it's a pleasure tohave you on. I've been wanting
to get you on. I've hadseveral people from the Washington area on the
podcast, and uh, I don'tknow if you know, if you ever
heard of Dave Turner the Black Sheet. I love Dave Turner. Dave is
Dave's great. He's been on thepodcast. And the funny thing about it
(01:30):
is is, uh, I'll jumpingtoo this for just one second with Dave
is uh, we got the samelast name, no relation, by the
way, Yeah, that's right.The crazy thing about it is we were
comparing our wedding pictures one night andwe had the same outfit on for our
wedding. No way, it's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. But Rebel,
(01:55):
I've been watching you on the independentscene and that's what we cover independent
wrestling all day long. We've hada lot of guests, I mean over
two hundred and something guests from allover the country and out of overseas and
everywhere else. But I've been waitingto get you on here. And oh,
I'm so excited. Two hundred episodes. You are cruising, man.
(02:15):
I I mean we've you know,we've had some time. It's been three
years. We've had we've had somegood names and uh not so good names
Vladimir Coast by the way, butuh but yeah, we've been waiting to
get you on. And what Iwant to start out with real quick is
I just want you to give thelisteners a little backstory and how you got
started wrestling, kind of where you'dlike a wrestling fan growing up. I
(02:38):
know, I wasn't a wrestling fan. Growing up. I played sports like
every single sport there was at alltimes, and uh, like, growing
up, I'd played two select sportsyear round. I played soccer and I
played basketball, and I played othersports two volleyball, track, all that
stuff. But I always like mypassions were the ones where I could be
(03:00):
like aggressive and there was contact,and like every day when I'd get off
a school, like I would justwalk to the park and play pickup games
with whatever boys were at the park, and like, I was always just
super into aggressive sports. I wasa four year varsity letter and I went
(03:22):
to college. I went to WesternWashington University. I graduated from Central Washington
University, And when I was donewith that, I realized I still needed
a sport to keep my identity andreally to keep me sane, and I
knew I liked contact sports, andso I was looking into boxing and MMA
(03:45):
and pro wrestling and really anything thatI could do like that I hadn't already
started, and you know, atthat age, and I knew I wasn't
going to play professional basketball, andI just really needed something else to dive
into. So I started doing someresearch, and I was looking at heights
(04:06):
and waves and like really trying todecide like where I could make the next
step and grow as an athlete.I always wanted to be a professional athlete.
And I found pro wrestling, andyou know, watched a couple matches
of that, and I mean Istarted getting hooked on Total Divas and like,
(04:28):
I just kind of fell in lovewith it there. So then I
I booked a ticket to OBW.I googled, did some research fround the
what was called the Harvard of ProWrestling at the time, and I ended
up buying a ticket to go checkout OBW, and I met Rip Rogers
down there, and I was gettingready to pack up my whole life and
(04:53):
just go move over there and seeif I could make something out of this.
But Rip had his best friend buddyWayne lives in Everett, which is
like twenty minutes from Seattle, sohe was like, you need to go
start training there and training with mybuddy, and like you won't regret it.
And that's kind of how I gotmy start in pro wrestling. Buddy
(05:16):
Wayne, Rip Rogers. That's somegood names right there, all right.
You know it's crazy you talk aboutyou know you was going to pack up
and just move your backs. That'sdedication. That's what it takes to make
it in the wrestling business to startwith is dedication. And I mean I'm
pretty sure that Rick Rogers looked atyou and was just like, Okay,
(05:38):
there's like a ship ton of potentialright here, because I meant, I
mean, you're legitimately you're six feettall, right right. Okay, you
said you weren't gonna make it inpro basketball. That already tells you right
there. I mean, my goodness, you got the look already, and
you got some skills, so Imean you got a lot of potential to
(05:59):
make it to the top stage.I agree, Well, thank you.
I appreciate that. You know,I think like my matches are starting to
get better and better, and I'mstarting to gain a lot of confidence in
myself, and you know, I'mhoping something good turns out of this.
So well, I'll say this onething I knew and my wife will contest
(06:20):
to this as well, is itI'm an asshole? All right? So
when I come out, I alwaysask my wife after the after the show,
I'm like, well, Dad,I look cocky enough. And she
says, when do you not lookcocky enough? She says, you walk
out and you loose confidence. AndI'm like, you know, I mean,
I don't. I played sports allmy life, yes, and so
(06:44):
you know, and I've watched wrestlingpretty much all my life, so I
mean, you know, I justkind of I don't know. I'm different
when I'm not in front of acrowd, Like you know, you don't
feel like you can just walk outthere in front of all those people and
do stuff. And then when Igo through that curtain, it's just like
a I know, the switch changesand I'm happy to be out there right
(07:05):
absolutely. And that's funny that yousay that too, because I'm like the
same way I'm not. I wouldn'tsay like I am like a great public
speaker, but Rebel Kell might be, you know, what I mean exactly,
and I'm not like very um,I don't know. I guess I
(07:26):
am. I'm pretty modest in mynormal I don't know, and like I
feel like going out in front ofa big crowd, like half naked and
like like that wouldn't normally be myshtick, but it totally is. Like
when I go out there, nowI'm like alive and just like it's a
whole new persona. You know,my wife was telling me something like a
(07:48):
couple of weeks. Agose you're saying, you know you will not wear shorts
because you have white white legs.I mean I can go get a team.
I mean I can try to geta team. It's not gonna happen.
This is like you're in front offive hundred people with no shirt on
and you're in your boxer shorts becausethey you know, they beat you up
and they took all your stuff onand you don't and you don't care,
(08:11):
but you will not walk around withshorts on. I'm like, it is
different, It is different, butuh, you know, jumping into it.
I've watched some of your matches,Like I said, you know,
I've been keeping up with you,and there's one upon it that you're very
familiar with. That's Ezzie McQueen.What is it like being in the room
with her and just towering over herwhen you're in the ring? You know?
(08:37):
Um, Ezzie and I at onepoint we used to train together,
so we have a a friendship also. Um, but I feel like I
tower over a lot of girls.You do you do? Yeah? Um?
You know. I went to Japanand they were all like the hallest
(09:00):
one was like five to four Ithink, and the rest were like five
two and under, and it waslike every match, Like I remember I
had a big magic croak in Hallthat was like, uh against a Zoomi
and she's like four to nine.And I just had a match against Danny
(09:22):
Jordan's. I didn't realize how smallshe was, but she's very small.
I didn't realize how small she was, and we just had a match on
Sunday and I was like, oh, my goodness, is totally towering like
right over her. Um, Danny'sfrom around Oh is she I didn't realize
that. Yeah, she's from Shewrestles a lot around Atlanta, which is
(09:43):
I mean, I wouldn't say it'srotting in my area. But it's like
four and a half hours away.But that's as much as I traveled.
That's kind of in my area.Okay, yeah she was. She was
an awesome girl. But it's sofunny. I think it's like the uniqueness
of being so much taller than mostof these girls that kind of sets it
apart. Yeah, it really doesn't. You brought up Japan, and that's
(10:07):
that's another thing I was going totalk about. There's a couple of things
in there that I want to talkFirst is stardom. All right. I've
had several ladies on the podcast DelMe Exo, and you know, she's
come on here and talked about thedojo and what was it light being over
in Japan? What was it?Was it like a culture shot to you?
Did you enjoy it? Was itharder than you thought? You know?
(10:31):
Oh gosh, it was like themost incredible experience I've ever had in
my life. Like I would loveto go back. There was like some
culture things like I had to getused to, like I need a duck
my head under doorways. I can'ttell you how many times I bons my
head going through a door. Uh, But ultimately, like I love the
(10:54):
country, like it's super safe,it's super clean, like people are respectful,
like it was beautiful, and wespent a lot of days training.
We spent a lot of days travelingall around Japan. You know, we
weren't just in Tokyo. We wentto Osaka, and we went a bunch
of places in between. And butI also got some time off, so
(11:16):
I got to like explore Japan asjust like a tourist and kind of just
like go see different things. Soit was just an incredible experience. I
would love to go back. Yeah, I had Dale Meon and I think
she gave an opposite of that,and then I had Leila hirsh On and
she gave me the opposite. Shegave me basically what you just said.
But see, I've heard stories.I've heard stories, and it's funny,
(11:39):
like you hear stories from like girlsthat you're there with also about like past
times and like you know, somegirls like you just have we lived together.
The girls all lived together. Soit's like with certain girls you bring
them in and like they just don'tmesh well and things go crazy. It
sounds like, you know, andthat's just kind of like the luck of
(12:00):
the draw and who's there at thetime. But yeah, I know I
look at it because one of thebiggest things, and maybe you can touch
on this a little bit as well, is that women's wrestling right now to
me and my wife, my wifeis a big wrestling fan as well,
is women's wrestling has passed men's wrestlingat this point. Yeah, I'm more
(12:22):
entertained watching women wrestle, especially onthe main stage. At this point.
I do not even care nothing aboutwatching ww un lists the women's wrestling,
because it's just it's far beyond betterto me because of the way they're telling
stories. They're telling stories in incredibleways right now. I totally agree with
you if I didn't know if that'sjust because of a women's wrestler, and
(12:46):
so I'm kind of biased than that. But I have to say about the
women totally catch my attention way morethan the men do too. I don't
know, I'm I feel like there'sa lot more uniqueness than the women too.
And you know, and this isnot it really is. And the
thing about it is is that likeyou go back to the early days of
(13:09):
women's wrestling, let's just go backto the early two thousands, and yes,
how it was more t and athan it was the what they could
do in the ring. You know, we gotta look at you know,
it's the I Candy deal. Nowthe women are just out doing the men
on everything, and I think it'sfound. It was about time that they
finally got it. But you know, back when NXT started the whole Charlotte
(13:31):
Flair, Sasha Banks stuff, thatreally kicked things into gear. And it
is just wow, just went outof the world right now. And I'm
surprised, in all honesty, surprisedthat there is not like a all WW
women's show now or aw women's show, because at this point, I think
(13:52):
women's wrestling is more popular than men'swrestling at this point, right, I
would love it. I think Ithink that's these things could happen still.
I think that you know, we'reseeing more and more women's matches on the
card. It's not like we're evenjust getting won a card anymore. We're
getting like multiple a card now,So who knows, we'll see And you
(14:18):
know, there is one other thingI do want to touch on, you
know when we talk about Japan anduh stuff, and I'm pretty sure you
know where I'm going here. Butwith Hanakamura, I know you were a
part of her. Was it TokyoSquad, Tokyo Cyber Squad, part of
her faction? All right? Uh, just in the I know that.
(14:39):
You know, she tragically passed awaylast year and and it hit a lot
of you know, people hard,and especially me because I mean, you
know, like I say, Ikeep up with all styles wrestling, and
one of my favorite wrestling is Japanesewrestling. I love watching JPW, I
like watching Stardom. I just loveJapan. Would love to go watch a
(15:00):
show live in Japan. But whatwas your interactions a light with her and
her just being so young going throughthat, you know, Yeah, Hannah
was one of the only wrestlers onStardom that spoke English. So me and
(15:22):
her obviously she's the one that understandsme, had a connection and a friendship.
And I learned like so much fromher, Like she is, like
she's such a star, and likeshe knows like exactly what she's doing,
and just the way that she couldtell stories and the way that she just
(15:46):
like interacted with fans and stuff,and like just like watching her and like
being paired with her and like gettingto learn from her. I learned so
much. It was a total shockto me hearing about her passing, because,
(16:08):
like I said, she's just likeshe's just got such star quality,
like it's hard to imagine. Butat the same time, like we spend
so much time online, it's almostlike it's not that hard to imagine when
you see like how freaking evil peopleare. And like I, you know,
(16:33):
I wouldn't say I get like Ihaven't gotten a ton of hate yet.
You know, I also hadn't reachedHannah's like level of fame. But
you know, it's funny, likeyou get twelve nice comments and you get
one mean one, and it's likethat one could rattle you for the rest
of the day. Now, whenyou're getting like a ton of them,
(16:56):
it's just sad. It's really sad, and side that like as a wrestler,
that's just something you have to copewith. Yeah, it really is.
Now, I'm gonna say this though, I get a lot of ton
of hate, but I'm a I'ma bad guy. What do you expect?
(17:18):
You know, I get I geta ton of that and my stuff
and it don't bother me because it'sI separate that from my personal life.
And but the thing is with people, and I've seen it on you know,
online, especially as these trolls thatjust want to degrade people. There's
a difference in hating somebody to thepoint, you know, like I hate
(17:44):
that character right to a point ofdegrading somebody to a point of really just
cyber bullying like it was. Itwas, absolutely, it was horrible.
And the thing is is that peopledon't understand. And this is my key.
I don't dislike nobody. I don'thate nobody because I don't have I
(18:04):
can't have hate in my heart becauseI mean it just you know, it's
not gonna bother nobody but me exactlyexactly. So I just don't have no
room for hate. If you don'tlike me, you don't like me,
I don't like you. I don'tlike you, but I'm not gonna hate
you or wish anything bad upon you. And the stuff that I did see
from that they sent and all that, well, it was literally uncalled.
(18:27):
Part what it was is actually jealousy, absolutely, and that's where I think
it stems from a lot of times, right, I mean, jealousy is
one thing, and that's another thing. I don't have no I don't want
to have in my heart or anythinglike that. It's jealousy because it doesn't
do nothing but ruin you and couldhurt somebody else's life in the process.
(18:48):
And it's just, uh, whenI heard about her passing, uh,
you know, it broke me downbecause I was just like, gosh,
you know, I like her.And then I know that this is coming
out a few days after that happened, but you know, Daphne h and
I grew up watching her, andyou know, it's just it's, yeah,
(19:11):
it's it's incredibly sad, it reallyis. And I mean I had
people, you know, messaging meabout that the night it was going on,
and I was asleep. I wasactually asleep because I usually don't sleep
much, but for some reason,I fell asleep that night and I woke
(19:33):
up and I had a bunch oftext messages, messages on Facebook telling me,
did you see what happened? Itwas really sad, and like,
you know, it didn't happen online, but what was going on online?
And I was just like no,And then I found out. I was
just like, I didn't. Ihaven't seen it, and I don't want
to see the Instagram because it justit would probably break me down because I
(19:56):
mean, it's just that's just somethingsad that you have to get that's going
through right now. And that's somethingyou know that it's hard to prevent.
It's not something that you can justreally stop. It's just hard, right,
And it's not easy either to likeit. I don't know, overlook
(20:18):
at rights as much as you mightwant to not care like it's it's hard
not toe it really isn't. Thething is that my wife tells me about
this, and my sisters told meabout because my sisters suffered, My sister
and my wife, they all,you know, they've suffered from depression.
And I'm I guess I'm just adifferent cat, grew up in a different
time, you know. When Ihear it, I'm you know, I'm
(20:44):
not one of it says hey,get over it, you know kind of
person. But at the same time, I get what my wife, my
sister and other people are saying,like, well, people, you just
can't get over. It's not somethingyou just get over. It's uh,
it's hard to deal with. Andjust because I have dealt with it doesn't
mean it don't exist. And thatthat's one thing that you have to protect
(21:04):
in your life is your mental health. That is one thing I encourage absolutely.
I think wrestling is definitely tougher mentallythan it is physically. I mean
definitely, there's a lot of there'sa lot of physicality to it, and
like there's definitely injuries and soreness andkinks in the neck and all of that.
(21:30):
But I definitely think by far mentallyit is tougher. Yeah, it
really is. And that's what peopledon't understand. Like when you come into
wrestling, you better have some toughskin because this is not all of sunshine
and rainbows. I can tell youthat. Well, that's so true.
One thing I do want to touchon too is how did you find your
(21:52):
way to start them? How didyou find your way to Japan? Because
I mean, most people like thatare getting into wrestling, that's what they
dream. They want to get toJapan. That's that's a big market for
them. Yeah, I I don'tknow, Like I I got just like
it inkling where I'm like, Iwas feeling like stagnant and I didn't really
(22:15):
know where to go from there,and I just I went to their website
to see if there was like someplaceI could apply and there was I sent
in an application and I heard somethinga few months later. Wow, that's
incredible. But you but you dohave a unique look. I mean,
you know, I think that that'sprobably it. I don't think I was
(22:36):
ready to go to Japan at thetime that I did, but I think
that me being twice the hype oftheir wrestlers, not twice the hype,
but you know, shoulders above them. Like, I think that that definitely
helped my package out. Well,I mean, look at you. I
mean you're beautiful, you're six feettall. Well it's not right, Well,
(23:00):
thank you, thank you, thankyou. And uh, I mean
yeah, like I said, I'vewatched some of the Stardom stuff. I
watched it. Yeah, you've improved, and that could have helped you a
lot. You know, maybe hewasn't ready, but I think it did
help me a lot. And youknow, I still get a ton of
people that like message me and they'relike, hey, like I first found
(23:22):
you on stardom and I was ahuge fan then, but I have to
tell you, like, you haveimproved so much since then, and I'm
just like, thanks, man.You know, startoms two years ago.
So I hope I've improved two anda half. Yeah, two years ago.
Wow, And well let me askyou this. Now, you've been
in the ring with some pretty goodnames and stuff, B Priestly and stuff
(23:42):
like, I want to know whatit was like being in the ring.
Was so young. I like beingin the ring to see young. Um,
it was just fun. It wasa fun, fun story to tell.
I hate those pictures though, becauseshe blew blood all over me and
(24:03):
I just looked like I looked likeCarrie, just like covered in blood.
Um. Yeah, I feel likeat that time I was still kind of
trying to get my footing and mwas still kind of learning about my character
and stuff like that. I feellike it just it just kind of all
(24:30):
came together then. Yeah, well, thank you, thank you. Yeah,
it was a good match. Ienjoyed working to a lot. Yeah,
you've been in the ring with B. Priestly, Heather Munroe. I
mean, like, I mean,that's that's a lot of good names to
be in the ring with and stuff. And one of the things that I
would love to you know, kindof know about is too like when you
(24:52):
started wrestling and then all of asudden, here comes COVID. How bad
did COVID hit in Washington and theindependent wrestlan sing at the time, well,
it totally decimated the independent well Iwon't say decimated, but all the
live shows decimated all the live shows. But you know, I have a
few friends with rings and I keptmyself pretty busy. I think that,
(25:19):
like, I think that I ama better wrestler coming out on the other
side of COVID than I was goinginto COVID. Like, I don't think
that it's set my performance back atall. We were doing like a YouTube
series it was, it's called SOSPro Wrestling, and we filmed like a
(25:40):
a YouTube series for wrestling, andso we kind of kept our performance aspects
going up there. There was noaudience or anything like that. And but
also I kept training and I stayedin the ring and also kind of used
the time to to get my bodyback into shape. So although there wasn't
(26:02):
a ton of shows going on,I don't feel like it was and there
wasn't a ton of shows coming on, and I am kind of upset about
the lost time. I mean,we're only getting older, so I was
kind of upset about the lost timethere. But I think as a wrestler
performer. I'm better on the otherside of COVID than I was going in.
(26:26):
Well, yeah, you know,I think that same thing because I
mean, we did TV taping afterTV taping in an empty building and it
was just it was getting old,and then we was finally able to have
a limited audience and it's just kindof you know, it's it's there.
But I also want to know whatdoes the independent scene like in Washington period?
I mean, because I know,like you can get to some independent
(26:48):
scenes, you get crowd you they'reiffy, but then you go to some
places and they're just bombing. Youknow. Our independent scene when I first
started, it wasn't very big,but lately it's been booming. I mean,
I'm I'm booked like almost every weekendthrough December, and a lot of
(27:11):
those shows are like places around here, so defy without a cause. There's
something called flex Flex Network at Scuttle, but like they're all bringing in crowds.
Granted we've only been running shows forabout a month month and a half
now, um, but so farpeople are or these shows are getting packed,
(27:36):
and that's always a good thing.That's that's what you want to say,
is when it comes back, andI think that since we've been able
to do shows back in front ofthe crowds, it's actually increased our crowds
a lot around here in Mississippi aswell. So I think that, you
know, I think people, yeah, they want to get out, they
wanted to do something, and Ithink they're getting a chance. And hopefully,
you know, maybe this will startthough, because our number went back
(28:00):
up and then they're starting to goback down. So hopefully everybody can,
you know, get in order justdo what's right, you know, either
get vaccinated, wear the mask,whatever, you know. Uh, let's
just help get back to a littlebit of normalcy in the world. But
uh, you know, well,Rebel we're gonna we're gonna start wrapping up
here. And before we do,though, this is the spot where I'm
(28:22):
gonna give you the floor. Youcan plug whatever you want. I don't
care. If you got cookies tosell, you can sell them right here.
Alrighty. My best platform is myInstagram, which is Rebel Kel Wrestles
r E B E l k EL Wrestles UM. Also on Twitter under
(28:44):
the Rebel Kel and uh Facebook onRebel Kel Official. And let's see I
got merch on Pro Wrestling Teas dotcom and just hit me up on Instagram.
I'm actually building a website right now. I'm building a website right before
I started talking to you. I'mbuilding a website. I will have that
up in the next week or two. Products and sales. Are you goin?
(29:06):
There? You goin? Well,Rebel Okill. I really do appreciate
you for coming on. Has thisbeen awesome? You're more than welcome any
time to come back home. Ohwell, thank you so much for having
me. I've enjoyed talking to you. This is up. What's your thinking? Zoe
What's up everybody? This is RebelCall from Seattle, Washington and you are
listening to King of Wrestling podcast.This is Johnny Swinger, that King of
Swing. You're listening to the Kingof Wrestling podcast and don't sing it swing
it Na. And you're listening tothe podcast number one. Ladies and gentlemen,
(00:20):
my name is Brian Pillman Junior,and you are listening to the Kings
of Wrestling podcast. This is ourYou're listening to the King of Wrestling podcasting
and now you're host. Yes,I'm the host who with the most.
I am the brilliant one. Iam Brendon Turner and welcome into King of
Wrestling podcast. And today's episode isbrought to you by you Saved Car and
(00:43):
Truck Rental in Columbia, Mississippi,where they can get you help to get
where you want to go. Somake sure you check them out as you
save in Columbia, Mississippi. Today, we've got a very special guest,
somebody I've been wanting to get onthe podcast for a while and now we
finally get her on the podcast.What's up, Rebel Kill? How are
you today? Hello? Hello,thank you so much for having me on.
(01:07):
Oh no, it's a pleasure tohave you on. I've been wanting
to get you on. I've hadseveral people from the Washington area on the
podcast, and uh, I don'tknow if you know, if you ever
heard of Dave Turner the Black Sheet. I love Dave Turner. Dave is
Dave's great. He's been on thepodcast. And the funny thing about it
(01:30):
is is, uh, I'll jumpingtoo this for just one second with Dave
is uh, we got the samelast name, no relation, by the
way, Yeah, that's right.The crazy thing about it is we were
comparing our wedding pictures one night andwe had the same outfit on for our
wedding. No way, it's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. But Rebel,
(01:55):
I've been watching you on the independentscene and that's what we cover independent
wrestling all day long. We've hada lot of guests, I mean over
two hundred and something guests from allover the country and out of overseas and
everywhere else. But I've been waitingto get you on here. And oh,
I'm so excited. Two hundred episodes. You are cruising, man.
(02:15):
I I mean we've you know,we've had some time. It's been three
years. We've had we've had somegood names and uh not so good names
Vladimir Coast by the way, butuh but yeah, we've been waiting to
get you on. And what Iwant to start out with real quick is
I just want you to give thelisteners a little backstory and how you got
started wrestling, kind of where you'dlike a wrestling fan growing up. I
(02:38):
know, I wasn't a wrestling fan. Growing up. I played sports like
every single sport there was at alltimes, and uh, like, growing
up, I'd played two select sportsyear round. I played soccer and I
played basketball, and I played othersports two volleyball, track, all that
stuff. But I always like mypassions were the ones where I could be
(03:00):
like aggressive and there was contact,and like every day when I'd get off
a school, like I would justwalk to the park and play pickup games
with whatever boys were at the park, and like, I was always just
super into aggressive sports. I wasa four year varsity letter and I went
(03:22):
to college. I went to WesternWashington University. I graduated from Central Washington
University, And when I was donewith that, I realized I still needed
a sport to keep my identity andreally to keep me sane, and I
knew I liked contact sports, andso I was looking into boxing and MMA
(03:45):
and pro wrestling and really anything thatI could do like that I hadn't already
started, and you know, atthat age, and I knew I wasn't
going to play professional basketball, andI just really needed something else to dive
into. So I started doing someresearch, and I was looking at heights
(04:06):
and waves and like really trying todecide like where I could make the next
step and grow as an athlete.I always wanted to be a professional athlete.
And I found pro wrestling, andyou know, watched a couple matches
of that, and I mean Istarted getting hooked on Total Divas and like,
(04:28):
I just kind of fell in lovewith it there. So then I
I booked a ticket to OBW.I googled, did some research fround the
what was called the Harvard of ProWrestling at the time, and I ended
up buying a ticket to go checkout OBW, and I met Rip Rogers
down there, and I was gettingready to pack up my whole life and
(04:53):
just go move over there and seeif I could make something out of this.
But Rip had his best friend buddyWayne lives in Everett, which is
like twenty minutes from Seattle, sohe was like, you need to go
start training there and training with mybuddy, and like you won't regret it.
And that's kind of how I gotmy start in pro wrestling. Buddy
(05:16):
Wayne, Rip Rogers. That's somegood names right there, all right.
You know it's crazy you talk aboutyou know you was going to pack up
and just move your backs. That'sdedication. That's what it takes to make
it in the wrestling business to startwith is dedication. And I mean I'm
pretty sure that Rick Rogers looked atyou and was just like, Okay,
(05:38):
there's like a ship ton of potentialright here, because I meant, I
mean, you're legitimately you're six feettall, right right. Okay, you
said you weren't gonna make it inpro basketball. That already tells you right
there. I mean, my goodness, you got the look already, and
you got some skills, so Imean you got a lot of potential to
(05:59):
make it to the top stage.I agree, Well, thank you.
I appreciate that. You know,I think like my matches are starting to
get better and better, and I'mstarting to gain a lot of confidence in
myself, and you know, I'mhoping something good turns out of this.
So well, I'll say this onething I knew and my wife will contest
(06:20):
to this as well, is itI'm an asshole? All right? So
when I come out, I alwaysask my wife after the after the show,
I'm like, well, Dad,I look cocky enough. And she
says, when do you not lookcocky enough? She says, you walk
out and you loose confidence. AndI'm like, you know, I mean,
I don't. I played sports allmy life, yes, and so
(06:44):
you know, and I've watched wrestlingpretty much all my life, so I
mean, you know, I justkind of I don't know. I'm different
when I'm not in front of acrowd, Like you know, you don't
feel like you can just walk outthere in front of all those people and
do stuff. And then when Igo through that curtain, it's just like
a I know, the switch changesand I'm happy to be out there right
(07:05):
absolutely. And that's funny that yousay that too, because I'm like the
same way I'm not. I wouldn'tsay like I am like a great public
speaker, but Rebel Kell might be, you know, what I mean exactly,
and I'm not like very um,I don't know. I guess I
(07:26):
am. I'm pretty modest in mynormal I don't know, and like I
feel like going out in front ofa big crowd, like half naked and
like like that wouldn't normally be myshtick, but it totally is. Like
when I go out there, nowI'm like alive and just like it's a
whole new persona. You know,my wife was telling me something like a
(07:48):
couple of weeks. Agose you're saying, you know you will not wear shorts
because you have white white legs.I mean I can go get a team.
I mean I can try to geta team. It's not gonna happen.
This is like you're in front offive hundred people with no shirt on
and you're in your boxer shorts becausethey you know, they beat you up
and they took all your stuff onand you don't and you don't care,
(08:11):
but you will not walk around withshorts on. I'm like, it is
different, It is different, butuh, you know, jumping into it.
I've watched some of your matches,Like I said, you know,
I've been keeping up with you,and there's one upon it that you're very
familiar with. That's Ezzie McQueen.What is it like being in the room
with her and just towering over herwhen you're in the ring? You know?
(08:37):
Um, Ezzie and I at onepoint we used to train together,
so we have a a friendship also. Um, but I feel like I
tower over a lot of girls.You do you do? Yeah? Um?
You know. I went to Japanand they were all like the hallest
(09:00):
one was like five to four Ithink, and the rest were like five
two and under, and it waslike every match, Like I remember I
had a big magic croak in Hallthat was like, uh against a Zoomi
and she's like four to nine.And I just had a match against Danny
(09:22):
Jordan's. I didn't realize how smallshe was, but she's very small.
I didn't realize how small she was, and we just had a match on
Sunday and I was like, oh, my goodness, is totally towering like
right over her. Um, Danny'sfrom around Oh is she I didn't realize
that. Yeah, she's from Shewrestles a lot around Atlanta, which is
(09:43):
I mean, I wouldn't say it'srotting in my area. But it's like
four and a half hours away.But that's as much as I traveled.
That's kind of in my area.Okay, yeah she was. She was
an awesome girl. But it's sofunny. I think it's like the uniqueness
of being so much taller than mostof these girls that kind of sets it
apart. Yeah, it really doesn't. You brought up Japan, and that's
(10:07):
that's another thing I was going totalk about. There's a couple of things
in there that I want to talkFirst is stardom. All right. I've
had several ladies on the podcast DelMe Exo, and you know, she's
come on here and talked about thedojo and what was it light being over
in Japan? What was it?Was it like a culture shot to you?
Did you enjoy it? Was itharder than you thought? You know?
(10:31):
Oh gosh, it was like themost incredible experience I've ever had in
my life. Like I would loveto go back. There was like some
culture things like I had to getused to, like I need a duck
my head under doorways. I can'ttell you how many times I bons my
head going through a door. Uh, But ultimately, like I love the
(10:54):
country, like it's super safe,it's super clean, like people are respectful,
like it was beautiful, and wespent a lot of days training.
We spent a lot of days travelingall around Japan. You know, we
weren't just in Tokyo. We wentto Osaka, and we went a bunch
of places in between. And butI also got some time off, so
(11:16):
I got to like explore Japan asjust like a tourist and kind of just
like go see different things. Soit was just an incredible experience. I
would love to go back. Yeah, I had Dale Meon and I think
she gave an opposite of that,and then I had Leila hirsh On and
she gave me the opposite. Shegave me basically what you just said.
But see, I've heard stories.I've heard stories, and it's funny,
(11:39):
like you hear stories from like girlsthat you're there with also about like past
times and like you know, somegirls like you just have we lived together.
The girls all lived together. Soit's like with certain girls you bring
them in and like they just don'tmesh well and things go crazy. It
sounds like, you know, andthat's just kind of like the luck of
(12:00):
the draw and who's there at thetime. But yeah, I know I
look at it because one of thebiggest things, and maybe you can touch
on this a little bit as well, is that women's wrestling right now to
me and my wife, my wifeis a big wrestling fan as well,
is women's wrestling has passed men's wrestlingat this point. Yeah, I'm more
(12:22):
entertained watching women wrestle, especially onthe main stage. At this point.
I do not even care nothing aboutwatching ww un lists the women's wrestling,
because it's just it's far beyond betterto me because of the way they're telling
stories. They're telling stories in incredibleways right now. I totally agree with
you if I didn't know if that'sjust because of a women's wrestler, and
(12:46):
so I'm kind of biased than that. But I have to say about the
women totally catch my attention way morethan the men do too. I don't
know, I'm I feel like there'sa lot more uniqueness than the women too.
And you know, and this isnot it really is. And the
thing about it is is that likeyou go back to the early days of
(13:09):
women's wrestling, let's just go backto the early two thousands, and yes,
how it was more t and athan it was the what they could
do in the ring. You know, we gotta look at you know,
it's the I Candy deal. Nowthe women are just out doing the men
on everything, and I think it'sfound. It was about time that they
finally got it. But you know, back when NXT started the whole Charlotte
(13:31):
Flair, Sasha Banks stuff, thatreally kicked things into gear. And it
is just wow, just went outof the world right now. And I'm
surprised, in all honesty, surprisedthat there is not like a all WW
women's show now or aw women's show, because at this point, I think
(13:52):
women's wrestling is more popular than men'swrestling at this point, right, I
would love it. I think Ithink that's these things could happen still.
I think that you know, we'reseeing more and more women's matches on the
card. It's not like we're evenjust getting won a card anymore. We're
getting like multiple a card now,So who knows, we'll see And you
(14:18):
know, there is one other thingI do want to touch on, you
know when we talk about Japan anduh stuff, and I'm pretty sure you
know where I'm going here. Butwith Hanakamura, I know you were a
part of her. Was it TokyoSquad, Tokyo Cyber Squad, part of
her faction? All right? Uh, just in the I know that.
(14:39):
You know, she tragically passed awaylast year and and it hit a lot
of you know, people hard,and especially me because I mean, you
know, like I say, Ikeep up with all styles wrestling, and
one of my favorite wrestling is Japanesewrestling. I love watching JPW, I
like watching Stardom. I just loveJapan. Would love to go watch a
(15:00):
show live in Japan. But whatwas your interactions a light with her and
her just being so young going throughthat, you know, Yeah, Hannah
was one of the only wrestlers onStardom that spoke English. So me and
(15:22):
her obviously she's the one that understandsme, had a connection and a friendship.
And I learned like so much fromher, Like she is, like
she's such a star, and likeshe knows like exactly what she's doing,
and just the way that she couldtell stories and the way that she just
(15:46):
like interacted with fans and stuff,and like just like watching her and like
being paired with her and like gettingto learn from her. I learned so
much. It was a total shockto me hearing about her passing, because,
(16:08):
like I said, she's just likeshe's just got such star quality,
like it's hard to imagine. Butat the same time, like we spend
so much time online, it's almostlike it's not that hard to imagine when
you see like how freaking evil peopleare. And like I, you know,
(16:33):
I wouldn't say I get like Ihaven't gotten a ton of hate yet.
You know, I also hadn't reachedHannah's like level of fame. But
you know, it's funny, likeyou get twelve nice comments and you get
one mean one, and it's likethat one could rattle you for the rest
of the day. Now, whenyou're getting like a ton of them,
(16:56):
it's just sad. It's really sad, and side that like as a wrestler,
that's just something you have to copewith. Yeah, it really is.
Now, I'm gonna say this though, I get a lot of ton
of hate, but I'm a I'ma bad guy. What do you expect?
(17:18):
You know, I get I geta ton of that and my stuff
and it don't bother me because it'sI separate that from my personal life.
And but the thing is with people, and I've seen it on you know,
online, especially as these trolls thatjust want to degrade people. There's
a difference in hating somebody to thepoint, you know, like I hate
(17:44):
that character right to a point ofdegrading somebody to a point of really just
cyber bullying like it was. Itwas, absolutely, it was horrible.
And the thing is is that peopledon't understand. And this is my key.
I don't dislike nobody. I don'thate nobody because I don't have I
(18:04):
can't have hate in my heart becauseI mean it just you know, it's
not gonna bother nobody but me exactlyexactly. So I just don't have no
room for hate. If you don'tlike me, you don't like me,
I don't like you. I don'tlike you, but I'm not gonna hate
you or wish anything bad upon you. And the stuff that I did see
from that they sent and all that, well, it was literally uncalled.
(18:27):
Part what it was is actually jealousy, absolutely, and that's where I think
it stems from a lot of times, right, I mean, jealousy is
one thing, and that's another thing. I don't have no I don't want
to have in my heart or anythinglike that. It's jealousy because it doesn't
do nothing but ruin you and couldhurt somebody else's life in the process.
(18:48):
And it's just, uh, whenI heard about her passing, uh,
you know, it broke me downbecause I was just like, gosh,
you know, I like her.And then I know that this is coming
out a few days after that happened, but you know, Daphne h and
I grew up watching her, andyou know, it's just it's, yeah,
(19:11):
it's it's incredibly sad, it reallyis. And I mean I had
people, you know, messaging meabout that the night it was going on,
and I was asleep. I wasactually asleep because I usually don't sleep
much, but for some reason,I fell asleep that night and I woke
(19:33):
up and I had a bunch oftext messages, messages on Facebook telling me,
did you see what happened? Itwas really sad, and like,
you know, it didn't happen online, but what was going on online?
And I was just like no,And then I found out. I was
just like, I didn't. Ihaven't seen it, and I don't want
to see the Instagram because it justit would probably break me down because I
(19:56):
mean, it's just that's just somethingsad that you have to get that's going
through right now. And that's somethingyou know that it's hard to prevent.
It's not something that you can justreally stop. It's just hard, right,
And it's not easy either to likeit. I don't know, overlook
(20:18):
at rights as much as you mightwant to not care like it's it's hard
not toe it really isn't. Thething is that my wife tells me about
this, and my sisters told meabout because my sisters suffered, My sister
and my wife, they all,you know, they've suffered from depression.
And I'm I guess I'm just adifferent cat, grew up in a different
time, you know. When Ihear it, I'm you know, I'm
(20:44):
not one of it says hey,get over it, you know kind of
person. But at the same time, I get what my wife, my
sister and other people are saying,like, well, people, you just
can't get over. It's not somethingyou just get over. It's uh,
it's hard to deal with. Andjust because I have dealt with it doesn't
mean it don't exist. And thatthat's one thing that you have to protect
(21:04):
in your life is your mental health. That is one thing I encourage absolutely.
I think wrestling is definitely tougher mentallythan it is physically. I mean
definitely, there's a lot of there'sa lot of physicality to it, and
like there's definitely injuries and soreness andkinks in the neck and all of that.
(21:30):
But I definitely think by far mentallyit is tougher. Yeah, it
really is. And that's what peopledon't understand. Like when you come into
wrestling, you better have some toughskin because this is not all of sunshine
and rainbows. I can tell youthat. Well, that's so true.
One thing I do want to touchon too is how did you find your
(21:52):
way to start them? How didyou find your way to Japan? Because
I mean, most people like thatare getting into wrestling, that's what they
dream. They want to get toJapan. That's that's a big market for
them. Yeah, I I don'tknow, Like I I got just like
it inkling where I'm like, Iwas feeling like stagnant and I didn't really
(22:15):
know where to go from there,and I just I went to their website
to see if there was like someplaceI could apply and there was I sent
in an application and I heard somethinga few months later. Wow, that's
incredible. But you but you dohave a unique look. I mean,
you know, I think that that'sprobably it. I don't think I was
(22:36):
ready to go to Japan at thetime that I did, but I think
that me being twice the hype oftheir wrestlers, not twice the hype,
but you know, shoulders above them. Like, I think that that definitely
helped my package out. Well,I mean, look at you. I
mean you're beautiful, you're six feettall. Well it's not right, Well,
(23:00):
thank you, thank you, thankyou. And uh, I mean
yeah, like I said, I'vewatched some of the Stardom stuff. I
watched it. Yeah, you've improved, and that could have helped you a
lot. You know, maybe hewasn't ready, but I think it did
help me a lot. And youknow, I still get a ton of
people that like message me and they'relike, hey, like I first found
(23:22):
you on stardom and I was ahuge fan then, but I have to
tell you, like, you haveimproved so much since then, and I'm
just like, thanks, man.You know, startoms two years ago.
So I hope I've improved two anda half. Yeah, two years ago.
Wow, And well let me askyou this. Now, you've been
in the ring with some pretty goodnames and stuff, B Priestly and stuff
(23:42):
like, I want to know whatit was like being in the ring.
Was so young. I like beingin the ring to see young. Um,
it was just fun. It wasa fun, fun story to tell.
I hate those pictures though, becauseshe blew blood all over me and
(24:03):
I just looked like I looked likeCarrie, just like covered in blood.
Um. Yeah, I feel likeat that time I was still kind of
trying to get my footing and mwas still kind of learning about my character
and stuff like that. I feellike it just it just kind of all
(24:30):
came together then. Yeah, well, thank you, thank you. Yeah,
it was a good match. Ienjoyed working to a lot. Yeah,
you've been in the ring with B. Priestly, Heather Munroe. I
mean, like, I mean,that's that's a lot of good names to
be in the ring with and stuff. And one of the things that I
would love to you know, kindof know about is too like when you
(24:52):
started wrestling and then all of asudden, here comes COVID. How bad
did COVID hit in Washington and theindependent wrestlan sing at the time, well,
it totally decimated the independent well Iwon't say decimated, but all the
live shows decimated all the live shows. But you know, I have a
few friends with rings and I keptmyself pretty busy. I think that,
(25:19):
like, I think that I ama better wrestler coming out on the other
side of COVID than I was goinginto COVID. Like, I don't think
that it's set my performance back atall. We were doing like a YouTube
series it was, it's called SOSPro Wrestling, and we filmed like a
(25:40):
a YouTube series for wrestling, andso we kind of kept our performance aspects
going up there. There was noaudience or anything like that. And but
also I kept training and I stayedin the ring and also kind of used
the time to to get my bodyback into shape. So although there wasn't
(26:02):
a ton of shows going on,I don't feel like it was and there
wasn't a ton of shows coming on, and I am kind of upset about
the lost time. I mean,we're only getting older, so I was
kind of upset about the lost timethere. But I think as a wrestler
performer. I'm better on the otherside of COVID than I was going in.
(26:26):
Well, yeah, you know,I think that same thing because I
mean, we did TV taping afterTV taping in an empty building and it
was just it was getting old,and then we was finally able to have
a limited audience and it's just kindof you know, it's it's there.
But I also want to know whatdoes the independent scene like in Washington period?
I mean, because I know,like you can get to some independent
(26:48):
scenes, you get crowd you they'reiffy, but then you go to some
places and they're just bombing. Youknow. Our independent scene when I first
started, it wasn't very big,but lately it's been booming. I mean,
I'm I'm booked like almost every weekendthrough December, and a lot of
(27:11):
those shows are like places around here, so defy without a cause. There's
something called flex Flex Network at Scuttle, but like they're all bringing in crowds.
Granted we've only been running shows forabout a month month and a half
now, um, but so farpeople are or these shows are getting packed,
(27:36):
and that's always a good thing.That's that's what you want to say,
is when it comes back, andI think that since we've been able
to do shows back in front ofthe crowds, it's actually increased our crowds
a lot around here in Mississippi aswell. So I think that, you
know, I think people, yeah, they want to get out, they
wanted to do something, and Ithink they're getting a chance. And hopefully,
you know, maybe this will startthough, because our number went back
(28:00):
up and then they're starting to goback down. So hopefully everybody can,
you know, get in order justdo what's right, you know, either
get vaccinated, wear the mask,whatever, you know. Uh, let's
just help get back to a littlebit of normalcy in the world. But
uh, you know, well,Rebel we're gonna we're gonna start wrapping up
here. And before we do,though, this is the spot where I'm
(28:22):
gonna give you the floor. Youcan plug whatever you want. I don't
care. If you got cookies tosell, you can sell them right here.
Alrighty. My best platform is myInstagram, which is Rebel Kel Wrestles
r E B E l k EL Wrestles UM. Also on Twitter under
(28:44):
the Rebel Kel and uh Facebook onRebel Kel Official. And let's see I
got merch on Pro Wrestling Teas dotcom and just hit me up on Instagram.
I'm actually building a website right now. I'm building a website right before
I started talking to you. I'mbuilding a website. I will have that
up in the next week or two. Products and sales. Are you goin?
(29:06):
There? You goin? Well,Rebel Okill. I really do appreciate
you for coming on. Has thisbeen awesome? You're more than welcome any
time to come back home. Ohwell, thank you so much for having
me. I've enjoyed talking to you. This is up. What's your thinking? Zoe
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