But I really think wrestling with pure intentions just wrestling to be a better wrestler, eventually you will get there when the time is right.
Matt Sydal
You don't want to end up being an indie wrestler who wants to be the big fish in a small pond.
For us, our stage is always what it is. It's not about reaching the broadest audience as it's about doing quality work.
So I always respected the guys who were trying to do it on their own without taking a handout from a big organization. They were trying to create their own thing, the DIY style, which is sort of always been my style, kind of a makeshift survival mode and really just kind of forging your own path.
My first venture to Qatar was with WWE. It was an incredible tour and we stayed at a luxurious hotel. I ventured out by myself and wandered down to a shopping center and there was beautiful architecture everywhere.
Brodie Lee would be a match I'd love to have. When he was the TNT Champion, I was sort of hoping to work my way up to that level.
Someone like Brian Cage, he's a gigantic man who is trying to wrestle like me. That's his mistake because I clearly hold the top card in someone who is wrestling like Matt Sydal.
I'm always supportive of my brothers who have the guts to step in the cage. Pro wrestling is dangerous but it takes a special kind of courage to lock yourself in a cage that wants to do you harm.
It's just important for me to be healthy and just to take care of my body. Fans will appreciate the sacrifices we make with our bodies but I was just working a little more hurt than I should.
I worked extremely hard and dedicated my life to pro wrestling but the more I grow in ways not related to work, my work grows.
Scientology is completely irrelevant to any of the talks that have been given to me.
I've been living this extraordinary life with a new enlightened perspective, to see things from a higher perspective. I feel like I'm able to see things from that higher perspective at Impact Wrestling right now where there are unlimited opportunities and room for growth and to make some work I can really be proud of.
Now I think a lot of wrestlers want to get signed so that way they can be with a company where they can learn, but they're really kind of looking for a contract, and I do think that makes sense.
I watch Dragon Gate, New Japan, NXT, AEW. I love the Lucha Bros, The Young Bucks. Mainly I watch the guys in the shows that I'm on.
You have to realize WWE's contract. They're not getting paid from advertising money. USA makes that money. WWE gets paid by USA, they get paid a lot of money, and the money increases every year. Ratings aren't the most important thing to them.
All the people who were on WSX Season 1 are the life blood of the alternative wrestling business, and now the mainstream wrestling business as well. That is what Lucha Underground is doing.
I loved wrestling when you had to get a VHS tape from a strange.
I am in a closed state where I'm just reacting and moving based on my instincts, knowledge, technique and years of experience.
When I was at IMPACT and X Division Champion, my neck wasn't able to handle the workload and after losing the belt to Brian Cage in a match I just realized my neck just can't handle this anymore.
When you're in the Ring of Honor locker room, you feel like something special is happening every night.
I was down in Peru, and I was watching AAA in Spanish on my TV, and it just it blew my mind because they weren't following any of the rules, yet the crowd was still there.
I can know what Brian Cage is doing before he's doing it because he's doing me. I've been facing the man in the mirror my entire life. That's been my hardest battle is the one where it's me versus me.
Impact is just always improving at all angles. There is a lot of creativity and thought that goes into everything.
The internet has given pure equality to everyone. The cream rises to the top. It is the era of not take a job, but create your own job.
So I don't think one type of wrestling is right and one type of wrestling is wrong, and I've used that ability to unlearn what I've done and really go back and get back in touch with that Dragon Gate style since now there's a lot of guys that can work with that.
When I began in Ring of Honor, I was very fortunate to get on shows and get looked at and get the experience. I was working with a ton of guys who had more experience than me at the time, like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels.
Locker rooms always evolve with the wrestlers that are in it.
If you're just trying to get by, you're going to be left behind. The caliber of shows I'm on are incredible, and it makes me just want to raise that bar even more.
That is why I can never walk away from wrestling because there's this moment - the bell rings and everything slips away. The path, the future. There's nothing but that moment right in front of you where the intensity is high, the risk and reward are high, and you have to enter into a mental state that doesn't allow for hesitation.
WWE was pretty wonderful to me because I was able to rehab my foot 100 percent before I was released.
There is this energy, a lifeblood energy that runs through Ring of Honor.
There are ties that began when I was just a young kid trying to cut my teeth in the business. I would drive 14 hours to wrestle on a Ring of Honor show that I didn't even get paid 20 dollars for.
There are so many people in Ring of Honor and so much talent. It was almost intimidating to be thrown back in with this wealth of talent.
I do work for Impact Wrestling, but I'm just a straight up freelance agent in wrestling. I can work for anybody at any time. Basically every company calls me up.
Wrestling has become its own thing separate from what it was in the past and now when people think of pro wrestlers they don't think of Hulk Hogan, they're thinking of guys like me.
I'm the best Crusierweight, X Division, Junior Heavyweight wrestler whatever you want to call it.
I was just lucky to be there ahead of the curve to be the driving force behind bringing this amazing style of wrestling from Japan that combined Lucha Libre, American professional wrestling, Canadian professional wrestling and Japanese wrestling all into one beautiful mix that fans worldwide absolutely can't get enough of.
I always wanted to be the worst wrestler on the shows I was on so I could just learn from the guys above me, and that's a great way to be in your first few years of wrestling.
Of course I am not going to be the favorite pick of everybody. That's because some people don't see things from my perspective.
Whether I am the Champion or not is irrelevant to me. I am not attached to it.
I use the right hemisphere of my brain and what I have is this advantage that makes me exceedingly interesting in pro wrestling.
For me, as much fun as it is to watch wrestling is, actually wrestling is what struck a chord with me.
Of course, I was an insane ECW fan. You don't get this deep into wrestling unless you are obsessed with wrestling so that was the final hook.
Mostly the guys I worked with like wrestling AJ Styles, Jamie Noble, wrestling Chavo Guerrero, wrestling Rey Mysterio... As much as I try to be an individual or unique I can't deny the strong effect these guys have all had on me.
I mean I imagine I could have done a better job with keeping my paperwork and paying my taxes. For the most part, everything happened exactly the way it should.
Triple H was so generous to me with his time and his knowledge when I was like the young up-and-comer wrestling Chavo, and every life event, after our matches, he would come back and give me just a list of things to work on which is exactly what I see going on in NXT, like how they're adopting a high-flyer style to the WWE audience.
I wouldn't want to go see a comedian if he was using the same jokes. So I'm not going out there trying to do the same thing that and my body's changed, my life's changed and really if people have already seen me do something a 1,000 times, 1,001 is not going to impress anybody.
People try and make it a big deal, but a show's a show, work's work, if you haven't wrestled in New York in a couple months, it's always good to take a booking there because there's a lot of great wrestling fans up there.
It may not be the most popular thing online, but I believe in what I'm doing. I believe in what I'm creating at my dojo.
The Japanese style, they really do have concern for their neighbors kind of more than themselves.
