Transcript
Speaker: Live.
Speaker: Laugh.
Speaker: How's it going, everybody?
Speaker: I am joined today by the big man on campus, TJ Boss.
Speaker: How are you doing today, TJ?
Speaker: What's going on, brother?
Speaker: How you doing, man?
Speaker: Doing pretty good, doing pretty good.
Speaker: I appreciate the time to talk with you.
Speaker: You are not only a big man on campus, but I think you're the big man on the East Coast as far as wrestling goes.
Speaker: So I'm really excited to talk with you.
Speaker: Before we get started, where can everybody find you, and is there anything that you'd like to plug?
Speaker: Well, my social media is, you can find me on Facebook at TJBoss77.
Speaker: You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at the TJ boss, uh, 77.
Speaker: I think those are kind of all my platforms.
Speaker: YouTube, you just type in TJ Boss Wrestling and all different type of my old matches pop up, some of my newer matches.
Speaker: So if you want to check out some of my matches, just TJ Boss Wrestling, and you can find me on YouTube.
Speaker: Those are just most of my social media platforms.
Speaker: Yeah, I did that earlier today.
Speaker: I was watching a match between you and JD Drake.
Speaker: I think it was APW a while back, like six or seven years ago.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, no, the one for the belt.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: I think with a tables match maybe, or maybe just regular singles match.
Speaker: I'm not sure.
Speaker: I,
Speaker: Every time I step in the ring with JD, it just hurts.
Speaker: We done wrestled each other so many times, it just hurts.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Well, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.
Speaker: Like I said, you are kind of everywhere, holding down belts, throwing fuckers around like the TJ Boss experience.
Speaker: So kind of where we like to start out on this podcast is at the beginning.
Speaker: So for wrestling with you, where was the first moment?
Speaker: i could have had a lisp there where was the first moment that you kind of discovered wrestling what was that like for you um well um wrestling i actually discovered wrestling on accident uh my my parents just got cable for the first time and this was back when this was back in the 90s so uh
Speaker: we only got like a few channels, probably like a total of 60 something channels back then.
Speaker: Well, come find out it was bootleg, you know, back in the day, you can get into too big of trouble.
Speaker: But yeah, one day I was just, I was probably eight years old and I was just flipping through the channels and I just happened to come up on, you remember, I do the reviews of Monday Night Raw on Saturday mornings.
Speaker: You kind of cut out what were you saying?
Speaker: You remember when I used to do reviews on Saturday Do the Reviews on Saturday mornings for Monday Night Raw Yeah yeah
Speaker: So I just happened just to flip that on and Kane was making his entrance.
Speaker: And I was like, oh man, this looks like a horror movie.
Speaker: I was like, let me see if I can, let me see what's up.
Speaker: Let me see if I like this.
Speaker: And come and find out it was WWF and it happened to be in the middle of the Attitude Era.
Speaker: I watched that and I just fell in love with it.
Speaker: What was it about it?
Speaker: Was it the characters, the Ed Rigg stuff?
Speaker: So it was...
Speaker: That was back in 99.
Speaker: So that was back when I think Kanan was a Kanan Xbox.
Speaker: What they had, what they going into before going into WrestleMania 2000.
Speaker: I think they was running their tag team and I forgot what match it was but like I just watched that episode that just that preview and I just fell in love with it and I made sure on Monday that I was there to watch my very first Monday Night Raw do you remember what was on Raw Raw is war do you remember that first episode at all
Speaker: I don't remember everything, but I've been watching Reliving the Wars here lately, Wrestling Bios.
Speaker: I've been following them, and I've just been kind of watching it and going back into my childhood.
Speaker: I got a feeling the episode is about to get it to come up, and I'm about to just review it.
Speaker: I'm looking forward to it because I'll remember everything that just happened in the episode.
Speaker: Just my...
Speaker: That's my very first memory of just coming up on wrestling just on accident.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, just seeing Kane for the first time.
Speaker: Yeah, I had a very similar story.
Speaker: I think it was a little bit later for me.
Speaker: It was like 2005, but The Undertaker on SmackDown.
Speaker: Yeah, that was like, for me, that's like Prime Undertaker.
Speaker: But I know everybody has their own Undertaker.
Speaker: But I recently kind of started watching because I wanted to find out the exact moment.
Speaker: And it's a different kind of nostalgia looking back on it.
Speaker: It's almost like you're reliving your childhood again.
Speaker: like so so what so what's crazy i'm sorry i mean to cut you off um and and uh what's crazy is um kane used to terrify me as a kid like yeah he didn't talk he had the little you know the voice uh boxing like he used to terrify me my dad my dad used to play a little joke on me he would come through and be like my name is kane
Speaker: but yeah man i just just remembering that that that takes me back yeah uh a side topic have you seen the the blue cane that's been going around yeah yeah i've seen it um uh when i see stuff like that i'm like
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: That stuff like that, that's genius.
Speaker: That's gold.
Speaker: I wish I could thank stuff like that.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It's just like all of a sudden, boom, you're like the biggest thing on the internet and you're going to get cease and desist probably from WWE.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think he had to rename himself, but yeah, that stuff is awesome.
Speaker: It's what I think the Attitude Era was so great because you had these, for instance, Kane and X-Pac in a tag team.
Speaker: Just this ridiculous stuff.
Speaker: Kane, I think, has had a lot of tag teams that are like, you wouldn't think that that'd be great, but
Speaker: he's he's great man like just going back and going going through his career uh kane has done it all and just to think that he started from uh isaac yankum yep yep to to like uh to like this big red machine now hall of famer like he's had a great career i mean i wouldn't say that he lucked out but like that kane gimmick was like
Speaker: so good.
Speaker: Like he came in at the right time and he probably would have done something, but like it was kind of just like the right place, right time.
Speaker: And the next thing you know, he's literally everybody.
Speaker: Like we've talked about Kane and undertaker probably more than any other wrestler on this podcast.
Speaker: So, well, I'm about to say, and, and, and like he's, he came in like my top 10 wrestlers.
Speaker: Just, he came in,
Speaker: For a seven-foot monster, Kane was going on the top rope, doing the diving clothesline.
Speaker: Was that sorry you cut out a little bit?
Speaker: Can you hear me now?
Speaker: Yeah, I can hear you.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Kane and Undertaker are the two guys.
Speaker: They're big men that were able to show the athleticism.
Speaker: I can look at guys like that and I can be like, hey, I can do that.
Speaker: I can do that type of stuff.
Speaker: I can show them how athleticism, even though I'm bigger than most people.
Speaker: And it works.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: Yeah, the Undertaker dive over the top rope.
Speaker: It's almost like that.
Speaker: I close my eyes every single time ever since the dive with Shawn Michaels and him laying on his head.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, I close my eyes every single time.
Speaker: I couldn't.
Speaker: I couldn't do it.
Speaker: Speaking of big guys that move, it's weird how well they move.
Speaker: Are you a fan of Mike Awesome at all?
Speaker: Am I?
Speaker: Especially ECW, Mike Austin?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That dude was just flying around.
Speaker: And the match he had at one night stand was still, like, hands down.
Speaker: It still ages so well.
Speaker: I think after this podcast, I'm going to go watch that pay-per-view, but
Speaker: His matchup one night, he killed it.
Speaker: Just his athleticism.
Speaker: I hate what they did to him at WCW, but I mean...
Speaker: wwf but ecw mike awesome was so good all out of this world his matches with tanaka not just only at one night stand but like they beat the living out of each other and they kept going like it was it's a it's incredible and i don't think people know how good he is because like literally he would just like take off like and i don't and i don't i don't think i'm sorry i mean because you know um
Speaker: I don't think... I've been in some nice horse fights and had some nice, stiff matches.
Speaker: It takes a toll on your body.
Speaker: I know a lot of people...
Speaker: see people you know do the dives and flips and all itself but you being there and you in a house fight when you come back you you come back you come back bruised sweaty uh it's been plenty of times i just look at myself like where did this cut come from or yeah stuff like that it's it's something else man so
Speaker: he but like once again like he's one of the type of guys that he revolutionized revolutionary i can't even talk i know it's he's one type of guys uh that um made that type of style one of his things and one of the guys that i look at and especially you know being a ground a pound hard hitting
Speaker: type of guy.
Speaker: So for sure.
Speaker: Uh, so you kind of look up to these guys at what point do you decide that this is something that you want to do and that you want to become a wrestler?
Speaker: Um, so probably so at 15, well, 16, um, I had my very first job.
Speaker: I worked at, uh, Bolo.
Speaker: It was a grocery store in my hometown of Clinton, uh, South Carolina.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And a friend of mine at the time, she told me that her boyfriend backyard wrestled.
Speaker: So I was like, you know, 16, young, stupid, you know.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, that sounds great.
Speaker: You know, I love wrestling.
Speaker: Let's go, you know, try it out.
Speaker: So, you know, those guys, these guys, it was like five of us.
Speaker: And it was us and he had the ground and he had sticks.
Speaker: Had it laid out 16 by 16.
Speaker: so we out there we run imaginary ropes we taking bumps on the ground and like i said i'm 16 i don't i don't know no better we doing a couple little things uh i take some time off you know i go and i play football in high school and um i think around my my senior year uh we played against uh chester high school okay um
Speaker: We lost to him in the third round.
Speaker: And that night I was like, you know what?
Speaker: I think I'm I think I'm done with football.
Speaker: I think I really want to see what I can do with wrestling.
Speaker: I've never been the type of person to, you know, follow a crowd, you know, you know, get a meal job or anything like that.
Speaker: You know, I was, you know, I got a good feeling about this.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: that I was actually doing the backyard stuff with gave me a call and said that they were doing some training in Lawrence, South.
Speaker: It was at the old skate away.
Speaker: It was a skating rink that they had just tore down.
Speaker: They put the ring in there and they said they want to do some training and bring up an old company, SCW, and start doing shows at the fairgrounds there.
Speaker: So that was back in 2009.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: Kind of go back to what you said about football.
Speaker: You said it was Chester that ended up.
Speaker: And then now, so Chester, you could say is one of the reasons that you became a wrestler.
Speaker: Now you're in Chester and like, that's a big part of, I was assuming for you, at least your career and the stories that you've been able to tell there over the years.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I was telling my wife that I was like, you know, crazy because, you know, we lost.
Speaker: And that day, I remember like it was yesterday, you know, my senior year and we, you know, we lost in the third round, getting real close, you know, getting the state.
Speaker: and we don't make it.
Speaker: And then just a few years later, just to win the championship there in Chester, you know, it was just an awesome feeling.
Speaker: But, you know, it was just something that I'll just share with, you know, me and her.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: A wrestling school like that.
Speaker: There's all these little, like, points.
Speaker: Like, for instance, like, we met, like, outside of the show.
Speaker: Like, I think you helped set up at the last UPW show.
Speaker: We just happened to be outside at the same time.
Speaker: And next thing you know, we're here.
Speaker: Like, wrestling has a way of kind of, like,
Speaker: connecting dots that you wouldn't think otherwise would be connected.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But, um, to go back to the backyard wrestling days, did you have a character?
Speaker: Yes, I actually do.
Speaker: And it's, uh, actually, um, a tattoo.
Speaker: Um, uh, see if you can see it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Uh, you can see it right there.
Speaker: There we go.
Speaker: You can see it.
Speaker: That's that says big T.
Speaker: That was the backyard.
Speaker: Big T. Yeah, that was my backyard name, Big T. Funny story, when I started training in 2008, they was like, hey, man, you got to come up with a name.
Speaker: And I was like, well, you know, I don't like Big T. You know, I don't think that'll go too good.
Speaker: You know, that just don't sound like a wrestler name.
Speaker: And so they was like, okay, well, just think of some names.
Speaker: So I really wanted to use the name TJ.
Speaker: TJ is my first and my middle name.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I really, I really want to use that.
Speaker: TJ is just an awesome name to me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's Power Rangers, Turbo Ranger, TJ, one of my favorite characters, Red Ranger.
Speaker: So it came between TJ Law and TJ Boss.
Speaker: I don't know why Boss came in there, but the reason why Law came up, because I like watching Ty Law playing, even though I'm a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
Speaker: Never a New England Patriots fan.
Speaker: I like you already.
Speaker: I always hold families from Philly, so.
Speaker: Well, I've been an Eagles fan since 2000.
Speaker: 2000?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 2000.
Speaker: But it got between those two, TJ Law and TJ Boss.
Speaker: And a buddy of mine, he was like, well, if you do TJ Law, it'll kind of be like a security guard gimmick.
Speaker: Or like a, you know, and I was like, I don't want to do a cop gimmick or a security guard gimmick.
Speaker: Well, then let's go TJ Boss.
Speaker: And it's been TJ Boss ever since.
Speaker: Yeah, it could be like the past being chained by what we already know.
Speaker: But I think it's a pretty cool name.
Speaker: Well, I appreciate that, man.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: You tell me I have to get into a ring with somebody named TJ boss.
Speaker: I'm probably not going to look forward to it.
Speaker: Even no matter if I know what you look like or not.
Speaker: So it kind of establishes what you're about.
Speaker: Well, I say you will be, you will be amazed how long it took me to get there.
Speaker: But, um, that, that, that, um, it wasn't that name.
Speaker: It hasn't, you know, wrong easy with a lot of, it's okay.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: I, uh,
Speaker: I take that name and I do what I can with it.
Speaker: And I've taken TJ Balls and Man on campus.
Speaker: I've taken both those monikers and taken to places that I didn't think I would see in my life.
Speaker: So, you know.
Speaker: Yeah, just like we had Kevin.
Speaker: We were lucky enough to have Kevin Kelly on the podcast probably about, I don't know, it's been a while.
Speaker: That's my dog.
Speaker: Yeah, he brought you up.
Speaker: It's just so cool to like somebody that is on TV every Saturday night now and it's like one of the guys that he's like putting out there is like people should know about.
Speaker: So you're definitely doing something right with it because guys like that don't drop names that easily.
Speaker: Yeah, I know he's a, he, he, he's, he's been, he's been great to, he's been great to me.
Speaker: So, you know, I ain't going to my detail, but he's, he's been very great.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Great guy.
Speaker: A really cool interview for us.
Speaker: Um, but to kind of go back to training, um, I guess like when you're doing backyard stuff, how much do you like, where do you think your skill level was at?
Speaker: Like, like with all the knowledge you have of wrestling, like, do you think you're like, not even like day one of regular training?
Speaker: I think what helped me out in both of them was me being able to have my football background and to go through those drills, even though it's a total different beast.
Speaker: Football is totally different from wrestling.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think wrestling has put me through a lot of heart.
Speaker: Put me in a lot.
Speaker: I can't even talk.
Speaker: I have been in
Speaker: I have done rough rougher drills and wrestling than I have in football there we go yeah no we've heard that before we've had like a former like Tennessee football player on he was like yeah wrestling is totally different like like SEC two days is like doesn't compare to like being in the ring getting that conditioning down right
Speaker: So I guess you're starting the school or you're starting at the school in Lawrenceville.
Speaker: Who's training you there?
Speaker: So in Lawrence, South Carolina, I was at first I was trained by the man called Joshua Chilton and Charlie Wessel.
Speaker: um those guys uh taught me pretty much the basics uh you know lock up how to take a bump um roll around you know how to run the ropes you know the very basics um i was with them for a full year back then it was um you wrestle with uh a company for a full year yeah and um
Speaker: you don't go and travel nowhere.
Speaker: You don't take no other bookings or anything until you wrestle your full year there.
Speaker: And then they feel like you're good to go and, um, go wrestle.
Speaker: So back then I used to wear, uh, a cut sleeve t-shirt, uh,
Speaker: jeans black jeans and chuck taylor's i think i still got the picture outstanding to you yeah please do um i didn't know what i was doing um a lot of my matches were um you know curtain jerkers you know just the basics um i think my finisher at the time was just a super kick
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: So, just picture a 19-year-old TJ Boss doing a super kick in a cut-sleeve t-shirt and jeans and Chuck Taylors.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What's it like to wrestle in jeans?
Speaker: Like, I've never been in jeans.
Speaker: I've never been in jeans.
Speaker: so and so do you remember the uh the uh meme where the wrestler started like you know carrying ropes and then like he do like the baggy shorts and didn't do like the long tights and the trunks with the championship do you remember that yeah i think so
Speaker: um that's how my evolution was um when i started off wrestling jeans is it's terrible yeah it's terrible because especially if they rip there ain't nothing you can do and they happen to rip on me yeah they happen to rip them luckily i had a single lid on uh under it but they haven't they haven't a rip on me did the crowd notice
Speaker: um yes um my uh girlfriend at the time actually noticed and then she started laughing and then somebody ended up asking her and she ended up telling the next person and then everybody just started laughing and i was like okay well let's go ahead wrap this thing on up does that change the match because obviously like like no matter what you are in the match if your pants rip everybody's laughing at you you gotta you're no longer the big bad guy
Speaker: Well, we, well, I was, I was, I was baby face.
Speaker: So that's, that's the crazy, that's the crazy part.
Speaker: Um, um,
Speaker: We, I think they only gave us like six to eight minutes.
Speaker: So like, I think it happened on my comeback and I just ended up doing something and ended up ripping.
Speaker: And then she ended up laughing and I just ended up hearing everybody laughing.
Speaker: And the guy told me, he was like, Hey man, I think you ripped your pants.
Speaker: I was like, Oh, well let's get ready to take this on home.
Speaker: Did you win that match?
Speaker: uh no no i lost i lost that's awesome yeah i'm i'm i wear jeans because it's like sometimes you have to wear jeans but i'm never comfortable in them they're not a comfortable well we're not when our days and see back in the in those days they didn't have like the stretch like stretching jeans now so now you got you can you can wear jeans and you can actually have the material like you know yeah the material
Speaker: to afford to be stretchy so you ain't got nothing to worry about yeah i can imagine back in the day that wasn't as nice though um oh no it wasn't so tj boss as a baby face in your first year what did that look like like what was the character for you at that point um what character oh it was um my first year uh was a was an experience um
Speaker: I was very green.
Speaker: I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker: It was a lot of coming out to the crowd.
Speaker: I had a little connection with the crowd.
Speaker: The crowds that we were having in Lawrence,
Speaker: Um, we ended up moving from the, um, fairgrounds into this little building and this building didn't hold more than 50 people.
Speaker: So they were run on Friday nights or every other Friday night.
Speaker: And we would do good to get 10 people on a good Friday night.
Speaker: Um, I wrestle in front legit wrestle in front of two people.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And so it was a lot of trying to get these people behind you, coming out of the crowd when the beat dropped, you know, hey, let's go, let's get it, you know, give them something.
Speaker: I think playing football for those years and coming out to the crowd in the stadium, you know, getting the people hyped up, being young and still having that type of energy and, you know,
Speaker: getting the crowd into it, you know, trying to get them to do something, you know, that was first year TJ.
Speaker: Um, um, I, I still do a lot of that nowadays because you know, the people, they, they, they want to be engaged.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: So, um,
Speaker: when I'm feeling the music and I'm feeling the people, you know, really cheering me and chanting TJ boss, you know, I feel that, you know, that let's go and, you know, get the people hyped up and getting them into it.
Speaker: So you still see a little bit of it in me when I come out of my entrance.
Speaker: I'll tell the people, you know, let's go.
Speaker: And that's just that first year of TJ, you know, getting hyped up, you know, getting ready and let's get ready to go and walk somebody's ass.
Speaker: kind of a sidebar, but in a few of the matches I've seen, I've heard the chant, TJ's going to kill you, which there's a few, only a few people that I've ever heard that for.
Speaker: What's it like to get that chant?
Speaker: Or what was it like the first time that you heard it?
Speaker: To stand in a corner with your arm folded and just look mad.
Speaker: It's very hard to, you know, not be able to look at people and be like, you know,
Speaker: Yeah, I am going to kill him.
Speaker: No, the first time I heard it, I think it was just like a couple people that were saying it.
Speaker: And I was like, you know, I like that.
Speaker: You know, I like the ring of that.
Speaker: I don't think it's going to catch on, but I like the ring of it.
Speaker: The first piece that a lot of people were saying it
Speaker: at like a big place was at OSCW.
Speaker: You can find that match.
Speaker: It's me and TGA.
Speaker: Alexander Moss.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: Alexander Moss at OSCW for the OSCW Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker: That crowd from start to finish was in it.
Speaker: And they started with the biggest TJ is going to kill you.
Speaker: And I mean, like, I'm just I'm standing there and I'm like, man, this is this is crazy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: John Scholar, he was.
Speaker: We got back to the back.
Speaker: He was like, hey, bro.
Speaker: that's how you start off a heavyweight title match like the crowd they will they was in there i was like that's exactly what i wanted and we didn't have to do nothing for at least the first minute minute and a half that's awesome yeah i i think the most famous one is joey's gonna kill you with samoa joe but like it's one of my favorite one of my favorite chants so and see like and and and see like and like i i love watching samoa joe
Speaker: but i don't want like people comparing me to you know i don't want to like steal nobody's stuff or anything like that but like just to hear your name and that behind it you know where it comes from is yeah it's got this is this is great yeah that's awesome yeah you said that i had to ask but i guess we could kind of take it back to the time before people were chanting that um so you finish your first year in lawrenceville where do you go from there
Speaker: I go, I get with some buddies of mine, Robert Mack and Brian.
Speaker: I go with those guys at Lawrence and they tell me about a place in Spartanburg, South Carolina, APW, American Pro Wrestling.
Speaker: It was ran at a time by Chief J Eagle.
Speaker: I spent a lot of years in the
Speaker: APW learning how to become a heel learning more about working babyface I joined up joining a faction the entourage I end up I end up meeting some great guys that end up become over the years and Eric Anton and he's go by the name elite he used to wrestle for
Speaker: a lot in Hendersonville and Spartanburg.
Speaker: But those guys really taught me a lot about wrestling, especially the storytelling aspect.
Speaker: Though APW ran every Saturday, so I had a place to wrestle every weekend.
Speaker: And
Speaker: A lot of people have came through APW, a lot of guys that you may know, like Deion Johnson, R-Truth, this came through there.
Speaker: He's done a couple things from there.
Speaker: I'm trying to think of some more names.
Speaker: But if I forgot somebody, I apologize.
Speaker: But they've had some pretty good –
Speaker: people come through there and that was a place where i was able to um just develop myself more and just get more ring time and just uh just learn more about storytelling wrestling yeah there so for sure yeah i think is that i don't want to because there's apw chester is that the same thing as this apw
Speaker: So no.
Speaker: So there are two different things.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Uh, so APW Chester is action pack wrestling.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: And then APW, uh, American pro wrestling there and a bowl of Springs now.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But, uh,
Speaker: They were in Spartanburg right across from KFC.
Speaker: And we used to go there every Saturday.
Speaker: Me, Robert Mack, and Brian Therese ride up and go there every Saturday to wrestle.
Speaker: And then I ended up getting a hookup for promotion in Hendersonville.
Speaker: Ran by Gary Banfield, Viper, for high-velocity wrestling.
Speaker: Um, we ended up working there some, so kind of going with those two promotions and, you know, uh, therefore while probably year two and a half year, three between year three, year five, I was kind of there, uh, running between those two, um, promotions.
Speaker: Um, um,
Speaker: and a promotion in Clyde, North Carolina by STW.
Speaker: Um, I think they ran like once a month.
Speaker: I would, uh, wrestle there as well.
Speaker: So, so from the year, like two to five, what is, what is the TJ boss character started to look like?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All over the place.
Speaker: Uh, um, I think, uh,
Speaker: I think at that time I was just trying to discover who I was.
Speaker: I think I was doing a lot of tag team wrestling at that time too.
Speaker: Um, like I said, I was, um, kind of working, uh, some more on my heel work.
Speaker: Uh, um,
Speaker: We ran a heel character and then I hope I don't get canceled for this, but I ran a, a black America gimmick and APW and Spartan bird.
Speaker: And it was just a, just a, just, it was just a, just a,
Speaker: black gimmick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, and like, it was just something that I would just knew that those people would hate at the time.
Speaker: Cause it was at that time it was just some things that I would say that would just be a little touchy, but I was just, just trying to get heat.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: And, um, it's, it's a lot of learning that I went through.
Speaker: There's a lot of things that I probably said that I shouldn't have said on the microphone, but you know,
Speaker: It was a lot of TJ, you probably shouldn't say that, but you know, good job getting people to boo you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Ask for forgiveness for permission.
Speaker: You know, I used to, I used to call, I used to call, I used to have a group called Black America.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: And I came up with like a whole pledge of allegiance.
Speaker: I used to do that Black America Pledge of Allegiance before a match.
Speaker: And, you know, I know it was, you know, a little edgy, but, you know, I wanted to do something that I felt at the time that I could do as a heel and just figure out what I could do as a heel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: If that opportunity was ever to happen again, I would never go that route again.
Speaker: But at that time, it was just that I wanted to try to see what I could do as a bad guy.
Speaker: Yeah, no problem.
Speaker: Especially a small South Carolina town.
Speaker: Probably a pretty good place to run that out.
Speaker: Did it ever bum you out that this character is getting heat?
Speaker: You know why it's happening, but is it ever kind of a bummer?
Speaker: um not not really um i i know i know i know the difference you know you know what i mean um when when i when i'm out there i try to i try to i try to make the people i try to make people boo but i want to try to do it in a joking manner too you know you know what i'm saying like i i
Speaker: I try to, I'm mostly laughing on the inside myself.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: It'll be like, you know, to have a person be like, oh, boo, I can't believe you said that.
Speaker: You need to shut up, boo.
Speaker: And I'm just sitting here like, ha ha, you know, I just got you in the palm of my hand.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: So,
Speaker: So you're working through these couple different places.
Speaker: You're honing your heel craft and your gimmick.
Speaker: At what point do you feel like things kind of start taking off to where you're spreading out, you're kind of top guys someplace?
Speaker: At what point do you feel like that started to trend for you?
Speaker: So...
Speaker: You so usually when for me, I'll answer this part first and then I'll go back to what your question.
Speaker: Usually if I feel like I'm at a. A big.
Speaker: I'll go ahead and ask your question.
Speaker: OK, so when when I did the Black America gimmick, I end up becoming heavyweight champion.
Speaker: And I ended up working a program with Eric Anton, one of my mentors.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We ended up working a program, and we worked that program for – we had to work that program for at least a year, if not a year and a half.
Speaker: And we just did all different types of different things just to work each other, and we were working in front of the same people.
Speaker: But it was working, and it was more and more people showing up.
Speaker: We was having great matches.
Speaker: To us, we was having great matches.
Speaker: The fans were loving it, and they were coming in and selling out the place.
Speaker: He taught me when you're telling the story,
Speaker: it's like cooking pinto beans you not cook pinto beans i don't well when you cook pinto beans you won't cook them slow the slower you cook them the better it's gonna be and just like storytelling wrestling just like with bloodline storyline you know what i'm saying for sure it's been long times you know what i'm saying it's been long storytelling they've been cooking they pinto beans and now we just waiting on the final
Speaker: the final dish you know what i'm saying because we know it's going to be good yeah yeah that's that's a very cool way to put it definitely very so so um after we got done there um i got uh i did a show for a boomer pain and a bryce anthony they uh run battles on wrestling okay and um
Speaker: I did a show for them at the Peach Festival they did in Gaffney, South Carolina back in, I want to say 2015.
Speaker: I ended up meeting Bob Keller.
Speaker: Bob Keller is a promoter of WrestleForce in Columbia, South Carolina.
Speaker: And, you know, he's Bob Keller is
Speaker: become my mentor and one and my trainer yeah um bob keller um booked me for wrestle force and he wanted me to be the uh enforcer of the group the end and that's i think that's when i kind of started venturing off of getting with bob keller
Speaker: learning under him, learning under John Schuyler, and just taking everything that I've been able to learn in the locker rooms that I've been able to share with a lot of these guys.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Being able to take those and being able to travel and really get my name out there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So you mentioned... I said, yeah.
Speaker: You mentioned... I'm sorry.
Speaker: The end.
Speaker: That's kind of... If I'm not mistaken, that's something that's kind of gone on for a while for you.
Speaker: It's kind of like... Yeah.
Speaker: Walk us through that, like, at the beginning, and what are the early stages that look like for you?
Speaker: The early stages for that, at the beginning, it was myself, Zook King, Kevin Phoenix...
Speaker: Jet Black and Nick Kismet.
Speaker: Yeah, Nick Kismet.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Now that this is clicking for me, because we had Zuka King on, and you said those names, it's kind of like, yeah, a similar story.
Speaker: What, like, I guess my question would be, what was it like to be with those guys, and did you feel like you had something special in that group?
Speaker: Um, so with, with those guys, um, it was, um, the only places that we were as like a big group were at WrestleForce in Columbia and Columbia and OSCW in, uh, Hanahan, South Carolina.
Speaker: Um, we tried a doing a big, um, we did a big group angle, um,
Speaker: And PCW.
Speaker: But I think after that, then we end up coming back to WrestleForce and still running the END there and OSCW.
Speaker: But me and Zuka King went other places.
Speaker: with the name E&D, teaming up in West Virginia, down in Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, and some in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Speaker: So I think me and Zuka were mostly the tag team guys in that group.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if I'm correct, like when that group started, Zuka was very new, wasn't he?
Speaker: Yeah, he was.
Speaker: He was –
Speaker: um being able to see and to be able to see his growth from then to now it has been amazing that's that's my boy like we've me and him have since i made my debut in wrestle force um and started a group with him me and him traveled up and down the east coast for years and you know we that's that's been my brother
Speaker: uh for the past almost decade now and you know to see his growth and the rest of the business has been amazing yeah he's definitely like i would say put him up there with you if like the guys you want to bring in to like you know you're going to put him with like he wrestled carlino recently like to have like the trust to have to like get to a rig like that like you're the guys that when you bring in like the outside talent that you trust to put with them so i know that's got to be awesome he
Speaker: he's he's great man i love i love that brother to death and you know he he's he's a great talent and i would put him in my top five any day and that's not being biased so yeah that is awesome so you kind of uh you're working this angle with the end um at what point do um
Speaker: Do you kind of, when you're starting to branch out, is that the first time that you're hitting these places like West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, or have you been there before?
Speaker: So, so I, I've never been up for it.
Speaker: Again, Bob Keller, Bob Keller has a thing where, you know, if you want to get out and, you know,
Speaker: wrestle get in his van if you got a show you can go set up you can go get you a spot and that's exactly that's exactly what i did he had a show we go set up if there was a spot there was a spot if it wasn't oh well you know you at least you still got a chance to go and you know show face and at least get your foot in the door you know
Speaker: Were there any of those locker rooms that you shared with somebody that you were like, oh shit, that's so-and-so or any moments?
Speaker: Oh, plenty of times.
Speaker: Especially at PWX.
Speaker: I think we'll probably get up in that later on.
Speaker: But it's been a few times.
Speaker: My very first WrestleForce show was
Speaker: I was like that, not knowing everybody and stuff like that, being in the, um, we had, we had Glacier on that show.
Speaker: Uh, the, um, the Patriot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The Patriot on the show, uh, Luke Gallows, uh, Gunner, uh, Cedric Alexander.
Speaker: Uh, I'm trying to think who else he had on that show.
Speaker: It's stacked.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I got eliminated by Gunnar, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that was a great time at that show.
Speaker: But, yeah, I try not to be like, you know,
Speaker: I try not to show it.
Speaker: I just be like, you know, oh, man, that's cool.
Speaker: You know, such and such in the locker room.
Speaker: And, you know, I just kind of, you know, go shake their hand.
Speaker: Hey, how you doing?
Speaker: I'm TJ.
Speaker: And I, you know, go on about my business.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That UPW show, we did social media for them.
Speaker: That was the first time I'd ever been in a locker room.
Speaker: And, like, we were sitting there talking to somebody.
Speaker: And then Sin Cara just walks up and shakes my hand.
Speaker: Like, he's like, let me.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: Like, I can only imagine, like, the amount of people that you've been there.
Speaker: But, yeah, it was.
Speaker: It's nuts.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'll say when I met Ron Simmons, that was something big for me.
Speaker: I remember my dad telling me the story about him watching Ron Simmons beat Vader.
Speaker: Meeting him and being able to take a picture with him and do a promo with him, me and Zuka, I'm always going to cherish that.
Speaker: That was pretty awesome.
Speaker: That is awesome.
Speaker: Did he?
Speaker: He gave me from high.
Speaker: Go ahead.
Speaker: Oh, no.
Speaker: Spinebuster finisher that I do.
Speaker: I said, hey, man, I do the spinebuster, man.
Speaker: You know, you cool with me, you know, doing that, ain't he?
Speaker: He said, hey, you got it, man.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Thank you, Ron.
Speaker: It's a pretty good sign off for that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Was there any mention of damn in the promo that you guys did?
Speaker: No, he but he told he we did.
Speaker: He said he said put the fist up.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, Zuka did the fist and I was like, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker: Yeah, that's gotta be cool, especially like with the black America and everything like that.
Speaker: Were you did you take any influence from that when you were doing that?
Speaker: A little bit.
Speaker: When I went to the, when I started E&D, they told me that they just wanted, and of course, they didn't want nobody to talk.
Speaker: They just want somebody to put the nail on it.
Speaker: And so when I got with Bob, I had to basically, the stuff that I was doing before I got with Bob, I had to basically flip my whole playbook.
Speaker: I was, uh,
Speaker: I was the biggest whole group, so they didn't want me to bump a lot.
Speaker: And it was a lot of me.
Speaker: They wanted me to go in, boom, throw people around, you know, be the big, strong guy.
Speaker: And so once it had to take –
Speaker: Bob and John to break it down to me and have me realize, hey man, we want you to be the enforcer.
Speaker: You're not going to be doing a lot.
Speaker: You're going to come in, you're going to make a statement, and that's what we're going to do.
Speaker: They broke down how to be a big man in wrestling.
Speaker: If it wasn't for them, there wouldn't be no big man on campus.
Speaker: Sidebar question again.
Speaker: What's it like to just throw fuckers around?
Speaker: It depends.
Speaker: It depends on who wants to get.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I've been told plenty of times that when I look in somebody's eyes in a corner and I just had a scary look in my face, I think they're a little intimidated.
Speaker: So when it happens, it's kind of like, oh, my God.
Speaker: But to be able, if I get somebody real good and throw them real far and just be able to see them just fly, I'm just like, hey, thank you, Ed.
Speaker: You know.
Speaker: I don't know if you have this in your head, but do you have an idea of who has been the furthest that you've thrown?
Speaker: It's between Lucky Ali.
Speaker: It's between Lucky and... I think Lucky.
Speaker: I think Lucky Ali.
Speaker: I think Lucky is farthest.
Speaker: I think recently in a tag team match.
Speaker: I think Lucky is the farthest.
Speaker: Is that on YouTube by chance?
Speaker: Yes, it is.
Speaker: It's me and Stuart Snodgrass versus John Scholar and Lucky Ali.
Speaker: Okay, I'll be looking that up.
Speaker: You mentioned PWX.
Speaker: I think it's a pretty good time to kind of jump to there.
Speaker: I don't think, or at least I did it.
Speaker: I kind of came into the indie scene in North Carolina around like 2019.
Speaker: And I didn't like know the impact of PWX and like how cool and how like big of a thing that was.
Speaker: What was your first experience with PWX?
Speaker: Like was the first show that you ever worked on for them?
Speaker: So first I tell my PWX story because,
Speaker: I had a great PWS career first off.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I give that thanks to Zane Riley, because if it wasn't for Zane Riley, you know, Zane Riley was doing revolt with Caleb Conley.
Speaker: And I actually just seen like a commercial on it.
Speaker: My wife was like, hey, they look real cool.
Speaker: You know, we know Drake and Zane.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We should go and watch the show.
Speaker: Well, I ended up doing the show with Zane and I was like, hey, man, how do I get on PWX?
Speaker: He was like, man, just come and, you know, help set up.
Speaker: And, you know, just if they have a dark match, they might get you on.
Speaker: And I was like, OK, so I.
Speaker: I can't remember the name of the show, but the match was it was Drake, JD Drake versus Gunner for the ITV championship.
Speaker: It's the night that Drake beat Gunner for the belt.
Speaker: And I have to send it to you when the name of the show, I can find it.
Speaker: But that show, I went to it and it was...
Speaker: I ended up doing a eight man tag up in a dark match.
Speaker: It was, let me see if I can remember everybody.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know it was me and Zuka and Yaya.
Speaker: Big time.
Speaker: Y'all and CB Suave versus TK Stark.
Speaker: Tyler Gaines and I can't remember the other two that's pretty people but it was a man yeah it was a pretty good memory it was a man to yeah that's why I said it was a pretty good memory it was a dark match and we didn't have long as a matter of fact the referee of that match was Patrick so
Speaker: Patrick Price.
Speaker: He was the referee of that match.
Speaker: So I was the biggest person in the match as usual.
Speaker: And they wanted to see what I had because at that time, PWX was at a whole different level.
Speaker: Something that I didn't think I would do.
Speaker: be able to you know perform in yeah um it was a lot of guys that came from pw so anthony henry you know um color um jd drake those guys those guys came through pws and i was like man i don't know if i'm on these guys level um
Speaker: As a matter of fact, in that dart match, that was a spot where I was supposed to go up top and hit this guy with a swan... I was supposed to go up top and swanton and miss to lead in for the hot tag.
Speaker: Well, I got up.
Speaker: to the top and lost my foot and just ended up flipping over and ended up landing on the guy.
Speaker: And I was like, oh my God, I messed this thing up.
Speaker: But it was all good.
Speaker: The match kept on going and everybody said they enjoyed it.
Speaker: Nobody wanted to even worry about that mess up but me.
Speaker: But it was
Speaker: They said it was a good dart match.
Speaker: The rest is history.
Speaker: How quickly did you get the call back?
Speaker: Did you show up?
Speaker: They did a show in December.
Speaker: December deleting.
Speaker: It was a show that they had Matt Hardy.
Speaker: And
Speaker: jd drake was uh the itv champion and uh he was about to start a few with uh elijah evans uh they wanted him to start this uh group called the syndicate and uh they we had a manager by the name of the thomas and uh i got they wanted a muscle and so i got a message from
Speaker: I got a message from Tommy saying that PWX wanted me to come in and be the muscle.
Speaker: So after it was JD Drake versus Tracer X for the championship and JD Drake went over.
Speaker: And then that's when we made our Elijah already had been there, but this was my official debut on the main on the main show.
Speaker: And that night,
Speaker: we debuted as a syndicate.
Speaker: If I'm correct, or if I'm not correct, but if Cage Match is correct, Timmy Lou Retton was in, or Tim, as he's known now, was in there actually.
Speaker: Was that before the Gymnasty Boys?
Speaker: um i think that was i think that was like in like in the in a weird time i think they were like doing some tag team but i think they were just kind of coming into gym nasty and i think like just the timeline of that and him coming into the syndicate um you know um a fun fact um
Speaker: Me and Timmy were not supposed to be the tag team.
Speaker: We're not supposed to be a tag team in the syndicate.
Speaker: It was actually supposed to be me and Ray Han.
Speaker: Yeah, that's eventually what I turned into, if I'm correct, right?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He ended up sick at the time.
Speaker: And so they ended up making me and Timmy the tag team in the syndicate.
Speaker: And we just...
Speaker: end up you know running with it and it was at i end up learning so much from timmy uh timmy lou uh well tim um i don't care i'll call him timmy lou that's that's my dog uh he that's another guy that if it wasn't for him i learned so much from timmy like i i
Speaker: I learned how to become a better wrestler just by teaming up and just watching Timmy in the corner and just going over matches and what we're going to do like
Speaker: he timmy is a genius yeah in the ring and to be able to team with him and hold a championship tag team championship with them and just go on ride that we did with those tag titles pwx it was a it was a great experience and i owe i owe a lot of my career i owe a lot of my career to timmy as well so yeah uh
Speaker: So when you guys were tag team champions, you had a Ducks, Ladders, and Chairs match.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: Could you walk us through what the preparation is for a Ducks, Ladders, and Chairs match?
Speaker: You want mine or you want the whole group's preparation of Ducks, Ladders, and Chairs?
Speaker: Yeah, whatever.
Speaker: Whatever.
Speaker: Um, well, if, uh, with the people that are, you know, close to me, they, they know, uh, about my preparation with, uh, those ladders and chairs, um, Doug's ladders and chairs, um, was, uh, me and Timmy Lou versus, uh, the ugly ducklings, uh, Rob Kiljoy and, uh, uh, Lance.
Speaker: Um, that match was the longest, uh,
Speaker: Funnest worst match of my life.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so, um, we, we were the main event for a night one of a X 16.
Speaker: Um, to me, it was, um, at the time I was very excited because I was in, I was doing this match with a lot of talented guys.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I was very nervous, but at the same time, too, I wanted something that people could, you know, remember me by.
Speaker: And, you know, just leave an impression, you know.
Speaker: At that point, you know, I didn't, you know, I was doing tag team stuff, and I never thought that I would, you know, be in a main event fight like that again, especially for that promotion at the time.
Speaker: Yeah, of course.
Speaker: You know, I wanted to go out and, you know, just do something big in that match and just, you know, leave a leave an impression.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so, um, that match went 40 something minutes and they start, we started a match off hot.
Speaker: Like as soon as we came out and did our entrance, they started off with suicide dives and that match went.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: that match had a lot of crazy spots.
Speaker: You did, you know, you had an interview with Rob, so, you know, Rob is... Yeah.
Speaker: That's another guy.
Speaker: That's another guy that would... that has helped me out a lot, too, in developing the TJ Boss character.
Speaker: Working programs with him and Lance, like...
Speaker: They they came up with so many different ways of doing different tag team matches and we had so much fun But that dlc match man, it was it was something it was something else a lot of different weapon spots.
Speaker: We did spots with ladders that I've never seen But I was the one that ended up taking them and stuff so We end up doing the spots with the
Speaker: rubber duckies and stuff like that.
Speaker: Um, um, the backtrack a little bit.
Speaker: Uh, this is the match that, uh, was the, was supposed to be the blow off match to the syndicate versus the ducks.
Speaker: Cause we ended up taking the tab belts off them.
Speaker: Um, so this match was like the big blow off match.
Speaker: Uh, so, um,
Speaker: We were supposed to go, you know, go under and I was supposed to be, you know, this big spot.
Speaker: Well, you know,
Speaker: one of my favorite matches was uh tl uh wrestlemania uh x7 uh dully's edge christian hardy's yep and and the dopest spot i've just always seen was you know just bubba and matt heart just going through those going through those tables off the top of that ladder yeah and i was like i think i can do that i told i showed my wife and she was like you're stupid and i said
Speaker: I know, but I think it'll be something that'll be big and, you know, be something memorable.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: And the only thing she just kept on telling me was just be careful.
Speaker: Just be careful.
Speaker: So, we're setting up tables to get back to the match.
Speaker: I'm setting up the tables in the match.
Speaker: And we're getting to the outside of it, and we're getting the ladder is very tall.
Speaker: That was probably 15 feet.
Speaker: We're getting close to the spot where I'm about to get ready to take the tumble.
Speaker: Well, the spot was Timmy told me to climb the ladder and get the belts.
Speaker: Lance makes the last-ditch effort and tries to get him, get him, get him.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No throw off, come back, push.
Speaker: As soon as I seen Timmy come, I said, this is probably the worst mistake I've ever made.
Speaker: As soon as that ladder starts,
Speaker: tilting i'm like there's no way i can go through this there's no way there's no safe way i can go through this yeah as soon as as soon as i feel myself going it was probably the longest fall the longest of my life and as soon as i hit boom uh it it knocked the breath out of me yeah and i was like oh man
Speaker: so tommy he was uh he was out ringside with us and he was like hey you okay i said hey tommy i can't breathe man he was like hey just just breathe just breathe and i was like i ain't got no choice i'm trying i'm trying but i just knocked the wind out of me so i'm thinking i'm laying down on the ground i'm like man
Speaker: I think I just knocked the win out of me.
Speaker: I think I should be good.
Speaker: I may be fine.
Speaker: It's a little pain I feel, but maybe I just walk it off.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I'm laying there and the match is still going on just a little bit.
Speaker: And then the match ends.
Speaker: I'm laying there.
Speaker: The referees come.
Speaker: Everybody come and check on me.
Speaker: I'm telling them to, hey, go tell my wife, hey, go tell her I'm fine because I just don't want her to freak out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: um, they go, um, I try to go to get up and I feel just pain in my, in my left leg.
Speaker: And I'm like, Oh man, I can't walk.
Speaker: And so I'm trying to get the power to walk and, um,
Speaker: they helped me to the back i lay down in the floor and i really can't even get back up like it was just so much pain yeah uh end up spending the night at the er um my wife uh you know some of my friends zuka uh ray hon uh that chris valo cover those guys you know they stayed and you know help um
Speaker: Then, you know, stayed overnight with me, Eric Thompson, Mr. Sleaze and his wife.
Speaker: They took good care of me.
Speaker: Ended up coming to find out that I broke my pelvis and ruptured my L4, my L5s.
Speaker: But when I got to the doctor, the doctor was surprised I was able to even walk into his office when we was able to get the doctor's appointment.
Speaker: But, yeah, I met myself really bad in that match.
Speaker: How long did that put you out?
Speaker: That put me out for – it should have put me out longer, but they gave me six to eight months.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I think I came back in the sixth month.
Speaker: Luckily, I didn't have to have any surgery.
Speaker: They were able to do some injections and just let it heal on its own and do some physical therapy.
Speaker: And so, you know, we ended up helping out and ended up getting back, able to get back to wrestling.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Was there any hesitancy coming back?
Speaker: Like after that?
Speaker: Most, most definitely.
Speaker: I think my first match back was like an eight man tag.
Speaker: So I didn't have to do a lot.
Speaker: I still had a lot of work to do.
Speaker: Bob Keller really helped me out.
Speaker: He told me, you know, hey, don't, don't try to rush or put too much on it.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: You know, just take your time and, you know, um,
Speaker: Just whatever drills that they were running, you know, just take your time and just come back.
Speaker: And that's what I did.
Speaker: So you reach this kind of peak moment for you when the titles of the main event of like PWX.
Speaker: Immediately it's kind of all taken away from you.
Speaker: Come back, you work probably a few years later, but what is it like that moment that you go from that moment to now you're about to win the title there?
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: I think the match I ended up having with Slim J. I don't think it was before the match I had with Slim J, it wasn't in the cars for me to be in the main event for EWS.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: I've always just been the type of person that
Speaker: I just waiting on the right opportunity.
Speaker: I know what I can do.
Speaker: So, you know, I would just always wait on the right opportunity and Slim, me and Slim J, they, we wrestled at Too Close For Comfort.
Speaker: That match on YouTube as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That was actually my very, that was my very first singles match at PWX.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: yep that was my my foot heavyweight title that was my very first singles match pwx and every a lot of people seen what i could do in tag matches but and and like i think i wrestled a singles match against uh jd drake but it was it wasn't a single it was like a gauntlet so like it was only like a short amount of time that i was able to really even do anything yeah so like to get a good solid you know 15 to 20 minutes with
Speaker: you know, the heavyweight champion, PWX at the time and him.
Speaker: And, you know, at the time, Slim J was, he was, he was, he was the man, you know, he was the heavyweight champ.
Speaker: He had one X 16 and he, he was the guy.
Speaker: So it was a lot of pressure on me.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: in that match, especially when people see the match graphic and like, you know, oh, you know what, you know, well, TJ definitely gonna lose this.
Speaker: So, you know, he ain't had no chance because he's just been a tag guy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, um, for, for the match that we were able to, to do and to give those people and people to able to see what I could do on my own,
Speaker: that was the the stepping stone for me to get my push in uh pwx um i didn't uh the the the night i actually won the belt um the end of slim jay match um i we did we did like a i think we did like a dusty finish where um everybody thought i won
Speaker: And then, you know, you know, the referees came out.
Speaker: They seen that we cheated, you know, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: But it really didn't hit till a couple months after that at the PWX show.
Speaker: It was a cross promotion show that they were doing.
Speaker: It was PWX and Pure.
Speaker: PWX versus pure and they did the they did a six way for the vacated title because Slim J got hurt.
Speaker: And so it was I checked this out.
Speaker: It was John Scholar, Ethan Case, Corey Hollis, Anthony Henry, JD Drake and me.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Don't I stick out like a sore thumb, right?
Speaker: It's kind of awesome.
Speaker: These are the guys that you said to.
Speaker: I ain't trying to say nothing bad, but those guys, and to me, I've seen those guys wrestle, and those guys have been places.
Speaker: And to be in the mix with those guys, there was a lot of pressure.
Speaker: especially going for the heavyweight title so yeah you mentioned earlier like those are the guys that like you looked up to right guys that like made you want to get into pwx now you're in a match with them uh right we get to like what happens in the match i have a question uh between anthony henry's kicks and jd drake's chops which ones hurt the most
Speaker: Man, you're putting me in a sticky situation because if I have to wrestle one of those two, it's going to be bad.
Speaker: I don't think they're going to be watching this.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: To be completely honest with you, I got to go with Drake's chops, man.
Speaker: And to be the guy that he don't take it easy on because I don't take it easy on him neither.
Speaker: So –
Speaker: I think it's one of those things whoever throws it first we gonna see where we at and we get that nod like okay okay motherfucker alright Leslie what's up alright we had Robert Marder on recently and he's had the opportunity to wrestle JD Drake and Bonero Suzuki and he says that JD Drake's chops are harder than Suzuki's so
Speaker: And I mean, and see, like, and me and Drake, we've known each other for so long to where, like, we know we're going to piss each other off.
Speaker: So it just, it is what it is.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Anthony Henry kicks do not look nice, though, either.
Speaker: So the first time I ever took Henry's kicks, I just closed my eyes.
Speaker: I was like, hey, man, whenever it's over with, just wake me up whenever it's over with.
Speaker: I said I knew it was coming just wake me up whenever it's over with very painful duo and the fact that they're in a team together is kind of scary but to jump back in so this is the match where you win the title at what point do you learn that you're going over in that match um so it's me and Corey in the final two and um
Speaker: me and him, um, me and him, uh, I think that was kind of the first time me and Corey have really, uh, done anything like just, you know, individually.
Speaker: Um, I ended up, uh, beating him, pinning him with the, uh, last Rob power bomb.
Speaker: Um, I think that was the, um, I think that was the, uh, match where, uh,
Speaker: Was that?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Because I ended up going over and that's when Jason Cade, he had like their money in the bank briefcase.
Speaker: I can't remember the name of the briefcase that they had, but he had a briefcase.
Speaker: And at the time he was end up becoming the leader of the syndicate.
Speaker: And he ended up, you know, we were still in the same group and he ended up
Speaker: taking the briefcase and hit me upside the head and taking the belt from me yeah um so i had a belt for what i had it for three minutes um and i at that time i think i was just a transitional champion to just get it to get it to jason yeah um
Speaker: because I think they would end up going into the story between him and Harlem Provado at the time before COVID ended up happening.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then at the time, that was me turning into a baby face and, you know, going up to the ranks just so I can fight to get a chance to fight the championship again.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: But, yeah, that six, I took an ass whooping in that, um,
Speaker: six way uh i think i got beat with a chair after the match after i ended up beating cory and beat me with a chair and then end up taking the briefcase inside of the head in that match um but um but yeah i that that was the end of that year in these in the in december and then covert ended up happening because i think i was supposed to
Speaker: I was going on my babyface run, but COVID ended up happening.
Speaker: Then the year after, I ended up winning X16.
Speaker: I ended up facing Jason K for the belt for a rise to the champion.
Speaker: What was it like winning that belt the second time?
Speaker: It's got to be different because you know you're winning it, you're keeping it, you're going to defend it.
Speaker: So the first time I, so the second time I ended up winning, when I ended up going on my title reign.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When, when me and Jason did that match, it was a lot of emotions going through my head.
Speaker: Because to me,
Speaker: Rise of the Champion for that promotion, it was a pretty big deal at the time.
Speaker: So with the card that they had, you know, just one match, you know, they had Drake versus John Davis on the card.
Speaker: So, you know, being in the main event of that and having lower the card that they did, you know,
Speaker: I felt like I had a real big chip on my shoulder and I had a lot to prove, especially because I never thought I'd be in this position, you know, like I told you before, like, you know, especially what happened after, you know, DLC.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I never thought I'd be in that position before.
Speaker: So, you know, it was a lot of nerves.
Speaker: I was I was very nervous.
Speaker: But at the same time, too, you know, I felt that I put in I put in the work to be in that position.
Speaker: And it was a lot of people believing in me that.
Speaker: wanted me to succeed.
Speaker: And so only thing I had to do was just go out there and, you know, just do it and just give it a hundred percent.
Speaker: That's, that's what, that's what I did.
Speaker: So it was, it was, it was very, it was very emotional.
Speaker: Um, very emotional night.
Speaker: You know, my parents were there.
Speaker: Uh, that was the first time my in-laws actually came and, uh, seen me wrestle alive.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So it was a very emotional night.
Speaker: A lot of people just see hundreds of people just cheering and standing on their feet, clapping and saying, you deserve it.
Speaker: It was a very awesome moment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's got to be surreal, especially like...
Speaker: I don't think that there's... Maybe AML's kind of pushing it, but PWX has that level of prestige where they're doing things right on all fronts.
Speaker: That's got to be really cool.
Speaker: How far in advance did they tell you about the title change?
Speaker: So, let's see.
Speaker: They probably told me maybe...
Speaker: Because when Slim went down, it was supposed to be me and Slim in a cage match in... I'm trying to remember the town in North Carolina.
Speaker: It's... It's all the way out there.
Speaker: It'll come to me later on.
Speaker: But it was supposed to be me and Slim in a cage match for the title.
Speaker: And then he ended up getting hurt.
Speaker: And so the title ended up getting vacated.
Speaker: And I think they ended up telling me
Speaker: that show between the show that show was right before the six way.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: To determine the new champion.
Speaker: So I think they told me the show before, like, hey, we're going we're going we're going we're going to put on how you go over.
Speaker: But then we go.
Speaker: That's when we don't have Jason.
Speaker: Cash in on you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We'll have you do the big baby face chase and
Speaker: we'll just go on from there yeah so that that's that's that was the plan and like i said covet ended up happening and yeah you know do you think the covet made it like that much like bigger of a moment because like you got pushed back a year of of when you were supposed to be holding this title again um yes and no um the reason why i say um yes is because um
Speaker: the people got a chance to wait and see what was going to happen next.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But the reason why I say no is because I wish we were able to tell that story more and do more of a buildup.
Speaker: So that way, when the payoff did happen, the story would have been there.
Speaker: A longer story would have been there instead of just having that, having that pause because of COVID, you know, but I mean, you know, things happen for a reason.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: The story that we were still able to tell when we came back from COVID.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And have me win at Rise of a Champion.
Speaker: It was still a great story.
Speaker: Like, you know, I was able to... A fun story.
Speaker: During COVID, I ended up having a foot surgery.
Speaker: I ended up having a foot surgery a month before X16.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: So I was like, oh, man, I don't know how I'm going to do that.
Speaker: I had talked to my doctor.
Speaker: I was like, hey, man, I need to have the surgery, but I need to have this done in time because I had this event.
Speaker: And, you know, X-16 used to be a two day event.
Speaker: Well, this that time, the year that I wanted, they were doing it.
Speaker: the whole day.
Speaker: And so I was like, Oh, so we ended up, I was able to end up getting the surgery and, you know, getting a little physical therapy done and be able to be in shape and time to do a X 16.
Speaker: Uh, but, um,
Speaker: you know we were able to tell the story of x16 and me being able to go through the full tournament in a full day yeah um we were able to tell a story with uh the the year before winner um hall and bravado yeah andre chase uh him me and him going one-on-one x16 winner versus x16 winner um
Speaker: since he had uh since colvin happy he didn't get a chance to get a title shot against jason k yeah so it was basically you know uh x16 winner versus x16 winner who gets a shot at jason um and it was actually uh one of his uh last matches under chase last matches on indy so it was a it was an honor to be uh one of his last matches on indies yeah that's gonna be um
Speaker: the match was awesome being in the ring with him, man.
Speaker: I learned so much from him in that one match.
Speaker: It was awesome.
Speaker: And I was glad we was able to do that before I was able to win the championship.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, um,
Speaker: just the little story that we was able to tell before me and jason wrestle each other at rise of a champion and then the story that we was able to tell after i beat them in with the championship i think it ended up working out pretty good yeah i think that's an awesome story and those matches are on youtube right or at least um the uh the the finals with me and cam carter are on um
Speaker: youtube and then i can uh send i can send you uh they should have the matches on um on hotspot network i think okay nice i think i have a hotspots logout i just can't remember it okay i've just been paying for it for a whole year so i'll have to call somebody and figure it out but yeah um so to kind of skip forward because we're we're we're burning through time here uh you
Speaker: PWX PWX kind of goes away.
Speaker: Hopefully I saw something to where maybe might be making a comeback.
Speaker: I saw something like online.
Speaker: So hopefully we have that to look forward to, but let's jump over to APW.
Speaker: And if you could just walk us through like your time at APW, winning the championship and like getting to work these awesome programs with like Ray Han and that triple threat match you guys just had with, with Drew hood, uh,
Speaker: um uh apw has uh always been um a place where i've been able to really um extend the tj boss character um i've been able to try new things uh the people there they they love to see old-fashioned ass with them and that's exactly that's exactly what i do um i end up uh
Speaker: working a program with JD Drake.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, you know, he was a champion at the time.
Speaker: So they were, um, they were prepping me to, you know, uh, building me up to work him and a championship off him run Lewis, uh, program with him.
Speaker: Um, then, uh, I ended up getting hurt.
Speaker: That was actually during the time when, um, DLC happened as a matter of fact.
Speaker: So I ended up getting hurt.
Speaker: Taking that time off, Zuka King ended up holding the championship for a little while.
Speaker: And then I think he ended up losing it to Timmy.
Speaker: and so uh after timmy held the championship i ended up coming back and me and timmy started our program there and i think that's when things started kind of hitting uh pretty good at apw with the tj boss babyface character when me and timmy started our program for the belt there um i end up beating timmy in a um i quit match um and i win the championship uh
Speaker: did my little run there and then my brother from another mother wants to challenge me for the championship me ray haunt yeah um the story the storytelling that me and ray were able to do in my opinion was some was some beautiful was a beautiful stuff um
Speaker: Another guy that I've been able to learn so much from being on the road as a tag team and I didn't think that you know me and him would you know do so Do so well as you know as foe, you know, you had a Yeah, you came on and take her, you know stories, but their matches never were too good You know, they had a couple little things, but they were never you know like oh, you know, can't I don't take her killed it, you know I'm saying it
Speaker: But, you know, with me and him, man, we just had good chemistry.
Speaker: And, like, we trusted each other a lot, just like me and Timmy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, you know, the things we were able to go out and the matches that we were able to go out and have, you know, we – I think we learned a lot from both – working with both each other.
Speaker: And we – like I said, we must do something real good because we won –
Speaker: View to the year in 2022.
Speaker: So, you know, being able to share that award with him, that's that that's an honor for me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And just to show that, you know, storytelling is still, you know, good in wrestling.
Speaker: You still tell a good story and still give the people what they want.
Speaker: So, um, but now the story that we're telling now, you know, with this three way and drew hood, um,
Speaker: Right now, it kind of doesn't seem like everything just kind of come full circle right now.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: This continuation with the belt and just being able to elevate different people when they win the championship, I think it just started with Drake being able to pass the torch to me.
Speaker: And then even though I got hurt, I was still able to pass the torch a little bit to Zuka King.
Speaker: Zuka King
Speaker: take that championship and he did amazing things with it.
Speaker: Pass it to Timmy.
Speaker: Timmy do amazing things.
Speaker: Pass it to me.
Speaker: And then I can elevate Rahon and then elevate Drew.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, you know, I think, I think in that time span, I think we were able, been able to do a great job being able to tell a story and, you know,
Speaker: do that if you look at truehood just over the past year there's like the growth and the level like it's always been there but like i think people are finally starting to see like what he's all about and that's really cool to see and and and i'm i'm i'm really glad that he's starting to find who he is um in in in his business and it's like that for for a lot i see that in a lot of uh
Speaker: people coming up now and it's the business is is is going into a good place so it's a lot of good talent out there yeah and uh speaking of good talent coming up and kind of wind things down i think you now probably have the record for our longest episode which is a good thing
Speaker: Sorry about that.
Speaker: No, no, no.
Speaker: I love these.
Speaker: I love these.
Speaker: I owe you one.
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: It's fine.
Speaker: But we usually kind of try to end on one question.
Speaker: Who are some people, pretty much wherever, but the East Coast, some guys that you feel like more people should know about on the indie wrestling scene?
Speaker: Well, just like...
Speaker: just a couple and there's so many but you know my guys Zuka King Rayhan Antaeus guys I wrestled Drew Hood Cam Jackson new guys Zay Vega Jordan Holt I love watching movie Mike work
Speaker: It's so many names, so many guys.
Speaker: If I had to choose one right now, is that what you're asking me?
Speaker: Just choose one?
Speaker: No, just name as many as you'd like.
Speaker: Oh, just name as many as you'd like?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: I appreciate that.
Speaker: Yeah, throw some women in there too.
Speaker: People usually forget about the women.
Speaker: I'd say...
Speaker: Somebody that's, you know, Cooper Housley.
Speaker: I still love watching Rob Kiljoy work.
Speaker: I still love watching John Scholar work at these shows.
Speaker: I still, you know, Chase Emery.
Speaker: I'm a Chase Emery fan.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: Brino Royce.
Speaker: I'm a Brino Royce fan.
Speaker: Chris Prince.
Speaker: TDT.
Speaker: Yeah, of course.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: JAC.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Lucky Ali all day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It is so many.
Speaker: It's a good time to be a wrestling fan for sure.
Speaker: And I don't want to hold too much time, but it's so many.
Speaker: Especially where we are in the South and Southeast, there's so much great talent out there.
Speaker: And I am proud to be a part of the wrestling circle that we are in.
Speaker: And I want to...
Speaker: there's a lot of people over here that wants to get out more and so you know and show the world you know i'm able to do that up in pennsylvania and show them how we do it in the southeast yes and stuff like that so you know just wanted the opportunities i can get just kind of just represent the southeast and carolinas and
Speaker: do my thing just like everybody else is so yeah i think like within the span of a couple days lucky ali got announced for limitless wrestling up in the uh diego hill for uh prestige and j malachi and west coast pro so like these guys are representing they're showing
Speaker: what the south is all jay malachi and that's he jay malachi like dude like the the amount of talent that's the carol just carolinas alone yeah like there that we will spend another hour and a half uh trying to name everybody yeah yeah
Speaker: so yeah definitely a good time to be a wrestling fan a good time to be a tj boss fan too yeah this has been awesome thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me there were questions like i was kept looking at the time i was like there's questions i want to ask that i did it so we'll definitely have to have you back on for a part two sometime yeah this has been great
Speaker: I will look forward to it, Daniel.
Speaker: I really appreciate your time, man.
Speaker: Thank you so much, brother.
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: Thank you.
