The following interview is part of an exclusive interview series courtesy of CWN Contributor Steven O’Neil. Steven has been a fan of Pro-Wrestling for the past 30+ years and on top of his love for the business, he has also lent his voice to several podcasts over the past year.
What do you do in your spare time when you aren’t wrestling, or training?
Most of my spare time is playing video games. When wrestling was up and going, I was away a lot of time with work and either going to wrestling shows or promoting my own show. So when I had some free time I would play some games.
What is your favourite wrestling themed podcast or YouTube channel?
For YouTube, I usually like watching WhatCulture Wrestling. I’ve watched them for years and I’m a big fan of Simon Miller. For podcasts, I usually listen to either the Finished Basement Podcast (which is run by Jeff Black, Lenny Lilac and Sabrina Kyle), Wrestling With Myself (run by Anti-Hero SOS) or Whatcha Talkin’ Boot (which is run by Rex ‘The Boot’ Atkins).
What was the moment that made you decide to pursue wrestling as a career?
I’ve always loved and watched wrestling growing up either from WWE, WCW or ECW and then later on ROH and IMPACT. But, it was after running our third show for SKM Promotions that I decided if I wanted to become a wrestler, that now was the time to do it.
How do your friends/family feel about your wrestling?
My family and friends always figured that I would become a wrestler. When I decided to tell them they weren’t really shocked at all that I started.
How do you balance family/relationships while pursuing your wrestling career?
It is hard to try to balance family/relationships while pursuing a wrestling career because you have to devote so much time in wrestling to get anywhere. I try my best to keep up with my friends and family with the little spare time that I can have.
What does a typical training day look like for you?
When everything was up and running, I would try to go to the gym for small workouts and try to hit training as well. I have been lacking as of late but with everything shut down, you try your best to do something.
What does the diet of a pro-wrestler look like?
My diet to be honest is not the best. I try to eat as much good food as possible and try to stay in shape.
What do you think is a common misconception about wrestling that people have?
I hate to bring it up but when people say ‘how can wrestlers get injured when it’s fake?’ cause we do put our bodies on the line every night we wrestle. The best thing I heard about this was from Jeff Black when he said to me one time ’50 years ago, we didn’t hit each other and people thought it was real, now we hit each other and people think it’s fake’.
If you had to wear a WARNING label, what would it say?
Probably Unpredictable and Dangerous because with my character and style of wrestling, that’s what I try to do. Sort’ve like a Mick Foley/Terry Funk/Bruiser Brody vibe.
In an alternate universe where wrestling doesn’t exist – what are you doing instead?
Most likely something to do with baseball or rugby because I played many years of both sports. If it was work related, probably something in a restaurant because I worked in the restaurant business for a long time as well.
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The mastermind behind Sluggin’ with Steven O’Neil