The former PWS Champion and former member of the South Side Playaz Club tag team, talks about incorporating his heritage into his gimmick, working big matches for PWS, his time with Ohio Valley Wrestling, and much more. You can read a few excerpts below:
Mario Bokara on adding his Crotian heritage to his gimmick:
“I just wanted to do my own thing, but then we went to Croatia about four years ago. I hadn’t been since I was a little kid. When I was over there I started picking up the language a little bit. People that didn’t know me thought I was born there. I had neck injuries around that time—I mean like five epidurals. I was losing feeling in my arms. But I was getting ready to come back and it was around that time that I was in Croatia. I told myself that if I’m really going to do this and make a go at it, I needed to try something completely different.”
Bokara talks about his time in OVW:
“The biggest thing I did while down at OVW was — I worked with Santino Marella when he was still Boris Alexiev. I learned the arm-bar from him, I’ll tell you that. And I was the only one who really sparred with him. Our match was really like a shoot match, it was awesome.”
Bokara talks about PWS trusting him to work with several big name talents:
“It’s huge. I work with Reality of Wrestling as well too. That’s the only other promotion I work for outside of PWS. I’m just very thankful to Eric Pleska and Pat Buck at Pro Wrestling Syndicate for everything they’ve done. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here. To me, they built Mario Bokara. I don’t consider myself the best in the world or anything like that. I just want to be considered. I personally feel that I can hang with anyone in the business, and at the end of the day—if I’m too old for WWE—I belong in this business.”
