JONAH is paying homage to the past while he looks ahead towards his own future in the wrestling business.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone, JONAH shared how Bam Bam Bigelow has influenced his own career. While there’s an obvious nod to the “Beast From The East” in the flames on his ring gear, JONAH explained how he sought to model his ring work after the legendary wrestler as well.
“Yeah, 100%. He’s a big inspiration to me,” JONAH said. “I’ve spoken about how he is an inspiration to me, but at TakeOver XXX I actually did Bam Bam Bigelow-inspired wrestling gear [with the red, purple and yellow flames]. So I think everyone remembers that and obviously puts two and two together, and even the gear that I have now, which is silver flames, is still in homage to Bam Bam Bigelow. Again, like what you said he was the big man, even bigger than me.
“He was close to 400 pounds, and he was so agile and doing things that you didn’t expect him to do. He worked so well in the ring and that’s what I want to be. I’m 345 pounds but I want people to realize that I am a 345-pound super heavyweight, that is still the work rate guy as well, I’m still the wrestler. So people like him,” he explained, “Vader, those people come to mind, Stan Hansen, when I try to model what I do in the ring now as JONAH.”
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JONAH also wore a Natural Disasters-inspired singlet in the past, winning the NXT North American Championship in a red, black and white singlet. JONAH spoke about how important wrestling gear is to a performer’s persona as well as how it’s an easy way to pay tribute to the past.
“Yeah, very much. It was a similar design that I’ve done before, but I wanted to do the red, white and black again to be like Typhoon or Earthquake because I’m a big fan of them as well,” he explained. “I think within the company, a lot of people were trying to do, like, Marvel sort of gear and stuff like that. And growing up, I liked that stuff as well, but I was always such a big wrestling fan. That’s the stuff that I want to pay homage to. And there’s still some other wrestlers in the future that I will do similar or something inspired to by them wrestling gear-wise.”
Watch our full interview with JONAH at the top of this post. You can also read more about his decision to use a mononym after leaving WWE at this link.
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