X-Pac‘s work in the 1990s and early 2000s helped pave the way for many smaller wrestlers in professional wrestling today.
WWE Hall of Famer X-Pac was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. When asked about helping change the perception of the smaller wrestlers under six feet, Waltman mentioned that he used to be six foot one, but he lost an inch and a half.
“You know, that’s funny that you say under six foot because I was always six foot one, but I’m under that now,” X-Pac said. “I lost like an inch and a half.”
When asked how crazy it is that people could perceive someone at six foot one as small, X-Pac chalked it up to his slimmer build as well.
“Yeah, and I mean, I’m slightly built, you know? So that was a big part of it, too,” X-Pac said. “Because there were guys that had gotten to push before that were like five foot and change or whatever, but they were just like Ivan Putski, I don’t know if you remember who that was. Guys like that or whatever. But yeah, I think that I was able to learn how to — I adjusted my style to where I was good at working with big guys.”
X-Pac loved to fight from underneath
When asked how he adjusted his style to become good at working with bigger guys, X-Pac said it just came down to making everything he did believable.
“I just knew how to do it and knew how to keep everything as believable and the context of what we’re doing. Like you never saw me shoot like a 300-pound guy into the ropes,” X-Pac said. “Because I mean, that’s just silly. I always had ways of getting movement without having to do shit like that.
“Or just, you know, fighting as that underdog, fighting from underneath. I was really comfortable fighting from underneath like a lot of guys want to shine, shine, shine. Dude, shut me down right away. Get heat on me right away. I don’t give a shit. Let me shine a little bit in the beginning; I’m fine.”
READ MORE: X-Pac Reveals He’s Still Training, Open To Having Another Match
What do you make of X-Pac’s comments? Do you think Waltman’s work helped change the perception of smaller wrestlers? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit INSIGHT with a link to this article for the transcription.
