WWE NXT star Eric Young recently spoke with Marc Madison of TheRichest.com, and below are some interview highlights:
About his early training:
Each was his own individual, that’s for sure. Waldo, he was pretty old and beat up when I met him, and he’s since passed on, but he was a great guy and a lot of what I learned from Waldo wasn’t any of the physical stuff, it was the mentality, it was the psychology of wrestling, being in character and making people believe. Those are the things that I hold near and dear still to this day, and this is the guy who still holds the record for longest match in Madison Square Garden history, ninety three minutes with Bruno Sammartino. People thought he was a real Nazi, and they tried to kill him. It’s hard to imagine how good that would make you feel, and that sounds crazy to say but having people hate you that much and making them hate you is just insane. All those guys were a very integral part early on and even later on in my life. Scott, I’m not sitting here talking to you guys if it’s not for Scott D’Amore.
Kanyon, was actually shooting the Jesse Ventura story. He was outsourced by WCW to be the head fight choreographer and stunt coordinator for the Jesse Ventura movie which aired on, I believe, NBC. It was the unsanctioned, official/unofficial Jesse Ventura movie. I met him (Kanyon) up in Toronto. I did a small part in the movie, and up until I started wrestling for TNA it was the most money I had ever made in wrestling, which is hilarious because it’s about 30 seconds of wrestling. You see me, but you can’t really tell it’s me. (In the story) Jesse had just come back from the army, and I go to the ring and there is a quick spot. It was cool being with a guy that was on TV, and I guy that I really liked. He was really innovative and was kind of ahead of his time, doing stuff that nobody was doing way back then.
About his training facility and whom he could see something special in:
There were actually two, Wrestleplex Ontario and Wrestleplex Vancouver, that were loosely affiliated. I knew the guy that was running the one out there (in Vancouver) and I really like him, Rocket Randy Tyler. Nelson Creed, was another guy very good friend of mine that was helping run the school there. I started the Ontario school because I loved training guys and started doing it really early on. Carl LeDuc was responsible for all of my physical in-ring training, and lived at the same apartment, and trained us five days a week. I had some experience and I guess I was one of the better students since I was there every night, so I got to take it over the training. Then I started doing indies and stuff and tryouts with the WWE, and I really wanted a place where I could stay sharp.I loved wrestling, so being able to have my own ring, to go out there and work on stuff and go over whatever I wanted sounded really appealing to me.
I didn’t have a pile of students, but a lot of really good students, a real good group of guys that were really dedicated and there several nights a week. It was an amazing experience. I’m happy to say I trained Tye Dillinger of NXT, I was the first school he went to. He was good right away; I could tell him one thing or show him one thing and he could already do it, and do it probably better than I could. When he signed his first deal it was kind of like your kid going to Harvard, and he’s still there and is very very respected for several reasons, but his in-ring ability speaks for itself. Crazzy Steve that works for TNA is another guy I trained. Jake O’Reilly, Ashley Sixx, Chris Chambers, these are all guys out of Ontario that have done something and made a good name for themselves. I never guaranteed anything, I just said if you come here, you’ll know how to wrestle. Whether that means you’ll be able to do it for a living or do it for independently that’s up to you. It was a blast having the school.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
