Matt Striker Interviews Eric Young on FITE
Click here to order Bound For Glory on FITE
Courtesy of FITE, Matt Striker interviews IMPACT World Champion Eric Young just days before he defends the World Title against Rich Swann at Bound For Glory.
—
On October 24th Impact Wrestling Presents Bound For Glory 2020 Live, here on FITE, straight from Nashville, Tennessee!
Matt Striker: For you to the new viewer, that doesn’t truly understand how your woven into the fabric of this organization. Perhaps more than anyone else on that night. What does it mean to you to not to be funny, but to be Bound for Glory?
Eric Young: For me, it’s everything. All I ever wanted in wrestling was to be involved in some way or another. If you got into wrestling and said you didn’t want to be the world champion, then you’re either a liar or you’re in it for the wrong reasons. Was I setting a goal to be a world champion when I first started? I mean, no, I didn’t. My first goal and my only goal was to sign my first contract in wrestling to say I do this for a living and I did that for the first time in 2004 was employed by TNA Wrestling for 12 years, played by the WWE for five and now back with Impact again. I live for responsibility. I want a company that I’m with the lean on me. I want them to trust in me and to say, look we expect results and then produced those results. I want them to talk about it, in a good way. I want them to either hate me or love me or love Rich or hate Rich or whatever. But at the end of the night, we want them to feel satisfied with the money that they spent saying they came away entertained, satisfied, and they feel like they’re part of history. I think Rich would say the same. Something special is going to happen in the main event for Bound for Glory and you don’t wanna miss it.
Matt Striker: Let’s talk about the match itself. So I’m excited. Listen, some people will say and Rich is younger. Rich has a much different move. Rich is faster. Rich has also overcome his fair share of things and has motivation. So what do you feel you have to do to make the match that carries Bound for Glory? How much pressure again is on you, But as the athlete?
Eric Young: Yeah. I mean, it’s tons of pressure, you know? Look it’s no secret. I’m 40 years old. I’ve been at this a long time. I’ve been almost 23 years I’ve been doing this. Athletically, maybe I’m not at Rich’s leak. That’s just the reality of it. But experience wise, he’s not even. I’ve forgotten about my accomplishments than he has accomplishments. So you know, it’s a big deal for both of us. I’m the world champion. I’m proving that I deserve to be the world champion. No matter how athletic you are in the end, nothing can replace experience.
Matt Striker: So I’m fortunate enough to have known you for the entirety of my career. I’ll even expose something here but it’s just because of what FITE has given to Pro Wrestling. There are times where I’ll walk into the locker room and you’re in the corner. You’re always sitting in the corner and I don’t bother. During thins pandemic, do you feel that you’re freer to do more things because there aren’t people around you? You become more violent. More, I mean that the term is psychotic, but you feel that you’re free with your hands whereas you wouldn’t be if there was some liability around you. Is that a good assessment?
Eric Young: Yeah, I think it’s a very good assessment. It’s the reality. I just don’t care. You know, I’m in this for myself and I’ve done it the other way, and I’ve worried about other people and what they think and what they’re gonna say. It was just self belief, just saying like, I deserve more. And the reality is I did deserve more. And in the end, I ended up taking it. And that’s the same thing when I showed up at Slammiversary. I’ve seen the card from every single angle. I’ve been Rich Swann before. I’ve been the challenger. I know exactly what he’s thinking. I know exactly where his head at and I know exactly what he thinks he’s going to do, and he’s wrong. He’s completely wrong because I’ve been in that position. He’s not willing to do the things that I’m willing to do because he’s never experienced it, and you can’t know what you don’t know. I know I promise you!
Matt Striker: How does that attitude? Just the way you carry yourself in the aforementioned locker room, but past guys like Tommy Dreamer or Rhino? And now you talk about this “I deserve more mentality” that has to trickle down. There’s a lot of new faces. There’s Brian Myers. There are even some tenured faces, though. They’re still young. I mean, look at the Rascals. My gosh, that they might be some of the guys that you mentioned, that you’ve been wrestling longer than you’ve been alive. Everyone has this. I want to eat mentality. So how do you maintain?
Eric Young: I feel like a lot of people they say those words because it’s can be cliche. But in the end, I feel they’re not in the same headspace because they can’t be. They haven’t done what I’ve done. They haven’t seen what I’ve seen. So, a lot of people like they’ll tell you about dragging you into the deep water and, you know, taking you places that you haven’t been like. I’ve been living in those places for years now. And you know, whether you want to call it selfish or self imposed or whatever you wanna call it, that’s where I exist. It’s a mentality, and a lot of people are going to say it. But the truth is that most of those guys are not willing to do those things that are necessary.
Matt Striker: Are there any other matches on the cart that you have your eye on, before I let you go?
Eric Young: Yeah. I mean, the truth is this, I grew up as a maniac wrestling fan. I consume wrestling from the time I was 3 or 4 years old. Daily, like nonstop. I want people to look and feel for Rich Swann when he’s receiving the beating of his life. And do I think he will fight back? Yes, absolutely. Because like I said, I’ve been Rich Swann before. But this locker room top to bottom, it’s loaded. It’s stacked. You are going to see things that maybe you’ve never seen before. The Motor City Machine Guns or Innovators. A lot of the “now” wrestling style that exists today is because of those guys. You know, there was a group of them, but they were definitely pioneers. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows two of the most over human beings on the planet right now and have been for several years. Fulton and Austin – Unlimited potential. I mean, the potential is just what the word says potential. And but in the end, there’s really no limit to where they can end up. The North, in my opinion, is one of the best all round tag teams in the world right now on any roster in any locker room. So that’s the match I really got my eye on. I’m going to be paying attention to everything you know, being at the top of the mountain, realizing like the target is on you. All these guys were looking for what I have, and I’m not ready to give it up.
Matt Striker: I love the mentality. I love the fact that you are able to recognize the fact that you are the top lion and for me personally as a fan, three of, in my opinion, the top entertaining good wrestlers that I like to watch are on the show. One it’s Josh Alexander. Love them to death. You mentioned him. Great tag team wrestling. But for me, pound for pound. I love pure wrestling there. Deonna Purrazzo also slips right into that category, and it makes you just forget about all the BS of gender and so on. It’s over. That’s a great athlete there. And then there’s you, and you have the opportunity to continue to cement that place for many fans that know you and many new fans as well comes our way October 24th, it’s Bound for Glory Impact Wrestling the Champ right here Eric Young taking on the Challenger Rich Swann. All this and more comes your way right here on FITE.
Matt Striker: And before we let you go, anything else you want to say to anyone out there?
Eric Young: I’ve said it in other interviews and places that I’ve talked to over the last month is that Impact Wrestling set a bar at Slammiversary, and I was part of that, the hard work begins. We drew a lot of eyes. Broke records for Impact Wrestling, broke records for their Pay per View numbers, Twitch numbers. This is a Pro Wrestling show written by Pro Wrestlers for Pro Wrestlers and, more importantly, with Pro Wrestling fans in mind. And that doesn’t exist in other places. I’m telling you, Bound for Glory will be the flagship of this year. It will be the best Pay per View of this year. And if you don’t watch it, you’re going to be left out and you’re going to feel bad about it!
