Baron Black recently spoke with PW Mania for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the wrestling veteran spoke about his work in AEW, becoming the first-ever Battle Slam ICON World Champion and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On becoming the first-ever Battle Slam ICON World Champion and how it feels to be the first to hold that title: “It feels great. It’s really significant because what Battle Slam is doing is really bridging the gap. Basically, between the worlds of the hip hop industry and the pro wrestling industry, two worlds that are very similar to each other, two worlds that I am very passionate about, two worlds that definitely kind of feed off each other, they kind of mimic each other and feed off each other. And two worlds that definitely work well together. And I think everybody has seen that now. They’ve definitely seen it in the past, back at WCW and the stuff that went on in early WWE, WWF.. And now, of course, AEW has also caught on to the wave. And you’ve seen a lot of hip-hop figures being on AEW programming and all to be working together well. So it’s definitely an honor to be almost like the face of what this new collaboration between these two most popular entities in the world looks like. Now it’s pro wrestling and the hip-hop industry”
On his plans for defending ICON World Title and if he will be taking it to other promotions: “Canada that’s a very interesting place. I’ve never been to Canada number one. I’ve never wrestled in Canada since I’ve never been I would definitely like to wrestle in Canada. But with the Battle Slam ICON World Championship, and I said this after the show was over when I won the championship, this championship will be defended in multiple places, this championship will not only be defended at Battle Slam shows, this championship will be defended other places as well, at other notable promotions. So I laid it out there, if you really want a shot at the ICON World Championship, you know where to find me. Just holler at me and we’ll get it done. I’ll come to you, you come to me and don’t matter. Doesn’t matter if you’re on the West Coast, Midwest, East Coast, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, India, UK, it doesn’t matter to me.”
On getting a win in AEW over Brandon Cutler after 50 straight losses: “Oh, it was a great feeling similar because I’d beat the worst losing streak in AEW, history. That’s number one. It was also a great feeling because it happened right here in my city Atlanta, Georgia. And as you can judge by the reaction, from seeing the match, the city wanted it. I wanted it. Everybody wanted it. So it was a really good feeling. It’s something that I probably would never forget. It’s like in wrestling, it’s always about the moments. And that’s definitely one of those moments where I know for a fact that I’m not going to forget. And I know a lot of the fans are not gonna forget either.”
On if he is under contract with AEW: “Oh, no, there is officially no contract with them. To a lot of people surprise because a lot of people kind of assume that, which I understand because I’ve been all over AEW Dark and Elevation for two years. Probably more than any other wrestlers to ever appear on AEW. No, there’s no official contract right now. Hopefully we’ll get to that point at some point but as of right now it’s not. We have a great working relationship, but there’s nothing on the paperwork.”
Check out the complete interview at PWMania.com.
