Former WWE Superstar Erick Redbeard (aka Erick Rowan) recently spoke with WrestleZone at Mandatory for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the longtime pro wrestling veteran spoke about missing performing in front of fans, a recent taping he worked without any fans at the show and the three wrestlers he wishes he could work with.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On missing wrestling in front of fans: "Man, I’m kinda dipping in everything right now. But definitely, I miss wrestling. I miss wrestling in front of people and now that people are coming back, you could see me pop up in many different places,” he noted, “especially now that everything’s starting to open, people are vaccinated. It’s just exciting to see people getting back and doing normal things."
On how it was unsettling for him to work the United Pro television taping in L.A. because there were no fans: "It’s funny you brought up Fred, Darren Young, because yes we worked over at United Pro in Los Angeles. It was an empty arena, and it was very unsettling. I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to go back to doing a bunch of that because to me, professional wrestling is for the fans. Over the course of the last year, I’ve done a lot of acting and to me, acting is done intimately in front of a camera with no live crowd, unless you’re in the theater or something, which has also been closed. So to me, wrestling just didn’t feel like wrestling, to me, and maybe it opened the avenues for different parts of wrestling. But then when fans come back, you won’t see a lot of things that you’ve been seeing. So yeah it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out."
On wishing he could work with PAC, Moose and Kota Ibushi: "There’s so many talented people out there. You know, in Japan, I’ve always said Kota Ibushi is a guy I wanted to work. I think our styles mesh quite well. I see a bunch of these big bosses, you got like Moose, that guy seems like a guy who would be fun to work with. I’ll say it now, I’ll say it 100 times, I think PAC is tremendous. I only had a chance to work him early in NXT,” he noted, “[but] I mean that’s just a small little group of guys. I could go on and on and on about being excited about actually getting in the ring with a few of these guys, having these match-ups that you wouldn’t normally see."
Check out the complete interview at Mandatory.com.
WRESTLING NEWS REACTION & DISCUSSION
* For late-breaking WWE & AEW news & rumors, follow our social media reporter on Twitter @MattBoone0709
* Follow Rajah owner Rajah Kumar on Twitter @RajahNews
* Follow the official Rajah account on Twitter @Rajah_News
* Follow the official Rajah Instagram account at Instagram.com/RajahNews
* Follow the official Rajah Facebook page at Facebook.com/RajahWWF
* Join the official Rajah Forums by signing up at Forums.Rajah.com
* Chat with other fans about this article in the official Rajah Disqus feed below, or at Disqus.com/home/forums/rajahcom
