Magnus interview: Tag team run, current direction of TNA
You had quite a unique journey
to TNA as many will remember
you from the new Gladiators:
"Yeah, well the thing is that I was a
full time wrestler before
Gladiators. I think that’s something
that not a lot of people are aware
of, but for the majority of 2007 I
was wrestling at least 5 days a
week. Then of course the auditions
came along in 2008 and I was lucky
enough to get the part, wrestling
had to take a back seat because,
well Gladiators became my life for
like a year. And you know, it was a
unique in, but it was a very good
chance for me, I mean for a 21
year old to get signed it is, you
know, unusual, but I think a lot of
it was to do with my networking. I
put myself out to meet as many
people and make as many
connections as possible, whereas a
lot of the guys on that show were
content to enjoy it, to bask in the
spotlight and just expect it to last a
good four or five seasons and they
expected other stuff to just fall into
their lap.
"It’s funny, you know I talk to a lot
of those guys now and they act like
it just sort of happened, like it just
fell into my lap. It didn’t, I just
made a lot of the right connections
in wrestling through media and one
of those guys happened to be
James Dent, editor of FSM at the
time, and he became the go-
between between me and Dixie
[Carter, TNA President]. She just
started saying 'well who is this guy?
I want this guy.' So he called me
and said Dixie wants to talk to you,
and I was like “absolutely, let’s
have that conversation.” Dixie has
always been very, very good to me.
She made it very clear that she was
the one who wanted me in that
company and Terry Taylor was very
good to me when he was there as
head of talent…it’s a very different
company now from when I started,
but you know I’ve lasted."
You’ve been closely associated
with the tag team division, who
have you particularly enjoyed
working with? "Easily my favorite
is the tag stuff with [Samoa] Joe.
You know me and Doug [Williams]
in 2009 had a lot of fun and we
were very heavily featured, and it
was the right spot for me at the
time because I was very green. But
looking back on it, we were just
cannon fodder, I mean all we did
was bump for Beer Money and 3D.
You know what I mean we were just
generic, foreign heels. It was good
for me at the time because I
learned a lot, but it didn’t give me
a ton of credibility going forward,
so I kind of floundered a lot after
that. It was only really when me
and Joe came about that I made it
clear to everyone that I was
credible and it didn’t just have to
be a 'body guy' or generic heel. It
gave me a chance to be taken
seriously as a guy who can beat
someone up. As rudimentary as
that sounds, that’s very important.
If you spend the whole time getting
your butt kicked…I think that’s
something that is lost now from
modern wrestling. I think because
it’s accepted as entertainment and
everything else, people lose sight of
the fact you still need some
credibility, you can’t insult peoples
intelligence."
The company has certainly been
evolving as of late, what do you
think of the current direction? "I
think visually, it looks better than
it’s ever looked. I think from a
television perspective and see
Impact Wrestling, it’s a really good
looking wrestling show. I’d love to
move out of the Impact Zone
more. I feel like that…the audience
watching on television live
vicariously through the live
audience and the audience in
Orlando are just…burned out. You
can’t blame the people, they’re just
so used to it. I just feel like a lot of
our work goes to waste, you don’t
get that visceral reaction you need
for a lot of stuff. I mean look at
the TV’s we did at Wembley, that’s
what it should be like every week."
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Magnus interview: Tag team run, current direction of TNA
