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In being part of the Casino Battle Royale of Double Or Nothing, Sonny Kiss goes down in history as having wrestling within AEW's first official match. These days, Kiss is not only tagging with fellow AEW favorite Joey Janela but also wrestling in singles matches. He has the biggest match of his career scheduled for this week as part of Fight For The Fallen where he battles Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship.
Sonny Kiss, a native of New Jersey, kindly took the time to speak with me on behalf of Sportskeeda on July 13, 2020 about Fight For The Fallen, Cody, Janela, musical influences, and more. The full interview is embedded below, in addition to select transcribed highlights.
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On wrestling Cody at this week's Fight For The Fallen:
Sonny Kiss: My ability in the ring speaks for itself, but this time it's more mental. This is huge for me and I know what I can do, I want to show what my abilities are. It's just about not cracking under pressure and just pushing forward.
On whether he'll still team with Joey Janela if he wins the TNT Championship on Wednesday:
Sonny Kiss: Absolutely. I'd love to win the championship and then manage Joey to singles gold and win tag team gold. C'mon, you know! Never enough gold around the waist. (laughs)
On knowing Joey Janela before AEW:
Sonny Kiss: I've known Joey for many, many years. We've driven together throughout the indies. We've driven 12, 14, 24 hours together sometimes. He is my right hand, he is my homey and I love him very much. He's just so supportive of everything I do. He's an awesome partner and an awesome friend.
On his top AEW accomplishments:
Sonny Kiss: There's three off the top of my head. The first one is definitely being part of the Double Or Nothing battle royal because it was a huge moment for me. It was the first time I performed in front of that many fans. It was amazing feeling. Miss Sandra [Gray] did my gear. Also, it was the Billy Gunn spot that I had with him in the other battle royal on Dynamite. That was a cool moment.
And choreographing, with the Roar, the Jacksonville Jaguars' cheerleaders. That was a highlight for me because I got to work with these awesome, passionate girls who killed it and made my entrance and made my performance the bomb. Those are three of my favorites. (laughs)
On his musical influences and whether they ever have crossed paths with his wrestling career:
Sonny Kiss: My favorite band of all time is Limp Bizkit... They're from Jacksonville... I met Fred [Durst of Limp Bizkit] one time at a concert. I went to a concert called Rock Allegiance, Limp Bizkit were the headliners there. Papa Roach, Motionless In White, ICP, so many people there.
I saw Fred and Fred was like, "ooh, it's the wrestler!" That was so funny, I was so embarrassed, he singled me out. (laughs) He called the biggest Limp Bizkit fans onstage and I got on stage and it was super-duper cool.
