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Being from Glasgow, I think the first time I saw you in the ring was six years ago in Insane Championship Wrestling. What do you take most away from wrestling in ICW and companies like WCPW to the Joe Hendry we see now?
Well, here's the thing. What I will always credit ICW and Mark Dallas with, and WhatCulture, WCPW/Defiant with giving me was a platform... they gave me a chance.
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At the start of your career, you're not hitting it at the park but at the start of my career, I was quite... I don't want to say lucky because I don't feel like I was lucky. I feel like I was in a training school... A handful of people, probably less, that were in there as often as I was. I've worked, scratched and clawed for absently everything I had.
Cody Rhodes' uncle is a WWE Hall of Famer. More details HERE.
What ICW and WhatCulture gave me was an opportunity and it's then down to the talent to take that opportunity and make the absolute most of it. Some talents have had opportunities that haven't used it but to me, I've never been comfortable. I've never been comfortable! The only time in my career I've ever felt comfortable was a point where I was on British wrestling and I was like, you know what? Things are going pretty well, things are going great - this, that and the next thing - and that mentality is dangerous because that's when you start to stagnate.
When you think things are fine and you're comfortable where you are, that is never going to work in pro wrestling. The only attitude that you can have is to aspire for more and to aspire to be better, and I've learned that as the key to success. I can be quite flamboyant or sometimes cocky or arrogant as a person but beneath it all, there is a humbleness about where I'm at and where I need to be.
I've learned you always have to have that student of the game mentality so, no matter what it is, whether it is in ring, whether it is in the promos, whether it is the entrances or even just every detail down to my wrestling gear or my physique, you have to approach everything like a student of the game. You have to be learning at all times, you need to have that hunger and desire for more. I think people always shy away from wanting to get to the top.
Just because I want to be the champion and the top talent in the company, that's not necessarily a bad thing for anybody else. In order for me to do that, I'm going to need to be delivering the best promos, the best matches. I need to work to that level so, hopefully, if everybody has that attitude of getting to the next level, that elevates everybody - so I encourage anyone who is in any promotion at any level or any point in your life just to aspire to be better than you were the day before.
It sounds very cliché but if you come at things from the perspective of a student, you are always adding to your repertoire. "How can I just be that little bit better?" Now the difference is, when you're in a company like Ring of Honor and your at this level, it's no longer about...
When you start, I don't want to say it's easy because it's hard but it's not a secret how to get ahead. If you get yourself in great shape, if you train more than anybody else, if you practice promos more than anybody else, good things are going to happen. When you get to the upper echelon, you still need to do that but it's not necessarily just those basics, we're now looking for those little margins, because really, what is the difference between - somebody I forgot to mention earlier, Jeff Cobb, unbelievable athlete. Who will be the champion between Jeff Cobb and Rush?
There was a fractional difference between Rush and Matt Taven. It's these little marginal gains that are going to be the thing that gets you ahead, so you really need to dig deep and really need to think how you're going to evolve your game and find these little marginal gains.
So, long-winded answer for you, but I'm grateful to ICW and WCPW for giving me these opportunities but, at the end of the day, the talent is the one that has to take what they are given and be the absolute best make the absolute best of it.
NEXT: A new World Television Champion?
