NWA personality Aaron Stevens has spoken about the “virus” of wrestlers who have been thrust into positions they are not properly suited for.
Stevens is best known for his WWE tenure as Damien Sandow and his spin-off character Damien MizDow. During his run with the company, he became a WWE Tag Team Champion and held the Money in the Bank contract in 2013.
A Virus Plaguing Wrestling
A veteran of the industry with over two decades to his name, Stevens has seen plenty in the wrestling business. Speaking on the Insight podcast, Stevens addressed what he sees as a major problem in the business today.
“This is a virus plaguing the wrestling industry today. There are a lot of people who are borderline untrained. There was a basic skeleton of what you had to have at a minimum to be able to get into the business and get opportunities in major companies. And the standard, across the board, has fallen extremely low. There are a few amazing [wrestling] schools out there. OVW’s still there.
Speaking about the NWA’s plans, Stevens made his goals abundantly clear with the promotion.
“We want to help bring the standard up again of what wrestling is.”
Keeping an Audience Engaged
For Stevens, comprehensive skills cover much more than what a wrestler does from bell to bell. On the podcast, Stevens spoke about the importance of keeping fans hooked from the moment they walk in front of an audience.
“How do we keep rooting interest? It’s how we dress when we come through the curtain. What colors do we wear? How do we walk? What do we do when they first see us? These are things that at NWA we’re starting to instill to try and train people to not only be good television wrestlers but really be good professional wrestlers in general.
“Because there’s not much of a difference between working a live crowd and TV. When you work TV, yes, you have to be conscious of where the cameras are. But in terms of your timing, letting people appreciate what you are doing as an artist, there’s that element that’s missing [today.]”
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
