In an interview with Vince Russo on his podcast “The Swerve”, TNA Wrestling superstar Robbie E commented on spending years on the independent scene before being discovered, his Jersey Shore gimmick, focusing on his character and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On spending 10 years on the independent scene before being discovered: “I started wrestling at 16 and signed with TNA at 26, ten years. I went through college, there wasn’t a moment when I slowed down, 2-3 shows a week, I did some WWE extra work, jobber matches, dark matches, tryouts, developmental systems. There were a lot of times where I was led on to believe I was going to sign a contract, but it never happened, other guys my size were getting signed. During that time, I was 160lbs and I was very young when I was trying out, so I guess it wasn’t the right place or the right time.”
On the Jersey Shore gimmick: “I wasn’t doing it period, I wasn’t doing it until you told me to spike my hair up, I never did a character until that afternoon, never did one remotely related to Jersey Shore, I zero never remotely liked Jersey Shore, granted my real life was kind of like Jersey Shore probably. Wrestling character, I never had my hair up, never fist-pumped, nothing.”
On younger wrestlers not focusing on their character as much: “They forget the wrestling they watched when they were a kid, I don’t get why they do that, everyone when they were younger had characters that were larger than life and had polka dot shorts, I don’t know why people forget about that. Polka dot shorts is normal, it’s pro wrestling.”
On teaming with Zema Ion: “Zema was an X-Division guy that did a lot of that stuff, now that he’s our DJ, he doesn’t wrestle as much and has more character. He said that the last year of his life has been the best year of his life in wrestling, he’s having the time of his life, appreciating it more so much and loving it so much more, being full character, goofing off as opposed to having an X-Division match and remembering so many things, getting knocked out.”
The full audio is available at this link.
