Ol’ Mance Warner has wrestled all over North America and then some, baby. Being fueled off of light beers and lariats, The Bucksnort Brawler has quickly become one of MLW’s hottest stars as he currently finds himself situated in a feud with the recently re-signed Alexander Hammerstone.
Last week, The Southern Psycho took time away from that illustrious pay window to talk shop with WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo. One of the matters discussed was Mance putting his steel toe boot right on the ass of MJF and sending him out the door of MLW in what turned out to be 2020’s first of many empty arena matches. When the match took place, the COVID-19 concern was barely in the minds of the mass populous, so little did we all know that fans would be subject to watching the in-ring action strictly from their homes. Warner described what being in that environment was like.
“I mean it’s funny to look back and see that’s the first one. Not the first one in history, but getting all this going you know, that was kind of the first one and then now everybody’s doing it out of necessity they kinda got to,” Mancer said. “I always say I do fights, I don’t do matches. So for me, it’s awkward – it’s a weird thing not to have fans out there cause I draw a lot from the fans, you know? I like that interaction, I like that energy. When Ol’ Mancer’s getting his ass whooped and the crowd gets riled up, that’s what gets me back up so when you don’t have that, it seems weird at first because you’re literally in front of nobody but a camera guy and then maybe there’s some people you know, putting chairs out and whatever it may be.
“So it’s weird, but then it’s cool to look back on it, cause you can hear the strikes. You watch me and MJF beat the hell out of each other, every single strike and chop and punch and headbutt, you can hear it. I mean I get a cigarette put out on my forehead at one point in that match, you know? It’s chaos but it’s a cool thing when fans watch that on MLW and then they come back and say, ‘You know I watched a whole lot of wrestling without a crowd, but that one stood out. I liked that one or I like this,’ so that’s a cool thing.”
The fans and the atmosphere sure gets Mance movin’, and MLW has it’s share of memorable venues. From The Melrose Ballroom in New York City to Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez in Tijuana, the world of Major League Wrestling certainly is vast and Mance has made his mark in all the major cities. He talks about what wrestling in all of those unique environments are like.
“You know how back in the day you play a video game and every character has their own arena? Like in Mortal Kombat they got their own place, right? That’s kind of how MLW is. So if we’re in Chicago, that place is sold out every single time. And then the fans are divided. If it’s me and LA Park, half the crowd’s for park and half the crowd’s for me so it’s cool because each venue has it’s own make up of the crowd of who they like and who they dislike, you know? If we’re in the ECW Arena [2300 Arena] that crowd’s all about Ol’ Mancer cause I’ve been down in that area for CZW, Combat Zone. So they’re all about that. If we’re in Tijuana, if you’re watching a show and you’re goin’ ‘Damn! They hate Ol’ Mancer down here!’ It’s because I’m in there fighting one of their guys!”
So much more from this conversation, including which MLW legends he’d love to square off against & what beers were currently residing in Ol’ Mancer’s fridge. So crack one open and listen to the full conversation below.
Need more Mancer in your life? Fear not, MLW has you covered with their newest feature series, Anthology. Check out Mance’s episode below!
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