TNA star Abyss recently spoke with Eric Moreno for USA Football, talking about his history playing football, and how he adapted some lessons from football to his career as a professional wrestler. You can read a few highlights below:
Abyss talks about how he started playing football as a kid:
“I started playing football when I was really young, maybe 7 or 8, in what was called the Northeast Football League in Cleveland, Ohio. I was always liked football. My whole family, we were huge fans of the game. What made me want to play though was that I was always a big kid. I weighed like 180 pounds when I was 12. When you’re big as a little kid, you get ridiculed or made fun of a lot, but when I played football, I dominated. I felt like my size made me superior to everyone else. The same reason I got made fun of was now what made me good at football. The game boosted my confidence level right to the sky.”
Abyss talks about the level of talent around him:
“My high school experience was really good. All five of us on the offensive line in 1988 earned full Division I scholarships. I believe we were ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today. The competition was great at that time, too. We were a dominant team, but there was a lot of other great teams in that area at the time too. (Future NFL All-Pro) Robert Smith played three miles down the road from us at Euclid High School at the same time, too.”
How he transitioned into wrestling as a career:
“You know, I always loved wrestling, ever since I was a kid. During spring break, instead of going somewhere like Myrtle Beach or places like that, my buddies and I would go to Wrestlemania. I heard this radio commercial for a wrestling school called Bonecrushers, and I went and checked it out one day on my lunch hour. I started training with them and worked on the independent scene from 1996 until 2002. I loved it. I gave up a job where I was making close to six figures for a career where I was making something close to the poverty level.”
What lessons did he learn in football and bring to wrestling?
“I have always loved the physicality of wrestling, but the emotional and psychological aspects are something I love even more. It’s a lot like football. Preparing for a big match or a pay-per-view event is a lot like getting prepared for a big game. There’s a lot of correlation between the two. The physicality, of course, but also the intellectual side. You have to be smart to be successful in pro wrestling.”
