Marty Scurll recently spoke with ESPN.com‘s Tim Fiorvanti while promoting Ring of Honor’s upcoming events, including this weekend’s Manhattan Mayhem and the 15th Anniversary show. You can read a few highlights below:
Marty Scurll explains why “The Villain” is such a compelling character and different for fans that might just watch WWE or televised wrestling:
It’s hard for me to answer that without writing a 15,000-word dissertation. But I think with me, from what I can see and what I understand, I feel like despite being “The Villain” — in the wrestling sense, I am the antagonist — I feel like I probably have more of a connection with my fans than the majority of the wrestlers out there.
At end of the day, I think people buy me. I think people think I’m organic, I’m authentic. And the messages I spread and choose to tell, I think most people agree with me. You look at the normal wrestling fans, they might be a little bit out there themselves. They probably have a chip on their shoulder like I do. In this wrestling and entertainment stuff, we’re all a bit different.
I feel like my character, in particular, I think a lot of fans see themselves in it. They don’t see themselves as the good guys, they don’t see themselves as the guy that everybody likes. They’ve normally got more in common with the guy that everyone dislikes. So me being like, “Yeah, I’m a bit of an a–h—, but I’m a villain, yeah. And yeah, I am an outlaw. And a lot of people are like, “Yeah, damn, that’s like me.”
Scurll comments on his experience with Ring of Honor so far, his run as ROH TV Champion:
The whole concept of Ring of Honor, to me, is super exciting, because it is a whole new fan base of wrestling fans who have no idea who I am. And that’s why it’s so good for me to go on to something with a bigger platform like the Ring of Honor.
Whereas fans in the U.K. maybe saw the character, the production of “The Villain” in its earlier stages, now it’s a much more polished act, and these new people are getting to see it for the first time. It’s really cool for me when people say, “What the hell is this guy?”
It makes me laugh when I hear fans be like, “Oh, I want to see you wrestle on TV for this company or that company.” Watch me on Ring of Honor. Right now, I’m wrestling the best wrestlers in the world. The wide range of places I am going and people I am wrestling, these are people from all different areas and different countries.
In New York, I’m wrestling Sonjay Dutt, who I used to watch when I was 13 years old. And it’s in New York, so I’m flying my mom and my auntie here to come watch me as well. And then the end of the week after, I’m in Las Vegas, which, again, is crazy. Never been there. Lio Rush, the guy’s like 21 years old. I’m going from wrestling someone who’s been wrestling 10 years longer than me to someone who’s been wrestling 10 years fewer.
What is really fun about Ring of Honor is that I came in and won the Ring of Honor TV title, but I feel like we’ve just kind of scratched the surface with the kind of different characters, the amount of opportunities that I can have there and directions I can go in.
I told Ring of Honor when I signed, I’m coming to help Ring of Honor more than I am to help myself. I want this company to grow, and I’m going to help it do so. I’m going to [make it] the product that everyone in the world wants to see, and if you’re not watching it, you’re missing out.
