Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Low Ki recently spoke with the UK’s Steel Chair Magazine, and below are some interview highlights:
Impact Wrestling is going through a resurgence at the moment, especially in UK, how does it feel to be a focal part of that, especially leading the X-Division as Champion?
Its important for me to be a focal part in the redevelopment of Impact, I’ve been a focal part since the beginning. I’ve been influential in its construction since the beginning. So now I have the opportunity at a different stage in my career, with more wisdom, more knowledge, more experience. It’s a fun position to be in because just coming from experience I understand the different generations of TNA , and now i can pin point certain things that we couldn’t in the past, of which to avoid, which to approach ultimately just improve so that the audience can enjoy it.
You made an instant impact on your return, seizing the X-Division Championship for the fifth time, what was your thoughts on holding the title again?
Well, its important because I was for since its inception. The X-Division was originally based off of me, AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn and also Psychosis. And to be on top again is hard, it doesn’t get any easier as you get older, this is quite a physical art. So matching up against these type of competitors and still being able to hold my own, these guys are getting better every generation because their conditioning and their health is improving early in their careers, so it’s not the case going into previous generations where you can see the development of the body and ultimately what they turn into, instead performers are actually coming in well conditioned which is a different approach than the past, so now you’re facing a higher calibre of atheism and its very difficult to keep up with at times, you got guy like Dezmond Xavier who goes all over the place and kinda reminds me similarly of Amazing Red when he came to TNA in 2002 when the stuff he was doing then was blowing everybody away, and its fun, because its another generation of hungry competitors, they are going through what we went through. It’s now their time coming up, they are chomping at the bit to make a name for themselves and to make everyone know that they belong. It’s definitely an exciting time.
In recent months you have taken part in Wrestling seminars, what advice would you give to young or new wrestlers hoping to break into the business?
I’ll ask them, “How many bodies do they have?”. You only get one, so what you gonna do with it because when you start using that as a business, you have to understand that the business does not care about your emotional well being, it only cares about bottom line results. If you’re going to use that one body in a business you might want to take it into consideration that you will have to treat it well, your body is going to become your vehicle, so it’s no more different than a car, you provide it with the proper fuel it will go far, if you don’t you won’t go far. If you don’t take care of it, you won’t go anywhere, if you maintain it, take care of it, you will be able to use it when you need it. So you have to will have to care of your body and that is not one of the first things you get taught because in the majority of schools that I have seen are more interest in taking money than they are in instructing people on how to maintain their bodies and hat’s an unfortunate position but it is in the nature of people wanting to make money. People will want to make money despite the responsibility of morality or ethics so you will have to protect yourself. This is an unforgiving art, there is no Pension, there is no Union, you would be lucky to get Health Insurance, so you have to think ahead, again these aren’t always things you are taught once your enter a school, you learn this over time after trial and error, they need a lot of information that needs to be brought to the front, they need a lot of information upfront so they can come from an informed position, a majority of people enter pro wrestling at the initial stages don’t come from an informed position they just want to try something which is cool, but it makes you go back to the first question, “How many bodies do you have?”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
