MATT SYDAL

I wouldn't want to go see a comedian if he was using the same jokes. So I'm not going out there trying to do the same thing that and my body's changed, my life's changed and really if people have already seen me do something a 1,000 times, 1,001 is not going to impress anybody.

At WSX I think I was very much trying to figure it out on my own and we were creating our own style and our own thing. I can only speak for myself, I was not trying to be anything. I was not trying to be like anyone else.

The internet has given pure equality to everyone. The cream rises to the top. It is the era of not take a job, but create your own job.

Impact is just always improving at all angles. There is a lot of creativity and thought that goes into everything.

I have a little dojo in Clearwater called the Sai Dojo and I've just been putting in extra work there and so, when I get a chance to wrestle now, my comfort level in the ring is higher, my skills are sharper and I just felt like I couldn't have a better time to get these huge opportunities.

So I don't think one type of wrestling is right and one type of wrestling is wrong, and I've used that ability to unlearn what I've done and really go back and get back in touch with that Dragon Gate style since now there's a lot of guys that can work with that.

So, there's plenty of good heels in the business. I don't see guys who can get fans to rally behind them like I do. It's hard. It's the hardest job in the business and I'm doing it every single night.

The thing I noticed most from challenging from country to country is not the differences but the similarities. Wrestling fans are all the same.

I use the right hemisphere of my brain and what I have is this advantage that makes me exceedingly interesting in pro wrestling.

I watch Dragon Gate, New Japan, NXT, AEW. I love the Lucha Bros, The Young Bucks. Mainly I watch the guys in the shows that I'm on.

That is why I can never walk away from wrestling because there's this moment - the bell rings and everything slips away. The path, the future. There's nothing but that moment right in front of you where the intensity is high, the risk and reward are high, and you have to enter into a mental state that doesn't allow for hesitation.

There are ties that began when I was just a young kid trying to cut my teeth in the business. I would drive 14 hours to wrestle on a Ring of Honor show that I didn't even get paid 20 dollars for.

You know I'd be all about that if there were guys who could take my place as a babyface but there is no one that can step into my shoes. There's no one who can do what I do.

For me, I'm not trying to be the flavor for everybody. But I'm just proud when people I respect or people that I want to be my fans are my fans.

Wrestling has become its own thing separate from what it was in the past and now when people think of pro wrestlers they don't think of Hulk Hogan, they're thinking of guys like me.

Triple H was so generous to me with his time and his knowledge when I was like the young up-and-comer wrestling Chavo, and every life event, after our matches, he would come back and give me just a list of things to work on which is exactly what I see going on in NXT, like how they're adopting a high-flyer style to the WWE audience.

Locker rooms always evolve with the wrestlers that are in it.

For us, our stage is always what it is. It's not about reaching the broadest audience as it's about doing quality work.

Brodie Lee would be a match I'd love to have. When he was the TNT Champion, I was sort of hoping to work my way up to that level.

I do work for Impact Wrestling, but I'm just a straight up freelance agent in wrestling. I can work for anybody at any time. Basically every company calls me up.

So, I can't tell you the mentality behind the stuff, because that's thousands of hours manifested into one moment, maybe in the shower or driving down the road that the idea comes and the genius strikes and sometimes, it happens moments before you go to the ring.

WWE was pretty wonderful to me because I was able to rehab my foot 100 percent before I was released.

I loved wrestling when you had to get a VHS tape from a strange.

When I'm out there, it's not even me who is doing the acting and the wrestling and the moving. It is something that I feel like I see channels more than anything else. So, for me, I tune into the right frequency. I get turned on and we're ready for take off.

Now I think a lot of wrestlers want to get signed so that way they can be with a company where they can learn, but they're really kind of looking for a contract, and I do think that makes sense.