Top of the evening to you, boys and girls. Cewsh here with a treat and a half for all of you. See, we have the best, smartest and handsomest fans in the world, that goes without saying. But sometimes, despite them being so smart and amazing, and despite us being face meltingly great, on occasion our fans have a tendency to believe that there are things we cannot do. Build a life size replica of the Louvre out of marshmallows? Probably not. Obtain morally questionable photographs of famous celebrities with inanimate objects? Yeah, not so much our thing. But when some of you wondered what had become of the former Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion Xavier, some of you didn’t believe we had the journalistic prowess to find out. Well thanks to some friendly probing and one incredibly nice and rad former wrestler who has a great appreciation for his fans, we did just that very thing.
So without any further ado, allow me to present our one of a kind exclusive interview, as we go 5 rounds with the man they call X.
Xavier: When I began to think of names I felt as though it should be one that stands out. The name itself should mean something and be unique, in both sound and look. Right away when thinking of names I thought of X-Men and the character Xavier. The name stood out, and there was just something about the X that got my attention. He was also the top X-Man with a specialty in mind manipulation, which l happened to love.
Regarding MMA, I believed the name has to be catchy, because if not, people can easily forget. Instead of asking, “Hey remember that guy so and so, who knocked out the champ?” they ask, “Remember that that X guy, Xavier who knocked out the champ?” and with that, I began to use the name, John Xavier.
Xavier: The match by far, of which stands out to me, would have to be the infamous ladder match of 2001 for ICW against LOWKI. We both tore the house down and it was to be the last match at the renowned Elks Lodge, therefore, we had to make it magical. In fact, there was a spot we did that has never been done before. A sunset flip power-bomb off the ladder of which my good friend Eddie Guerrero ended up using on a ladder match against RVD on WWE. Today, this move has become a prominent move in ladder matches everywhere.
Xavier: I was there from the very beginning and loved my time there. Unfortunately, as time passed, I parted due to differences with the Booker, as well as injuries.
To be honest, my observation is this; the product has grown, however it does not have the same “grass roots” of the original movement so to speak, known as the ROH. Today, ROH has lost a certain standard of uniqueness in terms of characters, wrestling style, and fans. Examples of what I mean are the following: everyone looks the same in terms of build and body type; everyone tends to act like “superman” and get up for moves that normally would finish someone off – and to be honest, they look weak; if you are going to act the part – look the part. Not everyone can be superman in the same story.
Regarding the industry as a whole, I believe it is slowly diminishing due to MMA’s popularity. When wrestling was big, people thought it was real. That “realness” has lost its way. Clearly, we know MMA is real. MMA today, is using the same marketing tools, wrestling used when it was “big”, which makes for a more substantial draw when you believe what you are watching, to be real.
Xavier: When I look back at my wrestling career, I do smile. It was never about the money, but rather the competition in wrestling. I thrived off of the reaction of the fans. For me, it was about putting on a show and keeping people entertained. I did my best – no regrets here.
Xavier: The transition for me was not that difficult of a one, to be honest. The biggest difference is training harder to fight – but even in wrestling I always gave it my all, and still do to this day. Currently, fans today can catch me wrestling for ICW, out of Queens, NY and a few shows that are coming soon to other Northeast locations.
Predominantly, I have been focusing my energies and time on my MMA career – and will be fighting in amateur Kickboxing , Muay Thai and MMA fights within this year, until I turn Pro in MMA in 2012. As soon as I receive the dates, these fights will be posted on Facebook.
You can check him out there for all of the info at facebook.com/mrjohnxavier.
Well that’ll do it for us this time boys and girls. We hope you enjoyed catching up with the X Man himself, and please by all means, support the man and get behind him, because he was nothing but gracious and giving to us in doing this interview. So pull out your old ROH DVDs and buy tickets to the fights to root the man on as he saddles up on his road to gold. In the meantime, keep an eye out for our special fan powered (like you guys, not the ones that blow…yeah you get the idea) dream card reviews, the Cewsh Reviews/I Have An Opinion Super Mega Ultra Technicolor Dream Card 2: Electric Boogaloo coming this week, and until THEN remember to keep reading, be good to one another, and throw up them X’s.
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