Matt Griffin talks about what stands out for him when looking for new wrestler to bring to ACTION Wrestling.
ACTION Wrestling is often considered to be one of the top independent promotions in the south. The company regularly hosts top independent performers like Billie Starkz, Adam Priest, Alex Kane, as well as up and coming names like Brogan Finlay, Rico Gonzalez, and Eli Knight.
While speaking to the Under The Ropes podcast for a new interview, ACTION Wrestling CEO Matt Griffin was asked to detail what exactly he looks for when bringing in new wrestlers to his promotion.
“I mean, what stands out to me are generally going to be the professionals and things. Do they look like they belong, do they understand their character? It’s not always the moves that they do, it’s how well they do the moves that they do. You don’t have to do moonsaults. If you can do five chops, okay, but if you can do one chop and get it over and have it be a moment, that can be more effective than doing multiple chops. Can you understand timing, can your transitions and your in betweens look good?"
Griffin then went on to talk about out of the ring stuff and how the small things make wrestlers stand out more than anything.
"The outside of the ring stuff, I don’t really watch promos that get sent to me because I don’t have a lot of my wrestlers talk, so that’s less important. How is their presence, if you watch a match with The Skulk (Adrian Alanis & Liam Gray), you know that their entrance is not a thirty second entrance, that’s a big part of what they do and you feel it. A lot of people just absolutely hate them and they get heat just on their entrance, before they even touch the apron. There’s lots of people who come in and they slide in the ring and there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s because they’re too young and they don’t understand their character or what they can bring. It’s always those types of things, it’s rarely can you do a moonsault, suplex, or body slam. It’s never like, ‘Are you going to do something fucking stupid’, because anyone can do something stupid. I’ve done that myself. It’s the small things because that’s what's going to make you stand out. I’ve been sent lots of matches that people thought were good and I’m like, ‘This is adequate, this is average. You executed the moves like they were supposed to be executed and you had a seven minute match and nobody got hurt.’"
Griffin finished off by saying that he's trying to be a cut above other indie promotions, noting that he wants ACTION Wrestling to become a national destination for independent wrestling.
"I’m trying to be a cut above. I consider ACTION Wrestling to be a promotion that’s based in Georgia, but not really a Georgia promotion. I want to be a national independent wrestling show, I want to be seen on IWTV weekly. We bring in people from lots of different states and that’s why I want to have a higher level and a higher expectation.”
ACTION Wrestling is set to return to the Roger Spencer Community Center in Tyrone, Georgia on Friday, August 11 for their 'Into The ACTIONVerse' event. Fans can learn more about the show by visiting ACTION's Twitter page at this link.
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