Marko Stunt spoke with the media at Starrcast and talked about how it feels to get hired by AEW and premiere on a mainstream network like TNT. Stunt says some people might doubt him, but it’s a dream come true and he’s enjoying the experience.
“It’s obviously a dream come true to me. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to be where I am today. I have a lot of people telling me that I shouldn’t have the opportunity to be where I am today. I think that a lot of it comes from me being the size that I am. I feel like I’m one of those guys that shows other people that no matter what your size, no matter what you have going for you, you can always achieve your dreams. I know that I had a lot of negative stuff going for me but it’s super cool that they took a chance with me and that they’re allowing me to show what I can do on a national stage. On TNT? On TV? What?!
I got this mindset backstage that I’m freaking out. Like ‘oh my gosh, why am I here?’ But then you go out there and you start performing and you’re in your natural habitat. Wrestling is wrestling when it gets in the ring. That’s something that helps me. So I am loving it no matter what, good or bad, I’m still able to work for a great company and I’m on TV. I’m loving it.”
Stunt was asked who he admired as a child, and he named Big Show as the wrestler who inspired him to be a wrestler. Stunt elaborated on his answer, noting that while their respective statures are not comparable, he thought Big Show was a great character and it made him pursue wrestling.
“Big Show. I wanted to be seven foot tall—let me start. I loved seeing Big Show and Kane and Undertaker just throw guys around. That was my favorite. They could just pick em up and slam them and I just thought that was incredible. I want to do that one day, be seven foot tall and chokeslam people and step over the bottom rope. Well, let me tell you, I can’t even step through the middle rope now. So that didn’t work out, but… no actually, Big Show is one of the main reasons I got into wrestling. I thought he had such a cool character and he was so badass. I was like ‘I want to do that one day.’”
When asked if he thought he’d ever get to this point, Stunt said he didn’t think it was a real career goal up until a few years ago. He said he’s glad he didn’t take the advice of someone telling him to stay home and train more, because he’s reaping the rewards now.
“No, never. When I was growing up, I never believed it was a possibility. I’ve wanted to obviously, but it wasn’t until like a couple of years ago, even after I started wrestling, that I thought “Okay, maybe I can do this.” Because I had a lot of people telling me that I couldn’t and I shouldn’t. I actually had somebody tell me that I needed to stay in Mississippi for at least three or four years before branching out. I’m glad I didn’t listen to that. I never expected to be here but I can tell you that I’m very happy to be here.”
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