Intimidation is a key factor for professional athletes, but James Harrison says that guy you see on screen is not who he is when the cameras stop rolling.
Former NFL star James Harrison recently spoke with WrestleZone ahead of the debut episode of ‘Heels’ and talked about how his ‘intimidating’ persona on the football field contrasts his role in the show and who he is in real life. Harrison plays Apocalypse, a journeyman wrestler whose personality is a little bit more of a ‘gentle giant’ than the guy fans saw on the gridiron.
“If you know me, other than looking on the field and seeing me come out the tunnel and watching me play a game,” Harrison said, “it’s a violent game, it’s not a game where I can just go out there and laugh and smile and get my job done. You’re going to believe the character that you’re seeing on film, it’s no relation to the actual person. It’s a close relation, guys that know me, Allen [Maldonado] can even attest to this and we’ve only known each other for a little over a year, that I have a good side to me that’s not the side that you see [on camera].”
“He’s a goofball, man! James is a goofball,” added Maldonado. “Don’t believe the hype!”
Harrison says his NFL persona was all by design and it was a psychological game to try and beat his opponent before they even locked up on the field.
“Like I said, that’s a persona,” Harrison continued. “I was putting on a persona, I come out the tunnel and I got the mean look, I get to stare around, all that. And I want to try and—before I even touch the field, before I get a chance to put my hands on you—I want you to see the intimidation. I want to try and intimidate you. It shouldn’t work, being that we’re all professional athletes, but for some guys, it does and that’s part of the mental toughness or weakness of certain individuals.”
Heels is airing now on STARZ; you can also check out more of our interviews with the cast, including Chris Bauer, Stephen Amell, Kelly Berglund and CM Punk at this link.
.@jharrison9292 spoke with us about how his NFL on-field persona contrasts Apocalypse, the journeyman character he plays on #HeelsSTARZ, and his real-life demeanor
‘Heels’ is now airing on STARZ. pic.twitter.com/AaofXWRj7z
— WrestleZone (@WRESTLEZONEcom) August 19, 2021
