Eric Young says his two world title runs are like a mirror of his career, as they came when he was playing practically opposite characters.
Young first won the world title in 2014, when the company was still TNA. Six years later, he regained the gold shortly after his return to IMPACT Wrestling.
In an interview with Sportskeeda, Young was asked to compare the two title runs, and he explained that the main difference came in his on-screen persona at the time of each reign. He went on to explain that he enjoys the responsibility that comes with being a world champion because it’s the ultimate compliment.
“I mean obviously the difference is in who I was on the show at the time,” said Young. “At the time, my first one, working against working against Nick Aldis, I was the underdog, the babyface. It just kind of happened organically happened on the show where I was coming out of something else and I wasn’t really in the title picture. And ended up cutting this really good promo with MVP, and that kind of lit this fire under the fan base. I was becoming popular at that point, but not like I was going into the match. It was almost like the writing team, they just didn’t have much of a choice. I had to win because of my popularity at that point.
“And fast-forward to coming back to IMPACT now, it’s a completely different company run by completely different people, but the linage of the title is still there. And having won it before, I mean anybody that says they don’t wanna be the world champion is either lying to you or in the business for the wrong reasons. And it’s something that I’ve done twice now, and I crave that responsibility. To me, that’s the ultimate compliment, saying you’re the flagship of this 100,000 show, million-dollar show. So it’s a huge compliment. And the second one was different because I turned heel on my first show back, ‘World Class’ maniac, leader of Violent By Design, so it’s a completely different way of winning it and holding it and carrying it. So it’s kind of like a mirror of my career. I’ve done so many different things from so many different angles and both my title runs came with two completely different characters, so it’s a cool thing for me.”
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