Matt Sydal On MTV's Wrestling Society X, Young Bucks, Wrestlers Today Using The X Division Style
Impact X Division Champion Matt Sydal spoke with Wrestling Epicenter about Wrestling Society X, the X Division style becoming the norm today, and the Young Bucks. You can check out Sydal's full interview in the video above. Here are some of the highlights:
If MTV's Wrestling Society X would have worked better now:
"Well, I think it is around now. It is called Lucha Underground. It was a trial phase. It is a lot of the same people. It was a west coast show with a lot of west coast producers. They just had a lot of years between WSX to now to learn and grow and find new stars. All the people who were on WSX Season 1 are the life blood of the alternative wrestling business, and now the mainstream wrestling business as well. That is what Lucha Underground is doing. They are taking guys who belong in that mainstream and are giving them the exposure and the respect and the connection to the audience that they deserve. Hopefully they're getting paid! For me, I just like seeing these guys getting paid!"
Today's wrestling scene with so many options for talent and the Young Bucks' impact:
"I just want to thank the Young Bucks for all the houses. That was cool of them and all the guys from New Japan that popped this generation. I remember when I had just left WWE and I was wrestling in England and Germany, I could just tell that this influx of this new wave of wrestling was coming much like it felt when I began wrestling back in '99. What was coming out of England was original acts, people doing it on their own, people not looking for permission. The ECW mentality was reborn! Those guys generated new crowds that are generating a new era of wrestling where the underground is the overground. The internet has given pure equality to everyone. The cream rises to the top. It is the era of not take a job, but create your own job.
That carries over from wrestling to fans at home and whatever they want to do with their lives. Be more like the Young Bucks! The number one thing they did, when they told us not to try it at home, we did! When people told us 'no,' we knew that they were wrong and we were right. We should try it home, we do understand it. And, we indeed understand it more than anyone else. That way when we put on our performances, we connect deeper than anyone else has to this date. Wrestling continues to be an excitement generating monster. You go to a Ring of Honor show to watch the Young Bucks. You go to an Impact Wrestling show to watch Pentagon, Fenix, myself, Brian Cage, Johnny [Impact]. You're never going to run out of incredible wrestling to watch! It is an era of abundance and we're all lucky to be a part of it!"
Every wrestler now working what was considered the X Division style in 2002:
"Well, I think that if everybody is doing that style then there are a few people who truly embody it and everybody else is just an imitator. What you have is a bunch of people who will forever be my challengers and somebody like me who truly embodies the OG, the original styling of the X Division. That's me. I am that man! Of course the X Division title found me. Yeah, the belt has been through a lot of incarnations, but what it has is a linage that you can stand behind. A linage that you can believe in. A linage that is what wrestling is today. I am not like any other wrestler.
I'll tell you something about me, I don't even watch any other wrestling. Not one bit. I'm not influenced by anyone else at all except myself. All my influences come from looking inward, not externally. So, if everybody wants to do the X Division style then they will be left behind in my dust because I am doing the newest style because as the X Division Champion, I set the pace. This X Division is getting pretty psychedelic! I like the way it is looking!"
Again, you can listen to the full interview in the video above.