Cedric Alexander On Which SmackDown Star Influenced His Style, Wanting To Wrestle Dolph Ziggler
On episode 318 of The Art Of Wrestling With Colt Cabana, WWE Cruiserweight Cedric Alexander talked about his mother wanting to become a professional wrestler, modelling his in-ring work after WWE World Champion AJ Styles, and being a fan of WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler.
According to Alexander, his parents, who are fans of the genre, supported his decision to become a professional wrestler and saw victories over the likes of Lex Luger and The Nasty Boys on the independent scene as progress, given their professional wrestling fandom. Apparently, Alexander's mother even considered training to be a professional wrestler at one point in her life.
"My mom was actually going to train to be a wrestler, but she didn't do it, back in the day, before I was [training]." Alexander added, "I could have been second generation. I could have been second generation, which is so awesome. She had to get a real job, finish high school, [and] had to get a real job. [This was in the] 80s. She did [share her plans for pro wrestling school]. She told me, I can't remember who she said she was going to train with, maybe it could have been Ivan [Koloff], but she said she was going to do it because her dad was a big Wahoo McDaniel fan. And he would always come home, like, from hanging out with the guys or whatever, come home saying he's going to Wahoo chop someone if they act up wrong in the house or something and she always remembered and passed it on to me."
During the interview, Alexander admitted that he is a huge fan of Styles and that he has modeled a lot of his game off of the 'Champ That Runs The Camp'.
"I modelled myself heavily after AJ Styles. I'm a huge AJ mark, so a lot of the things he does and the way he does them are very different as far as the fluidity and just his general athleticism. I try to do a lot of his stuff, basically. I steal a lot of his moves. And everyone tells me, 'man, what you do, it looks so cool' or whatever. It's just, I copy this guy or whatever, put a little twist on it, and then, okay, now it's mine. That's as far as I think it through, but one guy told me, 'you know the difference between you and AJ Styles? I believe you a lot more because of the emotion.' I was like, 'I guess.' Like, I'm trying to think. I'm just athletic and I can do things. I just try to get everyone to believe what I'm doing."
Also, Alexander claimed that he loves Ziggler and would like to wrestle him one day.
"I'm a huge Dolph Ziggler fan." Alexander continued, "yeah, I love Dolph! I think he's great. I want to wrestle him one day. One day, I will. I will."
Click here to listen to the show. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Art Of Wrestling with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Art Of Wrestling