Dalton Castle recently spoke with Ring Rust Radio, here are the highlights…
On working with Jushin Liger and what he learned: Do you remember the way you felt when you saw Jushin Thunder live? Do you remember when he hit that ring the way you felt as a fan? Do you remember that giddiness you felt inside? The butterflies in your belly, the excitement, the smile that you couldn’t wipe off your face? Now trying doing that but being inside the ring he gets in. It’s tough to focus on an opponent when you grew up watching him. What I have learned is to stop liking people. You lose some focus if you do.
On preparing for big matches: Well, I guess I can’t treat a match different. Each match I treat kind of the same. I want to be the best, I want to win, I want it all. If I’m not putting as much focus in one match as I am in the other, then I am going to slip up and something bad is going to happen. With that being said, going up against Lethal and Cole, two people I truly do respect as performers and wrestlers, I do focus a little bit harder. I get a little bit nervous but the bottom line is I have been doing this for a while, I know what I am doing, I am fearless, and I am a hell of an athlete. So I always try to remind myself of how good I actually am and that calms me down a little bit.
What went into creating the Dalton Castle persona and were there any inspirations: Well, I have been building this for several years. You start wrestling, you learn the moves, and then you learn how to carry yourself through a match, and frustration builds when you don’t get the attention that you think you deserve. You try something new and you try something else new and I didn’t see myself getting the focus that I thought I needed or wanted or craved. I needed that attention so I kept thinking about how could I get more eyes on me, how can I stand out, and what are people not doing that I can do? You add a little bit here, you put on a suit, you add a boy or two, and things kind of fall into place. It didn’t happen overnight that’s for sure. As far as influences or who helped paved the way? It wasn’t anybody in wrestling, its rock and roll. I look to glam rock, I look to people who perform on stage regardless of how good their music is, but how they present themselves. People like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Liberace, the guys from Foxy Shazam and the Darkness, those are all people that stood out to me and I kind have taken from them and put it into my own act.
