As a recent guest of The Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast, Action Andretti opened up about his influences and who he goes to for advice in AEW. He also discussed being able to quit his jobs to focus on being a full-time wrestler.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Who his influences are: “Mysterio’s a big one. Jeff Hardy’s a big one. AJ Styles, guys who had that same style. Those are guys who definitely influenced me in the ring. The Hardy Boyz, I was a huge fan as a kid, I would always have my Jeff armbands on and stuff. [Renee: “Do you do the dance?”] Of course! I’ll do it right now. CUE THE MUSIC!
Who his mentor is and when he started training: “One of my coaches, who goes by the name of the Bruiser, who unfortunately passed away a year or two ago. He died from cancer, so it was really upsetting for me. I know I’m making him really proud now. It’s cool to think about the story of the first day I met him. He handed me two tickets to the show and said, ‘you can bring a friend, come by yourself, whatever, come check it out.’ I drove back there that same weekend, watched the whole show, and I was like, I knew I had to be a part of this. Started class a few weeks after that.”
Who he goes to in AEW for advice: “Mark Henry’s a big one. He’s a guy that really believed in me. He’s one of the guys that wanted to see me be able to do some stuff when I was wrestling those dark matches. Mark Henry’s been a big help. Jerry Lynn. He’s a guy I had a really good conversation with him right after the Jericho match, and previous matches after, he’s really helped me out with a lot. Other producers back there, helping certain things in the matches that could be better, or maybe you should do this here or there. It’s been a lot. Sometimes I’ll even go to Chris and ask for advice, as much as he probably despises me, I’ll still say hey, what do you think about this. There’s guys who’ve been around for so long. To have guys that have that knowledge, and have been around this business for so long, it’s good to have guys like that around you that you can learn from.”
All the different jobs he’s held: “Just to save up money to get a car, I worked for some company. Once I got a car, I quit that. Then I went to barber school, I worked as a barber for about a year or or two. I knew it wasn’t for me. I can’t just sit here and just do this all day. Man, I worked in restaurants, I was an Amazon Prime delivery guy — that was probably my least favorite that I did. I did tree work, I was on a job where we could cut trees for a while, throw them in the chipper. That would get me in shape, for sure.”
On quitting his jobs to focus on wrestling full-time: “It was just a month ago! When I’m at TV tapings I’m really like, wow. I would usually be setting my alarm to wake up at 6:30 in the morning and put on my stupid tree work outfit and come home all dirty and have to shower off. I get to wake up tomorrow and wrestle in front of all these people. It is a blessing. It feels so good. It’s a damn good feeling knowing that.”