During a recent interview with AXS TV, Sami Callihan commented on horror movies, how they inspired his gimmick, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his early horror memories: “I have to say the first Nightmare On Elm Street. It’s still one of my favorite horror movies of all time. I remember seeing it when I was really little. Watching horror movies was one of my first memories as a child, because my family were big horror movie fans, so they raised me to be such. They were always the kind of family that was like, ‘This is fake, this isn’t real.’ So, I wasn’t afraid of it when I was younger.”
On which horror movie really scared him as a kid: “Child’s Play. 100%. Up until I was a little bit older, Child’s Play was the scariest thing to me. My brothers used to torment me when I was little with a Chucky replica doll that our family had. It messed me up for years, until I was probably like 10 or 11 years old.”
On love for Ghostbusters: “Ghostbusters was absolutely my favorite thing as a child, outside of horror. I remember when people would ask ‘What do you want to be when you get older?’, it was either pro wrestler or Ghostbuster. Then I realized Ghostbuster wasn’t a real occupation, so I went with pro wrestler.”
On how horror helped shape his in-ring persona: “I’m a huge Universal Monsters fan. Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Wolf-Man. I wanted to be a character like that was completely over the top. But through time, that had to evolve. It became a more Devil’s Rejects, House Of 1,000 Corpses-type character, and then it went from there to an American Psycho-style character. Right now, I’ve just kind of become myself, which is this crazy dude from Ohio that is enthralled with horror movies and believes horror movies are real, and it’s not so much of a character anymore.”
On his top five horror movies: “Top 5 horror movies in no particular order: A Nightmare On Elm Street, the original Halloween, House Of 1,000 Corpses, Trick ‘R Treat, and I have to say the original IT. I absolutely love the original IT. The new one was good, but it wasn’t what the old one was to me with Tim Curry. He’s one of the best character actors of all time. Anything you put him in is a win in my book.”
On which horror villain he would not want to meet in the ring: “Michael Myers. He was another one that kind of scared me when I was younger. He’s an unstoppable killing force. He gets one vision of you and he obsesses until he either kills you or you kill him. He’s a hard one to take down. Michael Myers doesn’t really have a weakness at the end of the day. If I’m picking a tag-team partner, as far as horror goes, I’m 100% going with Michael Myers. I already pretty much tag with Michael Myers in fellow oVe member Madman Fulton. But to actually have the real Michael… that might be another level of craziness.”
On his tattoo of Elvira: “My family were big Elvira fans, from as young as I can remember. She was one of my parents’ favorites. That’s one of the reasons I have it tattooed on my arm. She’s one of the rare ones I haven’t met yet.”
On his favorite type of horror movie: “I am a big Slasher fan, but if I had to pick one subgenre, I love found footage horror movies. I think they’re completely entertaining, completely different. It’s more realistic to me. I love the REC movies and the VHS movies. All found footage horror movies are my favorites, even though I don’t think Blair Witch Project was that great.”
On how he plans to celebrate Halloween this year: “I haven’t really been able to celebrate Halloween to its full potential the last couple years with my schedule. But, if I’m able to be home on Halloween this year, I’m probably going to be something from the Rob Zombie franchise, because I’m such a big fan of his work and the way his characters look and have evolved over the years.”
