Grayson Waller – On WrestleMania in Australia and Matty Wahlberg.
Infamous wrestling interviewer Chris Van Vliet recently sat down in Brooklyn NY, and had a conversation with Aussie WWE star, Grayson Waller.
CVV – What are your first memories of pro wrestling?
Waller – When I was a kid, we got what was called Optus in Australia, so I only got WCW. Most of my first memories was like WCW. I remember Sting a lot, just because there used to be advertisements for Starrcade 97. That’s what kinda got my interest, I have no idea what this is. So a lot of my early memories of wrestling is WCW and at the time, I’m having no idea how bad it was, I was thinking it was the best thing I’d ever seen. I’ve since revisited and noticed that there’s some great and some not so great. That was my first memories.
CVV – At what point did it feel like this was something I could actually do?
Waller – I’m super late into wrestling cause my life kinda like, I got into MMA really big when I was 17 – 18. I’d still watch wrestling, but I was more into MMA, I just loved it. I loved UFC. So, I started training in MMA and then my life took me in other directions, I got a degree, I went travelling, wrestling was always like, I was just a fan, and I got to 25 and in wrestling can be late. You look at some of these guys like Je’Von Evans and stuff who are wrestling when they are 15 -16. I got to 25 and I was like “I don’t wanna look back and go, I wish had of done this. Oh, I would have been so good if I tried it”. That thought terrified me, so I thought, I have to go for it and thank god I did, because it completely changed my life in a positive way.
CVV – Did your background in boxing help in wrestling?
Waller – Yeah. Extremely. My first day I trained at the PWA Academy in Sydney which is run by Robbie Eagles from NJPW and Madison Eagles who is probably the best women’s wrestler of all time in my opinion. All the rolls and stuff, I’d kinda done before. Especially with the MMA and Ju Jitsu so the elements of it I already knew so I kinda got a bit of a head start. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a wrestling school before. The students are horrendously bad. Wrestling schools are known for horrendously bad students. Don’t let the NXT Performance Center confuse you, normal wrestling school is like, I’ve never seen someone who is like 27 and never been to a gym and go “I can play in the NFL, I’m just gonna start playing football”. It doesn’t happen, but for some reason with wrestling fans come in, they’ve never done anything physical but like “I can do that”. I’ve seen them come in day one and they can barely do a push up and they’re in pain and all those things. Luckily, I had been athletic, I’d played sports, I’d done MMA, so I came in and had a little bit of a head start on everyone.
CVV – When you were on the indies, who was Matty Wahlberg?
Waller – If you ask anyone who knew it, Matty Wahlberg was Grayson Waller, like there’s no difference between those two people. Obviously, Grayson Waller’s a little bit flashier, little bit TV version of Matty Wahlberg but Matty Wahlberg was me. I liked wearing sport jerseys so I always wore sport jerseys. I like talking trash. I love Connor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Chael Sonnen so I said a bunch of wild things to try and get attention. I don’t think there is much difference between me on the independents and me here which is for the fans of me, who knew me before WWE, I think that’s cool for them to see.
CVV – Were you a Wahlberg brother? is that why the name?
Waller – So, Mark when he was on tour in Australia in the early 90’s spent a night with my mum. That’s what she’s told me. I don’t know who my dad is and so I assume it’s Mark Wahlberg. I like to think that’s where I got my looks and my charisma from. She hates when I say that, but thats what I attribute it to. I think Mark Wahlberg is my father. So that was Matty Wahlberg’s character mindset. I don’t know if you’ve watched How I Met Your Mother, Barney thinks that there is this celebrity who is his father and he kind of attributes all these things in his life to pretend thinking this guy was his father.
CVV – With WWE doing so many international shows right now, do you think they will get a WrestleMania in Australia?
Waller – Honestly, If I have to be honest. No Australia! I’m sorry, it’s not gonna happen. The time zone is rough, and I get that. WrestleMania is such a big show. It’s our showcase. We want the most eyes on it. In Australia, I think would be a very difficult process to have. Especially flying everything down. It’s a big effort but I think having Elimination Chamber there is massive. I don’t think people realized how massive it was. That’s the show that sets up WrestleMania. All the things that happen on that show, setup the biggest show of the year so, for me, I don’t think WrestleMania is ever going to be in Australia. Would I love it to happen? Obviously. I would mean the world to me but I’m realistic and I think Australia has the opportunity to have way more big shows, and I’ve heard some whispers that we might be heading back somewhat soonish. I think that I’d rather have us stand alone. Hey this is Australia, and this is what we do. We have so many Aussies in WWE right now that we could almost fill a show with Australian’s. We’ve got Zaryia whose turned up now too. With Rhea, Duke, Bronson, Indie and me, that’s almost a full card.
You can check out the rest of the hour and 5-minute-long interview at Chris Van Vliet – YouTube
Hello, I’m Scott aka RAZ. I’ve been an avid wrestling fan for over 30 years and have dabbled in both the world or pro wrestling and music. Previously commentated for Iron Fist Pro in South Australia, I now focus on more of the mainstream wrestling and run a few shows on YouTube where I breakdown the most recent happenings. Glad to be part of the team here at PWdownunder.com.
