Hi guys,
If any of you have followed my posts, you'll have seen my focus on British talent and my attempts to be a world class interviewer (attempt being the key word). On a (very cold) trip to see Defiant Wrestling at the Manchester Academy, I got to speak to the one and only World of Sport Champ Justin Sysum about all things wrestling, Marvel and moving to Wales.
What was your first memory of wrestling or your first experience?
It would’ve been watching TNT movies when I was a kid and secretly watching WCW in my bedroom. We didn’t have Sky or anything so occasionally I’d pop to my friends house up the street and we’d watch a Wrestlemania or something. It was definitely WCW and Goldberg, just seeing him kicking and punching thin air was brilliant.
You said you started wrestling at 27, was that when you first decided you wanted to be a wrestler?
I always had in the back of my mind the thought that wrestling might be something fun to do. There was no intention to start it and it took failing in several other sports before I thought you know what, it’s time to just give it a go because it sounds like so much fun. I went along to my local school in Gloucester, got to drop kick a 6ft 5 bloke in the top of the head in the first session and I was hooked from there.
Linking to World of Sport, I can’t talk to you without mentioning the new series, especially considering you are the WOS Champ! How was the whole experience?
It was awesome and really privilege and honour to be given the predominant role in chasing Rampage for the championship. Then in the final match, giving us 3 segments of the show to show the world what we could do. There was a massive buzz at the end of the filming and, at the end, they showed us this highlight reel of what we’d done and it was just so good. We’ve just finished the tour and it went really well with sold out shows all over the country. We did a show in Blackpool and York Hall where a lot of the ITV executives came to watch and everyone was buzzing. So hopefully that means we get a second series but nothing’s been confirmed.
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| Credit: Glen Burrows |
Obviously in the WOS audiences you’d have seen a lot younger audiences than those at shows like Defiant. How was performing in front of more families?
That’s easy for me! That’s my bread and butter. Every school holidays I’m at Butlins with NGW and we perform every day to the family audience which is the same target market as WOS was aimed. I actually find the shows like Defiant harder. I mean kids see me coming out in this cape and pretending to be a superhero and they see me as that superhero. I think the more adult fans see that they’re supposed to cheer for the superhero their instinct is to rebel which is fine. I’m trying to figure out a way to stay true to myself but also entertaining the crowd whether it means amping it even more and getting them to hate me, we’ll figure that out.
Talking about superheroes, I read that you were on the Marvel Superhero Tour Live as Hawkeye, how was that as an experience?
It was awesome! It was my first introduction to stunt work and it was a live action version of the Marvel Universe where people got to see 25 different superheroes and villains. Every show we set someone on fire and flipped a car. I had a bow that used to shoot pyrotechnics out of it. It was amazing and so much fun and I love Hawkeye as a character. The second version of the tour is coming back to the UK at the end of October maybe and they’re touring the UK then going out. There’s potential I’ll be on the tour again, but I’m throwing most of the eggs in the WOS basket if that happens then I’m sticking around. The Marvel tour will only be a short one and I’ll be back after 6 months. It’s a new version of the show so it’ll be completely different.
I also saw that you were the stunt double for the Miz on the Marine 6, how was that experience for you?
It was really cool. It was obviously before my open letter to the WWE on my dislikes of some of their business decisions but no it was really cool and I was really well looked after. The Miz was there, Becky Lynch and Shawn Michaels which was really cool. At one point, during some fight choreography, I was doing it with his (Shawn Michael's) double and then I started calling his match and showing it off to him and he was stood behind with an apple like ‘Hey, I saw that,’ which was so cool. It was wicked and it came out a few months ago. You obviously can’t see me because we did a good job of making sure that it looked like Mike.
You brought up the open letter, what is your view on NXT UK?
It’s exactly what I put in the letter. Unfortunately for me, my intentions as soon as the letter leaves my hands is no longer mine so people will take it however they please. I’m really excited for my friends who had the opportunity and signed the contract because they absolutely made the right decision and it’s been their dream for a long time. I just worry for some of the independent promotions and WOS because we get out competed by WWE which is something that’s repeated throughout history. I was just tentative, I had a little fire burning in my belly and I had to do something so I posted it. Twitter is a negative place most of the time and a lot of people who agreed, a lot who agreed with things I didn’t actually say and a lot of people disagreeing with a lot of things I didn’t say. It’s just one of those things, I learnt a lesson.
As World Of Sport Champ, the world is your oyster so what’s next for you?
I really just want WOS to be a success, and I’d love to go back to Marvel. But if WOS wants me to stick around, I will. I want to build it as a brand that can compete with the WWE and All Elite which is an exciting new promotion with exciting opportunities for people. That’s all I want. I want to make career money before my body breaks down, move to a bit of land in Wales and build my own house and settle down away where no one knows who I am. Become a little hermit.
Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to become a wrestler?
There are a lot of wrestling schools in the UK, some more reputable than others. So the best thing to do is to look to see who the coaches are and whether they are names in the UK or the world. Like you’ve got Fighting Spirit which is James Drake and Zack Gibson’s. I mean come on, it’s going to be a great school with those guys. There are loads of those around the country. NGW have got several and Nathan Cruz and Rampage Brown are the coaches. You can’t go wrong with guys like that so don’t go to along to a school where you haven’t heard of them because they can't be that good. Then hit the gym and get yourself fit to play not play to get fit which is what they used to tell us at school.
As well as being one of the nicest and most genuine guys in the world, he is so talented in the ring and takes every match (and every audience) as they come! With the future of wrestling in Britain brighter than ever, Sysum will carry on being a force to be reckened with no matter which route he takes (whether he stays as Sysum or becomes frickin' Hawkeye)!
Another post, another interview - I hope you enjoyed this interview and there's one more British wrestler interview on the card! So, to keep up to date with all things wrestling and to be first to know when I post something new, follow me on my social media (
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