Moose Speaks! The TNA World Champion talks EXCLUSIVELY with Brass Ring Media on new TNA talent, being champion, match prep for Kazuchika Okada, and more

By: Zack Heydorn

TNA World Champion, Moose, joined Zack Heydorn on a special interview edition of the Brass Ring Media podcast, Spotlight. Moose opened up on major topics like the influx of former WWE talent in TNA, the responsibility he feels as the company world champion, how he prepared for his match against Kazuchika Okada, and tons more.

You have such a history with impact wrestling and TNA before that. You just have such a rooted history and now here you are in 2024, the world champion and the face of a company with a lot of momentum right now. What does that mean to you as a guy that's been so long tenured in the company? 

I have a different view about being the face of the company. Obviously, the character Moose would say that he is the face of the company.  But, as me being myself doing this interview, I would say there's really not one face to any company. There's a bunch of people who make the company, right? Myself, Josh Alexander, Jordynne Grace. My System mates with Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards. It totally is a group effort, right? It's never just one guy, it’s a group of people that gets the wheels turning. And I just happen to be one of the people to be part of it.

It's a great thing to be one of those pivotal people that they look at as one of the faces of the company, right? And, it just shows that my hard work is paying off and just shows I need to do more work to keep that spot.

Do you feel a special responsibility though, holding the title to bring top tier performances and kind of be a leader in the company that's really finding this footing right now?

I mean, is there a deeper responsibility there when you have the title than when you don't? Yeah, I mean, when you have the title, obviously, you're usually in the main events of whatever shows or pay per views and you have to close the show on the bang. So in that aspect of it, yes, there is a lot of pressure to that. But, I make it hard on myself personally. So with or without the title, I still put that same pressure on myself because I'm one of the faces of the company. I'm one of the guys, namely, you think of when you say the three letters T, N, A. I don't want to go out there and ever have a thud because of my pride and my stature and who I am on the roster. So, I still put that pressure on myself, to work my ass over every time I get a chance to step in the ring.

Talk about Josh Alexander as an opponent, as somebody in the locker room, and as somebody you respect as a wrestler. It seems like you guys are really two anchors of the company and you've been the ultimate rivals at the same time.

Josh, it means a lot, man. He's the standard bearer of the company. I mean, if people call me the face of the franchise, people will call Josh a standard bearer. He’s a great wrestler. Phenomenal wrestlers, but our rivalry is going to be one of those things where I'm like the kryptonite to Superman. So, I'm like his ultimate heel, his ultimate bad guy. He's like Luke Skywalker, right? If you think of him as being David, you think of me being Goliath. It's one of those things where I'm always gonna be his ultimate rival to him being the ultimate babyface. And I feel like without me, there wouldn't be Josh, and vice versa. Without Josh, there wouldn't be me, because we both complemented each other. If all fails, we could always go back to a rivalry between Josh and Moose because it's a great story. It sells tickets and we both are great at our craft to make it work.

You recently wrestled PCO in a Monster’s Ball match late, late last year, October at Bound for Glory. Man, those Monster Ball matches are always just next level, intense and dramatic. They seem dangerous, of course. How do you recalculate your brain to have one of those matches on such a big stage, like Bound For Glory, which is one of the biggest events that the company puts on?

It's just business as usual – the same way I prepare for a regular match. It's going business as usual, prep, workout, cardio, study your opponents, study filming yourself and hope for the best.

Are you worried about the danger? Are you worried about some of the big spots and those things that come along with them before you go out? 

I don't think about getting hurt. I don't think about dangerous spots. I don't think about it. I'm just trying to – I mean, I've been doing this on a high level for a while.Any match that you could think of, I've probably been in it a couple of times. I've done it against the best. I've done it in main events. I've done it opening the show. I've done it in the third match of the show. So I'm highly seasoned, so I don't get nervous. I don't think about it.

There's been a recent influx of talent in TNA. Some top names from other larger companies like WWE have come in. You've had Nick Nemeth come in,  Mustafa Ali is there now too. What does it mean  to you as a guy who's been there a long time to see some top tier talent come to TNA?

I'm very welcoming. I mean, it shows that TNA is a hotspot for guys. And I mean, there's other great companies out there that they could go to, but they decided to come and it just shows that TNA has great things going on and I'm always welcoming. To all these guys, until you give me a reason to not be welcome. I  love that all these guys, and they're all great individuals too, so they don't have a reputation for being dirtbags. Outside of wrestling, they're all known to be great individuals. I'm happy that they're TNA and, We're gonna  try to get this train cranking and moving upwards.

What do you see from Nic Nemeth as a performer that lends himself well to TNA? In the ring, but also backstage.

Nick is very experienced. He's an awesome wrestler. He's a great individual, great person, great entertainer. I mean, he's done it at a high level and actually achieved gold at the highest level. I can't wait to share the ring with him and main event Rebellion in the next few weeks.

Working with a brand new opponent like that, are you guys able to kind of just go in there and do your thing, or because you guys are new opponents for each other, do you take more time outside of the ring to kind of get everything together and make sure you're on the same page?

I kind of take a football approach to wrestling. So, every time I wrestle somebody for the first time, I generally watch a lot of their matches. Just so I could build some kind of chemistry mentally with that person. So, I could see how that person moves, what he likes to do, what his cadence is. What speed he moves with or moves on. I do that personally and that's something I learned from Scott D’Amore. I did that with Alex Shelley before I wrestled him because I never had a match with Alex. I did that with EY (Eric Young). I've done that with Okada. And I'm gonna do that with Nic.