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Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with MLW star and Team Filthy member Dominic Garrini on the Conversations With Love podcast to discuss a wide variety of topics, including his training under Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, why Kevin Owens is on his Mount Rushmore of pro wrestlers, how he differentiates himself among the other shoot-style wrestlers in MLW, his relationship with Tom Lawlor, Team Filthy’s angle with the Von Erichs in Dallas and more. The full audio interview can be found at the following links:
WCSN: http://wincolumnsports.ca/conversations-with-love-90-dominic-garrini-interview/
Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-73z7n-e1fb93
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-win-column-sports-network/id962607803?i=1000482361365
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7xfXIoXQTA
Staying busy through the pandemic:
Spencer Love: “Very, very excited to be joined by another one of Major League Wrestling's finest. The Bone Collector Dominic Garrini joins me on the show. Man, I'm so excited to have you on because not only are you a great professional wrestler, but your exploits outside of pro wrestling are cool as s**t, too, so great to have you on here man. I'll start off with an easy layup for you. How are you doing? How are you keeping busy during during the COVID-19 pandemic?"
Dominic Garrini: “Well, I'm still I'm still here, still living. I got lucky enough that here in Ohio, we opened up a little earlier than some states, so the gyms have been open now for about a week. So, I've been hitting the gym pretty hard, but otherwise just spending a lot of times studying wrestling and just really taking the time that maybe in a different time I wouldn't have to recover my body. My 2019 was pretty tumultuous, a lot of high-impact matches. My body's not the freshest coming into 2020, so really, deep down, getting that time off is really a godsend when you look at it."
How he’s using his time away from the ring to his advantage:
Spencer Love: “Absolutely, man, and in any interview, any video, any whatever iteration it may be that I've heard you speak of, you've always prided yourself on sort of being a student of the game, taking the time, studying wrestling, studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in every way, shape, or form that you can. Has that sort of helped you not only stay sane, but be one of the few that maybe has the ability to take this time to improve as far as pro wrestling goes?"
Dominic Garrini: “Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, it's almost a two fold thing, too, because I'm one of the two - I'm one of the three trainers at the AIW Wrestling Academy here in Cleveland. So I've also spent a lot of time kind of redesigning classes and getting ready for once we're able to reopen our school to get ready, hopefully, you know, another generation of students."
The pro wrestling scene in Ohio:
Spencer Love: “You mentioned a couple of times (you're) from Ohio, training in Cleveland, (there's) a whole lot to go through as far as that goes, but we're a Canadian-based professional wrestling podcast. I would hazard a guess that most individuals listening to this don't know a ton about the Ohio professional wrestling scene. Maybe just give me a little bit of a background on sort of the Indies there and how you really got started as far as pro wrestling goes?"
Dominic Garrini: “So probably, as of right now, the biggest export from the Cleveland indie scene would be Johnny Gargano. Of course, you know, (he's the) first Triple Crown winner in NXT, born and bred Cleveland boy. So, he's probably one of the highest achievers for the Cleveland indie scene. Then, you have a guy like Ray Rowe, who is one of the Viking Raiders, NXT tag champ, RAW tag champ. So a lot of that, and really a lot of the kind of Cleveland wrestling scene, comes from where I trained, and that's Absolute Intense Wrestling. They just celebrated their 15th anniversary last week, not 15 years but since 2005. I always remember when I was a fringe wrestling fan kind of like falling out of wrestling and MMA, AIW was one of the places that I had always heard about. So when I made the decision to decide to train (in) professional wrestling, I actually worked, or actually training a former wrestling ref's kids in jujitsu, and I knew he was pretty knowledgeable about the business. So I said, 'Hey, I said, 'I'm down between these two schools, one of which is AIW,' and he's like, 'Oh, yeah,' he's like 'go to AIW.' He's like 'I know how you are in jujitsu and how you've always wanted to compete (and) wanted to get better', he goes 'you're going to be the best if you go to AIW. That's going to set you up for where you want to be.' And, at the time, when I decided to start training, Candice LeRae was also (training) with Johnny at the time, so we had Candice and Johnny as our trainers, which, you really can't be that one-two punch, you know. Two of the best indie superstars to come our of the indies in the last 10 years. And then, of course, Johnny's the proudest Cleveland export we've got right now."
How Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano differed as trainers
Spencer Love: “One of the things that I found interesting actually, when you were talking about your training in a previous interview was on the surface, maybe yourself and Johnny Gargano aren't the most similar as far as your in ring stuff goes. But, it was really interesting for me to hear from you that he really helped you as far as your training goes because of the individuals he'd worked with in Evolve. Maybe just give me a little bit of background for that for anybody who hadn't had the chance to check that interview out and maybe actually a little bit on how they differed his trainers because obviously (they're) two of the best of the best but wildly different pro wrestlers (in) Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae."
Dominic Garrini: “My first day of training, and I got Candice later on, I said, 'What did you think on the first day,' because she told me that Johnny and her had always made kind of the decisions on how the kids had done the first day, they said they knew I was going to make it because I came in wearing wrestling shoes, because a lot of kids come into their first day of wrestling training in, you know, Jordans, or they come in with a pair of really ratty tennis shoes. I had full wrestling shoes and like I had cardio above anybody they had seen at that point. Now, my cardio ended up getting eclipsed by a couple of our newer trainees that came in after me, but they knew that. So, then, when brass tacks came down, they ended up finding out about my martial arts background. Johnny was really keen, (because) he'd been working a lot with Drew Gulak in Evolve. So he was really keen on to 'you need to start watching Drew, you need to start watching Tracy Williams, watch what they do, because you're gonna wrestle like them.' He goes 'you're not gonna wrestle like me.' He wrestles a much more super-indie style. The only difference - the only similarity that Johnny and I have is Johnny and I I are both self-admittedly not athletic. We both feel non-athletic, and then everybody else looks at us and calls us a****les because they're like 'no, you're athletic.' So my biggest joke is always that I'm 20% athletic. My thing is like that's always been my joke. When it came to training Johnny was the nice guy, and Candice was the mean one. It was never Johnny being mean to me, it was always Candice being mean to me. Mom was the mean one, one dad was the nice one. Dad would let you sneak off with dessert while mom took out your hand and said no. But no, I mean, they shaped all of us into what we've become. And one of the things that I really always respected about Johnny and Candice was a lot of people who are higher profile wrestlers, they end up being able to give their students everything. And then I think those students grow up a little less grateful for it. Johnny and Candice always - we say this. Johnny and Candice laid a cement foundation for a house, but they didn't build the house for us. They made us build our own house. So, however we wanted to live, it was up to us to build that. And that's how honestly me and Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham feel that they trained us."
The importance of having a distinct character:
Spencer Love: “That's very, very cool to hear, man, because you would assume a lot of trainers would sort of take the route of 'Okay, well, let's build the most complete product that we sort of can,' but with someone like yourself, who not only, like you say, was a bit of a natural in their opinion coming in, but with the experience in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in your combat background, I would sort of have to assume that given the you knew a little bit about combat sports initially, it really allows you to sort of build out and really become your own person with it."
Dominic Garrini: “Yeah, absolutely, and that was something that John Thorne, the promoter of AIW and I have always talked about. When a new kid comes into school, the hardest thing is to fit them with something that's gonna make them. There was a really good quote from Minoru Suzuki where they asked Suzuki why Lance Archer and Zach Sabre Jr are so over in New Japan, and he said it's because they're not just playing guys. Each of them is their own distinct style. They do think distinctly, and I think that's one of the things that coming out of wrestling school right now, you have a lot of kids that come out straight just like kick pads, trunks, and flippy, and that's all they do, as opposed to having really distinct characters. That's one of the things that I think John at the AIW school has really helped out. He makes each of those kids have a fleshed out character or you know, the adults, when they come out of school, they each have a fleshed out character. You know what they are the moment they hit the curtain, and that helps the fans perception of them so much coming right out. For me, it was obviously easier because I was able to come out and I was able to have the no-shoes, I was able to have the MMA shorts, and then I was able to go in there and grapple for a couple minutes and people are like, 'Okay, this dude's real.' I will always remember my second match I ever had, I greatly messed up going over the top rope. Me being (in my) second match, I didn't know just roll under. Nah. I completely do it on air and everybody's booing me. And as I'm sitting on the guard rail ready to like beat myself up some dude from the crowd yells 'it's a whole lot different in the ring than in the cage, huh?' and I was like, 'well.' Then, later on in the match I catch a 450 into a triangle and no one remembers the screw up anymore. Everybody just remembers 'oh my god he had that crazy spot!'"
How he differentiates himself among the various shooters in MLW
Spencer Love: “That's cool to hear and it's cool that you sort of touched on my next question for you already because it's one of my favorite to ask anybody working for Major League Wrestling right now. I credit you guys with having one of the deepest rosters in professional wrestling but in your case, specifically one of the deepest rosters as far as like the quote-unquote shooters go. You've got a guy like yourself, you got Filthy Tom Lawlor, Davey Boy Smith Jr. As far as that goes, how do you differentiate yourself? Maybe not even just amongst the entire roster, but as one of those guys with legitimate combat experience?"
Dominic Garrini: “I think Court and MSL have done such a good job in recruiting the various shooters. I think that's what separates us all. You really have kind of each of us as a distinct different guy. Tom is very much the MMA style. King Mo, (it) kind of comes in with him, but King Mo also bring the knockout style into that MMA style where maybe Tom's a little more of a grappler with a little bit more showmanship. Then, you have Davey Boy Smith, who's such a strong catch wrestler. You have Low-Ki, who's such a deadly striker. You have me, who is deadly on the mat with my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and you have a guy like Douglas James, who is very much the hybrid fighter and that's the way you look at it. You know, Douglas has a really great shoot background that doesn't get played up as much because he's so athletic and he's got so much cool offense. Douglas is a really, really, really awesome, awesomely credentialed MMA fighter and Jiu Jitsu practitioner."
Making the mental transition from traditional combat sports to pro wrestling
Spencer Love: “It may be in the more general sense for all of you guys, but how do you guys mentally make the transition over from a traditional combat sport to professional wrestling? For lack of a more eloquent way to put it, dude, I've never stepped in a professional wrestling ring. I would have to assume like sometimes it may be hard to sort of turn the switch off and avoid maybe hurting somebody or going that extra level when you really need to pull back. You know what I mean?"
Dominic Garrini: “Yeah, and that's one of the things you got to learn how to do. I think for jujitsu, since the object usually is a trigger point, it helps me a little more. The MMA guys, it's probably a little bit more difficult, you know, for the Tom's and the King Mo's of the world. But, I think anybody who comes from mixed martial arts over to pro wrestling probably had an affinity for pro wrestling, so they kind of have that idea of where to turn that switch off. You know, Tom's been a massive pro wrestling fan for years. He actually did a little bit of pro wrestling before he did MMA. King Mo has openly spoken about how he loved wrestling for years and years years. So I think that disconnect of being fans of pro wrestling before we did our combat sports probably helps us where we know how to draw that line. But, you know, you sometimes see red, you got to remember to dial it back. Like, I can't say how many times I might have had a guy in a choke and I get the whisper in the ear 'lighten up,' or something like that. Sometimes, it's just you're in that moment and you got to know to dial it back just a little bit."
His relationship with Filthy Tom Lawlor
Spencer Love: “You talked about him and you mentioned him a couple of times in this interview, but what's your relationship like with Tom Lawlor? Obviously, working together over the Super Series, working together prior to that, obviously, as well, but maybe just a background into the relationship there."
Dominic Garrini: “So honestly, I talk to Tom almost daily, which when I started pro wrestling, I would have never told you I was going to become pretty much really good friends with Filthy Tom Lawlor. When Tom was facing his USADA suspension from the UFC, I noticed that he was taking independent bookings and I reached out right away to John Thorne and Chandler Biggins and I said, 'Hey, Tom Lawlor is taking independent wrestling bookings. He is a massive pro wrestling fan and I believe he's trained before so I think he's got a really good crossover potential.' And I believe I said, and I quote, 'he's got Matt Riddle-like potential,' because at the time that was when Riddle was really breaking out, and they were really interested in them. And the best part about that story is when Chandler messaged Tom, he actually thought it was Robbie. The first message was, 'hey, Robbie are you available on these dates?' and Tom thought it was a joke. And then, you know, they had to apologize and it all worked out. So we brought Tom in that weekend. Right away, the idea was to get to Tom and I. So we did a lot of trash talking to each other. We met each other that weekend, we hit it off right away. And then we ended up having a match in, I want to say September of 2017. Tom was really rolling and he was killing it. The main thing we were waiting to see was where - he was still trying to fight the USADA suspension. Then, him and I had a rematch in February of that year. And it's really famous for - he gives me a clothesline to my back and his arm actually slipped up my back and snaps his arm in half. He breaks his arm on my head!"
Spencer Love: “Holy s**t!"
Dominic Garrini: “Clean break! Literal clean break.”
Spencer Love: “Adding new meaning to the phrase hard-headed, hey?"
Dominic Garrini: “Yeah. So I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out because I'm like, 'Oh my God, you broke your arm and we know it!' And he's more of (the) thinking that I have a concussion. I'm like, 'No, dude, I'm totally fine. I just have like a massively thick skull.' So he breaks his arm and then somehow, this dude being a cyborg that he is is back within two months to wrestle WALTER at Bloodsport. Him and I cornered each other on that Bloodsport. He cornered me during my match with Kyle the Beast, and then I cornered him against WALTER and from there, you know, we finished our feud out in AIW and then it was just always a really mutual friendship between us. Always talking, always that. He was one of the guys that really pushed for me in MLW when they were doing the initial Team Filthy run of him, Simon, and Fred Yehi, and he really wanted to add me. The other one that I always talk about really, really going to bat for me for MLW - and it didn't work at first and then when I got there, he was really happy - was MJF. I'd met MJF on the indies and him I hit it off as friends, even though I don't know if he has any friends. He was very into the idea of me being in MLW. This was obviously before AEW was a thing, but he had mentioned me to Court and then (it) just kind of (went) from there, but when I got to MLW, Tom was extremely happy. Tom was kind of working with the Von Erichs and Court pulled us aside and said, 'Hey, do you guys think you guys can make this work if we make you guys a unit?' And we were like, 'absolutely.' And the thing Court was most marked by after the first, I think, three sets of promos we did was how great our chemistry was. And it really we have such a great chemistry because Tom are I are just really good friends."
Facing off with the Von Erichs in Dallas
Spencer Love: “You tied it in nicely as well again, we're even finishing each other sandwiches here man, because I have to ask you - in the history, or at least my personal history of watching Major League Wrestling, of all the individuals I've watched, booed or get heat, you and Tom Lawlor, my friend, stand at the top of that list. What the hell happened in Dallas!"
Dominic Garrini: “So I remember the plan was to do the big kind of turn in Dallas. We knew around the time of Saturday Night Superfight, we were going to do Team Filthy and we were going to reform it. So we had Saturday Night Superfight, and then we did the TV taping the next week, which kind of led everything through I want to say maybe Opera Cup. So, we taped everything. They didn't really have anything per se for me, but Court pulled me aside and was like 'Okay, we're going to do this. I have plans for it.' So they ended up doing kind of a more skeleton crew Opera Cup because they had the tournament. So he hit me up around Christmas time and was like, 'Hey,' he's like, 'we're going to do it in Dallas.' He goes, 'just be ready.' He goes, 'I feel like if you guys do it right, this could be the biggest heat angle we ever do.' And I remember, we knew Eric (Stevens) was coming in and Eric's one of our good friends, too, for Tom and I, and we were all three, I wanted to say at an AIW show or we were just DM'ing. We were doing something and I said, ' just make sure the Von Erichs have the Texas flag, because I think the best way to get the heat is going to be to deface the flag.' And Tom's like 'okay,' and we made sure that the Von Erichs had the flag, so that was kind of where the jumping point was. Clearly the Von Erichs are gods in Dallas, but when you bring the state flag into it, Texas takes themselves so seriously when you bring the state flag into it. I sit on it. Eric hocks a loogie into it. Tom just starts humping it, the crowd just lost their mind. And, the back says when you see that video of the guy grabbing the full trash can and chucking it into the ring."
Why Kevin Owens is on his Mount Rushmore
Spencer Love: “A couple more I've got to ask you before we get closer to winding it out here. One that I really, really wanted to pick your brain on actually, and I know you've mentioned it a couple of times, but as a Canadian podcaster it's always nice for me to hear when a Canadian is on a Mount Rushmore and especially when it's a name like Kevin Owens. Maybe just take me a little bit through and the listeners through why you you enjoy him so much (and) how he got you back into professional wrestling?"
Dominic Garrini: “So when I was a young, a young lad discovering what independent wrestling was, probably about 2004, 2005 I really gravitated - I was what they would call a ghoul. I really liked hardcore wrestling and I really liked all that, but I'd also started to notice how - I was still sort of the chubby kid at the time. So the first independent wrestling tape I ever got, really, I ordered from a website with a money order was I ordered Cage of Death Six from Smart Mark Video and I bought that for the main events which were the two cage death matches. In the end, those were there, but there was one that stood out to me more than any of them and it was Super Dragon and Excalibur versus Kevin Steen and El Generico. I always remember how much Kevin Steen stuck out to me in that match. Just everything he did. The attitude, the way he moved, you know, the moves that he did everything stuck with me, and (he) was a guy that I followed from there on out. I was following all the stuff he did in IWS. I was following his extended CZW on at that point. He had had a couple small tryouts in ROH at that point. That was one guy that, even when I was getting out of wrestling, I was always cognizant of where he was. What was he doing and Ring of Honor? What was he doing here? What was he doing there? When it came down to the fact of I was really burned out of competing in Jiu Jitsu, it coincided that that was when his big WWE push started. I'd gotten back into the WWE about two years before my decision to be a wrestler. 2013 was when I got really back into the WWE. I got back in because Bryan Danielson, who's my other favorite wrestler, was killing it. And then I saw Kevin Owens or Kevin Steen got signed I was like, 'holy s**t,' and then NXT on the Network and I was like, 'Okay.' So then, I'm watching Kevin Steen just come right in and win the NXT title so that was firing me up. And then, literally the week I came back from the worlds where I lost was when he had beaten down Cena at Elimination Chamber. I watched Elimination Chamber in LAX, because I was flying back from the worlds and I didn't want to miss it. And, I went to that RAW in Cleveland and him having a big part of that show and from there on out, it was just kind of like, 'okay I'm gonna go to wrestling school,' and you know it's been awesome, his success since then even, you know, Universal Champion, (a) great WrestleMania moment this year, and a guy that's gonna keep on ascending the ladder hopefully."
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