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Yesterday, I interviewed AEW's Max Caster of the Acclaimed. PWInsider.com Elite subscribers can listen to the entire 35 minute conversation right now, but here are some select highlights. Thanks to Billy Krotchsen.
In advance of competing for Wrestling Open tonight live on IndependentWrestling.TV, the similarities in the AEW and independent wrestling locker rooms in 2022: "You know, I would say it's not so different between the locker rooms. Obviously your experience level is different. We have a lot more veterans in AEW, locker room leaders, people you can go to. At Wrestling Open, I think I'm one of the guys that the young guys will go to to say, oh, you know, I have to be on the microphone in a couple minutes. What do you think I should say? How should I say this? You know, how do I get this point across and they'll talk to me. Same thing - I'll watch their matches back and say well, you could have done this a little bit better. Or they'll ask for advice on anything. You know how to get extra work, things like that. So I think there's that flip back and forth. In AEW, I'm still seen as a younger guy, a newer guy, albeit a very popular guy on the show. But a lot of guys here are my senior. At Wrestling Open, it's kind of the opposite. As far as like, the camaraderie I would say it's the same. You've got people who are friends, people who aren't necessarily friends, but everybody comes together and puts together a great show every single week."
Wrestling Open Talents ready for a spotlight on the AEW Stage: "First off it's The Shook Crew, Bryce Donovan and Bobby Orlando, those guys right now have the argument to be the best tag team on the independents right now, two of the best wrestlers period on the independents right now. And I believe in those guys so much. They've helped me a lot, even to this day. I'll talk to them every day about the things that I'm doing and they are two of the smartest guys in wrestling. And they were on Dark and Dark Elevation and they did a great job. And I would love to see them get jobs here at AEW. I think they would fit in quite nicely and they deserve it. Aside from that, a guy like Jay George, I don't know how much you know him but he is easily the most creative guy that I know in wrestling who can turn anything into a cinematic masterpiece, watch his videos, watch his highlight packages, the way he will promote his matches. It's different from every single person out there and it reminds me a lot of what I was doing right before I got signed on the independents where you know, I'm putting out rap videos, I'm sitting in my basement dissing people on camera, and that made me stand out and I think it's only a matter of time if he has that consistent body of work, it's only a matter of time before he gets noticed on the same level and people start booking him and flying him places and demanding that Jay George is on the show. So I take those three guys, specifically, Bryce, Bobby and Jay George, all need to be at a higher level very, very soon."
Why Create-A-Pro, where he trained, has become such an important hub for developing stars: "The one difference, aside from our trainers being great, high level, aside from the facility being great, the biggest difference that I saw from Create A Pro to going to other wrestling schools and promotions is that there was never any drama that between the trainers, the wrestlers, anything like that, and when there was that would get handled quickly, somebody would get kicked out, we would be talked to about it, you know, we would learn these lessons and nobody had a problem with it, everybody was was cool. I think that's a lot with Brian Myers and his temperament where, you know, I know, people have tried to get me in trouble and, you know, call him up say, "Hey, Max is doing this or that" and he'll just say okay, like, it really doesn't matter. It's typical wrestling drama, it doesn't matter. So once you get past that, then it's just wrestling. And you don't have to worry about that. And I think I've benefited from that so much where I'll talk to other wrestlers and they say, "Well, I had this problem with my trainer. I had this problem locally." I go, wow, I must have skipped all that. Because nobody ever gave me any sort of problem in wrestling that I couldn't handle myself. Nobody was trying to stab me in the back or at least I didn't know. And nobody was trying to keep me down. Everybody's just like, oh, yeah, here's another guy. He's working hard. And that's all it was. So Create A Pro, it's just the lack of drama, the lack of, you know, putting up with a typical BS that you put up with in wrestling that people do because their egos are so damaged and they want a little bit of power. There's a lot of trainers out there that just want a little bit of power. And they hold that power over wrestling students. And those kids are paying thousands of dollars. They're getting beat up and they're getting beat up unnecessarily or treated poorly, just because that one trainer feels bad about themselves. So you know, we didn't have that at Create A Pro and I am thankful for that every single day because I think we pass that kind of attitude along as we go higher and higher in wrestling."
The Acclaimed's Dream Match for AEW Grand Slam II in September: "You know, FTR, I say those two guys are individually two of the best wrestlers in the world. Top five easily. We wrestled them recently. I would love to wrestle them again. But I will say it's been a year and a half since we've wrestled the Young Bucks and I would really like to get my hands on those guys again, and prove that from the team they wrestled back in 2020 when we were 10 matches in, we're a completely different team now. We've improved so much - our chemistry, our presentation, the things I can say about them at this point. I mean, I would love another chance at the Young Bucks, just to prove who is the better team in this moment. And I know it's me and Anthony."
His message of fans who have supported his career and The Acclaimed as a team: "Yeah, thank you Mike. Thank you for having me. A couple of things. If you guys want to support the Acclaimed, the best way to do it - during the shows Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, use the hashtag tweet, #wherestheacclaimed, #wewanttheacclaimed, #acclaimedfortagteamchampions. If we're on the show, watch our segment. Go back on YouTube, watch that, tweet about that. Because those are things that the office here looks at as metrics and stats on who's performing well, who's doing well for the company. Buy the shirts, buy a little bit of merchandise. I think I have a basketball jersey coming out soon - need people to buy that. These are ways to help the Acclaimed, helping your independent wrestler. Wrestling Open - a great show. You can watch it from home on IW TV. You can go to the show live in Worcester or you can do some research and find whatever independent promotion is in your area. But I'm happy to be a part of AEW and I'm thrilled to be a part of the independent scene still, helping guys and staying sharp and just getting out there in front of people. I love meeting people face to face. You know, it's something that we don't always get to do at AEW, we have such a big crowd, but at an independent show, I could meet everybody. So I love being there. If you see me, come say hi. And thank you, I appreciate you having me."
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