Pro wrestling may have saved Big Bill’s life.
One-half of the AEW World Tag-Team Champions alongside Ricky Starks, Big Bill spoke during the AEW Full Gear 2023 post-show press conference about how pro wrestling played a big part in him getting sober.
“In 2018, 2019, I was at the lowest point of my life,” he said. “My addiction was in full force. I didn’t leave my apartment, I was drinking all day, from sun up to sun down, and I never thought I would be back in professional wrestling. I thought that I would just keeping existing a miserable existence like I was staring out my apartment window every day, as I just drank myself to death.”
Bill continued, “I guess, the lightbulb went off, and I think wrestling was a big part of how I got sober. My first love in life has always been professional wrestling. From the times I was going to shows at Madison Square Garden as a young kid. There came a moment where I actually believed, if I got back on track, I could make it back to the world of professional wrestling and make it to the top of the world of professional wrestling. I really believed that in my heart. I know a lot of people say things like, ‘I believe I’m going to be the man and the world champion,’ but you can tell when you look in their eyes, they don’t actually believe it. I really believed it. I thought, if I could get back on track, I’m going to make it back to the top of professional wrestling. Now, I’m AEW World Tag Team Champion, sitting at this table as one of the top guys in AEW and I would say that’s the top of the wrestling world. I did exactly what I said I would do.”
Check out the complete AEW Full Gear 2023 post-show media scrum via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
