Brian Kendrick opens up about coaching Bad Bunny.
Bunny defeated Damian Priest in a San Juan Street fight at WWE Backlash back in April, a matchup that received critical acclaim and highlighted the hip-hop superstar’s progression in the world of pro wrestling. Kendrick was someone who trained him for the matchup and spoke about the process during a recent interview on Sportskeeda’s UnSKripted show. He says that he got involved with Bunny back at WrestleMania 37 and that the two just clicked and wanted to work together in the future.
So the way I got involved (initially) was when he had his tag match, WrestleMania in Tampa. When he was doing the Grammys out in L.A., I had access to a ring. He wanted to continue to train, he had already been training in Orlando with Drew Gulak and Adam Pearce and I know there’s some luchadors that helped him out as well. I don’t remember who but I know he’d been down there training and then I just met him when he came out for the Grammys and we clicked, at least what I thought the training should be. I think he liked what I thought the training should be and that was it. That’s how I got brought back, I think through his and Damian Priest’s assistance because we had a nice working relationship, and so far, I think he was very comfortable working with me and trusted that I would make sure he didn’t get hurt.
One thing that Kendrick was adamant about working on with Bad Bunny was his punches. He tells UnsKripted that he wanted Bunny to feel the intent behind them.
Dude, I’ll tell ya, the stuff that I wanted to work on, like punches because you’re gonna be throwing punches. You’re not gonna be doing arm drags. Let’s see some punches. Man, I think he throws some pretty good punches and there’s a lot of wrestlers who can’t throw a punch. They won’t throw ‘em in a match because they can’t throw ‘em good and I think Bunny throws a punch that you can feel his intent behind it and that’s what matters. Not the precision but the intent and I think you can feel it. His timing, his camera awareness. I think he was a natural, a natural showman.
Kendrick also covered a ton of subjects regarding his own pro wrestling career. You can check out the full interview below.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)