IMPACT star Cody Deaner spoke with WrestleZone ahead of tonight’s Hard To Kill pay per view, where Deaner will be teaming with Eric Young and Joe Doering to battle Cousin Jake, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhino. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Why he changed his appearance and his attitude:
It’s very simple—I have something to prove. I have proven that I can make people laugh and I can make people smile. I’m proud of that because not everyone can do that. That is a skill that is not appreciated enough in professional wrestling… Unfortunately, if we’re talking the truth, that skill set does not make you a whole lot of money. You don’t make a lot of money and you’re not a top guy. There’s never been a top guy in the business where all they ever do is just [comedy]… I’m a top guy that can make the audience feel more than just the fuzzies on the inside. I can make them feel a whole range of emotions and it’s time for me to prove that because I have that ability and I wasn’t able to show that before.
Discusses his lengthy relationship with Eric Young:
A lot of people don’t know this or realize it, but Eric Young and I have been friends for twenty years. He was at my wedding, I was at his wedding. He was there my very first day of wrestling school, he trained me in professional wrestling. So the stuff you’re seeing on TV is not just some fictional thing and a wrestling company just thought of this crazy thing, ‘let’s put Cody Deaner and Eric Young together.’ No, this is real.