IMPACT star Cody Deaner recently spoke with Denise Salcedo from The Sportster about his new character with the group, Violence By Design, referring to the change as a “creative revolution.” Hear his full thoughts on the subject in the highlights below.
On the new version of his character in Impact:
“It’s been scary. Some people are seeing the new version of me and are saying ‘I’m scared of you.’ But it’s also been scary for me in the sense that it was risky because I was very much comfortable with the previous version of myself. I’d been kinda portraying that character for over a decade and was very comfortable both in the ring and out of the ring with my look and how I live my life and how I portrayed myself in the ring. I decided I need to make a change, I needed a creative evolution and I decided to take a risk.”
Says he had second thoughts about shaving his head:
“Maybe the one moment was when I took those clippers and shaved my head, my big long mane that I had been growing for over a decade. I looked in the mirror and thought ‘oh crap.'{laughs} Maybe this was a mistake and if it was there is no turning back now.”
Talks the creative process for Violence By Design:
“I’d heard that there was potentially going to be a group kind of forming and revolving around Eric Young, who has been my friend for over twenty years. He actually had a hand in training me. But nothing was set in stone and I kinda got the creative juices flowing and decided this was something that I wanted to be a part of. It’s time to evolve and the time is now. So I pitched the entire thing, how the transformation could happen, what it would look like and we ran with it. The group name was come up with, by myself, Eric Young and the guys in the group. The creative process has been super fun and super satisfying because it’s our baby. We’re creating what people are seeing right now so I couldn’t be more proud of what we’re coming up with and what we’re presenting to the wrestling fans at this point in time.”