Indie wrestling star Vinny Pacifico, who has made appearances on AEW and NXT television, recently joined The Spotlight podcast for a discussion about all things pro-wrestling, which included a story about Bryan Danielson getting him into the sport. Highlights from the interview are below.
Shares story of Bryan Danielson getting him into wrestling:
Funny story, I went to a meet and greet to see Daniel Bryan [Bryan Danielson], my favorite wrestler of all time. ‘Hey, I’m a huge fan,’ I was 14, I think, ‘I want to wrestle.’ He said, ‘Just go for it. Just do it.’ The hardest part of doing something is to start it. I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to do it.’ I was playing football in high school as a quarterback. I told my father, ‘I want to wrestle.’ ‘Just do one season of football.’ ‘Nah, I want to wrestle.’ I did agree to do three months of high school football. I hated it. I love football, but I hated it because I was forced into doing it. I wanted to wrestle more than anything else. I was miserable on the field. I just wanted to wrestle, it’s all I wanted to do. I finally went to wrestling school, Ring of Honor dojo, and trained. I’m so blessed to have gotten the opportunities I’ve gotten and the people I’ve met. Cheeseburger, BJ Whitmer, Delirious, Jonathan Gresham, Rhett Titus, the best people to learn from. I have been so fortunate to be put in those great opportunities. No looking back. I loved football, I had a good time doing it, but I’m glad I did what I did.
How incredible Bryan Danielson is:
Didn’t get to speak to him, but I shook his hand. He is incredible. In the ring, outside the ring, just somebody that any young wrestler would want to be like. Especially me. When I was younger, I wanted to have a style like him, wrestle like him, really inspiring. Everything he’s gone through, his trials and tribulations, the real life stuff. Everything is so relatable and so inspiring. It makes me want to work harder. I’m sure everyone who loves and follows his career, it really pushes you to become the best you can be. Not everyone can do that and has that type of affect on people.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)