AEW star Will “Powerhouse” Hobbs recently spoke with the Mercury News to discuss getting signed by the promotion, and how his main goal is to become a world champion. He also reveals some details about his past, including losing his brother at a young age. Highlights are below.
On getting signed by AEW:
I actually cried. I was overwhelmed. After all the BS I went through, it was validation for me.
How he was teased as a kid for liking wrestling:
Other kids didn’t watch wrestling. It was either football, basketball, or baseball. I got teased and I got into a lot of fights over it. But I couldn’t help what I loved. You either played sports or hung out with the wrong crowd — selling drugs, getting into mischief … There was a lot of violence and shootings where I lived.
Reveals his older brother was killed in a shooting:
He loved wrestling too, and he was supposed to be my manager. But he got caught up with the wrong crowd.
His goals of being a world champion
I can’t get comfortable. I gotta do the work. I want to be known as a force — one of the greats. A world champion. I want to get to the top of the mountain. Most of my friends I grew up with are either dead or locked up,” he says. “A lot of people are counting on me, so I feel like I have a city on my back. I know East Palo Alto has completely changed over the years. I want to be recognized as someone from the city.