Calvin Tankman Evaluates the Top In-Ring Talents on the MLW Roster, His Athletic Style, Shares His Thoughts on Wrestling During the Pandemic

Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, Calvin Tankman discussed his signing with MLW, his thoughts on the top wrestlers on the MLW, developing his athletic in-ring style as a super-heavyweight, and his thoughts on wrestling during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can check out some highlights for our interview with Calvin Tankman below.

Calvin Tankman on the top in-ring stars on the MLW roster: “You can’t say MLW without saying [Jacob] Fatu and [Alex] Hammerstone. I gotta say those two are at the top of my list because one of the things that I’ve said for a minute that I want to do, I want to prove that I’m one of the best things in the country, if not the world. I can’t do that if I’m not the best. So, you’ve got the world champion, the national champion, two of the biggest, burliest, most badass dudes in the locker room that I definitely want to test myself against those two. They have a plethora of guys from many different ring styles. You know what I mean? So, even like, you have your Myron Reeds and Jordan Olivers that are crazy athletic. Then, you’ve got your Tom Lawlors, Dominic Garrinis, Erick Stevens. Those guys that are just brutal and technically sound. There’s so many different styles that’s it’s hard to narrow it down to a few of the best. But those are the few that come off the top of my head.”

Calvin Tankman developing his fast, athletic in-ring style as a super heavyweight: “I don’t know. It’s always been something I love. I always tell people the two people I first watched on a wrestling show that I vividly remember were Rey Mysterio and Goldberg; two totally separate reasons. But like that’s what started my wrestling fandom. I always loved the big powerful guys, but at the same time, the cruiserweights and the small guys did things that no one else had done. As a kid, you’re always watching that stuff, and you’re like, ‘How’d they do that? I want to try that! I want to do that,’ or ‘I bet I could do that.’ So growing up, I was always bigger than everybody, but I never saw myself as bigger than everyone else. Does that make sense? So like, if somebody else was doing it, whether it was athletically, or just like messing around in the backyard and jumping off of something, I was doing it too just because I wanted to prove that I could do it.”

“As I got older, especially with football, they kind of took that mentality out of me. Yes, you’re a big guy, but you should do little bit different things, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to do the same agility drills. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to do some of the conditioning drills and all that other stuff. So, just because of your size doesn’t mean you’re not an athlete. So, that’s always how I played. And I’ve always been athletic for for my size and moved well, so coming into wrestling, that was the style I liked. And I could make it work, you know. Everybody expects a big you wrestle, when you hit the ropes, he’s going to be there. He’s going to be there to hit you with a clothesline or shoulder tackle or something like that. But especially me with a football background, what happens when you turn you back to hit the ropes, and I hit the ropes another way, and you don’t see me coming? And then you got 330-350 pounds smashing at you. It’s just one of those things where my size and speed allowed me to be more deceptive and allowed me to hit people in ways they never expected to be it. It was just one of those things where I saw an advantage, and I saw an ability to do it. So, I thought, ‘Why not?'”

His perspective on continuing wrestling during the pandemic: “As long as you’re being as cautious as you can. The shows that I’ve done, GCW and Pawcade, they’ve had seats spread out. They’ve had masks and sanitizer at the table. Masks were required. They had, like I said, they had separated seating, and they were so far away that like, we weren’t high-fiving anyone. The most someone got was we might touch elbows. So, I felt safe doing that. With the normal job that I do, have to be out and travel anyway and go from store to store. It’s kind of one of those things where I’m going to have to expose myself anyway. I kind of have to just be as cautious as I can. All of the shows I’ve had, they had thermometers at the door. Before you even walk into the locker room, they have a thermometer checking your temperature, making sure you don’t have a fever, making sure that you’re OK. So, that’s what made me really comfortable with it. If those things hadn’t been there and was just like, ‘OK, just come and risk it,’ I definitely wouldn’t be doing it. But they’ve done everything they can to make it as safe as humanly possible.”

In the full interview, Calvin Tankman talks about his signing his first big contract with MLW, why MLW is such an exciting company to follow and the prospect of appearing on DAZN, who he’s looking forward to getting in the ring with, growing up as a wrestling fan, his unique ring style, wrestling during the pandemic, his message for the MLW roster and more.

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0:00: Intro
1:22: On signing with MLW, the feeling of signing his first big contract
3:41: On the real work starting now that he’s signed, being excited to show what he can do
5:06: On why MLW is such an exciting company to follow, MLW’s deal to air on DAZN
7:32: On who the top in-ring talents in MLW are right now
9:01: On whether he considers CONTRA Unit to be his first targets
9:31: On incorporating MMA into his style and his favorite MMA fighters to watch
12:30: On how his path led to professional wrestling, growing up as a fan
13:30: On how he developed his fast, athletic ring style as a big man
16:20: On wrestling during the pandemic, taking precautions & MLW potentially running Hawaii & Puerto Rico
19:41: On who his top trainers and mentors were
21:35: His message for the MLW roster
22:43: On where to find him online
26:08: Outro

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