Calvin Tankman On Signing His First Major Contract With MLW, Having to Keep It Under Wraps For A Month

Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, Calvin Tankman discussed his signing with MLW and what it felt like to sign his first major wrestling contract. MLW announced Tankman’s signing in late June, but he told Jeffrey that he actually signed in May and had to keep it quiet until the company was able to announce it. He talked about how hard that was and how exciting it is to be part of MLW; you can check out some highlights below.

Calvin Tankman on signing with MLW: “MLW really put that vote of confidence in me, and really made me feel like they definitely believed in me. So, I’m definitely very excited to work with them and to see where this goes. With everything up in the air with the pandemic and stuff, I’m definitely chomping at the bit to get to work. But yeah, they do a lot of great things for young talent, so I was pretty confident in the decision. You watch their show, they have a lot of young talent that they’re pushing to that next level in helping them become the next big stars, so I’m excited to be a part of that and see where we end up as a whole.”

Calvin Tankman on the feeling of signing his first major contract: “It’s exciting, definitely very exciting. I don’t know, I’m one of those people where I try not to celebrate too much, and kind of start working toward the next big thing. It’s one of those things where I was really excited, I signed in May. Kind of had to like, keep it hush-hush until they decided to make a press announcement. So that was probably the hardest thing, especially with your first contract. That’s what everybody wants to do, is be able to say that they wrestle on TV since you were a kid, you know what I mean? So not being able to share that, and being definitely super excited was probably one of the hardest things. Once I got the confirmation that everything was actually signed, safe to say I definitely did a happy dance around my living room.”

In the full interview, 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.

And if you’re enjoying all of our recent interviews with names like Jim Ross, Chris Jericho, the Von Erichs, The Miz, Josef Samael, Martha Hart, and Stu Bennett and want to support us getting more interviews with big names in wrestling, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, it only takes a few seconds to do and really helps us out!

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the 411 Wrestling Interview Podcast on 411mania.com and please embed our podcast player or YouTube video.

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

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:
* Apple Podcasts
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play