Gregory Iron on the Magic When Fans Can Still Suspend Disbelief in Wrestling

– Fightful recently interviewed wrestler Gregory Iron. Below are some highlights.

Gregory Iron on moments where fans can still suspend disbelief: “I mean, I love it because as professional wrestlers, we’re in this time where kayfabe is dead. The wrestling fans are a lot smarter to be ins and outs of professional wrestling, but I think the magic that we have is performers are those moments where we make the fans suspend their disbelief and I think a lot of the fans are chanting what they’re chanting and doing the things they’re doing because they’re in on the bed. I think they want someone to boo and they want someone to cheer because wrestling fans are smarter than most people give them credit for but there are those people that can blur the lines between reality and fiction and there is a genuine love for Nick Gage and guys like Effy and Allie Kat and Mance Warner and there’s a genuine hatred for anyone that opposes those characters and I think that’s a testament to the emotional investment that those characters have created for themselves and I think 44OH! that is just proof that in a day and age where I think a lot of people that follow professional wrestling have this belief that the athleticism is what really matters and there’s shades of gray and you don’t really need good guys and bad guys because everything is exposed. I think what 44OH! does is prove that people want to emotionally invest.”

On not playing a bad guy character despite playing into face elements of wrestling while also having Cerebral Palsy: “It’s one of those things too where not everything is just as easy as good and bad. Just because I have a disability, as a character, doesn’t necessarily make me a good person and I think I wanted to show that I’m okay with embracing the idea that at the end of the day, I’m probably going to be known as the pro wrestler that has cerebral palsy and that’s fine because like yourself, there’s a lot of people with disabilities or who know people with disabilities and they’re inspired by the story. However, you know as well as I do, you are a human being, you’re more than just someone with cerebral palsy and loving wrestling as much as I do, I know that there’s elements of myself that I wanted to be able to show or elements that I can betray that go beyond being the guy with cerebral palsy.”

On importance of layers to wrestling characters: “Again, I mentioned something about layers. When I was doing seminars, and I was doing a lot of them before the pandemic and I had the opportunity to do some of them during the pandemic, and in them, I always talk about the layers of a character and how every person we meet in our lives every relationship we have oh, whether it’s good or bad, reveal the layers of who you are as a character and I think that’s what happened in professional wrestling. I think every wrestler that I’ve ever wrestled, I think every wrestler or character that I’ve ever interacted with on-screen, every promo, every good and bad interaction has created an element of Gregory Iron that perhaps before I met that person, I didn’t know how to convey on the camera. No different than in life, there are some things that we’re trying to find out about ourselves — things that we like, people we want to surround ourselves with, who we are, we don’t find these things unless we find these things we can emotionally invest in life current things that have hurt us, things that have made us stronger, and that creates who you are. I think that’s what happens as a wrestler.”

Gregory Iron on his character: “So, I’ve been able to show besides of me, good and bad, that depicts someone with a disability that isn’t necessarily the best thing because, Robert, you know as well as I do there are some people out there that do have a disability but exploit that. So, I wanted to show that element of that. Even though I have this disability, perhaps I’m a scumbag piece of garbage, and I’m going to take advantage of that and make it more than it is. I like the idea of being able to show multiple sides of who I am as a character and who I am as a performer because I would like to be known as not the pro wrestler with cerebral palsy but a pro wrestler who happens to have cerebral palsy. I think when you book an African American, you don’t book them as ‘here’s the black wrestler.’ He’s a wrestler that happens to be black. I think we have to change the perception I’ve how things are viewed. Again, at the end of the day, if I’m remembered as the guy with cerebral palsy, that’s fine. But I take a lot of pride in being able to show all the different sides of me and being able to show that I’m not just this one-dimensional, white meat babyface.”