wrestling / News

Matt Sydal on AEW Coming to His Hometown

November 3, 2021 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Matt Sydal AEW Image Credit: AEW

The Columbia Daily Tribune recently spoke to AEW wrestler Matt Sydal ahead of tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Independence, Missouri. Sydal is a St. Louis, Missouri native. Rampage will be heading to St. Louis on Friday, November 5. Below are some highlights.

Matt Sydal on AEW coming to St. Louis, Missouri: “For me, it’s full circle kind of thing. I started out backyard wrestling in the suburbs of St. Louis and coming back to the Chaifetz Arena is great. When I was in college at Mizzou, I would come back and hang out with my friends who were at SLU and have a beer at Humphrey’s. And now I’ll be wrestling right there at the arena. So it’s pretty surreal.”

Sydal on the Tigers beating Nebraska in 2003: “My close friend who I also wrestled with, his brother was the third-string ticker for Mizzou. But we got free tickets. And this was the greatest college football game that I’ve ever witnessed. It ended with Mizzou winning and everyone rushing the field. And my close friend shimmied eat up the goal posts and was on top of one of the high parts, swinging it around and pulling it down. And we were part of carrying the goal posts through the field, through downtown. It was just epic. And I said ‘I never need to go to another football game again for the rest of my life.’ Definitely peaked right here. That was peak college experience to me.”

On having fun in St. Louis: “I really can have more fun in St. Louis because I know my friends that have been kind of making fun of me since I was a 17-year-old kid wrestling, they come to shows with signs that say ‘Don’t hurt my baby’ and the silly stuff like that. I’m able to have a lot of fun with it. I definitely feel more pressure and more nerves, but that like for me, is essential to the performance part. So if I don’t get all mentally wrecked, just a little bit, before I go out there, then something might be wrong. Performing in St. Louis is a thrill and I want to do it to inspire kids in St. Louis. I never expected to be on a grand stage. I was just chasing my passion. I was doing it for fun. And I ended up building a career out of it.”

On his training seminar with Mike Sydal set for this weekend in Troy with World League Wrestling: “It’s just getting in the ring with some of these guys who much like me, were just looking for anywhere to get a ring and wrestle. We got to learn things the hard way, a lot of wrestlers find out, trial and error. It’s a lot of getting beat up and then getting yourself up and dusting yourself off. I really think I can help a lot of young wrestlers in Missouri and hopefully I’ve inspired them to go for it.”

article topics :

AEW, Matt Sydal, Jeffrey Harris