Tom Prichard Explains Why He’s Not a Huge Fan of Intergender Wrestling, His Issues With the Wrestling Style of AEW

– Wrestling Epicenter’s Interactive Wrestling Radio recently interviewed former WWE Superstar Tom Prichard, who shared his thoughts on intergender wrestling and more. Below are some highlights.

Prichard on intergender wrestling: “I am not a huge fan of intergender wrestling and here’s why. I love Tessa Blanchard. I think she is a hell of a talent. I think she’s a nice lady also. But if you have Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns and they beat the hell out of each other and they take each other to the limit. Then, if you take Brock Lesnar and put him against a woman and he bumps and sells – no matter how fit or strong she is… I’m a guy who still opens the car door for his wife. Equality? Yes. But, physically? Hold on! Brian Cage is a big guy. He sold for Tessa the same way he sold for guys. Does it take me out of my suspension of belief? No. But, it made me kind of watch going, ‘hmmm.’ …I don’t know, man. Maybe I’m out of date. I just don’t… I’m going to get myself in trouble by saying what I did. But I just don’t think that makes any sense and I don’t think that does anybody any good.”

Tom Prichard on the more athletic and high-flying style of AEW: “This is something that every generation goes through and now that I am kind of in that boat, ‘Hey kid, get off my lawn!’ … I want to see the good in every aspect of wrestling because I want everybody to have options and not just have there be one company. But, the issues I have are just the fundamentals and the basics. You have to have a solid foundation. You can do all the flip, flop, and fly – Have a Corona and toupees or hurricanranas and topes. But, if you can’t tell a solid story, you’re going to fade away real quick. Having said that, we live in a very different world than I grew up in. So, when I watch it, I don’t see the story in it but I realize I’m not their demo – I’m not. I’m not watching video games on TV. I don’t really play video games. So, I can’t relate to it.”

“That said, I like Darby Allin. I like some of the guys they have there on AEW. But, why do you have to… I’ll finish my sentence in a minute. Growing up, we had 3 or 4 channels and wrestling was on 1 of them. Now you have so many different platforms that you have to keep people’s attention so you have to keep it going fast. A 3 hour program is WAY too long to invest in. And, if you have 5, 6, 7, 8 hours of original TV a week, that’s a lot! That is a lot of time to come up with interesting scenarios. But, one thing that will never go out of style, and I promise you this – Even with the NFL and they’ve got the gib jib cameras and overhead views and all that, but it is still blocking and tackling. In baseball, it is still hitting the ball over the fence but you still have to take batting practice, you still have to know the fundamentals and have the foundation for what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get the story across. I don’t mind some of the nuances. But, I don’t like some of the stuff that is ridiculous – And that’s just my opinion. But, I don’t like to see 14 superkicks and nobody sells anything. I don’t like to see some of the stuff that just looks hokey. Look, pro wrestling by design is a little bit hokey. But, you could put some effort into it and try to make it look less hokey. Let me say that.”

Tom Prichard on what students can learn at his wrestling academy: “We believe in the basics and fundamentals. If you don’t have a solid foundation, you have nothing to build on and nothing to work with. Some people don’t get that. That’s OK! We set them straight right off the bat. We have a basics 12 week course. And, you’re not going to learn everything in 12 weeks. In fact, you’re going to barely scratch the surface. But, you have to start somewhere and we need to get everybody on the same page. Some of the guys who open wrestling schools need to go to wrestling school themselves. You’re going to learn the basics. You’re going to learn how to tie up. You’re going to learn timing. You’re going to learn what this business is really all about. There’s a lot more to this business than people really know or anticipate before they get to us.”