Zak Zodiac Recounts How The UK Hooligans Missed Opportunities During Their Run

In a recent interview with Talk is Jericho, Zak Zodiac (fka Zak Knight) shared some stories of his time with his brother Roy in The UK Hooligans (via Fightful). Zodiac explained how the duo unfortunately missed out on some tempting chances in the industry, partly due to their old-school philosophy at the time. You can find some highlights and listen to the full podcast below.

On their unrealized chance with ROH: “The Hooligan phase taught me so much. I got to work some of the very best in the industry. One of the highlights for us was when we worked War Machine [Viking Raiders in WWE]. We had an absolute belter of a match. So much so that Delirious was actually there, and he was like, ‘We need to get the Hooligans over to America.’ My brother, the end of the night, he went to the bar and ordered a drink. Delirious went to the bar without his mask on and said to my brother, ‘What do you think of Ring of Honor nowadays?’ He said, ‘It’s a load of shit. I miss Nigel McGuinness.’ [Delirious] went back to the promoter and was like, ‘We don’t want the Hooligans now.’ We sit and laugh about it now. We shot ourselves in the foot.”

On turning down an option with NJPW: “We did the same thing with New Japan. We wrestled Jushin Thunder Liger in a show at Super Clash. He loved us. He loved how unique we were. We have our own style in Norwich, just hard-hitting and technical brawlers. We’re hybrid athletes. Liger loved us. He went back to New Japan and said, ‘Why don’t you boys come live in the Dojo for three months?’ We grew up old school, you’re not going to pay for yourself to stay with their boys and live in a Dojo. What a moron. This was ten years ago. I should have jumped at the opportunity. Sometimes, I was led a little too old school. I’d never pay for myself to go anywhere. If they want you, they’ll come for you. Now, I realize, you have to market yourself and get out there. It was that old-school way.”