TNA star Abyss opens up to Jim Ross about wrestling, TNA rumours, Sting and more

Abyss in the TNA ring.

– Abyss has been one of the most dominant stars in TNA wrestling. At 6 feet 8 and 160 kgs, Abyss towers over most of his competitors.

Abyss has won a decent number of titles in his wrestling career and celebrates his 20th anniversary in the wrestling industry. A recent episode of the Ross Report with Jim Ross featured the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Abyss. These are some of the excerpts from his interview.

Abyss said that he was fond of wrestling since his childhood days. He was a big fan of Roddy Rowdy Piper. He added that he stayed in Cincinnati, Ohio where the legendary Brian Pillman lived next door to him.

He went to the University of Ohio on a football scholarship and said that college was the place that taught him to think and reason which has helped him in his wrestling career.

Abyss’ big break came in 2002. He was friends with the current WWE manager Zeb Colter who introduced him to Jeff and Jerry Jarrett. They were thinking of starting a new promotion called Total Nonstop Action where Abyss was enthusiastic to work.

That did not work out as a lot of former wrestlers who were popular were out of work. Abyss started working in Puerto Rico for a promotion and claims that that is where he made most of his money. He also credited Zeb Colter with the creation of his Abyss gimmick. 

Abyss entered TNA Impact Wrestling in 2002 and has since then been a mainstay in the company. Abyss reminisced about working with stars such as Hulk Hogan and Sting and said that he had nothing but positive opinions about both of them. Abyss said that its a bad situation of Hulk Hogan currently and that he feels bad for him.

Abyss spoke about that Sting situation in WWE and said that they have handled him very well. He said ”Sting always said he would never go to the WWE, but no one ever believed him and Sting probably didn’t believe it himself. He says that the decision to sign with WWE was a big life decision for Steve Borden. I could just see it in his eyes when he walked to the ring—what a huge moment that was for him.” 

Abyss responded to the question about the state of TNA when 2015 comes to a close. He said that due to the rise of social media everyone has started exhibiting their opinion. Abyss spoke positively about Dixie Carter and said that the only thing is that she has fallen victim to a lot of con men in the industry.