On the latest episode of the Talk’n Shop podcast with The Good Brothers, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Thom Latimer opened up about his long struggle with alcohol abuse, which led to him being fired from WWE and derailing his career for nearly a decade.
Latimer explained that his current championship run feels like he is “making up for lost time.” “Getting my shit together [has taken] me an incredibly long time. I’m sort of like a decade behind where I should or thought I was going to be,” Latimer said. “It’s taken me a lot of time to get to this point, but I want to be able to at least look back at the back end of my career and go, ‘That’s the guy I should have been the entire time.'”
He recounted being signed to WWE developmental (FCW) at the age of 23, and how he was not mentally prepared for the opportunity. “I was 23 and I hadn’t lived… I hadn’t grown up mentally,” he stated. “In my brain, I was a child.” He said his dream was “shattered” on the first day when he realized the cutthroat nature of the business, a reality that saw about 20 people quit during his time there. For him, the pressure led to a drinking problem. “There was no other out there, right? You’re drug tested… the only thing you can do is drink. So, drink.”
Latimer revealed the specific incident that led to his WWE release. “We were supposed to go up, The Ascension, at least me and Ryan [Konnor O’Brian], after The Shield,” he explained. “Was supposed to win the NXT Tag belts, the first ones, and then go up… And I went out, got drunk, got arrested for battery on a law enforcement officer and drunken disorderly. And I’d already gotten a DUI my first week in developmental and they’d let me off on that… three days later, I sat home, I got the call, right? ‘That’s it, you’re done.'”
He said that Johnny Ace (John Laurinaitis) told him in an email to “go away and sort out your demons,” but he didn’t believe he had a problem at the time. This led to a “repeating pattern” of being given opportunities in promotions like TNA (as Bram) and in Japan, only to squander them due to his drinking. “It was just like this repeating pattern of being given the ball by companies, and just kicking it away,” he said.
It wasn’t until he arrived in the NWA in 2019 that he decided to make a change. “It was time to sort of get sober and grow up,” Latimer stated. “I’ve burnt every bridge, so to still have a bridge remaining and be able to do it, it’s a blessing for me.” He and host Karl Anderson, who is also sober, had a candid conversation about the difficulties of “relearning to live” without alcohol. “You have to learn how to do it because for me… I’m not someone that can have a piece of chocolate… And it’s the same with one beer… it would lead to the 20 to 40 to whatever,” Latimer explained. “What I found, at least for me, is nothing bad 99.9% of the time ever happens to me now that I’m sober, because it was always drink related.”
Latimer’s journey in wrestling began in the UK independent scene. He recounted how, at 17, he found a small wrestling school run by Drew McDonald and Jeff Kaye, which eventually led to him getting tryouts with WWE when they would tour the UK. “Somehow the old man smoking cigarettes that was coaching there, he was mates with Finley,” Latimer recalled. “And so every time WWE came to town, we got to go as kids and sort of roll around… in front of whoever.” He even wrestled a match on WWE Heat against Snitsky and Tomko in 2005 with almost no experience.
His persistence eventually paid off, and he was signed to a developmental contract in 2010. He was placed in a tag team with Konnor O’Brian as the original version of The Ascension, a gimmick he said was “super, super cool and super down my alley.” He wishes he could go back and redo that period of his career, now that he is in a better place mentally. “My brain now is at the point where I could survive a place like that and maybe thrive,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t mature and ready enough at the time.”
He explained how being so young and unprepared for the realities of the business was a shock to his system. “I went, ‘Oh, my dreams, absolute bullshit.’ And it’s my own fault, because I went in there with a certain mindset on what it was going to be,” he said. “My dreams just shattered in front of me on that very first day, and I went, ‘Oh, this, I don’t like this.'”
Now, as one of the top stars in the NWA, he views his career with a new perspective, often putting on the “12-year-old boy’s shoes of Thom” to appreciate how far he has come. “All I wanted to be was a pro wrestler… I grew up on American TV. I want to be American,” he said. “So even just being in America, that was a dream in itself.”
He continued, “You’re always on to the next thing, so you never really have time unless you force yourself to be in the moment. And the thing about this job is, it’s all a moment, isn’t it? And you have to remember that, because we’re constantly pushing for this journey, this destination, and when we get there, it’s going to kind of suck. It means it’s all over.”
Latimer is currently in a featured feud in the NWA against “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason, with the two set to face each other for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
He spoke about the advice he would give to younger wrestlers, echoing a sentiment from the hosts. “There’s only so many spots in professional wrestling that really exist,” said NWA’s Kyle Davis. “Just to say you’re a professional wrestler, you are in the 1% of a field that most people will never be able to attain to.” Doc Gallows added the advice he gives to aspiring wrestlers: “Don’t take no for an answer… You just can’t take the negative route and put your head down. You know, you got to keep showing up and keep swinging.”
For Latimer, his journey has been about showing the wrestling world who he is now. “This is who I am. It’s taken me a lot of time to get to this point, but I want to be able to at least look back at the back end of my career and go, ‘That’s the guy I should have been the entire time.'”
The full, candid interview is available on the Talk’n Shop podcast, which can be found on all major podcast platforms. Latimer and the rest of the NWA roster can be seen at the upcoming NWA Samhain III event on Friday, October 17, in Atlanta, Georgia. Click here for details.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Talk’n Shop with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
