TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus talks with Brian Fritz of Between The Ropes about the company returning to Orlando this Thursday for a live edition of Impact and then TV tapings on Friday and Saturday night (find out more information at ImpactWrestling.com), the pressure that comes with being the champion, playing the bad guy, how he deals with scrutiny from fans, the youth movement in the company, the exclusive group he’s a part of and more.
You can read the entire interview with Magnus on The Orlando Sentinel website at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/blogs/wrestling/os-tna-champ-magnus-on-return-to-orlando-his-heroes-and-the-handsome-man-band-20140312,0,7611609.post
You can listen to the interview with Magnus on the Between The Ropes website at http://www.betweentheropes.com/2014/03/12/tna-champ-magnus-talks-return-to-orlando-heroes-and-being-the-bad-guy/
Here are some portions of the interview:
On if he feels extra pressure being the TNA World Heavyweight Champion:
Sure.  It would be hard not to.  You’re required to do more media.  You’re required to be on all the live events. It’s tougher on your body.  It’s a tougher schedule.  At TV (tapings) you generally tend to have more segments and more responsibilities.  And then on top of that there’s that knowledge of knowing everybody’s after your spot.  I didn’t ask for it.  I didn’t politic for it.  I was put in that position because somebody at some point felt that I was the right guy and that’s a good thing.  All I’m doing is trying to work hard and make that mean something.
On being a heel overseas in the UK and the reaction he got at the recent Glasgow show:
Well, it was satisfying because that was what I was going for.  You know, it’s amazing to me how many people ask me about that because it seems like in the wrestling business these days a lot of talent seems to forget what their job is.  A lot of people seem to want to be a heel but then they also want to get cheered by people and that, to me, is the dumbest situation you can be in.  Everyone else seemed to be more concerned about this than I was.  I said look, these fans are wrestling fans.  They’re not just a bunch of British people who filled up an arena.  And as far as you’re representing Glasgow, Glasgow and England have always had a huge … The last time I was in Glasgow I had a ton of heat anyway.  It was a house show so no one saw that but I did because there’s a huge rivalry between Scotland and England and I always play off of that.  So, yeah, sure, I think I just proved by the fact that in 2013 I walked out in Manchester and London as a babyface and got the biggest pop of the night and one year later came out as a heel and got the loudest boo of the night.  I think that, if anything, I can do both.
On the company returning to Orlando for Impact on Thursday and television tapings on Friday and Saturday:
I’ve always had an affection for Orlando.  When I first started with the company, it was very much our base because I was still in England at the time.  I would come over for long periods of time and so I would spend quite a lot of time in Orlando.  I have a genuine affection for it.  It’s a fun place.  Sometimes we get bogged down in all the other kind of B.S. of wrestling, the politics and the rumors and what’s going on and all that kind of stuff.  You have to it you want to take it seriously but sometimes you have to talk about it.  Right now, I’m traveling with Robbie E and EC3 (Ethan Carter) and guys like us, we’re all young guys and we’re enjoying our lives and our careers.  Sometimes we just have to sit back and go we get to go to Universal Studios in Orlando and we get paid to go and be wrestlers and hang out in one of the most popular vacation spots in the world.  That’s great.
