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Gary Cassidy talks about Dropkick DiSKussions, Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Jericho and more
AB: So you have been doing an excellent job with Dropkick DiSKussions recently. Would you like to talk about that a bit?
GC: "Thanks for that! For me, I’ll let you in on a secret here. When the people at Sportskeeda asked me for the first time about the Dropkick DiSKussions thing, I felt like I’ll say yes to it, but I asked myself, how long can I go interviewing one wrestler a week? Because there are only so many wrestlers out there. But then it occurred to me, there have been thousands of people who have been involved in wrestling. The list is actually endless! So yeah, that was me being a little naïve at first, thinking maybe I’d get like 3, 4, 5 weeks after this and it will be great. So now, I think it’s been going for maybe nearly 10 weeks now. We have done 9 interviews for Dropkick DiSKussions and interviewed another 5 besides that. We’ve spoken to some great people. I think the first was Lio Rush, who just returned to NXT last week, and it is just so cool having spoken to him 9-10 weeks ago, then seeing him get that pop on NXT was incredible."
"Another favorite was Matt Riddle, just because there’s nothing worse in an interview than having to drag answers out of someone. He was the opposite of that, it was like a machine gun and the guy would fire incredible quote after incredible quote at you. Darren Young and Chris Van Vliet was also a cool one. I’m at the start of my venture of just like interviewing people. He’s done everything, so just like to talk to him… I learnt so much just by him answering my question."
"Other than that, Justin Sysum, Stevie Richards, it’s been great fun doing it, and it’s the kind of thing that never gets old. Even before Dropkick DiSKussions, my first interview was Diamond Dallas Page and when I’d done that, I felt like nothing can beat that. Where can I go from interviewing Diamond Dallas Page? And since then, I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Chris Jericho and even Triple H. For what was only one question, getting to speak to Triple H was insane."
"The most rewarding stuff for me is the Justin Sysum one. Because it’s a UK-based thing, not a lot of people outside of the UK will be really well-versed with his work, but anyone I see on TV, I'm like, "I have so much I want to ask that person.""
"It’s really cool and I’ve been getting quite a good response overall from it. It’s just the kind of thing that I want to keep doing it, and I’ll 100% keep doing it. It’s just a case of finding the wrestlers who are willing to talk to us and I’ll always be there to talk to them."
AB: Do you have a spoiler for us about what we can expect from Dropkick DiSKussions this week?
"The one that’s going to be getting released very soon sometime next week, was someone that I talked to before, well this time blew the last time out of the water, it’s TJP – TJ Perkins. The only ever winner of the Cruiserweight Classic. There’s not been another one. He’s just returned to New Japan. He gave us some news about how long he will be there. Gonna drop an exclusive on Sportskeeda about that. He also talked about his return to Impact Wrestling and expanded on his time in WWE and his relationship with Vince McMahon and Triple H. He was a really cool guy. I know I say this every time, but this might be the best one. He’s done so much great work in representing the Philippines and he is a great wrestler. That one is up there with some of the best that I have done. He gave us a sneak peek into his future there, and I think people will love it."
AB: What’s your favorite part of writing for Sportskeeda?
GC: "That’s one that needs to be a two part thing as there are two parts that run side by side which are amazing about it. Firstly, the people. Working with people like yourself and so many people in Sportskeeda who have a passion for wrestling and a passion for writing whom you can just bounce ideas off of. Wrestling fans are the most opinionated people ever and so are writers. Even the opposite side of that, even if they don’t help, they are helping you by telling you something is a bad idea, which is also great. I get to also talk about wrestling which, I’ve got a couple of friends who watch wrestling, not that many. But in Sportskeeda so many people are always talking about wrestling and you find out news immediately. There will never be a time in wrestling news breaks and you don’t find out about and it everyone wants to write about it, which is just great as everyone is so ambitious."
GC: "Even before that, the interviews we’ve done through WWE! In the past six months, we’ve had Triple H, Toni Storm, WALTER, Kay Lee Ray and Impact Wrestling. So many people have spoken with us. You’ve got to think, I know there have been a lot of interviews, going before all that, but there’s more than ever now. In terms of exclusive content on Sportskeeda, I don’t think there’s ever been more than there is now. For me, being a part of that is mind blowing. The ambition for me goes hand in hand. A lot of people are trying to be a character, but that’s not what we are here for. We can deliver information and make sure that we convey the character that the wrestler is trying to portray. Even just themselves when they are not in character, if we can do that accurately, then we are doing our job well."
"Yesterday, I had an interaction with Noam Dar. That’s just the coolest thing ever… me as a writer buried online by a wrestler from WWE. You try not to mark out for moments like that, but those are just bonuses that come with the job. The reason that came was me writing a piece about someone that I admire in Scotland called Leyton Buzzard. You can just write stuff about what you like about and that will still make you important in the world of wrestling and yes, Sportskeeda is extremely important in the world of wrestling."
Continue as we wrap up and Gary talks about his tattoos and finally the advantage of being a wrestling fan now.
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