Sportskeeda's own Kevin Sullivan talks about his odd injuries, writing about wrestling, WWE, battling mental health issues and more (Exclusive)

Kevin Sullivan
Kevin Sullivan

Continuing my series, where I interview the different Sportskeeda writers, this time I was able to talk to one of the funniest people I know, Kevin Sullivan.

Kevin is known for his incredible and sometimes over the top sense of humor that he brings with him to liven up Sportskeeda's wrestling groups. An excellent writer, Kevin has lived quite an active life and has had several interesting experiences. Be it getting stranded in Ireland or Iowa, Kevin has done it all.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the man himself, Kevin Sullivan.


Kevin talks about living in different cities, breaking his ankle doing yoga, other myriad injuries, and a retail horror story

AB: Before we get more in-depth, tell us about yourself! Who is Kevin Sullivan?

KS: I am a writer and editor for Sportskeeda Wrestling! Been a writer since 1999, writing about video games and all that. I was a standup comedian for a while and was also a husband and a dad.

AB: So you’ve lived in a lot of different cities over the course of your life. Would you like to talk about some of your fonder memories from different cities?

KS: Um… No? (laughs) I was born in Mansfield, Ohio, then wound up moving to Pittsburgh, and then lived in Chicago for a good long while. From 3rd Grade, until I was a sophomore in high school. Then I moved to Iowa, till I was in college, and at that point moved to Cincinnati where my family is from, and lived there till I moved to Austin. I’ve been in Austin, Texas for ten years, with a little sojourn into Indianapolis for like five years which I don’t like to talk about because those were the five worst years of my life.

Living in Chicago was a lot of fun. I’m not really a big fan of really big cities -- if it’s not New York City (I love NYC) -- but any other big cities I don’t really care for. I’m not a big fan of visiting Chicago, but I have a lot of good memories of doing cool stuff as a kid like going to concerts. My second concert was U2’s Zoo TV tour in Chicago, it’s still possibly the best concert I’ve ever seen. My first concert was seeing Kriss Kross the pre-teen rap group in the Miss the Bus tour, where I also broke a rib.

AB: Would you care to go into that at all?

KS: When I was a kid, I never got into fights, but I got into one fight, where some guy insulted my sister. He punched me right in the ribs, but that’s not what did it. That same night, my friend and I went to see Kriss Kross, they make you jump and all that. Since this was my first concert, I was not really used to the smoke effects. So I coughed badly and that loosened up my rib and broke it. So I had to be helped out of the concert, it was really embarrassing.

AB: So, you coughed your rib loose? That’s a first for me.

KS: Yeah, it was damaged from that punch, but basically, yes I coughed a rib loose! It reminds me of the time I sprained my ankle meditating.

AB: Again, please feel free to elaborate!

KS: This was also in Chicago! I was taking a comparative religion class in high school. We would travel to all sorts of different religious buildings -- Catholic churches, Hindu temples, and stuff like that. We went to a Zen temple downtown, where they taught us all to meditate. So I sat incorrectly, and I sat on my ankle for a good 45 minutes. When we got back, I still had one class left, which was gym class. We were playing kickball. I am running on the field. I trip on a rock and fall over and sprain my ankle. But instead, my ankle got to the size of the kickball, so my mother had to pick me up.

AB: You once told me, you worked in retail for a long time in your life. Are there any particular retail horror stories that you experienced?

KS: One of the many cities that I lived in for a small amount of time was a small town in Wisconsin called Prairie du Chien. I lived there because my wife of the time wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin for a Master’s Degree. We needed to live there for a year for tuition reasons. Her family had a cabin there, so we lived there because it was really cheap. It’s terrible. Never go there. Even if it’s the second oldest city in Wisconsin, never go there. (reiterates that it’s best not to go there, laughs, and reiterates again).

So I worked at Radio Shack. Just like the city, the people who ran it were very nice people. We sold cell phones there among other things. There was this one lady who lived an hour away, kept calling every day asking different questions. We finally convinced her to come in and sign up. She came in for two hours, asked the dumbest questions, needed us to bring her water and stuff because she was kinda old and feeble, but she was a real firecracker. After two hours of finally finding out she wants, and she is about to sign the contract and she asks, "If I write a check if I return it, how long will it take me to get the money back?"

We were like well, "it’s a check, so 7-10 days."

So she wanted the money back automatically, and she stormed out. So that was 2 hours of my time, and all the time I spent on the phone wasted. I am not proud of this, but I threw that phone at the glass door. Fortunately, neither the phone nor the door broke and the other person in the store was sympathetic.


Up next: Kevin talks about his interactions with a former WWE star

Kevin talks about writing about wrestlers, his interactions with a former WWE star and more

Kevin, his cat, and his daughter
Kevin, his cat, and his daughter

AB: When did you first start to write?

KS: When I was younger, I was never athletic or good at math. I was good at English class and really got into creative writing, short stories, and things like that. That’s what got me into writing in general. The only thing that I knew of writing at the time was journalism. I went to Iowa State for that initially, before I switched to an English degree. Looking back, that was not one of my wisest decisions. So when I started looking into journalism, that’s when the online writing started taking off.

That’s when I got into writing about wrestling and video games and stuff like that.

AB: You’ve founded a lot of online sites and had experience running them. Is there any experience you’d like to share from this time?

KS: Nothing really stands out, but starting those really helped me get to what I’m doing right now. I either started sites or got on board right after they started. There’s nothing that I wrote for or started that’s around today except one site, which is Nuclear Salad. I don’t work for it anymore, but my friend Barbara does. Starting all these sites helped me self teach myself on how to do a publishing schedule, managing writers, editing styles, and also learned how to contact different companies and talk to PR people.

Today it’s harder than it was back then. Video game companies were anxious to get their products reviewed online back then wherever they could. Even the bigger ones. I worked with Konami and Nokia. When Metal Gear Solid 3 came out they sent me a copy of the game with binoculars and a t-shirt. It was a good time to be writing back then.

I was able to carry a lot of that over to what I do now. I went to E3 a number of times and got invited to industry parties and nearly ran headfirst into Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. I nearly did, but thankfully I didn’t as I would have gotten beaten up by his security, no I’m just kidding. It was a great experience and everything I’m doing today I would not have been able to do if I had not done that.

AB: How did you start watching wrestling?

KS: This was late-1989. My friend Adam was sleeping over. It was late night and we were watching TV. It was a late night when they were airing a show of Superstars. We saw The Ultimate Warrior and just thought it was crazy. My friend Adam thought, "this can’t be good for kids. He’s talking about darkness as he’s shaking the ropes."

And I was like "Dude, it's basically a cartoon, settle down. Also, you'rea kid. Shut up."

That was the first time watching it. The first time we watched it from beginning to end was an episode of Superstars just before SummerSlam 1990. The first match was a squash match with Earthquake and some enhancement talent. I wanted to watch more of it because I thought my parents didn’t want me to watch wrestling, and other than the entertaining part it was like I was getting away with something. I got into learning as much as I could and I used to research in the library. I did the same for anything I got into and read about bands and other things there.

For wrestling, I scoured the TV guide and I scrolled the TV listings and would wait for any wrestling show to pop up and then would write it down so that I could watch that. Be it WCCW, NWA anything that they were showing. I would buy wrestling magazines at the stores as well. That’s how I learned about smaller federations as well. There was a period in between the Ruthless Aggression Era and 2010 that I lost touch with wrestling for a bit but then got right back in.

AB: How did you start writing about wrestling for the first time?

KS: I started writing for fun. I enjoyed it and I was also eager to see what free stuff I could get (laughs). The first site I started was Steamworks.net. It was movies, video games, and wrestling. I got to know Men on a Mission’s Oscar. There was a site called WrestleCrap which once did an interview with Oscar and posted his email address. So I sent him an email asking him if he’d be interested in doing movie reviews, or would be on an interview, and I thought that would be hilarious. He replied saying he will get investors for us and will get us to talk to Hulk Hogan. He promised to hook us up to Hulk saying that we would be getting in on it. He offered us $10,000 cash, and we just had to fly him out and put him up in a hotel. At that time it would cost like $1,000. We were out of college and we didn’t have any money. When I told my buddy, he was like "stop taking his calls". That’s something that I was really skeptical about.

I also wrote for a men’s site called Rugged.com. That site is not around anymore. The guy who bought the site (not the original owner), and ran it, got divorced and then I found out he was a felon. He not only ditched the site but wiped it from existence. The only proof that I have that I wrote for them, I’m still in touch with some of the guys I wrote with there. I’m still in touch with them. The editor there's named Justin Baker, who’s a really nice guy, but he hated The Rock. That’s the first time I got paid to professionally write about wrestling… that is until I found out about Sportskeeda.


Up next: Kevin talks about mental health issues and overcoming them

Kevin talks about mental health issues, standup comedy and more

The two Kevin Sullivans are completely different people
The two Kevin Sullivans are completely different people

AB: You share your name with a certain wrestling personality. Has it been a fun experience writing about wrestling with that name? Has there ever been a case of mistaken identity?

KS: Do you think it’s been fun? (laughs) I would not say it’s been fun. Outside of online it’s rare that I run into anybody who knows who that is. But there are some people online, who with all due respect are really stupid. I’m on Twitter and I still get messages sometimes from people who are asking if I really killed Chris Benoit. Usually, they are teens or pre-teens, but if you look at my bio, there’s a picture of me and a clear bio that says I’m not Kevin Sullivan, the former booker of WCW. I still get messages to this day asking me when my next appearance is going to be. I joked at the beginning, saying that I’m going to get Michael Hayes to come too.

AB: There have been several tough years for you with mental health in your personal life. Is that something you’re comfortable talking about?

KS: No that’s fine. I think that if I can’t talk about it then more people can’t. The more people that talk about mental health, the better it is. I was just recently diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but apparently, I have been living with it for at least a decade, especially those years in Indianapolis. I went through a lot, like drinking too much, not understanding why I was doing things. I had a really good support system of friends. My family is good too, my mom is awesome, my fiancee, Anna, her mom is awesome. They really got me through a lot of that.

If I didn’t have friends who let me stay when I bipolared my way out of an apartment, then I would not be where I am now. Then finally it was about finding professional help like seeing a psychiatrist. I had gotten diagnosed with depression and ADD before that, but getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder has really made my life 100% better.

AB: While you were in Ireland were you stranded without any money? Is that something you’re comfortable talking about now?

KS: I had gone there for my 26th birthday. I had this really great job and was making a lot of money, way more than I ever had before. I had always wanted to go to Ireland, but right before I go I lost my job. I already had the plane tickets and I had already paid the advance. I had to sell my car, took the money from that with me. I spent too much of my money at the pubs and I left Ireland with 5 euros. I had to take a bus to get to the airport and all I had was this five euro bill. They did not have any change for it, so this nice lady paid for me and did not even take it from me. I almost ended up stranded.

AB: Anyone who knows you knows that you have an amazing sense of humor which leaves people either in stitches or cringing. I have first-hand experience with the second part. Have you ever considered a career in Stand-up Comedy?

KS: Absolutely. It was when I moved from Indianapolis back to Cincinnati. I had moved to Indianapolis right after my divorce and got into a toxic relationship. When you’re in one of those and you have undiagnosed bipolar disorder - good times! I decided the most therapeutic thing that I could do around that time was to turn it into jokes. This was after three bad breakups. I can say that the last breakup left me stranded in Iowa. I was back in Iowa before going to Cincinnati. I was stranded there because of a girl. At that time I was like I am going to write a five-minute set and take it to Go Bananas which is a really awesome comedy club right outside of Cincinnati.

They have an open mic night, so I start doing that. I started doing open mics in bars around town. I made connections and made friends with really good comedians. A lot of my friends from there are still from my time in comedy. The reason I don’t do this anymore, is because since moving to Austin I could not quite get into the Austin comedy scene. I love Austin. I met my wife and well, I didn’t really meet my daughter, well actually I did -- after she was born(waits for my applause for that joke before continuing).

It just was not the same and I was not enjoying comedy here. I decided that since I was not enjoying it and I’m signed up on a show I’m taking a spot on the show that someone else who likes it might use.

AB: Is there any comic who inspired you to look at life from the funny side?

KS: The biggest thing that affected my comedic thing other than Monty Python and some of the weird sketch comedy shows, my comedy came from some clips of stand-up comedy shows from Comedy Central back in the day. There was a show called Mystery Science Theatre 3000, which really got me learning to look at things from different angles. I do that while writing for Sportskeeda. I look at stories from different angles and think about what the stories and angles remind me of or how it relates to something else. I try not to pitch ideas that won’t make people laugh.


Up next: Kevin talks about visiting WWE shows

Kevin talks about writing for Sportskeeda, visiting WWE shows and more

Kevin and his partner, Anna; Kevin at an open mic
Kevin and his partner, Anna; Kevin at an open mic

AB: You’ve been writing for Sportskeeda for 2 years now. How would you say the experience has been?

KS: Not blowing smoke or anything, but it has really been one of the best experiences of my life. Not only is it steady employment, but it’s also the first time that I have written steadily and exclusively for anybody, where I have a camaraderie with the other writers. I don’t feel like I have to hesitate to reach out to any of you guys if I have a question.

Another thing, in between those two years I had a really bad nervous breakdown. It was right before my bipolar diagnosis. I didn’t write anything for almost a year. Sportskeeda stuck by me. They didn’t cut ties with me and you guys would message me to make sure I was okay. When I came back, everyone was like "Cool! Welcome back!" Because of that, now that I’m back I’m more involved with the site and I get to write about games again.

Not only do I get to write about wrestling, but gaming, which is my favorite hobby, it’s given me a lot of opportunities. Also, hanging out with you guys. You guys are so complementary, it’s done wonders for my ego (laughs). You all are just the nicest guys.

AB: You’ve recently started doing Live Cards. What has that experience been like?

KS: It was a lot more difficult than I expected. Not in a bad way. When I first started talking about doing it, I thought of live blogging it like on Twitter. You can’t just be funny, but have to be descriptive so that people can understand even if they are not watching it. You can’t just be like "That was weird!" You have to explain what was weird and why so. It’s still a lot of fun!

AB: You talked about meeting Paul London. Would you talk about that?

KS: I was writing for a website called Austin.com. It’s about the city, so we wrote about everything in the city. There was a music festival called FunFunFun Fest! Danzig played there! There was also a local group called Anarchy Championship Wrestling who set up a ring there.

I popped over there and asked to hang out with them, and they agreed.

Paul London was there, and he was in a good mood after having a few beverages like people do in music festivals. I got to hang out and talk to him. I didn’t get to talk about his WWE days. At one point he gave me a hug and said, “This is such a great show!” He was super nice!

AB: Being in the US, have you been to any WWE shows?

KS: The last one I went to was a SmackDown Live show. Shinsuke was a face at the time. I went to a live show of RAW, where Jerry Lawler and John Cena were ripping on Vicky Guerrero back and forth. The crowd was booing Vicky so loudly no one could hear her. She was so great at her job.

The tickets were a gift from my wife. We were dating at the time. When we got there, my seat did not exist. I had a ticket with a seat number, but there was no seat there. They got out a folding chair and I got free cheese fries.

Before that, I’ve gone to RAW is War when I was in high school. I went to the SummerSlam which had Undertaker vs Undertaker with my friend Rob. I got to see Bret vs Owen in a Steel Cage and saw Tatanka turn heel.


Up next: Kevin talks about his family and his cats

Kevin talks about his family and his cats

Kevin and his daughter Emily and one of their cats
Kevin and his daughter Emily and one of their cats

AB: Let’s talk about the biggest components of your life right now, your partner and your daughter. Do you want to talk about them?

KS: The whole time that I was going through my nervous breakdown, my partner Anna was the one who got me through that. No matter what stupid stuff I did, she got me through it. We are common law married, but not legally married yet.

We had Emily in 2015. She is just hilarious. I tried not to be that guy that bored everyone by talking about how my daughter put a box on her head. Emily is 4 now. Her favorite wrestlers are AJ Styles and Becky Lynch. She really likes "Jon Moxwey". She can’t pronounce her ls here. She calls wrestling, resting.

AB: That’s surprisingly apt if we look at the rest holds in Randy Orton matches.

KS: She’s also really smart. I could talk about her for hours.

AB: A week or so ago, when we were talking among ourselves while covering SmackDown, you said you had to go and then you told me that she locked herself in a room?

KS: Well yes, we thought she had gotten over the phase of locking doors behind her. She went into our bedroom. I am working in my living room. She is allowed to go in our room as long as she does not lock herself in. It’s a basic lock that could have been opened from the other side with a screwdriver. We did not have a screwdriver and were running around frantically thinking about what we could do. Well, my friend Kenny, (not Omega), was able to open it. She was in there the whole time laughing crazily.

When we ask her what Becky Lynch says, she shouts "I am The Man" at the top of her voice.

AB: You have several cats as pets. Would you like to talk about them?

KS: We have Marley, who is a grey tabby with no tail. He was Anna’s cat and is now ours. He is my nemesis and meows at the top of his lungs for no reason. We also have Ella, who is the prettiest orange lady cat. She is around 3 to 4 years old. We also have her brother Finn, who is black and white. We rescued them when the mother cat gave birth under our hedge. We took two of them home while our friends had the others.

When we got the cats, we had separate rooms for them and wanted to keep them away from Marley until they got used to each other. They escaped somehow and went back to the bushes. I went to look for them and was skulking around under the bushes. My neighbor opened the door and was like "what in the world are you doing?" She thought I was trying to break in for some reason. Eventually, there were a couple of firemen who were walking around and who came and rescued my kitties.

AB: Do you have a message for readers and wrestling fans?

KS: We live in a really good time for wrestling fans right now. We can have both. It does not have to be one or the other. We don’t have to hate the other company. If I had a SEGA Genesis, I could go to my friend's house. I could play Nintendo there, and he could play SEGA here. The Monday Night Wars were different because the shows were at the same time. You had to pick.

There’s no reason to be divided now. There’s only division because people want to feel exclusive. There’s no law that you can’t like the other. There’s so much wrestling you can watch today. Nowadays, NJPW has a streaming service. There’s British Wrestling in WWE as well. We can enjoy all of it.

Also, thanks so much for reading us. It’s amazing to interact with our readers on Twitter. 99% of our fans are super positive and really fun to interact with. This is the biggest reason for doing it.


You can read my interviews with Gary Cassidy and Phillipa Marie here.

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