What’s the story?
In an interview with The Indiana Gazette, WWE superstar Karl Anderson (real name – Chad Allegra) spoke about how aspiring wrestlers can make it in major promotions like WWE and NJPW and why he finds travelling much easier in the WWE compared to his run in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
In case you didn’t know…
Anderson has a wide range of experience in the pro-wrestling business and has been part of several promotions such as New Wrestling Alliance, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Ring of Honor and most prominently, NJPW. During his time at the popular Japanese promotion, ‘The Machine’ joined forces with Luke Gallows to make a formidable tag team combination and together they went on to become IWGP Tag Team Champions on 3 separate occasions. Anderson made his WWE debut alongside Gallows, who was making his return to the company, on the 11 April episode of Raw last year and have been part of the show’s tag team division ever since.
The heart of the matter
On his advice to people who want to get into WWE or NJPW, Karl Anderson said that one needs to stay stuck with it and have confidence in one’s ability while working hard. He revealed that he has been a wrestling fan since childhood and it was all he ever thought of. According to Anderson, his wrestling skills, charisma and ability to do what he does all the time is what got him into the WWE.
Here’s what the 36-year old wrestler had to say:
“I get a lot of guys asking me, 'What do I do? How do I get to the WWE, or how do I get to Japan?' The only answer I have is, you just have to stick with it. You just have to stick with it and be confident in yourself, listen to everybody and you just have to work hard. It's all I ever thought of.
I've watched wrestling ever since I was four or five years old, so it's been in brewing in me for forever. Every time I get on television, I'm just going to go out there and be me, be what I've always do and just be what got me to the WWE. Being a good wrestler, being charismatic and just doing what I do.”
Talking about the travel involved in the WWE, Karl Anderson claimed that it is much easier for him than it was at NJPW because he gets to go home on a weekly basis. Unlike the situation in Japan wherein his family saw him only once in a month or even six weeks at times, he said that they are much happier now since they can meet him every week. Anderson stated:
“What's cool about the WWE now is you get to be home weekly. … I have three kids and I'm married, and so to be away from them for a month at a time, sometimes six weeks at a time, was pretty intense. It's busy, of course, a lot of travel. But my kids really appreciate the WWE. They're happy to have me home weekly. It's just been really cool, man. It's all been good.”
What next?
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are currently engaged in a feud with Raw Tag Team Champions, Sheamus and Cesaro, and they may not be far from their first championship run as a tag team in the WWE.
Sportskeeda’s Take
With the kind of talent and experience that the team of Anderson and Gallows possesses, the WWE need to come up with greater plans in order to utlise them to their full potential.
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