Randy Myers on DEFY Wrestling, Becoming Champion

There’s simply no arguing that Ravenous Randy Myers is one of the most beloved professional wrestlers in the world today. That fact is exponentially true in Seattle, Washington, and in DEFY Wrestling specifically, where the Weirdo Hero is in the midst of a 116-day reign as the promotion’s world champion.

In a recent interview, Myers described to me his love of wrestling for DEFY, as well as how meaningful it was to win the DEFY World Championship.

His love of DEFY Wrestling:

“When I got involved with DEFY, it was at a point where I was taking my first-ever break from professional wrestling. I’ve been doing wrestling for the last twenty years, so I’ve been going, like, every weekend, (a) couple shows for quite a while. And then, it was a time where I developed some mental health issues that I’d kind of needed to focus on, so I’d taken a step away from wrestling. But, then, there was a big show at DEFY down in Seattle, and they had Davey Boy Smith versus…who was he wrestling that night? It was a stacked card, and I needed to go down and I needed to witness this live. So, I went down. I had heard good things, I went down, had some friends down there, and I was blown away when I saw the product. The fans were incredible, the actual in-ring was awesome, and just the vibe was phenomenal. So, I just went down there as a fan and was blown away.”

“Then, Matt Farmer, who’s one of the promoters of it, we’ve known each other for quite a while. We toured a couple years, probably ten years ago, eight years ago now. So, we knew each other, and then we kind of got to talking. He sent me a message asking me if I wanted to be on their next show. Like I said, I was taking some time away, but I was so blown away and this kind of rejuvenated me and it got my heart pumping again. It got those juices flowing. So I was like “of course, I’d love to take part in your show.’ I thought I was going to maybe only go down for one, but then the crowd was so loving and embraced me so much that I was like ‘well, I can’t leave. They pulled me back in. It’s like the mafia, right? You try and get out but they pull you back in, but happily.”

Succeeding names like Artemis Spencer, Shane Strickland, and Schaff as DEFY Champion:

“It’s incredible. Representing DEFY as a whole, being in that lineage of champions that (were) just named, it means so much to me. I can’t even really put it into words. I (feel) like DEFY’s what I always wanted from wrestling. I always wanted something that was an inclusive product where you could feel safe as a fan no matter who you were, no matter what kind of place you were coming from in life. Whether you’re a freak, a geek, a misfit, a weirdo, felt that you were strange, or felt that you needed to change, or any of those things. (If) you ever felt that you were different, this is the place for you. It’s so embracing and so loving.”

“To represent a company that is what I’ve been looking for for twenty years in wrestling means the absolute world to me, and means every drip of sweat I’ve had, means all the blood, means all the tears that I’ve cried, all the times I said I was going to quit, all the workloads I didn’t want to do but did anyways, all the gross cans of tuna I shoved down my throat, they were all worth it.”

Why he enters to “At Last”:

“I was working out at the gym. I like powerful, strong women to encourage me while I’m working out. That energy is what fires me up. I was scrolling through, and that song came on, and I just started moving differently. I just started feeling like I blossomed as soon as I heard it.”

“I’m so tired of rap songs. I’m from the prairie. I’m a Canadian prairie boy. Everyone’s coming out to these hardcore rap songs and I’m like ‘I don’t know how you relate to any of this music.’ I don’t know if that’s your life, and If it does, that’s cool, I want you to come out to something that relates to you, but these either metal or hard songs never quite fit me. I was always kind of trying to find something that worked, and then this, Etta James just felt like it was so different, and what I want to give is something different, so it just worked so well.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.