It’s hard not to immediately name Royce Isaacs when speaking of the breakout stars of the National Wrestling Alliance. As part of the promotion’s Strictly Business faction, Isaacs has impressed in both singles and tag team action through his regular appearances on NWA Powerrr. Not only has Isaacs wowed fans with his work inside the squared circle, but has earned the gold to back it up, claiming the NWA Tag Team Championships in September of last year with Thomas Latimer as the Wild Cards.
Recently, Isaacs joined me to discuss his unique introduction to professional wrestling, as well as if he prefers singles or tag team wrestling. The full interview can be found here.
His unique introduction to independent wrestling:
“So, I went to a Lucha Libre and Laughs show. They still run shows in Denver, Colorado. Nick Gossert is the promoter there, and he does an amazing job. Back when I saw it, I mean, they weren’t drawing a crazy crowd, and the wrestling was not of the highest quality, but there was something about it and being in that live setting, that I was like ‘oh yeah!’ Like, everything that I thought was confirmed. This is something that I want to be involved in. So I talked to (Nick) afterwards and he recommended a place in Denver to train: The Butcher Shop and Lonnie Valdez was the head trainer there at the time, he started training me. So, I started training maybe two days after the show, but Lucha Libre and Laughs, now, talk about growth, they sell out the Oriental Theatre, 600+, wall-to-wall. It’s a nuts show, with stand-up comedy and wrestling. If you’re in Denver, or you’re in town visiting and there’s a Lucha Libre and Laughs show that’s going on, I super, super recommend going and seeing it because it’s one of the most fun, crazy extravagant live shows. And, it’s a good date night, too.
“But yeah, I started training at The Butcher Shop literally the next week which was just – at the time, it was like a big storage trailer in Commerce City in Colorado in this terrible neighborhood. I remember this guy, Bubba, bless his heart. Bubba was awesome, but like I thought he was like an assistant trainer, but I think he was just like living in the Butcher Shop at the time. I pulled up, and he was like ‘someone just stole my truck, like, just now from out front.’ Commerce City is one of the few neighborhoods that’s not great in Colorado still in the Denver area. At this point, it might be better, but this is 2014 and literally, a car had gotten stolen right from out front of (the Butcher Shop), and I was like ‘okay, cool, I’m just going to park my car and I’m going to go in here for hours and train. Hopefully, nothing happens to it.’”
Singles vs. Tag Team wrestling:
“For me, I love that I can do both and I love that at the NWA, I can still do both. I think that teaming with Tom (Latimer) has been great for my growth as a wrestler. Tom obviously has a few years on me as far as experience and everything like that, so there’s so much that I’m already learning from him, and he’s a really good dude, too, so it’s been really cool. But, I do also of course enjoy doing the singles wrestling and, I mean, I don’t know of any other places where people have been able to do quite as much in both a tag team setting and a singles setting, so it’s been – I mean, not to dance around your question, but I love both tag team and singles wrestling. Like, I’ve always been part of tag teams, and I’ve always had my own singles career. Even on the Indies and even before I met Tom, I would always do both and I think that both are really important, so it’s nice. I just like being able to do both, so if I can continue to ply my trade at both of the arts, I’m way into it man.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.
