I'd like to thank Paul for initially approaching us about this interview and also taking the time to answer these questions.
He's a fine example of the talent we're currently looking to promote here at BritWres Review!
Q) Could you give us a background on Paul Huntly away from the wrestling ring
A) I am 18, work full time in a bar job that lets me pursue wrestling properly and lets me put as much time into it as I can. In my spare time I'm at the gym a lot, eat a lot and watch movies and study wrestling basically by watching loads of different styles and sequences etc to try and make my knowledge of it all better.
Q) How did you become interested in wrestling and who were some of your favourites when you started watching?
A) I got into wrestling when I was around 7 years old and my friends at school were all into it so I thought I'd watch it to be able to join in on their conversations at break times (basically to fit in ha) and ever since then, I've fallen in love with it. My favourites growing up have to be Rey Mysterio, Edge, Shane McMahon and Eddie Guererro.
Q) How old were you when you decided to become a wrestler and what inspired that decision?
A) I started training when I was 14 years old and what made me want to start doing it was a weird story, was at a wedding and I was for some reason sitting there thinking about life and how short it is and how you should just chase your dreams and live your life how you wanna live it, So the next weekend I started training. Just watching wrestling live and on TV just every time I sat watching it all I could think is "That is what I wanna do" and throughout school, nothing else interested me at all and all I could think about was wrestling.
Q) How long did it take for you to find a training school and which school did you decide to train at?
A) It didn't take me long as I knew someone who was going to start training at a school so got In contact with him and started training on the same day. The school that was nearest to where I stay was SSW (Scottish School Of Wrestling) so been training there ever since.
Q) Were there ever been any aspects of training that you didn't enjoy? Also, which parts of training did you enjoy?
A) I honestly enjoyed all parts of training, even those sore first bumps felt good and I seemed to pick up things pretty quickly. One thing though, when I first started that was an issue was my overall confidence. For things like promos it was hard for me to come out my shell at first as I'd never done anything like this in my life before but wrestling's one of those things you just have to be confident in yourself to be able to do it, so I overcame that about a year into training as took me a while to come out my shell and just go for it.
Q) How did your family and friends react when you told them of your decision to become a wrestler?
A) Friends at first didn't believe me until they had seen photos of me doing it online. My family is always supportive of stuff I do in life so when I said to them I wanted to start training they said just go for it so I did. They love coming to shows to watch me but mum still gets freaked out at the thought of me getting seriously injured as every mother does! But nonetheless, everyone that I know is supportive of it all.
Q) When did you make your debut and what are your memories of your first match and show?
A) My First Match In front of a paying audience was in November 2015 in a 30 man rumble match. My debut was getting into the ring and double suplexed through a table and eliminated (not the big debut I was hoping for ha) but no, it was such a cool feeling nonetheless and was honestly one of my favourite moments in life at that point haha.
Q) What's the best piece of advice that you've been given so far in your career?
A) I have been given loads of great advice from the past few years that have helped me. A few things like "Do what you wanna do" "be different" "less Is more" and being taught what works and what doesn't when it comes to different types of crowds. Like you get your family crowds you get your wrestling crowds and you get your non-wrestling crowds etc and just being taught by people such as Joe E Legend and Johnny Storm who know A lot about how to work the different types of crowds have helped me plan matches better to suit.
Q) Earlier this year you stepped into the ring with one of the best wrestlers in the UK in Bubblegum. What was that experience like and how much of a confidence boost did it give you to be in there with a wrestler of that calibre?
A) That match will always be one of my favourites. The match boosted my confidence up dramatically as being able to hang in with one of the best is such a good feeling and since that match, I have never been nervous for a show since. I think Bubblegum Is easily one of the top guys in the UK to date and when I got the chance to work him I was just shocked, to be honest.
Most nervous I've been before a match as we got back from another show late and didn't have much time to plan and go over the match so that made the nerves even worse. The match was a triple threat with one of my best mates in the business Luke (Benedict Thatcher) and we were both feeling the exact same but it was class getting to share that moment with him. Bubblegum is also such a nice guy, so his feedback after the match has helped me become such a better performer in the ring and couldn't thank him enough for the time and patience he put into us both with feedback etc. Would love to wrestle him again in future for sure.
Q) If you could face one wrestler of your choosing currently competing on the British scene, who would you like to step into the ring with?
A) There are a few guys I'd love to have a match with who I haven't already, Kid Fite is one id like to get in the ring with, I have seen him wrestle quite a bit and always wanted to step foot in ring with him as I feel I would learn a bunch from him. Also guys like BT Gunn, Bingo Balance, and one day I'd love to wrestle Ospreay, as he has the same style as me and I rate the guy a lot. One day I hope it can happen In future haha.
Q) Have you ever looked to draw inspiration from other forms of entertainment to help you in wrestling?
A) I have watched A lot of movies, Not with the intentions of helping me in wrestling but just sort of realising it as I have watched them. Wrestling is about telling a story when in the ring, movies are no different as they have structures like matches do. If you can understand and appreciate a good movie, then stuff like storytelling in matches will come the same and helps you put on a better story in the ring like movies do on screens.
Q) Who would you say has had the biggest impact on you both as a person and as a performer?
A) Honestly, the person who has helped me most in the ring is my mate Luke (Benedict Thatcher) who I have trained with for a few years. There is no one else who can bring the best of my ability in the ring like he does. We have had many matches over this year and have all been my best. He's helped me improve so much in the ring and we have this weird chemistry in the ring where we just feed so naturally off of each other and just put together great matches in not much planning time and I have never felt nerves when wrestling this guy on a show because I know everything will go to plan. I rate him a lot.
Q) Lastly, where can fans see you in the ring in the coming weeks?
A) Few shows I have got coming up are for SSW on the 30th of September and the 8th of October. All info for shows will be on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SSW02/
Thank you once again to Paul Huntly for answering these questions. You can follow Paul on Twitter @paulhuntly11
Questions asked by Darren Dyer
He's a fine example of the talent we're currently looking to promote here at BritWres Review!
Q) Could you give us a background on Paul Huntly away from the wrestling ring
A) I am 18, work full time in a bar job that lets me pursue wrestling properly and lets me put as much time into it as I can. In my spare time I'm at the gym a lot, eat a lot and watch movies and study wrestling basically by watching loads of different styles and sequences etc to try and make my knowledge of it all better.
Q) How did you become interested in wrestling and who were some of your favourites when you started watching?
A) I got into wrestling when I was around 7 years old and my friends at school were all into it so I thought I'd watch it to be able to join in on their conversations at break times (basically to fit in ha) and ever since then, I've fallen in love with it. My favourites growing up have to be Rey Mysterio, Edge, Shane McMahon and Eddie Guererro.
Q) How old were you when you decided to become a wrestler and what inspired that decision?
A) I started training when I was 14 years old and what made me want to start doing it was a weird story, was at a wedding and I was for some reason sitting there thinking about life and how short it is and how you should just chase your dreams and live your life how you wanna live it, So the next weekend I started training. Just watching wrestling live and on TV just every time I sat watching it all I could think is "That is what I wanna do" and throughout school, nothing else interested me at all and all I could think about was wrestling.
Q) How long did it take for you to find a training school and which school did you decide to train at?
A) It didn't take me long as I knew someone who was going to start training at a school so got In contact with him and started training on the same day. The school that was nearest to where I stay was SSW (Scottish School Of Wrestling) so been training there ever since.
Q) Were there ever been any aspects of training that you didn't enjoy? Also, which parts of training did you enjoy?
A) I honestly enjoyed all parts of training, even those sore first bumps felt good and I seemed to pick up things pretty quickly. One thing though, when I first started that was an issue was my overall confidence. For things like promos it was hard for me to come out my shell at first as I'd never done anything like this in my life before but wrestling's one of those things you just have to be confident in yourself to be able to do it, so I overcame that about a year into training as took me a while to come out my shell and just go for it.
Q) How did your family and friends react when you told them of your decision to become a wrestler?
A) Friends at first didn't believe me until they had seen photos of me doing it online. My family is always supportive of stuff I do in life so when I said to them I wanted to start training they said just go for it so I did. They love coming to shows to watch me but mum still gets freaked out at the thought of me getting seriously injured as every mother does! But nonetheless, everyone that I know is supportive of it all.
Q) When did you make your debut and what are your memories of your first match and show?
A) My First Match In front of a paying audience was in November 2015 in a 30 man rumble match. My debut was getting into the ring and double suplexed through a table and eliminated (not the big debut I was hoping for ha) but no, it was such a cool feeling nonetheless and was honestly one of my favourite moments in life at that point haha.
Q) What's the best piece of advice that you've been given so far in your career?
A) I have been given loads of great advice from the past few years that have helped me. A few things like "Do what you wanna do" "be different" "less Is more" and being taught what works and what doesn't when it comes to different types of crowds. Like you get your family crowds you get your wrestling crowds and you get your non-wrestling crowds etc and just being taught by people such as Joe E Legend and Johnny Storm who know A lot about how to work the different types of crowds have helped me plan matches better to suit.
Q) Earlier this year you stepped into the ring with one of the best wrestlers in the UK in Bubblegum. What was that experience like and how much of a confidence boost did it give you to be in there with a wrestler of that calibre?
A) That match will always be one of my favourites. The match boosted my confidence up dramatically as being able to hang in with one of the best is such a good feeling and since that match, I have never been nervous for a show since. I think Bubblegum Is easily one of the top guys in the UK to date and when I got the chance to work him I was just shocked, to be honest.
Most nervous I've been before a match as we got back from another show late and didn't have much time to plan and go over the match so that made the nerves even worse. The match was a triple threat with one of my best mates in the business Luke (Benedict Thatcher) and we were both feeling the exact same but it was class getting to share that moment with him. Bubblegum is also such a nice guy, so his feedback after the match has helped me become such a better performer in the ring and couldn't thank him enough for the time and patience he put into us both with feedback etc. Would love to wrestle him again in future for sure.
Q) If you could face one wrestler of your choosing currently competing on the British scene, who would you like to step into the ring with?
A) There are a few guys I'd love to have a match with who I haven't already, Kid Fite is one id like to get in the ring with, I have seen him wrestle quite a bit and always wanted to step foot in ring with him as I feel I would learn a bunch from him. Also guys like BT Gunn, Bingo Balance, and one day I'd love to wrestle Ospreay, as he has the same style as me and I rate the guy a lot. One day I hope it can happen In future haha.
Q) Have you ever looked to draw inspiration from other forms of entertainment to help you in wrestling?
A) I have watched A lot of movies, Not with the intentions of helping me in wrestling but just sort of realising it as I have watched them. Wrestling is about telling a story when in the ring, movies are no different as they have structures like matches do. If you can understand and appreciate a good movie, then stuff like storytelling in matches will come the same and helps you put on a better story in the ring like movies do on screens.
Q) Who would you say has had the biggest impact on you both as a person and as a performer?
A) Honestly, the person who has helped me most in the ring is my mate Luke (Benedict Thatcher) who I have trained with for a few years. There is no one else who can bring the best of my ability in the ring like he does. We have had many matches over this year and have all been my best. He's helped me improve so much in the ring and we have this weird chemistry in the ring where we just feed so naturally off of each other and just put together great matches in not much planning time and I have never felt nerves when wrestling this guy on a show because I know everything will go to plan. I rate him a lot.
Q) Lastly, where can fans see you in the ring in the coming weeks?
A) Few shows I have got coming up are for SSW on the 30th of September and the 8th of October. All info for shows will be on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SSW02/
Thank you once again to Paul Huntly for answering these questions. You can follow Paul on Twitter @paulhuntly11
Questions asked by Darren Dyer