Sozio talks how he got into wrestlng, winning Combat Zone Wrestling World title and more (Part 2)

Former Combat Zone Wrestling world champion Sozio sat down with philly.com in advance of CZW's Internet pay-per-view on Saturday, Retribution.

Here's the second part of the conversation. For Part 1, click HERE.

For more information on the iPPV, visit CZW's website.

Q: When did wrestling begin for you and how did you get involved?

Sozio: I was always a big fan of professional wrestling. I'd say WWE more than anything else. I was a kid and a teenager in the 1990s so I was a teen and in high school during the "Attitude Era," so I was very, very much influenced by that whole genre. Everything that was going on during that time is what utterly fueled me to be what I am today and inspired me to wrestle the way I do, act the way that I do, portray the person that I portray -- it was all inspired by that.

Beyond that, I would say that I was a freshman in college. I remember being at home and I was in my living room and I was watching TV. I was just sitting there doing homework and I turned the channel, and it was one of [CZW's] outdoor events and [Amazing] Red and The S.A.T's and Quiet Storm, Brian XL and some of those guys were wrestling. I was like, "What the hell is this?"

They were exhibiting the type of wrestling that you only saw out of a product like ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling]. I was like, "What the hell is this stuff? Is this the new ECW? Is this what's going to catch on and be the new [expletive] because if so I've got to get down with this."

I very quickly started watching every week and right around that time Cage of Death 3 was December 2001 in Philadelphia at the ECW Arena. It was the first show that I had ever gone to of Combat Zone Wrestling and it was their first show in the ECW Arena. I became a fan. I started watching the show and I was like, "This Cage of Death thing is going to be in Philly. I've got to go check this out!" So I did that and it was amazing. I was absolutely enthralled.

Prior to Combat Zone Wrestling, I think I was one of those jerks that didn't even know what indie wrestling was. I didn't realize that there were these companies everywhere of people trying to make it. I guess at the same time I didn't really know exactly how people made it to WWE. I didn't know if you just tried out with them and they trained you or whatever.

Finding out about Combat Zone Wrestling, going to their show, watching Cage of Death 3, it was a rude awakening into the world of indie wrestling, but I loved it. I was like, "This is awesome!" I loved Trent Acid, I loved the Backseat Boyz, I loved Nick Berk and Adam Flash and "Sick" Nick Mondo, Nick Gage, Wifebeater, Nate Hatred, all of these guys that were stars in the company back then. It was just really awesome. It was a really exclusive roster of guys that you couldn't see anywhere else that when they came together they made this crazy, awesome product of Combat Zone Wrestling.

From December 2001 to May 2002, I was going to every Combat Zone Wrestling event. I was buying tickets with my friends and we would go and we would watch. We would look forward to it all month. I think it was after the show in either January or February, I hung around afterward and spoke to Johnny Kashmere, who was one half of the Backseat Boyz, the only living member of the Backseat Boyz.

I think I had emailed him previously and I was like, "Hey, man. I'm really interested. I'm a big fan of you guys." I told him where I went to school and stuff like that and ironically enough, Johnny Kashmere used to go to my college so we hit it off right off the bat. He gave his number right at that show. He told to call him on this day. He set me up for the tryout at the school. I did that and one evening after class I drove over to Deptford, N.J., met John Danzig, I went through the tryout and they were like, "You can be here if you want to be here. You're trainable. We can work with you." The rest is history.

I don't think I actually started until that summer, until the semester was over, but May 2002 forward the rest is history. I started training then, and a year later, I was on the shows.

Q: What made you want to go from just being a fan to actually wanting to be a part of the wrestling business?

Sozio: I think I kind of decided that I wanted to do or at least wanted to try to do before I ever knew about CZW. Like I mentioned, I was always a big fan of WWE and WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and just pro wrestling in general, but for me, I think when the Hardy Boyz and these smaller guys that were doing cool stuff and the crowd was losing their minds for the stuff that they would do, that was sort of the switch in my brain that said, "I want to do that. I want to be the guy jumping off the ladder that people are losing their minds for because they're appreciating his sacrifice."

I feel like it was No Mercy 1999 when Edge and Christian wrestled the Hardys in the final round of the Terri Invitational Tournament, I think it was the first-ever tag team ladder match and that match is forever going to stand out in my mind. Even when I go back and watch it now, it still holds up 16 years later. It still holds up as a fantastic match. Granted, there's some psychological holes in the match in the sense that after the first ladder bump that should have been it, but they kept going and it's whatever. That match alone is what has shaped indie wrestling over the last 15 years as far as multi-man ladder matches, tag team ladder matches, high-flying hardcore, those guys laid it down. They laid down the groundwork for everything that has happened over the last 15 years.

It was literally that match and after every bump they took, every leap, every dive, every leg drop, the crowd was standing up and losing their minds. They easily stole the show on that card. Does anybody know what the main event was in No Mercy 1999? No, but they sure remembers that tag match. It was literally that match that in my heart and in my mind that I said, "Yup, I've got to do this. I've got to be the guy that's making people lose their mind." In a way, it was a selfish decision, but is that not what anyone is thinking when they want to become famous and want to become a star? Everybody wants the attention on them. You want to be the one that people are stopping for autographs and taking pictures of so you can piss and moan about it later. I wanted to be the focal point. I wanted to be the guy that everybody was going, "Damn! Did you see what he just did? Good stuff."

Q: Talk about you training at CZW. What was it like taking your first bump and going through those initial paces? How tough was it?

Sozio: It was very tough. All I could say for anybody is that it is a rude awakening for your body because no aspect of professional wrestling is natural. There isn't anything about throwing yourself on the ground thousands of times that is natural or good for you. There's no way I could tell you the first couple of times you take bumps that it felt good or the next day that it felt good. For days, your back and your neck are like, "What did you do that to me for? Why did you put me through that kind of torture?"

Between that and all of the Hindu squats that you do ... even things as simple as running the ropes and getting your footing and just hitting those ropes — it looks like it's rubber bands or whatever — that stuff hurts, too. If you're not used to it and it's not a good quality rope that's padded or whatever, those ropes digging into your back and your lower back because obviously you're hitting the middle and the top, that stuff hurts over and over again. You will be bruised just from that. You'll be bruised on your shoulder blades, across your back, your lower back especially if you hit it a couple hundred times a session. It's certainly not something that feels good.

Just getting used to the bumps and all of the rigorous calisthenics exercises, it was tough, but you get over it. You get stronger. Your body transforms. You literally transform from what you were when you started into this very physically fit, very physically capable person or else you just won't make it. ... Unless you're somebody who can get buy on sheer entertainment.

Q: I'm sure they didn't teach you how to jump off ladders like the Hardy Boyz in training did they?

Sozio: Not like a ladder so much. One of the things the Hardys were best at was taking heat, especially Jeff. Jeff could bump like a champion for so much. Everything he took, it looked like he was getting creamed. I certainly learned how to sell like them a lot. You spend a lot of time getting your butt whooped and taking a bunch of heat, especially being in there with Jon Dahmer, who was my primary trainer for most of my fundamentals and things like that my first couple of years. I always worked with him and he'd beat me up all the time. I had the pleasure of having my first match against him, too, in a tag team match, and he whooped my butt, but you have to.

If you don't let rookies know that this is real and if you don't show the fans sometimes that this is real, there's no point in us doing it anymore. There's just absolutely no point in any of us getting together on a Friday or a Saturday or a Sunday when we could be with out families or with our friends or doing anything else if we're not going to at least try to portray to the crowd and to each other that some aspect of this is real.

Q: What was it like winning the CZW World title after once upon a time being just a fan of the promotion?

Sozio: It was a pretty surreal experience. To a degree, my championship reign that kind of happened has an asterisk next to it by the means that I won the title. I did sort of win the title in a very Money in the Bank sort of way in the sense that I had an opportunity that I could cash in whenever I wanted and then I did that against my own guy, Biff Busick.

All of the story bull---- and how I came to acquire it aside, it was incredible. I didn't even have a very strenuous match because it was literally me just kicking the [stuffing] out of Biff and taking the title, but I still remember getting backstage and running to a locker room, sitting down against the wall and just holding it over my shoulder taking a deep breath.

I literally just wanted to get away from everybody for a second, sit down, breathe and just go, "Holy ----, I'm the champion." I think part of the reason why I was taken aback a little bit is because it also dawned on me the responsibility I had. To a degree, I was like, "This is going to be hard. I'm the man now." There's no more, "Oh screw it. I'll go to the gym tomorrow." There's no more, "Oh I'm just going to say whatever I want on Facebook or Twitter. I'm the face, I'm the mouth, I'm the everything of this company right now so I have to toe the line."

It was a great feeling. I knew in advance, obviously, and I also knew when I would be losing it and to know that I was going to get the main event of Cage of Death — the very thing that started it all for me — was crazy. Cage of Death 3 was the first one I was at. Years later, I'm main-eventing the show. It's just crazy that 12, 13 years later I'm the guy in the main event and not only that, I was so worried that we weren't going to deliver because the four of us don't typically do stuff like that — Biff Busick, myself, BLK Jeez, Drew Gulak — none of us are particularly for hardcore, ultraviolence or any of it. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

I think a lot of fans, as well as us, we were kind of like, "I hope we can get this done and people will care and people will like it." The last thing I wanted to do was going into that cage, cut everybody up, get cut up, get real hurt and everybody just [dump] on it. Fortunately, it was one of the best stories we could have told. It turned out awesome. Like I said, for me to be a part of it and to be the main part of it was flattering, was overwhelming and it was just a surreal experience to be a part of.

Q: How much longer do you think you're going to this? You've been on the independent circuit for more than a decade. How much longer do you think you have left and have you ever thought about giving up on this dream at some point?

Sozio: I think about it a lot actually. There are a lot of different things that weigh on you as a professional wrestler, as an independent professional wrestler, as somebody that's also trying to compete and just get by in the world outside of wrestling. The reality of it for me is that I'm 33 now and I know that as far as competing in the ring, it's going to be continuously harder and harder for me to keep up, and that's no matter how hard I train, no matter what I want to believe, no matter what I want to do, it's not going to be realistic to say that in five years I'm going to be able to keep up with 21- and 22-year-olds.

As much as I could try, and I'll definitely give them a run for their money, show them I still got it, but the reality is as far as an in-ring performer, my years are numbered. I'm not going to say my years are numbered, but I probably only have a couple more years of performing in the ring. However, with a lot of the things you see happening right now in NXT and people like Drake Younger (former CZW World champion and current referee in NXT), let me tell you something right now, I would take the ref contract in a second if WWE threw one at me.

If WWE said, "Do you want to be a manager here? Do you want to be a referee? Do you want to be an agent? Do you want to be a writer?" I would take any of those jobs to say that I'm still involved with professional wrestling, I'm still an important part of professional wrestling, I'm now collecting a paycheck as my job from professional wrestling.