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Exclusive interview with Vin Gerard (english)

Interview

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Published on:
23.05.2014, 20:20 
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This sunday the independent promotion CHIKARA will host its fifth IPPV. As a part of our preview for the big return of the promotion from eastern Pennsylvania we talked to the former CHIKARA wrestler and graduate of the Chikara Wrestle Factory Vin Gerard. He wrestled several years for CHIKARA, won the Young Lions Cup in 2008 and had to end his career in 2012. With us he talked about Sunday but also his whole career.

CAGEMATCH: Vin, before we get to the questions, let me thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
Vin Gerard: No problem. It's weird being interviewed two years later, ha.

It's now two years since you retired. Do you miss wrestling? Or are there some things that you miss and some things that you don't miss?
Yes to all. I really don't know what I was thinking doing a wager with Eddie Kingston. Just a lot of frustration at the time with CHIKARA and wrestling as a whole... went for that "all or nothing" and wound up with nothing. I needed a break. Do I regret it? Not really, Kingston's still the champ so not much has changed since I left.

Among others, you have been at National Pro Wrestling Day. Do you still follow CHIKARA and wrestling in general? Do you watch DVDs/VODs?
I do, mostly everything. Mostly just events that I stop in for... I have however been checking out #CHIKpicks. Those have been fun ways to catch up on the last year.

Let's talk about yourself. Did you watch wrestling growing up?
I did, I think most indie wrestlers will probably give you that same answer. Heh.

After being a fan, how did you get involved in wrestling?
Oddly enough, through a wrestling news site I created. I was going to shows taking photos and uploading them to this website for people to check out. A new wrestling promotion moved in to my area and I reached out to them about helping out. World Star Wrestling. They brought me in as kind of a member of their ring crew... I ended up getting a few of my local wrestling friends booked on to their shows. I met a lot of wrestlers through it. Good networking opportunity for the future.

You started wrestling even before CHIKARA. Where did you get your first training?
From some friends that were running a DIY music venue. They doubled the venue as a pro wrestling training center since a lot of them just started wrestling on the indies and needed a place to train. I had gone to a bunch of shows with them so they took me under their wing for a bit. A lot of my earlier training came from studying tapes. I don't know if anyone will remember those old UPW Training Videos with John Cena.

Are any of these friends that you talked about known guys or still wrestle today?
A lot of them are still very active locally... they have a new promotion called Grand Slam Wrestling in Moosic, PA that they run monthly shows. A name that might be most familiar would be one of ROH's first students Matt Turner.

In 2005 you enrolled in the Chikara Wrestle Factory. Why did you decide to go there?
It was really a no brainer. I went to the first show back in 2002 and I was hooked. I was really digging lucha at the time... was a huge fan of Reckless Youth... and when I found out they were opening a school, was kinda bummed that I was only 15 at the time. It also happened to be about an hour from my house and a friend of mine (STIGMA) ended up enrolling.

By the time you went there Reckless was already replaced by Chris Hero. What was it like training with Hero and Mike Quackenbush compared to the training you received before?
A lot more structured, organized and exhausting. In comparison, I would say it was like being on the wrestling team in High School. Practices were a bitch but incredible. Great for conditioning and just learning. You never knew who would show up for practice... always some wrestlers stopping in just to train.

After training there you made your debut for CHIKARA almost exactly nine years ago as Equinox, a masked guy from Mexico. Before CHIKARA you were already wrestling as Juan Cruz, another masked Mexican. Did you become Equinox because of your fascination of lucha libre and previous experience as masked guy? Did you have influence on the gimmick or was this just Quack's decision?
Quack really didn't have much say in the matter... I blame Jorge "Skayde" Rivera for Equinox. I was failing Spanish in High School so I had to really buckle down and learn it in order pass 10th Grade... so I ended up really learning conversational Spanish. At the time, Quack couldn't really speak it so well and Jorge didn't speak English at all. I ended up doing a bit of translating for him and Jorge kind of took to me.

Even though Skayde took you under his wing, your time as Equinox wasn't quite successful. Being luchador didn't really seem to fit you. What is your opinion on yourself as a high flying luchador compared to your wrestling style and character later?
Day and Night. I was under a lot of pressure to perform as Equinox. Not that Vin Gerard didn't experience that same pressure. It just was much easier to adapt to that character. High risk didn't translate well as Equinox.

The mentioned change from Equinox to the dark, depressed, homeless and mask-hating Vin Gerard happened after you lost your mask against Chris Hero at the end of 2007. Outside of CHIKARA you already wrestled before without your mask among others as part of the infamous New Jersey Independent All-Stars. Did you always want to wrestle unmasked? Or did you enjoy these matches so much that you wanted to do the same in CHIKARA? What was the reason for the change?
Infamous New Jersey Independent All Stars? I dunno about that one. I think it started off as a filler role with me wrestling without the mask. I hid a lot of hair under that mask for quite some time so no one would be able to tell the difference. Once I wanted to start experimenting with more things like moves or mannerisms, I figured why not. I did team with the NJIAS. That started happening a little later on when I was getting tired of being Equinox. Just experimenting and Ground Breaking Wrestling was nice enough to allow me some spots on their shows.

After losing your mask 2008 was probably your best year. You won the YLC, had a great feud against the Colony and later Jimmy Olsen. And of course there was probably the best match of your career (and one of the best matches ever in CHIKARA) against Fire Ant. What do you think about that match and the whole feud now?
It's not really a matter of what I think about it but I'm glad I was given the opportunity to beat up some ants! According to "Ancient Aliens", insects (ie: ant men) have been considered for thousands of years to possibly be alien life forms here to monitor the Earth. I'm not down with that. So the match itself, not very happy I lost but he eventually was put to rest.
I feel I did humans a service.

If that wasn't your favorite match, what would you say was the best match of your career?
Vs. Jason Belmonte in Chicago, IL... 2/3 falls bowling match.

We'll talk more precisely about your bowling experience later. Later in 2008 you made your debut on the west coast for PWG. How did that come about and did you enjoy wrestling for Super Dragon?
Super Dragon was a nice fella. Jimmy Jacobs kinda hated me which is understandable... I was a more attractive, younger version of him... so he wasn't too pleased about wrasslin with me. Overall it was fun. STIGMA and I were supposed to go to Mexico that same week but it got cancelled last second. Fortunately Hero was able to set the trip up for me to make my way out there. It was a nice investment in my character at the time... definitely was happy I did it... just wish I stayed there a little longer than I did. Same with Germany. Real dumb decision booking a flight for a weekend.

Germany was the next stop of your career that I wanted to talk about. At the end of 2008 CHIKARA came over to Germany for the Tag World Grand Prix. Did you enjoy your time over here and do you have any specific memories?
I remember having a headache a majority of the time I was there and not really getting to enjoy it. I did however get to wrestle with Robbie Brookside and Johnny Saint before a show so that pretty much made the entire trip worth it.

In the first round in Oberhausen you defeated Claudio Castagnoli, who is now known as Cesaro, in the only TWGP match he ever lost. What do you think about him?
What a pushover... just in case you don't have the tally at home... Cesaro has only defeated me ONE TIME and that was as Equinox... we've wrestled about 800 times. Otherwise, I think he's a great dude and watching him on WWE is really exciting.

After the feud with the Colony Jimmy Olsen became your new nemesis. Around that time you began to form the UnStable with STIGMA and Jimmy's brother Colin Delaney after he returned from WWE. I always preferred Vin Gerard as a Singles Wrestler when he was the guy without friends who was hated by everybody instead of being the leader of a group. Did you enjoy your time with the UnStable or did you prefer being on your own?
I think making friends in wrestling really was the downfall of the character... mainly because it meant I had people to go out and drink with. Having people to rely on really slowed down my work ethic.

Your aforementioned feud with Jimmy Olsen, who even began to wear your old Equinox mask, culminated in a big ladder match for the YLC in the beginning of 2009. What do you think of that match today and was it like wrestling in a ladder match?
I really enjoyed everything with Jimmy Olsen. I thought the stories being told with him were really interesting. If you watch our ladder match, you'll see a lot of nods to the Razor Ramon/Shawn Michaels ladder match from Mania.

In 2010 you went over to Japan for Osaka Pro Wrestling due to the cooperation between them and CHIKARA. Did you enjoy your time in the land of the rising sun?
Osaka Pro was a dream. They were one of the first Japanese wrestling promotions I was exposed to through tape trading when I was just a fan. Wrestling in Japan is so different than here in America. Independent wrestling is a career for a lot of those dudes over there.

After being one of the most featured characters in CHIKARA in 2007 and 2008, it seemed that Vin Gerard became less and less important until the end of 2011 when you entered the big 12 Large: Summit to crown the first CHIKARA Grand Champion. Even though you were second to last in your bracket, you became the first challenger for Eddie Kingston after he won the tournament because you were the only one to defeat him in the tournament and interfered in several of his matches. After you lost your title match you had to retire due to the stipulation of the match. What do you think this feud? Was that match a worthy end to your career?
Considering he's still the Champ, I'd say I couldn't go down to any better than Kingston. Wrestling with Kingston was refreshing... you never knew what attitude you were going to get from him. Typically some sort of anger, but I enjoy that.

What were the reasons for your decision to leave wrestling?
Losing an apuesta, wagering your career will do it. Aside from that... I did have some other things going on at the time outside of wrestling that were conflicting with my weekend warrior schedule. I realized that my brain might be of more value than originally suspected.

Are you completely finished with being a wrestler or do you think that there is a possibility that you could return to the ring one day? Maybe just a one night only thing like quite a few guys in CHIKARA have done in the past?
Ask Eddie Kingston what he thinks of that. That's your answer.

You mentioned leaving wrestling because of things outside of wrestling that were conflicting with your wrestling schedule. I guess the app SnipStamp that you developed is one of these things. Could you maybe tell us what exactly SnipStamp is?
It was a mobile app to connect with nearby events and friends. Find out what's happening around you before leaving your house for the weekend. Similar to the new "Nearby Friends" app that Facebook has released.

So, it wasn't as successful as you hoped?
I was very satisfied with the results of it and I think in a few months, it'll be interesting to see a new company utilizing it for their marketing endeavors.

About six months after retiring you challenged pro bowlers with a YouTube-Video. After a build up for the bowling match via social media similar to the build up for a wrestling match you actually bowled against pro bowler Jason Belmonte. How did you come up with this crazy idea and how did all of this work out?
I was at the gym and I noticed bowling was on the TVs... It just seemed kind of weird to me. Of all things on ESPN, bowling was on. I guess it kind of made me angry so I went on Twitter to see if the PBA had a Twitter account. Sure enough, they did and I sent a tweet not really expecting a response. Within minutes, their Twitter ambassador replied to me and made some jabs back at me. It was then I realized I needed to do a pro wrestling promo challenging the PBA to step up.
Jason Belmonte was a really nice guy about everything. He saw what I was doing and realized there was an opportunity to bring bowling into the minds of some wrestling fans. It wouldn't have worked without him, plus it certainly feeds my ego to be able to say I've beat the best bowler in the world once.

At the beginning of 2013 you started podcasting with Leonard F. Chikarason. You talked about wrestling but also everything else. Why did you stop after ten episodes?
Me and LFC's baby had a heated argument one night over some crackers... I was never allowed in his house again.

The most recent wrestling related project you are doing is the website BodyslamYourBrain.com. I personally really enjoy the site but I assume that most of our readers don't know about it. Maybe you could tell them what the site is about and what differs BodyslamYourBrain.com from the numerous other wrestling websites?
Yeah, I think that with a lot of the top guys in the WWE being from the weird world of independent wrestling, there's a lot of WWE fans trying to find out more about it. Unfortunately, a lot of the places out there that cover indie wrestling make a lot of assumptions. Assumptions that you know this guy or that guy already. I'm just trying to make BodyslamYourBrain a place to go and find out something you didn't know... a site for newbies to get started.

Let's finish our conversation with what we started, namely CHIKARA. Recently they have done a storyline like it has never been done before in pro wrestling. What's your opinion on this way of telling a story? Have you seen the Ashes move?
Yeah, I saw the movie and I thought it did a great job of telling a story that anyone could go and watch. Longtime fans or even someone just looking to get into CHIKARA for the first time. It will catch you up in time for May 25th. As far my thoughts on this way of storytelling... I think it showed CHIKARA's versatility and it's only a matter of time before a company with much deeper pockets takes notice.

In the movie the third incarnation of Equinox debuted. What do you think about the mask and name returning again?
I'm curious to see how he does in the ring when he debuts. Why Equinox? Couldn't tell ya. Though, the mask and outfit is pretty cool.

And finally – to round things off – our popular word association game! Just write down what comes to your mind when you hear the name.

Glacier:
If 15-year old me knew what would happen 8 years later, he'd shit himself.
Valley Championship Wrestling: If it wasn't for VCW, I dunno where or how or when I would get into wrestling. The one you are referencing though was a spin-off product that hosted one of my first matches without a mask against Larry Sweeney.
Orange Cassidy: Dumb. Skinny. Looks like Ellen DeGeneres' lost son/daughter
Fire Ant: As stated earlier, very well might be an alien. Would explain why he's so freakishly quick.
CHIKARA: Fun. An event that I wouldn't be afraid to take any of my friends to because I know they'd enjoy it whether they're wrestling fans or not.
STIGMA: Such a badass. Seriously the dude had such a weird fetish for pain.
World Wrestling Entertainment: Really has been interesting, renewed my interest as a fan... and I hope financially things start going in the positive for them.
Concussions: They're not really fun. I highly suggest not getting one.
Leonard F. Chikarason: Really enjoyed getting the opportunity to make his life miserable at CHIKARA. I think his son is already more intelligent than him.
Mike Quackenbush: Has the ability to tap to parts of his brain that I don't think I have anymore.
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