{"id":23460,"date":"2018-08-07T10:26:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T14:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=23460"},"modified":"2022-01-17T17:12:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T22:12:52","slug":"indie-watch-aiden-prince-takes-flight-in-prince-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/08\/07\/indie-watch-aiden-prince-takes-flight-in-prince-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie Watch: Aiden Prince Takes Flight in Prince City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indie Watch is an ongoing profile series, with interviews and\/or retrospective looks at emerging indie talent or unique veterans in the indie scene. Today’s feature is Aiden Prince<\/strong>, a product of the famous Can-Am Wrestling School<\/strong><\/a> in Windsor, Ontario, the school run by Impact Wrestling<\/strong>‘s Scott D’Amore<\/strong>, who also owns and operates Border City Wrestling (BCW)<\/strong> in Prince’s home town of Windsor. We talked to Aiden Prince about his burgeoning career in pro wrestling, how he nearly lost his focus, but rebounded to greater heights than he imagined. If you saw the Impact tapings from Windsor, you may have noticed the shirts in the crowd that said “PRINCE CITY” – those were for Aiden Prince.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo: Andrea Kellaway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Windsor, Ontario is Prince City. At least, it is when emerging indie wrestler Aiden Prince<\/strong> is wrestling. The homegrown star with BCW, trained at Can-Am Wrestling School by the likes of Tyson Dux, John E. Bravo<\/strong> and Scott D’Amore himself, has seen his stock rise in the past year. He’s made his debut with Smash Wrestling<\/strong> and he’s appeared for Impact Wrestling<\/strong> on Xplosion<\/strong> <\/em>and two different One Night Only<\/strong> PPVs (March Breakdown<\/strong><\/em> and Zero Fear<\/strong><\/em>). In the past year he’s fought the likes of Impact World Champion Austin Aries<\/strong> (for the belt on a recent Xplosion<\/em>) and WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne<\/strong>. We recently talked to Aiden Prince about his recent turnarounds and his path to how he got there.<\/p>\n

It’s a cliche question, but it almost has to be asked cause everyone has a unique story about it. Do you remember what it was that first caught your attention to pro wrestling? What got you hooked as a kid?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aiden Prince:<\/strong> Totally remember. When I was in diapers, my grandparents would babysit me quite a bit and both of them were huge fans. So my first memories are watching ‘Best of The Road Warriors in AWA<\/em>‘ on a VHS tape (which I still have). They\u2019d watch and I\u2019d wrestle a My Pet Monster<\/strong> in front of the TV. The Road Warriors<\/strong> being so badass in that era caught my attention. But I can\u2019t really explain it, something made me obsessed at that age.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Aiden Prince’s collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think every kid wrestling fan dreams of becoming a wrestler “super hero” as a kid – when did you start to consider it as something to actually do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly man, from the time I could talk I would go around telling everyone I was going to be a wrestler. The “What do you want to do when you’re older” question was alway answered with \u201cWrestler\u201d and I was super proud of that, haha – all through grade school and high school.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I got the old \u201cthat\u2019s cute\u201d when I was younger and then as I got older it turned into a \u201che\u2019ll grow out if it\u201d and I just never let it go.”<\/p>\n

You’re style is a lot more aerial than the Road Warriors every did. What were some of your earlier influences or inspirations, guys who did things that made your brain go “I want to do THAT”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I used to go crazy for the Doomsday Device! I think that was the first “holy shit!” type move that made me climb my dresser and jump off, haha! Shawn Michaels<\/strong> was my hero, seeing almost everything he did made me want to be just like him. (Former WCW Superstar) Alex Wright<\/strong> was another guy…<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whoa. You don’t hear too many North American wrestlers cite Alex Wright as an influence…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alex Wright vs. Brian Pillman<\/strong> is a match I\u2019ll never forget as well, because it was the first match that made me study pro wrestling in a different way.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Them at WCW Great American Bash ’95<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(If you haven’t watched check it out).\u00a0<\/span>He also did a backflip entrance that blew my mind as a kid.<\/p>\n

You started off in the backyard indie scene, correct?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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I did.<\/div>\n
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Photo: Aiden Prince<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
What were some of the pros and cons of starting out in such an unregulated style?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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I’d say the pros were I had a crazy cool child hood! I met a group of friends that all loved wresting when I was like 16\/17 years old and we all had a mutual love for what was really going on. And we all learned together over the years. I’d say the cons are it was risky…we were a bunch of kids in a backyard with a real ring, and we all had flipping\/ROH (Ring of Honor) addictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

What finally made you decide to move on from the backyard to ending up at one of the best schools in the world, Scott D’Amore’s Can-Am Wrestling School?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It got to a point where I felt silly doing it, and I knew I couldn’t just stop wrestling…<\/p>\n

How did you get in touch with Scott and Can-Am to get that going?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve always known about Can-Am because our group used to go to BCW shows all the time growing up. I also knew (BCW star Phil) Atlas because he used to hang out with us and we’d always talk about it. But one day working at the mall I ran into Scott…told him i knew who he was and I’ve always wanted to check out the school. He told me to get in touch with (then Can-Am trainer Tyson) Dux and off I went!<\/span><\/p>\n

What was it like during training? Was it what you expected? Was it tougher?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I used to look up videos of training and stuff, so i knew it was going to be rough…which it definitely was, but I was kind of in on the fact that this is gonna be hard…I may have hated it, but all of my heroes have been in this same spit<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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So if i stick it out, it’s gonna be worth it. I’m not gonna lie, there was times I didn’t think I had it in me…<\/p>\n

What kept you going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter how hard it was, it felt so good, that I was doing it. And I came up with a really strong group, so we all went through it together. I’ve also had three or so friends go to the school and not make it through. So I think a bit of it was showing myself that I was different than everyone else, that I wasn’t gonna quit. That and I’ve talked my whole life about being this. It was like I had no option in my head. I knew if I walked out and didn’t come back, I’d regret it forever.<\/p>\n