Photo Courtesy of Trent Adams
Interviewer’s Note: Trent Adams wrestled his first match for the Conwy County Wrestling Academy (CCWA) this year. Aside from being a performer he is also a co-founder and co-owner of CCWA. Although Adams is based in the United Kingdom he first became interested in professional wrestling through watching American programming, in particular the WWF. Since the CCWA has launched aside from developing their own talent they have also worked with Basix Pro Wrestling (BPW) The CCWA has a website that can be viewed here and a Facebook page located here. In this interview Adams and I focus on the topic of starting out as a wrestler in the year 2012.
Daniel Johnson: My first question is for those unfamiliar with you where and when were you born?
Trent Adams: I was born June 6th, 1989 in St. Asaph, a small town in Wales, UK.
Daniel Johnson: What is your first memory of professional wrestling?
Trent Adams: My first memory would have to be when I was about four or five and my mother bought me one of the old Hasbro WWF wrestling rings and a Hulk Hogan figure. I don’t remember watching any wrestling at the time but I remember being quite happy with the ring.
Daniel Johnson: Who were your favorite wrestlers growing up?
Trent Adams: I didn’t actually get into wrestling properly until late 1997. By that time you had guys like Steve Austin, Mankind, The Undertaker and The Rock, and they all had interesting stuff going on. These four were my favorites during the first couple of years of me watching.
Daniel Johnson: When did you first decide that you wanted to go from being a fan of professional wrestling to being an actual wrestler?
Trent Adams: Really within the first few years of watching. So by around age 10 I’d kind of made up my mind that wrestling would be something I’d really like to do. The characters, athleticism, whacky storylines. All of it just appealed to me so much from an early age.
Daniel Johnson: How did your friends and family react to you wanting to become a professional wrestler? Was everyone supportive or was anyone against it?
Trent Adams: My family, especially my mother has always been supportive of it. She always gives me the encouragement I need. With friends it’s a bit different. You have a few that think it’s pretty cool then there’s the rest that are like ‘yeah okay, good luck with that’ or go on about how ‘fake’ wrestling is, which is annoying.
Daniel Johnson: How did you find a place to train to become a professional wrestler? Did any of your pre-wrestling friends train with you or was it just you?
Trent Adams: There’s a small wrestling company in the UK that has been going for years and is linked with the ‘World of Sport’ era of UK wrestling. They used to hold shows in Rhyl, Wales. I found out in 2006 that they allowed people to come and do a bit of training before the shows started. So I thought I’d give it a try. I remember enjoying taking the bumps and running the ropes but at the time I was out of shape and my head wasn’t where it needed to be as I had a lot of stuff going on at the time. So I only went for a few weeks. It was just me at first but I got my best friend to come along for a few sessions. He left shortly after me.
Daniel Johnson: When did you decide to go back to training?
Trent Adams: After doing a bit of training in 2006 I thought to myself ‘yes I still want to do this, but I need to get in shape, be prepared and get my life sorted out first. I went through some bad times that I really didn’t recover from until last year. And it was last year that me and Will Mason, a friend from work were joking around about owning a wrestling company and were thinking up crazy gimmicks. But Will used to do wrestling a few years ago around the Birmingham area and knew some people we could get in contact with if we were serious about doing it. Not long after we thought ‘you know, let’s try and do it’. So the plan was to open a wrestling school in the local area with Will as the head trainer.
Daniel Johnson: What was the most challenging part of training?
Trent Adams: I can’t really think of any aspect of the training that was too challenging, but I did have to keep reminding myself that I’ll get better and not to worry if I couldn’t do things right straight away. My first couple of months I kept thinking ‘I hope I’m doing well and progressing. I hope I can do this’.
Daniel Johnson: How would you best describe your style of wrestling?
Trent Adams: I hope technical haha. That’s the style I want to use but as I gain more experience I want to mix it up with some high flying. As I said my early favorites were guys like Austin and The Rock, but as I grew up I really started to appreciate guys with ‘workrate’. Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart and more recently CM Punk. Guys who could actually wrestle and tell a story in the ring. These are the people I watch and learn from.
Daniel Johnson: How did you decide on the name Trent Adams as your wrestling name?
Trent Adams: I wanted to use part of my real name in there somewhere so I thought to use my first name as my last and then just wanted a cool sounding first name haha. I’ve only seen ‘Trent’ used a few times in wrestling so it’s quite original I guess. It just seems to work well.
Daniel Johnson: From your knowledge of the industry how is starting out in 2012 different from say starting in the 1980s or 1990s or even earlier?
Trent Adams: I’d assume it’s easier, in nearly every aspect. I didn’t realize until getting in to the business myself that the UK is literally full of promotions. It’s pretty cool. It is kind of like the 1970s and 1980s when wrestling in America wasn’t mainstream and was just made of regional territories. The good thing with this is, if someone wants to get into wrestling these days, they don’t have to look very far for a promotion. Also, the mindset of what makes a wrestler has changed a lot I think. Promoters and fans alike know that you don’t have to be 6’5″ and 250 pounds to make it. Which is good for someone of my size as I’m 5’11”, 170 pounds.
Daniel Johnson: Do you watch any wrestling today that influences your in-ring performance? If so who are the guys in 2012 to watch and learn from for you?
Trent Adams: As far as watching current wrestling, I’m still a big WWE fan, but my focus has changed from Raw and SmackDown to NXT and Superstars. So while I’ll still catch the odd CM Punk or Daniel Bryan match here and there, I’m more interested in wrestlers like Curt Hawkins, Johnny Curtis, Tyson Kidd, Michael McGillicutty and Seth Rollins. I think anyone can learn a lot from watching these, whether it’s to improve selling, working the crowd, the pacing of a match or any other aspect.
Daniel Johnson: This is a pretty broad question, but what do you like most and least about performing as a wrestler in 2012?
Trent Adams: As a performer/promoter I’d say the thing I like most is what I mentioned before. The number of promotions in the UK. It’s so easy for fans to go and watch live wrestling. But this leads into what I like least. A lot of these promotions aren’t willing to help each other. We have been associated with Basix Pro Wrestling, based in Deeside, UK since we started the training school because we were smart enough to say ‘we want to open a wrestling school and eventually run shows, can you help us out?’ And they’ve helped us in so many ways, with training, helping to put on shows, etc. It seems a lot of promotions aren’t willing to do the same, apart from allowing wrestlers to work someone else’s show. It’s a shame because if more companies worked together it would be better for the UK scene as a whole.
Daniel Johnson: I saw your first match on YouTube. What was the process like of setting this match up? How were you paired with your opponent?
Trent Adams: It was originally meant to be a triple threat match as that way I’d have two experienced guys to work with. Plans changed leading up to the show and it was decided to just be me and Ace Jordan. I was nervous but Ace and I had worked together a lot at training and had a general idea of what we wanted to do. I’m happy and quite surprised with the outcome as we only really planned out the first couple of spots and the finish. The rest was called as we went along. Apart from a blown spot, the match went how we wanted it to.
Daniel Johnson: I noticed that during your match someone kept blowing an air horn or something like that. What was up with that and did it throw you off at all?
Trent Adams: Yeah I believe one of the guys blowing the air horns was Mike Roberts, the owner of Basix Pro Wrestling haha. Honestly it didn’t throw me off at all. The more noise, the better. It was kind of surreal in a way as even though we were in front of over 100 people, it’s like they weren’t there. I remembered to work the crowd a bit and I got a buzz off their reactions but at the same time I was able to really focus on working the match.
Daniel Johnson: You also take a spot from the outside to the floor, which looks like a pretty tough spot for someone’s first match. Was this a dangerous spot to take at all? Also, what spots have been the toughest for you to plan?
Trent Adams: It was dangerous in one way as it was the first time I’ve ever been thrown out of a ring. I really had no idea how I was going to go over. You’re taught to go over the top by holding the top rope, leaning over and putting your other hand on the apron and then swinging your legs over. I knew that wouldn’t have the right impact. So Ace throws me to the ropes and I just thought ‘go for it!’ It looks nasty but it actually didn’t hurt in the slightest haha. There’s been no tough spots to plan as such but there’s a sequence in the match where we both do the headlock takeover, Japanese arm drag and the basic arm drag. I wasn’t looking forward to it at all because during training sessions my arm drags and headlock takeovers looked terrible no matter how much effort I put in. Watching the sequence back though I’m happy with it.
Daniel Johnson: What was up with the masked wrestler making an appearance after your match? Who was he?
Trent Adams: That’s Byson. His character at the moment is a big guy who just likes to destroy people. He attacked another one of our guys, Jimmy Vanquish, later that night.
Daniel Johnson: Switching topics, can you give me a rundown of how you managed to pull off your first show as the co-founder and co-owner of the CCWA? What actions were taken between you first wanting to have a wrestling event and it actually happening?
Trent Adams: Back when we were planning everything we knew we had to have some kind of open day for people to come along and sign up. So we asked Mike from Basix if he could come down with a few guys and put on an exhibition show with a Q & A afterwards, letting people know what they can learn and accomplish. We had that exhibition show in March and the school opened the following week. For our first proper show in May we got in touch with Mike and arranged a date, then we booked the venue. After that it’s just a matter of booking the matches, raising the money and promoting the show as much as possible.
Daniel Johnson: A lot of wrestling promotions now use new media and social media to enhance and promote their product. How do you use new media and social media?
Trent Adams: We have a website and a Facebook page, but this is one area we need to improve on really. Especially keeping the website up to date.
Daniel Johnson: As part of my last few questions I like to ask five non-wrestling related questions just to bring a little uniqueness to the interview. If you don’t have an answer or don’t want to answer one of them just feel free to say, “skip.” Outside of wrestling, what television shows do you enjoy watching these days?
Trent Adams: Mostly The Simpsons, especially the classic episodes. Also South Park and Family Guy.
Daniel Johnson: What was your favorite movie that came out this year?
Trent Adams: I haven’t seen any movies released this year haha. Not even The Dark Knight Rises.
Daniel Johnson: Yeah, I’ve heard mixed things on that one even if it has been making a ton. Anyway, what is your favorite food that you tried for the first time this year?
Trent Adams: Mango chutney haha. I tried it once on a sandwich and loved it! I have it with everything.
Daniel Johnson: What is your favorite song to come out this year?
Trent Adams: No one song in particular. But, to go back to wrestling slightly, the songs used for Wrestlemania this year were pretty cool. “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida and “Invincible” by Machine Gun Kelly.
Daniel Johnson: Did you vote in your last local election? If so would you be willing to say for who?
Trent Adams: No I didn’t. I should really as they say every vote counts but I have little interest haha.
Daniel Johnson: My last question is just is there anything you would like to add or mention that we haven’t talked about?
Trent Adams: Yes. I just want to say to everyone, as cliche as it sounds follow your dreams, no matter how big or small. If you want to do something, do it and don’t let anyone stop you. It takes time and effort but it’s worth it when you can say you’re doing something you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid and not have to compromise or settle for anything else!
Check out Trent Adams in his debut match! Here he battles Ace Jordan at the Conwy Civic Hall:
Categories: Wrestling Interviews
The Johnson Transcript 
I am incredibly proud of my son Adam, he is right, you can do anything if you really want it. I will continue to support Adam with everything he does in the future. Well done. x
Thank you for commenting! I thought it was an inspiring story as well.