Tapping Out: Q and A with PSW Superstar Kid Kaboom
By Wayne Thornton Jr.
Peach State Wrestling will return to Dixieland in Fayetteville on Saturday August 6th for its Uprising Show. In one of the matches, PSW Champion Kid Kaboom will face off with the returning Kimba Seanoa. In a phone interview while he was on the road competing at another wrestling show last week, the Explosive One talked to the Daily News about several topics including his rise to the top of PSW, what he learned during his time as World Champion, comparisons to Shawn Micheals and which Wrestling Legend he'd like to face.
Q: Were you a wrestling fan growing up and did you ever think you'd be a wrestler?
A: Never in my wildest dreams as a kid did I think I'd be an actual wrestler. Still today, it blows my mind that I'm lucky enough and this is what I do for a living when we go out in do shows in front of the crowd. It's pretty awesome. As a kid, I was a fan of any type of wrestling, I started wrestling when I was five, and whatever form I could get my hands on whether it was freestyle, collegiate, or even pro in the back yard on the trampoline. I was all over it. Of course it drove my parents crazy, but that just made it more exciting for me,
Q: Who was your favorite wrestler as a kid?
A: You know I'm a Southern boy; I got to stay true to the South since I spent much more time watching the old WCW than WWE. So I would have to say that Rich Flair was a big influence as a kid, his legend just kind of creeps around the South. He was an idol to me and I spent a lot of time imitating him in the mirror. I can still remember sitting at home in front of my TV and watching him and the other Four Horsemen run the show. Hell I would even yell ‘Woo’ after all my amateur matches.
Q: How has your amateur background played into your training for PSW?
A: Well a lot of people don’t know this, but I was first recruited to the WWE and was in their developmental system for 2 and a half years while I was still in college. I quit school and started the developmental program mainly under Dusty Rhodes, Steve Keirn and Dr. Tom Pritchard, I felt like my amateur background really helped me prepare physically and mentally for what I was trying to give the WWE. Unfortunately, it seemed liked I really didn’t go anywhere in the two years so I left and returned to finish college. After graduation I got hooked up with Jody Wilson and his training facility and I think I’ve learned more with him and his staff in a couple of months than I did in two years of WWE Developmental system. He’s helped me be a better wrestler mentally and physically and I think I can never truly thank him enough for that. Mentally, you know to go through the training and stay dedicated and determined to your training and to keep focused on it even when you've got a small crowd and it's really hot outside or something, you've have to push through it. The physical part of it really was the easiest part for me. I thought I excelled very well at learning the techniques and the proper maneuvers to be safe out there as well as entertaining. Man, it really put me light years in front of other people, I thought.
Q: So do you still use a lot of those skills in the ring now?
A: Yup, I use a lot of the same movements and skills in the ring. A little more transitioned into this style to make them bigger, larger than life, but a lot of it you'll see in my training. I still do a lot of my same amateur training to keep my body in shape and keep me prepared for the top level competitors that we have.
Q: Who came up with the name Kid Kaboom?
A: It was a combination of me and one of the road agents when I was in developmental. Honestly, they just came to me one day and based on my personality said ‘You're Kid Kaboom.' It was never what they used for me in the ring, but I adopted it as my nickname and began playing POD’s “Boom” every time I showed up to an arena or something in a rental car. I adopted the name as my fulltime ring name after I graduated college and decided to get serious about wrestling. The rest is history.
Q: So how much the guy you see on the ring is the real Nick King [Kaboom's real name]?
A: I’d say about 90 percent of my personality you see on in the ring with that remaining 10 percent that added to the character to get the crowds really into my matches.
Q: I don’t think that you need any help getting the crowds into your matches. It seems like the roof explodes off the place every time you come out. Can you talk about how that feels a little bit?
A: Definitely. It pumps me up and gets me ready for a fight. I mean the adrenaline rush is like nothing I can really describe. I remember how nervous I was when I was getting ready for the rematch with Trenton Williams to try and get my PSW Championship back and just how that crowd reaction got me so pumped up that I went out there and put on a great match and won the title back.
Q: How did things change for you after you won the PSW Championship back?
A: It was awesome. It was a monumental feat. Once you're the champion, you're always the champion or a former champion and people will always put one of those labels besides your name, it really is humbling to say it out loud. It changed a lot of things in my life; it changed my perspective toward things and how I handled myself. You really can't put it into words what it means; it's different for every person. It was a lifelong dream, and at the same time, it's just the tip of the iceberg because it makes me want more. That is why I took it so personal when I lost the belt the first time and vowed to win the rematch. I’ll always want championships. Once you have a taste for it, it's like a shark in the water smelling blood. You gotta go for it and you gotta give it everything or you're going to come short.
Q: What have you learned from being the champion and being the top guy on the show?
A: Man, there's so much [I learned] not only being the top guy, but working with the other guys and getting their mindsets and perspectives. That really is the goal right there. What I’ve learned during this time as PSW Champion has been truly phenomenal. It feels like 10 years of experience I digested and took from my co workers. I enjoy working with everyone in PSW because I feel that I get taken to their level of competition and that’s when you have a great match. That’s what when you get everything you want from your career. You want to be in the main event. You want to transcend your generation of wrestlers. You want, 20 years from now, people to say that Kid Kaboom was a great wrestler. I think I’ll keep having those kind of experiences if I stay with PSW.
Q: So I have to ask your opinion about the split from the NWA and how you think it affected your career?
A: I rather not comment on the business end of things. That was none of my business. What bothers me are the two opportunities I lost out on. I was supposed to be in a big Battle Royal to decide who was going to represent PSW in the Lou Thesz, but that feel apart when we left the alliance. And then I was supposed to be taking on Magnum Randall and now I’m taking on Kimba Seanoa. I guess you can say is I feel a little deflated after everything that happened because my main focus was putting us on the map by beating the NWA Champion in the middle of the ring and send him back to tell the rest of the world that he got his ass kicked by PSW’s Kid Kaboom.
Q: You don’t sound too happy about facing Kimba Seanoa at Uprising?
A: I’m not. I personally don’t think that someone who has been out of the company as long as Kimba’s been gone should come back and be in the Main Event. I have nothing against Kimba. He’s a great guy and a hell of a wrestler. But there is no way on God’s green earth that anyone should expect me to be happy about facing him when I was supposed to be facing the NWA World Champion at this event. I’ll just take all my frustrations out when I get to Uprising.
Q: Is there is any Wrestling Legend you'd want the opportunity to work with?
A: Kurt Angle. He's a former amateur wrestler, I'm a former amateur wrestler, let's lock horns and see who comes out on top, you know what I'm saying. I’ll even promise not to use the Badaboom on him.
Q: I've read some people compare you to the Heart Break Kid Shawn Micheals. What do you think of those comparisons?
A: This is actually the first time I’ve heard that. And honestly, I’m speechless. I'm a big fan of Shawn. He's one of the reasons I wanted to wrestle, I admired him as a tag team wrestler and admired him even more as a singles wrestler. To be compared to him, it's an honor, but at the same time, I think both of us are different people and different wrestlers. It might be apples to oranges, but at the same time it's nice to be in that category.
Q: Last one, will Kid Kaboom always be a good guy in the PSW, or do you think there's going to be a time when the fans are booing you?
A: You never know. There might be something that takes me over to the dark side of wrestling. We like to deliver a great show and give you something you've never seen every time out the gate, so you never know.
