{"id":35568,"date":"2016-11-29T14:03:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T20:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=35568"},"modified":"2016-11-29T14:37:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-29T20:37:56","slug":"interview-highlights-brian-kendrick-talks-si-205-live-rise-centerpiece-cruiserweight-division-vinces-role-wkellers-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/11\/29\/interview-highlights-brian-kendrick-talks-si-205-live-rise-centerpiece-cruiserweight-division-vinces-role-wkellers-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview Highlights: Brian Kendrick talks to SI about 205 Live, his rise to centerpiece of Cruiserweight Division, Vince&#8217;s role, more (w\/Keller&#8217;s Analysis)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1704168948\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>The following are key highlights of the Brian Kendrick interview with Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Justin Barasso today. Read the full article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/11\/29\/wwe-cruiserweight-show-brian-kendrick-interview?xid=socialflow_twitter_si\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u2022On what viewers can expect on &#8220;205 Live&#8221; tonight: &#8220;On <i>205 Live<\/i>, you can expect to be entertained. The Brian Kendrick character is a man who is going to use his wits to win. His intelligence is every bit as admirable as his death-defying stunts. &#8230;\u00a0I want to be compelling. People have 200 TV channels. I want to prove that wrestling can be compelling. I think it\u2019s the best art out there, it\u2019s my favorite art. I\u2019m really grateful and I hope I get a chance to do more of it in the future. &#8230;\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">I\u2019d made a lot of mistakes. The opportunity might never have come if it weren\u2019t for the cruiserweight tournament, where I was intended just to be a small part. That was my chance to tell my story and I got a second chance.\u00a0<\/span>I think they liked what I did in the ring before I got fired. I believe they did, but it was my attitude. So had I really changed or was I just acting on my best behavior, and then was I going to crack at the wrong time? A lot of guys were getting contract offers throughout the tournament and I wasn\u2019t. Then I lost my match to Ibushi, and I was told, \u2018We might want to use you sometime in the future.\u2019 I kind of sunk inside\u2014I felt like that was a nice way of saying, &#8216;Thanks for a good job, we\u2019ll see you when we see you.&#8217; Then I heard Mr. McMahon got a chance to watch the tournament, and some people talked, and I don\u2019t know what the plans were. But it was after I\u2019d already been eliminated and I was gone when they called me up and offered me something. I\u2019m going to do my best to hold onto it and not be my own worst enemy anymore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>(Keller&#8217;s Reax: Kendrick has been the dominant personality in the Cruiserweight Division, and you can see he puts a lot into his character. I can also see why Vince McMahon is investing him as the centerpiece. That said, for the division to grow, Kendrick is going to need to be a top four guy, but not the top-top guy. He needs to a thorn in the side of a truly spectacular standout lead babyface act who comes across as a star and isn&#8217;t blemished by years of being a mid-card singles wrestler or tag wrestler.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2022On the key to the success of &#8220;205 Live&#8221;: &#8220;(T.J. Perkins, Rich Swann, and Noam Dar)<span class=\"s1\">\u00a0are awesome. Then you throw in guys like Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Lince Dorado, Ariya Daivari, Mustafa Ali. Once those guys start showing up, you\u2019ll be amazed,\u201d said Kendrick. \u201cGran Metalik is unlike anybody else, Tozawa is unlike anybody else. Jack Gallagher is completely different. Once these guys start showing up on <i>205 Live<\/i>, I think it will broaden people\u2019s ideas of cruiserweight wrestling. &#8230;\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">In order to succeed, we need diverse characters. It needs the guys you\u2019ve already seen, as well as Metalik and Tozawa and Jack Gallagher, who are so unique. That will really wake the fans up as to how wild and interesting cruiserweight wrestling can truly be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>(Keller&#8217;s Analysis: Yes, the Division needs diverse characters, but more than that, it needs stars. There needs to be a wrestler or ideally two or three who really pop as stars, like Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero during the Nitro era. I&#8217;m not sure anyone has grabbed that position yet.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2022On overcoming doubts from his family: &#8220;<span class=\"s1\">My family didn\u2019t believe in me, my friends didn\u2019t believe in me, and that\u2019s not because they are negative people. They were very pragmatic about the whole situation. But if I wanted to gamble on anything, I wanted to gamble on myself.\u00a0<\/span>I continued to believe that I was a wrestler. My wife has been with me through it all, we\u2019ve been together since 2002. There were times in the last few years where she just wanted me to keep wrestling, but also go be a garbage man or something as we were drowning in bills. But I wouldn\u2019t be satisfied if I didn\u2019t get a chance to continue to wrestle, and it was very selfish of me, but this is the one thing I think I\u2019m good at. I feel at home. This is where I feel I belong. So I kept pushing along. &#8230; I need to thank Vince McMahon for giving me the opportunity. I also need to thank Daniel Bryan and William Regal for always pushing for me, and my coach, Rudy Boy Gonzalez, for always believing in me. When I would start to doubt myself, Rudy would tell me I could do it and that I belonged and I just needed to keep working hard. Without those people, and, most importantly, my wife\u2014who stuck with me every step of the way\u2014I would have crumbled. Without those people, I wouldn\u2019t be here. &#8230;\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">Believe me, I love having a job here and I want to have a job here until they tell me to get out, but I just don\u2019t want them to tell me to get out of here any time soon. But I don\u2019t want to have a job just to have a job. I want to use this as a platform for my art, and my art is wrestling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>(Keller&#8217;s Analysis: Wrestling promoters love wrestlers who talk about doing this for the art, because it comes across as if they&#8217;re just happy to be paid anything. I understand he&#8217;s just being honest, but I&#8217;m not sure it helps him come across as a star fans are going to pay to see if he&#8217;s &#8220;just happy to have a job&#8221; and hopes they don&#8217;t kick him to the curb anytime soon. Imagine Conor McGregor&#8217;s drawing power if he just gushed about how thankful he is to UFC for giving him an opportunity and he hopes they keep booking him to fight? This has been a recurring theme in the Cruiserweight Division, most prominently at the very start of the Cruiserweight Classic where one wrestler after another gushed about Triple H taking them out of destitude. This is on WWE &#8211; they need to start treating and portraying their Cruiserweight wrestlers are international phenomenons and not guys sleeping on each other&#8217;s couches to get by.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2022<span class=\"s1\">On what he does to stand out in WWE and the Cruiserweight Division itself: \u201cI have to gamble on myself. I have to do stuff like the <i>Survivor Series <\/i>promo and try to be different in the style I wrestle. I know the style that I wrestle is not going to appeal to everybody, and it certainly isn\u2019t going to be what people picture of cruiserweights. I\u2019m trying to use the ring in different ways to my advantage and try to tell a story of outwitting guys even when I\u2019m outmatched physically. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what people come to expect when they see cruiserweights, so it\u2019s risky. If the bosses don\u2019t like it, then out I go. And if the fans don\u2019t like it, then why would the bosses like it? They need to see there is something to it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1477769361\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>(Keller&#8217;s Analysis: WWE continues to marker the Cruiserweights as being all about high-flying action. I think that is something worth marketing to a point, but it&#8217;s also self-evident and not really necessary. What&#8217;s going to take the Cruiserweight Division to the next level and make &#8220;205 Live&#8221; a destination for more than just the top tier ardent fan is marketing stars and issues between those stars that people care about. Of course, their matches need to be exciting and buzz-generating, but there&#8217;s a ceiling on selling highspots; there is no ceiling when you sell personalities and conflict between wrestlers who fans are invested in either wanting to see win or lose. WWE&#8217;s not even close to that yet with the booking or marketing. I hope &#8220;205 Live&#8221; gives the division some fertile soil to get there.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Check out the full article including Kendrick&#8217;s thoughts on hearing Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/11\/29\/wwe-cruiserweight-show-brian-kendrick-interview?xid=socialflow_twitter_si\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/11\/29\/wwe-cruiserweight-show-brian-kendrick-interview?xid=socialflow_twitter_si<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3547982188\"><div id=\"pwtor-2635127859\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The following are key highlights of the Brian Kendrick interview with Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Justin Barasso today. Read the full article HERE. \u2022On what viewers can expect on &#8220;205 Live&#8221; tonight: &#8220;On 205 Live, you can <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/11\/29\/interview-highlights-brian-kendrick-talks-si-205-live-rise-centerpiece-cruiserweight-division-vinces-role-wkellers-analysis\/\" title=\"Interview Highlights: Brian Kendrick talks to SI about 205 Live, his rise to centerpiece of Cruiserweight Division, Vince&#8217;s role, more (w\/Keller&#8217;s Analysis)\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,2,4247,3],"tags":[4171,692,2501,184],"class_list":["post-35568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights","category-news_wwe","tag-205-live","tag-brian-kendrick","tag-cruiserweight-division","tag-vince-mcmahon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/KendrickBrian_3x2Charlton.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35577,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35568\/revisions\/35577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}