{"id":35643,"date":"2016-11-30T22:20:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=35643"},"modified":"2016-11-30T22:20:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T04:20:54","slug":"interview-highlights-dj-z-talks-tnas-x-division-whats-next-tna-2017-working-outside-x-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/11\/30\/interview-highlights-dj-z-talks-tnas-x-division-whats-next-tna-2017-working-outside-x-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview Highlights: DJ Z talks about TNA&#8217;s X Division, what&#8217;s next for TNA in 2017, working outside of the X Division"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1743047576\" 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>TNA X Division Champion DJ Z joined Ryan Rider on Main Event Radio this week to discuss wanting to revitalize the division, goals that he would like to accomplish, and the new direction for TNA going into 2017. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maineventradio.com\/audio\/MER-11-30-16.mp3\">DOWNLOAD LINK<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: In the early days of TNA, the X Division is what put the company on the map. Today, the &#8220;X Division&#8221; style is wrestling. What can be done to innovate and differentiate the championship from the rest of the company and bring it back to prominence?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: I think the X Division is actually really strong right now. The work that myself, Eddie Edwards, Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Mark Andrews has been reminiscent of the X division of old that people like to remember and reminisce about. Maybe there\u2019s not as many eyes watching it as back in the day with A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, but the quality of work is still really high. Hopefully people will give it a chance by watching Impact <span data-term=\"goog_46219311\">tomorrow<\/span> [on POPTV\/Fight Network] or looking back at some of our other matches. You talk about those glory days of the X division. One goal is to revitalize the X Division. Get people talking about it again, having the craziest matches I can have. Putting the attention back on the X Division, back on TNA; just like it used to be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Are you eager for the next set of tapings in January?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Looking forward to it. I\u2019ve got so many more things that I\u2019ve got to accomplish in wrestling. I\u2019ve had the most successful year of my career in 2016. It\u2019s probably because I\u2019ve been so focused and committed to wrestling. Before I had good matches, but I also had my hands on the DJ-ing world and the music world. I was always trying to juggle the two. I\u2019ve never been as fully committed to just professional wrestling as I have been this year. Now that I\u2019ve kind of rediscovered my love for wrestling, there\u2019s so many more opportunities and cool things that I have left to do and I\u2019m really looking forward to the future.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How do you feel about getting in there with guys outside of the X Division?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve proven this year that you could put me in the ring with [Bobby] Lashley, put me in the ring with Mike Bennett. You could put me in the ring with top guys and I could hold my own. I\u2019d like to get more experience with the top guys and show TNA and show the world that I\u2019m a top guy too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How do you feel about TNA headed into 2017?<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1918360359\" 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>A:\u00a0It\u2019s exciting. We\u2019ve got some new people in charge. There\u2019s some new creative energy. I think it\u2019s going to be great for the wrestlers and for the fans. I encourage everyone to give it a chance and keep tuning in. I\u2019m really looking forward to it. I hope that we go back on the road. From what I\u2019ve heard and what fans have told me, it\u2019s a really fun experience, a very crowd-interactive show. TNA live events are some of the most fun I\u2019ve had in wrestling.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/11\/29\/interview-highlights-brian-kendrick-talks-si-205-live-rise-centerpiece-cruiserweight-division-vinces-role-wkellers-analysis\/\">Interview Highlights: Brian Kendrick talks to SI about 205 Live, his rise to centerpiece of Cruiserweight Division, Vince\u2019s role, more (w\/Keller\u2019s Analysis)<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1973710707\"><div id=\"pwtor-817601118\"><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>TNA X Division Champion DJ Z joined Ryan Rider on Main Event Radio this week to discuss wanting to revitalize the division, goals that he would like to accomplish, and the new direction for TNA <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/11\/30\/interview-highlights-dj-z-talks-tnas-x-division-whats-next-tna-2017-working-outside-x-division\/\" title=\"Interview Highlights: DJ Z talks about TNA&#8217;s X Division, what&#8217;s next for TNA in 2017, working outside of the X Division\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1550,"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":[2,4247],"tags":[4314,203,120,1497,4315],"class_list":["post-35643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-interview-highlights","tag-dj-z","tag-impact-wrestling","tag-tna","tag-x-division","tag-zema-ion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Impact_3x21.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35643","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=35643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35644,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35643\/revisions\/35644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}