Josh Prohibition Interview

By P.Staniforth 2005.

Here’s what was said when I had the chance to sit down and talk with one of my favourite wrestlers in the business today, Josh Prohibition.

PETER) : Thanks for making the time for this, as I know you have a lot going on in your life. Can I start by asking you to tell us a little about your childhood?

JOSH) : I’m the oldest of four boys and was born in Valley View, Ohio; which is about 5 minutes from Cleveland. I played just about every sport imaginable growing up but my true love was always baseball. From a very young age I enjoyed professional wrestling and was often found giving my friends and brothers “perfect-plexes”.

PETER) : So, at what age did you first see professional wrestling?

JOSH) : When I didn’t go to church on Sunday mornings I would watch the WWF, and I loved every second of it. I was about 6 years old at the time and my parents weren’t too happy about me watching it. I don’t think in a million years they could have ever imagined their son becoming a professional wrestler.

PETER) : Did you know then that you wanted to be a wrestler, or did it just kind of happen by surprise?

JOSH) : I wanted to be a professional baseball player from the time I could pick up a bat. I wanted to play for the Cleveland Indians but a shoulder injury ended that dream. Becoming a professional wrestler was dumb luck or just fate. After I couldn’t play baseball anymore I was
really bored and pissed, so I got my friends and brothers together and had about five backyard matches. The tapes began floating around some high schools in the area and a local backyard fed decided to rent a ring and put on shows indoors, and they asked us to come and put on some matches. We put on about five matches in a real ring and were noticed by a local promoter named JT Lightning who told me he wanted to train me and cut me a really good deal on training. I never even knew until then that there was a school in Cleveland. The closest school I
knew of before that was HWA in Cincinnati and that was four hours away. As soon as I found out about JT’s school in Cleveland I jumped at the offer, and my fate was sealed.

PETER) : So, how did you get your first break in the business?

JOSH) : I began my training with JT Lightning who runs Cleveland All Pro Wrestling and after a few months of training I had my first match with CAPW on April 21st, 2001; which now seems like a lifetime ago. From there I continued training for another nine months or so while beginning to travel around the local indy promotions in the Midwest. Most of my early matches were against
M-Dogg20 because he began training with JT shortly after I did. We were putting on a pretty good match and we began to get noticed because of the way we worked each other. I think it really helps to have two new guys training together because once you get done training you know each other very well and it usually translates to good matches.

PETER) : To me, that makes a lot of sense. So, when looking back now; how would you consider your first matches?

JOSH) : They weren’t bad. When I go back and watch them now I see how green I was, and I wish I would have done some things differently; but I don’t think anybody that has been in the sport for any real length of time can look back and think their first matches were good. Compared to a lot of people I see breaking into the business today, I’m fairly happy with how my matches
compare to some of their ones. I took too many risks when I was starting out, but that’s because I didn’t really know how to work. I’m getting to a point now where I feel I have a pretty strong grasp on how to put a match together but at the same time I’m constantly looking to improve. The day I no longer want to improve will be the day I hang it up.

PETER) : I can understand that. How would you describe yourself as a wrestler to those who maybe don’t know you?

JOSH) : I think I’m an average pro wrestler who knows how to work the crowd and the microphone. One criticism of myself is that I need to be bigger for the style I wrestle.
I don’t think I’ve reached my prime yet and I think my best days are still to come.

PETER) : What would be your favourite match or show that you’ve been involved in?

JOSH) : I always get really excited when get to debut in places for the first time. I really enjoyed my IWA Mid-South debut vs. Tarek the Great, my XPW debut vs. Mexico’s Most Wanted, and my CZW debut vs. M-Dogg. Wrestling over in England vs. M-Dogg was a ton of fun. I also got to wrestle matches at the huge E3 video game conference vs. Bobby Quance, M-Dogg, and Super Dragon; and had a really good time doing so. I’ve got to perform in Canada, Japan, and England and consider myself very lucky and grateful for the experiences. Hopefully I will be able to travel again soon and wrestle in some more foreign countries. I love seeing the world and the way others live.

PETER) : We have GOT to catch up and meet next time you’re over here in England! Who would you consider your friends in the business?

JOSH) : I have a ton of friends in the business. The people you meet are one of the best parts of being a professional wrestler. There are too many to name but a few of my all time favourites are Colt Cabana, Tracy Smothers, Jerry Lynn, Super Dragon, Chris Hamrick, and Alex Shelley. I will have to write a book when it’s all said and done and tell some crazy stories. I live an insane life.

PETER) : What would you say has been your lowest point in wrestling so far?

JOSH) : The whole past year was my lowest point in wrestling. It started when I acquired mono and was in bed for about three months, about six months later I was finally starting to feel good again; and then I broke my ankle in two places at the training center right before IWA Mid South’s “Ted Petty Invitational” and was forced to cancel. It was an honor to be chosen by Ian Rotten for that tournament and it made my stomach sick to have to cancel. I finally began to work my way back from my ankle injury and as soon as I felt ok again I broke my rib. The rib injury was the worst injury I’ve had in wrestling because it was by far the most painful. A broken rib reminds you its broken constantly because you feel it every time you breathe. I tried working through the injury which wasn’t a good idea because it took forever to heal. While it was injured my workouts suffered as did my matches. I was constantly in pain when I wrestled and it made it very hard to have good matches. It also made me not like wrestling much because being in constant pain
makes it very hard to enjoy yourself. I’m relatively healthy again and have resumed a pretty good workout schedule which has helped my matches out and I feel I’m finally over the hump that was last year.

PETER) : That’s quite a story, but proof if you’re strong enough you can come out the right side of things. What do you like to do in your spare time?

JOSH) : I love to coach and watch baseball. I’m a die-hard Cleveland Indians fan. I also work at a baseball school where I instruct six to eighteen year olds in all the aspects of the game. I’m super into punk rock and go to lots of shows and hang out with bands all the time. I’m hoping to start another punk rock band soon because music is one of my passions. I also really enjoy riding my bike. If you come to Cleveland in the summer, chances are you will see me flying by on a black and yellow bike covered in pirate skull stickers. Besides that I do some fishing here and there and spend a good amount of time with my girlfriend.

PETER) : That all sounds both rewarding and fun. What five words do you feel describe you best?

JOSH) : Strong willed, genuine, trustworthy, fun, and extremely sexy and handsome!

PETER) : What are your plans for the future?

JOSH) : Fun. Plain and simple. I want to chase as many dreams as I can until I run myself into the ground. I want to live a life that never becomes stale or routine. I want to grow up but never old. I want to be as cool as Tracy Smothers when I hit forty years old, and be the crazy old guy at punk rock shows when I’m fifty. I want to ride my bike, watch baseball and wrestling; and go
to punk rock shows until I fall over and die with a smile on my face.

PETER) : Of all the interviews I’ve done, I think that’s my favourite reply I’ve had to that question! What are your thoughts on WWE and TNA, and the indy's?

JOSH) : I haven’t followed the WWE for a while now because the product has become stale in my opinion. They need some new stars, but the stars can’t be force fed to the audience. I think stars make themselves (Austin, Jericho, The Rock, Foley). No matter how hard the WWE tries to make people think certain guys are stars, the crowd truly determines who the next stars will be. I think the crowd is speaking out right now against the WWE’s so called stars by not attending events, buying ppv’s; or watching the TV programmes. RVD should be a huge star because he was over without even a push but for some reason the WWE didn’t want him to be a star. He was a natural star that got totally misused. WWE needs more natural stars right now badly.

As for TNA, I honestly haven’t seen much TNA stuff besides X-division matches; but I’m definitely a fan of those matches. I think TNA should definitely focus it’s energy on the X-division and the wrestlers within it. I think the X-division is truly an alternative to WWE programming and that’s what TNA has to be. They have to be an alternative to the WWE. I wouldn’t bring in all the old names they do because I think that makes them look bad, and it looks like they are just picking
up the WWE’s scraps instead of making their own stars. Wrestling needs new stars and TNA needs to be an alternative!

As far as the indy’s go, I would say that the wrestling on the independent level is the best it has
ever been. I think storylines have been lost though. As sweet as a five star match is, it doesn’t quite mean as much without a back-story to it. I think indy feds need to start focusing more on their storylines and building feuds. I know it’s hard with guys coming and going so quickly but I think more of an effort needs to be made.

PETER) : All very good and valid points made there. Who do you like to watch or learn from?

JOSH) : I love to watch Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, William Regal, and Doug Williams.

PETER) : So, to finish up; is there anything you'd like to promote, or anyone you'd like to thank?

JOSH) : Thanks for reading this interview; hopefully it wasn’t too boring for you! Please check out my website at www.joshprohibition.com . I have some T-shirts, hoodies, and DVD’s for sale. Thanks for the support. Roll on full force until drained!!!

PETER) : Thanks my friend, and all the best for the future.

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Peter writes (columns,interviews,&video reviews) for the following websites - www.prowrestlingdaily.com , www.wrestlingclothesline.com , & www.ukevents.net .

He writes the press releases for WWE Euro Shop - http://wweeuroshop.com/?tid=ps101 - who are the UK & Europe's official WWE merchandise company.

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