Crowbar is a name in wrestling most associate with WCW but the man behind that bar still has plenty left to show the wrestling world as he moves forward. Most recently, he was one of the many long-time veterans of the ring to issue a challenge to Cody Rhodes for his TNT Championship, something Warhorse will be challenging for tonight on Dynamite. The man also known as Devon Storm spoke with WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo about some of the old days but very much had his eye on the future of wrestling and how he may fit into that always shifting puzzle.
“I started pro wrestling my junior year and then I went to college, pursued physical therapy and at that time the northeast was just a hotbed for independent wrestling so went to school during the week,” Crowbar said. “I worked almost every Friday, Saturday, Sunday on indies and then I did a few things for WCW. They were nightly, like I couldn’t sign on anything that late. I wanted to finish my curriculum and then ECW which at that time was mainly out of Pennsylvania.”
“It was all northeast-based so I was able to go to school all week and work on the weekends and it just worked out good, man. It just kind of meshed up well. I had no social life outside of wrestling and school, but it was cool, you know.”
Skywalking On A Thin Line For The TNT Title Opportunity
Like a great deal of the independent wrestling scene, Crowbar happened to catch wind of Cody’s open challenge and shared a video of himself stating that he just doesn’t have expectations of Cody putting his belt on the line, but stated that he himself willing to lay his Star Wars collection on the line for a shot at that TNT gold. Crowbar happens to be a Star Wars die-hard and knows that The American Nightmare shares those Skywalker sentiments. This was all the spark he needed to get the creativity cooking.
While many request, most bring NOTHING to the table to offer in return @CodyRhodes I’ll verbally articulate my offer rather than lazily make a texted post. I’m easy to find, we have a mutual friend- @RealDDP#aew #aewwrestling #StaWars#UNDESIRABLE #TIMELESS pic.twitter.com/FVZ7yz0ar2
— CROWBAR (@wcwcrowbar) June 30, 2020
“I see that Cody had this new title out there. I’m aware that he’s a Star Wars fan and I have a lot of colleagues in wrestling that have heard me speak on occasions at shows where I would do little promos here or there. And they usually say, ‘We had no idea that you could talk,’ cause Crowbar the character was not really a talker or if he did talk he did more crazy, goofy stuff like that. I’ve got an overwhelming response from colleagues and friends and like fans that have heard me talk. They go, ‘You’re really good at promos’ and I also found out that a lot of people don’t know that. So I said, ‘Hey! Cody has a belt. He’s making this open challenge.’ Every indie guy out there is posting stuff saying that they want to be a contender and all this type of stuff. I go, ‘Ah, I’ll do a promo! It’ll be fun.’ I go, ‘He’s a Star Wars fan, I haven’t done a promo in awhile. Might be funny with this whole COVID quarantine.'”
“I haven’t wrestled, I haven’t done any promos. I want to dip my feet into wrestling again and maybe do something that’s cool. So I did a promo, put some thought into it – ‘What does Cody like? What could I bring to the table?’ I’ve been told also by colleagues for years and years they go, ‘Your character should be kind of like you.’ I have so many friends that are in the business and a lot of guys, year after year you see guys get more disgruntled with the business. They become bitter towards the business and it’s not PC, it’s not something that a wrestling business person should say: I F’ning love wrestling. I still love it, I love doing it whenever I can, I like to watch it. I still like to study it and I enjoy the hell out of it so I enjoyed the hell out of doing a promo to Cody Rhodes. I really don’t expect him to answer. I’m kind out of the loop of all this stuff.”
Something he’s not out of the loop with is work in the ring as he’s had recent stints in promotions like ROH and other independent promotions in the northeast:
“I know I can back up my actions in the ring. I’ve been doing some wild stuff as of late, but if you’re not on the east coast you probably haven’t seen it cause I stay kind of close to home and that’s kind of what prompted it. I said, ‘It would be fun. Let me do a promo, let me play off the fact that I’m a healthcare provider. Play off of the story how my friends say, ‘You really don’t need to do this crap. Why are you still doing it?’ And the answer is cause I love it but let me make that into an arrogant, pompous, well to do character and you ended up with the promo I did.”
Crowbar completely embraced every facet of being unlikable and isn’t very concerned with the repercussions.
“It’s out there. It was a lot of fun. You get some guys that are, these days that are wrestling on eggshells, ‘What if somebody takes it the wrong way? Does that…’ I don’t care, I’m having fun, I love this stuff. If I could get in the ring with Cody that’d be a hell of a good time where there’s a lot of guys out there that I ran with a while or that I’ve seen come up that I would love to get out there with. I’m just having a great time. I’m a huge wrestling fan.”
“Who Are You…Boomer?”
As far as wrestling Twitter goes, “I’m learning. I’m a late learner but I’m trying my best. I’m doing my best,” he added. And he sure has as he’s been calling out some of the naysayers and trolls, beginning a “Who Are You, Boomer?” campaign as he turns the mirror on the younger generation of wrestling fans.
#1: BOOMER
With their minimal attention spans and tendencies to be oblivious to any and all things that took place over a year ago. Millennial fans and Millennial Rasslers alike often need to be educated.#timeless #boomer #ROH #AEW #AEWDynamite #MLW #njpw #ImpactWrestling pic.twitter.com/FU5GgTuNQf— CROWBAR (@wcwcrowbar) July 20, 2020
#2: UNFATHOMABLE.
Millennials will never understand or relate to me or my work ethic.
Even friends, family, teachers + guidance councilors, all scoffed at my goalsScholar✅ healthcare provider✅ wrestler in every major company + 3 world titles ✅ entrepreneur✅ business owner✅ pic.twitter.com/1rUtp2PpEV
— CROWBAR (@wcwcrowbar) July 27, 2020
“I record everything. I record everything. RAW, SmackDown, AEW, MLW now, IMPACT and when I do my cardio which every day at least an hour in the morning. I hop up on the bike and I’ll watch stuff,” and something he relishes in is turning some of the classic wrestling ideas and modernizing them for today’s fan.
“I think there’s a treasure trove of moves and ideas and sequences that are probably 20, 30 years old that a lot of guys that have forgotten about and I just go in and I’ll pick stuff out and I’ll try to update it and make it modern.”
So much more gets covered in this interview which you can hear, completely in it’s entirety below:
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