As someone who’s been in the pro wrestling game for over 20 years, Tommy End sees plenty of strong ties between music and the one true sport of wrestling. The former Aleister Black notes that Triple H keeps his ear in tune while operating NXT.
End was the latest guest on Finn McKenty’s Punk Rock MBA Podcast and given the environment of the program the two discussed plenty of music. McKenty and he talked about musical artists that have shown up on NXT including Code Orange and Incendiary, who played out End during NXT Takeover: Brooklyn in 2017. McKenty asked who was the mastermind behind booking such acts and End gave credit to Triple H.
“That’s all Triple H,” End said before talking of The Game’s music fandom. “He’s a big Motorhead guy. Him and me, a lot conversations were about music. If there was new album out, I’d screen cap it and send it to him. He likes listening to music and big Metallica guy. Big Motorhead guy. I think Motorhead is his favorite band. If you type in ‘Triple H Motorhead’ you’ll see all type of pictures of him and Lemmy together.
“He keeps his ear on the ground and yeah, that’s why I think NXT is always so fun cause it kept like that more true crowd engaged and it allowed fans to really like see something that they’ve always loved on a grander scale without feeling that it compromised them.”
End did discuss a little bit of wrestling, expressing that there are lot of positives in today’s wrestling, but just like everything else, some aspects in the industry could use a little polish, specifically when it comes to the work and identity of new talent.
“I feel that in the course of my two decades, over two decades of being involved in this business, being involved in this sport, a lot has changed, some good, some bad and one of the things that I feel that I wish that a lot of the younger kids would do is indeed find ways to stand out. Look at what people are doing and making a conscious decision of like, ‘Okay, that’s what they’re doing? I’m not doing that,’ cause that’s what I always tried doing and I feel that did make me stand out for a long time but eventually things catch up and there’s different levels to this stuff.”
End mentioned how the accessibility of stepping into the squared circle has gotten easier over the course of time, which presents its own positives and negatives.
“It’s a lot more easier to get in, but it also is at the cost of the quality of training and the quality that I personally feel that wrestling needs to be brought in with and don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of phenomenal talent. There is like kids that are doing crazy things. Things that I didn’t even think were possible, but I feel sometimes in that the details kind of get lost a little bit, but that doesn’t mean that there’s people like myself and other people in that industry that can put an arm around them and say, ‘Hey look, what you’re doing is great, now let me polish you,’ cause I mean that’s what it’s about.”
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