Sam Adonis is proud of the path he’s carving out for himself in the professional wrestling business.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone, Sam Adonis spoke about his wrestling career to this point, noting that he sees himself as a journeyman of sorts that calls back to the territory days. Adonis said that he sees similarities in his career and an 80s-era star, but it’s also a detriment in a way.
“I kind of look at myself as one of these guys, that’s, you know, the term journeyman kind of gets thrown around a little bit too loosely these days because it is independent wrestling, and there’s so many different places to go. But I’ve always taken pride in the fact that my career probably would have paralleled those guys in the 80s and 90s. I really have been a journeyman and almost to the point of flaw. It’s almost been a detriment to me that I’ve been so mobile, and I’ve never sunk my teeth into one area.
“I sometimes ask myself, maybe ten years ago, if I would have just tried to get over on the American indies, where would I be today? Whereas I’ve done a lot of international wrestling, and I have respect from the right people, and I’ve done it, in my opinion, what’s considered the right way. But then when you see people that are literally just wrestling for six months, and they get over at the right promotion at the right time, and they’re on the internet the right time, did I do it right, or did I do it wrong? So I don’t know I battle with that every once in a while.”
Sam Adonis referred to himself as a throwback wrestler during a past interview with WrestleZone, and he was asked if he views that term and journeyman in the same light. Adonis said it’s all about general philosophy but he feels like he did things the right way for himself.
“Just the fact that I grew up in the wrestling business, and granted, this is a small town Pittsburgh independents in the early 2000s. I was by no means running around backstage in the major arenas, but when you’re conditioned to be around this stuff at a young age, it’s no different than if your parents owned a bakery. By the time you’re five or six, you might be able to bake a damn good doughnut. I was around it and what I loved about wrestling was from a bygone era. And I’ve always been one to kind of go with — you hear certain wrestlers preach, and podcasters and everybody says, do it this way, this is the right way. I’ve done it the hard way. I’ve done it the right way. I’ve been very selfless, and I say that about heels in general.
“The best heels are selfless. So your job is to piss people off and get people angry. You don’t want to get them pissed off and then get them to buy your T-shirt afterward. You want them to spend their money to see you get your butt kicked. And I think my general interpretation with wrestling business-wise and what I wish was, is so different to what it is to so many people. I think that’s almost why you can consider me a throwback. And I’m proud of the fact that I can sit down at a coffee shop with some of the biggest names in history, and they will be able to say, ‘Man, this kid Sam knows his shit; he’s a good one.’ Whereas those same guys may look at other guys on TV and say this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Adonis went on to explain that he might be taking the road less traveled but feels like he has something else working in his favor.
“It might be taking longer, but now with situations like this, MLW coming up, the rest of the world will be able to see me, and I might not have been the flavor of the week that just got thrown in MLW. But you know, I think my opportunity will stand out a little bit better because I’m a more well-rounded product. I put the work in. It’s almost like a finished philosophy. It’s like when American Idol finally came to the USA. It had been on TV in England for years. I kind of look like that’s something that I have going in my favor, and it does come back to being a bit of a throwback or just having old school mentality, if you will.”
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