Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Tyson Dux
Date: 03/31/20
Your Host: James Walsh

Tyson Dux is a ring veteran of 23 years. With runs in WWE and appearances for Impact Wrestling both in its current form and back during its NWA TNA days in the World X Cup, he has been around wrestling’s top promotions often as well as securing a reputation as a fantastic wrestler throughout wrestling but, I’d venture to say, especially in his native Canada. Now running his own school, Tyson Dux also got the opportunity to play another famous Canadian wrestler on national TV as he was the cut scene actor playing Chris Benoit on the highly praised Dark Side of the Ring last week.

We spoke to Tyson just before it aired to discuss his take aways from this huge night in wrestling history as the story of the biggest black-eye in wrestling’s history was finally discussed without any filters by many of the stars that were close to the situation.

To listen, visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com.

TYSON DUX:

On being stuck at home in
“It is kind of crazy, isn’t it? Could you imagine if this happened back in the 20’s before there were cell phones or media? People might have been more apt to do it then. But now, people want to just go, go, go! But, here we are. Stuck at home!”

On getting involved with Dark Side of the Ring:
“If you take a real good look to the pilot episode of season 1, you’ll see Dutch Mantel during the Bruiser Brody episode about Brody getting killed in Puerto Rico. If you look at Dutch’s arms in that special, you’ll see that his arms are more jacked than ever before! That is because that was the one and only… ME! I was in that role. They brought me in for that. And, it turned into this.”

On the Chris Benoit episode and his take aways from it:
“I’ve watched the first episode. It is one of those things where I watch it with other people. I know some of the scenes that are coming up and it gets pretty intense. But, I think they did a great job of not being as graphic as people might think. I’m watching, you’re watching. I’ve watched the whole first season. It is amazing! Just to be part of its second season in such a big role (playing Chris Benoit) is quite awesome!”

On the magic of the Dark Side of the Ring series:
“A great thing about this is it is shot in such a way that it will appeal to the normal, non-wrestling audience and they might stick around and watch it for a few minutes. And, the great thing is they might learn a little bit about the history of our business which is a huge deal for me as well.”

On if chair shots to the head are safe or should be done:
“I’m old school. I know (Chris) Jericho has a few years on me but I’ve been at this for 23 years nwo. I started wrestling in the 90’s which means I’ve wrestled in 4 decades now. (laughs) That really shows the rings of the tree! (laughs) I’m old school. I’m all for wrestling looking as real as is possible while doing the least damage as is possible. But, I’m also a guy who is like… It is up to them. If we’re doing head shots with chairs and it is their choice to tuck their chin and take it full force, that is on the person. You always have the choice to put your hand up. It depends on the date and it depends on the show. If it is in front of a couple hundred people, I would raise my hand. But, if it was for a thousand people or for the WWE back when I was working there, I would tuck my chin and take the full force of it. It is always a risk. But, they’re fully grown men. At the end of the day, if they decide they want to take it that way, they can take it that way.”

On if not signign with WWE bothers him:
“It used to haunt me. It used to haunt me because I was supposed to sign with WWE or was on the verge of signing with WWE when I blew my knee out. They came up to me and said, “Hey man. We can’t offer you a contract right now. We don’t know if you’re ever going to walk again!” What a terrible thing to say to someone! I had no idea how bad my knee was. It was a pretty severe tear in my ACL. And then, going back, I got hung up at the border when I was supposed to do the Cruiserweight Classic in the filler role. I was also going to work Hideo Itami, KENTA, as you know, in a strong style match for NXT and then coach (at the Performance Center) all week. So, it wasn’t just going back. It was going back with some purpose and direction. My match with Zack (Sabre Jr), even though I lost, I won. I won because I showed everyone what I was capable of and it was leading to a great opportunity. That being said, you can’t look back at that because it will eat you up. I just look at it and say, “Ooh hoo, Tyson Dux’s luck has struck again!””