Jordan Oliver Responds To Criticism Of Pro Wrestling Looking Too Choreographed

MLW's Jordan Oliver went viral a while back by hitting his opponent with a mid-air RKO while he was doing a shooting star press from the top rope. Those types of clips are perfect in today's age of social media and Oliver was asked how important it is to him to put together gif-worthy moments when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

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"Sometimes I 100 percent think, 'Oh, let's do this because it will get a lot of attention.' But when I thought about this 60-second spot, I wasn't thinking this was gonna blow up or anything," admitted Oliver. "I was thinking that I love Will Ospreay and I wanna be in the Super Juniors. I love run spots and I love fast wrestling so this would be cool and let's just do that."

Oliver noted that his clip has generated over 350,000 views online.

A popular debate on social media is "what is pro wrestling?" This came up after clips of choreographed spots turned off pure wrestling fans who say it lacks the realism of what they thing pro wrestling should be.

Oliver gave his two cents on the debate.

"I don't really understand the issue with it. This argument has been going on since Ricochet vs Ospreay and they did a double handspring backflip. This issue was, 'Oh, this isn't wrestling. It's too choreographed.' It's the same issue people are having now with me and Blake," said Oliver.

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"Guys have been doing this for years like Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero or Jerry Lynn and RVD. This isn't a new thing in wrestling. Maybe those spots are usually 10 seconds long and we did it for 60 seconds. I don't understand the debate or when they say Jordan Oliver is a spot monkey. I wrestled David Starr for 40 minutes and we didn't talk about anything in the back. I think it's more of a misconception and people don't understand what they're talking about."

MLW knew of Oliver's reputation and his style before they signed him and he was asked about adapting his style to what MLW wants.

"It's been so awesome. For me at first it was a little hard to adapt because of my style. Everywhere I go I don't want to be just the high-flyer as I want to be a main event wrestler," revealed Oliver. "I would always sit down with guys like Jim Cornette and Low Ki and ask them what I could be doing better. I think over the last few months I've started to come into my own and figuring out how to wrestle a TV style.

"I really appreciate this time I've had so far, especially being so young, as it's kinda insane that I'm only 20 and signed to MLW and traveling the world every weekend."

Oliver noted that going to college is not in the cards as he barely graduated high school and wasn't a fan of school in general.

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He then discussed who in MLW he's enjoyed working with the most.

"Probably Low Ki as I grew up loving him. That's the style I really love and Low Ki is a Junior Heavyweight legend. I really love listening to Low Ki talk about the business and how he perceives it. How he perceives wrestling is so different than everybody else as he takes it from a realism that I feel is lost in the sport nowadays," Oliver said before noting that fans who say he has no psychology have no idea what they are talking about.

"People just love to bash and say, 'Oh this is what wrestling needs to be.' It's bullsh*t. Everything's not for everybody. ECW wasn't for everybody back in the day and for all of these ECW legends sh*tting on it, I think they've lost touch with the business."

MLW's style may not be as strict as WWE's is, but they still have a certain way in which they want their talent to perform. Coming from a high-flying, fast-paced style, Oliver was asked about any comments or criticisms he's gotten from MLW on his style.

"I haven't really gotten any feedback on my style because for MLW I do more character work than anything," stated Oliver. "I know I'm only 20 but I have a good understanding that I'm not on MLW to do these spots ? I'm there because I'm a heat-magnet. I haven't had much of Court telling me to slow it down because I really haven't had the opportunity to do that there."

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Oliver's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In the full interview Oliver discusses his rough childhood, starting to wrestle at 15, being signed by MLW when he was 19, the debate around his in-ring style, the story behind his MLW stable Injustice, recently working with ACH in MLW, MLW signing King Mo, Injustice's big tag match at MLW Zero Hour and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.

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