IZW Champion Aaron Neil Talks IZW, Wrestling Jerry Lawler, Violent Valentine & More

IZW Heavyweight Champion Aaron Neil recently spoke with Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com about his time in the business, IZW and how it compares to WWE and TNA, wrestling Jerry Lawler, defending his title this Saturday against Jermaine Johnson at Violent Valentine and much more. Here is our full interview, you can learn more about IZW and Saturday's Violent Valentine event by clicking here.

WrestlingINC.com: Tell fans who are not that familiar with Impact Zone Wrestling a little about the promotion.

Neil: Impact Zone Wrestling was the brainchild of owner Johnny Z back in 2004 when it started. Right here down in Lawton, Oklahoma we started just running monthly shows and that quickly kind of picked up for us when we started bringing in guys like Big Van Vader, Dusty Rhodes, Butch Reed, Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler? a lot of legitimate legends starting coming through the doors of IZW and quickly we realized we needed to see what other markets were out there and we had a stint where we moved up to Oklahoma City for about a year and a half. Then after realizing that we had a chance to purchase a building and make IZW have an actual home, a permanent home we decided to come back down to Lawton were we've been ever since, we've been running weekly shows for the last three years right here in Lawton, Oklahoma.

WrestlingINC.com: And you have been there since the beginning, right?

Neil: Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people may not know this, but I was actually the guy who helped start the company with Johnny Z all those years ago back in 2004. He was the guy, we met each other wrestling in a place called Asylum Championship Wrestling here in Lawton, and we just kind of hit it off. He kind of fell out of touch with wrestling for a little bit and really when he decided to get back into it, he didn't like what he saw with the different promotions that were around. There were things he would see go down at these shows he thought, basically he thought could be done better. I kind of told him, you know what? you can put your money where your mouth is or you can be bitter like a lot of other wrestlers. And much to his credit, he put his money where his mouth is. He went out and did everything he had to do here in Oklahoma. We have a boxing commission that regulates professional wrestling so there are some hoops you have to jump through to become a wrestler or promoter and he did everything he had to do and the biggest thing is he did them the right way. He paid his guys, he made sure the boys were taken care of, he got sponsors and he got exposure and actually promoted his company, those were the things that were missing and those are the things that IZW has been presenting since 2004 and we kind of set a level of excellence that we have to live up to for ourselves and we think we set the bar pretty high.

WrestlingINC.com: You were wrestling for a couple of years before you started with IZW right?

Neil: Right, I actually started wrestling, my first match was August 3rd, 2002. I wrestled for Big Time Pro Wrestling in Wachahatchie, Texas which is a promotion owned by the man who trained me, Killer Tim Brooks, and the WCCW. Killer trained me for a good 3 months before he gave me a crack at one of his shows. I kind of haven't looked back since and been wrestling pretty regularly since 2002.

WrestlingINC.com: How would you describe your style?

Neil: Man, I like to think of myself as a throw back. Like the Brody's and the Cactus Jack's. The old style of the WCCW where the guys would go out there and it looked like they were just fighting and beating the hell out of each other. That's kind of what I try and inspire to be, is that kind of believable, physical style. I have had a lot of success with that style, that's what got me my shot at Japan. That's what's basically put me on the map here in Oklahoma.

WrestlingINC.com: Were you a wrestling fan growing up?

Neil: Absolutely man, I have heard some other guys say this, but not only my first memory of wrestling, my first memory period is of wrestling. Of watching all these huge superstars of wrestling on my grandmother's living room floor with all my cousins, that's the first thing I can remember. I was probably about 4 years old and you know I've always been a fan and it's all I've ever wanted to do so when people see Aaron Neil they know he's getting to live his dream, which is pretty cool.

WrestlingINC.com: Who are some of the guys you looked up to growing up?

Neil: Oh man, growing up I was a huge Hulk-a-maniac. Hulk [Hogan] was the end all be all for me. I was just so ate up with Hulk. Kerry Von Erich was a guy who I.. I was only exposed to the WWF as a kid, but I would get like "The Wrestler" magazines and I would see Kerry Von Erich and Ric Flair and I became a fan of theirs through the magazines. But really Hulk was it for me, I had some other favorites, you know Bret Hart came along later and I was a huge fan of Bret Hart, but Hulk is definitely the number one guy who caught my interest as a kid.

WrestlingINC.com: You've wrestled some legends of the sport, you've wrestled Vader, and Dusty Rhodes and Al Snow. What was it like being in the ring with those guys?

Neil: I will say, I actually, every time I wrestled a guy who was a legend, and all those guys legitimately are, I learned and got better afterwards. I would say the first couple of times I stepped in there with the guys, the first time I stepped in there with any kind of a named guy was Jerry Lawler and you know, it's like you're starting out at the top, you don't get a whole lot bigger than Jerry Lawler. I wish now I could get another crack at that match because I think it would have turned out a bit better. Looking back, maybe it was a good match, I did a good job but being in the ring with guys like that obviously is very intimidating for a young guy, especially a guy who is very familiar with who they are and what kind of legend they are. But at the end of the day when you are staring across the room at the guy, and this is what I learned later in life, you have to look at him as just some other guy in your ring, because if you give him too much respect it's going to take away from what you are trying to accomplish in there and then that's something I learned later working with these guys, you have to go in there and take what's yours and they'll do their part, they are legends and they are superstars for a reason, there's not a lot you're going to do to stop them from shining. You have to definitely pull your weight and you can't be intimidated by who they are.

WrestlingINC.com: How was Jerry Lawler to work with?

Neil: You know what, in the ring he was absolutely phenomenal, he made it so easy. You go back and watch that first match I had with him, it was probably was probably one of the most clear examples of a wrestler bottle feeding another wrestler. He just really carried me and made me look good when I probably wasn't really that good. I have nothing negative to say about how he treated me in that match and how the match ended up turning out. He was really a professional in the ring.

WrestlingINC.com: You had that brief feud with Brent Albright, what was that feud like, you know now that you are a veteran of the sport and Brent has kind of made his rounds through ROH and WWE. What were those matches like?

Neil: Well, Brent was always a different kind of superstar there to begin with. He was more contemporary if you will, someone's who has been there not that long ago and being at the highest part of his business, so being in there with Brent, I had to be ready to come to work. Not only has Brent been there to the highest level of the position and had success, but he still had his aspirations that he was working towards so he's not, he wasn't there just as a role of a teacher, he was still trying to accomplish his own goals and if you're not going to help him do that, you're just in his way. So I knew again, I was going to have to pull my weight. He wasn't looking to go in there and just be someone to make me better, he was looking to go in there and reestablish who he was to a lot of people. I think he did that and I think it helped. He was on his game, and I was on my game and it really worked. It was a joy looking back on it now; it was a joy to be able to work with a guy like that who brought so much to the table.

WrestlingINC.com: How do you think IZW compares — as far as their style and presentation — to WWE or TNA?

Neil: Honestly, I am not as up to date on WWE and TNA as I would like to be. I do watch when I get the chance. I will say this, it's not in any way what you are seeing on TV, we are definitely an alternative to that, much in the same way that ECW wasn't really competing with the WCW and WWF, they were an alternative and I think that is what we are providing. We are giving fans a very real, believable, physical style that they haven't seen in a long, long time and I have heard from people, and I think rightfully so compare it to the hay days of WCCW that had these guys who were just larger than life characters who would go in there and had this really physical style they could get behind and I think that's what we're doing now. We are telling stories, we're entertaining and anyone who comes and sees the product we offer here at IZW walks away with the feeling that this is not like every other indy promotion, this isn't like ROH or WWE or TNA, this is something different, this is something special.

WrestlingINC.com: You're facing Jermaine Johnson this Saturday at Violent Valentine. Tell us more about Jermaine Johnson for fans that are unfamiliar with him.

Neil: Jermaine Johnson is a guy who's had an unbelievable rise to the top of the challenge charts here in indy wrestling. He's a guy who doesn't have a ton of experience as far as number of years, but as far as big match experiences and as far as just putting on a quality performance, he has very few peers. This is a guy who it's like everything he touches turns to gold in his career and you know now, this is a guy who I've been watching for a couple of years rise and now he's a guy who is on my level, who is looking to take my spot and you know, it's kind of a case of the old guard versus the new guard, you know I've been around and been established for a while and I still think I am the future of IZW and that's where, that's kind of were Jermaine and I differ, he thinks that he is the guy that is going to take us into the coming years and is going to lead IZW into the future. This is what this match kind of represents, who is going to be the one who steps up and is really going to make the claim to being the top guy for the company and lead us into this next year and into the success that we are projecting for ourselves.

WrestlingINC.com: So what can fans expect from your guys' match this Saturday?

Neil: This is the second TLC match we've had, we had another one — Chaotic Christmas — in 2010 and that was a good match and that match on its own would be hard to top. But I'll tell you what, this is over 14 months later, a lot has happened since then. I think I'm better, I know Jermaine is better. You're going to see a level of competition between two guys who are at the top of their game and I'm telling you right now it's going to be match of the year not only this year, but it's going to be good enough it's going to carry over. I really believe this is going to be a showcase of two guys, who right now are at the very top of their game.

WrestlingINC.com: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, do you have any last comments for the readers at WrestlingINC.com?

Neil: Yeah, I want to tell everyone that this is a different part of wrestling. This is something, like I said before, that is different. You have to tune in to Violent Valentine on GFL.tv this Saturday night to see a TLC match between two of the top wrestlers in the world period. I've been all around the world and I've seen the best. I'm telling you right now I am going to be stepping in there with one of the best this Saturday and if you're not in Lawton, Oklahoma and you can't come down to see it live, you have got to watch this on GFL.TV. It's going down this Saturday, see two of the best go at it for the IZW world heavyweight championship.

To learn more about IZW and Saturday's Violent Valentine event by clicking here.