Gregory Iron On Which WWE Legend Told Him To Start A Podcast, Cool Encounter With CM Punk
Gregory Iron has spent the last 13 years wrestling on the indies despite being born with cerebral palsy. He had quite the journey to get to where he's at today and telling that journey is one of the reasons he started his own podcast.
Iron discussed why now is the right time to launch his own podcast when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"I don't know if it's perfect timing and this is something I've been rolling around in my brain for a while," admitted Iron. "It kinda started over a year ago when I did Steve Austin's podcast. I did two episodes with them and we struck up a friendship where he said if I needed anything to just give him a call. Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time is extending that friendship, you're an idiot if you don't take that advice.
"So I took him up on the offer and I would call him and talk to him about stuff. One of the things he said is that he could see people that were listening could see me interviewing Steve?It was weird to think I'd be intimidated but it felt like I had known him all my life and I was sitting in his house. For the first time ever, my somewhat pointless wrestling knowledge that I had consumed for 33 years actually came in handy with Stone Cold. He was the one that suggested I start a podcast."
Iron added that he was lucky to have a friend invest in his equipment and get him started. He also mentioned Colt Cabana's podcast as one that inspired him to go this route.
"There's these great guys, young and old, new and seasoned, that are on the indies that never got the chance to sit down with Cabana. I don't wanna say I'm gonna fill Cabana's shoes, but I wanna take some of my notoriety that I've accumulated over the last 13 years and shine a spotlight on some stories with new tidbits like Johnny Gargano and Kimberly where I try to pull stuff out of them that you're not hearing in every other interview. But I like to also shine a spotlight on some of the guys on the rise like Curt Stallion and Cody Lane. I just wanna help other people because I love pro wrestling and that's what pro wrestling is all about is helping each other," stated Iron.
Iron then told a story about meeting CM Punk and Punk reigniting his passion for wrestling during an AAW event in 2011.
"It was surreal. It wasn't anything expected or planned for," Iron said before adding that at that time he had lost his retail job because his employer no longer wanted him taking weekends off for wrestling. "We had an exchange of words and I picked my dream [over my job]. So I was out of a job that was supporting my wrestling habit and for the first time, I remember going into that booking into Chicago and I was contemplating cancelling the booking."
Iron said he was worried that he'd be asking people for money to cover travel and food but he got a call out of nowhere that Danny Daniels wanted him to tag with Cabana for the tag titles.
"That didn't make any sense for me as I never did anything more than a dark match for AAW in Chicago. I borrowed $50 from my little brother and it got me to Chicago. When I got there, I called the match with Cabana and I saw CM Punk in the locker room and shook his hand," recalled Iron.
"You never know when asking for advice is going to stick with someone and Cabana was always the guy I went to for advice because I respected him. I had no idea that Cabana held onto that information and when the time came when Punk was looking for things to go viral, Cabana shared my story with Punk. That night in Chicago after I teamed with Cabana, he went to the back and grabbed Punk and Punk said, 'you're f'n awesome'. I just started crying because it was the culmination of my entire life and every struggle I've been through professionally and personally."
Iron said if it had all ended there he'd have been happy as he felt like a success because the greatest wrestler in the world told him he was awesome.
"I asked Cabana after the fact why he did this. He said consider it a gift and now it's your job to run with this gift. I never forgot that and sometimes I feel I could have run a little harder over the last seven years, but I think I've taken that ball and I'm proud of the things I've accomplished," said Iron.
"It all goes back to taking that first step back in 2006 and facing that fear of failure and the potential of not being athletic or good enough. Taking the risk to fail on myself and I can't imagine how my life would have turned out if I would have been scared and walked away from that opportunity."
Gregory Iron's new podcast "Iron-On Wrestling" is now available via all major podcast platforms. To subscribe on iTunes, please click here. Iron's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. Featuring Iron discussing his cerebral palsy, his biggest hurdles once he began training, why he's decided to launch his podcast, his friendship with NXT's Johnny Gargano, being ringside for Johnny's WWE NXT title win in New York, why he doesn't think WWE will hire him, CM Punk and Colt Cabana putting him over in 2011 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.