Being in IMPACT has given Maclin the opportunity to work with a slew of top talents like Jay White, Chris Sabin, Tomohiro Ishii, Alex Shelley, Jonathan Gresham, Eric Young, Matt Cardona, W. Morrissey, and others.
Denise Salcedo caught up with Maclin recently to talk about Victory Road, his character development, and more.
“I am going to get cut, I am going to bleed, I am probably gonna fall off of something, I don’t know,” he joked. “I just have the plan of knowing my body is gonna hurt the next day and it’s going to take time off of our careers, probably. But, it’s gonna be one of those matches where I feel the three of us will go out there and show out but also tell the story we have been telling.”
Maclin said he has gone back to watch past Barbed Wire Massacre matches in IMPACT that includes Sabu vs Abyss from 2005’s Turning Point.
“Obviously with Sami having the experience in this, I went and watched some of his matches, I know Moose hasn’t been in one of these matches, so that’s kinda an advantage of mine. The specimen that he is for the “Wrestling God,” that’s an advantage I have over him because I know he probably doesn’t like to get hit or bleed as much because he was a former NFL player.”
I asked about his character development and having the freedom to showcase this version of himself to the audience.
“It’s funny that everybody keeps saying, ‘Oh, this is a completely different person,’ but no, it’s the same person. I just never got that platform or opportunity to showcase everything that I am about and that’s the one opportunity that I love about Impact. They give guys like me and just all the Impact talent in general, that platform to showcase and whether you can hit the ground running or not.”
Maclin said that when he got fired from WWE, now-fiancee and current IMPACT Wrestling Knockout and IMPACT Tag Team Champion (as well as former 2x IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts World Champion), Deonna Purrazzo, was there for him as a support system. Her reaction to his firing was that this was his opportunity to show the world what he can do. Maclin got working on vignettes right away to prepare for a debut anywhere, and instantly was thinking of ways to get booked on the independents and get his name out there. When IMPACT came along, they ended up loving what he had worked up already with his vignettes.
“So, it was one of those moments where I knew the work I put in and the vision that I have of Steve Maclin was going to be showcased.”
Maclin recently teamed with Moose and took on the team of Decay, in which they lost after a miscommunication.
Maclin takes on Moose and Sami Callihan in a Barbed Wire Massacre Match at the LIVE Victory Road event on September 23rd.
Get your tickets HERE:
Follow Gerard at @BearDown316 on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Be sure to check out Bodyslam.Net for all of your pro wrestling and MMA news!