Josh Mathews recently interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter for a new interview. You can check out highlights below, and hear the full interview at this link.
On why there is always reports of GFW/TNA's Demise:
"I don't know. I wish I knew. At this point, it becomes white noise. We've seen it so many times. Even when I was in WWE for 13 years, you'd see it monthly or weekly that Impact or TNA, whatever it was going by at that time, was going away and wasn't going to exist anymore. Now being here, and defending it, and constantly seeing these stories that I call "The Fake News", it gets tiresome. You have to stop looking at it, stop paying attention to it and just know where we're going and know what we're building towards."
On why he never worked that first TNA Wednesday PPV He Was Booked On:
"Because i got an offer from WWE to work there and that was, at the time, my number one priority. I was able to tear up the contract that I had with this company and go and pursue the opportunity and the goal that I had set for myself from a very young age and get to experience my career there before I came here."
On how WWE knew he wanted to be an announcer:
"When Season 2 of Tough Enough ended and they flew us back to do... What do they call those? Reunion episode! It was there that I was approached to be an announcer. I flew to New York a few weeks later. They just saw me having fun, not really caring about what was happening. It was two long days of filming. I was in New York which is my favorite place in the world, and they saw me just having fun and they thought that was something they could put on television. At the same time, I was talking to MTV about being a VJ. This was before they changed everything and got rid of the VJ... So, the hosting was an opportunity that presented itself to me that I never saw coming when I was training to be a wrestler."
On the "Greatest Play by Play Guy" Tweet Turning Him Heel:
"No, because I had been saying it for a while! (laughs) It wasn't something I had come up with that day. I said it when I left (WWE), I said it to Wade Keller the next day! I said it on numerous platforms. And, I said my contract not being renewed from there (WWE) had nothing to do with talent. That was the only issue I had with them. I believe it, I said it, it had legs, and we ran with it."
On advice for announcers that call indy shows:
"Well you have to remember it isn't about you calling it. The best advice I ever got was if I get someone over, I get over in the process. So, if I get a talent over, I'm getting over and that is just the way it was presented to me at a very young age. It didn't really sink in until a few years later. But, if I can get someone else over I am getting myself over without trying."
On Vince McMahon the commentator being an influence:
"Absolutely! He was the second half of my career, he was the audience that I was working to - Not that I was trying to appease one audience, I've heard that said in the past. But, he's the one that is listening to every word that you're saying while you're calling his shows and he wants you to call them a certain way."
On getting used to saying "Wrestling" After WWE:
"Not really. I still don't say it a whole lot. I also didn't say TNA even though it was the name of the company for 2 and a half years while I was calling shows because it was something that I just didn't like. You find ways around it. Look, they are bigger than wrestlers. They are bigger than wrestling! So, you can change it and call them stars. I love the branding of Knockouts - I think that works super well. I think the Knockouts, that branding, is better than any branding of female wrestlers anywhere. Stars just seems to fit with the male talent - athletes. There are ways to work around it if you don't want to use the word "wrestlers". Look, I wasn't allowed to say the word "belt" for a number of years but I still don't think you should call it a belt - It's a championship!"
