At only 24 years of age, Ace Austin already has young wrestlers looking to him for advice.
Appearing on the most recent edition of Busted Open Radio, the IMPACT Wrestling star spoke about his apartment recently burning down and the added stress of it happening just five days before Bound For Glory. Not one to dwell, Austin credited his Grandmother for being the one who gave him the strength to take what life throws at you and continue moving forward.
"I think that strength comes from my Grandmother, really. She's the reason why I made it through so much. She's the reason I was able to become a wrestler at all. I started training when I was 17 and I wouldn't have been able to go out to the Samoans twice a week to train if not for her because I only had a learner's permit to drive. I didn't have a licence yet when I was 17 so I had to have an adult with me to drive so she came with me to training twice a week every single week. She came with me to the show on the first Saturday of every month and she became part of the family with the Samoans and everybody loved her very much. She's the reason I learned responsibility," Ace said.
Though a great deal was lost in the fire, Ace revealed that he was able to save his Grandmother's ashes.
Lauded for his focus on storytelling, Austin is in the unique position of being young but also having the knowledge to part with. When approached, he falls back on his training with the Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika) and tries to pass on the fundamentals they bestowed upon him. He added the following:
"I'm doing my best to do something about that. I'm in a really unique position right now where I get to run seminars occasionally. People bring me in to do seminars and I'm so young that it sometimes doesn't feel right, but I do have knowledge to part with and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't have the opportunity to part with that knowledge. I do have a lot of young guys that look up to me and I'm doing my best to tell them -- I have such a good foundation from training with the Wild Samoans that I really try to drill that foundation that I learned into everybody. Not only in the ring, foundationally but also from a business perspective, like a foundation of respect for the business and for your peers and for the story and for everything."
Austin signed with IMPACT in late 2018 and made his debut in March of 2019. In his nearly three years with the promotion, he has won the X Division Championship twice, captured the Super X Cup, and recently challenged Christian Cage for the World Title.
Ace can be seen every Thursday night on IMPACT Wrestling.
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