PCO looks back on the craziest bumps he has taken.
"The French Frankenstein" has earned a reputation for putting his body on the line and doing some jaw-dropping spots in his matches. From jumping off the top rope and landing back-first on the ring apron to getting powerbombed onto concrete floors, the 55-year-old has repeatedly tried to prove commentators right when they say he's s not human. The former ROH World Champion has continued to amaze fans throughout his time with IMPACT Wrestling.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, PCO was asked to name the craziest things he has done in the ring. He recalled several high-risk spots, including a powerbomb from the ring to the floor and a moonsault to the outside where nobody caught him. The veteran also described how he took one bump where he crashed onto a cement floor and busted his head open.
“I’ve done a few crazy things. In the ring, I took a powerbomb over the rip rope to the floor, to the straight floor, with a little mat. That was pretty crazy because that was about a 10-foot, 12-foot bump straight on the cement, straight on my head. That goes up there, one of the craziest things. Against Heath, it was a pretty high stage, [and] I got thrown out of the stage and just [landed] on the floor with some chairs. A powerbomb from the top rope to the apron. A bunch of crazy things [laughs]. I remember doing a moonsault on one guy on the outside and nobody caught me. There was no mattress on the outside, so I busted my head. The craziest one was at Center Stage. I had an electrical malfunction where I kind of lose sight with the reality, and I think there’s someone and I jump onto space. I cleared all the mat, and I banged my head on the cement floor, and I had 14 stitches inside and outside my eyebrow. I spent the night on the hospital," PCO said.
PCO continued by noting that sometimes companies push back in an apparent effort to protect him, and he fights them because, in some ways, he believes he's not human. At the very least, he has the mindset that he can do inhuman things in the ring, and he also wants to deliver on what he's telling the fans when they watch him compete.
“Sometimes companies, or IMPACT, they want to be safe. They’ll say, ‘Maybe it’s better if you don’t wrestle tomorrow.’ But I really fight those things really hard. I know it’s a question of health, and I know there’s protocol. But I just feel like I’m not human. That’s what I’m telling then. When they say, ‘You don’t have to do this, PCO,’ yeah, but you don’t understand, I’m not human. I really believe that, that I can do something inhuman," he said.
When asked whether there have been times where he has pitched something and it has been deemed too dangerous, PCO stated that he has met strong resistance to some of his ideas, but he overcame it. He recalled arguing with NJPW officials about the spot where he got powerbombed onto the floor. PCO then brought up another instance where he pushed back when IMPACT didn't want him to do a similar spot.
“Yeah, but I managed to be able to do it. [There was] a lot of strong resistance. I remember with New Japan, because we’re working with New Japan, we have some guys from New Japan coming to our shows and things like that. I remember doing a show with New Japan where I wanted to get powerbombed on the floor. The officials at New Japan, they came up to me, like maybe 10 times, ‘No, PCO. We catch, we catch.’ No, if you catch, I’m human. If you don’t catch, I’m not human. That was going on for maybe 10 times, maybe for an hour, an hour and a half, and I had to really fight over [it]. Another time, I was against Jonah, where he was powerbombing me from the ring apron to the floor. IMPACT was like, ‘No, PCO, you don’t need to do that.’ It’s always, ‘You don’t need to do that,’ but once you do it, people are like, ‘He’s different.’ So that’s why sometimes I really want to do it. Especially if I know my body enough that I can control the bump, that I know it’s not my first time, I’ve done it before," PCO said.
The veteran also offered some insight into his motivation to do crazy things. He explained that his passion for the business drives him, as he's willing to take risks. PCO also emphasized that he has always been able to absorb pain and "get away with it", dating back to his childhood. He later brought up how he played hockey as an example.
“My passion for the business. For me, it was always like, well, I’m willing to do things that maybe others aren’t willing to do. It started like that, just to say, ‘Yeah, I’m really dedicated to this business.’ But also knowing that I was able to maybe pull it off. Even as a kid, I would always do some pretty crazy things. So I always knew I was that guy who could take a lot of pain, absorb a lot of pain, and pretty much get away with it in a way. With bruise, with pain, with a lot of things that would follow that, but then I was able to live with it," PCO said.
In the same interview, PCO discussed his decision to re-sign with IMPACT Wrestling. Click here to see what he had to say.
Matt Cardona recently expressed his interest in facing PCO. Check out his comments here.
On the February 9 episode of IMPACT Wrestling, PCO will face Shera. Check out the card here.
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