Preston Vance is more interested in moments than moves.
Preston Vance, number 10 of The Dark Order, is quickly rising through the ranks of AEW. However, like most modern-day professional wrestlers, Preston was a fan before he was ever in the industry.
While AEW is known for many wrestlers that have a flashy array of moves, Preston wants to set himself apart by creating more moments outside of what he can do in the squared circle.
Speaking on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, Preston explains that his huge inspiration to get into wrestling came from the WrestleMania X-8 moment between the Rock and Hulk Hogan inside the Toronto Skydome.
"I have one definitive match where when I watched it I was like, 'I want to do this.' It was Hogan and Rock at 'Mania at and before they even locked up when they just -- that stare down in the Toronto SkyDome going crazy. They're not even doing anything and they love it, you know? I'm not someone who's big on like, 'Oh what a cool move.' I like the moments. Literally, the Icon vs. Icon moments. So that was the definitive one, I think, the inspiration for how I kind of work is like more Cena/Batista type."
Continuing on, Preston Vance singles out John Cena as an influence of his, noting his love of what John has accomplished outside of the ring as much as his time inside the WWE Universe.
"I'm a huge fan and I always have been and it's not even so much about like what he does in the ring. It's all the cool stuff he does outside of the ring. I think he has like the most Make-A-Wishes. He just passed Mickey Mouse or something, which is insane. People can bash him, but he got where he got because he worked super hard. Do you know what I mean? It's not even from wrestling. When I started training, I remember one of my trainers told me, he's like, 'The stuff you do inside the ring is about 5% of the business. Now I understand that."
Recently, Preston opened up about his relationship with Brodie Lee Jr., noting that Negative One is already pitching ideas for 10 years into the future to create the kind of moments that Preston Vance wants to be known for. Learn more here.
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