A big talking point in wrestling today is the art of the promo. Guys like Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley have railed against WWE's scripted promo style and have expressed how much they enjoy the freedom of AEW's style. On the Independent scene, wrestlers are typically given more freedom on the microphone and other aspects as a way of getting over.
Saieve Al Sabah, who has wrestled in EVOLVE, GCW, MLW, and other Independent promotions recently spoke with Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling, where he discussed his art of the promo, which isn't actually a "promo" at all in his mind.
“While I am in the industry of professional wrestling, I don’t really garner to certain terms or ideologies. I don’t do promos, I speak from the heart and that’s what you’re getting. If there’s a situation between me and an individual, it’s going to be sincere, because there’s a conflict, and with conflict creates drama. I ain’t worried about the crowd. I ain’t worried about critics. I ain’t worried about anyone but getting my point across to that individual that I am what I say I am, and you know, I embrace being an individual while people want me to represent certain things. The most important thing for me to represent is myself. I believe in representing myself. I represent others so, those promos or that interview or whatever that is-is just me being genuine and me being as polarizing as I can as a human being and I’m being honest and I’m being genuine in what I’m saying and everything I do say, people are gonna be quiet so they can wait for the truth," he said.
Saieve continued, discussing how he's able to connect with the crowd in a different way and why only he can be himself.
"Everyone wants you to be yourself but they don’t want you to be yourself," he said. "They want you to be their version of yourself, and no one can teach you how to be yourself, especially when you are [who] you are. There’s just certain connections. That’s why you ask why people can like me or hate me. No one can teach me that. I can only try to master it. Everyone has the answer and they’ll try to tell you that it’ll lead you somewhere that you may not necessarily want to go. Everyone’s dreams and ambitions are not the same and everyone assumes they are so, that’s something that needs to be corrected. Some people like being indie stars, some people don’t. So it’s the perfect balance I would say.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Saieve discussed his early influences in wrestling and where he sees himself in five years. You can listen to the entire interview in the video above.
