ShareThisEric Young's pro-wrestling career is no longer a laughing matter.
After four years in comedic roles, TNA Wrestling has given Young his most serious character to date. Young is now heading World Elite, a group of international grapplers consisting of Sheik Abdul Bashir, Kiyoshi and the British Invasion (Doug Williams, Rob Terry and Brutus Magnus).
"I guess all this has been in the works for a long time, but for whatever reason the timing wasn't right," Young said Monday in a telephone interview. "Professionally, I needed a change from what I had been doing because it was stale. In wrestling, you always have to reinvent yourself and change with the times. I'm still Eric Young, but it's an Eric Young that no one has ever seen.
"To have the company trust me this much on the mike and make me the centerpiece of this group is a really big deal to me. I'm excited."
With a background in community theater from his youth in Ontario, Young could pull off the lighthearted fare previously given him by TNA matchmakers. He captured TNA's "World Beer-Drinking Championship" from an inebriated James Storm. He won a bikini contest against buxom vixen Traci Brooks thanks to his SpongeBob SquarePants briefs. And he formed the Prince Justice Brotherhood with fellow super-hero wannabes Shark Boy and Curry Man.
Young enjoyed it all, but also felt he was being pigeonholed with characters that were tempering his professional growth.
"It's hard to be taken seriously as a wrestler and doing gimmicks like that at the same time," said Young, who hadn't had a "serious" persona since his 2004 TNA debut as part of Team Canada. "This is a whole different thing. It's about winning matches, getting what we want and that type of thing. I don't think a lot of people saw me as being able to pull this off, but it's getting a lot of good reviews. I'm learning as I go."
The change has provided some new out-of-the-ring challenges as the Canadian-born Young tries to rile patriotic TNA fans. Young, who now lives in Nashville, Tenn., is apolitical in his real-life views and admits to having never voted in an election. To compensate, Young is now doing homework to introduce hot-button topics on "TNA Impact" (9 p.m. EDT Thursdays, Spike TV) that cast the United States in a negative light on the world stage.
"I've kind of lived in my own make-believe world since I was a little kid," said the 29-year-old Young, whose real name is Jeremy Fritz. "I don't like to listen to the news because it's depressing most of the time, but I've been doing that as of late. I've been watching Bill Maher and 'The Colbert Report.' I take the stuff they say and try to twist it in a way that's like rubbing salt in the wounds of most people who live in this country."
One thing that hasn't changed is Young's ongoing battle with a throat ailment called papilloma. Young recently underwent his 14th surgery to remove polyps, which explains the rasp in his voice.
"It's not painful or really dangerous, but (the operations) are a hassle," said Young, who almost died in 2006 after a negative reaction to pre-surgery anesthesia. "I can't talk right afterward, so I have to dance around the TV (taping) schedule when I get them done. The good news is that I don't get (the polyps) as quickly as before. The doctors have said it eventually could stop altogether as I get older."
By then, the undersized Young hopes the joke will be on anyone who doubted he could be a major TNA star.
"The big thing is being relevant talking about issues going on in the world with a gimmick like this," Young said. "Obviously, things in wrestling are always going to change and this character won't go on forever because nothing ever does. But it's cool sitting back looking at where I can go with this. I couldn't be happier."
Young will have the chance to further establish his new persona on Sunday's "Hard Justice" pay-per-view show emanating from Orlando, Fla. Young is expected to provide color commentary while managing the British Invasion in its match against Beer Money. For more information, visit www.tnawrestling.com.
(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro-wrestling column for Scripps Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv(at)aol.com or follow him via Twitter at http://twitter.com/alexmarvez.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
