Action Andretti Reveals His Influences & Training, Who In AEW He Goes To For Advice

On a recent edition of The Sessions with Renee Paquette, AEW wrestler Action Andretti talked about his wrestling training, influences, who he goes to in AEW for advice, and being able to quit his jobs and become a full-time wrestler! Highlights from the conversation follow:

On being influenced by Mysterio, Hardy, Styles: “Mysterio’s a big one. Jeff Hardy’s a big one. AJ Styles, guys who had that same style. Those are guys who definitely influenced me in the ring. The Hardy Boyz, I was a huge fan as a kid, I would always have my Jeff armbands on and stuff. [Renee: “Do you do the dance?”] Of course! I’ll do it right now. CUE THE MUSIC!”

On his wrestling mentor and starting training: “One of my coaches, who goes by the name of the Bruiser, who unfortunately passed away a year or two ago. He died from cancer, so it was really upsetting for me. I know I’m making him really proud now. It’s cool to think about the story of the first day I met him. He handed me two tickets to the show and said ‘you can bring a friend, come by yourself, whatever, come check it out.’ I drove back there that same weekend, watched the whole show, and I was like, I knew I had to be a part of this. Started class a few weeks after that.”

On wrestling training not being what he expected: “Very much not what I was expecting it to be. I had a pretty big class. I think there was like twenty to thirty kids in my class. [By the end] two. I swear. Two more including me, so three altogether. A lot of people come and go, it’s crazy.”

On his high school sports background: “I graduated school, all my friends went to college. What the hell do I do with my life now? All I knew was sports, high school sports, that’s all I did. I did football and wrestling in high school, those were my main two. Throughout my whole life I did soccer, I did track, I did basketball. I tried to get into everything I could. Fall, winter, spring, play a sport all year round basically. I didn’t like to come home after school and just hang out at the house. I never worked a job in high school because I would always have sports. Kept me out of trouble.”

On some of the jobs he has done since graduating: “Just to save up money to get a car, I worked for some [unintelligible] company. Once I got a car I quit that. Then I went to barber school, I worked as a barber for about a year or or two. I knew it wasn’t for me. I can’t just sit here and just do this all day. Man, I worked in restaurants, I was an Amazon Prime delivery guy — that was probably my least favorite that I did. I did tree work, I was on a job where we could cut trees for a while, throw them in the chipper. That would get me in shape for sure.”

On knowing he wanted to be an entertainer: “Always knew I wanted to be an entertainer in some type of way. I didn’t know exactly how, until I obviously discovered I wanted to be a professional wrestler. In high school I always pictured myself as a guy who could somehow, someway, make it on TV and have a crowd of people have a crowd people and entertain them. I always had a feeling in my heart I could do something to be an entertainer. Even when I was working those jobs, I would always make sure I had those Tuesdays and Thursdays off so I could go to wrestling practice. I just knew one day, alright, I’m going to be able to quit these jobs. It might be two years, it might be ten, but one day I’m not going to have to clock in and do these stupid jobs I have to do, and just be able to full-time wrestle.”

On when he was able to quit his jobs to wrestle full-time: “It was just a month ago! When I’m at TV tapings I’m really like, wow. I would usually be setting my alarm to wake up at 6:30 in the morning and put on my stupid tree work outfit and come home all dirty and have to shower off. I get to wake up tomorrow and wrestle in front of all these people. It is a blessing. It feels so good. It’s a damn good feeling knowing that.”

On who he goes to in AEW for advice: “Mark Henry’s a big one. He’s a guy that really believed in me. He’s one of the guys that wanted to see me be able to do some stuff when I was wrestling those dark matches. Mark Henry’s been a big help. Jerry Lynn. He’s a guy I had a really good conversation with him right after the Jericho match, and previous matches after, he’s really helped me out with a lot. Other producers back there, helping certain things in the matches that could be better, or maybe you should do this here or there. It’s been a lot. Sometimes I’ll even go to Chris and ask for advice, as much as he probably despises me, I’ll still say hey, what do you think about this. There’s guys who’ve been around for so long. To have guys that have that knowledge, and have been around this business for so long, it’s good to have guys like that around you that you can learn from.”

If using any of the above quotations, please credit The Sessions h/t 411mania for the transcription.