X Division Champion Willie Mack On Winning His First Impact Title In An Empty Arena

Professional wrestling is full of fantastic moments where a wrestler wins a major title for the first time with the crowd going nuts, confetti cascading down into the ring and an exhausted but elated new champion celebrating in the ring. However, a handful of wrestlers have experienced this very moment during a global pandemic which means their first title win has been in front of an empty arena.

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I caught up with recently crowned Impact X Division Champion Willie Mack to discuss what it was like winning the title with no audience as well as how the Coronavirus outbreak has affected him. We also discussed who some of his dream opponents in Impact are and Impact Wrestling in general.

Impact at the moment is leaning more into it's past than ever before with the TNA branded shows after trying to reinvent themselves as Impact, do you think this is a good idea?

"It's great to me because growing up as a teenager I watched TNA all the time. And that's what everybody to this day still refers to it as even though they changed their name. So I guess, stick with what you know, because that's what made it great, was TNA, those three letters and it's good to see all the old legends come back, like the originals, because now can mix the new breed with the old-school and it feels great. It's like dream matches that you can have."

You mentioned dream matches, do you have any dream matches that you'd like to have at some point in the future?

"Yeah, Probably me Vs 2 Cold Scorpio. Maybe if he's still around, Jody Fleisch I wanted to wrestle a while back and I guess Doug Williams if he's still around!"

You are the X Division Champion, you mentioned about growing up watching TNA so you probably would have seen a lot of the amazing X Division matches. What does being the X Divison Champion mean to you especially given the history of the title and some of the amazing wrestlers that have held that title in the past?

"Well, it means a lot to me because that's the first thing that caught my eye and really anybodies eye was the X Division. It wasn't really a Cruiserweight Division because you had heavyweights and every type of style was brought into it and it was high paced. So for me to be pretty much the head of the X Division it feels special. Especially after guys like Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, AJ [Styles] and everybody else... Petey Williams and all those guys. They were the top of the X Division and now I'm up there with them."

Would you say it was a goal for you to be one of those people that, ten years from now, when people talk about the X Division, that your name comes up?

"Yeah, as long as somebody talking about you and don't forget you. That's the one thing you don't want in wrestling. As long as they're making some kind of noise then it's alright!

It's funny you should mention people making noise at the moment, because your recent set of tapings were in a closed arena and you even won the title in a closed arena. What was it like to have a moment like winning the X Division Championship without having anyone in the audience to cheer when it happened?

"It was kind of, I knew it was going to happen going in that there'd be nobody there so I tried to prepare myself for that like 'alright, you're going to do all this stuff and wrestle your heart out and won't hear nobody cheering' but it still felt great because I got the job done and I'm the X Divison Champion. And afterwards I had people calling me on the telephone and congratulating me that way so I was kind of good but still weird."

Are you doing anything differently in your performance or the way that you wrestle now that there isn't a crowd?

"Stick with what you know! That's why we trained as wrestlers. Doesn't matter if there's ten people in the crowd or ten thousand people always go out there and give it one hundred percent. Because you're still being in front of a world wide audience, in front of a camera so you give it your all every time you're on the screen. Because every time you're on the screen it's like it's your movie so you want people to be focused on you. So, I give it everything I got no matter if there are people in the crowd or not."

How do you think Coronavirus will change wrestling going forward, have you head anything from Impact about what the plans are or if any changes will be made?

"I haven't really heard nothing really. I think it's going to be weird for everybody. Even if we get over it, we get some kind of breakthrough it'll be cool but you know the crowd will be standing around the arena, if you run arenas. So it'll take some time for everybody to get get like 'alright this thing's really over, I can cough now without everybody trying to kill me."

One of the things that the X Division Champion can do, or has been able to do in the past, is cash the X Division Title in for a World Title opportunity, is that something you'd want to do?

"Of course I want to be the world champion but the whole thing about 'Option C' is I'm going in as a champion just to give up my title for a shot at the world title and if I lose then I've lost both titles. So I'd rather keep the one I've got and hold down this division and hopefully become the number one contender another way. That way I can be the X Division Champion versus The Impact Champion, or even the TNA Champion."

Willie Mack currently finds himself feuding with Johnny Swinger and Chris Bey on Impact Wrestling, with one or both of those men likely to be his opponents for his next title defence. Here's hoping that he can hang on to the title and achieve his goal of becoming of the names synonymous with the iconic X Division title!

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