Rich Swann Talks Training To Be A Wrestler At 14 Years Old

Impact Wrestling and MLW’s Rich Swann began his pro-wrestling training at an early age. Swann was recently a guest on X-Pac’s 12360 podcast and talked about training to wrestle at an early age.

“I was going on 15 years old. Started training at 15 with Adam Flash and Darren Wyse,” Swann said. “They saved my life, they guided me in the right direction.”

Swann made his professional debut in 2008 at the age of 17.

Waltman said on the podcast that he feels wrestling saved his life too. Wrestling came into both Swann and Waltman’s lives at a time when they needed something to steer them away from trouble. Waltman was also only a teenager when he began his training as well.

When asked if there was anyone else his age on the scene when he began, Swann replied there wasn’t. “Just grown men, you know?” he said.

Swann debuted with Impact Wrestling this April and has become something of a crowd favorite. His match with Fenix from the tapings in Windsor was particularly well-received. He spoke to X-Pac about the time he’s had with Impact over the last 3-4 months.

“The roster is amazing,” Swann said of Impact Wrestling. “Wherever I land on IMPACT I am happy with because I’m just trying to have great matches and I am happy I am with IMPACT. The company is growing, it’s on national TV. The guys are wrestling everywhere it doesn’t matter if it’s Ring of Honor or New Japan… Slammiversary had a sprinkle of everything and it culminated and made it like ‘Boom this is IMPACT!’.”

Swann suffered a concussion during a preliminary match at the MLW Battle Riot tapings. The injury caused him to miss Slammiversary and the following two nights of tapings. He has since been cleared to compete once again and is scheduled to be at the August 12th and 13th tapings.

“The production value is amazing,” Swann continued to say regarding Impact. “How they present stuff; promos and packages are unique. I think that catches people eye. I think another thing that has IMPACT on an upward is just the wrestling. The wrestling right now is hotter than ever.”