In PWPonderings’ latest exclusive interview, Koda Hernandez (@KodaHernandez01) sits down with Scott Mitchell (@Scott44Mitchell) to discuss his upcoming match with Mustafa Ali at Freelance Wrestling, working for Freelance Wrestling, working with the likes of Mike Santana, Chavo Guerrero, and Homicide, the importance of his heritage, and so much more. Watch it in its entirety below.

When and why did you first decide you wanted to be a professional wrestler?

“I’ve grown up watching it my whole life. My dad watched it, and my grandpa watched it. So, I started watching it in turn. Ever since I was a kid, I have always thought it was great. What made me realize I can do this is my dad had a friend who was a backyard wrestler, who started up a school, and for my birthday, my dad was like, ‘Hey, get in there and test the ring out.’ So, they let me test the ring out. I was probably 12 at the time. I got in there, ran the ropes, bumped, and it didn’t hurt bad because you know, you’re 12 and full of sugar and adrenaline. So, I hopped right back up. As soon as I got in the ring, I knew I wanted to be here, and I wanted to pursue it as much as possible.”

Did you have any inspirations growing up?

“If you watch any match of mine, the Eddie Guerrero influence is right there for you. That’s my number one. He’s the absolute man to me and the greatest of all time. Being a TNA mark, Homicide was right there for me. I fell in love with Homicide so much. He just brought this energy. I thought LAX was the coolest tag team in the world. I wanted to see them versus The Mexicools so much when I was a kid. Now, as I grew up a little bit and started getting into the business, I found Eddie Kingston. His promo ability just spoke to me. The passion he brings in his promos, the way he fights in the ring, and the style he comes with, he’s my favorite current wrestler. He makes me feel something when I watch him. I’m from Chicago, so obviously I’m a huge CM Punk fan, as well.”

How important is Freelance Wrestling to you?

“So, it’s crazy to even say, but when I was 14, I tried to sneak into one of their shows. It was Ali vs. Isaias Velasquez two, for the title, and I was such a Freelance mark. When they started, my dad took me to the Chicago indies, so I had been in touch with them the whole time. When I saw Isaias Velasquez vs. Ali, I knew who they both were. Already, I was like, I need to see this match because I missed the first one. But it was a 21 and over show, so I couldn’t get into the bar, venue at the time. So, man, working for them is like, to a 14-year-old Koda, means the world.”

You represent Freelance Wrestling as the Freelance Legacy Champion. How important is that to you?

“For me, it just makes me realize that they gave me this ball, now’s not the time to take my foot off the gas pedal. I must perform, go out there, and give it my all. I can’t get lazy or complacent with stuff, like I need to make stuff mean things. To me, it gives me an extra chip on my shoulder. Maybe I need to think harder about whatever I do to make it mean more in the long run. The whole long-standing feud I just had with Sabin Gauge at Freelance, everything I did, I tried to make it mean something. From the storyline perspective to the matches, to the finishes, just making sure at the end I can go, I did all of this for this payoff, to make this mean more.’ When this title goes to someone else, it’s now almost elevated to a certain level. I just want to make sure that I don’t ever devalue something, I just elevate it, so that when the next person gets something, it just means more.”

How did your rivalry with Sabin Gauge come about, and what was it like working with him?

“So, it’s kind of hilarious. Sabin Gauge and I are cousins. We didn’t find out until we were already wrestling. It was at some family party, and he was there. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, ‘Oh, I’m here with my mom,’ and he asked me the same question, and I said, ‘I’m here with my mom.’  Then, we realized our moms are cousins. Now, we’re related, which is kind of wild to think of. Then, he came to Freelance, and we started training. I always had respect for Sabin. I thought he was always great, but he always looked like a fall guy for some people, but I just thought he could always be more. Being in the ring with him, tagging with him, working with him at other places, I knew how good he was in the ring. I just knew he had his mean streak that people haven’t brought out of him yet. I knew I was the guy to almost get it out of him. Unfortunately, I have this bad habit of being intense in the ring. You must almost match my intensity, too. I don’t want to say hang with me, but really, see you could also be at that same level. From our normal singles contests to the ending of the chain match, you can just see it every show get higher and higher until we get to the breaking point, which is in the chain match. You give the fans something every month, build up something that they obviously know is going to have a huge payoff. Just build it. Make people believe in it and want to see it happen.”

You’ve got to work with Chavo Guerrero. What was that like?

“The funniest thing is the boys here in Chicago have a joke when we go out to eat after a show, we’ll tell the waitress it’s my birthday. Then they’ll bring out a cake and sing to me. So, I saw Chavo arrive at the building, and I was freaking out because I was in the ring and he was on the balcony putting his stuff away. I just saw this glow around him. He finally came down and we shook hands, and I introduced myself and he goes ‘Oh, Happy Birthday, man.’ One of the boys told him it was my birthday today, and he told me happy birthday, thinking today was my birthday. It was a good ice breaker, but from there we talked about his work on ‘The Iron Claw’ and other projects in wrestling. An hour into the conversation, we finally go, ‘Hey, how do you want to put together this match?’ I just went, ‘I’d love to take the Gory Bomb,’ he goes, ‘Really?’ and I said ‘Yeah, I’d love to take the Gory Bomb from you’ and he goes ‘Okay, maybe that’s the finish, or the frog,’ and I told him I’d take either one. Five minutes later, he asks me if I want to reverse the Gory Bomb. I told him, ‘If you let me, I’d love to.’ He was super easy to put stuff together with. He caught a suicide dive from me, and for someone his age to be like ‘Yeah, I’ll catch that’ was like insane to me. He was there through everything. He gave me great offense, took a lot of my moves, and he didn’t phone it in. He came out to perform, and I appreciated him for that.”

You also got to work with Homicide before he retired. What was that like for you?

“It’s crazy to think because I hear people talk about seeing Michael Jordan play, and they all say like they glow, and legit he walked in and I just saw this aura around him. I didn’t want to speak to him because I was just so nervous, but literally they forced me to sit down next to him, and we just started talking about stuff that wasn’t wrestling-related. He started telling me about the train ride he took to the airport, music, the Yankees, baseball, and we just started shooting the sh*t. We finally got to it, and he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I’d like to take a cutter through the door. Then he asks me if I want to put him through a door, and I said, ‘If you go through a door, I’d love to do it.’ He was super giving with himself. I don’t expect any of these guys at these ages to be cool with going through a door, but he told me he’d go through one if I went through one. I was fine with it because I had no issue taking anything through a door from him. Same thing with him, though. Super cool, super nice guy, hilarious, and honestly, for both (Chavo Guerrero & Homicide), I came out of the match just understanding wrestling in a better way. They’re not the guys who are like ‘no’ to your idea, they’re like, ‘How about we do this instead?’ and it leads to this later, and I was like, ‘Okay, now I see your vision.’ The coolest thing for me is he did the fork spot for me, which I was a huge mark for.”

You also defended your Freelance Legacy Championship against Mike Santana. What was that like for you?

“Wrestling Chavo and Homicide, you kind of expect what they want to do. But Mike Santana knows he’s in his prime. So, he’s ready to go. That’s when I’m turning up the cardio in the gym, turning up the lifting weights in the gym, my in-ring stuff I’m turning up, making sure I’m ready. Crazy thing is, the day he had to fly in, there was a storm in Chicago. They legitimately cancelled six flights. His first two flights got cancelled, so it was coming to about 3:00 p.m. our time, and I was thinking it was probably just not going to happen. It was one of those things where it was meant not to happen with the universe and rain and everything working against it. Then, they got him on a flight, it went out, and he got there around 6:00 p.m., and showtime was 7. We got to the venue around 6:45 p.m. I had to go pick him up from the airport. On the way from the airport, there was nothing about wrestling. It was just talking about music, New York, Puerto Rican food, we spoke about what’s better, Chicago Puerto Rican food or New York Puerto Rican food, and then we got to the venue, and finally put together the match. With him, it was like I was ready to know we’re going on this one. No matter what, it was going to be a non-stop fight on this one. He was super appreciative of being able to have the match as well. I didn’t know he wanted it so much and wanted to have the match. He was super nice in the ring, gave me a shoutout after the match, and in the back, he gave me some pointers. Put me over to myself, told me how satisfied he was with the match. He in the ring is another level of intensity. It’s either you match him or he’s just going to eat you alive. I feel like he elevated me such a way in the way he was working.”

On Saturday, June 7th, you and Sabin Gauge worked the House of Glory Wrestling, Mike Santana Presents Puerto Rican Weekend. What was this like, and how excited were you to be at the show?

“Not only does it mean a lot because it’s House of Glory, but it’s Puerto Rican Weekend. It’s presented by a guy whom I respect highly, Mike Santana. But the thing is, though, he never had to say yes to me. I saw him announce it and gave it two days before I messaged him saying, ‘Hey man, Sabin and I are a tag team, and we’d love to come up for Puerto Rican Weekend to work for you.’ I just wanted to throw my hat, and he told me yes, and he’d love to have us there. So, now I feel like I owe him a great performance. Now it’s not just like I owe House of Glory, but I owe this guy who allowed me to work on his show to be able to work for him and the company in New York, which was the first time I wrestled in New York. Now I have this fire to do all of this to prove him right for picking us for this opportunity.”

How important was Puerto Rican Weekend to you with your heritage?

“Culture is everything to me. I respect every culture. If it’s your culture, I respect it. I have love for myself. But no matter what it is, every culture deserves to be represented in whatever way they want to be represented. When I see stuff like this, a whole thing dedicated to a place where people are from, or something they represent or are born of, it just means everything to me. Not only are you showing Puerto Ricans Puerto Rican Weekend, but some people aren’t Puerto Rican there either. They’re going to be able to experience this culture for that. So, it’s just giving this exposure for whatever it is. I’m of Mexican and Guatemalan culture, and representation is everything. When you see a representation, no matter what it is, it’s great. I couldn’t be happier to go out with my cousin obviously to a city I’ve never been to, which I know is highly populated by Puerto Rican culture, and not only represent Chicago but represent our people, and obviously for a guy like Mike Santana, for him to do this, just means everything. I’m almost assuming we didn’t see this representation back then, since I’m a 2000s baby, but to be able to see it now, it’s a show for Puerto Ricans, run by Puerto Ricans, it’s like the coolest thing I can think of.”

Looking ahead, you have one of your biggest matches to date on June 27th against Mustafa Ali at Freelance Wrestling. What’s your mindset heading into this one, and how excited are you to work with Ali?

“He’s one of the ones who made it out (of Chicago) and who made it. We have a lot of good wrestlers from Chicago, but sometimes they’re just not able to get to the level where he made it. Being able to work with him and his school, the Chicago Wrestling Center, and learning his approach, I have a clear understanding of how he operates. I know how good of a guy he is, and obviously, I get to see firsthand how great he is in the ring. That all being said, it’s someone I respect, I have the utmost respect for him to make sure I show up in great shape, with a great mindset, ready to listen, and we’re going to put on a great performance. That’s what I owe him.”

Looking ahead for you, what’s next? Do you have any future goals or future opponents you’d like to share the ring with?

“It’s super hard because it’s almost like I wrestled everyone I want to wrestle already. Eddie Kingston is obviously on the list; he’s someone I want to work with. I’d love to work with Bryan Keith again. I worked with him once, but that was when I wasn’t fully myself. I would love to get Latino’s Most Wanted against The Hardy Boyz and The Mexicools. That would be super fun. Later down the line, I’d love to bring Latino’s Most Wanted to Freelance Wrestling. They’ve only seen us wrestle each other, but if they got to see us tag, it would be a whole different experience, and they’d get behind us.”