In PWPonderings’ latest exclusive interview, Eye Black Jack Pasquale sits down to talk about Beyond Wrestling, Wrestling Open, working with Miracle Generation, TJ Crawford, his upcoming match with Donovan Dijak on New Year’s Eve, and so much more. Watch it in its entirety below.

You’ve become somewhat of a mainstay at Beyond Wrestling and Wrestling Open. What has it been like to be a part of the roster for one of the top promotions in the northeast?

“It’s an honor. I did kind of have a gateway ticket to the Bio Pro school, which shoutout to Bio. But it feels good. To have a key role in one of the top promotions is hard to come by when you’re so new. It’s really given me the ability to get so many reps. When I first started, we kind of had Wrestling Open and the Beyond Super Shows, but now we have Wrestling Open Rhode Island. So, to be able to be on a good portion of the shows that they have twice every week and be on pretty much all of the Beyond Super Shows they have sprinkled in throughout the months, it gets you so many reps and helps you to meet so many people. There are plenty of wrestlers who have their own promotion, like Ted Goodz with Live Pro, or Hammer Tunis, who runs PVP in the Springfield area. You kind of get a whole package deal. You get to meet people, market with them, make connections, and get your name out there more throughout the area, which is just kind of a crazy bundle that you can’t really buy. There aren’t enough words I can put into it, but it’s a crazy deal.”

You’ve gotten to work with the likes of TJ Crawford, BRG, Griffin McCoy, and Trigga the OG. All veterans in the business. What has that been like for you?

“It’s been a lot of learning. A lot of very tenured guys. TJ is my coach, so I’ve been able to learn a lot from him. I’ve faced him twice now, once at Open and once at Live Pro. Neither of the matches I had with him was very long. My debut, he kicked the shit out of me for five minutes before I rolled him up, but it’s been really fun to wrestle all these guys. To see how not all veterans wrestle the same, not even close. Some guys will want to work on the fly, some will want to call more, some will be really stiff, others won’t be, and stiff isn’t always bad. It’s good to lay in your shots. Seeing the way different people wrestle is teaching me a lot of the business and teaching me how to work with different people. I think it’s a skill to be able to have chemistry with as many people as possible. It’s obviously very good. I think that’s probably why I’m glad I’m able to have all of these experiences.”

Recently on Wrestling Open, we’ve seen you and Rain Conway have a story evolving into you and Pedro Dones going to war with Conway, Joe Ocasio, and Brett Metro, otherwise known as The New School. What has that whole story been like?

“It was fun getting to work with so many people that I train with, and Pedro I’d consider a friend. I see him all over the place. It was fun to work with Pedro, and he got me to meet Ocasio, who is awesome. I really enjoyed the match I had with him. That was really fun to be able to have such a huge storyline throughout the entire summer. It made me feel like I was adding something to the Worcester shows. At the time, it felt like Worcester was struggling in comparison to the Rhode Island shows, but to be able to have that storyline felt like there was still interest in Worcester. We weren’t the only storyline running at the time; there was the whole Big Business vs. Stetson Ranch thing, which was still the main storyline of the show, but to have them coming back for more than one thing, that’s where I saw the value in it.”

You’ve also, even more recently, been embroiled in a rivalry with Dustin Waller and Miracle Generation as a whole. What has it been like to work with them?

“It was good. The first match I had with Dustin Waller was like five minutes and ended in a DQ. The second was the Street Fight, and the third was where I teamed with Bobby against both of them. They’re all great. Dustin is such a great worker. He was on AEW recently. So, I’m happy for him that he got to end the year with MJF. It’s just cool to be able to work with these guys that I was watching about a year ago when I was still doing ring crew, when I was training. I was seeing these guys flying all over the place, and I was like, ‘How the hell am I ever going to keep up with him?’ and I was pretty scared when I was going to wrestle them. I thought there was just no way I’d ever keep up with them. But that’s the thing about wrestling. There’s always going to be someone faster than you, but he’s still able to work to my ability. That’s not a knock on myself; I’m a pretty good wrestler. But I’m not the flash, I’m not doing hand sprints off the ropes at like 100mph. The fact that he can work at my speed shows how good he is, how I can still work with him at the same time. I think that just shows the skill level when we have such different styles. So, it’s definitely a props to him and how good he is, and a props to me. If I were to work with someone like Ichiban, you would see how fast he moves. He’s ridiculous, he’s like a God damn cat. But that’s one of the things I was taught. When you face someone like that, you don’t have to tell yourself you have to keep up with them. You wrestle as you wrestle, and then they will wrestle you, and it will just work naturally.”

Coming up on New Year’s Eve, you will be competing in what may be your biggest match to date as you face off with Donovan Dijak for the first time ever at Beyond Wrestling’s “Heavy Lies The Crown.” What is your mindset heading into this one?

“My mindset is just to go in there and do my best. When I first saw him, it was at the Two Tribes Fest, when we did our first show at the Palladium in 2024. Going into that day, I don’t even think he was cut yet from NXT, so seeing him there, I was surprised, so a year and a half later to be facing him is kind of crazy to me. I’m honored. He’s such a big star, and he’s been killing it on the indies. I did a seminar with him in September of 2024, and he was telling me how he, on the indies, is the busiest he’s ever been. So, yeah, it’s a real honor. He’s probably one of the real kings of the indies right now, up there with Matt Cardona. It’s just an honor, and I’m going to do my all to put on a good show with him.”

Dijak is one of the top talents to come out of the northeast scene. Does this match have anything special at stake for you?

“Yeah, I’d say it’s ‘Can I hang with the top dogs?’ I guess we’ll see. That’s the way I look at it. Can I hang with someone who’s been to the top, and can I match his energy, and can I get myself over against someone so good?”

You’ll be wrestling Bobby Orlando for the Wrestling Open Championship on Thursday. What’s your mindset heading into that one?

“Let’s bring home some gold. Let’s start the year off against the top guy in Wrestling Open. I saw him beat Bryce Donovan at Americanrana, very inspirational. But it has to come to an end at some point. What better way than to be the first Bio student to win the Wrestling Open Championship?”

What are your hopes for the future? Any future goals you have in mind?

“I have a lot of goals. The only goal I really had this year was to have my 50^th match, which I blew out of the water. On New Year’s Eve, I will have had 70 on the year and will be at 73. We’ll say somewhere between 100 and 120 for next year. I think for next year, I just want to continue to get better. If any opportunities present themselves, then we’ll take them, and if it gets to me getting signed anywhere, then Hallelujah, you know? That would obviously be great. But I just want to get better by a good margin in 2026. I don’t really think in terms of facing certain people. I don’t think in terms of winning or losing too much. I just want to get better, get more over, get better at promos. I just really want to improve this year. I know I have improved so much since last year. If you’re not improving, then what the hell are you doing?”

Do you have anyone specific that you’d love to share the ring with?

“There was one guy I did really want to face, and I recently got to face him. I faced Brad Baylor last Monday, so that was one I really wanted to get out of the way. Now that I faced him, I don’t really know. I’m not a guy who has a lot of dream matches. I get to face Bobby on Thursday for the title, that’s really fun. Maybe Ricky. It’d be fun to wrestle Smokes.”