WNS Exclusive Interview With South African Up-And-Comer Juandre "JDX" Ward

Over the past few years, I've been fortunate enough to develop friendships with some great folks from the South African wrestling scene. Our WNS readers may remember a couple years back when we would regularly post weekly results from the APWA: African Punishment Wrestling Association. Those results were provided by my good friend, Mr. Muhammed Valiallah, who works as both a wrestler and a referee. Another good friend of mine is Juandre Ward, better known by his ring name, JDX. Juandre, or JDX, is an up-and-coming young talent in the South African wrestling scene. He recently informed me that in the month of November, he will be coming to the United States to further pursue his wrestling dreams. He will be training at Harley Race's school in Troy, Missouri under the guidance of the legendary "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton and Dr. Tom Prichard, as well as Pro Wrestling NOAH's Taiji Ishimori from Japan.

 

I thought it would be nice to get our readers acquainted with Juandre and perhaps give you a chance to keep up with his quest to achieve stardom. I emailed Juandre the following questions:

 

1. When did you first decide that you wanted to be a professional wrestler, and where did you go to receive your initial training?

 

 

2. Who are some of your favorite wrestlers, and who would you say inspired you the most to get into the business?

 

Growing up watching wrestling, I would say I was most inspired by Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero. Till this day they still are the guys that inspire me the most. Just two great workers.

 

3. How would you describe your wrestling style?

 

Technical, mat-based wrestler. You'll see me go to the top rope on occasion and I'm pretty comfortable on there. Safe but hard worker.

 

4. What would you say is your favorite wrestling promotion here in the U.S. right now between WWE, TNA, and ROH and why?

 

I have always watched WWE. On occasion I watch TNA. The legacy of the World Wrestling Entertainment just makes me want to watch it more. I enjoy hard hitting technical wrestling action.

 

5. I know that WWE's Justin Gabriel and ROH's Zizou Middoux also came up from the South African wrestling scene. Would you say that their success has been a source of inspiration to other talents from the South African wrestling scene?

 

Most definitely. These two guys have proven to us all that anything is possible. Both of them are extremely talented.

 

6. Besides Justin Gabriel and Zizou Middoux, who else would you say has had the biggest impact on the South African wrestling scene?

 

I would say Kobus "Ananzi" Erasmus. The guy is just as talented as any other top wrestler in the world. When wrestling here in SA was dying he actually started promoting wrestling and putting on shows all over the country. Other than him you can look at Steven "Tornado" Debbes. Another great, great wrestler and a legend. The list goes on and on Shaun Koen, The Crow, The Skull, Nightmare and others have had major impact on other angles within the business and all has had great contributions for SA Wrestling.

 

7. You'll be visiting us here in the United States in November to train at Harley Race's school in Troy, Missouri. Would you say that you are more nervous or more excited about this?

 

I am busy preparing for the camp. I would say that I am more nervous. I know I need to give it my everything I can and just throw everything out there and do my best.

 

8. At Harley Race's school, you'll be learning from "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, Dr. Tom Prichard, and Japan's Taiji Ishimori. How familiar are you with the three of them and which one are you most anxious to meet?

 

I know all about these 3 trainers. I am mostly excited to meet Taiji as I watched him growing up. But I am looking forward to meeting all of them. I have mad respect for all 3 these men.

 

9. What are your plans after you finish training at Harley's school?

 

As of right now, I don't have any definite plans. I'll have to see what the future holds. There's one goal in mind though: Improve, stay patient, humble, and wrestle my way to the main world stages.

 

On behalf of all of us here at WrestlingNewsSource.com, I'd like to thank Juandre for speaking to me and answering these questions. I wish him the best of luck moving forward in his wrestling career.

 

If you would like to follow Juandre's progress, his personal Facebook account is: https://www.facebook.com/juandre.ward.