Rising Star CLAS Talks Saturday's PCWAZ Show Setting State Records, WWE and TNA Working Together, WWE PC to Vegas, more

Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Christopher Landen Anthony Streeter
Date: 09/25/2024
Your Host: James Walsh

On July 13th, I attended my first Phoenix Championship Wrestling event. The show featured a lot of young and hungry wrestlers showing their skills in front of a crowd north of 500 people. Meeting the still lovely "First Lady of Wrestling" Missy Hyatt, Val Venis, and Jerry Lynn before the show was a massive bonus. But, it was the performance of the main event level talent that really sold me on PCWAZ being a fantastic promotion. Headlined by a double main event featuring CLAS and Devin Reno against Jon Wolfgang and Dom Vitalli where if CLAS and Reno won, Wolfgang would be first in the Royal Rumble style Battle Royal where the winner would be the number 1 contender to the Heavyweight Championship. Well, the dastardly deeds of CLAS and Reno did overtake the fan favorites and Wolfgang was the first entrant. And, he ran the table and won in spite of CLAS himself entering as a masked luchador to try and prevent having to defend the title. As a result, CLAS must now defend the title against Wolfgang at PCWAZ Live on Broadway from the Skyline High SChool which seats 1,500 fans. This will be the largest independent wrestling event in the state of Arizona's 112 years.

Well, one of the stars from the show joined us for a follow-up interview. After impressing me immensely, I was thrileld to welcome back Christopher Landon Anthony Streeter, PCWAZ's Heavyweight Champion CLAS. We talk about all things PCWAZ as well as look at the wrestling landscape for an independent wrestler on the rise right now in a fun and informative interview with a gifted performer.

PCWAZ presents Live on Broadway from the Skyline High School in Mesa, Arizona on September 28th. The venue holds 1,500 fans and we're told 1,300 tickets have already been sold and a sell out is expected. So, if you're in the Arizona area and want to see the best local pro wrestling with stars that will be sure to become superstars soon enough, hop on over to PCWAZ's Facebook page or at www.PCWAZ.com and purchase your tickets right now. As Gene Okerlund used to say, don't wait until the 11th hour! Get your tickets now!

If you use this interview on your site, please link back to www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. That is all we ask! Enjoy. And, thank you for helping promote Arizona wrestling!

CLAS:

On winning the tag team match at the July 13th show:
"It was no surprise. Myself and Devin Reno, we're the best tag team in the world today. We have the experience of being a tag team. There was never really any doubt there. As for Jon Wolfgang somehow winning the battle royal, that was a fluke. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have never lost to Jon Wolfgang. I've never even come close to losing to him. How am I preparing for the match defending against Wolfgang on September 28th? I played golf last weekend. I am going to play golf again this weekend. I'm not doing anything to overly prepare for him. It is going to be another easy night for me against Jon Wolfgang."

On fooling the audience by dawning a Luchador mask in the battle royal:
"(laughs) Good! That was the goal - To fool, first of all Wolfgang and secondly, the audience. I'll be honest, I'm not sure that is something I want to do very often because, being totally honest, it is tough to breathe in there! (laughs) I'm not used to having anything over my face. But, that stuff is sort of like under-armor. And, it was pressed against my face. So, if you remember, I came out and I ran around the ring and I stopped because I was sucking air! It is really hard to breathe in there! (laughs)"

On ther being like the Ultimate Warrior blowing up on his entrance:
"(laughs) Exactly! Only, the Ultimate Warrior didn't have anything obstructing him except for his massive size. For me, I was like breathing through a straw out there."

On his award winning tag team with Devin Reno:
"Let me first say that I am grateful to be working with Devil Reno. We've gotten to travel and team up and I'm happy to be with him. The way we got together as a team was I guess I'm the longest tenured student in the wrestling school. So, I guess I kind of was like one of his mentors when he came in. In 2022, I had to take the year off for a shoulder surgery. That was when he was really coming up and he will tell you that wherever he would go, people would tell him, "Man, you remind me a lot of CLAS! You remind me a lot of CLAS!" They'd keep saying it and saying it. But, I was out. So, they all kind of said that once I was back again and working, they would put us together. ANd, it is like lightning in a bottle. Because, it is working really well. We look similar enough. I came back in January of 2023 and we were paired together and it has been go, go, go ever since. And, we've been making a pretty good name for ourselves."

On PCWAZ having a really cool mixture of fans:
"I wanted to back to what you said about the fans in the crowd. If you go back and you watch a lot of those old promotions like Mid South Wrestling, you'll see that it was a very diverse crowd. You would have grandparents and their grandchildren. You didn't just see 18 to 26 year old guys in the crowd. The leaders of the school are very old school influenced and minded. And, I think you can see it with the diverse audience we attract and that we try to have a little something for everyone. And, if you add on our playing to the audience and interacting the way that Devin and I do, it just adds a little something extra and gives the people who come out something to talk about on Monday morning at work or the next day at breakfast or whatever and bring more people with them next time."

On PCWAZ playing to its largest crowd to date at SKyline on September 28th:
"It is exciting. Not to gas myself up but I have been the champion since May of last year. And, ever since then we've seen the shows grow a little each time. So, not to gas myself up, or maybe to gas myself up, it is a testament to my hard work but also a testament to the hard work of everyone behind the scenes as we see this thing grow. We're about to have 1,500 people at a new venue for us. That is very exciting not just to be a part of it but also to see the fruit of everyone's labor come to fruition."

On if being a tag team specialist helps or hinders he and Devin Reno getting noticed:
"That is a good question. We've talked about that a lot. As you said, tag team wrestling isn't really at the forefront of the fans or the promotions minds right now. But, being in this team means there also isn't a very long list of available tag teams out there when a promotion needs a tag team either be it WWE, TNA, or whoever. So, when we look at the other teams that are out there, we have, number 1, a different look, we work a different style, and also we are a lot larger than a lot of other people. We are really doubling down on what we're doing and getting our name out there to fill that niche whenever that may come. "

On how WWE potentially moving the performance center to Las Vegas could impact the Vegas scene:
"I think it would definitely impact the local community. The thing about Vegas, you see it kind of happening already. A lot of people that are in Vegas have moved there from another place to be a part of a bigger scene. If WWE did bring the Performance Center there, that would only increase and we'd have more great talent in the area. Competition is a good thing, I thrive on it. It is how you get better. I also do think back to 20 years ago or so when WWE had the FCW and also had Deep South. So, they had a few different territories and I wonder if this could be something like that. Because, they really don't have much of a presence on the West Coast.. So, this could be like the West Coast version of Deep South which would be for people to get ready to go to Orlando to get them ready to go on TV. "

On if TNA having a working relationship with NXT makes it a more desirable destination:
"Absolutely. And, TNA has always been a goal o fours for myself and Devin. It has always been at the top of our lists. Them having the talent swap with NXT, that only sweetens the pot. And, from the outside looking in, it looks like that promotion really is on the come-up right now. SeeiBut, the working relationship with NXT is a massive massive bonus. And, seeing Hammerstone on there (NXT). It is like, man, he did it! He did it! And, it is only going to get bigger and better for him there."

On learning from Jerry Lynn in July:
"It was very eye-opening and very cool. I've mentioned that the trainers at our school are very old school in what we're taught. And, training with Jerry, it was very much the same as what we've been taught. So, that was cool. But, also, he brought such a different perspective as well. There were a ton of us at the seminar he did with us. So, we didn't get a ton of individual time with him in the ring. But, every one of us did get to work in front of him and he really did take the time to talk to us and go over why what we did was right and what was wrong and how he would do it to make it better. We all got rich feedback. And, at the show, he was very cool. He watched the matches and he was more than willing to sit down with us and go over what we did. He also told us some of his story which is amazing. And, he loves wrestling! It was really cool to learn from someone like that."

On his final thoughts heading into his PCWAZ Title Defense against Jon Wolfgang on Saturday night:
"You can expect me standing with the belt in the air over his lifeless carcass still, for the 17,000th time, the PCWAZ Heavyweight Champion! You can't knock his drive or how tenacious he is, how badly he wants it. And, I hate to say it, you can't knock his work ethic. But, champions are champions and losers are losers. And, they're that for a reason. It is going to be a great match. He always puts up a great fight. But, some things in life are inevitable. CLAS being the Heavyweight Champion of PCWAZ is inevitable."