In an interview with PWMania, Carson Drake (@CarsonDrake00) sat down with Scott Mitchell (@scott44mitchell) to discuss his upcoming NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship main event at NWA 78 against Silas Mason. Additionally, he opened up on the growth of Mason and becoming a protege for Aron Stevens. Watch the interview in its entirety down below.

Let’s jump right into it. You demanded an NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship match at NWA 78, and it was accepted. Thrillbilly Silas Mason will put his NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship on the line against you at the big show. What’s your mindset heading into this one?

“So first off, it’s not a somehow. I have been undefeated in the NWA for the prior two years. I’m the only guy in the NWA who has that. So me, going after the NWA World Heavyweight Title, is just a bracket order. So yeah, NWA 78, the main event, myself and Silas Mason. It’s an honor for him, for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Which I should have won last time I wrestled for it with Thom Latimer, but he cheated, so that’s fine. Silas Mason is no Thom Latimer.”

This match will be in one of the best hotbeds for professional wrestling in the country, Philadelphia. What is your mindset on competing in the historic 2300 Arena?

“I said it last year, and I think I’m the most consistent person on this. I don’t like Philadelphia, I don’t like Chicago, I don’t like Los Angeles. Additionally, I hate going into any of these cities. But Philadelphia is disgusting, and it’s dirty. Granted, I get paid a lot of money to go there and wrestle. Come to find out it’s at the 2300 Arena, a phenomenal venue. Some people call it the ECW Arena… Ew, I hate that.

But it’s fine. After I win the title, hopefully, we can start working towards not calling it the ECW Arena. We can start calling it the NWA Arena, Carson B. Drake Arena, or the Carson Drake Arena in general. You can take the B out of it, I don’t care. But, I love it, because it’s almost establishing that ECW, as terrible as it was, is now going by the wayside and being replaced with proper wrestling, me. But you know, I think winning the NWA Title in a city like Philadelphia will mean a lot for the status quo of wrestling.

Right now, there are so many people out there. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re hitting each other with light tubes; they’re killing each other. Somebody like me, who I will be the first to say, I don’t call myself a wrestler, I am a TV star, and I happen to wrestle. I think it’s time we need to start having a change of tides.”

Silas Mason has grown into a tremendous talent in the NWA. What has it been like to see his growth and now get to face him one-on-one for that title?

“It’s been an abhorrent process. He is, how do I phrase this, he’s not media trained. You look at him, his beard’s unkept, his hair’s unkept, he smells awful, that’s real. He’s exactly the person that you think he is. The problem with that is that people look up to him. I don’t get it; I walk out, I get boo’d. I understand why. There’s this weird process of, ‘Oh, he’s rich, he’s the bad guy. I have no money, so I hate this guy.’ But that shouldn’t be how it is.

People should be aspiring to look up to Aron and me, and essentially try to improve themselves, but instead, they see a guy like Silas. They resonate with that guy. You know why they resonate with him? They’re buying tickets. Here’s the problem. Silas sells shirts and draws government checks. I sell tickets and draw viewers. That’s the fundamental difference. Is he a great wrestler? Yes, but a successful man he is not.”

Recently, Aron Stevens really took you under his wing as a protégé. What has it been like to work with him on this level and see all that he’s accomplished?

“When you have a guy like Aron Stevens, to those not aware, has done pretty much everything you can do. He’s been a champion in the NWA. Talk back to his WWE days, Money In The Bank holder, Mania, he’s done literally everything you’d want to do as a wrestler. So, he comes to the NWA, takes over the NWA, and wins titles in the NWA. Now, he’s getting to a point where he’s making money to the point where he doesn’t need to wrestle. What does he do? He finds the next up-and-coming thing. He picks me.

I can admit, at first, he was probably using me. But so was I. We can both acknowledge that. Through that, we build a bond, we build a friendship, we build a mentorship. If there’s someone to look up to, it’s someone whose bank account legitimately has six zeroes. Mine, also, sometimes we but heads about who makes more money and who doesn’t, so that’s fine. But you have a guy like that who’s done it all. He’s able to teach you the proper way to do this. As I said, I’m not a wrestler. I will never claim to be a wrestler. I am a TV star who has learned how to wrestle and absolutely excels at it.

Before I even got into professional wrestling, I had an incredible amateur background. Not only could I tie people into a pretzel, but I could look really good doing it… With Aron, he reminds me, a lot of people say it’s about the journey, it’s not about the finish, right? Aron and I both agree that that is the dumbest thing we’ve ever heard. I have never gotten on a plane to Boca Raton and said that the plane ride is the fun part. The journey doesn’t matter. It’s about where you’re trying to get to. We are going to get to NWA 78. We are going to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, and I am going to blow up the professional wrestling space, and I am going to clean it up.”