In Turnbuckle Times’ latest exclusive interview, Scott Mitchell (@Scott44Mitchell) sits down with his mentor and NWA’s own, Joe Ocasio (@Joe__Ocasio) to discuss his time in the NWA so far, the upcoming Crockett Cup show, the birth of Joe’s Result Zone, his shout out from the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, The Rock, Nattie Neidhart showing up to the NWA, and so much more. Watch it in its entirety down below.

When and why did you realize that this is what you wanted to do?

“Similar story, childhood. I would get picked on. I was an overweight kid and found wrestling somewhere along the way at WrestleMania 14. My dad ordered it just because Mike Tyson was a part of it. He wasn’t an avid fan, but I fell in love with it right away. Saw Undertaker for the first time, and that entrance blew me away. Ken Shamrock and his intensity, The Rock’s charisma, Stone Cold’s attitude, Shawn Michaels charisma and cockiness at the time. There was just something about all those elements of storytelling that I understand what it is now, but I just fell in love with the pageantry and the athleticism early on, and that’s just what got me towards the goal and getting in better shape and changing my life trajectory.”

We see your intensity every time you step in the ring on NWA Powerrr. Is Ken Shamrock someone you want to mold yourself off of?

“Yeah, Shamrock is on that list. He’s the top of it. Over time, Kurt Angle became the guy that I aspire to be like. It happened over time, though. When he started, he was more of the goof, and slowly became the wrestling machine and the Olympic gold medalist that you saw. I emulated a lot of what I saw from both of them.”

When and why did you decide to start training?

“It was the plan. That’s it. I’m very stubborn, but I’ve gotten better. So yeah, I just knew that’s what I was doing. I just made the decision. Yes, I’ll go to high school. I’ll get my Associate’s Degree, so that’s fine. But, as I’m doing that I’m going to be a professional wrestler, I’m going to wrestling school. I started backyarding way before that. Even when I was in backyard wrestling, I was blessed. There was a group called the XWA that I met through a friend, and some of those guys were trained and decided to do it for fun now, and weren’t pursuing it as a career. They saw, I wanted to, and they assured me. ‘You should go’ and ‘You’re going to do well.’”

Did you have any mentors who helped shape you into the wrestler you have become today that we see on NWA and the independents?

“When I first started, shoutout to Javier before I even went to wrestling school, he started showing me the ropes and introducing me to people. Mike Magnum’s on that list, too; he also did stuff. Crusher Doogan is the first guy. I miss him. He took a liking to me and knew I had an amateur background. He was Malenko family trained. So, he was helping me understand a lot of the shoot holds that I would have never learned how to do properly if it wasn’t for him. So, he was a big inspiration and a big mentor of mine. When I broke in at the time, Alex Reynolds took a lot of his free time and would help me out personally. Tony Nese, Johnny Silver, Papadon are on the list. So, that NYWC crop when we were starting was super helpful, and they taught me so much.”

When did you decide you wanted to build your own gym, Joe’s Result Zone, and help people?

“Well, I started getting into fitness as a necessity, really as a job to have, and I like to help people in general. It fit hand and hand. So, I got my personal training license, and I have to work out anyway to be a wrestler. A friend of mine was part of a big conglomerate franchise, Boutique Fitness, which was just starting, and he’s like, ‘Hey man, you get to do promos and train people,’ and that kind of works for me, so it’s Orange Theory.

So, that’s really what it is. It’s the energy of being in front of a live crowd. That just took off. As soon as I got involved in that world, I filled the empty time slots. So, I knew I had something with this. Then, when the quarantine happened, and not knowing when gyms were going to open, I kind of wanted to have my freedom and start wrestling more again. I just did this  and slowly built this into what it is today.”

What’s the most rewarding part about it?

Seeing people hit their goals. It’s hard, like I have to be hard on you. But it’s for a good reason because before that, would you see progress? It’s a tough job because you care about people, but you have to give them tough love. Sometimes that does lead to broken relationships, if you see someone every day, sometimes. But, when it does click and see that person taking that extra step, like they’re going to do it. There are some people I’m just like, ‘Man, if they don’t change that, it’s just never going to happen.’

But that’s the best part. I was also really blessed once I started doing indie work. I was working with a lot of main event-level guys early. Jay Lethal worked a program with him, which was a learning experience. Bobby Fish was on that list of guys I worked with early on. Eddie Kingston, pretty early on in my career. That first portion before the Achilles tear, I worked with a multitude of talent. Abyss, it’s a laundry list; it’ll be hard for me to remember every single person. But having that wealth of knowledge, Matt Strike being a part of FTW, where I was also at the school, and just getting to bounce off of him and know that some of the stuff I was teaching in my classes, that was validating.”

When you first made your debut for NWA, what was that like?

“I never thought I’d have the opportunity. To see what Billy Corgan did to bring that brand back to its stage was incredible. I’m a big history buff of professional wrestling. I started as “The Protector of Professional Wrestling,” Jack Gallow, many years ago. So it was surreal in a lot of ways. Like these are the places you look up to your whole life. To be around so many brains and knowledge in that locker room, producers and talent, it was just surreal.”

You started out in the Junior Heavyweight Division in the NWA, working with the likes of Colby Corino and Alex Taylor. What was that like for you?

“They’re world-class. It’s a weight cut. Different pacing, different style, that’s where my mind goes. You see it in UFC all the time and boxing, when guys change weight classes, they have to change their style to adapt to their new competitors that they’re going against. With Thom (Latimer), it’s the added weight of the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. I don’t care what’s happened over the years. It’s the first, it is what it is, it’s the original. It’s where pro wrestling started. I never thought that on Long Island, where I’m from, I’d be wrestling for it. It’s one of those like “holy crap” moments.

I think we’re hard on ourselves sometimes. We don’t give ourselves enough credit for where you got to because we’re thinking about our next goal. But I took a second to just breathe and know that this isn’t all for nothing, I’ve done a lot and I’m just getting started.”

What has it been like working with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in the hard-hitting matches you guys have had on Long Island?

“It’s pressure but it’s a welcome pressure, because you’re put on that stage now, it’s sink or swim. And there’s a reason I’m on the Crockett Cup. I guess I didn’t sink.”

What has it been like to build up CEP, which is a company you are one of the founders of?

“It’s interesting because it didn’t start as anything I thought was going to go as far as it did. It’s kind of grown into a life of its own. A lot of my real-life connections are intertwined with CEP, like Long Island Coalition Against Bullying and Lucharitos. But for me, it’s a different side because I don’t make final decisions in certain areas, but I do help build creative for some of the talent that I want to feature and help. It’s been an interesting journey. There’s a lot of stress involved. A lot of nuances and details, but we’re my strength comes from as a partner comes from opening the door to different worlds, especially with all my  communities and towns and all my business connections to professional wrestling.”

How important is it to you to combine your outside ventures to what you do inside the ring?

“It’s super important, that’s a part of the reason why I do it. I always told myself I’d be an example to kids out there who feel like they’re not good enough. Look at my story from this fat kid, and I don’t say that negatively, that’s what I was told I was. I was someone who was probably heading down the wrong path to get the shoutout from The Rock to starting my own company, to wrestling for World Championships. It’s not about me, it’s about what anyone can achieve. So, I need to stay true to that as I continue to evolve and grow as a performer and do it for the right reasons for the right people.”

What was it like to get that shoutout from The Rock?

“It was just unexpected. It was after we were at SmackDown and I was doing extra work. We got into a discussion about what it takes to get signed. He was telling us there’s no direct path. He was just pointing out different people in that room that ‘this person was about to stop, and then this…’ He said the best advice he had was to just tell your story and put it out there. The next day, there was a picture taken of me when I was little, and I did a side-to-side comparison, and wrote a little story about the shirt I was wearing when I was a kid, and being made fun of. While I was doing a presentation about how one day I’d be there, everyone laughed at me.

I found that picture, remembered that story, told it in a tweet, and the next day, I saw it start getting some traction, and I was like, ‘that’s cool.’ I never got anything viral on Twitter. Then, I remember telling my wife ‘One of the Rock’s fan accounts commented on my thing,’ and all of a sudden my phone starts breaking. It was a sign to me from God or whatever you believe in that you’re on the right path. That conversation led to something happening from it.”

How cool is it to you to see WWE’s Nattie Neidhart at the Crockett Cup this weekend in Philadelphia on behalf of the NWA?

“Just to see Kenzie and her, Kenzie’s fantastic. To see that highlighted, publicity-wise, aside from, of course, the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, that’s what everyone’s talking about for good reason because they are two of the most talented women in the world, and I think they’re going to deliver something extremely memorable. The fact that a WWE talent is working with the NWA in such an important focal point of the NWA brand, and to be a part of that, it’s important. It’s as important as it gets. I had to miss something very important in my personal life to be here because that’s where this is. That’s how important it is to me. It’s an understood thing. So, if that means anything to a fan out there asking how important this could be? It’s that important.”

What’s your mindset heading into competing in the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for NWA’s Crockett Cup show?

“I feel bad for who I’m sharing the ring with. I’m not coming to play nice and shake hands and be happy to be there, I’m coming to destroy. I’m coming to the 2300 Arena, which is known for violence and extreme, and the Landmine knows how to go extreme. When I throw that headbutt, you’re going to hear it from the top of that building. It’s going to be a bad night for whoever is in that ring with me. There’s only so long you can sit and be nice about things. I’m not being nice anymore.”

    What’s next? What are your future goals and/or opponents?

    “All I see is a ladder. I see rungs that I haven’t stepped on yet. When I step, things explode. So, I don’t care. It’s not about the person, it’s not about being glad to be in the ring with someone today, it’s about winning. It’s about doing it in a real fun way, because when I explode, those people explode. I’m on the northeast. Crockett Cup, it’s the first time NWA is in the 2300 Arena, it’s my first time in that arena, and it means a lot to me. I’m going to think about what I’m missing in my personal life when I step into that ring, and I’m going to think about that when I do my third workout today.

    I’m going to think about the impact I make. 2300 Arena, this Saturday, May 17th, NWA Crockett Cup. I’m going to think about that, propelling me over those ranks, right to the top where I belong. Better be ready for the explosion.”