Interviews

“The Daredevil Underdog”: “Omega” Aaron Draven

Interview by Bryan Craven.

I know who “Omega” Aaron Draven is, PWR fans know who you are, but say in your own words, who is “Omega” Aaron Draven?

-The Ultimate underdog. What I lack in height I make up in heart. I call myself “Omega” because I lay it all on the line, and with the risks I take, every match could be the end…my last match. A daredevil willing to put my body, and life, on the line to entertain the people and succeed. Also I’m a douche bag cocky smart ass. Egotistical and believe the entire wrestling world revolves around me. Call myself “Omega” because I’m the end all be all of the business. The apex of the industry. Literally believe without my existence the business would cease to go on. Guess it just depends on what kinda day you catch me on lol. To sum it all up, a controversial wrestler with a daredevil style I suppose.

You’ve told me who you are, now get into your training regimen, tell me what it takes to be “Omega” Aaron Draven?

-Lots of tanning. Lots of gym time. Lots of body shaving. I’m coming off a back injury and haven’t been able to keep up my usual pace. But when healthy I try and hit the gym five nights a week. I spend 10-12 hours a week in the gym. Almost as much time in the tanning bed and shaving too lol.

Tell me a little about the process and where you trained to become a professional wrestler?

-I found out about a few local indy shows. Went and watched. Asked around about training info. Kingdom James who used to run shows in Erie pointed me in the direction of Rocky Reynolds and his school. I showed up for the first tryout and there were 30 people there. Pretty intimidating. Went with two friends I went to all the shows with. The three of us ended up being the only ones to graduate from that class. 3 out of 30. Not too shabby. Rocky beat our ass. Rocky ran our asses into the ground. And Rocky taught us the most important part of the business, respect.

After eight years of wrestling, who do you think has been your biggest challenge?

-The Road. Well, staying awake on road trips. I’ve been pretty lucky and gained lots of confidence early on. Matches/ angles/ things like that I’m good on. I’m confident, I know what I’m doing and not too much rattles me. The hardest part of the business is all the traveling and trying to stay awake at 6am coming home from places like Indianapolis, then going straight to work with no sleep. It’s rough.

In the same sense, after eight years of wrestling, what match is considered to be your favorite up to this point?

-I have a lot of favorites. Winning the PWR title from Rocky in a Cage Match, that could not have gone any better. Wrestling John McChesney for the first time and going a half hour. Wrestling Sean Waltman for IWA East Coast. Too Cold Scorpio for All Star Wrestling. Teaming with Kevin Nash. Wrestling Necro Butcher for PWR. But my all time favorite was a match that happened for Dragongate USA. It wasn’t the match I had on their show it was the tryout match I had with Vance Desmond before the show. 50 guys show up trying out. Former WWE developmental guys. Guys with indy name exposure. Me and Vance get three minutes to tell a story, and wow the locker room and management at the same time. We pieced together a match that got the boys popping for us and cheering, something they hadn’t done for any of the tryout matches that night. Hard to explain. But we were in a situation with a lot of pressure and we fed off the pressure instead of being nervous. It was a great feeling.

You are a three-time former PWR Tag-Team Champion. tell me how it was to work with Ryan Miller in ’08, compared to John McChesney two years later?

-That deal was totally random and not planned. Wicked was supposed to team with Ravage, but he didn’t make it that night. They asked me to fill in and pull double duty, so I did. We weren’t supposed to win the titles that night. But management thought with Wicked not being there, they needed a spark to keep the story going. Ravage and I won the tag titles, but the decision was going to be reversed the next show. Plans changed and they ended up keeping the titles on us. Ravage got hurt and they slid Wicked into his spot. Things kind of went full circle there. Then it progressed right into a feud with myself and Wicked that had a lot of backstory and solid storytelling. That’s my favorite angle I’ve ever been involved in. The McChesney team, it felt good. Our work together was really solid. We meshed really well in the ring. That just ran it’s course tho.

You started as a Tag-Team wrestler and have now transitioned to the main event, tell me how it feels to be there?

-I’m one of those guys that doesn’t care where he is on the card. There’s positives and negatives with both top of the card and being lower on the card. I just want to be where the money is. And generally on the indy’s you’re gonna make the same pay rather you’re on top or not.

You recently lost the PWR Heavyweight Championship, a title you had for 217 days, tell me how it feels to go into this upcoming show without it?

-My bag feels a lot lighter, lol. I had a solid run I was proud of. The cage match with Rocky went amazingly well. The rematch with Rocky we worked a totally different style and it still went great. The matches with Seth and Jimmy were fun. I was really happy with my match with Rosa. Made the best of what I could in that situation. Wrestling Jerry Lynn was great and a honor. The match with Bill and the power-bomb on the rail got the reaction we were looking for. All in all I had a lot of fun in my reign, and I’m sure there will be more down the line.

You were ranked 387 in this year’s Pro Wrestling Illustrated top 500 ranking, tell me how it feels to be mentioned with NXT talent Percy Watson, former TNA talent Amazing Red, and a talent who has made his presence felt in PWR, the Necro Butcher?

-This was the first time I even sent any info in. Just one of those things. In a way, it’s cool to see your name in it. The list holds a little weight with fans I suppose, but for the most part the guys in the back and promoters realize it’s kind of arbitrary.

Finally, a word for your PWR fans, and what they can expect from you in the future?

-Lately I’ve been a bitter little bastard. Most of that. Sarcasm. Bitterness. Things of that nature. Hey, they say be yourself if you want to be successful right? lol.