Josh Woods Talks His Life From MMA To The Squared Circle
Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with current Ring of Honor star, Josh Woods. Woods started out as a mat wrestler and made the switch to the squared circle to become one of the best pure wrestlers around today.
Josh Woods’ Beginning
“I started wrestling in high school around 2001, I graduated in 2006…I wanted to be like my big brother” Woods stated. In his high school career, Woods started to play football because his big brother did and he was approached by the wrestling coach to try out.
“I used to watch it as a kid and I fell in love with it right away… I wasn’t a big kid growing up, in fact, I was small and scrawny” Woods said. “I didn’t like to run and in wrestling, you didn’t have to run. Wrestling really just clicked for me right away.”
As a kid, Woods watched wrestling a lot but stopped shortly after the time Brock Lesnar made the jump to WWE. “I enjoyed watching Adrian Street because he had a light-hearted gimmick and was fun” Woods expressed. He also mentioned that growing up his favorites were, “The Rabid Wolverine, Minoru Suzuki, and Kenta.”
Woods went on to tell a funny story about Kenta. When Woods signed with NXT, Kenta was coming off an injury, and Woods offered to jump in and train with Kenta during his recovery. “Got to wrestle him for hours and it was so fun, that’s my dream opponent right now to wrestle and work with Kenta would be incredible.”
Transitioning from Amateur to Professional Wrestling for Josh Woods
“I don’t find wrestling itself difficult like the physical moves and movement comes second nature… It was everything else that was very hard to learn” Woods stated. The major differences from amateur to pro for Woods were ring psychology, playing to fans, slowing down the pace, and playing to the camera angles.
Woods talked about needing to change some “posture stuff” when switching over. During mat wrestling you stay very low to the ground and in professional wrestling on TV they want you to look big so it’s a “big change.” Also needed to know what hurts in professional wrestling versus mat because he didn’t want to hurt his opponents. “Body manipulation is something I’m very good at, I’m very creative.”
Another big difference between amateur style and professional is the mindset. “When the ref blows the whistle in mat wrestling, you’re ready to go,” Woods said. However, overall the transition to professional wrestling from amateur-style wrestling wasn’t too difficult but there was stuff he needed to learn.
Josh Woods First Big Break in NXT
“I didn’t have a negative experience, however, everyone’s is going to be different. I had a great experience. I spent a lot of time with Norman Smiley, Adam Pearce, and Terry Taylor. Loved working with all of those guys and spending ring time with Adam.” Woods says.
Woods met with a mutual friend and got in contact with WWE and sent in his resume. “Oh nothing’s going to happen from that, they probably get blown up all the time… When they did hit me up that was such a cool thing and very exciting.” Before the tryout happened Woods was getting ready to transition fully into MMA because he just finished his senior year of wrestling.
Everything was still new to him switching from amateur to professional still. “The facility was impressive, it was so freaking cool man,” Woods said. “Bill Demott was the coach at the time and I had such a great relationship with Bill. I enjoyed Bill a lot.”
One of Woods’ favorite memories from his days in NXT was “getting ring time with Norman and Adam.” He also made a lot of good friends with guys like Apollo Crews and Gable who he still refers to as a “tremendous wrestler.”
His favorite moment in NXT was when he got the chance to work with Kenta, during his rehab. He learned a lot from Kenta and was super grateful for the chance. Also, he really enjoyed working with Baron Corbin. “Corbin is intimidating man… He’s a big dude and takes his training very seriously.”
“After NXT I spent a lot of time with Billy Gunn because we lived in the same area. Learning from all of those guys was just incredible. I wouldn’t be where I am today without guys like them influencing me,” Woods expressed.
Ring of Honor Signs Josh Woods
In 2017, Josh Woods officially signed with Ring of Honor and hasn’t looked back since. “That was a really cool moment,” Woods said. Prior to that, Woods’ took a hit and he had a lot of self-doubts because he wasn’t able to achieve his goal in NXT. Woods was “really bummed out” because he worked very hard at things and things just didn’t go his way that time.
However, in 2017 Woods participated in the try-out camp for Ring of Honor. He says that getting signed was like a relief because he didn’t know what he was going to do without it. He could have gone back to MMA but he was worried because he “could be kind of rusty and not as sharp.”
“I am more than grateful for Ring of Honor, it changed my life.” In 2017, Josh Woods won the Top Prospect Tournament. In that tournament, he faced guys of the likes of Brian Milonas and John Skyler to just name a couple. “I had no indy experience so I didn’t know many of the guys there,” Woods said.
The Brian Milonas match was a lot of fun for Woods. “Brian wanted to work and do a lot of cool stuff for a big man and was very willing to work with me.” This was different than NXT who made sure they always protected their big guys’ wrestling style, and Woods really enjoyed going up against Milonas. Also, Woods said that “John Skyler is a true professional in every sense of the word.”
One of Woods’ favorite rivalries looking back on it is Shane Taylor. “We wrestled each other all the time for six or seven months. At the time I wanted more but looking back on it, Shane has helped me so much. He is such a professional, so underrated, and is just so good.” “Taylor elevated me so much and helped me out so much, I never truly appreciated it until now,” says Woods. “Wish we could do it again now.”
Wood was also a big fan of his match with the Briscoes. “I wrestled Jay (Briscoe) really early in my career and he helped me so much. I wrestled Mark more recently too and I love wrestling those guys, they’re so fun… Good isn’t a word to describe them because it’s too small to describe their level of talent” Woods stated. Woods was also a fan of wrestling Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, “If you love true wrestling… we wrestle.”
A big rivalry of Woods as of late has been Dalton Castle. “Wrestling Dalton is difficult because he’s so good. He thinks different, he acts different, he moves different so you never really know what you’re getting,” Woods says. “Really a bunch of fun series of matches that elevated me to get better to match his level.
Silas Young And Josh Woods: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
“Regardless of what happened or what’s going to happen, Silas is incredible. He’s just great,” Woods states. “As an in-ring talent alone, he is one of the best to do it. He’s been around a long time and he commands respect. I respect him as an athlete and as a man above all else.”
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, Silas has turned on Josh Woods at the last Ring of Honor pay-per-view, which was their 19th Anniversary. “Almost like a conflict of interest. He was off TV for a while and had his own stuff going on. I’m thankful to have been given the opportunity I have been during that time,” Woods said.
“Essentially he’s not wrong, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now without him. But, at the same time, I put the work in to be where I’m at,” Woods states. “Silas has helped me a lot, as a mentor, and as a friend in general. He’s a professional.” Now Josh Woods has a new goal in mind, chasing the Ring of Honor Pure Championship. “That goal doesn’t line up with what our original goal was,” says Woods. “Things change, people change.”
Woods credits Silas in helping to change his style up in Ring of Honor from the WWE style to his style now. He also says he looks up to him as a mentor and is grateful for that. “Jay Lethal, Matt Taven, Dalton Castle, Jon Gresham, and of course Silas have all helped me immensely in Ring of Honor.”
What’s Next For Josh Woods?
Besides getting his revenge on Silas, Josh Woods has a bigger goal in mind. “If I have to take a page out of Silas’ book, you never want to look past the next person or ignore what they’re doing,” says Woods. “Obviously, Gresham is what I want. It has to happen. Wrestling Jon again will really put a test on both of us. The last time we wrestled was almost a year ago and we have both grown dramatically since then and I want that Pure Championship.”
“Gresham is arguably one of the best wrestlers in the world right now. This will be a big test for my skills to be able to share the ring with Jon again,” Woods says. “I think people want to see it, this is me being a little selfish but I don’t care, I want that to happen.”