Baron Black on the effect that Cody Rhodes has had on his career, the status of the Nightmare Factory now that Rhodes has left AEW, Shaq’s reaction to taking his first bump, the next Terminus show, whether he and Jonathan Gresham are interesting in running Terminus shows outside Atlanta

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

“Andrew Thompson Interviews” with guest Baron Black
Host: Andrew Thompson
Full interview available at YouTube.com

Baron reflects on the first TERMINUS show, touches on audio and production issues, says those issues will be ironed out: “Looking back at it, overall, it [TERMINUS’ debut show] turned [out] very well, turned out very well. It had a lot of people show up to the show in a snowstorm in Atlanta of all places. You know, we was officially sold out as well. A lot of people watched it on pay-per-view on FITE TV and it got a lot of great reception from the fans and I was very happy with the overall product. Then we had a little bit of, you know, growing pains with audio and production issues that obviously will be ironed out this time around. But overall, it was great. Nerve-racking, but it was definitely a great experience and I loved it.”

Baron comments on if he and Jonathan Gresham are interested in running a TERMINUS show outside of Georgia: “Like I was saying before, previous interviews, it’s about Atlanta. That’s where the name ‘Terminus’ originates from. It’s the old name of Atlanta back in the 1800s so, the core focus is Atlanta, helping our native city, our hometown reignite and bring wrestling back on fire like this hotbed of Atlanta was back in the day. So that’s always gonna be the core focus. Would TERMINUS travel to other places? I don’t have the answer for that right now, you know what I mean? Maybe so, maybe not. But right now, as it’s looking, like I told you, that Bill Belichick mindset, we’re on to TERMINUS 2. We’re on to TERMINUS 2 and it’s here in Atlanta so, would I be open to the idea? Of course I’d be open to the idea but is that in the plans? There’s really no discussions about that just yet.”

Training Shaquille O’Neal ahead of his AEW debut match and his reaction after taking his first bump: “If I can say a funny story and Shaq would come in and train at the Nightmare Factory and I would just be a helping hand and I remember Shaq actually hitting the mat for the first time and he looked over, looked dead in our face and said, ‘Damn. This is what it feels like every time?’ So it’s like man, that was probably the most dominant man in sports at one point in time and he felt that sh*t, you know what I mean? So it’s like, ‘Yeah brother. It feels like that every time.’”

Baron discusses the positive impact that Cody Rhodes has had on his career: He [Cody Rhodes] has had nothing but a positive impact [on my career]. I know Cody has become this polarizing figure and you know, on social media, it’s kind of cool to hate on Cody, for whatever reason they come up with but you know, it’s only been positive with my experience with him, you know? I’ve been able to learn a lot from him from being around him so often, you know what I mean? He has his Nightmare Family camps that he’s the head of, he trains and being able to see how he trains individuals. You know, he got all that tenured experience from being with a television company ever since he became an adult, or even before an adult, being around wrestling at that level and then being around a major television company like that and having all that experience. He just has all that wealth and knowledge that any up and coming talent like myself would desperately want to know and desperately need and learning off his experience and all this stuff he can teach so, I learned a lot from him [by] just being around him.

“Helping him out with training at the Nightmare Factory camp and eventually we became, you know, we became a little cool and then we did the stuff on Sammy [Guevara’s] Vlog, the ‘Friend Olympics’ thing that a lot of fans loved so much and you know, you get to see the other side of Cody which is… I call it the silly side. The silly side, the man loves to have fun and I think that’s pretty obvious with people who even watch Rhodes to the Top. The man, he’s serious about wrestling, he’s dedicated about wrestling and he lives and breathes it but he also understands that wrestling should be fun, and all the crazy antics he does; he’s done with Fuego [Del Sol], me, KiLynn [King] and do all the Friends Olympics stuff, it’s like it was a real good experience man. It was a real good experience and it’s been nothing but a positive thing for me and you know, he even made me an honorary member of Nightmare Family so, yeah. So, he’s done a lot and I thank him for everything he has done and I’ll always be appreciative of all that.”

Baron adds that Cody’s exit from AEW will have no effect on the Nightmare Factory/Family: “Oh, it’s called Nightmare Factory for a reason. It’s called Nightmare Factory for a reason [Baron laughed]. That has nothing to do with none of the other stuff that transpired.”