Johnny Swinger is hoping to stick around the pro wrestling business for another 30 years.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard recently spoke with IMPACT Wrestling’s Johnny Swinger about his wrestling career. Swinger has been around the business for most of his life, and he’s approaching his 30th anniversary as an in-ring performer.
Early on in his career, Swinger worked for Border City Wrestling in Canada. He spoke about working with names like Scott D’Amore, who he still works with and calls a friend today.
“I was wrestling in Winnipeg, Canada, for a guy named Tony Condello. And Don Callis was the booker, and I was doing these tours out there with Edge and Christian and Jericho and Lance Storm, all the great guys from Calgary. And Scott had seen me on their TV show; they had a TV show out of Winnipeg that went nationwide in Canada, and that’s how he saw me and thought I had a good enough look for TV,” Swinger explained. “He got in contact with me because he was involved with booking TV guys for the WWF and WCW at the time, and then he had his own promotion as well. And he brought me in right away, and we became fast friends and great business partners all the way up to this day.”
Swinger still works for D’Amore in IMPACT Wrestling, and the “Swing Man” said that he’s being used the right way and it makes it that much more fun.
“Honestly, these days, he’s so busy with running the entire company. I don’t know how he does it,” Swinger said. “He’s always been good business. He’s efficient. Like when I met him, way back, then this guy’s been producing TV since he was a teenager. So I mean, he was just cut out for that, producing and organizing. It takes a special person to do that.
“We’ve always worked great together, and being friends helps out. He has the best intentions for me, so I never have to wonder oh geez, why is he doing this or why does he want me to do — I never have to worry about that. That’s why I think this is probably my best stint in the sport with him because I don’t have to worry about all that,” he noted, “the politics and stuff that could go on and in the major companies. He knows how to use Johnny Swinger. He’s got the best intention. So it makes it the most fun that I’ve ever had.”
Pritchard then joked that it was good to see that Swinger was not still mad at D’Amore for shutting down Swinger’s Palace.
“Well, [laughs] a lot of people wonder why [he did that] So do I, but like I said, man, I’m not in charge of all that stuff. I don’t know what the logistics are and moving stuff around. But since Swinger’s Palace shut down, I got the Dungeon daddy, so I always got something going on,” he said. “There’s no complaints on this end.”
Asked what’s next for him in wrestling, Johnny Swinger said he’s grateful to have found a character that resonates with people, and hopes to keep having fun and keep that momentum going.
“I think this opportunity that I got to change into the Swing Man back in 2019. I wish we would have come up with it 20 years ago because I think it’s got the longest legs for me as far as — I know there’s an expiration date on everybody. But I’m really grateful for this spot that I have because it can be plugged into anything, and that’s what it’s been all this time,” Swinger said. “So I think we got a lot more to do with it, and I also like to get involved on the production side, which I’ve done a little bit over the last few years. And it’s exciting for me to be on that side of it also.
“I’d like to be on both sides until it comes to a point where somebody doesn’t want me in the ring anymore, and like I said, if it happened today, 30 years, I mean, not a lot of people can say that, and I would have forecasted 20 for myself. So I’m already ten over, so it’s all bonus. I’m having the most fun with it that I’ve ever had. If I ever had a thing against me, what I think is that I took it too seriously years ago, and I let it get me down and stuff like that. And you know what? What did you get in this for originally? To have fun. I just want to have fun, and now that’s my whole character is to go out there and have fun and have people have fun watching, so it’s just a perfect fit.”
Watch our full interview with Johnny Swinger below:
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