While in Charlotte, North Carolina for The Gathering, I caught up with Alex Kane. It’s been nearly three full years since our first interview, which took place in November 2021.
Since the first interview, Kane went on to capture the MLW National Openweight Title and he held the organization’s World Heavyweight Championship for 210 days. He looked back on the last three years of his career:
Man, it has been insane. It’s been a really, really cool transformation for myself, really finding myself as a character. Creating a movement, putting on a good bit of Black representation which we all need in professional wrestling. We need more of it and just, you know, trying to change people’s lives, one suplex at a time. That’s a tagline, that’s a t-shirt right there. Changing people’s lives one suplex at a time. MLW’s been great to me. I’m excited about this fourth year going in. Seeing what we can make happen, what we got crackin’…
Kane was then asked to describe the changes that he’s seen in MLW over the last three years. He stated that they do not have any ‘dickheads’ in the locker room. He added that the writing for the storylines and show program have improved. Kane clarified that he does not think it was bad prior to the improvements.
Just from a backstage perspective, how cool everybody is. As Rickey Shane Page would put it, even though he’s not with MLW anymore, ‘We don’t have any dickheads in our locker room’ and it’s a beautiful thing. Everybody comes in, does what they need to do, we have a good time. We watch each other’s matches, we give each other critiques where we can give critiques. Some people don’t like taking critiques and that’s fine. I like the production, the writing has gotten a thousand times better. Not saying it was bad before! Not saying it was bad before! But it’s gotten better. Everything can always get better. I just like everything about MLW. I would like to add some more people to the Bomaye Fight Club. But, there’s certain people, who are stopping that from happening. We gotta fix that. But, yeah, just more people in Bomaye Fight Club. That’s the thing I would change. More people in Bomaye Fight Club.
Since mid-2021, Kane has been signed to MLW. When it comes to his future and what else could be out there for him, Kane mentioned TNA, WWE, AEW, Japan or staying in MLW.
He expressed that he wants to be wherever the money is and where he can make an impact. He does not want to be just another body on a talent roster.
Alex Kane is trying to get to the money. Wherever the money is, whether it’s WWE, AEW, Japan, TNA, it don’t matter, or MLW. Wherever the money is, Alex Kane is trying to go. Also, to where I can make an impact, no pun intended. But, wherever I can make an impact. Just not be a guy on the shelf. I have a lot to offer all of the wrestling organizations in the world and I would like to capitalize on that as much as I possibly can.
On MLW programming, Kane had been at odds with A.J. Francis. They had two matches against one another with the latest taking place at Battle Riot VI. Kane said he enjoyed working with Francis.
Working with A.J. (Francis) was really, really dope. It was a really, really good story. I’ve even told him this: That first promo that I did, there’s a lot of things that I didn’t have to say, but I said it anyway and I kind of regret those things but, it set the stage for a really, really good, entertaining story and I always akin it to the first Black Panther movie. The match in Florida (MLW War Chamber) was like that first fight that Killmonger and T’Challa had where you think T’Challa’s dead but then he comes back and he’s like, yo, what’s up? And that’s the match in Atlanta (MLW Battle Riot VI) was the fight for the throne of Bomaye. It’s in my top-two of MLW matches that I had. Number one is with Jacob Fatu.
To close out the conversation, Kane reflected on his 210-day reign as MLW World Heavyweight Champion and dropping the title to Satoshi Kojima at SuperFight.
What he liked most about the title change is he feels nobody saw it coming. Kane shared that the length of his title reign was never important to him, but it was always about making an impact.
It was cool (wrestling Satoshi Kojima at MLW SuperFight). The crazy thing to me was I was so nervous about putting the match together. I literally strolled in. Kojima was there. Kojima is so nice to me, he’s always been so nice to me. He’s always been very respectful of me as I’ve been of him. He always compliments my gear, he thinks my gear is amazing and I love it and then we text a little on Twitter sometimes but, besides that, Kojima, he actually watched my stuff. He watched my stuff, he put it together, he knew what my big moves were and stuff like that. We put it together, we went out there, I thought we made magic. The thing I liked the most about that title change was nobody saw it coming, and people were audibly shocked that it happened. I could hear, laying there after being pinned and just hearing the crowd or whatever, it was just silence for a little bit. They came back up to celebrate, but it was silence. They were like, holy sh*t, that really happened. So, and then I also think that I was champ for long enough. I never said to anybody, like, I wanna be the longest-reigning — it was on the list of Bomaye but, that’s a gimmick. But, in real life, I never wanted it to be superlong. I just wanted it to make an impact… and I think that it did that or whatever. It was a very memorable title reign, very memorable stories and when I win it again, that’s what I want too.
Alex Kane is scheduled to be in action on August 29th at MLW Summer of the Beasts. He’ll be competing against Bad Dude Tito in the second round of the 2024 Opera Cup tournament.
Kane can be found on X @Alex_kane11 and on Instagram @thesuplexassassin. The full interview can be watched via the player at the beginning of this article/the Andrew Thompson Interviews YouTube channel.
