When Paradigm Pro Wrestling announced that they would be using the UWFi rules for their upcoming Fighting Spirit Heavyweight Grand Prix on Friday in Jeffersonville, Ind., one of the first wrestlers to make a case for himself being involved was Dominic Garrini.
Garrini, a purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu and current head trainer at Absolute Intense Wrestling, spoke to MMAWeekly.com about his pro wrestling and martial arts backgrounds, the upcoming Paradigm event, and what he sees for himself in 2020.
MMAWeekly.com: Firstly, Dominic, tell us how you got into pro wrestling and martial arts.
Dominic Garrini: I wanted to go into pro wrestling since I was a little kid. I wanted to get into pro wrestling before martial arts. I kind of gravitated towards it to the point where I was in high school I quite all high school sports my sophomore year to concentrate on backyard wrestling of all things. Wrestling was always kind of something I was interested in.
Come March it will be four years since my pro wrestling debut. It’s been a whirlwind of four years. I’ve accomplished a lot in four years than a lot would accomplish in their entire careers; I’ve been told that a lot of people who have been around the business for a while; and a lot of that I attribute to my martial arts training, and kind of like learning overall with the idea of hard work.
My martial arts journey begins after I start back into sports my junior year of high school. I decided to join the high school wrestling team that year. I did amateur wrestling, and being a fan of the UFC during the torrent days of downloading videos, I found ADCC videos out there. I was really interested in submission fighting. That was something I was always intrigued by but never had a proper outlet for it.
I went to the All-Classic and Henry Cejudo was there with my coach and we got to talking, and I talked about how I was interested in starting Jiu-Jitsu, and he kind of willed me into starting the week after I saw Cejudo. About six to eight months in Jiu-Jitsu I realized how much I loved the sport and how much I wanted to be the world champion in that. I kind of dedicated all my time to learning about Jiu-Jitsu and finding my avenue to becoming a world champion. Thant went from 2009 until about 2016.
MMAWeekly.com: What do you think about explosion in crossover between MMA and pro wrestling we’ve seen over the past few years?
Dominic Garrini: A lot of MMA fighters deep down at heart are pro wrestlers in the ways they build and sell fights, the way they capture fan attention. One of my biggest examples (of how important this can be) is Demetrious Johnson. He was one of the best fighters of his generation, but he’ll never get the proper due because he wasn’t a character per say.
What makes MMA fighters coming into pro wrestling so successful is that they’ve got this crazy great skillset, and they have a very real sense of believability that a lot of pro wrestlers no matter how hard they try can ever obtain. It’s the guys that can talk and the people that are attractions are going to be more successful in the pro wrestling world because that’s what it’s all about: it’s about being an attraction for the most part. I think the crossovers are always going to be out there.
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MMAWeekly.com: Let’s talk about Paradigm’s upcoming UWFi rules show on November 15. What made you want to be part of it?
Dominic Garrini: This idea has been around for almost two years. I remember seeing the idea being brought up on Twitter a couple years ago, and of course I was one of the first to raise my hand and say I wanted to do this. I always thought it would be an interesting idea. I’ve always been inspired by some of the UWFi guys like (Nobuhiko) Takada and Gary Albright and guys like that, but I never really knew that if anybody would take the plunge to do the rule set.
Paradigm taking the risk to go out there and promote this event under this rule set is very intriguing. I think shoot style wrestling is kind of making a comeback with Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, and I just did Ambition for WXW over in Germany, and they’ve been doing that for over 10 years, I think there’s a market for shoot style wrestling. Bringing this rule set back could be another injection of life into the shoot style wrestling rule set.
MMAWeekly.com: Thanks for taking time out for us, Dominic. In closing, what can we look forward to seeing from you in 2020?
Dominic Garrini: 2019 has been my busiest year of pro wrestling to date. I recently signed with Major League Wrestling and will be there all 2020 for sure. I’m interested to see the independent wrestling scene in 2020 and how that will be going. I’ve already filled quite a few dates for 2020, and I really think wrestling is going to continue to grow and get bigger, especially with all the exposure and companies that are out there right now.