Nearly two years ago, Eric Young made a striking and awaited comeback to Impact Wrestling. The World-Class Maniac immediately made a statement, injuring Rich Swann, then winning the World Championship, and creating Violent By Design, a faction that decided to free the wrestling business of the sickness that has been poisoning it.

The stable made of Young, Joe Doering and Deaner is currently in his second reign as IMPACT World Tag Team Champion. In 2 weeks, at Rebellion, they will have to defend the titles against 7 teams. None of them has been revealed yet, but it makes the challenge even more interesting for Violent by Design.

SteelChair Mag had the absolute pleasure to talk to Eric Young yesterday. He told us about his upcoming World Championship match against 7 other teams at Rebellion, Violent By Design, wrestling in the UK, and what the future may hold for him.

Are you happy to be back in the UK?

“Yes, I’ve always loved coming here. The best part about wrestling here is how passionate the fans are and how much knowledge they have and how much they care about seeing you live. So it’s always cool to be over here and I’ve always wanted to live over here. With this tour, I’ll be here for 30 days, so it’s a long time to be here so that’s great.”

The fans also can’t wait to see Impact Wrestling back in the UK.

“That’s the hope.”

At “Rebellion,” Violent by Design will have to defend the IMPACT World Tag Team Championship against 7 other teams. That’s a pretty big match.

“Obviously, the titles will be in jeopardy, having to face 7 other teams. The cool challenge is there’s a ton of talent, a ton of different personalities and different styles in the match so it’s a really cool opportunity to do something really special. It’s not a match that happens often, a tag team gauntlet like that, so there are tons of ways to make it memorable and make it interesting and looking forward to the challenge of it. It will be exciting but I got a feeling VBD is still holding the titles at the very end.”

Is there a team that you are really interested to wrestle in this match, one more than any other?

“The Motor City Machine Guns, I’ve wrestled them several times in the past but never as my current self, not how I am right now and the story that I’m, in so that is something that I’m really looking forward to. I’ve known these two guys forever, I think I wrestled Chris Sabin in his like third match ever when he was young. I was young too but I’d already been wrestling for a year or so. I think I wrestled Alex Shelley in his fifth or sixth match ever, so I’ve known those guys for almost 25 years and they are really super talented, they were part of that style that changed wrestling and I believe made it more interesting and made it more physical. Wrestling was at the forefront for them and still is, so that’s exciting. There are some guys I’ve never crossed paths with, all of them are pros and are interesting and what they’re doing is something really interesting and special on IMPACT right now, so those are the two that I really want to wrestle with. We’d had our run-ins with Willy and Rich, both of those guys are amazing, also Rhino and Heath and they’ve got their thing too, so tons of elements get really compelling and that’s the dream for a wrestler.”

What about the Briscoes, as they’re free agents? Would they be a great challenge for Violent by Design?

“Absolutely, the Briscoes are two guys that I’ve always kind of admired from a distance. Right now, they’re currently one of the best, if not the best tag teams in the world. They’ve been together for probably several decades now, so it’s something that I would be very interested to see how we match up with them. I think their styles are very similar to ours and the idea of having VBD wrestling against the Briscoes could be something very, very special. They’re free agents, it’s pro wrestling so you never know what’s going to happen.”

I’m a huge fan of Violent by Design, the faction you’ve built with Joe Doering and Deaner. The message, the talents, the imagery, the promos. That’s so true, so real. What is it your idea at first to build a faction that strong in words and action, a group that has been lasting for nearly two years now?

“It’s definitely a group effort with Scott D’Amore and Eric Tompkins, the head of TV production. They helped obviously with the video walls and all the imagery. I like that very seldom do you see us on the set, it’s always stylized and lit differently, so it feels different and it feels different for us as well, it makes it easier for me to get into that kind of headspace of how Eric Young would be thinking. Everyone’s out to get them and everyone’s against us. We believe that we’re these crusaders protecting pro wrestling from the sickness that we believe has taken it over. The storytelling element is my favourite element of pro-wrestling, I think it’s what dictates everything. I think that’s the strongest part of what Violent by design is, it’s like this kind of strange singular powerful message of who we are and what we are. And everything we do is used to back that message up, how we dress, how it’s lit, what our video all looks like, what the sound of the music is, how we carry ourselves, how we enter the ring and how we exit the ring, it’s all for lack of a better world, it’s all by design and it’s something that I’ve been blessed with the freedom in  Impact to kind of dictate those things and decide and raise my hand and suggest things whenever I want. A lot of the stuff has been hand-picked by me, so if people are liking Violent by Design it’s kind of the ultimate compliment to me because I’m very hands-on with all of it.”

Who chose to bring Joe Doering to the group and on IMPACT? Deaner told me you’ve known the three of us, for like 20 years. Do you feel that makes things easier to spread VBD’s message when you’re working with people that you know so well?

“In any line of work, if you get along with the people that you work with, it makes the job easier. I think what also is important is we’re aligned, all three of us are aligned on what we think is good about pro-wrestling and I think we all have three different ways of going about it and getting that result. What’s most important is the vision of what we’re trying to do and the story that we’re trying to portray, all everything else is put aside, like my personal success, their personal success, it’s all in the back seat because we want Violent by Design to be a thing. The rowdy is it has been around for over a year but like we’re just scratching the surface. For 6 months, I couldn’t wrestle at all because of my injury. I didn’t miss any television shows, that’s for sure, but I definitely was injured, I definitely fully tore my ACL, which I don’t suggest. If you can avoid it, you couldn’t do that. I’ve known Cody forever and I can remember seeing Joe in his first couple of weeks at Scott’s camp. Obviously, Scott D’Amore was the one who pitched him originally and he said, what do you think about Joe, and I think he fits awesome. Just his style is so different, how he moves is so different and unique. His style and how he carries himself and how he portrays himself is literally handmade for Violent by Design, so the three of us together is the perfect kind of this pro-wrestling stew, that’s just delicious.”

The more I listen to the promos, the more I realize how accurate these words are. When you’re watching TV, we hear about war, pandemics…  So when you say, the sickness of the world, suddenly it’s striking because it’s right in front of our eyes. Are you aware of that?

“Yes, I think wrestling has always mirrored what’s happening in the real world. It’s kind of been a mirror of what people are thinking, how people are feeling in society, and what it mirrors most is what I believe is happening in wrestling is and it’s changing and a part of what I think of it is changing is not changing for the better, so I want to fix it. It’s a cool storytelling element to it but a lot of the things that I’m saying come from this deep down part of me that believes it. A lot of times, the best bad guys in wrestling are people that feel justified by what they’re doing, they think that they’re in the right and Eric Young and Violent by Design, we believe that we’re in the right. We believe we’re doing this to save this thing that we love that’s being destroyed by these people and often the best bad guys in any movie or any television show are people that are completely convicted of what they believe, whether it’s right or wrong they think they’re right. They think if they keep doing it people will see it their way. I’m not so sure that’ll happen for us but it’s been a really cool challenge, the coming up with the different promos I’m kind of just kind of left to say whatever I want and whenever I believe, which is something that I’ve earned because I’m old (laughs).”

With Violent by Design, have you put aside the idea of being World Champion again?

“That’s always a goal of mine but I think with the Violent by Design storyline and who the group is, it’s not required for me to have it. Do I think I should have it? Yes. Do I think I’m a believable champion? Yes. Do I think there’s a very good possibility that I’ll be wrestling for it very soon? Yes, but having the tag titles is a cool thing and we’re calling it Violent by Design rules but it first started with the Freebirds years and years ago. At Rebellion, it could be Joe and Cody, Cody and I, Joe and I, Joe and somebody new, so it’s this kind of like this mystery to who it’s going to be and when it’s going to be. I think that’s exciting, for me it is, and I think for wrestling fans it’s kind of this unknown thing right. Wrestling fans are very educated now, they can often guess what’s happening. Having that element of where they don’t really know because the honest truth is I don’t really know until we get there, that’s an exciting element and I think it’s been part of wrestling for so long that it’s an interesting another interesting element to the whole story.”

Who would you add to Violent by Design? Idealistically, who would it be?

“I feel like it definitely has to be right and Scott has kind of gifted me the power of being able to say no because this is Violent by design is definitely like my baby. It’s from my head, a lot of the stuff that you’re seeing is stuff that I’ve come up with on my own and I’m protective of that. I don’t want to just add somebody that doesn’t make sense, so if we add and we very easily could, it’ll be some somebody that fits, we don’t want to swim upstream. Adding Deaner was a really cool story element of like, that’s who I was 12 years ago, I was the comedy guy, I was in that position of not being taken seriously. I know how good Deaner is because I’ve known him for 25 years, I kind of helped train him. I saw him break into the indie scene in Ontario and he’s insanely talented but the world has never really seen it up until now, so now they’re getting the chance to see him in a more serious role, in a more physical role and I think the story element of that is really cool.”

Do you really feel being a heel is the character that fits you the most and that has ever fit you the most?

“I think I’ve had this really interesting kind of ride of going back and forth, coming into TNA originally, being with Team Canada. I don’t know what Canada ever did in the United States but they just hated us. Two years of that of being booed in every building we went into and just being absolutely despised, I think Scott D’Amore has the most to do with that, as he’s a very irritating person, a kind of a loudmouth (smile). I had this really cool opportunity where I’ve seen the card from every angle, I’ve been a babyface, I’ve been a heel, I was wrestling women before that was something that was cool, I’ve been Women’s tag champ, I’ve done all these different things and so, right now, I think being a heel is the most difficult thing in wrestling. It’s hard to really be a heel because the fans are so educated and they respect it so much. It’s hard to get booed especially when you’re good at it. Eventually, it becomes cool, it’s like these guys are kind of they’re jerks and they’re doing these things but it’s kind of badass. I think that’s where Violent by Design sets in and we’re not like these pure bad guys. Every time we go, there’s always a group of people that like it, such as you and other people, but I’m having a blast. My wrestling career is over 26 years now and I would say this past year is the most fun I’ve ever had in wrestling and I don’t think it’s close, to be honest, so I’m having a blast doing it and everybody seems to be enjoying it, so we’ll keep doing it as long as that’s the thing. If it gets there, I’ll move on to whatever the next thing is.”

Follow Eric Young on @TheEricYoung.

“Rebellion” will air live on Saturday, April 23 at 8 PM EST (1 AM GMT) on PPV and on Fite TV. Impact Wrestling Special Events and PPVs also airs on IMPACT Wrestling’s new YouTube membership Impact Insiders, Impact Plus.
IMPACT Wrestling is airing on Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV in the USA and around the world on IMPACT Wrestling’s new YouTube membership Impact Insiders, YouTube TV and Impact Plus. 

Very Nygma thanks to Mr Deathman – All pics, videos and screencaps courtesy of Impact Wrestling, Fight Network, Fite TV and AXS TV