Evizda

Donald Trump, fake news, and Travis Banks, on paper, have nothing in common, but all three have been dominating the headlines so far in 2017, this year really has been the year of the Kiwi Buzzsaw. Matthew Wilkinson recently sat down with Banks to discuss his incredible rise to being one of independent wrestling’s biggest names.

“This has definitely been my busiest year, I think any prior to this pales in comparison to anything I’ve done. I thought 2016 was quite busy like things started picking up from the end of 2016 and then I couldn’t have even dreamed of what 2017 would’ve been like,” Banks explained.

Busy might be an understatement for Banks who has gone from being one of the hardest working talents on the booming British wrestling scene to one of the marquee names on the posters for the likes of PROGRESS and What Culture Pro Wrestling.

Luckily for Banks, being busy is exactly what he wants right now, as he states: “I think it’s good because sometimes if I feel like I’ve had a poor match or something like that it just doesn’t matter, I just carry on to the next one; I don’t need to worry about it. I think that this is what I’ve always dreamed of so it’s exactly what I wanted so I can’t complain about anything that’s happened.”

All the extra matches and travel certainly take a toll on a wrestler’s body, but the Prestige member claims that his body is, “surprisingly, not too bad, I just have a lot more trips to the sports therapists.”
However, Banks does believe that the physical beating a wrestler withstands is something that isn’t given enough credit. “Sometimes I nurse little niggly injuries and when you just keep wrestling all the time over these injuries it can get a little bit worse, but I seem to come through on the other side okay. That’s definitely part of the job that is never really glorified, it’s quite tough sometimes,” he said.

The Kiwi Buzzsaw had a breakout moment earlier in the year when he won the PROGRESS Strong Style tournament, something that catapulted him to the forefront of wrestling fans minds.
The tournament was a big deal for Banks who claimed: “That was huge, I was super nervous going into that weekend. That was one of the times when there was a lot of pressure on me and I put a lot on myself too. So, to come away that weekend with all the praise and accolades was well worth the stress I put on myself.”

Winning the tournament earned him a shot at Pete Dunne’s Progress Championship at the Chase The Sun event and yet again Banks stepped up, putting on a blockbuster main event with the Bruiserweight; capturing the title in the process.
For most people, those two achievements alone would be enough but Banks has done so much more already in 2017. He was given the chance to showcase his strong style to the WWE Universe over WrestleMania weekend when he worked at the Axxess event, giving him, a teaser of what life could be should he eventually join the company he has had a try-out for.

“I was doing the Wrestlecon weekend, I wrestled for PROGRESS and I wrestled for Evolve and I had a massive stand out match with Sami Callahan and with TK Cooper as well. So, I was already on a high from that so then to wrestle that weekend and get to wrestle for WWE as well, was like… I had to take a moment when I was in my hotel room and think ‘I just wrestled for WWE’ and that’s what I’ve been wanting to do my whole career.

“The matches weren’t particularly long and I don’t think anyone particularly remembers those matches but to actually get to wrestle for WWE and hang out backstage and talk to everybody and show my face and make connections was great.

“It’s definitely like dangling the carrot and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I do actually kind of want to be here,’” Banks stated.

However, the highlight of his year (so far) came when he got the news he would be competing in this year’s Battle of Los Angeles. Banks reached the semi-finals of the tournament that he has always wanted to compete in, a goal that he set months before.
“It’s actually quite funny, BOLA has always been a goal of mine in the back of my head, but three or four months before I thought, ‘You know what I’m going to really push for this’. I put it on my goals list three months out before I got the call.

“Then out of the blue they called me up and I was like whoa, I didn’t really expect to get it. But it was nuts, my social media pretty much just shat itself so I had to put my phone in a drawer while it was buzzing but it was good. It’s a good feeling, it’s pretty exciting to see so many people excited about seeing me being in such a prestigious tournament,” Banks explained.

To get in the position that Banks finds himself in has taken a lot of hard work and dedication, but he attributes his big break to several elements.

Firstly, “There’s a few matches that started it, there was me versus Tyler (Bate) at Attack. I think that’s the first time a crowd over here had seen the strong style side of me, they were kind of just taken aback, I don’t think they expected it from me.

“And then from there, following on from that match was me versus Zack Sabre Junior at Fight Club, it was the opening match and we went 37 minutes or something like that and after, everyone was talking about it. Then anytime me and Sabre have tangled since they’ve always been on board,” the Kiwi Buzzsaw said.

Another factor has been his involvement with WCPW, which has put Banks on a platform to a more global audience, as he explained: “I was just in New York and Boston for the PROGRESS shows and a lot of people who spoke to me there, had actually seen me wrestle through WhatCulture.

“They had seen my work and they were all really big fans of WhatCulture, so it’s definitely helped and got my name out there and got me exposure that I didn’t really think it may do. It does have its reach and they always set me great matches and I’m happy to work for them.”

Whilst Banks may well be on WWE’s radar, right now he isn’t fixated on a move to the McMahon house, and is happy to be patient as he enjoys working the independent scene, not just in England but across the globe.

However, the Kiwi Buzzsaw and new PROGRESS Champion does have a few set goals in mind as he continues to take his career to the next level.

“I would like to work for New Japan and I just want to wrestle in some more countries that I’ve never wrestled in, I’ve wrestled in eleven countries so anywhere else that wants to have me I’ll probably work for,” he said.