Wrestling Tells a Story, This One Is about Troy Sumpter

On March 26, I interviewed Troy Sumpter, news editor for The Cyclone Chronicle. The overall theme of our time together reflected our discussion of our shared love of professional wrestling.

Wrestling fans love to talk about the nostalgic moments in sports entertainment. To start that conversation, I began my interview by asking Sumpter about when he started to watch wrestling.

“The first time I watched wrestling was probably in 2008. I was watching Smackdown, and the first match was the Finley vs. The Boogeyman. The first full show that I watched was WrestleMania 24,” he said.

Sports Entertainment Wrestling is such a controversial topic of conversation because people will either love it, hate it, or not watch it, but respect it. I was curious to know, what made Sumpter a fan of WWE?

“What got me hooked on wrestling to this day was the stories, epic moments, and rivalries between the wrestlers. The best example I can give is when Edge debuted, then entered The Brood and feuded against the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz,” he said. 

“I enjoyed watching him go from that, to his TLC match days, to becoming the Rated R Superstar, to suffering a career-ending injury, and returning years later to retire on his terms. That had me almost crying because I never thought I’d see him wrestle again,” he continued.

I followed up my question by asking him what he would change about pro wrestling had he been given the reins to do what he’d like with the sport.

“I would bring back the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era type storylines,” Sumpter said. “Wrestling itself needs to tell good stories for the wrestlers. With that, I’d also make acting classes mandatory because good acting is one of the main reasons for people to be invested in the product.”

Wrapping up my interview with Sumpter, I asked him about the misconceptions of wrestling being “fake,” and how he felt about those opinions.

“In my opinion, this argument can go either way because wrestling is predetermined and scripted; however, the risks that they are taking in the ring are real and they truly do get injured,” he explained.

My interview with Troy Sumpter was enjoyable, and it was nice discussing a shared passion with him. 

(Do you like WWE sports entertainment? Let us know about your love for wrestling, we want to hear your stories! Submit them to our Ask The Cyclone segment.)