Bringhurst, Indiana native Alexander James Atkisson, known in the ring as AKIRA, is not one to set expectations.

He clarified his stance in a recent interview with SlamWrestling.net. “The thing about wrestling, the thing about life that I’ve come to realize is, you just got to come in with no expectations and you just have to just go with the flow of life,” he said. “You can’t control things.”

Aside from MLW, he 31-year-old also wrestles in Big Japan (BJW), a promotion known for its deathmatches.

Also going by the nickname “Psycho Samurai”, AKIRA got into wrestling with the help of his father and uncle. Soon, he surrounded himself with others who shared the interest. “I found a couple friends that were kind of nerdy and into it. I am a Korean-Japanese-American as well as white. So I kind of identified with people like Muda [Yoshihiro] Tajiri.”

“I grew up watching WWF at the time, WCW, my father had ECW tapes. I believe I still have some of the ECW tapes. I know there’s WCW [too]. I even have the one where Sid breaks his leg. I think it’s all in those old VHS tapes, where it’s the little yellow with the little handwriting my dad gave him to me. My uncle also watched. He passed away in November. He had New Japan [tapes], a lot of the old, very obscure stuff.”

As he got older, AKIRA stopped keeping up with wrestling, having cited a lack of interest in the product at the time when teenagers are often dealing with more pressing, real-life situations. He credits one wrestler in particular for re-igniting the passion he once had for pro wrestling. “I went to college and became friends with someone who wanted to watch the Rumble where Roman Reigns won but also, I think that was the weekend that that Shinsuke Nakamura debuted to so I dove head first back into the scene of pro wrestling.”

“When Shinsuke appeared, I truly got locked into pro wrestling again.”

Having that passion for pro wrestling reignited, AKIRA went about his way to becoming a pro wrestler.

“My uncle got me tickets. Bless his heart. Rest in peace. He got me tickets to go with him to go watch a SmackDown Live event in 2016. I believe I was working a factory job at the time. I wasn’t happy with my life. I missed being a college athlete. I was a swimmer in college. I only did for two years because I had a repeat shoulder injuries.”

It was the creativity of the profession that drew him back in and made him realize he wanted to do this for a living. AKIRA also writes and is a musician.

There’s a line between setting a goal and having a dream. A line that he believes is marked clearly.

“That’s the thing with with dreams and aspirations. You can dream and you can aspire and you can work towards them, but a lot of people get so hung up on those goals and we all know how life is. You might not get what you want.”

Having made his professional debut in 2018, AKIRA has had “a long and winding road that’s only been seven years long,” he explained. “I’ve been wrestling for seven years as of January this year, and I have a lifetime of it to go highs, lows, happiness and sadness, all that in between.”

He credits Simon Gotch and Masashi Takeda for mentoring him and coaching him when he trained.

Having participated in the MLW National Openweight Championship Match this past Saturday, March 9, Atkisson will look to regain momentum with a win at Battle Riot on April 5 in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce. This match is a 40-man winner-take-all. As well, June will provide him with another shot at the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, currently sitting around Matt Riddle’s waist.

“Life changes. You can have these goals and aspirations, but life can just throw you a curve ball and you’ve got to deal with it,” he said. “What happens if you go into a situation carte blanche and you get something interesting out of it. It’s so much more fulfilling than hoping that you’re going to get something you get something completely different, because you’ll just be satisfied with what you get, and you’ll be surprised with what you get.”

AKIRA’s approach to life can be summed up like this. He never would have thought that he’d be in MLW, wrestling professionally. He never though he’d see himself on TV.

“If you expect nothing, and you get something minor, it feels so much bigger than getting nothing at all, right?”

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