The X-Division title belt, currently worn around the waist of Trey Miguel, has been artfully spray-painted—Rascalz style—to match his world outlook. But in an interview with SlamWrestling.net, he colorfully revealed that the paint job had to be done twice.
In a vignette that aired on the December 1, 2022 episode of Impact, Miguel spray-painted his logo on the belt, basically to stake a permanent claim on the title. He said that he had lost it before, but that was in the past – and putting his brand on it would represent a future where it would remain his.
“For anyone that didn’t watch Impact when I sprayed the belt or they didn’t see the promo that we did for it, they don’t know what is going on with the belt. It just looks like I defaced it. And I kind of like that. I don’t think it should be neat. I think it should be messy. It’s art and art is all about perspective,” explained Miguel, adding that he sees it as “beautiful the way it is.”
Talking about the incident spurred a previously untold memory.
“I have a funny story about when I sprayed the belt. So after I sprayed it, we had to let it dry so that way, obviously it stays. I had it sitting in the middle of the stage, and out of nowhere, Jet, Josh Alexander‘s son, runs up to the belt and just puts both of his hands in the wet paint for no reason at all,” chuckled Miguel. “He was yards away from us in the ring and then just runs up and smacks the belt. We’re like, ‘Nooo! Oh my God!’ So I had to spray it twice.”
The X-Division title means everything to the man born Trey McBrayer 28 years ago. While he started out watching pro wrestling Toledo, Ohio, with his bedridden grandmother—she was a gamer too, making her even cooler to young Trey—he grew into the sport, not really interested in much else. His initial training started as a teenager, and, now with more than a decade in the ring, he was asked to consider the legacy of the championship that he carries.
“The X-Division belt really means a lot to me. I think that is the epitome of championships. I think that is sort of what started the new wave of what wrestling is now, with all these crazy high spots and the younger kids going balls to the wall,” he posited. “Without the X Division being what it was when it was, I don’t know if wrestling would have turned into that. And to be the champion of what wrestling is now in my eyes—it’s just my perspective—I think it’s the most surreal thing that ever happened to me.”
But can something be surreal when one works very hard to accomplish the feat?
Good point, he acknowledged. “But it’s one of those things that everyone’s working to get something out of wrestling, but you don’t know if you’re ever gonna make it there or not. And I look at the belt and I smile every day. It sits on my dresser, it’s the coolest thing in the world to me.”
Carrying it through the airport doesn’t get old, but there are moments …
“I actually had to carry it for the first time outside of my carry-on because you have like a 40-pound weight limit on it,” he shared. “And a guy comes up to me though, and he goes, ‘I’ve got a couple of WWE replicas in my bag,’ and I was like, ‘This is the real thing, dude.'”
Reminiscing, Miguel recalled an amazing fleece blanket that his grandma had of The Rock—and she also loved Stone Cold Steve Austin. Miguel coveted the blanket, and still wonders what ever happened to it, and he’s never found another.
He’s yet to meet Dwayne Johnson, but did mark out when The Rock reacted to a tweet that fellow Rascalz Zachary Wentz made.
It finally happened. We embraced the grind for so long and now 3 boys from Ohio are putting the world on notice. My heart is full. Thank y’all for the support for so long. 💚💨 #4ever@WesLee_WWE@TheTreyMiguelpic.twitter.com/2hE9xbUdaI
— Zachary Wentz (@ZacharyWentz) October 24, 2021
The Rascalz, made up of Miguel, Wentz, Dezmond Xavier and Myron Reed at various times, are a brotherhood, and Miguel said that the attitude defines him—and if he is perceived as a fan favorite, fine, and if his actions are seen as villainous, so be it.
“I’m a Rascalz, man. We just do what we want. Some days I wake up and choose violence. Other days, I wake up and choose peace. It just depends on how I feel, how much sleep I got,” he said. There are always storylines in Impact Wrestling for the group. “If you ask me, I think everything I’m doing right now is pretty justified. The Rascalz got evicted. Sami Callihan broke into my school, beat up my students and my co-trainer, Steve Maclin waterboarded me on national television last year. I think I’m well within my rights to do what I want right now.”
The Trey Miguel on Impact is not a villain, at least not according the fan responses he has felt recently, including the fans rapping along to his entrance music. “If you’re booked to be a bad guy, you have a job to do and that’s to make people I hate you. And I feel like I’m not necessarily getting that right now. I come out, I feel like I’m doing things differently, but the reactions are still kind of the same. And it makes me harp on myself a little bit to wonder, Am I doing my job correctly? Or am I just that cool?”
In part, that could be because of the unique crowds.
Impact Wrestling returned to Windsor, Ontario, after a long layoff, and the fans were rabid, loyal to their homeboy Scott D’Amore, who is now president of the promotion.
“When we go to Windsor, that’s my favorite Impact crowd that we ever frequent. They are so invested in everything you’re, doing 30 seconds into the match you have a, ‘This is awesome’ chant,” Miguel said. “They really appreciate the hard work you’re doing out there, and it was in huge abundance the last time we were just there because it had been four years because of COVID. That feels really good to do.”
Then in Los Angeles, Miguel kept his X Division title on March 30th, on the Multiverse United: Only The STRONG Survive with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was in a Scramble match, defeating Frankie Kazarian, Rich Swann, Kevin Knight, Clark Connors and Rocky Romero.
Miguel said that the L.A. crowd showed love and that it was “really cool” to work with New Japan—but he wants more.
“That’s a big goal. It sort of is a feather in the cap and sort of not, just because it’s a joint show and I would love to do New Japan, just as New Japan,” he confessed.
As for the match itself, he loved it.
“I love multi-man matches. When I train, I train to involve as many bodies as possible, just because Spider-Man is my dawg, and that man is always fighting like four or five people at the same time. And when you can do that, I think fighting in wrestling is so much cooler. I always look forward to a multi-man match, I never get down about it, no matter if it’s a triple threat or a fatal four way, that’s my favorite kind of wrestling match,” he said.
Asked to explain how something that has the potential to be a car wreck could come off so smoothly.
“There’s a formula to it, though, if you can get that down, I swear, it would be the most fun you ever have—you get in, you shine, you get out,” he explained, then brought his Toledo-based wrestling school, Skull & Bones Professional Wrestling and Fitness, into the conversation. “I call it The Formula. We have a little chalkboard that it’s written down at, so that way, if you ever forget the formula, you can look over in the middle of your match and see what’s next and get back on track.”
The immediate challengers to his X Division title are “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Jonathan Gresham, whom he faces in a Three-way Elimination Match at Impact Rebellion on Sunday, April 16, 2023, at the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto. He is ready for either.
“Mike Bailey makes me elevate every time I wrestle him. And I’ve only wrestled Jonathan Gresham one time and that was the same case. So either way, whoever wins this match, I’m looking forward to becoming a better wrestler because of the match,” Miguel said. “Those two are just some of the greatest minds I’ve ever gotten to work with and they’re so athletically gifted. So whoever whoever wins it, I I’m excited for it.”
Names come and go from Impact Wrestling, and he welcomes Gresham.
“Jonathan is one of my favorite wrestlers to watch actually. I’m a huge fan of chain wrestling, and that’s kind of where he bases his style on, he’s a real mat wrestler,” raved Miguel. “When he picks a body part, it’s the longest equation in the world, my man just knows everything to do with it, the bending. He’s a Jedi Master of joint manipulation. It’s going to be a learning experience anytime I get to work with him.”
Others, like Kazarian, have come back to Impact and have a rich history. “Kazarian, he talks a lot about the way Impact used to be, compares it, and lets you know how things would have happened back in the day compared to how they happen now,” said Miguel. “I’m glad to be at Impact when I am, because wrestling used to be really, really different. And I just like the locker room that we have, everyone’s friends with each other, everyone supports one another, we’re a family.”
As for the future, Miguel is thinking big, beyond cashing it the current belt for a chance at another.
“I get asked a lot about Option C because I have the X Division championship and that seems to be the go to thing to do once you’ve had it for so long,” he concluded. “But I would like to be the first person to not cash Option C and still win the World championship. I don’t see why you can’t have both.”
Impact Rebellion is available on Sunday, April 16, 2023 on pay-per-view, with an 8 p.m. ET start.
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