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Jon Cross Interview

Posted: Sep 12th 2016 By: Lance Osburn

To start go ahead and introduce yourself.

My name is Jon Bloodworth, I Wrestle as Jon Cross. I was Born and raised in Hugo, Oklahoma. Started training in 2005 under a guy named Steven Anderson. Didn't get to touch a wrestling ring till 2006. Had my first match in 2007. Been wrestling for 9 years now.

Why did you want to become a wrestler?

I've been obsessed with wrestling since probably age 9-10. That's 20 years. I started backyard wrestling a few years later. Hitting the trampoline, dropping my cousins with Stone Cold Stunners. The thought of actually getting training and becoming one didn't occur to me until probably 03-04 when a friend (who really wasn't into wrestling at all) told me his uncle was a "real" wrestler. Turns out, his uncle was a legit Indy worker. One day we set up s meeting and he officially took myself and Chris Fury under his wing

When you had your first match how did it go? What were you thinking and what were some highlights form the match?

First match was in April, 2007 for a group called XWE. The town was Coal Hill, Arkansas. We (Fury, my trainer and I) showed up the night before and set up the ring alone. We literally played in that ring all night. We were in heaven. It was our first time in a real ring. The one we trained in was basically a shitty boxing ring with wrestling ring ropes. We couldn't believe how soft a real ring was. It is the reason to this day why I really don't stress over stiff rings. Nothing is as stiff as a boxing ring. So we wrestled all night, then busted out sleeping bags and slept in the ring for a few hours. The next day we finished setting the building up and started meeting the other wrestlers as they arrived. My first match was a one on one with the man I trained with for 2 straight years, Chris Fury. So, definitely nervous AF about having my first match but happy to be in there with my good friend. Funny things about the match: we entered to each other's music because the announcer had us backwards. We got in the ring and immediately started wrestling even though........there was NO referee in the ring! About two minutes into the match FUEL of all people, who we had just met that day, entered the ring and proclaimed himself the special guest referee. The match was fun. Lots of flashy spots. Fury ended up beating me with the Go To Sleep which SHOCKED Fuel because this was YEARS before that move made it to America.

When you first started, who were some of the people you idolized?

When I first got into wrestling as a fan, it was all about Sting, Stone Cold and The Undertaker. When I started REALLY leaning into becoming a wrestler it was all about Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho. Then, somewhere around 2004, I discovered Ring of Honor. Which means I discovered CM Punk, Christopher Daniels and Bryan Danielson...who remains my favorite wrestler to this day. Danielson's ROH title run is what made me go...f***, I need to do this. Soon after that I also discovered Japanese wrestling. That's when I somewhat developed a style of my own, watching Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa.

What are some career highlights that really stick out to you?

There have been quite a few. I'll kind of cherry pick the top 3 which all took place within the last 2 years I believe. After being gone from wrestling for nearly three years, my buddy Chris Fury returned to host a WFC event and we ended up having a one on one match. Not even Blu that, but he beat me. I hadn't been pinned in WFC for almost a year and it felt so good to let one of my best friends who was there when I first started put my shoulders to the mat. It was a great full circle feeling. Also WFC, I defended the WFC title against Aaron Anders in a no DQ match. There was a lot of frustration leading into the match because we were the highly anticipated championship main event...and the higher ups wanted us to go on third...with a 10 min time limit. So after debating everything from phoning it in to me dropping the title (without permission) to Aaron we finally decided to beat the shit out of each other in what is easily one of my top 3 matches I've ever had. Both of us had chips the size of boulders on our shoulders that night and regardless of what anyone says we had WFC's match of the year. Finally, my brief stint in SRPW is one of my favorite bodies of work in 9 years. Mr. Nasty IS my arch rival. I could do a top 5 of just matches with him but this one was very special. We had an almost all adult crowd and we treated it as such. I'll never be able to describe how special Mr Nasty is to me and this match has my favorite finish of all time.

If you could work anyone, past or present, who would your dream match be against?

I think I've had my dream matches at this point. Wrestling Fury, Anders and Nasty in a high level match is as good as I've ever wanted it. I could say if like to wrestle someone like Chris Hero, who IMO is the best Indy wrestler going today but truthfully I wouldn't trust my skill level to compete with him.

Do you have any final remarks? Anything you’d like people to know?

I'll just say I learned very quickly that becoming a huge wrestling star wasn't for me. I love it. I'll watch it always, I perform it for fun and express myself creatively. If i contribute anything to wrestling I hope I at least inspire some future generations to just care enough to treat wrestling with the respect it deserves.