“All Good” Anthony Greene’s life has been all wrestling—he took his first bump at 13 years old.
Not in the backyard with his friends, mind you, but in the squared circle. The Randolph, Massachusetts native paid his dues the old fashioned way, working on the ring crew right as he hit puberty.
“If you get hurt, don’t call me,” Greene remembers his parents saying on cue before every class or show. “They were very supportive, though, and signed all the waivers.”
Three years later, he was promoted to the most thankless job in pro wrestling: referee. “As much as we don’t get respect from the fans, I felt like I gained a lot of respect from the boys,” Greene said. “They knew me as a 13-year-old punk kid, and then by the time I stopped refereeing at 18 or 19, they respected that I took it seriously.”
Training at Spike Dudley’s wrestling school The Lock-Up, Greene learned the ropes from Nick Steele and Ryan Waters, gaining confidence in his abilities and reaffirming his life goal. Even though he officially debuted in 2012, and has gone on to wrestle around the country since then, including his current run with Paragon Pro Wrestling in Las Vegas, Greene feels he hasn’t completed his training yet.
“I have all the tools to build my house and now is the time to furnish it,” Greene said. “I want to perfect my footwork, my execution, the when and why of what I do out there.” He chose quite the mentor to put the finishing touches on his repertoire: Brian Fury of the New England Pro Wrestling Academy, which produced Sasha Banks. Formerly, it was the Chaotic Training Center which produced Kofi Kingston, and before that, it was the famous Killer Kowalski School of Professional Wrestling.
“When I started, I wanted to be the super indy, plain tights, wrestler’s wrestler,” Greene said. “Paragon Pro Wrestling producer Jared Ganem helped me figure out who I was. My character is a viral video star, but the actions and mannerisms are the real me. Like singing high pitch or throwing confetti, that’s what I do. I’m just a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky person.”
You don’t have to go out west for the Anthony Greene experience—he’ll be appearing at the Pro Wrestling BAM event on August 19 in Brooklyn. Greene and his tag team partner in the Cam-An Connection, American Grit’s Cam Zagami, will face Married at First Sight’s Jason Carrion and JustNeph in a Battle of Reality Stars…and Anthony Greene.
“I am a TV star in general on Paragon Pro Wrestling,” Greene said. “Check out the FITE TV app. Thursdays 7 p.m.”
As Greene continues to climb the wrasslin’ food chain, he doesn’t forget where he came from. There’s a 14 year old named Avery, who Greene and the boys call “A-Game,” preparing to start training in September.
“He brings a notebook to class and writes down everything,” Greene said. “It gives me goosebumps to see someone care that much.”
One day Greene saw “Get booked by AG” written down. Even though he isn’t a booker, he had a few connections at Lucky Pro Wrestling in Massachusetts. “Next time I saw him, I asked if he was available for a date to be a time keeper,” Greene said. “I got him to be the time keeper for two events and I’m also proud to say I gave him his first payday.”
You can follow Anthony Greene on and .
takes place August 19 at 138 Bay 20th St., Brooklyn, NY.
Show starts at 5:30 p.m. Admission: $5
John Corrigan: Who was your favorite wrestler growing up?
Anthony Greene: “Ok, my favorite of all time is Maven. I…”
JC: (Laughs) Oh yeah?
AG: “You laugh but he’s my pro wrestling idol. When he was on the first season of Tough Enough, I was 7 years old and was very inspired by his story. His mom, who was his aunt but she took care of him so he called her his mom, was battling cancer, so he left the Tough Enough house to visit her and then came back to win it for her.
When he made it on TV, he lost to Tazz two weeks in a row before finally beating him. Even when I met him last September, he thought I was kidding. I got to wrestle him and he was humble and happy to be there. I was super fangirling for him.”
JC: Were your friends jealous that you were training at 13?
AG: “Half my friends thought wrestling was stupid. In elementary school, wrestling was pretty cool. But in middle school, around 2006, it was not. I got a benefit show for my middle school to help pay for our big field day and half the kids were mad I didn’t use the money for a dance. We have four dances a year, what’s cool about that?”
JC: Even though you were being properly trained, how did it feel to be taking bumps so young?
AG: “Although they taught me how to take the bumps, that didn’t mean I was taking them correctly. I legitimately think I used to hit my head every time. I would have blistering headaches every time I came home.”
JC: With all the concussion discussion in the news, does that worry you now?
AG: “I have a pretty good memory so I don’t think I have too much to worry about. I’ll get tested in the future, though. I’ve never had a confirmed concussion so I’m not sure if I’ve ever really had one.”
JC: Tell me about your wrestling collection.
AG: “I own every single Hasbro action figure except for 1-2-3 Kid. If anyone wants to buy me the 1-2-3 Kid Hasbro figure, please tweet me or Instagram . I’ll send you a wrist band, a button and an 8×10. It’s the rarest of the rare. I don’t even need it packaged—I’ll take it loose. I just need the figure to complete the set.
I have close to 3,000 wrestling DVDs. A best of the Four Horsemen 12-disc set, a Dusty Rhodes 19-disc, independent, Kayfabe, Highspots…If there’s three letters in a company, I probably have something.
I have all these WWE DVDs that I’ve tape traded for every single WCW Nitro from 1995, and now it’s on my Roku box at my leisure. I bought the Highspots network and that has every shoot interview I own on there for free. My heart tells me not to sell them all and I can’t with my hoarder mentality.”
John Corrigan
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[…] This Friday he brings his alter ego, “JustNeph,” to that same church for the Battle of the TV Stars. He’ll be joined by his best friend since those grade school days, Jason Carrion, as they face the Cam-An Connection: American Grit’s Cam Zagami and Paragon Pro Wrestling’s Anthony Greene. […]