AKIRA: Raven Has Helped Me Evolve So Much

AKIRA comments on working with Raven. 

AKIRA and Raven have been tied together since Raven joined the group in March 2023. While AKIRA split from The Calling after being turned on by Rickey Shane Page, Raven sided with AKIRA, fully taking him under his wing at MLW SuperFight. 

Appearing on In The Weeds with Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl, AKIRA discussed what it’s like learning from Raven. 

“When he’s been there, because he’s had his surgeries and traveling is not always the best for his health. The first couple of months, he was there every single show. I’m going to be perfectly honest, before I came to MLW, I never really cut promos. People just came off my name alone, and I was okay with that. Obviously, when you get to TV, you have to learn how to cut promo and learn all the ins and outs of television pro wrestling, which I had never really done. IWTV is not really television pro wrestling. A lot of guys don’t wrestle for television style on IWTV. It was a very fresh perspective. I came to MLW and they gave me all the tools I needed to succeed. All I had to do was shut up and learn. I talked to Raven about my style of working, character, and promos. We sat there and whenever I see him, we’ll talk. I will pick his mind, ask him questions, and give him my thoughts. It was really cool when he would agree with things I was saying because I felt like I’ve learned something working in MLW. I went from not being able to cut a promo to where I’ll cut a promo now, and Raven will look at me and say, ‘that was very eloquent.’ ‘I grew up as a fan, that’s cool to hear. Thank you sir.’

“Even the recording team, people I work with, they are like, ‘Your promos are great.’ Having fans come up to me to, I always get told, ‘We’re watching MLW because of the stuff you’re doing. You and The Calling story is great. Your promos are carrying this thing. It’s cool to see how you’ve become a wordsmith.’ I just fell into it. When I had RSP [Rickey Shane Page] in one ear and Raven in the other, you learn how to cut a promo or quit. Even different things in terms of selling, match psychology, he’s helped me evolve so much. This last round of tapings, he watched my matches and was like, ‘You’ve gotten a lot better. You’ve improved so much.’ I felt really good. Raven isn’t going to say nice things to say nice things. It felt nice to earn those things. I want to keep building upon that. I have his stamp on my name the rest of my career because of this story and it’s cool to see it all play out.”

Raven will team with AKIRA, Jimmy Lloyd, & Jake Crist in a War Chamber match against The Calling (Sami Callihan, Rickey Shane Page, Cannonball & Talon) at the MLW War Chamber TV tapings on March 29. 

Fans can find AKIRA’s comments on the War Chamber match by clicking here. 

Fans can watch the full interview with AKIRA in the video above.