AC Mack Discusses His 2018 NXT Appearance, Being Trained By AR Fox

AC Mack has been wrestling professionally for just over four years and has already collected a handful of accomplishments, including a current run as the SUP Bonestorm Champion. 

Mack was trained by AR Fox, a former EVOLVE Champion and one of the most respected names on the Independent scene. 

Speaking to Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling, Mack discussed his relationship with Fox and how he feels Fox is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world. 

“It’s insane to me. They’re both — especially Fox. They’re both — I think they’re [Fred Yehi & AR Fox] too humble,” said Mack. “I know with Fox, he’s not a social media person. He prefers to stay to himself. But just being at that school with him everyday, just in the trenches in that sweaty ass gym for hours and hours and just seeing what he can do and what all he knows. It’s a crime to me that he doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves, that he isn’t where he deserves to be. I personally think and you can say I’m bias but I think he’s one of the best wrestlers in the world, simply because he can teach us anything. We weren’t learning one style. I think people look at him and they see his high-flying ability and they bring these harsh words on him and they say these things about how he’s training us down in the 4 [WWA4 Wrestling School]. ‘He’s only a high-flyer, he’s an indie guy’ but no, it’s not the case at all. We’re learning holds, we’re learning how to wrestle for TV. Nobody is pigeon-holed there. You can be whatever wrestler you wanna be. I don’t consider myself no indie high-flying guy but I was able to still learn from Fox because he was able to meet me where I was and help me there. No matter what idea you bring to him, whether it’d be in the ring or out of the ring, he always is able to take it, internalize it and make it better. No matter what style it is. I’ve seen him work every style so, all that other stuff is just a bunch of — I think he is pound-for-pound, legit one of the best there is out there. I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve been places, I’ve seen how people are and he deserves to be right there with them if not above ‘em so…”

Mack was able to gain some extra experience in 2018 when he worked an enhancement match on NXT against Dominik Dijakovic. 

“It was nerve-wracking in the best way possible, because I had two friends who went down there as an extra separately on two different occasions and all they kinda did was stand around, they wore their suits backstage,” Mack recalled. “They were kind of runners. They would help out whenever needed so I went down there expecting to do that, which was perfectly fine. I just wanted to be in the room, I wanted to rub elbows, I wanted to be able to network and just kind of start from there. When I pulled up, we had to be there at 1 PM. They started the tapings at like 7:30, so they told me, ‘Hey, you’re Mr. Mackey? Ok cool. You have a match with Dijak at the third episode taping. Go over there, get your second physical done. Your name is Aaron Mackey, fill this out’ and he started to walk away. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, hold on. First of all, thank you. I have a sh*t ton of questions. I’ve never done this before so let’s not — I’m still a newbie here’ and I met Dijak and he was extremely nice. Oh my God. Way nicer than he should’ve been. Gave me a tour of the entire place, told me who to talk to, who to stay away from. I don’t think — William Regal wasn’t there. I did meet Shawn Michaels. He seemed like he had something going on personally so he wasn’t around the extras a lot. He seemed kinda down for whatever reason. I met Triple H, who’s one of my all-time favorites so for him to kinda come over and talk to us and just kind of ease our nerves and get us excited for the show, that meant a lot to me to see how involved he was with NXT. That made me have even more respect for him if that was even possible.”

Mack continued by saying, “Norman Smiley was our agent for the match, so that was real cool. He kinda came over there and just helped us out. It was a very, very short match but you’ll be surprised at how detailed they are with putting everything together, making sure you sell a certain way, making sure you catch each camera out there. There’s a sh*t ton of cameras y’all. A sh*t ton of cameras and a sh*t ton of lights. I remember getting there and thinking, I was surprised at how small the venue was. Like this side had all your fans and this side had lights, just nothing but lights so, it was real cool.”

Mack most recently wrestled at Southern Honor Wrestling taking on Chip Day. 

Mack was listed at #34 in the Black Wrestling 500 put together by Righteous Reg.

Fans can check out the full interview with AC Mack in the video above.