Chris Bey Discusses The Uniqueness Of Black Wrestlers, Feeling Disrespected By PWI 500

Chris Bey has had a memorable 2020, from being on AEW’s radar to signing with IMPACT Wrestling and capturing the X Division Championship. 

Pro Wrestling Illustrated took notice of Bey’s year, ranking him at 202 overall in their annual PWI 500. In 2019, Bey was ranked at 425. 

Speaking to Phil Lindsey of Sportskeeda, Bey was asked about his jump in the rankings and overall thoughts on being ranked at #202. 

“If we’re being honest, I felt disrespected because I felt like I earned a better spot than that. You can call it arrogance, but I call it confidence and knowing exactly what I put into the business and how much I sacrificed. I’m one of the best wrestlers and entertainers in the world. They missed the mark on a lot of important details. The article that they wrote on me, it was very inaccurate and didn’t say anything about who I am. They chose to talk about a job I had when I was 17 rather than what I accomplished in the last year. For them to skip over all that, it was disrespectful and a slap in the face. Some people care about that stuff, I care about more important things like what I’m actually doing in life,” he said.

Bey said that he will continue to prove PWI wrong but going on to accomplish big things in wrestling and taking IMPACT to new heights. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Bey was asked about comparisons to Kofi Kingston and how he represents the new generation of Black wrestlers. 

“All across the border, we’re all different. As a young black talent, I understand how much soul and, for the lack of a better term, flavor we come up with. We all come up a little bit differently, as anyone does. For me personally, there’s different vibes in my household growing up. From the music we listen to, from the way we’d dance, or the slang we would use depending on what neighborhood you were from. We all have something different unique to offer. We all have influences from things we’ve seen in life. You can see that on IMPACT and see it from people like Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan and myself, Trey, Rich Swann. We’re so different from each other even though we have a lot of similarities,” he said. “Me compared to [Kofi Kingston] is always awesome, but he’s been in this journey for so long and I’m still in the beginning stages. You’re still seeing an early development of what I have to offer. I’m just getting started.”

Bey is set to challenge for the IMPACT X Division Championship at Bound For Glory when he competes in a six-way bout. 

You can listen to the entire interview with Bey in the video above.

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