Peter Avalon Recalls Being Unwell When He Landed The Role Of Norv Fernum In IMPACT Wrestling

The universe works in mysterious ways.

In October 2013, Peter Avalon made his debut for IMPACT Wrestling (then TNA) as Norv Fernum at Bound For Glory against a newly repackaged Ethan Carter III. Avalon would only make a handful of appearances for IMPACT over the following two years, including a 45 second World Title loss to Carter in June 2015.

Speaking with Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, Avalon detailed how he landed the role, even sharing that he was physically and mentally at a low point in his life when the opportunity first arose.

“I had no say whatsoever. They hit up a local guy in the area who hit me up and I just fit the role they were looking for at the time. I was at a real awful point in my life. I was at my skinniest and some of my most mentally unwell, as well. Sometimes things would fall into my lap at a weird time and I got a lot of really cool wrestling gigs in my life when I was at my absolute — physically and mentally, some of my worst, almost rock bottom,” he said. 

He continued on, revealing that he was under 140 pounds at the time. He also said that he still has the red t-shirt that IMPACT bought him for that first show.

“I have an incredible time at Lucha VaVoom and then IMPACT Wrestling was happening at the same time as I was miserable. So I fit the role of — what they were asking for was somebody who did not look like a wrestler. Here comes skinny little Pete. Here I am! I’m at my absolute smallest. I think I weighed a buck thirty-nine (139 lbs.). I was not doing well, man, I looked ill. They booked me in a singlet and they said, ‘You’re going to be a nerd’ and I was like, ‘Alright, no problem.’ They ended up buying me clothes from Target and brought me back corduroy pants, a red shirt, which I still have the red t-shirt, and then they had some flannel. Looked like a tech guy or something,” he said.

Finishing up, Avalon said that Jeff Jarrett was his producer in TNA, though he and Dewey Barnes, who was his Tag partner at the time, stopped getting called after Jarrett departed the company. 

“Then I had my partner, Dewey Barnes, who wrestled in Tennessee and he was one of TNA’s actual merchandise handlers, so he was behind the merch table when the show was happening. They teamed us up because he was a nerdy-looking guy too. So they just put us together as nerds to enhance Ethan Carter III during his whole debut there. I think our producer at the time was Jeff Jarrett. In the middle of that, he left, and that’s where any nerd momentum stopped and they stopped running with us,” Avalon said.

In January of this year, Peter Avalon announced that he would be taking Independent bookings, leading some to believe that his AEW contract had expired and was not renewed. During a recent interview, Avalon stated that he was still with AEW, but was now going to be opening up his portfolio. Click here to read more.

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