Few would argue that Jake Crist is a talented professional wrestler. Even fewer would argue that it’s about time that Crist moves on from his perpetual status as a tag team wrestler and attempt his first true run as an individual act.

While his X-Division Championship run looked like a chance to escape the tag team division and into singles glory, the now-Modern Man in Black’s title reign wasn’t the solo breakout that many envisioned. Now that he’s reached free agency, I asked as part of our upcoming interview on Love Wrestling, was establishing himself as a singles act one of his major goals?

Before I’d even had a chance to finish my sentence, Crist was already exhuberatinely nodding his head.

“Absolutely. That is my major goal” Crist replied enthusiastically. “I’m excited. I’ve been a part of a group my whole entire 18 years of being a wrestler. So it’s like either tag team or in a group. I loved it. Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I love my experience, but now it’s time to bet on myself. It’s time to see what I have to offer. Not only to myself but to my fans as well. I want to prove to everybody that I am a singles star.”

“Do you think that was a conscious decision on your part when you were breaking in and you sort of got typecast as a tag team guy?” I asked.

“With us breaking in the same time and being brothers – back in the day it was always gimmicky,” he replied. “There was hardly any families in wrestling, and if it was, you know, they just loved it, and they just used that to their advantage.

That’s exactly what happened with us as a tag team. They just, you know, being a brother and [happening] to be in the business, they just linked us together as a team. When we first started we weren’t a team. We were singles, and we did stuff in DCW it was called. Dynamic Championship Wrestling in Dayton.

No, actually, it was called Dayton Championship Wrestling, and then it went to Dynamic Championship Wrestling.”

“We were actually singles, but HWA, they threw us together as a team,” Crist reminisced. “They loved the fact that we’re brothers. And, you know, I think everyone actually loved the fact. [It’s] like the Hardy Boys being real brothers. There’s not really, you know, there’s some, The Young Bucks, but like there’s not that many actual siblings – The Briscoes – but there’s not too many other teams that I can really think of that are actually brothers.”

Stay tuned to Love Wrestling for our full conversation with Jake Crist on Friday, January 22nd.

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.