We were lucky to catch up with Jarrod Finley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jarrod, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
My optimism honestly comes from knowing that whatever dreams/goals I have for myself, I have the ability to accomplish them. It won’t be easy, as nothing in life is, but through God and the support system consisting of family and friends I have around me, they give me the fuel to remain optimistic and confident that I can accomplish any and everything I set out to do.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a professional wrestler based out of Atlanta, Ga, born and raised in Decatur, Ga. I wrestle under the name “Travis 3000” which is a combination of a tribute to my grandmother “DOT” who unintentionally called me “Travis” while she was introducing me my first time going to church when I was an infant, not to mention my aunts, uncles and cousins still call me that, so I use that name as a tribute to her. The last part “3000” is inspired by Andre 3000, so in addition to being a fan of his and the Outkast group in general, it’s a piece of home I can take with me and represent wherever I’m blessed to travel across the world.
I started my journey back in January of 2020 at the WWA4 in Atlanta, Ga trained by AR Fox. Unfortunately, I was halted first by the Covid-19 pandemic and had to hold off on practice until I resumed that August, but after a month or so, I was halted again, this time by an ACL, MCL and Meniscus tear in my right knee that sidelined me until August 2021. That was a very tough time both mentally and physically, because I honestly thought that was how my wrestling journey ended, before I even got the chance to have my first real live match and the pain was the most I’ve ever had to endure. There were several times that I couldn’t even tune in to watch other wrestling show’s, because the entire time I was thinking to myself, “because of this injury. I can’t do any of those moves right now, and that hurt”. However again, that support system was there for me every step of the way and kept me uplifted and pushed me to get back to where I wanted be, in the ring.
In my eyes, wrestling is special to me and just in general, because it’s an opportunity to put on a show and be as creative as possible with it. You can creat this show with all these characters and make great moments and magic that stick with you as a performer and the fans that witness it.
At this point in my carrer, 1 year and 9 months+ in the ring, my focus right now is just to keep improving, keep impressing, keep showing up, keep betting on myself and believing in my abilities, but most importantly, remain humble because any of this life and career of mine can be taken away in the blink of an eye, and I take none of it for granted.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
So I grew up heavily in the church, multiple deacons, pastors, and bishops on both sides of my family. I credit the majority of my ability to speak in these public settings to the training I got from all the Easter/Christmas speeches, Easter/Christmas church skits and scripture readings. I was taught very young how to enunciate my words, project my voice and to speak loudly and with conviction.
I give credit to me even finding pro wrestling in the first place to my parents for sending me to my room one Friday night because they were downstairs with my older brothers watching a movie that wasn’t suitable for my 5-6 yr old self. So I went upstairs to my room, started flipping the TV channels and found WWE Smackdown, I instantly fell in love because I didn’t want to change the channel and thought that that was coolest thing ever and immediately wanted to find out who these people are and when/where I can watch more of them.
My dad, brothers, uncles and cousins are the ones I credit for my love of the gym that I have so that I can go out and do what I love in the ring. Honestly speaking, I wasn’t a fan of it growing up, but they’d drag me to the gym or drag me to go walk up or around Stone Mountain. They knew what I wanted to be, so now that I’m older, I understand what they were doing and appreciate them for it.
Advice I’d give to someone earlier in their journey than I am, is to simply not give up. You’ll appreciate your success that much more when you look back and realize that you stuck with your guns, kept your faith and kept working on your dreams, regardless of what obstacles got put in your way.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My trainer AR Fox, he’s the man that’s responsible for not only making me the wrestler that I am today, but is responsible for training a boat load of wrestlers that are performing in a lot of high places today, and I’m very grateful for all the knowledge and confidence he’s given me. He’s someone that will definitely see the work you put in and help you elevate to where you want to be.
Also to the guys that I share the ring and and train with at the WWA4, we’re all pushing and motivating each other to be better at our craft and get to our next levels. Shoutout to them also, AYOO!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/travis3000
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itstravis3000
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@travisfinley3402?si=7D8w9-nEcm08xRWp
Image Credits
@bigrod_photos @sharktography @workshootphoto @intrfacellc @eenajphotograhyllc All on Instagram
