Out of everyone we met at Pro Wrestling Syndicate , we spent the most time with the man known to fans as the "Croatian Sensation ." Mario Bokara is one of PWS 's star wrestlers; an incredible athlete who delivers tremendous performances against whomever he's booked. Mario is also a first generation Croatian-American , something he was hesitant to embrace as part of his wrestling persona. Mario is a sixteen-year veteran, who first broke into the wrestling business at age nineteen . For the first several years of his career, Mario worked under the name "Mo Sexton." He remembers being told by colleagues and family members to make the most of his familial background, but Mario continued to decline the advice.
It was on a trip to Croatia that Bokara finally decided to incorporate his heritage into his wrestling gimmick. "I just wanted to do my own thing," he says, "But then we went to Croatia about four years ago. I hadn't been since I was a little kid. When I was over there I started picking up the language a little bit. People that didn't know me thought I was born there." He continues: "I had neck injuries around that time—I mean like five epidurals. I was losing feeling in my arms. But I was getting ready to come back and it was around that time that I was in Croatia. I told myself that if I'm really going to do this and make a go at it, I needed to try something completely different." His cousins were the ones who put him onto the Croatian theme that currently plays him to the ring.
We asked Mario how his relationship with Pro Wrestling Syndicate came to be, and where else he's worked in his illustrious sixteen years. Mario began with ECPW , where he spent four years before exhausting his limitations as part of the roster. After that he spent time in Louisville , trying out for—and working with —Ohio Valley Wrestling. Mario says that he wasn't mature enough for his first try-out with OVW , but upon trying his luck again, was offered a trainer's position with the world-renowned wrestling school. Mario tore his ACL on the one-year anniversary of his first day at OVW , and moved on to rehab the injury. "The biggest thing I did while down at OVW was—," Mario begins, "I worked with Santino Marella when he was still Boris Alexiev. I learned the arm-bar from him, I'll tell you that. And I was the only one who really sparred with him. Our match was really like a shoot match, it was awesome."
When asked who his favorite opponents on the Pro Wrestling Syndicate roster are, Mario says that he's always had great chemistry with Dan Maff: "We had the title match at Starland last time, and that match has always been one of my heartfelt favorites." I told Mario that he must be doing something right, because he's always entrusted to work opposite the biggest incoming stars. In recent months he's wrestled Davey Richards and Sonjay Dutt, and next month will face Kenny Omega. I asked Mario how "big of a deal" is it for him to be in that trusted position. His response was: "It's huge. I work with Reality of Wrestling as well too. That's the only other promotion I work for outside of PWS. I'm just very thankful to Eric Pleska and Pat Buck at Pro Wrestling Syndicate for everything they've done. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here. To me, they built Mario Bokara. I don't consider myself the best in the world or anything like that. I just want to be considered. I personally feel that I can hang with anyone in the business, and at the end of the day—if I'm too old for WWE—I belong in this business." Mario says that to be considered for a match against Kenny Omega is an honor, as was the chance to work with Davey Richards in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.
Mario is very appreciative of his brothers in the Pro Wresting Syndicate locker room. He says the respect he receives from his fellow wrestlers is unmatched in any other aspect of his life: "I love all these guys, I really do. I get treated with such respect from everyone. They value your opinion, and I really can't say anything else. I just love them to death." We begin to close things out and ask Mario who his favorite wrestler of all time is. He says that his favorites have changed throughout the years, but have included: Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Triple H—but his favorite of all time would have to be Eddie Guerrero . When asked about his favorite Christmas Movie of all time, Mario gives us two answers: Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. He says � Story is always on at his house during the holidays, and anybody who changes the channel is in for a rude awakening. We all then proceeded to quote various parts of � Vacation , before Mario showed us up by reciting an entire scene verbatim.
Thank you again to Mario Bokara for the time he took to talk with us. We look forward to chatting again at greater length in the very near future. You can also follow Mario on Twitter .
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