Cody Deaner recently took it upon himself to create a new persona now known as Deaner, and joined IMPACT Wrestling's Violent By Design.

Violent by Design is one of the newest stables in IMPACT Wrestling composed of Deaner, Joe Doering, Rhino and led by Eric Young. Their aim is to "cure the wrestling world of its sickness." They are also currently holding the IMPACT Tag Team Championship belts while invoking the Freebird Rule meaning any two members of the group can defend the titles.

Deaner is one of the four members of the group, and in this interview with Denise Salcedo he heavily discusses where the concept of Violent By Design came about and what his experience was like going from Cody Deaner and completely reinventing himself into this new aggressive version of himself, now known as Deaner.

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Cody Deaner On Breaking Out and Taking A Major Career Risk

Cody-Deaner- IMPACT Wrestling,
Rhino and Jake vs Doering and Deaner. IMPACT Wrestling.

Every wrestler's route is different in wrestling but Deaner decided to reinvent himself once he began noticing that he was being placed in a box, and there was a ceiling for levels he could not reach. "You're viewed this certain way by the fans and they've put you in a box and they think this is all you can do as a performer but now I am proving I've got so much more to offer."

After portraying his Cody Deaner persona for over a decade, Deaner felt that he was starting to become a "little complacent" and not just with himself but with his career. It wasn't until he realized he had a lot more to offer that he decided to take a risk."I have more to offer and if you're not evolving then you are getting stagnant."

However, taking risks isn't easy. Deaner notes that many of his friends in the business were shocked by his decision.

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"It's been scary. Some people are seeing the new version of me and are saying 'I'm scared of you.' But it's also been scary for me in the sense that it was risky because I was very much comfortable with the previous version of myself. I'd been kinda portraying that character for over a decade and was very comfortable both in the ring and out of the ring with my look and how I live my life and how I portrayed myself in the ring. I decided I need to make a change, I needed a creative evolution and I decided to take a risk." 

One of the previous attributes of Cody Deaner was the hair, one of the new features of Deaner is no hair, turns out that during this transition, the only moment he had a second of doubt was when it came time to shave his hair off.

"Maybe the 0ne moment was when I took those clippers and shaved my head, my big long mane that I had been growing for over a decade. I looked in the mirror and thought 'oh crap.'{laughs} Maybe this was a mistake and if it was there is no turning back now."

But like many who have taken a chance on themselves and have taken those risks, Deaner feels that this character transition has led to many rewards. "My career has done nothing but move forward and upward, onward and upward in a positive direction since I made the change."

The Creation of Violent By Design

Violent By Design, IMPACT Wrestling

When it comes to who was responsible for the creation of the group, that honor falls to Deaner as well. Not only was Deaner changing within himself but he also harnessed his creativity to help bring to life Violent By Design.

"I'd heard that there was potentially going to be a group kind of forming and revolving around Eric Young, who has been my friend for over twenty years. He actually had a hand in training me. But nothing was set in stone and I kinda got the creative juices flowing and decided this was something that I wanted to be a part of. It's time to evolve and the time is now. So I pitched the entire thing, how the transformation could happen, what it would look like and we ran with it. The group name was come up with, by myself, Eric Young and the guys in the group. The creative process has been super fun and super satisfying because it's our baby. We're creating what people are seeing right now so I couldn't be more proud of what we're coming up with and what we're presenting to the wrestling fans at this point in time." 

Violent By Design features four guys who are very different but work cohesively well together, and there is a reason for that:

"I've known Eric Young for over 20 years, I was there in Joe Doering's very first week of wrestling school, and I've been wrestling for over a decade with Rhino in the independent scene so us four guys we're not random people put together, we're guys that want to be working together, want to perform together and we want to come up with creative ideas together and we do that and it's super satisfying, because now not only are these guys close friends of mine, but now we're professional friends as well because our careers are dependent of one another. We rely on each other now. " 

Deaner Teases Violent By Design Might Kick The Forbidden Door Wide Open

Violent By Design IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Champions

The Forbidden Door has been a topic of late in wrestling, and Deaner made sure to say that not only is Violent By Design looking for more gold in IMPACT Wrestling but also in other places like New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling.

"There's more gold to be had in IMPACT Wrestling and there's more gold to be had in other companies. The fact that this forbidden door is now open with New Japan Pro Wrestling, with AEW, Eric Young said it himself right on television after we won these belts, he said that VBD is taking over and this world belongs to us and it's not just gonna be in IMPACT Wrestling, now that that Forbidden Door is open VBD might just have to kick it wide open. "

You can watch the entire interview with IMPACT Wrestling's Deaner and Denise Salcedo below.

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