Impact Wrestling star Crazzy Steve was interviewed on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore podcast, where he revealed that he is legally blind:
“It’s true, yeah. Yeah, I am legally blind...Crazzy Steve, he is the real life version of Daredevil, in that I cannot see and I’m still able to do what I do. But before that, I never told anybody that I was blind. Because I didn’t want that to be part of the thing. I wanted to be known as a good wrestler. I wanted to be known as somebody that you can work with who has a cool character, who knows his character, who can meet all the criteria of a wrestler. From he’s in shape, he can cut a promo, he’s got a cool look. I wanted to have all that first, and I didn’t want the tagline of ‘Oh, he’s blind too’ to be part of that. And I guess that comes from a pride standpoint.”
“But yeah, I’m blind. I was born like totally blind, 100%. And then at a young age I found out that I had cataracts...When I was born I was two pounds, so I had to be put in an incubator. And at certain times in certain kids, because of being inside that incubator, it can cause them to have [cataracts]...They removed the cataracts at a young age, so I was able to somewhat see. I always had giant glasses and such and so forth. Can’t drive, small print, that sort of thing. But I also have glaucoma, so as I get older, my eyes continue to get worse. I’m like the Michael Jordan of not seeing; I’m really really good at it.”
He openly discussed how difficult it is to wrestle while being unable to see:
“As far as the ring ropes are concerned, I have a lot of trouble seeing those. Especially when I work House of Hardcore shows, which you find extremely hilarious, because everything is black. We have a black canvas, black ropes. Usually if we’re in the ECW arena, it’s black, and it’s so hard to see. As it pertains to Impact, their ropes change so often. Like sometimes they’re really dark blue and it’s tough to see. Right now they’re red, and that’s kind of okay, except for our backdrop is all red and white. So there’s like a side of the ring that is completely gone.”
Steve recalled his 2014 debut in Impact’s X-Division, where dives are commonplace, and how it led to some awkward exchanges with other wrestlers:
“I really didn’t know how people were gonna take it. Because on one hand I’m telling you, listen, you can’t dive on me because when you go in the lights, you’re gone, I can’t see you, and I might not be there for you. So I would rather not risk it. However, I’m gonna dive on you. Catch me. That trade-off isn’t fair. So it was uncomfortable for me to bring it up at first.”
Entrances are near and dear to any pro wrestler’s heart, and they are even more special for Steve because he can’t see the fans:
“I can’t see the fans. If I can’t see the ring ropes, then I for sure can’t see the fans. So even like upon my entrance, or anything like that, which is I think a really cool element to me, because I’m going strictly off of feeling...when I do make my entrance, it is very real and raw and it’s all based off of that feeling I get coming through the curtain, or the feeling that I need to project in order to change the room, so to speak.”
There’s so much more to unpack from this interview, such as his fascinating story about being trained by Eric Young. So head on over to the House of Hardcore podcast and give it a listen to hear what it’s like for Crazzy Steve to wrestle while being blind.