Interview with Viper (Piper Niven) ahead of history making UK match

Interview carried out by Andrew Ross (Freetime Media) 
After clocking up thousands of miles over the course of 2017, Viper (Kimberly Benson) is preparing for her homecoming at ICW’s Fear and Loathing.

It has been quite a year for the 26-year-old, who has already wowed crowds in Japan, excelled in WWE’s Mae Young Classic tournament and caught the eye during ITV’s World of Sport show, but she insists the year is far from finished.

At the Hydro she will compete in the UK's first triple threat Women's Steel Cage Match match, taking on Kay Lee Ray and Kasey with the Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) Women’s Championship on the line – a match in which she’ll encounter various challenges, from adjusting to the mammoth 15-foot structure, to surpassing her contributions at previous Fear and Loathing events in which she's played a huge part. 

“The Hydro show is a huge deal, this is like a homecoming, I’ve done so much in the last couple of years, but it always comes back to ICW – that is always going to be my home and no matter how far I stray, I always want to take all the good I’ve found around the world and bring it back for the fans to see here,” she explained.

“It’s going to be amazing and I’m so honoured to be a part of this history making night, but to be perfectly straight with you, I am so terrified. I’ve done so many matches and so many stipulation matches, but this isn’t something you can prepare for – nobody has a 15-foot cage just sitting about, it’s going to be in at the deep end. I am very excited about it and I know that I’m in there with two of the best women perhaps not just in the UK, but the world – I’m more than confident we’re going to put on a spectacular show.

“I feel like every year we do such amazing things that there becomes that expectation and pressure as to what we’ll do this time. It is getting literally insane the things we are doing.

“ICW is at the forefront of wrestling, we are known worldwide. I don’t think it’s going to be long before every single country knows about us.

“I’m really proud to be part of that, we are forging a way for so many other girl and guy wrestlers – ICW is the small company that could and did. It is a lot bigger than it was before, but I still feel the pride that we are that underground and independent company – we are always very anti-establishment and against the man – the cheeky scamp of independent wrestling.”

This year Kimberly has had the opportunity to perform across the world – catching the attention of fans across the globe with her matches in Japan and in the WWE’s inaugural Mae Young Classic invitational where she wrestled as Piper Niven. She would win two matches before exiting at the quarter-final stage, but impressed throughout with her high paced, high flying and powerful style of wrestling.

Despite the acclaim following her WWE appearance, it was almost an opportunity that passed the first ever ICW Women’s Champion by. Following the success of her appearance on ITV’s World of Sport, she negotiated a deal that would give her the chance to perform to millions across the UK on terrestrial television.

Unfortunately progress on the series stalled and when the Mae Young Classic was announced it seemed that those who had signed to World of Sport, would not be able to perform for WWE – thankfully though a chance email proved fruitful and what initially appeared to be a career low for Kimberly instead brought the biggest opportunity of her career.

“So many rumours and Chinese Whispers go around in wrestling, I had heard about the Mae Young Classic but I was actually in talks with ITV at the time about a World of Sport contract,” she explained.

“It kind of put me in an impasse as to what to do, I had an offer from something which was actually happening, while all I had heard about the WWE thing was rumours – I wasn’t really sure what was going on. I thought I couldn’t really say no to something that was going on right now, so went ahead with the World of Sport deal.

“We did the special, which was very well received, and then I reckon that everyone who had went with World of Sport felt like they had made their beds with WWE – it was quite clear it would have to be one or the other and we made our peace with that.

“When the series fell through we were all absolutely devastated, I had heard about the names that were taking part in the Classic and when I knew it was happening I was so gutted – it was the lowest part of my career, I thought I’d missed two boats – I feel no shame in saying when I heard the news that World of Sport wasn’t taking place I cried my eyes out.

“One of my friends who is also in wrestling told me to send an email and see what happens. That’s what I did, I asked them if they were still looking and thankfully they were, and it turned out for the best. I think you could say a new universe were able to set eyes on me. It has certainly opened up a lot of doors.”

The travel involved for Benson during the year has broadened her horizons. Often travelling with her best friend Kay Lee Ray, she’s loving the opportunities to see the world, but believes that travel is something quite often underestimated.

“The travelling is something I think people don’t quite understand and I get why they don’t. I feel like it takes a certain type of wrestler to be put in the situation that me and quite a lot of others are in now. People think that as wrestlers we work our Friday show, Saturday show and then the Sunday show – it’s not that at all,” Kimberley insisted.

“Depending on where I am working I can leave the house Thursday and not return until next Tuesday and that’s if I’m in the UK, never mind Japan or America. There’s a lot of work goes into being a pro wrestler, but don’t get me wrong I’m thankful for that. The positive side of the travel is that it’s where you get some of your best memories, travelling with your friends.

“It’s the best thing in the world, to do what you love most in the world with one of the people you love the most is amazing. We get to explore all these new places and have all these adventures – doing it with your best mate – there’s nothing better.”

As we move towards 2018, many of us will begin to set our targets for the coming year. With the ever changing and exciting landscape of professional wrestling, this is something Viper believes is near impossible, but her excitement is evident.

“I get asked a lot about what I see for myself in the next year and I can’t really answer that any more. I could never have guessed all the things that have happened this year,” she surmised.

“The thing with wrestling just now is that anything can happen right now – it’s so amazing to be part of it all. My current focus is on the next show – the Hydro.”

Looking ahead to a loaded card at the UK’s biggest wrestling event, Kimberly admitted picking the match she was looking forward to most out with her own was a difficult choice.

“I can’t take anything away from any match on the card, but I will be paying particularly close attention to the ‘King of Insanity’ match – I’ll probably be watching that through the spaces in my fingers mind you,” she laughed.

“The champion versus champion is another that’s really exciting as is the Kings of Catch against the Kinky Party – this is a night not to be missed.”