Soner Dursun ‘Turkish Wolf’ | Indie Spotlight Watch

If you haven’t heard the name Soner Dursun, you certainly will. As a member of TNT Extreme Wrestling, Dursun has earned a name for himself as the promotions IGNITION Champion. While the Manchester, UK, native is in the midst of year-plus run with TNT Extreme Wrestling, it was a match he had for Futureshock Wrestling with a certain star of AEW, that truly catapulted his name forward. In order to get a handle of the wrestler, Dursun it’s important to understand who helped shaped his career.

“They grew up on the outside of society. They weren’t looking for a fight and they were looking to belong.”  – S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Wrestling lent itself to a number of inspirations for Dursun but they were not his only ones. It was while watching what he called his Mount Rushmore of Wrestling in Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero, AJ Styles, and Shawn Michaels, that helped influence his ring style. However, others in combat sports have also shaped how he carries himself in the ring. For instance, Jorge Masvidal’s ability to hold his hands behind his back and then proceeds to lunge forward once the bell rings is another. Each of those he lists above, along with Masvidal, have all played an important role in creating Soner Dursun. Dursun also watches things outside of wrestling that he adds to his performance. Whether it is from music, films, and MMA, Dursun is always looked to evolve.

Soner Durson
Photography By Tony Knox
From FutureShock wrestling and TNT wrestling
At the tender age of 15, Dursun began to train at the Futureshock Wrestling Training Academy.

While some may find preparing for a career at such a young age daunting, Dursun never had that issue. In fact, he felt that he was a bit of an outsider. Someone that didn’t necessarily fit in but when it came to wrestling. Much like others that were training, their bonding came from also feeling like they were outsiders.

Dursun has said his family has watched wrestling for generations. His siblings and cousins were fans before he was even born. While he can’t isolate the first memory that he can remember watching it, he can attribute exposure to the sport ever since he was a baby. Dursun took his love of the sport as a fan and applied this to his training when he competed in his first match. In a six-man tag match, Dursun stepped across the ring from three notable British wrestlers. Two of which have either been a part of the WWE’s NXT or NXT UK brand and the other is a mainstay in the BritWres scene. Pete Dunne, Eddie Dennis, and Damien ‘No Fun’ Dunne were Soner Dursun’s opponents for the first time.

‘Turkish Wolf’

Throughout Dursun’s young career it was his match with current All Elite Wrestling star PAC that stands out. He said that Futureshock did a good job keeping the match itself a secret. The match was a coming of age moment for him. While Dursun has faced notable names in the past, this confrontation had him quite nervous. For Dursun he felt he had to prove not only to himself but to prove to fans that he is able to keep up with the best wrestlers in the world. His emotions ranged from fear of failure to confidence and everything in between. However, Soner is quite critical of himself and had the match not been a success than the story told today would be very different. He had the best match of his career and the rest, as they say, is history.

Soner Durson
Photography By Tony Knox
From FutureShock wrestling and TNT wrestling

An eight-year veteran of the ring, Soner Dursun describes his style as a ‘farce high flyer’. If the term is unfamiliar, Dursun best describes it as a high flyer that others don’t see him as such. The way in which he is able to put a match together is quite personal. Moves involving the ropes are best situated around the dives he takes. In fact, he also shares that he doesn’t jump around nearly as much as he did five years ago. The reason is simple.

I don’t feel it’s necessary, telling a story in the ring is the goal and constant “High flying” just takes away from that.

Dursun is versatile competing to fit the needs of the show. He understands that the quality of the match is also partly due to the ability to adjust. Whether it is someone that is a high flyer, can make you laugh or someone he is physically outmatched by, Dursun can play the role that best serves all involved.

There’s no “Right” or “wrong” way of wrestling, it all has it’s place and I try to be as ranged as possible.

Soner Dursun | Indie Spotlight Watch

Dursun’s popularity is quite simple. He’s called upon to compete, he accepts and the result is one where everyone ultimately wins. He claims issues of politics have ever played upon him during this time. With each opportunity comes a new chance to show everyone what he can do.

As the Futureshock champion, Dursun wants to continue to have the best matches on the card. With each of his championships, Soner holds its value and importance the same. However, it is his title as Futureshock champion that is the most special to him. As TNT IGNITION champion, he aspires to make fans despise him! Therefore, in the event that he loses the championship, he hopes that a euphoric wave overcomes those in attendance. Thus far, his plan has been effective.

When asked about his future and how he wants to be remembered, Dursun responded –

Make enough of a name for myself that people will be disheartened when I retire. I guess you could say it’s about legacy as cheesy as that sounds, I wanna leave pro wrestling knowing that no matter what I do next my name will be remembered.

Dursun’s match with PAC is his pinnacle to date. So much went into that match that says a great deal about Dursun. Whether it was his preparation or an increase in his cardiovascular conditioning, Dursun wanted to be ready for anything. The match was the culmination of Dursun taking part in MMA classes, swimming, or putting on virtually 5 pounds of muscle. He didn’t want to be out of place either against PAC.

Dursun shared these feelings once the match ended;

After the match, I was more than pleased with myself and I always believed I was capable of wrestling alongside the best wrestlers in the world but to actually do it helped me with my confidence in the ring massively.

For all that Soner Dursun has achieved he also aspires to bring British Wrestling at the highest levels.