Colt Cabana aims to show wrestling's comedic side in 'The Wrestling Road Diaries 3: Funny Equals Money'

Scott Colton has spent the last 18 years beating up his body in the wrestling business.

He has slammed his body on wrestling canvases in arenas with thousands of people in attendance and in high school gyms with less than 100.

The outcomes and stories in professional wrestling are pre-determined, but the toll the industry takes on its participants' bodies are very real, and at 36, it makes Colton wonder how much longer will his body will hold up.

But until that day comes, Colton is more than happy entertaining fans around the world as Colt Cabana, the fun-loving wrestler out of Chicago.

The satisfaction he gets from simply being in the ring, from seeming the smiles on people's faces, from hearing the laughter after a successful joke helps eases whatever bumps and bruises his body endures.

For being in the ring and making people happy is when Cabana is at his happiest and he does not intend on giving that up anytime soon.

"I definitely can do this for a long time," Cabana said during an interview with philly.com. "I'm not scared about it. Also, I set myself up in a position where I have a very successful podcast and I have a very successful t-shirt company, so I'm still within the wrestling industry."

"When my body gives out I'm still in the industry so it's something I really don't worry about. It just kind of makes me happy," he added. "With my wrestling style I can be wrestling into my 60s easily."

Although his wrestling persona is about putting smiles on people's faces, Colton's work has had its share of naysayers in the past.

One naysayer in particular, legendary wrestling manager Jim Cornette, once told him, "Funny doesn't equal money," while the two were colleagues in Ring of Honor.

"I always thought that was wrong," Cabana said. "I always thought it had its place. I always loved comedy wrestling and there's people who just love it."

Cabana cites the throngs of fans he entertains on a weekly basis and his own popularity, as evidence that funny does indeed equals money.

He has even gone as far as to provide visual evidence with the third installment of the The Wrestling Road Diaries series, which chronicles a portion of his life on the road as an independent professional wrestler.

In The Wrestling Road Diaries 3: Funny Equals Money, Cabana brought Scotland's Grado and Japan's Kikutaro to the United States for a run of shows with the sole purpose of showing people that comedy has its place in wrestling. The film is set to ship Nov. 6 and will be available for download Nov. 11.

"It's not that we're proving anyone wrong," he said. "We're just doing our thing. We're showing that there is a market out there and people love it. The old guard can think what they want, but I think there's a new generation of people who like to be just entertained and this is part of the entertainment process."

In Grado, Cabana sees an enigma of sorts that is unlike any other act in professional wrestling.

In Kikutaro, Cabana sees the greatest comedic wrestler in the world today who's sense of humor has helped him make appearances for promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH, Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Dragon Gate, Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), Chikara and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

"These are the two that really made sense," he said of Grado and Kikutaro. "I travel all over the world. I wrestle all over the world. I feel that I get to see all of the wrestlers out there and these were the two that came to my mind the minute I thought about doing a third version."

The third installment of The Wrestling Road Diaries is the latest in a portfolio full of passion projects for Cabana. Besides wrestling, Cabana maintains his own multi-media conglomerate of sorts with endeavors such as a very popular podcast called The Art of Wrestling, which he records in wrestling locker rooms around the world and his studio … apartment in Chicago.

He, along with One Hour Tees, runs a t-shirt company dedicated to professional wrestling, which features designs for wrestlers as popular as Chris Jericho as well as a plethora of independent stars.

But it is that passion that allows him to keep going. He simply loves what he does for a living and is more than happy with the way his career has turned out.

Cabana has been with major promotions in the past, including WWE, and has received offers to return to some of those promotions on a full-time basis.

Other than his return to Ring of Honor earlier this year, he has declined all of the offers. Even though he has re-established his relationship with Ring of Honor, Cabana remains a freelance performer, which is exactly the way he wants it.

He is more than comfortable with continuing to carve out his own niche within the wrestling industry. That niche is comedic wrestling and not only has it turned into money, but it has also turned into a long and fruitful career for Cabana.

"I'm very capable of doing any other style, but this is what makes me the happiest and that's the one I want to perform," he said. "That's what gets me out of the grind or whatever it might be if I'm ever unhappy — it is the idea of performing and my favorite idea of performing is comedy wrestling."