Luther Stone On Survival, Supreme Wrestling And His Future

At only 22 years old, Luther Stone already carries the top championship in Supreme Wrestling. But the story he wants wrestling fans to understand did not begin with a championship belt, a wrestling school or even his first match.

It began with survival.

Stone was born more than two months prematurely after complications threatened both his life and his mother’s. He says doctors warned his family that neither might survive. Earlier in the pregnancy, his twin had died in the womb.

Stone survived.

Years later, that history has become inseparable from the professional wrestler he is trying to become.

“I’m somebody who came from not having much and had to fight for everything I’ve got,” Stone told WrestlingHeadlines.com. “I’m physical, I’m aggressive, and when that bell rings, I’m gonna give you everything I have to give.”

That mentality is at the center of Stone’s identity.

“I want people to understand that I’m somebody who never quit,” he said. “There were plenty of times where I could’ve taken the easy way out or let my circumstances define me, but I didn’t.”

Stone is currently the Supreme Heavyweight Champion, but he is careful not to let the accomplishment become the entirety of his identity.

“The championship is proof of what I’ve accomplished, but it doesn’t define who I am,” Stone said. “The work, the sacrifices, and everything I had to overcome to get here are what define Luther Stone.”

Even the name carries more reality than wrestling fiction.

Luther is his actual first name, although he has gone by his middle name throughout most of his life. When the time came to create his wrestling identity, he finally put the name his mother gave him to use.

Stone completed the identity.

“‘Stone’ represents being hard to break,” he explained. “That’s something I’ve always connected with. You can hit me, you can knock me down, you can put me through hell, but I’m getting back up.”

Like many successful wrestling personas, Stone describes the character as an amplification rather than an invention.

“My energy, passion, aggression, and being loud show parts of me that I usually keep inside,” he said. “I’m not trying to be somebody I’m not. I’m just giving people the most unapologetic version of myself.”

One wrestler in particular helped shape what that version looks like.

Nic Nemeth, formerly known to WWE audiences as Dolph Ziggler, has been Stone’s favorite wrestler since childhood. The influence remains visible in Stone’s offense, including his jumping corner splash, swinging neckbreaker, jumping elbow drop and a version of Nemeth’s Zig Zag, which Stone calls the Danger Zone.

Stone’s development, however, has also depended heavily on people much closer to home.

He specifically credits OVW wrestler and Supreme Wrestling’s Stephen Steel with investing significant time in his development.

Steel has watched Stone’s matches without being asked, broken down mistakes, offered blunt criticism and even worked through match planning with him at five in the morning.

“Whether it was believing in me based on my potential, telling me straight up what looked bad, especially during my early matches, watching my matches without me even asking and breaking them down for me, or even planning out our own matches at five in the morning, he’s always been willing to help me improve,” Stone said.

Stone also credits “Papa Stone” and essentially anyone willing to give him legitimate criticism.

“I take it all in, whether it’s good or bad, because I know I’m going to improve and get better,” he said. “I have that need to constantly grow.”

Interestingly, one of the lessons the naturally giving Stone is currently learning has little to do with executing wrestling moves.

He is learning to be selfish.

“Not just in wrestling but in life, sometimes you have to be selfish for yourself,” Stone said. “That’s just something I’m still navigating at the age of 22.”

His approach to the physical and psychological preparation for wrestling is evolving as well.

Stone says he has learned to listen more closely to his body. Sometimes that means stretching, running the ropes or completing a light workout before a show. Other nights require something entirely different: sitting alone, listening to music or looking at material on his phone that motivates him.

Once the bell rings, however, his attention increasingly goes toward something beyond moves.

Making people believe.

“It’s been harped on to me from early on that wrestling isn’t just about putting on moves,” Stone said. “You have to make people believe, and you have to give the people what they want.”

Stone believes wrestling has already begun slowing down for him mentally. He can recognize mistakes and successes as they happen and then study his matches afterward to find what can be improved.

The details have become increasingly important.

“My facial expressions, where I’m looking, where I’m positioned, how I’m positioned, how I react to something my opponent does, when I slow things down, when I speed things up. All of that matters.”

Stone wants the audience to understand what he is experiencing without requiring him to explain it.

“If I’m hurt, I want you to believe I’m hurt. If I’m angry, I want you to feel that anger. If I’m fighting from underneath, I want you to be fighting with me.”

Then Stone summarized the distinction between performing moves and performing professional wrestling:

“Anybody can do a move. The hard part is making somebody care about why you’re doing it.”

Becoming Supreme Heavyweight Champion should seemingly represent confirmation that the work is succeeding.

For Stone, it is more complicated.

“Winning the Supreme Heavyweight Championship was a weird feeling, but not in the way someone would expect,” he said.

The championship validated the work, injuries and self-doubt he fought through to reach the top of Supreme Wrestling.

Yet Stone says he did not experience the sense of accomplishment he expected.

“I just feel like I’m supposed to be at the top. I’m supposed to be great.”

Stone recognizes the potential danger in that mentality.

“It’s a double-edged sword. Not having that sense of accomplishment will always keep me hungry, but I’m also my own worst enemy because of it.”

Pressure, however, is also where Stone believes he performs best.

Carrying Supreme Wrestling’s top championship has only increased it.

“I don’t want to just be somebody who won the Supreme Heavyweight Championship,” Stone said. “I want to be the first person you think of whenever you think of that championship.”

One of Stone’s championship appearances carried a significance that had little to do with establishing his legacy.

Stone competed against his trainer, Eric Draven, at Headlocks for Henry, the benefit event organized to support Henry Emily and his family during Henry’s battle with cancer.

For Stone, Henry’s fight struck somewhere personal.

“Having to fight to survive at a very young age is something that connects with me on a personal level,” Stone said.

Stone explained that he was born more than two months early because he was “essentially dying in the womb.” Doctors feared that both Stone and his mother could die.

“My twin had also died in the womb earlier in my mom’s pregnancy,” Stone said. “Even after I was born, the doctors still said I wasn’t going to make it.”

He did.

“So I understand what it’s like to have those odds staring you in the face, bearing down on you at such a young age, and having to fight with everything you have just to survive.”

That made participating in Headlocks for Henry about considerably more than another championship match.

“Having an event built around helping Henry Emily and his family was just beautiful to me.”

Standing across the ring from Draven added another layer.

Draven trained Stone, presented a serious challenge and had defeated him in their previous encounter.

“I was extremely proud to walk into that match as the Supreme Heavyweight Champion,” Stone said, “but I was even more proud and grateful to be a part of an event that stood for something beyond professional wrestling.”

Stone’s attention now turns toward another substantial test.

On September 12 at Supreme Wrestling’s Surviving The Steel, Stone is scheduled to defend the Supreme Heavyweight Championship against “Big D” Daniel Luck.

Stone considers Luck the most immediate threat to his reign.

“Ever since he’s been back at Supreme, he’s been unstoppable,” Stone said. “No one has even been able to knock him down, let alone defeat him.”

That gives Stone exactly the type of challenge he wants.

“If I can do what no one else has been able to do, that just proves to me even more that I am who I say I am.”

Stone refuses to limit that attitude to Luck.

“I don’t underestimate anybody,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re the biggest guy in the locker room, the fastest guy, the most technically gifted, or somebody nobody expects to beat me. If somebody is coming for this championship, I better be ready for a fight.”

The opponents Stone wants most are those capable of forcing him somewhere uncomfortable.

“The challengers who bring out the best Luther Stone are the ones who make me dig deeper than I thought I could,” he said. “I want somebody who’s going to push me to that limit, because that’s when you find out what kind of wrestler you really are.”

Despite already reaching Supreme Wrestling’s top position, Stone has no shortage of unfinished business.

“There’s always something missing, Tim,” he said. “That’s what keeps me going and keeps me hungry.”

Nemeth remains his dream opponent.

“I won’t stop grinding until I get that opportunity.”

Stone also wants to compete in a Three Stages of Hell match and expand into promotions throughout the region. He specifically named OVW, EMERGE Wrestling, Wrestling Theology Fellowship, Indiana Powerhouse Wrestling and Grindhouse among the places he wants to experience.

OVW holds particular appeal because of its relationship with TNA, potentially creating another pathway toward Stone’s larger ambitions and, perhaps eventually, his dream opponent.

More broadly, Stone wants variety.

“I want to test myself against as many different styles and personalities as possible,” he said. “I want to see what I’m capable of against everyone and everything this business can throw at me.”

The ultimate objective is straightforward.

Stone wants to get signed.

“That’s the ultimate goal, so I’ve got to aim high.”

He wants more championships, more defenses, more cities, more states and potentially more countries.

But when Stone eventually looks backward at his career, the destination is not the only thing he wants people to remember.

“I want people to look at my career and say, ‘That guy earned everything he got.’”

For a wrestler whose life began with doctors questioning whether he would survive, perhaps that is the most fitting measure of success.

Stone does not want the circumstances he was born into to define him. He does not even want the championship around his waist to define him.

He wants the fight required to get there to do it.

“I call myself The Man Who’s Simply Better Than The Rest,” Stone said, “and I’m gonna spend my career proving it.”

Luther Stone can be found on Instagram at @lutherstone_, Facebook under Luther Stone and TikTok at @thelutherstone. Booking inquiries can be directed to thelutherstone@gmail.com.