KJ Orso

“I hate the stereotypes. I absolutely love and respect the Tatanka and I love what he did for representing Native Americans. However, I think it’s been a played out trope in movies and in TV for so long,”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso expressed dislike for stereotypes while acknowledging Tatanka's contributions to representing Native Americans.

“I knew when I unmasked, I wanted to rep my heritage harder and so to get to do this against Tiny Giant and Rich Swann is gonna be a huge deal and I'm very much excited to show out.”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso discussed wanting to represent his heritage after unmasking and his excitement for the Skoden event.

“It’s huge. In wrestling, it's been less represented in a lot of ways. I feel like in a lot of ways, it gets overlooked and you don't get as much care as you probably should,”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso spoke about celebrating Native American culture in wrestling in an interview with OutKick Dropkick.

“I think that we're very proud people. I think we are a resilient people. I think that we have this innate fight within us that we love to show and whatever we decide to set our minds to. You got so many great representatives of tribes and cultures coming together on this great day to really show out and I think you'll see firsthand exactly how much fight native people have.”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso shared what he hopes fans at the Roulette Intermedium in New York will learn about Native American culture.

“I think we can have nods to our heritage and bring awareness to our people without being so stereotypical in a way that you see in other things.”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso said wrestlers could include subtle nods to their heritage without relying on stereotypes.

“So, you'll see a lot on my gear. I'll have a dreamcatcher either on the knee pad or on the back of my trunk, something very small, just a little nod, especially because I do think it's easy to look at our fight, our people as underdogs. And right now, I'm not trying to be an underdog, I'm trying to be a champion. So, let's focus on that first and foremost, and when the time is right, I'll show a little bit more representation. I'll do a little bit more with my culture to tell the stories that I wanna tell.”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso described cultural nods he plans to include on his gear and his focus on being a champion.

“I'm wearing right now my Choctaw shirt. That's my tribal shirt. I grew up dancing in powwows and traveling around. And besides like Tatanka or even farther back in the day, Chief Jay Strongbow, who's not even really native, it's been very few and far between do you get real representation. So, I'm very proud of this.”

KJ Orso · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-09

Orso described his Choctaw tribal background and the scarcity of real Native American representation in wrestling.