video — page 2

This was filmed in 2010

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

It runs for two hours and eleven minutes long

D-Lo starts by saying he was a huge wrestling fan growing up in New Jersey. He was friends with Tom Carter (Reckless Youth) and would actually wrestle in their backyards as he tells a story of how they once had a “cage match” as kids by putting four soccer nets together.

As a kid, he was a fan of guys who worked hard in the ring like Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and Ron Simmons. He said that he went to the Civic Center as a kid all the time and even saw Nikita Koloff win the United States Title from Magnum TA, which made him happy as he was a big fan of Nikita.

He graduated from the University of Maine then went on to work in an advertising firm in New York. Carter was still trying to wrestle and got him back into it as they rented the ring on weekends from Larry Sharpe at the Monster Factory, who watched them, and told D-Lo that he was athletic and asked if he thought about doing it for real. He said at the time he weighed close to 400lbs. Sharpe told D-Lo that he moved around well and asked if he thought about becoming a wrestler and told him that if he sold 50 tickets he could be on his show. So, he sold four tickets and bought the rest himself and that was how he wrestled his first match.

After that he worked for Sharpe for about a month and said that the only thing he learned from him was how to throw a chop and said that it wasn’t even the correct way. At that time, Balls Mahoney was working for Sharpe too and got a call from Jim Cornette to work for him in Smoky Mountain as Boo Bradley. Balls did not have his driver’s license at the time so D-Lo drove Mahoney down to Tennessee for the show.

While in Tennessee, D-Lo approached Cornette and asked him for a chance and when asked what he could do, he said a moonsault so Cornette gave him an eight minute long match. After that, they went home, as it was during a TV taping, and just one month later, he was working for Smoky Mountain after just over a month in the business.

D-Lo is asked about working the Independent Scene in the Northeast as he tells a story of when he was just a few days in the business, he was at a show where Chris Benoit was backstage shaking everyone’s hand. D-Lo was having a conversation with someone as that was happening and said that he saw a shadow behind him as Benoit waited for him to finish his conversation before shaking his hand and introducing himself. D-Lo says that left such an impression on him that he does that in locker rooms today, stating that there is no difference between himself and someone else just because he has wrestled more matches and does not buy into that “superstar bullshit” mentality.

He did a few squash matches for the WWF and tells a story of how he was wrestling with some other guy to face Owen Hart & Yokozuna and how Pat Patterson called him “Acie Corner,” despite his name being Acie Connor. When asked why he was calling him that, Patterson that said it was “Corner” because all he was going to do in the match was stand in the corner. He then talks about wrestling as a jobber against Earthquake and was going to get sent against the ropes so Earthquake could clothesline him but was nervous and his foot hit the edge of the ring so he stumbled forward as Earthquake clotheslined him on the top of the head and he almost got legitimately knocked out. D-Lo said that the referee told him to do it again and he did by taking a great bump and after that incident, D-Lo believed that Vince McMahon would never hire him because of that.

When asked about the WWF locker room at that time (1994-1995) and if it was welcoming to him, D-Lo said that it was not and that there were a lot of cliques at that time, prefacing that there was “no pun intended” with that comment. He said that he never talked with Vince and just dressed quietly as he dealt with the agents, which were Blackjack Lanza and Tony Garea. He did say that the locker room was a lot more welcoming when he joined the company in 1997.

D-Lo speaks about Jim Cornette and puts him over for giving him his big break into wrestling and says that he was like Vince was in the WWF with the way he put together the show, calling SMW a “mini-WWF.”

He talks about wrestling Tracy Smothers, who had just landed from a tour of Japan, and when Smothers got handed his paycheck, he began to punch the lockers repeatedly as he was pissed. D-Lo then approached him and said that they were wrestling tonight so Smothers told him to call the match. D-Lo was still just a few months into the business at this time so they went out and had the match and afterwards backstage, Cornette asked D-Lo if he had any camouflage pants, to which D-Lo said no but that there was an Army-Navy store nearby, so Cornette told him to run out and get some and when he came back, Cornette told him to go out with the Gangstas as he was a new member of the group. He then says how he started that show as Acie Connor and ended it as D-Lo Brown.

When asked about working with the Gangstas, D-Lo said that New Jack the character is a lot different than he is in real life and that he is a really smart guy and always knows what he is doing and can always play up his character to work for him while Mustafa was always laid back and said that he liked to smoke a lot of pot and would giggle a lot.

He does tell a story about New Jack, who hit him a few times as they were both trying to get with the same girl then the next day in the car, Jack apologized and said it was due to “Jack Daniels.” He also denies New Jack’s claim that he mowed Jim Cornette’s lawn but said that he was part of the ring crew.

D-Lo then talks about the “Smoky Mountain Flophouse” and how he was living there at the time with Balls Mahoney, Glen Jacobs (Kane), and Chris Jericho among others. He slept on the couch as he was the newbie but told by someone that he could sleep in Jericho’s bed as he was in Japan. That morning at 2am, Jericho came home and saw D-Lo in his bed. After D-Lo introduced himself, Jericho said “I’m Chris Jericho now get the fuck out of my room.” D-Lo says that Jericho had recently denied this story. D-Lo said that Jericho was not even mad but just at a twenty hour flight and wanted to lay in his bed.

He then tells a story of when Cornette was managing the Rock n’ Roll Express as they were facing the Gangstas. Cornette was going to get color but as he was blading, Mustafa kicked him in the back of the head as Cornette nearly scalped himself. D-Lo then said that Cornette went over to him because he thought D-Lo would be the lighter worker and told him to work on him. D-Lo talks about how at that time, the only way he learned to punch was by putting his other hand on the opponents head but when he did that, his hand slipped due to the blood and he ended up stiffing Cornette by accident, who shouted out “Jesus Christ” and backstage Cornette yelled at him for hitting him harder than anyone has ever before in the ring. D-Lo said that they have recently talked and laughed about the story.

D-Lo puts over the Rock n’ Roll Express for being great workers who taught him a lot and says Ricky actually would sit down and tell him what worked and what did not and credits them, Tracy Smothers, and the Dirty White Boy for taking the time to help him out during his time in SMW.

He is asked about the party scene in SMW as D-Lo said that they were in a small town in Tennessee and there was nowhere to go there but they did know two girls who worked at the BP who would give them free beer that they would take back to their house.

When asked about if there was anyone in SMW that shocked him by not making it big in the business, D-Lo said that Brian Lee did as he thought he was witnessing greatness in the making when seeing him in SMW.

On how he wound up in the WWF, D-Lo said that he was bouncing around between SMW and other territories as Cornette was trying to get a hold of him as the WWF wanted him as a “gimmick jobber” like TL Hopper or Freddie Joe Floyd but he missed the call at home as he was in Puerto Rico at the time. D-Lo called him back as Cornette first asked him where he was but then told him that he might have something better for him as D-Lo was sent a plane ticket and told to wear a suit as he was going to appear on the debut episode of “Shotgun Saturday Night” as a member of the Nation of Domination and had Ahmed Johnson give him the Pearl River Plunge on top of a car. D-Lo then said that Vince came up to him and said that since he was putting his body on the line for his company then he was going to put himself on the line for him as he started to wrestle for the company.

His initial impression of Vince was that he has a commanding presence the second he walks into a room and how he demands 1,000% from everyone involved and will give you that same effort in return. He also talks about the first few times he was around him that he was quiet and did not bother him and one day at catering he walked by as Vince shouted his name then said “are you too good to talk to me” then after a few seconds after that he started to laugh and after that D-Lo was comfortable around Vince.

D-Lo said that he was welcomed in the locker room and credits Ron Simmons for taking him under his wing so no one ribbed him. D-Lo also said that he became Ron’s driver for a while as well. He calls Ron “the father he never had” and said that Ron has been involved in every major decision in his life both in and out of wrestling.

He calls the “Nation of Domination” gimmick the most fun he has ever had in the business but thinks it happened two years too early because they were pre-Attitude Era and thinks they would have been bigger if it actually occurred during the Attitude Era. He then says that they were the only faction in which everyone else went on to bigger things.

D-Lo tells a story of how he worked against Vader. Ron Simmons told D-Lo not to let Vader take advantage of you in the ring as D-Lo said that Vader was a bully. D-Lo also said that Vader would make a habit of punching you in the corner and as you tried to time his head-bobs, he would mess them up purposely and end up stiffing you. Well, after he got stiffed, D-Lo heard Simmons tell him not to let Vader hurt you so D-Lo ended up clipping Vader in the nose with a punch. Vader then cocked his head back as D-Lo said that he backed down the bully and says that was the day he grew up in the business as he could protect himself.

When he first met HHH, D-Lo said that right away he could tell that he had a great mind for the business but as the years went on he saw HHH morph into what he is today then says how it is amazing to him that someone who should be so secure with there position and image is so self-conscious. He says that he got along with HHH, who was even a supporter of him, but is still dumbfounded as to how much HHH worries about everything.

On the Rock, D-Lo said that at first when he came in with the big poofy hair he saw nothing special in him but after he hurt his knee, D-Lo said they spent a lot of time together and said after talking with him he saw that the Rock was someone who would be willing to try stuff out and then said the night he walked out and confronted Steve Austin was when he first thought he could become a star. D-Lo said that he never expected him to be a big movie star but thought he could get big in wrestling.

When asked if the Rock became more difficult to deal with as his star power grew, D-Lo said that at times he would be like the Rock character in real-life situations then says he got his “You better recognize” line when he would tell the Rock that he was acting like that. He says that they were always cool but its hard to keep in touch with him today as he changes his phone number several times a month.

At first, D-Lo was scared of facing Ken Shamrock and would be gentle around him in the ring until Shamrock told him to stop treating him “like a little bitch.” D-Lo then puts over Shamrock for being a cool guy.

On his thoughts of the “Montreal Incident,” D-Lo said that he was in that dressing room the day and nothing was out of the ordinary. He then said he saw it take place backstage on the monitor and was in shock then saw Bret Hart storm in and after that Shawn Michaels and HHH came in denying that they had prior knowledge of the finish of their match. Vince came in and kicked everyone else out of the locker room so they stood at the end of the hall and about five minutes later they saw Vince stagger out as they later learned was the result of him getting hit by Bret.

When asked about whether or not he ever spoke with WCW, D-Lo said that he did have some informal talks with WCW right after Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett joined the company as was planning on going but a month before he WWF deal was set to expire, Vince spoke with D-Lo and gave him the “Loyalty Speech” and after that D-Lo joked how he was running through a brick wall trying to get to Jim Ross so he could re-sign with the company, despite making less money than he would have in WCW.

D-Lo said that Ahmed Johnson was not the brightest bulb in the shed and how he did not have a clue, despite liking him. He then tells a story of how Ahmed was wrestling Undertaker at a PPV for the Title. Ahmed came up to Jerry Brisco in catering and said that he didnt think he was ready to carry the title yet and kept believing that he was actually winning the title when he was not as Jerry told Ahmed to speak with Vince. D-Lo then talks about how Vince did all but throw buckets of money at him and Ahmed still managed to fuck it up.

He then talks about how he got into a fight with Ahmed one night. Ahmed was facing the Rock and wanted to hit him with a Michinoku Driver less than a minute into the match and when told that was Taka’s finisher, Ahmed said he didnt care as Taka was “twelve inches tall” as D-Lo tells us in his hilarious Ahmed voice. Backstage, Ahmed told Rock that he was going to “‘moke his ass” then D-Lo intervened as Ahmed threatened him. Ahmed then grabbed a paint can and tried to swing it at D-Lo, who said that he let Ahmed fall near him and dipped him so he could apply a headlock. He then asked Ahmed if he was proud of himself as the Godfather broke it up. The next day, the met with Jim Ross who told them both that in the WWF they have to get along  or you will have to go along, as he looked over at Ahmed. After that meeting, Simmons told D-Lo not to worry about Ahmed because he was a “stupid motherfucker.”

D-Lo said that the Godfather was cool and tells a funny story about him. While in Buffalo, they were going to drive to Toronto for a show. A few hours before they were going to leave, Godfather told him that he got some “great chronic” so D-Lo reluctantly smoked some and it knocked him on his ass. D-Lo said he took a nap and asked to get woken up before 4pm. He remembers Godfather waking him up and the next thing he knew it was 2am and he was in his hotel bed in Toronto as he did not recall who he wrestled that night, driving through customs, or the driving. Later that morning, the Godfather laughed at D-Lo when he saw him.

On the subject of racism in wrestling, D-Lo said that he has never been the victim of it himself but knows that it is there. When asked about the incident between Michael Hayes and Mark Henry (with Hayes saying he was more “nigga” than him), D-Lo said that was blown out of proportion as if you know Hayes he actually thinks he is black and says if the WWE was not a public company nothing would have happened. He also says that Hayes is not racist at all.

He is now asked about the incident when Droz got paralyzed. D-Lo says that they have talked about it several times since and they had no idea what went wrong as they did the running powerbomb spot to him a 100 times prior. He said that the doctor originally described the injury as something that could be fixed. D-Lo calls that night the worst in his entire life and the next day did a house show match and said he was mentally unable to perform and the next day he flew home and decided to quit as he called Jim Ross, who told him to take a few days off and after missing TV that week, Ross called up D-Lo and told him that there are risks everytime you perform and to not let two careers end on the same night so D-Lo came back. D-Lo said that he has not been the same wrestler since and has been unable to get that same swagger back, talking about how he was deeply depressed at that time and even separated from his fiance, although they are married today. He then said that he started to drink and screw around with different women until he sought treatment for depression. D-Lo said that he did visit Droz a few times but shortly after that he shut everyone out of his life, losing a few friends as a result.

D-Lo said that he had a really good repoire with Steve Austin and would play around backstage to find out various ways Austin could hit him with a stunner, which led to Austin selecting him to be in the 1-800 Collect commercial.

He tells an Owen Hart rib story of how they were wrestling and Owen kept telling him to look down at the referee’s and his own shoes as the laces kept getting untied. They got fixed then Owen told him to look down for a second time and they were untied again, to D-Lo’s amazement. D-Lo then talks about how Owen always wanted everyone to have a good time. He is then asked about the night of Owen’ death and how after working in the opener, he walked by him and saw Owen in the Blue Blazer outfit with the production crew. When Owen fell, D-Lo remembered Jerry Lawler running backstage, looking white as a ghost, saying that he thinks Owen his dead as D-Lo remembers seeing Owen rolling through on a stretcher and how he looked purple and an hour later he was pronounced dead. When asked if the show should have continued, D-Lo said that it is not fair to say Owen would have wanted the show to continue or not because no one knew but that people would have found fault in Vince’s decision no matter what he did.

He is asked about HHH and Stephanie’s relationship and if the boys knew at the time. D-Lo said that they were at Madison Square Garden when HHH and Mick Foley had a bloody match. D-Lo was standing in the Gorilla position with Stephanie, who he said looked at HHH like his wife would look at hi then noticed Chyna staring down Stephanie from behind, looking like she was going to kill her and a week or so after that, it was announced that HHH and Stephanie were dating.

D-Lo is asked about several workers. He said that X Pac is one of his favorite wrestlers to work with, even saying that he was tailor-made to wrestle together. D-Lo said his favorite match was against Val Venis at SummerSlam 1998 as they were given a lot of time to go out and do what they wanted. He then talks about Test and said that he was saddened but not shocked at his passing and said his death could have been avoided because he had been to rehab a few times and knew the dangers of what he was doing. He then goes into addiction problems and is basically pissed off at those who fall into addiction. He calls Bob Holly a “tough son of a bitch” and how he could be an asshole at times. D-Lo tells a story of how he was trying to get hired and doing a dark match with Bob and was supposed to run into his boot but at the last second, Bob put his foot back, instead of leaving it out, then booted D-Lo in the face, busting his lip. After that, Bob told D-Lo he was supposed to turn his head.

He talks about how he hates hardcore wrestling, saying it is garbage. He also jokes that he is a “little bitch” when it comes to that style.

Now, he is asked about getting sent to Puerto Rico with Chaz Warrington (Headbanger Mosh). D-Lo said he was miserable there. Tiger Ali Singh, who D-Lo simply describes as an “idiot” their manager as part of Low Down, got hurt taking a bump and they decided to take Low Down off of TV. D-Lo said he felt miserable as he was back to where he started again and felt the demotion was a slap in the face, especially because his manager got hurt. He also felt he did nothing wrong to get sent to the minors.

D-Lo said that when Tazz came into the company, there was some problems between them as they both wore orange. After ribbing each other for a bit, they got to know each other and stopped that.

When asked about the Jackyl (Don Callis), D-Lo said that Bradshaw ribbed him constantly. He recalls a few instances when Bradshaw nailed his clothing to the wall and then raised his bag 50 feet in the air on a hook. He also recalls Bradshaw buying a bunch of padlocks and started to lock everything that he owned. D-Lo said that it reached a point where it was uncomfortable as to how much Bradshaw hated Callis.

On what happened after he tried out as an announcer for the WWF, D-Lo said that it went well and was part of the first all-black announce team in wrestling with Jonathan Coachman on “Sunday Night Heat.” He considered seguing out of wrestling and becoming a full-time commentator until they replaced him with Lita.

He talks about working with Vince Russo and how they talked a lot as they came up with the chest protector gimmick. He refers to Russo as an “evil genius” and how he is unfairly represented at times as not every bad idea in the world is his fault, despite people blaming him for them. D-Lo then said that Russo once wanted to call him the “Phat Man” as D-Lo said he did not like that idea.

D-Lo was not too fond of getting squashed by Three Minute Warning as he felt he should have been bigger than just a jobber.

When Eric Bischoff came into the company, D-Lo said he was not well received at first and says that when Bischoff made his debut, they did not tell anyone and Bischoff made his first appearance when Booker T was talking live on air. Booker was not told that Bischoff was going to be brought into the company and his reaction was genuine. D-Lo did say that he got along fine with Bischoff.

On how he found out that Vince McMahon bought WCW, he said it was on TV, just like everyone else. He was next to Ron Simmons when that happened who said “we in deep shit now.”

D-Lo said that the WCW locker room was not well received and only a few could survive. When asked about Buff Bagwell, he said that he never saw anyone get fired so fast in his life and how he laid an egg out there.

When Shawn Michaels returned, D-Lo said that he was a completely different person than he was before.

He calls Brock Lesnar a “freak” and how he doesn’t look real due to how strong he is, calling him a close second to Mark Henry in terms of the strongest person he has ever seen.

On the “Tough Enough” concept, D-Lo was not a fan of exposing the business as he thinks it would turn people away and how everyone would get in the business as they think they could wrestle and as a result, wrestling would get watered down.

D-Lo said that the first time he was released from the WWE it was an amicable split as his contract ran out and he wanted to do something else with his career instead of being a jobber. He said that Vince sat him down in Los Angeles and was the one who told him he was getting released.

Vince Russo got him into TNA. At the time, D-Lo said it was less political and a lot of hungry, young guys trying to make the product better. He calls Jeff Jarrett a difficult boss as he had a certain vision and would not take anything else into consideration.

He thought that Monty Brown could have been a star in the business as he had a unique look that stood out and hopes he can return to wrestling after taking care of his family issues.

On how he got back into the WWE, D-Lo was working for Pro Wrestling NOAH and did three dark matches and talks of him getting brought back in happened and he signed. At first, he was told that bigger things were going to happen such as winning the IC Title but after beating Santino, he was off of TV for six weeks then came back and lost to him as he primarily did house shows then on a TV taping in Europe he lost to Mike Knox in 45 seconds and a month later was released due to “economy issues.”

D-Lo said the locker room is completely different from when he started as there is no freedom to make mistakes as everything is so regimented. He said that if the Rock came along today, he would not have been as big as he was because he would not have been given the chance to learn from his mistakes on his interviews. He also talks about there is no more video games, card playing, or music as it is all about wrestling and not a fun atmosphere.

He is a big Randy Orton fan and remembers watching Orton up close as he was a lumberjack and was amazed at how good he was. He also cites Cena and Batista for being able to do great things with what they are given. He then predicts that in three years, Ted DiBiase Jr’s career will be similar to Orton’s.

On wrestling in Japan, D-Lo said that the more you get over there, the more they use you compared to the WWE, when it doesnt matter how over you are, citing Christian at the end of his first WWE run as how he was over yet doing opening matches.

D-Lo got his job back with TNA and how says he is just about transitioned into his role as an agent. He said he was chosen to help lead the company in a different direction and thanks Dixie Carter and Vince Russo for giving him a chance to lead TNA into the future.

When asked about the WWE Wellness Policy, D’Lo said that he was tested 19 times in six months so he knows they are testing in the company but said they will see how the company plays out over time.

On Chris Benoit, he said that the Chris he knew never would have done that but the one who did can rot and burn in hell. He does say that he chooses to remember him as the guy who helped him out in his career.

The interview wraps as he wishes he could have worked with Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels and him joking that he wouldn’t write a book because no one would buy it then he tells the fans how much they appreciate him and how he hopes that they were entertained when he performed.

Final Thoughts: I thought that this was a solid interview. D’Lo came across as a good guy and did not have an agenda or anything like that at all. He also displayed a good sense of humor and seems like an intelligent guy. His Ahmed Johnson impression was a riot too.

Listening to him talk about the incident with Droz and how it impacted his life was a very interesting part of the interview. It seemed like he never did recover from that and is life was sent into a tailspin of sorts as a result.

He also gave good insight into the atmosphere of the locker room during the Attitude Era and also how different it was from when he returned for his second WWE run.

Overall, a solid interview sprinkled with insight and humor that I recommend if you are a fan of the Attitude Era. For those expecting a lot of party stories, there aren’t any as he did not discuss those, but there are plenty of other stories to keep you amused throughout.

You can purchase the video for $20 by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithd-lobrown1.aspx

This was filmed in 2000

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry

It runs for two hours long

The first question is for Meanie as he is asked how he got into the business. Meanie said that he started to send out feelers to different wrestling schools while a senior in high school. He wanted to go to the Malenko school as but that did not happen until he got a call from Phyllis Lee, who was from Ohio and helped get a few wrestlers their start, like Sean Waltman. Meanie said he worked for a year after graduating then went up to Al Snow’s school in Lima, OH.

Meanie said that Snow was “anal” as a trainer as he made sure you knew one thing before going to the next part. Meanie did say that he instilled a lot of confidence in him as Meanie grew up with bad asthma and his family never thought he would make it as a wrestler but Snow saw something in him.

His first match he wrestled as “Brian Estevez,” as he looked somewhat like actor Emilio Estevez. After that he was told that name was shit then he switched to “Brian Rollins” as an homage to singer Henry Rollins.

He then started to travel around to the independents in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was in the MEWF when he met Raven and Stevie Richards. Meanie said there was a local guy who dressed as Batman that did not want to bump so Meanie took his place on the card. Meanie did a moonsault in the match that Raven complimented him on then after the show, Raven thought Stevie needed a sidekick and considered Meanie. Raven went to Paul Heyman with the idea and called Rollins the Blue Meanie from the “Yellow Submarine.” Meanie constantly puts over Raven for having a great wrestling mind.

When he first got to ECW, Meanie said there was a ton of veterans like Shane Douglas and Mick Foley and did not want to say anything dumb, because he said that he had a penchant of doing that, so he quietly changed into his attire. At first, Meanie said most of the locker room was standoffish but after a little while he gained acceptance from the veterans.

On who came up with the parody ideas, Meanie said that Raven came up with the Fabulous Ones idea then after that they kept on coming up with things. He talks about having to wear blackface and an afro wig to parody Michael Jackson and how he did not want to do it at all and even went as far as pleading with New Jack to say that he was offended by the gimmick with the hopes it would get squashed but Jack said he wanted to watch it happen. Meanie said that he loves New Jack.

Originally, the bWo was supposed to be a one night deal only but that took off and launched Stevie Richards singles career. After that, Meanie started teaming with Nova.

Meanie said that he got along with Chastity but that she had a lot of heat with people as she was saying the wrong things to certain people.

He tells a story of the Bluedust promo. He was supposed to buy blue paint and head to the studio to film a vignette but ended up forgetting it and Raven had to paint him in blue cake icing. Now that he was covered in icing, they wouldn’t let him go back into the car and had to walk down the street covered in icing to a park as he was getting bit by bugs. He then said he was half naked lying down on the grass and when they wrapped up the filming, a cop arrived. Meanie got startled and got up, exposing his bare ass, as he was trying to cover himself. The cop asked what they were doing as it was Meanie, Raven, Sandman, and the Sandman’s wife and son. Sandman then asked if they could finish two more takes as everyone wanted him to just shut up. The cop did not arrest them as Meanie jokes how he almost went to jail for the BlueDust promo.

Now, he is asked about showing up to the RAW tapings as part of the bWo gimmick. He remembers watching RAW as they were bringing up ECW on commentary and Lawler even mentioned him. Heyman then told them that they were showing up to RAW. Meanie said that he was nervous being on live TV and a few of the WWF guys ribbed them by sending them all over the place as they were looking for their locker room.

Meanie is asked about Stevie Richards. He said that they were really cool at first but there was tension between Stevie and Raven and after that, Stevie would get heat on him. He tells a story of how they were supposed to do a Kiss gimmick and wanted him to go tanning and have “Kiss” on his stomach. After that, Stevie started calling him up to do stuff that Raven asked him to do personally then Meanie talked about how Stevie is a paranoid guy. He said that Stevie started to get ribbed a bit by guys like Taz and Perry Saturn who called him “Superstar” Stevie Richards and while it was meant to be playful, Stevie took it the wrong way and bolted for WCW. After he came back to ECW, Meanie said that Richards came up to him and Nova and wanted them to cut his shirt for him as they both felt that he left them and is now coming back asking them to do this for him so they declined and Stevie pissed everyone off before leaving.

When asked about how he got signed by the WWE, Meanie said that Al Snow called him about coming to the WWE. Meanie said that in May of that year (1998) they wanted to sign him and give the gimmick of “RAW Boy” to him as a spoof of the Nitro Girls. He then said that someone gave the WWE the impression that he was going to be at RAW that day and his name was even on the lineup sheet as people were calling him that his name was on the lineup sheet for RAW when he was never told to be on the show. However, Russo was still interested and Meanie said that he was supporting his mother and grandma and needed to help with his grandma’s medical bills so he got Heyman’s blessing to go to the WWE.

Originally, Stevie was supposed to be brought in with him but he was recovering from neck surgery and they were scared he might get hurt. They were supposed to run in and make the save for Gillberg for their debut.

He puts over Goldust and says he is one of the funniest guys but that he had some issues at the time and one day at a TV taping he was told not to wear any shirts about Goldust as he knew then that he was getting let go from the company. After that, he sat around until Stevie finally came in and they teamed for a bit.

Meanie talks about how little he knew about how the WWE worked backstage as one day Jim Ross told him if he ever considered losing weight. Meanie said that he took it as advice but then talks about his childhood about having asthma and being bullied for his weight so still got somewhat defensive by that.

On his release, Jim Ross and Bruce Prichard came up to him backstage after a “Sunday Night Heat” taping and told him that he did everything he asked of the company and did not cause any problems but that he should go somewhere and “throw on a fresh coat of paint” and in the future he could try to come back. Meanie said he later realized that line about a fresh coat of paint was about his weight. Meanie said that he worked hard in the dates he had left and even got positive reports from the road agents. He then said that Russo told him that the “Save the Meanie” online campaign garnered so much email that it crashed the WWE entire email system and that he went to Vince McMahon about how fans wanted to see him then Jim Ross told him that he was going to remain with the company.

Shortly after that, Meanie said that he was traveling to Chicago in the middle of a snowstorm and that Kevin Kelly called him about doing “Byte This” and how he wanted to talk about the fans saving his job so he did the interview in the car and was asked about if he would now lose weight as Meanie and he did not think it was a big deal but he took advice from Bob Holly and Tori, who were both in great shape.

When the WWF asked him to go to Memphis, Meanie said that he was supposed to work on the Survivor Series but that they booked the Big Show to destroy him before the PPV and he was stuck with nothing to do and did not know he was even going there until he read it on 1Wrestling.com. Meanie then called up the site and they said Terry Golden from Memphis gave them a list of names heading down there and it was Mr. Hughes, Bobcat, Reckless Youth, K Krush (Ron Killings) and a few other guys. A few days later, Prichard called him up and said that he was going to Memphis and had to be there in two days. Meanie then had to pack up everything and get his ducks in a row before heading down but he got stuck in a blizzard and was unable to go. He said he even welcomed going there as it was better than sitting at home doing nothing. In Memphis, Meanie said that it was a whole new world down there. He also said that he was paying rent on two apartments and for his family with less money than before.

Meanie now talks about how he first met Jasmine. They were at the Milwaukee Metal Fest as Jasmine said he thought he was cool and asked someone about him who told her never to mess with the wrestlers. They then tell a story of some guy trying to talk trash about Meanie to Jasmin and that goes on for a few minutes until it gets dropped to resume Meanie’s story about Memphis.

He ended up leaving Memphis when his grandmother got really sick and he spoke with Prichard who told him to go home and take care of his grandmother. Meanie even said he could work for ECW a few days a week as he would be going back to Philly and would send tapes to the office to show his progress. Meanie said that there were problems with ECW at that time so he decided not to bother him. Meanie had to care for his grandparents as they were unable to ambulate.

On his release, he got a call from the company when he took his grandma to the hospital. When asked, Meanie said that he was not surprised as they were not happy he left Memphis. He also said that he felt he had to go home to take care of his grandparents and the company was not doing with him anyway so he was not mad.

Jasmine said that she was into ballet as a kid but that her grandmother grew up watching wrestling and one day she got her into it as Jasmin said she was a fan of the Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers, and Elizabeth.

She is now asked about how she got into the Pornography business. Jasmine said that she was working at a topless bar while in college. Jasmin then went on to say that she could have been a “zillionaire” in that type of work as a lot of those girls escort and have sugar daddies but she had a problem with that. Jasmine said that 90% of those girls “slut themselves out.” She said that she did calendars then a spread for Penthouse so she could increase her price when she danced. One of those shoots led to her getting a gig in a porno film.

In her first time on film, Jasmine said she was a little nervous but the guy she was shooting with a nice and didn’t try to put the moves on her and took her out to dinner. Jasmine said she was not about “charity fucks” as if there were no cameras, contracts, or box covers, she was not going to screw someone for no reason. She said her mentality was that if there was nothing to gain from doing that. She then talks about a lot of girls in the Adult Film industry are incapable of getting up in the morning to work a real job and do this to support their drug habits or “suitcase pimp” boyfriends. She said she was friends with the older women stars as they had their heads on straight. Jasmine said that she only did about 30 films and does not feel the need to do one ever again, feeling that she was able to get the most out of her career by doing the least amount of work.

Jasmine now talks about a few near death experiences she has faced. She dated a guy in the business who was an alcoholic and crashed their motorcycle then spoke about how she almost killed herself 3-4 times by overdose on prescription medication. She talks about experimenting with drugs as a teenager but denied the rumors of her being addicted to cocaine.

She said after the adult film industry she worked for a private investigator firm and loved that work, stating if she did not end up in wrestling she would be doing that right now.

When asked about Jenna Jameson, she said that they were friends until Jenna turned on her and does not keep in touch with her anymore.

About the Howard Stern show, Jasmine said that he is one of the nicest people she has ever met and at that time would have left her then boyfriend for him. Her and Meanie then joke around for a second as Jasmine talks up Howard for being up front and telling it like it is instead of beating around the bush.

Jasmine talks about not having a lot of friends in school and said she was quiet before going on a tirade about fat girls and how she hates them and that they are all “cunts.” She says that its okay for fat girls to wear shirts with their flubber hanging out and how they stare her down (guessing she is saying they are jealous) and how she was picked on for being skinny and better looking in school. She tells a story while in school of a “fat Jewish bitch” who blocked the door of the bathroom stall and said she wanted to she what she was going to do as Jasmine said she wished she had a knife to stab her and rip her heart out before joking about how at least she stabs people in the chest and not in the back.

She then talks about how a lot of girls were jealous in the Adult Film industry but knew she was better than them and how they were nothing more than the dirt below her shoe. Jasmine then said she left the business because she did not want to be associated with “high class whores who fuck on film as she was better than them and knew something better would come down the line.

Jasmine said the gangbang film was her idea and puts over the person who did it before her, Annabel Chong. She said that she respects Anna for cleaning herself up and going on to film school where she is now making documentaries. About the actual film, Jasmine said it was a “media event” and easy to do as she claimed 90% of the guys couldn’t even get an erection.

On the set, Jasmine said she was a bitch to deal with most of the time as she yelled at the guys who couldn’t get an erection saying she had a life outside of here. She then tells a story about how she was making a nail appointment by phone on the set and the director told her that she he had a priority to shoot as she fired back that her priority was her nail appointment and if this guy cant do his job she shouldn’t have to wait around. Jasmine then said she threw a tube of KY Jelly at his face and the guy called her a cunt then left, refusing to ever work with her again.

When asked about her worst on-set experience, Jasmine said when a “bitch”comes up to her while she is in her makeup chair and tries to talk to her. She then talks about some “85lbs crack whore” and his boyfriend were “sizing her up” as she flipped out and had them kicked out. Jasmine then talks about another girl pissed her off so he stole her hairpiece and spit and stomped all over it then put her stuff in the toilet then emptied out an enema all over everything else she had.

The misconception of the Adult Film Industry according to Jasmine is that everyone in the business is cool as they are all a bunch of fucking scumbags. She has no desire to ever return to a set again.

She talks about how Rob Black told her she was working for him in XPW when she wanted to go back to do another ECW show. Jasmine then said that company was filled with backyard wrestlers who did shitty moves.

Jasmine then talks about how she wanted to wrestle. She said that she helped get the company over and got lessons from Big Dick Dudley, who she managed. She then said that Black’s girlfriend got jealous and this lead to drama and Jasmine said that she was a valet for someone (Damien Steele) and they messed around but didn’t realize he was married and then that guy badmouthed her, which got her blacklisted from a wrestling school in Los Angeles that she wanted to attend. He then said this guy threatened her with a knife and was forced to have sex with this guy after he shoved her in a broom closet. She says that she is safe now in ECW and has Meanie to keep her safe. Jasmine then calls Black a mark who runs a promotion.

After that Jasmine talks about how she loaned a lot of money to her cousin, who has yet to pay her back and is now doing in-store appearances as well as some ECW shows to get some money.

She puts over Luna and Madusa as wrestlers and says that she is a “mark” for them.

During training, she was told to not take front bumps due to her implants and how she wanted to go to Rick Bassman’s UPW school but could not due to that guy (Damien Steele). She then worked a bit in Memphis and got a call out of the blue from Heyman to work for ECW. She puts over the locker room as being good people.

When asked where they see themselves in this business five years from now, they both think their careers will go strong. (In reality, they split up five years after this interview and did have their promotion, 3PW).

She talks about the adult film industry and again talks about how awful everyone was but says it was not a mistake as she used it to get to where she is today.

He talks about no longer being the Blue Meanie with the weight loss has it doesn’t fit so he is now the “Blue Boy” and they both thank their fans.

Final Thoughts: Well, this was the tale of two interviews. While seemingly a nice guy, Meanie was boring as fuck in his part of the shoot. He didnt really go into anything interesting other than Stevie Richards was a dick and the WWE told him to lose weight, which was a sensitive subject for him. Meanie had his comedy moments in ECW but here he was not too entertaining. And it wasnt all his fault as he was not asked a lot of interesting questions.

However, Jasmine’s part was quite the listen. Holy shit is she crazy and seemingly a nasty person to deal with too. She kept on saying how the porn industry was beneath her and the people were terrlbie and she would not want anything to do with them yet talked about how she dated guys in that business which contradicted some of what she had said in the interview. Also, her tirade on fat chicks needs to be heard to be believed. My god, I would not be surprised in the slightest if she actually does end up stabbing a fatty one day. Jasmine also had an ax to grind about the people in the industry but her constantly trying to say she was better than everyone was off-putting and when she mentioned being made fun in school, its not hard to see after watching this interview. As far as wrestling, Jasmine actually seemed to be able to understand some of the business and knew a lot of the jargon, so either she learned quick or Meanie gave her a lesson before the interview. Speaking of Meanie, I can just picture Jasmine walking all over him. He seemed like a quiet, passive guy whereas Jasmine seemed like the girl to take full advantage of that.

Overall, I’d recommend Jasmine’s part as there was never a dull moment. Again, while seemingly nice, Meanie’s part was dull.

This was filmed in 2007

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

It runs for one hour and fifty-five minutes long.

The interview starts with the guys asked when they first met. They said it was at the first SuperBrawl PPV for WCW. The next day, Nash picked up Hall at his hotel and they worked out then stopped to have a few beers. They both then tell a funny story of how Hall reached across to play with the radio and accidentally brushed up on Nash’s junk a few times, as there was barely any room for them in the car and after the third time Nash held Hall’s hand there, who thought it was either a joke or Nash was going to kick his ass so he called Nash a “fag” jokingly and they became friends after that.

When asked about not getting chances in their first WCW run, Nash said he understood as he was green but Hall had experience. Hall said it was still the most money he was making and that the fans were not knowing how much he was making so he decided to go out and act like he was making a ton until he left for the WWF. Hall then talked about how in WCW, you position on the card was already determined before your first match as no matter what crowd response you received as a guy making $75,000 a year was never going to beat a guy making $750,000 a year. He then talks about in the WWF, everybody gets a “few swings” and the decisions are based about your performance.

They are asked about what pressure you face when being the top wrestlers in a company. Nash talks about how the fans are behind you until you reach the top then the “smarks” start to automatically hate you. Hall says that when Vince ran the WWF back then you were as good as your last performance and it created a competitive environment and how if you had a bad match, agents would tell you what was wrong and how you did. In WCW, they barely cared as Nash recalls a time when they didn’t have his entrance music ready for a show in Tupelo. The agent then told him that it didnt matter because it was a small show in Tupelo and after that Nash said that was his battle cry and how he wanted to be told ahead of time if stuff didnt matter because he could be sitting at home if that was the case.

On their first road trip, they were with Shawn Michaels and all put towels over their faces on the way into the arena because at that time they were still supposed to keep kayfabe.

Hall talks about how he was in a meeting with Vince, Savage, Heenan, Mr. Perfect, and Ric Flair to discuss Savage dropping the belt to Flair. He said that he wanted to stand up and tell Vince if he really wanted to give Flair the belt seeing how he came into his company with the WCW belt. Hall said he almost did that because he hated Flair for fucking him over in WCW when he was the booker.

They are asked about the Ultimate Warrior. Nash said he got along with him but that he was really “different” as Hall admires him for holding out for more money.

When asked if Vince was responsible for the heat between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart Nash said that Vince always stirred the pot because it was good for business, adding that is not the case today where everything is so heavily scripted. Nash talks about guys shooting on interviews back then as Hall notes how today on Smackdown you can see how the cheers are canned as you hear the noise but do not see anyone reacting in the crowds as Nash adds how there are people who work on Smackdown for a reason.

On working with Shawn, they both joked how he was the reason their matches were any good and talk about how great he is and how he is a lot bigger in person than you would think.

When asked about any road stories while in the WWF, Nash attempts to recall a time when they were all fucked up on pills along with Shawn and the 1-2-3 Kid. HHH was with them but sober and they went into a diner that was filled with cops from a nearby police convention where they gave Shawn the choice to either go to jail or a hospital because he was such a mess. Hall says that he has no recollection of this as Nash jokes that he was probably too fucked up. Nash then talks about how when HHH first started to travel with them, 1-2-3 Kid got so fucked up that they were all trying to slap him in the face so he could wake up then HHH went and slapped him, causing the others to remind HHH that he just started hanging with them and that he basically had not earned that right.

Nash talks about the “50 mile rule” where he would not drink while he was driving until they were 50 miles away from their destination. Hall then said the only driver worse than him was the 1-2-3 Kid.

They talk about traveling to Toronto for WrestleMania 18 and were driving. While approaching the border, they realized they had some pills on them and instead of tossing them out of the window, they decided to take them all. They both talked about having past arrests and not being sure if they would even be able to get into the country but the guy at the border was a fan and they had some merchandise and tickets that the WWE gave them so despite being extremely fucked up they got in and sat and Tim Horton’s were they drank coffee and ate donuts until they sobered up a bit.

Nash talks about how when you are the champ you have to look out for the boys and talks about how they were on a bus that was broken down so he told agent Tony Garea that this better be fixed tomorrow and the next day it was as Nash recalled how he barely even slept that night as he was fearful of his job.

They talk about when Bischoff fired 1-2-3 Kid from WCW and how Nash booted the door to his office and scared Bischoff as Hall stood there leaning on the door so no one could get into the office.

Now they are asked about the deal they made to come into WCW. Hall said that he had a few meetings with Vince to get more money and wanted to come up with solutions like more merchandise or a few weeks in Japan. Vince declined these ideas. Hall then said that when you work for the WWF you are so overworked that you are unaware of the outside world then talks about how Vince always had you on your feet and made you think your job security was always on the line. At the time, 1-2-3 Kid was talking to Barry Bloom, who later became their agent and they got a deal with WCW from that.

On the nWo formation, Nash said that there was never a plan for a 3rd member originally and remembers Bischoff coming over and they then went to a strip club after that as he pitched the nWo idea. Nash joked how Hogan wasnt going to let that “money train” leave without taking a seat when he was approached about the plan. Hall notes how he heard that the Associated Press thought when Nash sent Rey Mysterio into the trailer that it was a legitimate attack.

When asked about working with Hogan, they both said that he was a good sport but Hall recalls how he got upset when at a TV taping in Universal, Hogan referred to them as his “Hollywood Wolfpac.” Hall then talks about how the Wolfpac was Nash, 1-2-3 Kid, and himself as they lost their identities coming from the WWF over to WCW.

They both talk about not getting money from merchandise sales as WCW had intellectual property rights.

Hall said how Michael Hayes once told him that if you are five minutes late, you get yelled at but if you are over an hour late, they are just happy that you showed up so there was no point being just a few minutes late.

Nash talks about they started off driving around then when they got more popular in WCW they got to fly on the private jet with Hogan and Savage and while they did not change, the locker room perception was that they did and were no longer “one of the boys” because they were not with them as much.

When asked about D-X coming to the WCW show in Norfolk, Nash said that he wanted to come out and say “what the fuck are you guys doing here” because there show was live but he couldn’t find them.

On Goldberg speaking negatively about them, they called him a “mark” as Nash said he likes him away from wrestling though. Hall said that he was with him on his first road trip, he brought him along and helped him out then introduced him to Barry Bloom after his first contract was up and has no idea why Goldberg has heat with him after doing all of that.

When asked if WCW would have as successful without them, Nash jokes about how they were heading into the right direction with the Yeti vs. Giant, Dungeon of Doom, and how Alex Wright was misused.

Nash then jokes that blaming Russo for WCW going under is like blaming the cello player on the Titanic for sinking the ship, stating it was dead and there was no way to resurrect the company at that point.

They are asked about Bischoff as Nash talks about how he was given Nitro under the guise that it would fail and how they could get rid of wrestling on Turner once and for all.

Hall tells a story of how they worked a show in Little Rock, AK and that the fans were throwing stuff at them and Nash got on the mic and said they would leave if they did not stop as they didnt come to this “shithole” town to get hurt and they ended up walking out and leaving then on the next RAW, they introduced the fake Diesel and Razor Ramon.

Nash said that by the time Russo took over it was over. Hall then said that he should apologize to Russo for how he treated him at that time but was not comfortable with him booking his career.

On the WCW Invasion angle, Nash said that the WWE contacted him about coming in, offering 50 cents on the dollar of his $2.3 million dollar contract. The WWE also offered him a $750,000 downside and Nash said that he could have taken that and busted his ass on the road and might have made as much as he would have sitting at home watching TV and smoking pot until his contract ran out.

When asked if the nWo promos would have gotten over as much as they did if they were scripted, Nash said absolutely not and that (scripted promos) is what is wrong with WWE TV today. They recall when they went back to the WWE as the nWo they had to rehearse promos in front of Vince as Nash jokingly says “welcome to Monday Night Contrived!” He also asks why the production values have not picked up as Hall notes how Heenan used to get pissed when the crew was shown in the background and whenever he sees that now he thinks of Heenan.

They are now asked about a few tag teams. They both liked working with Harlem Heat as Hall tells a story about how he spit on Stevie Ray during a match to get heat, stating that he did not want to tell him before the match and have him say no. After Hall spit on him, he tagged out then after Stevie got some heat on Nash, he spit right back at Hall, which is something that Hall credits Stevie or doing. They also both liked working with the Steiner Brothers.

Nash joked that it was “too fucking late” when asked about Bischoff questioning if he gave him too much power. Hall says how Nash seizes power and that they would call him the grouch as everything when he traveled was too small and that it would wear him down. Hall then talked about how Nash’s first night in charge he put over Rey Mysterio on Nitro just to show that he was all business. Hall then talked about how he would do jobs himself when he was not supposed to on Nitro then get chewed out by Bischoff afterwards.

They talk about how the same unnamed guy who told them to not care about the show in Tupelo would complain about their ideas then when asked if he had anything, that person said they did not and this leads Nash to say how Hall was one of the best “shit stirrers” and that they were both pricks so they could work every angle. Nash then talks about the whole business being a work as the person he is once he grabs his gear and heads into the arena is a lot different than the one traveling on the road and at home. Hall said they would drop their gear and look around to decide how to stir some shit, like telling rookies their gear looked like shit or saying that guys looked stoned when they were in the ring.

Hall talks about them as a team as he recalls a story while sitting next to Scott Norton on a bus trip in Japan. Norton kept telling him that he was not wrestling Japanese style and after a few days, Hall turned around and told him that he was not Japanese and that they have seen him work and was brought in for that reason. Hall then said that they were one of the best tag teams in the world and Norton thought about it and agreed. They both talked about how they liked Norton and how he was a straight shooter.

When asked about Jim Cornette’s rant against them on RAW, Nash said he took no offense as at the time he knew no one was watching the WWE at the time as Hall was cracking up.

They close the interview about how they will be touring the independent scene as Nash notes how Hall will be sober but cannot promise that he will be as Hall talks about taking Antabuse to help with his alcohol abuse issues. Feinstein then talks about how the next time he wants to have the 1-2-3 Kid join them for an interview all about road stories.

Final Thoughts: Solid interview. Towards the end, these two really seemed like they wanted to leave as Hall checked his watch a few times but they were both funny and the best parts where when they went off and bullshitted between questions.

If you have seen any shoot interviews between these two before then there isnt a whole lot of new stuff here. However, Nash always delivers in shoots and this was no exception. Hall was fine here as well, although a bit reserved at times.

Too bad the shoot between them and Waltman never happened. That would have been great.

Overall, I recommend this interview but be warned that if you have seen these guys in different shoots that you will some stories you have heard before.

You can purchase the video for $20 at RFVideo.com or download a digital copy for $9.99 at highspots.com by clicking on the links below.

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwiththeoutsiders.aspx

http://www.highspots.com/p/22514.html

This was filmed in 2007

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

It runs for one hour and forty-seven minutes long.

The interview starts with Kimberly being asked if she was a fan of wrestling growing up. She said she has first introduced to it in the 3rd grade when one of her friends was a big fan of Dusty Rhodes, even having his posters on her wall. She then watched it at home but Kimberly’s mom told her to turn it off as she thought it was too violent for her to watch. As she got into high school, one of her friends was obsessed with Michael PS Hayes and she began to watch it again then started to watch more as the WWF was starting the Rock n’ Wrestling programming and became a fan of that. She briefly talks about being struck by how beautiful Elizabeth while watching her in the program with Hogan and Savage.

She then talks about how she loved school and graduated from college Magna Cum Laude with a Public Relations and Journalism Degree from Auburn University. Kimberly also said that she started school at a very early age and was 17 when she began college and graduated at age 20. After graduating, she applied to graduate school and got iaccepted into Duke and Northwestern University for Law School and also got accepted to Northwestern for a Marketing and Communications Program, which is what she ending up doing.

Kimberly first met DDP while partying in Florida. She was teaching aerobics at a Women’s Health Club at the time and walked into a nightclub and met DDP. She was on a date with another guy at the time, who walked ahead of her on the floor. DDP then swooped in and they did a few shots when DDP noticed that Kimberly, who was a few days shy of her 21st birthday, did not have a bracelet indicating that she was old enough to drink. She left and he saw him again a few days later and said that he had a lot of “good lines” as he talked to her about what she liked and schooling. Kimberly also said that he was a great listener as well. They went on a few dates and she went back to school and a day or so after that he left her a message. She said that were both dating other people at the time too but after a few months they became exclusive.

They go into their relationship again as Kimberly talks about falling in love with DDP and how when she went to Northwestern, he was supportive of her.

She talks about going to the TV tapings in Tampa with DDP when he managed in Florida. Kimberly said DDP smartened her up on how to act backstage and would sit quietly backstage and amazed about how all of the guys prepared for the show. She said that she really respected the wrestlers and how they performed, saying there is a certain art to what wrestlers do but at the same time said some of the stories were hokey and seemed to be written by hacks but was into the characters.

On her first appearance as one of DDP’s “Diamond Dolls,” Kimberly said that they would usually have wrestlers girlfriends go out but one night they didnt have anyone so DDP suggested that she go out. At first, Kimberly was weary as she had a professional job and didnt want to be seen dressed in all sequence but she went out and did it and after it ended she thought to herself that it was “fucking great” to be out there and after that, she knew she wanted to get out of the advertising career and wanted to be in front of the camera.

When she started to have more camera time on the shows, Kimberly said she never knew if she was supposed to act as a heel or a face and since DDP was a heel she picked up on his mannerisms and started to do that when she came out and was taken aback by how much heat she got from the fans, saying that there is something about a female who acts like a strong heel that pisses off the fans. After that, DDP told her that they should do a deal similar to Savage/Liz where she comes out looking sexy while DDP browbeats her every chance he gets.

Kimberly is now asked on the hardest part of the business. She said that for her it was following the leads of the wrestlers, who were all improvising. She then said that DDP was easy in that regard and talks about how he was a lot tighter in laying out his matches before hand than others. Kimberly also said it was tough to remember all of the names of the moves at first too when she was told to remember what to do during certain spots. She talks about how she got lost at first but said that DDP would always make sure to help her out if she missed a spot by yelling her name during the match.

When asked if any of the wrestlers helped her out, Kimberly said that Sherri Martel was very welcoming. Looking back, Kimberly said that she had probably done a lot of stuff to get heat in the women’s locker room, like showing up early as possible in order to get the spot in the dressing room in front of the mirror, which she later learned went to the girl with the most seniority, but said Sherri was cool about everything. When other women with tenure in the business started to come into the company, they were tougher on her but Kimberly again talks about how kind Sherri was from day one.

She is asked about Eric Bischoff as a boss. Kimberly said he came in after they did and knew when he came in the company would change as he has a strong vision and creative mind. Kimberly also said she is surprised that he hasn’t wound up as a film director because he knows exactly what he wants to see in front of the camera. Kimberly then says as time went on he became more difficult to work for and attributes that to him being overworked. She then talks about being neighbors with him and talks about how she felt that Bischoff would be harder on them because they were friends and knew that if he was hard on them it wouldn’t jeopardize their friendship as a result.

Kimberly said that Madusa was fantastic to her. When she was told that she would have to learn to wrestle and know how to take a bump, she was nervous and did not want to do that but realized it is a wrestling show and even Bischoff broke it down to her like that and how she would be expected to take a bump every now and then. She said at first she had no clue at all what to do in the ring while training and credits Madusa for teaching her.

When asked about the Dave Sullivan love triangle feud, Kimberly talks about how she recently transferred her video tape of that feud to DVD and said that she enjoyed it then talks about how DDP actually directed those segments. She felt that the segment came off better than people give it credit for and thought it was funny.

On managing Johnny B. Badd, Kimberly said that she did not want to do that as he started to date Rena (Sable) at the time, who wanted to get into the business. Kimberly said that Rena claimed to not have been mad by that then talks about how they maintained kayfabe back then so he traveled with him to the shows. Kimberly says that he likes him a lot and was bummed when he left and that also gave her nothing to do.

She talks about traveling on the road with your significant other and how it can be hard. She then said it became a lot harder as DDP became more popular as he was getting strained. She said that they would work out their problems as DDP did not want to go to bed angry.

When asked about politics in the business, Kimberly talked about DDP getting more influence as he became popular before talking about herself and how her ego grew as the Nitro Girls became popular. She then said that she watched DDP handle fame, calling him the “God of all Marks” because no matter what he was doing he would still take time out in order to talk to fans.

She wound up as the “Booty Girl” for Brutus Beefcake’s “Booty Man” gimmick after it was suggested by Kevin Sullivan and Hulk Hogan. Kimberly said she had no idea her character would be the “Booty Girl” at first and looked forward to it but felt embarrassed having to yell “booty girl” all the time.

When asked about having to work with Randy Savage, Kimberly said that he is one of the most intense performers she has worked with and said that as soon as the light of the camera went on he became a whole other person and it was easy to have drama on camera as a result. Rob then tells Kimberly how DDP told him a story about her telling Randy to lay into her when he had to put his hands on her as DDP told her she was crazy. Kimberly laughs and said that when he whipped her around by the hair, she was sorry that she said that to him and after the segment she went backstage to tell Elizabeth to tell Savage not to lay into her anymore. She said that she got along with Elizabeth and got nervous around her at first because she was such a fan but found her to be really sweet and unassuming. She then said that she found out something was wrong when she moved to Atlanta because when she would call, Elizabeth never called her back and was always in her apartment. She then said that her attitude changed as she became more reserved and standoffish then became suspicious something was going on but had no idea what it was until she passed away.

When asked about those who say that the only reason her or DDP got their position due to being friends with Bischoff, Kimberly said that anyone who disliked their characters will look at that first as the excuse because it is easy to say but that it would be hard to find someone who worked as hard as DDP before saying that of course the reason she got her push was due to that and DDP, who was the only reason she even got into the business to begin with. She said that she took her job seriously and took on the responsibility with the Nitro Girls and never missed a day of work

On how the Nitro Girls were created, Kimberly said that Bischoff came to her house and wanted to get her involved more with the show and thought about wrestling cheerleaders of sorts. Kimberly then suggested that they be like the Laker Girls, meaning they do their own thing when there is not any action going on in the ring so they are not a distraction from the wrestlers. She also suggested that they do that coming back from break and while going to break it could keep the energy going and Bischoff liked that and said it would be on TV in three weeks.

Kimberly talks about how she had certain looks she wanted for the girls, stating that she wanted characters that were similar to wrestlers and all looked different because she knew in her mind everyone was going to pick their favorite the first time they saw them on TV. She said the tough thing in the audition process was finding those who could actually dance. Kimberly said that she had a girl for the “pixie blond” role but said that she was too innocent looking for TV and didnt think the fans would respond well to her so she asked her friend Melissa if she was willing to die her hair blond and cut it short and she became Nitro Girl Spice.

She said that Nitro Girl Tayo was the first one to be let go as while she had the most experience, she rarely showed up to rehearsal then show up to Nitro and demand that she dance while Kimberly said that this was a job but she demanded to dance anyway and it got to the point that she had to call the VP of the company, who told Tayo that she was fired. After that, Tayo would still show up to Nitro shows and demand to dance and even went to Kimberly’s home and banged on her door. She also went as far as calling her from the neighbor’s home. The following year when they held another audition, she showed up and they had to ask her to leave.

At first she was against bringing on Nitro Girl Whisper (The current wife of Shawn Michaels). Kimberly said that Whisper was brought in because an executive saw her at a football game and wanted her in the company and that she was already the tall brunette in the group but that changed when she first saw her and realized she was a complete knockout and realized they needed to have her on the show. She said the other girls were afraid Whisper would steal all of their attention but that was not the case.

When asked if some of the guys were upset about the amount of attention they got, Kimberly said yes and never figured out why as they were the “T&A” off the show and did something that they were unable to do as a result.

Kimberly talks about the success of the Nitro Girls and how they sold one million calendars despite next to nothing in terms of promotion and got their own PPV but was not getting any more pay, despite having more responsibility. She said that when Torrie Wilson got hired the gossip around the locker room was about how she signed for a lot of money so Kimberly was able to use that as an example for why she deserved a raise and she did. However, she learned that more money does not mean you will feel less stressed or cause your problems to go away.

She talks about Vince Russo coming into WCW and how he wanted to get rid of the Nitro Girls. Kimberly thought it was dumb because they were a little side project that made the company some money but then said he wanted to make her more of an on screen character and also wanted to give some of the other girls chances to be characters as well. Russo then told her he wanted to make her a heel and have a big storyline revolving around that.

When asked about Hulk Hogan, Kimberly said that he showed up late and went to his locker room but was pleasant. She said that Sting was always phenomenal to work with and thought his transition into the Crow character was brilliant.

She is then asked about the politics when Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hogan came on board. Kimberly laughed and said it was all a blur but noticed the crowds and even the hotel rooms were bigger and notes how they first went to Europe with Hogan as part of the company and finally got to stay at nice hotels instead of the crappy ones they were at before.

Kimberly talks about Tammy Sytch, who accused Kimberly of ratting her out to Bischoff for using drugs. She said that in the locker room someone found a syringe on the floor of a stall. She said that she knew that drug use was rampant but stayed out of that, unless it involved one of the Nitro Girls. So, she sat out in the hallway as someone reported it to Bischoff and that was what happened. Kimberly said she met Tammy a few times when she was working in the WWF and was sweet but by the time she got to WCW, she had changed.

She now talks about the end of her run and how she was unhappy and how DDP was gone way too much. She said that the straw that broke the camel’s back was Scott Steiner. Kimberly said that Russo kept wanting her to get involved physically, despite her just wanting to be a character instead of a wrestler. Russo then wanted her to flash Steiner as part of a storyline but it wouldnt be real as it was pixilated. When she fought against the idea, Steiner told her that they were the ones that put the asses in the seats then yelled at her some more, calling her a “cunt” in the process while starting to get into her space. Kimberly then said the stormed off and went to Bischoff and after that she decided that it was enough and she quit the company. He said that a few weeks later Steiner came up to her in the gym to apologize and she accepted that and was much happier just from being away from the company, which she said was a sinking ship.

Kimberly was surprised when WCW got sold to Vince as she thought the group Bischoff put together had a deal in place. She then said that the WWF did not approach her to come into the company.

Onto her divorce from DDP. Kimberly said that she was only 20 when she married DDP, who was 33 at the time and she became more independent as she got older and they grew apart.

Today, Kimberly works as the Director of Sales and Marketing for a fine art company. She moved to Los Angeles after the divorce and became an interior designer and now she lives in Salt Lake City to be closer to the mountains as she loves to ski.

When asked about her movie and TV roles, Kimberly said that she got herself an agent and took acting classes and got a few roles, including her role in the “40 Year Old Virgin.” When asked about the differences between wrestling and Hollywood she said that there is not as much as you might think as both have a lot of nepotism and politics and that a majority of TV/Film acting is being expected to deliver a great performance with terrible material, just like what you see in wrestling.

Kimberly said that she has not spoken to Bischoff in two years but does occasionally communicate with his wife via email.

On the “Gold Club” scandal, Kimberly said it was stupid. She said that the strip club scene in Atlanta is totally different than anywhere else in the company as you could go there and just chill and dance like it was a regular club while some guys would go and watch the strippers. Kimberly then said the rumors about her and DDP swapping partners with the Bischoff’s was false and would consider that disgusting, as they are like family. She also said that Bischoff was extremely devoted to his wife.

About posing for Playboy Magazine, Bischoff was upset at first because of a morality clause in WCW as Kimberly said that she was not doing Penthouse or anything and saw it as good press.

She regrets not paying more attention to the warning signs about Elizabeth being in trouble and that she should have called attention to what was happening. Kimberly seemed pretty broken up about this. When asked whether or not see holds Lex responsible for what happened, she said both yes as no as she was angry at him first, feeling that he took her down this path but at the end of the day we are all our own people and you have to make your own choices and take responsibility.

Kimberly then talks about her workout program she developed with DDP after he was having a lot of pain. She said that she started yoga after having joint pain and felt great so she told DDP to try it out and he thought yoga was for “girls and fags,” thinking it was useless but she convinced him to do it and after a while he got hooked and started to get very good at it and wanted to look for other guys that practiced it to make him feel more comfortable and found him a trainer, who ironically enough died shortly afterwards, then found someone else and developed yoga for guys videos for all sorts of backgrounds. She said they are going to take it on a National level soon and the interviews ends after that.

Final Thoughts: Eh, this wasn’t much of an interview. Kimberly came across well and down-to-earth and we heard a few decent stories but there wasnt enough to really hold my attention here to be honest.

Oddly enough, RF Video filmed a shoot the previous day with DDP. Only a few questions were brought up about that and these two seemed to have a fairly amicable split at this time.

Kimberly seemed to know her role and place looking back and I havent heard a whole lot of bad things said about her either.

I do not really recommend this shoot though. Kimberly did fine with the questions but the problem was that the questions were not all that interesting to begin with. She did show a lot more insight into wrestling than I thought.

You can purchase the DVD for $20 at RFVideo.com

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithkimberlypage.aspx

You can also download a digital copy for $9.99 at Highspots.com

http://www.highspots.com/p/VD_kimberly_page_shoot.html

Disc Two runs at fifty-four minutes long

The review of Disc One is listed below

They are asked about guys leaving Mid South for the WWF as Bobby said he remembered Junkyard Dog in the locker room wearing army fatigues with a large amount of steroids saying that he had to “get ready for the war” shortly before leaving for the WWF. The impression was funny too. Bobby then recalls Bill Watts telling them that as long as the territory got a “black” over they would all be making money so guys like Master G (George Wells) and Savannah Jack were brought in and failed to get over. Bobby said that Koko B. Ware got over and had a good gimmick and was a really good worker but no one was able to replace JYD, who was insanely over.

The guys talk about how the Sheepherders (Bushwhackers) quit Mid South in the middle of their angle due to being paid less than what they were making as they talk about how that is one of the unfair things about the business. He said that when they went over to the NWA to work basically the same feud with the Sheepherders those guys got treated unfairly there too.

Tommy tells a story about Steve Williams at this time and how he bought a huge van and would drive around like a maniac and would get pissed and launch glass Gatorade bottles at the windshields of cars that would cut him off.

Bobby then talks about how at one point they were going to go to the Charlotte Territory and turn heel where they would be managed by Paul Jones to feud with the Rock n’ Roll Express but one of them quit so that never happened.

The Fantastics did end up leaving to work for the Crocketts as Bobby said Jim Crockett was as nice as a “wallpaper drawing.” He said there first night was a non-title match against the Midnight Express and the match immediately clicked and Dusty loved the match. Tommy said that Bobby Eaton was one of the best workers in the business and that he thought Dennis Condrey and Stan Lane were very good as well. Bobby said that Eaton almost killed him with a chairshot to the head when he was in a straight jacket.

Bobby said that Dusty told them that he should have given them the Tag Belts their first night as that would have really put them over from the start. He then puts over Dusty for giving them their biggest paydays in the business.

Both guys talk about how they only concentrated on the wrestling and never wanted to learn how to play politics. Bobby remembers Jerry Jarrett once telling him that loved the fact that Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler hated each other.

They liked working with the Varsity Club but said that Steve Williams was really stiff and would try to take advantage of you as Bobby said that you never let someone push you around like that in the ring. They both put over how freakishly strong the Steiner Brothers were.

When George Scott became the booker he told them to stop doing high flying moves. He tells a story about how the Samoan Swat Team wouldnt sell for them in a match and afterwards Paul Jones told them that came from the office. Scott then told the Fantastics shortly after that they had nothing for them and they might bring them back in several months.

After WCW they went to Japan. Both guys liked working for Giant Baba. They also worked in Puerto Rico and did not like it there as the other wrestlers in the locker room never wanted them there.

They talk about their match against each other in the WWF. Cornette got them the match and they never worked there again. Originally, Fulton was supposed to work against Brian Christopher and Rogers against Taylor but there was a transportation issue so they worked against each other. During the match, Rogers was going to the Tomikaze (Impaler) finisher and did it the when he went backstage he got pissed as they showed a split screen shot of the match and part of a Brian Pillman angle so he threw stuff around then started swearing so they calmed him down. He then had a match against Christopher for Shotgun Saturday Night and was pissed off. During the match, Christopher stiffed him with a super kick and wouldnt go up for him on a slam attempt so Tommy dropped him on the steps. After the match, Tony Garea yelled at him because he used a ballshot in the match so Tommy told him to fuck off then followed Christopher into the locker room and asked him what happened as Christopher told him he got stiffed then Rogers yelled at him before showering and leaving. When he left, he shook Vince McMahon’s hand a told him to give him a call when he got some more money.

On how he wound up in ECW, Tommy said he knew Tommy Dreamer and Paul Heyman from Japan and got in because of that.

Bobby said that high-flying hasn’t ruined wrestling but the lack of selling is and thinks its a shame that the WWE is the only game in town. He then talks about how they are filming this shoot about stuf they did in the 80’s and how years from now no one will be remembering the wrestling today. He also says that those who want to wrestle today should get a good education instead and only wrestle on the side. He then says that pretty soon they will have the “blind leading the blind” as all of those who learned to wrestle will be long gone and need to revamp how they run things. Tommy puts over Vince for being a businessman and how you cannot knock success.

They are asked if they watch wrestling today as Bobby says he watches old tapes with his kids.

Bobby then talks passionately about loving the art of wrestling and entertaining the fans. Tommy says that if they had not met up they would probably be job guys and never would have had all of their success. After that they talk about the tragic deaths in the business and how it leaves families behind.

Final Thoughts: Again, these two seemed like really good guys who loved what they did. Besides that, it was not a groundbreaking shoot but they both came across as likable guys and did have some funny stories to tell. I’d recommend this shoot as it is a breeze to watch.

You can purchase the video by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwiththefantastics.aspx

This interview was filmed on October 31st, 2004

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

Disc One runs for one hour and fifty minutes long

They start by telling us how they broke into the business. Tommy says that he was in college and friends with Brett Sawyer, brother of Buzz Sawyer. Brett started to travel with his brother in the Florida Territory but could not make one of the house show loops so Buzz asked Tommy, who was a wrestling fan, if he wanted to travel with them. Tommy went along and got to travel with the guys and would sit backstage with the families or in the crowd. One day, Charlie Cook got into a car accident and could not make the show so they asked him to fill in and Tommy was hesitant as he never trained and thought he would get killed. They told him not to worry as the guys in the ring will lead him through the match and to use the little bit of amateur wresting experience he had. He also said that he had to borrow a pair of boots that were a size too big and wore extra pairs of socks to fit into them and they got him some tights. Jack & Jerry Brisco told him to run into the ring and jump on top of the apron and over the top rope, saying that he would get over. Well, Tommy did that but with the boots a size too big he caught the top rope when he jumped and barely landed on his feet. After that happened, Tommy said that he could not even see the fans and was completely overwhelmed. His opponent was Eddy Mansfield, who walked him through the match. He then got his first payoff, which was $100 and he thought that was great and he had a few fans ask him for autographs.

The Brisco’s ended up giving him the name “Tommy Peters,” which was a rib on him as he was from St. Petersburg. After a few matches, he decided to try a move against a Japanese wrestler whose name he forgot and figured he would try a bodyslam as he saw the move on TV a million times. He ended up slamming the guy very hard against the mat as he had no idea how to perform the move because he was never trained at that point. When he got backstage, the Brisco Brothers chewed him out for doing that.

Buzz Sawyer left Florida and went to Georgia so he followed him up there. He met Brad Armstrong and ended up staying at his place and took care of him. Bob Armstrong also helped out Tommy by training him. They taught him to know what he was doing before trying something and also not to expose the business.

Bobby Fulton says that he became a fan of wrestling by watching guys like Abdullah the Butcher and the Sheik. He was into the bloody brawls. He ended up wrestling his first match at age 16 after writing a letter to Ken Jugan (He did some work as a WWF jobber in the early 80’s) who was running shows in West Virginia. His dad drove him 175 miles to the show by the way. He got there and Jugan would not let him wrestle as he was afraid that he would get hurt. However, they ended up being short on bodies so he wrestled some other guy who also got a spot on the show by writing to Jugan and also had zero training so they went at it for about three minutes until the locker room broke it up as they were really going after each other. Tommy said that he got $5 for the show. He then talked about how difficult it was to break into wrestling as there were no schools and you had to know another wrestler to even get a chance and most of them would almost discourage you to start.

They both talk about training as Tommy puts over how different it is from what you see on TV and how you perform in the ring as you are taught to work the left side as Bobby talks about how he learned on the job and saw guys 5-6 nights a week who could work with a broomstick. Tommy also said that the longest thing to learn is to slow down and make it easier for you and your opponent but that you also want to learn new stuff so you can progress your career. They both put over all the guys who they learned from for being able to have a career in wrestling.

Bobby said that he didn’t even attend his High School Graduation ceremony as he was doing jobs for WWWF TV. His first show was the one where Greg Valentine broke Chief Jay Strongbow’s leg. He also did jobs in Calgary and for Nick Gulas’ Territory. He also said that he worked for Bill Watts who gave him the name “Russ Jones” and he hated that name so he only stayed their for a short time.

He then talks about his time in Calgary working for Stu Hart and tells several stories about the Hart family.  At a TV taping where Stu Hart was on camera and someone from the stands threw a bag of popcorn that landed near him so Stu went over and picked up the bag and started to eat from it as he was being filmed.  Bobby tells another story about the Hart family when Bruce was wrestling against Sandy Scott and was in a sleeper hold and really milking it for all it was worth. His brother Wayne was the referee and warned Bruce if he dropped his arm again he would ring the bell so Bruce dropped his arm and Wayne signaled for the bell so Bruce decided to attack his brother right in the ring and they ending up having a fist fight. Bobby said that Smith was sent to Japan to learn from Inoki but they sent him back because Smith decided to come out to the ring with a Hitler mustache and marched to the ring and when he got there he opened up his robe and was not wearing anything underneath.

Bobby tells another story about Calgary. Len Denton & David Patterson (David Sierra) were the Tag Team Champions and they all lived in the same house together. One night, Denton woke him up and told him to put him in a small package and Patterson got down and counted to three and they threw him the Tag Belts and ended up leaving town. Later that day, Dynamite Kid knocked on the door and asked Fulton if he had a “small package” for him. Bobby said it was a great learning experience in Calgary as you learned from so many good workers.

Tommy said that he enjoyed his time in Oregon and was amazed when he saw Andre the Giant in person as he would pass through the territory on occasion. He said that they had a good locker room and learned from the guys. He said he hated his time in Memphis as Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett were very clique-ish. Bobby chimed in and said how he got paid nothing in Memphis when he was there and at one point decided he was going to quit the business then went back home and wrestled some independents in Kentucky but ended up breaking his arm then broke it again and had no money and couldnt even afford to feed himself so he saw the Cuban Assassin on TV wrestling in Memphis and called him up and went to work for the Jerry Jarrett. Bobby puts over the talent in Memphis at that time.

Tommy is now is asked about working for Ole Anderson in Georgia. He said that Ole took to him as he was close to Buzz and treated him great but saw him be really nasty to others. He then tells a story of how he was wrestling in the Philippines and Ole got pissed at the sponsor so he decided to leave but he had Tommy’s working visa and everything else with him and did not realize that until he got back and he eventually sorted that out through the embassy. He then tells a story while in Georgia of how Jim Hellwig (Ultimate Warrior) and some other muscle bound kid came to the office and they blew them up and Bob Roop stretched them both out. Tommy said it was brutal what they did to those two. Bobby then talks about how they worked against both Hellwig & Sting in Memphis and Mid South and how it was tough as they were both so much bigger than them and would blow up quickly. Bobby said one time he was used mounted punches on Hellwig, who was screaming for him to get off of his chest as he could not breathe.

Bobby talks about the formation of the Fantastics. He said that he was teaming with Terry Taylor as the “Fantastic Ones” in Memphis and was barely being used. At the time, Bill Watts and Jerry Jarrett were exchanging talent and Jarrett wanted the Rock n’ Roll Express back as Watts sent him a bunch of guys who were young and not stars. So, the Rock n’ Roll Express lost a loser leaves town for 90 days match and Watts needed a new team so they put him together with Tommy, who he had only seen briefly while they were in Memphis together at one point.

Both guys agree that Watts was a tyrant and how he would just scream and yell at everyone during the TV tapings. He also said that on average they worked 9 days a week and drove about 3,500 miles.

Their first matches were against the Midnight Express. Tommy talked about not wanting to wrestle the same as the Rock n’ Roll Express as they replaced them and attracted the same crowd and stressed how you do not want to be a copy of another act. Bobby then chimes in with a story about the Fabulous Ones in Memphis being one of the first teams to come out to music and how Koko B. Ware came out to music a few nights later and that resulted in a fight between Koko and Steve Keirn.

Originally, they were promised the top tag team spot but that ended up going to Al Perez & Wendell Cooley. They ended up talking about payoffs as Bobby said he was making between $600-1,000 weekly then went on to say how the promoters would keep you “half broke” so you would need to come back but also because if they you a ton of money, you would get the power that came with it so that is why the payoffs were different week to week.

On their ring entrance, Bobby said that they basically did what the Fabulous Ones did but put their own twist on that.

While in Texas, the Fantastics became very popular among the female fan base. They are asked if they have any good stories about that. They talk about how there was one female fan who had the elephant man’s disease who was at the shows. One day as they made their entrance, she grabbed Bobby by his hair and tried to turn him around so she could kiss him and he was able to fight free.

Tommy tells a story of how one female fan came up to him and said that Dusty Hill from ZZ Top was a huge fan and they ended up actually meeting him the next time they came to town as they were brought to Hill’s bar, which was a blacked-out old convenience store located at a strip mall and someone knocked on the door where Hill opened the door and greeted them and they became friends. Bobby added that they never met the rest of the band but that Hill was a huge wrestling fan who also befriended other wrestlers.

They are asked about the party scene in World Class with the Von Erich’s and the Freebirds. Both said that they would see their cars parked and knew they were getting fucked up in them as they would come out stumbling all over the place but never harmed anyone and since they all did it in their cars, they never saw it take place.

Tommy tells a story of how Kevin Von Erich was in an eight man tag and dropped down as he was all pale and had some dark blue veins showing on his back. Some fan came up on the apron with a camera and Bruiser Brody took it and slammed it on the cement. The Emergency crews thought it was part of the show as Tommy saw Kevin looked oxygen deprived so he opened up his mouth and Kevin started to grasp for air then the crew finally came in and took care of him. Tommy said that bothered him a lot and almost quit the business as he did not want to see anyone die in the ring. Tommy said that he got his paycheck from Fritz the following Friday, who barely thanked him and after that saw why the kids were the way they were as he felt that Fritz was a complete tyrant with them.

Both guys talk about some of the wrestlers in World Class as Tommy talks about how he never hated anyone as everyone has their own quirks and idiosyncrasies and he tried to understand them. Bobby never understood why Fritz never did anything with Jake Roberts when they were there as Jake was wrestling in on the second match of the card most nights.

After World Class, they went to work for Watts. They talk about Mid South and how great the television shows were at that time.

They tell a story of how they got arrested in Baton Rouge. After working against the Sheepherders, some fan was ragging on them by saying how the blood they drew was fake so Terry Taylor knocked the fan down. They guy got up then Tommy started to beat on him in the crowd as the babyfaces were fighting with the fans. The next day they came to the locker room and were told that they had to turn themselves in as that fan had pressed charges against them.

Final Thoughts: Good stuff so far. Both guys are relaxed and willing to discuss their careers and all of the crazy stuff they have seen and heard. There was not even a shred of bitterness here, which I always find refreshing.

Bobby talks the most and always has something to say but Tommy also tells good stories and they both have a good sense of humor.

Disc Two will be up tomorrow at noon.

Disc Two runs for One Hour and fifty three minutes long

To Read the Disc One recap, click on the link below:

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/12/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-eric.html

He said that Hogan was the one who suggested bringing in the Ultimate Warrior to WCW. Bischoff said that Hogan wanted a high-profile guy to work with so he went out at signed Warrior. When asked about the rumor of Hogan bringing in Warrior just to get his win back from WrestleMania VI, Bischoff said that it is a bullshit rumor. Bischoff is then asked about the Warrior saying how if he knew his time in WCW was going to be that bad he would have never signed and Bischoff laughs and says that he respects Warrior and does not want to say anything negative but to go back and look how he made his debut and how it was the longest and most painful live in-ring segment he has ever done in his life and that while originally written to go from 7-10 minutes long, it ended up lasting 25 minutes. Shortly after that Warrior tore his bicep. Bischoff said that Warrior was similar to Savage in that they were both passionate and intense, as well as way out there.

When asked if he regrets telling Tony Schiavone to announce that Mick Foley was going to be winning the title on RAW, Bischoff said he does and I retrospect it was one of the dumbest things he ever did.

On Goldberg, Bischoff said that he knew pretty early on that he could be a star but also said he was very green and had him work short matches. Once the crowd started to go crazy for him, they had to make sure he was wrestling in longer matches. When asked why they gave Goldberg a larger contract in 1999 when he was already under a deal, Bischoff said that he did that so he wouldn’t get held up by him.

Bischoff said that it was Hogan’s idea to drop the title to Goldberg on Nitro in Atlanta as it was in his hometown and make a great TV moment.

He then said that Goldberg is a friend but very intense and difficult to deal with and had a short fuse as well. Bischoff said that he had too many people telling him what to do and it became too much.

When asked if the “Finger Poke of Doom” was a terrible idea, Bischoff said it was and the fact that the question was even asked shows it was a terrible idea. He had no specific memories of that night either.

About Bret Hart coming into the company, Bischoff said that they “danced” a few times prior to him signing but nothing came of it at the time. He then said that he never would have brought Bret on WCW TV with the WWF Title as this was after the lawsuit against the WWF regarding the nWo and became a lot smarter with copyright laws and corporate would have never allowed it to happen either.

On the Montreal incident, Bischoff said he was not surprised that it happened.  He remembers watching and after it happened, Rick Rude called him up and was livid, telling him that he was coming back to WCW. He then said if he was in Vince’s shoes and everything played out the way he thought it did then he would have done the same thing.

Regarding Bret coming to WCW and not being used to his full potential, Bischoff said that Bret was really devastated after what happened in the WWF and once Owen died, he became a shell of himself due to the trauma of the incident. He then said that he did not have the best ideas for him but at the same time Bret was depressed and not “in the game” as he would show up a half-hour before the show started and didn’t really want to do what they wrote for him.

Bischoff talks about the guys who challenged him about creative decisions and said that Savage was probably the most challenging. He also said that he would let the guys add stuff into their programs and characters.

He is now asked about the Sting vs. Hulk Hogan match from Starrcade 1997. Bischoff said that Sting was going through some “issues” at that time. He did not want to bring them up, saying it is best for him to talk about that. Bischoff then said that Sting had a whole year to prepare for his big moment and they would quickly see him and he had on the coat and makeup so they had no idea what his physique looked like. Right before the show, Bischoff said that he came in pale and with a poorer physique. He also added how he was a lot less passionate too. Hogan told Bischoff that he couldn’t believe Sting didn’t bother going to the gym or getting a tan for this big moment. Bischoff said that from his perspective, he felt there was something missing and that it was just bad timing in Sting’s life.

On the fast count in the match, Bischoff said that he cannot remember who was at fault and did not then, either but noted it became a huge deal.

About Scott Hall, Bischoff said they tried hard to help maintain his sobriety by sending him to rehab multiple times then talks about when he was sober, he had one of the best minds in the business. When he was under the influence, Hall was unbearable.

Feinstein asks him about whether or not he allowed partying in the locker room, Bischoff said that some of the guys had beers in the locker room and he did permit it but not everyone did that either. However, Bischoff said that in retrospect it was a bad idea.

Bischoff is asked about the celebrities that appeared in WCW. He said that both Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone were worth it and when he first started negotiating with them it was before the Bulls and Jazz met in the finals. He said that Jay Leno was worth it as it got WCW a lot of mainstream press then says that a lot of wresting purists might not like that but he had to appeal to advertisers and corporate sponsors as well as the consumer side. When asked about David Arquette, said it was Russo’s idea and it “probably” devalued the belt but while it was a bad idea in retrospect, no one who has not come up with a bad idea has ever tried to come up with a good idea. On Kiss, Bischoff said that the original plan was in conjunction with the Fiesta Bowl that the PPV ended at the stroke of midnight with Kiss playing at one end of the field and the ring at the other with the three count of the main event happening at the stroke of midnight. He said that the idea was scrapped when no one wanted to travel that day. He said that Master P and the No Limit Soldiers came in although he doesn’t know how it got pitched. He did think Curt Hennig’s West Texas Redneck’s stuff was funny but looking back bringing in the rappers was not worth it.

Kevin Nash became booker as Bischoff said he was burned out and had not come up with a good idea for a long time. He also said that corporately was kicking his ass and they were a mess and he became fed up.

He speaks about Kevin Sullivan as a booker and said that he was one-dimensional and dark and that did not fit in with the commercial product. He did put over Sullivan for being great at finishes and how that he really understood how to draw heat but struggled to build everything up to get to that point.

Bischoff is asked about Thunder and how he said that he should have stood up and said no to that idea. He talks about how they were at capacity with their current show schedule and Thunder made it worse.

When asked how they did not get any revenue stream with Thunder, Bischoff added that they did not get any revenue stream from any of the shows as they were not licensing them to their own network, just producing them for the network.

Bischoff talks about the Time Warner/AOL merger. At first he thought it was great but several months later someone told him that overtime the culture will change and that Turner will become more like Time Warner and not the other way around. He then tells us that WCW got lumped into a non-specific category within the company and so when they started to make money other people wanted to take the revenues and build up their own divisions, plus some people did not want wrestling in the company. In 1999, he was told that they were cutting his budget, after telling him he had to do Thunder and figure out the budget himself by cutting stuff across the board so they can allocate their funds elsewhere. Bischoff said this was when Nash came in and he had a lot of conflict with the corporate offices. He said that a lot of Time Warner executives were either embarrassed by wrestling or wanted the money allocated to it for other projects.

He talks about how he talked with NBC to do some live specials after Leno did WCW and NBC as scrambling for programming when the NBA went on strike. He said he planned to have Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra get divorced on TV but it never came to fruition.

On D-X invading WCW with the tank, Bischoff said that he was shocked at first then pissed off at himself afterwards as he did not think of something to do with them and wanted to let them into the building.

When he challenged Vince McMahon he never thought he would show up but after he did, Savage and Hogan told him that Vince would show up and kick his ass.

Bischoff is asked about the day he was removed from power. He said that it happened on September 10th, 1999. The night before he was in his office and fed up then thought back to August 1998 when he saw the writing on the wall and should have quit. He talked to someone who he thought was a friend and said that he was done and pissed off. When he got home, he thought he should suck it up and stop being a bitch. The next day he got the call from Harvey Schiller that he had to be in his office at 9am and knew something was up as that never happened. When he got there, Schiller told him he had to go home. Bischoff said he had a PPV but Schiller told him that he did not and to go home and get rest then they would talk later. When he got home, he flew his plane to Wyoming at went fishing as it finally sunk in that he was out. He said now he understands but back then, there were so many pieces involved that he did not know exactly why it happened.

About Bill Busch replacing him, Bischoff said that it was “comical.” He also felt the same way when they brought in Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara as part of creative.

He did say that Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko, and Saturn leaving for the WWF shocked him and was an indication of how bad things got in WCW.

When they called him to come back he had a lot of emotions going on, including a little bit of “I told you so” as he knew there were things no one else could do when he left.

Bischoff said that he wanted to like Russo and calls him a charming guy and can be very persuasive but doesn’t feel that he understands the wrestling business. At the beginning he said they worked together well but as time went on he could not trust Russo and it manifested in July 2000 at Bash at the Beach.  He got in late from his father’s funeral and wanted to delay the production meeting until he got there but when he arrived, the meeting was already underway. Bischoff said that the deal was that they both had to agree on the idea and if they could not Brad Siegel was the “tiebreaker.” And Hogan had creative control at the time as well. His idea was that Hogan was going to quit and leave with the belt then they would recreate a new champion, who would be a heel, then at Halloween Havoc Hogan would come back and face the champion. When they landed in Tampa for the show, their phones were blowing up with people calling them because Russo went into business for himself, which was not part of the script whatsoever. Siegel had agreed with Bischoff and Hogan’s plan at the time. When asked, Bischoff said that Hogan was right at suing Russo and he would have as well if possible.

On the locker room vibe when he came back compared to when he left, Bischoff said that it gotten worse as there was more stress and insecurity as the company was declining.

When he found out that Jamie Kellner cancelled all wrestling programs on Turner Broadcasting, he was in Hawaii with his wife and kids and got a call that it was all over as the deal he had in place to purchase WCW was off the table as the distribution deal they put together that was worth $67 million was now worth about $0.85. He said if Ted Turner was able to maintain power none of this would have happened.

Bischoff said that he had spoke with Fox previously but did the deal with Turner and when that fell through, he tried to reach out to Fox again but that did not work. He said without a TV slot it wasn’t worth anything to anyone except for Vince McMahon.

Feinstein then asks Bischoff about several rumors floating around at the time of plans he had for a revamped WCW. He did have conversations with Joey Styles and Don Callis about being the announcers. He said that he never had any definite plans of bringing back Hogan or Nash to the show but probably would have. He did say there was plans to have the TV tapings in Las Vegas.

After WCW, he thought he was done in the wrestling business and never anticipated he would work for Vince McMahon.

Bischoff said he was never attached to the Mat Rats production. He went and saw one taping and thought it was cool but the company fell apart before he could get them any deal or sorts.

He talks about how wrestling used to be the ultimate unscripted program but does not know how to describe it today.

Bischoff goes into all of his outside projects from reality shows to his brewing his own beer and this goes on for about ten minutes.

On going to the WWE, he was shocked when Vince called. He said that he was never contacted to come in during the invasion angle and thinks that was a mistake. They had a good conversation and when Vince asked him if there was anything he wouldn’t do, Bischoff said that he was not willing to move up to Connecticut.

As the RAW GM, Bischoff said that he had a blast and thanks Vince for allowing him to do some fun things on air. He said that he was excited to have the chance to do something positive and move on past the Monday Night War stuff.

He says that the reactions on peoples faces when he walked backstage were incredible as they were all shocked.

When comparing the production between WCW to WWE, Bischoff said that WWE was a machine and there was no weak link from the television side of the product.

Bischoff said that he got along with Kevin Dunn professionally but not much beyond that. He said that he never felt lingering hostility from the McMahon’s and made to feel like a part of the family at that time. He did say that Stephanie could have had a little bit of tension under the surface as she is really close to her dad but he might be wrong about that.

On the night when Ric Flair went after him backstage, Bischoff said that he was talking with his wife and a real estate broker when Flair and Arn Anderson came into the room. Flair was sweating and fired up then yelled at him to get up. He had no idea what was going on as they went out for beers a week prior and had no problems since but Flair was so mad that he bit his own lip to the point that it bled then started to punch him but said they were not hard so he hung up the phone and told Flair he was not going to fight him and after that people came in and got Flair out. He said that they have talked and hung out multiple times since but never brought it up and when asked, Bischoff said that Flair never apologized.

He loved working with Steve Austin and talked about the skits they did where he was finding Austin at the orders of Vince. Bischoff then said it was easy due to all of the built-in heat and everyone wanting to see Austin kick his ass. He said it was amazing to work with him.

Feinstein asks him about several wrestlers. He calls John Cena a very talented guy. He said that Chris Jericho is also talented but very emotional as well. He did put him over as a class act to work with. He didn’t really know Shawn Michaels or Randy Orton all that much but liked them both. When asked, Bischoff said that there were never any plans for Michaels to jump over to WCW.

When asked about the Chris Benoit tragedy, Bischoff said that it was hard to believe. When asked what he thought happened he said that people have things going on in their lives and its unfair to speculate.

Bischoff said that he was written out of the storyline in 2005 as it ran it’s course and it was a long time for a non-wrestler to be in that role. He did say it was his idea to be tossed into the garbage and suggested that Vince McMahon do it himself.

He talks about how the flew in a Hollywood makeup artist to come in when he did Billy and Chuck’s wedding. Bischoff said it was awesome and that he was in makeup at 2pm that day and no one could tell who he was and that he channeled Jim Barnett with that character. He said that he faked out Brad Rhiengans by messing around with his kids then walking off as he had no clue who he was until when he ripped off the mask.

If the WWE offered him a chance to return he would for the right story.

He decided to write a book on his career after the WWE asked him too and never even thought he had enough of a career to fill a book until a ghostwriter spoke with him.

Bischoff does not believe that any other wrestling company can compete with the WWE due to the fact that there is no one else with the experience, knowledge, and vision combined with a network that is behind you. He said the conditions will never be the same.

On the WWE Network, Bischoff said that he does not know enough about the streaming market but thinks it is a phenomenal idea and made a great move due to their vast library of content.

To start a new promotion today would take $100 million dollars and ten years of patience to wait for it to pay off.

He would like to be remembered in wrestling as someone who was innovative. When asked, he said that he gets frustrated over the “narrative” about him in WCW but does not take it personally.

Thoughts: Overall, I thought this was a very good interview. Bischoff was open and willing to talk throughout. I also enjoyed him shedding light on just how messy the corporate side of everything was at the time as it really made things messy. Bischoff did constantly talk about wanting to put an end to all of the “narratives” that others have said about WCW and it was interesting to hear.

I came away from this interview liking Bischoff as a person. He was able to admit when he was at fault and took the high road more often than not here. I believe that he was unable to talk about TNA here due to legal reasons but I am not quite sure.

I recommend this interview to everyone who wanted to know about WCW.

You can purchase this at RF Video. They are having a 30% off sale at the moment as well, making it a good time to buy this if you want.

http://www.rfvideo.com/ericbischoffshootinterview.aspx

And just to let everyone know, I will be taking the next two weeks off from shoot interview recaps due to the Holidays

This was released in 2014

The Interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

Disc One runs at two hours and thirty four minutes long

He talked about where he grew up just outside of Detroit, which he said was near “8 Mile.” He said it was a tough place to live but before it declined even further. He watched “Big Time Wrestling” as a kid and remembered The Sheik, Dick the Bruiser, and Bobo Brazil. Bischoff talked about moving a lot as a kid and seeing multiple territories as a result. He said that he never thought about being in the wrestling business as a kid.

Bischoff is asked about his career before wrestling as he says he had a profession that began with almost every letter of the alphabet. Before wrestling, he was a manager at a food processing company and even managed a karate school, even fighting at times. He said he had some fights on ESPN too but it did not pay the bills.

He actually met Sonny Onoo before he got into wrestling. They met on the karate tournament circuit as Bischoff said he was a great kickboxer and one of the best in the country in kata. One night, they were at a bar talking about their childhoods then came up with the concept for the “Ninja Star Wars” game. Bischoff ended up calling the AWA and got a meeting with Verne to try to get advertising. Bischoff said that the pitched went great and made a deal where he would everything and Verne do the promotion and split that 50/50. Bischoff said that was his first time doing a business like that and it wasn’t that successful but it was a learning experience and as a result, Verne gave him a job handling the AWA syndication. Bischoff had no experience in that but said that said he did sales before and just used the experience he had to sell. This was in 1987.

On Verne Gagne, he said that they were friends at that time and would go hunting together and spent Christmas together as well. Bischoff calls Verne the most stubborn person he knew and didn’t realize until the end that his ideas were not working. Bischoff also blamed the government in Minnesota for instituting imminent domain and taking part of his land, only offering him 25% of what it was worth.

He tells the story of how he got to become an interviewer. Larry Nelson got popped for a DUI and could not make it to TV that morning. Bischoff said that once a month Verne would fly everyone in to do promos in various markets and after Larry never came, Greg suggested to Verne that he (Bischoff) do them as he was good looking and was the only one who wore a tie. Bischoff said that he was uncomfortable and he did horrible.

About his friendship with DDP, Bischoff said that he found DDP loud and obnoxious at first. After a show they were at a corporate event and he said something to DDP, who said something back. Bischoff then saw him leaving in the parking lot and went after him but he left. Bischoff then went back inside and a had a drink and when he left he saw DDP again but they decided to let it go and the next day they talked and became friends.

He talks auditioning for the WWF in 1990. Bischoff talked about how he was in the AWA at the end and was going weeks without getting paid and when he did they were partial checks and that his house was foreclosed on and his car was getting repossessed and asked Verne if he could take the audition. He said that he did not get the job and remembers Kevin Dunn talking into his earpiece while he was in front of the green screen about stuff that had nothing to do with the mock interview he was conducting.

Bischoff got hired by WCW after sending an audition tape. At the time he had no money and struggled to feed his family. He got flown down to the Omni once a month for two days and made $85,000.

He was and still is friends with Teddy Long and recalls that on Friday’s they would go down to Casa Gallardo, a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, to eat nachos and drink $3 margaritas.

On Jim Ross, Bischoff talks about how Jim Herd brought him in to keep JR and Tony Schiavone to “keep them miserable.” Bischoff said because of that, JR was not very personable at all but even still remained supportive. He said that Schiavone was quiet and a hard worker but also not very nurturing either. He puts them both over as being hard workers.

He had minimal interaction with the talent at the beginning of his WCW stint. Even still, he did not like Lex Luger from the first day he met him.

On the announcing differences between AWA and WCW, he said that Verne would yell at you and tell you what to do at times while in WCW there were barely any constraints at all and just tell you that you did a good job.

When asked why WCW was so mismanaged in the early 90’s, Bischoff said that you have in keep in mind that when Ted Turner bought them out from Crockett they were a bankrupt company that was already terribly mismanaged. Then he talks about how they tried to fix it with those same people at that time.

Bischoff talks about how when he got to WCW no one but Turner in the corporate offices wanted wrestling on the network, thus WCW never got all that much in terms of support.

Bischoff talks about some of the guys in charge. He said Kip Frey was a deer in headlights and did not know anything about the wrestling business. He then said that Bill Watts was a bully who wanted to bring things back to the 70’s to make up for low ratings. He then said the talent started to work more conservatively as Watts made it more dangerous by taking away the mats on the floor. He said that Watts would do stuff like bring a gun to the Omni and put it on his desk to show that he is a tough guy. Bischoff said that Watts always had to prove that he was tough and feels that people who act like that are usually “pussies” and just overcompensating. He said that the Executive Committee was looking for any excuse to get rid of wrestling at the time and that Watts was basically doing just that for them. Bischoff then said that he heard through Bill Shaw that they wanted to get away from the old-school wrestling mentality and hire an executive.

On how he became the Executive Producer, Bischoff said that he had a grasp on how to run events and the television side, although not an expert, and knew the business from the wrestling side and decided to throw is name in the hat for the job, saying the worst that could happen was that he would not get the job. When asked, Bischoff said that Jim Ross got unfairly linked to Watts, who they wanted gone. Bischoff said that WCW picked him as he had a newer approach and saw what was wrong with the current product at that time. He said that Ross was miserable there and not just because he got the Executive job but said that he has talked to him and they are friends today.

He said that they needed better production values but before that they needed more fans in the building as if there is no one there to see the show, there is no point of improving your production values.  He said that he believed by co-branding with Disney studios it would help change the perception of WCW with advertisers, sponsors, and the PPV company. The alternative to that was to continue booking TV tapings in arenas that fans were not coming too. He said that they always papering the house shows and said they would do that in a city of three times in a row then charge them to come to the 4th show and of course no one bought tickets. Bischoff said that it was actually more expensive to run the shows there but necessary to build the brand as wrestling fans are brand loyal.

About being second behind the WWF, Bischoff said that they were so far behind them that if it was a horse race they would have shot them for being so far behind. Bischoff said that he wanted  fans to like WCW as much as other wrestling companies.

On switching to a monthly PPV model, Bischoff said that they had to in order to make a profit. He was also not surprised when WWF swtiched to that as he said they did it because WCW had success.

Bischoff is asked about getting Turner to spend money on talents like Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund, and Hulk Hogan. He first goes on about people want to tell a narrative about Turner having an open checkbook and that he used him like an ATM but the truth was that WCW was losing $10 million a year and Turner had not made a profit in any year since taking over. Bischoff said that he first cut costs and the first thing was to stop house shows as they lost money every time they went out of the door and Bob Dhue, WCW Vice President, wanted to do more house shows and Bischoff said how the fuck does that make any sense so he decided to stop all of the house shows until they built up their TV shows. Talent was pissed and dubbed him “Evil Eric” as that cost them money. Bischoff said that the people who wanted WCW to go away within Turner weren’t as angry when they were starting to break even. At that time, he went to Turner and Bill Shaw wanting to sign Hogan. After that went over well, they gave him more money to sign Okerlund and Heenan then they started to get more viewers, better PPV numbers, and started to run house shows again with more fans coming to the arena. When asked, Bischoff said that he never felt that Hogan was leveraging him during the process.

He also said that Ric Flair was critical of Hogan coming into WCW. Hogan trusted working with Flair according to Bischoff as he knew he could make him look good. Bischoff said that deep down inside he feels that Hogan is an honest and generous guy but at times can be very insecure.

Bischoff puts over Hogan for helping the WCW brand as he got them known as more than a regional Southern product. He said that while some of the crowds did not react favorably towards Hogan, he was phenomenal from the business side.

About Randy Savage coming into WCW, Bischoff said that Hogan called him up and wanted Savage in WCW. Bischoff said at that time they were profitable for the first time in WCW history. He then said not only was Savage coming to WCW but so was the “Slim Jim” sponsorship so as a result he basically got Savage for free. Bischoff liked Savage but said that he was very eccentric and insecure.

He is asked about Steve Austin. Bischoff said that he had a chip on his shoulder as the focus of WCW was on Hogan. Bischoff said that at the time he let him go and would do it today as well as it was the right move then. Bischoff then talks about how the Stone Cold character would have never emerged in WCW and he needed to leave the company to find his stride.

Bischoff is asked about several behind-the-scenes guys. He got along with Zane Bresloff and said he could milk as much as he could from the individual markets. He didn’t care for Gary Jester and said he was like a “potted plant.” He liked Craig Leathers (director) and put him over for always being able to work under pressure. He liked Harvey Schiller and said he was a great buffer for the corporate side. Bischoff likes Dusty Rhodes a lot but also said that his ego problems with Flair got to be too much. Bischoff said that he relied a lot upon Kevin Sullivan at the beginning but that they have different ideas. He said “no comment” when asked about Sharon Sidello (Head of the PPV Division, also rumored to have played Fifi the Maid on the “Flair for the Gold” segments but that was played by Wendy Barlow). He said that DDP was instrumental in bringing in Hall and Nash and acted as a liaison of sorts with the talent.

He is asked about the meeting that led to Nitro starting. He said that he was pitching an idea to Turner to work out a TV deal in China, who asked him what did they have to do to be competitive with the WWF. Bischoff said that WWF was in primetime while they were on 6pm on Saturday night. Turner then said to give WCW two hours on Monday night and Bischoff said that everyone’s jaw dropped when it was announced.

Bischoff’s first move was that he locked himself in a room and thought of how he was going to make this work. He said that if he failed, it was over as all of the hard work would be going down the toilet. He then said that he had to become different in order to beat the WWF, not to copy them.

His concerns about going head-to-head were how to beat them by doing the opposite of what they were doing, like aiming at the 18-34 demographic instead of kids and going live instead of being taped. Bischoff said he came up with this after writing down a list of everything the WWF was doing.

On why he kept himself on the air as a broadcaster, Bischoff said he was decent at it but also knew what he needed to sell.

When asked why he hired Steve McMichael as an announcer to break up the monotony and to have a crazy character.

Bischoff never saw the appeal of bringing Luger back to WCW and had no idea of how to use him and never trusted him, either. Sting persuaded Bischoff to hire him back so he called Luger and gave him a $125,000/ 3 month contract but when he came back he was a different person and it ended up working out. He talks about his surprise return was instrumental in setting the tone for Nitro and how anything could happen live.

About getting negative feedback for giving away RAW results live on air, Bischoff said that both management and talent did not like that and thought it was stupid.

Rob asks him point blank about Vince McMahon’s comments about Bischoff trying to hurt the WWF instead of helping his own product. Bischoff said that was false and puts over Vince for when he worked there but says that is Vince’s perspective as to what was going on and that his people were telling him that. Bischoff does state he was trying to be #1 but it was all about appealing to the audience and getting them to shift their viewing habits.

He also calls out the comments about stealing talent from the WWE and the narrative they are trying to portray. Bischoff calls it hypocritical seeing they did that in the 80’s. He also said that the company still holds resentment towards him for that.

Bischoff wanted Nitro to go on early so he could give away results in order to create controversy.

About the ratings, he would get occasional calls from Turner and his guys giving him brief congratulations.

On the “Monday Night War” Bischoff said that the fans did not get into that until the WWF acknowledge WCW on air. He also said that Turner thought the Billionaire Ted sketches were funny.

He is then asked about Nitro going to air sometimes while the show was still being written. Bischoff said that it happened sometimes then brings up a “Business Week” article about Vince who said that he writes RAW that way today. Bischoff said that sometimes people come up with better ideas and that you make a change if that is the case.

When asked about bringing in Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko, Bischoff said that most of the guys looked and wrestled the same so in order to stand out you had to be different. He saw these guys from working in Japan and knew they did stuff the heavyweights could not do so he wanted them to be the “human car crash” part of the show.

About Benoit, Bischoff said he was very intense and quiet. He felt that Eddie was very cautious of people and at the time was wondering if he made the right decision in leaving Japan. He then said that Malenko was quiet and professional.

Rob asks him about moving a TV taping and if it was intentionally trying to screw over ECW in Philadelphia. Bischoff said that he does not recall but also said that at the time he was doing a lot of “aggressive shit.”

On WWE resurrecting the ECW brand in 2005, Bischoff said he never understood why that happened. He then said looking back, ECW was a show that got low TV ratings and did small PPV buyrates but had a passionate fanbase. From a business perspective, it was awful, but never understood how the WWE would bring back the passion they had into a sterile environment.

Regarding the “One Night Stand” PPVBischoff said that he never understood the ECW product but had heat with their fanbase and ended up having a blast on the show. He said he loved the heat he had on the show. While working with the Dudley’s, he suggested that they threw him in the garbage at the finish as the crowd would love it and they did.

Bischoff said that the nWo idea was the culmination of the realism in wrestling that he saw in Japan. He said that the real motivator of the angle was that both Hall & Nash were getting revenge from being mistreated in WCW then leaving for the WWF, only to come back to WCW to seek revenge on the company. He did realize that he had something great in this angle. He also added that he knew he was going to have a 3rd member but did not know exactly who would fill the role at first. Later on he did confirm that if Hogan refused to turn heel, they were going to go with Sting as the 3rd member.

About today’s wrestling, Bischoff said that the current audience has been saturated with reality and that the animated, 80’s style of programming will not work.

Back to Hogan turning heel, Bischoff said that he wanted Hogan to turn six months before he did but Hogan refused. Bischoff recalled that he was at Hogan’s home and pitched an idea but Hogan said that he had to pick up his kids and that he would never understand his character without walking in his boots. Months later while on the set of “Santa With Muscles,” Hogan called up Bischoff and wanted him to come on the set. Hogan had been watching Nitro and told Bischoff that he should be the third guy in the nWo. Bischoff also said that Hogan knew the crowd reaction he was getting at the end of his face run was horrible but was not willing to risk his character until they had a great idea. When asked, he does not believe the nWo would have taken off if Sting was the one who turned heel because it would have been as shocking. Bischoff said there will probably never be a moment like that in wrestling again.

He talks about the night of the “Bash at the Beach” show. Bischoff said that he kept Sting around that night as the background plan because he was not fully convinced Hogan would show up as he was volatile at the time. Sullivan ended up staying with Hogan in order to keep him calm.

When asked if it was a mistake to put him in the nWo, Bischoff said that does not recall who came up with the idea. He knew he had heat and didnt think it was a giant leap for him to be put in the role.

He thinks that the Vince McMahon character was heavily influenced by what he was doing, citing that Vince went from suits to dressing in jackets.

Bischoff said that his outlook on life never changed but had more pressure as WCW got successful. He said he could have come across as arrogant but in reality was just extremely busy.

On not allowing Flair to take time off to see his son wrestle, Bischoff said that it was a game of chicken between the two as Flair basically told Bischoff to give him what he wants or else. Bischoff said that he did not want to give him the time off because he would have to do it for everyone. Bischoff said that he did not feel good about the situation but had to set a precedent.

When asked, he said that all of his major stars were not happy and it was impossible to keep them all pleased and said the pressure and difficulties of dealing with these strong personalities might have made him seem arrogant to others.

Bischoff is asked whether or not DDP’s success was important to WCW. He first talks about how he loves him but that DDP’s success was not that important to WCW. He said it was important to him and after a while it was beneficial to WCW but there was a whole roster of guys that got over huge and he was floundering for a while. He also said it was not fair for those to say that the only reason he got over was due to him being a friend.

On whether or not the lucahdores were disrespected, Bischoff said that from there perspective sure but that their roles on the show were to provide the “car crash” aspect again and said they made more money than ever. When the show got more popular, they demanded more money and wanted to be in the main events.

About Rey Mysterio, Bischoff said that he was an incredible performer but the American audience does not have the same appreciation for the mask than the Mexican audience and figured since he was a good looking guy the fans would then react more to him when he was selling. Bischoff said that he understands where Mysterio was coming from today and did not mean to disrespect him by removing his mask and notes that was not his intention at all.

Rob asks him about an incident when he reportedly threw coffee at Eddie Guerrero. Bischoff said that he did not throw it at him but he threw it on the ground and some of it landed on Guerrero. He doesnt remember the specifics but they were arguing and he got pissed off and threw it on the ground. He said that Guerrero could be forceful at times.

Final Thoughts: Good stuff so far. Bischoff has been open and seemingly honest here. He does not have an agenda but does want to shed the truth on the “narratives” that have been going on about him during his WCW run. Beyond that, he was willing to expand on his answers and kept a calm demeanor throughout the whole disc.

So far, I recommend Disc One and will have the Disc Two review up tomorrow at noon.

This Disc runs at one hour and thirty-one minutes long

You can read the recap of the first disc by clicking on the link below

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/12/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-chris.html

Kanyon said that it was awesome working on the set of “Ready to Rumble” but said that a lot of the wrestlers showed up all fucked up on pills and that the helped act as a bridge between them and the producers. He said that Curt Hennig was really stiff during the filming with his kicks.

On getting hired by the WWE, Kanyon said that he was thankful for the opportunity he got and that Vince did not have to give him the U.S. Title and said it was a huge opportunity. He then talks about how he was at WrestleMania XX and took a picture of himself after the confetti fell from the ceiling as he was in the crowd. Kanyon was fired a few months before the show. Kanyon also said that just because Vince hired him does not mean that he is not a “douchebag,” “two-faced” or “evil.”

He was asked about a few different wrestlers. Kanyon said that Perry Saturn was different and that some guys were scared of him but he loved working with him and said he was an easy guy to work with. On Goldberg, he said that he was overly protective of his character but they will probably remember him in 20 years and maybe he had it right. Kanyon said that he could not be like that about his own character at the expense of others. Kanyon said that Lex Luger was nice to him but felt that he was phony. Kanyon said that at the airport people would ask for Luger’s autograph and he would say “sure” but just kept on walking.

About the Jersey Triad, Kanyon said that he felt honored to be in a team with Bam Bam and really noticed how smooth of a worker he was by watching him on the apron.

Kanyon said that when you worked with Chris Benoit he was all about the match and would do whatever it took to put together a good match. Then when asked about the Benoit tragedy, he spoke about how he had been inpatient three times in psychiatric units and knows what mental illness can do to you and cannot judge someone for the three days in which they were not well. He always remembered Chris as being a nice guy. He said he saw his son Daniel a few times and thinks he might have been mentally ill himself. There was also talk of that in the locker room. Kanyon said that he believes Benoit might have killed his son after Nancy because there might not have been anyone around to take of him.

He is asked about several other workers. Kanyon said that he never worked with Sting and said that he should give Ric Flair a Christmas present each year for making his career. He likes Harlem Heat and was ecstatic when Booker T won the title and was one of the first people to congratulate him at the curtain.

Kanyon said that Bischoff told him to hire ten young cruiserweight wrestlers for an idea of a show that would be like a “Saved by the Bell” show on Saturday mornings about kids who wrestled. The show would be the first hour and wrestling matches would take place on the second hour. He even said that Peter Engel, creator of “Saved by the Bell” was on board with the project.

On the “Champagne” gimmick, Kanyon said that he talked with Marty “Cham Pain” Garner who said he could use the name as Kanyon was infatuated with it himself. He went to Russo to film a series of vignettes then Garner went back on his word and said that he would sue but Kanyon had the verbal permission from him and was in the process of filming and did it anyway. Kanyon said that he really struggled playing a womanizer and hated it as it felt forced.

He talks about friends in the business and he made a comment about how when he was in wrestling he would get the “dirt sheets” for free then when he was gone, they stopped coming into the mail.

Regarding the angle with Buff & Judy Bagwell, Kanyon said that he moved on to that after beating Booker T the night he won the title. He thought that he should go on TV saying he deserved a shot for beating Booker T that show and should have been his first opponent but the plan was for Scott Steiner to be his challenger so he feuded with Buff instead.

On WCW closing, Kanyon said leading up to the sale he heard that Bischoff”s group was buying the WCW and was going to move the TV tapings to Las Vegas. He saw Ernest Miller at the airport, on the day of what turned out to be the final WCW Nitro, who told him that Bischoff was not buying the company. Shortly after that, John Laurinaitis called him up to say that they were not renewing his contract and on the plane he was hearing rumors that Vince McMahon was buying the company. Once they landed, he called Jim Ross and asked if the offer he had was on the table. Backstage, Kanyon noted how there would be signs all over the door but this time there was one that said WWF and he looked around and saw Shane McMahon walking backstage. He said that they did not know what was real or a work and noted how the WWF dressing room was near the exit and they had a lot of security so they thought it was a work at first. However, Kanyon went to catering, stating that he did not notice the sign that said production only, and saw WCW being handed over to Vince. He noted that everyone was in tears, namely because they were going to be out of a job.

Kanyon then went on about how he cannot believe that Vince is still recognized as a genius due to all of the fuckups (XFL, WBF, IcoPro, Monopolizing Wrestling) and notes how badly he messed up when he signed WCW.

He then talks about how when he was renegotiating his contract with WCW, he had to go to Diane Myers, a lawyer who Kanyon calls a “cunt.” He said she hated all of the wrestlers, citing that it was because they made more money than her. She offered Kanyon a shitty deal that also had Kanyon point out how she was working under Brad Siegel, who he claims really worked for Vince McMahon from inside and tells why. A year before Siegel said that the $250 million that Bischoff’s group offered to buy WCW was not enough but Vince got it for $4 million a year later. He also heard that Siegel worked for Vince in some aspect on the Pay-Per-Views.

When he first got to the WWE, Kanyon said that the WWF guys were not a fan of them coming into the company. He said that the WCW and WWF guys ate and dressed separately at first.

Kanyon said that he was shocked when named the MVP of the Invasion. After that he switched to the Alliance MVP. He then said that he was dumbfounded as to how the WWE handled the whole angle and how he should have two separate brands today: WWE and WCW.

He then speaks about how the wrestling business blurs the line between reality and fantasy and always seemed to wonder whether or not someone who was pleasant to you backstage was talking behind your back. He said that Stephanie McMahon was always nice to him and has no reason to believe that she was anything but genuine but that you still have to wonder, especially since she is the “spawn of the devil.”

On the Undertaker, Kanyon talks about how he heard there was an incident between DDP and Vince. Kanyon said that the rumor was DDP gave Vince a hug after they talked and that Vince was not expecting that and even said that the whole gimmick of Austin hugging people in the ring was a rib on DDP as a result. He then said that DDP either rubbed Vince and the Undertaker the wrong way and gives two stories. The first was DDP had a palm pilot and was an “A-Z Guy,” which in this instance means you plan out all your matches before hand instead of calling it in the ring. Well, DDP was supposed to do a run-in against the Undertaker and just before he went out he tripped on the ramp and was bleeding from the forehead. He ran out anyway and that prompted Vince to say that he wondered if DDP wrote that into his palm pilot. Kanyon then said that at SummerSlam he was teaming with DDP to lose the Tag Belts to Undertaker & Kane. Kanyon said that he got $13,000 for working that match and had a lot of ideas because he never wrestled a cage match before. He suggested to Undertaker that he give him the Last Rites or chokeslam him off the top of the cage but Kanyon was told that they wanted him to leave the cage and have DDP get beat up by himself. Kanyon said this was all the result of either Vince or Undertaker hating DDP. Kanyon said that he knew it wasn’t because of Kane because he was “one of the sweetest guys in the world.” Kanyon then said a fan once yelled to the Undertaker what he thought of DDP, while he was near him. He said that the Undertaker looked at him then the fan before telling the fan that there is a certain way we do things around here and some people come in with their own ideas and those people do not last.

Kanyon is asked about several workers. He liked Tajiri and had no problem dropping the U.S. Title to him. He also liked Kurt Angle and said that his best match ever was with him at a Smackdown taping. Pat Patterson put the match together and he said they were really happy with the match. Kurt and Patterson designed the match to help give Kanyon the rub. The following week, Kanyon asked Kurt what Vince thought of the match because he would sit in on the creative meetings. Kurt told Kanyon that Vince hated the match and felt he was too over in it and after that it was the end of his push in the WWE. He puts over Kurt for being nice but also heard rumors that he is two-faced then tells a story of how Kurt’s nickname in the locker room was “Kurt Canseco” due to basseball player Jose Canseco’s book in which is named off a bunch of former players who used steroids.

He now talks about how he tore his ACL. In the midst of a long stretch on the road he wrestled Jeff Hardy, who landed low on his leg while performing the Swanton. He said his muscle was so bruised it kept giving out on him but he kept going on and in a dark match against Randy Orton he took a reverse atomic drop and that is when it happened as his leg completely gave out during the move.

While in OVW, Kanyon said that he loved working with Jim Cornette and Johnny Jeter. He also said how he got along well with John Laurinaitis, who gave him a sheet that listed everyone in OVW so that he could give a report on the wrestlers and how they were doing. He talks about how he saw Randy Orton and said the first time he saw him that he was the future of wrestling. He then said that John Cena was #2 behind Orton.

Kanyon got hurt again in a match against Lance Cade in HWA. He landed on his shoulder outside of the ring and at the time he had a cut on his arm. He did not think anything of it but ended up with a major infection. A few days later he woke up in the hospital and they had to perform emergency surgery. He also said he lost 32 lbs in six days.

He confirmed that there was a plan for him to come back as the Mortis character after his injury. Stephanie McMahon liked the idea and he did a few dark matches that seemed to get over okay but the company scrapped the idea after a few weeks.

Now, he is asked about the Boy George segment. Kanyon said that he had no idea who came up with the idea and was told by Paul Heyman that they wanted him to do this. Kanyon said he was just coming back from injury and was thinking about coming out as gay then as he read a Sports Illustrated article that questioned if professional sports was ready for an openly gay athlete but said that it can in entertainment so he thought since the WWE combined those two things it would be perfect. He apparently pitched the idea to someone and he was told that word got back to Vince, who hated the idea. He then said the way Heyman described what they wanted him to do was odd as he was told they built a giant closet that they wanted him to come out of and when he sang to sound like a “fag.” Kanyon said that he thinks they wanted to see if he would refuse to do it but that he said he agreed. He thinks that they got pissed when he threw it back in their face about wanting to continue the gimmick. After that, he worked nothing but dark matches until his release.

Before his release he was told that he needed to go down to OVW to get trained. At the time he was working on a “real estate deal” and said that he would go down after that as he could not pass that up. He also had to fly down to Florida to get his car because he was told he would be down in OVW “indefinitely” and since they cut his salary he could not afford to rent one for that amount of time. They called him up a few days later and he told them what he said before about not being able to report their right away then a few days after that Laurinaitis called him up to fire him. Kanyon knew it was coming as they were trying to make him crack with the Boy George thing that he threw back in their face. He said he wasn’t even sure that he would have shown up in OVW because how they were treating him.

He said that he taped his conversation with Laurinaitis when he was fired. When asked why he was fired he was told that the writers did not have anything for him and that led Kanyon to ask him why aren’t they firing the writers. He then asked if he could go to WrestleMania to say bye to the guys and he approved as he was still under the 90 Day non-compete as he was let go in February. He said it felt full-circle to be at Mania at the Garden as his fandom started with Hogan winning the title and WWE ended when he saw Benoit/Guerrero win at the Garden.

Kanyon said that people knew he was gay in the business as the rumor was out there. He then tells a story, not naming the name, about how he almost fooled around with a pro wrestler at the Ready to Rumble” filming but they both decided against it as they felt it was a bad idea. Kanyon confirmed that the other wrestler was gay and that he is still in the business today.

On whether or not he hooked up with girls to prove to the others that he was not gay he said that he did. Kanyon tells a story about a girl in a hotel lobby he met that blew him and he had his buddy film it to show that he was not gay. The next day his buddy was on the elevator with X-Pac who asked him what happened to the girl. He said that the girl blew Kanyon and he filmed it as X-Pac told him that he always thought Kanyon was gay.

Terry Taylor asked him one day if he was gay. Kanyon said that Taylor does not have a filter and will say whatever comes to his mind. He said that Raven always asked him if he was gay too. He then said that after he came out his friends that were still in the WWE said that William Regal and Chris Jericho always asked them if he was gay.

On his arrest in 2004, Kanyon said that he does not drink. The camera then shows how Kanyon has finished off four energy drinks and a cup of coffee already at this point. During the shoot you will see Kanyon constantly drinking them then he talks about his manic episodes. That is just the worst thing to do if you are prone to manic episodes. He then talks about being on the “Howard Stern Show” and said he was shocked when Ric Flair called in and said that the bet with Artie Lange was legit. He said he was in the midst of a manic episode when he called in and said that Artie legitimately tried to help him because he did try to kill himself (Lange made a serious attempt shortly after this interview and never returned to the show).

Kanyon is asked about the lawsuit he was part off with Raven and Mike Sanders against the WWE for classifying their wrestlers as independent contractors. He said one reason he agreed was that Raven needed people do go in with him and a lot of wrestlers were afraid to go up against Vince. He did say that since it was ongoing he could not talk about it but promised that he would when it ended.

He is asked about his comment that Bret Hart once told him that the “Montreal Incident” was a work. Kanyon said that Bret liked him a lot and tells a story. Kanyon was wrestling Booker T and nervous about a spot in which he accidentally spiked himself when Booker powerbombed him off of the top rope. He talks about how Bret was the first person to ask if he was okay then said that he went to him at a bar and wanted to work with him. He then tells the story about everything that happened in the WWF and wanted him to see “Wrestling With Shadows” and if it exposed the business too much. The next day he said that he asked Bret if Vince presented the whole thing as an angle before it happened, would he have done it? Kanyon said that Bret went “ssshh” and Kanyon took that as it was a work but did note that it could have meant anything.

Kanyon said that Vince should pay for psychological counseling if he is going to pay for rehab. He thinks that will be a lot more beneficial. He said that it is almost a reward that you can get him to pay for help if you are fucking around with drugs.

Final Thoughts: This was quite the shoot. Kanyon held nothing back at all. The interview itself was all over the place and it didn’t really follow a timeline like most shoots did but that not make me enjoy it any less, although I could see how it could drive some people crazy.

Even watching this you could see Kanyon struggling with his mental illness. From the constant drinking of energy drinks to the way he struggled to stay on topic at times. It was sad to watch at times. Also, the way he was treated by the WWE, if true, was horrible. There was no excuse for that.

Overall, a fantastic interview that I highly recommend. You can purchase the video for $20 by clicking on the link below.

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithchriskanyon.aspx

This was filmed in 2009

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

Disc One runs at One Hour and Fifty-Nine minutes long.

Kanyon is first asked if he was a fan of wrestling growing up. He said that his dad used to watch horse racing on Saturday’s and that wrestling came on after that and he was hooked at an early age. He said by age 12 he wanted to become a wrestler. He said that he saw Hogan win the Championship at the Garden in 1984 then when he saw Ric Flair wrestle Ricky Steamboat in 1989 at the Meadowlands he decided that he wanted to become a really good wrestler. He tells a story of how he went to the Meadowlands show and his uncle was there and shit all over him for liking wrestling but after the end of the Flair/Steamboat match, he told Kanyon that he now understands why he watches wrestling.

He said that his parents told him he could live on his own and train to be a wrestler after he graduated high school or that they would help pay for him to go to college. Kanyon said that he wasn’t ready to live on his own so he decided to go to the University of Buffalo to be with his friend and studied physically therapy. His senior year he got tickets to an indy show and talked with someone and ended up going to wrestling school after that and said that he lied to his parents about going there by saying he was at his internship or studying at the library.

On his training, he said that he went to the Lower Eastside Gym and got the shit beat out of him by one of the Power Twins from WCW fame on his first days. Kanyon then talks about how he watched a ton of wrestling from all over the world and that he had over 1,000 tapes in his collection. He said that Flair and Roddy Piper were his two favorites as a kid and said it was their talking skills that drew him towards them and even went as far as to make compilation tapes of them, even including every single mention of them throughout the show. He said that he knew someone who worked in the lighting crew for New York and Pennsylvania shows and they stole him one of the original “Piper’s Pit” posters from the set that Kanyon still has to this day.

He met James Mitchell in South Carolina where he was doing indies at the time. He said that Mitchell is a weird dude but was a good guy who took a liking to him. He then talks about wrestling against Billy Kidman at that time and how the shooting star press is one of the scariest moves to lay down for.

Kanyon got some gigs doing jobs at WWF Tapings when he was training with Afa in California. He said that he told him in his match against Diesel that he had to make him look strong because he was going to get the strap soon. Kanyon that he didn’t care what he had to do as he was on TV and after the match when they were backstage, Diesel went over to Afa and told him and put over Kanyon. He said that Diesel and X-Pac took a liking to him backstage as did Tony Garea. Kanyon said he told Garea he played rugby in college and said that Garea was in charge of putting together the squash matches at the time. Kanyon said that Owen Hart gave him the stiffiest missile dropkick of his life. Kanyon also said they critiqued him and said he needed to show some personality. He said that Bob Holly was really stiff with him and gave him a clothesline that gave him a sore throat for three weeks. Kanyon then said that he disagreed with what Holly did to Matt Cappotelli on “Tough Enough” and it made the business look bad.

He talks about how at that time (1995) was his favorite in wrestling as he was just breaking into the major organizations and learning and meeting from the top names.

Kanyon talks some more about the Kliq and how they would stand by the monitors and would bury or put over certain guys and recalls how one day he heard Scott Hall, after watching Jeff Hardy lose in a squash match, say how the WWF needed to sign him right away. Kanyon said he was jealous when Hall said that and would talk about how he and Kidman would tell each other what the Kliq would say about them backstage when they were in the ring.

When he was training in South Carolina at the Fabulous Moolah’s school, Mitchell told him that they had to “work this bitch” and pretend like he had not already been working for a few months. Kanyon said that he failed at working her on the first day but Moolah had a sense of humor about it and got him booked on a show once. Kanyon tells a story of that show as Curt Hennig was backstage and told Kanyon that Sean Waltman was pissed because he did a moonsault in his match. Kanyon said that this was before he knew that Hennig was a big “ribber.” Anyway, Kanyon went to apologize and Waltman told him he doesn’t give a fuck then suggest that they rib him back and that Waltman starts tossing stuff around to the point people were running backstage to break it up but Kanyon said that he got so caught up in and started shooting on him like an idiot and yelled about how Waltman had made Wade Keller put him over in his newsletter to get a push, which seem to piss off Waltman. After the show, Hennig told Kanyon that he would never get a rib over on him again.

He said that he worked for ECW when it was “Eastern Championship Wrestling” as part of a hockey player gimmick. Kanyon recalls how Heyman told him to blow a spot in a match against Stevie Richards to set up 911 running in and chokeslam them but he and Richards did not fully understand what he meant or the business at the time and they just ended up mistiming a bunch of moves.

After that he went to Memphis. He showed up to TV the first day with Kidman, who drove down with him after Kanyon’s original partner no-showed and they told Kidman that he was too small and did not use him but Kanyon worked with PG-13. He said that he was making $40 a night working in Memphis and shortly before that was making $70,000 as a physical therapist. He then said that he was still rough around the edges and did not understand the gimmick and Bill Dundee told him that hockey players are known for fighting and to go out there and beat the shit out of people and to not do his highspots. At the time, Kanyon said he was young and thought Dundee was a dick but looking back sees that he was just looking out for his career. He got his two weeks notice as the business was hurting and remembers Wolfie D telling him not to quit the business then telling him to head down to WCW as they were taping a bunch of TV Shows in Orlando. After contemplating whether or not to quit the business altogether after the office in WCW was not returning his calls, Kanyon said he was at a bar and talked to the bartender who told him that he should drive down to Orlando as he had nothing to lose.

Kanyon drove down to Florida and was in the arena as he bought a ticket and saw Head of Security Doug Dillinger, who both Kanyon and Feinstein said was a dick, look at him and walk over to throw him out but he saw Bischoff’s secretary and asked her if he could talk to Jody Hamilton to get some work at the tapings. He got to Hamilton, who wanted him to go see him on May 8th at the Power Plant but had no work for him at this taping. Hamilton called Kanyon on May 7th and asked him where he was then when Kanyon said he thought it was on the 8th when he had to be there, Hamilton told him to come in a few days. He showed up and met with Mike Winter, who he teamed with briefly as the Men at Work team. Winter worked him over for several minutes as Jody Hamilton came out and watched briefly then went back to his office. Winter then trained the others as Kanyon was walking around by himself as he had nothing to do but was looking around at all the cool shit in the building. Hamilton then wanted to see him and Kanyon went to his office and had no clue what was happening as Hamilton wrote down six dates on a piece of paper. Kanyon said that Hamilton always looks down when he talked to you and came off a bit odd. Kanyon then asked if he could come down and practice with the guys during the other dates and that got Hamilton to actually look at him as he told Kanyon that was the best thing he could have said and he got to train. After a few weeks he was working with HHH, Terry Taylor, and Chad Fortune.

Kanyon said that DDP took a liking to him and helped him out at the beginning. He also said that Disco Inferno was really nice to him as well and they became friends.

He recalls WCW doing a cross promotion with NASCAR and they were doing matches on the street but it was raining outside. Kanyon was scheduled for his first live match in a tag against the Blue Bloods. He said it was also Bischoff’s birthday and DDP invited him to a bar after the show. Kanyon said that DDP told Bichoff that he (Kanyon) might be something some day and shortly after that Kanyon was booked to face Johnny B. Badd on the Bash at the Beach preshow. Kanyon said that he was late to the show and thought the match went fine but was worried as he was late. When he went backstage, Badd thanked him for the match and then after that, Kanyon saw Bobby Heenan, who had his own dressing room, come over to him and tell him that he was going to be something in this business, which made him feel great and he was almost in tears afterwards then mentions how he was upset that Heenan buried him in his book.

Kanyon said that he thought Bischoff paid him a little less and did not give him perks like others got because of his friendship with DDP and how others would perceive him if he did. He talked about at the end of WCW, even guys coming out of the power plant were getting their cars and hotels paid for except for him and Disco. Kanyon also thought that Kevin Sullivan disliked DDP because he would push ideas on him.

On the “Who better than Kanyon” idea, DDP came to him backstage after he said it and wanted him to use it often. Heenan told him to compliment others before going into that bit but was fearful that Sullivan would get pissed if he started to do that so he decided against it, which leads Kanyon to think why Heenan buried him in his book for acting like too big of a star to listen to him. He then said that he talked to Heenan at WrestleMania XX to clear up the issue and that Heenan told him he understood.

He started to imitate DDP after he left wrestling for a bit. Kanyon said that Ed Ferrara and Disco wrote the angles for him and came up with the idea for doing Kanyon Cutters all over the place and even said that the plan was for him to do it all sorts of events like Atlanta Hawks game. Russo came back to the company and Kanyon said that they were butting heads and DDP might not have come back. Kanyon wanted Russo to drop the angle if DDP was not coming back and said that he had to man up and talk to DDP to sort things out because if he was not coming back there was no point of teasing the fans. After that, Kanyon was held off of TV for a few week then went home as he lost his grandparents and had to help out his dad.

Kanyon talks about how poor the morale was in WCW around the time the Radicals went to the WWE and a lot of the roster was calling up WWE and ECW looking for work. Kanyon said that he was going to ask for his release and even talked to Jim Ross before that and the WWE was going to offer him $400,000, a raise from his $270,000 he was making in WCW. Ross told Kanyon that he would not have to go to Developmental either. Kanyon said he went to Bill Busch, who had to go to a production assistant to find out who he was, and was told he would be seen in ten minutes. Kanyon said he was pissed and started calling Busch “Billy” and basically told him he was an idiot and how Hulk Hogan was bashing people as this was when he said that Kidman couldn’t draw anything, then told Busch that the Westminster Dog Show was going to beat them in the ratings that Monday because no one knows what the fuck they are doing. He then told Busch that he shouldn’t bother to ride coach with them on the flights in an attempt to bond because he hadn’t earned or deserved their respect. Busch said that Kanyon could not get his release then Kanyon brought up how he said in a meeting that if you were unhappy they would grant a release so he challenged Busch, who claimed he would get back to him in a week, something that Kanyon told Busch he would not do, and sure enough, Busch never got back to him.

He recalls how he came up to Hogan and asked for his release and how he thought what he did to Kidman was bullshit and hurt morale. Hogan then told Kanyon that it was a work and he would be doing something with Kidman down the line. Kanyon said that Kidman was not told that it was a work beforehand. Kanyon then told Kidman that it was a work after that, something that Hogan did not want to get out.

On the creation of the Mortis character, Kanyon said that Bischoff told him, Bryan Clark, Glacier, and Ernest Miller how the popular things were Power Rangers, Mortal Kombat, and over the top martial arts characters and thought they could revolutionize wrestling with these characters and wanted to go as far as having cartoons with them. Bischoff initially did not want Kanyon in the role but DDP pushed for him. Kanyon said that he was taking karate lessons with Glacier and Wrath to prepare for the role.

Kanyon said that Bryan Clarke as Wrath, who apparently recently buried him, would take care of him at that time because Kanyon was not making much money at all, which Clarke was pissed at WCW for doing.

He now talks about how he was Bipolar but not diagnosed at the time and said it was tough as he was untreated and he could become violent.

When asked if the nWo or anyone else tried to nix certain storylines, Kanyon was convinced that one on “WCW Saturday Night” taping, Sullivan had the Faces of Fear shoot on him and Wrath in their match as they beat the fuck out of them. Kanyon said that he did not want them to think he was a pussy but also knew they would kick the shit out of him so he hit one of them hard but not too hard. After that, they worked a program and it was fine. Kanyon also said that if the boss tells you to do something, you do it and he would have done the same thing.

Kanyon also heard a rumor that Nash nixed Wrath’s singles push. He talked about how Wrath can be difficult to get along with and believes he pissed off the Kliq while in the WWF and that was the reason why.

He talks about being gay and how he purposely acted homophobic in college so no one would know. He even dated a girl for a while so no one would think he was gay.

On helping train Kevin Greene and Steve McMichael, Kanyon said that Greene was cool but McMichael was crazy and a horrible wrestler too. He tells a story about being a bar when a girl came over petrified of McMichael, who was doing all sorts of crazy shit like snorting a line of salt and squirting the lime in his eyes then slamming his  shot of tequila as hard as he could at the back of the wall and kept repeating this over and over. Kanyon did say he liked him on commentary.

When asked about Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone, Kanyon said that Malone was awesome and trained hard but Rodman fucked around until Hogan basically had to threaten him and after that Rodman was fine. Kanyon also said that Jay Leno took it seriously though.

Final Thoughts: Decent stuff so far. You can definitely see the bipolar in Kanyon here as he was hyperverbal and took the topics in many different directions. Kanyon was and at the time of this interview a die-hard wrestling fan. It seemed to mean everything to him. Kanyon was not afraid to hold back and did seem inept at handling himself backstage but not a bad guy or anything like that. Disc Two will be up tomorrow.

–

This was released in October 2014.

The Interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

It runs for three hours and six minutes long.

The interview starts with Ricardo being asked if he was a fan of wrestling growing up. He said he was a big Lucha Libre fan as he grew up in California and in Mexico. He said that he did not watch American wrestling until 2001.

He did amateur wrestling in high school briefly as they took it away due to lack of funding. He said that he got into American wrestling when one of his teammates had a “black box” at home and watched and at first thought it was “kind of gay” as he was used to amateur wrestling. He got into American wrestling when he saw the TLC Match at WM 17 and wanted to get into wrestling after seeing Edge spear Jeff Hardy off of the ladder.

After high school, Ricardo started to research backyard feds and got into that for a bit. He said he made a deal with them as he offered to make posters and video packages for them if they let him into the company. Later on, Ricardo said that he used his multimedia skills to promote and sell himself to other companies. He said that they ran monthly shows and would watch some of the TNA X division matches and try to copy them move for move and practiced for a month yet still fucked them up.

From that, he got offered a spot for a Lucha Fed where he set up the ring. He then talks about how he made no money and would drive for several hours and sleep in his car and live off of the McDonald’s Value Menu and take “truck stop showers” and notes that fans watching on TV have no idea how much he sacrificed to get to the WWE.

He then got some actual training by a guy that Ricardo describes as an “old fat dude.” The first day he said they would work on punches and legitimately punched Ricardo in the face then gave the rest of the class worked punches to show them a lesson. After that, someone else trained him for six months and beat the shit out of him. He said only three people finished the class, with one of them Eric Watts from “Tough Enough.”

Ricardo was known as “Chimera,” as he picked out the name because he was big fan of mythology. He said he figured he could punch and kick like Muta while incorporating the high-flying lucha style. He also talks about how he would take moves from the bigger name wrestlers and even in the WWE he would watch stuff like Japanese Women’s Wrestling and get some moves from them too.

When asked about guys around this time who should have gotten a bigger chance, he says that Scott Lost and Lil’ Cholo could have done something if given an opportunity.

He puts over Mike Quackenbush for being a fair and honest promoter for a minute then talks about how he helped train at a school run by GQ Money, who he says is now training at the WWE Performance Center, and is now training at Larry Zbyszko’s school in Florida. He said that he learned by teaching others and was helped out a lot coming up and wants to pay it forward.

Ricardo worked a few shows for Dragon Gate, saying he did an awful dark match but had a much better match the second time out. When asked, he said that he had no interaction with Gabe Sapolsky and got the matches through Kevin Kleinrock. He also got to be on the XPW 10th Anniversary show, which he said was fun.

On how he got into the WWE, he got an email from a promoter named Jesse Hernandez that the WWE was coming to town and they needed some guys. He got a tryout scheduled the day after SummerSlam and had his match watched by Jamie Noble, Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne, and Ty Bailey, who was the Head of Developmental. They put several guys through the ringer and when it was done, Bailey asked him if he was married or had kids and if he would move to Florida if given the opportunity then left. He then said he went and saw the catering table and was in heaven as he was dead broke and living off of tuna packets and Ramen noodles at the time. As he was stuffing his face, he overheard Hernandez telling WWE officials that he spoke Spanish as the other guy they were going to use passed up the role the WWE offered him for some reason. They went up to Ricardo and asked him if he had a tuxedo and experience as a ring announcer and he said yes, even though he did not have a tux and has never been an announcer before. They told Ricardo to go to the Smackdown taping so before the show he got a tux at a Goodwill store and went across the street to the bridal shop and got a bowtie then went to the arena. He said while backstage he saw Vince walking around and notes how he walks in real life the same way he does on TV. Vince then told him to be more animated and “Latino” so Ricardo thought back to the AAA announcers in Mexico and how over the top they were and channeled them. During his part, he forgot a line and remembered an episode of “Friends” in which Joey said that if you forgot your line, just look up, pause and smile so he did that and it went well so they asked him to come back again. The next day, Alberto Del Rio had a tryout match against Alex Kozlov that went well and spoke with Mark Carrano from talent relations then John Laurinaitis pulled them into the office and offered them contracts and told him and Kozlov they had to go to Pittsburgh for medical testing before going to Florida to report to Developmental. Ricardo said that he broke down crying after talking to his girlfriend about the news.

When he was hired, Del Rio was still doing dark matches and not called up to the main roster and Ricardo was never told he was going to be with Del Rio. At the time, Ricardo said he was basically an extra hanging around while waiting to get signed and said he made a lot of stupid locker room mistakes such as shaking hands and saying hi to guys who were on their phones or eating and also got dressed in the locker room and after everyone else gave him the stink eye, he decided to leave. Ricardo said they had no clue he was signed by the company. Ricardo also said that he found out not to do these things afterwards.

Ricardo talks about no one in FCW liked him at the time as he was already on the road with the main roster without having spent time down there. He said he started backwards as started on the road then trained at Developmental. He also said he was getting paid both for being on the road and for his Developmental contract. While in Developmental he was only there for promo class and never wrestled on the shows as he was with Del Rio for the WWE shows. Ricardo said that no one even knew he was a wrestler until later on and how that kinda sucked.

He puts over Steve Keirn, Norman Smiley, and Tom Prichard as being great teachers and how they gave feedback and were honest with you. Ricardo said that others would say your match was fine, even when it wasn’t, and not offer any feedback so you never got to learn anything for them.

Ricardo talks about how he came with the idea for the Ascension and wanted 7 people to be part of the stable but Dusty told them that was too many so he settled on 5. It included himself, Shaul Guerrero, Primo Colon, Kenneth Cameron (Bram), and Konnor. He wanted that as they would have a female, lucha guy, technical guy, and power guy with him as the mouthpiece who would motivate them all. This went on for a bit but Dusty called him into his office and said that he was out of the group as it contradicted his TV character on WWE TV. A few weeks later he saw the gimmick on TV and they were doing a Vampire-like gimmick that Ricardo did not want to see.

When asked to compare developmental back then to today, Ricardo said it was fun when he started in 2010 but now it is a “Nazi Camp.” Ricardo said that they are building machines and having them do all sorts of cardio and they are in great shape but as a result of the grueling schedule everyone is too tired and getting hurt. Ricardo then talks about how they had a trainer named Rob McIntyre back in 2012. This guy was actually John Cena’s trainer and Ricardo put him over for being awesome but at that time Bill DeMott came in and started to use his drills. Ricardo said he likes DeMott a lot personally but disagreed with his training methods and when guys were getting hurt as a result, McIntyre talked to DeMott about not having the guys train like that as they were getting hurt.  DeMott then complained to the office about and as a result, McIntyre got fired. When asked, Ricardo said he heard the horror stories from DeMott as a trainer but never witnessed them himself. Ricardo also said that when he was a road agent for the girls, he was telling Kelly Kelly how to do a headscissors and Ricardo noticed that DeMott was telling her the incorrect way to do it and would have gotten hurt that way. Ricardo then talks about how when he went down to NXT, he saw some of the drills DeMott was using and noted how they will get you into shape but you will not learn any wrestling from them and talks about how he can wrestle an hour-long match at his own pace but not last five minutes at the frantic pace they had to keep up during their workouts.

He found out that he was going to work with Del Rio when after his debut he found out that Vince liked him and decided to pair them up. At the beginning, Ricardo said that he and Del Rio did not have much in common but they grew close as they traveled.

Ricardo talks about being given awful scripts so he decided to make the most out of every situation and as time went on the crowd caught on how he was having fun with the role. He then said he started to lose a sense of pride that he had as an actual wrestler then decided to study for his role by watching silent films and even films with “Silent Bob.” He said he even watched boxing to learn how and where to fall when selling.

It took three months for him as an extra until someone spoke to him. He said that Rosa Mendes came up to him at a Smackdown taping to compliment him on his bumping and after that the other divas and some of the Developmental callups spoke with him. As this was going on, he started to help out some of the divas in the ring and became an unofficial trainer of sorts and got him respect in the locker room for being able to wrestle as no one really knew he even was a wrestler.

When asked about what gets you heat when you first come into the WWE, Ricardo talks about how there is a masseuse backstage at every show that is technically for everyone but it is really only for the top guys and one of the female Rose Buds decided to get a massage and Carrano saw her and told her to get up and leave. He recalls a story of Seth Rollins and how a few weeks after getting called up put an icepack on the back of his neck after a match. Ricardo said that he didn’t take a bump on his neck or anything but just felt that he needed to use one. Anyway, Cena saw him and came up to Seth and asked him how many matches he had on the road and Seth said he had three and Cena walked off after that. Ricardo also tells a story about Summer Rae doing something similar while on a tour in Europe as she was doing the dancing gimmick with Fandango and put an ice pack on her ankle backstage and got called out by Randy Orton.

He stays on the subject of locker room etiquette and said when he first started with the company all of the FCW guys had to be in the ring an hour before the show. Ricardo says that this is no longer the case. Also, if a new guy is on a flight and is near the front while an agent is in the back, you switch seats with them. Ricardo said that rule is longer in place, either. Also, if the locker room was cramped and a star comes in, you offer your seat to them. He then tells a story of the Shield and how when they first got called up, Dolph Ziggler was the champ and was at media day, which meant you got up at like 5am and did interviews basically all day long then went to the arena early to take a nap because you did not have time to get back to the hotel. They were in San Antonio and they have a really small locker room. Well, the Shield had their stuff all over the place and Dolph came in and saw that there was no spots and started to dress in the hallway. Ricardo and Justin Gabriel saw this so Gabriel grabbed Mike Chioda and told him to tell the Shield to move their stuff. Ricardo said that Gabriel did that because the locker room is no longer allowed to police themselves anymore because the company doesn’t want people complaining to Talent Relations if something happens. He said its a shame those rules do not exist anymore.

On the subject of Vince McMahon, Ricardo said that Vince was hands-on and helpful and supportive to them but would also do things like tell him not to smile too much then the next week ask him why he was not smiling. Ricardo talks about Vince liking juvenile humor and how he would even sometimes take credit for things they came up with on the fly.

Ricardo loved working with Rey Mysterio and said he was his biggest fan. He even said that he took the 619 unprotected for him the first time he took the move. He also calls Rey one of the most humble people he has ever met.

He is asked about several WWE workers. Ricardo said that Cena is a machine and deserves everything he has. On CM Punk, he admirers him on how he stands up for himself. When asked what he thought happened that caused him to leave the WWE, Ricardo said that he thinks Punk felt the company was fucking with him and got fed up and left, much like how he did. Ricardo said that he thinks everyone has tried to beat up Miz backstage at least once during his four years with the WWE. He calls Stephanie beautiful and intelligent and learned not to speak Spanish in front of her as she can speak Spanish as well, which was something he learned while speaking to Rey backstage one day when Stephanie chimed in and spoke Spanish to them. Ricardo said at least they were not saying anything derogatory. Ricardo said he thanked Edge & Christian backstage at his first WrestleMania and gave them hugs and started to cry. He cites those two as the reason he got into American wrestling. He said that John Laurinaitis was a dick but he did take care of the boys and wishes that he was still in that role today. He never dealt with the Undertaker much but he was always courteous to him and liked Del Rio because of his MMA background. Ricardo said that Randy Orton and Big Show can both be very moody at times but seems to like them both.

Now, he is asked about guys he worked with on NXT as a trainer. He said that he is close friends with Konnor and felt bad when he was told to eliminate him as that meant you had to go back down to FCW. He said he replaced Del Rio as the pro when ADR basically told the company to go fuck off as he was on all sorts of segments on the main shows and felt this was too much. On managing Brodus Clay, Ricardo said that he was interesting and had to tell him to settle down a few times in and outside of the ring. He tells a story about how Brodus worked Christian in one of his first singles matches on RAW. Ricardo said that Christian is the type who would have the match laid out before you got backstage move-by-move but Brodus struggled to remember. Ricardo said that he was used to remembering spots as he is a self-described spot monkey. Anyway, during the match Brodus asked Ricardo a few times on what to do and Ricardo told him. The match went fine and then when they went back down to FCW and Brodus got some praise, he told them that he had the whole match down, not giving Ricardo credit for helping him out.

Ricardo talks more about his first WrestleMania. He said that he learned a lot from Edge then and was even allowed to give some input into the match. He recalls a story of how he was supposed to take a spear in a dark match from Edge but a spot got switched without him knowing and he was not in the right spot so Del Rio ended up getting speared and after that, Ricardo heard Edge yell “fuck” and backstage Edge taught him how he always needed to know where he was supposed to be. When asked about whether or not he knew Edge was retiring, Ricardo said that they found out about five hours before the show and switched the plans as Del Rio was originally supposed to be the champion but Edge wanted to leave as the champ.

When asked about moving to RAW in 2011, Ricardo said it was different working on live TV and experienced time cuts at this point. He did say that Smackdown was way more laid back than RAW. He said that the RAW script is constantly changing and you wouldn’t even bother learning to recite a promo until about an hour before you went out because the chances are that it was going to get changed at least once. On Smackdown, there was occasional changes to the script only.

He said that the Big Show was easy to work with during their feud. When asked what led to the angle in which Ricardo was off TV after getting punched by the Big Show, Ricardo said that he learned that when he sold too good they would take him off of TV to sell the injury so after a few times he stopped doing that.

Ricardo is asked if Cena was “one of the boys.” He said it depends on the situation. Ricardo said that Cena liked him and Del Rio a lot. He said that Cena respected what he did outside of the ring and tells a story of how the agents would let Ricardo come up with their matches as they trusted him in that role. He said that he came up with Del Rio/Swagger at WM 29 and Del Rio/Orton at Survivor Series too.

He mentions how the company once wanted him to get drunk at a Christmas party for RAW and declined, stating it was the only thing he ever said no too while in the WWE. Ricardo felt that it was stereotypical.

Ricardo tells a story of people joking around with him and said that Michael Hayes liked him because he would play along with his jokes. He said that the immigration segments hit too close to home as his sister’s husband got deported and she had to go down to Mexico and called Ricardo up and said that there neighbor got beheaded as the drug cartels were really violent and sweeping across the country so Ricardo said he paid for lawyers and they got them back into the country. Ricardo also said that the storyline happened well after the real-life problems his family had faced.

He heard that Kevin Dunn did not like him much but said that it was all through hearsay. Ricardo also said that he was told that Dunn purposely left him out of the WrestleMania graphic for Del Rio’s match. When asked if he has a lot of power he says that he is Vince’s right hand man but does not know much more beyond that.

Ricardo now talks about how he was originally supposed to be teaming with Miz & Del Rio to face off against 3MB but got a concussion at the “Tribute to the Troops” show from Ryback and not cleared to wrestle so the Brooklyn Brawler got the chance as a result. Ricardo was pissed as he did not get a chance to wrestle. The next day in Philadelphia they used Dreamer instead of Brawler and the Shield did run-in during the match. Ricardo said he ran down during the match and knew he was going to take contact but specifically told the Shield not to touch his head and did so multiple times as he was just coming off of a concussion. Well, during the segment, either Ambrose or Rollins clocked him and Ricardo got knocked down. They went down for the attack but Ricardo was legitimately fuming and said he was spitting and swearing at them during the segment, which was live. When they thanked him backstage, Ricardo went off on them all three of them and told Dean to go back to CZW. He said that Hayes and Carrano and to go over and calm him down. Feinstein asks Ricardo if he thought the Shield might have been overanxious and Ricardo said that might have been the case but at the same time he told them to stay away from his head multiple times. When he got to the hotel the following night, he thought about the incident and how the Shield were HHH’s guys and how he might be fucked as a result and possibly fired. The next day, Carrano asked him he was okay and that was all he said. In the locker room, everyone was quiet around him and Roman Reigns went up to apologize for what happened while the other two did not.

When asked about Paul Heyman, Ricardo said that he was amazing and a big politician. He noticed how Heyman would always try to talk to people who were starting to get pushed.

On the night Dolph Ziggler beat Alberto Del Rio for the title he talks about how incredible it was to hear the crowd erupt for Ziggler’s entrance music. He talks about the injury that led to him dropping the title and said he never saw a human act the way he did backstage. He had AJ and Big E hold him backstage and he was crying then he would sit there and not talk for periods. He does feel that the title was taking away prematurely.

When asked why the office does not get behind Ziggler, Ricardo says that a lot of it has to do with the fact that he stands up for himself and the more you do that, the more they do not like you as they want “pawns and toy soldiers” instead. Feinstein asks if that was always the case and Ricardo said no as Vince always liked guys who stood up for themselves. He talks about promo class with Vince one day and how he kept walking by and purposely stepped on the foot of Curtis Axel as it was sticking out. After a few times, Vince asked him if he was going to say anything and Axel just said sorry but Vince told him he was doing it on purpose so he could hear him stand up for himself. However, Ricardo said the new office regime does not want guys standing up for themselves.

Ricardo talks more about the new office regime and how they fucked over the talent on money, especially when it comes to the Network and video game checks. He said that a lot of them used the video game money for taxes and throws out how they were getting less than half what they go the previous year, despite being the biggest grossing game of all-time. He mentioned how this past WrestleMania was the highest grossing of all-time and their payoffs did not reflect that and says that the office fucked up financially and is taking it out on the talent as a result. He understands some people had to get cut but felt that they cut the wrong people and talks about the WWE Social Media department guys getting their flights, hotels, and cars paid for even with a business card to use for expenses whereas the talent gets their flights paid for but pay for everything else with their own money. Ricardo said that department is useless as they all know how to tweet themselves. Ricardo then said that the only reason they even have a Social Media department is because of Zack Ryder and how he got over using that. Ricardo said that they fucked over Ryder and does believe they punished him as he got over on his own.

He talks about the current regime in place in NXT. DeMott is still the head trainer and Joey Mercury is one of the top trainers. Ricardo said he and Del Rio got along well with Mercury then once Mercury got called up to the WWE, he became in charge of handling the matches for the Shield and after that gradually became less and less friendly towards him.

He learned that he was getting split from Alberto Del Rio eventually but believed it happened when it did as the result of him being punished for getting suspended. On teaming with RVD, he learned about that a few hours before it happened and said that it made no sense. He calls RVD easy to work with.

On how he got to wrestle as El Local for “Saturday Morning Slam,” he got a call from Road Dogg about working against Sin Cara on the show. He said that Sin Cara could not speak English and only communicated to guys who spoke Spanish like Del Rio and himself, who did not care of him at all. The office asked them to help out Sin Cara and they did. After working a lot with Primo, who could work the lucha style, they then wanted him to wrestle against guys who were higher on the card but Cara could not communicate in English and as a result his matches were filled with botches. Ricardo notes how Cara refused to go down to train in FCW and compares it to asking a star like Hogan or Cena to go down to developmental as Cara was a huge star in Mexico. Back to the story name, HHH’s right hand guy told him he could not wrestle under the name Chimera.

He talks about Tyson Kidd, who was not happy to be teaming with him. Ricardo said that Kidd would skip his spots and nix his ideas.

Ricardo feels that NXT has an amazing product right now. He also says that he feels some of them are spoiled, especially those who did not wrestle in the independents as they do not have caterin of the technology available to them at the Performance Center.

He then lets us know that William Regal and himself held the pre show tryouts and would get into the ring sometimes if they liked a guy. Ricardo said that the main thing he would do is see if they would listen and notes how they have had top Ring of Honor guys have great matches but once they started to change things up and call everything in the ring they would get lost. On the most impressive tryout, Ricardo said that he the only two guys who stopped everyone in their tracks by how good it was were Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, who currently wrestle as the Mechanics in NXT. Ricardo said that they both beat the shit out of each other.

On why the Briscoes have not been signed by the WWE, Ricardo heard that it was because of their remarks on Twitter then talks about how the WWE takes that stuff very seriously and even had the talent meet with GLAAD after Michael Cole called Josh Matthews a “fag” on Twitter. They are also told not to say anything about celebrities because it could end up offending one of the company’s sponsors.

About how he left the WWE, Ricardo said that he quit and was not released. He was sitting at home as they had nothing for him and was getting fucked over with his pay. He states that the locker room was pissed off over their video game checks and agreed to complain to the office together but Ricardo ended up being the only one who did and was told by Carrano that they would look into the situation then after that someone told Del Rio that Ricardo was complaining about his pay and should be lucky that he even has a spot, Del Rio then told Ricardo  what they said to him and stuff like that continued.

He then talks about how you make your money at house shows and on PPV’s, not TV, then talks about how the WWE has two pay systems: The “Bucket List” which pays you your base salary then whatever extra you made would get added to a “piggy bank” that you received at the end of the year, something Ricardo said is good for those with difficulties controlling their money and the other where you get paid everything you earned that week in your check. Ricardo did the latter for years with Del Rio but once he got taken off of live events and only did TV’s with RVD, he had to reach into his own personal accounts so he called Carrano to get his pay system changed over to the bucket list and got blown off when he called his office for about five months until he finally reached him and was told it was too late in the year to change the pay system. Ricardo said that was the main reason he left.

Also, they started to take Ricardo away from the local tryout matches and helping the extras. He explains when Regal went on the road to basically scout independent wrestlers there was no one else left to conduct the local tryouts or instruct the extras so he took it upon himself to assume the roll. Regal then kept on joking about how he was trying to steal his job away then one day someone from the office told him that HHH said he could no longer do this role as it was not his job. Ricardo’s response was that he had been doing it for three years and did not ask for a single penny. They gave the job to Tensai who was doing the pre show stuff for the network and John Coen, who was Carrano’s errand boy according to Ricardo. A few weeks later, there was no one there to help the locals and a few of them who knew Ricardo from the past approached him and were told by Ricardo that he was no longer in that role then Carrano asked Ricardo to take it over for a day but to check with Scott Armstrong, who took over the role from Tensai. Ricardo said that Armstrong was learning how to time out the shows and always busy during the day thus unable to help out the extras. The following week, Ricardo was pulled back into the office and was warned about helping out the extras, despite being asked to by the company. Again, they told Ricardo it was not his job so Ricardo asked why they had an issue with this after 3.5 years and never got an answer. Ricardo then asked what they wanted him to do as he was off TV and doing some Spanish commentary but always finished early and had a lot of time to kill. He then talked about how they called him up one day as he lived near Full Sail and asked him to team with Kalisto and they had a match against the Legionnaires that the offices liked and that led to a match against the Ascension. Ricardo said that he got hurt before that match by one of the “stupid, little football players” in NXT and had bruised ribs and when the match did not go that well, they critiqued everyone and after that Ricardo was taking off of everything. Shortly after that while laying in bed, Ricardo realized how unhappy he became and was trying to pitch ideas to reunite him with Del Rio but HHH and the Head of Creative shut them down and called up Carrano to thank him but that he was done and could do more elsewhere and be happy and a few days later they granted him his release.

Ricardo talks about the positive things that came from the WWE like how he paid his own bills, parents bills, and got to do charity work and how much he enjoyed it all. When asked, they told him no TNA or ROH for 90 days.

When asked about HHH referencing him as a “bumble bee, ” Ricardo said that in his head he was saying “fuck you” but played it off and learned from Savio Vega recently in Puerto Rico that HHH said the same thing to him back in the day as he refers to bigger guys who can fly as bumble bees, which Ricardo think is stupid.

Ricardo talks about HHH and feels that if you are not one of his boys then you do not matter as he said guys Laurinaitis brought in like Wade Barrett and Sheamus got push back and cast aside when HHH’s regime came in place. He then said that he understands how Road Dogg and Billy Gunn got positions in the company but not should have leapfrogged guys like Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko for their spots.

On who is underutilized, Ricardo says that Cody Rhodes and the Usos are good and for the girls says that it is probably Natalya then talks about how much he hated “Total Divas” and how it is not an example of how wrestling really is at all.

When asked about how Del Rio got fired, Ricardo said he was told how Cody Barbierri, a Social Media Worker, did not clean up his plate and said that was what Del Rio was for and when confronted, Barbierri sat there and smiled at him so Del Rio slapped him down. Ricardo also said that a similar thin happened last year when Big Show slapped a Social Media worker but he did not face any reprocussions and also mentioned how HHH did not like Del Rio.

Ricardo tells a story about Del Rio and how while in England he was not booked for Smackdown so he decided to get some food and ate it in the locker room as the kitchen was full. An agent then came up to him and told him he was going to put over Xavier Woods in a dark match and Del Rio said that he was just in a battle with Sheamus and how jobbing to Woods made no sense, to which Ricardo replies that the company does not even pay attention to their own storylines when asked by Feinstein. Anyway, Del Rio asked HHH and the writer if Vince knew about him putting over Woods and they apparently just mumbled something so Del Rio went straight to Vince and later on HHH came up to Del Rio and said that there was a misunderstanding as Del Rio wound up wrestling Sheamus on Smackdown.

When asked if he felt the company was racist, he said he doesnt have to tell you it is racist as you can watch and see dancing black guys and how they made Del Rio a Mexican version of Hacksaw Duggan who carried the Mexican flag.

Ricardo closes by once again stating how thankful he was for the opportunity in the WWE so he could get out of debt and help his family.

Final Thoughts: Very good interview. Ricardo gave a lot of insight into how the company has changed and from what he says it is not for the best. He also talked about all of the positives he got from working in the WWE too so he did not just bash the company non-stop or anything like that.

Despite all of that, Ricardo also displayed a knowledge of the wrestling business. He also was a passionate give who gave it his all whenever he was involved in a match. I respect guys like that.

It did seem like Ricardo was not a big fan of HHH but he did not outright bash him or obnoxiously complain about him either.

Overall, I strongly recommend this interview to get good insight on today’s backstage atmosphere in the WWE.

You can buy the video for $15 at RFVideo.com by clicking on the link below:

http://www.rfvideo.com/ricardoshootinterview.aspx

Disc Two runs at fifty-seven minutes long

You can read the Disc One recap by clicking on the link below.

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/11/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-raven.html

Raven is asked where the Beulah McGillicutty came from. He said that he was hanging out in Miami for the Super Bowl and was hanging out with Ron Gant, then of the Atlanta Braves MLB team. He got introduced to Raven and she saw Beulah (real name Teresa Hayes) who told Raven that she wanted to get into wrestling again as she used to be Pillman’s sister in Calgary. She even volunteered to send some of her Penthouse Magazine photos to him and Heyman hired her to play his valet. At first, Raven hated the idea of having a valet as it did not fit the character. Raven then said that Heyman told him that it would fit the character then the McGillicutty name came about and Raven came up with the story of Dreamer blowing her off in Summer Camp as she was fat and had her face covered in acne but Raven slept with her anyway.

He loved the hardcore stuff and said it is more difficult in ways as it takes balls. He talks about garbage can shots not hurting then said that chair shot to the head was part of the show then puts over the Rock for being the best at getting his hand up at the last second when he took chair shot. He talks about the Pitbulls not wanting to take any chair shots or other moves despite the fact they did all sorts of crazy shit to everyone else and says he has problems with those who can dish it out but not take the punishment. He then said that Gary was a good guy but Anthony was a “schmuck.”

When talking about the crucifixion angle with Sandman, Raven said that he came back from rehab and had Sandman built the cross as he was not good with tools. Raven then slams the WWF for stealing the angle and his character with Edge. He then talks about his angle and how they made sure to shield what they were doing during the actual crucifixion so the crowd could not see what was happening and when he hoisted up the Sandman, the crowd went nuts and he talks about how it was done to perfection.

Regarding the story of Kurt Angle and how he was supposedly offended by the crucifixion, Heyman told Raven to apologize despite Angle not being offended at all in reality. Raven believes that Taz was the one who created that whole situation and said that the crowd shit on his apology as they did not want to be condescended too and that Angle loved the fact that Raven gave a half ass apology. He did say that some of the religious guys in the locker room got offended and jokes about he was told why didn’t he use a Jewish star. Raven said that Taz loved to be miserable but that he is much better now.

He mentions how his memory is terrible from drugs and mentions that Dreamer’s memory is awful too but from all the chair shots he took. Raven did say if he does remember something then he knows everything about that situation.

On the “Chair shot heard around the world,” Raven said that he wanted for Dreamer to be the mirror image of him and even use his finisher. He said that Heyman wanted Dreamer to hit Raven 10-15 times but that Raven wanted to get hit just once so the crowd would not be desensitized and that he would sell it like death and talked about how that was in the opening segment of the show for a long time.

Raven talks about the feud against Sandman and his family. He needed a new valet as Beulah turned face and he ended up with Sandman’s wife, Lori Fullington, and made her dress like Courtney Love. Raven said that she looked incredibly hot like that. He talks about how Sandman’s son Tyler knew his cues better than he did too.

On the Barbed Wire match against Sandman, Raven said that Heyman made him do that to win the belt. Raven also said that he was petrified of doing this type of match and Heyman knew that but thinks that Heyman did this because he knew Raven could do this type of match instead of punishing him for being in rehab and as it turns out Raven thought the match was easy to do.

About rehab, Raven said that he was going through an emotional breakdown and that was the bigger problem than alcohol and quit drinking on his own. He worked through some childhood trauma in rehab and said he was fine after that. Heyman told Raven that he would tell the “sheets” he had to take some personal time. Raven said that Anthony Durante told him that he went to rehab so he would not have to drop the belt to which Raven replies he was not scheduled to drop the belt for another year.

He talks about how Dreamer’s wrestling skills are not good and needs the garbage stuff to have an interesting match. Raven said that Sandman was easy to work with as he wanted to get the shit kicked out of him.

Raven said that he thought ECW should have gone to PPV sooner but when it did it ended up being the beginning of the end for the company. Raven said he was gone shortly thereafter as Eric Bischoff offered him a big deal and he went to WCW. He gave notice prior to the show.

At the end of his first ECW run, Raven said that his relationship with Heyman was strained because WCW offered a lot more than what Heyman could.

When he left, Raven felt that he did everything he could have done and that their ideas were no longer revolutionary as the WWF and WCW copied them. He said how Heyman couldn’t afford to keep all of the guys he had as they were going elsewhere. He said that he believes his feuds with Sandman and Dreamer carried the company.

Raven said that despite being on top, the posters all featured Sabu vs. Taz. He said that Heyman told him it was because of Taz, who said that it was because of Heyman.

He talks about how fans turn into wrestling for the stories and uses an example of how Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero segments being the lowest rated while Big Show gets higher ratings because of the stories he is involved with. Raven said you need to have good wrestling too but the stories are the most important.

Raven talks about trying to rekindle the friendship he had with Heyman but that it will take a lot of time as Heyman has moved past that part of his life.

When asked about how he would conduct classes backstage at ECW, Raven talks about how he taught the Dudley Boys how to sell and that they learned very quickly. He also used to show tapes of Mid-South to the guys and forgot about that until Feinstein reminded him. Raven said he likes to teach to feed his ego and that he likes to actually teach people too.

He talks about his program with Shane Douglas and how he was cutting a promo with Kimona, who was unable to even remember a single line. The whole locker room was cracking up as Douglas was pissed. Raven thinks that he is a great worker and recalls a singles match Douglas had against Arn Anderson in WCW and how his selling was tremendous.

On Cactus Jack, Raven thought that his anti-hardcore gimmick was fantastic and that his promos were the best he has ever heard. He talks about how he was wrestling in Revere, MA and Cactus grabbed him in a ten-minute long headlock that pissed off the fans, who actually did the wave to entertain themselves.

He talks about the Freebirds and how he modeled his earlier characters after Michael PS Hayes. He thought that he was cool as he fucked all the chicks and drank tons of booze and snorted a ton of cocaine. He tells a story of how a girl at a bar in Atlanta while he worked for Global turned out to be the wife of Hayes and brought her over to him and told Raven that he made her watch him on TV all of the time.

When asked about any other memories of ECW, he talks about getting superbombed through a table in the double dog-collar match against the Pitbulls and how Anthony did not want him kicking out of the move as it would make him look bad so Anthony ended up bouncing Raven off of the table instead of putting him through. Raven said that the locker room thought he was dead after that. He also thought when Francine put Fluff on Stevie Richards it was hilarious.

He talks about how a heel prick has to show ass once in a while as it is bad for business and the babyface when you do not and says it is ego if you do not.

He closes by saying his ECW run was his favorite as they were creating something new and so much bigger than what it was.

Final Thoughts: One of the best shoot interviews of all-time. Raven, despite talking and talking, always entertains and shows his insight and knowledge when it comes to wrestling. He is an articulate guy. RF Video also shot another shoot right after this that covers his time in WCW and return to the WWF and that is also highly entertaining.

You can purchase this shoot for $20 at RFVideo.com by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithravenpt1.aspx

This was filmed in early 2003

The Interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky

Disc One runs at one hour and fifty-three minutes long

Raven starts the interview by making fun of Gabe and Rob. He is then asked if he was a fan of wrestling as a kid and he said that he loved it and wanted to be an athlete but when he got into high school he became more of a “midcarder” then talks about how he wanted to be rich and famous and watching Ricky Santana & Dave Sierra (The Barrio Brothers) on Florida Championship Wrestling and how he thought that since he was their size that he could do it too. He also claims that Santana lied to him about being a tag team champion.

On how he got into the business, Raven said that he wanted to go to the Malenko’s school but was unable to find it due to poor marketing and saw Larry Sharpe’s Monster Factory in Sports Illustrated and despite not really putting any big stars into the business it had the most publicity.

His first territory was Memphis and jokes about how he never thought he would be back here (Raven was working for NWA-TNA at the time). He said that after several months at the Monster Factory, Sharpe told him that he needed to work in front of crowds and stressed out like crazy trying to send out a tape of his work until Jerry Lawler called him back. Raven said that he had a great time as he hung around with Marty Jannetty a lot. Raven recalls Jannetty dumping off Candi Divine at his doorstep at 6:00am. Raven said that he had a bad match against ome short masked jobbers called the Zebra Warriors and after that became a jobber himself and was let go after an angle in which Missy Hyatt offered to date Raven if he beat Lawler and when he lost, he got slapped by Missy and was done.

After Memphis, he went to Florida as the territory was being restarted. He loved that he got to do commentary with Gordon Solie but said that the locker room was awful and calls Brett Sawyer a “piece of shit” and threatens to kick his ass if he sees him again. He was in Florida for about ten months until he got fired when after not losing at all on TV, Steve Keirn told Raven to put him over and Raven said that he “hemmed and hawed” about it and the next day Mike Graham called him up and fired him as Raven said that he realized how he knew he was fired ten minutes after refusing to job and was glad it happened there instead of somewhere else. Raven liked Graham and said that Graham himself said he had to let him go but that he could call in a few months and they would see about bringing him back.

Raven talks about a tour of Hawaii that featured other wrestlers from different territories then met Moose Morowski from Vancouver who got him a job for Al Tomko’s promotion in Portland. Raven said that Tomko constantly bitched about Verne Gagne pushing his son Greg for being too small then went ahead and pushed his own kid who Raven said made Greg look like Andre the Giant by comparison. He then talks about working as part of a six-man with Tomko’s kids and how they tried to have him dropkick the ref in their match for no reason then was told that a girl was threatening legal action and realied they were trying to fuck him over and got the hell out of the territory.

When he left Vancouver, Raven drove himself down to Portland in an attempt to get a job and met Dave Sierra and from that he got the job. He talks about Roddy Piper and how he wanted to see what he looked like and when Raven talks about how he used to do commentary with Gordon Solie, Piper gave him three weeks to get over as a heel commentator. Raven said that he would have quit if he was unable to get himself over in that time frame then talks about how he never waited for a promotion to push him and instead focused on how to get himself over.

Raven talks about how he dressed like a pimp and brought different women and how that helped get him laid. After that he discusses about how he drove with Len Denton and got to pick his brain.

When asked about GWF, Raven joked about how they skipped over his cocaine-filled days in Portland that were filled with banging “rats” and how all they had in Portland was the Trailblazers and that was it so they were all local celebrities and on Saturday night, their show beat “Saturday Night Live” in the ratings. He talks about how he found his valet, Ginger, at his coke dealer’s house smoking crack and she had huge tits but showed up on time. Raven said he told her to dress like a sloppy whore and how her tit popped out just before they went live and how they never edited anything and has the show went on the air she was shoving her tit back in her dress. He said that Matt Borne’s wife was pissed at him for putting her on the air because of how she looked but when Raven explained how she was there to get heat, she understood. After that he had a storyline with another girl named Veronica, who would go on to marry Rex King. He said that they had a mixed tags and the girl started shooting on each other. He got fired from Portland after two years and said that Len Denton was the booker and kept things at a certain level where as Raven thought they could grow and Denton thought Raven was making a play at the book and got fired around Christmas time.

After Portland, WCW called him up for a heel commentator job that paid $100,000 a year and he would still get to wrestle but realized that Denton fucked him over as back then they were close and Denton offered to talk to Jim Ross for him. After that, Raven learned that he had to do his own business in wrestling.

He did not think that there was a whole lot in GWF. He had to take a second job as a male stripper to pay the bills and thought it was great as he got even more pussy and drugs. He changed his name from Scotty the Body to Scott Anthony as he wanted to try to become an actor and felt he needed a last name.

Raven got to WCW after making a name for himself in the independent scene in Atlanta. He said that DDP got him the job after he went to Dusty Rhodes and told him to hire Raven. He then said that Dusty did not like him after what he did in Florida but DDP convinced him and he worked a dark match and got himself over then after that Dusty promised to make him into the next Ric Flair as he had the look of today. However, Bill Watts came in and decided that Raven was a “stooge” and that was the end of that. Raven hates Watts and said how he used to help his son Erik. He said that he used to ride with Steve Austin and Brian Pillman and how they were hilarious and that Pillman would be reading vocabulary books in the back. Raven talk about how Watts never booked him on house shows either and the only time they booked him was on the night of his 10th year high school reunion, the only day he wanted off. Watts said he never gave a reason for why he let him go and said it might have been because he was Jewish but Raven didn’t care and tells Watts to fuck himself.

He talks about how Atlanta had tons of hot chicks at this time that any guy could get a “10” because there were so many of them, even the girls working day shifts at the “titty bars” were smoking hot.

After WCW he went back to Memphis and thought his career was half-over as he felt he was too small for the WWF. The WWF ended up calling and wanted him to be a manager, which he interpreted as a manager who wrestles but found out it was just for a manager.

 He said that he took the Johnny Polo character as someone who had a lot of leisure time and brought a lot of ridiculous stuff to the ring. Raven talks about Vince getting him behind the camera but not in front of it.

On the Quebecers, Raven said Jacques knew enough to distance himself from him to get the heat on himself. Regarding Adam Bomb, Raven said that Bomb thought he was a legit manager and would ask him to make rental car arrangements and other things.

Vince made him an associate producer of RAW and got a salary and health insurance as a result but wanted to be on camera as a performer. Vince felt there was a disconnect between Raven and the Johnny Polo character.

He came up with an idea on “All American Wrestling” to put on a nostalgia match and that allowed him to sit in the library and watch old matches all day but was not allowed to select matches with guys that Vince was feuding with.

Raven now talks about how he would party with Shane McMahon until 4:00am just about every night. He also said that Shane could hang right with him. He also said that the boys thought he was kissing Vince’s ass by doing this but in reality he was pissing him off for keeping his son out all night. Once he left the WWF the friendship ended though as he talks about how that happens in wrestling all the time. He then jokes about how Shane could drink like a motherfucker and got tons of chicks. He said that he is fearless and a “tough motherfucker.”

On quitting the WWF, Raven said they took him off the air and he was unhappy. The guys in the locker room thought he was crazy for giving up $100,000 a year and benefits but he said he got into wrestling to wrestle.

After the WWF, Art Barr contacted him about being the third member of Los Gringos Locos in the AAA promotion but said that Konnan wanted that job and made sure to bury him so he would not get the job. He said that Konnan and him are friends now though. Raven said that Barr told him his character was based off of his Scotty the Body character but also said that Barr was a notorious liar as well. He did say his character had some similarities to Scotty the Body.

After that he met DDP who told him to go with a grunge look and adopt a tough guy gimmick after watching the movie “Point Break” and Raven dressed like that and listened to alternative music at the time anyway so took that and stuff from his “fucked up” childhood and created the Raven character.

While living in Philly, he saw ECW for the first time and was blown away. He originally talked to Jim Cornette to get into Smoky Mountain but all he did was blow smoke up his ass and never got brought in after all. Raven said that he needed a TV show to display his character depth and said he had to get into ECW and DDP called Paul Heyman. Page then called Raven up and his roommate woke him up after a night of partying and he was still fucked up on Halcyons. DDP told Raven to call Heyman and he did and got brought in after that.

Initially, Heyman thought the Raven character was going to be the Scotty the Body character in grunge clothing but after his first promo, Heyman saw that it clicked and had no idea he was going that way. Raven calls Heyman the greatest mind in wrestling that he had ever met.

He said that Axl Rotten was a very good worker and a lot more talent than people give him credit for and thought that Mikey Whipwreck was a more interesting version of the 1-2-3 Kid because he had depth as he was scared to do anything. He credits Heyman for hiding Public Enemy’s flaws and said that Johnny Grunge was an awful wrestlers but funny on promos and could bleed well.

Raven’s idea was to stay in ECW for four months to get Dreamer over then go to the WWF but liked ECW too much and didnt think the WWF would take him back.

Heyman was the one who came up with the idea for Stevie Richards to be Raven’s flunky. Raven said he made him wear daisy dukes and cut off shirts off hair bands to make him look like a putz. He said that Richards was a great worker. They never hung out at that time but are friends now. Raven said that is drug and alcohol problem was at an all-time high and made Richards his errand boy as he even paid him as much as Heyman did. He tells a story of how he wanted Richards to wear a bald skin cap to look like Baron Von Raschke as it was meant as a “funny homage” to his heroes.

Final Thoughts: Very good stuff. Raven does talk non-stop and strays off topic but he is engaging and entertaining most of the time so it is all good. If they asked more about his partying you could have had some insane stories too.

Disc Two will be up tomorrow.

Disc Two runs at two hours and fifteen minutes long

You can read the recap of disc one by clicking on the link below

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/10/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-nova.html

Nova talks about working with Steve Austin was the highlight of his career. He says when he got stunned by Austin after trying to sell him his Simon System he got a standing ovation when he got backstage and Pat Patterson said that should have been on WrestleMania as a quick segment as Nova threw in how it went better than when Carlito interrupted Austin on “Piper’s Pit” at WrestleMania 21.

He liked working with Paul London & Brian Kendrick then talks about how they are really bizarre. He said that Spanky is more angry while London is crazier. He tells a story about Kendrick beating him with a DDT in a match that looked incredible and they both went backstage and saw Chris Benoit and asked him about the match. Benoit said that he thought the DDT was too much then Kendrick replied back “and what, ten German suplexes aren’t too much?” Benoit briefly thought about what Kendrick said and told him that he was right then told him their match was good. Nova then tells a story about how he would put together the matches that London & Kendrick had against the Gymini and how the agents would come up to him and say how Vince did not want London & Kendrick to get in any offense. Nova said that he never told them and would put together a match that was solid. He then said that they were all low enough on the card that no one cared enough to get upset anyway. Nova then tells a story about London and how one day, he was backstage with a plastic trident and a fishing net and wanted to bring it to the ring as part of a new gimmick. Stephanie came around the corner as London asked her about bringing this to the ring and began to jab Steph with the trident and she said the gimmick was a bit much.

Feinstein asks him about a few other guys. He loves Rey Mysterio and says that his son, along with Benoit’s son David, used to harass him on TV by throwing shit at him and steal the Dean Machine. He also loves Batista and say that a lot of people have heat with him because they are jealous of him. Nova also added that his fight against Booker T was the result of everyone else backstage trying to rile him up. He said that if everyone else in the company was 8 years old and heard his entrance music, they would instantly go nuts. Nova said that Batista treated a lot of the “green guys” very well. He said that Tazz is a “weird dude” and obsessed about not losing in his matches and took him too seriously. He also wished that Tazz helped out his cousin, Chris Chetti. He also said that he was considered to be the announcer for Smackdown when Tazz was going to do the ECW brand shows but that HHH wanted him as the Head of Developmental. He said that Heidenreich was a “fucking lunatic” as he was his handler in OVW.

Nova tells a story about a tour in Japan. He said that night the “Goon Posse” was sitting in the bar calling down people to fuck with them. He said that he did not want to stay around the hotel and went up to Animal to take him and a few other young guys to Ribera Steakhouse because if they left with him they would not get fucked with. He then tells about how Justin Roberts was being harassed as he was unable to throw the T-shirts into the crowd well enough. Nova then said that he saw JBL and Benoit in the hallway as they were on the hunt for Roberts as they got a hold of his hotel room number and Nova said that Benoit was knocking on the door so violently that he prayed for Roberts to not open it up then talks about the ridiculousness of the bullying and partying that happened. He also mentions how someone once stole Roberts’ passport while they were in England so he was unable to get home.

He then talks about Mohammed Hassan and how he got harassed far more than everyone else. He said he liked Hassan as a person but that he was a lousy wrestler and wanted to be a star but not work hard and do what it takes. Nova tells a story of how an agent told Hassan not to sell for Sgt. Slaughter as directed from Vince and that Hassan went up to Slaughter and flat out told him he was not going to bump for him instead of coming up with a different way to say the same thing. Word got around about that then in a battle royal at a show in Hawaii, the other wrestlers legitimately beat the shit out of him. He also talks about how in Japan they ran up a $4,000 tab on Hassan’s card and mentioned how there were top company executives who were part of that and how they did nothing to stop them. Nova finishes by adding how at one point, Hassan was scheduled to beat Batista for the Title on the 4th of July.

Nova then talks about how being around all of the bullying and treating the young guys like shit got him depressed then tells the guys up their today don’t know how lucky they have it as its not the way it was back then.

He is asked about Chris Benoit. Nova says that in the ring, Benoit was one of the best but outside of it he was one of the most vile people to come out of the wrestling industry. He says that he does not remember how other killers were viewed before they committed murder but they are remembered as killers and how can he talk about how he was a great wrestler then finish by saying how he killed his wife and child. He said that when Benoit drank he became really angry then would not remember the next day. The day he found out what happened he was in Florida moving stuff to the FCW Developmental Territory. He then watched the RAW afterwards at Christian’s house, who was working for TNA, and remembers how Regal came on and said that he was not going to speak about what happened and just talk about how he was a professional in the ring. Christian then told Nova that he thinks they just eulogized a murderer on TV then Nova flew down to OVW to tell the guys they were on lockdown about the situation then the next day flew up to Stamford and saw everything Chris Benoit related gone from the office. He said that when all of the bad press happened he became embarrassed to be a pro wrestler and said he thought they were viewed as a step below a circus clown and a step above a porn star.

Nova stopped is in-ring career in 2006. Vince told him if we wanted to head up the Developmental System because he was smart, had been there before, and had a college degree. Nova then says that a lot of people he thought were his friends in the business turned on him as they thought this job was glorious when he worked 80 hours a week, took a $75,000 pay cut, and caused conflict in his marriage. He said he could not believe the venom that came in his direction. He then tells those who question why he got the job that he worked hard, is smart, and has a degree as to how he got that position.

Initially, Nova was going to get a six-month training before taking it over but that lasted six weeks as one day Laurinaitis called him up and told him that he wanted Nova to take it over now or else they were going to shut it down altogether as Vince saw both shows (OVW and Deep South) and saw the guys running the show (Danny Davis and Jody Hamilton) all over the TV and was pissed. Nova said that Dreamer was in charge and hated it as he spent his time throwing pencils in the ceiling, sticking thumbacks into his head and shitting in different people’s offices.

He says that he detests Bruce Prichard and was told by others that he was basically the McMahon’s “pet dog” and laughed at all of Vince’s jokes. Nova said that he heard he got fired from the WWE after pulling a gun on a writer’s assistant then said that the way he talked to talent was “low class.” He recalls one time he was filming a skit with the Boogeyman and Prichard was the director and kept on making them do numerous takes. Stephanie then came around and asked what was taking so long and asked to see the first take as she apparently said his stuff was always good and when she saw the first take, she thought it was perfect then Prichard said he thought it was too but just wanted some extra stuff.

Nova said that he was promised certain things as Head of Developmental like being able to take Indy bookings but at the end was told he could not do them. He said that Dreamer was making a lot of money taking bookings while holding the same position.

On Michael Hayes, he said that he absolutely frowned upon him. He said that Hayes would tell him his punches and kicks looked weak then was told by others that he would constantly trash him in the writer’s meetings. He then says “fuck you” to Hayes and calls him a “racist” and a “scumbag.” He then said that Hayes did introduce him to Jimmy Garvin and Buddy Roberts as he was a huge Freebird fan then wonders why he would treat him like shit as he was a fan of the business. Nova then questions why is Hayes still there as a lot of the top guys and writers hated Hayes and felt that he was an embarrassment.

He loves Howard Finkel and says that he would be in his office at night in Titan Towers on the weekends with a bunch of food and sitting in his underwear watching the Mets games.

When asked about the problems in OVW and Deep South, Nova said that he had a lot of respect for Jody Hamilton but it was run like an old carny show and they never got to run shows on the road. He said that in OVW, Al Snow would give him shit when he would ask for reports, tape, or photos  of guys. Nova said that he did not believe that Snow accepted the fact that he was his boss. HHH apparently questioned why OVW was being run the way it was and was the reason it changed then he talked about how he was in Laurinaitis’ office when he told him that he would have fired Snow if he had someone else to replace him with. Nova said that these developmental territories were essentially “foster houses” and not territories to make money.

Nova said that in Deep South, he found out that they were booking phantom house shows as they would have shows scheduled and when he called the talent to see how they went he learned that the shows were cancelled weeks ago.

He then talks about booking guest trainers and put in the idea to have developmental wrestlers read books and write papers for homework as he talks about how not everyone who gets into wrestling is a fan. He said that Dr. Death came in as a guest trainer so Nova bought all of the developmental guys in OVW his autobiography out of his own pocket and gave them a quiz and just 6 or 7 out of the 39 down there passed the quiz (Katie Lea, Paul Burchill, Aaron Stevens, Cassidy O’Reilly) and Dr. Death was devastated. Nova said that he called the guys who did awful on the quiz and cut promos on them over the phone. He said at this time, Deep South closed and they were getting ready to move to Florida as everyone was in OVW for the time and it was horrible. He said that Danny Davis would call him up after their promo day and tell him that he wanted to fire everyone as no one would want to go up and speak. Nova talks about how he was given these tasks he would want to do the best he can and would take it seriously. He said that was the beginning of the end for him as Head of Developmental as he became hands off and knew he wanted out of the position as no one gave a shit, including Davis & Snow.

When asked about CM Punk, he said that he worked out with him at the Ted Petty Invitational and liked him. Nova said that he has no idea how he was able to completely defeat the machine and overcome all of the roadblocks. He said that in writer’s meetings, everyone would bury Punk, including top guys, about how he could not work and was the shits. He said that his life was charmed in the wrestling business but very fucked up outside of it and never knew he had it that tough until he saw his documentary.

Nova loves HHH and calls him the man. He said that he played the game better than anyone else then goes into how people who call HHH selfish are ridiculous as he made Randy Orton, Batista, and was the one who tapped out clean in the ring at WrestleMania XX. He thinks that business will be in great hands with him.

He goes back into what happened with the Deep South territory. Nova said that he was in Connecticut and got the call from Laurinaitis that they were shutting it down. The company had enough of the bullshit as Bill DeMott was fired but kept coming in anyway and Jody Hamilton never told the office. He said that they all knew what was going on and he told two of the developmental wrestlers that it was shutting down but does not want to give out their names as they are still on the main roster. So, the plan was for Nova to drive down in a box truck Sunday night and load it all up then talked about there was not a single human being in Deep South who was sad to see it close. He even said that they talked about having him break in the night before to check to see if Hamilton’s guns were in his office and to check if they were loaded as they had some fear that he might try to use them if he was getting shut down. That Tuesday he was with Laurinaitis and Ty Bailey at dinner as Laurinaitis said “fuck them” and decided to shut them down right there.

He tells the story of the day that Deep South got shut down. Laurinaitis told Hamilton that he was shutting them down and Hamilton told him his lawyers were going to talk to him as Laurinaitis said “fuck your lawyers” and that they had better ones. He then told Hamilton to stay in his office as he told the talent why this was getting shut down  and said he was tired of the bullshit as they gave him enough chances and he failed. Hamilton, who owned Deep South, said that you better get all of your shit out of here as Laurinaitis told Nova to get the truck and he went. Laurinaitis told Hamilton that they were going to Florida with Steve Keirn as the head trainer. Nova said that the talent, naming Sonny Siaki and George Murdoch (Brodus Clay) were grinning from ear to ear as they loaded up the truck and go to Florida.

Nova talks about Bill DeMott and said his training was awful as was his schoolyard bullying tactics then said that what Kevin Matthews had said about him was true. Nova heard that DeMott is up to his same bullshit again from what he heard and cannot figure out why they hired him back. He said that DeMott keeps on burying him for getting fired when he never fired it and Laurinaitis did then said he actually felt bad for DeMott as he broke his neck in wrestling and developed a pill problem but follows that up by saying he wanted to be the man and walk around with his chest puffed out.

After DeMott got fired, Nova said he was told to come up with a list of trainers to replace him and had guys like Brad Rheingans, Jerry Lynn, Brad Armstrong, and Tom Prichard. He got Prichard his job back as he put him 10th on the list and when asked why, he said that Prichard was just fired and did not think they would hire him back then they asked why woudl they not hire him back as Nova was like “you just fired him” then called Prichard up, who wasn’t sure about coming back as he said there was a lot of bad blood there and worked it out and had Prichard meet Laurinaitis and they worked it out. Nova also said that he got Billy Kidman a job as a trainer as he was doing nothing at the time.

He briefly goes into DeMott’s training style and said that he would stiff people and bully them all the time and said that Kevin Matthews is not liked by a lot of people but again reiterates what he said about DeMott was true.

Nova talks about being in the office and hearing about Joey Styles knocking out JBL in Iraq. He said that he heard through HHH after Vince called him up about what happened. Nova said that he respects JBL for what he has done outside of wrestling and how hard it is to make money off of the stock market but on the road he would get drunk and just yell at people then takes a break as Dreamer called him up and he puts it on speaker as he talks for a minute or two.

He talks about how he was asked by Dave Lagana to lose to Axl Rotten on Velocity after the One Night Stand show then asked if Rotten was under contract and he said no so Nova said that he was not going to lose to someone who was not under a contract then went to Vince and explained the situation to him and Vince had never even heard of Rotten before and the match got changed where Nova ended up beating a local wrestler.

About the JBL/Blue Meanie incident at “One Night Stand,” he talks about Meanie calling JBL a bully on the internet then at the ONS show, Meanie was calling out a drunk JBL from the ring then he saw JBL’s eyes as he looked like he was going to kill him then Nova took Mysterio and suggested they brawl in the corner as JBL went in and beat the shit out of Meanie until Tracy Smothers broke it up. He thought that Meanie had a chance for a lawsuit against him but it never came to fruition. Later on, they were going to book a bWo reunion then booked JBL vs. Meanie with Batista running in and costing JBL the match but that never happened and Nova thinks that was a WWE decision to get a JBL/Meanie match on tape in case Meanie took them to court they could have that as backup.

He talks about the guys he hired while in developmental like Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella, Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Ted DiBiase Jr., Nattie Neidhart, and Harry Smith. He also helped out the Bella’s, Rosa, Maryse, and Brodus when they got signed. He talks about how Kofi Kingston was his first hire and how he loved hearing the happiness in the talent’s voice as he made their dreams come true but how it was the exact opposite when he was told that he had to fire someone. He said that he tried to save some jobs and saved Paul Burchill’s job for a year. He said his hardest fire was Angel Williams (Angelina Love) after Deep South got shut down she went down to OVW. He said that Angel almost got called up a few times and was going to be the girlfriend of Matt Hardy and at one point they were going to have her be the prom queen in a Senior Class gimmick with Mike Knox and Matt Stryker but it never came to fruition. Nova said he got the call from Laurinaitis to fire her and he didnt so Johnny told him to do it before he did and Nova called Williams, who had just moved into her place the day prior, and had to tell her she was fired and she thought he was ribbing her at first then cried when she knew it was legitimate and Nova said he had to have his wife drive the car afterwards as he was so shaken up over the situation.

When asked about what happened when the signed Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro) then fired him right afterwards, Nova said he had been pushing for him to get signed for years and got him hired and was ecstatic then two weeks later Laurinaitis told Nova he had to fire him and to this day never got a reason and reiterates that he was right about a lot of guys and had an eye for talent and said it was some “carny shit” for why he got fired and questions how can you fire someone and never tell then why.

He never thought that Ken Kennedy was a main event talent and tells a story about him in OVW. Nova got a call about someone from OVW in the hospital after overdosing on GHB and he was intubated and hooked up to a ventilator and he got released then re-hired down the road but Nova was the one who called the kid’s parents to tell them what happened. He then got another call about how there was a few guys on the bus in Mexico who were burying him for doing what he did and it turned out that Kennedy was one of those guys and was calling him a “Stooge” because he called Dreamer to get the number of this kid’s parents so he could call them and have them come down and see him in the hospital because there was a chance he might have died. He found out that the other guys calling him a stooge were Joey Matthews and Brent Albright (Gunner Scott). The next week at TV, he called them out and saw Kennedy who proudly stated that he said it and Nova asked him why as he helped him out and he did not seem to care. He tells a story of how Kennedy was perceived as a star from day one and recalls Vince yelling at him after a match against Scotty 2 Hotty on Velocity for giving Scotty too much offense as Vince said that he was “barely a step above a local.” He said that Kennedy got hurt a lot and was rough with others and he lied about using steroids. Nova heard that Vince himself fired Kennedy on the corporate jet and said he never wanted to see him again.

When asked about guys in OVW who he thought would have made it big in the WWE that didn’t he said that guys like Sean O’Haire and Matt Morgan could have had bigger careers. He said that he thought Johnny Jeter was a “can’t miss” guy. He talks about the WWE fucking over Paul Burchill with the pirate gimmick. He said that Chet Jablonski had a superfan gimmick that he thought would have worked but he never got called up. He talks about Dan Rodimer being brought up way too fast and they burned him out and said that he was being put in main events at house shows teaming with Randy Orton against Cena and that guy could have been a star. He also thought that he might have done something behind the scenes that could have led to him leaving the company. Nova then says that its insane how Rob Conway is not in the WWE as he is clean and looks like a million bucks. He puts over Nick Dinsmore and said that he has battled his demons and was there when he lost his job while an overseas tour.

He puts over Cody Rhodes for being a hard worker and a class act. Nova said that while in developmental, Cody would call him and ask if he had seen him on TV and what he thought of his performance. He talks about Dolph Ziggler and said he is a good guy and a true heel in wrestling. Nova also said that Ziggler has pulled a lot of the diva’s away from the other guys and some of the other wrestlers were pissed at him over that.

On how he found out about Eddie Guerrero dying, he said he was in the hotel when he saw Vince, HHH, and Shawn Michaels walking by at warped speed with solemn looks on their faces and saw Tomko and Chavo Guerrero walking behind and found out he was dead when Tomko told him when he was on the elevator. Nova said that he was told Chavo went to wake him up to go to the gym and found him dead on the floor in his room.

Nova talks about what led to him leaving the WWE. He said that after six months, he was in Laurinaitis’ office and told him that he was thinking about buying a house in Connecticut. When he first got the Head of Developmental role, he told Laurinaitis that he was not going to move from his home in Kentucky as he could get fired at will. Laurinaitis then told Nova that he was getting a lot of flak from JBL, Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes over putting him in this role. He said this was in December 2006 and went home to his wife and said it was bullshit and was so pissed that he stayed behind to watch the office at WrestleMania. Nova then talks about how at the time, he was obsessed with being in shape and counting out everything he ate then decided that he wanted to try HGH and testosterone. He did not say who but claimed a “top guy” hooked him up with a doctor that got him the stuff and said that he was in the office at the time and talked about how several others there never got tested and could do whatever they wanted to so he figured that he was safe. When the Signature Pharmacy scandal came out, his name as on the list of people. After hearing that, Nova said that he went to Laurinaitis and did not know how his name was on the list and that he had a prescription. Two hours later, Nova was let go from the company. After that he talked about how today there are clauses in the policy that make things okay if you have a prescription.  He said that day he flew back to Kentucky and took his test for his mortgage license and got a job in that a few days later.

He said that he was asked twice to go back as Simon Dean then for a special appearance and he declined both times stating that he has no desire to go back there unless it was for something like a WrestleMania Battle Royal and even then he would not want to stay at the hotel with everyone else and just duck in and out and say hi to his friends.

On working the TNA ECW PPV, Nova said that he did that show so he could go down to Florida to look at some properties with a client and got flown in by TNA. He said that he liked Dixie and thinks people should give her credit for giving guys jobs as if not for her, a lot of wrestling careers would be over.

When asked about the WWE Wellness Policy, Nova said he is all for it as long as it helps save lives. He remembers right after Eddie Guerrero died when Vince went around and sat everyone in a room. He pointed at Ric Flair and said most of you guys will not have a career as long as his and he wanted to give them tools so they can lead a productive life outside of the ring. Nova then talks about how the policy saved MVP by finding his heart murmur then goes off topic when he confirms the story of MVP offering Bill DeMott a chance to fight him in a shoot after DeMott was treating him like shit.

Nova says that people in wrestling who hate him do so because he outworked them in and out of the business. He says that he worked harder outside of the business than anyone and talks about his father passing away a year and a half ago and said that he would never rely on pro wrestling at his income ever again after seeing all of his wrestling friends at the funeral.

He then talks about how he is an overachiever and how he does not brag about all of his friends in the business before telling everyone watching who is under a Developmental Deal to work your ass off as the worst that can happen is you get fired and that everyone gets fired in wrestling anyway. He then brings up how he grew up a fat kid in Jersey and became an opening comedy act in ECW to a WWE executive. Nova closes by saying how he got into wrestling to make money, meet women, and see the world and that he did all three and closes by thanking the fans and that he did this interview for all of them.

Final Thoughts: Again, an excellent interview. Nova tells a ton of stories and sheds a lot of light as to how fucked up the developmental system was and how rough it was in the locker room when he was with the company.

As for Nova himself, he was a lot more arrogant here than in the first disc. He had to constantly throw in how he worked harder than everyone among other things. However, this interview is strong enough that you can overlook that fact and enjoy the whole thing.

Again, I highly recommend this shoot as it is one of the best releases in the past year.

Purchase the interview by clicking on the link below.

http://www.rfvideo.com/novapt2shootinterview.aspx

This was filmed in 2014

It was conducted by Rob Feinstein

Disc One runs at two hours and seventeen minutes long

The interview starts with Nova being asked about ECW going out of business. He talks about defending the ECW Tag Team Titles at the final show in Pine Bluff, AK. Nova talks about how he definitely knew it was done as they no longer had PPV and checks were bouncing. He mentions those in denial and thought it would restart in a few months but he was looking to move on at that time with a goal for working for the WWE.

Nova Said that he had no personal relationship with Paul Heyman and dealt with Tommy Dreamer almost all of the time. He said that he was scared of Heyman his first year and a half in the company. He then goes back and talks about how oblivious people were in thinking that ECW would be restarting seeing how they did not even have any shows booked.

He talks about making more money in the Independents the year after ECW closed than he did in any other year prior. He worked for Scott D’Amore at Border City Wrestling and puts him over. He said that he and a few other guys worked shows from these guys in Pennsylvania and he got paid $500-600 as soon as he got off of the plane. He also worked some WWA shows after Jeremy Borash got him the gig. At the time, he was teaming with Frankie Kazarian and asked to face Kronik and knew that he was jobbing and did not want to do it as he had to make a living on the independents and did not want to work a three minute squash. He then said that Brian Adams called him and said that they needed good workers go up against like themselves because they were shit.

Nova talks some more about WWA some more and said that he hung out with Sabu seven days straight and that he was clean and they would go to the gym together each morning and Sabu would even wake him up to go in the morning. Nova then said that he shared a room with AJ Styles and they were the only two on the tour that did not have their own room. After doing three-way matches with AJ and Jerry Lynn, he was supposed to face them on the PPV in Australia but at that time Nova had signed a WWE Developmental Deal with Jim Ross and did not tell anyone at the show as he did not want word getting out but Buff Bagwell asked him if he had signed as Ross put in on his “Ross Report.” Nova then said that he was supposed to work a ten minute opener against AJ but after two minutes they told them to “go home.”

He talks about Kazarian and said that he went to his wedding a few years ago and calls him a true pro in and out of the ring. Nova then says that he doesn’t talk about his friends in the business on social media and that he will never have a Twitter account then uses his Facebook account to basically talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Rick Bassman, the owner of UPW, told Nova and Kazarian after they were hanging out of before the show and said they looked like a team and gave them the name “Evolution.” When asked if HHH stole the Evolution name from them, he says he doesn’t give a shit as their is no comparison to HHH’s version then says that HHH is “gold.”

Nova puts over UPW for saving his career as at that time he was finishing his degree then says that he never saw himself as a “lifer” in wrestling and never wanted a 30 year career. He talks about some of the guys in UPW like Aaron Aguilera (Jesus in the WWE), Nathan Jones, Heidenreich, and the Ballad Brothers.

Now, he is asked about an incident at a UPW Show while teaming with Kazarian against Danny Doring & Roadkill. Nova first talks about Doring and brings up how he never hung out with him in ECW then talks about Doring talking shit about him in shoot interviews and wonders how long does a Doring shoot interview last as his career was not that long then says that he is not knocking him and that it is just reality. He then talks about wrestling against them in ECW and prefaces it by how he doesn’t want to sound egotistical but that he never felt like they were caring about the match the same way that they did. He did say that Doring cared a lot more than Roadkill, who he said only got over due to his cult following then said that Doring is an average worker. He then says that he was the one who brought them into UPW. Doring & Roadkill apparently booked themselves an autograph signing beforehand and came to the building at 8pm then proceeds to tell the story of what happened for the first time ever. He said that the locker room wanted to kill them and were filled with lunatics like Heidenreich, Horshu, and Tom Howard. Nova said that one night when Doring’s mother passed away, he gave up his pay for the show to Doring so he could support his younger brother. He said that they were seeing on who would go over as they were the last ECW Tag Team Champions and did not want to put over Nova & Kazarian and only thinking about themselves so they had the match end in a double DQ with a run-in finish. Nova then said that he blames most of this on Roadkill and feels a little sorry for Doring but then felt that he could have done more to stop his partner from being difficult to work with.

Nova then talks about Doring and how he got to the WWE as a favor for Tommy Dreamer then said that he would be in writer’s meetings and that they would shit all over Doring as Nova sat there wondering why would you say all of those things with him being there. He then talks about being in John Laurinaitis’ office when they fired Doring and how Johnny offered him a job as a referee and Doring declined and got cut. Nova said that Roadkill agreed to go to OVW as he calls him a “piece of shit” then tells him to go fuck himself. Nova then apologizes to Doring for stiffing him and “receipting” him in ECW and wishes him the best of luck but says Roadkill can go fall off of a cliff. He then tells a story of Roadkill in OVW and how he stayed around to help write the shows after being released then even while working for free they had to tell him he was not welcome there anymore. Nova then tells a story about Roadkill and how Bruce Prichard, who Nova sarcastically calls a “true visionary of the business,” saw Roadkill in OVW then was told by Laurinaitis one night that while on the company plane, Prichard pitched an idea to Vince for Roadkill to face Undertaker at WrestleMania as he felt he was going to be a big deal. Nova talks about how he would read the agent reports and said that he never read worst reports than the ones that were written about Roadkill. Nova then says that Roadkill claimed that Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) hurt his neck and hinted that he made up injuries when rumors about cuts were being made with the belief that his job would be safe if he was injured.

He talks about wrestling for the PCW promotion and how he was facing Eddie Guerrero after he got released from the WWE and that Eddie wanted to put over Nova as it was the promotion he worked for but Nova said he refused to go over and they went back and forth until Eddie agreed to go over. He even talks how Eddie fucked with him during the match as he pulled Nova on top of him a few times. Nova closes this by stating how it was the proudest moment in his career for the fact that he could hang in the ring with one of the best wrestlers in the world and that all of his hard training paid off in this match.

When asked how he got signed by the WWE, Nova said that he was out doing motion capture stuff for the “Legends of Wrestling” game when he got a call from Kevin Kelly, who he said is cool, and that they were having a tryout camp. This was in the Summer or Fall of 2001. Just before the camp, Kelly called him up and said that he thinks they are just going to hire him and that he was bypassing the tryout camp altogether. Nova said that Jim Cornette vouched for him and was the reason he got hired. He saw him at Dennis Coralluzzo’s funeral right after ECW closed and told Nova that he was going to put a word in for him with the WWE. Nova talks about getting a call from John Laurinaitis and said that he gave him the standard line of how you will be down in OVW for a few months then called up to the main roster as Nova said he was still there two years later.

About the people in OVW he worked with, Nova said that he likes Danny Davis but feels sad as his company is barely hanging on and felt bad when the OVW/WWE alliance ended. He talks about Cornette again and said that he treated him better than anyone else in wrestling besides his brother (Donnie B.) When Nova was in developmental for a lot longer than he should have been, Cornette let Nova write the TV shows and taught him the behind the scenes stuff. He said that he had a lot of fun doing that down there then puts over the young talent. The head trainers when he first got to OVW was Tom Prichard but he got fired. Nova puts him over for being a straight-shooter.

Nova talks about how the guys were not allowed to watch ECW tapes down there as they felt it was garbage wrestling and also added the fact that Cornette hated Heyman as another reason. He said he became friends with Matt Morgan and knew him a little as he came to the ECW shows and worked as a bouncer in New Jersey. During their first training session, Nova blew them away with what he did in Morgan. He said that he started on the same day as Matt Morgan, Seven (Mordecai, Kevin Thorn), Horshu (Luther Reigns), and Heidenreich. All huge guys. Nova said that he always worked hard and never saw the fact that he was in developmental as a punishment.

He tells a story about working for the HWA promotion run by Les Thatcher. At that time, HWA was another WWE Developmental Territory. He worked a show for them and the house was triple what it usually was as several OVW guys were there too. Matt Stryker (not the on in the WWE) told Nova that no one was getting paid for this show. Nova was with Rene Dupree and said that after ECW closed, he promised himself that he would never get stiffed by another promoter ever again. They called Danny Davis and Cornette, who were bullshit, and a few months later, Thatcher came to OVW and went over to both Dupree and himself and gave then $50. Nova said that Thatcher is an old-time carny but a good guy overall.

When asked how he became a heel, Nova said that he approached Cornette and said that he wanted to be a heel. Cornette said that he did not think it would work as he had been a face his whole career. Nova then said that he started his Jersey stable and brought in Tank Toland (James Dick in the WWE), Danny Inferno, and Joey Matthews (Joey Mercury). They teamed Mercury with Johnny Nitro and said that he met Aaron Stevens (Damien Sandow) and knew that he would be the crown jewel with the stable. Nova puts over Stevens for being a great person and said he had a ton of natural ability and is not only his best friend but his daughter’s godfather. He said that he knew Stevens would make it one day and said after getting cut from developmental he spent a year living at his house and said that no one would book him, not even his so-called friends and said that TNA wouldn’t even put him in a dark match and had to go to Puerto Rico and reinvented himself then came back and got signed to another Developmental Deal where he grew out his beard and created the Damien Sandow character. . Nova says that Stevens deserved every penny he gets and says that not many people know that he has been wrestling since he was 19 years old and his a 15 year veteran.

Feinstein asks Nova about his memories of John Cena in OVW. He calls him a top notch pro and a fan of the business. He wrestled Cena and ended his year-long undefeated streak clean in the ring. Nova then talks about how when he worked in the office, he would see the schedule that they kept for Cena and said that it was more than anyone elses. Nova said that guys would turn stuff down but Cena never did then says that he believes Cena’s career will end early due to injury. Nova then says that when Cena leaves the company will be in trouble as he has been the only true star created by the WWE in the past ten years.

Nova puts over Christian a ton, saying that he has an incredible mind for the business and for the fact that he does not have heat with anyone in wrestling. Nova said that if he owned a wrestling company, he would make Christian the head trainer.

When asked about Lance Cade’s death, Nova said he will not speak ill of the dead but his death did not surprise him at all as his addiction was really bad. Nova said he saw Cade as a kid with a ton of potential and that they gave him a few chances but thinks that he had a seizure on an airplane that led to his release. He then wonders if he would be around today if the Wellness Policy was around.

On Chris Kanyon, Nova looks right into the camera and says how he got a RAW deal in this business. He calls him a great guy and says that people think that they hated each other as they both had the “Innovator” gimmick and would actually call each other up and trade ideas to moves.  He then said that Kanyon almost died due to a botched shoulder surgery and went down voluntarily to OVW and trained on his own dime and when he finally was ready to come back, they put him in a box as part of a Boy George skit as Nova suspects those in the WWE knew that he was gay and did this purposely as part of a giant rib. Nova says watching that pisses him off and who would ever think this was funny and it wasn’t going to draw money or even lead to a match. He then talks about how Kanyon was so passionate and would have given his life for the business and was a great dude and said that others turned on him after he came out and acted bizarre on the Howard Stern show.

He is asked about several guys in OVW. Nova said that he thought Doug Basham was a good worker and puts him over for working crazy long shifts for Ford Motors then training in OVW. He did say that he would bury people behind the scenes and did other political moves that left him shaking his head but Nova attributes some of that to when you make it to the main roster and how you basically go into survival mode. He did say that he was one of the most grossly underused guys and talks about how little sense it made to stick Linda Miles with and Danny Basham. He said before his release, Doug was practicing a magician gimmick. He talks about Chris Nowinski and said that he felt bad after he slipped while hitting him with an enziguiri and ended up kicking him in the head and calls it the “JFK bump” as Nowinski got kicked so hard in the head that he bumped backwards then in the same match accidentally re-broke his nose during a reverse rollup when Nowinski was wearing a mask at the time.

Nova is then asked about Rene Dupree. He said that he was cool with him until the remark he made in his shoot interview about him (In his RF Video shoot, Rene said that Nova was “cool as shit” when he was in OVW but did a 180 once he got an office job ad hinted that the power went to his head). Nova said that very few people had the potential that he did coming into OVW but that his career was ruined because of drugs. He said that everyone in OVW thought Rene was spoiled and lazy but Nova said he never saw that and just saw a guy biding his time until he got called up to the main roster then goes on about Dupree and even Carlito paid more dues than just about anyone in the business as they were born into it and were wrestling matches in the early teens. When Rene first got called up, Nova said he let him travel with him and called Rene a slob and that he was weird and talked about how no one wanted ride with him for that reason. He said that your final day in OVW you had to do a one hour broadway and Nova had to do his with Dupree, who was all fucked up, and Nova said that he led him through the match and calls it one of his proudest accomplishments. Nova then talks about how when Dupree was going back and forth between WWE and OVW, he came down to OVW and was all fucked up in the ring and took a suplex then got up and was dazed as his genitals were hanging out of his tights. Laurinaitis called him into his office and showed him the tape and wanted to fire him on the spot but Nova called Dupree first, who ended up crying to him on the phone saying that he had a problem so they sent him to rehab and that is what pisses him off  about Dupree’s comments as Nova said he saved his job and life for sending him to rehab. Nova even said that he felt bad after Bob Holly kicked his ass, which he deserved.

He talks about how he never had the power in wrestling that others accuse him of having then talks about how those guy might be mad that he outworked them both in and out of the ring. Nova then states that luck is bullshit and that hard work and preparation is how you become successful.

When asked about Bob Holly, Nova said that he never had a problem with Holly while in the WWE then someone sent him an excerpt from Holly’s book in which he said that Nova was a stooge and that no one was sad to see him leave. Nova then cant believe how Holly has a book and buried him. He said that he wrestled Holly about 50 times and loved it how they always hit hard and calls him a pro in the ring and says that he always got a pop when his music hit. When asked about Holly beating Matt Cappotelli, Nova said that he did not get the incident and is almost glad that Cappotelli never made the main roster for the simple fact that he was afraid of how the others would treat him. Nova talks more about the “Tough Enough” incident and how he does not understand how the other trainers let that happen and would love to ask Al Snow how he let Holly beat down this kid. He said how he never really had a relationship with Al even when they worked in the office together then mentions how HHH hates Al and always said that he was a joke and questioned why he was training people.

Nova is then asked about him being told by Steph to cut his hair because he looked too much like HHH. At that time, he said that the WWE was on a hair cutting kick and Laurinaitis brought Nova over to Steph if he would look more unique with a haircut and she said that he might and that was all. He said that the only one who got pissed over the haircut was Cornette because he would have worked that into a hair vs. hair match. Nova puts over Steph for having all the tools to become a great CEO and thinks that she was more like Vince while Shane was more like his mother.

He tells a story about Rhino in OVW. Nova said that he got into the ring to practice and took a chop from him but Rhino’s elbow caught him on the lip and split it open completely as he had to go to the hospital where a plastic surgeon corrected his lip line. When asked what happened with him and the WWE, Nova said that someone in the company must have it out for him because he is built like a brick shithouse and the Gore is over and said he guarantees if he came out on WWE TV today and Gored a member of the Shield it would get a massive pop. He calls him a great human being and says he is a complete 180 of his wrestling character.

Nova tells a story about traveling with Nunzio and how he drove so fast that he got two speeding tickets in the span of an hour as they were driving home from a show in Boston while in ECW.

When asked if Vince was approachable, Nova said that he was intimidated at first and loved the Simon Dean gimmick. He then said that one day while he was riding his segway scooter backstage, he saw Vince walking by with a cup of coffee and decided to knock it out of his hand and kept on going without thinking twice. Nova calls Vince the second most influential man in his life besides his father. He also adds that Vince and Laurinaitis hand picked him to run Developmental.

Nova also says that he is great friends with Mark Henry and how they have an agreement to attend the Super Bowl together if the Cowboys make it to the game. He then tells a story of how they became good friends. Henry was wrestling Chris Benoit at a house show and really messed up his shoulder. Nova said that he helped him get dressed, carried his bags, and drove him to the hospital and they have been great friends since. Nova then said how Henry talks about having backers when he leaves the WWE that want to promote wrestling and that Henry wants him to be his “Johnny Ace.”

On the creation of Simon Dean, Nova said that he was at TV for a dark match when Laurinaitis told him that Vince wanted to meet to find out more about him. They met and Vince told him that his work was good and that he was clean and wanted to know more so he can make him money. Nova told him that he had an idea of creating a fitness character in the mold of Tony Little and Jack LaLanne and in the back of his head knew that Vince was into working out and hoped he would bite on his idea. Vince talked about vignettes and promos then Nova told him that he had an idea to do infomercials instead and Vince loved the idea and replied that it was “fucking fantastic” and suggested that he get a purple jumpsuit and makes fun of all the “fat motherfuckers.” Soon after that, Vince came down to OVW to watch a bunch of matches and see the guys. That day, Nova had prepared to do the character and had the purple jumpsuit and whistle to go with the gym bag he carried to the ring and did the character which at the time was called “Sonny Slade.” He went into the whole thing as Vince loved it as did writers Chris DeJoseph (Big Dick Johnson) and Court Bauer. After that, Laurinaitis told him he was going to get called up to the main roster and in two weeks, he was flown up to Stamford to film the vignettes. When he got there, he thought that they would have scripts and sets for him to film but they asked Nova what he wanted to do and he ended up putting together the Simon System infomercials himself. Originally, he wanted to use Tommy Dreamer’s number at the bottom of the screen but they nixed that idea. He then said that Vince told him that he knew how to do the character and that he had free reign then talks about he was never once handed a script or told what to say.

He tells a story of how he included the segway scooter in his act. He was at the casino and saw someone point out a fat guy on one and how he was too fat to walk then Nova said that he was too lazy to walk and ended up getting one for $50 and tickets to the show from a guy in Toronto. Nova brought the scooter (The Dean Machine) to the show and Stephanie saw it and went to find Vince to get approval and he loved the idea. Nova said that it now sits in a warehouse in Stamford, CT.

Nova talks about how he wanted a stable including a wife that he wanted to be called “Jean Dean.” He originally suggested Jillian Hall for that role to have a matching outfit and almost had a midget wrestler play a mini version of him that he wanted to carry to the ring in a backpack but they nixed the idea only for Hornswoggle to be brought in for Finlay six months later. He also was going to have the Dicks (Tank Toland & Chad Wicks) for his henchmen but the company shit on them for being too short and gave them the awful Dick last names then suggested the Shane Twins in that role and came up with the “Gymini” name for them. He said the Gymini were bad ass motherfuckers who could work but they were already in their 30’s when they got called up and Todd tore his bicep shortly after that then they were released months later.

Feinstein asks him about several guys he worked with in the WWE. He says that he liked working with Rosey and is proud of his weight loss. Nova says that he loves Shane Helms and talks about he was one of the top merchandise sellers in the company at one point. Nova then talks about how he wished he ruffled from feathers when they told him he was beating Helms with a low blow and a rollup in his debut match because after that he was perceived as a guy who could only win that way as Nova said he could have used an illegal move then hit his opponent with his finisher. Nova then tells guys in the WWE today to not be afraid to ruffle some feathers. He talks about teaming with Maven and how Michael Hayes shit all over their first match as a team. Nova liked Shelton Benjamin and said that he one of the most naturally gifted athletes he had ever seen. He also shits all over the idea of giving him a fat mother and asks why it couldnt have been someone who looked like Claire Huxtable. Nova said that the company said he had no mic skills but when he talked to Shelton he always thought he was charismatic. Nova puts over Kane and says the company would be a much better place if everyone acted like he did backstage. He talks about how Chris Jericho was a total pro who never stabbed anyone in the back and beat the game as he had a lot of roadblocks to overcome as the company never thought of him as a top guy. He liked Maven a lot and said he tried to reach out to him when he was struggling with his addiction to pain medication. Nova then tells a story about how they always used to keep action figures of all the wrestlers in the back near the seamstress and about a week before he got fired, Nova saw that Maven’s figure was in the trash so he grabbed it and put it in his bag and a year or so later he saw Maven visiting backstage at a house show and gave him his figure and he was almost in tears when it was handed to him.

When he was on RAW, he traveled with Rob Conway, Sylvan Grenier, and Gene Snitsky. Nova said that he never drank either. On Smackdown, he traveled with Chris Masters, Paul Burchill, and Jillian Hall.

Nova then talks about “Boogeyman Duty.” Marty Wright, who was the Boogeyman, was someone who the WWE felt was incapable of traveling by himself and needed supervision. Nova said that he did it for six months and did not mind because the company paid for the rental car and that they got to the arena early so that the Boogeyman could have his makeup put on. He then said that Vince loved the character and backstage would randomly go up to people to get their attention then yell “I’M COMING TO GET YA!!!!” He said he liked Marty but did not think he was capable of doing the most basic of wrestling moves and if he did, he might have been able to become this generation’s Ultimate Warrior.

He talks about his first loss in the WWE and how at that point he realized that he wasnt going anywhere after that. Nova then said that Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes were not fans of his gimmick. He then talks about how after that they bury you then reheat you for a bit then talks about how in the real world, you actually get rewarded for being dependable, respectful, and producing results and are treated well but that does not always happen in the world of wrestling. Nova then talks about how in the WWE you are basically under a mind control and try to make you think that this is it and you cannot do anything else and feels like it is some weird culture of how you are unable to do anything once you leave the company. Nova talked about how he was going to school at that time because he never planned on only wrestling for his entire life.

When asked about Bobby Lashley, Nova said he took a lot of pride in the fact that Lashley came up to him and thanked him for not trying to make him look like shit as a lot of the roster was doing that to him at the time. He puts over Lashley for his attitude and tells a story of how he was training in OVW and his daughter was just about to be born and wanted to go home. He was going to wrestle Lashley on TV and went up to Arn Anderson and said that he wanted to make him look as strong as possible so Lashley could get put on the road permanently and Nova said that he made him look good and convinced Laurinaitis to put him on the road so he could leave OVW and go home to his family and he agreed. A week later, Nova said that he put together the PPV angle with Lashley after he broke his hand in a match on “Sunday Night Heat.” Nova said that he practiced the match with Lashley five times because he wanted him to have a good showing.

Final Thoughts: Excellent stuff. Nova sat there and talked about everything from his frustrations about being stuck in OVW for two years and what it was like being on the main roster. He also has stories on just about everyone too and tells you about those on the bottom and on the top. Nova was not afraid to talk about anyone and did not have an agenda. He can com across as arrogant at times and a lot of guys in the business have stated how they disliked him but he has also done a lot of nice things for people and was not into fucking around with people. I also liked that he was smart enough to realize that his wrestling career was not going to last forever and is now a manager at a successful bank in Kentucky.

Disc Two will be up tomorrow and is filled with all sorts of great stories as well.

I highly recommend this shoot as it is one of the best to come out in the past year. You can purchase it at RFVideo.com by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/novapt2shootinterview.aspx

This was filmed in 2000 at DiBiase’s home in Jackson, MS

The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein

It is a two-disc set. Disc One runs at two hours and five minutes long and Disc Two runs at one hour and two minutes long.

Ted is first asked what it was like growing up in a wrestling family. He said that it is similar to an “Army Brat” as you get used to moving a lot. Even though his dad (Iron Mike DiBiase) was really his stepfather, he never called him that. Ted then lists all the places he has lived as a kid as he basically moved every year while he was in elementary school.

He said that he wanted to become a wrestler when he was a kid but how his dad never wanted him to do to that. Ted now talks about how he has three sons and that he does not want his kids to become wrestlers because you pay a price as you have little time for your family and the divorce rates are sky high and you have no life when you are gone 90% of the time as you are all over the country. Ted then talks about all of his friends that have been ruined by drug and alcohol addiction and says how trouble finds you on the road. He does say that he loves getting into the ring and performing.

Ted talks about how for every wrestler that makes it huge, there are 100 others who are just as talented but never get a break. He talks about someone, he forgets their name, but he trained in Japan as a sumo wrestler and had a ton of charisma but the WWF had Yokozuna at the time and when he was on the downside the company was not going to bring in the same type of person and from that goes into how timing is everything.

When asked if he grew bitter towards the business after his father died of a heart attack in the middle of his match. DiBiase said he did not and goes into how his dad had heart disease and they did not know a lot about that in 1969 and that might have been prevented today.

In College, DiBiase played football at West Texas State with John Ayers, Tully Blanchard, and Tito Santana. When asked, he said that it was great. Originally, he was going to play football at Arizona University then saw on TV that the Amarillo territory was coming into town and saw Dory who told him to come back next time to see Terry. Ted was closer to Terry than the others. He spoke to Terry and when that happened he realized that he wanted to become a wrestler and wound up at West Texas State so he could be around the Funk’s. He said that Tully was the quarterback and Tito was the Tight End.

He said that the Funk’s, especially Terry, mentored him throughout his career. DiBiase talks up Funk and how brilliant he is and claims that when he left college, Terry told him step-by-step how wrestling would reach a National level.

DiBiase goes into on what it takes to become a wrestler. He said you cannot learn to work at a school, only how to learn the mechanics, and stresses you learn on the job and goes back when he was breaking into the business when the veterans told him that he needed to have an “ear” for the business so you know how to react. He said that when he wrestled, it was never choreographed and you only knew the finish as the heel lead the match. DiBiase said that is missing from the business today.

On Harley Race, DiBiase said that he was the one who ran into the ring and performed CPR on his dad the night of his death. He then said that one night, Harley told him that he had “it” then DiBiase talks about how at one point in the early 1980’s, he was scheduled to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion as Harley, The Funks, and Bob Geigel all wanted him to be the champ/ He was then told that the belt would be moved around himself, Dusty Rhodes, and Ric Flair and that was going to become the main story for the promotion but Dusty did some politicking and got that switched.

DiBiase then said that he went down to Georgia and worked for Ole Anderson right at the tail end of their hot run. He was told do to go down there and get on TV for more exposure to prepare for the World Title run. He said that Robert Fuller was the booker, someone DiBiase said was not great, and even though he did not know enough at the time on how to book a promotion himself, he knew when it was not good. He was also not part of Fuller’s crew but Jim Barnett ordered Fuller to push DiBiase. Fuller ended up aligning DiBiase with himself and that did not get over and at that time the Crockett Territory was really heating up so the talk of him being a champion ended. DiBiase said that he has no regrets then jokes about how he has probably made more World Champions than anyone else. He did like working in Atlanta as the travel was much easier than Mid-South or Amarillo and he got to sleep at home every night.

He talks about how he was brought into the WWWF as the North American Champion in 1979. DiBiase said that Vince Sr. liked his work but that was a big man territory and he was still young and that his belt was actually the belt that was used for the Intercontinental Championship as Pat Patterson beat him then after that, the WWWF used the story of Patterson winning a tournament in Rio De Janeiro.

On wrestling Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden in Hogan’s MSG debut, he said that Vince Sr. told him that he knew that he would put over Hogan right (DiBiase was leaving to go to Mid-South) and to do whatever you think is right. DiBiase said he spoke to Hogan and told him what he wanted to do and they went out and had a great match. DiBiase then said that he would love to have that match for his personal library then said that Hogan thanked him very much and that he owed him for his work. DiBiase said that he saw the money in Hogan even back then.

DiBiase said that Bill Watts came up with the loaded glove gimmick. He said that they needed a heel in the territory and at the time, Ernie Ladd was the booker and DiBiase knocked on his door and said that he would be a heel by turning on JYD. DiBiase said he came up with that as he always teased JYD for working 5 minute matches and doing a lot of taunts and dancing yet he made all of the money as he was working his ass of in 30 minute matches. They built up a program and they were facing off in the finals for the North American Championship and would cut babyface promos leading up to the match. The finish was when JYD kicked DiBiase out of the ring and the ref was counting out DiBiase, JYD stopped the ref as he did not want to win like that and rolled DiBiase back in the ring then DiBiase loaded up his glove and won the match that way.

He puts over Bill Watts for having a great mind for the business but that he was a bully and a “slave driver” as the travel was brutal. He even looks into the camera and tells Watts if he was watching that he was a bully.

DiBiase said that Watts did not have the connections that Vince McMahon did in New York and when he realized that it was too late and could not compete with Vince on a National level.

Feinstein asks DiBiase about several workers. He said that Watts paired him up with Steve Williams and that he caught on quick. He also credits Williams for shedding weight as he was really heavy when he started. He tells a story of how he was supposed to blade during a segment with Dick Murdoch. He said that one of the tricks of the trade was before you were going to blade, you took an aspirin and a shot of brandy. DiBiase swiped his forehead and he cut really deep and when his heat would beat, blood shot out. DiBiase said they bandaged up his head and he came back out and tore some of it out as blood would still shoot out and freak out the girls in the front row. He said that he loves Jim Duggan and tells a story of the first time he got into the ring with him. They were at a spot show in Alabama and when they tied up Duggan was so stiff that he tagged out to his partner and let him wrestle Duggan. DiBiase also said that Duggan was “afraid of the blade” and hated when he had to get color. He talks about JYD and said that he would tell you that he was not a great worker but he was a great talker and had a ton of charisma.

On working in Japan, DiBiase said that he loved it over there. He went there when he was 22 years old and even though he was there with all veterans who he had nothing in common with, he learned to love the food and culture. DiBiase said that seniority is important over there and they do not automatically love someone as it takes time. He teamed with Stan Hansen and knew that he was the one who would be doing the selling as Hansen made the hot tag.

DiBiase now talks about how he signed with the WWF. He said Mid South was on fire when Bill Dundee was brought in too book things but that he hot-shotted everything and when that stopped working, it plummeted. He went back to Japan and told Bruce Prichard to put in a word for him in the WWF as he had an interview with them. While in Japan, Watts sold his territory to Crockett. DiBiase said that he had a meeting with Crockett but before that, Prichard called him and said before he signed anything to talk with Vince McMahon first as he wants to bring him into the WWF. DiBiase met with Crockett who asked him what it would take to sign him. DiBiase said that he wanted what Luger was making as he was a better worker and put in more time and that if he is not worth every penny to them as Luger was, then they did not need him. Crockett then agreed to give DiBiase the same deal as Luger and DiBiase even got them to agree to let him work in Japan too. A week went by and still no call from Vince as DiBiase was still mulling over whether or not to sign with Crockett, who had no idea that the WWF was interested. Vince then calls up DiBiase and tells him about an idea he has but wants to discuss it in person. DiBiase flies to see him and Vince tells DiBiase that this idea has never been done before and that he knows he can pull it off but refused to give him the idea until he officially signed because he did not want to give away the idea for free. Vince had to take a call then Pat Patterson came in and told DiBiase that this idea his what Vince would create for himself and ensured him that DiBiase will fully back him and push him with everything he has. DiBiase went home and called Terry Funk, who told him to pack his bags and go with Vince. DiBiase flew up again, this time with his wife, and Vince put him up in a luxury hotel and had a chauffeur drive him around to all of the expensive restaurants and the theatre as he wanted DiBiase to actually be the Million Dollar Man. When asked if the other guys resented him for this, DiBiase said that they might have but he never saw it and in general most guys never got mad at someone for taking a great opportunity.

DiBiase talks about the gimmick and how not only was it a huge break but you got that break in style. He then says that Vince gave him the biggest break and treated him better than any other wrestling promoter and will never forget that. However, that will not stop him from feeling the way he does for the direction Vince is taking the wrestling business and how it is not even wrestling anymore. He talks about wrestling has always been good vs. evil in its simplest form but today they glorify the antihero. From that he talks about how he is an ordained minister and then says he does not want to expose the current raunchy storylines to his children. DiBiase says that when he is asked today, he says that he came from an era when it was wrestling. He then goes into it further about society being entertained by “disgusting” people like Howard Stern and Jerry Springer and talking about school shootings and how it all intertwines with the wrestling product today and tells Vince that he owes some responsibility to have moral conduct and that integrity and character is missing from wrestling and has been replaced by the dollar. This is a very long segment as he most definitely gets preachy here but it is not all that bad to be honest.

In the locker room, DiBiase said that Hogan was always very good to him. He recalls the first time he worked with Hogan when he was the Million Dollar Man, Hogan told him he was going to pay him back for putting him over at MSG several years earlier. He said that Hogan chose to work with him and at the time he was drawing a ton of money on the card then DiBiase talks about Hogan going out of his way to help a lot of other wrestlers. He puts over Hogan for being able to take advantage of his opportunity and could make the most of what he had and utilized that with his opponent and for that he was a great worker.

He is talks about how he misses wrestling when he sees a really good match and guys with a lot of potential. He loves watching Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Eddie Guerrero but admits that he doesnt watch too much at the moment. He does state that when he does watch them he feels that they are working too hard and are wasting moves as there is no realism. He said that drove him nuts in Japan when there would be 30 suplexes in a match and top rope powerbombs yet the match is won with a small package.

DiBiase is asked about how he got paired with Virgil. He thinks it was one of the Wild Samoans who referred Virgil to Vince as they wanted a guy with a good physique to be his bodyguard. DiBiase tells a funny story of how Bobby Heenan was the one who came up with the Virgil name as a rib of Dusty Rhodes then when they were in WCW, Heenan was the one who came up with the decision to call him Vincent.

Feinstein asks DiBiase about the Honky Tonk Man refusing to drop the Intercontinental Title, which led to the WWF giving Randy Savage the Heavyweight Championship that was going to be given to DiBiase because Savage was going to kill Honky and they wanted to pacify him. DiBiase said that is also what he had heard too and that the Million Dollar Belt was created to pacify DiBiase for losing out on the Heavyweight Title. DiBiase confirmed that he was told that at WrestleMania IV he would become the Champion then he was later told that his character would not care about that belt and just create his own. He calls the belt a status symbol and a tool but that the stories and conflicts are what draw the money and the belts are only good for enhancing them. He then talks about not playing politics and letting his work speak for himself.

He said that a lot of guys resented Zeus when he came into the company but he does not resent anyone who takes advantage of an opportunity. He then laughs when he is asked about the Ultimate Warrior and said that he used the wrestling business as a means to the end. He also said that he never had a problem with him and believes that Warrior trusted him but said that he was a bad worker. He then puts over Hogan for his performance at WrestleMania VI then said that  the Warrior was a monster that the WWF created as he witnessed him acting horribly in public by swearing at kids, making flight attendants cry and being nasty in general. When DiBiase told this to Vince, he was told by Vince himself that Warrior was his monster. He then said that at that point, he believed that Vince thought he could make anyone a star.

When asked about Jake Roberts, DiBiase said that he has known Jake when he was a referee and puts over his talent and said he would make a great booker then says that his best WrestleMania match was with Roberts. He then said he has tried to contact Jake but has not heard from him and is saddened by his demise.

On the Undertaker, DiBiase said that he had a great look and at the time of his debut was still raw but loaded with potential. He then said the style he had to work was not an easy one either.

DISC TWO






DiBiase is asked about his feud with Dustin Rhodes and if he recognized his potential. He said that he saw the potential and thought it was fun and wanted to help him out as Dustin was similar to himself in that he grew up in a wrestling family. He gives Kerry Von Erich credit for being able to maintain his physique with a prosthetic foot then talks about the family and how they got into drugs at an early age then puts them over for all being very kind. DiBiase said that the police in Dallas continuously gave Kerry breaks until they finally told him he was going to have to serve time, he was busted for forging prescriptions, and that Kerry ended up committing suicide as a result because he was unable to face prison.

When asked why he left the WWF in 1993, DiBiase said that he got caught up in drugs and women due to being on the road and was confronted by his wife then goes on about how he felt lonely as he was away from his family and filled the void with those two things then said he had to change and decided to turn back to god, who he said helped him cope with the death of his parents. DiBiase said that he had to leave to take care of this problem but decided to go tour Japan first as there was much less pressure there. He did say that Vince was mad that he was leaving This is another long discussion from DiBiase.

He talks about the injury that ended his career. He had an MRI on his neck and told that he should not go back to work but could probably have surgery and go back but there was always a risk that he could get dropped on his head and become paralyzed. DiBiase said that he had a Lloyd’s of London insurance policy and was 40 years old and wanted to be with his family and made a commitment to stay with them so he decided to retire.

DiBiase then talks about how Bruce Prichard called him up to see if he wanted to do commentary at the Royal Rumble alongside Vince. After that, they asked him about being an agent and DiBiase said he would if they gave him benefits and paid for his rooms and cars he would but they declined. DiBiase said he said that because at the time, he had no desire to be on the road.

He said that he did not being a manager because he was on the road. When asked, he said that he loved Steve Austin and when he saw him wrestle, he saw himself in Austin and praised him for not doing a bunch of crazy moves and just going out there and working a match. DiBiase said that agents would tell Austin to do more in the ring and DiBiase would tell him to do what he is doing as it makes you different and that will get you over. He then said that he was glad he left the WWF when he did because he disliked the Austin character and the WWF product as it “mocked Christianity” and goes on again about how the current WWE product and how it lacks morals.

On how he wound up in WCW, DiBiase said that he heard through the grapevine that they were interested in him as they knew DiBiase was unhappy being on the road all the time as a manager. He said that he kept the Million Dollar Man persona but could not actually be called that and was brought in to be the money behind the nWo and when that stopped he managed for a bit and they had no ideas for him and told Bischoff that he would rather sit at home than hold Hogan’s belt during the matches and Bischoff told him to sit home until they had an idea for him. After a few months they told him to show up in Detroit for a show and paired him with the Steiners. DiBiase said he liked them but it made no sense. He said that he got paid well for three years doing nothing but would have liked to ended his career doing something better.

They ask DiBiase what he thinks of Vince Russo running WCW and he said it is the blind leading the blind and that Russo can only create smut then talks about Russo running the business into the gutter.

When asked where he sees the business in a few years and uses this as a platform to speak about Christianity for several more minutes before saying that he wants to start the wrestling equivalent of the “Power Team,” who are power lifters that go to schools and reach out to kids about the dangers of drugs and would like to replace the feats of strength with wrestling. He then gets to the question and says he wonders where the business can go as they keep pushing the envelope and sooner or later everything is going to bottom out.

He is asked about Eddie Gilbert and calls him a sharp guy then puts over his dad Tommy Gilbert for being a great worker. DiBiase talks about meeting Shawn Michaels for the first time in Mid-South and sad he was the shyest guy but how he went through a bunch of stages and wound up being the totally opposite guy. He remembers telling Shawn that he would get his break and that it just takes time then calls him a tremendous talent and wishes him well.

DiBiase closes by actually acknowledging and joking about how long he can talk for then talks about how you can entertain the fans by using the fast-paced action and removing the smut.

This was filmed on March 1, 1998

The Interview was conducted by Doug Gentry

It runs at one hour and twenty-two minutes long

Sid is first asked how he got into the business. He said he was living in a town in Arkansas that was about 15 minutes away from Memphis and working out at a gym when he saw Randy Savage and his brother Lanny. At the time, Sid was getting ready for spring camp at Arkansas State and just got married and had a baby. He had aspirations of being an NFL offensive lineman then Savage told him that a guy like him could probably make more in wrestling then he started to speak with other guys like Harley Davidson (Hillbilly Jim) and ended up training under Tojo Yammamoto.

He said that is first match was as the replacement partner for Austin Idol when Terry Funk no-showed. Sid said they called him up at home and he did not even have wrestling gear at the time and was very nervous. Idol told him to look big, as Sid was using the “Lord Humongous” gimmick but Sid said he could not even flex his muscles due to his nerves.

After that, he went to CWA and was managed by Downtown Bruno (Harvey Whippleman) and he stayed there for 8 months then Bruno left as the booker, Eddie Gilbert, brought in Paul Heyman has a manager and Bruno felt that his spot was threatened. After that Sid did an angle in which he was Shane Douglas’ long-lost cousin.

Sid said that Eddie gave him a lot of knowledge about the business then goes into how he was lucky as he started in the business and was always around the bookers and other great minds.

On Jerry Lawler, Sid said that they respect each other as he knows the frustrations of being a booker then talks about how he would like to book wrestling one day.

He went to WCW and teamed with Dan Spivey as part of the Skyscrapers. At first, he did tryout matches as a singles wrestler then the committee put him with Spivey. He said that they had a lot of fun together traveling but the team ended when he punctured his lung and broke his ribs then got replaced by Mean Mark Callous (Undertaker).

After coming back from injury, Sid was repackaged as a singles wrestler then got to work with the Four Horseman. He said that he loved doing interviews most of all.

About his feud with Pillman and rumors in the dirt sheets that he was pissed that Pillman was too small for him, Sid said that was untrue.

Sid talks about how Dusty told him that he was going to become the World Champion after beating Vader then Rick Rude. He was first going to beat Vader then came up with an idea to make Rude stronger after seeing a commercial for something that listed off all the things someone had beaten so Sid thought that Rude should do that as he was a great worker and talker. They brought Sid to the office and offered him a multiyear deal and Sid felt insulted by how low it was then said he heard about Hulk Hogan leaving soon and he had a good opportunity to leave and join the WWF.

He said that he talked to Vince McMahon, who wanted him to fly in and talk. Vince asked him what he wanted and Sid laid it out then went back home and found out that WCW had doubled their offer and they had a guaranteed deal, unlike Vince. Sid said that he did not want to be playing the middle and decided he would take the WCW deal then head to the WWF another day. He then swears on the lives of his child and wife that he was just about to walk out of the door when the phone rang and it was Vince. He asked Sid if he had signed the WCW contract and he said that he was on his way to do that and Vince told him that this was his opportunity and that it might be only one as Sid said Vince more or less gave him an ultimatum. He hung up the phone and went to WCW headquarters and they gave him the contract then Sid gave it right back to him and said that he was finished and heading to the WWF. Sid said that they let him finish up early and he stayed at home before going to the WWF. He said if he stayed with WCW he would have gone over El Gigante in their stretcher match at SuperBrawl.

When he first got to the WWF, Sid said that the first thing that blew him away was the amount of fans that showed up to the arenas as that rarely happened in WCW. Sid also said that was how he knew he was drawing money.

On the locker room, Sid said that the guys were good to him at first. He then said that you also found out quickly who the bullshitters and ass kissers were, two things that Sid said he is not. Sid said that Jake Roberts got him into trouble up there and from that he talks about how anything you say gets magnified by an unbelievable amount.

Sid said that Vince’s promises never went how he said they would and he got sick of it and told Vince that he wanted to part ways with him and went to shake his hand and Vince declined. Sid said he benefited financially from staying but that the lies all added up and that when he was told he was going to be the biggest heel in the business then had the Ultimate Warrior kick out of his finish, he said that was it then talked about at that show (which took place in Boston) they drew a terrible house when the last time he was there against the Undertaker they sold out. Sid said he told the agents he would have the Warrior kick out of his finish but that he was going to quit afterwards and they pleaded with him but he stuck to his word.

When asked about if he failed a drug test before WrestleMania, Sid said he told Vince what he was using and that everyone knows who is using what.

He went back to WCW and said that it was easy and relaxed the second time around with guaranteed money but did miss the big arena sellouts in the WWF.

They ask him about wrestling Sting. Sid calls him a great worker and could sell for a heel like himself.

Sid is asked about the “Psycho Sid” name and he said it was a rib on him due to the scissors incident with Arn Anderson. He gets asked about what happened then tells his side of the story. Sid said they were at the bar drinking when someone asked what was wrong with the business and why weren’t they drawing and Sid said it was because you have older guys like Ric Flair who will not step aside for younger guys. Arn apparently threatened to throw his beer in Sid’s face after that. Sid later went upstairs where Arn was in the hallway and broke a beer bottle, threatening to cut him. Sid said his room was a few doors past him and wanted to go to his room because they delivered his food there but got to thinking about what Arn had done to him and said that he had a bad temper too and ripped a leg off of a chair that was near him and planned to “whack Arn off of his fucking head a couple of times” but went he went out, there was no one out in the hallway so he pounded on Arn’s door and threatened him to come out and bring his beer bottle. As this was happening, Sid said he turned around and walked away as he realized the whole situation was stupid but the open door and Arn came out holding a pair of scissors. Sid then claims that Arn lied when he said that he used a stick to hit him as he threw it 20 feet away and even the police reports state that it was not used in the fight. Arn came after him and Sid said that he did not remember getting stabbed at the beginning then talked about how Arn backed him up where he had nowhere to run to then eventually dropped him with a punch and when he did, saw the scissors fall out of his stomach then realized that he was stabbed. Arn went back for the scissors then Sid talks about how this happened so fast and it felt like a nightmare and someone said how they were killing Arn and he saw the scissors in his hand and tossed them down the hall and freaked out as he was in all white clothing. Sid then took Arn down to the front desk and asked for them to call an ambulance and as that happened, blood started to gush out of Sid’s stomach and he ran down the hallway freaking out.

In the hospital, the police asked Sid if he wanted to press charges and he declined then they told him that Arn was unharmed so he was thinking about pressing charges but later that night, the nurse told him that Arn was in really bad shape so he decided that he was not going to press charges at all. As he was leaving the hospital, he saw Joey Maggs with Arn’s boots and asked how Arn was doing and Maggs said he was really messed up so Sid told him to tell Arn that he was sorry. Sid then talks about how Arn would be the last person he would want to hurt and he would never want to do that to anybody. Sid said that Arn was always a gentleman to his face. When he asked Maggs what Arn said about him, Maggs said that Arn was too drunk to remember. Sid said if Maggs says any different about that then he is a “fucking liar.”

Sid said that Eric Bischoff told him that a lot of guys came up to him threatening to quit if he came back then Sid and his lawyer talked with the WCW representatives and they released him shortly after that.

After leaving WCW again, Sid said that Vince called him and wanted him to come in and work with Diesel to help him get over as Sid said he what he could with Diesel and doesn’t know if it worked or not then talks about Vince used what happened in WCW to “fuck with him more” but Sid said that he had a family to support and that he had to eat a lot of shit.

When asked about Shawn Michaels, he joked that he was his bodyguard for a week. He then talks about getting the biggest reaction in the building when he turned on him.

Sid is asked about the Kliq and said that he had no problems with them as he broke in with Diesel in WCW and knew Shawn and Razor but that he knew they were jealous when he got big reactions. This prompts Sid to talk about how the wrestling fans are smarter now and you cannot program them like you did years ago. Sid puts over Diesel for being hilarious.

On how he injured his neck, Sid said that months before in a cage match, Diesel hit him from behind and he heard his neck pop and it tingled down and he felt numb in his arm. Later on, he was at the gym with Bob Holly at the gym and was unable to curl his arm and got scared so he went to the doctors and was told he could never wrestle again. Sid got a second opinion and they said the same thing so he called Vince and JJ Dillon to say he was leaving as he could not wrestle due to injury. He decided to take classes in Agriculture and worked on a farm when he was told that Vince was calling him and he told them to tell Vince he was not there. One day he picked up and it was Vince who wanted him to do a few dates and that the flight was leaving in 40 minutes so he rushed out and wrestled Owen Hart and did several other house shows then was the replacement for the Ultimate Warrior at “In Your House 9: International Incident.”

He is asked about his expectations in his comeback. Sid said he did not want to come back full-time. He then said that the fan reaction at that PPV was crazy for him and he thought it was fun to see that as well. Sid then talks about how the house show revenue was four times higher when he came back and knew the houses went up when he was champ because he was on the shows when Shawn was the champion. Sid says that unlike any other sport, wrestling determines the best by how much money you draw.

Sid talks about how he wanted to be built up for six months then become champion as it takes more than a week to get a push and said that if they built up him and Vader appropriately, they could have drawn a ton of money.

On Shawn getting booed out of the building at the 1996 Survivor Series, Sid joked that the agents were crying when that happened. He then said that Shawn was courteous to him in person but knew that he was making calls behind his back but that will always happen and if you cannot handle that then you are in the wrong business.

When Shawn won the title at the 1997 Royal Rumble, Sid said that the plan was originally for him to hold the belt for as long as he was drawing good money. While at the NAPI Convention in  New Orleans, Vince told him that he was going to have Shawn win the belt at the Royal Rumble in his hometown of San Antonio but that Sid would win it back on the Thursday night edition of RAW. However, that edition of RAW was when Shawn Michaels gave his “lost my smile” speech. When asked, Sid said that he does not resent Shawn for that because that was Shawn’s business and does not judge him for that as he has done things like swear at promoters and that he got paid the same anyway.

He is asked about the problems between Bret Hart and Shawn. Sid said he could feel the tension between them while they had three-way matches then talks about how Bret would always tinker with their matches at the last second. Sid then said that Bret was taking care of himself and if that is how he thinks he has to do business then he has no problem. Sid said that Bret was a gentleman to him and that he was really easy to work with.

Sid said that he knew he was getting the belt from Bret and when asked if Bret himself knew that, he said he hoped that he did.

He talked about his car accident. Sid said that it happened in Canada and he flipped his car over and that the left side of his body went numb and they thought it was a stroke but that he went to another doctor and they found that his numbness was caused by a broken vertebrae that was pinching up against his spinal cord.

On his back injury, Sid said that his back was legitimately fucked up as he was taking superplexes from Bret every night. After WrestleMania XIII, Sid said that he went to Vince and wanted to take time off instead of going to the bullshit” tour of Saudi Arabia because he knew that wasn’t going to draw money anyways. He said when they came back from the tour, Bruce Prichard and “fat ass” Jim Ross asked if he was cleared to return to the ring by his doctor, who was treating him with epidurals, because they needed him at RAW. Sid said that he didnt know if his doctor could see him in such short notice. A half-hour later, they called back and said that they called his doctor and booked an appointment for him. Sid showed up and the doctor told him that he was still between 6-8 weeks from being able to return and he called them back with the news then goes off on Prichard and Ross and said that he was going to return to work without clearance from a doctor and that all wrestlers do that but they were trying to fuck him over so he sat out until he was cleared as he wanted some time off. Sid summarizes by saying they wanted him to have a doctors clearance to return in an attempt to fuck with him so he decided to fuck with them back and get some extra time off for himself.

Sid confirms that he collapsed in the locker room the night on RAW when Steve Austin was his mystery partner. He talks about telling Jim Cornette and the rest of Vince’s stooges how he was feeling terrible after Vince himself saw Sid in agony and asked him if he got the message and Vince told Sid that there was no way he would have had him go out there like that if he had known.

He is now asked about his contract status with the WWF. Sid said that they are trying to get the final details of the merchandising he is owed before the release his official but the WWF will not return his lawyers phone calls but Sid added that he could work anywhere he wants to at the moment.

Sid talks about the money being good when he was on top and that he has a strong following in the Northeast.

On Vince, Sid said that he will wrestle longer than his reign and that he uses him as motivation when he works out. He doubts that he could ever work their again and that they would have to change their bogus contracts then accidentally slips that he got a $50,000 bonus in WCW for being the champ. Sid says he got paid well by Vince but that he never delivers on his promises. Sid then talks about Vince resenting him because he is his own entity and not a creation of Titan Sports, which he says sounds weird to say but feels this is the case.

Sid is asked if he would work for WCW or ECW then talks about how he was originally going to be on tomorrow’s show (ECW 1998 Living Dangerously) and that he told Chris Candido to call him but that he chickened out and had difficulty reaching Heyman but Candido told him that he would be the mystery partner of Leif Cassidy, who would win the match. Sid thought it was a dumb idea for him to do that then was told by Heyman that he would work with Shane Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow and he would have a plane ticket but it never came. Sid said he would like to work with Heyman and calls him a friend.

His biggest regret in wrestling was not giving Dusty the chance to deliver on what he promised him in WCW and maybe he could have stayed and reached the pinnacle.

When asked about Bill Goldberg, Sid said he has only seen him wrestle once but that he has a great look. He then said he is a great wrestler for two minutes but would like to see him years later when he has grown as a worker.

Final Thoughts: I thought this was a really good interview. Sid was certainly willing to talk and did not care about holding back on the WWF and Vince or even the incident with Arn Anderson. Sid was willing to shoot and it made for a good interview.

The details about the scissors incident with Arn Anderson was pretty good and that along with him talking about how he got the belt in the WWF and the lies he accuses Vince of making make this worth watching. At only one hour and twenty-two minutes, it is a breeze.

The one complaint about it was that since this was older, the sound quality is not the greatest. The room is dark where the interview takes place but that stuff does not bother me as I am interested in what they say, not the lighting of the interview.

I recommend this shoot and Sid also did a follow up shoot with RF Video in 2008 that picks up where this one left off.

The shoot is for sale at RF Video for 15. You can purchase it by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithsidvicious.aspx

Or for just $4.99, you can download the digital copy at Highspots.com. You can also purchase that by clicking on the link below.

http://www.highspots.com/p/VD_sid_vol1_shoot.html

This interview was filmed on 10/30/04

It was conducted by Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry

This was a two-disc set. Disc one runs for one hour and fifty-four minutes while disc two runs for
forty-seven minutes. I have included both discs in this review.

My copy is missing the first few minutes of the first disc.

I start with Neidhart being asked how he got to the NFL. He says that there was a friend of his at Stanford that the Dallas Cowboys wanted but the guy told them about Neidhart, who was flattered and thought that since he was 5’11 the team would never give him a shot. He said that coach Tom Landry tried to get him a position on the team and he was backup to Randy White, an All-Pro defensive tackle.

Neidhart talks about how he served a month in jail as he went to Long Beach State and they just gave him passing grades because he excelled in track & field. However, he went to collect his schloraship money for his last six months of school and they told him he was academically ineligible, despite the fact he already received his passing grades, despite never setting foot on campus as needed time to train full-time to go up against the amateur athletes in Europe. He said that he ended up serving 30 days in Los Angeles Couty Jail for attempted extortion saying that he was going to go to the media outlets and say how the school gave him free grades. Neidhart said that Jerry Tarkanian was in trouble for this at the time and the school did not want to see any more troubles. Neidhart said that he only served 21 days and while there saw Charles Manson walk by and that the other inmates thought he was a “lifer” because of how big he was and he played along with that for a minute.

His football career ended in goal-line practice one day when his hand was off the ground and Gene Upshaw’s charged into his arm and he went on injured reserve. Neidhart said that football players are odd individuals, like Steve McMichael, who he likes.

On how he got into wrestling, Neidhart said that he was walking down the street in Ohio when a guy who owned a gym told him that he had a million dollar body for wrestling then introduced him to Gene LeBell, the promoter in Los Angeles. They gave him an option to train for two guys in Canada, Al Tomko in Vancouver or Stu Hart in Calgary. He said for some reason he went to Calgary.

When Neidhart first talked to Stu, he thought he was a drunk because he talked so slowly. He then said the first time he ever did any wrestling was with Stu, who was 63, and Neidhart said that he was 22 and in great shape but that Stu absolutely wore him out for a half an hour by doing a series of submission holds. Jim then does a bunch of Stu Hart impressions.

He said that a lot of guys back then did not want to help anyone out but that Bruce Hart would help him learn to take bumps.

Neidhart said he was there with the Bulldogs and Bret at the time. He said that Owen was just starting out at the time and that a lot of the wrestlers were jealous of him for how good he was.

Now, he tells a story of how he got into a car accident and a piece of glass cut his nose so they chased down a truck and went to a gas station, where the clerk told him not to look in the mirror as his nose was hanging off. Neidhart said that the surgeons did a great job and that you cannot tell what happened today. Neidhart then said that the cops told him that he was lucky to be alive as there was no room between the dashboard and the backseat where he was sitting.

When asked if there were any other Americans there with him, Neidhart said that David Schultz was there and he was crazy. He also said that the Junkyard Dog was there too under the name “Big Daddy Ritter.”

On whether or not Stu approved of him dating his daughter Ellie, Neidhart said that he asked Stu if he could marry here and he was fine with it then jokes how he was probably happy that he was taking her for them as she was a troublemaker.

He left Calgary for Mid-South as JYD got him a job. He says that the towns in Oklahoma and Louisiana had great crowds but that they were crazy and racist too, which is something he did not experience much of at all in California and talks about how he tagged with Butch Reed. Neidhart said that he was not smartened up about the racism there and wish that he was and had to carry a gun in the car with him as the Ku Klux Klan was prevalent down there.

Neidhart said that he liked Watts as he paid well and was a hard-working guy but did not stand for any bullshit and would fire you if you lost a locker room fight.

He talks about wrestling against Butch Reed, who had a lot of product in his hair and how they wrestled a pole match and because Butch climbed up first, he got the pole greasy to the point that he was unable to climb up.

Back to how crazy the crowds were in Mid-South, Neidhart said that he actually had to shoot at fans on occasion because of how nuts they were because he was tagging with Butch Reed and even said that the stores would not serve Reed’s wife when she was out with Neidhart’s wife.

When Neidhart left Mid South, he went to Memphis. He talks about how he was teaming with Rick Rude and were managed by a blond girl named Angel who Neidhart said was smoking hot. He also said that Rude would be having sex with her backstage and even right before they were supposed to go out to the ring. Neidhart also said that Rude was a jealous guy in regards to her as well as they dated for a little bit. Neidhart said that he also worked a program with Austin Idol and that made a little bit of money.

From Memphis, Neidhart went down to work in Florida for Eddie Graham. Neidhart was there when Graham committed suicide. He talks about how he partied a lot there with the Freebirds, Kevin Sullivan, and Oliver Humperdink.

He then tells a story about working a show in the Bahamas. Neidhart said that the natives sit on top of palm trees at the arena and throw rocks at the wrestlers. After beating one of the natives, a lady threw a spear that stuck into Neidhart’s neck and he pulled it out and blood gushed everywhere. After Florida, Neidhart went to the WWF after he got called from George Scott.

Neidhart puts over Bret for being not just a great wrestler but also for having an excellent wrestling mind. He said that it was Bret’s idea for them to team together and for the pink tights, with Neidhart being apprehensive at first because guys in the locker room looked at guys wearing pink as “fags.”

Speaking about the travel in the WWF, Neidhart said that he worked 90 days straight at one point but the Iron Sheik held the record with 108. He talks about how some guys who had little experience would crack as Feinstein tells Neidhart that Barry Windham told him that he couldn’t take it and that was why he quit the WWF.

When asked about the drug use and how wrestlers used drugs just to cope with the hectic schedule, Neidhart said he used to tell Bret how they were flying too much and thought that was wrong as you would fly twice a day but without a union and a promoter working you like a dog, you had no choice. Neidhart said that too many days on the road led to Joey Marella dying in a car accident.

He tells a story about a rib that took place in Saskatoon. There was a guy in the arena there who wanted to be a wrestler so the Bulldogs told them to drink something, which was vodka and chewing tobacco mixed with crushed valium and amphetamines and the guy drank it and passed out then the Bulldogs shaved his head.

They ask him about the ribs that Owen Hart pulled. Neidhart said that Owen would never pay for a hotel room and collect all of the keys. Owen then ribbed Jim one night when he told Jim that he had a hotel room and gave Jim a key and when he entered it turned out to be someone else’s room and he startled the guy who was in bed.

He talks about several workers. Neidhart said that Strike Force was a great team. He loved Roddy Piper, who Neidhart said helped him and Bret with promos. He said that Bad News was a good guy to have on your side. He never witness Randy Savage abuse Elizabeth but said that he was very jealous.

Neidhart tells the story about Haku biting off the nose of a guy during a bar fight in Baltimore. Haku grabbed one guy by his front teeth after was harrassed by him and went to throw a chop and he ducked and Haku ended up chopping a palm tree in half that was in the bar then Haku ended up pulling out the guys upper teeth.

They ask Neidhart about several other workers. He said that the Nasty Boys were crazy and very clumsy in the ring then said that Sags almost broke his back once. He called the Ultimate Warrior “self centered” and said that he was not a team player. He puts over the Islanders and the Powers of Pain for being good teams. He thought that Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson were good guys but that they never really fit in due to being Crockett guys. Neidhart said that the WWF guys viewed WCW as the minor leagues back then. Neidhart talks about Jake Roberts and how he was a great talker with an excellent mind for the business. He said that Kerry Von Erich was a close friend of his and that he wrestled him ten days in a row during an independent circuit on the West Coast and after it wrapped up, he went home to Texas and wrote a few suicide notes before killing himself.

On the match against the Rockers in which they were supposed to lose the belts, Neidhart said that on one side of the ring, all of the ropes ended up breaking and that the match was a mess.

When asked why Davey Boy Smith substituted for him a few times in 1990, Neidhart said that he got Cat Scratch Fever while picking up a wild cat in front of a steakhouse in Florida. They tested him for Lou Gehrig’s Disease and AIDS but wound up having cat scratch fever. Vince wanted Neidhart to get back on the road but the doctor yelled at Vince about how he could not go everywhere. He said this took place right before Christmas and thinks the office believes he was full of shit because of the time of year.

When asked if he was upset that Bret Hart got the World Title after he left, Neidhart said that he is not jealous over the success of others, especially not his partner.

DISC TWO






He is asked about the Kliq, after not remembering his brief runs in ECW and WCW in 1992, and said he knew the guys and never had a problem with them

Neidhart is asked about Dr. Zahorian then tells a crazy story of how the Dynamite Kid had a plan to hoist his doctors bag. Neidhart actually was involved as he distracted Zahorian by asking him questions about psoriasis and as that happening the Bulldogs tossed Zahorian’s bag out of the window. When they found the bag, it contained shitloads of muscle relaxers, Halcions, and sleeping pills and Neidhart said they all got those as they were working so hard and never had time to see a doctor. Neidhart then talks about how Dynamite started tossing Halcion in everyone’s drinks and gave a lot more to the new guys and Outback Jack ended up getting so fucked up that he was walking around the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Oakland naked and then plopped down in the coffee shop because he wanted some pie and the cops had to bring him back to the room. Neidhart said that Jack’s mistake was thinking that he could try to out drink Don Muraco and Mr. Fuji.

He talks about a rib that Curt Hennig pulled while in Utica, NY. Neidhart cannot remember the wrestler’s name but said he was a hillbilly-type guy from Florida who always chewed tobacco and was a disgusting guy so Hennig bought a bunch of ladybugs and stuck them in the guy’s bag then told the facilities guy that the place was infested with bugs so they ended up spraying all of the guy’ stuff.

They ask him about several other guys. He said that he knew Austin could be a star when he worked with him in New Japan. He talks about Pillman and that he had a drug problem in the WWF and believes that he struggled under the pressure of the road.

When asked about the ratings battle, Neidhart said he never paid attention as promoters would always donwplay the ratings and success so they have an excuse to pay you less money.

Neidhart said that he never got involved in anyone else’s bullshit so he did not know much about the troubles between Bret and Shawn Michaels. He does think it is very possible that Vince played the two against each other.

About Shawn Michaels’ “Sunny Days” comment, Neidhart said that Bret was livid but that nothing sexually happened between Bret and Sunny. He then said that he believes Davey and Sunny had a thing.

When asked about the “Montreal Incident” he said that both Bret and Vince did what they had to do. He then said that Bret tossed stuff around backstage afterwards and wound up in the middle of it and admitted that Bret took a few shots at Vince. Neidhart added how he has thrown stuff around in his day too.

After that, Neidhart went to WCW. He did not have a written contract with the WWF at the time and WCW offered him a three-year guaranteed deal that was double what the WWF offered. He said that WCW had no idea how to use Davey and himself.

They ask him about Owen’s death and Neidhart said it was a horrible tragedy and has even torn the family apart.

Since leaving wrestling, he has done a little acting and is getting his real estate license.

When asked what wrestlers today have what it takes to be a star, he said that he thought Brock Lesnar would be a huge star if he stayed.

He says that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame once asked him for an autograph for his kid and he had no idea who he was and heading out for his match so he blew him off. He found out after his match that it was Page.

Neidhart closes by saying how he wishes that wrestlers had a union just like other sports and actors have.

Final Thoughts: This was a decent interview. Neidhart almost seemed asleep here as he started off with sunglasses on then took them off. My copy said that this started at 4:10am and Neidhart appeared lucid so I do not believe it was drug-induced, which is a possibility given his history. The audio was not the greatest here too and it was hard to hear Neidhart speak at times.

The highlight of the interview was the crazy road/rib stories that he told. He should do a YouShoot as he is a perfect candidate for that due to all the insane stuff he did in his life. Neidhart did have some decent insight into things and was not bitter at all when speaking about his career.

I think this interview could have been better if not for the fact that Neidhart seemed half asleep. The beginning of the first disc was fairly dull too as the interviewers did not really ask him a whole lot about the territories he worked with other than Calgary.

Overall, its worth a listen for the crazy stories he tells.

You can purchase the video here:

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithjimneidhart.aspx

This was filmed on November 30th, 2004

The interview runs at two hours long

It was conducted by Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry

The beginning is a bit odd as the camera is on with Feinstein and Gentry talking about the brutally cold weather then a knock at the door appears and Sabu enters. They tell Sabu if he wants to do an interview and he declines. They then tell him that the camera is off but ask if he is willing to speak off the record and he agrees. Okay then.

Sabu said he became a wrestling fan at age three. He said that would see his uncle, the Sheik, and that his family would bring him to the shows. Sabu said at that young age he wanted to be a wrestler and when he was twelve years old, he knew he was going to become a wrestler.

As a kid, his favorites were Bobo Brazil and his uncle then he talks about how back then, these guys all seemed great but at the same time, you have nothing to compare then too as the business has evolved.

He then said that the Sheik would stay in character 24/7. He then says that he was like his father and calls him “cool as shit.”

On how he prepared to become a wrestler, Sabu said he bet himself up to prepare him for everything. Sabu then said that he was an amateur wrestler from middle school through high school and after that, the Sheik agreed to train him.

Sabu talks about how for the first several months of his training, he never even saw a wrestling ring but rather chopped wood and did chores around the house. When he first got into the ring, he did not have much expectations but knew if he was good or bad he was still going to do it anyway.

When he trained, Sabu said that he learned mat wrestling for the first two years and never even climbed the ropes at that time. This leads to him talking about how he gets criticized for not mat wrestling today then explains how he is not getting paid to wrestle that way.

On picking up the psychology, Sabu said it wasn’t until about five years that he started to get rid of the doubt that he had when he was in the ring.

His first territory was Big Time Wrestling out of Ontario. He started there around 1985-86 and worked with Ricky Johnson (Rock’s Uncle), Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin, and the Canadian Wildman along with his uncle. Sabu also said that the Sheik told the other guys to treat him like everyone else and not give him the easy road.

After his first match, the Sheik told him everything he did wrong as Sabu said that he wanted to be told what he had to work on as that is how you improve.

He wrestled in the Midwest then did a few shows for Joel Goodhart in Philly but was hidden in a battle royal and did not like it there.

Sabu’s first major territory was Memphis. This was around 1991-92. He said that he thought the style was alright and was told that he was “working too hard” and had no clue what they meant at the time but understands now, although he said that he does not believe in that. They were telling him to slow down and save moves for the big shows but Sabu remembered the Sheik telling him to treat every show like it is a big show as to that person in attendance, it is a big show to them as they are not going to buy a ticket to all of the shows anyway.

After Memphis, he worked in a Tag Team Tournament in FMW. It wasn’t until is second tour that he started doing barbed-wire matches. Sabu didn’t mind them once in a while but was pissed when they did them all of the time.

Sabu then tells a story about Louis Spicolli and how he accidentally got him fired. Apparently, no one on the tour could stand him and on the bus rides, he kept having the driver stop so he could take a piss. Sabu then told Spicolli to piss in a bottle instead. During the match, Sabu told the ref that Spicolli was pissing on the bus and afterwards when they pulled over at a rest stop, Spicolli poured the bottle out the window and they thought he was actually pissing so they fired him. Sabu said he felt bad as he liked Spicolli and claimed that he tried to make it up to him.

When asked about the fire match he had in Japan, Sabu said it was the shits and lasted two minutes long as the ring got way too hot.

He talks about turning down a WWF contract in 1993 as he felt that he was not ready and wanted to work for ECW. JJ Dillon called him up and asked him to come in for a tryout. Sabu said he just thought he was coming in for a payday and worked a match against Owen Hart. Afterwards, Vince offered him a deal as Sabu declined to work for ECW as Vince thought he was crazy.

On how he got to ECW, Dennis Coralluzzo told Sabu to call Tod Gordon as he was a sucker and could probably get a $500 payday. Sabu liked Dennis a lot and worked with Chris Benoit in his first match outside of New Japan.

Sabu said that early on, Taz was a “cock-sucking motherfucker.” He said that Taz thought everyone was trying to get over on him at first and had the impression that everyone owed him something too.

After speaking about how the old-timers were telling him he was ruining the business due to his in-ring style, Sabu sparks up a joint then cracks open a Budweiser tallboy as he speaks about how he hated teaming with Taz at the begining of ECW. He also did not care for Public Enemy and said at the time, there was heat between him and Rocco Rock for using the table spot, which he had made famous before them.

Sabu said that his first match against Cactus Jack was alright but everyone was expecting them to kill each other and that wasn’t going to happen. Sabu is told that Cactus said on the WWE Documentary on ECW that there was too much hype going into that match and Sabu said that he was injured at the time and that did not help things either.

He then said that he was the one who brought Chris Benoit to ECW when Benoit asked to get more work in the U.S. and Sabu wanted to wrestle him.  The interviewers then bring up how when Sabu broke his neck, the nurse at the hospital mentioned how they saw a bullet in his face on the x-ray. Sabu then tells a story of how he got shot in the face after high school at a party when some kid with a real gun in one hand and a fake gun in the other appeared to be shooting his friend then actually shot another one of his friends and took off so Sabu chased him down and tackled him then got shot.

About getting his neck broken in his match against Benoit, Sabu said he does not blame him and that it was just an accident. When asked if Heyman paid his bills when he was out, Sabu laughed and said that he rushed himself back and wrestled two weeks afterwards and wore a neck brace on occasion but the injury does not bother him today.

He talks about how he accidentally double-booked himself and chose the New Japan date over the ECW date as the pay was $6,000 in New Japan compared to $1,000 for the ECW show. Sabu said at the time he was pissed that Heyman got in the ring and told the fans how he basically ditched them but now is flattered that they thought he meant that much to them. Sabu then talks about how he talked to Heyman three days later and they talked it out and how before that, he talked to Taz, Benoit, and Malenko who all told him to do the tour of Japan instead of working a spot show.

Sabu said that he wound up in WCW after Kevin Sullivan asked him how much would it cost to bring him in for the first Nitro. Sabu said $500 and figured that was just for WCW to give him a look but it turned out that he got that much for every show, including PPV’s. He said that he worked the second Nitro and did not get to do everything he wanted to in the company. Sabu then talks about working a show for Coralluzzo to see how much money he could get while working for WCW. Bischoff found out and called him to see if he quit and Sabu said that he did not and took the show as he needed the money. Sabu said that he did that to see how much he could get and planned to return to WCW but found out after that through the hotline that he had been fired.

He now talks about some of the guys he worked with in WCW. Sabu said that Alex Wright was scared to wrestle him and that he almost got fired in his match against Mr. JL when the Sheik threw a fireball.

On how he started to use super glue on his wounds, Sabu said that he saw that on a documentary on World War II how soldiers would use that on the field to stop the bleeding until they got sutured.

Sabu calls Too Cold Scorpio the best professional wrestler he has ever wrestled against and that he gelled in the ring with everyone.

About his memory of being on RAW while part of ECW, Sabu said that he barely remembered it and was never that huge on being in the WWF and the only difference between them and anyone else is the pay better. Sabu said that he was well-received in the locker room.

On dealing with his injuries, Sabu said that they never bothered him and that he could get up from anything he did.

Sabu is asked about working with Sandman. He said that he was worried at first going in the ring with him because he was drunk then said after a while, you got used to it and he was actually better to work with drunk than sober. He said that Perry Saturn could shoot on you at times but nothing too major. Sabu said that he liked working with everyone as he coughs up a lung while finishing his joint.

He talks about his match against RVD at Wrestlepalooza and how he vomited twice on camera and off camera as he was really sick. He said he vomited up Mello Yello because it was the only thing in his system and he felt fine after that.

When asked about tagging with RVD, Sabu said he remembers wrestling him a lot more than being his partner then talks about how you barely even remember your partner and know your opponents a lot better.

On bringing in guys from FMW into ECW, Sabu said that he brokered the deal but the guys never came back because Heyman never followed through on his promises and the guys did not get paid.

Sabu is asked how the six-man tag at November to Remember 1998 became such a bad match and if the guys were pissed off in the locker room. He said the match was shit and that Heyman and Taz almost came to blows and he had to pull Taz away.

When asked if he was told do interviews in ECW, Sabu said that he was but that he never wanted to do them and felt a mouthpiece works better for him.

He is asked about several other guys. Sabu said that for some reason he did not Tajiri at first but grew to like him later. On Steve Corino, Sabu said that he never even knew he was there until the end of his run and recalls how Corino approached him once and told Sabu he knew he didnt like, prompting Sabu to say “who the fuck are you.” Sabu then talks about how he just never crossed paths with him and if he doesnt greet you that does not mean he hates you. Sabu is a big fan of Rhyno and Justin Credible.

On how he left ECW, Sabu said that he wanted to make more money and that wasn’t happening in ECW. He tells the story of Heyman telling him he was going do to the job to Super Crazy and gave him a script. Sabu told Heyman that he could not read so Heyman read the script out loud with the whole locker room around him as it made Sabu look like an idiot. After that, Heyman asked if they had a deal and stuck out his hand. Sabu said that he shook it then took his bags and left. Sabu said it did not matter who he was going to put over as he was leaving.

Sabu talks about how FMW and even Heyman killed things by constantly trying to “have the world end every day.” He said that FMW started off by having one barbed-wire match a year then one a tour, to four a tour then talks about how he worked 16 matches on a tour and only one of them was a regular match. He then talks about how the constant barbed-wire matches lessened his enthusiasm and burned out the fans.

He talks about how Kevin Sullivan signed him to WCW after that but Heyman bluffed WCW saying that Sabu had a binding contract. WCW then told Sabu that he could either handle the deal or they could take it out from the second year of his deal. Sabu told WCW that he was going to take care of it but was not able to take him to court. Sabu said that Heyman prevented him from earning money on purpose.

On ECW going out of business, Sabu said that he was surprised as he thought Heyman would figure out a way to keep it going.

Sabu said that he wound up in XPW due to Big Dick Dudley. He said he got paid but the promotion sucked. He talks about dropping the belt to Rob Black as he was originally going to drop it to Messiah but he got fired for fucking the boss’s wife so they had an idea that he would wrestle against two Rob Black’s and his manager would cost him the match.

He is asked about working for the MECW promotion it in Indiana and starts to laugh. Sabu said he did a few shows and it was the lowest point of his career and recalls one night, they wrestled in front of 15 people and just four of them paid as the rest were all the wrestlers wives. He even said guys like Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, and Public Enemy were on the show. He said that the guy who ran the promotion gave him a counterfeit check and when he went to cash it at the bank, they almost arrested him then accused Sabu for making the check on a computer.

Sabu said he wound up in TNA after they called him up. He said he started to get into a groove but got sick and as a result, his feud with Raven never happened. He then talks about how he always felt like an outsider in that company and said there were a lot of cliques backstage. Sabu said Raven is cool and would hire him to run his wrestling company.

When asked about Teddy Hart, Sabu said that he will have a future in the business once he learns to shut his mouth. He said that Carly Colon (Carlito) was great to work with and has a future in the business.

Sabu said that he doesnt watch that much wrestling today but likes to watch Mysterio in the WWE but calls the WWE “too fancy” and how it is too scripted and it feels like the wrestlers are now stuntmen in a soap opera and the writers, who do not know fuck about the business, are controlling your fate.

He puts over Monty Brown for being a good worker at his experience level but said that in Japan they should not let him work in street fights because he is still learning and should be doing matwork only at this point.

When asked, Sabu said that he never paid attention to the politics of the business and said that the Sheik told him you have to compromise today with the promotion but Sabu said he does not always do that.

Sabu did not have a problem with Heyman taking a job with the WWE, saying that he has to make a living too. He then says that he does not have an opinion on everything and that he does not always ask or research everything and only comments on what happens in front of him and that he does not have the brain to remember everything.

He confirms that when he had his first tryout for Vince McMahon that the company wanted to change his name and modify his look and for the Iron Sheik to be his uncle, which Sabu said was “retarded” and joked that his uncle would have probably died earlier from a heart attack if he found out.

Sabu said earlier in his career he did not like the dirtsheets but does not mind them now as everything has been exposed.

On if another promotion can run a successful territory, Sabu said no because Vince killed those territories. He said that Heyman could afford to pay a few of the top guys but could not afford everyone.

He still talks to guys like Scott D’Amore, Terry Funk, and Kid Kash today.

Sabu talks about how he got sick while in Puerto Rico. He got an infection and thinks he will be able to wrestle in January. When he got the infection, he was not talking to anyone and in the hospital for two months and could not even walk.

Final Thoughts: Sabu seems like a cool guy. However, this interview bored me. A lot of the questions were about his time in FMW. He did make his name there but that is just not a promotion that I am familiar with thus not too keen on listening to stories about that.

Also, Sabu is not the best storyteller either. He does appear to have a stuttering problem but you can at least hear what he has to say. They did not ask a whole lot about any crazy stories from his time in ECW and since he says his memory is poor and only paid attention to himself, we really do not get any dirt dished out here.

I really do not recommend this interview unless you are a die-hard Sabu fan. The first 45 minutes I felt were tough to get through and it does get a bit interesting in the middle but that was all. I came away liking Sabu as a person though but that is the most positive thing I can say about the interview.

Purchase it here http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithsabu.aspx

Or buy the digital download here: http://www.highspots.com/p/VD_shoot_sabu.html

This was filmed in December 2006.

This is a two-disc set, totaling at two hours and fifty-eight minutes long

It is conducted by Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry, in his last on camera appearance before he passed away. The poor guy looked sick too. A graphic for him is on the screen before the interview.

The disc starts with Raven on a shopping spree in New Hope, PA. He is walking around with some girl, who has one fine set of tits but a busted face, then walks into the “Witch Shop.” They talk about the Nip/Tuck season finale and some other TV shows before leaving.

He then talks to someone about his new character (the leader of the Serotonin stable) and how he wears a white suit. He then talks about meeting people at DragonCon and wants something that looks like it would hurt if it hit you but not too bad. He then wants Gentry to come over and be his guinea pig. Raven shoots the shit for several more minutes with the guys from the shop. He looks at various swords and masks along with other weapons. This is going on for far too long and is not at all interesting to me. The only thing remotely entertaining was Raven ragging on Feinstein and Gentry.

We are now shown Raven being picked up at the airport in Baltimore, MD on 12/28/06 as he heads to a show for Maryland Championship Wrestling. Raven then talks in the car about how the people in Philadelphia are bigger deviants than those in New York City and how Howard Stern said the same thing. Raven then calls Baltimore the ghetto version of Philly. Gentry talks about how he used to sell flowers as Raven seems interested and they talk about some notoriously perverted guy who used to pay boys to shit in their underwear and take it home with him and how Gentry sold him his socks for $10 when the guy offered to buy them and then heard that he would pay kids to go to the bathroom in his house.

Still in the car, Raven talks about falling in the trap of using drugs to be cool and how he wanted to be Keith Richards. He then says that there comes a time when you have to grow up once he realized that and stopped using. Raven then talks about Bob Evans after they pass it on the road and how he eats their pancakes with honey.

Raven then talks on his phone to his mechanic about having problems with his tires. They finally arrive to the arena as Raven wants to go to Bob Evans at some point. He is backstage as the camera work is too shaky to see who else is there.

We now see Raven get checked out by the Maryland State Athletic Commission. They take his vital signs as the old guy who is in charge talks about how Smackdown was in town recently and saw guys like Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes but forgot everyone else. To say this guy’s memory was gone is an understatement. The doctor then makes Raven do a sobriety test as Raven fucks around for a minute before taking it seriously.

Raven goes backstage and eats his food that he brought along from the Atlanta airport. Feinstein comments how it smells like shit as Raven responds by saying that it smells like Feinstein’s mom. Guys on the show like Jeff Jones and Danny Doring walk by and say hi for a bit.

Doring then comes back and talks with Raven for a bit as Feinstein asks Raven about his opponent tonight, Nick Berk. They then talk about the ex-boyfriend of an ECW rat who is here and how he invested the boys money. Raven asks Doring about Chetti and learned that his wife became pregnant with their 5th child the day after he got a vasectomy. He also said that Chetti told his wife that he got a $1,500 bonus for Christmas and she ended up giving him $300 and keeping the rest. Doring then talks about how he told Chetti not to worry about the 5th kid because in the next ten years he will found out that he had fathered six or seven more.

Feinstein is now with Nick Berk, who is pumped about wrestling Raven tonight. They then meet for the first time briefly as Raven heads over to his gimmick table past all of the fans at the event as there still Christmas decorations up with KC and the Sunshine Band playing in the background. Raven signs some autographs and is not exactly the friendliest guy while doing so as he seems annoyed when fans request a picture. 90% of the fans are obese and wearing hooded sweatshirts and glasses. Raven seems to warm up a tad to the fans near the end. He did insist one fan get an extra picture after she gave him extra money and when she refused, he gave it to a kid. Some guy who claims to sell wrestling merchandise at a flea market attempts to cut a deal with him as Raven said he will talk to him later. Raven briefly comments on the covers on Women’s Wrestling matches.

After leaving the gimmick table, Raven heads up to the locker room and talks with Berk. Raven comments on how he looks like George Hamilton with his mustache and how he has to rent “Love at First Bite.” Berk then comments on how he recently was on WWE TV portraying Michael Richards in a skit. MCW owner Dan McDevitt comes out and says that Tom Brandi will not be here as he had a part of the show as Raven and McDevitt talk about the past and how Raven would like to work here in the future. McDevitt then wants Berk to fill the role of Brandi and they go through the segment as a girl walks by dressed as a slutty elf. Raven learns that his match was not advertised and how he got the spot right before first intermission. Raven then suggests how to make the segment better and he ends up schooling them both with his knowledge. The owner is actually incorporating his real-life divorce into the story. Raven stresses to let the heels get the heat as several other wrestlers on the show stand around and listen to Raven lay out how to do the segment and says that the heel shouldnt be too funny in bringing up the divorce as the fans will laugh and how they should say things to make the fans feel uncomfortable so he still maintains his heel heat. Raven then walks Berk through on what to do that will make the segment work. Chasity comes out and chills with Raven for a bit and looks great to be honest. Raven then talks to Berk after everyone else leaves and asks if he gets were he is coming from. Berk responds by saying that he listens to Opie & Anthony and how they are offensive and uses that style but Raven reminds him how this audience listens to that stuff so they will not be offended. Raven then suggests to study tapes of Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman when they were in WCW. Raven is teaching these guys a lot and just does a great job of it to be honest. The WWE would really benefit from him in NXT but that is never going to happen.

Raven is now getting dressed and asks the owner if he can go on after the intermission so it gets more time and so he can stretch for a bit. He then talks some more about the segment and how the heel should “pat him on the back then shove it up his ass.” Raven closes the disc by alerting everyone that he has to take a shit.

DISC TWO




We leave off with Raven still in the locker room. He then gets a Bob Evans delivery and shares it with Doring, who jokes about how he learned a lot from who he traveled with. For instance, he learned from Raven on what to eat and also learned to wear a rubber with your wife from Chris Chetti and not tell your wife that you got a Christmas bonus.

Berk talks to Raven about how he talked to him when he was in ECW. Raven then talks to Doring about Francine and how she claims to be in love with her boyfriend as Doring doesn’t believe her. Raven then says that he believes it is real as she can tell it in her voice. He then asks Doring if he ever got with her and he said that Francine told him that she was told who not to talk with.

Doring and Raven then talk about masturbating and it is a pretty funny conversation to be honest. Its all just shooting the shit stuff but actually entertaining, unlike Raven in the shops of New Hope, PA. Doring is always hysterical in shoot interviews.

Raven then tells Berk again that being funny kills heel heat and to not think funny when he interrupts the owner’s speech but rather think mean. He even suggests some lines to him as they finish up talking as Berk thanks him. Again, Raven did a tremendous job giving advice.

After some more bullshitting, Raven heads backstage in the gorilla position and stretches as McDevitt and Berk have their confrontation. He then talks with Chasity and Jeff Jones and after a few minutes, peaks through the curtain and a few minutes after that, Raven is introduced and he runs in and clotheslines Berk, wrestling as a character called Nicky Benz, to the floor. Raven then cuts a promo before beating the crap out of him outside of the ring. They have their match, which isnt anything special, and Raven wins that. He limps to the back then talks to McDevitt in the locker room about how he should have not pulled the microphone away from Berk as it turns to a pissing contest and it hurts his sympathy a bit but most importantly, it kills the tension as the heel should be in control of his own segment and that is why there were two microphones. This is Raven offering constructive criticism and not being a dick. Overall, Raven puts over the segment and said it made the crowd sympathetic towards the face.

Raven then teaches Berk some more and how the heel needs to build heat so the face can make the big comeback. He says that when the face is on the ground set up, attack them. Raven talks about how as a heel, you need to be good enough that when you show ass, people still think you are a prick. Berk then thanks Raven for all he has taught him.

Final Thoughts: To begin, this was a documentary, not a shoot interview. No questions were really asked to Raven and he was filmed the entire time during his normal daily routine. The only stories provided were from Danny Doring as he ragged on Chris Chetti. The beginning with him at the shops was tedious but watching him at the show and seeing him shoot the shit backstage, interact with fans, and teach others about wrestling was fantastic. It was all raw footage and very, very interesting to watch. It doesnt make for an interesting recap to read though.

Raven really stood out here with his wrestling knowledge. He was teaching everyone and not in a condescending way either. Watching and listening him explain his reasons on how something will and will not work was something else. Also, watching an indy show from behind the scenes is about as dreary as you would expect. From the venue to the talent, it was sad at times.

Another problem was that the sound quality was rough as it was hard to listen when Raven was shopping and when he was backstage waiting for his cue to come out to the ring. The camera work was shaky at times too. However, I do recommend this shoot as the footage of Raven at the show is worth watching. My recommendation is to skip until he reaches the venue as everything else is dull. Luckily, a majority of the shoot takes place at the show.

You can purchase the video at RFVideo.com, who has a sale lasting through tomorrow for 25% off shoot interviews.

http://www.rfvideo.com/

Here is my schedule:

Friday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 10/4/86
Saturday: RoH Scramble Madness 11/16/02
Sunday: WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 10/4/86
Tuesday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 10/5/86
Thursday: Shoot Interview TBD

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