?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Monday, April 25, 2005 at 1:06 PM EST

L. Anne Carrington sent in the following interview recap...

The London Interview

By L. Anne Carrington

After having this little project shelved for a little over two months, and then a series of "email tag", I finally managed to get this planned (however brief)interview with our latest WWE Cruiserweight Champion into motion and eventually into print (once I was able to get a few updates anyway), with a few speculations being cleared up and some other interesting thoughts along the way.

TWB: What/who inspired you to get into wrestling?

In addition to being his main goal in life since he was 11 years old, Paul was also inspired by the late Owen Hart as well as the Funks and current superstar Rob Van Dam. He also talked about his late brother Daniel, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1996 at the age of 19. They had dreamt of becoming tag champions, and thinks Daniel would also be proud of his current Cruiserweight championship run.

He also touched a bit on his early training and how he had been to several schools around the country, and how he found he had gotten the most out of the training at Texas Wrestling Academy, as well as with Ivan Putski.

TWB: What style of wrestling is better---Japan or WWE?

The style in Japan, Paul said, is more focused on competition, and the fans there are more quiet and into the matches, whereas WWE is more focused on the entertainment end the fans tend to react differently here.

TWB: What match do you think was your best in the WWE? And what about those recent injury stories?

Paul said his best matches so far were working with Akio as well as his match at this year's No Way Out. He also talked about the injury he got during his match with Billy Kidman at the April 5, 2005 Smackdown taping and how it took 18 staples to close the wound he got from going into the turnbuckle (which wasn't a blade job, by the way, contrary to popular belief). And actually, he loves showing them off to anyone who asks to see them and even lets fans take pictures!

As for the "knee injury" at the April 8 show in Melbourne, it was also confirmed that his injury was nothing more than the idea of Fit Finlay and that he is fine and is obviously working other shows.

TWB: What do you think of being Cruiserweight Champion and WWE pushing the cruiserweights?

Paul seemed quite happy with his championship run thus far; he talked about how Rey Mysterio, Eddie and Chavo had been behind him to get a title push, even before No Way Out. He also described the current push of the CW's as "pretty cool."

When asked about the WWE signing fellow cruiserweights Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis, Kazarian and Super Crazy, Paul had few comments.

TWB: What is your take on women wrestling journalists?

As long as the person is objective, open minded and print at least what is accurate for the most part, he has no problem with members of the media...men or women.

TWB: What are your thoughts on all this Matt/Lita/Edge drama?

Paul stated that Lita and Edge should have been on the same page, but didn't comment about much else on the issue.

TWB: A lot of the fan base nowadays is part of the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community). I don't think we would have been hearing anything as quickly about the Hardy situation otherwise. What do you think?

"Speaking of that, there have also been a lot of rumors about me recently, which have been basically bull***." (He wouldn't get into anything in detail, but this was certainly news to me). As for the story of him that was going around on a few boards about getting into a fight with a woman in the casino in Melbourne, Australia, after a fan had bought him a beer in one of the casino's glasses and he wasn't allowed to drink it outside, that story was also "completely untrue."

"But on the other side of things, the Internet can be cool. Your(the writer's)Australian friend Kerrie gave me this birthday card that says, 'If you want sex on your birthday, open this card,' and the card is all sticky and you can't open it. The birthday wish is on the back." He LOL'ed and said he's going to hang it up in his apartment. (Side note: If you ever make it there, Kerrie, let me know if he kept his word on this or not. LOL)

There was also some brief thoughts about our chat during his visit to Pittsburgh as well as a nice comment on the outfit I had been wearing before this piece closed out. One thing about it, in and out of the ring, he may not get much reaction now, but he certainly doesn't miss much!

In the meantime, be on the lookout for the rest of his title reign while it lasts; one never knows where he can go from here.

Until next time, enjoy wrestling.