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Sean Waltman Interview Recap
By: Bob Colling from http://chroniclesoftna.bravejournal.com/
(TNA recaps starting from 6/19/2002 – 2/19/2003 so far!)
Sean Waltman was the guest on In Your Head Wrestling Radio hosted by Jack E. Jones, Oneinchbiceps and Barbie Richards at www.inyourheadonline.com
Jack, OIB and Barbie Richards are joined by Syxx-Pac aka Sean Waltman. Waltman talks about getting called by many of his former monikers but their have been many more Syxx-Pac mentions. Waltman says it feels good to be back on television with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Waltman feels that is hard for him to showcase what he can do on the Impact program. Waltman is also in favor of having more actual wrestling on the program. Waltman talks about having the interviews scripted for them in TNA and for them to put it in their own words.
Jack asks to compare the promos to WCW where Waltman says that they just cut the promo on their own and had free will to basically rip on anyone they had heat with. Waltman never had any of the fellow wrestlers to have a issue with what he has said. The office is a different story as they may have not liked what he had to say.
Waltman says that Terry Taylor came up with the spoof of Arn Anderson back in 1997. Waltman says that Ric Flair and everyone else were laughing. However, once family members started to call in the laughter didn’t last. Waltman says his time wrestling Ric Flair were “magical”.
Waltman discusses having his feelings hurt by a worker in the Memphis area. Waltman mentions Brian Gerwitz and how he had some issues with him.
Waltman believes that you need to have some knowledge of wrestling to be responsible for writing for a wresting program.
A caller named Shannon asks about if Waltman and Holly were suppose to win the tag team titles at the Royal Rumble 1995 show. Waltman says that they were suppose to win and it helped set Bam-Bam Bigelow up for his match against LT. Waltman mentions that he enjoyed tagging with Bob Holly. Waltman also puts over the talent involved in TNA and says that TNA just needs to find the right direction. He has zero input on the product, though he has some ideas. He and Eric Bischoff do not have any head any longer as they was buried several years ago.
Waltman doesn’t know if he has heat with Bryan Clarke, but he thinks that Clarke is a great human being. Waltman really enjoyed working with Clarke back when the rings where really hard.
Jack asks if Waltman thinks they should work with younger or older wrestlers and singles or tag team matches. Waltman is in favor of mixing things up. Waltman talks about adding six man tag team matches to the show if they were to be wanting to get everyone on the show. In Mexico, singles matches are more important when they happen. Waltman believes they need to come up with new concepts and taking some chances. Waltman puts Bischoff over as having balls when it comes to taking chances.
A caller named Joel asks what did WWF want to do with the 1-2-3 Kid gimmick when he came up in the WWF in 1993. Waltman says that the WWF had zero thought of having a cruiserweight division on WWF. Waltman talks about 1-2-3 Kid/Razor Ramon angle being the first real angle on RAW while everything else took place on Superstars back then. Kid didn’t want anything to do with the cruiserweight division as he made more money working with the bigger guys.
Waltman was happy to hold the WWF Lightweight and WCW Cruiserweight Championships at the same time. Waltman new that his matches in the cruiserweight division would never be in the main event or in the top half of the center fold. Waltman talks about a incident where he was so excited about working with WWF and having messed it up by getting drunk and being declared unreliable.
Waltman doesn’t believe that DX worked well in a PG environment. Waltman says that he is the last true degenerate left in the wrestling industry. Waltman is grateful that people still come out and support him even after all the things that he has done. Waltman loves HHH and HBK to death but mentions how they have changed since the original DX run. Waltman says that he could have came up with some great stuff for the midget involved in DX.
Xtremefalls from the message board asks if it was hard to work with Yokozuna. Waltman puts over Yokozuna’s ability and timing saying that he never felt a thing when Yokozuna would do the Bonzai Drop. Waltman talks about Jesse Neal hitting him with a kendo stick and that TNA edited it out of the broadcast.
Waltman talks about working with the Dudley Boys and says it has been a pleasure to work with them over the course of the years. Waltman says that some guys were jealous of ECW guys coming in and they tried to make the Dudley Boys unsuccessful.
Jack brings up Jesse Neal and Waltman says that Neal has good instincts in the ring. Waltman says that Neal doesn’t doubt himself. Eric Young is brought up and says that he saw something special in Young back when he was “being buried in Team Canada”.
A caller named Jason asks about Waltman’s matches with Jerry Lynn. Waltman has mixed feelings about their matches being considered being great. Waltman talks about RVD and Sabu doing the same stuff in other areas. Waltman says he and Lynn were lucky to have exposure on ESPN. Waltman doesn’t believe that the matches are all that great, going by today’s standards.
Jason also asks if Waltman would be interested in working one more match with Lynn in possibly TNA. Waltman says he would be and talks about wrestling Jerry Lynn in the Minnesota area and selling the place out. Waltman says that they had a great match.
Jack asks about Waltman’s feeling on the name The Band. Waltman doesn’t like it at all and says that they are the Wolfpac and everyone knows that. Waltman believes that they are allowed to use the Wolfpac name but doesn’t know why they aren’t using the name.
Waltman confirms that he and Scott Hall are working on a show to show basis. He prefers to wrestle on a show to show basis.
Waltman believes that the New World Order angle still had a lot of steam left in the angle. Waltman takes credit for creating the crotch chop. Waltman talks about the bronco buster and how Terry Funk rolled on his back to avoid getting Waltman’s balls in his face. Waltman stole the move from Hakushi when he left WWF. Waltman says that the move was banned from WCW television, but he was still using the move.
Waltman liked the X-Factor group but doesn’t believe they had the writers behind them at the time.
Jack asks if Waltman believes that the match at Lockdown is a dream match. Waltman doesn’t know if the match is a dream match, but it is a interesting contest. Waltman is looking forward to getting into the bigger markets and proving to TNA how over they still are. It is hard to show that when they work in front of the same 500 people in Universal Studios.
Waltman is a fan of Bubba the Love Sponge radio show. Waltman says that Sponge isn’t a bad person as he says things that other people are thinking and they don’t say it. Waltman loves Awesome Kong and says that emotions got the best of her. Waltman says that Bubba helps them get boos, which is the job of heels. Waltman talks about trash being thrown into the ring as being great when it first happened. It got to the point where they weren’t going to wrestle the main event because of stuff getting thrown at them. Waltman says that Doug Dillinger wouldn’t prevent it from happening because it looked good on television.
Barbie asks Waltman if he could beat Eric Bischoff in a karate match. Waltman doesn’t want to start anything with Bischoff but says that Bischoff can hold his own.
Jack brings up Juventud Guerrera and a Mexico incident. Waltman doesn’t appreciate Juventud telling people about what happened that night. Waltman thought that Juventud was a friend of his. Waltman talks about Juventud talking about the incident on IYH awhile back. Waltman says that really affected some loved ones of his. Waltman says Juventud is great in the ring but says that Juventud doesn’t want to sell sometimes. Waltman sometimes feels like needing to get retribution and says that he took a crap in Juventud’s bag in front of all the guys in the backstage area. Waltman doesn’t have any kind words of Juventud. Waltman talks about Konnan and Jack Evans getting involved and that Evans couldn’t wait to beat up Juventud. Waltman says that people warned him about Juventud and says that he learned his lesson. Waltman knows very well that Juventud knows that he crapped in his bags and not Konnan.
A caller named Gene asks about Jim Cornette and asks about what Waltman thinks about Cornette’s statements. He also asks about Iron Sheik, but Waltman was never around Sheik during his career so he doesn’t have any stories. Waltman would have loved to been around him but it never happened. Waltman doesn’t really care about what Cornette had to say. Waltman talks about a ulcer he had in Mexico and that Hall was fat and out of shape when they were coming back to TNA. Waltman thinks that he has been doing fine in the ring. Waltman says that Cornette was not happy with the Horsemen segment in WCW and that Waltman slapped Flair very hard on Nitro. Cornette took offense to both of those situations. Waltman respects Cornette’s opinion and believes that TNA made a mistake getting rid of Cornette. Waltman does believe that Cornette is a genius, but needs to catch up with what is going on in 2010. Waltman is sensitive to criticism and will do what it takes to shut them up.
Jack asks if internet is good or bad for wrestling. Waltman doesn’t know how to answer that question. Waltman believes it was bound to happen and that is necessary part of any business. Waltman talks about ROH internet PPV and how it turned a modest profit. Waltman thinks that the niche is the new mainstream.
A caller named Jai asks about Shawn Michaels last match and wonders if Waltman watched it. Waltman has not watched the match yet as he wants to watch it in the right state of mind and watch the match and the retirement speech. He wants to see the masterpiece from beginning to end. Waltman sees Michaels staying out of wrestling long enough so that fans aren’t saying “ahh, here he is again wrestling”.
Waltman plugs www.scotthall.tv which can also be seen on www.youtube.com
Waltman discusses some of the topics they talk about which includes past drug use and talking about in a humorous sort of way. Waltman mentions that he is currently working on a autobiography. He wants the fans to know the stories directly from him. Waltman wants to dismiss the lies and confirm the truth.
A caller named Brian asks which of his gimmicks did he like best and why. Waltman guess he liked X-Pac the best as he was able to understand himself better on camera. Waltman says that Scott Hall had no problem losing to him on RAW. Waltman says it worked perfectly to turn Scott Hall baby face.
Waltman isn’t surprised at all that Jeff Hardy is as big a star as he is. Waltman mentions that Hall worked Jeff’s first match in WWF and he had the second match against him and it was great. Waltman would like to work with Jeff and RVD in TNA. Waltman puts over RVD and his conditioning and his ability to not forget anything in the ring.
Waltman has not talked to Shawn Michaels since his retirement because he has a lot of things going on in his life. He says it is a long overdue phone call. Waltman has plenty of stories about HBK. Waltman talks about a GHB drug and how it isn’t a date rape drug. Waltman talks about using two pills of GHB and being messed up after the second one. Waltman woke up in his own piss and had to be carried out in a luggage case.
Waltman talks about finding a XPW Television Championship and gave it to charity. Waltman talks about Joey Kaos and how he wanted to the belt back. Waltman promises to buy Kaos a replica.
A caller asks what did Waltman learn when he was working with Jerry Lynn early on. Waltman talks about being able to wrestle with Lynn for an hour. Waltman says that he would watch ECW on some random channel when he was home from work. Waltman was fascinated with the editing and the music the program had. Waltman was never offered a job in ECW because he always had a job lined up in WCW or WWF. Waltman was happy for Vince McMahon to beat Ted Turner and WCW. Waltman mentions that Vince beat Turner fair and square and beat the big checkbook that WCW had. Waltman was prepared to do anything if someone came out when they invaded WCW headquarters in 1998. Waltman mentions that the guys thought it was funny when they did that. Waltman talks about they should have gone into the tunnel first and they would have gotten into the building which would have been good.
Waltman believes that TNA should be taking slow steps to compete with WWE. Waltman doesn’t really believe they should be focusing on WWE as they need to focus on their own product. Waltman promises that TNA will be getting better. Waltman reads all the feedback the shows and processes what everyone has to say. Waltman puts over TNA as having the better wrestling than WWE. Waltman again states that TNA needs to put on longer matches, good matches. Waltman would like to have a singles feud with D’Angelo Dinero as he believes Dinero will be the man. Waltman puts Dinero over as a humble man and that Dinero lives the Pope gimmick 24/7.
Waltman gives advice to wrestlers that they need to look in the mirror and know what they are lacking at and what they are good at. Waltman wants wrestlers to stay in there if they are being held back or whatnot. Waltman believes that wrestlers shouldn’t slack off because fans don’t know what is going on backstage, mostly and it will hurt their matches.
A caller named Afro asks about teaming with Kane. Waltman says that he loved every moment with Kane. Pac says it is hard to get heel heat on a big baby face who doesn’t sell because of the gimmick he portrays. Waltman talks about the beatings he would get from Kane and how he would fly around for him. Waltman doesn’t care if he has to work with big or smaller wrestler he enjoys wrestling either style. Waltman doesn’t care who he faces as long as they listen to what he has to say.
Barbie Richards asks about Waltman’s tag run with Marty Jannetty taking on the Quebecers. Waltman loved it as he thought Jannetty was a great wrestler who could put on a great match even if he was hung over!
Waltman has gone into the ring messed up a few times, but has never hurt anyone. He has delivered a few stiff shots but he was given a few stiff shots in return. Waltman would smoke some weed in the early part of the days during the Attitude Era and would work a match later on. Waltman doesn’t believe that people have a right to get involved in something that isn’t hurting anyone else. However, this is a safety issue and understands what is going on in the WWE. Waltman believes it is ridiculous that they fine people for smoking weed in the WWE. Waltman mentions that people believe that weed should be legalize anyway. Waltman says that no one has ever died from using marijuana and dares someone to show him case of that happening. Waltman also says that steroids has gotten the worst reputation since marijuana. Waltman says that Benoit didn’t die from using steroids. “People do not die from using steroids.” Waltman didn’t touch a steroid until he was 25. Waltman says that he sticks to marijuana because it is never going to hurt him.
Waltman prefers competing in a four sided ring and says that the six sided ring has nothing about it that is better than the four sided ring. Waltman talks about the six sided ring messes people up when they do tag matches or top rope moves. Waltman likes the entrance ramp and believes that TNA needs to get out of the Universal Studios and get in bigger markets.
Waltman talks about Paul Heyman didn’t like him at some point. Waltman didn’t like the idea of reforming the Impact Players with Justin Credible. He believes that anything with a “new” in front of it is going to be screwed.
Waltman had a great time talking to the IYH crew and has to go eat with people he is visiting.
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