Q and A

December 29, 2010



Q: Wondering if you had seen the Hardy's video bashing CM Punk, and if you had any comments about it? How should have TNA management handled it (or should they have)? How do you think WWE would have addressed the situation?


A: I saw a bit of the video, and thought the Hardys came of pretty bad in it. IMO as World Champ in TNA Jeff should be above bad mouthing someone else in another company and just comes of petty by doing so. TNA should ask their talent roster to act more professional. WWE doesn’t allow guys to post videos like this so I doubt it would happen in WWE, and if it did See Matt Hardy.

Q: How far in advance did you find out the results of PPV matches in WWF/E? For example your SummerSlam match with Edge or the Immunity Battle Royal? I would imagine you have an inkling going into the event if you don’t know already. Also, how do you get your instructions for the Rumble? I’ve always imagined it’s a pain to get everybody organised into entry and elimination order.


A: I never found out until a few hours before the show. As for the Rumble, that falls under trade secrets in my book. Got to keep some secrets.

Q: If Kayfabe Commentaries did a roast next year with Vince Russo and they asked you to participate, would you go for it??


A: No I would not. I don’t see the point. While Roast tend to have guys making fun of or burying the guest, it is meant to be funny and always done by people who like them. There is nothing funny about Russo’s involvement in the business.

Q: If there were a ‘Roast of Lance Storm’ who would you like to have come in and roast you if you were allowed to pick 6 people?


A: I need more than 6: Jericho, Don Callis, Paul Lazenby, Dreamer, Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette, Edge, Christian, William Regal, Hurricane.

Q: Have you ever read the WWE published “Rise and Fall of ECW” book? I’m just wondering if it’s a failry accurate account of what ECW was or not?


A: Have not read it sorry.

Q: We're getting a huge amount of snow just west of Edmonton today. Do you ever take your students out for a run or other activity in the snow to see how tough they are?


A: No I do not. I think there is a difference between being tough and being willing to freeze to death.

Q: You recently commented that two of the worst moments in wrestling were Russo and David Arquette winning the WCW title. What was the general consensus of the locker room about those two moments when they occurred? Did the wrestlers know beforehand the results? Did anyone try to talk sense to the bookers?


A: I was not in WCW with Arquette won the title, and the Russo deal was a bit of a swerve. Nitro was in Long Island when Russo won the title from Booker T. I remember saying to Booker that afternoon, “Please tell me you aren’t dropping the title to Russo tonight” and Booker replied, “No we are doing a draw”. If you remember the finish Goldberg speared Russo through the cage at the same time Booker stepped through the door. Booker was told the match would be declared a draw which was what everyone I talked to thought the finish was going to be. The finish went down as described but I don’t believe the winner was declared before going of the air. On Thunder Russo had a pre-taped segment where he was holding the title and informed the World that he in fact hit the floor first and was thus World Champ. Everyone thought it was bullshit but moral was so low that I think everyone had given up on WCW by that point and accepted that this was just another load of bullshit Vince Russo dumped on the wrestling business.

Q: I assume you have seen MMA Fighter Alistair Overeem's 'recent growth' over the past few years and I wanted your opinion as someone who has been around gyms and bodybuilders most of your life. In your opinion, would it be possible for him to get that sort of physique naturally? Alistair claims he keeps his diet, sleep and training all perfect and puts most of it down to 'good genetics'. If you look at photo's of him in the past few years his head size has doubled and his jaw-line has gotten bigger (which are known side effects of hgh and would also be how he keeps passing drug tests as it's undetectable) I was just after your opinion?


A: You assume incorrectly. I know who Alistair is, but have not paid enough attention to him to comment on his current or past physique. I do know that most in the industry figure he’s been taking something so I have no doubt that would be my opinion too had I bothered to pay attention.

Q: Could you comment regarding Gregory Shane Helms comments regarding Shawn Michaels? In case you don't know, Helms recently said that he found Michaels to be a person who while he respected for talent-wise found him to be one of less than moral character and believes that Michaels to be a hypocrite for saying he believes in God yet hunts for sport? Have you wrestled either Helms or Michaels? Do you know either and in this case, which do you find to be more believable, Helms or Michaels?


A: I’ve wrestled Helms and like the guy a lot. That being said I was surprised by his comments and don’t really agree with them. Everyone has different opinions of people based on their own individual experiences with that person. I can only judge Shawn based on my experiences dealing with him and I haven’t had any bad experiences so Shawn is okay in my books.

Q: If Jericho were finishing his final run in the WWE in two or three years from now and they had an angle where he was fighting people from his past to prepare for his last match at a PPV, would you consider wrestling a short three minute match against Jericho on Raw?


A: Absolutely.

Q: What's your opinion on Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon? They were a very good tag team.


A: Check out there All Japan stuff, they were an awesome team, Phil in particular.

Q: Who should play Lance Storm if they make a Chris Jericho movie? Since it's hypothetical, choose anyone in history. Maybe Kevin Bacon? You've probably answered this before...


A: Let me do it, I think I could pull him off quite accurately.

Q: What’s one celebrity that you would love to meet?


A: I’ve never been a mark for meeting celebrities, and can’t think of any. There are a few people I think would be interesting to talk to, but I’m not a big socializer and need time to get to know people before I’m comfortable talking to them, so just meeting someone would end up being an awkward pointless encounter.

Q: Did you know that if you use the DVR properly, TNA is a pretty good 7 minute show?


A: Forwarding through 113 minutes is still too much work.

Q: Was there ever an actual reason WCW never had a "Titantron". I know why had a screen up but it never broadcats what was going on in the ring nor did it ever really "complete" a wrestlers entrance. I always thought it made WCW look behind the times not having one.


A: I thought they did have one. Maybe I’m just imagining it.

Q: What are your thought on the Miz right now? I've been very entertained with they way he's being handled right now. He was on a podcast a few weeks ago and basically stated that he was the most "unpredictable" champion right now and I agree and I tune into his segments with anticipation now. He also seems to be putting in work and is taking his position as the top guy very serious and I think it's great. I definitely see him as a wrestler now and not a former reality tv star.


A: Miz has done vey well for himself and feels very fresh as Champ which is very good. I know this will come off very old school, but there is an element of credibility that he is missing for me. This is not a shot at him (maybe it is, I don’t know) and there has been other Champs in the past I have felt this way about, but I feel the Champ should be someone that the general public would be afraid to be in a real fight with and I don’t think that is the case with Miz.

Q: In your commentary October 31, 2010 you told us "A: My 1PW match with Doug Williams. I was suppose to beat him but I switched the finish and put him over because it felt right at the time based on how the crowd was reacting to the match." When you came back to the locker room, was the promoter and owner there? How did they react? Where you apprehensive walking back through the curtains?


A: Why would I be apprehensive? It’s not like I would get in trouble for putting over the company’s guy. Corino was the booker at the time and he was worried when I came through the curtain that something screwed up and I would be mad.

Q: You've made it very clear that you're no fan of Vince Russo. Just wondering, when you were in WCW with him, did you two ever have any sort of argument or run in with each other? And what are your thoughts on Bischoff as a booker??


A: I’ve had two conversations with Vince Russo, one when I was getting hired, where he suggested debuting me as Eric Bischoff’s illegitimate son and one where we debated naming my WCW faction either “Team Canada” (My idea) or “The Canadian World Organization” (You know because it would be funny me not knowing it was supposed to be World ORDER). Both conversations left me thinking Vince Russo had no understanding of the wrestling business what so ever. As for Bischoff as a booker it’s hard to say because I don’t’ know how much he is involved in the over all booking of stuff. If he is responsible for any of the current TNA stuff he is not particularly good.

Q: Agents like Fit Finlay, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, etc., what exactly do their job duties entail? And how often are they on the road?


A: There are a number of agents at every show. They are basically the middle men between creative and the wrestlers. It’s their job to let the boys know what creative wants out of them and offer them feedback and advice on their matches both before and after the fact.

Q: What is the travel schedule like for lower card talent (in WWE). I ask this because the last house show I went to only saw about half the roster compete. Now granted I live in a smaller market (Halifax) and so financially it may have made sense to decrease the talent on that particular tour in order to make a profit, but I sometimes read house show results where guys like Yoshi Tatsu, JTG, and Primo don’t compete. In addition to that, they’re hardly ever on TV, so what is their schedule like compared to guys like Randy Orton. Do they rotate weeks on and off?


A: If creative doesn’t have anything for them they can be off the road for extended periods of time. Some guys who are quite low on the roster may still be spending time in developmental between their TV appearances. It’s different for everyone.

Q: I recently re-read Eric Bischoff's book where he is VERY critical of Vince Russo basically saying something to the affect of he sucks and shouldn’t be the one in charge of booking wrestling and would never work with him, etc... I realize you’re not in his head, but why do you think he would now work for TNA with Russo being the head writer?


A: Wrestling is a business and you sometimes have to do business with people who are not your first choice. Who knows where Eric’s head is at? He may have changed his mind, he may not have had a choice. In the end there was enough of an upside to working with TNA to put up with what ever down side he felt there was working with Russo.

Q: How do you MAKE ring rope? I assumed it was just some regular rope wrapped up in electrical tape.


A: Some ring ropes are actually cable, but WWE style ropes are actual rope. Electrical tape is a bad choice though as it is very smooth and is very slippery. Duct tape is a better choice.

Q: How are ya likin facebook? Why did you cave?


A: The fan page on facebook was actually created for me by Pyramid Production the group I’m doing the Reality TV show with. So far it’s pretty good, although I still prefer the website.

Q: I have recently started reading a lot of the Lee Child "Jack Reatcher" novels. The Basic premise of the books are the Jack Reatcher is a former US Army MP and has become a drifter since getting out of the Army. I was wondering if you have read any of the books in this series.


A: I know Lee and did Killing Floor (the first Jack Reacher book) for my book club years ago. The series is awesome.

Q: What's worse for a wrestler to get from a crowd: Complete silence, or "X-Pac" heat? Why?


A: The worst reaction is no reaction.

Q: How much input do wrestlers have on their theme music?


A: I really hate questions like this, because it’s always the same answer. IT DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE. HHH has compete say, guys getting called up from developmental have NONE, everyone else is in the middle somewhere.

Q: I was reading an Interview with Alberto Del Rios. This has nothing to do with him but at one point he mentioned that Norman Smiley helped him out a bit in FCW. I had no idea Norman Smiley was still in the wrestling business let alone employed by WWE (or at least indirectly by WWE). My question is, will Vince McMahon find a way to keep you employed if you seem to be a good person. There's stories about how Vince saved Tony Atlas' life by giving him a job an supposedly he kept giving Flair opportunities to earn a living when he was in financial peril. If for whatever reason, you were in financial peril, would you be able to call someone at WWE and say that you needed a job, will they go out of their way to find anything for you weather it be on air, training, backstage or even corporate level?


A: At the end of the day I think it all depends. If you are in good standing with Vince and can fill a role in the company well, he will likely find you a job, but with that said he is also running a business and I doubt he would just employ people at a loss to the company.

Q: When WWE has contract signing spots or “contract matches”, the ‘contract’ always looks like it has some sort of writing on it, what documents are normally used? Do they just use some sort of generic document that looks like a contract?


A: In the world of laptops and printers even Indy level shows can have decent looking contract paper work.

Q: Do the stronger students in your academy often belittle the weaker students? If so, do you ever intervene?


A: On their own after class maybe, but never in class, I would not tolerate it.

Q: I heard in a interview from Shane Helms that he didn't like working with the agents in WWE during the Hurricane character because most of the agents were all heels during their careers and didn't know how to work as a face. When Shane worked as a heel he said that he worked great with them. Did you ever find that working with agents who never worked your style or as a persona like yours an issue?


A: I never had a problem with any agents because other than them giving me the finish I was pretty much left on my own to do my matches how I saw fit.

Q: This is a strange question, but in WWE do you pay for your own gear or does WWE buy it for you? Surely someone who has a lot of different colored gear like Mysterio, Punk, etc. isn't constantly paying out of pocket for all of it?


A: We pay for our own gear. You want to be a star you have a lot of expenses.

Lance Storm