The Gorilla Position
Wednesday 24 August 2011
MVP, Cool Interview
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 08.22.2011
MVP recently spoke about the G-1 Climax tournament, his Chris Benoit tribute spots and more. Check out the highlights:
On the G-1 Tournament: "Without question, it's the most prestigious wrestling tournament in the world, bar none. When I started training, my first goal was to wrestle in Japan. The WWE was an opportunity that came to me later, but my dream was always to wrestle in Japan. I had visions of wrestling in the Tokyo Dome, and I was a huge fan of Team 2000, but the tag team of Ten-Koji, I was just crazy about those guys. So, we fast forward a few years, and I've had some remarkable accomplishments with WWE. But on a personal level, the guy that used to sit on the couch studying tapes of New Japan wrestling, and fantasizing about wrestling there one day, is actually in the G1 Climax wrestling against Satoshi Kojima, wrestling against Hiroyoshi Tenzan, wrestling against people like Minoru Suzuki and Shinsuke Nakamura. I was just in awe the whole time, it was an absolute amazing experience for me."
On paying tribute to Benoit in his matches: "I can't comment on how the WWE organization chooses to run their business regarding Chris' memory. It's a business decision, and that's up to them. Personally, Chris Benoit was my friend and my mentor. The Chris Benoit that I knew that took me underneath his wing, that allowed me into his world, that allowed me into his home, that wasn't the guy that committed that heinous act that day. Anyone that knows Chris, the few people that were in his inner circle, know how much he loved his family. So what I say is, people forget how fragile the human psyche actually is. Everyday people lose their mind, snap, and do horrible things. Up until that point, Chris Benoit was one of the greatest people I'd ever known. He was as good a person outside the ring as he was a performer inside the ring. As much as it pains me to have to consider how he died, I have to consider why. He literally lost his mind, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. My friend and mentor made the ultimate mistake, and then he paid for it with the ultimate sacrifice. I can't forget everything that he was to me prior to that point. Everything that he did for me, everything that he offered to me selflessly of himself. I say that when I do that rolling German (suplex) spot, yeah, that's in honor of my friend and mentor. When I do that variation of the Crossface, that's a hat-tip to my friend and mentor. I can say that he was a huge part of the reason I was successful in the WWE, because he took me under his wing and helped me be a force, to be a player mentally, and I'll never forget that, no matter what anyone has to say."
On his WWE exit: "I just saw some things coming that just didn't feel right; it started to feel like a job, I felt like I was coming to work. I respect Vince's vision, but it just wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to be a television soap-opera superstar, I wanted to be a professional wrestler. I always wanted to wrestle in Japan, it was always a dream of mine, and I just wasn't happy. I went to John Laurinaitis, who had been trying to get me to come to his office to re-sign a contract, because I had about a year left on my deal. I was just ready to go, and I explained that to him, and I said, 'I'd like to go to Japan.' He's known about my feelings for Japan, how I always wanted to go. Johnny Ace actually had a 10 year career in Japan, so we would talk about Japanese wrestling all the time. He was sympathetic to my position, and he spoke to Vince on my behalf, and they were gracious enough to grant me my release. We're on good terms, the door's open. I could come back at any time, at least that's what was discussed, but right now I'm literally living my dream in Japan."
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Kevin Nash Speaks about Diesel
http://kevinsullivanbooks.com/2011/08/16/kevin-nash-recalls-big-daddy-cool/
Being a Kevin Nash fan for many years, I was as excited as anybody to see him return at SummerSlam this past Sunday. Seeing him back in the ring quickly prompted me to go back and take a look at the last time we spoke. Of course, much of it can be found in the WWE Championship book. But here’s some that didn’t make the book:
You competed as several different unsuccessful characters prior to coming to WWE. Did you ever think it wasn’t going to happen for you?
There was actually a time before I came to [WWE] where I was going quit and go back and bounce at a bar. I just didn’t think it was going to happen. There was so much nepotism going on in WCW; everybody had a kid that they were pushing. And if you weren’t in the good ol’ boy crew, you weren’t even gonna get looked at it.
When I came into WCW, I was in shape and I had long black hair. The first thing they did was cut my hair into a Mohawk. I was like “geez, that’s brilliant. Take a decent looking guy and make him as ugly as possible off the bat.”
Before ’93, before I signed with WWE, I was definitely thinking that this wasn’t going to work.
Are there any regrets that your WWE Title win was never immortalized on a historic pay-per-view or Raw?
At that time, that was the first year that we went to the fifth pay-per-view, which was King of the Ring. We just had the four pay-per-views back then. Of course, in those days you would have loved to win the title at WrestleMania. But WrestleMania was several months away. Plus at that time we were starting to get a little bit of an upswing in the house show business and it was good for the fans to know that titles did change hands at house shows.
To me it was a moment in my career like no other. It didn’t matter where it was. But that fact that it was in the Garden was special enough for me.
Were you shocked that success came so fast for you in WWE, considering your past with WCW?
I was amazed. I’m a goal-oriented person. I set a goal to become champion and when I won the Intercontinental title, I remember going back to the hotel and sitting on the bed and looking at it saying “wow, I’m a [WWE] champion. I’m the IC Champion,” which at that time meant sooner or later you would have a match against the champion. For me, I think it was the first King of the Ring when I had my first championship bout against Bret and it ended up in a DQ.
The next thing you know I came back from a European trip and Vince asked me to come out to the house … that’s when I knew. I was like “oh my God, I’m going to be the champ.” In my mind, I can picture it like it was a movie. The title didn’t jump around much back then. As Bret would say, “it’s real, it’s all real.” But like I said, the belt didn’t jump around, so it was a real honor.
Did you experience any fears from being on top?
I wasn’t scared because I had such a great crew of guys around me. I was wrestling with Shawn and Scott (Hall) a lot. I was wrestling with ‘Taker and Bret a lot. I was wrestling with Yoko. The six of us I considered really good friends … I had guys that could really go around me. My supporting cast was incredible. Everybody cared, everybody worked hard. You were gone 25 days on the road, then go home for four then go back on the road with these same guys. You spent more time by far with them than you did anybody, especially Shawn and Scott who I traveled with and later Hunter. It’s those guys in the car, you spend more time with them that you did anybody.
After nearly one year, you finally lost the gold to Bret Hart. A lot of people didn’t have a great relationship with Bret. Were you ok, so to speak, with losing to Bret?
It’s funny that people say they don’t have a good relationship with Bret, but I just think they misunderstood Bret. I always thought I had a really good relationship with Bret. A lot of times he and I would be on an European trip … I’d be in a jazz club in Germany, I’d look over and see Bret by himself, I’d be by myself, so we’d just sit and have some beers together. Bret was very much a lone wolf. But Bret had a very dry, budding, great sense of humor. Very sarcastic. We always had a respect for each other. And he was a pro. There was never a time when he didn’t lace ‘em up. You know if you were in there with Bret, you were gonna have a great match.
For more from Kevin Nash, be sure to pick up the WWE Championship book.
Monday 15 August 2011
Summer Slam 2011
Thursday 11 August 2011
Wednesday 3 August 2011
Not Vince's First Time
It was during this time that Vince first got to be an Evil Heel, something he would not be able to over in the WWF at that time
SO here is a trip down Memory Lane, Enjoy each short Chapter of McMemphis