Q & A Q & A
Last updated 6 December 2010
March 17, 2006
Q: I think this has maybe been asked but who was you´re favorite travelling partner? A: I’ve been lucky to have a few good ones. Jerry Lynn was likely the best. We were on the same page with everything.
Q: I once met a guy backstage in Finland and he said he was trained by you, his name was Starbuck. In his profile read that you trained him in 1993, true?
A: I don’t know if you would say I completely trained him, but he was/is a good friend of mine and I worked with him in the ring and gave him his first match.
Q: I know you have worked with Sabu so i'm wondering, do you think Sabu failed to protect his opponent in the ring and do you think Sabu pulled off alot of his moves wrong which could of hurt his opponent if he were unlucky?
A: I never had a problem with Sabu. I didn’t always agree with his style, or the way he did things but he was always more apt to put himself at risk than others. I never felt like he was putting me at risk.
Q: thoughts on Rey winning the Rumble? Will they ever put the title on a guy that small?
A: I was thrilled when Rey won the Rumble. The chance for Rey to win the title at Mania is one of the biggest selling points for me this year. I never would have thought they would put the title on a guy Rey’s size so there just being a chance is huge.
Q: On your auto-biography, which current wrestlers book would you say it is similar to style-wise?
A: I don’t think there is a current book that is anything like what I am doing with mine (should it get published) I think I am completely unique in this business and have a different perspective than others.
Q: who of the recent newer guys has the best future in your mind in WWE?
A: I think Bobby Lashley likely has the brightest. His size is obviously a huge asset, but he is an amazing athlete too. Plus the guy who trained him was great!! (LOL)
Q: You said before Rey Mysterio is easy to work with, it got me thinking on a lot of the lucha libre moves he uses, like a tilt - a whirl head scissors does that require a lot of work out of the other worker to pull of moves like that or is it all Rey?
A: Rey is so light and smooth everything with him is effortless. He is really like working with no one else. He is so fluid and smooth it is a pure pleasure to be in the ring with him.
Q: Should Edge have held the title longer in your mind ?
A: YES ABSOLUTELY! I so liked when they switched the title and I thought it really freshened up the show. Edge delivered above average rating, WELL above average main events and his R Rated Superstar gimmick has real heat. I think he should have kept the title MUCH longer. I would have also put RVD over in the tournament and went into Mania with Edge vs. RVD, and carried that feud for several months to follow.
Q: I recently read an article, which said Tazz would never work a Raw program because he has a strong dislike for Joey Styles. Is this true, and if so,could you explain what happend between the two?
A: He may have said this, I don’t know. I guarantee you though if Vince said they are going to work together as best friends on RAW they would both do it regardless of how they felt. I love Joey, but he does have a habit of speaking his mind (an admirable quality, but not always a favourable one in wrestling) so there is the chance that they do have heat.
Q: Hi Lance, is there anything that you expierenced while wrestling or that you see today in pro wrestling that you teach your students to avoid or do differently?
A: It’s not something I’ve experienced, but I have extensive talks with my students about drugs and the pit falls of pain pills, and other drugs in wrestling.
Q: When asked about the danger level of certain professional wrestling moves you generally answer that the skill level of your competitor is most important, not the moves themselves. When considering such maneuvers, how do you determine who is and is not a "safe" worker; especially for those you've never worked with?
A: Reckless performers get a rep quickly so you usually know whom to avoid. If I don’t know someone’s work there are certain things I won’t do, or am extra careful with. If I know them and trust them, then I will do almost anything.
Q: How big a part do you think your website has played in your wrestling career?
A: I don’t know if it actually helped or improved my career, but I enjoy it and I think those who visit benefit some from what they get here. I’ve developed a loyal fan base but I doubt that translated into a greater push or a more successful career.
Q: I just finished reading William Regal's book, which I thought was very enlightening. He talks about his really tough training and the early days with punishing matches with a certain wrestler that just beat up on him day in and day out. When you were learning your craft did you have to go through the same grueling training and did you ever get beat up by some wrestlers as part of an initiation? Secondly, who do you think is the most sloppy/dangerous wrestler you have worked with in the ring?
A: Nothing to the extent he did no. The territory system was starting to break down when I broke in so there wasn’t as much of an established veteran locker room that I had to earn my stripes from, so to speak. I was lucky that the vets I first worked with were total pros and saw a chance to have good matches with me rather than just make me pay dues. Thanks Gerry, Johnny, and Gama!!!!
Q: I was at a House Show in Savannah, Georgia in 2003, and you worked with Dreamer that night and beat him clean. I know you've had many matches with him, but that's the only match I recall you having with him where you played the face and he played the heel. My question is asking if that is the only time you two played the reverse roles?
A: Sadly I don’t even remember that match. If we did it on that house show there likely would have been a couple others that loop as well. It was certainly a rarity, me being the face and he the heel.
Q: Hey Lance, these questions comes all the way from Denmark. Everyone is always saying how no new talent ever got pushed in WCW except for Goldberg, but what about guys like Mark Jindrak,Chuck Palumbo,Sean O'Hare and guys like that, I mean they got pushed towards the end of WCW didn't they?
A: There are different levels of push. Those guys got pushed to a degree, but really getting pushed as a main eventer there wasn’t really anyone else.
Q: Also I have heard and read alot about people saying that Kevin Nash was never willing to help anyone else get over, but I can remember Nash losing to Rey Mysterio once so my question is, what is/was your take on Nash back in WCW?
A: I liked Kev a lot, he was very friendly and fun to be around, but I doubt he helped elevate many people in the ring. My involvement with him, in ring, certainly didn’t do me any good. Losing to someone doesn’t always help them out (Kidman – Hogan) I remember one match in Europe, I worked with Finlay; he beat me clean in the second round (record time) and he managed to make me look like a million dollars. It’s not always the result, it’s how you go about it.
Q: In leading up to the Vince McMahon - Shawn Michaels feud, Vince was supposed to go on air and give "his" review on the Bret Hart dvd. Anyways he mentioned Bret's name a couple of times and this led me to wonder about something. Seeing how Bret Hart's name is his real one and is being used on television , does the WWE have to pay a fee (like a royalty) everytime they mention anyone's real name on live or taped programming?
A: There is a degree of public (I can’t think of the proper term) use. I can go cut a promo on President Bush and not pay him royalties for it. Just like news papers can use photos of people and not have to pay them for them. If news weeks takes a photo of me walking down the street, they can print it and they don’t owe me a dime.
Q: One more Q if it doesn't bug you any, but seeing as you had many jobs while breaking in is there any specific job that seemed better than the others as far as money and allowing you the time to get booked?
A: The best job I had during my career, was working as a doorman at a bar in town called Malarkeys. My boss was a huge fan and let me have time off when ever I needed it to wrestle. I took a 6-month absence one to wrestle and was put back on shift when I returned. This was well before any TV exposure so I didn’t have fame issues with customers either.
Q: My question is how do you think that your impact players reunion will be reciceved by the fans in the U.K?
A: From what I’m told just the announcement itself got a huge pop, so I would think when we are there in person we will be received pretty darn well. It will be weird though as we are heels but may not be treated as such.
Q: Do you know whatever happened to perennial jobbers Iron Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz?
A: No idea, Barry is likely off patting himself on the back for something!
Q: One of my favourite tag teams ever (the Heart Throbs\Heart Breakers) were released about a month ago. Did you ever get the chance to work with them while they were in OVW?
A: They were with me for a few months in OVW. It’s a shame their run ended so quickly. I think they were rushed up and suffered for that. The same can be said for the Dicks. Pulled up, shoved into a bad gimmick, and then released without much of a chance.
Q: I read somewhere that one day before a match, as you and Dawn were getting ready to exit to the ring, she realized she wasn't wearing panties and that held up the evening. Is that true, or what's the real story?
A: Not at all, this was actually part of an angle that didn’t air everywhere. This was the Extreme Death match that Dreamer and I did in Poughkeepsie, NY. Dreamer did a promo on TV the week before the PPV saying that he would Pile Drive Damn Marie at the PPV if it was the last thing he did. Dawn responded with a promo stating that she was so sure that Tommy wouldn’t get to her that she wasn’t even going to wear panties that night. (Whenever Dreamer Pile Drove a girl her skirt always flew up and it was a huge panty shot, so we were teasing that the crowd might get a naked crotch shot on PPV) Most markets edited the promos off the show and I believe it only aired in one market in NY. We still had to acknowledge it for the fans who saw it, and since Dawn wasn’t going to show the world her gimmick, and Tommy was going to Pile Driver her, I stopped Dawn on the ramp to the ring and demanded she put panties on. She slid on a pair while I did my best to cover her up. Don’t go trying to slow motion the DVD for a sneak peak, she wore tiny skin coloured panties under her skirt the whole time and put the ones I handed her on top of those. I remember Don Callis (Cyrus) did the interview with Dawn when she said she wouldn’t wear panties at the PPV, and his out line after she said that was, “I guess that match is going to be a real Bush Burner…I mean Barn Burner.”
Q: Did the women wrestlers ever have a problem that you knew of with the sexual angles or with getting their clothes off -- you know, like "evening gown" matches, or storylines where they're put in with Vince McMahon and have to fake that they're sleeping with him?
A: Most of them don’t care for them but realised they are part of there job description. They know what they are getting in for when they take the job.
Q: How did you feel about storylines meant to mock wrestlers from other companies or who had retired -- you know, like the Bret Hart midget after the Survivor Series, "Billionaire Ted" or Gillberg?
A: They weren’t my cup of tee, but they didn’t really bother me either.
Q: Most of the time I am on the same page as your commentary. But, I really do have to take exception to the Owen Hart Q&A. I hope you will hear me out, as I mean this not as an attack, but as a though provoker to be given further consideration. You said in your commentary,"With the exception of his run challenging Bret Owen never got much of a push in WWE so I doubt a World Title run would have been in the cards. " Which it has been reported by WWE writers that was the schedule for him to be World Champion, I have to disagree on the not giving much of a push. I trip to http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/o/owen-hart.html let's us stroll down memomry lane. I submit these highlights to you as proof Owen did get a decent push (ommitting all anti-Bret Hart involvement):
A: I edited out your list of Owen title runs because I don’t think we need to use the space to list them. It’s all in what level of push you talk about. Owen did hold all of the secondary titles, but when I talk about being seriously pushed I mean about being put in that top spot, and without his run with Bret he never was in that spot. I don’t believe for a second (and I’m closer to it that any of you guys, because I’ve worked there) that Owen was considered for a World Title run other than perhaps a small chance of beating Bret to lengthen their feud. Owen was a good hand for the most part in WWE. This is not meant as disrespect in anyway. That’s what I was labelled as, Christian as well. Christian held every title in WWE but the big one, and had far more title runs than Owen did, and everyone has been talking about how he wasn’t given his chance or pushed enough in WWE. This is the same level I meant when speaking of Owen. He had his runs but was never seen as a TOP GUY except when working with Bret. He wasn’t big enough for WWE to put him in that spot. Once Bret was gone, Owen was put in the comedy Blue Blazer gimmick. If they considered Owen a potential World Champ that would not have happened. I just want to be clear this is not meant to belittle Owen in anyway. I loved Owen and his work, this is just my take on how WWE viewed him and for that matter guys like him (smaller but great workers).
Q: How do people like Jeff Hardy for instance, do a move like a swantan, however you spell it, bomb off the top of a ladder through a table? They must get some kind of bruise.
A: This is the thing that most fans don’t realise, and it is likely the one thing I have to explain to all my students the most. You don’t do moves like that without getting hurt. Jeff would get a bruise doing it in the ring each night. The one at Mania he did of the ladder through the table I think he actually fractured his pelvis on. This sport is WAY harder on you body than most fans realize. I get so many students that figure they are going to do these huge moves until they realize that they hurt like hell when you do them. Even doing an elbow off the top rope every night will lead to serious chronic injuries.
Q: What’s your motive for Book Marks? It just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. You’re not getting money out of it. It has nothing to do with wrestling. You can’t use it in any way to further your career… Can you get where I’m coming from?
A: I love to read and think promoting literacy and reading is a good thing. Sometimes you do things just because they are good things to be doing, not because you reap a reward from them.
Q: Do you have an opinion about WWE taking the title back from edge so quickly? I thought edge was getting great heat as a champion and to lose it so quickly squashed any intrigue in the raw title scene as quickly as it was created.
A: Like I stated above, I think it was a mistake. I believe they went with the plan they had already set, instead of what was actually working at the time.
Q: in response to a previous question about the number of moves wrestlers do, i personally think it would benefit a wrestler psychology to have a wide range. though not necessarily using them every single match. for instance in a particular match where a wrestler is working on an 'injured back' being able to attack the back in a variety of ways i think would benefit the psychology, am i understanding this wrong?
A: Being able to work a body part is an asset, but for the most part when someone talks about a move set that is not what they are talking about. When you work most body part you don’t need to do an abundance of moves, and actually it is usually better if you don’t’ use a lot of moves when doing so.
Q: Do you think people's interest in Teddy Hart is more due to the Hart family link or fascination with a very... interesting character?
A: I think the name “Hart” certainly does help, but he also does some pretty amazing moves which also grabs attention, add to that the fact that he seems to get unbelievable amounts of heat everywhere he goes (behind the scenes) it creates a fascination.
Q: Do you think Ashley Massaro will get another run with the WWE after breaking her leg in a battle royal?
A: I would certainly think so. They usually give those hurt in the ring another opportunity.
Q: What are your feelings on barbed wire matches?
A: I think they are over done, and poorly done. Under the right circumstances they can be very good.
Q: Do you have any colleagues that would partake in a barbed wire match if all the circumstances (build, pay, event size, et cetera) were agreeable?
A: I would do one under the right circumstances so I would imagine others would as well.
Q: I met you in Melbourne during the WCW OZ tour 2000. The night before, you worked the crowd brilliantly on Nitro, receiving the customary 'you are a wanka' chant. You easily got the biggest reaction of any performer that night. What are your memories of that tour (being the first major wrestling tour to OZ)?? Also from that and your other wrestling experiences in OZ, which city has the hottest crowds?? (cough* Melbourne*cough).
A: That was a great tour we all had so much fun. WCW back home in the US wasn’t drawing huge hot crowds, so the response we got over there was amazing. My fondest memory was doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb with Billy Kidman.
Q: My question is about the pay per views WWE runs. I dont like the volume of ppvs WWE runs. I believe in quality over quantity. I think if they just used the major 4 shows and maybe the Taboo Tuesday (now known as Cyber Sunday) because its relivant to our society now, the ppvs would mean so much more. Also if they only ran ppvs on average of 1 show per 2 months then fans would be more hungry to see the shows. Now with the shows so often its somewhat of an overkill and they also only have 3 weekly shows between ppvs and now the storylines get weaker and weaker to the point that they basically dont exist. Do you think if they ran ppvs every other month that the storylines would be stronger and the payoff match at the ppv would mean more to the fans? Before answering I realize it would cut into the earnings the wrestlers make from the shows but Im asking from a fans perspective.
A: As bad as this sounds, the fans perspective doesn’t matter. It has been determined over the years that buy rates don’t drop much with the increased PPVs so the company on the whole makes WAY more money with the larger number of PPVs and that is really the bottom line in business. They would seem more special and have better build if they went back to 4 or 6 PPVs but it would cost WWE lots of money.
Q: The one question I have is about bleeding or what everyone refers to as a "blade job". I have watched and watched and I have no idea how the "blade" process works. Can you explain?
A: I get questions like this all the time, and I always skip them. There are parts of this business that I don’t think fans need to know about. It’s fine that you all know it is a show, but you don’t need to know all the tricks of the trade, so I won’t give you an explanation.
Q: Do you think the divas such as ashley, candice, and others are exposing the business in a negative way because they don’t know how to correctly perform the moves and it to me, insults what you guys do. Whats your take?
A: I think their matches are very bad (not all Divas) but they don’t insult what I do, if anything they show that what I do isn’t all that easy to make look good.
Q: I've been exercising and dieting since the beginning of the year and been doing good for myself, I lost 20 pounds. Just wondering when I get to my desired weight, how would I train and eat right without losing or gaining weight. Also what’s a good exercise for arms and shoulders, I would like to build them up.
A: Controlling your weight is a balance between what you consume and what you burn off. Right now if you are losing, you are burning off more than you consume. When you reach the weight you want you will have to adjust your intake and your exercise so that you take in what you burn off. There are a million ways to develop arms and shoulders, talk to a trainer at your gym.
Q: I'm sure you've watched TNA wrestling and have noticed the many different members of Team Canada. Who would you think has the most potential to be the main eventer and would you consider working a match with any of team canada?
A: This is an easy question, Bobby Roode. Eric Young is small and too comedic to be taken seriously as a top guy, A1 is… shall we say LIMITED. Petey William, while talented is likely too small to work on top, which leaves Bobby who is both talented and much larger.
Q: what's become of Howard Finkel lately? I don't recall him leaving the WWE. Did he take a vacation or just working backstage that you know of?
A: I really don’t know. I hope he is just on a break. Howard was the first official employee of WWE and is almost a landmark in the company.
Keep those questions coming, Lance Storm