Revealing Conversation With TNA Booker Scott D'Amore
Report by TNA Wrestling News Staff on 01/23/2006 at 12:47 PM

Revealing Conversation with TNA Booker Scott D'Amore - Conducted by Ron "Showtime" & IWRwrestling.com

RON: You are seen each week on TNA television as the leader of Team
Canada, however as some fans may not know, you are also the
owner/promoter of Windsor, Ontario's Border City Wrestling and a
respected pro wrestler in your own right. To start things off, when and
under whom did you receive your in-ring training?

SCOTT: I started at the age of 16 training under Doug "The Canadian
Destroyer" Chevalier. I made my debut in June of 1992, a week before my
senior prom. My date said that if I got hurt or had a mark on me, she'd
show me what real pain is! In 1993, Mickey Doyle and Denny Cass started
helping me out on a weekly basis. I was wrestling Al Snow alot on indies
and he invited me to come down to his school in Lima, Ohio and train
with him whenever I wanted. I went down often and drove Al nuts. At the
same time, I was doing jobs with WCW. I'd make a couple of trips down to
Atlanta a month for a few days at a time. The shows were at night so I
used to go to the Powerplant during the days and train there. Jody
Hamilton is one of the smartest men in wrestling and I got to learn so
much from him. He taught me about being a heel and getting heat. At that
point I could do lots of moves but Jody taught me how to work. Mike Shaw
(Bastian Booger), Bad News Allen Brown, Rip Rogers, Leo Burke (the Hulk
Hogan of eastern Canada) and Rick Martel also all helped me out on the
road. Always telling me what I did right and wrong. They all really
helped me develop as a performer.
Sabu is also someone who always helped me. Back then he didn't help alot
of people. He'd keep to himself and not talk to many people so I was
always grateful for his help. Paul Heyman and Terry Taylor both taught
me a ton about the stuff outside of the ring. I learned so much from
Paul just being around him. He really is an evil genius. He is the one
that made me believe I could become a player behind the scenes. I think
he might have known what I would end up doing even when I was still
wrestling. I look back and think about it and the things he would say to
me and tell me and it's like he was pushing me in a non-wrestler
direction. Maybe my work was just so bad he figured I had to be better
at something else! Either way, I owe him alot. Terry Taylor is somebody
who has been a mentor and one of the best friends I ever have had. He
taught me so much and has been through all the stuff I seem to be facing
on a daily basis. He listens to me, gives me advice without judging and
encourages me all the way through. The best part is I know I can say
anything to him and when the conversation is done, we're still the best
of friends. We agree on alot of things but disagree a lot. I value that
he never tells me what I want to hear and is never afraid to say when he
thinks I am wrong. I don't think I'd be where I am today without him.

RON: Who were some of your biggest influences and heroes?

SCOTT: Well all the guys I listed above were huge influences on me.
Being Canadian, Bret Hart of course was a huge influence. He isn't just
a wrestling star in Canada, he is a National hero. Getting to know Bret
on a personal level has been one of the greatest fringe benefits of
being in the wrestling business. As great a wrestler as he was, he's an
even better person and has a great dry since of humor. As a kid growing
up in the '80's Hulk Hogan was a big influence. Of course I knew even
back then I would never look like Hulk, so seeing Dusty for the first
time I was in awe. He could talk his ass off and could go in the ring.
When I saw Dusty I knew I was going to be a wrestler. As far as style,
Arn Anderson and Bret were the two I most wanted to be like. Don Muraco
was as cool as cool got as a kid. When I moved to managing, Bobby
Heenan, Jim Cornette and of course Paul Heyman were all people I wanted
to be like. I have been told by fans I remind them of all three and
that's as big a compliment as I could ever get. Jimmy Hart is a great
friend of mine and he had always been there with advice and help as I
needed it. He's been a huge asset as I grow as a manager. I also use
slapstick, so I like to look back at all the time I spent watching the 3
Stooges on TV late at night when I was supposed to be in bed and think
of it in hindsight as studying late!

RON: Share some memories of your 1st match ever with Otis Apollo.

SCOTT: Otis was a natural. He would watch something on TV and then show
up at practice and do it on the first try. I remember the first time we
saw Scott Steiner do a Frankensteiner. Apollo walked into the school,
put his boots on and did it no problem. It took me almost a year to
learn how to do that! He was the perfect opponent for me in my first
match. We had spent hours in the ring training together. I was at ease
working with him and we always kinda clicked. Hell, I think if we would
have gotten a break when we were teaming we could have been a real good
Midnight Express style tag team. We just knew what the other was
thinking and what the other was going to do. One of the funniest things
about my debut against Otis was that we never got to the planned finish.
It was supposed to be a powerslam or something but the set up was a
flying shoulder block off the second rope. Well, I hit him with the
shoulder block and he stayed down. If you look at the tape of that
night, I look shocked that I won because it wasn't the finish! Otis said
it just felt right. I think he forgot the finish, but either way it
worked. Otis never remembers spots but boy could he work. He'd blow a
spot half way through it and by the time he was done, it would turn out
to be even better! He was alot of fun to work with and travel with.

RON: Was BCW your first attempt at promoting live independent wrestling
events?

SCOTT: For sure. I debuted in June of 1992 but then didn't wrestle again
till early 1993. I took time off to play my senior year of high school
football. I had worked a few shows here and there but in April of 1993
BCW had it's first show. Doug Chevalier and Chuck Fader were the ones
doing most of it. I was just helping both of them. Chuck handled the
promoting and Doug the booking, etc. Chuck is one of a kind. He was
being wheeled into an operating room on a table and as they were going
threw the halls of the hospital, he asked the nurse if her kids liked
wrestling. When she said they loved it, Chuck pulled out flyers for an
upcoming show from under his sheet and started handing them to the
nurses! He was always in sell mode. I remember people telling me they
didn't even like wrestling but that they bought tickets just to shut
Chuck up! Just buying a ticket wasn't enough, once you bought a ticket,
Chuck would stay on you to make sure you went to the show. His belief
was get them to buy a ticket, get them in the door and we'll hook them
with the product from there. We gained alot of fans like that. Doug was
real laid back and just liked to have good wrestlers go out there and
work. He wasn't going to give you an 8 part finish. It was, "go out
there, do 12-14 minutes, get some good heat and then heel one out". He
was always big on feeling the people. I didn't get what he meant back
then, it took me years to learn that and once it sunk in, I thought "now
I know what Dougie was always talking about!" Those two did most of the
work and I just did what they told me. I was just the one that brought
them together and I had some name value locally from my football and
baseball careers.

RON: Can you explain the genesis of BCW, how and when was the company
created?

SCOTT: Honestly, I tricked Doug and Chuck into it. I talked with Doug
every night at practice about how he should try promoting again. He had
done a little of it with mixed success. He said he just didn't have the
time or the know-how to handle it all. I told him if he could just find
a guy who could handle the promoting part of it, Doug could handle
wrestling end of things since thats what he did best. At the same time,
I was going to a sports card shop Chuck ran every Saturday and talking
wrestling with him all day long. It turned out that Chuck was a huge
wrestling fan. He grew up going to Cobo Arena in Detroit watching
Bigtime Wrestling just like Doug had. Chuck had gone to the show where I
made my debut and liked the young talent and the raw feel to things. He
just thought it needed to be jazzed up a bit and the word needed to get
out so people knew it was there. Doug and I went to a WCW show at Cobo
one Saturday night and when we got back, I stopped at a coffee shop that
I knew Chuck went to every Saturday night. We sat down at started
talking wrestling. Doug knew wrestling and Chuck knew how to sell. It
turned out when we sat down and met, Chuck had been a punk rock promoter
in the '70's! At 11pm, we started talking what-ifs and at about 3am, BCW
was born!

RON: Most of today's wrestling fans may not know very much about the
legendary Doug Chevalier, please tell us a bit about him.

SCOTT: Doug was an amateur wrestler of some merit locally and a huge
wrestling fan. He went to Al Costello's wrestling school for a few weeks
but had to drop out for some personal reasons. He was never able to get
back to going to wrestling school but he hung out at the arenas and
helped out as need be. Like you've heard from other old time wrestlers,
he ended up getting his chance because they were short-handed one night.
He was given a pair of boots and taken into a room for a half hour tops,
told how pro wrestling works, that he had to keep it a secret and was
shown a few things. He was then sent into the ring and got his ass
kicked. He said they were really hard on him and laid it all in on him.
He thought he was going to die, but when it was over they told him he
did OK and told him to come back next week. Some of the local guys would
show him a bit every week and then he would be put in a match and get
the hell beat out of him. He never complained and never quit, so slowly,
they started accepting him as one of the boys. His career was mostly
doing odd jobs in Ontario and the Midwestern US with a couple of trips
out west. He didn't wrestle for too long as the same back injury that
ended his amateur wrestling and baseball career caught up to him in pro
wrestling as well. He got away from it for years and was coaching
amateur wrestling at Lowe High School in Windsor. He had a student there
that wouldn't stop bugging Doug to train him as a pro. Doug kept the kid
after practice every night and made him run stairs for hours and all
other kinds of drills. He'd take the kid on the mat, stretch him for an
hour putting the kid through a terrible pain and would ask the kid every
night if he had enough. The kid said "no" and that he wanted to stay
after practice the next night. After the Doug finally was satisfied that
the kid really wanted it and he wouldn't quit, Doug started showing him
things in their after-practice session. That kid was Mike Ferri, who
ended up wrestling as Irish Bobby Clancy. Doug had to work his whole
career to prove he deserved to be in the business and he trained his
students tough to make sure they deserved to be in the business. He
always took great pride in the fact that his students could hang with
any other young wrestlers out there. He took great pride in seeing the
students he taught going on to have the careers he never really got a
chance to have. Doug is considered the founding father of wrestling in
this area. Look at all the talent to come out of Windsor-Detroit and
most of it comes from a direct line from Doug. Rhino, Chris Sabin, Petey
Williams, A1, Truth Martini, myself and countless others were trained by
Doug or by students of Doug's. I think he'd be real humbled and proud of
the difference he's made in wrestling. Every time Petey Williams hits
The Canadian Destroyer, I think of Doug. Kinda funny that the coolest
move to hit wrestling in years is named after a guy who wouldn't climb
to the top rope it you offered him a million dollars!

RON: As the years have passed, the Can-Am Wrestling School has produced
an incredible list of superstars who graciously credit you for their
success. Tell us a bit about the following guys and how they've
progressed since you first met them:

Rhino, then and now:

SCOTT: Terry Gerin walked into our school at about 230 pudgy pounds. He
was a natural. You could tell he was going to be good. I'm not going to
say you could tell he was a "can't miss star", but he was good. The
difference between him and other talented students we had come through
the school up till then, was his attitude. He wanted it and was willing
to work for it. Funny story, I went to Rhino and told him we were going
to give him his first match. He asked who it was against and what the
match would be like. After I told him he was losing he got kinda upset
and said he didn't pay all this money to go to wrestling school to lose.
He was such a mark he didn't think he should lose his first match! I
cussed him out and told him he was off the show. He ended up apologizing
and asking if he could still wrestle on the show. I let him, but because
of that, I always tried to make sure he lost everywhere he went, every
night, for well over a year. Promoters would call me and ask me if they
could book him and I would say yes, but only on the condition that he
lose all of his matches. I didn't do it to punish him, I did it to teach
him it's about performing well and not winning. We laugh about that alot
now and he has thanked me hundreds of times for doing it. More guys
these days need to learn that. Kids walk right out of wrestling school
and because they can sell 20 tickets to their friends and family they
think they should be able to win! The worst part is that promoters let
them get away with it. I think guys should lose 99% of their matches for
their first year or two. Just ask Rhino! Anyway, Rhino is a super talent
and a super guy. When WWE let him go I got excited. I knew he could be a
star but he had to get out of that horrible WWE system. They made him
think he was a bad wrestler and couldn't be a star. Screw them, Paul E.
knew Rhino could be a star and I knew he could be again. When he came to
TNA some people were lukewarm to the idea of him coming in, but after
seeing him when he's motivated and in a good working environment, they
were sold. He won everybody over the first week he was there. He is a
great talent, but more importantly, he works for whatever is best for
the match and whatever is best for the company direction. So many guys
work for themselves and are selfish. They will do things that hurt the
company overall if it helps them. In TNA we have a good group working
for the company's health overall and Rhino is one of those guys.

RON: Christian Cage, then and now:

SCOTT: Scrawny punk back then and a scrawny punk now! lol! He was a
super talent back then and he has only gotten better. I always said if
there was one wrestler I could work with every night of the week, it
would be Christian. He is just that smooth. He could always wrestle. The
thing that has set him apart now is his promo ability. He used to be
kinda rigid on promos but he developed into one of the best promos in
the business. He spent a few years being overshadowed by Edge, but he is
every bit as good as Edge and in some ways better. WWE really dropped
the ball with him. He was a great company guy, would do whatever you
asked of him and the fans loved him. The WWE fans wanted to see him be a
top guy, but since the people in power in WWE didn't choose him to be a
top guy, he never was going to get a chance. They just wanted to use him
to get the other guys that didn't have half of his talent over and
that's OK. He's great at that but at some point give him a chance to run
with the ball. I think WWE will regret letting him slip away. I honestly
don't know if I can think of a better all around wrestler than him. He
can wrestle anybody, lead greener guys through matches, fly when need
to, promo his ass off and he is one funny and charismatic guy. Pretty
much the whole package. If kids ask me who they should try to be like if
they want to be a great wrestler, I tell them Christian. It doesn't get
much better than him.

RON: Petey Williams, then and now:

SCOTT: What can I say? He walked into the school an undersized kid who
just wanted to wrestle while he went to college. He was going to join
the police force and live happily ever after from there. He said he knew
he was never going to be able to wrestle above the local level but that
he never wanted to look back and think 'what if?' Well a funny thing
happened on the way to middle class bliss, wrestling stardom came
calling! I used to say that it sucked that a guy like Petey would have
to wrestle his entire career on indies in front of a couple of hundred
fans. When the America's X Cup concept came up and they needed another
team, I went to pitching a Team Canada. I thought Petey was a perfect
guy to use as one of members. The team was meant to be a platform to
launch Teddy Hart as a superstar, but it's funny how things work. Teddy
hurt his knee in a match we taped before we started the live PPV. Petey
walked out of the ring to the back and was told he had 20 minutes to get
with Jerry Lynn and Juventud to put together a 15 minute match. That was
the opener on the PPV! He did a great job there and kept impressing with
every TNA booking he got. It's a good thing he was working at Applebees
at the time and he was a horrible waiter! Petey has referred to me as a
father figure and often calls me 'dad'. I honestly have to admit that I
am honored to play whatever role I played in helping him become the
wrestler and person that he is.

RON: Bobby Roode, then and now:

SCOTT: I meet Bobby when I took over booking a small indy in Ontario.
The first show after I took over the booking it was pretty much known
that I was going to change up alot of the crew. The joke was the locker
room pretty much split into two rooms. People that were staying and
people that would be leaving once the dates they were already booked on
were done. Well it pretty much went that way with the exception of one
guy. Bobby had gotten a bad rep because he hung out with some people
that had alot of heat and caused a lot of trouble. Bobby was impressive
enough and respectful enough that we kept booking him. He still had a
lot of rough edges but he had potential. Bobby got a bum deal breaking
in. Val Venis started training him, but then within weeks got booked in
Puerto Rico, so he had Shane Sewell take over training Bobby. But then
Shane got booked in Puerto Rico a few weeks after Val! Bobby had lost 2
trainers in under 2 months! Despite that, Bobby kept working hard and
kept getting better. Bobby is one of the most talented pure wrestlers
that has come along in the last many years. In the day of the X division
star, Bobby is classically a great heavyweight. He is somebody who
really has a chance to be the next Curt Hennig or Bret Hart. He is a
great athlete, a hard worker, a good promo and pretty much has it all. I
think Bobby is a future star and future World Champion.

RON: A1, then and now:

SCOTT: Al Rhalphs looks like what everybody thinks a wrestler is
supposed to look like. One difference, he is an athlete. He is also a
huge wrestling fan. He's not a bodybuilder looking to make a few bucks
wrestling. He's a huge wrestling fan who started bodybuilding to be a
pro wrestler. A1 has learned alot since he joined the TNA roster. When
he got here he was just a good body. His wrestling was so-so. He would
show flashes of potential but he wasn't turning heads. During the summer
I sat him down and told him if he didn't start training in the ring
harder and improving quickly, he was risking the chance that he might be
let go. I knew it would push him one of two ways. Either he would start
working harder or he would give up. Well, he kicked it into gear.
Recently he had his first singles match in TNA against Rhino on Xplosion
and everybody was blown away by how good it was. It was good enough that
we rematched it on the New Years Eve edition of Impact. If A1 keeps
improving he could be a great heavyweight for years to come. The great
part is that he is funny and an entertaining guy and we haven't even
started to show that side of him. He can become a more modern version of
the classic '80 muscle man.

RON: Chris Sabin, then and now:

SCOTT: Josh Harter is one of the nicest kids I ever met. He first went
to a bad wrestling school. He said he realized the owner used the school
as a dating service and tried to pick up all the students with promises
of wrestling fame. That's the kind of stuff that gives wrestling the
rotten name it has. Lucky for him, one of our old students N8 Mattson
was working out at the school Josh was attending and N8 started teaching
Sabin the "Doug Chevalier style" of wrestling. N8 realized that Sabin
was really talented and had some great potential. N8 told Sabin that if
he wanted to really learn how to wrestle he needed to come to Can-Am. N8
brought Josh to us and Sabin really started to develop. N8 deserves a
ton of credit for 2 things. One, getting Sabin out of that horrible
school and two, for teaching Josh so much in the time they trained
together. N8 really is a great trainer and when Sabin arrived at Can-Am
he was already a good indy wrestler. We were able to start teaching him
advanced stuff right away. I think Sabin has a chance to be one of the
greatest X division stars out there and he's proved in matches this year
against Abyss and Rhino that he can cross over and be a heavyweight star
as well. Sabin is about as error-free as any wrestler out there. Think
about it, when's the last time you remember seeing him blow a spot or
move? It almost never happens.

RON: Alex Shelley, then and now:

SCOTT: Patrick Martin is the most dedicated student I have ever seen. He
eats, sleeps and breathes wrestling almost 24/7. Despite that, he is
still one of the funniest, most entertaining people to be around. I like
to joke that Patrick used to ask me to show him moves or see me do a
hold and ask me how I did it and now I see HIM doing moves or holds and
ask him to show ME how to do it! He is just about the most well versed
young mat wrestler in the world. He can wrestle American, British, Lucha
and strong style with the best of them and most impressively, he has
combined them all into his own style. I can honestly say I am not sure
what Alex Shelley's wrestling future will be other than I know he will
be a success. He has all the potential to become a top star in the US
and help change the current state and style of American wrestling. I
could also see him becoming one of the greatest stars in Japan and
spending the bulk of his career there or living in Mexico City and being
a lucha star. Who knows, he might move to Europe and help bring back a
second golden age of British wrestling!

RON: Jaime D, then and now:

SCOTT: Well, Jaime was somebody who wanted to be a wrestler, dreamed of
being one but didn't realize the commitment that it took to make it. She
thought that because she wanted it, she deserved it. Fact is nobody in
this business deserves it. The business doesn't owe any of us anything.
If you work hard, keep at it and don't give up, hopefully you'll get
your chance. They say if you keep at it long enough everybody gets their
shot. Well, Jaime didn't want to work for it. She felt she was going to
walk in and be a huge star. She took a lot of lumps as she trained and
as she started working indies. Last year she finally bucked up and
started to work hard. She still has a lot of development left but she is
light years from where she was. If TNA's Gut Check Challenge showed
anything about her it's that she can focus on a goal and achieve it. She
not only won the female contest but she out-performed most of the guys
there as well. I think she'll bounce back strong from her knee surgury
in 2006!

RON: Besides the names mentioned above, who are some of your other
prized students over the years?

SCOTT: Brad Martin is a real talent. He went down to the Gut Check
Challenge with Jaime D and out-performed every guy there. He didn't win
because the judges took into account that he had previous training and
the winner Jon Bolen didn't. The judges told me he was #1 on all of
their lists performance wise. Phil Atlas can be a great X division star
if he stays focused. El Reverso is a talented kid but he has a lot on
his plate. He works, plays in a band and wrestles. If he spent more time
wrestling I think he could have a shot. Alin "The Unruly" is somebody
who grew up watching BCW shows on TV and live and wanted to be a
wrestler. He's dedicated and hard working. He has changed his body since
he's joined the school and developed into a talented wrestler. He's
still real young but he could be something real good in a couple of
years. Lots of students have come in and looked like they had great
potential but never reached that level. Hell, Rhino wasn't the most
promising student we had at the time. He was good, but Al Brown and Tom
Torrez both looked to have more potential. Well, Al Brown went on to be
Skull Ganz in Michigan indies. He never worked hard enough at it. He
felt he was better than he was and believed his own hype. He could have
been something but he was never more then an indy guy who cared about
what belts he held. Don't get me wrong, I think Al is a good guy and I
like him, I just see him as wasted talent. Really I blame Mike Kelly and
and John Muse, who ran in Livonia, MI at the time. I make all of my
students wrestle under their real names and make them lose almost all of
their matches when they start out, to humble them. John and Mike made Al
Brown into Skull Ganz and pushed him as a star from their first show. I
was in Germany and didn't know till I got back. I took one look at what
they were doing with him and said "they just ruined him". Tom Torrez
went on to be KooKoo "The Wild Samoan", he thought he was more developed
than he was as well. Again, good guy, fun guy. Did some road trips with
him and had a blast but he stopped working at it. In this business as
soon as you think you don't have to work harder to get better, it's time
to get out.

RON: Running an independent promotion such as BCW is a team effort.
Besides yourself, who are some of the BCW Staff members that have helped
BCW carry on as Ontario's top wrestling promotion and what are some of
their duties?

SCOTT: Well, besides Chuck Fader and Doug Chevalier, Jeffery Scott has
been the biggest help in BCW. He really is kinda the defacto leader now.
I don't spend as much time in Windsor as I'd like. Between being in
Nashville at the TNA office, Orlando at the Impact Zone and traveling, I
just am not around enough. When I am in town I spend time in the
wrestling school and at the restaurant I opened in town called "Stars Of
The Game". Jeff oversees BCW business and keeps me in the loop. I trust
him to take care of stuff and I know he'll always contact me if we need
to make a big decision. Others are always involved. James Trapanier,
Holly and her dad Jim, Lindsey, Cannibal, Preacher and far too many
others to mention. BCW is a group effort. Plus guys like Terry Taylor,
Tommy Dreamer, and all the guys who came here didn't just show up and
collect a payoff, but they helped with everything. I'll never forget
seeing Tommy Dreamer moving chairs around the Ciociaro Club. When
somebody asked him why he would move the chairs himself, he said
"because it has to get done!" I can still picture Nova sitting on the
floor in my TV room tearing tickets so we could pre-sell tickets for the
next show. Or Terry Taylor sitting up at 5am the night before a show
typing formats out. It was an awesome place to be at the time. BCW has
survived because everybody pitched in from the biggest stars to the
volunteers that pull things together.

RON: BCW has stood strong for over a decade despite the struggling indie
wrestling landscape. What are some of the mistakes other indie feds make
these days?

SCOTT: Well, this is hypocritical of me to say, but the biggest problem
is that most indies are run by indy wrestlers or wannabe wrestlers. A
guy wrestles on 3 shows and then decides he knows what it takes to be a
wrestler, booker and promoter. Indy promotions also overestimate the
power of the internet. Advertising on the internet is not going to reach
enough fans in your area to draw on. You need posters, newspaper or
radio, word of mouth. Word Of Mouth is the biggest thing. Get out there
and make sure people know about the show. BCW was lucky. Chuck Fader
would bug everybody to death but he also made sure others did the same.
BCW was also lucky because of the Can-Am wrestling school. We always had
fresh talent and because I was lucky enough to make friends through my
travels we always had good headliners that were willing to come in and
work with us. Al Snow, D'Lo Brown, Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer, Nova,
Mikey Whipwreck, Dawn Marie, Simon Diamond, Cyrus, Johnny Swinger, Lance
Storm, Jimmy Hart, Bret Hart, Mick Foley, and so many others didn't just
come in, but they all contributed to the show other than just showing up
and wrestling.

RON: In the last several years, you have helped several Michigan
independent wrestling promotions. Why has Prime Time Wrestling
succeeded, while Maximum Pro Wrestling failed?

SCOTT: Well, did Maximum Pro Wrestling really fail? It ran some great
shows in both Michigan and Ontario and we ended up selling to a group in
Florida. They still run live events as well as have TV on Sun Sports.
MXPW was born to try to start a more full time promotion. It was really
close at a couple of points. We were a lucky break away from having a
major TV clearance. It ended up looking like it was going to be too much
of a long shot and take too much of an investment, so the decision was
made to keep the brand alive long enough to sell. I am proud of a lot of
the stuff we did with MaxPro. It wasn't without it's faults, but it did
a good job while it was around this area.

RON: Do you care to comment more on the former BCW / MxPW merger?

SCOTT: It was what needed to be done at the time. The backers of MaxPro
wanted to be the only big indy in the area. BCW was still running but we
had already stopped producing our weekly TV show. So we basically made a
deal to step aside to allow MaxPro to run the area. It was can't-lose
for BCW as we got paid to run in our town. I really thought it was
can't-lose for the fans as well, as they would still get to see a great
product on a monthly basis. I was shocked at how the fans turned against
it. In hindsight, I guess Chuck Fader or I really needed to be the ones
to go out in front of the fans and sell them on the benefits. Jeffery
Scott did it and I think he was still skeptical of it and it showed.
Bottom line, we needed a pilot show to shop to a few networks and
Windsor was the best place to shoot it. The pilot did get a lot of
interest, but we looked at it and financially we just couldn't justify
the investment it was going to take to start up at that level. We sold
MaxPro and BCW took over in Windsor again.

RON: How did your first tour of Japan go with the WAR promotion? Did you
wrestle anyone that fans of today might recognize?

SCOTT: I honestly can't remember who I wrestled, etc. I had fun and
enjoyed my time there. I was treated like a star and that was nice.
Being part of Dan Severn's camp really helped. Dan was a huge star at
the time in the shoot fighting world and being one of his fighters
(really I was just a sparring partner of his) gave me a good standing
over there. Geza Kalman and I almost got arrested in Tokyo the night
before our show there, but that's a whole different story!

RON: Back in the mid-90's, you formed a tag team with a hockey gimmick
named Gross Misconduct. Did the WWF steal your gimmick for "The Goon"
Bill Irwin?

SCOTT: For sure and I had proof. I had sent it to a WWF official and he
took it and pitched it for Bill. I was going to sue, but really at the
time I was told the best I could do was win a small settlement. Lets be
honest, it's not like the Goon was an Undertaker level kind of talent.
It would have buried me at a time I was looking to get hired there and
it just didn't seem worth the risk. If they were going to steal my
gimmick at least they could have done it right. God the Goon sucked!

RON: In '97, you started using a golf gimmick under the name Chip Birdy.
Do you think WCW "borrowed" that gimmick and gave it to Barry Darsow as
"Mr. Hole in One" Stewart Pain?

SCOTT: Well Chip Fairway had already "borrowed" it by that point! Hell
the wrestling business is the wrestling business. I was looking to get
my foot in the door and move to the next level as a talent and I was
pitching a million things. I enjoyed the golf gimmick. Really it was
meant to be a tag team deal called "The Masters". It was going to be
Chip Birdy and John D. Swing (Johnny Swinger), two golfers that got
thrown off the Hogan Tour (minor pro tour) for fighting and disorderly
behavior. With nowhere else to go they turn to wrestling. Kind of
cheesey, I know, but keep in mind at this time there was a Plumber, a
Stockcar Driver, Freddy Joe Floyd, and The American Males for crying out
loud. Cheese was in!

RON: In the late 90's, you had a few tryouts with Extreme Championship
Wrestling. How did that come about and were you given any feedback on
why you weren't picked up at that time?

SCOTT: Well I did some house shows with them and was always told I was
going to start soon. I don't think it helped that Sabu was on the outs
with the company and I was considered one of his guys. ECW fired all the
guys associated with Sabu other then Van Dam and Rhino, so I guess the
timing wasn't right. Paul had liked my stuff and asked me to work the
first night I tried out, but I mentioned that I would need a work visa.
I think with everything he went through with Lance Storm, I was maybe
more trouble than I was worth. I heard after that Paul was kind of put
off by the fact I didn't work that show. Paul E. was always great to me
but I guess, really, that's just Paul. He's great to your face but when
you're not there...well? Tommy Dreamer finally told me to get out as he
just didn't see anything for me. I do owe Paul though. I learned alot
from him in the 6 months or so I was around. He was always willing to
talk and to answer questions as to why he did something the way he did.
He was also the one that convinced me to try to get into TNA when I was
looking for work as a writer for WWE. God, do I owe him for that one!

RON: Did you run into any problems with WCW stars while wrestling in the
mid-90's as enhancement talent?

SCOTT: WCW was a good learning experience for me. I got to travel, made
decent money and learned both in the ring and behind the scenes. I had a
couple of run-ins with The Nasty Boys, but thats just the way they were.
Saggs could be a real dick. We almost got into it one night at the
building but it got defused quickly. He also tried to slip something in
a drink of mine one night and I was able to switch it with his drink. He
ended up drinking his own H-bomb and drugged himself. It was priceless.
He passed out in the middle of the bar. Fell right on his face. Other
than him, I really can't think of a bad experience there. I got to learn
from some of the best while I was there and got to wrestle Flair, Arn
Anderson, and lots of the guys I grew up idolizing.

RON: How did an upset win against future WCW Heavyweight Champion,
Diamond Dallas Page come about?

SCOTT: Well, I think you and DDP are the only two people that remember
that. Basically, DDP was doing a gimmick where he'd bring a fish bowl to
the ring and pull out names of big stars that were not in WCW and
challenge them to a match. Well after this was all said and done, he was
told that I was his opponent. He was supposed to jump in the ring and
beat me in seconds, but he came to me during the day and said he didn't
see the reason to do that. He said he was just going to walk out on me.
So at the end of his fish bowl promo he said that I wasn't nothing but
chump change and threw a handful of quarters at me and walked out,
getting DQ'd. Not only did I get the 'win', but I picked up an extra
$1.75 in quarters from it as well!

RON: When Chris Candido passed away in late 2005, many wrestlers shared
some ribs he pulled to get a reaction from the wrestlers in the back.
What are your memories of Candido during his TNA stint in early 2005?

SCOTT: Chris and I never really got along during the ECW days. As I ran
across him on the indies over the years that followed we mended things.
When he got to TNA he had hit rock bottom and was starting to put his
life and career back together. He was a totally different person in TNA.
He was clean, clear headed and looking to get his career back. He was a
leader in the ring and in the locker room. He had a great mind for the
business and he loved to pass on what he had learned. The last night he
was there we talked and joked about things and it was something I am
really glad we did. Chris was a great worker and he loved the business.
I am glad we got a chance to work closely together.

RON: In the 2005 edition of the PWI500, you were ranked 215 despite
wrestling only 3 matches in TNA and 1 match in BCW. Why do you think you
were ranked so much higher than other wrestlers who wrestle on a weekly
basis?

SCOTT: I guess it's because of the exposure on TNA. The 500 is not
something that people should look at and take as gospel. It's a good
look at alot of the wrestlers out there, but as for the rankings, well I
am pretty sure they don't lose sleep over who shoud be 268 and who
should be 451.

RON: Did you bribe Brandi Mankiewicz with an undisclosed amount of
Loonies for that high ranking? :)

SCOTT: LOL! Yeah, you got me. She also got some french kisses and the
worst night of her life to go with it!

RON: On a more serious note, could you share any involvement that you
have with Pro Wrestling Illustrated and their ranking of the top 500
wrestlers each year? As a promoter, do you provide biographical
information to them for your top BCW stars? How does that process work?

SCOTT: We send in the bios on our guys. They pick which ones they use
and where they put them. I think it's a cool thing for young guys to see
their name and bios in print. We always make sure we send in a good
amount of bios and give them lots of choices to work with.

RON: How exactly did you become involved with the Jarretts and TNA?

SCOTT: Well, D'Lo Brown had been let go by WWE and was living at my
house at the time and Chris Sabin was somebody I thought just needed a
break. I called Jeff and talked about D'Lo joining TNA and I pitched
Sabin to him. Jeff and I had done a UK tour for WWA a few months before
so we were friendly. I set up D'Lo debuting and sent Jeff a tape of
Sabin. We kept in touch and as we talked, I told him if there was
anything else I could do to help TNA, I would love to be part of it.
Jeff said he was going to hire an agent to help him with laying out
matches. He was looking at 3 people for the job and I was one of them.
Disco Inferno had been pitching me for the job to him and we talked some
more. I agreed to come down and watch one of the shows and talk face to
face. I went down and sat in on the production meeting and just kind of
shadowed Jeff for a good part of the day. As show time got closer and he
was running behind, I ended up helping put a couple of matches together
for him. After the show, he and I sat down, talked and he was still real
skeptical. He liked my work but I was only 28 and he was worried that it
would be hard for some of the talent to take orders from me. He was also
worried because a lot of the roster were friends of mine and he thought
it might be hard for me to tell them what we wanted out of their matches
and to be firm with it. I assured him that I would work hard for him and
told him the fact that I was friends with a lot of the roster could be a
positive, as they would be comfortable with me. I assured him that I
would be a TNA employee first and a friend second. We shook hands and
left it at that. A few weeks later, Jeff called and offered me the job.
I owe alot to Jeff. It took a lot for him to roll the dice on a unproven
28 year old. He took a chance and I'd like to think I have rewarded him
for his faith in me.

RON: What do you believe are the best assets that TNA has to rely on as
you head into 2006?

SCOTT: I think our talent is second to none. Our roster is a young, hard
working group with some great veterans sprinkled in. The X division is
something WWE can't or won't take advantage of, so we have that aspect
that stands out as special and different. TNA will provide the wrestling
fans out there with a place to tune in and watch great wrestling and not
have to deal with incest, rape and live torrid sex.

RON: Are there any aspects of the TNA product that we will see tighten
up in 2006?

SCOTT: Lots of areas. We are a growing company and we hope to improve on
all areas of the product as we continue to grow and develop the TNA
brand of wrestling.

RON: TNA has the X Division and the WWE has some of the world's finest
cruisers-- what keeps the X Division head and shoulders above the WWE
cruiser action?

SCOTT: We don't hold them back for one and honestly, I really think our
talent roster is the most talented and creative out there. Our guys are
excited to be a part of history and are looking to make their mark on
the business.

RON: How often do you catch the WWE product on television or PPV?

SCOTT: Try to watch it every week. Most weeks I catch at least part of
Raw and I try to watch Smackdown as much as I can, but boy is it a hard
show to watch sometimes.

RON: Who do you enjoy watching in the WWE?

SCOTT: I'm biased, but Edge is on fire right now. His promos in the last
6 or so months have been great and he really should get a shot to shine
as a top guy finally. Benoit is of course awesome. Booker T is always
fun to watch. I get a kick out of Simon Dean. Really I mainly enjoy
watching my friend's stuff and kind of just sit through most of the
other stuff to see what they are doing.

RON: Do you have any advice for the younger indie wrestlers that are
just starting on their career paths?

SCOTT: Train hard, both in the ring and in the gym. Avoid the crazy
stuff and concentrate on wrestling for now. As you develop your skills
start to figure out a look. Look like a star. A guy with no build
wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts doesn't look like a star. Have a
back-up plan. Wrestling doesn't pan out for everybody and even for most
of the ones it does, it's not something that lasts their entire
lifetime. Think about your future.

RON; Did you make a new year's resolution for 2006?

SCOTT: Just to do everything I can to help make TNA the best product in
the wrestling business. And to lose about 60 lbs! lol!

RON: You have lived out most all wrestling fan's fantasies during your
career-- five years from today, where will Scott D'Amore be in the
wrestling world?

SCOTT: Not sure. If you asked me that question 6 months ago, I would
have said I would be out of the wrestling business all-together. Now, I
don't know, I am having fun and this is an exciting time to be involved
in the business and especially TNA. I am going to ride this out and do
my best to help make it work. After that, who knows. I would really like
to at some point just teach. Run a school full time and just work with
trainees, getting them ready for TNA.

RON: Final question: Heading into the new year, go ahead and make one
bold prediction for 2006 that we can look back on. You can go anywhere
with this.

SCOTT: Team Canada has had Tag Team gold and X division gold. Before the
end of 2006, it's time for a Canadian NWA world heavyweight champion.

RON: Thank you very much for your time, Scott. As always, pleasure to
chat with you. Best of luck to you, your students and TNA for a very
successful 2006.

SCOTT: My pleasure.

IWRwrestling.com � January 23, 2006