 Show: The Interactive Interview
Guest: Lance Cade
Date: 12/18/08
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley, James Walsh, & Nick Noel
It is one week before the true grand-daddy of them all... No, I'm no talking
about WrestleMania or Starcade but Christmas! To celebrate the festivities
of the season, we bring you one of the brightest young stars we've seen come
down the pike in years. It is rare that we can say and mean that we have
always been positive about a wrestler on the show but that is the case with
Lance Cade. And, in a rare turn of events, Lance Cade is also a fan of ours!
How cool is that?
In this near hour long extravaganza, Cade talks about his entire career from
training with the "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels down in Texas to his big
break in the WWE all the way through his release and beyond. This is a very
candid and educational interview with a young man who has already been to
the top and, we are sure, will be there once again!
LANCE CADE
- Lance Cade joins us on TII and admits to us right off
the bat that he is a fan of the site & the show! He says that he reads
the interviews and says "the site is really good"! Cade says he basically
lives wrestling 24/7 so our interviews are a good way to pass time for a
wrestling fanatic.
- Since leaving the WWE, Cade has had more time to spend with his family.
He says that he was signed to a developmental deal with the WWE when he was
18 and had been with them for 9 years which didn't leave much time with his
wife & kids. Right now he is working for NWA Hollywood, is set to make
appearances in Japan, and has rejoined Trevor Murdoch as a tag team which
he's really thrilled about.
- James mentions that Richie Steamboat will also be making appearances in
Japan. Cade puts him over heavily and says "he's identical in the ring to
his father" and he puts over Ricky as the best babyface of all time. He also
feels that it speaks volumes about Richie Steamboat and Reid Flair learning
the ropes and going to Harley Race's WLW because they both must realize that
if they wanted it, they could immediately get a WWE contract like Randy Orton
who Cade says didn't even want to be a wrestler. It isn't clear, however,
if that was intended to be a negative shot at Orton or not.
- He was surprised that the Cade & Murdoch tag team worked so well.
Originally it was supposed to be him & Kevin Fertig (Kevin Throne) and
that many people liked the idea for the team. Tommy Dreamer called him up
one day and told him he'd be working with Trevor as his partner one week
before working with Fertig. He says that they clicked instantly. After a
few weeks, he was asked which partner would work better for him in terms
of in ring work and he picked Trevor.
- Cade says that the major plus to working with Trevor is that they could
adapt to any team they faced and adjust to their style. He says they would
have done really well in the late 80s when teams like Rockers, Hart Foundation,
& Demolition were around.
- When asked about "The Band Being Back Together" when he reunited with Murodch,
he acknowledges that it was weird how they were split in the first place,
but he was very happy that they put him and Trevor back together. He puts
over Arn Anderson as the strongest supporter of the team and they ended up
spending a lot of time with him picking his brain to learn as much as they
could from him because, "that's who we wanted to be".
- He teamed with Mark Jindrak, and he says that he had a great time teaming
with him. He says that he's working in Mexico right now and his talent is
really blossoming over there. Teaming with him didn't really work initially
because they were thrown together and made face, but he says once they turned
them heel, they were able to click better. He feels that there were no major
plans for them though and they got split up not long after Wrestlemania
XX.
- Cade loves tag team wrestling and says there aren't a lot of real tag teams
anymore. He says one of the big problems is that not many young guys are
willing to do it anymore because you can't be the top star in the company
as a tag team. He puts over The Major Brothers, Curt Hawkins & Zach Ryder,
as a team that started & trained as a team and was determined to make
it as a team. But, Cade does not think it is fair that Vince McMahon or the
WWE writers get the blame for the state of tag wrestling today.
- They had him as Garrison Cade originally because Lance Storm was on the
roster at the time. He didn't really like the name and mentions that Chris
Jericho actually referenced the South Park character Mr. Garrison to him.
When Cade was returning from the knee injury, he approached Vince McMahon
and aired his dislike of the Garrison name. Vince seemed surprised to hear
that Cade didn't like it but agreed to allow him become Lance Cade. Cade
feels that being Lance Cade allowed him to feel more himself instead of Garrison
Cade where he never felt comfortable.
- Cade feels that most guys aren't willing to do that with Vince because
they are afraid of him. However, veterans like Shawn & Austin told him
that eventually you have to speak up for yourself and get past the "I'm just
glad to be here" stage. He feels he and Murdoch did a lot of that with
Vince.
- He talks about his past experience, he says that he was a product of the
WWE Developmental system, but he spent alot of time with great veterans like
Regal, Michaels, Tracy Smothers, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Eaton, & Harley
Race. He learned from them, and said it was some of the best experience he
could have ever had. He says that a lot of young guys go straight to FCW
and that is their only experience which limits them. Cade often wonders what
would have happened if he hadn't gone through the WWE system at a young age
& opted to travel the World more and gain more experience. He once again
mentions Richie Steamboat saying that he isn't rushing to the top despite
the fact that he could probably get by on his name.
- With all of the new opportunities coming his way, he says that he has plenty
of chances to learn new things and says that "the day you stop learning new
things from this business is the day you gotta leave it" If he ever goes
back to the WWE, he feels that he would be a better wrestler.
- When asked about TNA, Cade says that "they are one storyline or one superstar
away from being neck & neck with Vince" and he says that he keeps up
with TNA, ROH, and various other promotions. He says there are great talents
over there and he'd love to work there if given the chance.
- We bring up his pinfall victory over Shawn Michaels, he says it was great
to do it, but it was just great to get to work with Shawn as many times as
he did as they had many great matches. When he was trained by Shawn Michaels,
he says that Shawn was very hands on in his training and did very well,
especially with his class. He said alot of the other guys in there wree Shawn
Michaels marks that were in awe of him, but Lance said that Shawn noticed
that him and a few others were more determined to learn as much as possible
from Shawn.
- This leads to a discussion about Shawn's TWA promotion which featured alot
of young talent and mixed in with some ECW talents like Sandman & Justin
Credible. He said it was also great because at the time, they were on Saturday
nights against Smackdown & WCW Worldwide, and TWA got higher ratings
than Worldwide. We mention how great it was to have so many options back
then, and Lance agrees saying that it is just more fun to have various options
to choose from.
- Cade is not surprised at all that Jeff Hardy is the WWE Champion now and
says that he is one of the best in there today. He also puts over the series
of matches that he & Murdoch had with The Hardy Boyz. He said that one
night John Cena came up to him and told him that he just could follow those
matches.
- Lance then talks about his departure from the WWE. He says that it was
a long story that started with a very bad shoulder injury that he suffered
in a match with Bob Holly. He feels Holly got lost in the match and instead
decided to dump him over the top rope. Cade said it was a bump he had taken
a billion times before but he landed the wrong way on the outside which
dislocated his shoulder. He knew that there were plans to split him &
Murdoch up again and a singles run was forthcoming and this time it was going
to be for real. So, he declined surgery. He now regrets not having the surgery
done. He was in pain, and he was prescribed for pain killers, but they weren't
working well enough to make the pain bearable. So, he took a stronger dosage
which knocked him out which resulted in the incident that happened on that
faithful October day.
- Lance wants it known that his prescription use was not for recreational
use. He admits it was a bad decision that he made and he says that it was
his fault. "I've learned from my mistake, and its time to move on".
- Cade doesn't know if the WWE harbors any ill will towards him or not. He'd
like to believe they don't but he isn't absorbed in that now. He's using
this as a learning experience and feels there is an endless supply of
opportunities on the table for him.
- He says that his drive & determination to become a better wrestler
was the main reason he stayed on the roster even during times when it seemed
like a lot of guys were getting cut. He says it can be very nerve racking
to see the WWE get out the clippers and remove so many of the guys from the
roster not knowing if you are next.
- Cade is currently working for NWA Hollywood and the company is very well
done production & talent wise. He says it s a great place for guys to
work, but he doesn't see it taking TNA's place as Number 2, a spot that Cade
feels is pretty solidly set for TNA. He goes as far as to say that if TNA's
ranking moves anywhere, they'll slip into #1 rather than fall to #3. He feels
TNA is one solid storyline away from really taking off.
- When talking about his promo skills, he says that during the Jericho/Michaels
feud, he got to do his first live promo, and he was told he did very well.
He had wished he had gotten more time to talk during that feud, even though
he knows that he was the third wheel. He recalls him & Murdoch going
to the writers and saying that them getting time to speak would mean more
than their ring work if given the chance. "Ok, Cowboy Lance Cade... So what?",
says Lance. He feels promo time would've given him the chance to define the
character better.
- Cade was disappointed that a feud with Murdoch wasn't made a larger part
of the show. He says that alot of the guys backstage were excited about the
feud as they had the reputation of beating up their opponents so this time
they'd beat the heck out of one another, but, for some reason, it wasn't
treated as a priority to make the feud work. Cade references other tag teams
splitting like The Rockers, and feels it could have been a major angle that
can make big stars out of the guys involved but feels it didn't come to
pass.
- He then discusses the WWE's movement to being more PG. Cade says that its
harder to hold back when you want to say or do certain things, but he also
understands that there are kids in the audience. But he also says its hard
when a few years ago the WWE had used everything but the kitchen sink, but
now he says the move to PG was going to seperate the Great workers from the
not so great ones. He references the Edge vs. Undertaker: Hell in a Cell
match as excellent without even using blood. He says its the WWE's way of
"reeducating the fans" and that Vince even held meetings about how to do
it.
- As with all the guests, we ask Cade about the Chris Benoit tragedy and
the way the media handled it. He says the media coverage hurt him greatly
and many people were looking at him in a different way because he was involved
in wrestling. He said he'd go home and look at his wife and kids and know
he'd never do anything like that. But, he says the media, in one day and
maybe just for one day, made the name Chris Benoit and the negatives that
go along with the tragedy eclipse Hulk Hogan in notoriety. He mentions that
he was also bothered by how uninformed the media coverage was citing the
CNN hatchet job on the John Cena interview and how unfair that was as well
as how ridiculous it was for Nancy Grace to discuss it every night for months.
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