 Show: The Interactive Interview
Guest: "The Young Stallion" Jim Powers
Date: 11/5/08
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley, James Walsh, & Nick Noel
Just days after our Jake "The Snake" Roberts interview, we at
www.WrestlingEpicenter.com are pleased to bring you a great interview with
an unsung hero in pro wrestling. Chances are, you know who he is. But, for
whatever reason, we can't accredit him as the former champion of this, that,
or the other thing. He simply is one of the most well respected and hard
working men of pro wrestling in the 1980's and 1990's. He's "The Young Stallion"
Jim Powers. And, boy, does he ever have a story to tell!
From being brought into wrestling by Big John Studd to wrestling the greats
of all time and traveling with the largest wrestling organizations in the
world for the better part of 15 years, we cover it all in this great interview
that we're so glad to bring you. We hope you enjoy the interview and continue
to support us at www.WrestlingEpicenter.com!
"THE YOUNG STALLION" JIM POWERS
- The interview began with James welcoming Jim Powers to the show and letting
him know that Powers was a local celebrity in his hometown back in the day
and that apparently he gave a lot of people thrills by teaching them simple
things like leap frogs when at the gym.
- The first thing Powers is asked about is the Iron Sheik Roast where Scott
Hall wetn after one of the comedians for a tacky joke made about Owen Hart.
Jim says everybody got mad, but Hall took it a step further by trying attack
him. Also the people in attendance got behind Hall which only hyped him up
more. He felt that Hall should have left after making a comment towards the
comedian, but he was egged on and in the end, Hall came off looking really
bad.
- Powers says he remembers now why he opted to travel alone towards the end
of his career. He says a lot of the guys at the fan fest which housed the
Iron Sheik Roast didn't present themselves in the best light. He mentions
that the police were called on Saturday of the event and that a lot of guys
really didn't do much to help their standing in the eyes of the fans who
paid to be there. Powers did say, however, that he got to sit down and talk
and really respect the professionalism of "Magnificent" Don Muraco.
- "The boys ruin it for the boys", says Jim about the above discussion. He
says the problem is the guys there want to party like it was 1984 again and
that shouldn't be what the fan fests are there for. Jim feels fan fests are
work and you're paid to be there to give back to the fans who supported them
all these years. Powers went on to say that he ran some indy shows once upon
a time as the promoter but would not run fan fests on his own because he
doesn't want the responsibility of babysitting guys who should know better.
Powers once again puts out out there, "The boys ruin it for the boys".
- He is still on the Indy scene, which he admits is not what it used to be.
He says most of the guys putting on shows now are marks. He is trying to
keep himself busy, but most of the shows are one shot deals.
- This leads into a discussion about how many Indy promotions may make their
money off of DVD sales. But Powers feels that they need to definately need
to plan for the future instead of just doing one show.
- He got into wrestling through a scam. He says that while working as a bouncer,
an anonymous wrestler got him to join a training program. He loved wrestling
as a kid, and thought it'd be a good idea. Unfortunately, his finances dried
up and the training stopped, but he still got jobs on the Indy scene and
got "On the job training"
While working in a gym one day, Big John Studd came in and he offered him
a chance to work with the WWF. Powers said "My work was terrible. They let
me in the ring because I was a body" He was used as enhancement talent and
his body made him look credible against the guys beating him.
- He feels that PPVs today don't mean as much as they used to, saying that
"The PPVs are the set up for Monday Night" He's not a fan of Women's Wrestling,
and there are a few other problems like too much talking.
- He feels that storytelling should be done in the ring, and that they should
be able to take two unknowns and put them together and the fans should be
able to tell who is face & who is heel.
- As far as being with the WWF, he was just happy to be there. He rarely
ever questioned his position and was content with what he was doing. He said
he was a bad business man, but at the time he just enjoyed his time
there.
- He says he still has a passion for wrestling, but there is almost nowhere
to direct it. He says it is very difficult to have a fire burn inside when
you have nowhere to let that passion out and let that passion show.
- He said that the only time he ever questioned his push was when 123 Kid
beat Razor Ramon on Raw. Powers got annoyed and questioned Vince on why 123
Kid got that win. Powers said Vince could have given him the win, and Vince
looked at him and said "You know Jim...I could have" After that, Powers said
he'd take time off to freshen up, but he never got called back in. He accepted
being let go from the WWE, and moved in.
- When talking about The Young Stallions, Powers says that as far as he knows
there were no major plans for them. He says that he was different from Roma
in many ways. He mentions that when they first started teaming, he went to
Roma's house and it was a giant and beautiful house and Roma was dressed
to the T's and Powers wasn't as fancy. Powers said he never really was someone
who had wealth and thinks that there are could be problems between two guys
in their 20's if they come from very different places.
- He was glad to get the win over the Hart Foundation.
But, he had no expectations following that win.
- When asked if he had any anger towards Roma now, he
says he doesn't. The two appear on indy shows together from time to time
and have decided to get along. He says their problems were 20 years ago and
they're over now.
- Powers saw the video on YouTube titled "Jim Powers
VS Paul Roma" which discusses the possibility of the two hooking it up to
see who the better Young Statllion is or was. Powers says he found the video
funny and would welcome the opportunity. He says he hasn't run it by Paul
Roma yet but would love to give it a try. He then says, going off from the
before mentioned, that it would still be difficult because to get a program
like that going they'd need a promoter that runs more than one off shows.
- When asked about the possibility of Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff starting
their own wrestling promotion, he said he'd like to do it. He's always liked
Hogan.
- Concerning Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, he says he's
seen it and has no idea how they manage to get a crowd to watch the actual
matches. He can't figure out how they'd get people to sit there to watch
novices try to wrestle.
- As for TNA, Powers says he's seen it a few times. He doesn't think it is
an option for him because the style isn't really his. It seems like a young
wrestler's promotion with a lot of high flying and while he can do some high
risk moves, he isn't interested in working that style. Plus, he and Jeff
Jarrett "never saw eye to eye on much".
- In the WWF, he says that he ran with the rebellious crowd and wonders if
he was guilty by association and wonders if that hurt his push.
- In WCW he got a fresh start, and he enjoyed it. He said that WWF was very
stressful and WCW was more laid back and he had fun.
- He got in to WCW after being called up to get a look at what he could do.
After the tryout, he went to Kevin Sullivan and asked if he should keep in
touch and Eric Bischoff approached him and said, "Jim, we want you".
- WCW was supposed to have a stable called The Young Lions with him, Alex
Wright, Joe Gomez, & The Renegade. They teamed for a match or two, but
he thinks the gimmick was "too corny" and it got scrapped. He laughs about
the Baywatch style video of them walking around Orlando taking their shirts
off. But, he was glad to be part of it.
- They gave him Teddy Long as a manager, and he felt that Teddy was good
on the microphone, and Long had some pull with the office. He says he feels
Teddy Long was partially responsible for him ending up on Saturday Night
and Monday Nitro as often as he did.
- There was an angle with Nick Patrick as the heel referee, and even though
Powers got screwed by him several times, Jericho was the one that beat him
in a match. Powers said there may have been plans for him in that angle,
but he doesn't remember.
- Powers felt, when entering WCW, that he was getting a chance to show his
wares a little more than he did previously and was climbing the ladder. But,
somewhere in 1997, he was paired up with Bobby Walker. Powers feels the team
stripped away the things that were starting to click for his character and
really dragged him down. He doesn't blame Walker, he just thinks it was a
wrong turn for his progress in WCW and stopped his climbing of the ladder
and instead had him falling off of it.
- He wrestled Wrath in his last WCW match, and suffered an injury after taking
a sidewalk slam. At that point he felt the roster was huge, and felt that
there wasn't a place for him so he took The worker's comp and then left
WCW.
- He has no regrets about wrestling. He says it was a Rockstar like atmosphere,
kept himself in great shape, traveled the world, and basically had fun. He
misses it sometimes and if WWE called him, he'd have to think about it though
because the life style can be tough.
- When talking about the wrestlers who have passed away, he says that its
hard to adjust once they move past wrestling.
- John Laurenitis contacted Powers regarding a training position either in
Deep South or Florida a year or so ago. Powers felt it was a lock and got
prepared for it even leaving his job. The conversations got so intense that
he even met with them at the offices. But, as time passed, Powers didn't
hear back and finally chased to which Laurenitis told him "We're sorry, Jim.
There's nothing for you at this time. But, that is not to say there won't
be in the near future." Powers said this same song and dance happened a few
times and he only has to be burned so many times before he comes to realize
it won't happen.
- Powers was on the set for "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke. He taped a
talking part scene with Rourke. He doesn't know if that part will make the
movie, but he feels overall it seemed to be well put together.
Woird Associations:
Jake Roberts: "Tremendous Mind...Best Psychologist in the Wrestling
Business"
Giant Gonzalez: "Goofy Costume"
Bret Hart: "Tremendous Technician, Good Guy, Dysfunctional Family"
Owen Hart: "One of the greatest guys I've ever met"
Ultimate Warrior: "Intense...More bizarre than people say" They spent alot
of time together and have kept in touch. There is also a discussion about
the Self Destruction DVD.
Randy Savage: "Another intense individual... overprotective of Liz...but
he loved her"
Eric Bischoff: "Love him or Hate him, kind of strong. Like him...Never did
me wrong"
After the Word Associations, there are discussions about Powers being willing
to appear on WWE DVDs if asked. Also, he says the reason Vince seems to be
blocking out Macho Man is that Savage left without Vince getting the chance
to job him out.
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