 It may have taken us a few days in the week to get it online, due to technical difficulties at TII towers, but finally its here - the real first interview with WWE release'ee, Zach Gowen.
Zach speaks on such things as his time in OVW, the story (or lack of) a meeting with Hulk Hogan as a child, returning to NWA:TNA, having Sable on his lap (and her Playboy pictorial, a hilarious segment) and his other WWE feuds, as well of course as his future plans. All in all a great compact interview.
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"TENACIOUS Z" ZACH GOWEN
-- When we catch Zach, he's at a Chinese Buffet indulging in a Sunday Night dinner with 'The Technical Messiah' Alex Shelley.
-- Questioning then goes along the lines of Zach's future, such as where he's booked next and how to book him for a show. "The next show I'm booked on for right now is March 21st in Downtown Detroit". That show is at the St Andrews hall (iwrwrestling.com for more information).
-- Jim Ross' statement from WWE.com (which addressed all the releases and rumors of future releases) is then touched on, with listener Poncho Jones' question asking if there was any bad blood between he and WWE. The simple answer was no.
-- Something which not all fans will know - the meeting that was documented with Hulk Hogan while Zach was a youngster never happened! The whole story was something that Mike Tenay of NWA:TNA made up live on the air, and Zach liked the story so much that he just went along with it.
-- When doctors found out that he had cancer, the tumor in his leg had already progressed too far to have any option other than amputation. If that hadnt've been performed, it would've spread to his lungs and eventually killed him.
-- Growing up he'd always been a huge wrestling fan, but he finally decided it was something he wanted to do in his freshman year in high school. He was trained in Detroit by Truth Martini (hotwrestling.net for more info), in a school Zach highly recommends. In his training, his trainer was slightly apprehensive about letting him in the ring, but since Zach had paid his money and signed his release, he really had no choice - and once in, the trainer invited him back.
-- Discrimination has never really been a problem for Zach - except with girls. He then tells us a quick life story excerpt about how in high school he was told "you'd be cute if you had two legs".
-- His pro debut came in March 2002, wrestling against Truth Martini in front of roughly "17 people, 13 of which were [Zach's] friends and family".
-- Most people got to see him first off in NWA:TNA. Gowen's opinions are that when he was there he really enjoyed it, and it's a great place for guys who aren't in the WWE and for the smaller guys. On the topic of if there's a chance he'll go back - "yeah there's a chance, never say never in wrestling", but as of this writing Zach hasn't been contacted.
-- Zach then speaks about the match the entire world seemed to see with BG James. He worked a dark match the week before with Truth Martini, and they decided to fly him back in the next week to do the same, but, when he got there it had been changed and he was working BG.
-- His first experience on screen in WWE was in an angle with Vince, Hogan and Piper. Zach said that all of them were extremely nice to him and nobody had any problems with what was planned.
-- Zach then takes some listener questions. First is one about the scene where Sable 'straddled' Zach. He said that after having many a sexual fantasy about Sable, it was real fun to do but that he thinks (said in a satirical way) that she enjoyed it way more than he did - with that being the reason she kept messing it up, so that they had to keep re-shooting it!
-- Via subscription, he already has the Torrie/Sable Playboy issue. Zach then proceeds to make an extremely rude comment which probably isn't suitable to be transcribed (but can be heard on the audio of the interview) - a very funny piece of audio, which words don't actually describe all too well.
-- "People don't know about the Big Show, he's like one of the coolest guys, the nicest people I've ever met", one of Zach's many good comments about Paul Wight aka The Big Show.
-- When mentioning his match against Vince McMahon, his WWE Pay Per View debut, the word he repeatedly uses is 'pressure'. "I was scared," he continues. The blade job Vince took made Zach think that he had to hurry up the finish, and it may have ended up coming off that way, but the finish that buyers saw was indeed the planned ending.
-- Mr. America (aka Hulk Hogan) leaving the federation was the next subject spoken about. James asks if Hogan leaving affected his storyline/push, and Gowen thinks that it probably did. The long-term plan was to work Vince, but with Hogan's departure it just rushed it along faster than had been expected.
-- Paul Clark then has two questions he submitted answered. Firstly, Zach enjoyed the bump with Brock Lesnar, where 'he' was thrown down the stairs - because it wasn't him. And the second question was regarding Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore, both of whom Zach really enjoyed working with. "In my opinion he should be at the top right now," he exclaims about Matt Hardy and "Shannon's awesome".
-- After he was pinned in his final television match against Tajiri, Sakoda and Yang legitimately knocked him out when they hit him with the double Rock Bottom. "It looked pretty gruesome ya know". He thought that he would be back on television within a couple of weeks, but he never returned.
-- They were talking about what he was going to do in his home town, when the idea came up about having him put over Lesnar. And thus, the angle where he bled a lot and had his leg 'broken' against the ringpost was born. Daniel brings up that since he technically won the match via DQ, he has a win over two former WWE Champions then in the Big Show and Brock Lesnar.
-- Predictions are then given about the Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar match from last week's No Way Out, since this was recorded half an hour prior to the start of the event. Zach put his money on Guerrero, which proved of coursed to be a wise move.
-- Gowen says he really wanted to work with Jamie Knoble and Rey Mysterio in the WWE. Knoble he thought he would work well with, and Mysterio, as he was a favorite of Zach's when growing up. And now, on the Indy scene he's looking forward to work the Michigan guys like Sabin and Shelley again, and hopes to work Jerry Lynn
-- William Gardner's question about Zach being called a 'Novelty Act' is then discussed. "There's some truth to that to some degree… sure the novelty's there, but at the same time I am a professional wrestler".
-- The story which circulated on the 'net about Zach apparently suing WWE if he was ever released is then touched apon. "I heard that too and have no idea where that came from - it's absolutely ludicrous… there's no truth to that whatsoever".
-- Another rumor is brought up about his backstage 'ego'. "Why would I have an ego, you know what I'm saying?," Zach says before explaining what an honor he has had blessed upon him.
-- We then roll into word associations (only available via the audio) with names such as Stephanie McMahon, Tajiri, The Big Show, Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan (including 'partying with Hogan'), Alex Shelley (who of course is still in attendance and comments in the background) and more.
-- James mentions how a lot of Zach's influences are Hispanic, so he asks if he's ever seen the PPV "When World's Collide", which he has - and then comments on.
-- And a final reminder that any prospective promoters can head over to zwrestling.com for the information on bookings, the same place fans can head over for general information. The site is being relaunched and promises to be a lot better than a lot of indy wrestler websites.
-- We hit into the after-show recap with James and Dan, and the show itself rounds off with the new hit single from Tesla (one of James' favorite bands), "Caught In A Dream" (album out on March 9th).
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