 Show: The Piledriver
Guest: IWF Head Trainer Kevin Knight
Date: 11/26/06
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley & Chad Perry
Interview By: Patrick Kelley & James Walsh
Production By: Chris Furguson & James Walsh
KEVIN KNIGHT
- Despite many appearances with the WWE, Knight was never offered a full
time contract with the company, and says that the guys being trained in IWF
are more athletic than him, and he hopes that they make it to WWE. A few
of them have already made appearances as enhancement talent, and even Dawn
Marie came out of IWF.
- When talking about training women for wrestling, Knight says that the male
fans, which make up a majority of the wrestling fan base, the women, do not
have to do much to impress the crowds. However, he says that their training
is rough, and he talks about how well Fit Finlay trained the women’s
wrestlers for WWE a few years back.
- Knight then talks about how Simon Diamond was one of the coaches for the
IWF, and says he likes having the veterans around to train the younger students.
- When Camp IWF opened in 1999, veterans and great superstars have been brought
back in order to train the students and lend their knowledge. Tito Santana,
Ken Shamrock, Honky Tonk Man, Tom Pritchard, Iron Sheik, Bob Orton, and several
others have trained students at IWF.
- When talking about the entertainment aspect of wrestling, Knight says that
the personalities of the wrestlers should be the natural personality
“Turned up about 10 notches”. He says that with the death of Kayfabe,
fans can see through wacky characters, and with the prominence of reality
TV shows, it is necessary for the wrestlers to be more realistic.
- He feels that mixing UFC style fights with Pro Wrestling matches, similar
to what is done in Japan, can be very confusing to the fans. He also mentions
that the WWE has failed when they venture outside of wrestling (WBF, XFL)
it doesn’t usually work.
- Knight was trained for wrestling while he was in college doing radio sports
shows. He says that he would give away free merchandise to the crowd,
representing the radio station. People in the business took notice of his
size and his personality, and he began training with Rick Ratchet, Johnny
V, and Nova. He also states that it is important to realize that a wrestler
never stops learning no matter how long they’ve been in the business.
- When talking about the Independent Wrestling scene as a whole, he says
that there is a lot of bad stuff out there, and says that it is “killing
the business”. He says that promoters should put guys on the card that
have respect for the business and deserve to be there. A lot of the undeserving
wrestlers that he talks about are the ones who do not know about the past
of wrestling and the legends that came before them.
- In his career, Knight has worked with many major stars and enjoyed wrestling
them all. It was an honor to get in the ring with them for him, even though
he lost most of those matches. He says that it was great to take the knowledge
he learned from those guys and apply it to teaching his students.
- He says that he likes to mix the main graduates of IWF with the legends
that make guest appearances. Knight also points out that it is important
to realize that it is those legends that sell the tickets and they should
be made to look good. This leads into a discussion about Summerslam 2005
where Hulk Hogan defeated Shawn Michaels even though Hogan only makes one
appearance a year. He says that many people ordered that PPV just to see
Hulk Hogan, and they did not want to be disappointed, and that is why Hogan
should be allowed to go over guys like Orton and Michaels who the casual
fans are not as familiar with: “If you go into a restaurant and shout
out Randy Orton, almost nobody will know who he is. If you go into a restaurant
and shout Hulk Hogan’s name, almost everybody will know who he is”
Hulk Hogan brings in the casual fans. He then mentions that sports do the
same thing when they bring in a legend to sell out an arena.
- What separates IWF from other training schools is that they make an effort
to make sure the students learn from the wrestlers of the past as they offer
a huge library of matches for them to study. He says that those students
that do that tend to be more successful.
- Several IWF students will be taking part in the WACK promotion on Nickelodeon
and Knight hypes it up saying that his students will be involved with it.
He says that it came about after a contest in which viewers got to design
characters for a Danny Phantom movie, and many of the characters designed
for that contest became the characters that the wrestlers are using on WACK.
It is a family oriented product and will be appropriate for children to watch.
Knight says it’s good for the IWF guys to get the experience from it.
- TNA Wrestling comes up next and we specifically talk about the X Division.
He says that it would be wise for Indy wrestlers to do fewer high spots than
the X Division guys mainly because nobody will see it. He says that it is
ok to do that stuff when you get to TNA or WWE and you’ve already perfected
the basics.
- He says that TNA is a good alternative right now and a good place for wrestlers
to go to now, but he also mentions that TNA is not anywhere near WWE and
the debuts of wrestlers like Angle and Sting is not making a huge impact.
“Wrestling is not hip” he says and TNA is having trouble selling
a product that is not as popular as it was 8 years ago. He also says that
wrestling is on a cycle like every other trend. However, it is difficult
for TNA to be the trend setter simply because they are brand new.
- He also states that most fans equate all wrestling with WWE, and TNA is
having trouble separating itself from WWE even with things like the Six Sided
Ring. He says that on Raw you see Smackdown and ECW guys, so it seems like
Vince McMahon owns all the brands. He then states that when casual fans switch
over to TNA and see Kurt Angle and Christian Cage, they will probably assume
it is WWE.
- This goes into the brand extension and says that fans are confused by it.
He says that mixing the brands is causing the confusion, and even having
two world champions causes confusions as well.
- While talking about the mixing of brands he says “No football fan
will tune in one week and see Eli Manning playing for the Giants, and then
tune in the next week and see him playing for the Jets” This of course
led to some funny jokes made at Eli Manning’s expense.
- Going back to the training of wrestlers, he says that all federations have
a different size of rings, and the wrestlers will have to adjust to it just
like they would any other adversity.
- The IWF is open five days a week and the wrestlers are encouraged to practice
in the ring at least four nights a week, and even the graduates have
opportunities to train. He says that the legends have said many times that
“If you don’t want to get in the ring 3-4 days a week, do not
bother”
- The prices of the IWF are far more affordable than most training schools,
and the students are given every chance possible to improve. He also mentions
the family atmosphere among the school.
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