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DON CALLIS & EVAN GINZBURG INTERVIEWS
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In my mind and for my money, this man is one of the
best heel talkers in the history of professional wrestling. Playing the key
role in the long forgotten WWF angle "The Truth Commission" and the infamous
"Network" angle in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Don has been around the
block a time or two. And, in this exclusive interview, Don "Cyrus" Callis
takes you throughout his carreer in pro wrestling from start to finish.
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"CYRUS THE VIRUS" DON CALLIS
& EVAN
GINZBURG
-- Don was a big
wrestling fan. He grew up in Winnipeg They had the AWA there. Nick Bockwinkel
and Jim Bronzel were his favorites.
-- When Don went
to the WWE in 1997, he had wrestled for 8 years. He went there to wrestle
but they put him in a wrestling/talker role. Vince felt talking was his strong
suit. Don resisted at first but eventually he realized Vince was right because
he wasn't as bang up as he had become used to. So, that is why he is more
a talker now than wrestler.
-- He still hosts
No Holds Barred the radio show in Canada. He has no college broadcasting
training in that field. He learned his talking through wrestling.
-- Tony Condello
(who also trained Roddy Piper) trained him for in ring wrestling. Tony had
a few television shows in Canada and Don was involved in all aspects of the
company and learned a lot about both on and off camera wrestling.
-- Bad News Allan
also helped train him.
-- Bret Hart was
partially responsible for him entering the WWE.
-- The Truth Commission
did not work in that era because it was too "black and white cartoonish."
He said it probably would have worked in the late 80's or 90's. He says most
people didn't even know what Truth Commission meant in terms of South Africa.
He says that was not their best idea and they realized it quickly and put
an end to it.
-- We talk about
our interview with Bull Buchaman where he discussed Kurgan's in ring style.
Don said Kurgan is a great worker and is a great killer but in the WWE there
were too many guys his size or bigger so the size difference and the fact
that he is a monster didn't show as well as it does on the independent circuit
He says he also was not the best working big man of all time.
-- The Human Oddities
was a fun gimmick but the problem was lack of direction. They weren't sure
if they were to be heels or faces but ultimately they ended up in confusion.
He would have liked to have seen them stay heel and use guys like they did
with the Howard Stern characters.
-- The WWE didn't
renew his contract. Vince didn't like male managers because he didn't think
they could draw money. He was supposed to be the color commentator on Heat.
That never came to be. Jim Ross wanted him to work in the office but he refused,
perhaps foolishly. He wanted him to be an on air performer. They all told
him he had an open door there but he was not going to be renewed. He went
home, soaked for a few days, then called ECW.
-- He liked ECW
better. The differences were money wise in terms of the size of the companies.
He liked it better because he was given a bigger opportunity to do more.
He feels he arrived at a good time because he came in just prior to them
going on national TV so he had enough time to prove to Paul (Heyman) that
he had a place on the roster.
-- Working with
Joel Gertner was fun but wrestling him was not. He hated the match he had
with Joel because he wanted to have a great match with him and prove something.
Tommy Dreamer told him that nobody could have a great match out of Gertner.
He couldn't bump for Joel like Ric Flair does because he had a neck injury
plus ECW didn't want him to feeling that Joel could not pull it off anyway.
So, Tommy laid out the match and Don tweaked it and they did it. Tommy said
he got a good match out of Gertner but he doesn't feel it was very good at
all. He feels the match, also, was a few months to late. He says it would
have been received better for the Heatwave pay per view instead of the Anarchy
Rulz pay per view.
-- When he first
beat up Paul Heyman on TV, people were amazed. Nobody knew he was a trained
wrestler.
-- He doesn't have
a lot of respect for a lot of the Internet critics. He occasionally is sent
stuff from Joey Styles. He says people saying the Network a rip off of the
NWO is proof that some wrestling fans just don't get anything subtle. He
says it was the total opposite. He said if you wanted to be accurate, it
was closer to a Mr. McMahon gimmick and not a rip off of the NWO but it wasn't
a rip off of either to be honest. He said his dad told him that if you want
to get what you want, walk into a place and act like you own it. He said
it was great. But anybody that compared it to the NWO is "a complete
moron."
-- He isn't sure
how much of the TNN against ECW behind the scenes was starred up by Paul
because he knew TNN was dealing with Vince. He feels TNN was a very "folksy"
organization at that point, which it isn't anymore, and ECW was just too
cutting edge for them at the time. He talks about being pitted between Roller
Jam and Rock 'n' Bowl saying how ridiculous it was.
-- In regard to
mic skills, he and Jericho learned a lot the same way. They learned by talking
in their cars and in the mirror at home. You have to figure out your character
and how you can relate that to who you really are.
-- His work in ECW
improved after he was there for six months because he understood his character
better and had feuds to deal with. He isn't overly ecstatic about what he's
done in TNA yet because he hasn't done as well as he knows he can do. He
says the key is to put the guy over without killing him. You can insult him
but at least compliment him first this way if you beat him, you're beating
a great wrestler and not "a piece of crap."
-- A lot of guys
were in denial of ECW closing because nobody wanted it to end. It didn't
sink in until January of 2001.
-- After ECW closed,
he called Lance Storm. Dave Meltzer talked to him about going to WCW as well
and Dave had talked to Eric Bischoff. who was interested. Bischoff talked
to Lance about him, as well. Lance tried to talk Eric into getting him into
color commentary. Also, Joey Styles was negotiating with Eric and Joey also
wanted Don to do color on Nitro with Joey doing play by play on Nitro. When
the Bischoff/Fusient deal fell through with WCW and the industry became what
it became today, he realized he had to find something to make sure he'll
be protected after wrestling.
-- He went to college
for two years and got his MBA at that point. He says that's his security.
-- TNA had been
contacting him heavily before he showed up and it was nice to be wanted.
-- TNA is a lot
like ECW in that it has the upstart spirit. He says also there are a lot
of the guys including Jerry Lynn, who has been once of his best friends for
years, and Shane Douglas who has been his mentor in a lot of
ways.
-- It's tough to
say where TNA will lead without a TV deal. From a business perspective, he
sees it as a high growth company. He feels that although the business is
down, it is still a big market. He feels having the deal with Panda is a
big deal and they're doing a lot of good things with the business aspect
plus you have Jerry and Jeff Jarrett who both know the business incredibly
well. He also talks about Russo and Gilberti both being very creative as
well. He says that before he worked there, he got hooked on the product so
he knows fans can, will, and have.
-- AJ Styles is
like Rob Van Dam in 2000 in that they are great athletes that are like nobody
else.
-- He likes that
he is working with Jerry Lynn. He stresses that he isn't about himself anymore
but now is about getting guys over saying that he hopes that he can make
people want to see Jerry more than they do now. He says Jerry Lynn is their
Bret Hart because he's their best pure wrestler that everyone respects.
-- Don says to stay
tuned to TNA for more big things from him. He also says that he doesn't know
if there are any fans out there of his. If he reads this, Dan and James both
are so there are at least 2 out there!
Plus WORD ASSOCIATIONS
with names like Dawn Marie, Francine, Joey Styles, Lance Storm, Owen Hart,
Bret Hart, and more!
<u>Evan
Ginzburg</u>
-- Wrestling Then
and Now (his publication) is a labour of love.
-- Johnny Valiant
showed up with a film crew at an event Evan was at and they hit it off. He
is happy to work with Johnny.
-- He feels the
Internet journalists are not that professional. He says he can't understand
how the Internet talked so much about Kevin Nash getting a haircut but has
no time for Johnny Valiant's one-man show. He talks about the legitimate
press that covered Johnny's shows and how the Internet journalists just thumbed
their nose at it.
-- He attends a
lot of indies. He isn't impressed with most of the guys except AJ Styles,
Red, Jerry Lynn, and a few others.
-- He has seen some
great stuff from NWA TNA and he has seen some stuff that makes him wonder
if he'd go see it if it were right next door. He feels Russo should let wrestling
be wrestling.
-- He says guys
like Eddie Guerrero are good to watch in the WWE but he isn't a fan of today's
stuff.
-- James and Evan
carry on a long-standing conversation about wrestling that leaves Daniel
in a stunned silence for quite a long time.
-- Evan feels wrestling
classics still work today saying that Johnny Valiant wrestled Jimmy Snuka
a few weeks ago and Johnny got the biggest heel reaction of the night using
his gold card.
-- This is an
interview/wrapup segment that you simply have to hear for it to do justice.
These few bullet points do not even come close to covering everything talked
about.
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