|
KONNAN INTERVIEW ONLINE |
 Mexican wrestling legend and current
NWA TNA superstar Konnan joins us for 45 minutes of a shoot style interview
to end all shoot style interviews!
Konnan speaks on racism in wrestling, growing up how
he did, and becoming a superstar globally, plus much more!
Listen
in Streaming Media ::
Download
to Desktop
NOTE: This and all interviews are in Real Audio format. If you do
not have a Real Player, you can download one free by
clicking here. It's free and is
a relatively small download.
KONNAN
-- In terms of children
that had a rough childhood, as Konnan had, he gives the following advice.
He says he was thrown out of schools and it came back to haunt him and it
haunted him because he had trouble getting jobs. He says try to maintain
your grades so you can get in a good college.
-- He went to Mexico
and saw how a show there compared to America. He loved the capes and costumes
and how "cool" it was. The next day, he started training.
-- He was trained
by Rey Mysterio Sr, Eddie Guerrero, Negro Casas and Super
Astro.
-- The difference
between Mexican and American wrestling is Mexican is faster, more high fly,
more into submission moves, but doesn't have as much psychology so the American
fans can't understand it. But, he likes Mexican wrestling more.
-- Max Moon was
his idea. It was a robot design he had seen in Japan. It was to have hidden
tubes that shot fire and confetti. Vince invested $13,000 in the costume.
But, it was the "steroid era" as Konnan puts it and he was small compared
to Hogan, Road Warriors, Kerry Von Erich, Warrior, and people like that so
he wasn't taken on the road very much. Konnan wanted a guaranteed contract
and at the time, Hogan and Warrior were the only two that had
it.
-- They were constantly
trying to modify the gimmick. But, Konnan was making money in Mexico with
a guarantee. So, when Paul Diamond asked to take over the gimmick, Konnan
was let go.
-- He has heat with
Vince but not over Max Moon. He feels his tendency to speak his mind is what
keeps him from going back to WWE. Konnan can't believe that the Max Moon
problems is the only reason why he hasn't been brought back.
-- Konnan feels
Paul Heyman really revolutionized the business. He feels Paul brought in
and gave the smaller guys an opportunity and that sparked what you have today,
more small guys than ever. He also says that Steve Austin used a lot of The
Sandman's character when he went to the WWE fresh off of ECW. So, ECW's style
was a style he liked and it changed the business.
-- He went to WCW
because he felt he did everything he could do in Mexico. He had done commercials,
soap operas, won every title there was to win, booked for several years and
every year was profitable, and beat Jake "The Snake" Roberts in a hair match.
He felt he had to go to WCW because nobody knew him outside of Mexico. He
says the key is to make it in the United States, be it in movies, music,
or spots. So, WCW was big.
-- WCW wanted to
sign Konnan because when Lucha went to California, they drew more people
than the WWF or WCW did. So, WCW wanted him to deliver the Latino fans. He
feels once he went there, that wasn't what they did.
-- Winning the US
title the first time was bitter sweet. One Man Gang didn't want to put Konnan
over and he was very stiff with him.
-- He was 100%
responsible for the lucha invasion to WCW. When Rey Mysterio walked in, people
said "Oh, I didn't know we had midgets today." He told Rey to go in there
and prove himself to everyone. In his time in WCW, he saw two matches get
a standing ovation. That first match that Rey Mysterio had with Dean Malenko
and Rey Mysterio against Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc
1997.
-- Working with
Ric Flair was different than anything he had done because Flair called the
matches in the ring. He feels that is very old school and he had never done
it because he usually calls his matches in the back but he felt it was cool
doing the improvisational wrestling with Flair. Then, when he went to Puerto
Rico, he wrestled Carlos Calon and Carlos wrestles that style. So, he had
to learn it and feels that by the time he left Puerto Rico, he was a master
at it. He feels some of his best matches were done
improvisational.
-- At the time of
the Wolfpack, they were mad at Kevin Nash, Lex Luger, and himself. He feels
they really stepped on the Wolfpack and prevented them from reaching their
full potential.
-- Hogan and Nash
had a problem and Eric Bischoff was on Hogan's side. Luger was helping "stir
the shit" in the locker room with Nash, and Konnan was lumped with them because
they hung out together at the time. Plus, Konnan still wrestled in Mexico
behind Bischoff's back.
-- In terms of
merchandising, the Wolfpack was number two next to Goldberg and Konnan himself
was number three. "Eric {Bischoff} was really good at getting back at people
if he was mad at them."
-- He got along
with Lex Luger at first, but at the end of the Wolfpack he became a
jerk.
-- Beating Chris
Jericho for the TV title was fun. He had been friends with Chris Jericho
since Jericho wrestled in Mexico but he had no idea how good of a ring general
Jericho was until he had that match with him.
-- The Master P.
stuff was well received by the fans but WCW didn't want it to succeed. Bischoff,
Nash, and Sullivan were three white guys that didn't understand rap music.
He feels Kevin Sullivan booked it as though the West Texas Rednecks were
the faces and they were the heels.
-- At one point,
Konnan had a chance to sign a million dollar contract with a rap label but
Bischoff refused, again, because he was mad at him. He feels Bischoff let
his anger stand in the way of business.
-- He liked both
the Wolfpack and the Filthy Animals but he liked the Filthy Animals more.
That was created because "Well f*ck, if they're going to bury us, bury us
together."
-- He liked Vince
Russo in WCW. He says he gets a lot of flack but he feels Vince was always
very passionate about the product. He also feels that if you watch TNA now,
you can see that he can write a good wrestling show. He feels TNA's show
is simply better than the WWE's show.
-- Rick Steiner
was very stiff with him in one match. Shane Douglas was supposed to make
the save for him and he never got the call to come out, Rick got angry and
started taking it out on Konnan. Konnan didn't fight back because at the
time Bischoff was supposed to be buying the company and Rick was a friend
of Bischoff so he felt he could get fired if he reacted. But, he talked to
Rick about it recently and Rick apologized and Konnan feels that is good
enough.
-- He was surprised
to see WCW sold to Vince. He feels it was a huge negative if you just look
at numbers. Plus, there are a lot of people out of work because of it. He
says now there are only two games in town and that's just not
enough.
-- He feels racism
is a big issue in wrestling because it is not like sports where if you don't
like one organization or team you can go to another one. He feels everyone
in charge of WCW was white and as such some blacks and Latinos didn't get
a fair shake. He says people can say they're tired of hearing about it, but
it's fact.
-- He feels the
weekly pay per views are working. He feels it is hard to keep people buying
because you can watch the WWE for free every week but he says people do buy
it because it is just a better show and that can't be argued.
-- He talks about
hating the business when working with WCW and feels that BG James lost his
love for the business at one point as well but now is starting to feel it
again.
-- The original
Radicals group was Konnan, Shane Douglas, Billy Kidman, Chris Benoit, Eddie
Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko. They were all in the office together.
When they left the room, Shane decided to stay because he made more money
with WCW than he would've made in the WWE. Kidman was talked into staying
by being told "if you stay, we'll do something with you." Konnan stayed because
they wouldn't let Rey or Juvi go. But, Bill Busch suspended him for three
months as punishment.
-- Konnan doesn't
like the Internet's role in professional wrestling. He feels a lot of the
guys on the Internet are too negative. He feels a lot of the people are fans
since kids and that's fine but they get into their personal lives. He also
talks about someone saying who the Easter Bunny was at a recent pay per view
and says, "who gives a damn?" He feels these guys should go out and try to
get girls rather than spending all day night on the Internet.
-- "Jim Duggan Sucks"
is a quote Konnan pulls from an Internet column. He says wrestling is
entertainment. The bottom line is "Did you like it or didn't you like it,"
He feels Duggan made you feel it and he can connect with the people so that's
all that matters in this business.
-- He had a problem
with Vampiro at one time, but now he gets along with him. He feels Vampiro
is now constantly trying to work him. He said he's a worker in and out of
the ring. He's a very intelligent guy in and out of the ring.
-- He dislikes women's
wrestling. He feels TNA has Trinity and that she is exposed when she wrestles
because she's not ready yet.
-- There is a chance
he could go to the WWE in the future with Rey Mysterio but he really can't
talk about it now.
Plus, WORD ASSOCIATIONS!
One early highlight of these is:
-- Brad Siegel:
"A f*cking asshole. If I ever see him, I'll punch his lights
out."
Plus, Rey Mysterio
Jr, Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon, and a very behind the scenes story about
his past with Mil Mascaras.
Listen
in Streaming Media ::
Download
to Desktop
© Copyright 2005
Wrestling Epicenter
All rights reserved
Privacy
Policy
|
![[Image]](http://www.wrestlingepicenter.com/topgraph.jpg)
