Q. Your dream opponent would be?
R. Against Andre the Giant, 10 million dollars, direct deposit on a pole (as long as I'm booker not promoter).
Q. What is your best road story?
R. The Memphis boys and the Cupcake Wars. Fans brought the higher-up-on-the-card guys cupcakes. Brian Christopher would whip them at your car on I-40 going like 100 mph so eventually you learned to steal some of his while he was wrestling for the ride home later when he caught up to you.
Q. Who is someone you always like to watch wrestle?
R. Terry Funk, Ricky Steamboat or Bret Hart. They make it look so easy…
Q. As a promoter who would be in your money match?
R. The Rock vs. Cena and/or CM Punk.
Q. Do you think tag team wrestling is a lost art?
R. It sure is, booking needs to be done better. The hell with rushing things and this new-age philosophy, aren't THEY supposed to be the marks aren't we supposed to dictate what WE DO to THEM?
Q. If you got the call from New York, would you change your gimmick and to what?
R. I'm old now by their standards and have no ambition left to go there anymore. I've come seemingly too close so many times and if doing a handful of jobs up there is all that I'm remembered for, hey, I don't mind living like that but hey, it's their money so whatever they would like as long as the price is right. I mean for $40 a night I was a homosexual, a mercenary Doctor (Dr. Death, stethoscope and all) a Wolfman, Latino lover, a Luchadore-hey, here is something, if they could book me, legit, in a fountain of youth, hmmm, then again the whole deal I do now being a goth/emo-psycho-been-trippin'-on-God-only-knows-what-all-night-at-a-crazy-rave-club gimmick is so comfortable for me and a first of its kind...
Q. Do you think titles need to mean something again?
R. They sure do no doubt on this one. Money would be ALOT easier to draw with the added credibility of titles.
Q. You own a promotion, who are the first five workers you hire?
R. If it could be anyone and not to wrestle but to consult and so forth, Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, The Rock, (John) Cena and (Steve) Austin.
Q. What is the craziest match you have done?
R. Ever seen the Sex and Violence Deathmatch and Oil Wrestling promotion I owned in Memphis? Well, easily any of the roofing shingles for canvas deathmatches, the Home Improvement with all those panes of glass was also brutal, or the time DJ Hyde put me through the aquarium. I mean, there are STILL pics on my Facebook of me dangling from a barbed-wire cross. That's right, a finish we booked was me (as Craig Elliott Openheimer-CEO the evil corporate greed guy) getting pinned to and by a cross. I am deeply religious and looked at it as artistic merit. It is way to deep to cover here but imagine security and others playing like 13 apostles carrying me out of there? This is in the almighty religious bible-belt of Memphis. I also borrowed from my buddy JR Benson and resurrected a character called Ku Klux Klown. The show ended with a really hot black lady with ridiculous implants (my second ex-wife) making out with KKK (me) to end the show while "Wild Thing" blared out.
Q. Do you prefer hardcore, traditional or a mix of the two for your own matches?
R. Hardcore/Deathmatch are kind of fun. I just don't recommend it to anyone going through the depression I was in when I did a majority of the ones I did from 2007 - 2010. I'd say build it up through traditional (matches) and (then) for the big blow off, well, why not. Doing them every time out is pointless, dull, redundant, boring and it kills the aura. The thing people DON'T UNDERSTAND is that the Rally Point in Memphis was paying us $1,500 per gig plus we kept the door and they got to distribute the DVD and kept the bar. Later the New Daisy had a band giving us $1,500 plus half the door and also another venue (The Buccaneer) was giving us $2,500 at first every other month to hold the events outdoors so it wasn't these backyard yoyos that do it for next to nothing in front of nobody for nothing. Only ONCE at the end of February did we hold an event right in my backyard and that was because the venue got shut down (for violations) 2 1/2 weeks before we had sold all the tickets to a benefit show for our security guy and he needed the money BAD (In Rod We Trust, it's on YouTube). We sold lots of DVDs and brought in bands to round out the evening, we had some REALLY killer names, Lita's band The Luchagores, Marilyn Manson, Slayer, the SnV (Sex and Violence) events are still going today in Cheyenne, WY, Canton, Ill and Jasper, Alabama it is ran by a guy who started out a big fan of what I did. He HATES when his name gets out there because he has THE WORLD of a bitch telling people that he has a full line-up. Don't worry though I'll take the heat Bixby, whoops! (Laughs)
Q. Besides you, who is the best to ever step into the ring?
R. I'd be insane to answer "Me" anyway, (Laughs). I'd say for the money he's drawn and longevity, maybe overall, Terry Funk followed by Harley Race. The greatest PROFESSIONAL Wrestler ever we all know is STILL clearly Hogan by far and away no matter what he's become.
Q. Who is your favorite opponent?
R. Lawler-the guy is a ventriloquist I swear. He could take ANYONE and have a good match with them. He ALWAYS brought out the best in me and he was like watching "The Wall" you learned something new each and every single time. I learned more from a 2 minute squash with Lawler than I would have wrestling the same guys I broke in with who knew nothing more than I did.
Q. If you could change one thing about the business, what would it be?
R. How hard it would be to get into it. I'd love to change JUST THAT. After they realized a few months into my Memphis run that they couldn't run me off, eventually Brian Christopher told me that the reason they stuff me in week in and week out against Koko B. Ware who practically murdered me was because they wanted to see if I'd get ran off. THAT was the gage to see if I had what it took or not. I just figured he didn't like me. Eventually Koko told me they did THE EXACT SAME THING to him.
Q. Does wrestling need a union?
R. Not really. The boys would just screw that up to. Can I answer this with a question of my own? If I can cool because I have an answer on stand-by, Ok, you know who ruins wrestling? WE do!
Q. What drew you into the business?
R. EVERYTHING, the gimmicks, the athleticism, pageantry, drama, the booking, it is truly a one-of-kind BIZARRE business. You can be whatever you like practically, in the immortal words of Rip Rogers "Because it is Wrestling, and we say so" (Laughs).
Q. Do you think heels and faces need to be clearly defined again?
R. They sure do! Even UFC does better pitting what is seemingly a babyface vs. a heel.
Q. In the annals of wrestling, what do you want to be said about you?
R. That I gave it my all and could do ANYTHING-book, wrestle (babyface/heel), announce, promote, do the ring, sell popcorn, ref, EVERYTHING. Give ANY promoter a dozen of those and you never have ANYTHING to really worry about (well, other than drawing obviously). Hey, at least you can go places on the 'net and ask around and WOW! I'm not lying/working; I did accomplish what I said I did. Know what else Jerry? NOBODY can take these things FROM me.
Q. What decade, the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s do you think best defined wrestling?
R. Well the '80's took it national and it was the oversaturation and eventually the kiss of death. Here's something I argued on every road trip with Downtown Bruno/Harvey Wippleman about: Vince didn't KILL the business, WE did. Or THEY (the fans) did. How can you continue to get people's money when you get overexposed and through that people see through junkies, sluts, pedophiles, perverts, wifebeaters, scumbags, con-men, idiots, drunks. What did anyone expect? The business was DOOMED with the advent of cable TV. I will say for the sake of answering this one that it was the 2000's. It did the most money and it is going to take one hell of a cycle to top it.
Q. Do you think internet PPVs would help indie promotions?
R. They sure can. It gives them a chance to be seen but a backstory into the promotion has to be done right. It sure is difficult to just staple them to a new product and get people interested in what you are doing but if you have the ball rolling, I mean, I have several friends that work for Beyond Wrestling. They are doing an excellent job of getting this tiny cult of a promotion up and going. WWE's main source of revenue went from being PPV to just simply their syndication. It's amazing how things have changed, remember in the '90's everyone was going CRAZY thinking a monthly PPV would NEVER work because you are taking what is buttering the bread and watering that down? Well with the advent of torrents and all the other things factored in (economy on top of loads of others) PPV itself is now longer the main source. Strange how things work out…
Q. What is one thing you want fans to know about you?
R. How much I TRULY do appreciate them believing in something I am booked on and how much I am truly appreciative of them spending time and money. I HATE it when someone uses wrestling for their own scam. It cost me LOTS of money out of my pocket at times but you can search the WORLD and there is nobody anywhere that can honestly say I ever put the screws to.
Q. Have you ever had aspirations of trying MMA?
R. Back in the mid-90's I was going to Billy Robinson's school in Nashville and though about it but I'm far from a tough guy, I'm just a guy with more passion than common sense and besides, I went there to learn self-defense and found out that I'm not that good at it. I'm too old with too many injuries now; I'm an OLD 37 having had my first match at 15. I'm set in my ways...
Q. Do you think the proposed changes that a lot of state athletic commissions will help or hurt the sport?
R. Yes and I pray to Thesz (God) for the better that it does. Blood tests twice a year don't cost that much and they sure are needed given the latest scare. In Memphis, with the nature of the matches we had, it cost me a little over $200 per person to get checked out and it was worth every penny of it. We would bring in guys to do run-ins while we waited for their test results which would be ready by the time we would bring them back for the blow-off match. Also, prior to that testing FOR YEARS, on various indies, I clearly had a yearning to act stupid and bladed for next to nothing. I have to say that for then I'm probably not too credible up to that point to really speak. That was around 1997 - 2002 when hardcore was in its strongest cycle. Now in 2007, I regularly had to prove to people and get tested for my own stuff and my own promotion. Once I moved back to Jersey and sold the Memphis portion of the Deathmatch promotion in 2010, the scare of that jackbag from Ohio was put out there it was (and should be even stronger) a legit scare to everyone who climbs in a ring and bleeds. In the past I've never had SAC's help me honestly. Doctors from time to time gave me good advice. The thing I like about the State Athletic Commission I deal with now more than anything is Billy Caputo! I LOVE that guy! Now HE is someone who if he put the wheels in motion could get ALOT done. I am HONORED to have him as a friend.
Q. Who is someone you would not want to work again?
R. The guy that wrestled as Mantaur. He was in Memphis as "Tank" when they were doing the whole Truth Commission gimmick. He was rude, clueless, stiff and clumsy, but then again he was a big draw overseas so I should just ignore all that right (sarcasm). He was a putz. I HATED that Bret Hart found something in him that he liked but jumped for joy when someone stooged to the WWF office that they saw him smoking pot under the bleachers.
Q. Do you think blading is a necessary evil in the sport?
R. No, not if done in moderation and remember what I put on my views of State Athletic Commissions and my thoughts out there.
Q. Is the punishment you take worth the money you make?
R. No, it isn't BUT nobody put a gun to my head at 15 years-old and told me I had to have a match. I knew what I was getting into and had so many people warn me about all the bad things in the business and how I was mortgaging my life away.
Q. We are all marks; have to be to love the business, how big of a mark are you, what is your favorite piece of swag?
R. We would all have to be marks reading this, composing this or even being associated with this and THAT is why I love us Jerry (laughs)! Well, for starters I have over 25,000 DVDs and STILL have a massive VHS collection (laughs). I still have TONS of programs that I was in and my old USWA "Feel the Rage" T-shirt. Even have cartoon cells from Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling that my buddy, Kurt Neilson who runs Paul Bearer's website, gave me. He's an animator in California and knows I'm a HUGE '80's WWF mark.
Q. Is there any match you would refuse to do?
R. Anything involving HIV or full-blown AIDs. I've done all the ridiculous deathmatches and hardcore and blading so clearly I'm a goof like that (laughs)! I can't deny it, I'd be coming off as an even bigger fool than I already am for doing all that stuff. Thinking back I should have said "No" to plenty of things but it was a bad way to get noticed or a stupid way for me to draw more people out of a morbid curiosity to our own Memphis Deathmatch stuff. You do some pretty ass-stupid things when you have just 5 people yelling "jump" and in your own delusional mind it sounds like 5,000 but that is all on ME. It was all MY fault.
Q. With more and more ladies taking on the men in the ring, would you have a problem doing a job for a woman?
R. Now, well, it just depends on the woman. Well Jackie (Miss Texas) when they put her in that Nation of Domination thing, slapped me around a lot to get it over. She never beat me in a match and thinking further back, the Memphis territory had Luna beat me silly week after week running in on my matches once I got squashed but again, no actual matches. The deal was there was the angle for me and Gangrel in Memphis to be in a Creatures Stirring In The Night gimmick but it was dropped once they found out the average of the boys was making $40 a night and him and Luna WITH their developmental deals were making $150 a piece. That and him applying for a road agent job with the WWF at the time was the straws that broke the camels back for Randy Hales. He quit and came back to do the Nation of Domination thing with hardly a fraction of his prior responsibilities. He's the biggest retarded retard I've EVER met in wrestling. The biggest lowlife and the biggest pile of shit ever and man that covers ALOT of ground (sorry about the language Jerry). Wow! What the hell am rambling about, oh, Ok, to answer, nope, not at all. Look at how many real-life based women could kick the crap out of a majority of guys out there. If it was done right, Ok, Jamie Dundee went in ONE YEAR from putting Ms. Texas over every single night to a top draw for the territory.
Q. How big of an impact do all the recent deaths of the boys have on the business?
R. It scared me even straighter and I hope that the boys would take notice. I mean 'C MON!!! I got tight through the Memphis territory alone with Pillman (who got me HOOKED on Thesz's "Hooker" book) Steve Doll/Dahl/Dunn, Billy Travis, Dream Machine, Eddie Gilbert (who was responsible for bringing me to Memphis to start with), Moondog Spot (my best friend at the time of his death), let alone, along the way I befriended, JC Bailey, Trent Acid, I mean, guys, CUT THE CRAP!
Q. Using steroids is still a sore subject among some of the boys, especially now that Ivan Putski came out and admitted using and Bruno Sammartino is against them but used them when they were legal, what is your feeling on them?
R. If done in moderation they have cured some incredible illnesses. I have use 6-week cycles myself and they hardly cost me anything but I was getting a discount because of what I was doing and the people around me were getting them for next to nothing too (you know who). Hell, if you drink too much water you can drowned. Eat too much food; well we all know what happens. Sit out in the sun too long...ah you get the point Jerry.
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