_________________________________________________________________ Q U E S T I O N S F O R T H E P R O S: With Juggernaut _________________________________________________________________ [Interview conducted by Tony D. on April 18, 2001] TD: What's your real name, and what gimmicks have/do you use? JUGGERNAUT: My real name is Juggernaut, it's not the name that was given to me by my parents, but it is my real name. Anyone that didn't know me before I was Juggernaut, never knew how I used to be. It seems like I have been saying this alot lately, but I was a different person before I started wrestling. I think all wrestlers can say that. Since I first started wrestling, I have always been Juggernaut, I was "no gimmick" Juggernaut, then I went to "I hate America" Juggernaut, then I went to "crazy as a shithouse rat" Juggernaut, and now I am basically a milder version of the crazy one, just a little exageration of my real self. TD: What height/weight are you? JUGG: I am 6 foot 4 inches and weigh around 365 pounds, the weight sometimes gets down to around 350 and I think the highest I have ever been was around 380. TD: What circuits do you currently wrestle in? JUGG: I work for IWA Japan out of Tokyo Japan, that's the same company that out on the "King of the Deathmatch" in 1995 at Kawasaki Stadium. It's a fun time over there, but I get probably 80% of my work with ECCW/NWA Pacific Northwest, based out of Vancouver, B.C. Canada. ECCW is the only indy company that runs anywhere near as much as they do. I have worked over 200 times in the past couple years with ECCW and nowadays that is unheard of. The talent in ECCW is leaps and bounds above most Indy companies but for some reason, the big companies still ignore the west coast. TD: What circuits have you wrestled in? JUGG: I have wrestled for a few different companies since I started wrestling in January of 1997. I'll try to keep them in order as best as I can. CSWA Wrestling (Western Canada), WPWF (Florida), IPW Hardcore (Florida), NCWA (Florida, Illinois), ECCW/NWA (BC, Canada & Washington), Portland Wrestling (Oregon, Idaho), PNCW (Oregon), BCW (BC, Canada), NWA Southwest (Texas), BBOW (Nebraska, Montana), WWA Korea Pro Wrestling (Seoul, Korea), IWA Japan (Tokyo, Japan). I think I mised one or two, but that's most of them. TD: What titles have you held? JUGG: I have held the ECCW/NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title 5 times, the NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles 2 times, the ECCW/NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Titles 2 times and I am the current ECCW/NWA Pacific Northwest Hardcore Champion, which I hate since I really hate the term "hardcore". Every backyard wrestler in the world thinks they're hardcore, but I dare any one of them to step into a ring with a legitimate Pro Wrestler that has paid some dues and been around the block once or twice. I think I am also the current BCW Extreme Champion, but that company is a joke anyways. TD: When did you decide to get into wrestling? JUGG: It's tough to say for sure. I am pretty sure I have wanted to be a wrestler since I was very young, but I only really started to persue it from the time I was around 15. I remember sending a letter off to the WWF when I was 15 years old, asking what I needed to do to get into Pro Wrestling. I got a letter back from the director of Talent Coordinations at the time, J.J. Dillon, explaining what I needed to do. I can remember the day I opened the mailbox to find a letter addressed to me with the WWF logo on the top left corner, it was an amazing moment for me. I think that letter had ALOT to do with me pushing as hard as I did to get into the business. I guess it gave me hope. TD: And how did you get started? JUGG: I weighed all the options before doing anything and eventually got lucky. First I was thinking about going down to California to train, but I was having problems getting the proper visas and stuff so that I could work to pay for my training. My next option was to go to Calgary and train in the dungeon with the Harts, but after talking with Bruce and Ross Hart, I honestly thought all they were trying to do was blow smoke up my ass. I was not impressed with the way they handled themselves at all, and when you're looking for a place to train, you really need to be comfortable in the enviroment, so I decided against Calgary. One thing I knew for sure, is that no matter where I was going to train, I would need to get some money together. So I moved to Edmonton, Alberta and got a job bouncing in a very popular nightclub. While I was there, I met a guy named Jim Hughes who had wrestled a bit for the old Stu Hart, Stampede Wrestling group. He offered to get me started in Pro Wrestling training in exchange for me showing him some Judo stuff (which I had been training in for years), so that's where it all began. The problem came when after about 8 months of off and on training, Jim got very sick and ended up dying from a Pancrease disease. After that, I got a lucky break and got the chance to go to Florida and try my hand down there. It was tough since I wasn't finished training by any means, and only had a few matches under my belt, but I learned quickly to shut my mouth and listen to guys that know better. TD: Who has been the biggest influence on your career? JUGG: Again, that's very tough to say for sure. I know watching Ricky Steamboat is what made me want to be a Professional Wrestler, he was and still is, in my opinion, the best to ever lace up the boots and step into a ring. I think my biggest influence may have been my own desire to be and do something a little different than what people may see as normal, not to mention the drive to be good at it. There has been many times in my career already where most people would have quit, no food, no money, no bookings, no place to live, but the desire I have always had, made me realize that things will change, and they have changed. It can only get better from here. TD: What has been the greatest moment of your career? JUGG: I think the absolute best moment in my career so far was the first time I stepped off that airplane and onto Japanese soil. I have never felt so good in my entire life. I was in Japan, one of the places I told myself I had to wrestle. I had a ticket in my hand that was paid for by a famous Japanese Wrestling company, because they wanted ME to wrestle for them. It was a huge sense of accomplishment and pride, I was one of the VERY few wrestlers in the world that got a chance to wrestle in Japan, and I did it in less than 4 years in the business. It was something that would make anyone proud. TD: Who are/were you trained by? What kind of athletic background do you have before you got into wrestling? JUGG: Like I mentioned before, I was originally trained by a guy named Jim Hughes, but since then, I was helped alot by Michelle Starr. When I first came to ECCW, I didn't understand Pro Wrestling. I thought I did, but I didn't, Starr helped me alot when it came to ring psychology. My athletic background before wrestling invloves a little bit of everything. I started playing Hockey when I was 5 years old, when I hit about 14, I quit hockey and went on to basketball. During that time I played a little Volleyball, a bunch of other sports and trained in various martial arts, mainly Judo. When I was around 16 I started training a little in a Japanese style of Jujitsu called "Ketto Ryu". I currently hold a rank of Shodan (1st degree black belt) in both Judo and Ketto Ryu Jujitsu. TD: Who is your favorite wrestler to work with? JUGG: I recently had the chance to work with Steve Corino, and I will tell you that anything anyone has said bad about his in ring work is a crock of shit. He was one of the best wrestlers I have ever stepped into the ring with, and a hell of a nice guy outside the ring (Sorry Steve, hope you weren't trying to have a different image). I always like to work with Leatherface from Japan as well, I'm not talking about all the BS Leatherface guys all over the US either. I was involved in a feud that lasted almost 8 months with the same Leatherface that wrestled Terry Funk in the first round of the King of the Deathmatch. He is a big guy, over 6 feet and over 300 pounds and he can really do some very impressive stuff. I know every night I step into the ring with him, that I will be sore the next day, but I'm sure he thinks the same thing about me. The one thing I know for sure is that if you see Leatherface vs. Juggernaut on the marquee, you will walk out wondering if maybe wrestling is not as fake as it's made out to be. TD: Any major enemies? If so, who, and why? JUGG: There are a lot of idiots in the wrestling business, and I tend not to name names when it comes to guys I really don't like. There is one thing I can promise though, If I think you are an idiot, you will know. I tend not to pull punches when it comes to telling it like it is. Sometimes, you have to call a spade a spade, if it makes people upset......oh well, get over it. TD: In which promotion are you the most over? JUGG: I get a great crowd response in IWA Japan and for ECCW. I have obviously had alot more matches for ECCW, so the fans know me alot better, but I am starting to get a decent sized following in Japan as well, I guess they like seeing 350+ pounders doing moonsaults and planchas. TD: Do you ever consider working in the WWF or WCW if they are interested in your talent? JUGG: I would go to the WWF or WCW any second if they asked me. That is my number one goal right now, to sign a deal with Titan Sports. I'm not saying that it will happen, but I'm also not saying it won't. I will keep doing whatever I can to get noticed, and hope it leads to something big. TD: If you had to pick WWF or WCW where would you go and why? JUGG: Same company, makes no difference to me. I realize that Shane McMahon is running WCW and Vince running WWF, but when it's all said and done, it's papa Vince that has the final say on everything. I don't watch wrestling too much on TV, but from what I can get out of it, I really think this will be a good thing once WCW is up and running again. Maybe it will open the door for young guys like me, and give guys like Hugh Morrus, the push he has deserved for many years. TD: Do you have a computer? If so, what do you think of the reporters and sheet writers on the internet? JUGG: Any press is good press, if you don't like what people are saying about you, maybe you should do something to change it. Most of the guys that bitch and moan about the amount of reporters and sheet writers out there nowadays, have something to hide. If you don't give anyone any bad dirt to spill, then they will move onto the next guy. Someone is always dumb enough to give people something to write about. TD: Do you have a college degree or any other higher education? JUGG: I took a couple years at a community college, but I took what I call "trivia courses" the kind of courses that make you good at games like "Who wants to be a millionaire" and Trivial Pursuit. I used to work in landscape design, all I did was give peple ideas for their yards, so when it comes time to retire, if I don't have a nice cushy office job to move into, I'll go back to landscape design. TD: Any advice you'd give a wannabe wrestler? JUGG: Like I said, when you're looking for a place to train, you really have to feel comfortable in the enviroment. You want to find a place that will work you hard and show you what you need to know. There are some places out there that don't believe in hard work, but I will tell you, if you don't work hard and get put in the ring with a guy like myself, I will eat you for dinner. Anyone that thinks they are wrestlers or that they are going somewhere because they fuck around in their backyards every Sunday afternoon in front of 25 neighborhood kids, has another thing coming. I suggest you backyard guys that really want to make a run of it, pack up your pink Value Village spandex and find yourself a legitimate Pro Wrestling training center. TD: Any final comments for the readers? JUGG: Pay attention to the Indy scene on the West coast. The west coast, especially the Northwest has been producing more talented wrestlers in the past 10 years than anyone realizes. Let's not forget that Benoit, Storm and Jericho all wrestled out west. But were held back by all the blinders people were wearing until they all made their way either to Japan or to the east coast. Keep your eyes peeled for guys like Tony Kozina, Chane Beckett and hell, if I'm lucky, maybe even Juggernaut.