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Tape Reviews
Nova Shoot Interview
Posted by Brandon Truitt on Jan 27, 2003, 19:00
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This week's shoot is brought to you by the movie Office Space... it's closer to reality than you think.
As for wrestling, last week's RAW was the average blah show, with the "big surprise" by Bischoff being the big announcement that Steve Austin was invited to appear at No Way Out.
Excuse me for being cynical, but even if Austin has signed, I don't trust the WWE to fulfill ANY of their stipulations anymore. If they wanted the fans to believe they weren't full of crap, Austin should have shown up, said he was going to be at No Way Out, then left. Hell, that's what they SHOULD have done at Raw X but someone talked Vince McMahon out of it.
The sad thing is that, considering that Smackdown produced Hulk Hogan as its surprise, this is probably a situation where the McMahons are intentionally making their RAW figurehead, Eric Bischoff, look like crap compared to them so that they can put Shane McMahon in his place around No Way Out. While Shane is the freshest of the McMahons this side of Linda, it's still a case of McMahon vs. McMahon, which is the only active feud that has gone on longer than Torrie-Dawn in the WWE and is even more tired.
On the plus side, reports are surfacing that Goldberg will probably NOT be coming to the WWE for Wrestlemania. That means that they need to dig up an opponent for The Rock, which may end up being Chris Benoit in my opinion. If this is Rock's final Pay Per View for the forseeable future, this is the right time for another rising star to go over Rock and become a superstar. Let's just hope that Triple H and Undertaker don't make Benoit their bitch like they did to Brock Lesnar after Summerslam last year.
Big props to BPS and Dr. Tom for picking the Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl last night. I'm going to make sure and ask Dr. Tom for advice before I do my Fantasy Football League next year since Kurt Warner's sucktitude scuttled my chances at a great season this year.
Next week's shoot will be with the Million Dollar Man himself, Ted Dibiase, so be sure to look for it. The week afterwards will be one with Ken Shamrock.
As always, you can feel free to Drop me an e-mail, read the archives, buy me stuff, or
buy yourself stuff at Highspots.com.
Nova Shoot Interview (Wrestling Universe)
How did he get into wrestling? When he was about 6, he saw Don Muraco vs. Pedro Morales at Madison Square Garden and he got hooked. He used to watch all of the federations, such as the NWA and UWF in addition to the WWF. He says people may call him a mark, but that most guys in the business who are any good were marks at some point.
How did he break into the business? When he graduated high school, a friend of his wanted to become a wrestler and Iron Mike Sharpe ended up training the guy. Nova and his brother used to go visit him up there and the guys at the training camp kept asking him if he wanted to get in the ring (they saw how interested he was ). Eventually, he got into the ring and decided it was pretty cool. He looked at it as some fun on the side, like how some guys would have a bowling league.
Training- It was strict, but not like being in the House of Hardcore (ECW�s training camp). You get out of it what you put into it. The main thing he got out of it was respect for the business and learning how to behave in the locker room.
What wrestlers were in that class with him? Devon Storm (Crowbar), The Wall, and some indy guys.
His brother- His twin brother, Donnie B, also trained but is a manager instead. He got involved with the late Dennis Coralluzzo and started booking his NWA shows.
Why did his brother become a manager while he became a wrestler? He figures that he wanted it more and was willing to take more punishment than his brother. He talks about how guys with MUCH better bodies than him who are enthusiastic really want to get into the business but usually say �FUCK THIS!� after a few bumps. It didn�t help that they trained in a boxing ring, which he describes as being like cement, and that they used to do all kinds of high flying stuff on it.
Did he ever think about doing a twin tag-team gimmick with his brother? He liked being able to be his own man instead of being a twin and, besides that, his brother had decided to become a cop around the time that he was making a name for himself as a singles wrestler. The Bruise Brothers used to see him and his brother and ask why they didn�t team, but he thought it wasn�t a good fit for him to do that gimmick.
His indy experience- He worked everywhere he could for years and lost money for a long time as a result. He even lost money his first few years in ECW. He got his chance to go to the WWF around 1993-1994 as �enhancement talent� (read: TV tapings jobber), much like Mick Foley did in 1986. He wasn�t very good at the time, but he enjoyed every minute of it. He wishes they still did jobber matches on RAW as opposed to on Jakked/Metal, but he understands that they don�t do it because of ratings issues. He got more out of it than what he was paid. He faced Diesel, Adam Bomb, Ludvig Borga (he worked solid, not stiff), The Headshrinkers, etc. They never maliciously hurt each other in the ring. He says that people wouldn�t recognize him if they saw it today because he got in much better shape since then. He first met PJ Walker (Justin Credible) there when he was also a jobber.
What name did he use? His own name, Mike Biese.
Is he embarrassed when he watches tapes of his jobber days? No, because it shows him how far he�s come. He used to be out of shape, white as a sheet, and bad in the ring while today he�s in shape and a very good wrestler.
His first program as a wrestler- He worked against Johnny Handsome because their opponents that night, Jimmy Dio and Mike Hansen, didn�t make it that night. They got in the ring and started clicking after working together for a while. He feels Handsome could have been big if he�d stayed in the business.
Teaming with Ace Darling- He�s a friend from the business, but they weren�t close friends. He says they were all a part of the �Northeast Indy Clique�, which included them and Storm, amongst others. He says they have been in the business for about 9 years but have only wrestled each other once because they were usually both faces.
Why hasn�t Ace made it big? He doesn�t know because both Ace and Storm were working on Nitro and that Storm stuck it out to make it as Crowbar while Ace just disappeared. He says that Ace is recovering from an injury right now and wants to be brought into ECW if he recovers properly, but no one�s sure what�s happening with ECW at the moment. (This is apparently late 2000 or early 2001) He says he�d been working for Tommy Fiero lately (blah� Tommy Fiero is such a dumbass that I don�t need to make jokes about him. He�ll embarrass himself soon with yet another column at The Torch sucking the WWE�s collective dicks).
Who is in this �Northeast Indy Clique�? They include Ace Darling, The Wall, Crowbar, Johnny Handsome, Greg Debonaire, Rick Ratchet, and Big Bobby G.
Rick Ratchet got into the business on a dare and never wanted to work for the Big Two. He only works few dates because he doesn�t want to take the spot of guys who are more dedicated to the business than he is. Big Bobby G is a small guy who used a cross between the Holly Cousins' �Super heavyweight� gimmick and Hurricane�s �Small guy who thinks he can chokeslam people� gimmick.
What was it like wrestling Ratchet with his brother managing him? Most people didn�t notice it because Donnie was in a suit while he was in his superhero outfit, in addition to the fact that he was in much better shape than Donnie.
Nova takes an aside to talk about his site and to plug 1-Wrestling.com and Bob Ryder. �By the way, they didn�t pay me to say that.�
Does he go to the Wrestling Observer site? Yes, but he doesn�t buy them because you can get most of that stuff online. He feels that Dave Meltzer gets a bad rap most times, but doesn�t know what Meltz thinks about him. He finds Meltz less biased than most of the guys. He DOES take the Steve Corino position of �If you haven�t been in the ring, how can you tell me that what I do sucks?� on criticism, though. He�d love to sit down with guys like Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Harley Race about what they thought of him much more than a guy who�d never worked before.
Who are the biggest influences on his career? Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair to start, as he says they did a lot for the business and should be in wrestling as long as they�re living then be Tiger Mask, Ultimate Warrior, Dynamite Kid, Jake �the Snake� Robertsal, Too Cold Scorpio, Jushin �Thunder� Liger, Ricky Steamboat, and Shawn Michaels (who he puts over as the best performer ever, with Flair at #2 and Dynamite as #3)
He puts over Steamboat heavily for his reputation as a class act and how he had it in his contract that his family was flown wherever he wrestled and that he was drug-free (Well, relatively drug-free� Steamboat has admitted to some amphetamine use but that was during the WWF�s hellish road schedule of the mid-80s). He says the two people he tries to live his personal life like are Steamboat and Tazz. He feels that most wrestlers should control themselves more because it makes themselves, their company, and the other wrestler look bad when they screw up.
What�s up with Too Cool Scorpio? He doesn�t know, but if he had any power he�d have him in the federation in a second.
What is his take on the Hart brothers? He only knew Owen Hart briefly from his jobber days, but he had a wonderful reputation in the business and that�s what makes it so hard when he died so young. He puts Bret Hart over heavily as a worker.
How did he get into ECW? In late 1995, he was on a show where the main event was Raven vs. Mikey Whipwreck and he wrestled in a tag match with Rockin� Rico vs. the Misfits. During the intermission after his match, the t-shirt girl came over and told him �Scotty wants to talk to you�, which he was clueless about until she told him that Scotty was, in fact, Raven. Raven picked up on the fact that he was doing an Adam West style Batman gimmick and said that he was going to be forming a group which became The Flock soon. He already had the Blue Meanie and Nova�s friend Dancin� Stevie Richards lined up for it and he wanted him as well. He says in hindsight that he realized that Raven wanted him in as a way to help get his gimmick over which is a HUGE compliment to him. Raven then got a photo of him and a contact number and told him �I�ll talk to Tazz and Tommy Dreamer and see if I can get you in.� He didn�t expect to hear from him again but got a call the next week from Raven saying that he needed a tape of the gimmick, so he put together a tape of the hokiest, corniest crap he ever did and they ate it right up.
When he first entered the ECW locker room, Tazz and Tommy Dreamer immediately came over and introduced themselves to him and he says they turned out to be huge influences on his career. His first match in the company wasn�t until March when he was pit against Bubba Ray Dudley. He feels that for the first few years that Paul Heyman could have cared less about him if Tommy Dreamer hadn�t put in good words for him all the time and the fact that he was a hard worker.
He puts over Tommy Dreamer, Tracy Smothers, and others for helping him with his psychology but slags on Thomas �Inchworm� Rodman of the bWo for being an asshole.
His bosses in ECW- He thought of Paul E like being the Almighty Oz at first, being on a pedestal and unapproachable, but gets along with him fine. Never spoke in the locker room for the longest time because he was afraid of pissing someone off.
How did he come up with the Super Nova gimmick- At first he wanted to have a disco dancer gimmick like Disco Inferno. After that, he started trying to think up other music-related gimmick but looked at the comics on his wall and realized that no one had ever done a comedic superhero gimmick before.
The American Wrestling Council tournament (the Great Eight tournament)- He wasn�t working for ECW full time at first and he was paying his dues, so he got into the AWC tournament. It came out of the remains of the New Jack City promotion. Everyone got to the NJC show one night and found that the promoter/booker hadn�t showed up and everyone was nervous about it. The booker showed up soon afterwards and paid everybody, but bitched a few days later how he wasn�t using Mike Sharpe�s wrestlers ever again because they bitched that they probably weren�t going to get paid and they thought he didn�t show up. Nova argues that he left Boston at 6AM in order to get to the show after a long weekend while the promoter lived 20 minutes from the arena and arrived several hours late, so he wasn�t in a position to say shit. Out of the ashes of the NJC promotion came the AWC and the tournament, and he ended up winning the tourney and the initial AWC title. The one thing he didn�t like was that the ceiling was low, so Billy Kidman�s head actually hit the ceiling during a match with Ace Darling while taking an inverted atomic drop.
Did he think his promos were good? Yes, but he thinks more promos should go to the heels because they lose more matches and, besides, they get the heat that gets people to buy tickets. He does most of his talking in the ring but wants to go heel and have more stick time if he goes to a different federation.
Crowds- He likes working smaller buildings that are hot rather than larger buildings full of people sitting on their hands. He also says the lowest crowd he�s ever worked for was a crowd of three, which were the family of his opponent. He says if that ever wrestles in front of a crowd of one or two people, he definitely did something wrong along the way.
ECW- You get a lot of creative freedom while working there. He says he�s always been under Tommy Dreamer�s tutelage as Tommy would always keep an eye out for him and the other undercard guys, while Paul E. was more concerned with the main events and running the business. He says guys used to come in and say �Don�t put Nova or Blue Meanie on the show tonight, they suck.� but Dreamer used to say �No, they�re good and they�re going to be on that card.�
His first match in the ECW arena- He was wrestling Pablo Marquez. A Nova chant started because several of the fans, like Hat Guy, watched the New England indy scene and were familiar of him. He says that Pablo himself would say he got too much too soon and that he didn�t know how to handle it, but he�s still a good talent. He doesn�t know how his Babu deal in the WWF fell through, because it was great.
What did Sabu think about the Babu gimmick? Sabu actually helped Marquez because he knew that his work would keep him over and that no sound-alike imitations would take that away from him. He feels that Sabu should have been benefiting from the merchandising the federation got once it went national since he helped put ECW on the map but that Sabu�s problems with Paul E were probably what caused his departure.
Was he upset that the Gangstas and Eliminators interrupted his match with Marquez? No, because he was just happy to have that spot and wanted to get the minute of their match in that they could before the Eliminators kicked both their asses. He talks about how he did the same thing recently where Chris Chetti got his ass kicked.
Why does he think the Eliminators split- �Kronus is� different.� He�s one of the best big men in the business. One day, several of the smaller ECW guys were screwing around in the ring trying to do the Shooting Star Press when Kronus walked in. Kronus asked what they were doing and they told him, so he went up and tried one and did it right the first time. He lived in his own world, though, and had to be led around by someone. He was a really nice guy, though. He says that shit happens between partners all the time, so it doesn�t really surprise him that Saturn got pissy and left because he wanted to be a singles star.
The Blue World Order- One night, he and some of the other guys did a KISS parody in the ring and when they came back to the locker room, Bubba Ray Dudley told them �The only way you�re going to beat that is if you imitate the nWo.� That got the wheels turning in their heads to form the Blue World Order and they decided to do it at November to Remember 1996. They knew going in that Stevie Richards would be Kevin Nash and that Blue Meanie would be Scott Hall, but Stevie wanted Nova to be Virgil. Raven heard that and said �No way� Nova�s got to be Hogan. No one can do it better than him.� Stevie was a bit of a dick after that, saying �If he�s Hogan, then people are going to think he�s the leader of Raven�s Flock but everyone knows he isn�t� I am.� It was supposed to be a one-night thing but it lasted a year and sold a shitload of t-shirts. He still hears about it all the time. He wants to talk to Hogan about it some day and he hears that Hogan thought it was funny. He tried to be tasteful in his parody of Hogan.
What did he think about the bWo sequence on RAW outdrew Nitro for that quarter hour? Everyone in the WWF locker room that night thought it was great and hit them up for t-shirts while they were there.
The KISS impersonation- It was a fluke that they did it as Raven had gotten them to do it at the last minute. They had a lot of fun with it, as Meanie was up on stage spitting the blood and they were playing but, of course, Sandman came out and whipped their asses. They also did a show as the Jackson Five with all of them wearing afro wigs and blackface� except himself because he was playing Michael. They wanted to do it at the ECW arena the next night but Paul E stopped them because he thought someone would freak out over it. He understands Paul E�s thinking considering they were struggling to get their PPV deal at that point.
Did he watch TWA (ECW�s predecessor in Philly) before he entered ECW? Yeah, he�d seen old tapes of Eddie Gilbert vs. Cactus Jack and used to go to some of the shows. He wonders where the promoter, Joel Goodhart, is these days but no one has any solid information.
Whose idea was it for the Gangstas to be the first ones to endorse the bWo shirt? It was Paul E�s idea. He also got the Pitbulls and Sandman to do it amongst others. He talks about how little stuff that happens takes off beyond people�s wildest dreams, like Kaientai�s �Indeed� bit in the WWF.
Taz being the only one not to hock the shirt- It would have been dumb for his character to do that, so it was understandable that he didn�t.
Who got let go around Barely Legal 97? Just Kid Kash as far as he knows. He thinks most people who left did so for personal reasons, such as attitude problems or money. Paul says that he�ll give a release if they ask for it.
Heyman�s famous pre-PPV speech at Barely Legal 97- It was one of the most emotional nights in the history of the company, with Tazz coming back from the WWF to beat Mike Awesome for the ECW title being the other one.
Mike Awesome- He regrets never being able to wrestle him. He doesn�t think that Mike would have taken the ECW belt with him when he jumped to WCW like some people thought he would.
Barely Legal- It was total chaos, as opposed to today when they have an idea of how things works. They ended up dodging a bullet as they were a minute or two away from losing power when the PPV ended.
The Michinoku Pro match- It was Paul E�s idea to make Kaientai into bWo Interntional. They actually got the Kaientai guys to imitate them when they did the gimmick. When Masato Tanaka came in, he started talking to him about the old bWo gimmick and, as a going away present, he gave Tanaka a Hogan-style bWo t-shirt to bring back to Japan with him.
Their relationship with FMW- They had a working relationship with them and had sent Chris Chetti and John Kronos over to Japan at one point, but their most recent trip fell apart at the last minute.
Why didn�t the bWo get to work a match with Kaientai? The Michinoku guys were only in the US briefly, so they never had the chance to do a huge tag match with them. He talks about how they got TAKA Michinoku to end an interview with them by yelling �BUY SHIRTS! BUY SHIRTS! BUY SHIRTS!� in an imitation of Stevie Richards ending all the bWo promos with �Buy the shirts! Buy the shirts!�
What were your thoughts about Stevie Richards leaving for WCW? He was sorry to see him go since he was a good friend and both he and Meanie were unsure of what was going to happen since the bWo was obviously going to end. They ended up doing good as a tag team and got over even without the gimmick.
Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon- They�re good. He didn�t talk to them much because he was scared of them, but they helped him out.
Working a program with the Full Blooded Italians- Every single night in 1997, he and Meanie wrestled the FBI and had a blast. He has all the TV shows and fan-cams of that time period because they were so much fun.
Wrestlepalooza 98- He went up to Heyman before the show and thanked him for getting a chance. It was a milestone to wrestle on his first PPV.
Whose idea was it for John Finnigan to get involved with the dancing? Tracy Smothers came up with it. Little Guido didn�t think that it would work out. They had a lot of fun being the comic relief for the show.
Was he surprised they got a better fan reaction than the Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu match? Yes and no, as they were in the south and their match was the opening match while RVD-Sabu was later in the show. They had a lot of fun and the fans noticed it and they enjoyed it more as a result.
Blue Meanie leaving the federation- He got the call when he was driving down to Florida for a show (he didn�t like flying for the longest time, so he rode with the sound guy). Meanie told him he�d gotten the call from Vince McMahon and had decided to take it. It helped him because he then worked as a single for a while then started working with Chris Chetti. He missed Meanie in the locker room a lot, if only because they used to pull pranks on Al Snow all the time.
Al Snow- Al helped him out a lot by telling him to get more outfits, to do stuff in the ring that he only did in practice, and to get in shape. They hit it off right away as Al was short on black paint for his gimmick and got Nova to paint �Help me� backwards on his forehead, but Nova decided to paint �Hump me� as a goof. Al noticed something wasn't right while he was painting it and knew exactly what he was trying to write, so they both had some laughs over it.
What does he think of the treatment of ex-ECW guys in the WWF- He thinks of them as stars just because they�re there on TV, so he doesn�t think that Vince is mistreating guys like Al and Tazz. �You could put them out there in the Gobbildygooker outfit and they�d still be stars.�
His series of matches with Little Guido- They grew as singles wrestlers together because they both came into their own around that time, as their tag partners Meanie and Tracy Smothers had left by that time.
Working with Chetti- Taz teamed them up together and put them on the Heatwave PPV against One Man Gang and Rod Price. Their series against Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill later that year got them noticed by the fans. He puts over Doring and Roadkill heavily. It was scary watching Roadkill do springboard moonsaults and walking the ropes like the Undertaker.
The Queens Elk Lodge in Manhattan (Manhattan Center)- It�s his favorite place to wrestle and he apologizes to the ECW fans in Philly as a result. He compares working in there to being a gladiator at the coliseum in ancient Rome. The two best nights they ever had on TV were the two night tag tournament held at the Hammerstien Ballroom, also in New York City.
Did they think they were going to get the tag titles? Yes, they thought they were going to get it after the Impact Players broke up, but it never ended up happening.
Teaming with Kash vs. teaming with Chetti- Teaming with Meanie was very entertaining, Chetti was an awesome partner because they were very much in synch, but he and Kash knew exactly what each other were doing in the ring at all times. He would definitely team with Chetti or Kash again.
Miss Congeniality (Lita)- He didn�t like her at first because he didn�t think her gimmick would work, but she could take a beating and was a hard worker. She deserves what she�s getting because she had paid her dues in Mexico before hitting it big in the WWF.
Teaming with Jazz- Everyone told him that teaming with her was a dumb idea. They worked for months against Roadkill and Doring but they had a bunch of great matches. It worked because Jazz would play Ricky Morton and then he�d come in for the hot tags. He thinks that while Molly Holly is the best female wrestler in the business, Jazz is definitely up there on the list.
Working 6-man tags with Chetti and Kash against the Baldies or the Dupps- It was great. There may have been plans for Kash to get jealous and turn heel on them but they never came to pass.
Was he surprised the Dupps got signed by the WWF to a developmental deal? Not really, they�re big and have a good look. He thinks they have a shot of being on TV soon.
Sidenote- That might have worked if one of them hadn�t passed out on drugs backstage at Wrestlemania X-7 and have WWF CEO Linda McMahon happen to notice it. And, to borrow from South Park, one of them was also putting his hoo-hoo dilly in the cha-cha of Stacy Carter(The Kat, Miss Kitty), the then-wife of Jerry Lawler, so they had other things going against them.
The Hardy Boyz- He likes them but hasn�t met them. He respects them for running OMEGA wrestling themselves, which involved booking buildings, setting up rings, wrestling, etc. while working as job guys for the WWF part time.
Whose idea was it for the breakup with Chetti? Paul�s, as he decided that Nova should be on his own fighting guys like Tajiri.
Working against Rhyno for the TV title- They only worked together once. Class act outside the ring.
Chris Kanyon- He�s cool. They�ve borrowed stuff from each other, so he doesn�t get upset at Kanyon using one of his suplex.
How does he come up with his moves? He keeps a notebook with him and writes them down as they come to him. For every move that works, about 10 or 15 don�t.
The House of Hardcore- Tazz gave him the option of working out there before.
Who came up with the idea of him becoming serious- He did once Meanie left. It started to show more once he started gaining confidence in the ring.
The other tag teams in ECW- He likes Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond. The FBI were great, especially the new FBI with Tony Mamaluke instead of Tracy Smothers. Teaming Mikey Whipwreck and Tajiri turned out to be a great idea. Etc. etc. etc.
The Impact Players- He and Lance Storm hated each other at first because they were so much alike, but they really started getting along great by the time Storm left for WCW.
Reckless Youth and Mike Quackenbrush- Mike never stepped foot into ECW. Reckless had a tryout match in Queens and was given an offer, but never came back. Word came through the grapevine that he didn�t want to lose to him in the ECW Arena in his debut.
His ear injury- It happened in Manhattan at the Massacre on 34th Street PPV. The doctor told him it would need surgery, but he just used his supplements like he had always done and it had healed 75% by the time he went back to see the doctor again.
Teaming with Balls Mahoney- It only happened once. Balls is a great worker and a great guy, but he�s crazy.
Thoughts- There isn't a lot to this one besides the Blue World Order stuff. I'd say this one is only for hardcore ECW fans who are overly familiar with everything he's saying instead of the average fan. Not recommended.
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