by Travis Gray
Spanky is one of the graduates from the famous Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy. Spanky was one of the elite eight in the 2001 Super 8 tournament and one of the sixteen in the King of the Indies Tournament. From Texas to Memphis to SoCal, he has entertained fans throughout the nation. I was privileged to interview Spanky at MPW “One” after his last match in SoCal (for the time being). This interview varies from his early career to his feelings on SoCal and much much more. So sit back, relax, and move out of the way, because HOT SOUPS COMING THROUGH!
Travis Gray: I’m sitting here with Spanky on the night he made his last appearance here in SoCal. Spanky, thank you for doing this interview.
Spanky: Oh, it’s my pleasure.
Travis Gray: I’ll start off with the usual question. How did you get started in the wrestling business?
Spanky: Well I went over to my friend’s house and they were renting Wrestlemania VI, which had Hogan vs. Warrior. I had never watched wrestling back then but while watching with [my friends] I became fascinated. I realized I’m way too small to be doing it but I’m stupid enough to be doing it. So you know, I just wanted to be like the Warrior one day. I was 11 then so you know, what can I say.
Editor’s note: As Spanky answered that question, Rocky Romero and Pinoy Boy were humping Spanky’s leg.
TG: How’d you first get into training?
S: Well, I’m from Washington State first of all and there’s no schools up there. I tried calling several wrestling schools and nobody called me back. Finally, I got into NWA Southwest, trained, had a couple matches but realized I wasn’t going to get any better and go anywhere. So I went back to Washington, saved up some money and was hoping that some how I could find Jose Lothario to train me, because my favorite wrestler, Shawn Michaels, was trained by him. Well, word got out that Shawn Michaels was opening up a school with Jose Lothario, so I called a number that I found and they sent me a pamphlet. It mentioned the cost was $1300 to begin with. I didn’t have nearly enough money to begin with but I told them I did, so from there I just moved to San Antonio.
TG: The actual trainers there were Jose Lothario and Shawn Michaels?
S: Jose Lothario retired by the time I got there, but the actual coaches were Shawn Michaels and Rudy Boy Gonzales.
TG: What was it like training under your idol, Shawn Michaels?
S: It was kind of scary at first and I was really nervous. I mean, what do you say to one of the greatest wrestlers of all time? It turned out he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. People can believe what they want to believe but he’s generally a nice person. It’s great learning from the greatest wrestler of all time. Rudy also puts in a ton of effort and I’d say he’s the most underrated person I’ve ever met.
At this point, Rocky Romero says goodbye to Spanky and is about to leave the building. Spanky lets Romero know that masturbating without climaxing is the best way to stay awake during
a long drive home.
Rocky Romero: Rocky Romerooooooo! Los Cubanitooooos!
TG: Who were some of the other guys you trained with?
S: Myself, American Dragon, Lance Cade and Shooter Schultz all ended up with development deals. Also, Michael Shane, who’s fantastic, and Kris Krueger who both worked in ECW until it folded. Those are the ones people would have heard of.
TG: About how long into training did you have your first match?
S: About 3 months.
TG: Who was the first match with?
S: First match was with American Dragon and it went to a 10-minute time limit draw.
TG: So you moved on to Memphis after that, how did you get hooked up with them?
S: WWF finally called Shawn and said, “We’re moving [Spanky, AD, Cade, Schultz] to Memphis”. It wasn’t so bad because it was the four of us together. It was a little tough at first because you get a lot of slack that you only got the job from Shawn, which is true. Well it’s actually true and it isn’t true. I mean, we did get the job because of Shawn. They made the four of us ring crew when no one else was ring crew and kind of made us pay our dues, but I loved it. When it’s all said and done I loved it but I was miserable at the time.
TG: Who were the trainers when you were there?
S: When I first got there, it was Steven Regal and his trainer Robbie Brookside. And then in came Tracy Smothers and then Bobby Eaton. So I basically got to learn from the best in the world.
TG: So you had a lot of memorable Memphis promos while you were there, did you come up with those yourself?
S: Well, I don’t know if anybody’s seen them but I did those with my manager Jason Sensation. We formed the “Super Galactic Clique 2000.” Which is a ridiculous name in itself but we’re pretty ridiculous people. We just sat there together and thought of the stupidest stuff. We tried to think of stuff that we would laugh at but nobody else would laugh at, and I guess it got over with the people who watched it.
TG: So what’s the story with the stuffed animal promo?
S: You saw that one!?
TG: Yeah.
S: Well, I like to play those claw games. I used to go to Joe’s Crab Shack all the time and got myself a duck, I think, a frog and I don’t know what else. The guy in charge of promos, David Jett, said we have to do some vignette, so what do you want to do. I said I got these stuffed animals. He said, “So what are you going to do with them?” I said, “Well I’m going to pretend to have a match.” Basically, a year after me badgering them about doing stupid stuff, he caved in, and there ya go, stuffed animal promo.
TG: So you got an opportunity to work in the Super 8 in 2001. What was that like and how’d that come about?
S: We actually got that opportunity from Kevin Kelly who’d come down every couple of weeks to Memphis. Kevin Kelly’s a tremendous guy and has always been nice to me. People that just see TV, see him as someone else, but he’s also got a heck of mind for the business as well. He’s the one that said that he’s got a couple of young guys that could be used.
TG: At the Super 8, you had a pretty memorable match with your training partner, American Dragon. You have any thoughts on the Super 8 or that match particularly?
S: That was the first time I ever wrestled on the east coast, and it was kind of weird because I was meeting people for the first time. I met Low Ki, Tony Kozina, Jason Reigns, Billy Fives and all them knuckleheads. I was a little nervous even though I’ve wrestled Dragon a gazillion times. I was watching the monitor at the time and noticed people were doing stuff under the sun. I’ll do my fancy stuff and all but I’ll only do it when appropriate but I was surprised people were racked in our match at all. I thought they might boo us, but I guess some of them appreciated it.
TG: What was your take on the WWF after your release?
S: When I got my release they pulled us all into a room one by one. Dragon went in first and when he came out I knew he just lost his job and I knew I was going to lose my job also. But, I look at it like this; I’m 22 years old and I’ll keep working my hardest and hopefully one day, get another shot. They said it was a numbers game and they didn’t have a spot for me. What can you say though you know. I don’t hold it against them at all and even when I got fired I said thank you very much for the opportunity. Got to live out a dream. It’s not done yet hopefully, fingers crossed. I’ll hopefully get back to it.
TG: So when did you decide to move out to Southern California?
S: Well, Ruckus who is one of my best friends in the world said, “Why don’t you come out here and give UPW a try?” I had no other choice but go to Mexico and I don’t even speak Spanish. So I just decided to come out to SoCal and here I am
TG: What was your first impression of UPW?
S: It was pretty funny. Ruckus introduced me to Bassman, saying this is my friend Spanky and asked if I could come practice. It seemed like Bassman didn’t want me there at first then Ruckus told him I was formerly under a WWF development deal. Five minutes later Bassman was asking me to coach the class. Pretty ridiculous, but there was a lot of people there that were working hard so I had a good first impression.
TG: From the minute you came to SoCal, you’ve worked a lot with B-Boy. What were your thoughts on the whole feud with B-Boy?
S: I like B-Boy as a wrestler and a person. He’s a real goofball but if I’m going to be stuck in a feud with someone I’m glad it was with him.
TG. What was your favorite match with B-Boy?
S: My favorite one was actually the first time I wrestled him on a Lite show. And the three-way, he, myself, and Pinoy Boy had at WCWA.
TG: What was it like teaming with Prodigy?
S: It was funny. At the Galaxy show, I went up to Bassman to tell him thank you for having me on the show. Bassman mentions that we’re going to have a little something with Prodigy running in at the end. I asked around who this Prodigy kid was and everyone shrugged their shoulders every time I asked about him. “Who’s Prodigy? Uhhhh, not Prodigy. Hahahaha, Bassman must like you”, they would all say. So I see this kid walking in, “cock of the walk” here, and I say, “Hi, my name is Brian.” And he goes, “Huh, you a wrestler?” And I just stare at him. I mean, I didn’t expect
him to know who the hell I am because who the hell am I? A scrub for goodness sakes. But you don’t talk to anyone like that. I wanted to punch him at the time. First, I really didn’t like Prodigy.
I guess things changed because a couple shows later he was going around apologizing to people and that kind of changed my perspective of him. Right now, I really like the kid. I wish he could have come to some of my practices but that’s a course of a different color.
TG: So you did take a big training role in UPW. To you, is wrestling different than training guys? Which role do you prefer?
S: Well I want to be a trainer some day when I’m done wrestling. Right now I like wrestling better. I really like to train, but it kills me when nobody wants to come and learn. I’m not the greatest wrestler in the world but I give it my all. The lack of heart and desire of people out here has a lot to do with why I’m leaving. I tried my best training, filling notebooks with ideas and Joey Ryan and Sylvester Terkay are the only ones that show. Oh well.
TG: So you worked a lot with UPW, but you’ve gone to a lot of other promotions in SoCal. What were your impressions of those feds starting with WPW?
S: I worked WPW because I really like Martin and all those little goofballs. Yeah, I did it as a favor for Martin. It was fun and goofy. I don’t do Lucha because I don’t really understand it and I’m not quite sure if anyone understands it. I sure don’t. I try. My impression was that there’s a lot of good guys there at WPW.
TG: MPW
S: MPW’s been fun. When I first cut a promo the night I was wrestling Super Dragon, somebody hit Dragon’s music in the middle of my promo and I was ready to start swinging right there. I still like it though even though I’ve only done two shows. First show, wrestled Super Dragon and he “blew out his knee” (uses fingers for the quotes). That was a match I was really looking forward to because everybody loves Super Dragon. I thought, let’s add his fancy stuff to my slowing it down stuff, and hopefully make it something. But I guess giving me a spinning whatever kick hurt his knee (rolls eyes). Then tonight, I did the match with Adam Pearce and I did it only because it was Adam Pearce. They asked me to come and wrestle because they knew I was moving and I said I’d only wrestle if I wrestled Adam Pearce. I didn’t think they would get it done, but they did and I’m glad.
TG: WCWA
S: Did a couple shows there, where I wrestled Hardkore Kidd. Probably one of my favorite matches I’ve had down here in California. Hardkore Kidd can have some really good matches. The other match was the three-way I had with B-Boy and Pinoy Boy, which I loved. WCWA’s really fun. They may run in a small building and have a small crowd but it was full and they seem like they wanna have a good time. That’s what wrestling should be.
TG: CWA
S: I only did one show for CWA. People treated me nice there and I had fun. I had a three-way which I wasn’t crazy about; but you win some, you lose some.
TG: Revolution Pro
S: Well, there’s nothing I can really say about Revolution Pro. I like some of the guys. That Shogun kid cracks me up. But I really wouldn’t ever work for them again. They lied to me the first time I worked for them and expected me to sit there and take it. I try real hard to be professional and I did what I was supposed to do. Like I said, I like some of the guys there, not all of them. I like Rising Son, Dragon, Excalibur and Shogun, but I wouldn’t work for them ever again.
TG: While you were in SoCal you had the opportunity to work King of the Indies. How did that come about?
S: That came about through Chris Daniels who said, “Give Roland a call. Reckless is hurt”. Reckless is a friend of mine from Memphis and I think he’s fantastic. I could watch Reckless matches all day. So I gave Roland a call. Roland said, “Oh, the roster’s full, but if you want to come up, we’ll have you wrestle Jardi Frantz. Wrestled Jardi, got over, and Roland said “Oh, we got a spot for you in King of the Indies.” Then TA-DA!
TG: Some say your match with American Dragon was probably the best match of the tournament. What was your impression of that?
S: It was my favorite match I’ve ever had. It’s funny because I showed it to my little brother and he almost fell asleep. If you watch it, there’s a shoulder tackle in there and then nothing else but chain wrestling. After wrestling five minutes there’s the first arm drag of the match and I laugh every time I see it. I just loved it. We did arm drags. I like the story told but some people enjoy big fancy moves like the circus. Some people enjoy stories, which I’m trying to work on. (Looks at Frankie Kazarian, says sarcastically) And some people enjoy Frankie Kazarian matches, which I don’t even know what those are.
TG: King of the Indies had a lot of stories around it. There’s some rumors that came out about the APW School, Donovan Morgan, and Roland Alexander. What’s your take on some of the rumors that are flying around?
S: All I know, after the first night and match with Dragon, Roland offered me and Dragon positions as head trainer of the APW school. Most likely, because Donovan and Modest had a deal with NOAH and weren’t going to be around anymore. They’re on every tour this year so Roland was going to need new trainers. I don’t know any of the details about it and I don’t really understand
what the heat is about there. I’d love to coach for APW because they have heck of a school up there and I’m glad Dragon took it. Right now though, I’d like to be free to go wherever I want. Hopefully I’ll end up in Cincinnati. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll take me there. My buddy Lance [Cade] is trying to get them to let me wrestle. I kind of like the option of going anywhere.
TG: As a fan, what type of wrestling do you watch now?
S: Well I know everyone likes to watch Japanese down here, which is obvious by watching any of the matches. As a fan, the things I watch the most lately are Midnight Express, Rock n’ Roll Express, and Shawn Michaels of course. Also, old Mr. Perfect stuff, and Flair promos. Anything old WWF and anything old NWA. Too me you can go out there and have an amazing match
where you risk your neck and people clap or you can go out there and move wise do nothing but still get people to enjoy it and they will be much more involved, than watching a guy get dumped
on his head. I like the stories and that’s why I like 80’s stuff.
TG: Where do you get all your snazzy ring gear?
S: Snazzy ring gear. Well I had a design I wanted to get made for pants when I was down in San Antonio. Shawn surprised Dragon and I by saying, “We want you guys to wrestle. We have a show coming up”. We hadn’t graduated yet. We had about 2 weeks before we were supposed to graduate. So, I found out the night before, I didn’t have the time or the money to get some tights or whatever made. So I went to Goodwill and got the funniest looking pants I could find in the woman’s pants department, with big flowers and other stuff. The next day, Shawn told me how much he loved it and that’s what I should be wearing from now on; big goofy colorful pants and just kinda went from there.
TG: Out of all the different gear you’ve worn in your career, what’s probably your favorite?
S: Well I have this little orange shirt that I got as a gift from a friend and that is my absolute veryest favoritest of anything that I own. I like my polka dot pants also.
TG: Are you a big fan of Jurassic 5 or do you just like that one song?
S: I do like Jurassic 5. I love that song. I usually come out to Britney Spears or whatever. If I do that here, it kind of kills Allgood’s gimmick. It sounds cocky and that’s what I was trying to portray. And it’s catchy so screw it.
TG: Where’d the name Spanky come from?
S: Well, it’s not a reference to Little Rascals. I don’t know what kind of detail we can get into it. But, (makes masturbating hand gesture and sound effect) you know.
TG: So is Spanky as a character and gimmick close to you as an individual?
S: Well, it is and it isn’t. Say I were to get drunk. That’s what Spanky is. Otherwise I’m real quiet, real nervous. It’s just me not being nervous. That’s all it is.
TG: Where’d the term “Hot Soup Coming Through” come from?
S: “Hot Soup Coming Through” was done in Memphis just to make the guys laugh. We would do these horrible shows at gas stations or pawn shops. WWF contract guys had to set up rings at a gas station in Corns, Mississippi with nothing but trees and a shack outside in a gas station out in nowhere. Nuts to this you know, “Hot Soup Coming’ Through!” Joey Abs liked it so I did it to make Joey Abs laugh.
TG: How about “Sliced Bread #2”?
S: “Sliced Bread #2” was originally going to be called “The Reacharound.” Steve Bradley came up with that which I thought was a fantastic name and would work for Spanky, or “The Circle Jerk,” but the announcer wouldn’t go for either of those. So I got the name “Sliced Bread Number 2” from my favorite show “Mr. Show”, old HBO comedy. It’s from a skit where they talk about the greatest thing since sliced bread in the sequel “Sliced Bread #2 Electric Boogaloo.” And the move’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, so there you go!
TG: So what’s your take on the WWF now?
S: I can’t tell you how excited I am to see the Hulkster back, and Mr. Perfect. I lost it when Mr. Perfect was there. It’s the WWF you know, and whenever I get down on wrestling, I’ll pop in some old WWF and it will get me excited about new WWF. And that’s where I want to be.
TG: Being a lightweight yourself and with the roster split in the WWF, do you think the lightweight division will pick up any time soon?
S: I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It’s tough you know because it kind of looks like WWF would rather use big guys. People do want to see big guys because they are larger then life. You don’t want to see a guy who’s the size of your neighbor. You want a freak out there that looks like a bigger ass kicker. I mean who looks like a bigger ass kicker, me or Prince Albert? I’m still keeping my fingers crossed to the point where one day, I’ll be good enough where they will take another look at me.
TG: What do you think of Tough Enough? As some one who had a contract and then lost it? The concept and the idea that people get contracts just by being on the TV show.
S: To begin with, I can’t watch the show. I watch anything the WWF has anything to do with, but not that one. It’s hard to say; if I had the opportunity to be on the show where they say I’m going to get a contract, of course I’d take it. But as a guy whose going about it a different way, it kills me. So nothing against the people, nothing against the show, but I fucking hate it.
TG: In SoCal, who’s one guy you would really like to work with?
S: If I had one singles, I’d love to wrestle Frankie Kazarian. I’d also like to wrestle Samoa Joe and the Ballards.
TG: How about in the world?
S: A dream match would be Shawn Michaels of course, but that could never happen. I guess I’d love to wrestle Eddie Guerrero or someone like that but you can’t beat wrestling the Hulkster.
TG: What’s your top priority or future goal right now?
S: My goal is to get to the WWF one day. It’s a pretty ridiculous goal right now but I’m doing everything I can. I guess my goal is to reach that goal. I just gotta get bigger.
TG: Growing up, who was your favorite wrestler?
S: Ultimate Warrior at first, then the Blue Blazer. But my favorite favorite for the longest time was Koko B. Ware who I actually got to sell a piledriver for while I was in Memphis.
TG: If you can remember, what was your favorite match growing up?
S: Growing up, my favorite match was Hogan/Warrior of course, and Mr. Perfect/Blue Blazer, Wrestlemania V, which I must’ve rented a million times. And now it’s the Hell in Cell with Shawn Michaels.
TG: What was the angle growing up that got you all intertwined?
S: I can’t think of anything that got me heated more then anything else. I guess Matilda missing.
TG: What about your favorite wrestler right now.
S: For years it’s been Chris Jericho. I love him as a heel, love him as a face. But to watch any current wrestler, I enjoy Chris Jericho the most.
TG: You said your favorite match in your career was with American Dragon at King of the Indies. Who have you had the most fun working with?
S: Easily American Dragon. It’s always a blast working with American Dragon.
TG: What about your favorite SoCal match?
S: Favorite SoCal match was against Pinoy Boy at UPW. The one where the bell got rung on us and I guess we had a 12 minute and 32 second time limit.
TG: I can say personally I was a little disappointed at it myself.
S: The finish or the whole match?
TG: The finish.
S: Yeah. It could have been a lot better but you know.
TG: Who’s your favorite SoCal worker?
S: Geez, that tough. If I would put in a word for anybody it’d be Frankie cause he’s got everything. Pinoy Boy’s amazing but Frankie has everything you need. Joey Ryan works harder then anybody I know down here. I know guys work hard down here but this guy trains at EWF, trains at UPW, and really busts his ass.
TG: Different people take different thoughts on this. I was wondering how you felt about wrestlers working out their matches before they go out there? Do you think that someone is less of a wrestler if he comes up with most of his spots before he goes out there or do you think he’s a better wrestler if he comes up with his spots on the fly?
S: I’m not going to say who’s better or worse because I call more in the ring than most people down here. That’s just the way I like it because you can get a lot more emotion out of it. You won’t have a look on your face like, “What’s next?” I like to call most of it in the ring but sometimes it depends on what you’re going for. You can’t have a match with highflying and call it in the ring. It would be horrible. It goes both ways and I’m guilty of both I guess.
TG: You said a lot of things in your promo tonight here at MPW. How much about what you said of SoCal do you actually feel?
S: I wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t noticed it. I like the guys, but there’s a lot of “t-shirts” out there. I don’t have the greatest body in the world, but I know WWF doesn’t want a cruiserweight that wears “t-shirts”. There’s a group of guys that pretend to be ninjas. They’re good at what they do and all but that was just fun to goof on. The “t-shirt” stuff kind of drives me crazy because there’s
no way you can be that small and that fat if you’re putting any effort into it. If people want to be taken seriously, I think they should take themselves seriously. At least enough to jog in the morning for goodness sakes.
TG: How about some word association?
S: Ok
TG: American Dragon
S: You’re not just saying like American Dragon and I’m suppose to say oranges right? Like American Dragon, I talk about him.
TG: Yeah.
S: American Dragon is the best and I’m always going to be in his shadow. It’s always going to be Dragon and Spanky. Dragon’s always going to be ahead of Spanky, which is ok. As hard as I try to work, he’s amazing. I love wrestling him, love him as a person. One of the best pals in the world and he deserves all the praise he gets and a whole lot more.
TG: Lance Cade
S: Lance Cade is a goofball. I love Lance and hopefully that’s who I’ll be moving in with, that guy! It’s unfortunate big guys are hated among Indy fans. Lance Cade is fantastic though and I think he’s going to be huge one day in the WWF.
TG: Shooter Schultz
S: Shooter Schultz is a real good friend of mine and he has so much potential. He goes in there and he gets over no matter where he’s at. He has great facials, great everything. Heck of a wrestler but I just wish his heart was more into it.
TG: Shawn Michaels
S: Greatest wrestler ever, hands down. I’ll sock anybody in the teeth that says otherwise. He’s a great man and I’d call him everyday if I didn’t get so nervous. I love the guy to death.
TG: Steve Regal
S: Steve Regal is amazing and I wish I had more time with him. I had 5 months with him, which is a lot I guess. He and Brookside taught me so much. I completely changed my style just being around them. They made me appreciate the little things a whole lot more. He always busted my chops whenever I talked to him. Hopefully he was kidding around but who knows. Overall, he’s a fantastic person.
TG: Bobby Eaton
S: Bobby Eaton is hilarious. If anybody’s home watching Bobby Eaton stuff this last week, I’m watching 10 times more then them. All his stuff in there is brilliant and I wish I would’ve had more time with him as well. I had 3-4 months with him and unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to take full advantage of it.
TG: Roland Alexander and APW
S: Roland gets a bad rep and I don’t understand why. He’s been nothing but good to me. He brought me into Cauliflower Alley. He called me telling me it was breaking his heart to know that I was leaving which meant a lot to me. He said that any time I needed a job I could come and be the trainer along with Dragon at the APW School.
TG: ECWA
S: I unfortunately only worked one ECWA show. I really like Kettner. Me and him got along talking about the Stooges and what not. Chris Daniels is trying to get me in there as a tag team partner against Dragon/Low-Ki which would be a dream match for me since AJ Styles is going to Australia. If it doesn’t happen, I understand and that’s fine. ECWA is still a heck of a promotion.
TG: Martin Marin and WPW
S: I like all those guys. Martin’s been real nice to me. I’m glad he has WPW around to give all these guys who want the experience a chance. And I really thank Martin for that.
TG: Rick Bassman
S: Rick Bassman’s been real good to me. He got me a job as a trainer. A lot of people don’t like him, but he hasn’t really done me wrong. I have nothing but good stuff to say about Rick.
TG: Paul and Adrian of MPW
S: Didn’t get to hang out with them really. Appreciate them bringing me in. I’d like to work more for them but there really isn’t any shows for me to work. Good guys I suppose.
TG: Lil’ Cholo
S: I like Lil’ Cholo too. I fucking say I like everybody. What the hell’s wrong with me (laughs)? Again he’s a cruiserweight who wears a t-shirt! Which drives me nuts. He’s like 17 years old and has been wrestling for 22 years and still does ring crew. Just to still being ring crew, he deserves a lot more respect then he gets.
TG: B-Boy
S: Again, it was a pleasure having that feud with him. But, he’s a t-shirt wearer. Drives me nuts!
TG: Christopher Daniels
S: Chris Daniels is fantastic. He’s the one that got me into King of the Indies and the whole APW thing. I’m dying to wrestle him some day. Really cracks me up and I’d love to be his tag team partner in ECWA. I think it’s a crying shame that he’s not the WWF Cruiserweight Champ right now.
TG: Samoa Joe
S: Samoa Joe I like also. I think watching his King of the Indy stuff you can see how good he is. He deserves to go to Japan and is a credible worker who takes his stuff seriously.
TG: Horshu
S: Ah, Horshu’s an interesting guy. He’s pretty funny and the thing that kills me about him is that he’ll come in there and start bitching about the guys for not putting in the time or the effort, which I couldn’t agree more with. But then he says, “I smoke 7 packs a day, and look at me, I can still do this.” Dude, if you take yourself seriously, you wouldn’t be smoking 7 packs a day or be wearing a suit instead of being in your training clothes. But he paid his dues though going through WCW and all. Every time he says stuff like that it just kills me though.
TG: Pinoy Boy
S: Pinoy Boy is pretty outstanding. I talked to the RF video guys [in regards to their Ring of Honor promotion] about bring him in actually. Unfortunately you have to be 18 to wrestle in Philadelphia.
TG: Hardkore Kidd
S: Like him too. I think by wrestling the right person he can have really good matches. It’s a shame that he’s a 6’5 guy who’s pretending to be a luchador but other than that he’s a heck of a wrestler.
TG: Frankie Kazarian
S: Like I said if I were to put a name out for a wrestler It’d be him. If someone asked for a wrestler, I’d recommend him to them.
TG: Super Dragon
S: As a person I really like Super Dragon. He’s been nice to me. He has a real bad reputation for being rude in the locker room and having a big head. He’s been nice enough to me. I would have liked to get a better match out of him and I think we could have done some good stuff, but unfortunately he has some weak knees.
TG: Being someone who was in King of the Indies and considering some of the rumors about Super Dragon. What would you consider about some of these rumors?
S: I heard the rumor about him racking up a $60 phone bill at the hotel, which is pretty funny considering he brought up 45 people with him including his girlfriend and a dog. But it’s pretty funny he could rack up such a phone bill when everybody and their brother were up there that he knew. I tried hanging out with him up there actually. I went over and started talking to him but I guess he was busy talking to his girlfriend instead of talking to the wrestlers. Some people don’t like that. Doesn’t bother me and never would be a problem because I don’t seem to have girls hanging around me. It didn’t bother me, rubbed some people the wrong way though.
TG: Donovan Morgan
S: I haven’t seen too much of him. The couple of times I’ve met though, he’s been really cool to me.
TG: Jardi Frantz
S: When I first met him I went up there with Joe, Ballards, Cubans and Keiji Sakoda. First thing I said to them was, “I hate this guy and I want to punch him in the face.” We had two totally different ideas of what wrestling was about and he didn’t want to hear mine because he wrestled one match in NOAH. Whoop-dee-doo (does finger motion). But by the time the match was done, he seemed real cool. I guess we got off on the wrong foot but now I really like him. He’s a goofball and he’s kind of out there but I like him as a person.
TG: Disco Machine
S: Disco Machine was a real nice person. We had a match where I almost killed him in there and I was hoping he would do something back. He didn’t. Everyone says he has a hot wife. I’ve never seen her, but I wish I would have. Kind of hard to believe. Just kidding. HAHA, ahhhh, whatever! Overall a real nice guy but just seemed kind of scared in the ring.
TG: Nova
S: Nova actually told me one day, after a speech putting over everybody else except for me, which I didn’t care he didn’t know me, only seen me work one match or whatever came up to me later saying, “Hey Spanky, I’m sorry I forgot you in that little speech there. I’m thinking maybe in a couple years you’ll probably be pretty good.” I don’t know if he was joking at the time but I wanted to push him down the stairs. Then he showed up to some of the practices I was coaching. I don’t know if he was joking the first time or changed his mind but he’s been putting me over ever since. He sent me a Christmas card so he’s a pretty nice guy.
TG: Tom Howard
S: Tom Howard is a really intense guy and I get scared to death every time I’m in the ring with him. The only time I’ve been hurt taking a snap mare was from him, which hurt my foot. I’m generally good at sucking stuff up but I screamed out “Fuck!” He goes, “Oh, did that hurt you”, and I go, “Fuck yeah you hurt me Tom, Jesus Christ.” “Um, sorry”. He really is a good teacher and a good guy.
TG: Sylvester Terkay
S: I think Sylvester Terkay is very underrated and it drives me nuts that people don’t like him just because he’s big. He works real hard, going to Japan, had a deal with WWF, some sort of martial arts expert and still shows up to our practices. Nobody gives him any credit and he’s a hard working dude.
TG: Joey Ryan
S: Joey Ryan is the other guy that shows up. He shows up to my practices, shows up to EWF practices and I think he’s getting better all time. Unfortunately he’s going to be wrestling like me, which is slow and boring to some people. I really like Joey Ryan. I’m glad that he’s been showing up and he’s a good friend of mine.
TG: “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce
S: Adam Pearce is the only reason I’m here tonight. I like him because he speaks his mind. Wish I had the guts to do. As you can tell in this interview, fucking saying I like everybody like a cunt. But I do like Scrap Iron too. I haven’t hung out with him much but little that I have, I wish I could have hung out with him more. And I had a lot of fun in the match tonight.
TG: socaluncensored.com
S: I don’t know too much about it entirely and I’ve kind of goofed on websites today in my promo. But that’s where I’ve found out about a lot of the bookings I’ve gotten and the site seems real nice. Gives people like Pure Talent and others something to do. It’s generally good and something for people to have.
TG: SoCal Indy scene in general.
S: I think I’ve exhausted it already and it’s time for me to move on. The Indy scene’s tough anywhere and California’s no exception. There’s a lot of good wrestlers and there’s a lot of guys that don’t take their work seriously and nothing drives me more crazy when people don’t take something I love seriously.
TG: Spanky
S: I think Spanky is the handsomest, most charming, witty. (Looks at Frankie Kazarian) What are some good things to say about Spanky?
Frankie: Well, he’s a gentleman and a scholar.
S: Gentleman and a scholar, thank you. He’s also a fantastic mat wrestler, totally underrated, and a high flyer that can do it all. Just chooses to save it. Mic skills? Impeccable. (Looks at Frankie) Does that work there?
Frankie: Ummmm, I dunno if impeccable works.
S: Does fabulous work?
FK: Tremendous.
S: Tremendous mic skills.
FK: He also has a Masters in tomfoolery.
S: Masters in tomfoolery! If I could be like anybody in the whole wide world, I would be like Spanky.
FK: Me too!
S: So would Frankie.
TG: Do you have any last words now that you’re leaving the SoCal fans, wrestlers, and promoters?
S: First, I’d like to give a big shout out to my brother Neil the Electric Eel. Hey Neil, what’s up! Keep it real homeslice! Thanks to all the ring crew guys for setting up the rings. Thanks to all and I appreciate it, I suppose.
TG: Thank you very much for letting me conduct this interview and entertaining us in the time that you’ve been here in SoCal. And good luck in the future.
S: My pleasure. Thanks
