Hey Crowbar, how are you doing?
Crowbar: I’m doing fine, I’m just hangin’ out, I’m doing great.
How’s things in WCW?
C: Great, going ok. After being on the independents for nine years it’s great to finally have a secure job somewhere. So far they’ve done some real good things with me and I’m just having a good time. Alright, tell us about a little bit about yourself and your history in the wrestling biz. C: I started wrestling at 17 when I was a junior at high school, I scammed my parents into signing a waiver so I could go to wrestling school, Iron Mike Sharp’s which is in South New Jersey. Hugh Morrus was there and he really taught me a lot with high spots and the wrestling aspect. I basically went there for a few years, didn’t have my first match for maybe two years or so and from that point on, I’ve been on the independents out of New Jersey, Indiana, New York mostly the East coast stuff from time to time.
In 94-95 I was called to come into WCW for the first time for Nitro back when they first started pushing the cruiserweight division, when they brought me in as Devon Storm. I had my first match against Konnan, I also made a few Saturday Night appearances nothing really materialised, considering my talent I didn’t want anything to materialise, I wanted to learn more. I was only doing high flying but needed to know more wrestling itself, my character also needed to mature. At that point I went to ECW for a year. They didn’t use me that great, I got beat up on a regular basis! At that time I was full time physiotherapist at therapy school. That regular pay check came in handy. People give Paul Heyman bad raps for poor payments, but I got paychecks after every show. It gave me the chance to study while people were out with jobs. Then I went back to WCW to form the extreme team, and got killed by Nash/Hall, along with a few Saturday Night tapings, then back to the independents.
Later I got brought into the WWF Light Heavyweight division by Jim Cornette, I got two matches on Raw, one against Taka (Michinoku), a few jobs on Jakked, I got some great exposure, but nothing materialised. I worked there for year doing light weight and tag stuff, still waiting for something to break. In ’98 I graduated school then worked on a nightly basis with the WWF, I spoke to Jim Ross about being a physio and doing the wrestler thing too. They were interested, I thought it was gonna come off. A week before it went down Jim Ross said they didn’t want to take that direction and it all fell through. I really thought that was it and contemplated quitting the business. Then I got called up to Dory Funk’s Dojo camp, again nothing materialised with the WWF.
Then DDP was running a benefit show in New Jersey which was like an hour from me, he took a real liking to me and treated me great. He gave me a lot of good advice, and helped me a lot. He said if there was any way he could help me out he would, so I took him up on it and went down to a show in Asbury Park. For the next few months I sent him videos and pictures, then in June ’99 he took the videos and pictures to Eric (Bischoff) and got me hired under a deal where I had to move to Atlanta and attend the powerplant. They thought I was ready to go, at the time I was working full time physio, I gave in my notice and didn’t look back. I did a month and a half of training which was exhausting (laughs). It was hard but got me into shape and taught me a lot like suplexes and bridging. They kept you comfortable with the ring. I’d been there a month and a half and Jimmy Hart, who really was the man who got Vince Russo to use me for Crowbar, brought me down to Saturday Night to work with Kidman, he was my bud from the indies. I can’t thank Jimmy enough for the opportunity he gave me I really appreciate it, I owe him a lot.
Kidman’s not doing too bad now is he?
C: Oh he’s doing fantastic, the cool thing is that people would think from where he was, to where he is now he would change completely, but the truth is he’s the same guy from the indies, very down to earth. He’s an excellent guy I thank him so much for that first Saturday Night match and opened peoples eyes to what I was about, he really got the ball rolling for me and I can’t thank him enough, he’s gonna be here a long time.
Who came up with the Crowbar idea?
C: Going back I was doing the Saturday Night matches 3-4 months and at Christmas Paul Orndorff was in the powerplant and he said “look guys, Vince Russo’s coming down to look at you. Make sure you look your best. We had matches in front of Russo which was nerve racking, I worked with Kid Romeo and Mike Sanders, that same day with Sanders I got busted open. it was the same day I was going home for Christmas break. So I had to rush to stitch myself up and get the plane home, but luckily I had enough time before I left to hear Orndorff say Russo wanted to do something with me. I was real excited. I asked him what it is and he said he was not in a position to tell me. I begged to get something outta him and he wouldn’t. So I got on the plane wondering. Got home on the Friday, on the Monday I got a call from Dave Bowden in the office. He told me they needed me tomorrow and I’d be doing something with David Flair, Daphne, Vampiro they were not really sure, I just had to be there.
So that was ‘the call’
C: Yeah I showed up the next day and they tell me the gimmick, you’re a gas man, you have oil on your shirt, wear shitty jeans and you gotta carry a pipe!
That’s what I don’t understand, why do they call you Crowbar if you carry a damn pipe?
C: (laughs) I kinda ran around acting like a moron threatening people with a crowbar, that made David and Daphne laugh, so it got me in with their ‘clique’, for some reason. I carry a pipe just to be different, I try to make sense of it (laughs), for some reason since then the character has been well recieved it’s really great.
How do you feel about your current re-direction of your character in storylines?
C: Right now I’m sorta in a limbo. Like you noticed I had the cool thing going with the Wall.
Yeah with all the crazy bumps and everything.
C: Yeah I loved doing it. I hope we can do that again it was really a fun feud. When I was 17, the Wall had also started out at the school I was at so we’ve known each other from day one. We used to wrestle each other in front of 40 people in the gym, it really meant a lot to us to be working together in front of that many people. Going from 40 people with being with one of the ppv companies was really something. Working with Candido was great, I did that a few times, I’ve worked with him on the independents. For some reason we just really click well in the ring. We got along well, we both like to go balls out and give 200% each, the fans really like that. As of right now I’m still visible on TV but as far as angles I ain’t doing too much.
I really miss you being thrown through tables every week.
C: (laughs) Actually, hopefully I don’t go the hardcore way.
I’ve come up with a future gimmick for you in WCW.
C: Gimmick? Like what? Go ahead.
Pretty lame….Devon and Lance, the Storm brothers.
C: Ah……Storm Bridges!
Ah!
C: You never know!
That could be WCW’s big surprise – you could be working me here.
C: Yeah…if that was the big surprise I probably wouldn’t even find out until 2pm on Sunday, they dont tell us nothing so…(laughs)
I’ll tell you what, you find out at 2pm, I’ll phone you at 2:01pm.
C: Right, definitely (laughs). Yeah it’s great Lance is coming in, he’s a great worker. I haven’t seen a whole lot of his work, on a few ppvs. There’s lots of other guys coming in I’d love to work with you know.
A lot of people have asked me to ask you whether you have fan club… where you can get autographs and such.
C: Not yet, I have a few people that wanna set one up, I’m definitely interested. I gotta do talking to people, hopefully one will be up soon, we’ll see.
Could you imagine the global success of lil’ Daphne dolls!
C: Oh big time!
As soon as you go near one it screams the house down, it’d scare the children but would be a great laugh!
C: Definitely! (laughs)
Do you think that Vince Russo possibly has too much of a role on TV with Flair, the cage match and all?
C: That all depends, some fans probably love it some don’t, depends on what you’re a fan of. For a time Vince McMahon was a big part of angles. I think it’s a new trend for people who actually are owners to become key characters and figures in storylines. I’m more of a fan of wrestling matches but everyone knows those days are gone, so it shows my opinion doesnt really matter (laughs). But I don’t think he has too much of a role.
In all reality how long do you think it will take for WCW to be No. 1 and what do you they think they need to do to get there?
C: It ain’t gonna happen next week, month, year, because people are creatures of habit, and even when we’re putting out superior products, people are used to watching Raw from 9-11 on Monday, Smackdown blah blah. It’s really gonna take consistently putting out a superior product time by time so fans start watching our stuff. People watch Raw and Nitro and say, ‘hey Nitro was good this week’, to their friends, then their friends will pass that on etc.
Word of mouth is the best free publicity.
C: Exactly, I mean the WWF was putting out a consistently better product 6 months before regaining the top spot. At that moment in time people were in habit of watching Nitro because that was the cool thing to do. But slowly over time people watched WWF and it followed on and keeped watching, its because of habit I think. What will be the move that does it? Hard to say.
…..possibly Sunday?
C: Yeah you really can’t say what that one move will be, it’s all putting out a good entertaining product that people want to see so that people can be confident, that if they tune into Nitro they will be entertained more than if they watched Raw. I don’t think it’s one single move it’ll be a combination of several big moves, Sunday maybe one of them. but it’s a lot of different moves that make the product more interesting.
Do you think it’s fair when people talk about the Millionaire Club/New Blood feud as another way of extending the product life cycle of the older stars?
C: Uh, I think not, I think it’s relationship.
A mutual consent?
C: Yeah it’s like the older guys are working with the younger guys to elevate them, so as to show they can hang with the more established ‘legends’. Where at the same time it renews the interest in the more established stars to have them work with the younger guys, it helps both causes. I don’t know if you agree this thing with Hogan and Kidman. When I go and watch the Nitro tape at home as a fan I think this whole thing with Kidman regenerated more interest in Hogan. You’re seeing him going through tables getting beat down, bleeding etc. On the flip side, he comes back hitting people with chairs, belts and stuff. I think this whole feud is helping both sides, but that’s purely my opinion.
Okay let’s play the booker as it were, if you could pick two people to be in the world title feud who would you pick?
C: Well….wow….well I think it should be for the hardcore fans who know their history….uh….well I say Nash and Goldberg is a match that has to happen again. He beat the streak, but with a shockstick.
A heel Goldberg and face Nash or vice versa?
C: Either way it doesn’t matter, I see that as a match itself because of the history, with the shockstick, it think that’s a match that could be built to, but as a fan that was a match I’d want to see because of the history. Yeah Nash and Goldberg are buddies, but man,is the shit gonna hit the fan!
(At this point I was in absolute hysterics)
Should the TV title be brought back seeing as it’s a great way to elevate low-mid carders?
C: Exactly, say take a guy like uh…trying to think of a lower-mid card guy…gimme a name.
Crowbar
C: Okay (laughs), I’m floating around, not sure what I’m doing, but they have future plans, it just adds credibility. When you’re at home watching a show, when a guy comes down to the ring with gold it elevates him because you’re drawn to that belt. It adds to the credibility and the awe of you walking down to the ring. The WWF did it with the European belt, that’s on a par with the TV belt, it’s used to elevate people and it really does so why not bring it back?! JUST MY OPINION!
Vince Russo will probably reading this you know.
C: (laughs)
Onto some name association now…. First name, Reckless Youth.
C: Great high flyer, love working with the guy.
Hulk Hogan
C: Made wrestling, made wrestling what it is today with Flair.
David Flair.
C: Lot of fun to work with and a real nice guy.
Bischoff.
C: Thank him so much for giving me my break.
Russo.
C: Thank him for pulling me outta the powerplant and coming up with Crowbar.
TNN
C: Don’t know much about it.
Neither does anyone else.
The WCW title, because its been bouncing around lately.
C: THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY (laughs). I’m serious.
Do you not think it’s hurt the credibility of the belt?
C: I don’t know, you know when I was a kid I used to hate tuning in to Saturday Main Event knowing Hogan was never gonna lose and he would have the belt for ever and ever, with belts only switching hands on ppvs. That was one extreme and we’re at the other extreme, where it’s exchanging on a weekly basis, they need to find an active medium. I think it’s good to have title changes as part of the storyline because it makes the shows unpredictable.
I think the WWF have it right by building up the top heel with the top face and just letting them go.
C: Yeah but if we did that the dirt sheet guys like Meltzer and Keller would accuse us of copying the formula.
That makes me laugh when anyone says that because Vince (Russo) was a huge part of what went down in the WWF.
C: Absolutely but it’s what they’d say. Am I right that’s what they’d say?
You’re right.
C: Whatever happens they’d look for ways to take shots. These days if you’re a sheet writer it’s cool to flame WCW.
Not if you work for 1Wrestling.
C: (laughs) Yeah.
Sad but true. Devon Storm
C: Yep…oh Devon Storm! Wonder if he’ll ever resurface again?
Mark Madden.
C: He’s a riot.
(laughs) He’s got a lot of haters!
C: Yeah I like him a lot he’s a real funny guy.
Last name, Crowbar
C: Takes a lot of fun to be him.
Well thanks very much for your time it’s greatly appreciated.
C: No problem, anytime, I enjoyed it so much, thanks for the opportunity.