The Caprice Ice Coleman Interview

BS: First question, how did you get started in the business?

CC: I started out as a joke, I wrestled in high school and weighed 119 pounds. I decided that I wanted to take it to the next level and people pretty much said 'Yeah right' but I went and found a show where Matt and Jeff Hardy were. They took in me, I was too small, but they took me and I said I would referee for free for as long as it took me to put on weight and become a wrestler. So they trained me to be a referee and I refereed for them for free to pay for my wrestling training and one day I finally weighed a little more than when I started and they gave me the chance. Ever since they gave me that chance the ball just kept rolling and I love them to death for that.

BS: What are some of your memories from working in OMEGA as Ice, and your time spent there?

CC: It started out in Cameron whene we started out, everyone (the Hardyz, Cham Pain, etc) started way before me and I looked up to them, but people didn't think that much of them. The way it blew up was just like a miracle, man nobody expected something from Cameron, North Carolina to become as big as it is. I mean that's like a worldwide name now, I walk down the street and see people with OMEGA shirts on, it's great man. It's like a big family, everybody treats you with respect and everybody knows each other and they show that same love for each other when we see each other on the road.

BS: Towards the final days of OMEGA, you worked pretty frequenetly with Shannon Moore, Joey Matthews and Christian York in four-ways, tag matches, and the like, how do you think the four of you working together helped mature all of you as workers?

CC: Me being the greenest person there I think it matured me learning from my mistakes. They would always be there to give me pointers and tell me what could make me a better wrestler and what could make me more. One thing early on was that I was doing too many highspots, I wanted to get the crowd into it, but I was getting hurt too. I broke my ankle twice and had reconstructive knee surgery and they told me that I was doing too much stuff and helped slow me down. They've grown a whole lot more and they deserve everything they've gotten.

BS: You debuted with SCW in the fall of 2000, what were your initial impressions of the group?

CC: I had known about SCW for a while but didn't really have a chance to work for them and once I got the chance all I could do was go out there and show my tail, show them what I could do, show them why the showstopper was here. That was to go out there every time and stop the show so that every time I go out there the crowd is gonna remember Caprice Coleman.

BS: What circumstances got you into NWA Wildside?

CC: Shannon Moore gave me the number and told me to call Bill Behrens. The first time I was getting ready to go up there I broke my ankle, I was supposed to go up there with Shane, Shannon, and all of them but I got hurt and was out for like six months. By the time I got back, they were already signed. I caught up with Bill and he kept giving me more chances to come, I finally came and he let me stay.

BS: What do you think of some of the top talent in Wildside, A.J. Styles, Onyx, Jimmy Rave, etc., who should we as indy wrestling fans be on the lookout for?

CC: A.J. Styles, Onyx, Jimmy Rave, everybody you named, man, everybody there is talented. You don't just walk into Wildside, everybody there, it depends on the fans who stays, you've gotta have the fans behind you. This ain't no rinky-dink backyard wrestling thing where anybody in the world can come in off the streets and try to wrestle, you have to earn your spot there and once you earn it, you've gotta keep it. You can't just be there even though you mess up a couple of times, you've gotta earn the right to stay there.

BS: In Wildside, you are often paired with another OMEGA alumni, Sweet Dreams, what are your thoughts on that pairing?

CC: Sweet Dreams is like a brother to me, we stay on the road a lot together and working with him I've learned a lot, taught him a lot, we've learned a lot from each other. I hope his stay there is as long as mine.

BS: Thoughts on your feud with Lazarus, which has spread from SCW and Wildside into several other promotions as well?

CC: Laz, Laz, Laz, Laz…Laz is a phenominal athlete and every time we get the chance we try to tear the house down. This thing has been going on and started as a legit feud, we both came to Wildside, I brought him in to work with me and they ended up giving him the push because his gimmick is so over. Everything and every spot I've gotten, I have had to work for but his gimmick was so over, it was like 'Dang, who is this guy here?!' and to me they were like sitting me over in a corner saying 'We'll get to you later Caprice, we want this guy right here' because his gimmick was that good and still is.

BS: Since they have been elsewhere, how helpful have the Hardyz, Shannon Moore, and the like continued to be to the guys like yourself who were there at the end of OMEGA but have yet to move on to the real big leagues?

CC: They haven't changed. I'm not gonna say 'Oh they are gonna get us here, they're gonna get us there' because I know that everybody who has ever known them is trying to get a hit off them. All I am trying to do is stay where I am so that when I get somewhere it'll be that Caprice Coleman earned it, nobody put him there. Matt and Jeff and all the people that have done it don't think they are any better, they call and check on people and everything. But when I get my spot I want it to be because Caprice Coleman earned it, not because Matt and Jeff or any of that got him there. I want to earn my spot and when I earn it, I'm gonna keep it 'cause it's coming.

BS: With essentially one major promotion and many independents battling for recognition, where do you see the business heading now?

CC: I don't see it heading nowhere quick. When Vince McMahon bought it out, it's like one person looking now for the one big job. But my time is coming, I am not gonna quit or stop, I have put too much time into this, been here too long to sit back and give it up because wrestling's not doing it for me anymore. I put time into this business and when my time comes, you're gonna see Caprice Coleman in the spotlight, you're gonna see him on TV, commercials, driving cars, everything that I said I was gonna do, 'cause I'm the show-stoppin', crowd-poppin', body-rockin', pulse-poundin', heart-racin', handsome-faced heartbreaker the sure 'nuff coldest brother alive today and that's not a work that's the God-knows truth.

BS: Thoughts on winning the Tribute battle royal back in October, that featured a lot of the best indy talent around and in the end Caprice Coleman was the last one standing.

CC: Just like you said, the last one standing, just like I'm gonna be the last one standing when I finish in this business. The indy battle royal was a hard fight and I didn't even think I was going to win. Everybody going in there had great talent, some people twice my size, with me being a cruiserweight, I'm already going in at the bottom, ya understand what I'm saying? But when I came out on top, it boosted my ego up, everybody went out and worked hard and I went over, and thank God it happened the way that it happened. It happened out of nowhere and just like that, out of nowhere, Caprice Coleman is gonna happen.

BS: We've seen you come up with some innovative offensive maneuvers, the Colesnap, the Thermal Shock, Comatosis, and others, what motivates you to come up with your innovative style?

CC: I've been wanting to be a wrestler all my life. Ever since I was little, wrestling is the only sport I could do. When I was in high school I weighed 89 pounds my freshman year the only sport I could play that I wasn't too short for or too light for was wrestling. Wrestling gave me a chance and has been giving me a chance ever since. The only person that has given me a chance other than wrestling is the Lord Jesus Christ that's the only person who has given me the chance I deserve and I don't deserve what he's given me. But wrestling gave me my confidence, gave me my look, gave me a place where I want to be. As long as it keeps giving me what I want, I will keep giving it my all.

BS: Sitting here casually, you come across as a humble, hard working, nice guy, where did the cocky promo style you've developed come from?

CC: If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else is gonna believe in you either. I have been in this business for four or five years and was always the person to sit in the back and say 'I'm gonna stay humble.' I'm a humble person and I am gonna stay humble because I didn't earn this myself, I earned my spot physically but I'm only here through the grace of the lord. But if I don't believe in myself, nobody else is gonna believe in me either. There's so many people out there, A.J. Styles, Jason Kross, J.C. Dazz, all these people, some of them are more athletic than I am and the only thing I have going for me is the gifts that I have. I can talk, I can walk, I have the look, I have the style, I have the grace, the shape, the face. That's the total package that I have and that's the total package that people are looking for, and once they get it, it's gonna stay for a long time.

BS: Favorite opponents?

CC: It would have to be the Wildside guys, A.J. Styles, Jimmy Rave, Jason Kross who I am feuding with now, back in the day Shannon Moore, all the OMEGA guys, Sweet Dreams, people down in SCW, I love Kross. Me and him had some great matches. Just about everybody I've come across, I don't really hate anybody, people earn their spots and it's a mutual respect thing going on. Nobody is better than anybody else, they just have different ways of expressing themselves. And if you come into it with that attitude that I'm not better than you and you're not better than me, but let's take what you have with what I have, everybody will go higher.

BS: Favorite match?

CC: I don't know. Every match I have man, just brings me to a higher level. I've had some great ones, three-ways and ladder matches in Wildside, man, I can't call it.

BS: Word association, A.J. Styles.

CC: Love him like a brother.

BS: NWA Wildside promoter Bill Behrens.

CC: That man is going somewhere, he's the smartest cat around I know.

BS: Lazarus.

CC: That's my boy.

BS: William Wealth.

CC: He's gonna get there.

BS: Mikael Yamaha.

CC: He's gonna get there too, hard worker.

BS: Jimmy Rave.

CC: Hard worker that was given a spot and kept it and now deserves it, he's earned everything he got.

BS: J.C. Dazz.

CC: Awesome.

BS: Shannon Moore.

CC: Awesome also.

BS: Caprice Coleman.

CC: The show-stoppin', crowd-poppin'…do I have to go through this, I told you who I am told you where I'm from, Caprice Coleman is always gonna be the man that steals the show.

BS: Any parting thoughts for the independent wrestling fans out there?

CC: Watch out 'cause I'm here now, I'm gonna be here later, I'm gonna be here for the start, the middle of Caprice Coleman and the ending of Caprice Coleman, 'cause that's gonna be the start of wrestling at its peak and the ending when it falls down. When it's on the rise, Caprice Coleman is gonna be going higher and higher as long as my legs allow me and as long as the Lord allows me to go, I'm gonna keep going.