Q: Where were you born?
A: I was born in New Haven, Conn., and raised in Allentown, Pa. I wanted to get involved in wrestling. I thought I needed to go to school to have something to fall back on, but I just couldn't stick it out. I had to go for my dream and go for a shot at wrestling.
Q: What was your professional training like?
A: I was 19 when I started and was trained by Afa at the Wild Samoan Training Center in Allentown. The hard part about training was getting the guts to get in the ring and take the bumps and learn the falls and things like that. Once you get past that, it's fun and it came easy to me. Afa made sure you did your stuff right, which is good. You are not allowed to move in what you've learned until you get what you're are working on right. You can't advance until you have your stuff down pat. You look back on that and you are thankful for it because that's what makes you good.
Q: Are you a perfectionist like Afa?
A: I try to be. I like to do my best in everything. I like to give it my all. If you're not going to give your all, it's not even worth doing. I'm my worst critic as far as when I watch my matches, seeing things I could have done better or want to do different next time. When it comes to wrestling I am self-motivated. When it comes to wrestling, since that's my love and my dream, I always motivate myself to do what I have to do.
Q: How long did you train?
A: I was ready to go in about three months. I finished my training. But I didn't want to start on the independent circuit because I didn't feel I was ready. So I kept furthering my training and Afa was strict. He doesn't want anybody representing him, giving him a bad name as far as the schooling goes, which is understandable. So I wanted to make sure I was ready to go before I got out there and actually did shows.
Q: When was your first match?
A: My first match was in November 1994, and I was 20 years old. It was in Reading, Pa., at a mall. I think it was a charity thing. It was free at the mall and I think it was a fundraiser. I wrestled a guy named Disco Joey Travola. I guess as far as first matches go it wasn't too bad, but looking back at it now it was pretty bad. It was a learning experience all right. It was very humbling, especially since my mother was there to tape it. I couldn't watch it.
I did little independent shows around the Northeast area and just tried to get better and better and then met up with Chris Canyon, and he helped me train also at Afa's school. We ended up going to Memphis and wrestled for the USWA. Basically before we left to go down there, they told us not to come down because they didn't need us. But we had already both quit our jobs and so we went anyway. I wrestled maybe three, no more than four times in a month and a half or two months. Chris went on to WCW to try to get in there. I went back to Pennsylvania to go back to work in independents. So Chris got in down here with the help of Dallas Page. Chris told me to send a tape down, but I didn't for about a year because I wasn't confident enough in my work. But he called me up one day and said, "Listen, they are starting up a cruiserweight division," and said to send the tape and get my stuff together. So I did, and Chris showed the tape to Dallas Page who loved it, especially the Shooting Star. They showed it to Eric (Bischoff), and they brought me down for a try-out match and they liked it and hired me.
Q: What's your style?
A: Basically Afa taught me the fundamentals, how to take bumps and helped me with psychology and things like that. And then all the high-flying stuff basically I got from Japanese tapes. The Shooting Star is a move that I always had in my head to do even before I started wrestling because I had never seen it done before. But when I got in the ring and started training and I stood on the top turnbuckle for the first time I just looked down and said, "It's impossible," because, just the footing and slipping backwards, facing forward, and I just didn't think it was possible. Then Chris Canyon showed me a Japanese tape of Liger against Benoit. And I saw Liger do it. So then I said, "Well, I guess it's possible so now I've got to try it." We got a big crash pad from a gymnastics school and put it in the ring and I just did it. It came out different because Liger tucks when he does it. The first time I saw him do it he tucked his knees, but mine were just laid out, that's just the way it ended up
I've almost had a few mishaps with it. I did one in Memphis one time and I went further out than up so I didn't get the full rotation, so I came down on my upper chest and my feet flopped over backwards. I was still pretty limber at the time so it wasn't too bad, but I felt it. Another one was my foot slipped off the ropes at an independent show and I made it barely all the way around. I basically came down, the upper part of my chest on the guy's chest, so if I didn't land on his chest I would have been in trouble, so he basically broke my fall. Another time I had a match against Disco Inferno, I went up to do the Shooting Star, and basically I jumped up, did the Shooting Star and came right back down on the same spot. I didn't go out at all. I didn't think it was possible because in diving when you do it, your hips throw you out. I jumped up, flipped, and caught the ropes right where my feet were, so when I hit the ropes it rocketed my head into the mat. So they thought I was dead. So Disco covered me, and that was the end of that match. So the next day I went out and did it and got around. When you have a mishap like that, you've just got to do it. It makes you get over the fear of it. Too many more mishaps like that and I'll have to come up with a new finish. There's fear every time I do it, but just knock on wood, nothing happens.
Q: What was your biggest moment?
A: There have been two of them. Winning the cruiserweight belt when I beat Juvi on Nitro on Sept. 14, 1998, in Greenville, S.C. That was right after I got out of the Flock, and that was really the biggest moment cause that's when I really took off and things started to go. I started wrestling more consistently and I got my name out there, and having the belt and everything helped out. I lost it and won it back and now with the tag team belts that's a big thing right now, too. That's a big point in my career. Everything's going well right now.
Q: How is tagging with Rey Mysterio Jr.?
A: I heard a lot about him, I heard the name Rey Mysterio Jr. a lot, and then I saw the AAA PPV that they had here and that's where I got to see him actually wrestle. The whole PPV was great. I was like, "Man!" Then, when he went to ECW, I got to watch him there, so I knew about him. Everything's going great. I can't complain at all.
Q: Who has been your toughest opponent?
A: Any of the cruiserweights always give me a tough time. Right now with Malenko and Benoit, they're unbelievable. All you've got to do is watch those chops from Benoit and you know he's tough. And Eddy Guerrero, Chris Canyon, Saturn, Raven. There isn't any one tough opponent. Anyone I go against is always tough because I am almost always the smaller guy, so it's always an uphill battle. But I like going in the ring against everybody. I look forward to having matches against different people and bigger guys.
Q: Your career took off after you left the Flock...
A: Being in the Flock was good for my career because, at the time the Flock started, I wasn't doing anything. I was on once a month on a Saturday night. So when the Flock thing came along, got me on TV every week, got my name out there, that really gave me a boost. When the whole Flock thing ended, it was due. People were tired of it, and we were tired of it. So it was just the right timing, and timing was everything on that.
Q: Are you surprised when you come out when the fans go crazy over you.
A: Yes, it does surprise me, and I don't know why. I like the reaction of the people and I like to go out there and give them a good show, and the fact that they like to see it surprises me, but I like to do it. It works well together I guess. People can look at me and say, "Wow, if he can do it, I can do it." I'm just a regular kid, you know. I'm 24 years old and I'm very lucky to be where I am, doing what I've always loved to do, and people can relate to that because of my size. If somebody meets me, you always get the guys with the attitude, the big guys, "Yeah, well, you are not that big." Yeah, but I can put on a show, which is more than a lot of other people can say. That's what it's all about anymore. It's not about size because the styles have changed, shifting toward cruiserweight and incorporating that style.
Q: Do you have a message for your fans?
A: Thanks for your support and keep watching. Always follow your dreams and don't give up on it. You never know where it will take you.
