Interview with Money Mike
1. What first got you into wrestling as a child?
Well I was 5 Years old when I first got into wrestling with my uncle Mike. On Saturday nights at midnight, he would wake me up to watch Florida Wrestling with the Von Erichs and Chris Adams, The Freebirds, The Road Warriors, etc... Hell I even would watch the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling which was also know as G.L.O.W
2. Is there one match that sticks out in your mind the most?
I remember two, it was The Freebirds vs The Road Warriors when the Freebirds painted themselves up for their matchup with the LOD, and the Russians and the Road Warriors had such a fierce rivary that I remember the chain match between them that was brutal in comparison to what we see today.
3. Who is the one wrestler that you saw that made you say I am never going to stop watching this?
Hmmmm, I hate to admit this now, but Hogan back then was a main reason I loved wrestling. Yes at one time I was a Hulkamaniac. I always drank my milk and ate my vitamins. Every Saturday moring I would always watch Hulk's Rock n Wrestling. I remember it was Wrestlemania 2 and I was so pumped up that I convinced my uncle Mike to have a tag match out front with me. We got two of my friends to wrestle us and got alot of the neighborhood kids to come and watch us. We of course lost, i got pinned, but it was awesome.
4. At what point in time did you decide you wanted to create what became the GSE?
Well that's funny you ask, I was about 18 years old and just got a computer and was looking up wrestling online and came across this fed called the FWA. I didn't know at the time what an efed was but I joined, after about two weeks of being there, I told myself I could do this and quickly created the MFW. At one point in time I actually had 87 members. The fed was amazingly huge and I did the fed for a little over 3 years. I remember telling Travis about it. I knew what he was doing offline and tried at that time to convince him which didn't happen. The MFW later down the road became what most people know as the GSE.
5. What was your favorite match that you did in your fed?
Hmmm, well at that time we didn't do the matches like we do today, we did the roleplaying thing, but I think my favorite match was the Showstopper vs Money Mike vs The Insane Bastard in a hell in a cell and Money Mike got completely destroyed and actually taken out on a stretcher from the destruction that was caused by the two who actually joined forces in the cage and never really pinned each other. They tricked Money Mike into making it a triple threat to try and take him out of professinal wrestling. The members at the time were Kenny who played the Showstopper and John who I actually kept telling that I wasn't Money Mike, that my roommate was Money Mike. Of course three years later Kenny and I finally told him and well he actually got a little pissed off but got over it.
6. Did you have any concern about creating a character for yourself?
I did at the time, cause in the FWA I was Money Mike and didn't have control over how Money Mike was used, but in the MFW I did and I didn't want Money Mike to be this indestructable force, so alot of the storylines I created there came from me making sure that Money Mike paid his dues and that's when I actually thought of why Money Mike didn't ever want to hold the world title and instead focused his career with the U.S. title, the hardcore title and a tag team title run. I was a main eventer, but never was the one who no one could beat, I lost my fair share of matches just like everyone else and it was kinda hard to do the matches with roleplays, but I also have a huge imagination that helped me along the way.
7. Was there ever a match you wanted to do that you never got the chance to do?
No actually for the most part, everybody had the chance to face each other, however there is one match at that time I wish I could've redone cause it was the start of the MFW's eventual decrease in members. Around that time too, I was persuaded to stop watching wrestling and doing drugs and drinking. No one knows about this, but Travis was actually the one who got me back into wrestling and getting my ass out of the garbage I was into at the time. After getting back to my old self, I tried to respark the mfw up but alot of the people I had in there, I couldnt find or contact, so the mfw basically started up with new members but never got to that level of 87, it was maybe 10 or fifteen tops.
8. When and how did the competion between the GSE and TWF really begin?
Well the competition between the two actually started out right away with Travis and I basically doing the interpromotional tours against each others fed. We loved doing that, had a blast, but if you wanna talk about what triggered me to act the way I did, well lets travel back to when Gabe aka Matt Cruz (A known virgin) was a part of the GSE and months after signing, he had been in talks with Travis behind my back for him to jump ship. I understand now why he did it but didn't back then and basically felt that he and Travis had turned their backs on me and it triggered me to basically push my best friend to the very edge that almost destroyed everything and I almost lost my best friend.
9. Did you concern yourself that things between the feds might come between the friendship between Travis and yourself?
At first no, I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get members to sign up like I had once before and that the TWF was getting all this attention, but I never once saw anything that happened to happen. I thought Travis and I would revoluntionize what WCW and WWE were back then and be competition but competition that did trades to each other and worked together to give the fans something fresh and new as much as we could.
10. At what point in time did you realize things were going down hill for your fed?
Well the fued between me and Travis was at full force now, my wife was pissed off cause all my time was spent on the computer, I deleted Travis's main page at one point, I'm sure most veterans here remember that. I didn't really have any members anymore and I couldn't find reasons to bring myself to do results or shows anymore.
11. What's the worst thing a member ever did as part of your fed?
Well it was actually my last run I had got two guys to join the GSE, one would make figures for the company, which I got the first ever Money Mike figure created and an Angelic figure. The other one was known as the Lightbringer, his name was Jeremy. At one point I let him write a few shows for me which he actually did a decent job. Well he convinced me to do this storyline and I went along with it, which that's where "Starman" came from was the GSE. Anyway, when I came home, I read a post he made which revealed him as Starman and he threw the GSE title in the garbage and berated the GSE on the boards and on the TWF boards which turned out to be the best thing to ever happen.
12. For those who do not know, can you please explain the infamous Ridic problems that caused the tension between the GSE and TWF?
Well I almost forgot about that idiot. I remember we signed Ridic and because I didn't post alot of shows like I used to, he thought the GSE sucked, which it did but it was during a time when I didn't care like I had once did. Anyway he joined the TWF I believe. To be quite honest with you, I don't remember too much of it anymore, Joe. I remember this one part that he tried to join the TWF when I had joined forces with Travis and we had this big thing on the guest book and we almost brought him back but as luck would have it, he basically killed himself and any chance he had to be resigned and caused this big comotion in the guestbook in which we had to ban him not once, not twice but i believe from four different IP addresses, but he finally went away.
13. Why did you decide to shut your fed down?
I had called Travis up and Jeremy did that to me and we talked for about an hour about things and I went down to his house and met with him and we basically patched up everything that I did and I was very thankful that I didn't lose my best friend and I was able to be forgiven by such a great person. We decided that the TWF would buy the GSE and everything that went with it and that I would take over the development area of the TWF. So that was the end of the GSE.
14. Do you regret shutting it down at all at this point in time?
No I don't, I don't regret nor miss it. I feel like that chapter of my life has been written and forgotten and I got a new chance to reconcile my career and passion for the business.
15. Was it at all a hard decision to come to the TWF after all you went through?
At first yes cause of what I had said about the members at the time, what I put Travis through and the destruction I tried to do to the company cause I was jealous of it, when all along I was destined to be apart of what I helped create in the first place.
16. When you role play in the guest book do you intentionally get under peoples skin like you do?
Do I intentionally? Well Joe lets think about that, yes I do. Money Mike is a character that has never cared about what he says, who he hurts or what he does. When I'm on the boards, I'm in character, hell when I'm not on the boards, I'm in character. Wrestling has always been who I am. If people cant take what I say, don't read what I post. It's your fault if you get pissed off, if you can dish it, be prepared to take it. That's what most people in the TWF are afraid of, to speak against me cause of my postition in the company. Don't be afraid to fire back at me cause of who I am, the boards are the place to have fun. It's basically our backstage area guys. If anyone thinks for one second that the TWF doesn't have backstage drama, think again, it's out there and it travels daily.
17. There is a situation between you and the people behind Eddie Saint James and Monica. Can you explain things?
Sure Joe, since you want to cause drama, I will give your show ratings. When Monica first joined the TWF, I approached her and I believe I asked her something that had to do with sex (which sadly is true). She got pissed off and I guess Eddie took offense to it and then tried to post things against me on the guest book. I guess he didn't know who I was and the kind of things I would say. Well I took Eddie to the point where he couldn't take it anymore and he went and ran crying to the board of directors in the TWF.
18. Do you regret your part in things and would you like to make peace with them?
Look I guess you could call this the Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels hate of the TWF basically. No I don't regret with what I said to Monica, I was playing around and well she took it like I actually wanted to sleep with her, have you seen this woman? Eddie should of known I was joking too, but I guess they both wanted to stir things up in the TWF and well they can sit and be pissed off all they want at me. I don't give a shit. I said what I said, I'm not going to apologize about it or anything else. If they can't handle it, well go tell someone who cares cause I don't.
19. In your opinion is there one constant problem with the TWF at any level?
Is there a constant problem in the TWF, yes. In any company there are problems, the biggest problem is everyone wants to be the best and hold the world title but don't want to put in an effort to earn it. They feel they should just get one. It takes time in the TWF to become a noticeable talent. It takes time for your character to get to where it needs to be and if you try and rush, you go nowhere. Stop crying and bitching about what your not getting and start finding ways to help yourself get there. Another huge issue is the fact that we have a lot of sexually inexperienced members.
20. Is there one match that you feel you have to have before you can walk away and be at peace?
One match that stands out in my mind and will never leave it till I have it and that's against Jordan Rockwell. The fued between Money Mike and Jordan Rockwell dates back all the way back to the GSE when Money Mike first picked up a sense of disliking Rockwell and it has grown ever since. Is that my last match, no, but it's certainly a match that won't happen till it's destined to happen. It's something that doesn't need to be rushed.
21. Lastly and finally, when you do decide you are done how exactly do you want people to remember Mike Norton, the human being?
I want the TWF empire to know that the man behind Mike Norton was a person who did everything daily to think about what he could do to help make the TWF feel like you really worked here, you belonged and you were taken care of. I want people to know that Mike Norton gave his life day in and day out to bring everything he could for people to enjoy about the TWF and hopefully I have thus far.
There you have it folks, that is my one on one with the man behind the character, behind a fed and that for many years has stood beside the man that gave us the TWF and now works to help this train keep going. So I hope you learned something because I know I did and tune in next column to see what is next!
