March '04
Recently 1StopWrestling.co.uk’s Chris Hatch and Sarah Barraclough had the chance to meet up with US Independent star Chris Hero while on tour in Europe for All Star Promotions and wXw. We would like to thank Hero for the time he took over the following..
Chris Hatch: How did you start off in wrestling - as a fan and as a wrestler?
CH: As a fan I would say that I probably started watching in about 88’ – 89, and I started watching WWF mainly and NWA/WCW whatever. I was a fan for many years. My mum used to take me to a venue called the Harriett Arena and they would have WWF shows so every so often so I would go. I would go to a lot of independents and stuff like that and probably I followed it up all the way until I got to High school cause right around that time, about 5th grade or so, I just had so much other stuff going on. So for about 3 years I stopped watching wrestling. Around 97’ – 98’ I started watching again, watching Nitro and then started watching Raw again and I just started getting right back in to it. Actually I was a little smart but not really smart with getting right back in to it. Once I graduated High School, a friend of a friend ended up wrestling. So I talked to him and found out there was a place about a half an hour drive from where I lived that was training wrestlers. Now it ended up being a very terrible school but it helped bring me in and I met a couple of people.
Chris Hatch: Was there anyone who inspired you from your childhood?
CH: I would say probably not, as when I was little my favourite wrestler was probably Ultimate Warrior and it shows how things have changed as my favourite American wrestler now (although he hasn’t wrestled for a while) is Dean Malenko which is a very big difference between Ultimate Warrior and Dean Malenko so its just a different perspective. No I don’t think that the Ultimate Warrior has influenced my wrestling.
Chris Hatch: Were there any influences on your career once you had become a wrestler?
CH: Erm while I was training I had just started watching ECW and actually I attended Heat Wave 1998. So had been watching a little bit of that, WWE, ECW so whatever I was seeing was influencing me I guess. I mean I didn’t really know better.
Chris Hatch: Do you remember your first match?
CH: Absolutely. I mean I have never seen it on tape but my first match was against, like I said before, the friend of a friend and his wrestling name was “Heartthrob” Halsey - a friend of mine. It was September 12, 1998 in UCW. I’m sure it was a terrible match, I mean I remember landing on my head. At the time it felt great obviously because although after one thing and the other it was my first match but I’d like to see it just to see how bad it was but other than that. That was actually Shawn’s last match. He only had three other matches so yeah I just wanted to keep wrestling so I did.
Chris Hatch: What did you think of your experiences over in Europe?
CH: Erm actually I really really loved it. The first time I came over to Germany was like the second week of February in 2000 and I’d been wrestling a little over a year and a half. It was crazy that I had been wrestling that little and I got the chance to come over. In between that I stopped going to the wrestling school and after that I ended up moving to Les Thatcher’s Main Event Pro Wrestling Association Camp. It’s trained people like Matt Styrker who actually got me in there. After there I went to Dory Funk’s camp when he first started having them in December 1999, and then I went again in February 2000. The Germany thing. I worked for IWW in Hamburg. It’s a promotion that doesn’t exist anymore but what happened was – it’s really strange how it happened because I was working for NWA East Pittsburgh which is run by Jim Miller, now the head of NWA. He was talking about these shows that we were having being taped for TV in Europe. At the time a lot of the guys were sceptical cause something like that they thought isn’t feasible. I had a website and got an e-mail from a guy called Jason Fleming and he said he’d seen me on television and not only had he seen me he did the commentary on the matches because of course we had English commentary and they dubbed it over in German. He just started a casual conversation with me through e-mail, and one time I just asked did they have any independents in Germany and if so would anybody be interested in using an American guy. Just trying to act innocent and mature enough and you know he contacted me with a guy and I got my passport and flew over there in February and worked 2 shows. And that got my foot in the door to come back.
Chris Hatch: Did you wrestle any German Wrestlers when you were on the tour?
CH: Actually oddly enough my first show was a three way dance with Michael Kovac and Phil Powers who wrestles over here for All Star Wrestling and then I met Phil before I met any of the guys over here so it’s always funny whenever I get over here. We always talk about that first weekend over there - its very entertaining. And the next day I wrestled a guy called Jenns, a guy who’s wrestling name is the German Kid and later on that night I wrestled a guy called Bran Van Dam a Belgium wrestler. So I wrestled an Austrian, a Brit a German and a Belgian so it was definitely a great experience.
Chris Hatch: Could you notice a change or any differences in the European style of Wrestling?
CH: You know at that point I really didn’t have much of an understanding of the European stuff that much because it was so popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s and you know even early 90’s but then it got faded away cause of the WWF’s popularity so I didn’t quite grasp what the style was. But I did notice some of the things by some of the guys like Michael Kovac and Phil Powers did some things differently but generally the shows I worked on were Independent shows. The guys were kinda more or less imitating what they were seeing on things like ECW. Some had a style all of their own. Ulf Herman was at the show and Karsten Kretschmer and all of these guys that wrestled.
Chris Hatch: How did it end up you coming over to the UK to wrestle?
CH: Yes that was last October for a week. And one of the guys the promotion I worked primarily for over there is called Westside Xtreme Wrestling or WxW and the guy that helps there actually started off as a fan but now he’s become really professional and generally a really good guy over all. He got me in touch with Brian Dixon and got me booked for All Star. Last year in October I was over in Europe for like 25 days or something like that and there was a weekend where I was just going to be spending my time hanging out in Germany so he called Brian, and luckily I got over here and got myself a premier so now I’m back.
Chris Hatch: What do you think of the British Wrestling style?
CH: Absolutely British wrestling is my favourite wrestling right now. I have some British tapes I purchased, some I’ve borrowed from people. A student of mine actually purchases British tapes from a dealer over here and I send them to a guy who can convert them for me so I watch them back in the States. Otherwise it’s really hard to get the footage. I really really love the British style, I started watching people like Jonny Saint, he was over in Michinoko Pro and that was the first introduction to that sort of style. I mean I had seen people like Regal before but I think watching Jonny Saint completely blew my mind watching him. So then another favourite of mine was James Mason again in Michinoku Pro. He had a very distinct, fresh style, and watching guys like that I then got a Jonny Saint tape that then introduced me to guys like Steve Grey, Jim Breaks, Mike Jordan and even a young Robby Brookside. Watching stuff of Robby when he was 18 and he had only been around a few years – great stuff. I love the British Style.
Chris Hatch: Have you had a chance to work with Robby yet at all?
CH: I have not had the chance to work with him yet but I have had the chance to meet him. Actually when I came back from Germany last time it was Robby and Dave Marshell who picked me up so I talked to Robby for what ended up being a couple of hours on the ride there, waiting to leave there and the actual show. He’s a great guy and I would love to be in the ring with him and you know having someone like Robby on your show is kinda a bridge from today’s wrestling to yesterdays wrestling. He’s been around for a while but he can actually go. There isn’t a thing he can’t do in there and there isn’t a thing he hasn’t done.
Chris Hatch: What has been your favourite or best match that you have had over here?
CH: There have been some you know, they’ve all been good. I really have a high standard for myself so I don’t really think I have had any great matches over here. I’ve wrestled Paul Burchill probably 7 or 8 times in single matches although I think match by match our matches have been getting better and better. I think we’ve had 2 or 3 pretty good matches cause we change things. One of my favourite people to work with both on shows and in the ring before the shows is Mikey Whiplash – he does a bit of Comedy wrestling here and there but he’s a really great utility guy for Brian. Whatever Brian wants he can do it – if there is a mixed tag with the girls he will do it, if he needs somebody to referee for the night he can do it, so its good because he’s there to do anything but it would be nice if he got on the shows to wrestle cause the last time I was here in October, he wrestled a couple of matches with me and he’s improved dramatically even since then. He’s the first person to get in to the ring with me before shows working on stuff and sharing ideas.
Chris Hatch: You already mentioned that you would like to wrestle Robby Brookside over here, is there anyone else from over here that you would like to go up against?
CH: Absolutely I mean I would like to wrestle James Mason, I think he doesn’t work as much as he used to but I would love to get in the ring with James and go hold for hold and learn from that and see what we could do.
Chris Hatch: Obviously you have heard about the whole RF scandal. What is your opinion on the situation if you are allowed to comment upon it?
CH: Alright well I guess you know so I don’t really mind commenting. The whole thing completely shocked me. I mean its pretty apparent that Rob’s a homosexual. Just a fact that something’s like that. When I first heard about it I thought it was a hoax but absolutely not. He got busted and hopefully he’s going to go to jail or something. The thing that sucks is for Ring of Honor. I’ve never worked for ROH and don’t really have any desire to work for ROH but they have a lot of tremendous talent that works there and it would be a shame if any of these guys lose work and for any fans not able to see a show because of one person’s actions. I mean it’s a terrible thing he did and I really hope it doesn’t come back on the company. I’m all about people wrestling as much in front of as many people as possible. There’s people who love ROH and there’s people who hate it but the bottom line is they run a lot of shows and get a lot of press and there are a lot of guys who wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for ROH.
Chris Hatch: What do you think the importance is of wrestling “characters” today?
CH: Honestly, what I think is the downfall for a lot of guys today is a lot of guys go out there and just try to wrestle, wrestle, wrestle and don’t worry about a character. I think that the character is very important. It’s like if you think about it basically this is what I compare it to when I’m discussing this with wrestlers or anybody I’m discussing wrestling with. Wrestling is basically just like a movie, just like the theatre. So if you imagine watching a movie with actors that didn’t have a character and they were just doing certain things like, I can’t really think of an example, you just have to once you have that character you can do anything with it. I mean take some of the guys out there – I mean take someone like Rikishi he can basically go in there and get a reaction by doing nothing because of his character and a lot of guys don’t understand. There’s a popular saying – work smart not hard – but I think in this business its more like work hard and smart. So as long as you have a good character and go out there and wrestle and appreciate who you are wrestling and if you work at it hard enough you can get somewhere. So I think that a character is definitely a key thing.
Chris Hatch: Is there anything that you have learnt or have experienced while you have been over here that has changed you as a wrestler?
CH: Erm absolutely I don’t think there is anything I can think of specifically that changed my outlook on things out here but there if
definitely a lot more crowd interaction here, there’s a lot more younger fans, a lot of casual fan crowds and once you get used to those sort of crowds you can wrestle anything. Obviously as I said I get in to the ring before every show and work out regardless of whether I come up with something new or someone showing me something. Its part of the learning experience. Hopefully when I return to the States I should be a better person for it.
SB: Have you got a favourite type of crowd that you have worked in front of in the past?
CH: You know there’s a difference with any kind of crowds, over here like I said its for the All Star Shows its for more younger kids, in Germany wrestling for wxw in a crowded night club or hall, it might be packed but it would be full of smart marks, but about 75% - 80% are respectful and they are not the kind who do the derogatory chants or try to take away from the matches but that’s a great atmosphere as well. Back in the States it’s different again. I think I don’t have one preference and I like wrestling in front of different crowds you know, maybe this crowd is a little bit easier however there is a saying that I have picked up from a guy, a Swiss wrestler. He said there is no such thing as a bad crowd just bad wrestlers, so whenever you hear someone in the back saying about “oh the crowds dead”. There’s such a thing as a harder crowd and there have been many times when I haven’t got the crowd as I should – it’s just a work in progress.
SB: If there is one piece of advice that you could give to a young wrestler starting up what would it be?
CH: My first general piece of advice is get proper training. 9 out of 10 places that I go to I see a handful of guys that have potential and good attitudes and they are nice kids but you know they don’t have the proper training and that’s the world of difference. Sometimes someone with the proper training and a bad attitude will get further than someone with bad training and a good attitude, it really is a shame. But you know I love the wrestling business, I love watching it, doing it, talking about it, its really interesting and really fascinating to me so I guess my piece of advice to young guys getting started is don’t be afraid to be a fan, don’t be afraid to be a mark. You know a lot of guys get criticised “why do you watch so many tapes” or why do you talk about wrestling all the time - its just your trying to learn your craft. You can put in any wrestling tape and learn something from it whether it be good or something new, something not to do, you knowwhat I mean? It’s just like any other business, the more you go ahead and find all kinds of people who are in the same gap and learn a little bit from them so you put together piece by piece the character that you want to be and the wrestler that you want to be taken as. There are too many people who are afraid to be fans - there’s nothing bad about loving wrestling.
Chris Hatch: What has been the nicest venue that you have wrestled in?
CH: This building [Southampton Guildhall] is nice; I mean a lot of the venues that Brian promotes in are very nice looking buildings. There was a place that wxw promoted in January that was a great building. Great atmosphere but you could see that they could fit 1500 – 2000 people in there. Unfortunately they stopped running shows there. I have been lucky that I have wrestled in a lot of places – the ECW arena. I wrestled there for 3PW, CZW and XPW so anytime I get to wrestle in there its great. You know whoever you wrestle for it’s a different experience everywhere you go. And everywhere you go it’s great.
Chris Hatch: Is there anything that you would like to fulfil as a wrestler in the future?
CH: Erm I’d like to just continue wrestling as much as possible. There are many places I would like to go. First of all I have been wrestling in obviously the US and Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and now the UK. So I’ve been fortunate to wrestle in a lot of different countries but I would like to just keep going. There’s not a limit. It might not be a very reasonable goal but you know I would like to be capable to do everything and learn everything. I know its not necessarily possible, but I just want to be the absolute best wrestler I could be even if I go out in my matches and not apply every single thing that I have learnt. I would be able to know that I could do it and could apply it if I needed it.