JD Smoothie on the Chris Candido Memorial Cup and Candido’s Legacy

Fred: Fred Richani here for National Wrestling Superstars with my main man JD Smoothie. JD, you had a great performance tonight, but unfortunately, things didn’t go your way. What was it like being in the Chris Candido Memorial Cup and competing with great veterans like Tommy Dreamer and Johnny Candido?

JD Smoothie: I’m really not worried about the veterans. I’m not worried about anybody else in this tournament tonight. I should have won. It’s my fourth year here, and to all the people watching this, I am the most must-see superstar in NWS for 2011. The people here tonight cheered for me, so what does that make me? It makes me the Stone Cold of NWS. They didn’t boo me, and that’s all that matters. But I was here for one thing tonight, and one thing only, and that was for the man upstairs, Chris Candido. You passed away, my friend, way too soon. I remember that two weeks before you passed away, you came to me and said, “Smoothie, you’re a great worker. You’ve got lots of talent, and I love to watch you wrestle.” To me, tonight wasn’t about any of these other guys. It was for him, not his brother, not his ECW buddies and not the rest of the guys in the tournament. Unfortunately, I came out on the losing end.

Fred: Chris Candido was obviously a huge part of the Northeast wrestling scene and one of the guys who put it on the map. For fans who didn’t have the pleasure of seeing his career develop like we did, what’s one thing he brought to the table that you apply to your in-ring career now?

JD Smoothie: I can really answer that by taking something from my heart. Chris Candido was what they call “no gimmicks needed.” He was one of those rare people in this business who could go out there and entertain a crowd by being himself, which is exactly where I come in: Mr. Entertainment. This is me in the ring, this is me standing here talking, and this is me when I get home to my family and my kids. It’s Mr. Entertainment 24/7. We had a hell of a night. I came out on the short end of the stick, but that’s exactly how Chris would want it done. No gimmicks needed.