X-Pac on Vince Russo, Wrestling vs. MMA and Passing the Torch in TNA

Fred: Hey, everybody, this is Fred Richani of The Sports Courier. In our three-plus-year history, we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, and here’s an interview with Sean “X-Pac” Waltman from the MMA Sports Expo in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from October 2010. How are you doing, my man?

Sean Waltman: Great, man. Pleasure to finally meet you.

Fred: You’ve been part of this business for a long time, including the two biggest wrestling stables of all time, the nWo and DX, which changed the business. What are your thoughts on the current state of the business, and could wrestling somehow start competing with MMA, which is taking a lot of its audience?

Sean Waltman: As far as TV ratings go, WWE is still king on cable. WWE still beats the UFC in the ratings. But when it comes to buy rates, there’s a reason the UFC’s buy rates are going up while wrestling’s are going down. To me, they’re getting away from the in-ring product. They’ve got all these backstage segments with bad soap opera acting. Honestly, just put more really good action in there, let the guys who know how to talk do the talking and concentrate on each person’s strong points. Not everybody’s a good talker, but some guys are great in the ring, and a lot of times, the guys who are good talkers aren’t great in the ring.

Fred: So you’re talking about accentuating the positives of each superstar.

Sean Waltman: Yeah, man. And you can’t have a two-hour wrestling show with 20 total minutes of ring action. You’ve got to give the people some wrestling.

Fred: I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but I’m assuming you clashed a little with Vince Russo’s vision.

Sean Waltman: With his vision, but not with him as a human being. I love him to death. We just differ. I’m all for the showbiz aspect, and obviously we did a lot of stuff that wasn’t strictly pure wrestling. But Vince really thought the wrestling part wasn’t that big of a deal. He said, “That’s not important. We can just get some girls out of a strip club and teach them to wrestle.” I took offense to that, because Reggie White, may he rest in peace, a Hall of Fame NFL player, came and told me, “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” When you’ve got a Hall of Fame football player telling you that, and Vince Russo says that kind of thing, it kind of upsets people.

Fred: As a smaller wrestler, you had some of the best matches, and now wrestling is finally starting to push smaller guys after all these years: Bryan Danielson, Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles in TNA. When you were having those great matches with Jerry Lynn back in the GWF days and in Minnesota, did you know you were breaking new ground?

Sean Waltman: We were trying to bring something new to the people, because they were so used to how it used to be, with somebody grabbing a headlock and holding on to it for 10 minutes. Bottom line, it’s entertainment, so you want your match to be entertaining, and we were trying to do new stuff. I think in a way it did revolutionize wrestling a bit, and it opened the door for your Bryan Danielsons and your Rey Mysterios. I was the smallest guy in wrestling when I started, and now I’m the farthest thing from small. I’m an upper-middle-sized wrestler compared to Mysterio or Evan Bourne. I’m grateful Vince gave me that opportunity, and I’m grateful I didn’t drop the ball, because if I had, maybe the other guys wouldn’t have gotten their opportunities.

Fred: Your boy Kevin Nash, who couldn’t be here today, made some comments in a recent interview after leaving TNA that divided people. To paraphrase, he said it’s tough to invest in new stars because you won’t see a profit for six or seven years. Chris Jericho retorted that guys like him were the new stars, and the reason they broke through, much like your upset of Razor Ramon, was that somebody took a chance on them.

Sean Waltman: Yeah, but they also had to keep around the guys who were stars, like me, Kev and other guys. Mind you, those guys have to be willing to share their knowledge and help make the other guy. We’re the guys who know how to do that. You can’t just put the young guys in together and expect them to figure out the recipe on their own. It takes too long, with too much trial and error. And with TNA, there’s a lot of mumbo jumbo and confusion there all the time.

Fred: So you feel the veteran presence wasn’t utilized well enough to get over guys casual fans might know, like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe?

Sean Waltman: I think so. As soon as they brought us back, when Hall came back, and then RVD and Jeff Hardy, all of a sudden the focus shifted onto us, and that was a mistake. They put us in there working with each other, when we really should have been working with Beer Money or the Motor City Machine Guns, who are the best tag team in wrestling right now, along with the Kings of Wrestling. I’m a big fan, and it’s not just because they’re here. I pay attention to what’s going on, and those guys are the future of wrestling. Some people don’t care after they’re done whether the wrestling business survives, but I do. I love the wrestling business, and I want it to live forever. Curt Hennig, Mr. Perfect, taught me that it’s my duty to pass the knowledge on and not be stingy or selfish with it.

Fred: Who are a couple of guys you think are the true future of professional wrestling?

Sean Waltman: It depends on the company. In TNA, The Pope, Elijah Burke. They were pushing him nicely, and then, like they tend to do, they didn’t follow through. But he’s got the gift of gab, he’s got the look, and he puts a lot into his gimmick. He’s The Pope 24/7. In ROH, you have Claudio Castagnoli. I’m a huge fan of Colt Cabana. He’s hilarious. He’s fantastic. He’s the Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin of wrestling. And Austin Aries. He’s considered a smaller guy for our business, but he more than makes up for it.

Fred: Do you think we’re in a bit of a renaissance for smaller wrestlers?

Sean Waltman: I think it’s whoever has all the ingredients. It doesn’t matter if you’re undersized or 7 feet tall. If you’ve got the gift of gab, charisma and a work ethic, and you’re not a jerk and aren’t afraid to get hit, then you can make it in our business.

Fred: You had a DVD coming out with Kevin Nash. Do you want to plug that?

Sean Waltman: It’s a very candid interview that was conducted maybe a month or two ago with Kevin and me. We were in our element, having a good time, and I’ve seen comments from some people calling us losers, but your average person likes to have a good time once in a while. The trailer may take things out of context, but if you watch the video, it’s a very deep and very real interview.

Fred: It seems like you’re in a better place now. Is that safe to say?

Sean Waltman: Absolutely, man. How can you not be? I went from my lowest point, in Mexico City, to being here talking to you right now, by the grace of God.

Fred: So what’s next for Sean Waltman, now that you’ve been through all that adversity?

Sean Waltman: I’m thinking about a book, but I’m worried about stepping on toes or hurting people. A lot of my stories involve people where the names would need to be changed to protect the innocent. It would have to be a tell-all, not a tell-some, and I won’t do it unless I tell all, so I might have to wait until I’m 80 or something. More and more, I’m doing speaking engagements, and obviously I like to talk. After 25 years of wrestling, I have a lot to talk about. I’ve been there for, or been part of making happen, pretty much all the big moments behind the scenes and in front of the public.

Fred: Where can your fans find you online?

Sean Waltman: On Twitter, I’m @TheRealXPac. I put “Real” on there so everybody knows it’s really me. Or Sean Waltman on Facebook. I’ve got to create a fan page, which I didn’t want to do, because I consider all these people my friends, but you can only have 5,000 people on your Facebook page, and I’ve got about a thousand people backed up on friend requests. I also do a radio show in Tampa called “The Cowhead Show,” Monday through Friday from 3 to 7. If you’re not in Florida, check it out at CowheadTV.com. It’s the No. 1 show in drive time in Florida, and it’s cool to be part of that. I love doing radio.

Fred: Excellent, man. Sean Waltman, clearly doing big things. Pleasure, man. Glad you’re doing well.