...that’s right, we’re live from
ECW’s November to Remember on AM 1530 KXMM in Minneapolis. What a treat it is...
--prodigal son..
The prodigal son. Minneapolis’ very own
Jerry Lynn joining us now. Jerry thanks for being on the program with us.
Jerry Lynn: Well, thanks a lot, guys.
I know you’re no stranger to the
Minneapolis folks, and I know you wrestled in the Indies. You wrestled in those small bars
in Waverly, Minnesota. I know you’ve been all over the place in Minnesota before, and
now you’re in ECW and I can’t be more happy for ya.
JL: Oh, thanks, I guess the ECW -- I’ll
have to admit, I always swore up and down I would never work for ECW. And then after the
unpleasant experience of working for WCW, they gave me a call and, uh, gave me an offer
and I just told ’em, ya know, what I wanted and I said, ‘one more thing, I
don’t want some idiot hitting me in the head with a frying pan.’ And they said
‘no, no, no, you know... We got our guys who do the brawling, we got our guys who do
the wrestling...’ So I had nothing to worry about, I guess, there.
Jerry, first of all, lets talk about your
status now in ECW. A lot of the people in Minneapolis are wondering ‘what is Jerry
Lynn doing?’ Because we don’t get the television product in Minneapolis, unless
you get a satellite. So tell us what you’re doing right now with the company.
JL: Well, right now, it’s uh, it’s a
little bit up in the air because I was in a big program wrestling Mikey Whipwreck quite a
bit, for like the last couple months. And at the last minute, I guess, things got a little
switched around and stuff so now I’m working with Lance Storm on the pay-per-view,
and uh -- but Mikey is one of the referees and Tammy is the other referee. So it’ll
be pretty interesting, and we’ll see where it goes from there.
You talked about coming to ECW after being in
WCW. You worked briefly for the WWF as well?
JL: Oh, yeah, I had a try-out there with Taka
Michinoku.
You go to WCW, um, a lot of thought went into
the gimmick they were gonna give you... They called you ‘Mr. JL.’ A lot of
thought went -- I’m sure they sat in their board room down at the CNN Center, put a
lot of thought into that..
JL: Uh, you’d think though, with the, uh,
you know, billions of Turner’s dollars they have, that they could have come up with
something, but if you’re not written in, you’re not written in.
I’m getting the general impression
there’s a bad taste in your mouth from Atlanta.
JL: Oh yeah, they just about -- you know,
there’s a lotta guys there who are making six figures and getting decent pushes who
aren’t even happy. And there’s -- you know, you gotta look at your company and
think, you know, something’s wrong when just about all the guys aren’t even
happy working there. But, you know, they really take all the fun out of the business, and
when it’s no fun anymore, why do it? And I just was just about ready to quit. When
ECW called up, it was like a (I don’t know what you would call it) just like a
resurgence or something. I got my wheels spinning again and I got my creativity back and
it was a blessing in disguise getting let go from WCW.
Well anyone who’s followed Jerry for any
length of time, everyone knows you’re a really good flying wrestler. You ground well
on the mat... Uh, you’re a good wrestler, period. And you were in WCW, basically they
had you out there, getting well, you can tell us ...
JL: ..everybody -- [laughs]
When you came to ECW, it seemed at first -- it
wasn’t really -- it didn’t seem like Paul really knew what he was gonna do with
ya, and then, you had a few matches at the arena that were just blow away really good
matches and that’s when it seemed to really take off for you.
JL: Well, uh, don’t get me wrong,
there’s still a lot of politics in this company but it’s just on a smaller
scale. But in this company we’ve got more freedom and so... At first I wasn’t
taking advantage of that freedom and then after a while I got a little frustrated and I
just said, ‘I’m just gonna go out there and do what I used to do. I’m just
gonna be Jerry Lynn again and make it fun for me as well as the fans. ‘Cause I
don’t wanna go out there and just have a, you know, just do the same old basic stuff.
I gotta make it exciting for myself, because I love the sport too.
You are a student of the game, as they say,
and it’s kind of a cliché, but I know you watch a lot of the guys and you’ve
learned a lot over the years and working the indie scene in Minneapolis... I know, and
thank God, Dave Scherer, that we’re here in New Orleans and he can’t do a run
in, but I know you know our pal, Mortimer Plumtree...
JL: Oh yeah...
And he wanted me to pass along a big hello and
he’s got that big fat contract waiting for you in Minneapolis...
JL: [laughs] The last time I was there he had
a big fat contract waiting for me and I think I turned it down as I recall.
Smart move.
JL: Yeah.
If you know his business practices, smart
move.
JL: Oh, yeah.
Tell us about Minneapolis, now, you ever think
about coming back?
JL: Oh yeah. Right now, well, to get the WCW
contract, I had to live in Atlanta. And then after I got let go there, I figured just in
case any wrestling doors didn’t open up, I’d move to Orlando and get some stunt
work. But wrestling stayed open, ECW called me up right away and so... I don’t need
to live in Orlando anymore, so come this next spring, I’m gonna be moving back to
Minneapolis. And my daughter’s gonna be starting school next year, so I wanna be
there to be with her when she starts school because right now I can only get home about
once every two months and that makes it kinda hard.
I know you just made a lot of the fans and a
lot of the promoters in Minneapolis happy with that last statement.
And Lord knows there’s enough promoters
in Minneapolis so I --
--Land of 10,000 lakes and 10,000 promotions.
JL: Yeah, and I miss water skiing. I
don’t dare go water skiing in Florida. All the locals say there’s not a body of
water without any ’gators in it, so...
That’s true. That’s a good reason to
stay out of the water. Tell us about, uh, the fanbase (you’ve worked for WCW before)
and the fanbase in ECW is like none other. Tell us about the fans. You a little thrown off
by the response you’re getting?
JL: Oh, no. I mean, well, I always got a good
reception from the fans in WCW, even though I went-- you know, they basically knew when I
went to the ring that I was gonna lose... But I still got a good reaction. I never got a
‘JL sucks’ chant or anything going. They all, you know, recognized that I
basically knew what I was doing in the ring and so, I always got a, you know, fairly good
reception for what they were doing to me, so...
After so many years in the sport, what do you
still find rewarding about going out there and wrestling every night?
JL: Um, just, uh, I guess hearing from the
fans, just the compliments they give you when they tell you they like your work and stuff.
That, really. That’s really the greatest reward. And I, you know, and I love being
able to come out and do the autograph signing and giving back to them, because you
can’t forget who puts the food on our tables.
A lot of the people that we (we were watching
the ECW television show). A bunch of us were all sitting there last week watching the
program, and we were all saying to ourselves, ‘man, Jerry is just gotten big. Jerry
must be working out, a lot...’ Because you’ve bulked up a lot. Eh, what -- tell
us about your training regimen right now.
JL: Uh, it’s I dunno. It’s not,
nothing -- any special, it’s just, uh--
--Just don’t say you say your prayers and
take your vitamins, please... [laughs]
JL: Oh, God, no. No, no, no. No, I
don’t take them Hulk Hogan, uh, chewables and injectibles... I just, uh--
Everyone: OOOH! [laughs]
JL: I just, uh... I guess, just doin’ the
-- you know, the creatine is the big thing on the market now and that seems to work. And I
just-- after all the years of working out, I realized how much time I wasted in the gym by
doing things wrong and now I’m -- you know, you just learn from experience. Trial and
error. And, you know, you find what’s good for you and go up and do it.
When you come back to Minneapolis and start
working the Indie shows again, is your style gonna be different from last time we saw you
come through the town.
JL: Oh, no. You know, I always just --
I’ll always try and keep kicking everything up a notch, just to keep it exciting, you
know, for me as well as the fans.
At the last pay-per-view, doctors thought
you-- in attendance from what I read, you know, that you should have had a broken neck...
JL: Welll, it was-- it was pretty stiff the
next morning.. I was pretty fortunate. I was, you know, get in a predicament like that, I
just hung on for dear life and tucked my chin like there was no tomorrow. You know, I try
and protect myself as much as I can, but, you know, still, the back of my head skimmed the
mat pretty good and I was pretty stiff, but it wasn’t anything like any straight down
compaction on all the vertebrae or nothing, so, I -- I lived. [laughs]
Jerry Lynn with us for just a couple moments.
Lets open up the phone lines right now, 361-5526, 361-5526. Uh, are you still-- and I read
somewhere... I -- now this is how bitter, Dave, he may be about WCW. I’m just reading
into this. I read somewhere that you’re selling your Mr. JL clothes.
JL: Yeah, yeah.
Nova: [in background] I’ll buy ‘em!
JL: I just got a--
--Super Nova--
--Super Nova will buy them...
JL: I’ve got two different JL outfits,
just with the tops and bottoms and then I’ve got, like the tights I’m wearing
now in ECW, I had designed to go with the JL outfit, but I got axed before I could use
‘em, so I’ve just been using ‘em. I didn’t want the money to go to
waste, so I’ll be selling those. But I’m in the process of getting a new gimmick
made up and I’ll be selling those also. But there is only one JL mask left and
it’s the only one of it’s kind ever made, and it was made in Japan. The Great
Sasuke (when I went over from Michinoku) he had it made for me.
And that’s, uh, can people email you for
that? Is that still... Are you still doin’ that?
JL: Yeah, yes, they can--
--JOBSquad@webtv.com
JL: Yep, they can still email.
All right, well, there ya go, hey, it’s
your chance to own some wrestling history there.
Hey, if they forget the address, they can
always mail us at the website...
Oh, absolutely, you can email us here at
wrestling radio or Dave Scherer at 1wrestling.com
JL: I just wanna say one thing quick, before I
forget. I just wanted to say that I’m all for Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura. I
hope he wins Governor.
[clapping] Well, there we go, look at that.
Good response. Hey, you know, I talked to Jesse on Tuesday. And he told me -- I said,
‘Jesse, you wanna come out and do the show before, you know, before the big election
Tuesday?’ And Jesse said ‘Jeremy, were you at Nitro last Monday? (or two weeks
ago -- whenever it was... ). And I said, ‘yes.’ He said, ‘When the mayor of
Minneapolis came out, Sharon Sayles Belton, what were people chanting?’
‘--Jesse.’ ‘Do you think I really need to come on your show, to your
wrestling fans? I think I got the wrestling vote.’ I said ‘Jesse, you’re
exactly right, go get those people out in uh, outstate Minnesota and get those
votes.’ You know, a lot of people are saying he’s got a good shot!
JL: Yeah, I was supposed to -- they had, I
guess -- I got a call about a show they were gonna do a big benefit for Jesse out at
Saints ballfield. With bands and wrestling and I was supposed to wrestle Horace the
Psychopath, but somethin’ happened. The show got cancelled but, I just wanted to show
Jesse my support and I believe in him and I hope he gets it.
Jerry Lynn is our guest and we do thank you
again. Why should people buy this pay-per-view in Minneapolis tomorrow night?
JL: Um, because it will beat anything that WCW
can put out, because all the guys in ECW bust their butts trying to give everyone their
money’s worth. Plus they take pride in their work and they will just sacrifice just
to give the best show possible.
Jerry, thank you so much, and we’re
looking forward to seeing you back in Minneapolis.
JL: All right, and I just wanna say
‘hi’ to all the local guys and Mick Karch and the Sheik, everybody back home, I
miss you guys and next spring I’ll be up there working all the independents again.
Well, they couldn’t be more happy for
yah, I know that first hand. Jerry Lynn our guest here on wrestling radio, we’re
gonna take a break -- [clapping] Yeah, lets hear it for Jerry, huh? Come on, guys.
JL: Thanks a lot, guys.
