Wade Keller: While you were in WCW did Eric
Bischoff treat you well? Did he make any mistakes in dealing with you in terms of getting
the most out of you?
Jerry Lynn: (Laughs) At the time, you
never knew whether you could talk to Eric or not on any given day. When I got my notice
that I was being let go I tried three times to try to get a meeting with Eric and he
wouldn't even have a meeting with me to talk about it.
WK: So you gave him two years of hard work and
he wouldn't even talk to you when you were given your non-renewal notice?
JL: Right.
WK: Were you working weekly the whole way or
did you ever have a long-term guarantee?
JL: No, the first few months I was on
a nightly (pay system) and then after I came back from the broken arm they gave me a year
contract.
WK: Did you ever make six figures in one year?
JL: No.
WK: But you worked probably how many dates on
average per year or month?
JL: It was hard to say because you
would have some months where you worked a lot and there would be another month where you'd
work, like, two days.
WK: Other than when Eric fired you, before
that, what was it like having him as a boss? Did you have a lot of contact with him?
JL: No.
WK: It was mainly (Kevin) Sullivan and (Terry)
Taylor at the time?
JL: Sullivan, Terry, and I think Arn,
and Paul Orndoff.
WK: What did you think of Kevin Sullivan?
JL: I like him. I think he's got a
great mind for the business and the same thing goes for Terry Taylor and Arn Anderson.
WK: So they did the best with what they'd been
given?
JL: At the time it was just a big
power struggle because they wanted to do things but they would just get shot down by the
powers that be.
WK: Who at the time was Hogan?
JL: Yeah. Probably Hogan and Bischoff.
WK: Does it kind of amuse you in retrospect, I
don't even know if you know this, but they have big pictures of you in trade journals in
your Mr. J.L. outfit flying through the air as they advertise Nitro as recently as three
or four months ago?
JL: Well, yeah. One of the things also
was that when I first started I was the only guy with a mask. After I came back from my
broken arm, they had brought in all the Mexicans, so masks meant nothing anymore.
WK: I want to backtrack for a quick question
about your Memphis experience. How long were you there?
JL: Only about three and a half
months.
WK: Did you learn a lot? Was it a good
experience?
JL: Oh yeah, it was a great learning
experience.
WK: In what way?
JL: It was a lot of old school style.
You learned psychology and, the way the fans were there in the Mid-South, they were a lot
different from up in the Midwest. It was almost like you could get a better crowd reaction
when telling a storyline down there. So you learned a lot more psychology. It was a good
learning experience on how life on the road was because that was the first time I had gone
and wrestled full-time for a territory, away from home. It was a great learning
experience.
WK: Did that help you become better in this
current ECW stint? Can you think of things you do now that you probably wouldn't be doing
if it hadn't been for that Memphis stint?
JL: I wouldn't necessarily say it was
just the Memphis thing. The things that help me now in ECW are just the whole learning
progression of years in the business. Like I said before, you're always learning
something. Every time you go out into the ring you learn something. You never stop
learning in this business.
WK: How many years have you been in pro
wrestling now?
JL: This is my eleventh year.
WK: And how old are you?
JL: I don't want to say (laughs). No,
I'll say. I'm thirty six.
WK: You're in ECW now. Is this the first time
you feel like you're valuable in terms of drawing fans to an arena?
JL: Well see, Eddie Gilbert saw
something in me. Eddie Gilbert is the one who brought me down to Memphis but as soon as I
got there he did one of his disappearing acts, so I knew I wasn't going to last long
there. Then he brought me into Global (Wrestling Federation) and then he started to use me
and do something with me. So I was in the light heavyweight division. That was the first
time other than the independents at home, Global was the first time I felt like I was
actually being used for something.
WK: So ECW is not the first time you've felt
valued as a talent?
JL: Right
WK: So Paul (Heyman) called you right after
your WWF tryout with Taka Michnioku. What kind of presentation did he give to you? Did he
say "You're looking for work, here's what we'll pay" or what kind of sales pitch
did he use to get you to come in?
JL: Well, actually it was Chris
Candido who called and said, "Paul wants to know if you want to work a couple of
shots in Boston?" And I said sure and I told him what I wanted. And then I said,
"And one more thing, I don't want some idiot hitting me in the head with a frying
pan" (laughs). He said, "No, no, no, we have our brawlers and we have our
wrestlers." And then when Chris picked me up at the airport, as soon as I got into
the car he said, "By the way, Paul E. says your on every show."
WK: Was that right after your first match?
JL: No, that was before I even
wrestled.
WK: What was your impression of ECW outside of
frying pans? Did you know a lot about them? Had you seen a lot of the product and read
about it?
JL: Yeah, I'd watched a lot when I
lived in Atlanta so I knew what it was like. I just didn't want to be hit in the head with
every foreign object possible.
WK: Did you find that Paul and Chris were true
to their word in a sense that you did get to do the wrestling side of things?
JL: Oh yeah.
WK: There was no pressure to engage in that
other stuff?
JL: Oh no, Paul E. doesn't ask you to
do anything like getting put through a flaming table with thumbtacks or anything.
WK: That's what the wrestlers volunteer to do?
JL: Right. He doesn't ask you to do
anything that would jeopardize your health.
WK: Have you been working an almost full-time
schedule with ECW since day one? At least two or three days a week?
JL: Yeah.
WK: Since day one, has it been enough to
sustain a living on?
JL: At first it wasn't because I more
or less underbid myself because I wanted the job. But after a while I asked for a raise. I
didn't get it at first, but I can't begrudge Paul E. that because he made me work for it
and he's compensated me for it now.
WK: Did you have paychecks bounce when ECW was
having financial problems?
JL: I had a couple bounce, but Paul E.
made good on them right away.
WK: There was never a case where you were
counting on money but didn't have it there?
JL: Right.
WK: As honest as you can be considering he's
currently your boss, what's it like working for Paul E.?
JL: It's great because he loves the
business and he has an incredible mind for the business. And he still allows it to be fun
for us. We can go out there and do what we like to do and he doesn't try to dictate like
WCW what you can and can't do in the ring. He wants us to go out there and bust our asses
and put on a good show. He's not worried if some of the undertalent is going to outshine
his stars. So it's great to work for him.
WK: Is he organized as he should be? You
talked about Nitro's last second booking, Paul kind of does that too doesn't he?
JL: Yeah.
WK: But he manages to make it work?
JL: Somehow it's working (laughs).
WK: It seems Paul has a rep for making people
feel good by giving credit for hard work. What does he do specifically that Vince and Eric
don't do?
JL: He actually watches the matches.
He does it in a good way, but he will give you constructive criticism if you need it. He
wants to help the guys learn.
WK: Are there any weaknesses in Paul E.'s
armor, possibly where he tries to do things that aren't his strength?
JL: I don't know. I'm not sure because
he does have some people helping him with certain behind the scenes things but I couldn't
say for sure what his weaknesses are. He is very busy and he oversees putting together the
TV shows and stuff which I think is a good thing. He is pretty busy, but I don't know if
that would be a weakness. I think it's good that he is involved in making the TV show and
he's making the product look like what he wants it to look like.
WK: Eric Bischoff wasn't exactly Mr.
Availability for wrestlers unless you were a top guy. Is Paul different than that? Is he
easy to reach on the phone or meet with at the matches?
JL: Oh yeah. Any time you need to talk
to him all you have to do is ask him, "Can I get a couple of minutes with you?"
Or if he's already got someone in line he'll say, "Just give me five minutes and I'll
be right with you." He's very accessible.
WK: How is the camaraderie in the locker room
right now? Is it at an all-time high or are there maybe a couple groups of wrestlers who
protect each other but it's not all for one and one for all?
JL: The ECW locker room has always
been very laid back and fun and easy going. But there is, I don't want to say.... you
could say cliques of the people who travel with each other. Everyone bullshits with each
other. You don't see as much of people running around and back-stabbing each other or all
that bullshit.
WK: Are there two or three guys who won't talk
to each other but they don't hurt each other either? They don't bad mouth each other, they
just keep their distance and let each other be?
JL: Oh I don't know. I guess I really
don't know.
WK: Nothing obvious like that? I guess in any
promotion there are certain top guys who won't even look each other in the eye.
JL: Oh, it's not that bad. No.
WK: Name association for a few of these guys.
Give some thoughts, positive or negative or constructive. If possible, something that
isn't common knowledge about the person. Tommy Dreamer?
JL: He's very giving. He's a great
guy, he would give you the shirt off his back.
WK: Bill Alfonso?
JL: He's a great human being. He's
filled with love, he loves everybody.
WK: Joel Gertner?
JL: Joel Gertner is hilarious.
WK: Tell me more about him. What makes him
hilarious? Is he pulling pranks or is he just kind of the guy who throws a one-liner out
there?
JL: His one-liners. He does an
incredible impression of Kamala with his shirt off.
WK: Does he seem driven to be a Bobby Heenan
level manager or does he seem happy just going along for the ride? Where do you put him in
terms of his inspiration?
JL: That's hard to say. He's very good
at what he does so I would think he'd have to be driven.
WK: Rob Van Dam?
JL: He's just an incredible athlete.
It's unbelievable the athletic skills he has.
WK: You've worked with him recently as a
partner, but talk about what it's like wrestling him and how it's different from wrestling
the Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit types he gets compared to.
JL: It can be painful at times
(laughs). Some things get laid in. But he's very strong. I don't think he realizes his
strengths at times. For me, he makes it very challenging because I think the possibilities
of our matches are infinite because of how athletic he is.
WK: From what you talked about earlier in
looking at his style over the past couple of years, is he one of the guys where there is a
little bit of a style clash with you two in the sense that you'd like to slow things down
and make everything part of a storyline and he'd like to add more pizzazz to the match
than you think is necessary? Is that a fair way to portray it?
JL: Well, when I wrestle Rob it's
basically a double-face match. You can't really have a cut and dry storyline like a
heel-face match. You just basically go out there and wrestle each other.
WK: But in terms of the pacing would you say
his style matches yours a lot or would you say that there's a little bit of an adjustment
for both you guys?
JL: There's always an adjustment. No
matter who you wrestle you have to be able to adapt to their style. I don't know, there's
a little bit of an adjustment but I don't think its drastic.
WK: How about Taz? Have you wrestled Taz yet?
JL: Yeah, a few times.
WK: How was that style wise?
JL: It was good.
WK: Painful?
JL: No.
WK: He prides himself on making it look like
he's hurting his opponent but in reality he's good at not doing so?
JL: Yeah, I guess. You know most of
Taz's repertoire is the throws, you just build up a lot of the frequent flyer mileage when
you wrestle Taz (laughs).
WK: How about New Jack? Behind the scenes, on
camera, everything?
JL: New Jack... What can I say about
New Jack? He's unpredictable.
WK: On camera and off?
JL: Yeah.
WK: Is he the locker room clown whom everybody
loves or is everyone kind of apprehensive of what he's going to do next?
JL: Oh no, no, no. He gets along with
everybody. He jokes around and has fun, too. You've got to be crazy to be in this business
but New Jack is very unpredictable (laughs).
