Longtime wrestler Shark Boy recently appeared as a guest on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling Podcast. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On coming back to TNA after an extended hiatus and the changes: “Just because whenever you leave somewhere and go away for a while and you come back things are always different so it’s not unlike any other job or profession. For me more then anything it was an opportunity not only to get back on TV for a little bit and for me that creates a ripple effect because I can get some Independent work out of it and some good things happen so I always look forward to that. But more then anything I look forward to seeing old friends, people I haven’t seen in awhile and maybe some new people that I’ve seen there work and have never been able to shake their hand before and just getting to see everybody that I used to run down the roads with and I hardly ever see them or talk to them anymore is something that I always look forward to with that element with returning to TNA.”
On if he surprised to see so many new faces in TNA: “Was I surprised? No. I try to keep up with the product even when I’m not a part of it. I try to know what is going on because I can’t watch every episode although I try. There is so much wrestling on TV now, there’s actually an entire network dedicated to it and there is so much you can look at on the Internet. I’ve got a new baby boy and he is only seven months old so that eats into my time a lot. So I try to keep up with the product and when I got down there and saw a bunch of new faces, I knew they were trying to do new things and try new guys out. But that’s the nature of the business. You’ve got to keep it fresh and you’ve got to have new faces with your product or otherwise it gets stale.”
On if he did he experience any pay issues like other talents have complained of in the past: “I think that there may have possibly been a situation where things would be late a little while but I’ve got a list of promoters that owe me money and TNA is not on it. They’ve made good on everything they have ever promised me or said they were going to pay me and they have made good on it. I don’t fall into that category. If there are guys that claim that, then I couldn’t speak to that either. I just can tell you that was not my personal experience with the company and whenever there was a delay I think in my case they were honest about what was going on. Usually some office red tape because you have to realize that there is a bigger company in Texas and the TNA Wrestling company is in Nashville so sometimes things had to go up the ladder and back down. So that can create delays sometimes. In my case, whenever I ran into any delays or something like that I never thought they were trying to stiff me.”
On doing the “Shell Yeah” gimmick: “Shark Boy was a character that had never spoken up to that point. It all stemmed from a silly impression that I would do to cut up the boys. It started on a tour of India where Simon Diamond and Sonjay Dutt and I were just being silly. Simon was telling everybody backstage at TNA what does Stone Cold think of this topic and I’d launch into the impression and people would laugh and think it was funny. Jeff Jarrett heard it and said he wanted me to do it on TV. What started out as a silly impression of one of my favorite all time wrestlers and is truly meant to be a satire, but in my mind it’s meant to be a tribute because I think he is one of the best ever. I look at it like it’s not really Stone Cold; its Stone Cold meets Sponge Bob Square Pants. It’s my take on it. He says “Hell Yeah” and I say “Shell Yeah”, I don’t say “damn” I say, “clam”, he drinks beer and I drink clam juice. It’s a parody and it’s a lot of fun and there isn’t a lot of fun in wrestling anymore.”
