NATE STEIN: Thank you for doing this interview. Why don’t you start it off by telling those who may not have seen you in the ring before a little about yourself?
CHANCE PROPHET: Well I’ve been wrestling for 4 and a 1/2 years. I’m the current NWA Bluegrass Heavyweight Champion, held a lot of titles in the Mid-Atlantic region, worked for NWA-Wildside and TNA as well as a lot of the NWA promotions, and worked in just about all the states in the Mid-Atlantic region.
STEIN: What got you into the business?
PROPHET: A sheer love for wrestling. I emulated it from the time my Papa (grandfather) sat me down to watch Saturday Night’s Main Event when I was 6. I initially watched WWF because it was the only thing I had found, but then was exposed to NWA, WCW, and WCCW through friends in elementary school. I was hooked just to be honest. I went to all the local shows and eventually sought out training after a failed attempt at being a superstar through backyarding it. LOL.
STEIN: Why ‘Chance Prophet’? What led you down the path to create the “Dark Child”?
PROPHET: “Chance Prophet” is simply a definition of who I am. I took “Chance” because I got the opportunity/chance to get into the business and wasn’t gonna let anyone stop me from attaining my dream. “Prophet” stems from my upbringing in church. I wanted something that represented my faith and Prophet seemed to stick. The whole “Dark Child” persona came about from one of my early encounters with being a heel. I was told my gimmick looked like a cross between Marilyn Manson/The Crow/Sting and a Backstreet Boy. So I said well call me the Dark Child, and it stuck. LOL.
STEIN: I know you hold your connection to God very close to your heart. In a business that can sometimes find and bring out the highest level of shadyness in people, how do you try to balance your commitment to faith?
PROPHET: I try to keep a clear and definite boundary to make sure I don’t allow too much of one to interfere with the other. Namely, I don’t get so enveloped in wrestling that I turn my back on God. It’s very easy to get drawn into the politics and backstage drama and before you know it, you’ve taken your focus off of what God has in store for you and you fail to give credit to the One that gave you the talent for the business in the first place.
STEIN: You’ve worked for TNA now three times, against 3 Live Crew, Chris Daniels, & Monty Brown. What has your experiences been both with the company & to work against these guys?
PROPHET: The company and the guys there that I had the pleasure to work with were amazing and professional. If anyone asks me about Christopher Daniels for instance, I tell them that it was the most I’ve learned in a 4 minute span in my entire career. Daniels is a true professional, a top-notch worker, and he’s worked hard to achieve every accolade that’s been thrown his way.
Working 3 Live Kru was a blast! I had a great time working with those guys, especially BG James. I was always a big Road Dogg fan during his stint in WWF/E, and to get to be in the ring with him was great. Konnan imparted some words of wisdom and made me feel really comfortable in the locker room. Ron Killings is just a trip to be around anytime he’s there so it was good to be in the same match with him.
STEIN: Any plans yet to return to TNA?
PROPHET: Workin’ on it. I’m trying to put full focus in getting all I can from working in the NWA and trying to improve my physique. I’ve been in talks but due to the distance and tryin’ to complete my degree in graphic design, it gets hectic.
STEIN: You’re working on your degree, working a job, wrestling; but many independent talents do that. Fan wise, many may not realize it is always a constant balancing act. What challenges have you had to face in making that balance, while still charging ahead in the business?
PROPHET: The biggest challenge for me is making myself focus on my studies when I’d rather be wrestling full-time. Don’t get me wrong, my graphic design and artwork is very important to me, but wrestling is what I want to do almost 24/7. Whether it be training new students, working on shows, or watching tapes galore, I can’t get enough of it.
STEIN: You’ve worked NWA TNA, NWA Wildside (former NWA President Bill Behren’s promotion), NWA Tri-State (former NWA President Rich Arpin’s promotion), NWA Bluegrass (where you’ve faced Sinn & AJ Styles), NWA Buckeye, NWA Ohio, NWA Main Event, NWA Championship Wrestling, former NWA East associate Blue Water Championship Wrestling, and faced the NWA Hawaii champion at XMCW. You’ve worked many other places as well, but are you becoming “Mr. NWA”?
PROPHET: Some people tend to think so LOL. I do admit that I tend to take the NWA stuff before any other bookings. I’m a diehard loyalist to tradition and hope that there’ll be a boom in the next upswing in wrestling’s popularity. THE BOYS NEED TERRITORIES BACK!!!
STEIN: With the recent departure of Bill Behren’s from NWA TNA, how do you think that will impact, no pun intended, both Wildside and TNA?
PROPHET: I think Wildside will stay at its place of being one of the strongest independents out there. TNA, I think they lost a great hand to have. I know Bill stuck his neck out for me on more than one occasion, and I’m very grateful to him for that. I’m still going to work for him as much as my schedule allows. I’m hoping that I’ll get another shot at TNA in the near future as well.
STEIN: You’ve been having some troubles with Kentucky area wrestler Simon Sezz, now in both Twin Lakes Wrestling & Bad 2 the Bone Wrestling. What led to that?
PROPHET: Well I wrestled him first in TLW and he got a little mad because I took a shortcut to win the match. Well fast forward to BBW, he tries the same approach and we end up knocking each other out after beating the stuffing out of each other. The matchmakers at BBW want to book another match between the two of us, and if…when it happens, I’m probably gonna get medieval on him!
STEIN: At XMCW in Nitro, WV (NOTE: Yes, there really in a town called Nitro), you’ve been a mainstay with them for years. Most recently, you’ve been brought into the whole Mister X & Pampered Booty situation & now have Justin Sane interfering in your matches (which had you in the receiving end of a crucifix piledriver). Where do you see this situation going?
PROPHET: I see me taking that big ape Sane and rearranging his face. He’s seriously overstepped the bounds by getting involved in matches he’s not apart of. His last little incident nearly cost me my career let alone my life. He gave me his crucifix piledriver and dropped me on my head and I lost feeling in my arms for a good 10 minutes. I had to be carted out on a makeshift stretcher because of that freak and even though I refused treatment and exacted a little revenge on him, I’ve still got a huge score to settle and if he thinks he’s gonna make himself a name at my expense, he’s in for a BIG reality check!
STEIN: What to you makes wrestling in the West Virginia/Tennessee/Kentucky area stand out?
PROPHET: The ability to work strong style in one town, go an hour down the road and work a good old school match, and then turn around and go work a good ECW-esque spotfest in another town. There’s a good variety of fans in this area that allows someone to get a well-rounded wrestling education.
STEIN: Being in an area where in one town it’s “ECW-esque”, the next is “old school”, the next is “strong style”, how do you think workers and fans find a balance in what they want to see in the mix of these different styles so close to each other?
PROPHET: I think it comes down to a person’s natural desire to see something different. You have your favorite wrestlers that you’ll always want to watch, but if they’re the only guys you come to see, you might as well get up and leave when their match is over. I think that’s why wrestling’s starting to get a small surge in popularity around West Virginia again. More promotions are springing up, and the established ones are branching out to new towns. There are positives and negatives to this happening, but if it gives the fans a choice. If there isn’t a variety of promotions and styles, then the fans will get bored, crowds will go down, and towns eventually die off. The promoters and die-hard one-promotion guys can bicker all they want, but as long as there’s competition, that means there’s always somewhere else to work if you get bored.
STEIN: Do you find being from West Virginia in itself is a challenge when trying to find work in other places out of state?
PROPHET: Actually, until recently, most of my bookings were anywhere but West Virginia. Not trying to knock the WV promotions, I just simply wanted to work where I could be noticed more. West Virginia, on a side note, is one of the best proving grounds for younger wrestlers though. The styles vary and you can get a real grasp on the psychology that drives wrestling and good solid matches.
STEIN: Who do you think are some “unkown” talent out there that you think should get some more opportunities to show what they can do?
PROPHET: One of many of my closest friends, Kris King, definitely deserves to get more opportunities. As far as those that are on the indy scene around me, I think a lot of the guys and girls are realizing that they have to take the necessary steps to get noticed. And that DOES NOT MEAN working for one single solitary promotion. Loyalty is great, but when you’re wanting to advance your career, you have to network yourself to show as many people that you possibly can, that you have the ability to give them their money’s worth when it comes to being in the ring.
STEIN: If you had a goal, or a couple goals, you’d like to reach by the start of January ‘06, what would they be?
PROPHET: A contract, whether it be a deal with TNA or a developmental with WWE. That’s where my focus is plain and simple. I want to continue expanding my resume and be an International wrestler and not only a semi-national one.
STEIN: Outside of the WWE, what’s a place that you’ve wanted to work, but haven’t yet?
Chance: Well the one place I wanted to work more than ever, WCW, died a while ago. But other than the deceased promotions (WCW, ECW), I really want to work for Ring of Honor in the future, and to tour Japan. Just to take in the culture and experience the respect that a crowd gives the wrestlers over in Japan would be worth the price of travel alone.
STEIN: If there was one question you could ask anyone in wrestling, what would it be & why?
PROPHET: I’d ask Bret Hart if he’d teach me a little bit of what his dad taught him. And why: because the man is a complete wrestler and became the definition of a hardworking man who gave a heckuva lot to a business that, in my mind, treated him unfairly in the end.
STEIN: Anything else you want to add?
PROPHET: I’d just like to thank the fans that support Indy wrestling and the boys that are out there busting their humps to give the fans the best possible show they can give. And another thank you to the promoters that give us a place to showcase what we work so hard for. Visit my site http://chanceprophet.cjb.net and God bless!
