Moments Ago
Colt Cabana on Wrestleradio
Although this interview took place a couple of weeks ago, and a lot has happened since, and you can listen to it live and in person
here
Anyways…
The Wrestleradio staff of Big Andy Mac and Mr. Jack Walker welcome Colt to the Hottest wrestling show on college radio. The interview goes immediately into hyping the big title challenge that was set to happen at the 100th show against American Dragon Bryan Danielson. Colt admits to sucking at title shots being 0-4 in his previous attempts but insists that coming off his eight month blood feud with Homicide the title is a sure bet.
Conversation then segues into the reasons behind Colt’s pursuit of mastering the British/European style of wrestling. Colt reveals that Chad Collyer was the man that first got him across the pond to England, and he fell in love with the country and style. He got to spend three solid months immersed in British wrestling culture and loves to go back every chance he can. He puts over 1PW, www.1p-w.com , as a place he frequently works for. He also mentions the RoH tour of England coming up this summer.
Colt then puts over Johnny Storm, Jody Fleisch, and Doug Williams as British wrestlers that American fans may be familiar with, citing Williams as perhaps the best British wrestler and a consummate professional. Darren Burridge is a wrestler who Colt says to watch out for stateside. They tag up together in 1PW as the Street Hoodlum Adventure Gang or SHAG for short.
Conversation then moves into former Cabana foe and British sensation Nigel McGuinness. He puts over Nigel’s skill as a wrestler and mentions his success currently for Pro-Wrestling NOAH. Mr. Jack Walker then asks Colt if he ever plans on challenging Nigel for his Pure Title. Colt says his main focus is on the World title. Discussion of the infamous “Soccer Riot” match followed and how Colt used his knowledge of British wrestling to throw a curve ball at McGuinness.
The Steel Domain was the next topic of conversation and talk of the class Colt came up with featuring of course CM Punk, current WWE developmental talent Bradley Jay, and others like Eric Priest. Colt mentions that Danny Dominion and Ace Steel must have been great trainers because the produced some great wrestlers.
IWA-Mid South was next, and Colt talked about making the drive with Punk, Dave Prazak, Chuck E. Smooth, and occasionally Ace Steel making the drive to work for Ian Rotten. Colt says that he owes Ian Rotten for giving him a lot of early opportunities.
One couldn’t mention the days in IWA: Mid-South without mentioning the Gold Bond Mafia, of which Colt was the founder. Colt learned the trick from his college roommate and brought it into the wrestling road trip era. Colt says, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, what good is hard work and dedication if you don’t have the Gold Bond. Mr. Jack Walker suggests that Colt may have the leg up on American Dragon Bryan Danielson. Colt says that American Dragon Bryan Danielson probably uses the yellow bottle when the green bottle is where it’s at.
Ring of Honor was next on the docket and Colt’s start in the company as an opponent for CM Punk. Colt said he thought that Ring of Honor was certainly the place to be. He came over during the Philly wars, and was offered tons of money to jump ship to the now defunct XPW, but Colt said that he and Punk knew that RoH was going to be the biggest indy fed going even from its humble beginnings at the Murphy Rec Center. He was glad that Gabe Sapolsky and that other guy saw something in Punk and him. Colt talks about the honor, no pun intended, it is to be a multi-time champion in a federation like RoH that really puts values on his title belts.
One of the opportunities afforded Ring of Honor wrestlers is the chance to work with and learn from the legends of the business that have made their way through an RoH ring. Colt of course fought with Ricky Steamboat, put a figure four on Terry Funk, was managed by Bobby Heenan, just to name a few. Colt talked about how great it was to sit under the learning tree of these wrestling greats specifically citing Mick Foley, Dusty Rhoades and training with Too Cold Scorpio.
Colt said that despite people like Mick Foley and Ricky Steamboat being involved now with WWE, it is each wrestler’s individual will and drive to make the WWE, and not as much the contacts. Colt said, of his WWE “tour”, “It was what it was. If I have to wrestle this guy, I’ll wrestle that guy.” He wrestled against the likes of Matt Hardy, Umaga, Gene Snitsky, and Big Vito. He was also a druid for Undertaker’s entrance. He said that he would have been a Gangster along with CM Punk, but his face was too mangled up from his final epic confrontation with Homicide the night before. He said, “Although I am an OG, so it is weird they wouldn’t choose me, I keep it gangsta.”
Talk then moved to Colt’s freestyle rap on Homicide. Colt said he likes to stay sharp with the MCin’ and puts over his friend Kidd Russell, who redid Copa Cabana as his theme song, which of course is risky tampering with Barry Manilow’s greatness. Colt said, despite the risk, he thought he had the cajones to pull it off. He said Homicide was not OK with being referred to by his real name, Nelson, just like Colt wasn’t ok with Homicide trying to cut out Colt’s tongue. He said the Homicide feud was very different from the Nigel McGuinness feud in that it was about violence rather than athletic competition. He said now the Homicide issue is over and he hopes he does not need to revisit it. He said the violent nature of the feud with Homicide was not fun, there were no “Good Times, Great Memories.”
Talk moved back to the world title and what would be next for Colt should he take the belt. He said he will take what comes, but refuses to divulge his strategy for the title match. He said he may try on of his many un-kick-outable rollups. He said he is looking forward to standing across the ring from Danielson for the first time. He said that the tagged up before in England as the “American Dance Machine.” He then calls Danielson one of the best unsigned wrestlers in the world.
The wrestlers he admires are guys like Vince Faulkner from back in the day, and more modern wrestlers like Regal and Finlay. He says he likes to see his friends like Joe and others wrestle in TNA.
Colt then gave his opinions on the CZW war accurately calling CZW garbage. He says he is especially upset with Chris Hero, because despite being a great wrestler he disrespects Colt with his involvement in Chikara and their CP Munk and Colt Cabunny characters. He says he looks forward to an RoH win at the 100th show, which sadly did not happen. Colt mentions that Adam Pearce was a big influence on him coming up saying that Pearce was already a great wrestler before Colt ever started training. Colt says his immediate goal is not WWE, TNA, or Japan, his goal is just to be a wrestler and whatever company allows him to do that so he can pay his bills.
Colt lovingly recalls the Good Times, Great Memories segments on the Ring of Honor home releases. He says it was born out of his early funny promos, and asked for a talk show. Colt does not keep in touch with Skippy the Water Skiing Squirrel verbally, but he follows his work on “The Ocho.” He reveals that the Good Times, Great Memories is taped on the top floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago. He said he loved the episode with the SAT, mainly because they were so bad it made it funny. He says the lost episode with Jimmy Jacobs is one of his favorites, but may have been taped over. He also said he loved the segments with Julius Smokes. Colt says one of his favorite matches was winning the tag titles in Chicago over the Briscoes.
Conversation the moves to dream matches for Mr. Cabana. He mentions Premier promotions in England, and how they said he would get the chance to wrestle Steve Gray. Gray of course is famous for wrestling Johnny Saint. He said he would love to wrestle Ebessan/Kikitaro, and he will get the chance this Saturday in Edison, NJ. He also wanted a dream partner of his to be the Boogie Woogie Man Johnny Valiant.
I then asked Colt about wrestling as Chris Guy, and Ace Steel performing as Scott Colton to which Colt responded, “Guys are using some crazy names.” We then talked about Ace Steel’s sweet mullet from back in the early 90s. Colt said that one day he would like to be able to wrestle on TV and be somebody’s hero. But more importantly he would like to give back to the wrestling business one day by opening a training school, possibly with CM Punk. He said that Punk was the guy he grew up with in wrestling and that will always be important to him.
Colt said that he wrestled Punk over 100 times in three years when they were starting out. He said it meant a lot to him that Punk wanted Colt to be his opponent for his first farewell from Ring of Honor.
The final question was, “Colt Cabana: Great wrestler or Greatest Wrestler.”
Colt said “Great-er-est.”
Colt then plugged www.coltcabana.com and www.rohwrestling.com
That concluded the interview.
Ring of Honor has two huge shows coming up this weekend in Lake Grove, Long Island, NY with NWA Champion Christian Cage and a mystery partner vs. Ring of Honor Champion American Dragon Bryan Danielson and a mystery partner, and in Edison, NJ featuring Generation Next of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe for the Ring of Honor Tag Team Titles, Delirious vs. American Dragon Bryan Danielson for the Ring of Honor World Title, and Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher to continue the RoH vs. CZW war.
There may even be a very special Wrestleradio emanating live from the Lake Grove Sports Plus this Friday prior to the Ring of Honor show, stay tune to inside pulse for more information on that. You can listen to Wrestleradio via www.whrwfm.org
Any questions, comments, and concerns can be sent to bigandymac@yahoo.com
I’ll see you next time…
