The following is an exclusive article by ROH’s Kevin Steen answering a variety of fan-submitted questions. This is part of a new series at Inside Pulse Wrestling where professional wrestlers will chime in with honest thoughts on everything wrestling and more. Check out ROHWrestling.com for everything ROH including great deals on DVDs! And if you’re on the West Coast, catch Steen at tonight’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show – Dio! – beginning 8 p.m. at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda.
Well. here we are. I was told I could write a blog about anything I wanted. After thinking about it diligently for quite a while, I realized I had….nothing. So I suggested that maybe I could answer some fans’ questions. These were sent to me several weeks ago and I have yet to do it. Now it’s 4 am and I’m doing this before catching a flight to Los Angeles so forgive me if this isn’t the most detailed Q&A of all time but time is of the essence here!
How did you get started in the business?
I was 11 years old. My father wanted to watch some wrestling. I did not. He was much bigger, taller and stronger than me, so we watched it. I got hooked, big time.
I started to annoy my parents every day to find a wrestling school for me to start training at. I kept telling my dad it didn’t matter that I was only 11. He wanted to wait a few years. I did not. He was much bigger, talller and stronger than me, so we waited. Then when I was 15, they enrolled me in a wrestling school. In a barn. The ring…was in a barn. A month in…the barn collapsed on the top of the ring. Nobody was in the ring at the time so noone was injuried thankfully but my dreams of becoming the next Barry Horowitz were crushed. Until a year later, that is, when Jacques “The Mountie I was once Intercontinental champion for 3 days and it’s my only claim to fame, ever! Oh except for the time I pinned Hulk Hogan in Montreal that was so great remember that?!?” Rougeau opened up his wrestling school.
Jacques was a big deal here so getting to be trained by him was quite an honor. And it was fun at first. Then Jacques started to show his real personality to his students little by little and I realized quite quickly that the guy was a hack and a moron pretty quickly. Good enough trainer though but to make a long story short (one of Jacques’ favorite quotes…he would literally use it 5 times a day, anytime he would tell a story…except he would then keep on talking for 2 and a half fucking hours so he wasn’t making a long story short at all!!!) I decided to break away from him after a while and start wrestling on my own to see where it could get me. But he gave me my start by putting me on his shows when I was just a kid. My first match took place on May 7th, 2000 which just so happened to be my birthday. I was 16 and living the dream…well, my dream anyway. That’s how I got started. Oh shit…I missed my flight. Well, no point in stopping now!
How did you meet Generico? What is your history?
He was doing these shows up here with IWS and I went to see one of them one day before I was working for them. He put on a pretty incredible performance that night but I remember thinking he looked like an idiot. A few months after that I started making my way around the companies that ran the Montreal area and I was pretty quickly recognized as the best in the province. But everywhere I went, I would run into this weirdo. For some reason, people started booking us together, even way back then. We’d have to drive together everywhere and when we started getting booked in the U.S. it was just more of the same. They would say ”we want Steen…AND Generico” Once I was done crying and pleading with them not to do this to me, I would pick myself up, dust myself off, tell my mom I would call her later and just have to accept the fact that if I wanted to get somewhere in wrestling, I had to take this masked mistake with me and I’d just have to gut it out. But it was never my choice. Ever.
Who are some of your favorite opponents and why?
Super Dragon is one of them. We ALWAYS brought out the most intense, brutal side of each other and it made for some incredible battles. The Briscoes are just amazing, as are the Wolves. CIMA is one of the best I’ve ever been in the ring with and getting to work with him a bunch when I was over for Dragon Gate for two months in 2006 was a highlight of my career. Player Dos is a pleasure to destroy and he’s extremely talented.
Another one of my favorites is acually someone I never really got the chance to work with that much but I always love when I get to and that’s Delirious who I think does not get anywhere enough credit for his work. The dude (I’m pretty sure it’s a dude) is tremendous. But my all time favorites are the Young Bucks. I don’t click with anybody the way I do with those guys. Great wrestlers all around. And finally, there’s nobody I love to beat the living hell out of more than El Generico.
How do you put together a match?
I don’t really know what kind of matches you get but I never have to put them together. They’re already ready for use when I take them out of the box. I just rub it against the side of the box and it’s good to go. You should get your matches somewhere else.
What do you think of criticisms that you got over because of a bunch of head drops?
I could not care less. I am where I am and very happy to be there. If dropping guys on their heads helped me get here then I will gladly keep on doing it. Sorry, vertical suplex and hiplock takeover lovers!
What are your favorite matches?
I have many of them but I supposed if I had to narrow them down to 3…
Against Super Dragon, Guerrilla Warfare in PWG. Complete insanity from beginning to end. Awesome match, lots of fun and something I will always look back upon fondly.
Against Nigel McGuiness in Toronto for the ROH World title. The most nerve racking match of my life, and it turned out to be very good. Nigel is one of the best guys I’ve been in the ring with and it was great to have a high profile match like this with him.
Against Tyler Black in Mississauga for the new defunct UWA in early 2008. Not a lot of people saw it, nobody talked about it but it’s on my list. It was as close to a perfect match as I’ve ever had. My opponent had a lot to do with this, of course.
What are your favorite matches you’ve ever been in? Singles? Tag?
Well, I thought the earlier question was refering to matches I have been in. Now I see this one…so what do I do…do I go back, copy/paste the answers from the previous question on here and then re-answer the previous question, or do I just ignore this one?
Who were your favorite wrestlers growing up?
The British Bulldog, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Later on I really got into Kurt Angle until he left WWE. At this point I think my favorite guy to watch has to be William Regal but I was always a big fan of his. Too bad he doesn’t get to wrestle more on TV.
Who are your favorite wrestlers now?
See, now, again, I answered this already. I’m not copy/pasting!
Actually, I now have to run. There were a few more questions but they will be for another time!
