Oklafan.com v5 Beta

Brent Albright interviewed by CM Burnham

Posted: Nov 30th 2002 By: CMBurnham

On Jan. 5 Oklahoma?s own Slater Vain left for Ohio Valley Wrestling and a World Wrestling Entertainment contract. C.M. Burnham sat down with Slater Vain to discuse his life in wrestling up to this point. We would like to thank Slater and Kaci Cannon for making this feature possible. We wish them all the luck in the world as they leave for The Big League.

C. M. Burnham: Slater, I?d like to thank you for taking the time to come out here and do this with me. I guess we might as well start at the beginning. I know you were an amateur wrestler for your high school. Would you tell us a little about that?
Slater Vain: OK, I was amateur wrestling at Union High School. 171 lbs. I wrestled in junior high and I did real well in junior high but as I got up into high school competition got real stiff. I was a bigger guy so a lot of the older guys were juniors and seniors and they were a lot stronger than I was. So it really started clicking for me my junior year. I had a really good coach and I made it to state that year. I won a match in State. I didn?t win enough matches to place but I was in the top 5. So it was a pretty good year for me. In my senior year I dealt with a lot of shoulder injuries and stuff so I didn?t do as well as I should have my senior year.
CM: Were you a pro wrestling fan while you were growing up?
SV: Oh yeah! I loved it. Me and my cousins used to watch Saturday Night Main Event on TV and we grew up during the age of the WWF cartoons and The Junkyard Dog, Hulk Hogan, Miss Elizabeth, all those guys. That was real big for us.
CM: How did you get started in the professional wrestling ranks and who trained you?
SV: My first semester in college I was laying in bed. I happened to be off for Christmas break and I was laying in bed and this girl that I knew called me and she said "Hey! You know how you want to be a pro wrestler? Well, I saw this thing on TV where they do that here in Tulsa. They have a training school and all that. You might wanna go check it out" So I found out where it was at. It was down at Riverlanes bowling centre. So I went down and I couldn?t get hold of anybody but I found out they were having a show that night. It was a Saturday night. So I went down there and I met Pete Maguire and he was like, "Oh yeah, great. We?re starting classes in February. C?mon down." So I left at intermission during the show and I went down 2 months later and started training. At that time the trainers there were Rocco Valentino and J. J. Mustang and the Great Bolo. That?s who I started training with.
CM: Tell me about your thoughts early on about meeting and being involved with Rocco since he would be, obviously, a heavy influence in the development of your career.
SV: At first, whenever Rocco saw me, he immediately started calling me "Vinnie". I, being new to the business and really wanting to make, didn?t really question it. I just said "Hey. Y?know, this guy thinks I?m Vinnie for some reason so let him call me whatever he wants." Then he pulled me aside and he said "You?re gonna play my cousin Vinnie and we?re gonna be a tag team" and all that. Really at the time, that?s about the relationship that we had. It was more of a mutual working relationship. We weren?t really...we were friends, but we didn?t do much outside of wrestling. And then when I went out to California, we kept in contact. And then when I came back we became really good friends.
CM: And when you were first tagging with Rocco and you first won the OPW Tag Team Titles, I believe you were managed by Steve Hartley.
SV: Yeah, the first time we won them, we were managed by Steve Hartley. I imagine our title reign would have been quite long, except for the fact that I was moving to California. So our title reign only lasted a couple of months, I believe. So that was the first belt that I ever held. The OPW Tag Team Title with Rocco.
CM: After you lost that belt you had a feud with Rocco. Rocco turned heel and you had a "Loser-Leaves-OPW" match with Rocco...
SV: Actually, no. We lost the OPW Tag Team Title match because Steve Hartley turned on us. What ended up happening was, Bull Schmitt was the big guy in OPW at the time. He was gonna be one of the young stars there. So Bull kept interfering in my matches and he...I believe I was a referee at one time and he took a couple of shots at me when I was a referee and so at that time I decided we?d have a "Loser-Leaves-Town" match and since I was leaving anyway to go train out in California, me and Bull ended up having a "Loser-Leaves-Town" match which I lost.
CM: When you moved out to California, was your primary intention to go out there to train?
SV: My primary intention in moving out to California was strictly to train. I moved out there, trained with a bunch of great guys: Donovan Morgan, Mike Modest, Bison Smith, those guys. I believe that the training I got out there was the cornerstone of all my training. That really established me as a worker. The difference is that when I was out there, I was a good worker in a pool full of great workers. So I really didn?t stand out. The best thing for me to have done, which I did, was to move back here, because now I came back with good training and now I was a good worker amongst a bunch of average workers and I say that with the utmost respect to all the guys that were there when I was training because the training I had was 10 times more intense then the training they were doing here. I was able to bring some of that back and help these guys and I believe that the training stuff that I had and passed on to some of the guys here really helped improve the product for that year-and-a-half or so, that really good run we had at Riverlanes.
CM: While you were out in California, I know you adopted the moniker of Vance Vain. You made the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500. Were you involved in any major or storylines?
SV: Not really any MAJOR angles or storylines. We did a couple of storylines where Donovan Morgan was coming onto my girlfriend and we had a little feud there. I didn?t really do much of the feuding part. I wasn?t involved much in the storylines because the promoter really didn?t like me. Roland Alexander was the guy who was in charge of APW at the time and he?s a real big money guy. When Mike and Donovan invited me out there to train, they told me I didn?t have to pay any money. In their eyes, that was great. In Roland?s eyes, that wasn?t so good. So I didn?t get the respect from Roland that maybe I should have because I wasn?t paying him any money. He never took the time to get to know me that I think he should have. I mean, this guy would book me for matches. He would tell me "You?ve got 3 minutes." And I?d have to go to Mike and tell him "Hey, Mike. C?mon, man. Tell this guy to let me wrestle for more than 3 minutes. It?s kind of a waste of time." And then I wasn?t getting paid. I didn?t get paid until about a year after I?d been there. I started getting about $10-15. I actually booked a couple of shows and he gave me $50, but for the most part it was $10-15. "Here you go, kid. Thanks for coming out and wrestling 3 minutes." So I didn't get involved in very many storylines at all.
CM: You returned to OPW around June of 2000. You came back at a time when Rocco was a face and was feuding against the former VIP Crew that he had led during your absence. What events led to your return to Tulsa and to OPW?
SV: I?d come across kind of a crossroads in my life at that time and just felt like I needed to come back home. All the time I was out there I was able to support myself and the money just wasn?t there. The cost of living out there is just through the roof. I had a 610 square foot apartment, 1 bedroom and it cost me about $1200 a month. It got to the point where I just couldn?t afford to live out there anymore. So I decided to come back to OPW and come back to Tulsa and try my hand at it here. When I came back, it just felt right, Y?know? Everything just fell into place for me.
CM: Any memories of the match where you beat Splash Jackson in a "Loser-Leaves-OPW" match?
SV: Yeah, that was my 2nd match back from being in California. For the most part, I was really, really happy with that match. The pace was real good. Splash did a tremendous job. He went above and beyond what I thought he could do as far as work. As far as I remember, the match told real good story and had a really good finish to it, if I remember correctly. I rolled him out of a suplex or something, rolled him up into a small package. I don?t think at the time anyone expected me to win that match as far as the crowd goes because they knew Splash was a pretty stable character there and that I had come back and they didn?t know if I had come back for a couple of shows or back for this, that or the other. I think we shocked a lot of people with that.
CM: Shortly after that, Rocco again turned on the fans and rejoined the entire VIP Crew. I?d like to ask you what your opinions are on the other members of the VIP Crew that you worked with, especially since you tagged a lot with Joey Casanova. Let?s start with him.
SV: Well, the VIP Crew was really a good core group. You?ve got a veteran like Bolo who?s been around forever. That guy..he works really hard, but at the same time he doesn?t HAVE to work very hard. He?s just a big guy who knows good psychology and can tell a story and doesn?t really have to do a lot to tell that story. Then Joey...me and Joey worked out together in the ring from the day I got back. I saw a lot of improvements in Joey. Joey had a real good grasp and seemed to be real athletic. The wrestling part came to him real natural. It was the psychology that we worked on. I think a lot of his matches were really good. Some of them...a little different style than I would like, but everybody...I used to be a real stickler on "By the book. This is how it?s done. It can?t be wavered. It can?t be done from that." But the more and more I?m around pro wrestling now, every shoulder tackle doesn?t have to be done the same way. Every arm drag doesn?t have to be done exactly the same. Everybody?s got their own style. Their own version. And that?s great. That?s what makes different. That?s what makes everybody?s character different. Everybody?s got their own style. So, to me, I thought Joey was great. And as far as being the Light Heavyweight Champion and being a good Light Heavyweight, Joey was the best Light Heavyweight, as far as I'm concerned, that ever came out of OPW. He had a good gimmick. After a while he was getting into shape, so he had a good look to him and all-around a good character. I believe Joey was a real good character. Let?s see...Jenna (Love). Good. She worked hard. She was a good woman?s wrestler. I?m not real big on women?s wrestling only because of the fact that it?s hard for people to accept the fact that women are trying to do the same thing that men do. And I?m not saying they can?t do it, it?s just harder for people to accept. You watch a girl give a clothesline and you watch a guy give a clothesline and you get 2 totally different results. She worked hard and she served her purpose for being there and I think her character rounded out the group pretty well.
CM: Around November of 2000, you kind of disappeared from OPW. Were you being booked in other places?
SV: Yeah, around November I got a call from a group called the Urban Wrestling Alliance. That was a group that was starting up and they were trying to get a spot on TV. Basically what happened was, I had a verbal agreement with them, I didn?t sign a contract, but I had a verbal agreement with them that they would pay me a certain amount of money and they would take care of my hotel and my plane ticket, fly me out for 3 weeks at a time and I would go and I would work on this project. This project was phenomenal. It had all the makings of being a very good promotion except for the fact that the owner decided he liked to not pay people and embezzle the money that he was making. The shows we did, we did at the in Los Angeles at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. We taped 2 shows at a time. We?d go out, we?d train for a week and a half. We?d tape 2 shows. We?d train for a week and a half and then we?d tape 2 more shows. We were getting paid and then around Christmas of that year, I?d received about 2 or 3 paychecks. I was making pretty good money and I got a call saying "Hey! Don?t go cash your paycheck because it?s gonna bounce." Well, the day before I?d already put the paycheck in the bank and spent some money so, needless to say, it took me a while to clean that up. But that was a great project. I met a lot of people I still consider friends: Orlando Jordan, with the WWE, he worked with me there; of course Mike Modest did, the guy who trained me; Donovan Morgan, he worked there as well; Bison Smith, Sonny Siaki, from NWA-TNA. All these guys I?m still really good friends with and talk to all the time and they?ve all moved on to have good success.with their business. But yeah, that was a really good experience if the paychecks had kept coming. I mean, they owe me...which, the money I?ll never see, so I can?t really say they "owe me", but...$16 000 is what I was owed. But I?ll never see that money so it?s no big deal.
CM: Beginning in 2001 is the build up to the thing that most fans of OPW remember and that?s the build up to the cage match between Rocco Valentino and Jimmy Kane which, in part was built around a feud between New Genesis and the Valentinos. Talk about that, especially as it involves the angle on the radio with Stan the Joke Man. Tell us what your memories are of the whole thing.
SV: Well, I remember in November or December I was working with the UWA and Rocco gave me a call and said "Hey, WWE called and they?re interested in using some of our guys. I know you?re doing this other thing. Do you want to go?" And I said "No, I can?t go. Take Brandon (Groom). Let Brandon go. I can?t. I?m on a verbal agreement with these guys." He said "OK. That?s fine." So they were preparing for that and as that started to happen with Jimmy Kane...I don?t think he was back full time. I think he was just starting to come back around October, November, something like that. And so they started doing the New Genesis gimmick, if I remember correctly. Maybe he was there the whole time. I don?t remember exactly. The whole New Genesis thing was going on and OPW at the time was growing really big and we needed something, so me and Rocco are in the gym all the time and we?re training. We?re getting ready. And WWE calls us again and says they want to use some more of our guys so I get booked on that. So we?re training and we?re trying to figure out what we can do to get people in here. So Rocco says "We?re gonna do a feud. VIP Crew vs. New Genesis. Basically you & me Vs Ian (St. James) and Jimmy Kane." So, OK, that sounds good.
So we start building up this feud and about 2 weeks before things happen, Rocco started being kind of quiet about things and I said "Well, what are we gonna do?" "Oh, you?ll see, you?ll see, you?ll see." So, OK, fine, I think most of us found out about the same time as everyone else that we?re gonna do a cage match. In order to do this cage match, we needed some publicity. We couldn?t just depend on word of mouth form everyone, so we went out and got some advertising from K-Hits. Our goal in the whole thing was to get people to come check it out. Little did we know that it was going to be such a huge thing. I listened to K-Hits every once in a while. I knew who Stan the Joke Man was. I knew who Carly Rush was. I had no idea that K-Hits had such a following in Tulsa. I really didn?t. For some reason, call me backwoods, call me naive, I thought people listened to country music. I knew that people my age were listening to The Edge. But I guess that 25-35 year-old class listens to K-Hits. I would have never guessed. So we go to the radio station and we tell Stan we?re having this cage match. Stan says "Oh yeah, well, that wrestling stuff is fake!" And so we proceed to beat up Stan. And little did we know that by beating up Stan, it would generate so much publicity. Never did we think that we would have as many people show up to watch this cage match as we did. They continued to hype it real well for us. Stan did a great job for us in everything he did for us as far as getting word out. I believe he promised us 2 plugs a day and if I remember correctly, it got plugged at least 10 times a day for 5 or 6 days. People were calling the radio station asking where they could send notes and letters to Stan, asking if he was in the hospital, calling the bowling alley saying they would never come bowl again because of what we did to Stan...I mean, I was thinking "It?s pro wrestling, people. C?mon!". I had no clue that people would react like that.
So they have a cage match. I can see the booking on it and I can see where it was going. Part of me wishes it would have been a tag team cage match, I think that would have followed storyline better. But I can also understand that Rocco had a feud going with Jimmy Kane and wanted to do that. At that time, Jimmy Kane decided it was going to be his last match, so they did that and it was fine. I wrestled Ian that night and Rocco wrestled Jimmy Kane. It was a good match. I mean, it wasn?t a barn burner, but it was a good match. I think Rocco?s proud of it, so I guess that?s really all that matters. Fans were digging it when they were there. We had at least 350 people in the arena and probably another 150 people over in the bar area there watching it. So as far as I?m concerned the cage match was a total success.
CM: Before that, you had gotten back with Rocco and won the tag team titles from the Casualties of War at the Fun Fair. Did you enjoy doing the Fun Fair shows?
SV: I loved doing the Fun Fair shows! The Fun Fair shows are very rare. I shouldn?t say rare. They're not rare. It?s just....they?re a once-a-year opportunity for us to get our name out, as pro wrestlers and now as SRPW, to let people see that there is pro wrestling in Tulsa. And the Fun Fairs are a great place to do that. Every night the Fun Fairs are packed. Last year they kind of had us in a crappy place down on the bottom, kind of hidden, away from everybody, but everybody was able to find it. I think you have 750-1000 people watching you wrestle every night for the 5 nights it?s there. I believe the Fun Fairs are something that we?re really blessed to have. An excellent thing for promoting pro wrestling in Tulsa.
CM: And after winning the tag team titles, you went through a series of matches, many...I guess you?d call them "mini-feuds". So I?m just curious about your memories of these. Memories of working against Big Daddy Moore and Karl Davis.
SV: Y'know, you just gotta enjoy working with Big Daddy and Karl. Big Daddy is a very good athlete, great amateur background, he's hilarious, the guy has so much charisma and ring presence and Big Daddy likes to work like I work. Big Daddy likes to work a little tight and he's dancing and jumping around all over the place. I mean, that's just great fun. And at the time when we were Karl was thrown in the mix, he was trying to find what works for him. Karl's not the most charismatic guy in the world, but he's got a great heart, he loves wrestling and really, at the independent level, you can't ask for much more than that. Those guys were real easy to work. I think one of those nights, Rocco had to do 4 moonsaults on Karl to finally get it right, to get the pin. I think that's kind of funny. But those guys are great. I loved working those guys.
CM: How about Brian Lakewood & Brandon Groom?
SV: Brian Lakewood & Brandon Groom. What can you say? 5-star matches outta those guys. Lakewood is an accomplished football player. He's a good athlete. Brandon Groom, state champion wrestler. A good pro wrestler. Brandon Groom, I believe, has all the potential in the world to do whatever he wants to do with pro wrestling if he just makes sure that if that's what he wants to do, he needs to focus on it and go do it. Those guys are real easy to work. I've always enjoyed working with Brandon. Me and Brandon have had...I can't count how many matches we've had. We've had so many matches and it just gets easier and easier every time. It's good and I've seen these guys--more Brandon than Lakewood--I've seen Brandon progress and grow and learn how to be a good professional wrestler. A good worker. And Lakewood's got good presence. Good stage presence. Good charisma. Those 2 together were a real good tag team. I remember that night that Curt Hennig & John Collins were at the show watching and that match we had, that was great match. Everything was flowing and the psychology was working and that was, all-around, a good match. "Mr. Perfect" said that was one of the best independent tag team matches he'd ever seen. So what can you say? The matches we had with those guys were really good. Really good.
CM: You also had the opportunity to work, at the beginning of their professional career, with Justin Lee & Outcast.
SV: Justin Lee & Outcast! Those guys are....y'know, from working with me and Rocco, I think the word that Outcast likes to use is "bump-tarded". Those guys are young kids. Justin Lee...Justin's got the "It". He's got "It". You can't really describe "It". Just when you see "It" you kind of know "It". Justin's got it. Outcast is a phenomenal worker. Outcast has the potential to be one of the top Cruiserweights in the United States. He just needs to learn to market himself a little bit and get in the gym and work out. Justin too. Justin has all the potential in the world. I know that he's got some medical problems that will probably keep him from accomplishing all the goals in pro wrestling that he would like to accomplish, but that happens sometimes. Both those guy...great potential out of both of them. Outcast is hilarious. Justin's pretty funny too. But those guys, when they came in, they were
hungry. They wanted to learn. I helped train them a little bit and those guys have a future ahead of them. It's just learning. The big difference between independent wrestling and the big time is you've gotta know how to market yourself. You've gotta get yourself out there. I know that those guys work a lot in the Oklahoma-Kansas-Missouri-Texas-Louisiana areas. If they really want to be successful, they need to take the next step, work on the body and venture out throughout the rest of the United States. I know that Outcast, right now, is. I love watching that guy wrestle. He's smooth. He's fluid. He's turned into a very good worker. Very good.
CM: What was your feeling, and perhaps you can talk about the feeling backstage, when you found out the OPW ear was ending because you couldn't be at Riverlanes anymore?
SV: So it was starting to pick back up again. I've a feeling we probably could have stayed in that building a little bit longer, but I just think that things happen for a reason. For whatever reason, we couldn't work in that building anymore, so we took a break and moved on.
CM: OPW moved to Rodeo. You got a new owner, John Crow. Do you have anything you want to say about John Crow?
SV: John's a great guy. John put a lot on the line so that we could wrestle and so that he could own a wrestling company. The only problem was that John didn't take enough ownership of it. He didn't take enough responsibility for the company. It seemed like the only thing that John was doing was putting himself on the line and letting other people run it. I think John would have had a little more respect from the boys if he had actually stepped up and said "Hey! This is my company, I'm the booker, this is how it's gonna work. This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna learn along the way, together and we're gonna make this thing work." But I think John was misled and eventually, I think it cost him his company.
CM: Memories of winning the Oklahoma Stampede, the 1st time you won it. The big time.
SV: The big time. The first time I won the Oklahoma Stampede. The one thing I remember about that is vicious chop I gave to Karl. That has to be the loudest chop I think I've thrown on anybody. Karl went over the top rope with it. I mean, one chop. Boom! I don't remember much about the Stampede. I remember that me & Brandon were supposed to do 2 or 3 minutes after the Stampede. I think we ended up doing 7 or 8. We got a little carried away. But other than that, the Stampede was great, as far as I remember. The Stampede was fun. I like doing Stampedes, Battle Royals, whatever you want to call them. They're real easy if everyone follows the rules. The best way to be safe in the Stampede is to not bump anybody. If everybody stays on their feet, throws punches and that, that's the best way to be safe until you get down to 3 or 4 guys and then you can go from there.
CM: Memories of the match where you won the OCW Title.
SV: The finish was my idea and the more and more I watch it, the more I wish we'd have done it differently. I dunno. I felt like maybe the match was good for the fans and not so good for Vinnie Valentino. The match was great. We had Splash as the referee. We had Lakewood as the ring announcer. We had Rocco as the timekeeper. I mean, it all kind of worked in, but it was a little more about everything else and a little less about Vinnie. And the finish was kind of a screwjob finish, which is somewhat very unbabyface. We put the belt on Brandon because I knew I could get a good match out of Brandon and that's who I wanted to wrestle for the belt. The only problem was, at that point Brandon was going through a phase of what he thought he wanted to do and what he thought pro wrestling was. And so, it's not that he was hard to work, it's just that, getting ideas together at that point was kind of difficult. And he really didn't want to be a heel at that time. He wanted to be a babyface. And he got his wish not too soon after that. But at that point, Brandon was a placeholder champion for me. That was the deal. It was my choice. I could wrestle Brandon or Chief (Red Eagle) or Bolo or somebody like that. I thought it would be better for the fans, as far as the wrestling standpoint to match off 2 younger guys who can really go at it. Not really much old school stuff, just good solid wrestling with a good finish. And like I said, the more I watch, I wish we would have done the finish differently. Maybe just go ahead and have him tap out or get out of the sharpshooter. The match was great. The more I watch it, the more I don't like the finish. I kind of feel it should have been more about me.
CM: While you were OCW champion...
SV: Longest ever OCW Champion!
CM: Longest ever, that's correct. There came an issue with OCW not being able to book as many shows per month, so you didn't have the opportunity to have as many feuds, at least in my mind, as you could have. But you did have 2 big ones.
SV: Yeah, I did have 2 good ones. The feud with AWOL was more for AWOL. At that time, AWOL had been coming in, working out. He'd been getting in the gym and working out hard. He was putting forth a lot of effort and we rewarded that effort. AWOL's a big guy and at the time, we needed some bigger guys so we were trying to build him up and make him somewhat of an upper mid-card to main event kind of guy. I don't know if we did that. He worked really hard. The matches weren't great, but they were good and for the experience that AWOL had, the matches were good. I was happy with those matches.
CM: You also had a quick little feud with Smash Hansen (Halo) when he came into OCW.
SV: Smash is a great worker. Really big guy. I wish we could have extended that a little longer. I think we only had a 3 or 4 week feud. It was over in 2 or 3 matches. But that match I was really happy with. I think we really got over the fact that Smash was a contender for the belt. I think we did a good job of booking that. He's a big guy. I think I remember that at one point in the match, I was going into my comeback and as soon as I nipped up, he would shoot me right back down. By doing that, I think that we showed that maybe I wasn't going to win.
CM: I believed you weren't. Especially at the point that you talked about. I thought "OK, this is it. There's no way he can win. Everything that Vinnie tries, Smash overpowers him."

SV: And that was the point that we were trying to get across. When I was putting this match together, I thought, "OK, I've got a guy here that can work. He's pretty agile. He's about 375, 400 lbs. And a lot of times you get guys that big and they can't move. This guy could move pretty well. So when we were booking the matches out, I thought, "Man. We need something that is gonna be a surprise finish. I need to do something that noone is gonna expect." And so I figured I'd put the nip-up in there and as soon as a start my comeback, BOOM! He shuts me down. I didn't even get a move in. I nipped up and he shot me back down. Then from there, make a few little comebacks and he shuts me back down and then we went out somehow. I think I did some kind of a roll-up through the legs off a claw-slam or something like that. I was very happy with that match. I thought that was a very good match. I think we shocked a lot of people because the way things had been going, I was winning, winning, winning, winning. My role as champion was kind of "Blah." I didn't feel there was a lot of excitement in my role as champion just because I was beating everybody. Everybody knew I was going to win. The fans just really didn't care. "He's the champ. He's gonna win. Who cares?". But with that match, out of 5 stars, I'd say that was a good 4 star match. As far as I can remember, everything went really well with that match. I was really happy with it.
CM: Was it before the Southern States Super 8 that you got the call to go to the WWE training camp?
SV: Yeah, yeah. That was before. Y'know, the WWE works in very mysterious ways. Kevin Kelly was the guy in charge of talent at the time. Talent Development and Relations and finding talent. The first time I met Kevin Kelly was at a show in Dallas, TX and I think he really took a liking to me. I think he liked me as far as talent goes. So I kept in pretty good contact with him and one day I was reading on the internet that they were having a try-out camp. So I figured now might be the time to send in another tape just to let them know I'm still here. So I read about them having this try-out camp and they signed all these guys, so I sent in this tape. I don't even remember what was on the tape. I sent in the tape and I was talking to Brandon Groom and I told him "Send in a tape. Now is the time." I sent in the tape. I don't know if Brandon ever sent in his, but I sent in my tape and I'd just started a new job and Kevin Kelly called me and said, "Hey, what are you doing..."... I don't remember when it was. April or something like that. I said "Nothing. Why? What do you want me to do?" He was like, "We're doing an evaluation camp in Cincinnati. You've got to fly yourself there, but we're gonna give you some money to help cover it and basically we're gonna give you a chance to show off your stuff in front of the WWE agents to try and get a job." I said, "Great. I'll be there." So, he booked me there for the camp. The camp was good. The people I had in my camp, I think Kevin Kelly caught a lot of heat for because there's only 3 guys who were really good in the camp. It was me, Andy Anderson & Bobby Rude. And Andy couldn't really work that well because he was in Puerto Rico doing a ladder match and they told him it was torn bicep tendon and it was actually a seperated collar bone. He couldn't work. He only worked a couple of days. So it was really just me and Bobby that worked. Josh Matthews was there. Sean O'Haire was there. Batista was there. But all these guys were already under contract. They worked in with us and stuff. I did a match against Batista which....eh....it was OK. It wasn't the greatest match in the world. The camp, for me, was kind of a let down. It's no surprise that I didn't get signed off of that camp. Of course, there was no reason for them to actually have that camp because all the guys that they signed in the previous camp, they let go 3 months later. So I'm kind of glad. At that time the WWE was in the start of all their money problems. So they really didn't have much of a situation to be hiring anybody. If I remember correctly I wrestled a bunch of guys who were green. Sylvain Granier was there, one of my really good friends. He was there. I wrestled a match against him. It wasn't a great match, it was just a match. Also another kid named Jason Breeze which, once again, was not a good match. Just a guy who was pretty green. But he's a good guy. Then I wrestled 3 or 4 girls. I had to do singles matches with girls. You can imagine how delighted I was with that. But I did my best. So the last match in the camp I got to wrestle Bobby Rude. So I wrestled him. We had a good match, but I think they expected a whole lot more out of the match. They told us, "Oh good match, good match, but..." And the match had good story, good psychology, but I think they were expecting more out of the match. Dr. Tom (Prichard) told me that that was the match they were looking forward to all week. And I just don't think we gave him the match we were expecting. Anyway, obviously something about me stood out in that camp because I got to wrestle at an HWA show in Red Barn. I think Red Barn is in Ohio somewhere. It's a flea market where HWA does shows. I wrestled a guy by the name of Horshu, who they've got under contract right now. The match was absolutely horrible. Horrible. We get this match put together, we get out there and Horshu freezes up. Absolutely just freezes. Couldn't remember his name. Just frozen up. So here I am, leading him through this match, carrying him through this match and that was one of the things that impressed Dr. Tom. Because here I am thinking, "Great! These guys are inviting me down. Looking at me. I just had a horrible match. What else could go wrong?" And come to find out that match got me a lot of points for being able to show what kind of worker I am by being able to carry Horshu and salvage what was a horrible, horrible match. Dr. Tom has liked me ever since. Any time I asked him about a job, he said it was timing, it was timing, it was timing. eventually that timing paid off.
CM: Memories of the Super 8 with your match against Reckless Youth.
SV: Great match. Reckless Youth, they call him "The King of the Indies" for a reason. I mean, this guy is just...there's not anything this guy can't do. Not to mention he's a very intelligent guy. He understands the psychology of pro wrestling very well. Me being the bigger opponent in the match, I figured maybe I didn't get enough offence, but the more I look at it, the way we hyped him up to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, I figured it worked out pretty well. I figured that was a really good match for me. I learned a lot from that match. When that match was over, it helped me rate myself as far as what I could do. I felt that, after having a match with him, at that point, there really wasn't much I couldn't do. That match gave me the confidence to believe that I could hang with anyone in the United States as far as wrestling goes. That match was a good confidence booster for me.
CM: When OCW restarted and began to move away from the Rodeo and into Powerhouse, again you and Rocco were back into a primarily a tag team situation. You were still the champ, but you were wrestling a lot as a tag team. You had some feuds against Anthony Jackson & Manservant.
SV: I actually saw one of the matches me & Anthony Jackson did the other day on TV. Which was a really, really good match. I remembered having the match after I started watching it. Psychology was laid out real well. Once again, Splash...y'know, he may not be the most in-shape guy in the world, but he can work. And I believe Manservant...y'know, young kid. As far as I'm concerned, that's a great gimmick. If you're secure enough in your manhood to call yourself a Manservant, that's fine with me. You won't catch me doing it. It was a pretty good match. Kind of unfortunate that we didn't know where we were going or what we were doing with it. It kind of served it's purpose at the time. It was just a match. It was matches. I wouldn't really call it a feud. More of just a succession of matches that really didn't have much meaning except to fill a spot on a card. I think that's kind of how I felt about wrestling at the time too. Here I am, the champion who hasn't really done much. I had the match with Reckless Youth and that was about it, as far as I was concerned, that was really meaningful. The matches on the card were just kind of how I felt at the time. They were just kind of there. I wasn't really having a good time with wrestling at that point. It was just kind of there for me.
CM: They also brought back in Butch & Beau Dalton. You had a series of matches there as well and eventually would drop the OCW title to Beau.
SV: Butch was there all the time. Beau had come back from...I believe it was Arizona. He was living in Arizona. He'd come back and once again, Beau's not a fantastic worker, but he's got a lot of heart and he tries really hard and on the indy level, you can't really ask for anything more than that. I used to get aggravated and frustrated with guys like that, but the more I think about it, on the indy level, you can't ask for anything more than for guys to go out there, give 100% and do the best they can. You can't ask for anything more than that. If you don't have a great match, so what? You don't have a great match. There's a lot of other matches. We did a little feud with them. I dropped the belt to Beau via...I think Rocco interfering...
CM: Rocco with a chairshot that was meant to be unclear...

SV: Now that I remember correctly, we had the spot ass-backwards. It was supposed to be me getting off the mat and Rocco and Butch having words, Rocco going to hit Butch with the chair and he hits me. And I think what ended up happening was me and Butch having words, Rocco got knocked down, he grabbed a chair and went to swing at the back of Butch's head. Butch had eyes in the back of his head and Rocco ended up hitting me. The spot was backwards, which was kind of confusing. There was going to be a heel turn for me. I was a babyface and I'd just about all I wanted to do being a babyface. I didn't see much of anything else. I kept asking for some type of a gimmick match or a specialty match or something like that and I wasn't getting it. So I was, like, "OK, just go ahead and make me a heel then. I'll drop the belt and make me a heel." And at the time I was supposed to be this mean aggressive, badass heel. They kept wanting to push that off and push that off. I said "Fine. You guys do whatever you want." I think I ended up taking a little break...
CM: Yeah, that was going to be my next point. That after you dropped the OCW title, again you disappeared for a couple of months. I was gonna ask if that was due to frustration, but I think that's pretty much...
SV: Yeah, there was a little frustration on my part. I felt like...I was frustrated and I wasn't having any fun, so I stepped back and put things in perspective a little bit.
CM: For those months you were gone, were you being booked in other companies?
SV: Yeah, I was being booked in Kansas and Missouri for a couple of companies. For the most part, it was a money thing for me. I needed extra money and they were paying me pretty good, so I went and took them.
CM: You returned to OCW by which time they had moved to Hot Wheels. You came back at the Oklahoma Stampede. Do you have anything you'd like to say about that particular Oklahoma Stampede?
SV: Well, that one...y'know, I've got a lot of different stories from that one. At the time, I think Brandon was a little bit upset that...if I remember correctly, they did a gimmick where he had to have some sort of esophagus or something on his stomach...
CM: They had Luc and...I don't remember who else take him out with injuries to his stomach. They had Summer come out wailing and moaning. He was gone for a while.
SV: He was gone for a while. I think he was having some sort of...
CM: Acid reflux
SV: ...Acid reflux surgery or something like that to help him out a little bit. So he had taken some time off and I had taken some time off and we had both just happened to come back on the same night. Thing was, I was to be given music and mad a big deal of that it was my return that no one expected. Well, he felt kind of the same way, y'know? "It's my big return..." The "office", so to speak, didn't feel the same way. I've heard several different stories. I've heard...the thing was, I believe Brandon was actually booked to go over...
CM: That's what I've heard.
SV: ...in the Stampede. I believe he was booked to go over. The story I heard was that he grabbed a gimmick out of Rocco's boot and Rocco said, "That's it! You go out over the top rope!" And that didn't happen, so Rocco got upset and left. The other story I heard was Rocco grabbed him and said, "Hey, you're going out." And Brandon said "I'm supposed to win the thing." "No, you're not. Change of plans" I don't really know what went on. I can't really comment on either one of those. I've got my opinions, but I think Brandon kind of got the raw end of the deal on the thing. And then what ensued after that, it was kind of a weird thing because me and Brandon are in there now. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. And I got John coming out here telling me it's a shoot and I'm, like, "It's a shoot on who? Who's shooting on who? Cause he's not shooting on me. So I'm not gonna shoot on him. He's supposed to win the thing." So I'm not really sure what's going on. Then Butch and Sonny (C) come down and it's like, "I've had about enough of this". That pretty much made up my mind that OCW really wasn't the place I wanted to be. That was just kind of the final straw for me.
CM: You stayed around another month. You did a heel turn in a series of matches with Justin Lee & the Outcast in preparation to recapture to the OCW Title which Rocco was now holding. Your last match out was a TV title match against Sonny C. Any memories of that?
SV: Yeah...
CM: And your opinions of Sonny, since you were heavily involved in his training.
SV: Sonny's a guy I've known for years, ever since I started in the business. I believe Sonny's got a good heart. I just think Sonny's caught up with being one of the "cool guys", y'know? The match that we had was a fine match. I remember he was scared because he didn't know how to bump for some of my suplexes that I like to do. I remember tailoring the match around him to be very, very easy for him to do. Follow the simple psychology of the match. And he did a very good job of it. The one thing that kind of disappoints me about the whole thing is that he had it in his head that...they were pumping this in his head that I was gonna shoot on him and take the belt and leave. I was given the option ot wrestle somebody and wrestle and win or wrestle some jabroni and win or wrestle Sonny and lose. And I opted to wrestle Sonny and lose. I thought that would be beneficial for Sonny and I thought that it would show that I had no hard feelings, OCW just wasn't where I wanted to be. So it just kind of disappoints me in the fact that Sonny would think that I would do something like that. That he would think that I would not hold up my end of the bargain. Y'know, it's pro wrestling. Who cares if you win or lose? Some of these guys don't seem to understand that concept. And to me, it's about going out, having fun and entertaining the crowd. And I believe I was doing a pretty good job of that that night. I don't remember correctly.
CM: You were.
SV: I was doing a lot of the time-out stuff.
CM: I loved the time-out gimmick.
SV: That was fun. But I think we had a good match and I fulfilled my role and it just kind of eats at me that he thinks that I would not do that. That he would be so paranoid to wrestle me... I mean, seriously, he was shaking. He was telling me "It's because I'm nervous. I don't want to mess up anything. I want to do a good job.", but he was really scared that I was gonna shoot on him and make him lose his title and all that. It's like, "Whatever". Y'know?
CM: So after you leave OCW, we have the beginnings of SRPW. Were you contacted or did you hear about them through a grapevine or what?
SV: News travels fast. I liked Sarah (Harmon). I remember Sarah had made jello shots, ran the TV show,produced the TV show, things like that. And I knew she was a good lady, so I figured I'd go work for her. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, y'know? The more and more we saw what she was trying to do, the more and more I liked it. She had good ideas. She was willing to take things to a different level that I felt they were able to be taken to. It was kind of a mutual thing. They contacted me. I contacted them back. It just kind of went from there.
CM: Memories of becoming the SRPW champion.
SV: What was it, a table match?
CM: Yes.
SV: Against...
SM: Rebel.
SV: Rebel. It was really cold. We were in a really big barn with a dirt floor. The table Rebel had weighed about 100 lbs. It was really heavy and it didn't want to break. It was a good match, it was just a little rough, y'know? The finish was creative. We came up with that finish together. Something about me knocking out the referee and him putting me through the table and him trying to wake up the ref and me getting up on him and dragging him so it looked like I had put him through the table. That to me was pretty creative. I just wish there had been more people there to see it. It took 5 times to go through it. I think we could even have taken the metal off the bottom of it and it still wouldn't have broke. This was this big, heavy table. I'd never seen a table that heavy before. Never. It was pretty good match. Rebel's a pretty good guy to work. I don't have any problems with Rebel at all.
CM: So you were champion during the Fun Fair shows. But prior to the shows you got the contacts to go over to Japan?
SV: Right. We did an angle at the Fun Fairs where I was just out of control. They stripped the title from me and suspended me. Because the shows were so far apart, booking was kind of sporadic. They seemed to start and finish angles on the internet without even having a wrestling show. But I figured that would be the easiest way to do it. That way I could come back and they could put the belt back on me if they wanted to or things like that. Leave all kinds of options open. I don't remember. I think they put it on Beau the next week or something.
CM: At the next show, they had a match between Beau & Brandon.

SV: While I was gone they did that. Which is fine. Book it however you want it. It made sense. That's fine. As far as Pro Wrestling Noah goes, that was an experience. I was gone 28 days. I wish I could have tacked on the 1st 3 days of my trip to the end of my trip because I spent the 1st 3 days in Hawaii. First 3 days I was in Hawaii. I had to go through the Japanese consulate to get a work visa. Japanese culture is very different from the American culture. Here I am on a bus, a decent size tour bus with, mainly, all the American talent that Pro Wrestling Noah had. And a few of their top stars on the bus too. Real long bus rides. Wake up in the morning. Grab a bite to eat as fast as you can. Get on the bus, and of course, I'm the new guy, so I had to help load everybody's bags. So load the bags. Make sure the veterans are taken care of. Then get on the bus. Ride for 5, 6, sometimes 8 hours at a time. Get to the building where it's really, really cold. Cold showers. Change. Wrestle. Get back on the bus. Go to the hotel. Go to sleep. Wake up. Do it all over again. It averaged out to be about 3 days on, 1 day off. 1 day where we can actually relax and didn't have anything to do. But there were a lot of days where they were JUST travel days. We were in the bus from 8:00 in the morning 'til 8:00 at night just traveling. Take a few breaks here and there to get a bite to eat, but just traveling. That was intense, but that helped out my wrestling so much. Being able to wrestle like that all the time and being able to wrestle with Japanese wrestlers who are...In Japan it works different than it does here in America. In Japan, you go to a tryout. You come in off the street. If you decide you want to be a pro wrestler, you have to go through a tryout. They put you through this tryout. It's all calesthenics. It's, like, 3 days of nothing but calesthenics. And they weed everybody who they...cause it's a mental toughness thing. So then once you have gone through that, then they hire you. They say, "OK. You've proven yourself worthy. Here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna move into our dojo. We're gonna give you a cell phone. We're gonna give you a little bit of money every week. But you live here. This is where you live now." So they live and they train in the gym 8 hours a day. Some of their meals are provided for them. But they are property of that. Not only do they train in what is a very stiff ring, on purpose, and we're talking bump after bump after bump after bump after bump after bump. Then the last thing they do in the day is a 50-drill bump, which consists of snap-mares, single-leg takedowns, backdrops and hiptosses. And they do 50 of them and then they run the ropes 20 times. I mean, that's at the very end of the day. Some guys here can't do that at the beginning of the day. I think they spend the first 9 months of their training shooting. It's all shooting. Submission holds, wrestling, all kinds of stuff. Then they start with the pro wrestling. It's really, really intense. There's one guy, he was "Mr. Saturday Night". I can't remember what his name was. He was a sumo wrestler. Wanted to be a pro wrestler. And he literally trained for 7 years before he got his first match. And that's the kind of dedication these guys go through. They train for so many years before they even get a match. And that's setting up the ring, tearing down the ring, carrying bags, and wrestling and doing everything. So by the time they get ready to have their first match, they're seasoned veterans. Their worst wrestler over there would be equivilant to one of the top wrestlers over here. And it's intense. But that's their life. That's what they do. That's their job. And you gotta have a lot of respect for that. Those guys, they can work. And they don't speak bad English either. Because I speak horrible Japanese. But that was great. Not only did I get to travel and go to Hawaii, which I had never been to and then go to Japan, and wrestle, was great. For me, that was a pretty big accomplishment in my career.
CM: AFter returning from Japan, I don't think there were any SRPW shows before the time you worked for NWA-TNA. So tell me about your match with Shark Boy and the TNA experience.
SV: NWA-TNA was--and I'm not saying this for everybody, but for me--it was a very, very dull experience. I get there. I'm on the card. I'm probably in the best shape of my life because I'd gotten into tremendous shape to go to Japan. So I'm still in pretty good shape. And they tell me "We're gonna put you on X-Plosion". First of all, I flew myself down to TNA and I didn't get paid. Which isn't a big deal. I don't mind doing a free one here and there to try to get a job. I flew myself down there, ended up spending about $350 on aeroplane, hotel, food, everything. "You're gonna wrestle Shark Boy". Which is fine. Shark Boy's a good worker. Great guy. "You guy's are gonna have 6 minutes easy. No big deal". So we get out there, get in the ring, tie up--(snaps fingers) "Take it home!" I was, like, "You gotta be kidding me!". "Nope, nope, gotta take it home. We're going live in 15 minutes. We still got 3 more matches to do. You gotta take it home." So we get through the 1st spot. I mean, seriously, I think we had 3 minutes. We do the 1st spot, I cut him off, 1 offencive move, right to the finish. I just didn't enjoy my experience there at all. Didn't enjoy it at all.
CM: Memories of working with Perry Saturn. Did you do 2 matches or just the tag match?
SV: We did 2 matches: a singles match and a tag match with Perry. Perry's a really good worker. That night started off in total disaster. The night we did the singles match was in Oklahoma City. And that was the night everybody had to be relicensed. I get my sheet and it says, "To be done by a D. O. or an M. D., but not a D. C., which is a doctor of chiropractic. So, there's a chiropracter at the gym that I worked out at at the time and I asked her, "Hey, y'know, this says it's not supposed to be done by a D. C." She says, "Oh, don't worry. I'm licensed to do physicals. I can do that. No big deal. I know that's what it says, but I'm licensed to do it." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, yeah, if they have any problem, have them give me a call" "Ok". So she gives me my physical. I get there and they're not budging on it at all. So I gotta drive around. I go to a hospital, get a physical, which took, like, 2 hours. I literaly get there 15 minutes before my match. Put my boots on. Go over my match with Perry Saturn. We had a decent match. We went 15-20 minutes. I don't remember how it went, but I ended up going over on Perry Saturn. He was real cordial about it. He didn't care. He wanted to put our guys over. That's what he said he was there for. That was great. And I have to admit I was kind of nervous wrestling him, reading some of the stories about him shooting on some of the indy guys in the WWE if they mess up a spot or something like that.
So I was kind of nervous, but at the same time, he seemed like a nice, professional guy. I didn't think he would do it, but at the same time that thought was still in the back of my mind. He's just a nice, super guy. The next night, we had him scheduled to go over and he said no. He thought our guys should go over, so we did that. He's got a lot of experience in the ring. I know he's got a lot of life experience, being in Desert Storm and things like that. You really couldn't ask for much more from that guy. He was a nice cordial guy. I learned a little bit and got to say I wrestled Perry Saturn. So it was good for me.
CM: So, now with SRPW running up here on a weekly basis in Tulsa and, I guess shortly after they get their first couple of shows out of the way, you get a call. Actually you get called down to work for the WWE for Survivor Series. How many shows have you worked for the WWE this year?
SV: I've done 13 shows this year for the WWE. This story is an interesting story. For the last 4 months, I've been able to support myself on just wrestling. Making enough money doing WWE shows and doing some indy bookings. I've got a guy in North Carolina who books me often. He pays me really good. I've been able to bring home the money that I need to bring home to support the bills and such. But it was at the point where I was pretty much gonna say, "I've worked 13 times for them this year. They've seen me work. They know who I am. They know what I look like. Nothing's happening. This may just not happen for me. So it's time to support the family and be the family man and wrestle on the side and if something happens down the way, we'll deal with then. But right now, my focus needs to be on getting a full-time job and supporting the family." So a couple of months ago, I call Dr. Tom. I say, "Hey. Dr. Tom. Can I wrestle in Beaumont & Houston?" Actually, let me back that up. Johnny Ace called me and he said "Hey. I like your look, but I really want to see you wrestle some more. So we're gonna put you on the shows on Beaumont & Houston. I'll e-mail Tom." Then Tom calls me. I said "Hey. Can I do those shows?" "Yeah. Johnny Ace just e-mailed me. We're gonna get you on those shows. Everything's gonna be great." That was the last I talked to them, because I believe in letting them know you're there and not letting them forget about you, but not bugging them. You don't want to bug them. Because then all they remember about you is "Oh yeah, he's that annoying kid who calls me every day." So I'm riding in my car on Thursday before the Survivor Series and my phone rings. And it's Dr. Tom. And he calls me and he says, "Hey. What are you doing Sunday?" I said, "I'm not doing anything. Why?" "Well, I've come across your name here and I need an extra person to work the security guard angle on the Survivor Series. Can you do it?" I said, "Yes, I'd love to do it. That would be great." "OK, you need to be in Dallas by noon. See you there" "Ok, thanks". So, I get down there and he's gotten 10 guys to do the security guard gimmick. So I check in with Sgt. Slaughter and Dean Malenko comes up to me. "Oh yeah, you need to be down at the ring by 3:00". So Malenko comes down, because he was in charge of the spot. So Malenko comes down and he says, "I want these 4 guys to do security." I was under the impression they were gonna need 10. "Well, if we did 10 guys, we might as well put a big "S" on Stone Cold's (Steve Austin) chest and give him a red cape." I said, "That's cool". He says, "I want these 4 guys to do security" So we get in the ring and walk through the spot with Stone Cold. It's a really great experience for me. I got to work with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series in front of 14,000 people. To me, that was awesome. I walked out into the American Airlines arena. 14, 000 people. That's just an amazing feeling. So then, I travel to Beaumont the next day and I get to RAW and I'd signed up to have a match and then the writers come to us and say, "Well, y'know, you guys did security last night. We need security tonight. You can't wrestle if you did security last night." Great. So they put me back in security guard role and I got to do a little pre-tape vignette with Shawn Michaels & Eric Bischoff and Brandon (Groom) was there too. So that was pretty cool. I grew up watching Shawn Michaels and I've met him a few times. Watching him work. That was pretty cool. Tuesday at Smackdown I didn't get to wrestle at all! Nothing. Because "You did security last night." I was, like, "It's a dark match. Give me a break!" Anyway, they're real big on continuity. So "no working dark matches tonight for you." OK. Fine. So here I'm thinking, "Well, y'know, there's a couple more shows at the end of the year. Maybe I'll call and see if I can work those. That's it. That's fine. Maybe I won't heavily pursue this as much as I was. I'll focus on finding a job the week of Thanksgiving and be done with it. So I fly out to North Carolina Thursday morning.
Get home Wednesday. Drive 9 hours from Houston. Get home Wednesday. I'm tired. Gotta wake up early Thursday morning to catch a flight. So my phone rings and Dr. Tom is on the other end. He's asking me how I'm doing, what I'm doing. I tell him I'm in the airport getting my bags and such. "Oh, what are you doing?" "Wrestling for a guy in North Carolina." I segue into "Do you mind if you book me for some of these shows at the end of the month and at the beginning of the year?" Because there's some real close ones over in Arkansas & Memphis. He's like, "Hmmm. Hold on a second. Let me check that." And he puts me on hold and I have to listen to "I'm an Ass Man". I think I heard the entire song. I think I was on hold for 5 minutes. I was, like, "Great. I like to spank 'em. I'm an Ass Man" If you've ever heard that song, he likes to do a bunch of things to asses. Anyway, he comes back on. He's like, "Well, y'know, the end of December is a long way away. How about this? How about December 1st we just go ahead and start you on a contract?" And I'm sitting here thinking to myself, "I gotta be daydreaming. he coudn't have just said that." He says, "We'll start you on a contract. You contract will be in effect December 1st. I need you to report to OVW January 5th." And he gets all my information from me and I hang up my phone and I'm like, "I believe I just got a contract!". It was just like that. I did not expect it. I did not get to wrestle. These guys, the 1st time they saw me, at the beginning of the year, "I like your size, but I'd like you to be little bit bigger. Book all these shows and let me see what you got." So I book all these shows, then all I hear back after I book all those shows is, "Oh, you're too thick there through the middle. I need you to trim down a little bit." I'm sitting there going, "First you tell me to gain weight, now you tell me to lose weight what's going on here?" And then they book me on shows and I don't get to wrestle. How are these guys gonna...? I'm thinking, these guys have seen me enough. What's the big deal? So I call my wife, Stephanie and I said, "Well, Dr. Tom said that there's just no room for me on those shows in December." She's like, "Oh, OK. Well did you ask about the other ones?" I said, "No, I didn't ask about the other ones." She gets all kind of hot at me. "Well, why not??" I said, "Well, Because he gave me a job!" She's, like, "Do what?" I said, "He signed me to a contract!" And she started crying and it kind of started making me cry. I call my mom and she started crying and I call my dad and he just can't believe it because my dad's helped me out financially trying to get to some of these shows and buying me aeroplane tickets and stuff like that. So the whole thing is great. Timing is great. Here I am, ready to stop pursuing it as much and start working on family and I get the job. It couldn't have come at a better time for me. They gave me a signing bonus. Gave me a pretty good contract. So now I work for the WWE. It's a pretty good feeling. Up until then, my whole career goal was to work for the WWE. Now I gotta sit down and redo all my career goals, because now I work for them. What am I gonna do now? Now my main focus is on getting my body fine tuned and getting it where I'd like it to be. Working hard at OVW. Making it to one of the traveling squads. Get on TV and just go from there, y'know? Try to have a good, injury free career. Even the best workers in the world get injuries. Thing is to try not to get hurt. You don't ever go out and try intentionally to hurt anybody, but at the same time you don't hurt yourself either. You just try to stay injury free and hopefully this will be the start of a career that involves more than just pro wrestling. I would like to do commercials. I would like to get into movies. Things like that. I feel like I have a pretty good look to not only get me somewhere with wrestling, but also to get me somewhere in "Hollywood", if you want to call it that. But I know everything comes with time, so just be patient and take it one step at a time and see where things go.
CM: With your career at this particular point, I'd like to say thank you for sitting down and doing this interview. Is there any last thing you'd like to say to the fans who have supported you up to this point?
SV: No, I think I'm gonna save that for my last show here. I'm gonna address the fans and kind of see where things go from there.
CM: Thank you very much.


The following is a transcript of Slater Vain's farewell speech to the SRPW fans and crew on December 13th 2003.

Everybody in this place had a part in my success. Everybody in this place, all the fans, all the wrestlers, the referees, the promoters, everybody had a part in my getting signed with the WWE. I ask of the workers, every time you step in this ring give 110% every time, because these fans deserve it. Not everybody will have the opportunity that has been laid at my feet, but that shouldn't stop you from chasing your dreams. Everybody has a dream, wether it's to be a pro wrestler, to be a school teacher,a stay at home mom, an airplane mechanic, it doesn't matter. Everybody has a dream, and you need to make that dream happen for you. I just want to give, to all my fans, I just wanted to give one more time. A lot of you saw me when I first started 6 years ago, a lot of you saw me when I came back from California 3 years ago. You saw the hard work I put in. You fans are loyal. No matter what company we wrestle under, wether it's OPW, OCW, TPW, SRPW, it doesn't matter, you also show up, and you support. We couldn't do this without you guys. We do this for you. So just to make this short, continue supporting SRPW, look for me on WWE television, and thank you all very much.
Farewells:
X-Cal: I would just like say, Brent, way to go, I hope you kick ass in the WWE. You deserve it.
Mike 2: I'd just like say good luck, thanks for training me, and all the best wishes. I'll be watching for you on TV. Thanks a lot.
Eric: Good luck, farewell, and Thanks for being such a good friend.
Keebler: Thanks for all the wonderful memories. Thanks for all help that he done. I hope you enjoy yourself, and make lots of money.
Terry Montana: If it wasn't for Slater, I wouldn't be in the business right now. It was the heart of Slater Vain and Rocco Valentino that got me in and trained me. They're the ones that choose to help me along this path, and I just want to tell them thanks for all the help that they've given me.
Summer Rain: I know he's going to be the best at what he does, because he's got a champion's heart. I wish him the best of luck.
Cade Sydal: Brent's a great help. He's awesome.
Tyler Bateman: I never really got a chance to get to know Brent as well as I would have liked, and even though he's always scared the livin' bajezes out of me, I always respected him. He's a great worker, and I'm not surprised this happened. I wish him nothing but the best. More than happy for him, just regret not getting to know him better before he left.
Outcast Kenny Campbell: Even back when I came to the shows, and didn't know anything about wrestling, he definitely stood out from everyone else that I'd seen. It was an honor to be trained one on one by him, and getting to know him personally. He's definitely going to go far in the business, and it's going to be great to be able to say that I was trained by him. (Kenny shakes his fist) And he stole my moves!
Trey Christian: Slater Vain is a great guy, he's helped me out in my short career over the past year. He's given me a lot of advise. He's going to make it in the WWE, he's got a lot of heart, he has all the desire in the world. He's going to be somebody in there, so let's all keep a watch out for him on the WWE programs.
Sam Slither: I never got along with Slater Vain, never cared too much for Vinnie Valetino, but I'm real proud of Brett right now.
Dexter Hardaway: Good luck, you deserve it, have fun. Thank you. Oh, and bring me back a gimmicked chair.
Rick Vyper: I'd just like to say that I helped Brett, and Rocco, Big Daddy, Brandon Groom, Bull Schmitt, all these guys get their first tryouts with the WW(F)E through Kevin Kelly. I made the phone call and got them set up for Raw and Smackdown down in Austin, San Antonio, and a house show here in Tulsa. It just makes me real proud to see one of my best friends in pro wrestling make it to the big time. It's a dream of mine, it's like watching your best friends become a movie star or something. It's an honor actually to see him go.
Sarah Harmon: I am just overwhelmingly proud of him. I admire and know how much dedication it took. He worked his ass off to get there, all the time, for five years at least, and I'm just overwhelmed.
Brandon Groom: I've known Slater Vain the past six years or so. I first saw him in Bristow, which is my home town, I got to look professional wrestling around this area, he came out, and I was like wow, there's a guy who really looks in shape, he looked like a pro wrestler. He looked like he really weighted 225 pounds, but I don't think he really weighted that much. I said to myself that this pro wrestling place looks legit, I want to get involved. I always wanted to be a pro wrestler, and I got in there. We had many trainers to help us out, but he had only been in the business about a year or so, but he was in it like he had been in it for like five years, like he was a trainer, and he had every right to be. He was prices on his foot work, just like he is now. He was always helping out to teach other people. He helped teach me from the very start, and we took an interest in each other, as far as workout supplements, workout routines, and things to do in the ring. He was always a notch or to above, always trying to help everyone, including myself, and I was always wanting to learn from him. Having a guy like him, who knew the foot work, precise ring stance for every move, and for every position, it really helped better a lot of the wrestlers around here, including myself. I want to thank Slater Vain for that, and I really appreciate him. As far as working with him in the ring, I couldn't ask for someone better. He's my favorite opponent in the ring, and I've worked people in the WWE, in North Carolina, and all around Oklahoma, and there's no question that he's my favorite person to wrestle. Like he said in his speech, he gives a 110% every time, just like I want to. He's always good on creativity, the ability to go out there and tell a good story, and give the fans all the athleticism a match needs to be a good match. I'm glad he got this opportunity, it's not like he just got lucky, he worked his ass off, and deserves to be where he is. I pray for him and his family, and he deserves all the success that God has in store for him.

Tags: Brent Albright, Vinnie Valentino, WWE