INTERVIEW WITH
What was it that made you want to get into wrestling?
I first got into watching it when Hulk Hogan had this Saturday morning cartoon on CBS. I remember that the very first match I ever watched was George "The Animal" Steele against some jobber. But the thing that made me want to get into wrestling was in the 5th grade during recess there was this four corners square on the field about the size of a ring so me and my friend Matt Harger would pretend that was a ring, and that we were WWF superstars on it. Obviously we couldn't really wrestle because we'd get in trouble, but we set things up so we wouldn't get hurt. Usually I'd be Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Tito Santana, or Ravishing Rick Rude. One Summer day we decided be our own characters (same way as the schoolyard of course). That day I was wearing a Captain EO (a 3-D movie that starred Michael Jackson and played at Disney World) T-shirt, I decided that was going to be my name and Matt was really into Batman so he called himself "Mattman". I came out the winner and our friends pretended to be the fans and went nuts when I won, and that's when it hit me. I thought "Wow! Maybe if I got serious about being a wrestler, maybe I can pull it off!"
How did you get into the buisness?
I was looking on NECW's website and they were looking for street team members, I thought this could be a way to get my foot in the door, so I immediately applied and that's how I got in. My first show with them, I only guarded the dressing room, but since then I've been selling the merchandise for them, but I've never been on the talent side of things with them. However, in NWA-NE, I was. I started as "Sebastion", kind of a multi gimmick thing.
How did that come about?
While vacationing in Florida, I visited "Old Town", a 1950's themed shopping center, they had a sports card store with lots of old cards, I bought a few packs of old WCW cards from 1991 and went through them. I found a good one of Sting with the colorful facepaint and he looked really cool with the colors so I came up with a character just like the old Sting but a heel. I named it Byt (pronounced "Bite") and figured that could be a cool character to play if I wanted to change gimmicks. About a month later, Damien Darkside called me up and told me he needed someone to help out with the KOD (Kingdom of Darkness) at ringside. At the time he was managing a really awesome team called the Asylum, which was comprised of Apocalypse and Armageddon. He usually went and grabbed people and acted like he was going to hit them and while he did that, he'd need someone to hold the "Skulls" which was supposed to give them power, so I told him about the character I came up with in Florida, and he thought that was a good idea but we'd have to change the name, we toyed around with several names until we decided on Sebastion.
Apocalypse wore black and red facepaint, Armageddon wore black and blue with some white, I decided on black and green with some silver. Then Armageddon got injured which put a halt on things. Then the gimmick basically morphed into an Apocalypse groupie. But to seperate our characters I decided to make this one a warlock. I used to wear a long black wig with it, but the NWA suits didn't like it so I settled on red hairspray. My introduction was I'm this crazed fan sitting at ringside and during the match with Darkside and Vinnie Capelli, I distracted Capelli and the referee so Darkside would win
Why did you change it to a Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th wannabe thing?
That's an easy one. They turned Apocalypse face so I had to change it. I thought of still doing the same thing but without the red and leaving that spot normal. But then I remembered as the warlock I did the KI-KI-MA-MA sound from the Friday movies so I came up with the Jason wannabe character, but I kept it secret from everyone including Darkside until that show. I remember him seeing it for the first time, his eyes widened and his face lit up! I considered that gimmick my best one, especially since we worked an angle with the legendary Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. I really wish I could've kept that gimmick. That gimmick was even mentioned on the Official Friday the 13th website!
How did Sebastion go from a psycho to a nerd?
There was no storyline to explain that change. When I was still doing the warlock gimmick, Jason Rumble aproached me about altering me and Darkside's characters, his into a rich Texan and mine altogether into a nerdy driver. Thing was I'd have to talk like a Texan but I couldn't do a Texas Accent, but remembered I could do a Ross Perot impersonation and he was from Texas, so I turned out safe there. My name as the driver wasn't supposed to be Sebastion (Former NWA-NE Head writer) Pat Doyle came up with the name "Buford R. Butler" and I thought "OH GOD, NO!!!" But thankfully he forgot to tell Darkside the name so in the promo with us and then NWA-NE Commisioner Chris Charisma he called me Sebastion. At the end of it I said in my Ross Perot voice "Let's go back to the car and listen to more ABBA!" Then we walked off screen, I looked back and both Pat and Charisma were on the ground laughing. Turned out this character was already starting to take off. There never was a storyline to explain the change of gimmick, but I think I got more heel heat than Darkside did. Mainly when we came out all we heard was "SEBASTION SUCKS!!!" the whole time. Everybody got a kick out of it. We also appeared on Pro Wrestling Monthly hosted by Jim the Wrestling Goon and Chaotic Wrestling's Skunk O'Malley, Darkside spoke most of the time but I had one or two lines. When I spoke Jim cracked up and afterwards thought that was the best part of the show. I really wish I could've kept the Friday the 13th thing.
Then you became a referee, and your debut turned into a disaster.
Oh geez...I knew that was coming. Ok, here's the whole story about that being told for the first time. I actually wasn't supposed to be reffing that night, in fact I was supposed to be doing Sebastion. That was the night were me and Darkside were supposed to have a falling out which would end the KOD. Rumble thought I'd make a good ref until I finished training so I agreed to it. I really didn't want to be a ref but it was just for then so I went along. Oh and just for the record, let me just state that despite what you may or may not have heard, there's no problem between me and Rick. I just made a rookie mistake that night. I was pretty upset about it but they told me not to worry about it, in fact, they looked at me as some type of hero because I took a real ass-kicking from a former WCW star that everyone's afraid to work with. Even though, I felt really bad about it and the last thing I wanted was for those Informer nitwits to be posting about it, and sure enough they did. So I just lost it and went more berserk on them then Fuller did on me.
You don't like them do you?
Who the f**k are they to tell me I have no buisness being in wrestling? Those idiots don't respect anything, all they do is talk a lot of trash. Mainly my reffing "debut", Sheldon Goldberg's family, whether Jason Rumble really is Tony's son or not, etc. But they don't even know what they talk about most of the time.
How did you come up with the nickname "Too Hot For TV"?
I tried different types of gimmicks for the Barry Ace character. First promo I've tried, I used every 4 letter word in the book, the guy filming it said he almost thought he was taping a Jerry Springer episode, and I remembered Springer had a video called "Too Hot For TV" and I thought that could be a cool name.
What other gimmicks did you think of?
A lot! Things like a KISS fan who took the whole KISS ARMY thing real seriously (wearing camo, a dogtag that has the KISS logo on it), a James Bond/Austin Powers gimmick, a ladies man (but that's part of my current gimmick). A friend came up with some ideas for me, but they all sucked. He came up with things like "Cookie the Clown" or "The Rich Bitch" or an M.C. Hammer impersonator. I'd imagine he's already came up with more, but I'm kind of afraid to find out what.
Who has been the most influential person in your career?
That's easy, Hulk Hogan. I met him for the first time last year at FAO Schwartz in Orlando this was about a month after I got into the buisness. I was looking at Movie Maniacs figures and my brain told me to look to my right and sure enough, there he was, my mouth DROPPED. And I went and introduced myself. I've heard stories that he was too cocky and power hungry, but he was very nice to me and we talked about all kinds of things like the WCW sale, that Vince was trying to get him back in WWE since they patched things up at Owen Hart's funeral, and the upcoming XWF, etc. Now he definetely hasd a Hulkamaniac for life in the Ace. I met him for the second time a few months ago at the grand opening of the new World Gym in Tewksbury. He actually remembered me!
Cool, What big names have you worked with?
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, the New Heavenly Bodies.
What other big names have you met?
Nikolai Volkoff, Honky Tonk Man, Killer Kowalski, Demolition Ax, Ultimate Warrior, The Mountie, The Renegade (before he signed with WCW), X-Pac, Bret Hart, Spike Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, Dawn Marie, Bill Alfonso, Jason Knight, Joel Gertner, John Cena (before he signed with WWE), King Kong Bundy, Balls Mahoney, Chris Nowinski (before he signed with WWE), Nova, Chris Chetti, Little Guido, Road Dogg, Jerry Lawler, Grandmaster Sexay, Gangrel, Luna, Brutus Beefcake, Chris Jericho. Non Wrestling personalities include: David Hasselhoff, Kane Hodder (Jason from Friday the 13th), George Wilbur (Michael Myers from Halloween 4 and 6), Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre), I forget his name but Lurch from The Addams Family movies, and Peter Tork of The Monkees.
What do you do during your spare time?
Surf the net, play video games, watch horror films, etc.
Do you have another job besides wrestling?
Yes, but I hate it so much, I'm not going to give it the light of day on any website.
Any pets?
A Yorkshire Terrier named Daisy, she's 9 years old.
Promotion Thoughts
ROW: Hasn't started yet, but I'm sure it will make a HUGE impact.
NECW: One of the best, if not THE best promotion in New England right now. I just wish they'd go to other venues more often
NWA-NE: My favorite one I've worked for although I haven't since the fire incident. I might be going back there soon.
NEWA: I've only worked one of their shows and don't really know them that well. It's probably too early for me to judge.
CW: I wasn't crazy about them at first, but they're getting better. There's now a chance I might be with them soon too.
PCW: I never worked for them, but I attended one of their shows last year, and I had the time of my life! They're now back in buisness, and hopefully they'll have a longer run
YPW/SCCW: Never seen them
WWA: I heard a lot of bad things about them
MWF: Not bad. They should run shows more often.
MEGA: I was at the only show they ran, too bad they're not running shows right now, it had a lot of potential.
Explain the "Fire Incident"?
At NWA-NE's February 2002 show there was a street fight match between Rick Fuller and Erich Sbraccia and during it, some lady got burnt in the face with one of those fire cannisters used for heating aluminum trays.
Workers/Etc.
Damien Darkside: Quite the entertainer, it's hard not to laugh when he's doing a promo.
SWB and April Hunter: Great as a team and individually. When I first got in the buisness, they're two of the first people I had a chance to get to know. I'm lucky to have them as friends.
Jason Rumble: Good trainer, Great worker, true to the name "Boston Bad Boy"
Beau Douglas: Quite a character.
ONS: Two of my favorites. They're a great team, really easy to get along with, and I love their gimmick.
Vinnie Capelli: Dedicated to NWA-NE
Rick Fuller: Not someone you want to piss off. Trust me!
Freight Train Dan: Handles backstage very well, and a good friend.
Zak Mason: A one man version of the Hardyz.
Sheldon Goldberg: His shows get better every time, has a knack for shocking the crowd.
Randy Miller: A visionary
Pat Doyle: He took things a little too seriously
Apocalypse: He's a good worker, but is one of those types that have a huge chip on his shoulder. But I've never had any problems with him.
Armageddon: Hmm, hard one here...HA-HA!
Vertabreaker: He was always great to work with.
Black Dragon: A great martial artist.
Dark Angel: A big guy, I wish they kept him with the KOD though.
Any advice for people who dream to become wrestlers?
Normally when people tell you it's not going to happen others say not to listen to them, but I say DO listen to them, because when you pull it off, the people who doubted you (quite possibly anyone on the Informer) will owe you an engraved apology afterwards.
Well thank you for your time.
No problem. Snootch to the Noonch
