Jason Wilson: Hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of Behind The Curtain. In this edition, we will talk to a man who for 7 years, has never spoken an intelligible word. This man has had one of the most successful careers in SWA history, both as a hardcore wrestler, and in singles and tag team competition as well. It is my pleasure to, for the first time, talk to the one, the only, The Unknown Soldier. Soldier, the first question we'd all like to know, is how did you get started in wrestling?

Unknown Soldier: In 1995 I was going through school, when I started hearing a buzz about a wrestling promotion going on in Carthage, Texas. Being a big wrestling fan, I figured I'd check it out, and what I saw made me sick. Shane Charles, then known as The Ultimate Maniac, was the ETWF Champion, and had beaten just about everyone in the promotion at the time. I figured as scrawny as Charles was, I could waltz right in and beat him, take the title, and become the ETWF Champion until I decided to retire. But that's not exactly how it worked out.

JW: So what happened there?

US: If you go back and watch those tapes, you can see I was a diffrent person then. I tried to "wrestle" Shane Charles, when all he was interested in was flying across the ring and putting on submissions and trying to put himself over. If he did the same things he did back then to me now, he'd be short a few teeth and probably riding around on a wheelchair. Shane Charles, although he was an original ETWF member, never really had his heart in it. When the promotion started getting big, he was too busy doing other things, and eventually faded away entirely, except for a few cameo appearances. Last I heard he's trying to get a record deal and selling phones. As far as wrestling is concerned, if he could've kept his mind on that, he could've been a player, but he'll forever be remembered as a part timer with a nice splash and that's about it.

JW: The next time we saw you was a few years later, in a series of matches against "The Doc" David Giles. Tell us about those matches, and your opinion of Giles.

US: I was trying to perfect the Unknown Soldier character back in those days, and I took a lot of beatings from Giles in those early matches, as did he. I remember meeting him in a weapons match, a cage match, a two out of three falls match, and so many others. He won some, and I won some, but all I can say about him is that he is tough as nails. I will talk about him more later, but we've beaten and bloodied each other over the years, teamed a few times, probably fought a hundred times, and we're both still standing. Although I can't stand him inside the ring, I have a lot of respect for him outside of it, and that will never change.

JW: Around that time you had a match, which at that time, changed the course of the history of the ETWF. We're talking about the three way dance between yourself, David Giles, and Scott "The Show" Badeaux. Tell us your thoughts on that match and what you thought of Badeaux.

US: Even today, you could see the change that was in the air. Scott Badeaux had been, in my opinion, wasting away by teaming with a piece of sludge by the name of the Scotsman, and when he broke away from him, we finally got to see that, hey, this guy is the future of this promotion. David, Scott, and I had a zillion three way dances, but the first one was very special to all of us. Yeah, David won the match, but we all felt like winners, because we knew that we had turned it up a notch. What did I think of Scott Badeaux, you ask? Well, his style and mine were a lot diffrent, and we didn't ever fight very much in singles competition, but the guy improved with every match. He became one of the best, if not the best, all around wrestlers in the promotion. I've got a lot of respect for him, because for a long time he truly dedicated himself to getting better every time he was out there, and I'm glad to see that even though he's not wrestling with us anymore, he's still pursuing some form of combat. Again, when that bell rang we'd tear into each other, but outside he's a true pro, and I feel privelaged to have wrestled him so many times.

JW: You mentioned The Scotsman. You only wrestled him once, but what did you think about him and that match?

US: Like I said earlier, The Scotsman was a piece of scum when he was in the ETWF. He was clumsy with his moves, gave weak shots in hardcore matches, and wouldn't want to take hits, even if he had just hurt you giving one. He and Badeaux were friends at the time, and I'm sure that he figured he could ride Badeaux's coattails all the way to the top, but "injuries", and I use that term loosely, and lots of other reasons kept The Scotsman from wrestling more than about 5 or 6 matches in his career. He retired undefeated, but that's only because he was too much of a crybaby when it came to actually putting someone over. In the ring I have no use for him, but outside the ring he's a decent guy. He's dropped about 100 pounds since his wrestling days from what I hear, and is involved in the ministry, and that's cool. He found his calling, and I think he, and the rest of us, are relieved that wrestling wasn't it.

JW: Around this time, due to your style, it was decided that you would be the inaugural ETWF Hardcore Champion. What did you think about that?

US: I never like having titles handed over to me, but in that case, it was like giving a baseball fan a Babe Ruth autographed bat. Hardcore wrestling is, and will always be, my style, and at that time there weren't a lot of guys in the ETWF that could even compete for the belt, more or less take it from me. It was a great honor to be the champion, and an even greater one to hold it until the promotion closed. JW: A few months later, T-Man and Ash, two former ETWF wrestlers, broke away from the promotion, and started their own outlaw promotion, the NBOW. Now, you were in the first title vs. title match in the history of either promotion, as you took on and defeated T-Man in a match that is still talked about to this day. What did you think of T-Man and Ash, the NBOW in general, and what were your thoughts about that match?

US: T-Man was a con artist and a businessman, in and outside of the ring. With the level of "talent" he had recruited in the NBOW, we knew it would only be a matter or time before he'd be knocking at the door of the ETWF guys, and sure enough, that's what happened. Jackson Herod was frustrated that he could never get a title shot in ETWF, so he jumped to NBOW first, and I came in second. As far as Ash is concerned, I was friends with him then, and I am friends with him now. As we'll discuss later on, we were tag team partners for a long time, and unlike T-Man, he was the real deal. Now, about the title vs. title match. I knew when I walked in there that day that whether it was booked for me to win or not, I was walking out with the ETWF and NBOW hardcore belts. T-Man and I were having a lot of problems outside the ring, and if there was ever a match where I beat the hell out of someone for real, that was it. Although I roughed him up quite a bit, I made sure he looked good as well, and in the end, although the finish was a bit on the weak side, due to an "injury" T-Man had suffered, I was damn proud of the match in general. That match took me from being an unknown to a mythical being, someone that you had to come out and see for yourself, because you had been told so many things about it. The fact that I got my first cult following, and the fact that there were a lot of cute girl managers, are about the only two reasons I liked the NBOW. The quality of wrestlers paled in comparison to the ETWF.

JW: The NBOW didn't last much longer after that, but I know that on the last taping, you took part in a hardcore battle royal, and a match against Scott "The Show" Badeaux, who had made a one time appearance. Tell us about those matches.

US: The hardcore battle royal was a piece of s--- if you ask me. You had T-Man, Ash, myself, the Blood Brothers, and Dopeman in it, and it was supposed to be for the "Texas Hardcore Title." Well, in T-Man's infinite wisdom, he books Mikael Blood to win the thing, even though he'd never even had a hardcore match, and was leaving to go into the military the next week. It was dumb things like that that drove the NBOW out of business. That match also started the alliance between T-Man, Ash, and yours truly, that carried over into the next promotion we are going to talk about. The battle royal was fun, and I got to hurt the Blood Brothers a few times for real, which I always enjoyed, but besides that, it blew. As far as that match with Badeaux is concerned, he came in after a long injury, and I know that he personally didn't like or respect many of the guys, but for some reason he took it out on me. I got beaten legitimately worse in that match than I think I ever have before or since. No offense to Badeaux, because later on I am sure I roughed him up a few times after that, but he beat the hell out of me that day.

JW: When the ETWF & the NBOW folded, the SWF was formed. You and T-Man were the first SWF Tag Team Champions. Do you have any memories of that match, and about the early days of the SWF?

US: The match with T-Man against Giles & Badeaux was at that time the best tag team match in the history of any of the three promotions. It went off perfectly, and truthfully I'm not sure if there's been one since, at least in our promotions, that was as exciting, or told as good of a story. In the end Badeaux and Giles got in a little shoving match, T-Man hit the Dream Maker, and I got the Mandible Claw on Badeaux, and that was it. As far as the early days of the SWF were concerned, there were a lot of good three way matches between myself, Badeaux, and Giles, and I fought them in singles competition from time to time. As we'll discuss here shortly, T-Man went AWOL shortly thereafter, so there weren't a lot of tag matches at that point.

JW: It was in one of those three way matches where you won the SWF Heavyweight Title. Do you have any memories of that?

US: At that time, I was the hardcore champion, and a tag champion as well, although the tag championship wouldn't last much longer. That was the highest point of my career at that time, and to actually be able to say that I cleanly defeated Giles & Badeaux, i'm very proud of that. The match was just like all the others, very hard fought, and I will always remember it, due to the fact that a dream of mine had been realized.

JW: Around this point T-Man started Total Domination, consisting of himself, Dashing Dan, The Unknown Soldier, and Sweet Dreams. Due to Dashing Dan's constant no-showing, Ash was brought in to take his place, and he became your tag team partner when T-Man retired. What were your opinions of that group, and who do you think was the better partner?

US: Again, T-Man was doing a lot of talking but not backing any of it up, and he brought in a scrub by the name of Dashing Dan, who had about as much talent as a comatose person. Sweet Dreams was coerced into managing us by T-Man, and she seemed to be a nice girl, but when T-Man quit, so did the rest of the group. Ash came back at the time and it seemed natural for him to take over, and we just played it off that he took T-Man's place due to an injury, when in actuality, we'd never see T-Man again. One thing I do regret is that Sweet Dreams left, because there was a damn good angle planned where I was finally going to get a romantic interest, and the fans would have gotten to see a side of me that had never come out before. If you watch footage from around this time, you can see the beginnings of it, but it was never finished and I regret that. Ash was a much better partner than T-Man, simply because he was a personal friend, and I knew I could count on him. With T-Man, we never really were friends, and if he didn't think it would benefit him to show up, he wouldn't. He sold well, and he had a decent mind, but besides that he was a load of crap. Last I heard of him, he's married and supposedly working for a radio station somewhere. If I never see him again, hell, it would be too soon as far as I'm concerned.

JW: After all this took place, you lost the tag titles in a three way dance against Blaze & Archangel, and Giles & Badeaux, and then lost the World Title in a hardcore match against Giles. What do you remember about those matches?

US: The tag match was a weird deal. It was a three way dance, the first three way tag we ever had, and Blaze & Archangel were newcomers. It was a good match, but all I remember about it was that Ash got hurt and we got beat. That was the last time I believe the two of us ever teamed up. The hardcore match against Giles was wild, but a hell of a lot of fun. I remember it because it was a long match, and we both hit moves in that match that had won titles for us against other wrestlers, but with all the adrenaline that was running through our veins, it was going to take something out of the ordinary to put either one of us away, and it truly did. Although I lost, that was a match I look on with pride.

JW: Shortly after that, the SWF changed to the IWA, and you began a very successful career there, winning the Hardcore, World Heavyweight, and Tag Team Titles on several occasions. What can you tell us about your early IWA memories?

US: I won the Hardcore title first against Blaze, then I believe I beat Badeaux for the World Heavyweight. It was much later on that I won the tag team titles. One thing I remember about the early days of the IWA were that the matches were 100 times better than in the SWF days, in my opinion. Our relocation to Henderson from Carthage was one of the best things that ever happened to us, in my opinion. The talent level was a step above the SWF too, as we got men like Cash, Dracan, Archangel, Blaze, Kamikaze, and a few others, in addition to all of the old favorites.

JW: A few months after the IWA began, they began working with the LWF out of Lewisville, Texas, and WaR out of Amarillo Texas. What were your opinions of those two groups, and did you enjoy working with them?

US: My opinion of the LWF has changed a lot over time. When we first started working with them, they seemed like decent guys and girls, and except for a jackass by the name of "Scary" Gary Homicide, they weren't afraid to take pain and to inflict some as well. Homicide was probably the worst wrestler I ever worked with, as he made anyone he wrestled from the IWA look bad, not selling any of their offense, and trying shoot moves he had no business trying. He and Necrophiliac got the better of myself and Giles in our first match as a team, but on that same day, in a six man tag with myself, Blaze, and Archangel against Gary, and the two girls, Angelo the Barbarian and Zero, he got what was coming to him. It was only the second time in my career I ever shot on an opponent, but apparently it was enough, as he never set foot in the IWA again. He felt the wrath of three high flying moves that day from our team, and if I ever wrestle him again, he will feel my wrath once again. Ok, now that i've ranted a little bit, let's talk about the actual good things the LWF brought to the table. They had a lot of wrestlers, which was a plus, they were pretty much open to anything as far as booking went, and they had a couple of guys like Adam Arson, Necrophiliac, Minimum Wage, and the girls who were actually fun to wrestle. Of course, along with that, they had a bunch of guys that you couldn't do anything with, such as Tank, Pinnacle, Scary Gary, Cooter, etc...These are guys that you can tell love the wrestling business, but make a mockery of it when they are in the ring. When you are wrestling, it's not the time to oversell, to deliberately make your opponents look bad, and to joke around. That's what will keep most of the LWF stuck in the backyard for the rest of their lives, their professionalism. But, with all that being said, we had some good matches, some fun times, and I'm glad that we got to have shows with them, for a time at least. As far as WaR was concerned, we only worked with them once, and they were nice guys, but they only had one or two guys that I saw that were worth a damn.

JW: It was during this time you did a series of ring shows, the first of which was with LWF and WaR, the rest of which was just with LWF. What did you think about those shows? Also, at the last ring show you worked with the LWF, an incident took place where you supposedly injured Tank with a wet floor sign. What do you have to say about that incident?

US: The ring shows sucked because of the organization of the shows. The first one had about 40 guys on it, and we had paid to be there for a certain amount of time, but the guy we had paid made us end the show early because he had to go to work. So here we were with 30 minutes left and hadn't even started the 3 best matches on the show, and a ton of people hadn't wrestled, so the "creative geniuses" at the LWF decided to just let everyone who hadn't wrestled, wrestle in the main event. I believe at the first show I wrestled a three way tag team match with Necrophiliac, who at that time held the tag belts with me, but the match sucked and the show sucked. The next ones were a little better, but the matches were never very good because you were usually wrestling someone you had never worked with before, and unlike our guys, the LWF guys wouldn't put you over unless you were in their promotion or you shot on them, and it wasn't worth it to me to make them look bad in order for me to look good. At the last show we did a hardcore rumble, and I hit Tank pretty hard with a plastic wet floor sign, no harder than I had hit people earlier in the match though. Well, he starts whimpering, calling me all sorts of names, saying he's going to kick my ass, etc...Well i'm still around, and he's never showed up to get revenge, so as far as I'm concerned, he's just a big talker with little or no wrestling or shooting ability, and it was all his pleasure to get to step into the ring with a wrestler of my caliber.

JW: Shortly after that, the LWF stopped doing the ring shows, and the IWA aligned theirselves with GCW, out of Gladewater Texas. The first interpromotional show you put with GCW came shortly thereafter, and you took part in a four way dance with an incredible finish. Tell us your opinion of GCW, and of that match.

US: Man, from day one I loved the time we spent in GCW. It was a great change of pace to be in the ring with actual good talent, and GCW was full of it. Even our guys worked harder when they saw how much fun the GCW guys were having, and when they saw their positive attitudes. It was good for both of us. As far as that four way dance was concerned, it was myself against Giles, Archangel, and GCW star Adam Michaels. It started out as just Michaels vs. Archangel, but I came down to make my presence known, then Giles did the same. I was laid out by Michaels, and then Archangel hit a swanton bomb off the roof, something that had to be seen (and felt) to believe. Somehow, I got up from that, and Giles and I proceeded to have a pretty good brawl while Archangel and Michaels had a good match in the ring. I didn't win that one, but I was proud to be a part of a great moment in our history.

JW: At the following show, you teamed with Iceman for the first time. You two certainly have diffrent styles, yet you made a very effective team. What is your opinion of him?

US: Iceman is a prodigy. He can be a great amateur, a great pro, a great shooter, whatever he wants to do, he can do it. He and I do have diffrent wrestling styles, but we are similar in some ways, too. We are both quiet, we both use odd submission moves, and we will do whatever it takes to win. It was a real treat teaming with him, and hopefully we'll get the chance to do it again somewhere down the line.

JW: At the following show, you wrestled David Giles in possibly the wildest match in IWA/GCW history, going to a double dq, eliminating both of you from the GCW Heavyweight Title tournament. That same day, you won the GCW 24/7 Title from Fantastico. What was your opinion of those two matches?

US: The match with Giles was great, in my opinion. A lot of moves were used in that match that you don't normally see from either of us, and we got inventive with our use of weapons. Yeah, neither one of us won the match, but I wouldn't say we were losers either. The match with Fantastico was a lot of fun, my buddy The P.O.W. lent me a hand in that one, and I'm sure Fantastico will never forget the shot heard round the world that gave me the title.

JW: At Out For Blood, the next IWA/GCW show, you were involved in a hardcore rumble, and then faced Giles in a match to determine who would face Archangel for the title at the final IWA show. What do you remember about those matches?

US: I remember that I never got pinned in the hardcore rumble, yet I lost the title. That was the second time in my career that the title changed hands without the champion being pinned, and I never thought that was fair, but oh well. It was a fun match, and that's really all that matters. The match with Giles was fun too, not as hardcore as the one the previous week, and that was probably my downfall. I let him wrestle me instead of fighting me, and he came out the winner.

JW: At Backyard Face Off 3, you faced a GCW rookie by the name of Crazy Josh, and were defeated for the hardcore title. Tell us your thoughts on that.

US: He got lucky, plain and simple. He's a good wrestler, but not in my league when it comes to hardcore wrestling. I enjoy wrestling him, because he reminds me of myself in my younger days, but he will pay somewhere down the line for defeating me, not once, but twice.

JW: I was just fixing to mention, he defeated you the next week as well, at the final IWA/GCW show. What is your explanation for that?

US: My mind wasn't on wrestling. I had a lot of other things going on, and he took advantage of that. But, he beat me right in the center of the ring, so I can't bitch about it too much. Let it be known that revenge will be mine.

JW: So, now you're in the SWA, and you're in the hardcore and tag team tournaments. Tell us what you think the results will be in those.

US: I can guarantee you right now, I will do whatever it takes to win the Hardcore Tournament. I don't care if I have to bleed, I don't care if I have to go through barbed wire, thumbtacks, fire, or anything else, I will be victorious. As far as the tag tournament goes, they have me paired with Phantom, who I don't care for too much, but we'll see how that goes. If we can come together and get on the same page, there isn't a team in that tournament that has a chance.

JW: Ok, Soldier, now that we're done discussing your career in the ring, I have some general questions to ask you. A lot of fans and even other wrestlers want to know, why do you act the way you do?

US: Act what way? Listen, my mind is on winning, and if I do whatever I have to do to psyche out my opponent. I want my opponent to have no idea what he has gotten himself into when he steps in the ring with me. The reason that I don't speak in wrestling, is because I haven't found anything that interesting to say. Truthfully, I think my wrestling does the talking, and it will stay that way. Away from the ring, I have some characteristics that are similar to the way I am inside the ring, but for the most part, I am a normal person.

JW: Another thing that our fans have been dying to know, why do you wear the mask? Why can't we see who the Soldier really is?

US: Maybe because I don't want anyone to know who's behind the mask. I have never given a damn about the fans or what they think about me. I wear the mask because when I put it on, I become the Unknown Soldier. Without it, I'm just a normal guy living a normal life, but when that mask comes over the demented cranium of yours truly, all hell can and usually does break loose.

JW: The last thing I want to know, is what does the future hold for you? You've won hardcore, world heavyweight, and tag team titles, what's left for you to do?

US: The SWA is giving us all a new start. I am going to go in there, wreak havoc as only I can do, and then, once I think i've done all I can do, I'll walk away just like I walked in in 1995. I am going to expose a lot of new people to the legend I've created, and when I walk out, I'll walk out with my head, and my mask, held high. The end of 2002 and the year of 2003 will be the year of the Soldier, so stay tuned. The legend is just beginning.

JW: I hope you have enjoyed the first of many interviews I have conducted with one of the many SWA superstars. Next time, we'll speak to Jackson Herod, and discuss his career in wrestling, and what he's up to these days, outside the ring.