Posted by AL LAGATTOLLA on 5/29/2001, 12:01 am Q: Are you guys on good terms with the PWI/PCW? Q: So Sonny and the guys get along with the Domain? Q: If they asked you to be involved in their relaunch show in Melrose Park, would you be interested in something like that? Q: I consider you guys Chicago workers, but you don't work in Chicago and a lot of people don't consider you Chicago workers. Q: So when you're trained, it's better to have someone whose name is recognizable. Q: They seem to name you as one of the top guys they've trained. Does that make you feel special? Q: You talk about where you've come from and a lot of talk from LWF is about Acid. Have you worked Acid? Q: How would you describe that one time? Q: If people try to talk about tension with anybody in the LWF, it's always Acid. I know you match up size wise and talent wise, but is it odd that it's always him, yet you've only met in the ring once? Q: You say he should get trained. If he went to the Domain, for instance, what could he become? Q: Is that the way you like it? Q: Along the same lines, I'm guessing if you work for Vince McMahon and you've got a pay-per-view, you can't really say no. Q: I noticed Danny's post on my message board.
Q: Jayson Reign was working out with the LWF, mostly because he says he didn't feel welcome at the Domain. Did you hear about that?
PUNK: Yeah, I talked to him about that. He said Danny never called him back. But Danny was in the midst of some personal trouble with his wife and he wasn't at that phone number anymore and he never got those messages. He came to the Domain one time. I worked out with him. I told him, come back whenever you want, him and Capri. Capri just ran into Ace Steel at a Powerhouse Gym in Arlington Heights. He said whenever you want to come out, come out. We have an open-door policy, like I said. We had Airborne there. We've had PWI guys there.
PUNK: I don't even know who runs it anymore. I don't know if Sonny's running it or what? Jimmy Blaze? I don't know. I don't have a problem with any of those guys.
PUNK: Yep. I say Sonny in Wisconsin a couple of months ago and he invited me down. He gave me his number. I respect Sonny for what he's done, the guy's been around 20 years.
PUNK: What's the date? (June 23).... I think I'm already booked that day, but yeah, I'd be there. I've got no problems. That may be a misconception. People think I won't work for them, so they don't ask, but yeah, I've got email, I've got a phone. They can email or call me, they know how to get ahold of me. If anybody ever wants to use me, go for it. I'd love to work in Chicago again. I think I'd make a killing selling my T-shirts.
PUNK: Makes sense. Out of sight, out of mind. We are Chicago workers. I was born and raised here. It'd just be nice to work in Chicago again. ... But I like going on the road. I think guys who don't travel are missing out. But in order to travel, you've got to get trained so you've got something to say. If somebody asked these LWF guys who trained you, I don't know what they would say. If they said me, they'd be dead wrong and I would deny it. I don't know who they'd say, but you've got to say somebody. I came from somewhere, oh yeah, heard of that guy. If he says you're good, I'll use you.
PUNK: I've been booked on shows before because somebody asked who trained you and I said Danny Dominion and Ace Steel. They said really, I'd like to use you. That's happened plenty of times.
PUNK: It makes me feel damn good. Me and Ace were so elated after our ladder match. I got home and wrote him a big email. And I always say this to Ace, after a big match, or I see something disgusting or ridiculous that shouldn't happened if someone is untrained and I say, thanks for training me. He's told me plenty of time, him and Danny, how proud they are of me. And I've come a long way and I'm decent now.
PUNK: One time.
PUNK: I think it was terrible watching it now. I watch it now and I think Jesus Christ, what the hell am I doing. I wasn't in anywhere near the shape I'm in now. I'm green, which made him 10 times more green than me, and it's just two guys, spot after spot after spot and we tried to memorize. I pride myself now... if I was working Mid South in 1983 and it was heels in one locker room and faces in one locker room I'd be able to walk in the ring without ever talking with my opponent and I'd have a decent match. That's what training does. You learn how to call things in the ring. You learn what makes sense. You learn theory. You learn how to place things in matches, you learn how to hit the big moves when they count. You learn how to turn the ref if you've got a heel manager. If I worked him now, it would be 10 times better and I think it would be a match that would draw money because people would want to see what would happen because of the tension.
PUNK: No, it makes sense to me, because he's probably the best guy they've got. Everyone recognizes that. I have no problem - Phil Brooks has no problem with Mike Nolan.
PUNK: He could become a f***ing good worker. And he could get hooked up. Me and Cabana have all kinds of connections and we've got connections in Michigan, in Canada, in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Wisconsin. Now with East Coast opening up. There's talks about us going to CZW. It's connections. Connections is how you make it on the indy scene. You get trained, the guys who train you help you out. You network. You talk. A lot of those guys could be good if they would get their heads out of their ass and stop f***ing around with the LWF. I understand, Billy Whack. The LWF probably is always going to be there. I've come to terms with that. But if these guys want to do something with their careers, they have to do what I did. Look what I was doing in the LWF compared to what I'm doing now. I haven't had a weekend off in 8 months.
PUNK: I love it. I've sacrificed a lot, Al, for doing this. It's probably no secret I've sacrificed my relationship with my girlfriend, which was a f***ing disaster. I'm still friends with her thank God, because she's a really rad person, but I had no time for her, I felt terrible. I've sacrificed going to see my best friend's graduation. I had to work. I've sacrificed seeing my best friends get married. And it's hey, you gonna come to my wedding? No, I'm going to be in Detroit to wrestle. And I feel bad, but I don't, because I know someday it's going to pay off. I like being recognized as the hardest working independent wrestler. Nobody can say they haven't had a week off in 8 months. Nobody can say that. Every weekend, we're somewhere. It's going to be to the point where I can say I haven't had a weekend off in 13 months. I don't want to take a weekend off and I'm booked right now through August. I'm fine up until 8 months into the year and I'm sure I'm always going to be able to find some work somewhere. ... I have a lot of good friends who put up with so much bullshit. ... I want you to print that, my ex-girlfriend, she's still my best friend. She put up with so much crap. And being a girlfriend of a wrestler is like being married to them. You hear stories about hooking up with the rats and all this other stuff. I never dealt with rats and God bless her, she knew that. But it's hard. It's hard on friends, it's hard on family and it's hard on them. There have been little crappy shows I've gone to and I'm thinking why did I come here? I could be doing this, I could be at Great America with all my friends, but no, I've got to come here and this place doesn't have a working toilet, I'm changing in the basement, it's cold and there's 3 inches of water and here I am. It builds character, it makes you a better worker and makes you appreciate when you are in a big locker room and you do have room to change and there's not 26 people crammed into a closet.
PUNK: You don't say no to the god of wrestling, you know. You could say no to indy promoters, but it's just going to hold you back. ... you have to do what you have to do to get where you have to be. I'm confident somebody from the Domain is going to make it because Danny and Ace didn't just teach us how to wrestle. They taught us work ethic. They taught us how to handle ourselves inside and outside of the ring, to be professional, how to talk to a promoter, how to say no to a promoter, which is something some guys are afraid to do. If I'm working for a promoter for the first time and he asks me to get color, I'm saying no. I don't care what he does. I say no. If he says he's not going to pay me, that's wrong. I made it to the show, you're paying me. You've got to be able to say no and Danny and Ace taught me so much. Don't be a dickhead, don't bury people. Be sincere. Don't talk shit on the Internet. If you have a problem with somebody, stay away from them. Don't start fights in locker rooms. Mind your own business. Wrestling is a big place. If you're on a show with somebody you don't like, just ignore them. Say hi, shake their hand you don't have to talk to them.
PUNK: It was brilliant. ... Danny doesn't have a computer. He was probably at Ace's. I think he checks stuff out once a month and he saw some stuff and it was like damn it. He gave everybody a free lesson that day. Everybody should pay him 50 bucks or something like that. He just went off. He was like what is this? If you don't like the guy, ignore him.
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