Mike Sanders Interview Recap: His TNA Future, WWE Release, more
Submitted by Matthew Tremley on Sunday, July 27, 2003 at 11:55 AM EST


• Daniel Edler sent in the following:
  
  Show: The Interactive Interview (theinteractiveinterview.com)
  Guest: ‘Above Average’ Mike Sanders
  Date: 27th July 2003
  Your Hosts: Daniel Edler & James Walsh
  Recap by: James Walsh
  
  The Interactive Interview is back with another one on one interview with a current wrestling superstar. This time around, it's "Above Average" Mike Sanders. Mike talks candidly about his stay in WCW, WWE, and TNA. He also has an interesting reply to Jeff Jarrett's word association late in the interview. Can you say hesitant?
  
  Mike Sanders
  
  -- He indeed was a wrestling fan growing up. He grew up on Georgia Championship Wrestling.
  
  -- His favorites were Mr. Wrestling 2, Ric Flair, Tony Atlas, and others from back then. Later he got into guys like Benoit, Malenko, and others. However, he stopped watching for a while.
  
  -- Before he was in wrestling, he was in the military for 4 years. He also worked for a towing company in Georgia. He attended college in the military. He did European campus schools. It was all computer-based stuff. He says he's a geek.
  
  -- He got into wrestling because he wanted to be in entertainment. He liked the aspect of the business. His father wanted him to do comedy, though. He said he saw wrestling as an avenue to be an entertainer but when you start doing wrestling, it gets in your blood.
  
  -- Mike talks about going to the WCW power plant. He said the first three days was the hardest thing he had ever done. He said having Sgt Lee Parker "in your ass for three days was just brutal." He said once you make it, you get a little better treatment. He said that didn't mean you got a contract. He says it was cool when Pez Watley and others were in charge but when Paul Orndorff came in, they reorganized the place and it became a nightmare again. He said it became 7 or 8 hours a day getting "your ass run in the ground."
  
  -- While there, he was fired. Paul Orndorff told him that Russo and Bischoff didn't see anything in him. He found out later that it was a lie because Russo had not ever even heard of him at the time. He said Russo is one of the guys that got him his job back.
  
  -- He says Orndorff likes the big guys and the UFC shoot fighter guys. He said he was an entertainer, not one of those types of guys and that Orndorff just did not like him at all.
  
  -- His initial show was against Norman Smiley and he had never cut a promo before but he did the first time out of the bag. The next week he had several spots backstage when Daffney bashed him with a chair, Jarrett hit him with a guitar, and Kanyon gave him the Diamond cutter. He says that was great because he got some camera time.
  
  -- He says he probably wasn't ready when he was brought up. He said nobody would've refused being put on TV if they were in the same spot. He says it's funny because now he sits down and watches shows and says some guys just aren't ready and then he thinks if he was at the time or not.
  
  -- His thoughts on the Natural Born Thrillers: "You had a lot of guys put at the plate. I'm not saying we hit home runs but at least we were out there."
  
  -- He feels he was being pushed down everyone's throat sometimes. He talks about being on 8 of 11 segments on some shows.
  
  -- His favorite moment from being a commissioner was going toe to toe with Ric Flair on the mic.
  
  -- He says working with Earnest "The Cat" Miller was a touch rough because he had a martial arts background. He says he had a knot in his throat for six months from the chops he did. He says he loves Earnest Miller and feels Earnest was taught a lot about being who you are and working on his mic skills.
  
  -- He said it was cool to hold the cruiserweight title and he didn't mind being considered a cruiserweight. He said at the time they weren't emphasizing the cruiserweight belt as much. He says he isn't a highflying cruiserweight like Rey Mysterio or Juventud Guerrera is. He says he can high fly but at the same rate, he's 6'1, 235 pounds. He says that the structure just wasn't there at the time for cruiserweights.
  
  -- Kevin Nash as the "Coach" was fun. He says he stole the line "S. O. L" line from Kevin. He said Kevin always wanted to go out and have fun. He says when they turned on him, the punch Palumbo gave him was so good that he always remembers it.
  
  -- He always made the best of his job with WCW even when everyone was getting worried about being bought out. He said he worked hard and had fun. He said it didn't bother him if he'd have a spot in WWE or not. He said he had a 9 to 5 job in the past and it didn't worry him if WCW got bought or not.
  
  -- They took the WCW guys to the skybox at WrestleMania. He said that out of the guys that were in that box, the only ones that got sent to HWA was himself, Jindrak, and O'Haire. He says that shows what kind of heat they had.
  
  -- The HWA was WWE developmental at the time. He said it was basically him with the Natural Born Thrillers and that was fun. But, he hated the ending of that when they started firing people because it was so sad.
  
  -- The WWE contract was a learning experience. He said he learned a lot from Jim Cornette.
  
  -- He was released because they had nothing for him. He said he heard rumors about it having something to do with politics and Paul Heyman but he said all in all, WWE just didn't have a spot for him.
  
  -- When his WWE contract expired, he drove down to TNA and sat down with Jeff Jarrett. Jeff told him that they wanted him when his 90-day no complete clause was up. At that time, he went to do the WWA shows in Europe. In Europe, he talked to Jeff again about going there. Amazing Red and others are the X division and they're great. He says he's not that style, but he was doing the commissionership role for WWA for that tour.
  
  -- Wrestling Joe Legend was amazing. He said he was just that good. He said Joe has a lot of knowledge. Everyone told him to be a heel because he naturally "pisses people off." But, he worked face with Legend and felt really good about it.
  
  -- He started working with TNA in January after a few weeks off and doing a few MLW shows.
  
  -- He likes the Hard Ten concept. He said it's an honor to win the first ever Hard Ten match. He says it took people a while to understand the concept.
  
  -- He hopes TNA does take off. He says they have a lot of talent working very hard with not many egos. He says it's hard for people working hard to fail. He says it's like 100 troops wanting to go to war and kick ass.
  
  -- He doesn't know if there’s a future for him there. He hasn't spoken to them in three weeks. He doesn't know if they're going anywhere with Mike Sanders.
  
  -- Despite their on screen heat with Mike Tenay, they get along great. He says he always treats him great. He gives him a "top ten ranking."
  
  -- He worked with Yang against Dr. Death and Freeman in MLW. He hasn't been back since that one show but he wishes them well.
  
  -- He loves his fans and hopes he sticks around a while.
  
  PLUS, word associations about Vince Russo, Raven, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, and many more!
  
  AND, an aftershow wrap-up with Daniel & James!
  
  
• To Download The Show In Streaming Media: Click Here
  
• To Download The Show To Your Desktop: Click Here
  
  Click Here To Go To The Official Website Of The Interactive Interview [>>]
  

  
  

  
  
  

  *NEW GALLERY* Simply AMAZING Gallery Dedicated to Amy "Lita" Dumas HOT POSES!

• Quick Links -
  [Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]