Interview Recap - Magnum TA

Posted in Interview Recaps by Jack at 05:38, Nov 14 2005

By Ryan Outlaw Jamez

Magnum TA was the guest on In Your Head Wrestling Radio this Wednesday. Which can be heard every Wednesday LIVE at 6 PM Eastern on www.inyourheadonline.com with your hosts Jack, Barbie Richards and the O.I.B.

The hosts welcome Magnum TA onto the show, and plug the Tribute to Starrcade show presented by Carolina Championship Wrestling, for more information, log on to http://www.carolinachampionshipwrestling.com. They start off by talking about Magnum being at ringside in Dusty Rhode's corner for the Main Event against Tully Blanchard at the show. They also talk about the last time he was at ringside during a match.

He talks about the history in Spartanburg, how the fans are enthusiastic and really excited about the wrestlers. They talk about the crowd and how it helps fuel the performance of the match, or take away from it, if they don't seem to be into it. They talk about Crockett promotions, and how the fans are really into the matches.

Magnum talks about personalizing the interviews for the audiences, so it makes the audience feel like its in the middle of the soap opera. They talk about scripting promos, Magnum TA talks about interviews being an art form, and how he can't imagine having interviews scripted. He talks about wrestlers taking their promos and interviews as seriously as the wrestling in the ring. Magnum talks about green talent being shoved into the wrestling scene too fast and not being able to promo. He talks about the wrestling character being a magnified version of yourself, you can't just be something your not comfortable being. They talk about wrestlers turning on and turning off their characters, they talk about Jimmy Valiant being a laid-back guy and when the camera turns on, he goes into hyper over-drive.

They talk about the best heels Magnum worked with, he talks about Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Tully Blanchard, Nikita Koloff, he talks about Tully Blanchard being the hardest working guy, and puts over his work ethic. He talks about watching Rick Rude work, and compares him to Tully Blanchard. They also talk about Ric Flair, and how after feuding with Tully, Magnum had to slow the pace to work with him because Flair was used to working a more methodical pace. They talk about nowadays there's no true heel/face, but shades of gray, and how audiences cheer for the heels too.

They talk about the WWE pushing the envelope as far as giving people what they want and the morality of things.

Magnum talks about making fun of Japanese and Mexican styles back in his day, and how they do all these acrobatics and never get hurt. He talks about how now, with all the acrobatics and high spots, there's a lot more injuries.

He talks about the competition between NWA and WWF. He talks about working with Ric Flair for 60 minutes, and then talks about how Hulk Hogan made a 5 minute entrance, 5 minutes goofing around the ring, and a 3 or 4 minute match. They talk about having long feuds on TV.

Magnum says he thinks it would be easy to do long, drawn-out feuds between wrestlers, especially with being on TV. They talk about Magnum wrestling Nikita, and how Nikita was dedicated to kayfabe. He also talks about how it was the first time he had been the veteran in the match.

They talk about how when he started he was in a lot of tag team matches, in 30-45 minute matches. They talk about Buddy Landell and how he could have been big, he had a lot of natural talent.

They talk about Magnum running into Tom Selleck.

They talk about how at first, wrestling for an hour on TV was all you got, and now it's really over saturated and how it is taking away from the enthusiasm of wrestling. Magnum talks about how at first, TV was basically a commercial to get you to come out to the arena to see the really big matches, and now TV pays for wrestling, and is the main vehicle.

Magnum talks about wanting to work with Eddie Guererro, Chris Benoit, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels if he could.

Magnum talks about TNA and how he doesn't understand it. He talks about it being a glorified high-spot show of acrobatics. And he doesn't think they're showing a marketable different product to go head-to-head. He talks about Paul Heyman and ECW. And how he made the company different from the rest and didn?t try to compete in areas no one can compete with WWE.

Magnum talks about working back-stage with WCW and working in the production. He talks about CCW now being successful from nostalgia. He talks about wrestling fans having the longest memory, and he's had people come up and talk to him about things in matches he doesn't even remember. They talk about the Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA matches being put out on DVD, and Magnum said he had mixed emotions about it, he's happy the match withstood the test of time, but at the same time he never sees a dime for it.

They talk about the best ability a wrestler can have, Magnum says it's charisma, you either have it, or you don't. You can't teach it, you can't learn it, there's no substitute for it.

Magnum thanks the fans and says it was an honor and a pleasure to do what he he did, and get paid to do it to boot. He wants to thank the fans for continuing their sport. They plug the Tribute to Starrcade show once again (http://www.carolinachampionshipwrestling.com), and thank Magnum for being on the show.


Please visit www.inyourheadonline.com to hear this interview in FREE audio. And listen to our full archive section of other TNA Stars, and Legends of Wrestling. And join us LIVE Wednesday 6:00 PM Eastern for Puppet The Pyscho Dwarf !!
-----This recap brought to you by "The Outlaw" Ryan Jaymez-------