Johnny Swinger Interview

[Styles 0]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOHNNY SWINGER

 

Like many other professional athletes, Johnny Swinger is in wrestling for the "love of he game". Not one to cause waves in the locker room or play the political games that often come with the turf, Swinger has ben living his dream in wrestling since 1993, and we're happy to say is also about to become a full-time dad!

 

In this interview with Johnny Swinger, NWATNA.com's own Tim Welch talks to the superstar about breaking into the sport, Paul Heyman and ECW, meeting Simon Diamond for the for time and becoming an established tag team, as well as what he thought when TNA first called him to come in.

 

TW: Tell us a little about how you got started in professional wrestling

 

JS: Probably a lot like other guys in the business, I grew up as a fan. I just loved the wrestling business, and as soon as I got older I sought out the proper routes to get trained and for the past ten years I’ve been living my dream. I’m still doing it, and I feel lucky to be doing so.

 

TW: What were you like before you got into wrestling? When you were younger, what did you want to be?

 

JS: Now I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, but my whole life was the wrestling business. I was a very weird kid growing up. I played sports, but I never really excelled at them. My only interest was really wrestling. My mother used to bang on my door during the summer when it was a nice day and tell me to go outside and play, but I was always watching wrestling. So that’s all I ever did. I played with wrestling toys and had wrestling merchandise on my wall and everything. That was my whole life. But to me, it’s no different than kids today hooked on the internet who sit in front of the computer all day long. So, I was pretty much the same way with wrestling.

 

TW: How did you mother react when you told her you wanted to be a wrestler?

 

JS: I think she knew I was going to do it, but with the rest of the family and friends they thought it was a phase and it would pass. When I finally started to get into it, they thought I wouldn’t last because I was much smaller back then. There weren’t “cruiserweights” per se when I started back in 1993, so they thought I would get knocked around for a few months then go back to college. But I started to get some local notoriety from it and everyone started to jump on the bandwagon.

 

TW: Have you always been “Johnny Swinger”?

 

JS: Actually, I started off as “Johnny Paradise”. I was driving down the street one day and I had to come up with a name for myself and I saw a tanning studio in my hometown called “Paradise Tanning” and I said well “Paradise” is a cool name, and my real name is “Joe”, but Joe Paradise isn’t very Hollywood sounding. So I decided to change it to “Johnny Paradise”. I was “Johnny Paradise” for about two years and I found out there was another guy in the Ohio independents using the same name, and since he had been around longer than me and was already known for it, I figured I should take the initiative and change it to Johnny Swinger.

 

TW: You obviously got into bodybuilding and training for your wrestling career. Tell us a little about how that began after you broke in.

 

JS: Like I said, when I first started I was a small guy. There weren’t too many guys that were 200 pounds and I was right at that level. So I was always trying to gain weight and hang with the “big boys”, and I’m still trying to do that today. It’s a part of the business, because your appearance is a third of your character and you have to look the part and you have to be physically imposing. That’s half the battle right there. You learn the moves and holds, but you also have to learn to develop your body to give it that superstar appearance.

 

TW: Tell about some of the things you like to do outside of the ring. All of us have private lives outside of the ring. Tell us about yours.

 

JS: Well, I’m actually a family fan. I have a wife I’ve been married to for three years, and we’re expecting our first child in two months. So that’s really consumed most of my life for the past six months in planning for that. Even before that, my wife and I are very close and we do everything together, so when I’m home from wrestling I devote all my time to her. I don’t really have any hobbies outside of my job, but I’m happy. I like my life.

 

TW: Tell us about the first time you met your tag team partner Simon Diamond

 

JS: I met him probably my second month working for ECW. I was kind of floating around and they didn’t really have too much for me to do on television. Paul Heyman was very high on Simon Diamond, but he really didn’t know exactly what to do with him at the time. Paul came to us one night and asked us what we thought about teaming up. Since we worked the same style, we figured maybe it would be a good thing. We had a match in Atlanta, Georgia and Paul Heyman was pleased with it. We started to cut promos, and he was very impressed and thought we had a good look together. We just went with it, and we did a lot of good things in ECW.

 

TW: You and Simon obviously had a lot of chemistry together, but did it take a while for you to find that “niche” in the tag team division?

 

JS: Yes, because before that I never had any experience being a tag team wrestler. It was actually very scary for me because I felt like “Oh man, now I have to try and think for four people instead of just one other guy.” But it was a good experience and it was a “learn as you go” situation. But Simon had some tag team experience and we worked with some good guys in ECW. After a year there I felt I was comfortable being in a tag team. After ECW folded, I was sad about it because we had some good times and good matches. Me and Simon had become good friends, and after the company ended we were not only going to be separated as friends but as a tag team. We didn’t know what the deal was with WCW – he had heard offers from them. There was interest in me from WWF, so it was a rough time there for both of us. But when we got the offer from TNA, I really didn’t expect it to happen. I was ready to move on and be a singles wrestler, but I was glad we were both able to come here and establish ourselves again as a tag team. Being that he’s one of my best friends in the business, it also makes it a joy to come to work every week.

 

TW: So you did eventually get the call from TNA – what was your reaction? You mentioned you were thinking about moving on. Was there a lot of thinking to do on your part about the offer?

 

JS: I was excited, like I said – the offer was for me and Simon to come in and work a long-term deal as a tag team. And I knew we could have some great matches with the tag teams in TNA, so I was excited about that. Just coming in and working with America’s Most Wanted, it actually showed what we could do. I knew we would have some great matches with them, and we did.

 

TW: Simon Diamond once had a catch-phrase, “Simon’s got a problem”. Does Johnny Swinger have a problem with anyone or anything?

 

JS: No, not really. A lot of people say I don’t smile enough, but a lot of my happiness is on the inside.

 

TW: That’s good! Johnny Swinger, thanks for joining us!

 

JS: No problem – thanks to everyone for reading this!