Kanyon on Leaving WWE

[Guest Dazed]

This week, the New Voice of Wrestling went live once again on www.voiceofwrestling.com with featured guest, Chris Kanyon, recently released from the WWE. This was Kanyon’s first interview since being released. Host Chris Chisum was out due to sickness, so Doc Young took his place alongside Brandon Clark for this solid two-hour show. Listen to see how Doc and Brandon hold up since this was the first time either of them had been put in that position.

 

All the regulars made their returns to the show except for Molly Brown, who was out due to a death in her family. Dick Gomez made an appearance to do his usual controversial news report and Tim Welch joined the show live this week to discuss all the latest happenings and developments in TNA. Tim touched on many rumors and speculations you've heard around the internet including the new TV deal, Hogan and Warrior signing with the company, the six-sided ring, keeping the weekly PPV instead of going to monthly, plus much more!

 

Now, here are the highlights from Chris Kanyon’s Interview:

 

- Kanyon’s contract ended last Sunday May 9th, but he received the phone call from Johnny Ace on February 7th giving him his 90-day notice on his contract. As far as the reason he was let go, they blamed it on the writers and the inability for them to come up with something for him. “It seems like they’re the ones not doing their job; maybe they’re the ones that should be fired, not the performer,” Chris remarks, “that doesn’t make much sense to me”.

 

- The actual decision to let him go did not come of much a surprise to Chris. “I kind of expected it around November or December”. After his knee and shoulder injury and working hard to come back from that, the fact that they still didn’t put him on TV gave him the impression he might not be around much longer. “I mean my last two years with the company, I literally had zero wins on TV and I had one Smackdown match in two years”.

 

- He doesn’t know if the higher-ups there in the company were thinking that he was being negative, but he just went there and did his job every week. “You hear a lot about that with people, but that’s not the feedback I was getting,” he explains, “they kind of strung me along and said sooner or later we’ll come up with something, but they never did”.

 

- Now that he’s out of the WWE, he’s been doing “normal people stuff”, as he puts it. He has a house in Florida and has been spending a lot of time down on the beach, plus getting caught up with bills and taxes. He’s basically just trying to figure out what he wants to do next. He’s not sure if he wants to try to work full time on the Indies or not.

 

- The return of the Dead Man gimmick with the Undertaker came up as Brandon thought Mortis vs. The Undertaker would be a cool series. “Yeah, I always wondered if maybe the reason they didn’t want to bring Mortis back was because maybe it was stepping on Undertaker’s shoes,” Chris responds, “and I would have been cool if that’s what they told me, but my biggest problem with the WWE is you never knew where you stood with them”.

 

- Politics were brought up within the WWE and how Vince seems to intentionally make Raw the superior brand of the two and Chris agreed. Chris says that the general feeling from the guys in the back on the Smackdown side was that because Raw was Vince’s baby, he cared more about that show. On the road when Smackdown talent heard they had actually done better in ticket sales than Raw did, Vince and company would actually switch the venues. They’d give Raw the building they had and vice versa. “Just little things like that made us start thinking that Raw was always going to get treated a little better than Smackdown”.

 

- Brandon looked back at what Ernest Miller had said on the Voice of Wrestling the week prior about the WWE being filled with a bunch of “ass kissers” behind the scenes and asked for Kanyon’s thoughts on the realism of that theory. “It’s strange. It seems like Vince does at times surround himself by ‘yes men’, but at times, I think it’s people that confront them and go against the grain that get the better shots, especially if you’re one of the ‘boys’”.

 

- At this point, Chris’s situation with TNA and the Jarrett’s is really up in the air. There have been talks with TNA and interest on both sides, but right now, both sides want more of a commitment. “I don’t want to commit to them if I can’t give 110 percent,” he proclaims, “I don’t want to just do it for the money; I don’t want to do it just as a hobby. If I’m gonna do it, I wanna do it 110 percent, or I just want to walk away”.

 

Kanyon went on to talk more about WCW, the “stooges” on the WWE booking committee, his involvement with the movie Ready to Rumble, his horrible feud with Buff Bagwell in WCW, the difference between the politics in WWE and WCW, why he has doubts about TNA’s new TV Deal, plus much more! This was definitely a great continuance to the recent first interviews VoW has received with those just released from the WWE and Kanyon gives you one more personal viewpoint on life before, during, and after the current monopoly of wrestling: World Wrestling Entertainment.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I'm still mad they let him go, while Brian Lawler got rehired, there's talk of Jeff Hardy being rehired, Konnan possibly being brought in, green guys like Tomko & Fertig getting chances, Kenzo Suzuki being hired, etc.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I'm still mad they let him go, while Brian Lawler got rehired, there's talk of Jeff Hardy being rehired, Konnan possibly being brought in, green guys like Tomko & Fertig getting chances, Kenzo Suzuki being hired, etc.

BC was on probation and fired in a span of three weeks,s o it's not like WWE went "Lets bring him back for good".

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

If he didn't screw up, he would have stayed.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

He's got a very good point. If the best the writers can do is base their scripts off of how certain performers look than they should be replaced. It seems like they're using the approach of "This guy looks evil with his height, tattoos, and weird facial hair. Lets make him a mean, quiet bodyguard" then they look at Kanyon who spent all of his time training and focusing on in-ring work and say "he looks bland, fire him". Its just absurd.

 

They could have brought back the Mortis gimmik and made it a threat to the new age old school Taker. That's just for starters too. The Mortis gimmik could have joined Kane to make a new Tag Team. They would have needed James Mitchell or something to carry the mic work, but there are numerous things they could have done with Kanyon.

[Steviekick 0]

Out of all the people who have been let go and asked about the lack of writer idea's, Kanyon answered the best. I don't think the writers are under contract, so you'd think they'd be more willing to shake up the writing team.

[Fökai 0]

<<I'm still mad they let him go, while Brian Lawler got rehired, there's talk of Jeff Hardy being rehired, Konnan possibly being brought in, green guys like Tomko & Fertig getting chances, Kenzo Suzuki being hired, etc.>>

 

o Jeff Hardy will move merchandise.

 

o Konnan will appeal to a demographic if he's placed on Smackdown.

 

o Suzuki has already been depushed.

 

o Brian Lawler was fired.

 

o Tomko and Fertig aren't being given prominent roles until they improve in-ring. Tomko is simply playing the role of the "large bodyguard", which will hide his weaknesses until he's ultimately ready.

 

If Kanyon stayed healthy, while staying AWAY from Diamond Dallas Page, he would've been given a prominent role after the Invasion ended (just look at the "Alliance MVP" angle).

[Lil' Bitch 0]

They had something going with Mortis and they changed their mind. Fuckers. I miss you, Kanyon. Thanks for being nice to us back in Phoenix and El Paso last year.

[Guest Redhawk]

They could have brought back the Mortis gimmik and made it a threat to the new age old school Taker.

WWE letting a "WCW Guy" be a threat to Taker? Excuse me while I laugh my ass off. They don't even let their OWN guys threaten Taker. No way someone like Kanyon gets a finisher in, let alone a win.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a solid idea, it would just never ever....evereverevereverever...happen.

[Scroby 0]

I agree with Redhawk fully, no one from WCW was ever a threat to Taker when anyone from WCW went up against him, not even Ric Flair was to much of a threat to Taker. Mortis would have became Taker's bitch within two weeks of the feud.

[iggymcfly 0]

You can't just start out a guy like Kanyon feuding with Taker out of nowhere. You've got to get a character that works in the midcard, and build it up there before trying to push it to the sky. Otherwise, stuff like the Brock/Holly feud and the Eddie/Bradshaw feud happens. Bradshaw's actually got a pretty decent heel character, but they're starting it out too high on the card, and that's why it's not going to work.

[Guest Redhawk]

Once you start at the top, there's no where to go but down, especially if that initial main event feud doesn't do well. Even for heels, there needs to be some element of the chase.

[The Tino Standard 0]

Tim touched on many rumors and speculations you've heard around the internet including the new TV deal, Hogan and Warrior signing with the company, the six-sided ring, keeping the weekly PPV instead of going to monthly, plus much more!

I apologize for going off-topic here, but a six-sided ring? WTF?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

WWE letting a "WCW Guy" be a threat to Taker? Excuse me while I laugh my ass off. They don't even let their OWN guys threaten Taker. No way someone like Kanyon gets a finisher in, let alone a win.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a solid idea, it would just never ever....evereverevereverever...happen.

I understand it wouldn't happen, I was just giving that solid idea that there could have been numerous things they could have done with Kanyon's Mortis character. Quite frankly Mortis seems like a better choice of an opponent than VooDoo Booker T

 

You can't just start out a guy like Kanyon feuding with Taker out of nowhere. You've got to get a character that works in the midcard, and build it up there before trying to push it to the sky.

Well actually it wouldn't be out of nowhere. The Mortis character still stands out in the minds of most wrestling fans. I'm sure it would still be recognised and well recieved. Not to mention Kanyon was with Stalker DDP when the Bros of Destruction burried them. Its not completely out of nowhere, but to have a succesful Taker feud you need somebody just as cartoonish as he is (see IRS, Kamala, Fake Taker, Mankind, Kane etc(Note they didn't put out the greatest of matches but your run of the mill fans ate it up. At least Mortis can wrestle).

[Guest Markingout]

Tim touched on many rumors and speculations you've heard around the internet including the new TV deal, Hogan and Warrior signing with the company, the six-sided ring, keeping the weekly PPV instead of going to monthly, plus much more!

I apologize for going off-topic here, but a six-sided ring? WTF?

A ring with six sides. It is used by AAA and Toryumon, and now NWA-TNA for there Impact show on FSN.