Mystery Eskimo 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2005 Perhaps these should be collected in Home Entertainment? Anyways, I apologise in advance for the use of cliche JR humour. ------------------------------------------------------------- JIM ROSS Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the OAOAST Straight Shootin' Series. I'm Jim Ross, and my guest tonight is a man I've known a long time and also been spending a lot of time with recently - Mr. Dan Black. Dan and I are due to perform at a house show tonight, so here in Dan's hotel room I've taken this opportunity to take over from the Coach in posing some questions. Dan, how are you? DAN BLACK A little drunk, actually...afternoon cocktails, you know?...Er, can we edit that out? JR Sure, I know how to work this gadget like the back of my hand. *JR approaches camera, picture disappears. Numerous clanking sounds are heard before we see JR and DB again* JR I think that's got it. So, Dan, how are you? BLACK A little d- er, delighted to be here, Jimmy R. Keep it short though, I have to meet Tony before the show tonight. JR Here, how about a coffee? *Dan takes it reluctantly* JR Now, you've been with the OAOAST pretty much since its very inception, you've seen a lot of things change, a lot of people come and go. How do you feel about the company in its present state? BLACK It's very interesting. A new year, another new era. There's a lot of great new talent coming through, and while there's perhaps not the same level of anarchy and confusion that we once had (and its a personal opinion whether that's a good thing or not) there are enough talented performers to keep the fans and all of the boys interested and motivated. JR And how about your self, your position? BLACK Couldn't be happier. Working with Tony with the tag division has been a pleasure and an experience, both in the ring and at the booking table. We've had a lot of fun with Black T and through negotiations we've managed to bring quite a number of talented individuals in to join the tag ranks. And of course, while Tony and I work hard, we play pretty damn hard too, as you know, Jim. JR I sure do. A lot of our viewers may think that Black T is a gimmick, but Tony and Dan really do party that hard and have those girls in every city. Yep, Black T is a shoot. All apart from the part of the gimmick where I'm a bumbling idiot, of course. BLACK Yeah....of course.... JR Tell us how Black T came about. BLACK Well, for Anglemania III we had two big matches booked - myself vs. Stephen Joseph, and Tony vs Anglesault. On IntenseZone a week or so before AM3, we did the usual tag match to continue those feuds, myself and Tony against SJ and AS. The chemistry in the match was obvious from the start. So when I found myself on HeldDown without any clear direction, Tony was the obvious man to call. The rest is history. I truly believe we are the best tag team in the world right now. JR With the best manager, bah gawd! Why don't we go back to the start of your career. How did you get into wrestling? BLACK Well, I was always a quiet, studious type, nerdy, some might say, until one day I experimented with gamma rays in my school laboratory. Unfortunately, something went wrong and I was contaminated with radiation. Some how, instead of killing me, the radiation gave me amazing powers, and - JR You didn't freshen up that coffee any, did you? BLACK Er...no, but the "how I got into wrestling story" is always the most boring bit of shoot interviews, I thought I'd try a new angle. *JR takes the cup from Dan and pours him a new one* JR Even so, I think we'll stick to the facts. BLACK Well, if you insist. I pretty much always wanted to be a wrestler. No big story here. I grew up watching the old style British wrestling on Saturday afternoons, featuring guys like Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki. Really awful stuff, but great at the same time. Two guys working each others arms for ten minutes, and then the time expires. No reason for the match at all. Fantastic. Then of course I began to watch your American wrestling. JR Any early inspirations? BLACK The usual, I suppose. Flair. Anderson. Steamboat. Savage. Then later I was inspired by tapes the likes of the Super J cups from Japan. Watching guys like Benoit, Guerrero, Liger and Ultimo Dragon was a huge education. JR Benoit being a particular favourite? BLACK Well, I stole his finisher, so I guess you could say that. JR How about your training? BLACK I started in England at the age of around 17 in the NWA Hammerlock training facilities. My progress was good, if not outstanding, and I started to work a few small shows around the London area. I was combining my wrestling education with a more formal one, studying for a degree in Chemistry. Things didn't really start moving for me until I finished that and decided to dedicate all my time to wrestling, from which point I improved rapidly. I was a mainstay in a few British promotions: LCW, London Championship Wrestling; AEPW, All England Pro-Wrestling. JR But you decided America was your ultimate goal? BLACK Well, you pay a bloody lot more, I can tell you. In England I often had to wrestle for a fish and chip supper and my bus fare home. I started getting a few bookings over here for small indie promotions, but obviously flights, internal travel and accommodation was burning through what I earned pretty quick. If it wasn't for the OAOAST I'd probably never have made it over here. JR You never tried to get into WWE via OVW? BLACK I did, but at that point I was only 200lbs or so and although I was an excellent technical wrestler I had no gimmick and nothing to really attract attention to myself so my try outs were pretty much a failure. But on one visit I heard about the trials for OAOAST, and I thought I'd give the States one more go. JR And I actually remember your first try out match. You were very impressive. The OAOAST was, and always has been, looking for guys who can work before anything else. BLACK Then why did you sign Mario? But anyway, my first trial match was against this big guy from Canada named Josh, as I recall. Wrestling him was like wrestling a refrigerator, except there was no light on inside Josh. Still, I think I got something out of him. JR You must have, because we had you in a couple more matches before offering you a contract. And a gimmick. But before we talk about that, who else do you remember from those trials? BLACK Plenty of blokes. Mr. Malibu, Stephen Joseph, Angle-plex, the Superstar. Alfdogg, CWM, Tony, Caboose, Anglesault RIP. The roster was loaded with talent. And Mario Logan. But despite him, it was obvious we had the ability to make the company work. JR Some of those names you mentioned have been somewhat controversial. How did you find them? BLACK I've never had a single problem with anyone in the company, honestly. There have been very real backstage feuds over the years, but I've been fortunate enough not to have been a part of them. Mostly because they were all bloody stupid. JR Now, I know you never really warmed to the Mystery Eskimo gimmick. It was my idea, and I admit it might not have been the best in the history of the world, but you must admit you were over with it. BLACK Well, think how over I would have been without it? But you're right, it was a fun gimmick, and I was lucky in that I got a push right off the bat. I got a long run with the Television title. JR You had some great matches in that run. And then the biggest of your career at that point, a TV/US Unification barbed wire ladder match against former OAOAST Champ Alfdogg. BLACK It was the first really dangerous match I'd had in the company, and there was a lot riding on it. When I found out I was going over I was a little nervous, especially as Alf was winning the World Title the same night and I didn't want to injure him. But everything worked out fine, and the match was great. JR Having that big win over Alf, did you expect to move up to the main event? BLACK Well, that would have been nice. JR Is that all you have to say? BLACK Absolutely. JR Ok, we'll come back to that. After you dropped the USTV title, you became predominantly a tag team wrestler with JINGUS. BLACK Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Brian's a great guy, he loves his gimmick and does a fantastic job here. JR You guys pretty much ruled the tag team scene just as you and Tony do now. BLACK That's right, although we get more girls now. And I don't have to talk to a fish. JR Yes, newer viewers of OAOAST may not be aware of the Mystery Eskimo's sidekick back in the day, Derek The Fish. An foul mouthed, talking, smoking, alcoholic fish. Whose idea was that? BLACK His, of course. JR Now, you don't have to keep kayfabe up here Dan. Everyone knows Derek wasn't real. *Dan looks at JR, a confused look on his face. The camera pans back to JR, who looks a little scared. Back to Dan, still confused. Back to JR, who's now randomly drooling* JR Um, anyway...we'll skip forward, past the OAOMEF, to your feud with Los Infernales. BLACK Great feud. We all had chemistry, the matches were strong and the fans were into it big time. Mr. Poet and Mr. Dandy are a pleasure to work with, and the TLC/Hell In A Cell match we had at Anglemania II is still one of my favourites of my career. JR Let's fast forward again to the brand split. How did you feel about that? BLACK Well, it was a brave move and I was all for it. Ultimately it didn't work, caused me a lot of headaches and probably the lowest times in my OAOAST career. But it lead to losing the Eskimo gimmick and finally becoming myself, so I can't truly regret it. JR IntenseZone was damaged from its early days with big names leaving and not being replaced. Did you ever consider joining the exodus? BLACK Well, I can give you somewhat of a scoop here, Jim. During my role of evil commissioner of IZ, I wasn't putting in much ring time and I had an itch for some fresh competition, so I contacted the SWF and wrestled for a few months in the now defunct SJL under a mask as the English Dragon, and even won the SJL title. JR That's a scoop? I thought they had to be interesting pieces of news? BLACK Shut up. JR I- I can't... I have to ask questions... What happened next? BLACK Well, eventually I had to concentrate full time on OAOAST. IZ was a home to me, and the remaining guys were determined to fix it, even as HeldDown got stronger and stronger and we got weaker and weaker. I had a fun feud with Y2Jailbait that spanned three months, and we had a great "Relaunch" show after I'd unmasked and turned heel, but there were too many fires to put out, so in the end I was very happy for the show to retire and to come over to HeldDown. JR You've mentioned being pleased to shed the Eskimo gimmick. Were you at all worried about coming out from under the mask? BLACK A little. I'd become used to not having to show facial expressions and working under the mask. I felt a little naked the first few matches without it. But I got to play a much more interesting character. Dan Black became the guy who's worked hard for something that's falling apart, and he was then willing to do whatever it took to save it, to the point of immorality and beyond. He became very dark, obsessive. JR And since then of course, your character has evolved again, to the playboy/Horseman type we see today. Now, I don't need to ask you if you enjoy that, do I? BLACK Hardly. There's a lot of freedom to it. Tony and I can be deadly serious, we can be smart alecs, we can play for laughs. And with the Dan character there's always the possibility he could snap again at any moment. JR Where do you see your character going from here? BLACK Wherever is necessary. JR Most tag teams, even you and JINGUS, eventually split up and feud. When will that happen to Black T? BLACK Never. You may see Black T split up one day, but it won't be in a typical way like that. Although I would like to work a match against Tony one day, we can be smarter than just having one of us become jealous of the other, as usually happens. Besides, there's plenty more for Black T to accomplish. With the new involvement with HI-YAH we've had the chance to wrestle in Japan, and I'd love to go back there and wrestle top Japanese talent. JR Would you consider a face turn? BLACK That would take a pretty big storyline. One thing I greatly dislike in the business is nonsensical turns, so there'd have to be a very good reason for Dan and T.Bod to turn. JR Who would you like to work with that you haven't so far? BLACK Being predominantly in the tag ranks for the last year, I've not had chance to wrestle many of the new generation of stars - Drek Stone, Panther, Leon Rodez, Chris Bryte, Hoff, Crystal, Axel. It would be great to work with them, either in singles one day or if they'd like to line up in a tag team match. If we're talking external to the OAOAST - Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries. Oh, and Hogan. Everyone knocks him, but I'd love to be in the ring with a legend and a heat machine like Hulk. JR What about Sto- BLACK No. JR Stone- BLACK No! *JR leaps to his feet, jumping up and down, arms waving wildly* JR STONE COLD STONE COLD STONE COLD THE RATTLESNAKE RATTLESTONE SNONE SNAKE COLD AUSTIN AUSTIN AUSTIN BAH GAWD! STONE STAKE COLD BAH STONE GAWD SNAKE RATTLE GAWD- *Dan reaches forward and gives JR a stinging slap across the face* JR BAH- Thanks... I needed that. Now, earlier I asked if you thought you'd make the main event in your early days in OAOAST. Apart from Royal Rumbles, it's an interesting fact that you've never main evented a pay per view show in all your years here. Does that worry you, make you angry? BLACK Not at all. Look, if you must try to get something out of me, let it be this - I've never been out for the top spot here. I've always been grateful for the chances I've had and all the great shows and fun times we've accomplished as an organisation. If the company ever needs me higher up the card, that's great. "Dan Black, World Champion" - sounds pretty good to me. But I'm having a blast in the tag division, even baby sitting you, Jim. JR Well, I- BLACK And that'll do, I think. Tony and I are supposed to meet some fans in a bar before the show, for a little pre-match rubdown. JR Can I come? BLACK Well...ok. But bring your barbecue sauce in that bottle I got you, just in case you get over-excited again. *JR pulls out a baby's bottle full of sauce and grins* JR Oh, oh, can we do the word association? BLACK No. JR But Coach did! BLACK Bloody hell...oh, go on then... JR JR! BLACK Big fat dancing legend. JR Jim Ross! BLACK Hoss lovin' pig swillin' Sooner suckin' Oklahoma idiot. JR Jivin' JR, the Farmer of Champions! BLACK Stop it. Stop it now. JR Tony "The Body" BLACK King of Old School, ladies man and champion. JR Drek Stone BLACK Yeah, I hear he's pretty talented. A multi-time World Champ in the making. JR Zack Malibu BLACK He's not bad either, although he's getting a lot better now he's working with Tony and I. Look out for The Original Elite angles coming soon, it's going to be great. JR Tag division BLACK Black T JR Mystery Eskimo BLACK A gift and a curse JR The Sooners~! *Dan gets up, throws the coffee in JR's face and exits.* JR This is Jivin' Jim Ross, slightly scalded, thanking you for being with us for this edition of Straight Shootin'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Patty O'Green 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2005 (edited) I like this one. It was cuuute! Danny B and Jimmy R gots mad chemistry. I hope Eski writes an angle where Dan's about to get married and Jr is gonna be his best man & whatnot, but then Jr concludes that he loves Dan. It'll be like My best friend's wedding in wrestling form. Seriously, I really enjoyed this one. Good choice to use JR instead of Coach. Edited January 8, 2005 by Patty O'Green Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tony149 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2005 JR Tell us how Black T came about. BLACK Well, for Anglemania III we had two big matches booked - myself vs. Stephen Joseph, and Tony vs Anglesault. On IntenseZone a week or so before AM3, we did the usual tag match to continue those feuds, myself and Tony against SJ and AS. The chemistry in the match was obvious from the start. This was the first Shootin' It Up I managed to read entirely, and I really enjoyed it. After reading the quote above, I just realized Dan and I became a team the same way D-X (HBK & HHH) did -- thrown into a tag match against their two biggest rivals at the time. And yeah, we should move these to HE so they can be archived, as well as the Mid-South match and Zack's T.O.E. formation segments. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
