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RF Video Shoot Interview with Nova Volume 2, Disc Two

Disc Two runs at two hours and fifteen minutes long

You can read the recap of disc one by clicking on the link below

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/10/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-nova.html




Nova talks about working with Steve Austin was the highlight of his career. He says when he got stunned by Austin after trying to sell him his Simon System he got a standing ovation when he got backstage and Pat Patterson said that should have been on WrestleMania as a quick segment as Nova threw in how it went better than when Carlito interrupted Austin on "Piper's Pit" at WrestleMania 21.



He liked working with Paul London & Brian Kendrick then talks about how they are really bizarre. He said that Spanky is more angry while London is crazier. He tells a story about Kendrick beating him with a DDT in a match that looked incredible and they both went backstage and saw Chris Benoit and asked him about the match. Benoit said that he thought the DDT was too much then Kendrick replied back "and what, ten German suplexes aren't too much?" Benoit briefly thought about what Kendrick said and told him that he was right then told him their match was good. Nova then tells a story about how he would put together the matches that London & Kendrick had against the Gymini and how the agents would come up to him and say how Vince did not want London & Kendrick to get in any offense. Nova said that he never told them and would put together a match that was solid. He then said that they were all low enough on the card that no one cared enough to get upset anyway. Nova then tells a story about London and how one day, he was backstage with a plastic trident and a fishing net and wanted to bring it to the ring as part of a new gimmick. Stephanie came around the corner as London asked her about bringing this to the ring and began to jab Steph with the trident and she said the gimmick was a bit much.



Feinstein asks him about a few other guys. He loves Rey Mysterio and says that his son, along with Benoit's son David, used to harass him on TV by throwing shit at him and steal the Dean Machine. He also loves Batista and say that a lot of people have heat with him because they are jealous of him. Nova also added that his fight against Booker T was the result of everyone else backstage trying to rile him up. He said that if everyone else in the company was 8 years old and heard his entrance music, they would instantly go nuts. Nova said that Batista treated a lot of the "green guys" very well. He said that Tazz is a "weird dude" and obsessed about not losing in his matches and took him too seriously. He also wished that Tazz helped out his cousin, Chris Chetti. He also said that he was considered to be the announcer for Smackdown when Tazz was going to do the ECW brand shows but that HHH wanted him as the Head of Developmental. He said that Heidenreich was a "fucking lunatic" as he was his handler in OVW.



Nova tells a story about a tour in Japan. He said that night the "Goon Posse" was sitting in the bar calling down people to fuck with them. He said that he did not want to stay around the hotel and went up to Animal to take him and a few other young guys to Ribera Steakhouse because if they left with him they would not get fucked with. He then tells about how Justin Roberts was being harassed as he was unable to throw the T-shirts into the crowd well enough. Nova then said that he saw JBL and Benoit in the hallway as they were on the hunt for Roberts as they got a hold of his hotel room number and Nova said that Benoit was knocking on the door so violently that he prayed for Roberts to not open it up then talks about the ridiculousness of the bullying and partying that happened. He also mentions how someone once stole Roberts' passport while they were in England so he was unable to get home.



He then talks about Mohammed Hassan and how he got harassed far more than everyone else. He said he liked Hassan as a person but that he was a lousy wrestler and wanted to be a star but not work hard and do what it takes. Nova tells a story of how an agent told Hassan not to sell for Sgt. Slaughter as directed from Vince and that Hassan went up to Slaughter and flat out told him he was not going to bump for him instead of coming up with a different way to say the same thing. Word got around about that then in a battle royal at a show in Hawaii, the other wrestlers legitimately beat the shit out of him. He also talks about how in Japan they ran up a $4,000 tab on Hassan's card and mentioned how there were top company executives who were part of that and how they did nothing to stop them. Nova finishes by adding how at one point, Hassan was scheduled to beat Batista for the Title on the 4th of July.



Nova then talks about how being around all of the bullying and treating the young guys like shit got him depressed then tells the guys up their today don't know how lucky they have it as its not the way it was back then.



He is asked about Chris Benoit. Nova says that in the ring, Benoit was one of the best but outside of it he was one of the most vile people to come out of the wrestling industry. He says that he does not remember how other killers were viewed before they committed murder but they are remembered as killers and how can he talk about how he was a great wrestler then finish by saying how he killed his wife and child. He said that when Benoit drank he became really angry then would not remember the next day. The day he found out what happened he was in Florida moving stuff to the FCW Developmental Territory. He then watched the RAW afterwards at Christian's house, who was working for TNA, and remembers how Regal came on and said that he was not going to speak about what happened and just talk about how he was a professional in the ring. Christian then told Nova that he thinks they just eulogized a murderer on TV then Nova flew down to OVW to tell the guys they were on lockdown about the situation then the next day flew up to Stamford and saw everything Chris Benoit related gone from the office. He said that when all of the bad press happened he became embarrassed to be a pro wrestler and said he thought they were viewed as a step below a circus clown and a step above a porn star.



Nova stopped is in-ring career in 2006. Vince told him if we wanted to head up the Developmental System because he was smart, had been there before, and had a college degree. Nova then says that a lot of people he thought were his friends in the business turned on him as they thought this job was glorious when he worked 80 hours a week, took a $75,000 pay cut, and caused conflict in his marriage. He said he could not believe the venom that came in his direction. He then tells those who question why he got the job that he worked hard, is smart, and has a degree as to how he got that position.



Initially, Nova was going to get a six-month training before taking it over but that lasted six weeks as one day Laurinaitis called him up and told him that he wanted Nova to take it over now or else they were going to shut it down altogether as Vince saw both shows (OVW and Deep South) and saw the guys running the show (Danny Davis and Jody Hamilton) all over the TV and was pissed. Nova said that Dreamer was in charge and hated it as he spent his time throwing pencils in the ceiling, sticking thumbacks into his head and shitting in different people's offices.



He says that he detests Bruce Prichard and was told by others that he was basically the McMahon's "pet dog" and laughed at all of Vince's jokes. Nova said that he heard he got fired from the WWE after pulling a gun on a writer's assistant then said that the way he talked to talent was "low class." He recalls one time he was filming a skit with the Boogeyman and Prichard was the director and kept on making them do numerous takes. Stephanie then came around and asked what was taking so long and asked to see the first take as she apparently said his stuff was always good and when she saw the first take, she thought it was perfect then Prichard said he thought it was too but just wanted some extra stuff.



Nova said that he was promised certain things as Head of Developmental like being able to take Indy bookings but at the end was told he could not do them. He said that Dreamer was making a lot of money taking bookings while holding the same position.



On Michael Hayes, he said that he absolutely frowned upon him. He said that Hayes would tell him his punches and kicks looked weak then was told by others that he would constantly trash him in the writer's meetings. He then says "fuck you" to Hayes and calls him a "racist" and a "scumbag." He then said that Hayes did introduce him to Jimmy Garvin and Buddy Roberts as he was a huge Freebird fan then wonders why he would treat him like shit as he was a fan of the business. Nova then questions why is Hayes still there as a lot of the top guys and writers hated Hayes and felt that he was an embarrassment.



He loves Howard Finkel and says that he would be in his office at night in Titan Towers on the weekends with a bunch of food and sitting in his underwear watching the Mets games.



When asked about the problems in OVW and Deep South, Nova said that he had a lot of respect for Jody Hamilton but it was run like an old carny show and they never got to run shows on the road. He said that in OVW, Al Snow would give him shit when he would ask for reports, tape, or photos  of guys. Nova said that he did not believe that Snow accepted the fact that he was his boss. HHH apparently questioned why OVW was being run the way it was and was the reason it changed then he talked about how he was in Laurinaitis' office when he told him that he would have fired Snow if he had someone else to replace him with. Nova said that these developmental territories were essentially "foster houses" and not territories to make money.


Nova said that in Deep South, he found out that they were booking phantom house shows as they would have shows scheduled and when he called the talent to see how they went he learned that the shows were cancelled weeks ago.



He then talks about booking guest trainers and put in the idea to have developmental wrestlers read books and write papers for homework as he talks about how not everyone who gets into wrestling is a fan. He said that Dr. Death came in as a guest trainer so Nova bought all of the developmental guys in OVW his autobiography out of his own pocket and gave them a quiz and just 6 or 7 out of the 39 down there passed the quiz (Katie Lea, Paul Burchill, Aaron Stevens, Cassidy O'Reilly) and Dr. Death was devastated. Nova said that he called the guys who did awful on the quiz and cut promos on them over the phone. He said at this time, Deep South closed and they were getting ready to move to Florida as everyone was in OVW for the time and it was horrible. He said that Danny Davis would call him up after their promo day and tell him that he wanted to fire everyone as no one would want to go up and speak. Nova talks about how he was given these tasks he would want to do the best he can and would take it seriously. He said that was the beginning of the end for him as Head of Developmental as he became hands off and knew he wanted out of the position as no one gave a shit, including Davis & Snow.



When asked about CM Punk, he said that he worked out with him at the Ted Petty Invitational and liked him. Nova said that he has no idea how he was able to completely defeat the machine and overcome all of the roadblocks. He said that in writer's meetings, everyone would bury Punk, including top guys, about how he could not work and was the shits. He said that his life was charmed in the wrestling business but very fucked up outside of it and never knew he had it that tough until he saw his documentary.



Nova loves HHH and calls him the man. He said that he played the game better than anyone else then goes into how people who call HHH selfish are ridiculous as he made Randy Orton, Batista, and was the one who tapped out clean in the ring at WrestleMania XX. He thinks that business will be in great hands with him.



He goes back into what happened with the Deep South territory. Nova said that he was in Connecticut and got the call from Laurinaitis that they were shutting it down. The company had enough of the bullshit as Bill DeMott was fired but kept coming in anyway and Jody Hamilton never told the office. He said that they all knew what was going on and he told two of the developmental wrestlers that it was shutting down but does not want to give out their names as they are still on the main roster. So, the plan was for Nova to drive down in a box truck Sunday night and load it all up then talked about there was not a single human being in Deep South who was sad to see it close. He even said that they talked about having him break in the night before to check to see if Hamilton's guns were in his office and to check if they were loaded as they had some fear that he might try to use them if he was getting shut down. That Tuesday he was with Laurinaitis and Ty Bailey at dinner as Laurinaitis said "fuck them" and decided to shut them down right there.



He tells the story of the day that Deep South got shut down. Laurinaitis told Hamilton that he was shutting them down and Hamilton told him his lawyers were going to talk to him as Laurinaitis said "fuck your lawyers" and that they had better ones. He then told Hamilton to stay in his office as he told the talent why this was getting shut down  and said he was tired of the bullshit as they gave him enough chances and he failed. Hamilton, who owned Deep South, said that you better get all of your shit out of here as Laurinaitis told Nova to get the truck and he went. Laurinaitis told Hamilton that they were going to Florida with Steve Keirn as the head trainer. Nova said that the talent, naming Sonny Siaki and George Murdoch (Brodus Clay) were grinning from ear to ear as they loaded up the truck and go to Florida.



Nova talks about Bill DeMott and said his training was awful as was his schoolyard bullying tactics then said that what Kevin Matthews had said about him was true. Nova heard that DeMott is up to his same bullshit again from what he heard and cannot figure out why they hired him back. He said that DeMott keeps on burying him for getting fired when he never fired it and Laurinaitis did then said he actually felt bad for DeMott as he broke his neck in wrestling and developed a pill problem but follows that up by saying he wanted to be the man and walk around with his chest puffed out.



After DeMott got fired, Nova said he was told to come up with a list of trainers to replace him and had guys like Brad Rheingans, Jerry Lynn, Brad Armstrong, and Tom Prichard. He got Prichard his job back as he put him 10th on the list and when asked why, he said that Prichard was just fired and did not think they would hire him back then they asked why woudl they not hire him back as Nova was like "you just fired him" then called Prichard up, who wasn't sure about coming back as he said there was a lot of bad blood there and worked it out and had Prichard meet Laurinaitis and they worked it out. Nova also said that he got Billy Kidman a job as a trainer as he was doing nothing at the time.



He briefly goes into DeMott's training style and said that he would stiff people and bully them all the time and said that Kevin Matthews is not liked by a lot of people but again reiterates what he said about DeMott was true.



Nova talks about being in the office and hearing about Joey Styles knocking out JBL in Iraq. He said that he heard through HHH after Vince called him up about what happened. Nova said that he respects JBL for what he has done outside of wrestling and how hard it is to make money off of the stock market but on the road he would get drunk and just yell at people then takes a break as Dreamer called him up and he puts it on speaker as he talks for a minute or two.



He talks about how he was asked by Dave Lagana to lose to Axl Rotten on Velocity after the One Night Stand show then asked if Rotten was under contract and he said no so Nova said that he was not going to lose to someone who was not under a contract then went to Vince and explained the situation to him and Vince had never even heard of Rotten before and the match got changed where Nova ended up beating a local wrestler.



About the JBL/Blue Meanie incident at "One Night Stand," he talks about Meanie calling JBL a bully on the internet then at the ONS show, Meanie was calling out a drunk JBL from the ring then he saw JBL's eyes as he looked like he was going to kill him then Nova took Mysterio and suggested they brawl in the corner as JBL went in and beat the shit out of Meanie until Tracy Smothers broke it up. He thought that Meanie had a chance for a lawsuit against him but it never came to fruition. Later on, they were going to book a bWo reunion then booked JBL vs. Meanie with Batista running in and costing JBL the match but that never happened and Nova thinks that was a WWE decision to get a JBL/Meanie match on tape in case Meanie took them to court they could have that as backup.



He talks about the guys he hired while in developmental like Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella, Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Ted DiBiase Jr., Nattie Neidhart, and Harry Smith. He also helped out the Bella's, Rosa, Maryse, and Brodus when they got signed. He talks about how Kofi Kingston was his first hire and how he loved hearing the happiness in the talent's voice as he made their dreams come true but how it was the exact opposite when he was told that he had to fire someone. He said that he tried to save some jobs and saved Paul Burchill's job for a year. He said his hardest fire was Angel Williams (Angelina Love) after Deep South got shut down she went down to OVW. He said that Angel almost got called up a few times and was going to be the girlfriend of Matt Hardy and at one point they were going to have her be the prom queen in a Senior Class gimmick with Mike Knox and Matt Stryker but it never came to fruition. Nova said he got the call from Laurinaitis to fire her and he didnt so Johnny told him to do it before he did and Nova called Williams, who had just moved into her place the day prior, and had to tell her she was fired and she thought he was ribbing her at first then cried when she knew it was legitimate and Nova said he had to have his wife drive the car afterwards as he was so shaken up over the situation.



When asked about what happened when the signed Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro) then fired him right afterwards, Nova said he had been pushing for him to get signed for years and got him hired and was ecstatic then two weeks later Laurinaitis told Nova he had to fire him and to this day never got a reason and reiterates that he was right about a lot of guys and had an eye for talent and said it was some "carny shit" for why he got fired and questions how can you fire someone and never tell then why.



He never thought that Ken Kennedy was a main event talent and tells a story about him in OVW. Nova got a call about someone from OVW in the hospital after overdosing on GHB and he was intubated and hooked up to a ventilator and he got released then re-hired down the road but Nova was the one who called the kid's parents to tell them what happened. He then got another call about how there was a few guys on the bus in Mexico who were burying him for doing what he did and it turned out that Kennedy was one of those guys and was calling him a "Stooge" because he called Dreamer to get the number of this kid's parents so he could call them and have them come down and see him in the hospital because there was a chance he might have died. He found out that the other guys calling him a stooge were Joey Matthews and Brent Albright (Gunner Scott). The next week at TV, he called them out and saw Kennedy who proudly stated that he said it and Nova asked him why as he helped him out and he did not seem to care. He tells a story of how Kennedy was perceived as a star from day one and recalls Vince yelling at him after a match against Scotty 2 Hotty on Velocity for giving Scotty too much offense as Vince said that he was "barely a step above a local." He said that Kennedy got hurt a lot and was rough with others and he lied about using steroids. Nova heard that Vince himself fired Kennedy on the corporate jet and said he never wanted to see him again.



When asked about guys in OVW who he thought would have made it big in the WWE that didn't he said that guys like Sean O'Haire and Matt Morgan could have had bigger careers. He said that he thought Johnny Jeter was a "can't miss" guy. He talks about the WWE fucking over Paul Burchill with the pirate gimmick. He said that Chet Jablonski had a superfan gimmick that he thought would have worked but he never got called up. He talks about Dan Rodimer being brought up way too fast and they burned him out and said that he was being put in main events at house shows teaming with Randy Orton against Cena and that guy could have been a star. He also thought that he might have done something behind the scenes that could have led to him leaving the company. Nova then says that its insane how Rob Conway is not in the WWE as he is clean and looks like a million bucks. He puts over Nick Dinsmore and said that he has battled his demons and was there when he lost his job while an overseas tour.



He puts over Cody Rhodes for being a hard worker and a class act. Nova said that while in developmental, Cody would call him and ask if he had seen him on TV and what he thought of his performance. He talks about Dolph Ziggler and said he is a good guy and a true heel in wrestling. Nova also said that Ziggler has pulled a lot of the diva's away from the other guys and some of the other wrestlers were pissed at him over that.



On how he found out about Eddie Guerrero dying, he said he was in the hotel when he saw Vince, HHH, and Shawn Michaels walking by at warped speed with solemn looks on their faces and saw Tomko and Chavo Guerrero walking behind and found out he was dead when Tomko told him when he was on the elevator. Nova said that he was told Chavo went to wake him up to go to the gym and found him dead on the floor in his room.



Nova talks about what led to him leaving the WWE. He said that after six months, he was in Laurinaitis' office and told him that he was thinking about buying a house in Connecticut. When he first got the Head of Developmental role, he told Laurinaitis that he was not going to move from his home in Kentucky as he could get fired at will. Laurinaitis then told Nova that he was getting a lot of flak from JBL, Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes over putting him in this role. He said this was in December 2006 and went home to his wife and said it was bullshit and was so pissed that he stayed behind to watch the office at WrestleMania. Nova then talks about how at the time, he was obsessed with being in shape and counting out everything he ate then decided that he wanted to try HGH and testosterone. He did not say who but claimed a "top guy" hooked him up with a doctor that got him the stuff and said that he was in the office at the time and talked about how several others there never got tested and could do whatever they wanted to so he figured that he was safe. When the Signature Pharmacy scandal came out, his name as on the list of people. After hearing that, Nova said that he went to Laurinaitis and did not know how his name was on the list and that he had a prescription. Two hours later, Nova was let go from the company. After that he talked about how today there are clauses in the policy that make things okay if you have a prescription.  He said that day he flew back to Kentucky and took his test for his mortgage license and got a job in that a few days later.



He said that he was asked twice to go back as Simon Dean then for a special appearance and he declined both times stating that he has no desire to go back there unless it was for something like a WrestleMania Battle Royal and even then he would not want to stay at the hotel with everyone else and just duck in and out and say hi to his friends.



On working the TNA ECW PPV, Nova said that he did that show so he could go down to Florida to look at some properties with a client and got flown in by TNA. He said that he liked Dixie and thinks people should give her credit for giving guys jobs as if not for her, a lot of wrestling careers would be over.



When asked about the WWE Wellness Policy, Nova said he is all for it as long as it helps save lives. He remembers right after Eddie Guerrero died when Vince went around and sat everyone in a room. He pointed at Ric Flair and said most of you guys will not have a career as long as his and he wanted to give them tools so they can lead a productive life outside of the ring. Nova then talks about how the policy saved MVP by finding his heart murmur then goes off topic when he confirms the story of MVP offering Bill DeMott a chance to fight him in a shoot after DeMott was treating him like shit.



Nova says that people in wrestling who hate him do so because he outworked them in and out of the business. He says that he worked harder outside of the business than anyone and talks about his father passing away a year and a half ago and said that he would never rely on pro wrestling at his income ever again after seeing all of his wrestling friends at the funeral.



He then talks about how he is an overachiever and how he does not brag about all of his friends in the business before telling everyone watching who is under a Developmental Deal to work your ass off as the worst that can happen is you get fired and that everyone gets fired in wrestling anyway. He then brings up how he grew up a fat kid in Jersey and became an opening comedy act in ECW to a WWE executive. Nova closes by saying how he got into wrestling to make money, meet women, and see the world and that he did all three and closes by thanking the fans and that he did this interview for all of them.



Final Thoughts: Again, an excellent interview. Nova tells a ton of stories and sheds a lot of light as to how fucked up the developmental system was and how rough it was in the locker room when he was with the company.

As for Nova himself, he was a lot more arrogant here than in the first disc. He had to constantly throw in how he worked harder than everyone among other things. However, this interview is strong enough that you can overlook that fact and enjoy the whole thing.

Again, I highly recommend this shoot as it is one of the best releases in the past year.


Purchase the interview by clicking on the link below.

http://www.rfvideo.com/novapt2shootinterview.aspx


Comments

  1. That line Kendrick gave to Benoit is hilarious.

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  2. I agree. I am now a mark for The Brian Kendrick.

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  3. This volume made Nova seem like a nicer guy, especially how hard it was for him to fire people in developmental.

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  4. CruelConnectionNumber2October 17, 2014 at 10:40 AM

    Nova invented this recap and you stole it.

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  5. Seems like a really honest dude and sometimes honest people come off as dicks. But he wasn't malicious in anyway and definitely has his head on straight.

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  6. "Goon Posse" so JBL, Undertaker, Benoit?

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  7. I'd be willing to bet Holly and Billy Gunn are included too

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  8. can't believe I forgot Holly.


    Billy Gunn? I've never heard that about him (also I think he was in TNA by 05)

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  9. I LOL'd at goon posse! Because it sounds funny and is a great way describe the WWE Neo-fascist locker room.

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  10. Always loved Nova the off-beat inventive, odd ball, super-hero in ECW. He got Simon Dean as far it was going to go. Talented guy.


    Love Stone Cold offering Simon a beer at RAW after Wrestlemania 21 and Dean's response:
    "May I have a glass?"

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  11. That Simon dean-austin segment was so great that I dont even remember it

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  12. He was one of the "locker room leaders" back then

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  13. 'He loves Rey Mysterio and says that his son, along with Benoit's son David, used to harass him on TV by throwing shit at him..'



    Great we've gone from wrestlers taking dumps in diva's bags to their children flinging it at low-level talent!


    Although I can understand Rey's son playing up because of the turmoil of finding out Eddie Guerrero was his real dad so I hope David Benoit's Dad takes it upon himself to teach his son a bloody good lesson...


    Too soon?

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