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RF Video Shoot Interview with Raven Volume 1, Disc Two

Disc Two runs at fifty-seven minutes long

You can read the Disc One recap by clicking on the link below.

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/11/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-raven.html





Raven is asked where the Beulah McGillicutty came from. He said that he was hanging out in Miami for the Super Bowl and was hanging out with Ron Gant, then of the Atlanta Braves MLB team. He got introduced to Raven and she saw Beulah (real name Teresa Hayes) who told Raven that she wanted to get into wrestling again as she used to be Pillman's sister in Calgary. She even volunteered to send some of her Penthouse Magazine photos to him and Heyman hired her to play his valet. At first, Raven hated the idea of having a valet as it did not fit the character. Raven then said that Heyman told him that it would fit the character then the McGillicutty name came about and Raven came up with the story of Dreamer blowing her off in Summer Camp as she was fat and had her face covered in acne but Raven slept with her anyway.



He loved the hardcore stuff and said it is more difficult in ways as it takes balls. He talks about garbage can shots not hurting then said that chair shot to the head was part of the show then puts over the Rock for being the best at getting his hand up at the last second when he took chair shot. He talks about the Pitbulls not wanting to take any chair shots or other moves despite the fact they did all sorts of crazy shit to everyone else and says he has problems with those who can dish it out but not take the punishment. He then said that Gary was a good guy but Anthony was a "schmuck."



When talking about the crucifixion angle with Sandman, Raven said that he came back from rehab and had Sandman built the cross as he was not good with tools. Raven then slams the WWF for stealing the angle and his character with Edge. He then talks about his angle and how they made sure to shield what they were doing during the actual crucifixion so the crowd could not see what was happening and when he hoisted up the Sandman, the crowd went nuts and he talks about how it was done to perfection.



Regarding the story of Kurt Angle and how he was supposedly offended by the crucifixion, Heyman told Raven to apologize despite Angle not being offended at all in reality. Raven believes that Taz was the one who created that whole situation and said that the crowd shit on his apology as they did not want to be condescended too and that Angle loved the fact that Raven gave a half ass apology. He did say that some of the religious guys in the locker room got offended and jokes about he was told why didn't he use a Jewish star. Raven said that Taz loved to be miserable but that he is much better now.



He mentions how his memory is terrible from drugs and mentions that Dreamer's memory is awful too but from all the chair shots he took. Raven did say if he does remember something then he knows everything about that situation.



On the "Chair shot heard around the world," Raven said that he wanted for Dreamer to be the mirror image of him and even use his finisher. He said that Heyman wanted Dreamer to hit Raven 10-15 times but that Raven wanted to get hit just once so the crowd would not be desensitized and that he would sell it like death and talked about how that was in the opening segment of the show for a long time.



Raven talks about the feud against Sandman and his family. He needed a new valet as Beulah turned face and he ended up with Sandman's wife, Lori Fullington, and made her dress like Courtney Love. Raven said that she looked incredibly hot like that. He talks about how Sandman's son Tyler knew his cues better than he did too.



On the Barbed Wire match against Sandman, Raven said that Heyman made him do that to win the belt. Raven also said that he was petrified of doing this type of match and Heyman knew that but thinks that Heyman did this because he knew Raven could do this type of match instead of punishing him for being in rehab and as it turns out Raven thought the match was easy to do.



About rehab, Raven said that he was going through an emotional breakdown and that was the bigger problem than alcohol and quit drinking on his own. He worked through some childhood trauma in rehab and said he was fine after that. Heyman told Raven that he would tell the "sheets" he had to take some personal time. Raven said that Anthony Durante told him that he went to rehab so he would not have to drop the belt to which Raven replies he was not scheduled to drop the belt for another year.



He talks about how Dreamer's wrestling skills are not good and needs the garbage stuff to have an interesting match. Raven said that Sandman was easy to work with as he wanted to get the shit kicked out of him.



Raven said that he thought ECW should have gone to PPV sooner but when it did it ended up being the beginning of the end for the company. Raven said he was gone shortly thereafter as Eric Bischoff offered him a big deal and he went to WCW. He gave notice prior to the show.


At the end of his first ECW run, Raven said that his relationship with Heyman was strained because WCW offered a lot more than what Heyman could.



When he left, Raven felt that he did everything he could have done and that their ideas were no longer revolutionary as the WWF and WCW copied them. He said how Heyman couldn't afford to keep all of the guys he had as they were going elsewhere. He said that he believes his feuds with Sandman and Dreamer carried the company.



Raven said that despite being on top, the posters all featured Sabu vs. Taz. He said that Heyman told him it was because of Taz, who said that it was because of Heyman.



He talks about how fans turn into wrestling for the stories and uses an example of how Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero segments being the lowest rated while Big Show gets higher ratings because of the stories he is involved with. Raven said you need to have good wrestling too but the stories are the most important.



Raven talks about trying to rekindle the friendship he had with Heyman but that it will take a lot of time as Heyman has moved past that part of his life.



When asked about how he would conduct classes backstage at ECW, Raven talks about how he taught the Dudley Boys how to sell and that they learned very quickly. He also used to show tapes of Mid-South to the guys and forgot about that until Feinstein reminded him. Raven said he likes to teach to feed his ego and that he likes to actually teach people too.



He talks about his program with Shane Douglas and how he was cutting a promo with Kimona, who was unable to even remember a single line. The whole locker room was cracking up as Douglas was pissed. Raven thinks that he is a great worker and recalls a singles match Douglas had against Arn Anderson in WCW and how his selling was tremendous.



On Cactus Jack, Raven thought that his anti-hardcore gimmick was fantastic and that his promos were the best he has ever heard. He talks about how he was wrestling in Revere, MA and Cactus grabbed him in a ten-minute long headlock that pissed off the fans, who actually did the wave to entertain themselves.




He talks about the Freebirds and how he modeled his earlier characters after Michael PS Hayes. He thought that he was cool as he fucked all the chicks and drank tons of booze and snorted a ton of cocaine. He tells a story of how a girl at a bar in Atlanta while he worked for Global turned out to be the wife of Hayes and brought her over to him and told Raven that he made her watch him on TV all of the time.



When asked about any other memories of ECW, he talks about getting superbombed through a table in the double dog-collar match against the Pitbulls and how Anthony did not want him kicking out of the move as it would make him look bad so Anthony ended up bouncing Raven off of the table instead of putting him through. Raven said that the locker room thought he was dead after that. He also thought when Francine put Fluff on Stevie Richards it was hilarious.



He talks about how a heel prick has to show ass once in a while as it is bad for business and the babyface when you do not and says it is ego if you do not.



He closes by saying his ECW run was his favorite as they were creating something new and so much bigger than what it was.



Final Thoughts: One of the best shoot interviews of all-time. Raven, despite talking and talking, always entertains and shows his insight and knowledge when it comes to wrestling. He is an articulate guy. RF Video also shot another shoot right after this that covers his time in WCW and return to the WWF and that is also highly entertaining.

You can purchase this shoot for $20 at RFVideo.com by clicking on the link below

http://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithravenpt1.aspx

Comments

  1. I tend to think he's right about higher ratings for story over wrestling. But that might be an unpopular thing to say in this forum.

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  2. I like great stories that build up to great matches.

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  3. Charismatic eNegro Jef VinsonNovember 14, 2014 at 10:32 AM

    If you ever get the chance, checkout Raven's webpage: http://www.theraveneffect.com/site/


    He is a hilarious dude.

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  4. Of course he's right. 9 million people watched "This is your life, Rock."


    Two of the highest rated segments of all-time: Vince vs. Austin with one hand tied behind his back, and the Stooges vs. The Mean Street Posse.


    You could say NONE of that is Guerrero vs. Malenko-esque wrestling.

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  5. Speaking of Raven, here is a match he had where he was involved in a great story.

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3pn6n_ddp-vs-raven-spring-stampede-1998_sport

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  6. Of course he's right. A great story can easily trump great wrestling.

    Hogan vs. Andre, Hogan vs. Rock, and Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell aren't great matches. But they are three of the greatest "match stories" in wrestling history.

    That's what made 96-97 WCW so great. You had great story angles with the nWo and great matches with the cruiserweights. Best of both worlds.

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  7. King Of The Shoots, Raven.

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  8. Tough call as to whether this shoot or Cornette's first shoot interview in 2000 is the greatest shoot interview of all time.

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  9. Yeah, both fantastic.

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  10. Cornette/Heenan III should be in this discussion.

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  11. Yes it should although the audio in that one is even worse than the early RF Video shoots and thus ruined what should have been an easy 5 star shoot.

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  12. Considering where they were shooting from, I can forgive that quirk.

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  13. Raven and Sandman Vol 1 wins this.

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  14. I had such hopes for the Raven - Sullivan shoot, then Kevin couldn't get a word in edgewise.

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  15. I really wish he'd get the book somewhere.

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  16. He's up there, although I believe Jim Cornette's 2000 RF shoot set the bar.

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  17. Yeah, he is one of the brightest minds ever. A very underrated worker too. He definitely learned from the Jake Roberts school of psychology. It's not about what you can do. It's about why and when you do it.

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  18. Correct. A televised wrestling show is supposed cause viewers to eagerly anticipate upcoming PPV matches. It seizes to amaze me that so many wrestling companies fail to emphasize how important their PPVs are, yet they wonder why their buyrates (or Network subscriptions) are doing poorly.

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  19. Everyone who drew real money was timing. Hogan, Austin the cripple, lazy ass Piper. I really can't think of anyone besides maybe Savage who was an insane workrate who drew crazy money. Even Flair wrestled a very easy style that relied on timing more than moveset.

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  20. What made Flair special wasn't the moves he did or the style he worked. It was, as you said, his timing. His timing was always on point and everything he did served a purpose. He was one of the best ad lib wrestlers ever, knowing exactly when to get the heat, when to tell the babyface to get in a hope-spot, when to cut-off a comeback, and when to make the babyface make a full comeback. As great as Steamboat was (possibly the greatest sympathetic babyface ever), Flair's timing and ability to build a match to its crescendo are what made those series of matches impeccable.

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  21. He was able to tear down the house with Dusty who, despite being criminally underrated in my book, was not a technical wizard. Flair was so smart; he took the Bockwinkel act and turned up the blustering heel/cheating coward part of it to 12.

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  22. The one they did with ROH? That shoot was fantastic and ridiculously funny. The second one was pretty good too but that first one was almost magical.

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  23. Agreed.


    It's also why the length of TV matches has never been something that I've argued about. If anything, I actually don't like long TV matches because I feel they detract from the PPV's "specialness".

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