By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Jason Sensation
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
On how he got into the wrestling business: “I think it was my sister calling Camilla Scott. It was a local show we had in Toronto. It was a talk show like Ricki Lake’s. Camilla Scott was the host. My sister called and said, ‘My brother has a hidden talent of doing wrestling voices.’ At that time, I could only do two or three, so I didn’t even know this was a hidden talent. Once I was on that show and doing voices, the crowd was asking me for voices I’ve never tried before, and they were coming out naturally. I thought, well maybe this was my way in. I started to create my character where I can be a guy who does voices. How come I’ve never put this together? I can be the interviewer and I can also do the voices. I think it was then when I just finished broadcasting school and I started sending the videos off to WWE, or WWF at the time. WWE Canada had an office. Carl DeMarco was running the office.
“I sent in the videos I made from the broadcasting school. They were all demos to get into WWE. I made them all about wrestling. I made myself the next Dok Hendrix. I sent the videos in, but I felt like I was getting a cold shoulder about it. I met Owen Hart at a meet and greet at an Ottawa house show. I got to meet Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart for the first time. I was going so crazy doing these voices that I entertained them so much that Owen brought me in the dressing room. That led me to meet Carl DeMarco. It was kind of like my foot in the door. Owen really helped me.”
Meeting Vince McMahon: “Vince McMahon came to Toronto to do ‘Off the Record’ with Michael Lansbury. Carl DeMarco introduced me to Vince McMahon. He called me and said, ‘Vince McMahon is going to be at Off the Record. You’ll want to be there. This is your chance to meet him. Find your way to TSN and I’ll introduce you to Vince.’ Next thing you know, Vince is in the middle of these two episodes he’s filming, and I got to meet Vince McMahon in between him getting grilled by Michael Lansbury. He’s getting grilled so he wasn’t in a very happy place. I was like comic relief, so it was perfect timing to meet Vince. When I did Owen Hart, I said, ‘I am not a nugget. I’m a Slammy Award winner. Woo.’ Vince’s eyes lit up. He said, ‘I’ve never heard anyone do Owen Hart. I bet you can’t do Shawn Michaels. Nobody can do Shawn Michaels.’ I said, ‘I’m the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels.’ Vince said, ‘We have to get you on air.’ That was the beginning for me. It was a great meeting. Vince liked me. I ran over to Vince just as he was leaving the studio and I ran to his limousine. I said, ‘Sir, please, don’t forget me.’ He said, ‘I would find that very difficult’, and he didn’t forget me. The next thing you know, he gave me an opportunity to come down to WrestleMania for the DX public workout, WrestleMania 14. That was my first big shot with them. I was flown down to Boston. I had never been on a plane. I was paid a lot of money. I’ve never been paid that much money in my life. It took me months of flipping hamburgers to make that much money. That was my first real opportunity, and that led to an interview in May in Connecticut with Kevin Dunn.”
If the wrestlers liked him doing impressions of them: “The majority of them really got a kick out of me, in fact, I think I actually got signed to a contract because I made so many guys laugh. There was a point one of my first times backstage where all these guys surrounded me, maybe 30 wrestlers surrounded me, 30 guys that I idolized, getting me to do voices. I think because of the way they all embraced me, that’s basically why I got a three-year contract. Something started to happen on the road afterwards. This was all fine and dandy when everybody was getting entertained backstage, but when it started to go out on the show, before I did Owen Hart, or even after I did Owen Hart, I was out hosting. I think as time went on and they started getting me to host the shows, on house shows, I would actually come out at the beginning of house shows and do impressions before the house show. This is where it started to become a little bit of a problem because now, I’m doing, ‘Finally The Rock has come back to Toronto,” or “You didn’t know, you’re ass better call somebody’, I’m doing this at the beginning of shows, these guys are backstage watching their gimmicks getting used, and then when they come out to do their gimmicks, it’s not as big of a pop, or they think maybe I took some of their pop away. You got to respect them for that. As time went on, what I did started to work against me and it did start to rub some of the boys the wrong way. Some of the boys went behind my back and kiboshed my hosting job. It sucked. I lost that hosting gig because too many guys complained about using their gimmicks.”
Other topics include Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Owen Hart, The Nation of Domination, all of his impressions, the WWE, WCW, and more.
You can listen to other shows apart of the TMPT Empire including Shane Douglas’ Triple Threat Podcast, Taking You to School with Dr. Tom Prichard, Talking Tough with Rick Bassman, Taskmaster Talks with Kevin Sullivan, Pro Wrestling 101 with Justin Credible and the University of Dutch with Dutch Mantell.
Be the first to comment