{"id":106834,"date":"2022-03-08T14:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T20:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=106834"},"modified":"2022-03-08T13:53:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T19:53:26","slug":"shane-haste-on-the-crocodile-dundee-character-he-played-in-wwe-dark-matches-and-the-wrestler-who-encouraged-him-to-do-it-wishing-he-had-stuck-to-his-guns-more-in-nxt-working-with-aop-being-in-the-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2022\/03\/08\/shane-haste-on-the-crocodile-dundee-character-he-played-in-wwe-dark-matches-and-the-wrestler-who-encouraged-him-to-do-it-wishing-he-had-stuck-to-his-guns-more-in-nxt-working-with-aop-being-in-the-w\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Haste on the Crocodile Dundee character he played in WWE dark matches and the wrestler who encouraged him to do it, wishing he had stuck to his guns more in NXT, working with AOP, being in the WWE 2K22 video game despite being released, working the NJPW Strong tapings"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-636396312\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Andrew Thompson Interviews&#8221; with guest Shane Haste<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Host: Andrew Thompson<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Full interview available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z2w5_fF17QI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube.com<\/a> <\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postwrestling.com\/2022\/03\/05\/interview-shane-haste-talks-njpw-appearance-reflects-on-noah-run-slapjack-wwe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PostWrestling.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z2w5_fF17QI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Shane comments on appearing at the NJPW Strong tapings:<\/b> Our illustrious New Japan career that everyone remembers, I had one match [Haste laughed]. I had one match in [New] Japan. Mikey [Nicholls] had the few and he trained at the New Japan L.A. Dojo, so him coming back to New Japan was a huge, like a real cool, huge thing. For me, it just was that\u2019s somewhere I\u2019ve always wanted to go and do a serious run at and then seeing how well Jonah\u2019s been doing there and I\u2019d go along to the shows and hang out and man, the vibe there, this atmosphere, the crowds, it\u2019s awesome. I love it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Whether he&#8217;s interested in teaming with longtime partner Mikey Nicholls in NJPW World Tag League 2022:<\/b> &#8220;Yeah, man, that\u2019s our goal, that\u2019s the goal. TMDK, me and Mikey [Nicholls], I\u2019d love to see us in it [World Tag League]. I\u2019d love to see other versions of TMDK as well; JONAH, Slex, Marcius Pitt, Damian Slater, we got Hartley Jackson, Kane Broadrick. We got some good members in that and I\u2019ve said this many, many times, my goal now is to get \u2014 well I mean, stabilize myself and get my spot but to bring as many of those TMDK guys over, get them exposed on that national, international level of Japan where they deserve respect that they\u2019ve \u2014 they\u2019ve earned respect and deserve to be shown it in pro wrestling, where sometimes you know, you come to America and it\u2019s a different kind of show, a different kind of vibe but in Japan, there\u2019s so much more respect with it and I really want those boys to have a feel of that even if it\u2019s just one tour, you know what I mean? That would be awesome because a lot of them have their jobs and their families and they\u2019re pretty set in Perth. Like man, the world\u2019s gonna open back up, Perth\u2019s a direct flight to Tokyo, it\u2019d be sick. So yeah, I wanna see all of TMDK at the Tokyo Dome.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>On wishing he stuck to his guns more often rather than be a company man in NXT:<\/b> &#8220;I look back at it with pretty fond memories. I try to forget all the negative stuff because once you get stuck on the negative, you just get dragged into the dark side. Things that I would have liked [to do was stick] to my guns a little bit more, especially knowing now how thriving the pro wrestling world is. I\u2019m like damn, I really should\u2019ve died on my sword more and been willing to, I don\u2019t know, get fired over things. We were very \u2014 me and Mikey [Nicholls] made a career of ourselves before that by doing what the company wanted. We\u2019re company men, we\u2019re good workers, we\u2019re good hands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You ask us to do something, we\u2019ll go do that better than what you think can be done and in Australia and Japan, that got rewarded in the right ways. I found that in NXT, they have ideas and you just go with it and sometimes that can be a detriment because not all ideas are great ideas. We had been proven in Japan that as ourselves, we were good and we were successful. When you go there, they wanna have their hands on it a lot more. They want more control, which I\u2019m like, you know what? Billion-dollar company, you gotta know what you\u2019re doing and so, we let them. Some things I\u2019m like, \u2018Eh, I don\u2019t know\u2019 but I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, we\u2019ll do it. I\u2019ll trust what you\u2019re saying first\u2019 and then obviously, I\u2019m not a multi-time world champion millionaire so, it didn\u2019t quite work out that way [Haste laughed]. You know, I\u2019m doing fine.<\/p>\n<p><b>Being on he and Mikey not being on one of the tours of their native Australia and being told they weren&#8217;t big enough stars:<\/b> &#8220;Well this is the thing, my mom would always say stuff like that. \u2018Well why don\u2019t they bring the Australians to it?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, well, let\u2019s say \u2014 what\u2019s a big band at the moment? What\u2019s the biggest band? BTS, let\u2019s say BTS toured Australia. Do you think just because they\u2019re coming to Australia, they should add an Australian singer to it? No. You wanna see \u2014 you wanna see the stars that you see on TV. You wanna see those big names and it\u2019s a treat to see the Americans, the people from all around the other parts of the world, but, in saying that too, Australians are very proud and patriotic people as well so they do wanna see their own people and I can\u2019t remember which Australia tour it was; I\u2019m like, \u2018How are we not on this?\u2019 And they said, \u2018You\u2019re not big enough stars.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Well you control that. Make us bigger stars.\u2019 You see how quickly they can turn someone into a star. It takes a couple of weeks. You control this. You write it. Write us to be bigger stars.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Working with AOP in NXT:<\/b> &#8220;Well there\u2019s that thing of saving it for the right moments [Haste &amp; Nicholls displaying their power and athleticism in NXT]. That was a good payoff, especially with the AOP guys [at TakeOver: Toronto 2016] because we worked them so much and they were getting told, \u2018Don\u2019t get picked up, don\u2019t get bumped,\u2019 all this stuff so we \u2014 I remember once, they were like we weren\u2019t allowed to duck a clothesline from them because it made them look stupid for them to swing a clothesline and me to duck it and give him something and they wanted to do stuff and they wanted to take stuff too so that Takeover match and even the next year\u2019s Dusty Cup then, they were more than happy to get bumped and lifted and things like that and because we hadn\u2019t done it every single match, it did mean more. So there is that side of [it] and the other side of [it] is other people they were wrestling were doing it every single match with them and they were like, \u2018Well if they\u2019re bumping them,\u2019 picking them up and stuff like that every single match, then of course people are gonna see that and go, \u2018Yeah! Every single time.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Making the WWE 2K22 roster despite no longer being with the company:<\/b> &#8220;It\u2019s just the way that they work. Everybody gets so mad at the talent roster [for WWE video games] and [gives them] sh*t for it because it\u2019s really 2K21. It\u2019s last year\u2019s roster. They can\u2019t predict the future of the roster, you know what I mean? So of course it\u2019s gonna be the older roster. I think Shane Thorne\u2019s been in every single one [WWE video game] since 2017 I believe. So, people looking out for me there. I think there\u2019s 20 or something people in this game that aren\u2019t with the company anymore. But like [I] said, it\u2019s 2021\u2019s roster. It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s fun. It just makes for a fun situation, you know what I mean?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Shane explains the Crocodile Dundee character he used on Smackdown dark matches:<\/b> Yeah, I was trying more character-based stuff [with the Crocodile Dundee character]. A lot of my career, pretty much all of it, I\u2019ve just wrestled as myself. So, when I first went to Smackdown, I had singles gear and stuff like that and I\u2019m like, \u2018All right. I\u2019m just gonna be this guy who\u2019s been in NXT before\u2019 and now \u2014 I really wanted to do like a moment on Raw Talk or Talking Smack straight after we left Retribution and I wanted to be like, \u2018You don\u2019t realize you\u2019ve hit the bottom and the way [Mustafa] Ali treated us, showed me that I was at the bottom so I\u2019m done with that darkness and I\u2019m ready to be a more positive person.\u2019 I just wanted to be more positive about every situation that I was in and yeah, being in Retribution got pretty rough by the end of it and so I\u2019m like, I wanna leave that behind and that\u2019s kind of the real life \u2014 character reflecting real life and I\u2019m like, \u2018I didn\u2019t realize I was at the bottom and looking at Ali and how mad and angry he was-was like looking into a mirror and I didn\u2019t like what I saw so, you know, being away from him now on Smackdown is a fresh start for me and I\u2019m ready to show the world.\u2019<\/p><div id=\"prowr-3276257243\" class=\"prowr-content-4 prowr-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_2 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_2\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Just put me on Raw Talk where I can just freeform say this and if you don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s only on YouTube, no one really cares, and then there were a lot of wrestler wrestlers out there like [Bryan] Danielson and Cesaro on SmackDown so I\u2019m like, I\u2019ll just be a babyface who\u2019s a good wrestler and we just put over I\u2019m a good wrestler. I\u2019ll go out there, have great matches then go have some f&#8212;ing fun in the backstage but that stuff just kept getting \u2014 not happening so then I was looking at more, just any way to get on TV man. Just any way to get my face on TV and Nikki [A.S.H.] started doing her superhero thing and I know that was her idea and it was just to be more marketable and be more herself. A huge \u2014 I think one of the biggest markets in WWE is kids. Everyone always goes like, \u2018Oh, when \u2014 it was better back in my day when I was younger.\u2019 I\u2019m like yeah, that\u2019s because you were younger. So there\u2019s kids who are that age now who probably think now\u2019s product is the best and they\u2019re gonna go, \u2018Back in my day\u2026\u2019 So, that was my thought; just being something more marketable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve gone through a lot of different looks in WWE at the time by that point and I\u2019d never gotten an action figure not being marketable in that way so, and there was so many guys who just wore wrestling gear. So I was like, \u2018All right, I gotta take a different direction with this. What\u2019s something no one\u2019s doing?\u2019 And that was like the authentic, outback Australian look and so that\u2019s where I got the look from was Dijak [T-Bar] giving me shit about, \u2018Just go be Crocodile Dundee\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m not gonna f&#8212;ing \u2013\u2019 no, he\u2019s like, \u2018Be the crocodile hunter. Go be Steve Irwin.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m not gonna f&#8212;ing go be Steve Irwin, I don\u2019t wanna be Steve Irwin\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Fine. I\u2019m gonna be f&#8212;ing Steve Irwin.\u2019 If that\u2019s what you Americans want, I\u2019m gonna stop being an Australian that Australians want to see because Australians, I don\u2019t think they want to be seen as a joke and I\u2019m like screw it. I\u2019m not wrestling for Australians here. I\u2019m wrestling for an American, my bosses are all American. So I\u2019ll be the Australian Americans want to see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-3590208421\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net 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Crocodile Dundee character he played in WWE dark matches and the wrestler who encouraged him to do it, wishing he had stuck to his guns more in NXT, working with AOP, being in the WWE 2K22 video game despite being released, working the NJPW Strong tapings - Pro Wrestling Dot Net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2022\/03\/08\/shane-haste-on-the-crocodile-dundee-character-he-played-in-wwe-dark-matches-and-the-wrestler-who-encouraged-him-to-do-it-wishing-he-had-stuck-to-his-guns-more-in-nxt-working-with-aop-being-in-the-w\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pro Wrestling Dot Net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-08T20:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Logo_WWE_dn.png?fit=495%2C495&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta 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