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Rob ConwayThe following was transcribed by Andy J of www.wrestlingweekly.com:

On September 25th, Wrestling Weekly host Doc Young and Les Thatcher were joined this week by featured guest, former WWE Superstar Rob Conway.

Wrestling Weekly airs every Tuesday at 8pm Eastern at
www.wrestlingweekly.com

Doc & Les were joined this week by former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly for ‘hot topic’ and the discussed TNA’s new audition policy, as well as training techniques and stories of WWE Superstars when they started out.

The featured interview began with Rob Conway being welcomed to the show.

– Les points out that he knew Rob before OVW and Conway noted that Les was the first promoter he got paid to wrestle for

– Les Thatcher says that Rob knew the ‘business properly, from the ground up’ & Rob Conway points out when you start out in the pro-wrestling business that ‘you have to crawl, before you can walk’.

– Les talks about when he had HWA as the WWE developmental territory , with Val Venis, D’lo Brown, Justin Credible & Tommy Dreamer wrestling for him and noted that Rob should have worked developmental if there wasn’t anything for him on the main roster.

– Rob then spoke about his WWE release in some detail, and cites the reason he was given.
– Conway noted that Nick Dinsmore came up with the ‘Eugene’ character and that The Bashams were secondary characters to JBL and that they could both come back to WWE and be fresh characters because the fans didn’t know see ‘who they really are & what they could really do’

– Doc asks would a wrestler being given a gimmick under a mask/helmet be the end of your career. Rob pointed out that Glen Jacobs worked under a mask as Kane which got over and was a successful gimmick. He emphasises you have to embrace a mask gimmick you are given and believe in it. Conway continues by saying sometimes wrestlers are given gimmicks/characters to punish them and if a wrestler embraces their character/gimmick & it gets over the creative team usually put a stop to it.

– Les says creative doesn’t seem to match the character to the person they give the character too. He noted the key to successful character/gimmick is to feel comfortable with it & if you don’t, you can’t sell it to anyone. Rob talks about how there’s around thirty wrestlers on the main rosters and only a small creative, so wrestlers can get lost in the shuffle. He continued by pointing out that wrestlers who earn the most money are pushed, otherwise they would be paying them to sit at home. Rob Conway said that creative should let wrestlers have some input when characters are being devised and given to them. Rob’s example is his character and said they couldn’t write for him as they wouldn’t know how to be an “arrogant performer”.

– Doc asked Rob Conway if he was given scripts to learn, line by line and Conway noted that in OVW when Jim Cornette was there, they had bullet points in their promo’s. Rob goes onto say that he was told that they loved his ‘iron man’ character in OVW and Conway stated ‘that was just me, being me’. In contrast, whilst he was one half of La Resistance, Rob Conway says he wasn’t French and isn’t Anti-American and sometimes had to be explained what the words meant he said to say in promo’s. He continued by saying ‘everything I said on TV, for the most part, was written for me’. Rob emphasises that wrestlers aren’t professional actors and got into the wrestling business because they wanted to be the next Dusty, Superstar Billy Graham, Jerry Lawler & Hulk Hogan.

– Rob Conway says that the writers put emphasis more on the mic time/promo’s than on the wrestling itself. He notes that the guys on TV now you can’t impersonate because ‘there’s nothing to impersonate’ and gave examples of people doing Hulk and Macho Man impressions but there isn‘t a real stand out catchphrase now, like there was.

– Les then talks about Santino Marella and that WWE are trying to push him as a fighter, but he’s not. Rob said that Santino is in a tough spot he won the Intercontinental title in his first match and highlighted that winning the IC Championship was his (Rob’s) goal, noting “I wanted to be the intercontinental champion“. Winning the belt on his first night meant that it set Santino up for people to be a ‘little jealous & maybe, really want him to fail…now he‘s turning to the heel side, he‘s getting a bit more recognition…I wish him the best”
– Rob gave his thoughts on La Resistance and the gimmick, and whether he enjoyed it or not.

– Les says that Rob and Sylvan are taking bookings again as a tag-team. The e-mail for promoters to book them is [email protected] Les asks if Rob Conway will be part of World Allied Sports. Rob says he has talked with them a few times and that you can’t count on a booking on the independent circuit until you get a deposit.

Time for questions from the Wrestling Weekly listeners in the live chat room.

– Takerfan asks if he’s spoken to Rene Dupree since his release. Rob said he spoke to him the day he got released as Rene phoned Rob Conway to tell him that he requested his release. Rob continued by noting that Rene worked for Booker T’s promotion and then went to Japan

– RhodeIslandRed asked why did WWE split up the tag team of La Resistance and how did Rob and the others feel about it. Conway said that Rene was moved to ‘SmackDown!’ and wanted to be a singles competitor, and how Muhammad Hassan’s character gave WWE reason to split up La Resistance.

– Doc asks Rob about the Con-man character. Conway said he came up with the idea and spoke with Vince about it and he liked them and the ideas/character was half-done. Rob said it was starting to get over and he was getting some baby face reactions. He went onto say that ’Do It The Conway’ was getting over because fans like catchphrases and says that Armando was getting a reaction too when he said his name and the audience joining in.

– Rob Conway said one of the creative guys returned and he was then de-pushed and put on ‘Sunday Night Heat’ where he wrestled Greg Valentine & Koko B Ware. Rob then spoke in more detail about WWE creative and that what stands out, is what you create on your own.

– Doc then spoke with Rob about his theme music, which Conway notes is ‘not entrance music…it‘s almost turn the channel music‘. When he first heard the music at the Gorilla Position he stood there and had to be told by Gerald Brisco that this was his music. Rob said his first reaction was ‘What!’ & that he thought it was Kerwin White’s music. Doc points out wrestling fans say Rob’s music was one of their favourite themes. Conway said “they probably didn’t like it that much when they were in the arena!”

– Mr Bucket in the chat room asks Rob which one wrestle he enjoys working with best in the wrestling. Rob Conway replied ‘Eugene, by far. I’ve probably wrestled Nick Dinsmore/Eugene about five hundred times”. He continued saying they were a tag team for four years. Les says when he first met Nick and Rob they looked alike and that people though him and Rob were brothers/cousins. Doc then spoke about the Eugene character in some detail & that he (Eugene/Nick Dinsmore) beat him in his first match in WWE.

– Rob Conway says he is now wrestling on the independent circuit for NWA Pro, in front of crowds on three shows for over 3,000 fans – two in Texas & one in Las Vegas. Rob’s goal, he says is to be the NWA World Champion. Rob Conway notes he is taking bookings at [email protected] or at www.myspace.com/therobconway

Rob is then thanked for being a guest and Les wishes him luck.

Former WWE Superstar, ‘The Vampire Warrior’ (Gangrel) will be next week’s featured guest.
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