Johnny Swinger recently spoke with Steve Fall of WrestlingNews.co for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Swinger talked about being signed by WWE and why it didn’t work out:
“I was brought in there on a developmental contract because that’s what was offered to me. I was finishing up with TNA and my dream was always to go to the WWF/E as a full time talent, not what I did in the beginning like in 1995, but to actually be a full time talent and you reap the benefits of such. I was offered a developmental contract in the words of, ‘This is a good way for you to get in. This is the way most people get in unless you’re an established top name draw.'”
“So I accepted that and, once again, I did what they told me to do. They told me to go to the developmental training scenario. It was like an OVW, but it was in Georgia. It was already where I lived anyway, so I didn’t have to relocate or anything like that. So I did that for a few months and even by then, after a few months, my body started hurting me. I’m like, ‘Geez, guys, I’ve been wrestling for 10 or 11 years. I was never really injured and now I’m starting to have neck (issues) . Are you guys going to use me a little bit or if you’re not interested, maybe I can go back to TNA.'”
“They started to put me on Sunday Night Heat and that was just to get you on TV and see how you look in the frame, kind of thing. Every time I came back from the match, they were happy with it. The producers would tell me, ‘Yeah, they’re talking about you in the meetings. They’re just not sure, but they’re gonna bring this guy and that guy.’ Once again, way more bodies than spots and I just didn’t have a man in those meetings going, ‘Let’s draw some money with this guy’, and that’s really all there was to it. Once again, those 16 months as a WWE wrestler is not something that everybody can put on their resume, so I’m grateful for that opportunity to work for Mr. McMahon. His daughter, Stephanie, was always very pleasant to me. Triple H, all of them, I didn’t have any problems there as far as going into the TV tapings because I wasn’t one of those people that walk around, ‘Hey, when are you going to do this? Why am I not doing?’ Man, they will let you know.’After a certain amount of time goes by, you kind of know. It explains itself. I was still, what, 30 or 31 years old? I knew my career wasn’t over. I figured if I leave, I’ll probably be back there someday again. You know what I mean? You just never know. It was a handshake thing. I went back to the independents and immersed myself in the southern independents for several years and had a lot of success with that before going back to Impact for this current run.”
His road trips with Jake Roberts and Honky Tonk Man:
“I’ve done some trips with him (Jake Roberts), like drives to independent shows and you can learn a lot by being in a car with someone like him as far as the psychology of being a wrestler and why you would do something and not do something else. I don’t have any crazy stories about him because I wasn’t out with him in a party sense.”
“If you’re in a car with Honky Tonk Man, you’re gonna be laughing the whole time. You really are. Just like watching one of my interviews. You know what I’m saying?’ That’s where I get it from, that whole persona of entertaining the people. That’s the number one job. I love this deal I got now and I’m gonna enjoy it for however long I have it.”
If Paul Heyman owes him money from ECW days:
“I’ve been asked that question a lot and to be honest. No, I am not owed any money in compensation because I was paid so little. I was not on a high paying deal there and that’s not what I was there for. I was there to increase my visibility, increase my equity so to speak, to be attractive to go back to WCW or to the WWF in a higher position.”
Wrestling for WWE before he was 21 against Triple H:
“I wasn’t even two years out of high school. I had been wrestling maybe a year or so out in West Canada for a guy named Tony Condello. He started Roddy Piper and a whole host of people. I got the first call from Scott D’Amore. I never met him before. He saw me on a Winnipeg TV show and he said, ‘Man, you look like you could be on TV. Would you be interested?’ I’m like, ‘Sure.’ Next thing you know, I’m at Monday Night Raw RAW wrestling Marty Jannetty, and like you said, Triple H. Then I was in WCW, WCW Saturday night. This is before Nitro even started right. That’s it. I’m wrestling on TV and not even old enough to buy beer yet.”
How Hulk Hogan treated him backstage in WCW:
“He wasn’t that accessible in the back. I never changed in the same room as him. I think he always had his own dressing room. When I would see him in the hallway, I would of course go up to him, or I would initiate ‘Hey Hulk, how are you doing?’ Shake his hand. He’s always very cordial. I saw him, he was in WWE in 2005 when I was there. Same thing. Just one of the boys. I never saw him act out or give anyone a hard time or raise his voice or anything like that and whenever I said hello to him or anything, he said hello back. I had some small conversations with him. Actually, there was a company called XWF that came out after WCW closed and he was involved with that. I actually talked to him a little bit there about his son and all that. He was always a cool guy.”
Having a WWE tryout the night WCW was purchased:
“I actually had a tryout on RAW the night that Shane McMahon was on the Panama City Nitro. If you remember, that was 2001. That was before the internet was really big and information didn’t get out. So I’m sitting in catering in Cleveland, Ohio trying to get a job with WWF and that’s how I found out they were buying WCW because he was on the show. We all found out that day. It’s not like it was a rumor. The rumor was Eric Bischoff had a company that was going to buy it and I thought I would have an opportunity with that. I remember sitting there thinking, oh my gosh, there’s 100 guys down there now that are going to be, you know what I mean. Like the Invasion, there were many people not brought in for that because it was just too many people. There’s just too many bodies. They didn’t need that many. So luckily, it worked out for me that TNA came about, otherwise, that might have been the end of my career in wrestling.”
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
