Post by Kevin Hardaway on Sept 19, 2007 23:50:39 GMT -6
We open up to see a huge nCw banner in the background with an easy chair in front of it... looks comfortable. Lights are high as we can everything this small room has to offer, including that of Chad Lights, the nCw interviewer. He is dressed in a sharp black suit with his hair slicked back. He goes and takes a seat off camera before the lights dim down a little bit. Into the room walks, Kevin Hardaway. He has a "The Next Main Event" hoodie on, whatever that means, along with camo cargo shorts on with a Killswitch Engage skull cap on. He sits down in the easy chair that we can see on camera. From there, we hear Chad Lights' voice from off camera.
Chad Lights: Welcome to another edition of nCw Straight Shooting. I am your host this evening, Chad Lights. Our guest at this time is none other than the newest wrestler to grace the nCw's presence. Kevin Hardaway is here.. Good evening sir.
Kevin Hardaway: Thank you Chad.
Chad Lights: For those of you who don't know what a shoot interview is, I'll ask Hardaway various questions about his wrestling career and experiences outside of the ring. You ready for this?
K-Hard: Let's do this.
Chad Lights: Ok, the obvious first question is of course...how and why did you get into wrestling?
K-Hard: Well, I was actually a fan of it back when I was actually a little kid. Watching old school WWF programming, you can really thank my older brother for getting me into wrestling the first time around. Sure, I was a little and rarely remember anything, but there is a couple moments out there that basically set the bar for what was to come in the future. See, my brother was a Hulk Hogan fan and I don't know what it was, but I wasn't a fan. But someone caught my eye, and that was actually the Ultimate Warrior. Sure, he's a nutcase now with his "queering doesn't make the world work" and all of that fancy jazz. I didn't know the "behind-the-scenes" stuff when I was little, but to see some guy in facepaint, running to the ring hyper as all and squashing his opponent in record time...that's just awesome. I still have the old Ultimate Warrior "WWF Wrestling Buddies" they came out with as a keepsake in my house, so. I'm not a nerd, dammit. Haha.
Chad Lights: What were those moments you were talking about that made you a wrestling fan for good?
K-Hard: Wrestlemania 6 and Wrestlemania 8. We all know about 6, Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior: THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE! Like, this was a main event for the ages, and just a classic pitting two of the best in one ring. You don't really see that these days and such. Last time I believed was Wrestlemania 17. Rock vs. Austin. Two people of that magnitude going out there and making 60 to 70 thousand people amazed and shocked. But yeah, Ultimate Warrior winning the WWF Title, that was like IT. Sure, I look at the match now and it ain't a classic by all means, but for entertainment value. You couldn't get any better than that. Next moment was Wrestlemania 8 like I said. Main event was....oh yeah, yeah, Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Vicious. And we haven't heard anything about the Ultimate Warrior in like the longest time. And then Hogan won by DQ and Papa Shango came in and all was lost. Then the music plays and there comes the Warrior sprinting to the ring, and my dad tells me this all the time..."I was screaming, and going nuts". It was indeed an awesome moment and it made me realize...I wanna be like Hogan, I wanna be like the Warrior. I wanna be THEM!
Chad Lights: When did you start training?
K-Hard: March of 1995 I believe. It's all a blur to me, seriously. Like I do remember training, and I do remember wrestling as a local jobber in a couple house shows, but that's about it. It was really good though because actually my love for wrestling actually diminished during that time frame. WWF was getting dull and kid friendly, I was getting older, WCW was just getting it's training wheels off, it was over a year before the nWo would kick in and completely change everything, and yeah. I just decided to stop. People were pissed off, young kids were looked at as weak because I was almost basically their mentor out there. I was there the longest out of the students there as of the day I quit. So yeah, it was a tough time for me indeed. There would be tougher times and i'll get to that later once the time comes, but yeah...it was a ****ty life back then.
Chad Lights: I'm guessing the Attitude Era brought you back into the swing of things?
K-Hard: Attitude Era, D-Generation X, nWo, Stone Cold Steve Austin...yeah, pretty much. Haha. Stone Cold to me is probably a bigger idol for wrestling to me than the Ultimate Warrior ever was. And I know that he did the same damn thing for millions UPON millions of fans across the world. So, I was just one of the many I guess. But he got me back into the swing of things, I loved wrestling even more. Around...May-June of 1998 I thought about training again, and this time keeping my word of "not quitting" or "not giving up" and it took me awhile to get the answer to that question because I started training again around...April of 1999. And half of that was losing all of the excess weight I had in me from the time I took off from the first go around. And it actually took me two years to finally get recognized. I mean, I did shows, I had decent matches...not the best but definitely a good spirit from these because I learned and a small company by the name of the Hardcore World Federation was just starting and they were looking at young and agile superstars and wrestlers and they saw me and told me "Hey, how would you like a deal?", it was all set in stone. Signed the contract, went to work, and it turned out to be a life changing experience for me.
Chad Lights: How much "life changing"?
K-Hard: Well it just showed me the ropes and gave me a good value on what is there in life and how much it can either screw you over or love you like a brother. I learned the true "behind-the-scenes" of wrestling in the 2 years that I was there. I mean, out of all of the companies i've been in, it ranks up there as the 2nd greatest promotion I been in because it was such a tight community, it was such a good pack of people who had your back and people who stood up for you. I mean, it's odd that I can't remember how I trained the first time around, yet I still remember Nice Guy Danny, and Big G, and LPF, and Rage. Which by the way, not to be confused with the XHF's very own Rage. But that's another story for another time. But yeah, it was a good pack and they took me in like I was a brother to them and I can never thank them enough for how much they not only helped me but showed me the ropes and made me work with some amazing people. And around March of 2000, I met the man who I consider the brother I always wanted but never got, you know i'm talking about Jay Williams. All of the nCw originals don't know who i'm talking about, but if your a fan of XHF and WCF, then you know who the hell i'm talking about.
Chad Lights: I know who Jay is. Didn't know you met at the HWF.
K-Hard: We did. We got put into a tag team together called High Voltage. Funny thing was our names were SO ****ing corny. Mine was D.A. Hardcore and Jay's was D.A. Xtreme. Yeah, seriously...I can't remember how the hell we got those names but they sounded awesome and kick ass at the time, so...yeah, haha. But in the style of the Dudleys and such, we were made "brothers" by them. I didn't mind, Jay seemed like a smart kid. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri...had a good childhood. Little cocky when I first met him, but he'll disagree with that of course, haha.
Chad Lights: How was your careers there?
K-Hard: Decent. Pretty decent. Won the Tag Team titles 3 times, stuff like that. I say decent though because of some of the backstage politics that were going on around there, and like I said, that was the first time where I really saw this kind of stuff and that was immiment when they created this new title called "The Menace Championship". I mean, at first it was just a regular title but Big G had to up his political rep within the company, so he takes it and he places it as the high title in the company. Like, bigger than the HWF World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, I just WON the HWF World Heavyweight Championship at the time he used the leverage for the Menace Championship. So it was like, the chance to be the top wrestler at least somewhere was ****ing tainted. And I tried to win the belt but they screwed me over so many times for getting it. So, yeah.
Chad Lights: Ended on a rough note so to speak.
K-Hard: It did. July of 2001 we closed down. I mean, like I said...good company, good community, it just ended because people wanted more and they never got what they wanted. It sucked really, it left me so down and so out. And for the next 4 years, my life went through the rollercoaster I didn't want to go on.
Chad Lights: Well I hate to say this, but we'll get to that next time, since we are out of time. Join us next time for the continuation of this Straight Shootin' series.
K-Hard: Trust me, it gets interesting.
The lights close down as the scene fades to black.
Chad Lights: Welcome to another edition of nCw Straight Shooting. I am your host this evening, Chad Lights. Our guest at this time is none other than the newest wrestler to grace the nCw's presence. Kevin Hardaway is here.. Good evening sir.
Kevin Hardaway: Thank you Chad.
Chad Lights: For those of you who don't know what a shoot interview is, I'll ask Hardaway various questions about his wrestling career and experiences outside of the ring. You ready for this?
K-Hard: Let's do this.
Chad Lights: Ok, the obvious first question is of course...how and why did you get into wrestling?
K-Hard: Well, I was actually a fan of it back when I was actually a little kid. Watching old school WWF programming, you can really thank my older brother for getting me into wrestling the first time around. Sure, I was a little and rarely remember anything, but there is a couple moments out there that basically set the bar for what was to come in the future. See, my brother was a Hulk Hogan fan and I don't know what it was, but I wasn't a fan. But someone caught my eye, and that was actually the Ultimate Warrior. Sure, he's a nutcase now with his "queering doesn't make the world work" and all of that fancy jazz. I didn't know the "behind-the-scenes" stuff when I was little, but to see some guy in facepaint, running to the ring hyper as all and squashing his opponent in record time...that's just awesome. I still have the old Ultimate Warrior "WWF Wrestling Buddies" they came out with as a keepsake in my house, so. I'm not a nerd, dammit. Haha.
Chad Lights: What were those moments you were talking about that made you a wrestling fan for good?
K-Hard: Wrestlemania 6 and Wrestlemania 8. We all know about 6, Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior: THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE! Like, this was a main event for the ages, and just a classic pitting two of the best in one ring. You don't really see that these days and such. Last time I believed was Wrestlemania 17. Rock vs. Austin. Two people of that magnitude going out there and making 60 to 70 thousand people amazed and shocked. But yeah, Ultimate Warrior winning the WWF Title, that was like IT. Sure, I look at the match now and it ain't a classic by all means, but for entertainment value. You couldn't get any better than that. Next moment was Wrestlemania 8 like I said. Main event was....oh yeah, yeah, Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Vicious. And we haven't heard anything about the Ultimate Warrior in like the longest time. And then Hogan won by DQ and Papa Shango came in and all was lost. Then the music plays and there comes the Warrior sprinting to the ring, and my dad tells me this all the time..."I was screaming, and going nuts". It was indeed an awesome moment and it made me realize...I wanna be like Hogan, I wanna be like the Warrior. I wanna be THEM!
Chad Lights: When did you start training?
K-Hard: March of 1995 I believe. It's all a blur to me, seriously. Like I do remember training, and I do remember wrestling as a local jobber in a couple house shows, but that's about it. It was really good though because actually my love for wrestling actually diminished during that time frame. WWF was getting dull and kid friendly, I was getting older, WCW was just getting it's training wheels off, it was over a year before the nWo would kick in and completely change everything, and yeah. I just decided to stop. People were pissed off, young kids were looked at as weak because I was almost basically their mentor out there. I was there the longest out of the students there as of the day I quit. So yeah, it was a tough time for me indeed. There would be tougher times and i'll get to that later once the time comes, but yeah...it was a ****ty life back then.
Chad Lights: I'm guessing the Attitude Era brought you back into the swing of things?
K-Hard: Attitude Era, D-Generation X, nWo, Stone Cold Steve Austin...yeah, pretty much. Haha. Stone Cold to me is probably a bigger idol for wrestling to me than the Ultimate Warrior ever was. And I know that he did the same damn thing for millions UPON millions of fans across the world. So, I was just one of the many I guess. But he got me back into the swing of things, I loved wrestling even more. Around...May-June of 1998 I thought about training again, and this time keeping my word of "not quitting" or "not giving up" and it took me awhile to get the answer to that question because I started training again around...April of 1999. And half of that was losing all of the excess weight I had in me from the time I took off from the first go around. And it actually took me two years to finally get recognized. I mean, I did shows, I had decent matches...not the best but definitely a good spirit from these because I learned and a small company by the name of the Hardcore World Federation was just starting and they were looking at young and agile superstars and wrestlers and they saw me and told me "Hey, how would you like a deal?", it was all set in stone. Signed the contract, went to work, and it turned out to be a life changing experience for me.
Chad Lights: How much "life changing"?
K-Hard: Well it just showed me the ropes and gave me a good value on what is there in life and how much it can either screw you over or love you like a brother. I learned the true "behind-the-scenes" of wrestling in the 2 years that I was there. I mean, out of all of the companies i've been in, it ranks up there as the 2nd greatest promotion I been in because it was such a tight community, it was such a good pack of people who had your back and people who stood up for you. I mean, it's odd that I can't remember how I trained the first time around, yet I still remember Nice Guy Danny, and Big G, and LPF, and Rage. Which by the way, not to be confused with the XHF's very own Rage. But that's another story for another time. But yeah, it was a good pack and they took me in like I was a brother to them and I can never thank them enough for how much they not only helped me but showed me the ropes and made me work with some amazing people. And around March of 2000, I met the man who I consider the brother I always wanted but never got, you know i'm talking about Jay Williams. All of the nCw originals don't know who i'm talking about, but if your a fan of XHF and WCF, then you know who the hell i'm talking about.
Chad Lights: I know who Jay is. Didn't know you met at the HWF.
K-Hard: We did. We got put into a tag team together called High Voltage. Funny thing was our names were SO ****ing corny. Mine was D.A. Hardcore and Jay's was D.A. Xtreme. Yeah, seriously...I can't remember how the hell we got those names but they sounded awesome and kick ass at the time, so...yeah, haha. But in the style of the Dudleys and such, we were made "brothers" by them. I didn't mind, Jay seemed like a smart kid. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri...had a good childhood. Little cocky when I first met him, but he'll disagree with that of course, haha.
Chad Lights: How was your careers there?
K-Hard: Decent. Pretty decent. Won the Tag Team titles 3 times, stuff like that. I say decent though because of some of the backstage politics that were going on around there, and like I said, that was the first time where I really saw this kind of stuff and that was immiment when they created this new title called "The Menace Championship". I mean, at first it was just a regular title but Big G had to up his political rep within the company, so he takes it and he places it as the high title in the company. Like, bigger than the HWF World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, I just WON the HWF World Heavyweight Championship at the time he used the leverage for the Menace Championship. So it was like, the chance to be the top wrestler at least somewhere was ****ing tainted. And I tried to win the belt but they screwed me over so many times for getting it. So, yeah.
Chad Lights: Ended on a rough note so to speak.
K-Hard: It did. July of 2001 we closed down. I mean, like I said...good company, good community, it just ended because people wanted more and they never got what they wanted. It sucked really, it left me so down and so out. And for the next 4 years, my life went through the rollercoaster I didn't want to go on.
Chad Lights: Well I hate to say this, but we'll get to that next time, since we are out of time. Join us next time for the continuation of this Straight Shootin' series.
K-Hard: Trust me, it gets interesting.
The lights close down as the scene fades to black.