The Matt Striker interview was vastly different from our other shoot interviews. Sure RFVIDEO covered EVERYTHING in Matt’s career from his time on the indy scene before he got signed by the WWE when he worked for USA Pro, 3PW, ICW, Steve Corino’s World 1, ECWA, NYWC, Cyber Space, MLW and all of the other companies that he worked for but this interview was filled with the best WWE stories ever from what goes on behind the scenes. Matt got an amazing break into the WWE and got to do more behind the scenes work than most talent that gets hired by the WWE. Matt worked with everyone backstage from working in the Gorilla position with Vince himself, working with HHH and his assistant, doing color, being a interviewer, being a character, working on Raw, Smackdown and ECW and rubbing elbows with the biggest names in the business. Matt also had a ton of heat on himself when he was in the WWE and he goes into incredible detail on why he had heat.
Matt tells us from the heart without sugar coating anything why he had issues when he first got there with some of the biggest names in the WWE. You will hear first hand on why Chris Benoit kicked him out of the locker room and this story is amazing. I do not want to give away any spoilers when it comes to this story but it is one of the best locker room stories of all time and I loved how open Matt was about it. You will hear all about the verbal assault that Benoit gave to Matt in front of the locker room and than what happened between the two from that point going forward. What happened when JBL held court with Matt when he was drunk at a hotel and how did Matt handle himself. These are just a few of the stories that makes the DVD worth watching but the entire interview is amazing WWE stories that you will you never heard before and it’s all behind the scene stuff when it comes to production of the WWE TV and PPV’s.
Matt was a main fixture on those shows and you will hear how everything comes together for him when he was doing color and what it was really like to work with Michael Cole. What goes into doing live shows on Raw and PPV’s? How does he prepare for the show? What advice did he get from Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross and how did Steven Regal help him in the WWE? You will find out!!!
What was it like being the host of NXT and watching CM Punk and Bryan Danielson rise to fame? What did Matt and John Cena talk about when nobody was around? How did Matt get to talk to the Undertaker about his heat with the locker room and how did Undertaker take to Matt Striker? You will find out!!!
Matt talks about working with all the big names in the WWE, and if you watch WWE from 2006 up until last week of August 2013 you need to get this shoot interview. Matt pulls no punches on why he was let go and how did he feel about his release. You will hear for the first time ever about how he was let go and what went down in the meeting and who he called afterwards.
Matt’s story is incredible because he was a die hard wrestling fan that paid his dues and got to live the dream and you will hear how he handled success. What did Matt think to himself when nobody was around after working with the top guys in the business? What did Kurt Angle say to Matt the night he made his debut on TV in Philly before their match?
Besides the backstage stuff with production and being a talent in the WWE, Matt worked with the hottest indy names in the business from 2003 until he started with the WWE.
Tommy Dreamer also crashed his interview and made a cameo a few times….Here are just some of the topics that we talked about…..
Were you a wrestling fan growing up and did you like NWA or WWF
Memories of some of your first house shows that you attended
What promotions did you enjoy to watch as a fan
Who were your favorite guys to watch when you were a fan
At what age did you say that you wanted to get into the business.
How did you make your first contact as a fan to get friendly with someone in the business
How did you get hooked up with Johnny Rodz and why his school
What was your regular weekly training routine at the school
Did you ever get discouraged
What was harder for you to learn the bump taking or the psychology
Who else was in your class
Memories of some of the earlier indy companies you worked for
Thoughts on the infamous Frank Goodman shows from the Elks lodge
Is it true you were security for Goodman at first
Memories of working with Mike Kruel
Memories of match with Christopher St Connection vs. Simon Diamond & Matt Striker
Memories of matches with Vordell Walker
Memories of working Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido vs. Simon Diamond & you
Memories of working with Becky Bayless and your gimmick that you did with her in USA Pro
Memories teaming up with Simon Diamond
Who was the first big name that you got to work with as a Vet on a indy show
How did you self promote yourself to get booked for all the NJ/NY/PA companies
Memories of working for Jim Ketner
Did he run a good dressing room
Memories of working for Pro Wrestling World One and how did you get to go to Japan
Thoughts on your Japan tours
Who did you get to work with over there and was it hard to adjust to that style
Matt Striker & Josh Daniels vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita Thoughts on that match
Josh Daniels & Matt Striker vs. C.W. Anderson & Simon Diamond Memories
Thoughts on Low Ki and does he take this business to serious
Memories of working him
Memories of Cyber Space shows.
Thoughts on the late Billy Fire Hawk as a promoter
Did you get to interact at all with Vince Russo when he was helping run the shows
Did you politic at all back than to try to get into TNA
Memories of working with Josh Daniels in Cyberspace
Memories of your tag match with Jeff Jarrett against AMW
Memories working Elix Skipper in Cyberspace
Memories of working Ron Killings in 3PW
How did you get hooked up with 3PW
Memories of working with Jasmine St Clair
Memories of teaming up with Rob Eckos in 3PW
Who’s idea was it for you to do the impersonation gimmick there
Who was your favorite guy that you imitated, Sandman, Savage, Road Warriors, BushWackers
Thoughts on all the money troubles that the company had
Memories of working Chris Hero
Memories of working Crow Bar
Memories of working Jimmy Snuka in 3pw
Why did you leave the company
Thoughts on CM Punk and did you see his early potential when you worked on the shows he was on
Memories of your match in ROH in NY against Kid Kruel
Memories of working with Chris Candido which was his final match on the indy scene before he passed
Thoughts on Chris Candido as a person
Did you get along with Tammy and what do you think of her
Thoughts on Prince Nana
Memories of working with Red and the SATs
Memories of MLW and Court Bouwer
Did you think that company was going to take off because they had big plans when they first came out and announced that they were going to be the next big thing type of deal
memories of working Jerry Lynn for NYWC
What was the indy scene like in 2004-2005
Who were the top guys around that time that you traveled with when you went to shows
Was anyone on the indy scene that you did not along with
When did you find time to get your degree in Educational psychology
Talk about your career in the world of teaching social studies
Did your students know you were a wrestler
How did the school board find out you were using sick days to work wrestling shows
You got major main stream press when this happened how did the media pick it up and how did it become a national story
How soon after that did you get the call from the WWE and who called you
Memories of your farewell match on the indus with Daniels and Lynn vs Eckos and yourself
What are your thoughts on Tommy Drreamer
How did Wwe approach you at first to come in and what did they lay out to you as far as their plans that they had
Did you ever go to TV at all before this for dark matches
What was the locker room like when you first went in it
Take us back to the night you did your angle with Kurt Angle what was he like to work with
Who was your agent and did you meet Vince or Johnny that night
Initial impressions of Vince
Talk about your series of matches with Kurt Angle and did you like how that played out
How soon did WWE sign you to a contract
Memories of working for WWE Heat
Memories of working with Rene Dupree
Memories of working with Tajiri
Memories of your time in Deep South and why did you have to go there
Who were the trainers down there when you were there
Do you have any horror stories on Bill Demont since many others claim he was abusive
WHo were some of the other guys in the training camp
What did they want you to perfect in Deep South and how did you develop your heel persona with the teaching gimmick
Take us thru a normal day in training in the WWE developmental system
Memories of your angle you did with Carlito where he spit in your face
Memories of the six man with TVD Carlito and Haas vs Chris Masters, Shelton Benjamin and yourself
Did you like working with Eugene
You got to work John Cena what was that like in July of 2006
What was the WWE locker room like
Who were the locker room leaders
Did any of the vets mentor you and take you under their wing
who did you travel with in the WWE
It was rumored that you had a lot of heat when you first came into the company what was that about and why did Chris Benoit move your bags out of the locker room and put them in a closet
Did JBL rib you at all
How long did it take for you to get the respect of some of the top talents
Memories of working in the fake ECW with Sandman
Memories of your 6 man with Mike Knox and Test vs Dreamer, Sandman and Sabu
Memories of working with Balls in ECW
Memories of working Stevie Richards in ECW
Memories of working CM Punk in ECW on house shows
Did you know that CM Punk was having his haters try to keep him down at this time
Did you like the angle with the New Breed with Thorn, Marcus Cor Von and Elijah Burke
Memories of doing Pipers Pit with the Boogie Man
Memories of working with Big Daddy V and being his manager
Did you like working in the ring in WWE as a worker or did you like being a manager
Who’s decision was it to put you in for Tazz in ECW and did you have to get any lessons on how to do play by play
Who was on your head set giving you your lines
Did you like doing announcing with Todd Grisham
Did you like working with Josh Matthews
What was it like doing the play by play for Smackdown
What was it like to be on Raw and how much pressure was it
Take us thru your daily routine for a TV taping or PPV
What did it take for yourself to get prepared for the event
Did you like hosting the NXT show
Initial impressions of Bryan Danielson and did you know he was going to blow up to be one of the top guys in the WWE
Did you like working again in NXT with Darren Young and Derrick Bateman when you teamed with Titus O Neil
Memories of teaming up with William Regal to face JTG and Darren Young
Did you like the whole kidnapping angle they did with you
Did you have any creative control at all on your character and if not what would you have done differently
As time went on explain your other duties with the WWE like WWE After Burn
Memories of your angle with Kane
What other plans did WWE have for you was there something in the works for you to come back as a major character
What did you like the best wrestling, interviewing or commentating
What are your thoughts on the Benoit tragedy
Who were some of your travel partners in the WWE
Any good road stories that you can share
What was your favorite time in the WWE
What was it like for you as a fan of the business to be working for the WWE
How political is the WWE
Thoughts on HHH and Steph and did you have a lot of interaction with them
Who was your main boss that you would interact with the most since you were at TV and did all the announcing
Take us into how much preparation you would have to do at TVs to make sure you cover all the story lines
Who were some of your favorite guys to do interviews with backstage
Who had the record for the most retakes….
Who were some of your mentors in WWE
What did you learn from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler as a commentator talk about some of the lessons that they passed down to you
What was your favorite brand to call on
What lead to your departure and how shocked were you
How did you get the call and were the doors left open
How did the release effect you mentally
You did not waste much time what are your thoughts on the Indy scene today and since you have been off the seen for almost seven years do you still keep up with the indy scene
What are your future goals
Will you go back to teaching
Any talks with TNA and do you follow their product
Who are some of your friends in the business
What is your favorite moment to date in the business
At what point did you take a look around and say to yourself wow I made it