When you hear the name Steve Keirn you think of one word and that word is “legend”. RF VIDEO sat down with Steve Keirn to discuss his entire career in world of professional wrestling and that career was a long one. Steve is one of those guys who has worked in every territory and for every major wrestling company out there. He has traveled the roads and shared the locker room with every major superstar in this business. Steve sits down with us to go into great detail on how he got started in the business down in FL breaking in for Eddie Graham to becoming one of the hottest tag team acts during the 80’s with his partner Stan Lane as the Fabulous Ones. Steve also became known in the WWE as Skinner and of course had a run as Doink when Matt Bourne got fired from the company. When we left the company he ventured off to the land of WCW where he did not want to play politics and eventually became the head trainer and owner of the WWE training facility in Tampa which created the biggest stars in the business today.Steve starts the interview talking about his time working the early circuit like most legends in this business. Steve broke into wrestling down in Florid and ended up working in Atlanta, Memphis, AWA, Japan, and everywhere in between. You will hear tons and tons of locker room stories from around this time period of the 70’s and 80’s. If you are a old school fan this is such a great interview because he has stories on everyone.
He was not just Skinner, a gimmick that portrayed him as a tobacco spitting alligator hunter from the Everglades. Steve Keirn really shined in this business when he teamed up with Stan Lane as the Fabulous Ones but they would also encounter problems in this business as well. What happened when they made their AWA debut and the Road Warriors did not want to do business with them. Steve has a great story on how he ended up shooting on Road Warrior Hawk with a chair and you will hear first hand what happened backstage after the match. Oh did I forget to mention he had to go back out and work him later that night in a battle royal!!! What problems did the team face in Memphis when Jerry Lawler had the book and was there problems being a top babyface with Lawler on top? We talk about all of their major feuds all over the country and their runs in Memphis, AWA and down in Florida.
Steve goes into great detail of his runs in the WWE and WCW but to me the best part of the interview is talking about the golden days of wrestling during the 80’s. If you are a true long time fan like myself you will love all his stories on all of the companies that dominated our sport during the 80’s. Steve was also known as a big ribber and has so many funny locker room stories to share.
When you watch the WWE today on TV you have to know in the back of your mind that Steve Keirn is responsible for turning out many of those superstars that you cheer for every Monday night on WWE Raw. Steve talks in great detail how he became the owner of FCW and we look into the schools history with the company from what the company looks for in new wrestlers just trying to get their big break into the WWE and so much more. Want to hear what guys go thru when they enter the training facility? What roles do Dusty Rhodes, Joey Matthews, Billy Kidman, Norman Smiley and Billy Gunn play in the school? Steve gives us a great look into the WWE machine like never before because not only is he one of the most well respected teachers out there in our business, but Steve has done it all in our industry and is just a sponge of knowledge.
This is just one of those interviews that will have you on the edge of your seats because like me it was so fun to listen to and hear stories on the business when I loved it the most the 80’s. Don’t worry if you started watching in the 90’s to now there is plenty of current event stories as well. The Steve Keirn shoot interview is not only very informative but very funny with his humorous take on the business. When the camera was turned off, Steve told me that nothing he said could get him in trouble because it was all the truth and he would never go back and change a thing that he accomplished. One of our best interviews of 2013 for sure!!!
Were you a wrestling fan growing up
Did you go to high school with Hogan
What promotions did you follow.
How did you break into the business
Who trained you
What are your early memories of the Funks
How instrumental was Hiro Matsuda in your career
Early memories of Jack and Jerry Brisco
Did you start your early career in Florida
Memories of Eddie Graham
Who were some of the other guys in the territory at the time
Early Memories of teaming with Bob Backland
Memories of a young Jimmy Garvin in FL
Memories of teaming with Brian Blair
Early memories of Dusty Rhodes
Early memories of Mike Graham
Thoughts on winning the tag titles 9 times with Mike
Memories of working with the Valiants
Memories of working with Chavo Guerrero Sr
Memories of Ric Flair coming into the territory and working with him in 1986
Early memories of Dusty Rhodes
Memories of Bob Orton
Memories of Bob Roop
Memories of Pak Song
Memories of Bugsy McGraw
Memories of Killer Kox
Memories of Mr Saito
Memories of Ron Bass
What year did you leave Florida and what territory did you go to from there
Memories of working in Georgia
How was Ole Anderson as a booker
Any good stories on Jim Barnett
What other talent was in the territory when you were in Georgia
Memories of Stan Hansen
Memories of Tommy RIch
memories of Roddy Piper
Memories of Baron Von Raschke
Memories of working Terry Funk
Memories of Sullivan in Georgia
Memories of Bruiser Brody
Memories of going down to Memphis
Early memories of Jerry Jarrett and what was he like as a promoter
Early memories of Jerry Lawler
Early Memories of Bill Dundee
Memories on Dutch Mantell
Memories of Austin Idol
Memories of Sweet Brown Sugar
Early Memories of Bobby Eaton
What were your first impressions of Stan Lane before you teamed with him you worked him
How did the entire concept come up for the Fabulous Ones.
Is it true the concept was for you to come in as heels and feud with the Fargo brothers but the gimmick got so over as baby faces they had to turn you as faces
Who’s idea was it for Tuxedos and top hats
Did Jarret try to recreate the Fabulous Fargos with you guys and have Fargo with you and then you were supposed to turn on Fargo and become heels
You were so over as a baby face is that why they never turned you guys as heels
Early memories of Jim Cornette
Memories of the sell outs at the Mid South coliseum
Worked Louisville drew 9000 fans in Memphis
Memories of working the Moondogs
Memories of working the Assassins
Memories of working with Rick Rude and King Kong Bundy
Memories of Koko B Ware
Memories of working the Sheepherders
What was the travel like in the Memphis territory
How crazy was the ring rat scene in Memphis
Was Jerry Lawler easy to work with as a booker during the early 80’s some say he would not let any of the other baby faces get over as he always tried to keep himself on top
Any good road stories from Memphis
What was it like traveling the circuit with Stan in the mid 80’s
how much money did you guys make selling gimmicks in Memphis like 8X10’s
What was your favorite company to work for in the mid 80’s
Thoughts on going to AWA
What was Verne Gagne like as a promoter
Thoughts on Greg Gagne
Do you think Verne did not know how to use you to get you over, like Verne was out of touch with the whole music and wrestling connection
Memories of working with the Road Warriors doing a lot of double count outs
In our shoot they had mentioned there was a issue about doing a job to you because of the size of your team what are your thoughts on that
Did you know they were going to go in the ring and not work with you
Were they stiff or did you ever get pissed that they would not sell for you
How did you wind up going back to Florida
How different was the territory from the first time you were there
What talent was there around this time
Memories of Barry Whindham
Memories of BlackJack Mulligan
Memories of Mod Squad
Memories of JJ Dillon
Memories of Kevin Sullivan and thoughts of his Devil worship gimmick
Early memories of Lex Luger
Memories of Oliver Humperdink
Memories of Gordon Solie
How hot was the FL territory during the mid 80’s
Any good Florida road stories
THoughts on Eddie Grahams suicide
How did you find out that Stan Lane was going to leave and go to the NWA
Why did you never work for Jim Crockett full time
WHo were some of your favorite teams to work with
Before you went to WWE you worked for USWA teaming with Doug Gilbert thoughts on that
How different was the Memphis Territory
How did you get called up to come into the WWE in 1991
Initial impressions of meeting Vince and what was your meeting like
Who came up with the Skinner gimmick and were you for it
Memories of working Bret Hart
Memories of working Virgil in King of the Ring
Memories of the WWE locker room in the early 90’s
Who were the top guys there around this time
Early thoughts on the Undertaker
Early memories of Curt Henning
Memories of Rick Martel
Memories of Scott Hall
Memories of working Tatanka
Thoughts on jim Duggan
Memories of Survivor Series Hacksaw/Slaughter/vonErich/Santana defeated Mustafa/Hercules/Skinner/Berzerker..
Thoughts on taking over as Doink when Matt Bourne left the company
Did you like doing that character
How did you end up in WCW
Thoughts on Teaming with Bobby Eaton as Bad Attitude
Memories working with the Armstrong’s in 1994 at Bash at the Beach and Fall Brawl
Why did you retire
What did you do for work after you left WCW
How did you get hired in 2004 as a road agent for WWE
How different was the company
What were your specific duties for being a road agent for Smackdown
Take us thru a night of TV from the time you get to the town to getting to the TV tapings what did you have to specifically have to do
Do you think the boys looked at you as office or one of the boys
Did any of the workers ever give you issues
Who were some of the guys just coming up around this time that had the “it factor”
Did you let the guys work more and have more fun on house shows
Early Thoughts on John Cena
Early thoughts on Randy Orton
How did you end up getting so involved in the WWE training schools in Tampa
Find out his role in the WWE after he was a active wrestler Johnny Act wanted someone in FL to run the school President of FCW
Do you think its good for WWE developmental talent not to train in different territories like the guys did in the 80’s
What goes on down in FL once a guy gets signed take us thru the process that they go thru
What do they learn first
What is your role at the school
Who are the other trainers down there, Dusty, Norman, Joey Matthews, Billy Kidman, Billy Gunn what are their roles at the school
What does the company look for in a new Wrestler
When A guy comes to the school what is the first thing that stands out that
makes WWE invest in them
Take us through the steps that a wrestler goes through when they come to the
training facility
What guys are you most happy about producing from the facility
How long is it before a wrestler gets called up to TV
Did you ever have to go on the road while doing the school
Who would you have to answer to when they would call in to check on the status of talent To see how they are doing
What are the benefits of the new WWE facility
Did you like the move from Tampa to Orlando
How involved are you with the new facility
What do you miss the most about the business
Any crazy locker room fights
What do you think about the new revival in tag team Wrestling in Wwe
Being that you were a top tag team wrestler do you feel that there is no money
in Tag teams
Favorite match in the business
Any regrets