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Covering Independent Wrestling, Classics and other stuff the widest variety of pro wrestling anywhere is what WP&P does best
Monday, January 11, 2021
Mike Bennett Recalls How Vince McMahon Reportedly Felt About Him In WWE
After spending three disappointing and underwhelming years in WWE, Mike Bennett – along with his wife Maria Kanellis – was released as part of the COVID cuts in April. After his non-compete expired, Bennett then made his return to Ring of Honor in November which is where he's experienced the most success in his pro wrestling career.
With the lack of success, or happiness, during his WWE run, Bennett was asked when the last time he felt happy in wrestling was during an interview on The Walkway To Fight Club podcast.
"Probably in Impact," said Bennett who worked for Impact in between his first ROH run and his time in WWE. "We did a segment in Impact, it was a wedding segment with Allie, Braxton and Maria. That was probably the last time I actually enjoyed working, believe it or not. That was probably like almost four years ago, where I was genuinely happy enjoying myself. I loved my time over at Impact. So, I had a good time going there.
"But the last three years at WWE, I just wasn't happy. It's not a knock on WWE, they have a culture there. That's how they run their business. Some people work jobs that they hate all the time. And it's just they come to an agreement that I'm just not happy here and some people are and some people are not. It just happened that this place isn't for me. I don't like how it functions. It doesn't meet my values."
Apart from being creatively frustrated and not enjoying the work environment, Bennett also struggled personally during his time in WWE and was admitted to alcohol rehab. He was asked if it ever got to the point where he thought about just not showing up to work.
"No, it honestly didn't. I'm not that type of person. But it was very mind-boggling to me because I was like, 'I don't understand you.' I had been told straight up by people in the office that said Vince just doesn't see anything in you," revealed Bennett. "I said, 'Okay, that's fine. That's fair. That's it his company. But if he doesn't see anything in me, and he doesn't think he can make money off of me, then why am I still here? Why not let me go?' It just never logically made sense to me. If you think someone's a talent, and you think they're gonna make you money, and they want to go, you go, 'I don't want you going anywhere else, because I don't want you to make money because I want to make money off you.'
"But Vince, that he straight up told people, he didn't see anything in me. So, if that's the case, then what are you keeping me for? Vengeance and or spite? It never logically made sense to me. I had asked for my release a couple times privately and I was told no. The third time I said, 'I don't care anymore. I'll still show up to work but make it abundantly clear I don't want to be here anymore.' Because of the power of social media, I'm going to use it and until I made it public on Twitter, they sent me home after that, which is fine. I'd never not show up. I always showed up and did my job.
"Then after sitting at home for like four or five months, then they brought me back down to NXT. I still showed up and did that. At that point, I think I just kind of accepted it. I was like, 'Alright, if they're gonna have sour grapes and if it's just gonna be vengeful and spiteful, I'll just come and make the most of it for the next five years and, and then we'll see where it goes from there.' But in my head, I was never like, 'I'm not not going to show up' because my parents didn't raise me that way. It's not in my blood. I just couldn't do that. So, I would always show up. It wasn't a happy place for me to be."
Damien Sandow Talks WWE's Travel Schedule During His Time With The Company
Sandow, aka Aron Stevens, had a six-year run in WWE that included winning the Tag Team Championship alongside The Miz and being a Money in the Bank contract winner. He recounted his first day training at Killer Kowalski's during an interview with Giancarlo Aulino.
"I was 16 at the time and I remember Killer Kowalski or Walter as he was known to his students and people that knew him. He taught me how to lock up – it was outside the ring in front of a mirror – I'll never forget that. He taught me how to lock up and taught me a hammerlock and all that," said Sandow.
"First day, I got to go into the ring which was pretty cool and that was a big deal. And then of course some of the older guys they thought, 'Who's this kid going into the ring the first day?' Cause I guess that wasn't a thing back then. And you know, it was interesting – I took my bumps and bruises and I wasn't in any danger, but the older students, they roughed me up a little bit. But it was, you know, it made you tougher and I don't know if wrestling is like that nowadays. I can say I don't think it is but I haven't seen, as far as on the ground floor when people are breaking in and things like that cause I don't hang around wrestlers that much. That was my personal experience with it and I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Sandow was just 16 when he began his wrestling training under Kowalski but he made it clear that he wasn't treated unfairly by the older wrestlers there and it was the normal learning of the ropes.
"Let me just clarify, there was no like hazing or anything like that… no, it was just okay, this kid wants to be in a man's world and you know what it is, they didn't want to make any exceptions for me. It wasn't like that. It was just like, 'Okay, you're with us. Let's make sure you know how to be here' and this and that," stated Sandow.
He had three different stints in WWE under three different names. First he was Aaron Stevens and worked roughly a dozen matches in 2002-03 before returning to OVW. He was then called up again in 2006 where he went by Idol Stevens before being released a year later. Sandow then returned to FCW in 2010 and re-debuted on the main roster as Damien Sandow in 2011.
Sandow would stay with WWE until being released in 2016 and through all his stints, Sandow described WWE's travel schedule.
"You have a day-and-a-half at home. Your plane lands at 11:30 [am] on a Wednesday. You know, you've been up since 5 am, you catch your flight, you do your laundry. Then Friday, you get up six in the morning, catching a flight, three house shows, then you do two TVs [tapings], then you do it again. Yeah, it was no time at home," revealed Sandow. "It's funny cause I hear now how the schedule is and I'm like, 'Oh my God' …well this is pre-pandemic too… yeah, like that schedule is nothing [laughs]. You know, for what they did and what they expected from us."
Unlike all other sports, there is no off-season for pro wrestling. They also don't schedule events around holidays so Sandow was asked if wrestlers got any time off for special events like holidays.
"Day after Christmas we'd leave and we'd get home for New Year's, which was a very lucrative loop which was cool. And people getting time off like, 'Oh, I need some time off.' We would never think about doing that… ever think about doing that. I think you know what with some guys, I think they're just for some reason they're more lenient, but I never ever, ever got any special treatment from the office or anything like that," said Sandow. "Like I never… nobody ever made an exception in my case and they would with some guys, but that's what they do and it's like that in any business.
"This isn't just, 'Oh, evil WWE.' No, it's just sometimes some people get breaks, sometimes other people don't, that's it. They compensated me for it and life goes on."
After leaving WWE and spending about one year in Impact Wrestling, Sandow took a break from the business in 2017. He would resurface in late 2019 with NWA where he is the current Tag Team Champion alongside JR Kratos.
Sandow talked about working for the promotion and for NWA's owner Billy Corgan.
"Amazing. I think Billy is somebody who is very much in tune with the public and at the same time, he is an artist first and foremost and I've always approached wrestling like that," said Sandow. "You know, a lot of guys would be like, 'Oh, let me just go out there and do my match' like no, this is performance art. This is 100 percent performance art and it's funny, him and I we're very much on the same page in terms of character development. It's been a very, very positive experience and an honor to work with him."
The National Wrestling Alliance dates back to 1948 and boasts such legendary champions as Ric Flair, Harley Race, Lou Thesz and Sting. Sandow is now part of that history as he held the NWA Heavyweight Championship for nearly a year.
Sandow talked about the rich history of NWA as well as what makes NWA Powerr so much fun to watch.
"In my opinion, WWE has only been around 20 years something like that right? But, okay, you had the WWF you can trace the lineage of the WWF and this and that but before that, the NWA… like there is no three letters in pro wrestling active today that have a tradition like those three letters," said Sandow. "I mean this in my opinion is not for debate. Even if you back far enough to WWWF, that was part of the NWA, so like roots run deep there.
"You know, the presentation of NWA Powerrr and just how everything was kind of presented, you take that traditional template and you take the template of matches that are fun to watch with distinct characters, promos that help the characters get over, to me it was an easy show to watch. It was a fun show to watch – it left people wanting more. But you're also able to think outside the box a little bit and that to me keeps the product relevant today in 2020…2019 when it first came out too. It keeps it relevant; it keeps it cutting edge so you're not watching essentially a carbon copy of 1985 because if you did that, that wouldn't work. You know, the wrestling style is different, just everything is different – the society is different. But at the same time, it's like you're rooted in tradition yet kind of carving your own path and I think that's just a wonderful thing that NWA does."
The Never Ending Sorry Ass Soap Opera Has, FINALLY Ended As Jeff Jarrett Settles Lawsuit With Anthem Sports
The following motion was filled before the U.S. District Court Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) on Friday 1/8 and was entered into court records today:
"Plaintiffs Global Force Entertainment, Inc. and Jeffrey Jarrett and Defendant Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC (each a “Party” and collectively “Parties) have agreed to a settlement in this case.
Based on the settlement, the Parties respectfully request the Court administratively close the case so as to retain jurisdiction over this case and the Parties until such time as all terms of the settlement have been met.
If the terms of the settlement are met, and unless any Party objects, they will submit a joint request for dismissal of the claims and counterclaims in the case by no later than October 1, 2022."
So, after being denied a new trial after their previous mistrial, the two sides had no choice but to come to a settlement, as the court implored them to do. About fucking time this ended as it had been going on for seemingly forever, longer than most wrestling angles, but at least the wrestling angles were more entertaining than this shit.
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