»Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Monday, June 6, 2005 at 1:45 PM EST

Tim Stein sent in the following recap...

WrestleTalkRadio.com: WTR Sunday Night with Jeremy Borash & Jerry Lynn
June 5, 2005; Hosted by Tim Stein, Jason Clevett & JJ Sexay
Listen to the full show here.
by Ian Hamilton

Less than one week before Hardcore Homecoming, Jerry Lynn and Jeremy Borash joined WrestleTalkRadio’s Sunday Night show. The show opened off with the classic ECW theme, with JJ Sexay (in Oklahoma) announcing tonight’s guests, as well as Jason Clevett and Tim Stein in Calgary, joined by special co-host Harmonious Harmony.

Jason and Harmony talked about last Monday’s Raw TV taping at Calgary’s Saddledome, with Jason talking about Harry Smith, Wavell Starr and Synn, who were all involved in dark and Heat matches at the taping, as well as other happenings before, during and after the taping.

JJ Sexay talked about the old ECW DVDs he was watching while preparing for the interviews, which led to a little confusion among the lineage of the ECW world title, before Sexay threw a question out to the chat-room about what everyone’s favourite ECW match was. Bouts such as the Raven vs Tommy Dreamer cage match, Cactus Jack & Terry Funk vs Public Enemy and Jerry Lynn vs RVD were named by the chat-room regulars.

After a break, WTR returned and discussed a question from the chat-room over what the real “ECW” show is: Hardcore Homecoming or One Night Stand; given that One Night Stand was being fronted by Vince McMahon, and Hardcore Homecoming had the true stars of ECW. Unfortunately, scheduled guest Terry Funk wasn’t available, so Jeremy Borash agreed to substitute for the Funkster, and he was up after the show’s second break.

JJ introduced TNA ring announcer Jeremy Borash to the show. Jason asked Borash about promoting the Hardcore Homecoming event, as well as producing the Forever Hardcore documentary, which Jeremy admitted was a lot of hard work, but it was also exciting. Borash revealed that the documentary would reveal stuff about the likes of Sabu, Shane Douglas and the Sandman, who weren’t represented in WWE’s ECW DVD, while Borash said that New Jack would be talking about the Mass Transit incident on the DVD. Borash said that one of the main problems with the WWE’s documentary was that they mainly used WWE-contracted guys, and he put over his DVD as putting over the “other side” of ECW’s story.

JJ asked Borash what the main difference would be between the two shows next weekend – apart from the fact that One Night Stand was being backed by Vince McMahon. Borash accused McMahon of having no faith in the ECW brand name, given how he’s flooding the ECW PPV with midcard guys from Raw, before putting over Hardcore Homecoming as a “Viking Hall reunion”. Borash mentioned how, when he worked for WCW, there were loads of guys who breached their contracts by going to watch ECW events – but they loved ECW, even though they couldn’t admit it.

Borash admitted that everyone on the shows would be older than they were at their peak, before saying “this isn’t going to be AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels – nostalgia is what’s going to make this special”. Jason Clevett then asked whether the planned CW Anderson vs Kid Kash match was still going to be on, due to Kash’s release by TNA – an announcement on that should be made on Monday, according to JB.

Borash said that he would have loved to have seen the likes of Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer and the Dudleyz on the Hardcore Homecoming show – but realistically, it isn’t going to happen, but the show would have a load of guys whose lives were transformed by ECW – like Raven (who was Scotty Flamingo before he went to ECW). JJ Sexay brought up Raven’s career path, from Scotty the Body to Johnny Polo to Raven,

Jason asked Jeremy how the former ECW guys influenced the younger workers in TNA. Borash put over Raven and Shane Douglas, saying that Douglas especially put in countless hours with the up and coming wrestlers passing on his knowledge, while Raven held classes on cutting promos.

JJ asked Borash to run down the talent roster for the Hardcore Homecoming show. Borash couldn’t name all of them (over 30), but put over the three-way dance main event (Funk vs Sabu vs Douglas), before promising a few surprises at the event. Jason then asked why people should pick the DVD of Hardcore Homecoming over the WWE show (when they get released). Borash replied: “we are about recreating something a lot of fans hold very dear to their heart… the difference will be the feel of the show. We’re not trying to hide the fact we’re a nostalgia show… I think our (presentation) will tug more at the heartstrings… it’s going to be a lot more special (than the WWE’s show)”

Borash then said how they tracked down the “real ECW fans” – including Hat Guy and the Howard Stern look-a-like, who hasn’t been to any wrestling shows since ECW shut down. JJ brought up how he was at ECW’s final show in Pine Bluff, AR, before Borash said that some of the interviews on the DVD would be talking about that final night in Arkansas. Jason asked if they would be doing a tour based on Hardcore Homecoming’s success. Borash said that if the fans wanted it, it’d happen, but right now it was only a one night deal. Borash put over Vince McMahon as a promoter, but then criticised him for his handling of the WCW invasion – and then questioned how Vince’s ego would deal with having to work with the ECW brand, even if it is short-term.

Before leaving the show, JB said that “this will be TNA’s year” – and reiterated that wrestling needs competition in order for it to improve. Jason Clevett asked if TNA had secured a TV deal: after fooling us with a HBO story, Borash said that he couldn’t say a word about any impending deal for TNA.

After a short break, WTR returned with Jerry Lynn’s old TNA music (also used by AJ Styles – the music he admitted on the show a few weeks back he hated). Lynn hated the music, and said “I’m lucky I don’t own a handgun, because it’d be in my mouth right now… it reminds me of a horrible elevator version of Bruce Springsteen’s song”. Lynn then said that they used the knocked-off song because TNA couldn’t get a lawyer to license the proper song. Lynn talked about his ECW music, and how his Fear Factory music almost got bumped because it was “too hard” for the company.

Clevett asked how Lynn’s training had been going along from his torn rotator cuff. Lynn admitted he hadn’t done any in-ring work yet, and was hoping that the shoulder would hold up on Friday – despite trying to come back from a 12-month injury in nine months so he can wrestle Justin Credible. Lynn originally wanted the match in a cage match, but he decided to drop the idea after TNA’s LockDown PPV, which he admitted watered down the cage match gimmick.

Clevett asked Lynn about his “Summer Series” of matches with Credible in ECW, starting with their debuts against each other at the ECW Arena. Lynn said that he originally asked ECW for permission to do spots – then he dropped it after a while, before Clevett asked about Lynn scrawling “DIE” on his chest with blood during a ECW World title match with Steve Corino. Lynn said that he did it to make the match stick out, as there wasn’t a major storyline going into it.

They brought up the supposed look-a-like between Jerry Lynn and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, with Lynn replying how the comparison was featured in the English rock music magazine, Kerrang! JJ mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing Jerry Lynn vs RVD – to which Jerry replied that they were going to try and do the match at the One Night Stand show. When Van Dam was injured, they then thought they’d try Lynn at the start of the show, replacing Chris Candido (who I guess would have had a spot on the show, had tragedy not intervened), but the whole situation doesn’t seem likely due to TNA-WWE politics.

JJ talked about an interview with Rob Van Dam in the English newspaper The Sun, quoting: “some day down the road some promoter is going to want to put (RVD and Jerry Lynn) together again.” Clevett and JJ put over Lynn, saying his matched with RVD put Van Dam over as a star, before mentioning how Lynn’s role as a road agent has helped TNA’s X-Division improve to what it is today. Lynn said that he feels great for helping people get the X-Division to where it is today, and that he’s learned a lot from simply being a road agent, and he hopes he can return to the ring and apply what he’s learned as an agent in his matches.

Lynn then ran through a list of guys he’d like to wrestle – including AJ Styles, Sean Waltman (reviving the old Lightning Kid feud from over a decade ago). Clevett asked if Lynn’s friendship with Waltman had continued, and rather bizarrely, asked if he’d seen Waltman’s home movie. Lynn brought up how he was ribbed by TNA, when they listed “age 40, at a crossroads in his career” during a tale-of-the-tape segment for a match.

Lynn brought up how he got the torn rotator cuff in a match with Juventud Guerrera, and said how it wasn’t a good experience, including how Juvi didn’t even check on him after being injured. After talking about Team Canada, Lynn brought back memories of working in Canada – including getting Lance Storm to sing to some song on the radio while driving to a show – before revealing that he is partly-Canadian. Lynn mentioned how he didn’t get a chance to see much of Canada when he was with the WWF, as he namechecked a dozen cities.

Lynn said he didn’t miss working for the bigger companies, because when he worked for WWF and WCW, he wanted to quit wrestling as they “sucked the fun out of it”, due to all the politics there. Jason asked for any advice for the new breed of indie guys who were due to sign for WWE – Lynn said “don’t sign unless you’re given a contract – if you’re given a developmental deal, you won’t be seen again”, because all they’re doing is raiding talent from other promotions, but have no plans to use them at all.

Talk then turned to the ECW One Night Stand, and how “Vince is bastardising” ECW, while Lynn dared Vince to book for business rather than to satisfy his own ego. Naturally, thoughts moved onto the Hardcore Homecoming event, before Lynn was asked about his time in ROH, where he wrestled in a tournament. He commented that while things have changed, when he started, the matches were all the same non-stop spot-fests, which generated a weird atmosphere. He didn’t know if ROH would have a spot for him when he returns from injury. Lynn was asked about working with Nigel McGuinness – he said that he enjoyed it, and that working with some British wrestlers (such as Doug Williams) taught him a lot of different techniques which he’s learned from.

“If Jerry had a band, what would he call it?” – Jerry threw out some names, like Dripping Urethra (as suggested by Lance Storm), Scabby Afterbirth and Daggered Foreskin. Moving swiftly on… if Jerry could forget anything in his career, what could it be: “your whole WWF career?” “was there one? (winning the Light Heavyweight title) was the kiss of death”

Jerry was then asked if he agreed with the conspiracy theory what Paul Heyman was only kept on with WWE to avoid going to TNA. “I think he knows where the bodies are buried”. Jason then asked Jerry about Lance Storm’s new wrestling school, which is due to open in September – which produced another testimonial for Storm’s Wrestling Academy.

Lynn was asked: “What would you say the best ECW-sanctioned match you’ve seen?” Jerry struggled to pin one down, but he picked out Bill Alfonso’s bloody match with Beulah, which he said was great for a match between two non-workers. Lynn said that, when done right, blood adds emotion and drama to a match, because the sight of blood affects the crowd.

Jason asked for a “funny Jerry Lynn story” – and he brings up the “Juggernaut leg-humping story” – and several “romantic” incidents with wrestlers in bars. They brought up the recent interview with AJ Styles, where talk quickly moved onto sex and poop, and then talked about Lynn’s family life. Lynn said that he sacrificed a lot, seeing his daughter growing up; how he’s had to live in Atlanta and Orlando for work, but has had to leave his family behind in Minneapolis, but said that it’ll be easier to see his family now he’s not working full time. Lynn added that people breaking into wrestling should finish college – and do what Brad Rheinigans told him: don’t think you’ll be a multi-millionaire or the next Hulk Hogan, because it’s not going to happen. Finally, Lynn thanked the fans for their support as a wrestler – and said that he had a few more goals left, including a cage match with Justin Credible – and “support your underground metal”. Listen to the show here.