�Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Friday, July 29, 2005 at 1:26 AM EST

Tim Stein sent in the following:

WrestleTalkRadio.com: WTR Sunday Night featuring Charlie Haas and Jimmy Rave
July 24, 2005; Hosted by Tim Stein, Jason Clevett, Harmony and Ian Hamilton (in Calgary), JJ Sexay (in Oklahoma City). Recap by Jason Clevett and Ian Hamilton.
Listen to the full show here

Another week of Wrestletalk Radio has come and gone, with another stacked show. In addition to the interviews, The Mosh from Monday Night Mayhem called in live from the Great American Bash in Buffalo, and the crew discussed the goings on of the Great American Bash and the controversial match between Muhammad Hassan and The Undertaker.

Former WWE Tag Team Champion Charlie Haas joined the show first, and immediately started talking about his excitement for his tour of Italy. He said that the market was untapped and would be a good place for wrestlers to start working. Jason asked about Haas touring the world and what his favorite memories were. Haas said his best memory was performing for the soldiers in Iraq, but also spoke highly of Japan and the experience of being in South Africa against the Guerrero’s and the fans doing soccer chants. Charlie also said that he was looking forward to being able to actually see places as opposed to just going into a town, working and leaving. He said he was really looking forward to being in Italy with Jackie, sightseeing and visiting as almost a second honeymoon as it is a very romantic place.

Jason asked Charlie to explain how he can work despite the 90 day no compete. He explained that since both were released it killed both sources of income. He said he spoke to John Laurinaitis about the fact that he had no income, and so they gave him his early release and paid the 90 days so he could wrestle for anywhere except TNA. He said when his 90 days was up he was looking forward to an opportunity to work for TNA, and that his 90 days is up the same time that they go on Spike.

Jason asked about Charlie’s feelings of not being at the Great American Bash, the first Smackdown PPV since his release. He said he had forgotten that the ppv was on, and that he was dissatisfied with the direction of creative so he didn’t watch the show. He is a big wrestling fan but is turned off from watching the WWE product as a fan. He said he has been enjoying watching TNA because it is more wrestling.

Ian Hamilton then asked about any other independent bookings Charlie has. He said he was looking forward to working for Jersey All Pro again as well as ECWA. He said he has a lot of different companies he is talking too internationally. He thanked the WWE for giving him the high profile platform.

Jason asked about Charlie’s thoughts on tag wrestling. He said he hates the current state of tag team wrestling, and that he grew up on teams like Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, The Bulldogs, The Midnight Express and that he loved tag team wrestling. He said they get a tag team that is hot and run it for two weeks and then not build on it. He credited the Dudleyz, Edge and Christian and the Hardy’s for reinventing tag wrestling in 1999 and 2000. They never tapped Shelton and Charlie’s potential and ended things after Kurt Angle. He said MNM is a great tag team and he and Bob Holly had great matches with them, and that they need to let them run instead of taking the belts off of them. On the other hand he said the tag title change was a great opportunity for Heidenreich to learn from Road Warrior Animal.

A chat room question asked about the stress of possible releases vs. the Diva Search. Charlie said he had nothing bad to say about the contestant winners, and that if he had the opportunity he may have gone that route. He said it was the fault of the industry and a slap in the face of people who paid their dues. Another chat question asked what it was like to work with Hardcore Holly. Charlie learned a lot from him being a veteran. With Shelton it was technical, with Rico it was entertaining and Holly was hard-nosed aggressive wrestling. Jason then asked about Holly’s bullying reputation and the incident where he shot on Rene Dupree at a house show. Charlie said that Bob is a good friend and what you see on TV is Bob as a competitor but he is one of the nicest guys in the world. The thing with him and Rene was more personal that Charlie did not want to get into, but it was dealt with and Rene didn’t handle things properly with Bob and Bob being the veteran took it out on him in the ring. It was physically challenging for Rene and a butt kicking but Rene learned his lesson the hard way and they remain friends.

A chat room fan asked about his relationship with Low Ki and how his success makes him look at his own future. Haas said that he and Low Ki were good friends breaking in together in JAPW and touring the world. He said Ki is phenomenal and a guy that Charlie thought would be in WWE by now, but it is better he is not because he wouldn’t be happy there. Charlie then talked about Shelton Benjamin being his best friend. Tim asked about Shelton’s matches lately and that he has been misstepping in big moves. Charlie said he hadn’t watched despite his friends being there.

Jason asked what Charlie has been watching as a fan. Charlie listed TNA, Ring of Honor, Jersey All Pro and a lot of Japanese DVD’s from All Japan and Noah. He said that WWE says wrestling doesn’t sell, it’s the entertainment, but Charlie felt that they had gotten carried away with the entertainment, and that people want to see the wrestling. He said who wouldn’t want to watch AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels. Haas said he wanted to face both men, as well as Jeff Jarrett and Shane Douglas because of what they have done and who they are.

Jason transitioned from that discussion to AJ Styles faith keeping him granted and how Charlie Haas keeps grounded. Charlie said he and Jackie are strong Catholics and that they took classes through their church before they got married and believe in a strong foundation in god. Ian asked about facing up and coming talent, Charlie said he was looking forward to getting to do what he want, and that he can throw together great tag matches. He also said he was looking forward to establishing his singles career. Ian, being English, asked if he had any offers from there and Haas said that he had been contacted to do some big shows in England in the fall.

Haas talked about returning to Jersey All Pro and how nervous he was and the great reaction he got. He put over Steve Corino and said that being in the ring with him was a great opportunity. Charlie talked about Jay Lethal, who he has been watching a lot of tapes of. He explained that when he wrestles someone he studies them to have the best possible match and watches tapes. September 10 is his first shot at a singles title. He plans on using JAPW as a springboard for his singles career much like he and his brother Russ did for their tag career.

Jason asked Charlie to talk about his brother Russ, who passed away on December 15, 2001. Charlie said part of him died that day, and went into detail about his final night with Russ, with several wrestlers at Russ’ house. Charlie left at 3am, and came back the next morning to find police cars and an ambulance and his wife Deedra told him he was dead. He said people say he needs to let Russ go, with his name on his wrist tape and that he needs to start doing things for himself. He said that with him being his real life brother and everything they did for Russ’ 27 years you can’t let that go. He honored Russ and promised he would finish what they started and win the tag titles. He uses Russ’ life and death as an inspiration to train harder. Russ is his guardian angel.

Jason asked about growing up in Oklahoma and it not being a hotbed for pro wrestling. He said Oklahoma is a hotbed for amateur wrestling from Junior High to Oklahoma State. He said his high school in Edmund was the top school in America. To break in professionally is very hard, and there are more independents but the hotbed is in the Northeast where there is a lot of work or move to Louisville for OVW or Atlanta for Deep South and keep working until you get a deal. Jason asked about Charlie’s route, he said he graduated from Seton Hall in New Jersey and was working full time, going to school, and training at Jersey All Pro Tues and Thurs and wrestling on weekends. That went on for three years and was tough but worth it. He went to Memphis Wrestling and learned a lot, then went to HWA under Les Thatcher and then he was moved to Louisville. He said that the back then you were in the developmental territory for a few years, you got a practice jersey but weren’t on the team yet. Now people are brought up right away and aren’t ready. He talked about how many of the big name stars worked for years to master their craft before being on top and you can’t do it overnight.

Jason asked if Charlie was glad he didn’t get saddled with a gimmick, and he said in retrospect they want the gimmicks. He said that Nick Dinsmore is one of the best wrestlers he has ever seen and Dinsmore does Eugene well and maybe they should have saddled him with a gimmick since that is what creative wants.

Jason asked Charlie about the “Haas Pop” and his take on it. He said Booker T started it and it was a joke among the boys in the back. He was surprised it came out from the boys in the back and thought it was just in the locker room.

Haas talked about Rico and that he had no idea why they let him go because he was entertaining and over and a great worker. He said Rico is doing well and successful in anything he does.

Jason asked about regrets and Haas said he has no regrets, he went as far as he could with Russ and had four great tag team partners and after 10 years is looking forward to singles wrestling.

Charlie talked about gimmick matches and the Judgment Day ladder match against Guerrero and Tajiri. He thought it came off better then he thought and it is a brutal match. He said he would like to do cage matches, TLC, anything that will put asses in seats and make money. Charlie brought up Harry Smith, calling him a “hell of a talent” and he was glad Harry is working in Japan and putting on size and is a natural. Jason asked about fame and if it was weird to be famous. Charlie said he never reacted differently, that Charlie Haas is Charlie Haas and he has always been approachable to fans. He said some wrestlers it goes to their heads. A fan asked about Jackie’s religious values conflicting with WWE. Charlie said wrestling is very tough and it was difficult at times but you have to let it roll off your shoulders. She turned down Playboy twice which Charlie feels may have hurt her with WWE but fifteen years from now doesn’t want kids coming up to his child at school and saying ‘I have your mom’s issue of Playboy.’

Jason brought up the Dawn Marie/Jackie/Haas angle. Charlie said he has been slamming Dave Lagana as of late and everyone knew how he felt about the conclusion of the angle and creative on Smackdown. Things moved on to house shows and favorite memories from that circuit. Haas said that they give the chance to get the crowd into it and work longer matches and you get 10 – 20 minutes to tell a story as opposed to TV’s short matches. Charlie talked about working Eddie and Chavo Guerrero on the house show circuit early on and that they were gracious to work with them and took the time to teach them. He said that the Guerrero’s were coming off a heel run and turning face and that can be difficult. He and Benjamin owe a lot of their success to the Guerrero’s.

Things wrapped up with Charlie talking about participating in Wrestlemania and getting the win at their debut being awesome. He said as they were leaving the ring Shelton grabbed him and said “this is what it is all about.” Charlie then wrapped things up by saying he would not give up and keep going and to keep an eye open for him.

Jimmy Rave then joined the show. Jason started off by offering Harmony as a footstool for Jimmy Rave’s entrance to the show. Harmony didn’t like the idea and argued. Jason suggested that Jade Chung looked to be getting fed up with Prince Nana so there may be an opening for footstool. Jimmy then said that they don’t like footstools to talk back so much so Harmony probably wouldn’t be a top candidate for the job.

Jason opened up the doors by asking about Rave’s last few flights. Rave said that every time he has gone to the airport he can look forward to spending the rest of the day sleeping on an airport floor and he is lucky if he gets home to Atlanta the same day. He talked about the previous weekend when he and Roderick Strong’s flight was cancelled and they had to rush to Hartford and then he went to Pittsburgh and was stranded due to a storm. He said he never makes plans on Sunday’s anymore. He said his flight the day of the show he had an itinerary for 8:40 but he was booked on the 7:40 flight from Philly and the next available flight was at 6:40 pm. He thinks it is karma for the dastardly things he does.

Jason asked Jimmy about his recent matches in ROH, including a Pure title loss to Samoa Joe and a street fight with AJ Styles. Jimmy said that he still has the black eye from his match with Joe, and he was still smarting from the AJ match – which wasn’t really ideal since he had to sleep on an airport floor.

Jason talked about Rave’s run in the upper midcard in ROH, saying how his feud with CM Punk had elevated him from the spot of opening guy to a headliner. He talked about how he turned things around from the angle where he was “taken off of the ROH roster” because fans didn’t like him, to where he is today. Rave said he couldn’t understand the fans’ reactions, because he wasn’t having bad matches. He said the fans were weird, because they start cheering when he plays the heel – to which JJ said that it was a trend in wrestling, with the fans rooting for the bad guys.

Jason talked about Rave joining the Embassy in ROH, and how the stable had changed with the departures of the Outcast Killaz and John Walters, as well as the arrivals of the likes of Mike Kruel and Alex Shelley. Jimmy said that Alex would be a great addition to the stable.

We then talked about ROH At Our Best, and Teddy Hart’s infamous “shooting star press onto nothing”, which was supposedly a “shooting star double stomp”. Jimmy was asked how hard it was to work the opening match of that show, especially given the circumstances with ROH at the time. He then said that people weren’t sure what was going on with Teddy Hart, and said that himself, Mark Briscoe and the Amazing Red were on their guard because they didn’t know what was going to happen with Teddy.

Ian then asked Jimmy about his recent bookings for the WWE, where he wrestled against Chris Masters on Heat, before doing extra duty the following night on SmackDown as a security guard. Ian then asked Jimmy whether there was any coincidence in the stream of ROH regulars who were being used as jobber fodder for Chris Masters in successive weeks on Heat. Jimmy said many of them had the same agent and were booked through that route for the shows.

Jason asked Jimmy about working with Ricky Steamboat in ROH – and briefly in WWE. Jimmy said that Steamboat really wanted to help young wrestlers learn their trade and reach their full potential. Jason talked about the legends that ROH have brought in – culminating in Kenta Kobashi who’ll be working for the company in October. Jimmy said that it shows that the ROH roster can hold their own against the likes of Liger, Foley, Steamboat and Kobashi.

Jason talked about Rave’s feud with AJ Styles, and Rave said that he’d proven himself against AJ, saying that he’d beat him in Dayton, OH during ROH’s Third Anniversary shows, before beating him this past weekend. Jimmy talked about how he’d gotten himself to the spot he was in today by the age of 22 – but said that right now he’s content with what he’s doing, and that he has a lot to learn before he can take the next step up.

Jimmy talked about how his life had changed since he’d gotten married, and admitted that it was hard to be on the road away from his wife and stepdaughter at the weekend. He said that he forces himself to take blank weekends, so that he can maintain his relationship with his wife and daughter, as well as give himself time to heal up. Rave left the show after plugging his website, JimmyRave.com and ROH, and asked fans to come out and watch him, buy the DVDs so he could make some money.

After Rave left the show, we recapped the Great American Bash results, before wrapping up the show with announcements of guests for the next few weeks, with Scott D’Amore and Christopher Daniels joining WTR Sunday Night next week (July 31), while Juggernaut and none other than Lance Storm will be live in the studio in Calgary on August 7. As Lance himself would say, don’t ya dare miss it! Listen to the full show here

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