Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 11:20 PM EST

John Lowry sent in the following recap:

Team Canada member and TNA Superstar 'Showtime' Eric Young was the guest Tuesday night on the Steel Cage show with Paul Szmal and Jonathan Hayes. Some of the questions Eric was asked:

Now you trained up in Canada with the legendary Waldo Von Erich, correct?

"Yeah, I started training with Waldo just out of high school. He did a lot of the mental training. you know, teaching me about psychology and how to put a good match together, stuff like that. But the physical training was done by Joe Le Duc's nephew, Karl Le Duc."

Who were the wrestlers that you watched growing up?

"Well, where my parents live in Ontario they still don't have cable, only a TV antenna, so we would pick up television from Detroit, so I had the chance to see a lot of the same action you would see in the states. Smokey Mountain Wrestling, USWA, ECW. So growing up my favorites were Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Sting, Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, Ric Flair, Terry Funk. those were the main ones."

You mention watching guys like Sting growing up, and now you're working alongside him in TNA. What was it like first meeting him in the locker room when he came on board?

"The first time I met him was the day we did the Sting spoof, where I dressed up as the 1980s Sting, and it was exciting because I am a wrestling fan. But he's a real nice guy, quickly puts you at ease. He was really cool and let me borrow his stuff. It was a really cool moment for me."

Now it wasn't long after you got started in TNA that you were put into the Team Canada group, and eventually you and Bobby Roode were put as a tag team that went onto to hold the World Tag Title belts. Was that surprising at all for you?

"Not at all. Bobby and I had tagged together several times up in Ontario, and even tagged in the WWE against, I believe it was against the FBI at a Velocity taping... and a lot of that was that we would travel together to the shows. If I had to choose to tag with someone it would be Bobby, because we think a lot alike and compliment each other really well."

Do you think TNA has an advantage over the WWE in regards to its tag team division?

"Yes. TNA has a strong tag team division, and that's something that has been lacking for the last five to six years. I loved tag team wrestling growing up, but it's funny because breaking in I never wrestled tag matches. Until TNA I had been in maybe 20 tag matches, but now I'm known as a tag wrestler and it's been a lot of fun."

What is the attitude like in TNA, as the company - despite the financial problems - continues to slowly grow and grow every day? "To be on the ground level on anything like that, and it's something you're part of, is super-exciting. And it's fun being the underdog."

Do you think it keeps the guys in the company together as a close-knit group?

"Absolutely, it's like a family with everybody getting along, joking around. it's just a fun place to work."

Looking at your character in TNA, which is one of the most recognizable and entertaining characters on Impact, how did that all come about?

"To me that's what pro-wrestling have always been about is characters. anybody who's been important or had a main role or drew money was some kind of character. As far as my character, I think it was Dutch Mantell who came up to me and said he wanted my character to be on edge, a little skittish, paranoid and stuff. and I just took it and blew it out of proportion. I think it was the funeral segment where I first did it, and it got such a great reaction. people emailing me and people in the company saying how I was the main focus part of that thing when I was really supposed to be just a prop in the background, but everyone said it just stuck out so I decided just to go over the top with it and I'm having a lot of fun doing it."

You can listen to the entire interview with Eric Young, as he talks about the attitude in the TNA locker room in regards to former WWE and WCW stars being brought in, his real-life health scare back in March and more by checking out the archives for the Steel Cage at www.wrestlingradionetwork.com. And be sure out and check out the Steel Cage's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/the_steel_cage.