Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Monday, December 11, 2006 at 4:18 PM EST

The following was transcribed by Andy J of www.wrestlingweekly.com:

On 5th December, Wrestling Weekly hosts Doc Young and Les Thatcher were joined by this week’s featured guest, former WWE Superstar, Harvard Graduate and author Chris Nowinski.

Chris is one of Les boys as he worked with him in HWA. Nowinski teamed with EZ Money and they were known as ‘Smart Money‘. Chris says he brought a dictionary to the ring and wearing khaki pants as ring attire. Nowinski is asking about playing football and what position he placed, Chris replies he was a defensive tackle. He then discusses Tough Enough and was already involved in a wrestling school after graduating Harvard. Chris said he had a big love for wrestling and went to Killer Kowalski’s school part time for a few months. He said he learned the business the right way and come up the independent way. Nowinski still has his own audition tape for Tough Enough and talks about cutting a promo on the tape. Les said he met Chris at the WrestleMania X8 fan Axxess t in Toronto. It was a few months after his audition that he met with the other contestants like Maven and Nidia and discusses how he took bumps and had a match and being trained by Chavo and Jackie.

Chris was in HWA for three to four months. Les says that ‘Smart Money’ were getting over like crazy in development. Nowinski’s wrestling career was cut short because he suffered a concussion and has now written a book. His last concussion was in 2003 when he was kicked in the chin whilst wrestling the Dudleyz. This concussion didn’t seem to go away and wrestled six/seven matches after until he went to one doctor who said he had over half dozen concussions in the last few weeks and it was confirmed that he did permanent damage to his brain and that was why he wasn’t recovering. Nowinski then discusses how he put his life at risk after going back to the ring after he had two continuous concussions, and mentions he was supposed to rest. Chris Nowinski then states he couldn’t work for eighteen months and did research during this time that all athletes aren’t educated about concussions.

Les talks about Tracy Smothers having concussions and said Chris highlights that Smothers is in the high risk brackets as he had fifteen concussions. Fifteen is an extraordinary he states and states how concussions and how they effect people’s lives. Les talks about how Tracy was told a few years back not to return to the ring again and Chris talks about Bret Hart and the concussion he suffered when kicked in the head by Bill Goldberg. Two in the row concussions are when the brain becomes damaged. Nowinski then talks about the adjustment to his life he had to make and couldn’t do anything because his head hurt so much and couldn’t even work. Chris Nowinski then talks in more detail about his concussion and the research he conducted.

Chris still works in Public Relations for WWE and is the spokesman for ‘SmackDown! Your Vote’ campaign. He was kept under contract with the company and showed faith in him and talks how he would have liked to get back in the ring. Les replies by saying that the wrestling business is the drug there is no rehab for. Chris still misses and watches WWE on TiVo and watches all of them. Doc asks if Chris was happy with the Harvard style gimmick. Nowinski says that the gimmick was perfect for him and states the best characters are the one’s which are ‘you with the volume turned up‘. He lived the gimmick and based it on the blue bloods at Harvard and could adjust to any situation. Stated his character was smarter than anyone and write anything around the gimmick.

Les talks about watching Tough Enough and that Nowinski came across as a legitimate heel. Les Thatcher then discusses meeting Chris and stated he was a nice guy and that he was worked as he thought he was a heel in real life. Nowinski says that if you show respect in the business, you get it shown back. Doc reminds Chris about having to wear a sandwich board after he lost a bet to Al Snow on Tough Enough. Nowinski states the bet was about the circle game. He had heat with Maven about it and discusses the story behind it where Maven handed him a piece of paper so he lost the belt with Al. Both him and Maven nearly got in a fist fight about the game. Al Snow had the break them both up. There was no animosity with Maven afterwards and he was a professional when they were in the ring together.

Les makes a point that Johnny Nitro is the only Tough Enough wrestler still performing in-ring with WWE today. Chris talks about Josh Matthews and was a big wrestling fan before getting into the business. Nowinski states that the passion for the wrestling business wasn’t really there in the other Tough Enough competitors, except the aforementioned Nitro and Chris also stated that Jackie is now in TNA. Chris states there was high expectations and everyone got a shot and they made mistakes. Went back to the independents for six months and found the right gimmick he felt comfortable with. Chris Nowinski’s book, “Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues", is in the football section of most book stores and is available to buy via online retailers. The website for the book is www.concussioncrisis.com and also buy it from there too. Chris states he learnt a lot from his injury and must know what can happen before you play contact sports. Nowinski wants to continue writing and will be continuing to do so, like writing magazine articles. Chris states that there is an interesting interview with Tommy Dreamer in the last chapter as Tommy has had fifteen concussions and that the interview with Tommy was emotional. Doc and Les both thank Chris for being the featured guest.

For more future guest information, visit www.wrestlingweekly.com and www.myspace.com/docyoung (the official Myspace home for 'Wrestling Weekly'.

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