Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 11:26 AM EST

Richie Drake sent this in:

Road Warrior Animal talks about recent TNA appearance, Current Scene of Tag Team Wrestling, His Heel Run and Rips on Heidenreich.

Interview Recap Below

Road Warrior Animal was the guest on the Thursday Night July 26th edition of "The Shoot: Talk on Professional Wrestling" on blog talk radio. Host Gary Cantrell welcomes Animal to the show and Animal talks about what he has been up to lately. Animal said he has been quite busy lately working for DeBartolo Sports and Entertainment where he is hired as a consultant to talk to the in between player and agent. He said this is something he has always wanted to do in working in amateur sports. He is gearing up for football season as his son James plays for Ohio State.

He talks about his recent TNA Slammiversary Appearance where he teamed up with Rick Steiner. Animal said it was like working for a old WCW crowd where the fans were really great chanting LOD and giving him a standing ovation. He said the fans are the greatest. He said he got to see the new stars that they are trying to build and the stars of the past and it was nice to see. He said he is open to working with TNA again in the future.

Animal said there is not enough of guys from his era working with the guys today handing down their craft. Animal cites learning from Dusty, Harley Race, Brody, etc. and there's no reason why he shouldn't be working as a agent behind the scenes in either company. Animal praises Cena saying he is one of the last guys to learn the right way to carry a match.

Animal talks about his 2005 return to WWE. He said that Heidenreich failed with The LOD and calls him a loose cannon and wasn't made out to be a tag team partner. Animal felt like he should have been respected more in his last run.

Animal talks about the current scene of tag team wrestling. He said Vince doesn't have his heart in tag team wrestling. Animal said the first time he went up north to work for Vince, Vince didn't' think anyone would know who they were. He says the drama of tag team wrestling is more exciting than singles matches and that you'll never see the hour of broad way between Flair/Martel and Harley/Flair so the next best thing is the tag team matches. He said people want to see the numbers and how it plays out.

Animal was baffled when they wanted to take the shoulder pads off, the face paint and his identity away from him when they turned him heel. He said it was like turning a complete stranger heel and if you would have turned Animal heel as the legion of doom road warrior guy it would have been a different story. He says it was a mutual agreement when he parted ways with the WWE.

Animal doesn't understand the backlash from the industry on Marc Mero. He thought it was an insult to Marc and the business when Finlay said Marc didn't know what he was talking about. He said Marc isn't out for Marc and is only trying to take care of the boys. He said the top guys won't say what Marc is saying because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

He is then asked about the youtube video where Heidenreich in a mask interviews a guy portraying Animal Working at a gas station . He said he hasn't seen it and it doesn't surprise him that he's behind it. Animal calls it jealousy and sour grapes. He said that his brother fired Heidenreich 3 times. He said Heidenreich couldn't own up to his mistakes and own up to messing up. He said there were times he would be waiting 2 to 3 hours in a airport for him with a rental car and he wouldn't give him the respect to calling him to tell him that he was coming. He made his own grave and made his own bed and he had to lye in it. Animal said half the guys in the locker room wanted to kill Jon for blowing the opportunity of a lifetime during the LOD Run.

Animal thanks all the fan for supporting him over the years and being great to him and hawk. He talks about going to Japan this fall to team up with Kensuke Sasaki to form The Hell Warriors to do a tribute show for Hawk.

The Interview runs just shy of 35 minutes as Animal also discusses why Bobby Lashley isn't ready, what it was like working for his brother, the drunk angle with Hawk and the original plan for it, comparing the locker room of today to previous eras and much more. The Interview is available for Streaming/Downloading at the following link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theshoot

For more info on this interview and others to come please visit:

http://www.myspace.com/theshootprowrestling