Post by Tyler Jacobs on Jun 22, 2016 22:04:25 GMT
TYLER TELL ALL.
This is a transcript of a podcast between Tyler Jacobs and Spike Kane.
TYLER: Welcome everyone to the first ever Tyler Tell All podcast. For those of you who aren't quite sure what this is all about, it’s real simple. I invite members of the IWF roster, alumni, maybe even some of the on screen management, and we spill the guts on their history….their run in IWF, and anything else we can get away with. As this is a new venture for IWF, there is not specific schedule, but up first we have a very special guest. A man who many would call him a cornerstone of both IWF and it’s predecessor nCw, a man who is a household name around the world, who has made us hate him, and made us scream along with him for years. Recently he’s had some heart breaking news and had to step down from in-ring action, but we’ll get into that I’m sure….ladies and gentlemen….Spike Kane!
SPIKE: Hey…
TYLER: Spike, thanks for joining me on this premiere episode.
SPIKE: Great to be here, I’m very appreciative to be your first guest.
TYLER: Well, let’s kick this off, and just get right into the nitty gritty here…..you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, the information about this doesn’t seem readily available and you’ve played everyhting pretty close to the chest….how did you find out? What were your thoughts? ….and, what were you expecting when you told the crowd?
SPIKE: Jeez, talk about getting stuck in, eh? Well, it was a routine check up. I’m sure you’re aware I was born with a heart defect, as a result of Brad’s heart not working properly in the womb and mine kicking in to support us both….something along those lines, anyway….so Bertie put it into my contract that every year I have to have a full check up, just for insuruance purposes, y’know?
TYLER: Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense.
SPIKE: It was more as an act of friendship than some money malarky. So I go to the thing, and a few weeks later I get the call from the doctor and I have to go visit him. So, naturally I think it’s my ticker, right? I think I’m gonna have to have surgery like I did back in nCw in 2007….but man, I wasn’t expecting this. It was a kicker…
TYLER: They told you there and then that it was terminal?
SPIKE: Yeah, they tried to sugar coat it and such, but they said it was far too long for their to be any hope….and you know, as Deadpool once said….Cancer is a shit show. I could have put myself through hell just to give me a less than one percent chance of beating it….but I’d rather go out with my dignity intact….
TYLER: Wow….did they give you a timeframe?
SPIKE: ….something like six months….
TYLER: Oh damn Spike, that’s horrible, I’m really sorry.
SPIKE: No, don’t be like that. It’s ok. I’ve come to terms with it, and in all honesty it’s given me that push to right things in my life that I’d neglected or done wrong.
TYLER: Which brings me to another point, the entire world saw you and your son Warren have some form of reconciliation in the ring when you told the world, was that planned? Did you expect it?
SPIKE: Not in the slightest. Nobody but Roberto knew going out there what was going on, and I really had to pull my weight with him to even let me get back in the ring. Whatever you see on TV, don’t be fooled, Bertie does care about his staff, and he wouldn’t put anyone in a position he wouldn’t put himself in first….Warren came out, and I really had to fight to keep myself together. It was arguably one of my best moments in that ring, and if you know me….you know that’s a big deal.
TYLER: That really is saying something. Since then, you’ve been traveling with Warren and Shea O’Hara on the road, with the two staying with you during what little downtime is available in this life, right?
SPIKE: Yeah, it felt horrible to take him way from his room mate, so I offered her a room too. I mean, I know the girl from down in developmental, and she’s really a great girl. She has a heart of gold, and I’m happy that her and Warren are friends, she’s a good one. I don’t want to stay at home, so I come with them...I still have things to offer to this business, and this company itself. Twenty years of experience isn’t something to shy away from.
TYLER: Twenty years. That, right there, is quite the accomplishment. You’ve wrestled for more companies than I could keep track of during my research but you got your break when you first moved to America, correct?
SPIKE: Well, I made my debut at WDW where I was booked under the name “Bonesmasher” ...I know, right? It didn’t go well, I only had one match and got jobbed out in the ending…..a close friend opened up a rival company called WDWF and I followed him over there. I busted my ass, and did everything I could to try and improve. It was then that the owner, who wrestled himself as Kronic, told me that I was “just a hardcore wrestler”...
TYLER: “Just a hardcore wrestler” what did he mean by that?
SPIKE: Let’s just say he had some out dated views. He viewed the womens division as inferior, and then the hardcore division as lower than that. He told me I was a hardcore wrestler and would always be lower than the womens division. That is around about the time I met a guy by the name of Little Simon Dynasty who was scouting for his small company in America, Extreme Backyard Championship Wrestling. Yeah, that is right. I turned down the job at WDWF to move to America and make barely anything, just to try and get my name out there and be better than Kronic ever thought I could. Things snowballed pretty quickly, like really quickly….Simon left EBCWF, and he left the company to me!
TYLER: You became the owner of the company?
SPIKE: Yeah, and it wasn’t the first. I’ve owned and co-owned a few in my time, and I’d like to think that it was doing this that helped me with my eye for talent. You’ve seen the people I’ve brought into this business, the people I drag from federation to federation, and the people I take under my wing. Think of nCw Hall of Famers Milo and Dave Holland, I gave them their first job. I knew they had what it took, Jake Conway, I gave him his first job, and boy did I put him through hell to earn it Now look at him, he really should be the Imperial Champion!
TYLER: Where would you say you really made it to that level that you were told you’d never reach?
SPIKE: I’d won a few world titles in small companies, some that didn’t last very long, and some that just weren’t run professionally enough, but really? It has to be XHF. I was dating this chick named T-Bird, Tanya Bird, and she told me about this company she worked for….little did I know she was actually cheating on Alex Jone with me…..hah….man, I just realised….
TYLER: What’s that?
SPIKE: I guess the whole Ana thing was payback for Tanya….
TYLER: Oh, I was going to get to that, but do you really believe that?
SPIKE: Do I believe that Alex did that for that reason? No, not at all. Look, at the time I was hurt, I was bitter….but I know that you can’t help who you love It really took my son coming out to me to make me realise that, and I’ve forgiven them both for what happened, and moved on. I’m happy for them, I really am, and I wish them the best.
TYLER: But back to XHF?
SPIKE: That’s right yeah, I really made a name for myself there. Ironically in a group with Alex, and an old friend, the brother of James Franklin Karn, MGK. We were the young pissed off kids who knew we were better than the rest, and we wrestled like we knew it too. We were called Overdrive, and we would have taken over….but Alex and Mike really got into it with each other, and while nobody was paying attention to me, I broke through and won the XHF Rumble. Nobody expected it, nobody saw it coming….but I earned myself a title shot at Night of Champions against James Mueller who was one of the Young Guns. Now, the Young Guns showed up in nCw, but they weren’t the same. In XHF they were THE guys, and I got to beat Mueller in, what I think, was his last match ever. It was that moment when I really knew I’d made it….and even better was I got to celebrate in the middle of the ring with Alex who had won the X*Crown Championship earlier….truly surreal.
TYLER: This is something I’ve heard before...but with things going so well in XHF, why jump ship to nCw?
SPIKE: I didn’t initially jump to nCw. Things were going downhill in XHF, people behind the scenes were pissed that I was a two time champion, after taking the belt from my brother Brad a year to the day after I lost my first reign. They were trying to push me out, so I took the chance on the name I’d made….and I walked.
TYLER: You walked out?
SPIKE: Yeah, and it wouldn’t be the last time I ever did that, as the nCw faithful are aware…..but I went to WCF, and ended up taking Brad’s place in his tag team with Jay Williams, which meant I was gifted the WCF Tag Team Championship, but natureally we lost them in our first defence against TXO and TVO, when Davey Boone pulled the most stupid shenanigans I’ve ever heard of. I mean, I didn’t know it at the time, but Boone just couldn’t book for shit. He’d come up with stupid stipulations, and try to make everything a swerve, when it didn’t need to be….but I was done with WCF, about to crawl back to XHF when Boone offered me a spot at nCw...and well, the rest is history…
TYLER: True, but within weeks of joining you ended up in Davey Ortega’s “Empire” right?
SPIKE: Correct. Leonard and Davey figured I had the right fit for the group, and I added a bit of weight to it too.My first feud with Jack Manson is one of my favourites of all time, but….things weren’t progressing well enough….Davey kept missing house shows, not showing up for show meetings, and Leonard Fox told me I was going to replace him, and take over his feud with Lance Ryan, which - in my opinion - is one of the best feuds nCw ever had.
TYLER: It certainly set a bar for people to follow! I think we’re running a little long on this, I could literally talk to you for hours Spike, perhaps, if we get a chance, we could do a part two...but we really need to move on to some questions….in fact, we don’t really have many but a close friend of yours sent some in, and I figured seeing as how we don’t have many (probably because this is the first show) let’s ring them up.
Alex Jones - Spike, who besides me has been your greatest opponent?
SPIKE: Ha! Man, his ego..no, he’d definately make the list….that’s a tough one, I’ve fought a LOT of people. I think, like...can I do a top five or something?
TYLER: Sure, a top five seems good.
SPIKE: Ok, including like build up to matches, programs, promos and stuff….let’s see, in no particular order; Triple D, Alex Jones, Rob Diamond, Lance Ryan, The Ace and I really have to mention Angel too. I mean, our last nCw match was one of the best I’ve ever had.
TYLER: Some great names there, not too sure on who Triple D is though.
SPIKE: Oh he’s like my mortal enemy from way back at the beginning of my career. We almost killed each other a few times, even went over a bridge!
TYLER: That is insane!
SPIKE: They don’t call me the God of Xtreme for no reason.
TYLER: That is true, ok, moving on…
Alex Jones - Also where did you put my copy of Ember to Inferno by Trivium?
SPIKE: HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man….erm, I think it’s legit still in my truck. I kept a whole like, you know those wallets that you puts CD’s in?
TYLER: Oh yeah, I remember those.
SPIKE: Yeah, I think it’s still in there...but, like….my truck connects to my phone...and my phone has spotify, so I never use CD’s anymore!
TYLER: I’d give it him back if I were you, especially how his last plan for revenge worked out, ha ha ha.
SPIKE: You might be right, ha!
TYLER: Ok, well the next question was ridiculous, but I’m gonna throw some at you myself….ok….who do you think is the most underated person on the IWF roster?
SPIKE: Right now?
TYLER: Yeah, active roster.
SPIKE: Rob. Hands down.
TYLER: Really?
SPIKE: Yeah, he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. I took him under my wing years ago, and he surpassed whatever I could have hoped for him. He has that ability to hold people in the palm of his hand. We won feud of the year in IWF’s first year, and I put most of that credit on Rob, he’s a great ideas guy who goes along with almost anything, and I think it’s a crime that he hasn’t held the Imperial Championship yet.
TYLER: That was not the answer I expected, OK, let’s flip the table. Out of the new recent crop of stars to come into IWF, do you see anyone making it to the Imperial Title scene?
SPIKE: Two that I’ve seen so far. Gillmen, and Keaton. I mean Gillmen seems to have learned from Jack Gaither what not to do more than what to do, ha! But JC? He has a lot of pressure and expectation about him, but I really hope he sticks with it, because he could make it to the top.
TYLER: Ok Spike, well I’m being told that we’re not going to have more time to air this, so we’re going to have to wrap up, and I really do hope we can do another one in the near future.
SPIKE: Me too Tyler, it’s been a pleasure.
TYLER: Once again, thank you Spike Kane, and thank you all for tuning in to the first ever Tyler Tell All podcast. I have been your host, Tyler Jacobs, and I hope you’ll come back for episode two where I get to chat with none other than the Black Dragon himself, Alex Jones!
~End~
Well howdy there pardner.