Former WWE Star Elijah Burke Joins Hit The Ropes Radio for Wrestling Interview

Elijah Burke will appear on BlogTalkRadio’s Hit the Ropes Radio Show (www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow ) with hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus on Wednesday, July 1, 2009, at 6 p.m. Eastern.

We will discuss Wrestlemania 25 results and the industry today. Plus TNA Trivia for TNA prizes. Call in and chat with our guests ( 646 ) 929-2442.

You can catch the archives if you can't listen live and even download it to iTunes.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling ( 646 ) 929-2442. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow.

Elijah Burke is a former professional boxer, with a 98-1 record, turned WWE star. He was the highlight of the WWE's ECW brand where he led the New Breed to feud against ECW Originals. He feuded with then ECW champ CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champ Batista.

It's the fans show, so call in and ask questions or share a comment.

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about the host and the discussion on Hit the Ropes Radio Show’s blog at http://hittheropes.blogspot.com.

About Hit the Ropes Radio
Hit the Ropes Radio Show is the premier live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on pro wrestling news, notes and interviews. Hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus explores the careers, organizations and world of professional wrestling. Callers are encouraged to call ( 646 ) 929-2442 to comment or ask questions. Or just sit back and enjoy the store. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow. The show is live every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Eastern. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

About BlogTalkRadio
BlogTalkRadio is a free, web-based platform which allows any user with a phone and a computer to host a live, interactive Internet broadcast. Hosts call into the service by phone, managing callers on the web-based host dashboard. Shows stream live directly from the host’s BlogTalkRadio web page with archives available for all past shows. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. And it has over 3,000, 000 since it’s inception. The citizen broadcasting network can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com.

Former WWE Star and MMA Fighter Bobby Lashley Joins Hit The Ropes Radio for Wrestling

Bobby Lashley will appear on BlogTalkRadio’s wrestling radio show Hit the Ropes Radio Show (www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow). Join hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Former WWE Star and MMA Fighter Bobby Lashley will discuss his career, his quest to fight in the UFC and more. The show will also feature Turnbuckle Turnbuckle and TNA Trivia for TNA prizes. Call in and chat with the guests (646) 929-2442.

Listeners can catch the archives if they can't listen live or download it from iTunes for free.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (646) 929-2442. The live, wrestling radio show will stream from the host page at http://blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow.

Bobby Lashley is a two time ECW World Champion and former NAIA amateur wrestling champion. He quit the WWE after three years to pursue a MMA career, where he's currently 3-0 and is soon to face Bob Sapp. He has also made a brief appearance in TNA, but won't be appearing again until after his fight with Sapp.

It's the fans show, so they can call in and ask questions or share a comment.

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about the host and the discussion on Hit the Ropes Radio Show’s blog at http://hittheropes.blogspot.com. They are the fastest rising wrestling radio show on the Net.

About Hit The Ropes Radio
Hit the Ropes Radio Show is the premier live Internet wrestling radio show that focuses on pro wrestling news, notes and interviews. Hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus explore the careers, organizations and world of professional wrestling. Callers are encouraged to call (646) 929-2442 to comment or ask questions. Or just sit back and enjoy the store. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow and their brand new website www.HitTheRopes.com. The show is live every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Eastern and is hosted on Blog Talk Radio.

About BlogTalkRadio
BlogTalkRadio is a free, web-based platform which allows any user with a phone and a computer to host a live, interactive Internet broadcast. Hosts call into the service by phone, managing callers on the web-based host dashboard. Shows stream live directly from the host’s BlogTalkRadio web page with archives available for all past shows. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. And it has over 3,000, 000 since it’s inception. The citizen broadcasting network can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com

Second 2 None – World’s Greatest Tag Teams DVD Review

Second 2 None – World’s Greatest Tag Teams DVD Review
Daris Brown
Hit The Ropes Radio

Myrtle Beach, SC (May 20, 2009)—TNA Wrestling recently released its two-disc set featuring a look at their tag team division. Second 2 None – World’s Greatest Tag Teams allows fans to relive all the great tag team battles from Pay Per Views and Impacts starting from 2007 and leading up to today’s current storylines.

What makes this DVD a must watch is the inside commentary from the guys who battled it out in the ring. The first DVD kicks off with the 21-time tag team champions, Team 3D as they looked back on their legendary career before they entered TNA, and all of their great matches since their arrival. As always, TNA does a great job of intertwining commentary and wrestling matches, which helps you gain valuable insight to the matches. You get a real sense of accomplishment as Team 3D talks about finally capturing their first TNA tag titles from LAX. The first disc seamlessly transitions into the Motor City Machine Guns’ story.

Unlike Team 3D, Motor City Machine Guns features a tag team that is just starting to make a name for themselves. Viewers will discover how the tag team was put together in Japan and how they transition from single competitors to TNA’s hottest young tag team. Viewers will get a kick out of the fast paced style exhibited in their bout with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. And they will see why they’ve garnered so much respect with their feud with Team 3D. It’s a showcase of the new wave of tag team wrestling and it gives a glimpse of the bright future that lies ahead of TNA’s tag team division.

Disc 2 highlights another veteran group of guys as it takes us inside the thought process of two TNA originals James Storm and Robert Roode of Beer Money. Previously one-half TNA’s most successful tag teams, AMW, James Storm takes us through his humble childhood to teaming with Roode. This paring is unique as they explain going from successful singles competitor to world tag team champions. Although they’ve lived completely opposite lives, you’d never know it from the great teamwork they distributed in classic matches with LAX.

Completing the two-disc set is one of TNA’s longest standing tag teams, LAX. What a great insight their commentary is because such few people know their story. Hernandez tells fans how he thought that he would never make it on U.S. television and why he was really not able to play football despite being the biggest kid in town. While Homicide takes us down memory lane as he returns to his dangerous upbringing. All of which are equally fascinating to their work distributed in the ring.

My only qualm with TNA’s newest DVD is that it fails to capture the early stages of their tag team division. This possibly being that Team 3D are the first TNA champs since the company departed from NWA or it might be due to the lack of a tag teams that were not just thrown together prior to this time. Either way, it is still a very insightful watch as you get to learn things you’d never imagine about the current tag teams within their division. Second 2 None – World’s Greatest Tag Teams is a great demonstration of what tag team wrestling is all about and is a must add to your DVD collection.

HitTheRopes.com Interviews Bushwhacker Luke

HitTheRopes.com: Guys, I’d like to welcome to the show, former WWE star, Bushwhacker Luke. Bushwhacker Luke, how ya doing?
Bushwhacker Luke: Whooa, Good day maties it’s bloody good to be with ya. You’re looking good but you’re not smelling to right mate.

HitTheRopes.com: (laughing)
Bushwhacker Luke: I’m lookin’ to give ya a good lickin’ I’ll do the kickin’ later.

HitTheRopes.com: Ah man, no licking please.
Bushwhacker Luke: No lickin’? Alright, I just had a big bucket of sardines before I came on the radio so I’m all pumped up and ready with all the energy. So what do you got to say guys? So I hear there are three of yous taking me on tonight. I’ve got you coming from behind, the right and the left. By golly, what am I going to do? I’m going to go right down under.

HitTheRopes.com: Yeah you’re facing the triangle of terror. Well, we were just talking about your time down in Memphis and your take names later attitude. Can you tell us about your time in that territory?
Bushwhacker Luke: Well me and my cousin Butch were in Memphis. Earlier on Butch had to head home due to family problems and that. And I had one of the Royal Kangaroos Jonathan Boyd as my partner. When I first went into that area. The Memphis, Tennessee, Nashville, Kentucky, Tennessee area.

We had a major feud there. Jackie Fargo just put together a new tag team of Stan Lane and Steve Kern, and they were the Fabulous Ones. And Fargo was in there corner. Hence, the battle became between the good ol’ southern boys and the two boys from down under, The Sheepherders. That battle went on for maybe, continuously, for maybe four months or five months every night all over that state. Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and a bit of Indiana.

HitTheRopes.com: Right. Now you were pretty hated during that time. Did any fans take it personal what you were doing to the Fabulous Ones? Because we hear stories of fans attacking wrestlers with knives and throwing stuff, did any of that happen to you?
Bushwhacker Luke: Hey, I came out. In my career in the states when I come here we first came out with the New Zealand flag. Before we became the Bushwhackers we were most hated teams around the country, The Sheepherders. We carried the New Zealand flag and we told the people they had air conditioned homes, air conditioned cars, and their women were even air conditioned. And you know what I mean when I say that. I don’t want to say the word, but women of the night.

Anyhow, many a night we’d come out to the car, especially in the south, the car was down on the rim. All the tires were slashed. A few times we had to drive a hundred, a hundred fifty, miles without a windshield. A windscreen. They had knocked the front windscreen out. In the winter time do you know how cold it is driving without the front windshield?

HitTheRopes.com: I can imagine.
Bushwhacker Luke: We had some real battles with these Fabulous Ones, they were loved by everyone. Jarrett made these two kids the first to have videos. They had music videos. They had the girls and family people around them heavily. They were two good ol’ southern boys; well they were sort of GQ, gentlemanly quarterly, guys at the time. Good bodies, good looks and a hell of a fan base. Of course we were bloodying them up every night and beating them up, and we were getting beaten up too. But the fans didn’t take that. Many of times we had police come into the arena to get us to our car so we can get out of the town. A lot of those towns, especially those southern towns, they were wild.

HitTheRopes.com: Right, now I heard a story about you and the Fabulous ones in a cage match. Supposedly they tore the cage down to get away from you, is that true?
Bushwhacker Luke: Going back to those matches, I think we had about twelve in a row, cage matches with them all over the place. And one night the cage came down. That might be the night you’re talking about. But I can’t remember the town but the cage came down in the corner. It was wild and wooly matches mate.

And one night Steve Kern had to get about 80 stitches, he nearly bled to death. We hit him in the head so hard with the flag pole that split him right above the brow going towards the ear with one of those major veins. At the time we didn’t mean for that to happen that bad. They couldn’t stop the blood and he had to get external stitching.

HitTheRopes.com: Someone in the chat room asks if you remember the old Sheepherder’s poem, do you remember it?
Bushwhacker Luke: No I don’t mate. I don’t know what she’s talking about. I used to say the 37 countries in 37 titles.

HitTheRopes.com: Okay, well this is Shane. Uh…
Bushwhacker Luke: How the bloody hell are ya Shane? Ya haven’t got a bit of McMahon in ya have ya?

HitTheRopes.com: Uh, I’m gonna have to say no.
Bushwhacker Luke: Oh, ‘cause I was going to hit you up for a loan. (laughing)

HitTheRopes.com: I remember seeing the Bushwhackers on Family Matters a couple years ago. Well a while ago. How was the whole acting experience?
Bushwhacker Luke: Ah it was great mate. What a group those people were. Steve Urkel what a great guy he was. And Darius, one of the guys was named Darius too believe it or not he was a real wrestling fan. He was jumping off the ropes, and wanted to jump off the ropes while we were putting the show together. It was a great show.

And the other night, a week and a half ago it’s still playing late at night when they’re doing the reruns of Family Matters. That was taped in 1994, 15 years ago mate. They’re all grown up now. They’re not kids anymore.



HitTheRopes.com: I remember the Bushwhackers from the old WWF days when ya’ll come down waving the arms and licking the fans, who came up with that gimmick?
Bushwhacker Luke: We came up to Vince McMahon, and he pulled us into his office, he said to us at the time we just finished with the Bulldogs so we’re looking for a British group or down under. Something different again. So we came up there and he said to us, do you mind being the good guys? We said we don’t care. Money is what counts.

Speak of that, Butch said if you can make these faces loved by everyone go to it. And he said well Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jake are my top good guys and they’re not the greatest to look at. The next minute we got the contract in the mail and we didn’t know the name. And Butch rang me up and said I’ve got a contract here for the Bushwhackers. They put the name together and that and we put the gimmick together. We did the arm swinging.

Originally when we were The Sheepherders we swung our arms around a lot. When we were taping in WTBS, that was Ted Turner’s studio, they started using us as heels. They took as characters then. We used to swing our arms around and saying WHOOA and that just made noise and that in the studio. Hence, Butch said let’s start swinging our arms on the way to the ring. It was Butch’s idea and grabbing people heads. We both sorta got the swinging arms together because we always done that. But not the matches so much.

And then he got the licking together. He said I’m a grab a head and give them a lick. The funny part was people were sticking their heads out to give it a lick. That was the sick part about it. I would grab their head and I would lick the back of my hand. I think Butch got a thrill out of licking the grime off of them.

HitTheRopes.com: Now let me ask you this. A lot of people only know you from the WWE, the happy go lucky deal. They don’t know your hardcore edges. Does that bother you?
Bushwhacker Luke: No, no. A lot of people up north now, see when first came invaded the USA we were up in the north west with Don Owens. And that was jammed up and they didn’t get much cable up there. Our next step was the NWA, Crockets in the Carolinas. We did a lot of coverage.

Actually we were so… not green but green to television industry. We walked out on the Crocket after 3-4 months and went to Puerto Rico for the first time not realizing that we were on WTBS and it was covering most of the country. It was a cable station, a satellite station. And we didn’t later on until we came back the second time we realized about a year after we left, we heard that TBS was all over the country. We realize what a mistake we made.

Getting back to the subject that you just said, when Vince bought out Turner in 2000, he bought the NWA library. On that 24/7 channel of Vince’s, they play a lot of Sheepherders stuff now.
For seven years I never went in the ring. I was in the offices of Puerto Rico six years. And last year, I ventured out and went in the Manhattan Center, the ballroom in New York where Vince used to tape Raw at the start. I went out there and did a little thing for ROH and in the arena all the people started chanting Sheepherders. It was funny. In a New York area where the Bushwhackers were so strong, the people were watching The Sheepherders.

The ROH crowd is like an old ECW crowd. They love that hardcore stuff. I had fans yelling out Sheepherders. I was so surprise and then they told me they see a lot of old stuff from NWA, The Sheepherders. Because we worked for NWA. We worked for Bill Watts’ territory which was bought out by the NWA. We worked there and then we worked there for about 4 years, so they got a lot of Sheepherders footage.

HitTheRopes.com: (Caller) Do you talk to your opponents before or after the matches?
Bushwhacker Luke: No... I’ve been in the ring so many times. I run into my opponents all over the country. I may wrestle on the independents now and I may see them in the next town here and there. So I run into them all over the country.

There’s a lot of people I used to wrestle that I actually tag with now that my partner’s back in New Zealand. Butch is back in New Zealand. So I’ve been working singles and just last week and a half I’ve been on the road with Honky Tonk Man and Al Snow. And Honkey Tonk, going back some time ago, at a
PPV Wrestlemaina out of Toronto Honky Tonk hit me over the head with a guitar. Now here I am in the ring with as a tag partner.

HitTheRopes.com: (caller) Right, now do leave that alone even though he hit you in the head with guitar? Is that in the past?
Bushwhacker Luke: Mate that was in the 90s, this is the 2000s. that’s gone, happened and we drew some big money at the time. It was Rhythm and Blues against the Bushwhackers. He had Greg Valentine as his partner. If you remember the Rhythm and Blues? (yea) And I had Greg as my partner. About six months ago I was in a town where they put Greg and me together as a tag team. It’s show biz. You know you move on. You have your grudges at the time, but it’s buried and you move on.

HitTheRopes.com: Now we’re running out of time here, but before we let you go we have to put you in the Hot Seat. Can you handle that?
Bushwhacker Luke: Can handle the hot seat? When you’re hot you’re hot, when you’re not you’re not. And the Bushwhackers hot now mate.

HitTheRopes.com: This is a series of rapid fire questions and you just answer with the first thing that comes to your head…
Bushwhacker Luke: And you know the Bushwhackers are a bit wacky, so there might some whacky answers.

HitTheRopes.com: Ok. If you were starting a wrestling promotion tomorrow, who’d be the first person you’d sign?
Bushwhacker Luke: Because of my gimmick I’d have to bring in Eugene. (wow) That’s as a tag partner because we are a bit goofy there.

HitTheRopes.com: Who’s your favorite opponent all-time?
Bushwhacker Luke: All-time? I’d say Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard were one of the greatest tag teams we worked with. But we’ve worked with a lot. But that was one of the greatest tag teams we worked with.

HitTheRopes.com: If they made a movie of your life, who’d play you and you’re surrounding cast?
Bushwhacker Luke: Oh I don’t know who would play me mate. I don’t have much time to watch movies today. There are so many people out there I’d have to give that a wink mate. Mickey Rourke did one hell of a job, and I was there for that taping. I can’t think of anyone who can fit my position, my personality right now.

HitTheRopes.com: If you can go one-on-one with any celebrity, who would it be and why?
Bushwhacker Luke: One-on-one? George Steinbrenner. There’s a hard one isn’t it?

HitTheRopes.com: Is that for positive or negative reasons?
Bushwhacker Luke: No, no, he’s a good guy. I know the guy, he’s good. And he likes wrestling too.

HitTheRopes.com: Alright, well, we’ll let you go…
Bushwhacker Luke: All you fans of Hit the Ropes, and you want to hear from the old Bushwhacker go to BushwhackerLuke.net and you’ll hear my podcast. And I’ll have Hit The Ropes there too.

HitTheRopes.com: Alright, well we thank you for coming on…
Bushwhacker Luke: Whooa good day maties.

Hit The Ropes Radio Interviews Prince Nana Wed 4/15

Ring of Honor's Prince Nana will appear on BlogTalkRadio’s Hit the Ropes Radio Show (www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow ) with hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus on Wednesday, April 8, 2009, at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Prince Nana will discuss his career, Ring of Honor on HDNet and more. We will also have the very first WWE vs. TNA Tag Team Challenge and the third edition of Turnbuckle 2 Turnbuckle. Plus TNA Trivia for TNA prizes. Call in and chat with our guests ( 646 ) 929-2442.

You can catch the archives if you can't listen live or download it from iTunes for free.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling ( 646 ) 929-2442. The live, wrestling radio show will stream from the host page at http://blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow.

Prince Nana joined Ring of Honor in 2002. Known as an Ashanti Prince from Ghana, Prince Nana formed a heel stable named The Embassy that terrorized ROH. He managed the ROH Pure Champion John Walters, Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelly and Abyss before his 2006 departure. He made a surprised return in 2008, with no riches, only to reclaim his status when President Obama passed his Stimulus Package. He reformed The Embassy with Bison Smith, Ernie Osiris and Jimmy Rave.

It's the fans show, so call in and ask questions or share a comment.

An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about the host and the discussion on Hit the Ropes Radio Show’s blog at http://hittheropes.blogspot.com. We are the fastest rising wrestling radio show on the Net.

About Hit the Ropes Radio
Hit the Ropes Radio Show is the premier live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on pro wrestling news, notes and interviews. Hosts Daris, Shane and Demetrus explores the careers, organizations and world of professional wrestling. Callers are encouraged to call ( 646 ) 929-2442 to comment or ask questions. Or just sit back and enjoy the store. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hittheropesradioshow. The show is live every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Eastern. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

About BlogTalkRadio
BlogTalkRadio is a free, web-based platform which allows any user with a phone and a computer to host a live, interactive Internet broadcast. Hosts call into the service by phone, managing callers on the web-based host dashboard. Shows stream live directly from the host’s BlogTalkRadio web page with archives available for all past shows. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. And it has over 3,000, 000 since it’s inception. The citizen broadcasting network can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com.

Hit the Ropes went three on one with Ring of Honor star Brent Albright on the latest edition of our weekly radio show this past Wednesday. Go downloa

Hit the Ropes went three on one with Ring of Honor star Brent Albright on the latest edition of our weekly radio show this past Wednesday. Go download the archives to hear the whole show in its entirety.

But Hit the Ropes Radio gave “The Shooter” Brent Albright a call to find out what he was up to and where he’s been. Check out his thoughts on WCW and WWE growing up, his idea of where ROH is headed and his battles with CM Punk and Adam Pearce.


Hit the Ropes Radio:We’re here with Ring of Honor’s Brent Albright, Brent how ya doing?

Bent Albright: Oh I’m doing great, how are you guys?


HTR: We’re doing great. Now we want to catch up those who aren’t as familiar with ROH, tell us a little about yourself.

BA: I’m from Tulsa, OK. I’ve been working with Ring of Honor for about three years now; I’ve been wrestling for 11 years. If you’re wondering about my style, my style is a mat based style, technical style, ground and pound style, with a little areal mixed in.


Like I said, I’ve been wrestling for ROH, Japan, OVW for three years, Smackdown for three months, and the Indys in the Midwest. And that’s me in a nutshell.


HTR: You’ve been around for a while, wrestled in a lot of organizations, and our poll question for today is at “what year did TNA break away from the NWA?” And you know a little about the NWA as you feuded over the NWA heavyweight title. Can you tell us a little about that?

BA: Yeah, I feuded over that belt with Adam Pearce. We’ve feuded since Sept. 1, 2007 down in Puerto Rico. And in Aug. 2, 2008 we feuded in New York City over the NWA title. It was an incredible match and we tore the house down. It was something I’ll never forget, it was awesome.

HTR: It sounds awesome. Now you say you have a technical base, which has allowed you to go with any style. And you’ve pretty much have gone against everyone. Down in your days of OVW you faced a list of who’s who of up and comers, who was your favorite to face off with?

BA: Other than Adam Pearce, it has to be CM Punk. We had the same kind of chemistry as Adam Pearce and I. We just tore the house down and left matches that people remember. One of the highlights of my career has been being able to work with him.


HTR: Right. Now you’re talking about great matches, and that’s what ROH’s known for. You don’t have the costume and people dressed up in funny suites…

BA: Now wait, we do have people dressed up in funny suites. We have El Generico. We’ve got Rhett Titus, I mean the man wears a bow tie to the ring and wrestles. We’ve got funny characters. H*ll, we’ve got a 5’2” lumberjack so come on. We’ve got some characters.


HTR: Yes that you do. But I was referring to the technical wrestling that ROH is known for and the great matches that have been displayed for years. And finally ya’ll have your TV show, what’s the atmosphere like in ROH right now? You’re about to blow up.

BA: With the transition of powers, the new regime as some like to call it, and the new booking… morale is up, morale is higher than it’s been in a while.

Especially with the debut of our TV show, with the tapings being in Philadelphia at the old ECW arena. I mean the atmosphere in the locker room is awesome.

Everyone has seen with the WWE has to offer, what TNA has to offer, and now they’ll be able to see ROH in three weeks when the tapings are done. Right off the bat into 17 million homes.

And hopefully with the network that we’re on (HDNet) they’re only gonna get bigger and we’re gonna get bigger. I just expect great things coming out of it.

HTR: ROH is on the up and up. Where do you see the company in five years? With the TV show, do you think they will get on a broadcast network or what?

BA: That’s hard to say. I know HDNet is growing going into 17 million homes, and hopefully 70 million homes next year, and in the next two years maybe even 100 million homes.

That in itself will be a network. More people are having access to HD channels so who knows. The sky’s the limit in the next 5 years.


HTR: I checked out the matches, the action is great and the fans are crazy. Give the listeners an idea what’s it like to go to a ROH show.

BA: For me, when my music hits, especially in NYC. I walk through the curtain in front of 2,000 people, their banging on the guard rails. Their starting all the chanting, “Kick his *ss” and all that. The atmosphere is electric. Fans are used to a high impact, high flying show, and that’s what we try to deliver every time.


You got some fans that will say, “I didn’t like this or I didn’t like that” but for one or two that say that you have two or 300 hundred that say it’s awesome. And even those who say otherwise, they still come back and buy tickets, so they must be liking something.



HTR: It’s so surprising how ROH has been able to hold on so long without TV. You hear about them mostly through trading DVDs, but now you’ve got “Rise Above” PPV on the Dish Network and the TV show on HDNet. For those who don’t know, who are you feuding with right now?

BA: Right now I’ve got a little rivalry with Claudia Casanova. When we met in Detroit I had him in a submission and he tapped out. But his foot was in the ropes and the ref says a rope break trumps a tap out.

In my book it’s the other way around. I got DQ’d but we’re gonna meet again in Danbury, Connecticut, so just like last time I’m gonna make him tap out. Only this time it’ll be in the middle of the ring.

HTR: That match in on the 27th?

BA: Yeah, Friday the 27th. Then we tape our TV show in Philadelphia on Saturday, followed up again at the old ECW arena for a show on Sunday.


HTR: How was it wrestling in the ECW arena?

BA: I had never wrestled in the ECW arena until six months ago, and I thought it was awesome wrestling in an arena that had so much history. And it was funny I was wrestling as the NWA champion, in an NWA title match, in the same building where the belt got thrown into the trash can.


In that regard I thought it was really unique and I’d get a chance to do the NWA title proud.


HTR: Since you brought the NWA title. A lot of greats have held that title over the decades. How does it feel to hold a title that was held by Flair, Rhodes and other greats?

BA: It’s awesome. Even though the NWA doesn’t get as much press that it did back in the ‘70s and ‘80s but it means a lot to me. Just to be a part of the NWA and NWA history and having my name go in the history books as a champ, it’s definitely a highlight of my career.

Especially to win it in NYC, in a state that the title has never been defended in, never been won in, it was awesome. To have the kind of match that Adam Pearce and I’ve had, a match that I’ll be able to tell my kids about is great.


HTR: Sticking with the whole NWA, who from the past NWA organization would you go one on one with if you could?

BA: Man, I think there’s a couple. Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Rick Steamboat. There’s a lot that I would love to work with.


HTR:Did you grow up on the NWA or are you one of those guys who were pulled into wrestling later?

BA: I caught in on wrestling in the late '80s, ’88 or ’89. WCW on TBS, I think Crockett was running it still back then. But of course I remembered Hulk Hogan, Big Boss Man and the Junk Yard Dog from the WWF. I can remember seeing Sting and Arn Anderson for the first time.


All the guys from WCW. I remember seeing the WWF as more colorful and cartoonish while WCW was more… it was real, it was wrestling. And I enjoyed that different feel from it. So that’s what I grew up on.


But I started really getting into wrestling with Monday Night Raw. But you had wrestling on TBS, WCW Saturday Night, where they did the taping from the Orlando Studios, with the rotating ring. Man that was awesome.

I remember seeing Regal on there, Bobby Eaton, Triple H a few times as Terror Ryzing. It was awesome.


HTR: You’ve been on the fan side, and obviously the wrestling side, what is your reaction when fans come up to you? Cause it seems that when people hit it big they forget about when they were watching WCW Saturday night, and when they were a fan. How do you react when someone comes up to you?

BA: You know what? As long as they’re polite and ask and don’t demand, because there is a difference you know, as long as they’re polite I’ll give them an autograph. I don’t care. It’s part of the job.


But if you come up to me and you think I owe it to you to give an autograph, I’ll tell you to piss off. I’m human just like everyone else. I don’t owe anybody anything. But if you want to be cordial or polite, I’ll give you autographs all day.


HTR: Well we definitely thank you for coming on. We want to make sure we tell all the fans to check out ROHWrestling.comso all the fans can check out Brent Albright and the rest of the Ring of Honor stars. Once again Brent, it’s been a pleasure and we hope you’ll come back on once the TV show’s done taping.


BA: Hey, anytime guys. Don’t forget to check out ROH’s TV show on HDNet, the PPV Rising Above on the Dish Network and ROHWrestling.com. Check it out it’s good stuff.


To find out more, listen in to Hit the Ropes Radio. This week's special guests: Former WWE Tough Enough Winner Daniel Puder and Gustavo Mendoza of Booker T's PWA.

Hit the Ropes Radio Show