SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana
Episode 321– Scott D’Amore
October 6, 2016
Report by Chris Davidson, PWTorch.com / PWPodcast.com contributor
HOT TOPICS
-Scott D’Amore talks about WCW, Hulk Hogan, TNA, and promoting the Rock’s only independent wrestling match
-Colt Cabana talks about his recent hip injury, and ROH’s recent Ladder War
KEY TIME STAMP GUIDE
0:00 – Introduction
7:03 – Song of the week
10:54 – Scott D’Amore interview
15:47 – Scott D’Amore talks WCW
21:15 – Scott D’Amore talks earning respect and jobbing
28:33 – Scott D’Amore talks getting into wrestling
41:02 – Scott D’Amore talks being erased from TNA history, and being un-hirable
46:16 – Scott D’Amore talks Team Canada in TNA
50:50 – Scott D’Amore talks “weird” wrestling
55:33 – Scott D’Amore talks Border City Wrestling
1:06:48 – Colt wraps up the show
HIGHLIGHTS OF SHOW
0:00 – Introduction – Colt opened the show calling this another great week in the life of his podcast, because of a lot of great interviews he conducted for the upcoming weeks and months. Colt talked about the first time he met Scott D’Amore at the 2000 Dan Curtis Memorial Show in Detroit. Colt said that the phrase “act like you’ve been there before” sums up D’Amore’s career, and mentioned some of his various gigs. Colt brought up his most recent hip pains, caused by a trio of moonsaults, which are causing him to miss the IWA Mid-South 20th anniversary show. Colt talked about his recent TV tapings for ROH, and tag teaming with Dalton Castle. Colt complained about terrible wrestling promoting, where people don’t have high production values to promote matches. Colt plugged the recent ROH Ladder War between the Young Bucks, The Addiction, and the Motor City Machine Guns, specifically praising Christopher Daniels’ performance.
7:03 – Song of the week – The song of the week this week is “Ghost Heat” by Captain Catfeesh.
10:54 – Scott D’Amore interview – Colt opened the interview asking if D’Amore was a “cusser”. D’Amore has found that being around wrestling has made him cuss more, and said that Colt cusses “the right level”, where a child could still listen to his show with little explanation. Colt said that he used to cuss in matches a lot, but has stopped because it is cheap. D’Amore was broken into the business in such an old school way that if he were to cuss in the ring, he would have gotten beat. D’Amore said he’d cuss in the locker room in just about every sentence, but old-school wrestlers tended to be against cussing in the ring. Colt asked if D’Amore thought Sheik cussed, and D’Amore told a story about the first time he met The Sheik. The Sheik talked to him for about 20 minutes, then let him change in the locker room with him, instead of in the locker room with all the other wrestlers. Colt joked that D’Amore’s whole career had a “veteranship” to it, whether he earned it or not.
15:47 – Scott D’Amore talks WCW – Colt asked about D’Amore booking WCW after only being in wrestling for three years. D’Amore didn’t book for WCW, but he did work as a jobber and helped do paperwork for the extras and the jobbers in WCW. D’Amore carried papers in his back pocket so he always looked like he was working. D’Amore realized that the chances of him being a superstar wrestler weren’t good, but he wanted to do whatever he could to work in the business. D’Amore was known as “the Stooge’s Stooge” because he was seen as lower than Dave Penzer, who was called “the Stooge”. D’Amore worked with jobbers, but when Hulk Hogan was mad that the some local jobbers weren’t good, D’Amore got a raise to bring in the best jobbers around. D’Amore credited with carrying a piece of paper to helping him get booked whenever he wanted.
21:15 – Scott D’Amore talks earning respect and jobbing – Colt asked about when D’Amore met the Sheik, and if he knew what he did to get on the Sheik’s good side. D’Amore didn’t remember doing anything specific, besides give honest answers to the Sheik’s questions. Colt asked if that moment was D’Amore’s first “in” in wrestling. D’Amore had already worked a few WWF matches, so he had some unearned swagger. D’Amore once called Al Snow to apologize for everything stupid thing he’d said or done, but as a teenager he felt he was better than he was, and made dumb decisions. D’Amore talked about being a jobber, when many wrestlers didn’t think jobbing was a good career move. D’Amore got paid well for jobbing in WCW, but was still able to do indy shows. D’Amore told a brief story of getting yelled at by Arn Anderson. D’Amore followed that with another story of Anderson yelling at him for introducing himself in the locker room.
28:33 – Scott D’Amore talks getting into wrestling – D’Amore talked about buying gear breaking into wrestling, specifically the pre-spandex ring wear. D’Amore pointed out that wearing bright colors and being fat don’t mix, so he stayed with basic colors and tanned. D’Amore talked about early tanning beds that took 45 minutes or longer to get a tan. D’Amore started wrestling at 16 in 1991 after lying on his application to the sports commission. D’Amore’s first match was when he was 17, and a week prior to his senior prom. D’Amore’s prom date threatened to kill him if he got a mark on his face that messed up her prom. D’Amore told the guy he was wrestling to not hit him in the face, which he did not, and D’Amore won the match on accident. D’Amore discussed the weird way that heels and babyfaces were split up, and how they had to always call the match in the ring. D’Amore praised Christian Cage as the one person he would work with forever if he had to. D’Amore talked about modern wrestlers calling matches, and Colt told a brief story of making changes to a match on the fly, and his opponent having trouble following along. Colt said that he was trained old school, but he’s adapted to the new school methods. D’Amore called the change to a more spot-centric style of wrestling amazing.
41:02 – Scott D’Amore talks being erased from TNA history, and being un-hirable – D’Amore said he would take credit for some changes in TNA, even though he feels he was removed from the TNA history books. D’Amore said that he feels forgotten, even though he is on good terms with Dixie Carter and other personnel. D’Amore said it could be worse, because he’s at least not getting buried like Vince Russo does. D’Amore said he’s un-hirable because he does dumb things and people don’t really want to work with him. D’Amore blamed his buffoonery of growing up quickly in regard to booking travel and when he wasn’t being mature, continuing to be a goof. One day in the office, D’Amore hit Jeff Jarrett with a double leg to get Russo and Disco Inferno to laugh. D’Amore knew he wanted to be a heel when he was trying to tag a kid out playing tee ball, and he accidentally hit him really hard, drawing boos from the crowd. D’Amore chalked up his stupidity to trying to get the reaction from other people.
46:16 – Scott D’Amore talks Team Canada in TNA – D’Amore said he was a little bitter being erased from TNA, but he will re-write it one day. D’Amore talked about going to TNA as a producer, thinking he was done with performing, until he was put into the position as the head of Team Canada. D’Amore had planned to be a serious manager, but it wasn’t long before his buffoonery came out in his performance. D’Amore ended up carrying a flag on a hockey stick, barking at the camera, and speaking with a French accent when he got mad, even though he’s Italian.
50:50 – Scott D’Amore talks “weird” wrestling – Colt asked D’Amore about some of the weirder stuff he has done in wrestling. D’Amore first went to Japan for WAR, and felt like a rock star because of the people taking his bags and driving him around. D’Amore had trained with Dan Severn and did worked shoots with no bumps for decent money. D’Amore talked about the various other Japanese wrestlers he’s worked with, and that he had brought over to Canada to work with him. D’Amore talked about doing the Canadian Destroyer in Japan, mainly because the Great Muta told him to.
55:33 – Scott D’Amore talks Border City Wrestling – Shortly after WCW folded, D’Amore started pouring money into Border City Wrestling to try and make a Canadian ECW. D’Amore started doing TV with Border City Wrestling simply because he wanted to learn how to put on a TV show. D’Amore said that the only indy show the Rock ever worked was for him. The Rock blew out his knee shortly before D’Amore’s show, but he still showed up, even though he wasn’t supposed to wrestle that night. The Rock showed up for the show, and even worked a tag-team match because he was having fun and feeling it. D’Amore plugged Border City Wrestling and talked about his wrestling school’s structured format that has helped many wrestlers. D’Amore plugged his personal social media and talked about positive internet comments, as well as the Rock hypothetically still caring about the opinions of others.
1:06:48 – Colt wraps up the show – Colt plugged an upcoming Border City Wrestling show and talked briefly about needing to diversify what he does. Colt plugged his upcoming events, thanked his fans, Scott D’Amore, his tech help and sponsors. Colt teased an upcoming comedy show the night before Thanksgiving and signed off.
REVIEW OF EPISODE
Score: 8.2 – Scott D’Amore certainly has a unique perspective on the world of wrestling. Listening to D’Amore discuss the ups and downs of his career was fun, and he had a lot of stories about the biggest names in wrestling. There was an audio issue in the middle that made part of the episode difficult to hear, but otherwise this was a very good show. D’Amore’s attitude towards his position in wrestling was refreshing, and he comes across as someone who genuinely cares about the business. There wasn’t a lot about D’Amore’s upbringing, as there typically is on the Art of Wrestling, but it had more than enough stories about Hulk Hogan and the Rock to make up for it.
If you are interested in volunteering to contribute a review of a weekly or daily podcast hosted by a wrestling personality, send an application to pwtorchstaff@gmail.com.
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