As a fan of the original ECW, I recently had the pleasure to sit down with one of the stars of the original ECW, Danny Doring. Doring, and his partner Roadkill, were the last team to hold the ECW World Tag Team titles. Doring also wrestled briefly in the WWE’s ECW brand before being released in November of last year. Doring now wrestles on for several indy promotions, including MCW (Maryland Championship Wrestling) and NWA Upstate. This interview took place November 24th after Doring wrestled on NWA Upstate’s Holiday Hangover show.
1. What made you decide to become a pro wrestler?
Childhood dream. You get up one day. You finally find a means, you find a school, make the sacrifices, you go forward. You go to the school, you kick ass and you make it baby. You don’t take no for an answer. You don’t knock on the door, you kick it down.
2. What wrestlers if any influenced you to become a pro wrestler?
Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. Randy Savage because I grew up watching Randy Savage. Ted DiBiase because I got to know him and thought he was an awesome guy. I really didn’t appreciate him until later on in my life, but I thought he was one of the greatest heels I’d ever seen.
3. What’s the best part of a wrestling match for you?
I would normally say when the crowd is into it and loving what I’m doing. But honestly I think it’s when I really turn a crowd over to hate my guts. I think there’s something special in that. It makes me pleased and happy and even gives me a little bit of a chubby to know that I have that kind of influence over people that I can actually make them hate my guts as much as I’m able to do. And I’m actually not really even working them as much as I’m being myself. So that’s pretty special that I’m that disliked and despicable that people cannot stand my face after something so that makes me feel pretty good. I always like being hated and underestimated so that one’s pretty good.
4. What has been your most memorable moment in the business thus far?
There’s so many. Meeting Randy Savage is one. You meet a lot of guys you grew up watching on tv, and nine out of ten times they’re scumbags or pieces of garbage and a disappointment. Randy Savage was not. Another one was winning the ECW Tag Team Championship with my partner Roadkill. We worked very hard to do that. And right after that probably the most memorable was Taz coming to a show in Queens and gave us his personal endorsement. That was pretty special and made me feel pretty good. It was kind of a shoot promo that touched on my personal and family life. They televised it and they exploited it but whatever. It was pretty cool though.
5. What has been your most embarrassing moment in the business thus far?
I’m at a show in Delaware and I’m wrestling Chris Hamrick. I go up to the turnbuckle and I pose and they boo, he goes up they pop and we go back and forth. I tell him when I go up pull my pants down so my ass is hanging out because I had my thong on. This guy get my underwear and my pants pulls all the way down to my knees, full frontal flapping all over the ringpost. I fell backwards, rolled under the ring, under the bottom rope, went under the ring, and stayed there for ten minutes thinking I can’t believe this guy did that. He got me full frontal. It was pretty embarrassing. My girlfriend’s here and she didn’t like that answer but you asked. There were like 20 people and half of them had never seen one of those before, especially one that big. It was like a maneater, or a womaneater, rephrase that.
6. If you could step in the ring with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
Well I would have to say Randy Savage who influenced me to get into the business. But all things considered, I would like to get back in the ring with Taz because he kicked my ass so much for so many years and now I’m pretty sure I could kill him because he’s a fat slob. He’s let himself go and he’s announcing now. I know I could stretch him and when I stretch him, I would ask him how it feels to get stretched by one of his students. Of course I’d have to get my arm all the way around all of him but I could do it. Give him the MRI. That’s my new move I’m coming out with in 2008. Stay tuned.
7. How has the wrestling business changed when you first started? Has it changed for the better or worse?
Well it’s changed for the worse. Before anyone thought of it, the internet heard a lot of things. People complaining about worst-kept secrets or bad-kept secrets, you can’t hide anything from these guys anymore. There’s always a leak, there’s always this, there’s always that. Nobody is going to be surprised about what happens in the future. But the thing that really pisses me off is that I got up, I got motivated, put money away, went to an actual wrestling school. I went from there to pay dues on the road by setting up rings, driving trucks, doing everything the hard way. And now you can just sell tickets and get on shows. You don’t have to be trained, you can have it in your backyard, apparently you can win ebay auctions and get on shows that I’ve heard of in New York City. So that to me is a shame because nobody really learns respect or they think that the wrestling world owes them because they’re there now. And there should be more people there that are pissed off and don’t like it and beat these guys up to the point where they don’t want to get back in the ring. That’s what should happen but it doesn’t because the bottom line is how much money can you make me. If you can sell 20 tickets, I’ll put on a show and that’s it so it doesn’t really matter. So in the next six or seven years they’ll have zero dues paid and no respect at all. And that’s probably why UFC is gonna kick the rest of the business in the balls because of stuff like that. And that’s how I feel. It hurts my feelings, but it’s probably the truth.
8. What do you think of the current state of pro wrestling?
I think WWE puts out an absolutely horrible product and it’s a shame. I think TNA is in a position to step up and challenge them and they’re doing a lot of things the right way and they’re doing a lot of things the wrong way. But there’s nobody else who’s in a position to challenge them. Unfortunately like I just said, UFC is kicking everybody’s ass, pay-per-view buyrates and everything else. And I’m not convinced that that’s not a work because I’m pretty sure it is. So I think it’s in disarray, but it could be a lot better if people did things the right way.
9. If you wanted to or could change one thing about your career, what would it be?
I would’ve kicked Paul Heyman in the balls. Because he’s a piece of garbage and deserves it and screwed over a lot of the boys and is a self-proclaimed genius and nobody understands that the whole time we working our asses off for bounced checks. It had nothing to do with him it had to do with three letters called ECW that we believed in.
10. Finally, what do you want people to think of when they hear the name Danny Doring?
Honestly I could care less. I go out and I do my job. If you want me to be a heel, I’ll make everybody in the crowd hate my guts. If you want me to be a face, I will turn everybody in the crowd to make them love me. So whatever you want me to do I’ll do. People are gonna draw their own conclusions regardless. I don’t worry about what other people think, I worry about what I think. When I look back am I going to be happy with what I accomplished and what I did? Yes I am. Am I finished? No. When I am finished, I’m not gonna retire or announce on the internet I’m retiring or I’m stepping down because it’s all bs because nobody ever retires. I will just simply stop taking bookings. Do I care about my legacy? Yes. But do I care if somebody else is going to make my legacy worthy? A bunch of guys that write on the internet sitting in their mother’s basement scratching their balls, eating cheetos, and watching porn are gonna tell me what it takes to be a wrestler and they couldn’t even step in the ring? All the internet is is guys that can’t do what we do who criticize what we do. No matter what level you’re on, whether it’s the smallest of indies or the biggest stages, you have no right to criticize a goddamn thing, It’s like John Clayton on ESPN talking about football players, he’s never put on a helmet. So do I care about my legacy? I don’t care as long as long as I can look back on it personally and be proud of what I’ve done, and be proud of the guys that I met and the progress that I made and the friendships that I’ve made. Can I be proud of my life? Yes. I don’t need anybody else to tell me what my life is. What do I care about what anybody else thinks? Zero. And that’s it.
For more information on Danny Doring, you can visit his official website at www.dannydoring.com. and for more info on NWA Upstate visit www.nwaupny.com.