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#Post#: 31766--------------------------------------------------
Chat with Magnus. Talks Leaving TNA, GFW & More
By: ChrissiCalvert Date: July 10, 2015, 1:30 pm
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What led to your decision to leave TNA?
I've been with TNA for six-and-a-half years, which has been
incredible for me. I've seen a lot of changes in that time, just
like you would with any company. I've seen a lot of resets, and
all the while I've always somehow managed to stay the course and
develop and grow as a talent. I reached what I thought was the
pinnacle of my career at the end of 2013 [when he won the TNA
World Title].
I came to the decision, if I'm honest with myself, about six
months ago, maybe a bit before that, that I would leave the
company when my contract was up. I've done everything that I can
do, and I appreciated everything. It's just time for me now, at
28 years old, to do something else to renew my focus and my
energy. I just feel like I maxed out what I can do at TNA. Some
people call it the seven-year itch, and I can totally relate to
that.
You just signed with Global Force, but all of a sudden, Global
Force might be involved with TNA. Will that be weird for you?
There is something I have to clear up. It's not so much that I'm
leaving TNA for GFW, that's just a coincidence that I'm going
there immediately. I had let TNA know that I was going to leave
on June 30, and we left on good terms. We agreed to wrap things
up the right way, and I loved the way that we did. Then Jeff
showed up on TV, and I looked at him and just said, "What the
hell?" I was backstage at the TV tapings, and little Kody
[Angle] came running up to me and gave me a big hug. I didn't
put two-and-two together, because I thought maybe Kurt had the
kids. Then I saw Jeff's kids, and then I saw this SUV. Suddenly
the window rolls down and Jeff is there. I just told him, "I
don't even want to know." I had no idea he was going to show up,
and I'm still not sure what is going on completely.
Despite that, how does it feel to be done with TNA?
You're not going to find me saying anything but positives about
my time in TNA. They have given me everything up to this point.
I've earned it, and sometimes I've made my mark in spite of
their decisions, but they gave me the platform and the income,
and I made something of myself with them. That being said, I
have to tell the truth. When I gave my notice, and had a
conversation with John Gaburick "Big," as people like to call
him by the time we got off the phone I felt like a 100-pound
weight had been lifted off my back. There was always something.
Every week there was a new rumor. I do sometimes think some of
it was unfair to TNA. It became en vogue to just rip on TNA. If
some of those things that had been reported about TNA had been
reported about, say, Ring of Honor, everyone would have just
talked about how much it sucks for them. But because it was TNA,
it turned into how terrible they were and how they were run by
about a bunch of idiots
I hope that everything works out for them. I don't know what the
hell is going on with Global and everything, but I had to trust
my gut. I've been in the business for 10 years. I'm a student of
the game. I love the business. I feel like I've been involved in
every facet of the business. I sat with the camera guys, and
back in the truck, sitting on the headsets, just to get a feel
for the whole business. I've really run the gauntlet of the
business. My gut told me that the thing that had been missing
was what Jeff had in the company the experience as a real
wrestling guy. He knows the business, and loves the business and
knows talent. And I think that, for me, is the number-one thing.
Jeff has a much better idea of talent and who to trust in
important positions, and that might be the issue that I have
with TNA right now. But I hope they haven't reached critical
mass and everything can work out.
You talk about all the rumors and how they weighed you down
what was the locker room like over the past few months?
To be honest, it was very turbulent. I'm sure you're aware of
the conference call that took place not too long ago. There were
things said in that conference call that were a long time
coming. I'm not about to throw any talent under the bus, but
there were certain things that I heard in that conference call,
like talent saying, "I'm disgusted by this" or, "We have a right
to know." Anyone that's been involved with TNA knows that at
times, I've been very outspoken. There was a point where I just
sat there and thought that what everyone has to remember is that
as an independent contractor in wrestling, nobody owes you a
living. You don't have a right to be guaranteed a living just
because you signed a contract somewhere. Most contracts, with
exceptions, can just be canceled anyways. I just kind of went,
"Nobody owes you a living." Every day that I get to put on a
pair of tights and boots and get to feed my son, that's a good
day.
You said that when Jarrett left, there was a big change at TNA.
Can you elaborate on that?
I think the balance left. From a creative standpoint, and from a
philosophy standpoint, Jeff provided the balance of a
traditional wrestling booker. He knew that there are certain
things in pro wrestling that will always work, and he knows that
there are some fundamental reasons that people enjoy pro
wrestling. As long as you provide those elements, you'll retain
an audience. And I'm not talking about good guys and bad guys.
I'm talking about the fundamental nature of booking and what
makes a good worker. It's not just saying, "This guy is the top
guy." OK, but what if his work isn't that great? Have you
thought about what you're going to do when he's responsible for
a 20-minute match? You can't just say that you'll think of it
later. When Jeff left, there was a constant struggle that he
would have nipped in the bud. He would've said, "This is fine,
but we have to do it in this certain way." I think that without
that balance of the wrestling guy, there were some fundamental
issues in what was being produced.
Did that lead to the issues in the locker room?
There's a fundamental problem in the wrestling business. This
extends from the independents all the way up at the very top
companies, WWE or New Japan or anyone else. Guys are
undercutting each other. There's less money being distributed
where it needs to be distributed. There are too many people
willing to come in and take the same spot for a lot less money.
I've been a victim of it. I was one of those people that always
said, "Hey, I'm in this spot now, I think we need to talk about
my compensation." Unfortunately, there are a lot of guys who
have come in who were just happy to have the spot and the
opportunity. They'll do all these extra things for free. That
might be great for the company, and you might be the big
babyface to the office, but you're screwing all the boys over
because you're doing it for nothing, or you're doing it for way
too cheap. Now it's really hard for the rest of us to justify
our pay. There were certain guys being given a lot of TV time
because they signed ridiculously low contracts. It's not the
right thing to do, because you've made it hard for all of us.
You can't blame the guys paying the money, because that's their
job, getting the best services for the lowest possible price.
The fact is though, you get what you pay for. And I think that's
another thing TNA is experiencing and understanding at this
point. You can't just tell people that someone is worthy of the
spot, and will draw the house. You can't just disregard years of
building a relationship with the audience.
So with that mentality already ingrained in the business, how do
you fix it?
It has to start with the top guys. And you're seeing it now.
Look at the departures. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and look where
they've ended up. The companies that make money, they know who
has value. You have to develop a market value. It can't just be
created in an office. Obviously companies can stick the rocket
pack on someone and help them become a major player. At the end
of the day, your work and your ability and your dedication and
your commitment are what develop your market value. As long as
performers understand that, and that they have a market value as
an individual instead of just as a brand, then it levels itself
out. Sometimes it takes departures and guys going elsewhere to
make that apparent.
It seems like the only way to prevent guys from taking too
little would be to form a union. Would you be in support of
that, and do you even think it's feasible?
In principle, pro wrestlers would absolutely benefit from a
union, but it would take a huge number of guys to shift the
balance of power. And the sad reality is that the business has
had decades of experience squashing any union potential. I feel
a little vulnerable even talking about it in this hypothetical
sense. I wrote a column in Fighting Spirit Magazine years ago
about how I thought British wrestlers qualified to be a part of
Equity, the U.K. performing artists' union. Shortly after the
column came out, I was contacted by someone at Equity who said
they agreed with me. Even when there was an existing union
available to join, nobody did. But then I heard that this guy
who was known for being a con man in the business was telling
the guys that he had set it up and would get them in for a fee,
which pretty much sums up the business; there will always be one
guy who cuts the golden goose open rather than let it lay eggs.
I guess this storyline with James Storm was your last with TNA.
What's it been like watching him and your fianc้e, Mickie James,
doing their angle, including the infamous train tracks segment a
few weeks ago?
My favorite thing I've ever did, as far as an angle, was the
story with Bram. Tom is legitimately my best friend. I pushed
for them to give him an opportunity, and he absolutely killed
it. He's a great talent, and he'd be great anywhere he wants to
be. I pushed for that angle and this goes back to the
philosophy that me and Jeff share because most of us, the
talent, have interesting enough stories in real life that you
can document them, and turn them into great angles and
compelling stories that make it believable. This is a one-take
business. You have to make it believable, that's how you make
the audience care. So I pitched an angle where Tom can be
jealous that he went off in one direction and I came to TNA. His
direction didn't work out for him and here I am, and I've been
champion and started a family with Mickie.
Then we introduced the stuff with Mickie, which I always
resisted. They had tried to get us to do stuff before, and we
always just said that it felt forced, so we turned it down. The
whole angle ended up being an artistic success. I would've liked
to do the Bram angle for longer, but they told me they wanted
all angles to wrap up within a couple months. Sometimes in TNA
you can be a victim of your own success. I just wanted to make
sure that we didn't go straight from this angle into just
another angle with me and Mickie. Then, sure enough,
fast-forward to the bell-to-bell show and I'm told that James is
going to come down and you're going to get into a program with
James.
We still made it good. We had a lot of input on it at the
beginning. We had a great in-ring where Mickie had announced
that she was going to go home. James came and convinced her to
stay and we had packed loads of subtle nuance into it. I thought
it could be really good. We kept it going, we were dragging it
out as long as we could. Suddenly we get word that they want to
do that train thing. Some of it, unfortunately, tied into the
fact that they knew I wasn't going to stay. So that was kind of
an issue. But nonetheless, when the train thing came about I'm
trying to be as positive as I can, but this was one situation
where there wasn't a single person I talked to, apart from the
guy whose idea it was, that didn't say, "What the hell is that?"
I've always been of the mindset that if you don't like
something, don't just say no, come up with an alternative. We
must have pitched God knows how many different alternatives,
that included implied violence, or a girl, or different ways to
get the same job done. We were just told, "No, this is going to
be great." I think that segment speaks for itself. It went from
being Sons of Anarchy to Days of Our Lives. We made the best of
it after that. It was almost irrelevant at that point, because
of the way it panned out. I'm very proud of the way the match
turned out though. I couldn't ask for a better way to wrap up
business.
While GFW will be one thing you do, what else do you have
planned for the immediate future?
I have a fitness book that's due for imminent release. I wish I
could tell you the exact release date, but it should be any day.
The book is called The Superstar Body. It's my real-world
techniques on how to have the kind of body that you associate
with not necessarily bodybuilders, but movie stars and
wrestlers, MMA guys. The premise of the book is that you don't
have to live like a monk and do plain chicken breast and rice.
This is what works for me in the real world, with a demanding
job and a baby at home, and I still go out and drink beer with
my friends. Not only that, this is how my buddy who is a Muscle
and Fitness model does it, and this is how Kurt Angle does it,
this is how Rob Terry does it. I have input from loads of
different guys. So for anyone who is interested in getting in
shape, it's not just me describing my philosophies. It's also
input from all these other guys and girls.
I've got a renewed energy though. Especially since I'm so close
with Jeff. Jeff is a very open guy, and I just got off the phone
with him, and I'm excited. I feel like I'm part of something.
It's a startup, and there's still a lot to form, but it's
forming. I'm also very much a free agent. While I'm with Global
Force, I'm available. But the reality is that when Jeff
described it to me, I knew I was in. There's a lot of moving
parts, and there's going to be more to come very soon.
#Post#: 31780--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chat with Magnus. Talks Leaving TNA, GFW & More
By: tnafanforum Date: July 12, 2015, 8:33 am
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Good luck to him and GFW .. I hope it pays off .. It is always a
risk to work for a new brand what have not got money like Tna or
WWe
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