Joey Ryan Speaks In-Depth On TNA's "Gut Check", & More
One of the founding fathers of Pro Wrestling Guerilla and most recently pat of the TNA Gut Check segment, Joey “Magnum” Ryan. During his roughly 30 minute interview, he talked about being a fan of and attending LA Angels of Anaheim games (especially Jared Weaver’s no-hitter game), almost being chosen as part of MLB’s Fan Cave, his involvement with Ring Ka King, future plans for Pro Wrestling Guerilla including their 9th Anniversary show in July, the possibility and logistics of using iPPV’s, his controversial Gut Check segment and post choice reactions, Colt Cabana and Adam Pierce’s Seven Levels of Hate Series in NWA, and so much more.
-On working with Ring Ka King and its future: “One of the benefits of being a wrestler, obviously, is to get to see places in the world that you normally wouldn’t get to see. I don’t know if I wasn’t a wrestler, if I’d ever get to India but it was awesome; probably my favorite time ever wrestling. I’m a fan of 80’s wrestling and that’s what I imagine wrestling in the 80’s would have been like, because you have a really naive crowd, this real naive audience, that’s ready to eat up anything you give them. Then, in the ring you got these Indian guys that are, for lack of a better term, they’re green, so you’re carrying green guys and you’re in front of a naïve audience; that’s probably what the 80’s are like. As a part of season 2, I hear good things I hear bad things, I hear it might be in a different county so I’m hearing rumors, nothing has been confirmed though, I haven’t received and bookings, anything to keep in my calendar.
-How he got picked for TNA’s Gut Check and if it because of his involvement with Ring Ka King: “Ring Ka King and TNA are different, I think more different than people realize. They’re not really sister companies, I would say they’re cousin companies. Obviously, they are under the same umbrella, but one is run by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and the other one is run by Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel… if you noticed, TNA didn’t even really promote Ring Ka King much when it was out, if at all, so they’re very different. But it was the same connection that got me there; I worked with Dave Lagana who is a writer on Impact now, I worked with him at NWA and then at Ring of Honor and then he got hired to write for Ring Ka King and he put me on that. Then, he got hired to write for Impact and he suggested me when they were looking for un-contracted guys. So really it was the same connection, but it wasn’t because of that.”
-The role of Social Media and its effect on kayfabe/wrestling: “I personally think it’s good because people from all over the world can now access you or as a fan I can access them. I don’t think it hurts the illusion at all, well for some people; I’m not very different... I’m not a completely different person in the ring than I am now: I have a Bruce Banner side and an Incredible Hulk side; it’s just when I’m in the ring, I’m the Incredible Hulk side and when I’m out of the ring, it’s the Bruce Banner side but the ideas and the mindset is the same. So I don’t really present myself as being anything different; what you see in the ring is very much a part of me and very much inside me or else people would see right through it and see it’s not real. I think it’s important when you adapt an in-ring personality is to take a part or your own character, your own characteristics, and use it and exploit it, which is what I’ve done. So, as long as you are staying true to yourself and your in-ring persona, I don’t really think it kills any illusion.”
