Charlie Haas Interview RecapFor those of you who missed it...here's what went down when Charlie Haas spoke to us:
- Charlie said he was always a fan of Pro-Wrestling and always wanted to be a wrestler. He talked briefly about his amateur career and how he wrestled from 7th Grade up to college.
- The Von Erichs, Chris Adams, Arn Anderson and the British Bulldog were just some his idols when he was growing up as a fan of wrestling.
- Charlie spoke of his time at Iron Mike Sharpe's wrestling school. He said he always wanted to be pro-wrestler and was dedicated to achieving his dream.
- Charlie spoke of the 4 Years on the indy scene he spent with his brother Russ. Jim Kettner and Kevin Kelly polished them up and by Word of Mouth, they were brought to the WWE for Dark matches. After their fourth dark match they got signed up to a developmental deal.
- Charlie talked about his WWE development deal and how he was there at the same time as Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, John Cena and Batista for almost 3 years across 3 different territories. Haas also talked about how he believes some of the guys now get brought up far too quickly from the developmental deals compared to the past and said not all the guys are ready to take that huge step.
- Charlie talked about his brother's death and said although it was a very difficult and confusing time, Russ's untimely passing made him push even harder to achieve his dream of making it in the wrestling business. He used Russ's memory as an inspiration to push for the goals they had both shared and felt Russ would have done the same thing had the situation been reveresed.
- Charlie talked about Team Angle and how he and Shelton were brought in as "themselves" without any gimmicks. He described it has a great opportunity and said he and Shelton both felt they could all the way and actually become one of the "World's greatest tag-teams".
- Charlie said the WWE ended Team Angle too quickly as they wanted singles wrestlers rather than tag-teams. He criticised the "makeshift" tag-teams that are doing the rounds these days and said the WWE does not devote as much time to tag-team wrestling as they once did in the past.
- Charlie talked about his first tag-team title victory with Shelton Benjamin and said it was a "dream come true" and spoke of how he finally achieved the dream him and his brother had first set out to achieve many years before.
- Charlie said he and Shelton hadnt been told in advance they were going to be split, mainly due to an overseas tour. He described it as a real "shock" and wondered where the WWE were going to go with this.
- He said the writers did not have any ideas for him and it was more of a case of him try to find his own storylines with the likes of RVD, Rico, Dawn Marie and Hardcore Holly and for the writers to see what fitted.
- Charlie talked about his release and said the WWE were trying to find entertainers with gimmicks rather than guys who could actually wrestle. He spoke about the booking team at the time and said it may have been a different story had some of the writers actually stepped into a wrestling ring.
- Charlie spoke well of Dusty Rhodes' recent addition to the WWE's writing team and said it was a good move to have a guy who understands the wrestlers perspective and has himself wrestled at a very high level. He also said that some of the WWE agents should have more of an input into what goes on creatively as well.
- Charlie spoke very highly of Paul Heyman and said he has a "brilliant mind" and put much of his own character's success down to Paul's input and the working relationship he had with him.
- Charlie spoke about some of the guys he would have loved to have wrestled in the WWE.
- Charlie recalled some of his best matches in the WWE and spoke about Vengeance 2003 where he and Shelton teamed up against Rey Mysterio and Kidman - a match which he described as "almost perfect"
- Charlie spoke highly of New Japan and said it was always an ambition of his to wrestle in the Tokyo Dome/
- Charlie recalled how he broke his tooth taking a clothesline from hell from JBL. He said that you really got to take the move hard as its such a great finisher.
- Charlie spoke of his ambitions and said he wanted to take the singles route for now as he's acomplished many things as a Tag-Team wrestler. He said he was excited about New Japan and hoped it could be a long-term option. Charlie refused to rule out the possibility of going with TNA or possibly back with the WWE in the future.
- Charlie said he felt Europe and Japan were the places to be for Wrestling right now. He spoke about wrestling in Italy and also about coming over to the UK to wrestle for 1PW.
- Charlie spoke about TNA and hoped it could be a real competitior to the WWE "for the sake of the boys more than anything else" as it would give them another great place to wrestle.
To listen to the 30 minute interview in full, including Charlie on Married life, WWE's trademark clampdown and life outside of wrestling, log on to
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