RF VIDEO - MATT SYDAL (EVAN BOURNE) SHOOT INTERVIEW

This interview is very stream of consciousness-oriented, as Sydal talks a great deal. His loquacious nature seems to be integral to his personality, so in that respect, this interview is authentic to how Sydal is as a person. However, this also means that Sydal talks fast and occasionally it can be hard to follow which topic he is on. More than once, he even gets a little caught up talking and has to ask what the original question was. As the interview went on, I got used to the interview's fast-paced nature (must like Matt's in-ring style!). Now that I think about it, I remember that Matt's edition of Highspots' "Developmentally Speaking" (which featured two other guests besides him) featured him talking more than expected, too.

There were two moments in this interview when Sydal's humor especially is evident 1. When asked about WSX, Sydal impersonates the typical promoter who calls him and insists that they are going to change the face of the wrestling business, and 2. he exaggeratedly explains what a typical day is like backstage at WWE. Also, Sydal makes fun of interviewer Rob Feinstein's questions on a few occasions, which shines light on Sydal's temperament.

Sydal talks quite a bit about the early challenges of learning that what worked in Missouri for GCW (the promotion eh started with) wouldn't work for more sophisticated crowds like in Philadelphia. He discussed how Madman Pondo and Kid Kash assisted with this learning process in his pre-IWA-MS days and how Homicide, CM Punk, Colt Cabana, James Gibson, and Chris Candido taught him lessons during his IWA-MS days. It was a challenge for Sydal to learn how to make his dollars last on the road and how to stand out to fans, but those veterans were there to give him tips. Sydal also had some teriffic insight into the culture of Japan and how different it is than that of the U.S. Of course, it's not just non-wrestling talk about Japan - Matt talks a ton about Dragon Gate and how important it was and is to him and his career.

In this interview, you get a sense of how different locker rooms were for Matt, as in Gateway Championship Wrestling (GCW) and IWA-MS he was learning, while in ROH most of the time, he was afraid to even ask to stay in an already paid-for hotel room because he still considered himself a rookie. Then he got to WSX and Dragon Gate and thought he had it all figured out and had a blast. Next, he went to OVW and had to start largely all over and kept to himself for the most part outside of the ring, although he was proud of his in-ring work there. FCW came next and there, Sydal felt like no one cared about him, though his motivation to succeed was still there, and it resulted in his own initiatve basically being the cause of him getting promoted to TV for WWECW.

There is some interesting talk about Sydal getting to observe the Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather training sessions. He talks extensively about successfully convincing WWE to un-ban the Shooting Star Press, which became his WWE finisher. His discussion of how WWE publicly treated his first wellness policy violation is very insightful as well, since I didn't expect him to be so passionate about the related topic of drug addiction, which he talks about at various points. Related is when he was caught bringing cannabis over to Japan; it was engrossing hearing him talk about being in detention for three months in a foreign nation.

One notable omission from the interview is Delirious; Sydal was never asked about his long-time rival and partner, and did not talk about him often. I mean, how do you do a shoot interview with Matt Sydal and not ask about Delirious, who he was married to early in his career?! At one point, Feinstein asked him about "Hunter" - when Sydal asked him if he meant Delirious or Triple H, Feinstein said Triple H. There was an opportunity missed in this interview as far as asking about Delirious.

Other than that, this interview is, for the most part, what I expected. Topics I wish Sydal discussed that he didn't were NWA Wildside/Bill Behrens, AAW, RevPro, Davey Richards, and Petey Williams, although none of those represented an overly substantial part of his career. I also wish he talked more about Christopher Daniels, and he didn't go off on his brother Mike's injury in CZW like he did in the entertaining tangent on his YouShoot edition, but that's fine because he adequately discussed it in the Kayfabe Commentaries program. The only thing I had to get used to is how opinionated and talkative Sydal is. That's a positive thing, though, as you get a sense of his true personality while watching this interview. This is a fairly good look into Sydal's diverse experiences in the wrestling business, although the Delirious (and Daizee Haze, for that matter) omission was notable.

GRADE: B

PURCHASE:

DVD: http://www.rfvideo.com/mattsydalshootinterview.aspx

DIGITAL: https://www.rfvideovault.com/media/matt-sydal-shoot-interview/89034, http://store.rfvideonow.com/downloads/matt-sydal-shoot-interview/, https://www.titlematchwrestlingnetwork.com/media/matt-sydal-3-hour-shoot-interview-(2019)/89046

Index of topics discussed:

- growing up

- becoming an ECW fan

- growing up in St. Louis, MO

- being a backyard wrestler

- reading Ken Shamrock's book

- starting with Gateway Championship Wrestling (GCW)

- Madman Pondo

- challenges during the training process

- getting the name "Matt Sydal"

- wrestling Kid Kash early into his career

- starting with IWA-MS

- adjusting to what fans want to see

- IWA-MS fans

- Ian Rotten

- learning from the IWA-MS veterans

- debuting in TNA

- the Ted Petty Invitational tournaments

- wrestling El Generico (Sami Zayn) in the 2005 TPI

- CM Punk's time in IWA-MS

- Colt Cabana

- the importance of not getting an ego

- his expectations when he became a wrestler

- joining Ring of Honor (ROH)

- how to engage fans

- the importance of referees

- Gabe Sapolsky

- Samoa Joe

- Generation Next

- Roderick Strong

- Jack Evans

- Jimmy Rave

- The King of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero)

- teaming with AJ Styles

- the culture in Japan

- Dragon Gate Japan

- winning the Open the Brave Gate Title

- Masato Yoshino

- his strategy when training his WWN students

- Wrestling Society X (WSX)

- Lizzy Valentine (Valentine/J-Love)

- his WWE developmental deal

- Mike Bucci (Nova/Simon Dean)

- Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW)

- Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW)

- being an extra on the Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather angle

- Jamie Noble a.k.a. James Gibson

- debuting in WWECW

- Kofi Kingston

- the "Evan Bourne" name

- using the Shooting Star Press, which WWE previously had as a banned move

- which WWE agents assisted his development

- being traded to RAW

- the Money In The Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania

- his shoulder injury

- Air Boom (his tag team with Kofi Kingston)

- his first wellness policy violation

- drug addiction

- his motorcycle accident (including the camera zooming on his foot injuries)

- his thoughts during his injury about starting a second career

- his regrets about his WWE career

- his WWE release

- Triple H

- his role at the WWN Training Center

- returing to ROH

- his opponents in ROH (including ACH and Kushida) during the mid 2010s

- his regret of not working for Lucha Underground

- the European indie scene

- Will Ospreay

- his two runs in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG)

- what he enjoys most about the wrestling business

- EVOLVE

- Ricochet

- NJPW (New Japan)

- his goals for wrestling in Japan (championships, etc.)

- being in jail for three months in a foreign country for bringing cannabis over the border

- returing to TNA (now IMPACT)

- Josh Mathews

- booking & the creative side of wrestling

- Ethan Page

- the difference between house and shows and TV tapings

- his personal brand

- All Elite Wrestling (AEW)

- misconceptions about him

RUN TIME: 2 hr. 49 min.

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