Interview with "Superstar" Sean Davis of the Heartbreak Express

Please credit Alan J. Wojcik of http://alanwojcik.com if used.


“Superstar” Sean Davis is one half of arguably the most hated tag team in America, The Heartbreak Express. Sean and his partner “Fabulous” Phil Davis have been “everyone woman’s fantasy” for nearly a decade, beating teams around the country and recently overseas through Europe. A match with the Black Market (Joey Machete & Shawn Murphy) called the “Cage of Pain” will possibly make them international stars any moment. After a scheduling conflict with Phil, Alan J. Wojcik got together with Sean online for a conversation on his career.



Alan J. Wojcik: Where did you grow up and how did you catch the wrestling bug?



Sean Davis: I grew up in Rhode Island and became obsessed with wrestling after I was hanging out with a cousin of my same age when I was around 7. Her big brother was watching World Class Championship Wrestling. The Von Erich's were feuding with The Freebirds and that was it I was pretty much hooked right away. Soon after that my I met my best friend from my school days Tim who now works for FIP and AWF as Jake Serrone and occasionally will manage as Vic Slowhand. He was very into wrestling and he and I became fast friends at that young age and just became obsessed with wrestling and would talk about it constantly with each other. When we became teenagers and Tim got his driver's license we would travel constantly to any and all wrestling events throughout New England. We were self described "superfans"..I guess we were smart marks before such a thing was cool however we were not like most of the self absorbed, self proclaimed "experts" that hover all over the internet these days as we were actually respectful to the wrestlers and never tried to act like we knew more about the business than them. It is cool to look back to those days in New England as some of the guys we would follow around and would get to see on a weekly basis became huge stars in the business like Perry Saturn, Justin Credible and of course Triple H.



Phil grew up all over the country but spent most of his childhood right here in Florida. He and his twin brother Scott watched wrestling on TV from a very young age and would wrestle with each other constantly. They basically taught themselves to wrestle. They have tapes of them as kids and teenagers doing whole matches together taking these huge bumps out in their backyard with no type of protection at all. They would backdrop and suplex each in their living room on a hard wood floor. Phil was truly born to wrestle and I am blessed beyond belief to have such a natural talent for a tag team partner.



Alan J. Wojcik: According to your website bio you were trained by Brett Wayne Sawyer and Tommy Rogers. What do you remember from the training and your debut match?



Sean Davis: Well like I said Phil pretty much trained himself with his brother but they also got their start at Brett Wayne Sawyer's wrestling school in Largo. They didn't have to go through all of the grueling training though as they were such naturals they pretty much just showed up and out wrestled everyone at the school and started working shows soon after.



For me it was much harder as I was anything but a natural athlete. I had a good idea about psychology right from the start from all of my years of obsessing over the business but when it came to actually training my body to take the bumps and perform the basic moves that we have to do it was a big challenge for me. There were quite a few times when I first was training that I didn't think I would ever progress far enough to actually have a real match in front of a crowd so when that finally happened it was such a huge deal for me. I literally cried that night alone in my room because I had accomplished my life long dream.

The actual training process though was very grueling and it is the way you should be taught. Brett did most of the over seeing of the training although he rarely actually got in the ring with us. My first training sessions were mostly running the ropes until you either puked or passed out and then taking hundreds of back bumps. It really helped to sort out the guys that were serious and those that were not as each session there in those first few weeks you would have less and less guys show up until there was eventually only two of us from my first training group that actually ended up having a pro match.



As far as my debut match..well it was a battle royal and all of the more experienced guys took turns chopping me and pretty much beating me up. I was then dumped over the top rope hard to the wood floor right at the feet of my proud yet still horrified parents. My first singles match was the following month. March 1997 at Joyland Country Music Club in St Petersburg, Florida. There were around 700 people there and I was in the opening match. I took on a 400 pound guy who was borderline mentally retarded. I was supposed to go over clean in the match but right as we locked up he said to me, "I Not Lose". He refused to cooperate at all and we ended up fighting for real. My trainer Brett knew there was something wrong so he cleared out the locker room to break us up. What a crazy way to start out a career.



Alan J. Wojcik: How did the concept and look for the tag team develop also where did the name come from?



Sean Davis: It wasn't that conscious of an effort and we never planned on being tag team partners for a long run. We were best friends for awhile and Phil's twin brother Scott had to take some time off from wrestling so we just decided it would be fun to team up for awhile. We started teaming up every week at JoBob's Sports Bar in Zephyrhills where a lot of guys here in Florida got their start. The weekly work really helped us a ton as we developed our own style and gimmick over the course of working every Friday night for over a year there. Even though it was a dump of a place it was a great place to learn your craft as there was always a loyal following of fans that would come out to every show rain or shine and we got to work every week with guys that have become tops here in Florida like Steve Madison, Jerrelle Clark, Snow, “Classy” Chris Nelson and just a ton of other guys that came through there. We eventually started branching out to other promotions as we became more confident in ourselves as a team. We also started getting more and more flamboyant as time went by. As far as our name we are just huge Midnight Express fans and also big fans of Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels so we combined their names.



Alan J. Wojcik: Have you ever worked for a promoter who didn’t like the “old-school” style you use in tag matches and if so, how did you handle it?



Sean Davis: I can't remember any promoter ever not liking what we do. I don't mean that to sound arrogant but we are different than just about everyone else and we always get a reaction out of the crowd which is what the promoters are looking for. We also try to conduct ourselves as total professionals at all time. We try to be respectful to everyone and we always do what is asked of us. No one can ever accuse us of not being team players as we have put over everyone from women referees to 3 foot tall midgets. I am proud of the fact that we don't have to go over to be over. We can lose in three minutes if need be and still leave town with the best heat of the night. That is what being a professional is all about.



Alan J. Wojcik: During your career you have wrestled some legendary teams like the Rock N Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) and the Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & “Loverboy” Dennis Condrey). What have you taken away from wrestling those teams?



Sean Davis: Those guys are legends that we grew up watching and we learned so much from all of them. I think the biggest thing I have taken away from not just in our time in the ring with those guys but all of the hours that we have spent learning from them in the locker room is the simple stuff still works best. Most people that watch wrestling are looking for some simple entertainment that they can just kick back and enjoy. They want a guy to boo and a guy to cheer. They want to let out the aggression of all of the stress in their daily lives and the best thing we can do for them is give them that outlet to let it all out at our expense. Tell a simple story that any fan can follow. When you’re a heel concentrate on doing the little things that piss people off and then really tease that babyface comeback at the end. Bring them up and then bring them down and over and over again as long as you can until you give them the big payoff of the babyface cleaning the clock of the heel. That is what I have learned the most from especially Dennis Condrey and Ricky Morton who are the ones who have really taken it upon themselves to mentor The Heartbreak Express. Another thing I will never forget Dennis Condrey telling me is to remember that we are supposed to do what we do to entertain the majority of the audience. Worry about them and not the 5% of the crowd that are smart asses trying to get themselves over.



Alan J. Wojcik: You had some creative responsibilities for AWA/World-1 South for a while. How did you come to that position and did you like being part of the overall creative process for a promotion?



Sean Davis: That is a part of the business I really, really love and most people don't know this but I have pretty much constantly been involved behind the scenes in various promotions since I started wrestling. I am not the "booker" but I still help out in many different ways creatively in AWA World 1 but I don't advertise what I do as I want to be looked at as a wrestler and that is it at this time. There are other promotions I also help out with that no one knows about and that's the way I prefer to keep things right now.



Alan J. Wojcik: At one point you held the FIP, SCW and AWA/World-1 South Tag Team titles. Do you consider titles an honor or just part of the business?



Sean Davis: To me it is a huge honor as when you are the champion you have been given the responsibility of representing the company in the public's eye. That is nothing to take lightly. We are the current AWA World 1 tag team champions which are recognized in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and in Zero-One Max in Japan. It's not a small achievement to get the promoters in all of these different areas to put their vote of confidence in us to be their champions. As far as FIP goes to have someone as respected as Gabe Sapolsky to have the confidence in us to put the FIP titles on us on two different occasions..well..it's an incredible feeling.



Alan J. Wojcik: In SCW you have been managed by “Gorgeous” Gary Garvin and for certain FIP events by $o Cal Val. Do you have a preference in managers and do you think it’s a lost part of wrestling?



Sean Davis: We love having a manager as it gives us another person to play off of and gives us more opportunities to do the kind of things we like to do. Out of everyone we have had at ringside with us I would say So Cal Val was the most incredible. I mean she is SO much more than just a beautiful girl. She is one hell of a great talent and a true professional in every way. I truly miss having her as our manager.



Alan J. Wojcik: In the last few months you have been all over the place including a trip overseas to Europe and soon to be Japan for a Zero-One Max tour.



Yes, Europe was fantastic. We went all over England and then had a great time in Austria. We are going back in May and we can't wait. The fans are fantastic and it's a non stop party. The crowds are so hot and we were able to headline every show we were on and the crowds were huge everywhere. Over here to do a show in front of a thousand fans is very unusual but over there it is a normal house. Japan though has always been our dream and we can't wait to make our debut for Zero-One Max. Our first tour was postponed which happens a lot from what I have been told but we are re-scheduled for the end of March now and we are busting are tails to get ready for it.



Alan J. Wojcik: In a recent interview Modern Day Theory spoke highly of you two. What are your thoughts on Scott Commodity and Preston James III?



Sean Davis: I think Scott and Preston are great. We have worked with them many times and have always had a blast. I am positive that if they can deal with all of the politics and BS that you have to go through to get somewhere in this business that they will be major stars on a national level some time in the next few years. They are just so young and are already so good that there is no way that if they stick with it that they can be stopped from making it big.



Alan J. Wojcik: The other tag team you have been wrestling for months is the Black Market (Joey Machete and Shawn Murphy.) Talk about these two and the feud that has seen dog collar matches and anything goes matches.



Sean Davis: The toughest tag team we have ever been in the ring with and also the most talented. Just to be able to be considered in the same league as them is an honor to us. Honestly there is just something about Black Market vs The Heartbreak Express, a chemistry I guess that we have developed with them that I don't think can be matched right now. When we get together we know we are in for a war as we are all tough and we all want to deliver the best product to the fans that we can and I think that is what makes the four of us go out there and put friendships aside and just beat the living Hell out of each other. I think also that we are all competitive by nature and even though we have really gotten to love each other as brothers and respect each other to death we still all strive to be #1 so when we go out there something seems to snap in all of us and we start to make things about as real as it could be. As I look back on some of our matches we are truly lucky that as of now none of us has had to end up spending some significant time in a hospital bed.



Alan J. Wojcik: Your feud with the Black Market in FIP ended in the Cage of Pain (cage with barb wire and weapons inside.) Many in attendance said it was the most brutal match they had ever witnessed. Did you have any apprehensions getting in this match and talk about the brutality you experienced?

Sean Davis: It was a scary and intense experience. We knew from our previous matches that it was gonna be brutal as just a normal match with Joey and Shawn is already a war but when you add a steel cage, tables, thumbtacks, chairs, barbed wire and light tubes we knew that it was gonna be the roughest match of our lives. I don't know if anything we do will ever compare with the level of violence and pain that we experienced in that match. At the end of the match I was power bombed by Shawn Murphy through a table covered in 6,000 thumbtacks. I literally had thumbtacks stuck all over my body as well as in my mouth, eyes and ears. I also had little pieces of glass stuck in me everywhere from taking bumps on a ring canvas covered in broken glass from all of the light tubes that were smashed all over our bodies. It was something Phil and I will never forget and I just wonder now that with the feud with Black Market set to continue in AWA World 1 if we will get to reach that level of violence again somewhere this year.



Alan J. Wojcik: In closing what do you hope the future holds for the tag team and you personally?



Sean Davis: We're just ready to take on the world! It's been a ten year ride so far and we have had some awesome experiences. We can't wait to find out what the next ten years hold in store for us!



Thanks to Sean Davis for his time. The Heartbreak Express has a website, www.heartbreakexpress.com . Sean has a Myspace account at www.myspace.com/superstarsean

The following are the websites for promotions mentioned above: www.fullimpactpro.com www.awaworld1south.com www.scwflorida.com