JG's Radio Free Insanity: Sylvester Terkay

This week’s 60 minute edition of JG’s Radio Free Insanity is on the air and available for download right now at WorldWrestlingInsanity.com. This week’s guest is Sylvester Terkay in his first interview since being released by WWE last month.

James Guttman starts the show by talking about Sylvester Terkay and his history in WWE. James says it was a surprise when Terkay was on the list of wrestlers released because he had so much potential and hadn't yet been given a chance to fail. Sylvester's edited interview will be played in part two of today's show, but his full shoot was 50 minutes and can be heard on
ClubWWI.com. Terkay talks about everything including Kurt Angle's WWE departure, wrestlers who were afraid to face him, Bruiser Brody, the original ECW, his mother throwing soda at Paul Ellering, and so much more.

JG then mentions some of the sites that he sends the Radio Free Insanity press releases to. He plugs Pwinsider.com, Wrestlemag.com, and Gerweck.net. James says that although the internet is a big place, people tend to lump everyone in
together. Case in point - CM Punk's "de-push." Guttman brings up ZAH's column on WorldWrestlingInsanity.com and says that ZAH's point is valid. He wants people to not give up hope so easily for Punk. However, James disagrees with Jim Ross on the subject. J.R. asked readers if they would scream "de-push" if CM doesn't win the Money in the Bank Match. James says that's unfair and looks at the situation. First, Punk WAS depushed. This is simply a new push and not the extension of the old one. Just because a guy isn't buried for his entire career, doesn't mean he wasn't depushed. JG says that if Punk's losses to Bob Holly and Matt Striker were part of a story, then it would be a continuation of the old push. However, this is a new move up the ladder for him and it's unfair to claim he wasn't depushed simply because he didn't get buried.

After that, Guttman talks about the worst kept secret in WrestleMania and the weekly Moment of Insanity before cuing up part two for the interview with Sylvester Terkay.

Part two starts off with clips from all the new ClubWWI.com audio shows. They are:

"The Big Picture" Audio Show Hosted By Former Raw Co-Host Kevin Kelly
"Club OJ" Audio Show Hosted By Former WWE U.S. Champion Orlando Jordan
"Smack Talk" Audio Show Hosted By Lisa "Ivory" Moretti
"The Lo-Down" Audio Show Hosted By D-Lo Brown

Among the clips, Ivory calls the show her "private therapy session" and D-Lo Brown calls the four new hosts a "motley crew."

James Guttman follows that by talking a bit about the new audio reports on ClubWWI.com. When Dr. Tom Prichard left the site to go back to WWE, JG moved his audios to their own archives. To make up for the missing show, James sought out the weirdest stable of names he can find. That's where these four came from. Guttman says that each show is so different from the others and every star brings his or her unique voice to the ClubWWI.com. Between these new audios and the 50+ shoot interview currently available on ClubWWI featuring everyone from Kevin Nash to Samoa Joe to Jimmy Hart, you should be able to keep plenty busy while over at the Club. It's your chance to hear from people who are in the industry. James says that you pay $20 for a shoot interview DVD, but can get over 50 for $4.99. He says that if you want a preview of ClubWWI, you can go to their main page, ClubWWI.com and get a ton of info.

>From there, James cues up the interview with "The Man Bear" Sylvester Terkay.

James Guttman welcomes Sylvester Terkay to the show and starts of by asking about the rumors he might do some MMA. Sylvester says it's a possibility since that what he was doing before his latest WWE stint. He's also looking into doing some pro wrestling in Japan.

James asks if Terkay was surprised by his WWE release. Terkay says it was. He felt he would be given a good chance to show what he could do when went to WWE, but wasn't. He's heard a number of reasons, but any he could give would be speculation.

"When you see things not happening and not really working in terms of stuff being invested in you. You feel as though your standing around looking for a shot or opportunity while everyone else sort of steps ahead. It's kinda hard for someone who's competitive as I am."

Guttman brings up the move for Terkay and Elijah Burke from Smackdown to ECW. Sylvester says WWE tried to put a positive spin on it, but it wasn't. He says that when he saw creative wasn't giving him main guys to work with and prove his skills. He was in a rut but didn't get any challenging opponents to prove himself against. He understands all the Smackdown issues, but when he was moved to ECW, he thought he'd be given a better opportunity, but it never came. Then one day you get the call. He figures that there were people on the top that didn't want to work with him.

JG asks about TNA and whether that's a thought for him. Terkay says he loves to be out there without reigns on him. He can't explore TNA right now because he has a no-compete clause for 90 days. He says it's a few months down the road before he can entertain the thought.

James asks if Sylvester is watching the WWE shows since he left. Terkay says he's been checking online for results, but read about the ECW "New Blood" angle:

"Geez, what more of perfect thing could I have slipped in a be a part of then that? Now it's like two weeks later, I'm looking at this like, 'Well, there's the storyline. There was what I could have done.' In terms of just looking at it, it's one of those things like, why bother?"

Terkay says he has other things to do besides watch the product, but doesn't want to sound bitter. JG piggy-backs on the "New Blood" gimmick and asks about Elijah Burke. He compares Sylvester and Burke to the Looney Tunes bulldogs. There was the big one and the little yapping one. Guttman thinks they worked really well together in that sense. Terkay says he enjoyed working with Elijah and felt people identified with it. In the last few weeks, they were the "Knock Out, Tap Out Connection." They did some promos and people started to get it. He says they worked well as a team. They were a good contrast and it was a mistake to not give that team a chance to grow. Sylvester says it let Burke concentrate more on the talking and there were so many things they could have done with it.

"If I had to be bitter about something, they never gave an idea a chance to get off the ground before they pulled it."

Sylvester mentions how you don't become a sensation in one or two appearances, but even with limited exposure, he did as much as he could. James agrees and says that it seemed weird how WWE didn't give Terkay a buildup with vignettes or anything, like they did for other new stars. They left it to Sylvester to get himself over. Terkay agrees and says he thought he'd be able to work with Undertaker, Batista, or Lashley. He kept waiting in the wings, but it didn't happen. On Smackdown, he was supposed to wrestle Undertaker in Manila, but it didn't happen. That's when he said to himself, "That's not a good sign." When the travel schedule for Manila came out, he wasn't even on it. He felt he had some good segments, but didn't have the chance to face top talent.

James asks about transitioning from amateur wrestling to pro wrestling since you're not rewarded for skill. It's predetermined so politics play a major role.

"Uh…yeah. It's one of those things to where you see people who go ahead of you. They get an opportunity and you say in the back of your mind, is everyone else thinking what I'm thinking or am I way off base here?"

He says that people told him to enjoy relaxing backstage because one day, he'll miss the downtime. Terkay told them that he had to get to a top position before he could sit back and reminisce. He had to sit around and be frustrated. JG says that traveling to towns and then not do anything must be really frustrating. Sylvester says you get accustomed to it.

"Flew all the way to England and Elijah was doing commentary. I just walked out there and stood around. Kinda like hisbodyguard and I thought, 'What is going on here? I can't believe it.'…I don't mind taking a step back and stepping out
of the limelight to let someone do their thing as long as you're being used and feel like you're going somewhere."

Guttman then asks Terkay to name one wrestler, before his time, he would have liked to work a program with but couldn’t, who would he pick. Sylvester chose Bruno Sammartino. He was Terkay's mom's favorite wrestler. Sylvester likes to face tougher guys and have a "slobber knocker." He says he would have jumped Bruno in an alley and have a great match at MSG.

JG thanks Sylvester for coming to the show and the interview comes to an end. Remember, Sylvester's full 50 minute shoot is available on ClubWWI.com. Aside from today's topics, Terkay talks about being moved from Smackdown to ECW, Kurt
Angle's WWE departure, his mother throwing soda at Paul Ellering, and much more.

Also on ClubWWI.com, you can hear over 50 exclusive interviews with wrestling’s top names including Kevin Nash, DDP, Bobby Heenan, Ted DiBiase, Christian Cage, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Earl Hebner, Ivory, The Steiner Brothers, Nidia, Christy Hemme, Chris Daniels, AJ Styles, Vince Russo and dozens of others.

JG’s Radio Free Insanity is always free and always on the air each weekend at WorldWrestlingInsanity.com, with extended
interviews and show archives available on ClubWWI.com. James Guttman’s book, World Wrestling Insanity, is available at Amazon.com or wherever books are sold.