Extracts from an interbiew with Sylvan on World Wrestling Insanity 8.23.07
Story behind the release - a long time doing nothing – the Ambassador gimmick was not me – I couldn’t express myself– the last gimmick was an extension of the Model with a girl Maryse Oullet – I thought that was going to be good but it wasn’t set up very well – new girl, new look, new hair colour with the old music, couple of house shows with no promos– it was set up for failure…. It was Vince’s idea – but the communication was not right – I got into an argument with one of the agents and that was pretty much it - I was very much sick of it and asked advice from some of my friends and asked what my options were – I wasn’t happy with what I was doing – maybe I need to get a away for a while, do something else, do my own thing, the indy scene, have fun, love wrestling again – because I love wrestlng – I love doing this job – its just the back stage scene - I’m not a political guy – I cannot deal with politics back stage that way.
The basic thing is I love to entertain…that’s what I do … and wrestling was a good way….. Like a comedian. When they take that away from you, when you don’t have fun anymore, when they always put a limitation during your match – ok you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Don’t do a drop kick, everyone does it – DROPKICK!!! It’s wrestling, the moves are irrelevant, can we please entertain the fans!! …We have so many limitations ..they tell you to go out there and be aggressive …but if you do something spontaneous when you come back you get your ass chewed. Hey I just tried – it’s a house show!!
I think I may have been misunderstood over the years because I come out arrogant or cocky. But if you get to know me I’m a very nice guy. But I don’t have the same background as some of those guys…. I’m French Canadian – I have heat, NATURAL HEAT. I don’t know – just put me out there, a couple of wins and we’re on.
In the back – there are haters, people who want to look like you, or cannot work like you any more – has beens, they’re bitter, they have their little clique – like any office – but we’re in the entertainment business – we all have something different to offer the show. We cannot all work like Benoit – Benoit was Benoit, Bret Hart was Bret Hart. Don’t ask Triple H to work like Shawn – they each have their own style. You can pick people apart – oh I should have done this like him – we all copy from someone else but we have to make it our own.
They want to be corporate America. I’m not a stock broker. We used to sell tickets because we were edgy, outrageous and funny – I used to laugh when I watched the show – I used to laugh my ass off. Rock was funny, Stone Cold was funny, Jericho... I used to enjoy the show so much but now its all politics – everyone is so serious and there’s no fun. I know there’s a lot of stuff going on with Congress etc but if we submit to everyone’s will, we’re never going to be what we want to be.
The thing with Pat Patterson – if you have advisors, they (the locker room) always think you going to go tell him. We all know he has power but Pat and me always met outside the wrestling world and he’s a good friend like a mentor but when we come to work, he gives advice but rarely did I have him as an agent for my match because he doesn’t work that much any more but he was creative and that’s what’s lacking these days. I may not be much of a technical wrestler but I can tell you what’s entertaining. On working with Flair, Stone Cold, etc – All the best matches I had were with guys better than me – they make you look good and that’s how you learn. And now that’s the problem, we don’t have a lot of guys like that . I’ve been begging the company to give me matches on houses shows with guys with experience so I can learn, because I’m still young in this business. Most guys works 4 or 5 years in the indies and get into WWE. I did everything in reverse. And it hurt me in a way – so now I have to get back and build a new guy with my same base and it’s hard when you don’t have guys to learn from. One of my last matches was with Val Venis – 20 minutes it was awesome, the guy can work. He’s an easy baby-face and we had great matches, its fun and entertaining and the guy knows his stuff. He’s a pro. And the week after you have a house show in a dark match with a guy who’s 135 pounds and got pink tights and blue boots and has had 10 matches in his life and you’re supposed to have a Wrestlemania match. It’s hard. I’ve had a lot of dark matches and there’s a lot of limitations and you have four minutes and ask anyone you can’t get over in four minutes. Totally a squash match. You need TV time and mike time to be a great heel . Look at Bradshaw. Look at APA – I don’t think anyone would remember him if he didn’t recreate himself with the mike and he’s a great announcer now, in colour commentary.
The basic thing is I love to entertain…that’s what I do … and wrestling was a good way….. Like a comedian. When they take that away from you, when you don’t have fun anymore, when they always put a limitation during your match – ok you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Don’t do a drop kick, everyone does it – DROPKICK!!! It’s wrestling, the moves are irrelevant, can we please entertain the fans!! …We have so many limitations ..they tell you to go out there and be aggressive …but if you do something spontaneous when you come back you get your ass chewed. Hey I just tried – it’s a house show!!
I think I may have been misunderstood over the years because I come out arrogant or cocky. But if you get to know me I’m a very nice guy. But I don’t have the same background as some of those guys…. I’m French Canadian – I have heat, NATURAL HEAT. I don’t know – just put me out there, a couple of wins and we’re on.
In the back – there are haters, people who want to look like you, or cannot work like you any more – has beens, they’re bitter, they have their little clique – like any office – but we’re in the entertainment business – we all have something different to offer the show. We cannot all work like Benoit – Benoit was Benoit, Bret Hart was Bret Hart. Don’t ask Triple H to work like Shawn – they each have their own style. You can pick people apart – oh I should have done this like him – we all copy from someone else but we have to make it our own.
They want to be corporate America. I’m not a stock broker. We used to sell tickets because we were edgy, outrageous and funny – I used to laugh when I watched the show – I used to laugh my ass off. Rock was funny, Stone Cold was funny, Jericho... I used to enjoy the show so much but now its all politics – everyone is so serious and there’s no fun. I know there’s a lot of stuff going on with Congress etc but if we submit to everyone’s will, we’re never going to be what we want to be.
The thing with Pat Patterson – if you have advisors, they (the locker room) always think you going to go tell him. We all know he has power but Pat and me always met outside the wrestling world and he’s a good friend like a mentor but when we come to work, he gives advice but rarely did I have him as an agent for my match because he doesn’t work that much any more but he was creative and that’s what’s lacking these days. I may not be much of a technical wrestler but I can tell you what’s entertaining. On working with Flair, Stone Cold, etc – All the best matches I had were with guys better than me – they make you look good and that’s how you learn. And now that’s the problem, we don’t have a lot of guys like that . I’ve been begging the company to give me matches on houses shows with guys with experience so I can learn, because I’m still young in this business. Most guys works 4 or 5 years in the indies and get into WWE. I did everything in reverse. And it hurt me in a way – so now I have to get back and build a new guy with my same base and it’s hard when you don’t have guys to learn from. One of my last matches was with Val Venis – 20 minutes it was awesome, the guy can work. He’s an easy baby-face and we had great matches, its fun and entertaining and the guy knows his stuff. He’s a pro. And the week after you have a house show in a dark match with a guy who’s 135 pounds and got pink tights and blue boots and has had 10 matches in his life and you’re supposed to have a Wrestlemania match. It’s hard. I’ve had a lot of dark matches and there’s a lot of limitations and you have four minutes and ask anyone you can’t get over in four minutes. Totally a squash match. You need TV time and mike time to be a great heel . Look at Bradshaw. Look at APA – I don’t think anyone would remember him if he didn’t recreate himself with the mike and he’s a great announcer now, in colour commentary.
I think sometimes they see something in you and you don’t see the same thing and you’re not on the same base but I enjoyed working with WWE and I love wrestling so hopefully, one day I’ll have the chance to work there again but if not, well I had my chance and maybe I didn’t take it right and I’m going to have to live with that. But I look forward to working with other guys from WWE on the indie scene. There’s a different feel doing self- contracting than being contracted. So now I can have a ten or twenty minute match, if I feel like it and it’s the right thing at the right time. That’s the sort of freedom you get if you’re a top guy at WWE.
I talked to Stephanie McMahon just a couple of days before I got released. She said Sly I think you have a problem with taking directions from agents. She said when you're in a top position you’re allowed to argue but where you are now, you should just do what you’re told. I sat back and thought about it and I think she’s right. It’s wrong to do that at my spot. I have opinions and its wrong to have opinions. But if it's wrong and it's not me, well maybe I do have a problem in taking directions and I’ll just have to figure that.
The La Resistance gimmick was on for two years and we had more natural heat than anyone but after a while they just get tired of using it and they didn’t use it to the limit as they could have done. When Hassan and Devari came along it was hard to have two USA chants on the same night so they traded me to Smackdown and they were really pushing Rob because Rob is a great worker and he’s a little older than me, so they tried to give him a push on Heat beating all those legends. That was a good chance for Rob but on Smackdown they didn’t tell me anything so I just came up one day with a Model gimmick because that was me. And that was another heat that I had because I look good so let's use it. So we don’t need a flag or the Fleur de Lys – they know that. So if I can be myself a little bit more.
I talked to Stephanie McMahon just a couple of days before I got released. She said Sly I think you have a problem with taking directions from agents. She said when you're in a top position you’re allowed to argue but where you are now, you should just do what you’re told. I sat back and thought about it and I think she’s right. It’s wrong to do that at my spot. I have opinions and its wrong to have opinions. But if it's wrong and it's not me, well maybe I do have a problem in taking directions and I’ll just have to figure that.
The La Resistance gimmick was on for two years and we had more natural heat than anyone but after a while they just get tired of using it and they didn’t use it to the limit as they could have done. When Hassan and Devari came along it was hard to have two USA chants on the same night so they traded me to Smackdown and they were really pushing Rob because Rob is a great worker and he’s a little older than me, so they tried to give him a push on Heat beating all those legends. That was a good chance for Rob but on Smackdown they didn’t tell me anything so I just came up one day with a Model gimmick because that was me. And that was another heat that I had because I look good so let's use it. So we don’t need a flag or the Fleur de Lys – they know that. So if I can be myself a little bit more.
I did that a couple of times and they said OK lets put that on TV and I got beat up on TV the same night. How can you get over, gimme a break, gimme a chance. We have meetings and they say we want you to be more gay. I’m not gay. I may be a good actor but I cannot pull that off. I’m a ladies man. That’s what I do. I have a connection with women. Let's use that instead. So we tried that at the time with a girl in the audience who blew kisses and it was horrible. It was a bad set up, not much effort put into it.
The Ambassador gimmick – that was Vince’s idea a bit – it didn’t make sense. And you want me to talk like a politician – I’m French, my English is not perfect. OK so I’ll do it and it worked because I have that natural heat. The Quebec thing. I could say a lot and I could say nothing and still have the same heat. My idea was to bring the heat to another level. Leave the politics aside because I’m going to have that all my life. And go to the next stage of being me of being Sly. That’s who I am so let’s go. Here we go. The Ambassador had good potential but I made a mistake – I had an argument with one of my bosses - and also because of frustration at the time and unfairness – I like things to be fair and a lot of things are not fair but that’s the world we live in – and my gasket blew out in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people around and it hurt me and I went back to the dog house. But fine, I learnt from that I hope, but maybe not enough so being on my own for a while is going to be good…….
Rene Dupree
Rene is a very special boy.….The problem with Rene is that he’s a kid who has been thrown into wrestling very young and never had a life – the only thing he knew was wrestling. And to be successful in this business you need to have grown up in other things – like a lot of successful guys now were successful in amateur wrestling or football – they did something before where they matured surrounded by people. At 16 Rene was Mr Canada, and a pro-wrestler since he was 14 and his father was a promoter. And when he came to WWE it was not normal to have a 19 year old guy on the road – a kid who’s not allowed to drink – and then a 19 year old world tag team champion. But Rene is good. He’s got a lot of talent. He knows a lot about the business. But he was thrown out there without being ready – and when I say ready I don’t mean ring skills because thank God he was there because I was the drizzling shits at the time – thanks God he was there. He was way more over than I was backstage at the time. But when people get to know the guy and get to know the problems we now know he had, it didn’t help being a 19 year old kid struggling alone. It’s not normal for a 19 year old kid top be away from family, being on the road. When I was 19 I was partying my ass off, working in bars, going to school, I had a normal life if we can say that and I had other things to be fail and be successful in, and finally I ended up in wrestling at 25. I think you need to do that [have other experiences first]. For Rene, one thing was missing, he never had a life and he was looking for himself and I don’t think he was happy.
TNA will probably be a great option in a few months when I’m finally released – that 3 months when we cannot work on TV – I have two chances to meet them – one time when I go with Christina Cage and one time when I go with the channel here RDF – we’re going to fly down there and I’m going to introduce myself to some of the people. A lot of the guys I worked with are there so it should be fun and I heard that the climate is easier and looser and you don’t work as much - so I’m going to go have a look that’s for sure. I think they’re doing good and they’re going to get 2 hours in September. And there’s a huge company behind it so there’s no way that’s going to fall. And they have good ratings on Spike I think. I always look for different opinions on my spot so I can learn and recreate myself and learn more stuff and TNA’s the greatest stage after WWE for now and hopefully they can get bigger and we can have another war. One thing that is missing is competition.
A word for the fans – You’re probably talking about my mom – I rarely got cheered you know. You’re going to have the chance to see me on the indy scene for the next couple of months and I’m looking forward to it and being in those towns I haven’t had a chance to be in before and I’m probably going to work in Japan a little bit and try and get my stiff work up to date and I’m just looking forward to wrestling more and more and more because for the last two years its been very quiet. It’s good to get a pay check but I also like to work. And now I’m going to work and get a pay check. So stay posted. I’m not very good at the internet but bookers who want to book me can at sylvanwwe@hotmail.com or if you want to book La Resistance Sylvan Grenier and Rob Conway email resistancewwe@hotmail.com So if people are interested I’m pretty sure we’re going to be near you soon – we’re going to go to the Resistance Store.
The Ambassador gimmick – that was Vince’s idea a bit – it didn’t make sense. And you want me to talk like a politician – I’m French, my English is not perfect. OK so I’ll do it and it worked because I have that natural heat. The Quebec thing. I could say a lot and I could say nothing and still have the same heat. My idea was to bring the heat to another level. Leave the politics aside because I’m going to have that all my life. And go to the next stage of being me of being Sly. That’s who I am so let’s go. Here we go. The Ambassador had good potential but I made a mistake – I had an argument with one of my bosses - and also because of frustration at the time and unfairness – I like things to be fair and a lot of things are not fair but that’s the world we live in – and my gasket blew out in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people around and it hurt me and I went back to the dog house. But fine, I learnt from that I hope, but maybe not enough so being on my own for a while is going to be good…….
Rene Dupree
Rene is a very special boy.….The problem with Rene is that he’s a kid who has been thrown into wrestling very young and never had a life – the only thing he knew was wrestling. And to be successful in this business you need to have grown up in other things – like a lot of successful guys now were successful in amateur wrestling or football – they did something before where they matured surrounded by people. At 16 Rene was Mr Canada, and a pro-wrestler since he was 14 and his father was a promoter. And when he came to WWE it was not normal to have a 19 year old guy on the road – a kid who’s not allowed to drink – and then a 19 year old world tag team champion. But Rene is good. He’s got a lot of talent. He knows a lot about the business. But he was thrown out there without being ready – and when I say ready I don’t mean ring skills because thank God he was there because I was the drizzling shits at the time – thanks God he was there. He was way more over than I was backstage at the time. But when people get to know the guy and get to know the problems we now know he had, it didn’t help being a 19 year old kid struggling alone. It’s not normal for a 19 year old kid top be away from family, being on the road. When I was 19 I was partying my ass off, working in bars, going to school, I had a normal life if we can say that and I had other things to be fail and be successful in, and finally I ended up in wrestling at 25. I think you need to do that [have other experiences first]. For Rene, one thing was missing, he never had a life and he was looking for himself and I don’t think he was happy.
TNA will probably be a great option in a few months when I’m finally released – that 3 months when we cannot work on TV – I have two chances to meet them – one time when I go with Christina Cage and one time when I go with the channel here RDF – we’re going to fly down there and I’m going to introduce myself to some of the people. A lot of the guys I worked with are there so it should be fun and I heard that the climate is easier and looser and you don’t work as much - so I’m going to go have a look that’s for sure. I think they’re doing good and they’re going to get 2 hours in September. And there’s a huge company behind it so there’s no way that’s going to fall. And they have good ratings on Spike I think. I always look for different opinions on my spot so I can learn and recreate myself and learn more stuff and TNA’s the greatest stage after WWE for now and hopefully they can get bigger and we can have another war. One thing that is missing is competition.
A word for the fans – You’re probably talking about my mom – I rarely got cheered you know. You’re going to have the chance to see me on the indy scene for the next couple of months and I’m looking forward to it and being in those towns I haven’t had a chance to be in before and I’m probably going to work in Japan a little bit and try and get my stiff work up to date and I’m just looking forward to wrestling more and more and more because for the last two years its been very quiet. It’s good to get a pay check but I also like to work. And now I’m going to work and get a pay check. So stay posted. I’m not very good at the internet but bookers who want to book me can at sylvanwwe@hotmail.com or if you want to book La Resistance Sylvan Grenier and Rob Conway email resistancewwe@hotmail.com So if people are interested I’m pretty sure we’re going to be near you soon – we’re going to go to the Resistance Store.
2 comments:
Hi i just wanted to say that i am probably the biggest fan of Sylvan and i'm very happy to see that now he's happy and he's going to do something that he likes. Hope to see him on TNA main eventing :):)
Sly, if you read this, I wish you all the best.
I admire your courage and your stamina to keep pursuing your dream despite all the haters (who, incidentally, can burn).
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