John, you launched your career in the WWE by winning Tough Enough in 2002. You also have worked for several years now with The Miz, another young talent who also impressed on 'Tough Enough.' Looking back, what inspired you to become a professional wrestler, and what advice would you give to someone looking to break into the business now?
Part one - what inspired me to become a pro wrestler? The fans. When I was a kid growing up, I was a huge fan of pro wrestling, HBK, Macho Man, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, all those guys. Growing up as a little kid, those were the guys that I idolized, that I wanted to be like. ... I played sports, went to high school, went to college ... and it just didn't seem like it was a reality to me until I was watching the show Tough Enough, and thinking in my mind, like, Man, I could do that. I could do better than those people. What am I wasting all this time for trying to become something that I never really wanted to do in the first place? I refocused my efforts, tried to get on Tough Enough; it took me two seasons to get on the show, and I ended up winning the show. That's why I became a professional wrestler.
(What advice would you give to a young person, now, who wanted to go along the same path that you took?)
If you're not a fan of wrestling, it probably wouldn't work out with you. Be a fan. Be good at what you do. If you're a soccer player, if you want to be a wrestler, be good at soccer. The best background for professional wrestling, I believe, is collegiate wrestling. So if there's wrestling at your school, and you want to be a pro wrestler, go out for the wrestling team. If there's football, go out for football. If you're into martial arts, do martial arts, and take it seriously; be really good at martial arts. So that way, when you get old enough, when you have a chance to make an impression, you will have something that you can say, look, I've achieved all these accolades, I was a state champion, or I won five tournaments, I'm the master of kempo ... Whatever it is, you understand how hard you have to work to be the best at something. And that's how I got to work for World Wrestling Entertainment. Without that work ethic and that background, everything's kinda more difficult.
- - - - -
Since the WWE draft several weeks ago, you've been working on Smackdown as a singles star. But many fans still associate you with your work in two of the WWE's top tag teams in recent memory MNM, with Melina and Joey Mercury, and most recently your work with The Miz. How excited are you to return to singles competition, and do you foresee yourself challenging either Edge or Rey Mysterio for their belts in the near future?
How excited am I to return to singles wrestling? Amazingly excited. I think that singles wrestling ... tag wrestling, it's kinda hard to compare the two. Tag wrestling is great because the opportunities for things you can do in a match are doubled, or quadrupled, because there's four people involved. But singles wrestling, it's kind of like something you have to rely on yourself completely. There's nowhere else to turn, you can't tag out. You have to pretty much use all the skills that you've built up over the course of your career. And you know, win or lose, if you succeed or fail, kinda just depends on you. It's a different thing -- you can be creative a lot of different ways. I believe my skill set is more suited to singles wrestling anyway. I'm really excited to have a chance ... I've been tagging forever.
As far as Rey and Edge go, I would love to wrestle Rey. He's one of my favorite opponents. He's one of the people I used to watch growing up, and one of the reasons I wanted to get into wrestling. I'd love to wrestle Rey for the Intercontinental Title.
Edge -- I'd love to kick Edge's (butt). I imagine a lot of people would. ... Say whatever you want to say about him, but he's one of the top stars today, one of the best of all time it would be an honor to be in the ring with Edge as well.
- - - - -
The WWE has been running local advertisements pitching its product as The Best Value in Entertainment. Do you feel like in this very difficult economic climate, more fans of all ages are looking to the WWE both on TV and live events for entertainment at a good value?
Absolutely. I feel like, I haven't really noticed less fans coming out to WWE events. I think that's a good thing, a real sign that WWE provides a good positive experience for families, a group of friends, it is a better value than a sporting event or a concert. It's something you can show up to with your entire family and create a memory that will last for months or years, or for the rest of your life, like, remember that time you saw John Morrison beat Edge and Rey Mysterio, and in the same night, and become the Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion something like that. The WWE puts smiles on people's faces, and in times like these, I think that's more important than ever. For the value, there's no other game in town that can compete with World Wrestling Entertainment.
- - - -
Tell me why someone who has never been to a WWE live event before should come check out the show in Binghamton.
WWE is one of those things that is designed for people to experience live. There's nothing else like it. There's concerts, there's sporting events, there's movies, there's Broadway, but WWE is kind of like a fusion of all those things. It encourages crowd interaction, it encourages people to get crazy, and root for people they're watching to win, to boo people they want to lose. So it's kinda like this, a catharsis of emotion to come out and see the event live. It's been a staple of American pop culture for more than a century. It's a uniquely American ... thing ... that doesn't have any comparison, and everybody knows about wrestling. Almost everybody you meet, you talk to, knows who Hulk Hogan, or The Rock, or John Cena, or the Undertaker are. Everyone's got a wrestling story. And if you don't have a wrestling story, the event on June 13 in Binghamton is your chance to get one.
- - - - -
In recent weeks on Smackdown!, and last Sunday at Judgment Day, we have seen you battle with Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin is not listed on the preliminary card coming to Binghamton. Who might we expect you to battle in Binghamton on June 13?
Right now, I'm tentatively scheduled to fight Mike Knox at the event, but as always, a WWE card is subject to change. I do know that Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, Edge, CM Punk all are going to be there. As far as whoever John Morrison fights, it doesn't really matter, because the match that I will have in Binghamton will steal the show, and be the best reason that all the fine people of New York have for coming back to World Wrestling Entertainment the next time we come to Binghamton.
- - - - -
John, in June of 2007 you won the vacant ECW championship at Vengeance: Night of Champions over CM Punk, a match you were not scheduled to participate in. How and when did you find out about the situation with Chris Benoit, and how did winning that match against Punk affect your career path?
Winning that match against CM Punk was huge as far as my career goes. It was the first Heavyweight title win ... I'd been the Intercontinental champ prior to that, but it was a huge step forward as far as my career goes. And I was super excited about that opportunity. I found out that ... I wasn't scheduled to wrestle that day. And I didn't find out until 4:30 pm ... actually, I think it was like 5, 5:30 ... the PPV started at 8 pm, I found out a few hours before that I was actually wrestling. I didn't find out about the Chris Benoit situation until the ... actually, I didn't find out about the whole Chris Benoit situation until that Tuesday after the pay-per-view, I found that something had happened to him and his family on the Monday after, but then exactly the details I didn't know until after that even.
(Was it really difficult going into that match I mean, I know you had had matches with Punk prior to that, but how difficult was it to go out and perform at a pay-per-view with two hours of preparation?)
Honestly, it really wasn't that difficult. Part of the thing that just happens with sports entertainment is you just have to get used to the idea that at any time or any place, you could get booked at the last minute, you could get canceled, they could tell you we need you to go to Siberia on a publicity tour. Like, so-and-so is sick, and he can't make it, so you're up. So, you just sort of develop this, I don't know if you want to call it a skill, or just a tolerance. So you kinda have to get used to being on your game all the time, ready all the time ... kind of like a ninja, or Chuck Norris, so to speak. ... For me, it wasn't so much an inconvenience as it was a lucky break. ... Maybe lucky break isn't a very good term to describe it now, but ... an opportunity, I guess, would be better.
- - - - -
Shortly after your ECW championship victory in 2007 as Johnny Nitro, you re-emerged on ECW as John Morrison as one of the company's most entertaining heels. Was the idea to become Morrison your idea, and how have you been able to translate that character from a heel to a face?
The original idea for Morrison was my idea. I was always a big fan of The Doors. The most successful wrestling personalities are extensions of themselves. And the Morrison character, I think was entertaining and convincing because it's an extension of my personality. There's a lot of things involved that I really like to do. I've wrote poetry ... that whole aspect of the Morrison character is stuff that I like to do anyway. As far as translating it into a successful babyface, I've not had much time to do that yet, but as far as I'm concerned, there's not going to be, like, a change. I'm not going to change or pander to people, because they think that I should be acting differently. I'm just going to play true to John Morrison, which is really being true to myself, and the fans are really the ones who decide whether they like me or not.
(Are you surprised that fans are starting to accept you, even though you've kept basically the same personality?)
The cool thing about WWE fans is that I think they appreciate people who work hard and are talented, and I think everybody on the roster is both of those things. The potential for anybody on the roster to go from a fan someone who fans dislike to a fan favorite is there, for anyone. For me, when I moved to Smackdown, Shelton (Benjamin) started distracting me, became a thorn in my side, so to speak, and being the character that I am, I didn't back down from him. And I decided, you know what, I don't care who it is, I don't care who it is getting in my face, trying to make it difficult for me, John Morrison doesn't back down from anybody. The fans don't like Shelton Benjamin, the fans don't like John Morrison either. But I think they respect someone standing up for themselves. And that's what I'm doing with Shelton.
- - - - -
Many people may not understand that between television, pay-per-views and live events, WWE superstars work hundreds of nights per year traveling around the country and around the world. Can you describe an average week for John Morrison how many nights a week are you on the road, and who, if anyone, do you prefer to travel with?
A typical week for Smackdown/ECW includes leaving Los Angles Saturday morning, 6 a.m., fly to a city like Binghamton, do a live event, drive somewhere to a live event Sunday, drive again to another live event Monday, then drive to wherever the TV taping is Tuesday, tape the TV show on Tuesday, and then fly back to L.A. Wednesday morning. I have kind of Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, and then Friday to surf, work out, and hang out with my friends. And then it's repeat the cycle.
I'm kinda new to the Smackdown roster, so I don't really have my Smackdown clique yet, but lately I've been traveling with CM Punk.
(Are you excited that Smackdown got moved to LA, so maybe that will lessen your travels a little bit this week?)
Yes. (Laughs.) I'm really excited. It's awesome.
- - - - -
Along with the Miz, you starred in a weekly segment on WWE.com called 'The Dirt Sheet.' Have we seen the last of 'The Dirt Sheet,' and how important is it to the company to reach out to the WWE Universe on WWE.com?
I think, the Dirt Sheet, I don't think it's going to end any time soon. I'm sick of the Miz. I can't stand being in the same room with him, so we can't shoot the show together anymore. It's a feeling a lot of people have about The Miz. He's annoying, with his High School Musical hat, reality show personality. He got socialized on The Real World, so a lot of those traits that people on reality shows have, like being loud, trying to get attention, not really arguing and making points, just getting louder so that reality show cameras will film them I think that's how he is all the time. He was on like ten reality shows. He's got different sorts of issues. The Dirt Sheet is not going away any time soon; I don't see it lasting forever because I can't stand The Miz.
WWE.com is the most interactive and the coolest Web site on the internet. It's really important and an aspect of WWE that allows members of the WWE Universe the fans -- to find out more info about Superstars, events, matches, Smackdown, Raw, ECW, anything they are interested in they can click on WWE.com to find out more information about it. There's WWE.com originals, Santino's Casa, Word Up, which is, like, Internet shows that are sort of like short comedy sketches, where fans can see different sides of the personalities of a lot of stars things they wouldn't normally get to see on television because there's not enough time for a lot of the stars to talk, like they get time on WWE.com. I think WWE.com is great; it adds a whole new dimension to World Wrestling Entertainment.
(Do you have a personal favorite Dirt Sheet? Was there one in particular that comes to mind?)
It's the rap video, I can't remember what episode it is. It might be 3. It's where we clown on Cryme Time.
- - - - -
At Wrestlemania 2008, you entertained a global audience with your performance in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. This year, you teamed with The Miz in the show's dark match. What is it like performing in the biggest event in wrestling, and were you disappointed that your match with the Colons this year did not make the show?
n/a
- - - - -
Much of your gimmick as John Morrison, especially as a heel, focuses on your abs. What sort of routine do you keep to maintain your six-pack?
Um ... that's a long answer. The six-pack is, there's all kinds of different ab exercises you can do. A lot of weighted ab exercises, a lot of core strengthening. I guess just leave it at that.
There's two parts. You have to strengthen your abs by doing core conditioning, sit-ups, all the old-school stuff, some new-school stuff. Then you have to lower your body fat percentage to be able to see the abs. Pretty much everybody walking around has abs. It's just getting your body fat low enough so you can actually see them. What I do for that is running ... actually running and surfing. Surfing's been huge for me lately. It's kind of like a low-impact thing. And I'm not especially good at it, so it's really tiring. Doing a good solid hour of cardio, whether it's jogging, or surfing, or playing basketball, or soccer, or something, if you hit that, and you kind of control your diet, you'll be there.