On the 12th of July we were handed a wonderful opportunity, an in-depth interview with one of Impact Wrestling's true innovators, Petey Williams.
Rory: Thank you for joining me. The first thing I wanted to ask you was, you retired back in 2014 following a short stint that time round. What made you want to come out of retirement and return to Impact last year?
Petey: Well, back in 2013 they called me back and I didn't really know anybody, I didn't have a close relationship with anybody in the offices at that time but they said "We want you to come back" and I said "Ok let's do that" and I didn't really like it, to be honest with you. It was kind of like "Oh Petey Williams hasn't been here for four years, now he's back" and I felt like they should have made a little bit bigger of a deal than that since I helped create the X-Division and stuff. But yeah, after I retired I was done with wrestling. It had been three years and Scott D'Amore contacted me and I know he was always trying to get me back to wrestle for him on one of his Border City Wrestling shows every now and then but I always turned him down. Then in February of last year he said "Hey, your name keeps coming up in the creative meetings, would you be interested in coming back in? I've told them that you wouldn't be interested" and I said "yeah, I'm not" then he said "I think you might like who's running the show as it's back to Jeff, Abyss, Jeremy Borash, Sonjay, Me" and those are all guys that were there back in 2004 but I still didn't want to do it and then Scott started asking about my kids and he said "Well, I figured your kids might want to see what their Daddy used to do" and that's what kind of did it for me. I was like, "Scott, why would you emotionally tug at my heart strings like that" so I said "I'll think about it". Then I went to my wife and said "Hey, listen to this ridiculous conversation I just had with Scott" andmy wife said "Do it" and I looked at her and said "I thought we were ok with me not wrestling" and she said "Go ahead, just do it" and it was because of her support - if I didn't have her support I wouldn't have done it. She helped me get back into shape and was there with the kids and everything so I owe it to Scott and I owe it to my wife.
Rory: It's interesting that you said about them not making a big deal last time round, one of the things I liked about your return was how Impact made a big deal about you coming back and doing the whole thing where they hyped the Canadian Destroyer as a move that no-one had kicked out of and gave you a World title shot straight away. What was it like being put into that spotlight again?
Petey: Well, I don't think that supposed to happen. I believe it was a last minute booking due to injuries and such. They heard the reaction I got at Bound For Glory and then when there were some injuries that prevented somebody else from being in that angle they said "Let's have Petey be in it - he has the fan support, he can be the Canadian hero" and all that kind of stuff and it was great, I loved it. I told Eli Drake this, I'm a big fan of Eli Drake. I think he is athletic, good looking, cuts a great promo and has the "It Factor" and cool attitude that makes him the total package. At the time he was the world champion so I told him "Hey, I want you to be the first one to kick out of the Destroyer" and he was unsure about but I talked him into it and told him why he should and he said OK. I came up with that idea; Impact wasn't like "we want him to kick out of the Destroyer" they would never ask that of me. I came up with it and said that this is why and talked them into it. It was great, I'd never had a world title shot ever in my whole time at Impact and I knew it was probably going to be my only opportunity so I'd said "let's make it count"
Rory: As someone who's been following Impact since 2004, it's been genuinely awesome to see you back . What would recommend to new fans to check out on the Global Wrestling Network?
Petey: I would say the very first monthly ppv we had, Victory Road, where I wrestled AJ Styles - I was going in as the champion - that was one of my favourites for the feeling, the atmosphere - it was a big deal for the company. I'd say check that out. It was the first time I ever heard a dueling chant - it was "let's go AJ, let's go Petey" and I'd never had one of those before so I remember that because weeks after that the fans started doing the chants like that every time we faced off.Other matches I'd say would be anything from around about then in 2004 featuring myself and Chris Sabin. Also the ultimate X with myself, AJ and Chris Sabin at Final Resolution - every body said that was one of the best. So yeah I'd say that's a good starting point to check out on the network.
point to check out on the network.
Rory: You mentioned how enjoyable Eli Drake was and your high opinion of him, is there anyone else on the current roster that you'd like to square off against?
Petey: Yeah. I get asked this question a lot and it seems like every time I mention somebody it ends up happening so I don't know if Impact's listening to this stuff. There are a lot of guys on the roster like Rich Swann, Fenix, Pentagon - I've never been one on one with Sami Callaghan, only in a six man match at Ring of Honor - also the new LAX - I'm not in the tag division but I'd still like to be able to face them.
Rory: With their being a few old "TNA" names reappearing recently such as Sonjay, the original LAX and yourself, one of the people we've seen reappearing recently has been Scott Steiner. Is there any chance of seeing a reunion between you and Scott and a return of Little Petey Pump?
Petey: Oh man, I have been pitching that since before I even came back! When I talked to them about coming back one of the ideas was that I'd like to team with Steiner again. When he came back it was last minute as Chris Adonis had left the company and I had a hand in helping get Steiner for that spot and then back in January we taped a segment that aired in April that was for the Redemption pay per view and we had a last minute segment for our own kick where I was cutting a promo and started talking about my match with Matt Sydal and I do some math problems and that's where Steiner comes in! Then we start talking about math and all that sort of stuff and reminiscing, so that was the little bit for just in case we never get to reunite as something for the fans: Petey and Steiner on the screen together talking about math with Scott making fun of me like he used to and it was just a little bit for the fans.
Rory: One of the things you'd mentioned in the last answer was the taping schedule, do you think that taping so far in advance hurts the show due to things like spoilers on the internet?
Petey: Yes and no. What I didn't like from a talent perspective was going down there, filming for five or six days and filming three months of TV because a lot can happen in three months. A lot. Things might not be relevant anymore, people get hired, people get fired, so you could run into a lot of problems and obviously spoilers and all that kind of stuff.Also if you get hurt on the first day, it sucks because you'd have to work through an injury and that's why there was always rewrites and stuff.But this schedule, I like better. In two days we do four weeks so that way we're not filming so far in advance that if you get hurt during a taping it's not that big of a deal - you'd have time to recover. So I like this way better.From a company standpoint, it makes sense as it cuts down on a lot of costs like travel and production - you don't have to move things so it has it's pros and cons. I like this format better where we do it once a month.
Rory: What's been your proudest accomplishment across your wrestling career?
Petey: There's been a few but the one thing that will live with me forever, even when I'm dead, is the Canadian Destroyer move itself and I pride myself on that. I used to hate it when people would say "he's a one move wonder" and I used to try not to be early on in my career but then instead of going against it I decided to go embrace it because everybody would be waiting for me to hit the Canadian Destroyer so I just kind of worked my matches around trying to hit that move. People may feel I'm a one move wonder - and that's fine because 70 years from now or even a hundred, when I'm long gone, they'll be somebody who's not even born yet doing the Canadian Destroyer so that move has cemented my legacy in wrestling forever.
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