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RAVEN INTERVIEW ARCHIVE

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NO LIMITS
By Ross Forman

First things first: Yes, they are real. As real as can be. No Hollywood props. When we’re talking chairs, we’re talking the real deal.

And when a wrestler slams an opponent with a steel chair, it hurts . . . it really hurts.
The Hardcore Division is serious stuff.

This isn’t the technical wrestling greatness of Dean Malenko nor the high-flying fury that is Rey Mysterio Jr.

This is Raven wanting to decapitate Bam Bam Bigelow. This is Hardcore Hak wanting to mutilate Saturn. This is Brian Knobs wanting to maul Hugh Morrus. This is all-out war; nothing less than a fight to the finish, using every weapon in sight – including the kitchen sink, of course!

Hardcore wrestling matches, in a revival of sorts, are the “Creature Feature” matches, as Raven puts it. They are the legacy of The Sheik, Abdullah the Butcher, and Terry Funk, but with a more demented side. There were very few rules in previous eras, but today’s hardcore fighters know no limits. Hardcore wrestlers use chairs, tables, fire extinguishers, garbage cans (with the garbage inside, of course), limousines, and just about anything else they can get their hands on.

Nothing is off-limits and there is no mercy.

Just surrender.

“The Creature Feature matches always were like a sideshow. They usually involved the mutant-looking wrestlers who were willing to risk life and limb in the pursuit of cheers, jeers, and other things,” Raven said. “Hardcore wrestling has always been a part of the sport . . . because the fans want it; they want the realism, and hardcore definitely is realistic, as real as it gets.

“Imagine watching a movie about gladiators. If you’re engrossed in the movie, then see one of the gladiators wearing a Rolex, that kills it for you. Same with Hardcore matches.

Raven, Hak, and Bigelow are alumni of ECW, an East Coast based promotion that thrives on the bizarre. Raven became the federation’s champion. Hak was a sadistic, beer-guzzling madman. Bigelow dished out pain by the minute.

Now in WCW, Raven hates Hak and the two of them despise Bigelow. Not only that, but when you throw in five other hardcore monsters, the “new division” is as strong as any in WCW. That means watch out below . . . and above.

“Hak and I go way back,” Raven began, “Even though we are best of friends, he’s one of those guys who you want to punch in the face. There are certain people who you just want to hurt. Hak is one of them. Why? I don’t know; he’s just got that thing about him. I guess it has to do with the way he breathes,” Raven explained.

“Bigelow, meanwhile, claims he is ‘The King of Hardcore.’ Problem is, I was the ECW champion when ECW became the prominent federation on the hardcore front, the NC-17 organization. I have nothing against him personally; I just take exception to the fact that he thinks he’s something that he isn’t. It’s obvious that I’m the toughest of the three of us.”

What is a hardcore match really like?

“God-awfully painful . . . brutal . . . physical . . . taxing. The next day you hurt so bad you want to cry,” He said. “The really weird thing about it is: When you hurt that bad, part of you is saying, ‘Why did I do that?’ while the other parts of you are so alive because you worked so hard. When you get hit with all that stuff and you’re still standing. Still going, you can’t feel anymore alive than that, although at the same time you feel half dead. I guess that’s just a strange dichotomy.”

The steel chair is as much a part of Raven’s repertoire as Kevin Nash’s Jackknife power bomb. Lex Luger’s Torture Rack, or DDP’s Diamond Cutter. Raven is also a “fan” of the table. He has never been part of a table dance he didn’t like . . . even if he was the one going through it.

Crazy? You bet!

Exciting? Without a doubt.

“When most wrestlers see a chair being swung at them, they try to and get hit on the back of their head because it’s a mental thing; you feel if you duck it’s going to hurt less. But in reality, it hurts that much more. And when you put your arm out to block it, that hurts that even more,” Raven said.

Raven has two career “chair shots” that stand out. One, by Tommy Dreamer while Raven was handcuffed to a cage. That incredible image is still used during ECW’s opening segment “and probably always will be in their opening.” Second, last year by Kanyon while stuck within the ropes.

“I don’t think Sting wants to wrestle me; I don’t think Lex Luger wants to wrestle me; I don’t think Kevin Nash wants to wrestle me; A lot of the ‘lower tiers’ guys don’t want to wrestle me as well, but they have no choice.” Raven said. “I really do get great satisfaction in pummeling an opponent unmercifully. When I do the drop toe hold onto the chair, there’s nowhere for him to go, except onto that chair. Let’s say you did have a ‘fake chair,’ don’t you think it would collapse right then and there? Well, our chairs don’t collapse. And just listen to the noise; that right there should tell you it’s real.”

Raven and Saturn, once bitter rivals, are now teammates in holding the Tag Team Championship belts (at this writing). The three-team war with Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman and Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko are as exciting as any feud in the sport; a clash of styles, a battle of egos and attitudes. Raven & Saturn believe it or not , get as many cheers as Mysterio & Kidman, sometimes more.

Finally, Raven & Saturn’s hardwork is being appreciated.

Why now? Out of respect for their ability, their skill for mixing out-of-control singles matches against hardcore foes, and and their ability to adopt to tag team wrestling against technical and high-flying opponents. Raven and Saturn have never been more popular.

Or more out of control, which is how they would prefer to be thought of.

“In five years, I still want to be wrestling and I want to be the World Champion,” Raven said. “I still want to be bashing in people’s heads with chairs. I want a bigger house, a bigger car. Sure, I have the (multi-million dollar) trust fund, but I want to do it with my own earnings.”

And in his own way . . . the hardcore way.

But Raven wasn’t always a hardcore creature. Imagine the opposite: A pompous, flamboyant snob, one who you really loved to hate. Yes, that was Scotty the Body, who later became Scotty Flamingo, courtesy of Dusty Rhodes.

“What drives Raven is my pathological insecurity from having a miserable childhood, from feeling unloved and unwanted. So, I would do anything for that attention; that’s when I came up with these bombastic characters, Scotty the Body and Scotty Flamingo,” Raven said. “I wasn’t a fan of Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura, I was just a fan of the name, Actually, to tell you the truth, I liked his commentary, not his wrestling.” (Raven’s wrestling heroes were Michael P.S. Hayes and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.)

“I was this flamboyant character in the ring, but then left the building (wearing) a leather jacket and jeans and moped around. Hey, I’m a manic-depressive. I’m either completely mopey or I’m the funniest, most jovial person you’ll ever meet . . . but in a very manic way, not in a constructive way.”

On June 20th 1992, Flamingo defeated the late Brain Pillman in Augusta to capture the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, the precursor to the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Flamingo wasn’t able to hold onto the title very long. He lost the belt three weeks later to Brad Armstrong in Atlanta.

He then resurfaced in a Memphis-based territory before appearing in the WWF as manager Johnny Polo. “I thought they wanted me as a manager as a way of bringing me in as a wrestler. But they thought I was too small at the time at 225 pounds.” Raven said. “The Johnny Polo character was fine with me because it was over the top. I just wanted the attention that I got from it.” He quickly was promoted to associate producer and was being groomed to be a storywriter, although he had only been in the business for six years.

Polo eventually quit the WWF.

Raven emerged in ECW.

“So many people called me a moron for walking away from a six-figure income (with the WWF), but I didn’t want to do it because I wasn’t happy,” he said. “Plus I got tired of (portraying) this happy person; I wanted to be who I was.”

Today, the Raven you see on TV is who Scotty is all about. From the clothes to the hair to the tattoos to the piercings.

What you see is what you get. The real Scotty IS Raven.

Here’s a look at some of Raven’s medical woes, courtesy of his hardcore antics:


Right shoulder, separated.

Right shoulder, cracked.

Rotator cuff, torn

Lower back problems

Right hand, broken.

Right big toe, nail removed. “The toe was so swollen after a recent match that doctors had to take the toenail off to get the blood out. That was God-awfully painful.

Emotional disorders

Transcript by Victor Moreno

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