Scotts Wrestling World

Scott Hubert: Growing up,did you want to be in the business,or had you planned on something else?

Eric Gargiulo: I definitely wanted to be in the wrestling business. I wanted to be a wrestler. I loved wrestling growing up. It was my life. I spent any money I would get on magazines. I spent my Saturdays watching wrestling. I would eventually get into tape trading, etc. I can tell you that I never had any ambitions to be a broadcaster/announcer. That just all kind of happened by an accident, but a good accident.

Scott Hubert: Did you prefer any promotion in particular(as a fan),prior to your career in wrestling?

Eric Gargiulo: The UWF, Bill Watts’ Mid South. UWF came on Philadelphia television and it was like nothing else I had ever seen. The shows were so fast paced, the interviews were great, and the angles were brutal and exciting. The UWF was definitely my favorite. I really liked the NWA also once Philadelphia started to get World Wide Wrestling on Saturday afternoons. I could now watch all of the guys I only read about in magazines. The interviews were great and the angles were real intense. It wasn’t as cartoonish as the WWF was turning out to be. I was definitely an ECW fan before I started technically working there.

S.H.: Who is your all-time favorite wrestler?

E.G.: I would have to say Ric Flair. I watched him a lot every month at the Philadelphia Civic Center and every match was great. His promos in his prime were the best of all time. Even today he can cut a hell of a promo. I think wrestling as evolved a lot since Ric Flair’s era, but he would definitely be it.

S.H.: You’ve interveiwed legends such as Bruno Sammartino,and “Cowboy” Bill Watts,is their someone you’ve not interveiwed,that you would like to?

E.G.: Well for sure Ric Flair. I think Vince McMahon would have to be at the top of any wish list. For the longest time I had wanted to interview Bill Watts, so finally having him on was quite an accomplishment for me.

S.H.: You started your career in ECW;How did you get there?

E.G: It really was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I had been hanging around ECW for awhile and was working at the time for RF Video. I had gotten friendly with Paul Heyman who used to call our hotline. We had a wrestling news hotline. One day he told me to hone in on my announcing skills. I had no idea what he meant. Then a few months later I was at a show just hanging out in Staten Island, NY. Paul sent one of his runners over to the table and said, “Paul says you’re ring announcing tonight.” It was surreal to say the least. After the show he told me to bring a suit the following night in Middletown, NY. So I split announcing the show with Joey Styles. Every weekend thereafter I would just show up prepared and dressed and ready to go. I never actually asked to be a part of ECW, nor was I actually officially asked. This just went on for a few months. So one weekend as I was walking out to the ring with Paul (Heyman) I asked him, “Can I be your road announcer?” Even though I was, I just wanted to ask and he said I could and that was that. Looking back I was just so incredibly lucky and blessed that I can’t even believe how it worked out. I think I earned Paul’s trust prior because I never made a scene in the locker room, I was always respectful, I did whatever he asked such as pull-apart brawls, driving guys, whatever. To be honest with you, if he never saw my potential in broadcasting/announcing I don’t know if I would have. For that and everything else I will be forever grateful.

S.H.: How are things going for your promotion,CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling)?

E.G.: Things are going really well. The ROH feud has really garnered us some great publicity. The shows are still kicking butt and drawing decent houses. Zandig lets me do whatever I want on commentary, which is nice because there is no pressure at all going into a show. I do put pressure on myself though. It amazes me how many people watch the CZW DVDs. I get emails all of the time from people that watch and are fans and it is very humbling.

S.H.: CZW is currently in a fued with another promotion,ROH (Ring Of Honor). How did this fued begin?

E.G: Basically at our Cage of Death show, Chris Hero grabbed the microphone and answered their champion’s (Bryan Danielson) open challenge. It was really that simple. From there it has exploded into an all out war.

S.H.: Could you name some top moments in your career as a whole?

E.G.: Without question it would be calling last year’s Hardcore Homecoming show. While it wasn’t ECW, it was the closest thing to ECW in its purest form that I will likely ever have the chance of announcing. It was just such an honor to call a show with so many of my mentors and heroes on it and in such a classic place like the ECW Arena. Calling the first Ring of Honor show was special to me because the entire roster was handpicked as the future of the business and the best available. It was a great experience to be a part of that. Announcing on pay per view and television has been a real experience. I never would have dreamed that I would do anything like this. There are hundreds of indy announcers in the business and none of them will have the great opportunities at exposure like I have had. I am now going on 10 years in the business and I am just starting to really appreciate all of the great experiences I have been able to have in pro wrestling. Hosting my radio show in my eighth year is definitely something I am extremely proud of. Being paid to go on tour in Italy for CZW was something I will never forget. That whole trip was maybe the most fun I have had in my adult life in a long, long time. I am also really proud of the fact that I get a lot of calls and emails from companies that are starting up, etc. It is really nice to know that so many people think that highly of me as to consider me for a new venture. I could go on and on, and it may seem like I am bragging but honestly there are so many things I forget about that all of the sudden come back to me and I am like, “Wow, I did that?”

S.H.: Do you think the return of ECW will affect CZW? If so,why?

E.G.: Originally I thought it would, but now I don’t think so. I thought they would be hitting the ECW Arena monthly but looking at their schedule they are barely in the area. If they decide to make the area a monthly stop than we could be in a bit of trouble, otherwise I don’t think it will help or hurt us in any way.

S.H.: If ECW were to offer you an exclusive contract to return to their promotion,would you take it,and why?

ECW: These 3 famous letters are cheered louder that ever as ECW is not only going to have a ppv this sunday but 2 days after on June 13, ECW will return as a full out brand on the Sci-Fi channel. Now, when it was first announced that ECW would be returning full swing, it was only supposed to be an internet only promotion but just a couple of weeks later, it was announced that Sci-Fi would be picking up ECW. It was being discussed between USA and WWE that maybe ECW should take the 2 am slot of AM Raw giving ECW alot of more head room as doing their traditional hardcore styles that we the ECW fans are familiar with. But it was announced being picked up by Sci-Fi as it will start 1 week from today at 10 pm. A big question that has risen from alot of wrestling analysts is why ECW was able to get a tv deal so soon yet TNA never got a good tv deal up until 4 1/2 years of being in existence and yet WWE could not secure a deal for WCW. Well lets look at TNA when it first started. Most of the guys on the roster at the time were washed up has beens that nobody wanted, a couple of no names that nobody cared about and just a couple of phenonmenal guys like Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, and AJ Styles. So for the most part, you could call them the land of misfit toys because there was no high demand for any of these guys. But when TNA did get their first tv deal, they were on FSN and it was oly good for a little while then their deal ended in May of last year. And when they debuted on Spike, they had a heck of a roster and pretty much threw out the has beens that nobody wanted and filled it up with veterans that were still good and people still wanted to see these guys that they brought in like Rhyno and the Dudleys. So it did take them a long time to get a deal but if they got a deal when they first started, people would fo saw the first show and said this promotion sucks and they probably wouldn’t be around today if that happened. Now for WCW not getting a deal. You see, tv deals come to promotions that are productive and people will go out of their way to see. But when WCW shut down in early 2001, it was beacause nobody was going to go out of their way anymore to watch WCW programming. So when WWE tried getting them a deal, it wasn’t going to work as no network was going to give valuable tv time to a wrestling company that nobody was interested in. So WCW folded and that was about it. Now there are a couple of reasons of why ECW got a tv deal so soon. Most likely because it is still the NBC network running this channel and NBC has seen how productive Raw has been so why not give WWE another shot. Plus ECW is going to be backed by WWE financially so they have the money to do things. But mostly because after 5 years of being out of business, ECW still has a huge cult following by their fans as seen by evedence of how well the One Night Stand tickets have moved over the past couple of years and how weel the dvd that WWE put outcalled the Rise and Fall of ECW as it was one the best selling ones of all time. So it is a no brainer as to why ECW has gotten a tv deal so soon. Now it is time for some minor news stories affecting ECW.

New Jack will most likely not be a part of the new ECW as no contract has been sent to him.
WWE vs ECW head to head is on tomorrow night at 8 pm on USA
ECW has announced their summer tour so you can check it out at WWE or ECW.com for all of the cities
RVD takes on John Cena at ONS for the WWE title
Sabu will take on Rey Mysterio at ONS also for the world title

TNA: TNA has had nothing major as of late so I will just give you a rundown of some news stroies.

TNA has offered a deal to Golderg but he turned it down
Samoa Joe got hurt recently but he will be taking on Scott Steiner at Slammiversary
Rhyno might leave TNA for ECW as he has told many people that he feels like he has been screwed by TNA most evidently by the way they gave him a short title run and don’t really use him as an asset

UFC: UFC recently had a major ppv that was headlined by Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie. The undercard matches were ok but they were not anything great. Hughes vs. Gracie was a good fight for the little time they had a fight as Hughes won by KO nearly towards the end of the first round. But the match did not deserve much of the hype that it got as it was ended quickly. But the funny thing about the whole ppv was that some of the pretaped fights were better than the live undercard and I found that very amusing.

WWE: I would presume the biggest story for WWE was the return of ECW but we already discussed that so I will give you another huge story that has been leaked as DX, the old renegade group is looking to reform at Vengeance this month. It will consist of HHH and Shawn Michaels. But some people bring up the question of how far will DX go this time around wit Shawn being a christian. He shouldn’t worry about his values though as he basically destroyed them with the god storyline a couple of years ago. But when DX first started, Shawn was the one who was doing all of the crazy stuff such as sticking gauze down his pants and at the time HHH was a backup man. But with the way things seem to be going is that HHH is being groomed as to being the frontman for DX and he will be doing crazy stuff like Shawn did and Shawn will just be a backup man this time. Now it is time for WWE’s short stories.

Test has been resigned by WWE
Chuck Palumbo has also been resigned
Charlie Hass made his return to WWE and just a couple of weeks later it was announced that his wife, TNA’s Jackie Gayda was pregnant
There are rumors that WWE might resign Jeff Hardy this summer if he does not get a new deal with TNA
Orlando Jordan was released by WWE
It is rumored that Tazz will leave Smackdown to be a color commentator for ECW alongside Joey Styles
Batista returns in 5 weeks
Mr. Kennedy returns to Smackdown this week so check it out