Right After Wrestling Radio, hosted by Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal) and Jimmy Korderas (@jimmykorderas) recently spoke with former WCW, ECW, TNA and WWE superstar Johnny Parisi (Johnny Swinger). Highlights:
A character he created for the WWE that he never got to use
"I sidestepped creative and went straight to Vince. I asked for just a moment of his time and I laid out this character where I was a hermaphrodite and I would wrestle in both the male and female division. I would do a program with Trish Stratus and win the the Women's title then go against Cena. I had angles written to go against Trish, Kane and Cena. I wanted to go to the top. I wasn't going to pitch an idea to wrestle the first match of the night. I wanted to make money and be in the main event. I own the character…I have a patent for it so if it used on TV, I'll get paid either way."
Swinger on his early career and growing up wanting to get into professional wrestling
Working on 'death-tours' in northern Canada
"It was usually in Manitoba. We used to drive over these frozen lakes in the Winter to these reserves. It was the only way to get there. I saw -60 degree Celsius weather and it was always tough. But it was always the true test of your passion to go on those tours because some people would go on those tours and never wanna wrestle again. I never heard of any other tour that was worse than those. It was just below human standard. Anybody could easily die on those tours out there. I remember we crashed the ring-van out there one time and we were terrified because we had no contact to anybody and we didn't even know where we were."
His early career with guys like Edge and Christian
"It was always fun with those guys. We would go to all-you-can-eat spaghetti places and just sit there for like 6 hours. It was funny because Edge used to weigh 190lbs and he would just eat stacks of plates in those restaurants and we always wondered where he was putting that stuff."
Wrestling the likes of Chavo Guerrero Jr. in WCW and Matt Striker in WWE
All this plus so much more!
For the full 30+ minute interview: http://radio.thescore.com/episodes/johnny-swinger-full-08152011
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
