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| They Shoot Interviews, Don't They? |
Richard Luck |
FSM enters the seedy and salt-filled world of the shoot interview
Stop us when this sounds familiar. So you've got Dave Batista or Jeff Jarrett or John Morrison giving a 'no holds barred' interview… except they don't really give anything away. Drug problems? Nah, never had any of those. Squabbles with other guys on the roster? They don't happen because everyone else in the locker room is a ‘real asset to the company’. And what about knocking heads with the boss? Unlikely, given that he/she is ‘phenomenal’ and a ‘visionary genius’. Yes, welcome to the world of the WWE/TNA documentary interview (a world that even FSM gets drawn into on occasion, due to our face-to-face interviews that are always overseen by WWE’s PR people).
Thankfully, not every wrestling conversation – on-camera or otherwise – is like this. There are others that tend to take place in hotel rooms at 3am following major conventions and in these, the bleary-eyed subjects rarely pull their punches. That guy with the strap? He didn't want to do business with, like, anybody. His wife-cum-valet? She was ‘valeting’ everyone from the job guys up. And drug testing? Yeah, it's real important that the drugs are tested before anyone take 'em. This, dear readers, is an alternate interviewing world… the world of the independent shoot interview.
Shoot interviews have been a part of the wrestling industry for eons. Given a major boost by the Montreal Screwjob (top companies RF Video and Highspots went to great lengths to get Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Earl Hebner's sides of the story), it's a rare occasion now when a guy doesn't leave a company one day and sign a shoot contract the next. Hugely popular with those so-called ‘smart’ fans who love to look behind the curtain to a horrifically-detailed extent, it's important to point out that these discs are a world away from the slick offerings that have made Vince McMahon an even richer man than he already is. Love high production values? You're unlikely to find them here. And if consistency's your thing, you’re better off spending your entertainment pound elsewhere. You see, for every shoot that’s compelling, engaging and well produced, there are plenty that are cheap, amateurish and about as much fun as a Quaker pub crawl. So be warned: while fascinating revelations can be found in the shoot world, so can impossibly tedious discussions with the likes of Mike 'Virgil' Jones, a man incapable of completing a sentence without twice using the phrase 'great talent'...
For the rest of this feature, check out issue 53 of FSM - available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders and Barnes & Noble, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)
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