Felix Red Shoot Interview

OK so how did you break into the business?

Felix: It was pretty happenstance, actually. I didn't watch any wrestling before I was like, 16 or 17. I basically ended up going to a shitty training seminar 'cuz a bunch of my friends were. That was where I originally met Ted Grossard, who trained me and the other Crack Rock Crowd guys, Toxick and Midiot. I didn't start taking wrestling seriously until I realized I wasn't good enough to be a pro-soccer player, and my grades sucked, so wrestling just sorta happened...

So with no other options looking good, you decided to get into the sport, where did you break in?

Felix: Originally? My first real gig with TV exposure was FWF. They needed like, 10 or 15 guys to be members of the BYW Brigade, which was this sort of ridiculous angle. Basically we had a lot of shitty looking hardcore matches against Asylum and Maxwell Houz and the like. I got to paint myself silver and dance around though. That was nice.

And that was a take on backyard wrestling? Hitting each other with light bulbs and all that stupidity?

Felix: That was the general idea. I remember, they had this faux hardcore title thing, ripped off from WWF? So the entire BYW Brigade was collectively hardcore champion for like a week. I donno if I've got anything directly against BYW wrestling though. I mean, that's more or less how you start out, in that it's just sort of jumping off couches taken to the next level. Can't say I get behind the more violent bits of it though.

So from there you moved up in the world, where was the next stop?

Felix: That would be IWF, which was a lot of fun and great exposure. That was where we came up with the Crack Rock Crowd, which was me and Midiot and Toxick sort of abbreviating the BYW Brigade angle. This was of course, when I first came up with the idea of doing drugs on camera.

There are people who do find that to be pretty distasteful, given your current status as a main eventer in one of the biggest companies in the sport, do you think it's not that, I dunno 'family friendly' that you're doing drugs on camera?

Felix: Well, I mean, I'm the fucking heel most of the time. It's not like I'm up there as a role model, really. I tend to think most of the people who are really into the Felix character are the sort inclined to try drugs anyway.

Giving them what they want and all that?

Felix: Well, lemme put it this way - I love messing with taboos. That sort of factors into how the character is all into messing with reality, and little overtones of chaos magick rhetoric and the like. So drugs are a big taboo. Like, really, if I did as many drugs as I say I do in character, I wouldn't be able to work the matches I do. I hope people are smart enough to realize that. Like, I don't necessarily want people to get really into heroin 'cuz of me, y'know?

I understand, so why did you leave IWF? They close down or contract issue or whatever?

Felix: They closed down. There was a lot of confusion in a business deal of sorts, where IWF and BAD were going to merge. There was a lot of talk about bringing Doc Silver in to feud with Manson, y'know, again, but then the money just kinda dried up, and then we finally got notice the company was folding.

OK, so where was the next stop?

Felix: Me and Bret...er ah, "Toxick," went to WWL for a while. Which wasn't so hot. This was Andrew Medina WWL, not Joe Keeney WWL, so the good times had already come and gone. I ended up jobbing a bunch of times to this dood who Medina was friends with, but couldn't work at all. They had his badly trained monkey sidekick jump in the ring and supposedly hit me with a crack pipe at one point. It was that bad. His promos were decent, but it's kind of a drag putting someone over, carrying him through all the matches, and then basically getting nothing to show for it afterwards. Toxick did alright though. Him and Osama Bin Chillin, whose real name I forget, ended up being tag champions for a while. After that league closed, Toxick kinda dropped off the face of the planet. I honestly have seen him in maybe a year.

How was the locker room in WWL? Sounds like it could't be a good place.

Felix: Well, a lot of smart, talented people respected Keeney enough so they stayed on after he left, just because it was WWL. That was where I first met Copycat and Maelstrom and a lot of other people I learned a lot from. Manson was there to, I think....Most of my original dealings with him were in IWF though.

So where to after the generally shoddy treatment you got in WWL?

Felix: I was actually kinda done with wrestling, working a few indie shows and thinking about heading back to school, when Manson called me up for a job in WFW.

So you two were friends at this point or he just liked your work?

Felix: We had talked a little, since we had been on so many shows together, but yeah, I think he just liked my work. Which has been great for me. I think that's what a lot of people need, more than anything. Manson's such a legend, management will always listen to him, so by getting Manson behind me I've basically got the big machine behind me. I don't think it's all just hype though. I think a lot of people kind of identify with the Felix character. It's like, I'm not even sure if he's such a bad guy, really. He's just a little misguided, and doesn't have his priorities worked out properly. He wants to be all powerful, but really can't, 'cuz he's, I donno, struggling with his limitations and so forth. Which I why I play him crazier when he wins a lot. Keep in mind, when the character was originally created, he wasn't really supposed to go over a lot.

So what happened in WFW, other then winning more then you expected and thusly having the character be unable to deal with it?

Felix: Ah, that's when they grouped up me and Anarky and Psycho and Jared Wells for the LOVE angle. That was a fucking blast.

Yeah, I heard LOVE was a big deal, how did you guys get along?

Felix: Anarky's another guy who I gotta credit as helping me get over and to the next level and all that. I still think he does better promos than most people. People give him shit for not being the best worker in the world, but it's like...that's his character, y'know? The character wouldn't be doing fucking double arm, triple leg, dick in ear submission holds, so why should he? We got along pretty fucking good. Lotta good times, which was problematic in the sense that everybody was drinking too much and things.

So the out of ring craziness ended up hurting you in the ring?

Felix: This one time? After this house show in Dallas, Wells got so fucked up on the train ride he passed out in a pool of his own urine and vomit right outside a stop 'n shop. We were all outa coke by this point, so we had nothing to wake him up with besides addys and Red Bull, which he took, but it didn't do anything for him except make him tell us about his rotten childhood. But get this, we ran into these hookers, one of whom might’ve been 18, the others probably weren’t, but they actually recognized us. So we got free room and board and so forth. Maybe the lunacy hurt a little. In a few matches, I'd say definitely. One match against Rat Fink pops to mind as something I’m kind of embarrassed by…I had to clean out a little bit before the main event sort of deals. The first big match I had with Manson, I hadn't done any drugs or drank in like, two or three weeks……There are better stories than the one I just told you, but I don't really remember them so hot.

I can understand that totally, was the whole WFW locker room that crazy or was that mostly just a LOVE thing?

Felix: I think people sought to emulate us a little, which undermines the point I made earlier about people not doing drugs because I am...but not that much. I mean, there really is a big drug problem in wrestling. Just look at Eddie Gurearro, Chris Candido, Brian Pillman, the list goes on. In WFW, I remember Iron Lion being on such an absurd amount of 'riods he could barely talk without his neck exploding. Last I heard he was living in the projects doing one armed pushups for spare change…Jonathan Marx was pretty messed up for a while, which he’s already been vocal about, which I respect. It’s good to see he’s sober and such now.

Oh Iron Lion, you were a mess...So what ended up being the reason for your leaving WFW, or are you working two leagues now with NFW and WFW?

Felix: Yeah, I'm still in WFW. Business has slowed down a little, but that's cool. I've got a busy and lucrative schedule with NFW. I feel kinda indebted to Paul Miller and all those guys, just because I realize there's no way I'd be where I am without their backing.

So what brought you into NFW?

Felix: That was a combination of a few different people, actually. Manson, again, was one of them, but pretty much everybody in the organization had me in mind for the east division. Which is cool, 'cuz I actually fucking love Japan. Karaoke bars, right? $5, all you can drink, and you watch your friends get absolutely plastered singing Bon Jovi songs. And, the video games, are of course excellent. I actually am half Japanese as well, although the thing about my mom being dead is a bit of stretch. She actually lives in Fitzberg MA, which is only kinda like being dead.

So did you expect to get to the point where you would be in fact the last man standing in a 10 man match featuring Eli Flair, Troy Windham, Doc Silver, Joey Melton, et all?

Felix: I would've been happy just to make the playoffs, really. Like, I can only be so modest. 'Cuz I know I'm good. I'm really fucking good, and it's good for me and the company that I've been built up so much. But after being a midcarder most of my career, this is all kinda mind-blowing. That's not to say I'm better than other people who are pushed as much or less than I am necessarily, but I think I bring things to the table that others really don't.

So how has NFW treated you to in comparison to other leagues?

Felix: I donno. Maybe it's just Japan, but they really appreciate a solid work ethic as much as the promo shit. Life over there's pretty good. I just wake up, hit the gym for a few hours, medicate for another few, eat, chill for a while, and head out to spend some of the absurd amounts of money I've been making.

How's the locker room treating you, do you feel you are treated differently now that you're a headliner and a potential World Champion or Ultratitle champion instead of just putting folks over.

Felix: as far as the locker room goes, everyone from the east is very cool, very personable, out to have a good time with things. In the West, I think Rook Black is a genius. I really do. I really have to start ripping him off more. I'm gonna steal the psychodrama finisher...that'd be cool. I was kinda surprised to find out what a class act Eli Flair is to. Everyone led me to believe he was a dick, but he wasn't at all. Real professional. And of course, Joey Melton's real laid back. In terms of being treated differently, I've got more people asking me for advice, which is kind of awkward for me, just because I think things that work for me won't necessarily help everybody. Like, if I tell Cameron Cruise he'll get better if he starts staring at the floor for two hours a day, then...well...I end up looking silly, eh?

I hear that...What is your relationship with Ryoko off camera?

Felix: (laughs) oooooh, here we go. Naw, she's a really sweet girl, really kind and warm person, taught me a lot of Japanese. I'd try to throw it in her, but I'm kind of afraid her boyfriend would kick my ass.

(Laughs) And what's the deal with Kooter?

Felix: Beats the fuck out of me. I had the idea originally, to have the fetus child of Beau and Cruise be my lackey, but man, the writers went absolutely to town with it. As far as the wrestler goes, we'll get him in line eventually.

So you basically have some guy in a bunch of purple paint running around beating the shit out of the planet, he sure walked into a good gig

Felix: Kinda, sorta, not really. like, what's he supposed to do when the angle's over? He has to more or less start over and build himself up again from scratch. Look at all the one shot characters I was-Robot, Robot Boy, Mr. Asphyxiation...I don't even remember a lot of them, and honestly it wasn't such a hot idea.

For a guy who’s considered pretty out there, you seem to care about work-rate.

Felix: I didn't always care about working, really. Recently it's like "okay, I'm headlining a big show against one of the biggest names in the business....why don't I NOT suck?"

So you're trying to get a grip on this whole main event thing?

Felix: Like, the audience is *always* gonna pop for crazy hardcore flying spots, but I'd like to feel like I can be a story teller as much as a crash test dummy, and I'm not sure if I'm at that level yet, but I wanna be...which counts for something, I suppose.

You've pretty much had nothing but praise for everyone except Medina, is there anyone else in the wrestling community you don't hold a high opinion of?

Felix: nobody specific, but I really hate the jock/monster mentality. Like people refusing to sell for other people, people being massive crybabies whenever they have to put somebody over, and on and on. It's like....I really don't wanna name names, 'cuz I don't wanna be that guy so much, but everyonce in a while it's like "This asshole does *not* get it...."

Thanks for your time.

Felix: Pleasure to talk to you guys.