Matt Striker Talks WWE Release, Possibly Joining TNA, If Punk Vs. Lesnar Is Believable, More
Wrestling Heels Radio recently interviewed Matt Striker. They sent us these highlights:
How he's feeling now: "You know, I've done I can't tell you how many interviews. You're the first person to ask me straight up how I'm doing. Thank you for asking. I'm doing alright. I've thought about pulling out a shot gun once or twice. (Laughs) I shouldn't joke about that. But you know what I mean. I sat down and I talked to my spirits and God and stuff and said "what do you have for me next." The book of Job. That's what it is. If you don't know the book of Job go and read it. I'll never lose my faith.
If he was been under utilized in WWE the past few years: "No, because what I wanted and what was needed were two different things. And I trusted judgment of management. If they said grab a helmet, grab a bat, and go out and hit? I was ready. Did I want to go out every day: absolutely. But I would always accept their judgment. There's always a reason for everything. I learned that early on. Accept it and see how you can be a part of it and make things better. "Need me to push, pull, ride. Oh don't ride. The cars too heavy? Ok cool. I'll stand over here. When you guys come back, let me know." And in this case, they just kind of never came back."
If he would go back to teaching: "I said if nothing else, thank God I have my teaching degree to fall back on. It is rewarding. It does have a lot of similarities to being a wrestler and it's where I came from. You never forget your roots. Just take a couple of classes, re-certify and God willing I should be okay."
His feelings about the current state of wrestling: "WWE product is great. Sometimes it's cool to be anti-WWE. But if you like wrestling and entertainment you should support WWE. Money in bank is gonna be ridiculous if nothing else. But Indie wrestling, there's good and bad which there always was. To me, lots of skulls popping up. Taking kids' money, putting them in plastic pants, teaching them to do nothing and kid knows how to do a back-flip. Then kid goes home and tells friends he's a wrestler. That kind of dilutes the pool. I also understand Japan wasn't what it once was. But New Japan is really taking strides to rebuild that. It's like economics. It's a bell curve. Has to go through down before it goes up. Right now I think it's on an uptick. WWE is on a bigger up tick and that will trickle down and the entirety of wrestling will benefit."
If CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar is believable: "What are you basing your booking on? No one knows if that's going to happen. If it does, what do I think of it? Punk trains all the time. All the time, he's a gym rat. He loves every little thing. Brock could be the biggest strongest guy on the planet and I've met him and talked to him and he is, by the way, and believes that and will punch you in the face. It's not believable? Why not? Why not? Punk can hook something on Brock the same way BJ Pen could. UFC should let 175 pound guys fight 220 pound guys. I'd rather watch that than watch Heath Herring lay on someone. That's boring to me. I think Daniel Brian is master of heel hook. He could heel hook Cane in real life and the tendon will snap, so why isn't it believable.
"If you're a fan, you want to see CM Punk win because you can relate to Punk's size and life style because you don't pass a guy like Brock Lesnar waiting for the bus very often. So of course you're rooting for the underdog, you're rooting for Punk. Unless you are a guy that hates wise asses, loud mouths and always wants to smack the punk kids hanging out at the 7-11 all the time. Then you want to see Lesnar knock his head off."
If TNA is a possibility: "That's not up to me? that's up to them. I love wrestling and all aspects of wrestling and entertainment. You call my phone, I'll answer."
If he has kept up with TNA or ROH while in WWE: "I didn't watch religiously because I didn't have time, but I did catch it a few times because a lot of my friends worked there and also because you want to watch the greats and a lot of the greats are under the WWE Banner. Bully Ray.. You'll learn something from watching him every time. Kurt Angle is still Kurt Angle and that will never change. There are benefits to watching. If wrestling is on, I put the remote down. I don't care what 3 letters are on the screen."
His favorite moment in WWE: "Wrestlemania 23. 80,000 people. Rob VanDam. Monkey flips Matt Striker through the air. The moment that made people go "Whoa" meant the most to me. That's why they came. They came to see that. That was the moment. The week before we wrestled in Mexico and Rob gave me the same flip but he sent me out of the ring on the other side. I wish we could've done that on Wrestlemania."
You can download and listen to the full interview at this link.
Source: Wrestlingheels Radio