Chuck Palumbo Being Paired With Sean O'Haire, O'Haire's Passing, Life After Wrestling, His Show

Lee Sanders of The RCWR show recently had former WCW and WWE star Chuck Palumbo on their 1-on-1 interview series. The former Wrestler talks about a possible season 2 of his Discovery channel show Lords of the Car Hoards, his rock band and more. Below is a quick recap of the interview:

About a possible second season of his show Lords of the Car Hoards for the Discovery Channel.

It's in the works, I can't confirm or deny it yet but we are getting close. So, I am excited about it, we are getting close and we should have some good news within the next week or two.

How his band 3-spoke wheel came about:

3 Spoke Wheel, yeah?I was speaking with my guitar teacher and I said you know, I want to start a band. I have always liked that vibe of being in a band and the feeling of playing live and stuff like that. So, I asked him, "Do you know a few guys who are playing right now or want to grab a band or whatever it is?". We found a drummer, we found a lead singer, we found another guitar player, and a bass player and we were off and running. It happened that quick you know? Started playing local bars and gigs like that and I had a blast with it.

Whether his band plans to put out an album in the near future

We have not yet. We have just been hammering away, working on originals here at the house and just hammering them out. Hopefully, you know? It's just been tough between the bike shop, the TV show, the band, I have just been slammed so I haven't had really the time to dedicate to getting that done but it's definitely something that will happen probably, hopefully, in the next year or so.

How he was paired with Sean O'Haire in WCW:

We had just, gosh, it must have been '99 and we had just moved to the power plant. Jody Hamilton, the Original Assassin, he ran the original power plant and that's where I had started. Well, a year later or so they moved it a few miles away. Brand new facility, right by the WCW office, actually right behind it. I had probably been at that facility for a month or two and then Sean came in, super nice guy, naturally a big kid, athletic kid, and we just hit it off. It was the thriller bunch there, it was Sean, Mark Jindrak, Mike Sanders, Reno, and then you had Kiwi, Alan Funk, Elix Skipper, that's their solid core group of guys that I kind of broke in with. So, we were all tight, we were all training together and teaching each other. Jerry too, one of my best friends, the Lawl from WCW who had passed away too. So yeah, we had just started hanging out, training together every day you know with Serge and Paul Orndorff and before you know it Jimmy Hart takes us and brings us in on the Saturday night television show, WCW Saturday Night and we are doing some single stuff. Sean was a few months behind us and finally he comes in and overtime, what happened next? I think Russo came in and he put us in the tag team together.

Great guy (Sean O'Haire), passed away way too young, super athletic, a big guy. He could move! I don't know if you remember, he used to do that senton bomb?I mean this guy is 6' 4", 250 or 260 doing a senton. Yeah, he was green and stuff but he never really got to show I believe what he could really do. I thought overtime that guy was going to be something, he had it man, it just never happened and you know the rest, it's funny? it may be based on opinion of one or two people where your career goes. I thought that the potential was there, you know. 

On the two being kept apart following the WCW invasion of the WWF:

Personally I thought if they had left us together at that point when we first came over from WCW, I thought we were an impressive tag team. I thought we complimented each other, I think if they had let us work on the road say with Undertaker and Kane or you know, another top tag team and they kind of take us under their wing and groom us, we could have went maybe 6 or 7 months with those guys, I think boom, there you go, bring us back and give us a push. But you know, you never know why things work out the way they do.

On what Chuck believes ultimately led to O'Haire's suicide:

Well honestly, speaking of Sean here and what we are talking about here. After I looked on Twitter and saw all of the condolences and all of the feedback from Sean's death that he got or even I got?If he had known there were that many people out there who cared about him and are fans of his I believe he would still be here today because honestly my gut tells me it was depression. I don't think he realized that there were a lot of people out there who loved him when he was wrestling and were big fans of his and all of that was taken away from him and I don't think he realized that. I think if he knew he had the fans he had–I don't think he was a big social media guy or anything like that but I think if he knew that he had people out there that were big fans of his and cared about him, I think there was a real good chance that he would be here today.

A huge issue in pro wrestling for a guy whose careers have ended, I believe is depression. I believe it is a big issue that we don't talk about. Anytime you have an athlete, speaking of pro wrestlers right now and they're in the spotlight, they are on the road with the boys and they're having fun and they are traveling and they are getting paid to do this fun job, although it is a lot of hard work, they are having fun and they are entertaining the crowd, the spotlight, the action. All of the sudden when that is taken away from you it can really be detrimental and I think it really brings out the depression. I think a lot of the times, the guys don't even know it, you know? They have all that fun until their career is over and the thing is now with pro wrestling, if you're not working for Vince and the WWE, chances are you probably aren't working.

You know, there is not many places to go, so that's you're one place. In everyday life you work the 9 to 5, no matter what you do. If you lose your job, alright it sucks but if you get out there you'll find another one. With pro wrestling, if you lose your job with pro wrestling the chances are your career is over you know? You might get another shot. I was fortunate at that time to get called back to go back up to Vince and stuff like that but these days if you lose your shot, that's it. You can't go to WCW. There are not many spots over in Japan, there is not much money in the Indies. I think it does a number on these guys, I really do and I think that might have been the main cause of what put him (Sean O'Haire) where he is you know?