Jimmy Rave Talks Joining TNA Over WWE, Working With Daniels And Kazarian, His ROH Run & More
Former TNA and ROH star Jimmy Rave recently spoke to WrestleShark.com about his career and life outside the ring. Here are some highlights:
His start with ROH: "I kinda went up there on a wing and a prayer, in 2002? December was there Night of the Butcher, they allowed me to come up and wrestle AJ Styles? About two of three months after that I cam back and did the Do or Die show when I wrestled CM Punk, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in a four way?after that I had kind of earned a full time spot with them."
Working with Daniels and Kazarian: "At the time I just liked working new people? working with different people was one of the things that was really helpful for me. CM Punk and I were already pretty good friends? getting to work with like Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at the time, I remember always seeing the Super 8 stuff, and Christopher Daniels was like a legend. So working with them was a lot of fun for me? I just put a lot of trust in them, I've always had some confidence issues, so when we came out of the match and it had went well, then it really helped my confidence level at the time."
Leaving ROH: "I was in Japan wrestling for Dragon Gate, and I got a call from Vince Russo telling me they had some ideas for me but?around that time they started offering guys contracts in ROH. So my contract negotiations didn't go the smoothest?at the time, I had kinda started abusing pain killers, so when I went back to Dragon Gate one more time and came back to ROH and got hurt again?I was just kind of fed up coming to ROH and getting hurt every other show. Some guys were getting offered medical insurance and I was not. So I just felt that I gave a lot to the company?but you know a lot of it was my own personal things at the time. But you know, I was getting hurt all the time, and you know when you get hurt you don't get paid. It was really affecting my livelihood and my family. I asked for my release and they gave it to me. At that point I was pretty much done with wrestling."
Joining TNA: "I was actually scheduled to do some stuff for WWE at the time, I was supposed to be at a Raw taping. Right before I went to do that, Terry Taylor called and asked me to be at the PPV that Sunday, and they were gonna start me."
Rave also discussed the development of the Rock and Rave Connection, how his time at TNA came to an end, CZW and more. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.