Adam Pearce Talks Working At The WWE Performance Center, His TNA Gut Check Exit, ROH, More
Former NWA World Champion Adam Pearce appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, and discussed his travels within pro wrestling. Among them include his time at the performance center, the TNA Gut Check, and more. Here are the highlights:
Working at the Performance Center:
"I think anyone who is actively watching the WWE Network and specifically the NXT product itself sees the talent that NXT has as well as the incredible coaching staff and the staff behind the scenes and sees why it is an incredibly fun place to work. It is an absolute honor to step into the building in Orlando (the WWE Performance Center) and in my two decades in the business it is probably the biggest honor to actually have my hands on the future of what will amount to the wrestling business in our country. It was really gratifying to allow to turn loose that beast that everyone believes in behind the scenes and to have the ability to have the Takeover special on the network. That night with Kevin Owens debuting that night was the icing on the cake for what was an absolutely awesome experience. The tasks that are at hand for a guy who is working as a coach, trainer, agent or producer are literally a million things that are encompassed by one hat. When the television tapings are happening there are people that need to be agenting matches and producing for the television product and I was doing that, which are both obviously different then the nuts and bolts and hand to hand in the ring action."
His exit from the TNA Gut Check challenge:
"The funny thing about the Gutcheck thing is that the real story of what happened is far less interesting then what everyone's imagination pretends happened. I laugh about it because obviously I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't going to be good for me. People forget that pro-wrestling is a scripted form of entertainment and Gutcheck was supposed to be presented as a Reality TV (which is scripted entertainment) portion of a pro-wrestling show (which is scripted entertainment) and yet somehow millions of people were so upset and thought that I was wronged in some way without ever batting an eye lash to stop and say; Wait a minute, this is scripted. What happened, was what was supposed to happen because that is what was written. While I never ever will be mad at anyone who supported my character and wanted to see that character featured in a more prominent role by TNA that is simply not what was ever agreed to. TNA presented me with a two week opportunity on TV and I accepted a two week offer to take advantage of that opportunity to be on TV for a couple of weeks and that is what happened. Nothing more, nothing less. They lived up to every letter of the agreement that we made and so did I. Here we are two years later still talking about it. I think what people don't think about is to have an ongoing relationship there has to be people that want an ongoing relationship."
Working for ROH both backstage and in the ring:
"That five year period, three of that exclusively as a talent and two years after that running wrestling operations account for a humungous part of why I am doing what I am doing today with WWE and NXT. Especially with the last two years as not only a writer for the television but the booker of the house show schedule and kind of being a general babysitter of wrestling talent. Learning how to "manipulate" the locker rooms different egos and personalities and get everyone rowing the boat in the same direction, without that experience I am in no way qualified to be doing what I am doing today. I count my time as NWA Champion and my time involved with Ring of Honor running the wrestling operations as the two keys in pushing my development as a wrestling talent not just in the ring but all the way around in the direction it would need to be to having the kind of career that I am having. I am so grateful every day for it."
You can listen to the full podcast at this link.