Rob Conway Talks Leaving WWE, Working With Brock Lesnar And John Cena In Developmental, NWA, More

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling recently interviewed Rob Conway, who is widely known for his time in the WWE as a member of the mega-heat generating team La Resistance alongside Sylvan Greiner and Renee Dupree as an American turncoat. Since leaving the WWE, Rob has kept very busy on the Independent scene but he has also made quite the name for himself again as a now two time NWA World Champion and helping re-establish the prestige of the NWA Championship alongside boisterous NWA President, Bruce Tharpe. You can download the interview by clicking here, they sent us these highlights:

The "Con-Man" gimmick and the infamous theme song:

If you watched me in Ohio Valley Wrestling I was the "Iron Man" Rob Conway. I wasn't sure if they were going to get the copyrights for "Iron Man" or just doing the same character which really was just an extension of myself at the time and call it the "Con Man". It was more of a Rick Rude type of thinking man's wrestler that was really into himself and that was the idea. But then that theme music. To me, it was a catchy little tune but maybe one of the worst pieces of music to come out to in the history of wrestling. The first time I ever heard that music, Kerwin White had just had a match and the match was over and the music played, I was getting ready to walk out and I thought it was his music, so I was standing there pumped up and ready to go and Gerald Brisco was the one giving the cue to go through the curtain and he said "Rob that's you" and I thought what do you mean that's me? He said "that's your music" and it literally dawned on me and I said oh-no it wouldn't have mattered what you are trying to portray with that music, the fans are already going to have a perception of what this guy is all about. If the Ultimate Warrior would have had that music and didn't run to the ring, you would think what is wrong with this guy? It wasn't exactly "Time to Play the Game". When you hear that you get pumped up and want to lift weights, my music no matter how pumped up and charged up the crowd was as soon as I head that music I said I have to keep these people from falling asleep. It's almost like it was a rib.

Wrestling Jushin "Thunder" Liger in Japan:

If you are a wrestling fan and I think everyone who wrestles and has a passion for wrestling started out as a fan and I feel like I am still a fan because I watch wrestling everyday on video, DVD or YouTube. The idea of facing Jushin "Thunder" Liger in Japan for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship sounds like a story you would tell twenty years from now to your grand-kids. The thing about Jushin Liger is that he looks exactly the same as he did twenty years ago because he's fully covered, has his mask and stays in great shape. When I was watching matches of him leading up to our match against "Macho Man" Randy Savage with the way they filmed it, it looks exactly like my matches with him. It's the same setting, same lighting and he looks exactly the same and he can do everything he ever did. It was a big thrill for me.

Leaving WWE in 2013 and it being a renaissance year for his career:

2013 was definitely the year for me. When I left the WWE I didn't stop wrestling. I wrestled every week at least two to three times. It's just that without National television other than where you are wrestling at that night they really don't know and can't follow what you are doing. I stress this, I loved the WWE and just about everything that I have I owe to them. Getting to be in the NWA and be in New Japan is because they knew who I was from WWE. There is life after the WWE, the guys now that are on television in a prominent spot are young guys. So you aren't even at your best yet. When I left the WWE I had been wrestling for right about ten years and back when I grew up watching a lot of times guys didn't get a big break in the wrestling business until they had been wrestling for ten or twelve years. You weren't really good yet. I feel like I got better. I learned a lot wrestling in WWE and I took that and wrestled Independently. Independently you are wrestling a maybe a hundred different guys a year. You pick up more moves, more ring savvy, you learn that when you are in a big company you just go out and perform. When you are Independently wrestling you have to learn what people like and how to make a living being yourself. When I finally got the opportunity with the NWA and New Japan my skill level had gone up and I was comfortable with who I am as a wrestler.

The OVW roster while he was in WWE Developmental:

The success everyone had is not by accident. John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Dave Batista, Randy Orton those guys worked so hard. There were days where we ended practice early because the mat was so sweaty we couldn't move around on it anymore. The hard work is what I remember most. All of us really busted our butts, training hard. We were competitive, but not competitive and not wanting to see anybody else not do good. If they wanted someone to be in La Resistance they weren't going to use Dave Batista, so we were happy for each other and wanted everyone to get an opportunity. If someone had a dark match, we wanted them to do good and get called up full time. That level of dedication and hard work and comradery we all had. I had been wrestling before most of them had started. Like Randy Orton and John Cena, me and Nick Dinsmore were two guys that had been there the longest and would show Randy how to do a headlock or showed Cena a top wrist lock. We were the hands on guys who probably took the first power-bomb that Batista ever gave or the first F-5 that Brock ever gave. It was a who's who and at one time it was me, Dinsmore, Lesnar, Batista, Orton, Cena, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Victoria, Jazz, Rodney Mack, John Heidenreich, Sean O'Haire, Mark Henry, Big Show you could see all of these huge guys coming out of this now condemned warehouse every day.

La Resistance winning the WWE Tag Team Championship in Montreal:

It was surreal. It was the first time in our career that we had been cheered for. Every place else we get booed out of the building, in Montreal we came out waving their flag and Sylvan lives in Montreal so we were unbelievable fan favorites. Edge and (Chris) Benoit came out and they are "good-guys" everywhere, Benoit was born in Montreal and Edge is from Canada and they booed them out of the building. When we finally got the 1,2,3 we celebrated in the crowd and Jerry Lawler was talking about it being bigger than if they had won the Stanley Cup. As happy as I was for myself I was even more thrilled for Sylvan. To win a championship like that it meant a lot that they were putting the tag division in our hands and literally be in his home town I was super happy for him. It put us on the map together and made us the leaders of the tag team division for a couple of years.