New Jack Talks Extreme Rising, Fight With Balls Mahoney, Problems With First Event, More

Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com recently spoke with ECW icon New Jack, who will be appearing at this Saturday's Extreme Rising iPPV from the Golden Dome in Monaca, PA. You can purchase tickets for the event by clicking here, or order the iPPV starting at just under $15 on WWNLive.com.

All iPPV orders will receive a free iPPV download of the company's 6/30 Philadelphia event, which was headlined by Mat Hardy vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Homicide. Fans ordering the iPPV for 11/17 will receive an email code for downloading the 6/30 event within 24 hours.

Also, make sure to check back this Monday for more from the interview, including New Jack discussing his beef with Jerry "The King" Lawler.

WrestlingINC: With all the ECW tribute shows, what are your feelings about Extreme Rising?

New Jack: I had mixed feelings about it. I was just really concerned, 'OK, do we know what we're doing? Do the people that are booking it, do they know what they're doing?' And from the look of things on the first show, they didn't. The show sucked! I didn't mind helping Jeezy and Ruckus out, but for what me and Mustafa did, I was like — I booked my own match, I said, 'We're going to take control of this match and we're going to do it the way we want to do it.'

Against doctors orders, I dove off of something which I shouldn't have done. And, I was like, 'We got to let these young boys know what's going on and we got to teach them how you help them get to the next level. So, when we came back in June, it was totally different. Everybody had their freedom to go out there and do what they want.

When it's on paper, you can put something together and it looks good on paper. But then, when you actually put it into the eyes of fans, then you're like, 'Oh, maybe that was a bad idea.' You know what I mean? That's what a lot of people were griping about, that's what a lot of fans were pissed about. A lot of the boys in the locker room were pissed off because you can either be a worker or you can be the promoter/booker. You can't be both and that was another thing we had a problem with.

So, Shane [Douglas] decided to take a step back and let us do what we do best and we got more involved in our match instead of him just telling us what to do. Because nobody in that locker room, especially the old vets, we don't need anybody telling us what we need to do. We can book our own match and we can book it to a point to where we know what we're doing. I know what goes where, I know what kind of match these people want to see. And I had to go out there and bring the push to these guys but at the same time I kind of destroyed myself.

So, we had to come back to the second show and I didn't call it Extreme Uprising, I called it Extreme Redemption. We needed to redeem ourselves for the poor performance in April and we did just that. I've been on the phone with these younger guys, I've met some of them in Philly, went through promos. Jeezy got a tryout with TNA right after we did that angle and then he got a dark match with WWE.

That's our whole purpose. We're trying to help these guys learn the ropes, teach these guys how to do promos — the whole nine. It's almost like developmental, we're trying to develop them to get their mind set so they can go take the next step.

We're not in competition with Vince again, we're not in competition with TNA. They're on TV, we run every three or four months. This is just something for fans to come out if they want to come out and see it and for us to put on a good show. Again, we're not trying to compare to them, we're not trying to run against them. There's no competition. We're not on TV.

WrestlingINC: You mentioned the April show. After the April show, did you think there was going to be another one?

New Jack: Yeah, I knew there was. We all got together and said, 'We got to do another one. ... We're going to do another one to make them know.' Because everybody sh-tted on that show. From the fans to the boys in the locker room, everybody was like, 'Man, that sucked.' We had to do another one.

I didn't care if it was in a parking lot in Philadelphia where the Eagles play, we were going to do another show. I felt after that June show, as the months went on and we kept pushing that date back and changing, I thought that maybe we need to stop now. Because everybody was just waiting for us to be a clusterf-ck. And at some point, it was. I mean, you had people coming into the locker room drunk and pilled up — Justin Credible, Sabu just to name a few. Balls Mahoney and Axl's stupid ass. Messing with drugs and all pilled up and acting all f-cking retarded.

I'm like, OK, we're the ones that are supposed to show these guys, the younger guys, what to do. We're supposed to be leaders of them and this isn't a good example to come in here stoned out of your mind. Basically, they're looking like, 'Well, sh-t, you're just an old drunk.' Or, 'You're still doing pills, you're still doing acid or heroin.' You know what I'm saying?

I was pissed off about it, totally pissed off about it. But out of all the guys that did drugs out of the original guys, New Jack was the only one that wasn't pilled up or drunk. That wasn't necessarily true, but I was close. My ambition was to help these young guys out. Besides getting paid for it, that's the only reason I'm there. That's it.

WrestlingINC: When the promotion kind of started, it appeared to be just an ECW reunion show. Is this kind of moving away from that? Are you kind of becoming your own niche or is it still just re-living the ECW days a little bit?

New Jack: For the guys that were there during that time, OK, yeah. Because I've been asking, 'OK, are you guys going to be doing this for a while and when are y'all going to get a name?' Because Extreme Rising ain't going to rise but so many times. You know what I'm saying?

It's no comparison. You can't compare it to what we did — there's no comparison. I don't care, the whole atmosphere is different. The whole look of watching a DVD now and watching it back in the day, it's a whole different look, a whole different vibe. A lot of the people now really didn't know about what we were doing. They'd hear about it. But, I mean, I saw people get up, put their hands over their ears and leave because of what I was doing before I was in the ring. They'd be like, 'You said f-ck?' 'Yeah, I did.'

They really weren't prepared for that. Now, it's like, 'OK, are we going to continue to do what we did,' pr whatever. I'm not trying to scare anybody away from our product but I still got to give them what ECW stood for. They say, 'You can't use the letters ECW.' Yeah...but we can. We might not use the letters but I'll say them. You ain't going to throw this gag order sh-t on me that Vince is trying to give to everybody. Vince is like, 'I own the letters.' No, you don't.

I'm going to do what I wanna do and it's on DVD. Sue me.

WrestlingINC: You talked about mentoring younger wrestlers. What advice do you give them about the hardcore style? You've suffered a lot of injuries from hardcore wrestling back in the day and a lot of the guys are hurting now. Do you feel like your thoughts on wrestling have changed at all or is it still pretty much the same? And what advice do you give?

New Jack: You know what, a lot of guys would say, 'All I do is OK.' I'd say, 'OK, is that your way of telling me you don't know how to work?' You see, I wrestled years before I swung barbed wire or a bat or crutch or a chair. I mean, I was wrestling for Ricky and Robert and Tracy Smothers, the dirty White Boys. We got in the ring and we wrestled.

A lot of people don't remember that. What I tell them is to learn how to wrestle first. If you're going to say, 'All I do is hardcore.' That means your ass don't know how to work. That's all that it is. I mean, I don't have any advice for what people are trying to do. I'm not going to give anybody advice for nothing as far as this business because you can't. Everybody is going to go the way they want to go. Everybody is going to follow what they want to follow. They're going to kiss the ass that they want to kiss or need to kiss to get to the next level. I never did it.

So, my advice to them — and I always tell them — if you get in the ring with me, bring your ears and your ass. I don't want your opinion. If I do want it, I'd give it to you. If you get in the ring with me, you shut up and you listen. Basically, I'm like, 'You follow me and if I call a bad match, blame it on me.'

Here's some advice: don't give me your opinions, your thoughts, your ifs, your maybes on what you think a match should be. Don't do that. Just get in there and listen. I got in the ring with Ricky and Robert almost a year before I called my first spot. I'll never forget the day. It was a clothesline off the ring apron. And that was it. Ricky was like, 'I was wondering when you were going to call a spot.

I'm just like, 'I'm doing my thing. I'm here for these guys to learn. But, I'm not going to get into the ring with someone and have razorblades taped to my arms and say, 'Hey, this is how you get it,' or, 'this is is how you swing a chair.' I'm not doing that. I'll teach them how to work, I'll teach them how to lock up. But, I ain't going to get in there and say, 'This is how you swing a crutch.' That's retarded.

WrestlingINC: You had mentioned Balls Mahoney and you guys had the backstage altercation in June. You both are going to be on the show on Saturday. Is everything worked out with Balls?

New Jack: Ain't nothing to work out. I whooped his ass and I left him alone. I didn't go up to him, shake his hand and apologize. He threatened me and I beat the sh-t out of him. And I left it alone. I could be in the same locker room with him and I will never do anything to hurt him again. This is business, you know?

WrestlingINC: Have you spoken to him since?

New Jack: I saw him at a signing a few weeks ago. You could tell he was a little nervous. I walked in there and I saw him but I didn't f-ck with him, you know what I mean? It's water under the bridge, it's gone. I'm not going to bother Balls anymore.

WrestlingINC: You haven't been announced for a match yet this Saturday. What can you tell us about how you'll be involved this Saturday?

New Jack: You know what? I have no idea. [Laughs.] I ain't even going to lie to you, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. And I'm not going to ask. When I get there, they'll tell me. Whatever it is that I got to go out there and do, I'll add my little flavor to it and overdo it. You know what I mean? Whatever I gotta do to make people happy and make myself happy, that's what I'm going to do.

This is how I am. I don't call in and how, 'Who am I working?' By me being on the card, I'm getting paid. The rest of that sh-t don't mean nothing.

WrestlingINC: How do you think that Shane Douglas has been doing running the promotion?

New Jack: Um...it's aight. Shane is who Shane is. He's trying to keep it on a professional level, where you have guys coming out and attack Shane. But I think they're forgetting that Shane has the last say-so on who works and who don't. Somebody who ain't never worked with ECW will come in the locker room and start throwing threats at Shane, I will heed warning to you right now. If Shane is touched by anybody he's paying, you will have a guaranteed ass-whooping coming your way.

I don't give a sh-t who it is. Shane is the one that's giving these guys the opportunity. A lot of them think that, oh, somebody else got me in. No, Shane had to put the seal of approval on that. So, if anybody walking into that locker room talking about how they're going to whoop Shane's ass, bro, that's going to be a long day that they're going to remember. I ain't having that from nobody.

WrestlingINC: People have been doing ECW reunion shows for a long time now. What are your thoughts when you hear about other groups doing their ECW shows?

New Jack: I thought of something the other night and it was just something that I pulled out of my ass. Actually, it made me laugh. Right now, there are two sets of Temptations. Remember when the Temptations had two groups and one would be in one city and the other set of Temptations would be in the other city. They were out there running and they were bumping into each other. And they were made. 'We are the real Temptations.' 'We're the real Temptations.' You know what I'm saying?

That's what we got right now. Just a whole bunch of Temptations. Some of the lead singers are over here, some of the back-up singers are over there. So, we just got to out-do them. but what do I think about them doing it? I don't give a sh-t. I mean, people are going to pay to see who they want to see. We could run in the same building. People are going to pay to see the Ravens, the Sandmans, the Sabus and the New Jacks. Then, people are going to pay to see the Balls Mahoneys, the Axl Rottens, the Jerry Lynns. You see what I'm saying?

It's a 3-ring circus but there are different fazes and different places. So, you decide which one you want to see. I could really care less as to them running as long as we running — I'd work for them, too. I don't care. This is money. As long as it's green and it don't fade when I watch it, I don't care.

WrestlingINC: What are your thoughts on the wrestling business today? Looking at Extreme Rising, WWE and TNA, you've been through the highs and lows. What do you think of the product today?

New Jack: Man, I'm going to be honest, the last time I watched TNA was when we were on the show. And this is the honest to God's truth, the last time I looked at WWE was when Spike Dudley made his appearance. And I'm not mad at anybody, but I didn't watch ECW when I was on it. So I could give less than two sh-ts about what somebody else is doing. I'm like this: God bless all of them. Get paid.

It ain't the product, Vince is the product. Vince is the biggest pimp on the planet and we are the hos. The boys are hos and the ring is the track. He throws your ass out there and work you until he can't work your ass no more, then he go and get himself a new batch of hos. As long as he's paying them, get it. Who cares what the product is like?

He is the product. He tells who to do what. Vince's father told who to do what. Shane will tell who to do what. The product is what you make it.

Right now, it's very commercial. It's kind of controversial — you go to Chucky Cheese one night, then you're looking at Saw the next night. So, there's kind of a conflict. But, it is what it is. As long as you're getting paid, so f-ckin' what?

WrestlingINC: Fair enough. Any final thoughts for our readers about what they can expect from Saturday's iPPV? It's the first one you guys are doing on Internet pay-per-view. What can fans expect?

New Jack: You know what? I really can't answer that. All I can say is that we're going to do a good show. Me, on the personal, I don't know what I'm going to do. I won't know until my music hits and I get in the ring. They won't be disappointed. It's almost like expect the unexpected. You know? That's it. Expect the unexpected.

They won't be disappointed but I couldn't tell you what to expect. I don't know if a lot of people are going to be on the show. I've seen some of them, some of them I've met, some of them I haven't met. All I can say is nobody will out-do my match. I don't give a f-ck what I'm doing. I don't care, whatever I'm doing. When everything is over with, they'll be talking about when they go home. And they'll be talking about it a whole lot more than they'll be talking about anybody else's match. I promise you that. I'm on a mission.

WrestlingINC: Finally, how are you feeling? You've been doing this a long time and had some really hard matches in the past. Is this something that you can keep doing, is it something you still want to do?

New Jack: I had said that I retired a few years back but I still had that itch. I got some other stuff going on right now that's not wrestling-related. I'm on my way out as soon as I find the deal that I want, I'm done. I'm here not to help these younger guys. 2013, bro, I will be out of here.

The debut iPPV from Extreme Rising takes place tomorrow, November 17th from the Golden Dome in Monaca, PA. In the main event, Shane Douglas will battle Matt Hardy (w/ Reby Sky). The following matches are also scheduled for the event: Sabu vs. Devon Storm, Jerry Lynn vs. Homicide, FBI vs. BLK Out, Bestia vs Facade, Perry Saturn vs. Luke Hawx and Stevie Richards vs. Papadon. You can purchase tickets for the event by clicking here, or order the iPPV starting at just under $15 on WWNLive.com. You can also check out this promo from New Jack about tomorrow's card: