PETEY WILLIAMS: At that point there was so many booking changes, like Jeff was in, then Dusty was in, then Scott was in, then it’s like okay now who is in charge? Okay Jeff’s in charge again, oh and Dutch. And now they’re not in charge, and Vince is in charge? It [was so] different all the time, at that point I was like alright somebody would hand me a sheet of what I got to do for the day and I was like just get it done.

Once the creative team of Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantell, and Vince Russo took over the product went in a different direction, based more on gimmicks than the wrestling based product Scott D’amore and Mike Tenay championed. One thing that happened that surprised many fans was that immediately after taking over booking Jeff Jarrett removed himself from television and never was in the world title picture again. There were many controversial storylines and gimmicks at the time including the former New Age Outlaws going under the name VKM, Voodoo Kin Mafia. VKM are the initials for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. VKM would trash WWE and their new version of DX and many fans thought TNA came off as desperate for attention with the storyline. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley formed the Motor City Machine Guns in 2007 and became a fan favorite tag team, despite never holding tag team gold until 2010.

Sting and Abyss also began a feud which involved many infamous gimmick matches and a storyline where Sting said he knew Abyss had shot his own father in the back three times, sending him into a coma. Then Abyss’ manager brought Abyss’ mother to the Impact Zone and said Abyss’ mother had actually shot his father and that Abyss was just trying to protect her by saying he did it. Mitchell later brought in his “son” Judas Mesias to feud with Abyss. Before researching this I actually thought Mitchell was Abyss’ storyline father, but I got that confused with the Undertaker, Kane and Paul Bearer WWF storyline. At some point Sting and Abyss were having a match at a PPV which prompted the first “Fire Russo” chants. Despite Russo’s infamous reputation in the business many wrestlers noted how open he was to working with talent on their characters and storylines.

PETEY WILLIAMS: So Team Canada broke up and we did our first PPV in Detroit [Bound For Glory 2006]. So I was in a battle royal match, no big deal. I asked Vince, I had just moved to Orlando, I think he had just got the book again, I said hey Vince what have you got for me am I on TV’s [or] whatever, he’s like oh yeah stop by The Impact Zone and we’ll talk if we got time. I was like oh great, I just moved to Orlando and now it’s like I’m getting the cold shoulder, so I’m like whatever. So then I’m the last man in the 20 man Battle Royal, and I come out the place goes nuts. I get in the ring and I do the [Canadian] Destroyer, the place goes nuts. I get eliminated and I come to the back, I’m watching the next match and Vince comes up to me and he says hey Petey good stuff out there, he’s like hey man I have a great idea for you, listen stop by the Impact Zone on Monday or whatever it was tomorrow, he’s like I want to sit down I want to go through some ideas with you, and then he leaves. I’m like is that what it takes, he saw that I was over and that the fans liked me, and that’s when he tried to turn me into a United States character, you know he spent a lot of time with me trying to work on that character and it didn’t go well so he stopped fighting for the character and stuff. A year passes by and at the next Bound For Glory Vince was like you know Petey, we’ve got to come up with a character for you. It was kind of like this is it, if this doesn’t work I don’t know what to do with you. So then that’s when we came up with the Maple Leaf Muscle character, I pitched that to him and he loved it. He gave me some promo time and then he loved the backstage promo and he was like hey Petey listen, he’s like this character that you are doing back here in this promo, if you don’t portray the same character in the ring this isn’t going to work. I’m thinking like man I have a match tonight this is the only time I can do it, so I go out there it was like a four way match Scott Steiner was in there I had some interaction with him. I get backstage and Vince is standing there with a straight look on his face and he goes hey Petey, come here. I’m like oh shit, he goes why didn’t you tell me that you could do this earlier? Oh my god this is great, we could team you with Scotty down the line, and I’m like oh thank god.

PETEY WILLIAMS: Russo used to make fun of [Steiner] right to his face. He’s like you know what we’re taking one take whatever you say, we’re taking it. [Scott] is like no no no, I don’t want to stumble with my words. Vince is like no man that’s good. He’s like you have all this pent up frustration you want to release it. [Scott] is like I don’t want to look stupid! [Vince] is like no this is good this is great.

Source: Wrestling News Source

Randy Savage’s Brief Run

PETEY WILLIAMS: I don’t think [Savage] did much for the company honestly; literally he was there for like a PPV and maybe two TV shows. I think he was there for honestly a month, I mean he didn’t do much. I remember Christopher Daniels asked him he’s like, Mr. Macho Man or whatever you called him, Mr. Savage, we have a match and I’m going to do a top rope elbow, I just wanted to make sure that’s okay with you. He’s like brother more power to you because I can’t do it anymore. I mean Macho Man’s great, just hearing him talk and stuff like that, I’m like this is what this guy is like in real life.

Why Christian Left Company For WWE

PETEY WILLIAMS: I remember when he left [in 2008], at that point it was a whole different locker room morale than when we first got down to Orlando, what was that 2004 or something. It was just totally different, I don’t know if you could just see the change because I’m one of the few guys who had been there from 2004 to that point. It was like a whole different company, it didn’t seem like everybody was on the same page. It almost felt like everybody was out for themselves. I think they were, I think Christian did the right thing he was looking out for himself. He’s probably like this isn’t for me I’m going to go back. Honestly I know he took a big pay cut to come to TNA, he was making way more in WWE. I think he just wanted to have a change really, see if he could elevate this company. He had a lot of great matches and stuff like that did a lot of great things for TNA, that’s what I’m thinking now that he decided that he did as much as he could with TNA and I’m going back. I’m going where the money is.

 Lockdown PPV

PETEY WILLIAMS: Honestly I thought Lockdown was a little bit over the top. Doing a whole PPV with all cage matches and then like every cage match had a stipulation. I’m like man it lost a lot of its luster. The cage match was the big thing on the show. Now we’re doing every match as a cage match, I remember Dusty Rhodes had the book and me and Eric Young teamed up, and Dusty was like maybe one of you two guys bleed. And I’m thinking, everybody is going to be bleeding so if I bleed it’s not going to mean anything whatsoever because everybody is going to be cutting themselves in the cage and stuff like that. I thought the cage was a little bit overdone, I really did.

Source: Wrestling Inc

Petey was on this weeks “Art of Wrestling” with Colt Cabana. I do have to say it was damn funny and worth checking out and downloading.

Colt Cabana’s Site You can find it on Colt’s site at the bottom.

You’ll have to watch the whole video because Petey will show up in the last video.

AwesomeBomb.net did an interview with Petey Williams this past Wed. It’s a really good listen especially at 17:00 minute mark. Just letting you know…lol.

Also The High Crusade will be doing a show November 19th @ the Lake Effect Festival at Blondie’s in Detroit!

It’s not out of the realm of ordinary that professional wrestlers delve into projects outside of wrestling, with music and movies being near the top of the list.

The latest wrestlers to follow their musical interests are Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, TNA’s Motor City Machine Guns, and ex-TNA star Petey Williams.

Shelley, Sabin and Williams, along with friends Adam Tatro and Chris Plumb, are known as The High Crusade and, on September 7, released their debut CD, It’s Not What You Think.

The band members recently conducted a Q & A session with SLAM! Wrestling and tackled such topics as balancing wrestling and music, Dixie Carter’s feelings on the subject, groupies and following in the footsteps of past wrestlers-turned-musicians.

Click for the interview

Okay while I know this is a Sabin interview he talks about The High Crusade and plus it’s a good read. xD

Today the Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) take a look at what they do in their free time away from the TNA Wrestling ring.

Chris Sabin

It’s been an enjoyable week off, BBQs, video games, relaxing, hanging out with friends and best of all The High Crusade finally got together after a long absence to practice.

The High Crusade is a rock and roll group based out of southeast Michigan consisting of:

Alex Shelley – Lead singer and fellow Motor City Machine Gun with myself.

Petey Williams – Rhythm Guitarist and fellow pro wrestler who fans will always remember as the man with “The Canadian Destroyer.”

Adam Tatro – Amazing drummer for THC and all around amazing musician. We grew up together and as much as I committed my life to pro wrestling, he committed his to music.

Chris Plum – Lead Guitar and another amazing musician. He and Adam have another band called Idol and the Whip, which are definitely worth checking out.

And myself on bass guitar. We have been working our asses off for the last several months putting an album together and all the hard work, long nights, and free studio time has paid off.

Yes, free studio time. We are fortunate enough that Adam owns and operates his own music studio: Mainstay Audio Recording located in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. Being able to have unlimited studio time is such a huge advantage for any kind of band. We have been able to smooth out any edges and make the music the very best it can be, without the burden of having to pay for more and more studio time.

The album is so close to being released, and all of us are very excited. All five of us have a shared common vision of rock and roll conditioned by different backgrounds, so we all add a little different flavor to the THC stew, with influences from bands like The Stooges, MC5, and Led Zeppelin. And it doesn’t hurt that Adam and Chris are amazingly talented musicians, either.

Watch for our debut album very soon, around late Spring/early Summer, and if you get a chance to see us live, come say hello. We are looking to play more live shows, but with the Pro Wrestling schedule, it’s not easy.

Until next time, Rock and Roll.

I heard it on the radio oddly enough seeing as how I hardly ever listen to AM but I caught part of an intervew they were doing that just so happened to be with Petey Williams. Petey Williams on 1130 AM Sports Talk They posted the whole thing and its a good listen as he pluged the Prime Time Wrestling show tonight and talked about The High Crusade.

You can listen to the whole interview with Petey Williams on talkiMPACTradio. And if listen to the whole show the last 5 minutes of the show you will hear that he makes PeteyWilliams.com his official website! ^__^

Remember that Special Occassion thing we mentioned before? Well what better way to initiate that rule that the night after our 2010 debut.

With good reason. As former TNA Xdivision Champion, Petey Williams becomes our first guest of 2010.

Petey will be on with us at 9pm Eastern time. We encourage you to submit questions via email to talkimpactradio@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .. Or hit up the talkIMPACTradio forums.

Of course, The best way to ask a question.. In our opinion.. Is on the line!

We’ll be fielding your live phone calls for Petey, So join us the night after our re-debut.. For an hour with Petey Williams!

Listen live at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/talkimpact and call us live at 646 716 9323