Living in SYN: From the lips of DeVille himself.

[The Chosen One]

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“LIVING IN SYN”

Unedited Interview Transcript

Autobiography Subject: Jack DeVille

For the professional use of Jason Lawrence

Property of Stallings Publishing Co.

 

~ TAPE ONE ~

 

 

Me: Mr. DeVille.

 

Jack DeVille: Please, call me Jack. I'm barely forty. I can't handle the Mister thing until fifty, maybe sixty at least.

 

Me: Sure, I get it, I get it. Trust me. Well, alright then Jack. How are you? You want a coffee or anything? We'll probably be here for a while.

 

Jack DeVille: No, I'm good, thanks… Though, by that I probably mean I'm good for the next hour or so, but will be reconsidering this decision before we ever even get to the good stuff.

 

Me: Well, if that’s how you’re feeling I say we jump right into the “good stuff” then.

 

Jack DeVille: You mean, we don’t have to do the whole “I was born in Mt. Sinai hospital, my first kiss was with a freckle faced girl named Susie, and my fifth grade teacher gave me an ‘F’ in algebra and I’ve never gotten over it” stuff?

 

Me: Nah, let’s get right to the juicy bits, yeah? If anything, we can always swing back around to that fluff. But, something tells me you’re not the kind of guy who’s going to be light on the stories to the point we’ll need to pad those first twenty pages.

 

Jack DeVille: Oh yeah, no. I’ll have your writing hand regretting taking on this book well before we even get to the first SYN show. You’ve got my word on that one. I am a huge fan of telling a good story… or thirty. Never had a dry mouth in my life.

 

Me: [laughs] Well, that’s a fun visual Jack, thank you.

 

Jack DeVille: Don’t mention it.

 

Me: But, the way I see it, the more you talk and more detail you give me, the less work I actually need to do. So, please. Jabber away.

 

Jack DeVille: [laughs] Challenge accepted sir. So, where should we start?

 

Me: How about a brief history of your career before SYN. Something for the first chapter, to bring in the uninitiated who may not realize you actually had a life before you started that company.

 

Jack DeVille: “Brief” history? Alright. Sounds good to me, I’ll give that a try… okay, okay. Well. I was trained at the Crypt, a short-lived school run by Crippler Ray Kingman back in the late 1990’s. Lied about my age, as you do, ended up graduating from there at 19 years old in 2000. Spent about three more years sucking the air out of every high school gym or county fair I could along the east coast. Of course, convinced the entire time that I was the best thing on each show going into it and flabbergasted as to how the crowds of ten to thirty people could possibly not understand that I was the hottest thing going in professional wrestling.

 

I’m pretty sure the insider wrestling term for me would be that I was, what the boys called, an “arrogant dick”. But, while I was probably hard to deal with by my peers, I always showed respect to the veterans. Chewed their ears off with questions and I think I earned a reputation amongst the older guys as someone who was willing to listen and try out their suggestions to make myself better.

 

Even though, technically, I didn’t think that’s what I was doing. “Making myself better” that is. I just thought I was learning little tricks to add to my already “amazing” skills. It’s funny. I don’t actually remember the moment that I realized that I sucked and needed to be humble, but there was definitely something that happened around 2003 that shifted my mindset.

 

Me: You think it was just a moment of clarity? Or more of a gradual change over time?

 

Jack DeVille: Umm… maybe little bit of both? Actually, thinking about it now I do remember a moment with… you know what, yeah, it was definitely this… Oh god, yeah, what am I saying, of course it was this. Since the minute I left the Crypt I used just about every connection, and phone book, and dirt sheet, and early fan made websites I could get my hands on to get ahold of every touring company across Japan that took in foreign wrestlers.

 

To me that was the pinnacle of a great “wrestler’s wrestler” you know? The best of the best in the ring as far as I was concerned made their mark by tearing down the house in Japan first, before coming back to the U.S. as a major star. And I absolutely still think that to be honest.

 

I must’ve done something right because in 2003 I worked out a deal to do a tour with PGHW. So, obviously I’m going into this thinking I’ll be blowing the roof off of Toyota Stadium by the time the tour is over but alas, of course, I was dying in front of crowds as a job guy in the pre-show matches. After about two or three weeks of this, I think is when the doubts finally entered my head and I started to worry that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.

 

Me: A few bad losses in Japan humbled you up?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, I guess it’s easier to be a prick and love yourself when you’re dying in front of the crowd at Edison High School in northern New Jersey. You suck, you drive it off, convince yourself you don’t suck and you just don’t go back there for a while.

 

But this was everything I had been working towards, dreaming of. I was living in Japan… Japan, dude. Alone in another country, the craziest thing I’d ever done and I’m realizing that if I do suck, I’d better come to grips with that now because if I still suck by the time this tour was over, I may never get to come back. I couldn’t handle that. So, I guess admitting I was bad was just the lesser of two evils.

 

Me: So, then you changed your ways.

 

Jack DeVille: [Laughs] No. Then Alexander Robinson changed my ways.

 

Me: Oh. Well. I assume there must be a story there then.

 

Jack DeVille: Isn’t it funny that sometimes right as you figure something out, the whole world turns around and suddenly starts yelling it at you as well? You know what I mean? It’s like “Yeah, thanks but I could’ve used this two weeks ago when I didn’t already know this. Now its just overkill.” Basically, that’s what happened with Alexander.

 

At this point Robinson and [Lee] Bennett had been tagging in PGHW for about, I want to say five years. So, obviously as some pretty damn successful gai-jin boys [non-Japanese wrestlers] they were the first guys who’s ears I latched my teeth into when I got there and they were both pretty well receptive of me at first. The thing is, in the states, on the indys, if you’re disrespectful to guys your own age but respectful to the veterans, you don’t ever have to worry about the other rookies running off and telling the vets that you were an asshole. In Japan, much different situation.

 

The established guys and the young boys [young Japanese wrestlers] have a very clear line between them, but there is direct bond between those two sides. They have to earn their stripes, sure, but when it came down to it, those kids were their kids. I had a few matches with some of the young boys and had given them a little lip here and there about how I thought they were screwing up the match, and blown spots, and other nitpicky, shitty rude things to say to the guy you’re out there working with and obviously word must’ve gotten around about it.

 

Now here I am in the middle of this moment of clarity for myself, where I’m questioning my mindset and wondering if I should be more humble about my abilities and all that, right? Well, not two days after this I get to the hall for the next show. I don’t remember exactly where we were. It couldn’t have been the locker room because, I wouldn’t have been getting changed in the same room as the established gai-jin or the local young boys, so it must have been out by the vending machines… somewhere common, because it was room where a lot of the boys where co-mingling together, including Alexander and Lee, and I noticed that it felt like all eyes were on me. You know that uncomfortable feeling? Like you just walked in right as someone cursed your name? About half a second after I felt that, I felt the slap across my face.

 

Me: Wait. Did Alexander Robinson slap you?

 

Jack DeVille: Dude, he smacked the shit out of me. It might as well have just been a right hook because I was definitely seeing lights for a few seconds.

 

Me: So, what’d you do?

 

Jack DeVille: What any self-respecting wrestler does in this situation: Lose your cool, stupidly go for a double leg takedown, end up immediately in a front-face lock, try to fight out for two seconds until you have to tap and not pass out.

 

Me: Wow.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah. It wasn’t fun. But he let me go and then demanded I stand up as he proceeded to cut one hell of a nasty promo on me in front of the boys.

 

Me: Do you remember anything he said?

 

Jack DeVille: I mean, it was pretty much the basic stuff you could imagine about respect, and how you have to earn it, and that I was shit in the ring, and was a nobody, and better get out of my ass if I wanted to make it one more day in the business. He really just took everything I had been thinking about for the last few days and spelled it all out, and confirmed it for me in front of everybody.

 

Me: Sounds pretty embarrassing.

 

Jack DeVille: It was humiliating. He made me go up to each off the young boys and apologize to them individually for the way I had spoken to them. And after that, he told me under his breath that if I was smart I would go up to anyone else that may have heard him yelling at me and apologize to them too. It was, without any doubt, the most disgustingly humbling moment of my life.

 

Me: That is pretty rough.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah. But, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I never actually thanked Alexander for that, I probably should. Nothing quite teaches you humility like getting massively torn down like that. I honestly think I might be a different person right now if not for that lesson.

 

Personally, I don’t know if I could ever chew someone out like that, I mean you can ask any of the boys and girls in the SYN locker room. I’m sure they’d tell you that I barely ever raise my voice. Honestly, I think it might go back to that moment for me when you ask what turned me into such a sweetheart. [Laughs]

 

Me: Well, that’s one way to get there, sure.

 

Jack DeVille: Apparently.

 

Me: Okay, well we’re still in 2003 now, right?

 

Jack DeVille: Right, right. Well, I don’t quite remember how the rest of that tour went, but I know I did one more with [PGHW] right after so it must’ve turned around. I remember starting to feel a little more comfortable in my skin around the end of that run. Not quite good but, not quite shit either. And then in ’04 is when I did my first tour with WLW and that’s really where I grew up pretty fast as a worker. I can’t really explain what happened, but something just, started… clicking for me. Plus, it didn’t hurt that they had some of THE best young guys in business over there that I had the luck, and honor, to be working with.

 

I met and worked with guys like Darryl Devine, Jacob Jett, Frankie Dee, Blood Raven, umm… Human Arsenal… man the list goes on and on. And now, post Alexander, I was actually willing to learn from these guys, my peers, and accept that they were better than me, and that I was the weak link in the chain. Which, I think helped me strengthen up my game just trying to keep up with these guys.

 

Maxi [Champagne Lover] was a great example of a guy like that. He was so, goddamn good. Like, it almost felt like he was cheating somehow. In the ring, on the mic, he was chiseled out of stone, so damn charismatic. He was like somebody used a machine to create the perfect professional wrestler and out stepped Maxi. I can tell you right now, before you ever even ask. THAT’S the guy right there that I am most upset has still not walked through the doors of SYN. I get it, he’s god-like in Mexico and it’s hard to give that up but damn. I guarantee you, if that son of a bitch ever transitions over to the States, even now at this point in his career, the whole game would change. For sure.

 

Me: Well. I’ll hold you to that for the next book I suppose…

 

Jack DeVille: …but this isn’t the Champagne Lover book, it’s the SYN book and I’m not even to DaVE yet… I gotcha.

 

Me: Well, yeah. [laughs] So, back to 2004 then?

 

Jack DeVille: Eh, there’s no need really. I got better. I met some good people. Yada, yada, yada. The important part is that people started to know my name. Not just the guys in the back either, but the Japanese fans. And thanks to this new-fangled internet thing, the fans in the United States started to know my name too.

 

By the time 2005 was coming to a close, I had some decent matches that “Johnny Hardcore-wrestling-mark” in Iowa could download (if he had a few hours) and watch on his Real Time Player. There was one match in particular, a Streetfighting Championship match against Insane Machine that, for whatever reason, seemed to strike a chord with some people. I remember after the match, the both of us feeling like we had done something special out there, but I don’t think either of us would have guessed that it’d apparently resonated as well as it did.

 

What really set it off I think was that it was mentioned on tewdotcom, which was just starting to get really hot with both the fans and the boys in the business. Adam Whoever, the guy who was in charge of that site at the time, just happened to have been there for the show. We didn’t even know when we went out there, but he was there and really loved the match and sung its praises, so obviously, everybody had to see it.

 

Me: So, that’s all it took huh? One guy seeing one match?

 

Jack DeVille: Such is the wrestling business, baby.

 

Me: So, is that why you came back to the States?

 

Jack DeVille: I never actually stopped coming back to the States. In between tours I would always make time, even if it were just a month to come back to the US and book something, somewhere. Sure, it was jarring to go from the packed houses of WLW’s shows back to the twenty-five people in a D.C. beer hall.

 

But I knew that I had to keep one foot in the U.S. wrestling world. Like I said, the eventual goal was to come back and then use what I learned overseas to become a massive star here.

 

I loved Japan but it was never going to be my home. So, one day I was on my way to the… Bluebird Winery in Dover, Vermont, remember it clearly like it was yesterday. And I got a call from a number that I didn’t recognize. But it had what I did recognize as a New York City area-code. So, I don’t know, something told me not to let it go to voice mail. I answered and it was Shawn Gonzalez, god rest...

 

Me: God bless.

 

Jack DeVille: [Nods] Yeah. Well, It’s no secret that Shawn had an eye for talent. I mean, there’s more than half dozen name players out there, still to this day, that were trained by Shawn while he was still working a full schedule for DaVE. The man was in love with seeing people’s potential.

 

So, when DaVE infamously began to have all of their talent picked off one by one around 2004/2005ish, Shawn was the guy Phil [Vibert] turned to in order to fill those slots on the roster. He trusted him to bring in the stars of the future that they could fast track into becoming the stars of today. He was the guy who discovered Acid and Art Reed, trained the Kings, and eventually brought in [Joey] Minnesota.

 

Now, I didn’t know any of this at the time I got this phone call, but in retrospect I bring it up because… I don’t know how many people he may have called before me that perhaps said no, but the fact that he called me at all, considering what he was in charge of looking for, is a really high honor for me and something I regret never having truly thanked him for. That he was tasked with rebuilding the company and considered me, out of everybody he could have called, as somebody he thought had the potential to help DaVE stand up proud again is something that I’ll never forget.

 

Me: You speak pretty highly of him.

 

Jack DeVille: That man was… if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here right now. Talking to you. Everything that I’ve done with my life and my career and with SYN since that phone call. None of it exists if not for everything he did for me in DaVE and then especially later in Puerto Rico. He is on a very short list of people that I can honestly say that about.

 

Me: Well, I’m sure we’ll get more into all that when we get to FCW but for now let’s focus on DaVE and…

 

Jack DeVille: Well yeah, Shawn called me and I played it cool. He told me he was a big fan of the stuff I was doing in WLW, specifically mentioning the Insane Machine match and I thanked him politely when all I wanted to do was scream “Yes! Of course I’ll work for the undisputed third biggest company in the United States, ask me already!”

 

Thankfully, I held my composure until he finally did ask me to come in for a proper interview and try out for the following week. I said “I’d love to” and that I was excited to work something out, hung up, giddy like a schoolgirl and then proceeded to stink up the building in a winery in Vermont with the worst match I’d had in months… because of course that’s how that happens.

 

Me: Of course. So, I’m curious by the way, just as an aside. If Shawn mentioned the Insane Machine match do you know if there was any plans to contact him as well for a spot?

 

Jack DeVille: Oh, I’m positive that he was called before I was. I never asked Machine about it but… his goal was Japan. That was his dream. He had been working on the West Coast as well, splitting his time. But, he always saw himself as a Japanese wrestling star so, I would absolutely wager a bet that he was offered the same thing I was but just had no interest in working on the East Coast if it meant missing out on tours with WLW.

 

As much as I loved World Level, and at this point just Japan in general, and I knew that it was making me a better performer, I was starting to get “itchy” over there and there, you know? So, was no way I was going to let a chance like this pass me by.

 

Me: I understand. Alright so, the proper interview with DaVE, how did that go? Well, I take it?

 

Jack DeVille: [Laughs] Well first of all, the “proper interview” ended up meaning “So-and-so couldn’t make it to the TV tapings tonight, do you have your boots?”

 

Me: [Laughs] What’d you say?

 

Jack DeVille: I said “YES!” Come on, you already knew that.

 

Me: Perhaps.

 

Jack DeVille: So, yeah that’s how I debuted in DaVE. A random match that I had no idea I was even going to be in when I woke up that morning. A very proper interview for a company run by a madman.

 

Me: Yeah, having heard plenty of “Phil Vibert in the heyday of DaVE” stories myself, that is unfortunately not even that surprising.

 

Jack DeVille: Right? Though, Phil may have been a little nuts back then, one thing he always was and will be is absolutely brilliant when it came to storytelling. He just understands how to make things work, you know? He has a writer’s mind is what it is.

 

He sees the beginning to something and he’s just compelled to make sure there is a satisfying middle and end. Even when he would miss the mark, it didn’t matter because you could feel the intention through the guys and girls who went out there and told those stories for him. You could just sense the care behind it.

 

And that is something I absolutely took with me when I started SYN in 2013. That kind of ever flowing storylines that don’t just end with no explanation or payoff in some way. There’s a lot of pride taken by me in that and it definitely comes from what I learned under Phil’s guidance.

 

Me: Well…

 

Jack DeVille: But, the reason I bring that up (I didn’t forget) is because here I was subbing in for somebody who wasn’t going to be there. A surprise debut that they couldn’t bill as a “surprise” because I didn’t have nearly that level of fame with the US fans, even the DaVE fans, to pull that off without it being disappointing.

 

And it was a title match against Esiaku Kunomasu, who had just won their Brass Knuckles belt, so they had no intention of flipping it off of him, so I was going to be losing. On paper that is an awful decision on my part and a pretty damaging situation for me to be in as my first match with the company that’s being taped for their television show.

 

Me: I would say so.

 

Jack DeVille: But, I was saved by genius of Phil. I sat with him and Mitch [Naess] for about ten minutes trying to figure out how I could possibly walk out of that arena as anything more than a chump. But, again, it was a blessing in disguise because, think about it.

 

I got to sit with Phil on my first night with the company and because he cared about trying to make this work, right off the bat he cared about me and my character. Before I ever even stepped in between the ropes he had a vested interest, a challenge, in making sure I looked like a star. What more could you ask for?

 

Me: So, what was his idea? Did it work?

 

Jack DeVille: ‘Course it worked. I just a said a whole long thing about how great he is and all that. You think I would have said that and followed it up with “But it sucked, the fans shit on it and I never went back?”

 

Me: Well I mean…

 

Jack DeVille: It was obviously brilliant. Basically, what we did was: Kunomasu came out to accept the forfeit defeat of… whoever it was I was subbing for… and then yada, yada, yada, I was announced as the replacement by Naess. They billed me as a hot young talent in the Japanese wrestling scene that was returning to America because he “wanted a shot at the legend who was so idolized overseas”. I came out and went right after him the second I got between the ropes.

 

So, right off the bat we’re establishing that I’ve got balls, which you absolutely needed if you were going to be anything in DaVE. To Kunomasu’s credit he really let me go nuts on him for a good few minutes or so. Swinging chairs, busted out a surprise plancha or two, shamelessly ripped off a few moments from the Insane Machine match, and by the time we hit them with the third near fall the crowd was solidly behind me getting the huge upset “W”. But, and this was Phil’s brilliance.

 

He didn’t catch me with a roll up, or a surprise finish. We did a move on the outside that we purposefully made look like a botched spot. And we made it look like Kunomasu was the one who screwed up and his screw up ended up with me smacking the back of my head against the concrete floor. Which… stupidly, I decided should be done as a shoot, by the way. If there was any doubt as to why what ended up happening with my neck happened, dumb decisions like that is the answer.

 

But still, I smacked my cranium on the floor, the crowd “Ohh-ed” and we played up the fact that I was out cold, unconscious on my feet. We played it totally straight and Kunomasu put the boots to me a little too hard, and dead lifted me into his finish, because the strong son of bitch could actually do that. The fans actually booed him. The DaVE fans that cheered any bloodshed and violence booed him because of the way he was treating me.

 

A good portion of that crowd thought that they had just seen Kunomasu taking liberties with me and roughing me up after it “obviously” being his fault that I was knocked out in the first place. He got the three and rolled out of the ring and we really milked it. Trainers, doctors all coming out making sure I was okay. Phil decided to come out himself and look over the situation.

 

The beautiful thing was that it was being taped, so in the arena we took maybe fifteen minutes from the three count to me finally getting cheered as I was helped backstage so we could really take our time and sell it to the crowd that this was real, knowing we could cut it down to just the best three minutes on the actual show.

 

Me: So they accepted you right off the bat?

 

Jack DeVille: I couldn’t have asked for a better debut. In one night I went from a guy who was kind of known by a few people to the guy every DaVE fan was talking about. And of course, at that point, if you were big in DaVE it was pretty much a guarantee that Eisen and Cornell’s talent recruiters had their eyes on you. It was incredible how quickly everything went from there.

 

Me: So, what about Japan?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, like I said I was already back in the States after a tour. So, while I’m sure [Haru] Kurofuji [the booker of WLW] probably expected me back for the next run, I hadn’t technically agreed to anything yet, so, it was a certainly easier to call him up and tell him I wouldn’t be returning. The call lasted about two minutes. I was never all that close to the guy. Nothing but respect for him and he did a lot for me over there but he wasn’t exactly crying over losing me.

 

Me: Ah. Well, what about with DaVE? Did you sign a contract that day?

 

Jack DeVille: Contract? [laughs] I didn’t even hammer down a concrete price for pay until the night of my first PPV. It was just a handshake and a oppurtunity for the first month or two. But, Phil knew I wasn’t going anywhere. One thing I did not do was hide how much I wanted to be there. It was the pinnacle of my career, I saw the mountain top and I felt like I was sprinting to it.

 

Me: It must have been devastating then, what happened.

 

Jack DeVille: … I’d say it was about three years until I thought I accepted it, and then two more before I actually did.

 

Me: Well, why don’t you run down the details of your run in DaVE first.

 

Jack DeVille: Well, going into that first match with Kunomasu I thought it was going to just be a one off between us and then I’d come back to some other program, probably lower in the card to be honest. But, by the time that Phil was coming out to check on me after the match, I knew we had something special and he’d have to be an idiot not to capitalize on it.

 

But, as we established, genius is he, so I knew we were going somewhere. So, while Kunomasu picked back up the feud with whomever it was he was feuding with, I think it was Kurt [Laramee], I finished up the dates I was still committed to on the indys knowing that my whole life was about to change when that show finally aired.

 

Me: Did you have any dates after it aired?

 

Jack DeVille: No, sadly. Didn’t get to have the “holy shit you’re the guy from DaVE!” moment. I was back with them by the time it aired.

 

Me: Ah.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, but what I didn’t know though, was that every show in between they had been talking about me on commentary during Kunomasu’s matches, and he cut promos on me while hyping the Kurt matches, so I was still in the picture while they sold my injury. Now, mind you, I’m champing at the bit here begging for them to book my return moment but Phil knew what he was doing and we waited I want to say about five weeks of TV for the big reveal. JUST long enough to wrap up the Kurt feud and just soon enough for the fans to still care about me.

 

Me: How’d you come back?

 

Jack DeVille: It was just your basic “through the crowd surprise return attack” angle you’ve seen a thousand times but man, the pop we got when the crowd figured out it was me. I can even describe it. It wasn’t one loud explosive cheer. It was like a rumble. Like the message was being passed through the crowd, like people were cheering and then explaining to their neighbors that it was me. Then THEY would cheer and explain to their neighbor.

 

Then when I splashed him through the table and got up on that second rope, that’s when I got the one loud pop and I had never experienced a reaction like that. I still get goosebumps sometimes when I rewatch it. Although it’s also usually after a few drinks so it might just be that.

 

Me: Maybe a combination of both.

 

Jack DeVille: Maybe. But, after that we had a pretty damn good series of three matches. One of them being that first PPV. I lost all three but I made my mark as someone to keep an eye on in the future. That was all that really mattered. Kunomasu and I didn’t really have the best chemistry in the ring though. The matches were fine and they seemed to get me over but, we just… sometimes you just don’t click with people. I did wonder at the time if I may have had something to do with him getting bored of DaVE and heading back to Japan, since legitimately the week after our last match was when he told Phil he was leaving and he ended up dropping the belt to Eddie Peak about a week or so after that. It’s stupid but, I was worried that I would get blamed for it by Phil and lose my spot. That should be a pretty good indication as to how much I did not want anything to change.

 

Me: Any other major moments you want to cover or just skip right to when it all blew up?

 

Jack DeVille: Umm… well I had some great matches and some damn good stories in my opinion. I think the follow up stuff with Peak was great. I was very proud of the stuff Big Cat [brandon] and I put together after Wolverine retired and he stepped out into the spotlight of that massive single’s run. Some awesome six man tags with New Wave, [scout and Guide], loved working with both of those guys, Guide was one of my best friends in the company at that time. Another guy that taught me so much about how to work the crowd as a performer instead of letting them work you. Such an awesome bit of wisdom, something you need to learn if you ever want to be successful in this business.

 

Really just all around great stuff and every single time I went out there I felt like I was growing as a worker and Phil was in my ear about how he was going to put the Brass Knuckles belt on me soon and they were going to bill it as the culmination of the year’s worth of work I had put in with the company, talk about how my first match was for the belt and I had been chasing it ever since. A whole huge thing that I was incredibly excited for, but alas. All good things…

 

Me: So, how did the initial.. um.. injury happen? Like, what made you go to the doctor?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, damn, the “initial” injury would probably have to go back to a match I had about three months into the business. Took a superplex from a guy who had no business giving anyone a superplex and I just knew something bad had happened in the back of my neck. It felt like the worse case of whiplash. And that’s what I brushed it off as in my head. But I was nineteen and indestructible so I kept wrestling and eventually I just accepted the fact that I just had neck pain. No big deal, I was a wrestler. It was just a thing I would live with. Obviously it got worse and worse over the years but I just got better at ignoring it. Then I got to DaVE…

 

Me: Do you think the hardcore style of DaVE accelerated the issue at all?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, I’m not sure but I can tell you that I was powerbombed through tables, took unprotected chairshots to the head, flipped over the top rope to the floor, smacked my head against the concrete, and did every extreme and dangerous thing you could ever imagine doing in this business and yet it was a simple backbody drop that ended my career. It was just a random tag match with Big Cat and I against Sammy Bach and Teddy Powell. Teddy shot me off the ropes, flipped me up for the backbody drop and… just a mistiming between us and I just… did not get enough rotation in the air. I landed on my upper back and neck with the rest of my body crashing down onto it. Fingers went numb, then my arms, and then I couldn’t move anything from the shoulders down.

 

Me: That sounds horrifying.

 

Jack DeVille: It’s funny because it does sound horrifying, but I wasn’t scared. I had never gotten a “stinger” before but I knew what they were and I figured that’s all this was. You go numb for about five to ten minutes and then it all starts coming back. Well, I told Teddy what happened and told him to give me some time. So, he tossed out of the ring. Now, do I blame Teddy for the backbody drop? No. Did I have a problem with him tossing me out of the ring when I couldn’t use my arms?...

 

Me: …Yes? I’m guessing.

 

 

Jack DeVille: All I’m saying is I couldn’t lift my arms so, flopped face-first to the concrete floor like a fish out of water with no way to protect myself.

 

Me: I’d be annoyed.

 

Jack DeVille: Point is: The match continued without me. But twenty minutes passed and the numbness was still there, and then an hour and then ninety minutes. Eventually I could at least move my arms but I still couldn’t really feel them. Of course I was telling everyone who would listen backstage I was fine but it was finally Wolverine and Tank Bradley who convinced me I needed to see a doctor. Both those guys had had their own neck issues in the past and seemed really convinced that what I was describing wasn’t normal. So, it took a while for me to listen but the next morning Alex [braun] and Tank were actually the ones who drove me to the hospital after they forced me to tell them I still had tingling in my hands and couldn’t feel my fingers.

 

Me: I take it the doctors did not give you good news.

 

Jack DeVille: Well, after tests and tests and tests about a month or so after the match I was told that I had stenosis of the spine and I was in the early stages of nueropraxia. Meaning, that eventually after a few more years of wrestling I would start experiencing uncontrollable shaking of my arms and hands and then at that point any bump I took could potentially paralyze me.

 

Me: This was untreatable?

 

Jack DeVille: There was an incredibly expensive spinal fusion surgery that I technically could have tried that would have put me out for over a year and then probably extended my career for a few more years but there was no way I could afford it and it’s not like DaVE was at it’s most stable point financially to support me. But either way, the nueropraxia would have eventually caught up to me anyway. So, it was a matter of “Does be a wrestler matter so much to me that I’m willing to do it knowing there was a very real chance that somewhere down the line it might put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life?” And, I thought about it. Because you’ve got to be a little crazy to ever want to be a wrestler in the first place I ACTUALLY thought about it. But, eventually, through the help of my family and friends in the business, I came to my senses and realized I just couldn’t ever lace up the boots again.

 

Me: So, that was it?

 

Jack DeVille: That was it.

 

Me: Well… shit.

 

Jack DeVille: You’re telling me.

 

Me: What happened next?

 

Jack DeVille: Phil saved my life.

 

Me: Phil Vibert saved your life?

 

Jack DeVille: I could not imagine a world where I wasn’t a professional wrestler. I couldn’t do it. I had never, ever considered any type of backup plan or anything like that. Didn’t go to college. I told you about how my brain worked back then. I was going to work my ass off and become THE absolute #1 wrestler in the world.

 

Hell, I thought I already was before Alexander humbled me. But after that… lesson, it became just a matter of working my ass to the bone until I accomplished my dream. If it took five, ten, fifteen years to make it happen, so be it. But that was the only goal I had… in my life. Ever. And here it was being completely ripped away from me without any warning.

 

There were plenty of people in my life who saw that and wanted to help. But there were only two that actually could. Phil and Shawn both knew I was… I was in trouble. I’d like to give myself more credit than to say that I would’ve turned into an addict or fell into some deep, self-destructive depression or anything like that.

 

But, when I look back on just how low I really was… I’ll be more honest with you than I was with myself back then… it would’ve… I think, I was much closer to the edge of falling into that stuff then I thought I was. For sure. Having seen people fall in my life since, I know that now. It would have certainly been a very attainable future for me to end up just another: “such a shame what happened to him”.

 

Me: And they saw this in you?

 

Jack DeVille: Oh yeah. I think, at point, both of them had seen the paths that lead to those things so many times that they absolutely saw the warning signs in me well before I did. And, like I said, when Phil saw this, he saved my life.

 

Me: How so?

 

Jack DeVille: He made me a road agent. Immediately. I’m talking two weeks after I decided by career was over Phil had me back at the shows, studying under Wolverine on how exactly to go about booking a match.

 

Me: How’d you take to that?

 

Jack DeVille: I… fought it. Tooth and nail at first.

 

Me: [laughs] Really?

 

Jack DeVille: You bet. I didn’t understand how Phil could possibly expect me to transition into this so quickly. It seemed so insane to me at the time. Here I was with my entire life crumbling around me, how could he be so careless as to expect me to work through that? Couldn’t he at least give me a few months to deal with this first? To ease the transition. But he was insistent that I needed to be there. He even went so far as to threaten breach of contract if I didn’t show up. Which, I as I pointed out to him, he didn’t even have the right to do. Still, he would not let up. About two weeks into this I pulled Shawn aside backstage to bitch and moan about it. This son of a bitch tells me that Phil had gone to him first and asked if he should put me in this spot.

 

Me: What did he say to him?

 

Jack DeVille: According to him he told Phil that I’d be perfect for it. He told me this like he expected me to take it as a compliment or something.

 

Me: How DID you take it?

 

Jack DeVille: I went… OFF on him, man. “Who are you guys to decide when I’m ready?” “Why can’t you give me time?” “I need to decompress.” “I gotta get my head straight” all the excuses I had for myself as to why sitting at home alone would’ve somehow been healthier for me.

 

Me: What did he say?

 

Jack DeVille: Nothing! That’s the thing. He just smiled and shook his head and walked away from me. With that damn half grin he always wore when he had made his point. I didn’t get it. But, now I was fired up. Just as I’m ready to put a hole in a wall, Wolverine found me and brought me over to the boys so we could help put a match together. It was Matt Sparrow and someone else I don’t remember but Wolverine started going through the motions of it and… I don’t know how to explain it but I was still so amped up from going off on Shawn, that I just needed some kind of outlet for that anger and energy, I guess.

 

I so vividly remember Dil [Wolverine] giving Matt an idea for the finish and me just interjecting and completely shooting his idea down. Keep in mind, I’m supposed to be sitting back and learning here. He turned to me and I could see he was pissed by what I had just done but the man was a veteran and professional, he’d kept his cool through worse. He put me on the spot saying that if I was gonna have the balls to shoot him down, I’d better have something else in mind.

 

And, like I said, my mind was already in fifth gear at this point, so I used all that energy and emotion and I took a minute or two to figure something out and gave what I thought was a better way close to the match. I’ll never forget it, he looked me up and down, looked over at Sparrow and said “how’s that sound to you?” Matt went with it, and Wolverine approved.

 

Me: So, you booked your first match.

 

Jack DeVille: Well, just the finish really. But still, it was an interesting feeling. After the way I had cut him off I don’t think I actually expected Wolverine to go with my idea. No matter what it was. But he did. Matt too. And, I don’t know my anger just kind of faded, and it was replaced with this feeling of “Okay, who’s match is next?”

 

Me: … You think Shawn knew what he did?

 

Jack DeVille: No, I know Shawn knew. The guy was a teacher and mentor even when he wasn’t trying to be. It was just in his bones. I talked to him about that night a few years later, telling him the story, more or less, the way I just told you. How my anger at him and Phil is what spawned my new passion for booking. By now, you have to be able to guess what he told me.

 

Me: I’m gonna go with: He sent Wolverine to go get you.

 

Jack DeVille: The bastard sent Wolverine to go get me. He saw how fired up I was, how angry I was with him, smiled, walked off, and sent Wolverine to go get me. He knew. The son of bitch KNEW that I wouldn’t be able to help myself. Or at the very least, he hoped. But either way he was right.

 

Me: So, you’re a road agent now?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, not quite. I mean it would still be another month or two before I would start doing it on my own, without Wolverine. But, now I was interested. I wanted to learn about this side of the business that I never realized I could enjoy. Putting together more than one match in a night is so much more intricate than only focusing on your own. Trying to make sure they’re all different from one another but still hitting all the major story beats, helping guide the creative process, focusing on getting other people over besides yourself. It was instantly my new passion and it was incredibly therapeutic for me to get all of this out and not have to think about my neck or how my own career had ended.

 

After a few weeks of plucking Wolverine’s brain, he started giving me almost free reign over each match, only interjecting when he felt I was missing something or not quite seeing the point the way I should have. Maybe a month or so after that his only role became signing off on what I had put together and then before long, I was completely solo with it. My name written on the board next to two or three matches a night.

 

Me: So, you were an agent until the company went out of business?

 

Jack DeVille: Some what. But, as my love for booking the individual matches bloomed, I grew to become much more interested in the bigger picture. Booking a match was one thing. Booking the storylines was something else entirely. And something I really wanted to sink my teeth into. So, I went Phil about how I could learn to be a full-on booker.

 

Me: What did he say?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, Phil was probably the only guy in the world who did not believe DaVE was in trouble. I mean, I think it was a shock to everyone when it actually, finally did collapse under the financial troubles, seven or eight months later. But, it wasn’t something that was considered out of the realm of believability that it MIGHT happen. To everyone else. Phil didn’t even see that. I think he honestly believed that he could be in debt for ten million dollars, but if the shows were good the wrestling gods would allow the company to keep going.

 

Me: Got to respect a man with faith, I suppose.

 

Jack DeVille: Now, there was no way I would have ever been the booker of DaVE under Phil. Everyone knew that Mitch [Naess] was his right hand and would never be out of that position. But, Phil knew the day would come where he would have to leave and it was more than clear that when that happened it would be Mitch who took over as owner. Phil could teach Mitch a lot of things. But, the one thing he couldn’t teach him… was how to teach. How to be the guy in charge and have a right hand man of his own. So, I think Phil saw my desire to book the shows as an opportunity to let Mitch have a taste of his future.

 

Now, I don’t think I would go so far as to say he thought I would be booking under Mitch’s eventual reign over DaVE. I hope he did. But, more likely, I think I was just at the right place at the right time, and anyone who would showed this interest would have been the guinea pig to test out Mitch’s leadership skills.

 

Me: You sure you’re not just underselling yourself?

 

Jack DeVille: No. But, there’s no point in wondering either way.

 

Me: So, you became Mitch’s right hand man?

 

Jack DeVille: Basically. I was pretty much his junior booker. He taught me how to put the shows together and more importantly how to think two, three shows down line, how to build to a big match or a card, how to bring story threads together and so on and so forth. It was an eye opening experience that, in all honesty, 100% lead directly to any of the success I achieved in booking SYN… But don’t print that I said that. Last thing I need is Mitch hearing any of my success could be attributed to him.

 

Me: I’ll consider it.

 

Jack DeVille:[/] Hey. Don’t make me regret doing this.

 

Me: I gotcha, I gotcha. So, any storylines or moments stand out in particular?

 

Jack DeVille: Once I became Mitch’s guy, he started letting me put the matches and the stories together for the bigger programs on the show. I was never able to get too hands on with the Unified Title picture or the big main events. But, anything just outside of that I was given the chance to really dig my heels into. There were so many great moments and feuds I was able to get my hands on but if you’re gonna force me to pick one, I’ve got to go with the most obvious.

 

The Eric Tyler/Big Cat feud that ran through the end of ’06 into the beginning of ’07 is easily what I’m most proud of. This is what lead right into the trigger being pulled on Big Cat vs Eddie Peak for the Unified belt at what would end up being our last show. To this day, when people talk about how DaVE was still so great when we closed our doors, one of the first things they bring up is Eric Tyler vs Big Cat Brandon. It was just such a perfect story and the matches between them were so goddamn good and I’m so proud to say that I was the agent for all four matches and Mitch pretty much gave me the book on how I wanted to tell the story over the course of those months.

 

Now, let me say that there’s no way I could ever take all the credit for it, because I was lucky enough to be putting this together with two of the greatest minds and workers in the business as far I’m concerned. Tyler had been so good for so long it was just expected of him at this point to be nothing short of perfect. And [big] Cat was so hungry and had such heart and fire knowing he was the cusp of being the top guy in the entire country, let alone just DaVE. Between those two, and myself it was just a perfect storm to create something memorable.

 

Me: Hmm. Can I ask… you said Big Cat was on the verge on becoming the biggest star in the country, was there any part of you---

 

Jack DeVille: Actually. I don’t know what you’re gonna ask exactly but let me cut you off. The fact isn’t lost on me that Brandon was pretty much in exactly the position I had always longed to be in. And I THINK, that actually made me even more invested in him and his character. I always liked Brandon, I mean hell, the guy was my tag partner in my last match and I gave him the blessing to use my career ending injury as apart of his storyline with Adrenaline Rush [sammy Bach and Teddy Powell]. Considering how devastating that was for me at the time, I wouldn’t have done that for just anybody. But, being able to help book out his run afterwards was, again like I said, very therapeutic.

 

In a way I almost felt like I was living out my dream through him. If I could help turn him into the biggest star in the world, it would almost be like I was doing it myself. It sounds kind of sad actually when I say it like that, but, I think any great booker needs to be able to do that with the guys he’s working with. If you can’t see yourself in the people you’re writing for, how could you ever be truly invested enough to allow your passion to come out through the story?

 

Me: I definitely get it. I’m pretty sure that’s the key to any great author.

 

Jack DeVille: Exactly. So yeah, the three of us put that together and it was just a great time. We would even meet at each other’s houses just to discuss it. That’s how much we lived and breathed this storyline… and when I say “each other’s houses” I really just mean Eric’s… since he was the only one who could actually afford one of those at this point. Actually, it’s funny, it was at one of these “Tyler Home Booking Sessions” that I first met Brooke.

 

Me: Huh, funny how that works out.

 

Jack DeVille: She had to be, what, only twelve or thirteen at the time? She was a sweetheart, but you could tell she was probably the baddest chick on the middle school playground. I actually saw her and Eric lock up once. She refused to let him into the living room unless he could make her tap, it was adorable.

 

Me: Did he go easy on her?

 

Jack DeVille: Ha! He double legged her into a heel lock and she screamed in pain. He let her go… but as she protested through her tears, she did not tap.

 

Me: Tough girl.

 

Jack DeVille: Oh, I know. You could tell, even back then, it was either wrestling or MMA in her future. I gotta be honest, I was pretty sure for a while it was going to be MMA. Until, she became a little more comfortable with Big Cat and I that is. She started sitting in the room for our booking talks. It was painfully obvious how into she was, she even tried offering a few ideas of her own from time to time… they were all awful… because she was, you know, thirteen [laughs] but hey, the fact that she was trying her best was not lost on us. Eric especially. It’s cute actually, I think I saw him smile maybe once in the entire two years I had know him up until that point. But, I don’t think I had ever seen a man happier than whenever Brooke would speak up or try to lock him in an armbar.

 

Me: [Laughs] That is adorable… in a really weird, “only in wrestling” kind of way.

 

Jack DeVille: Right?

 

Me: Okay, so you’re booking the shows.

 

Jack DeVille: Helping book the shows, but yeah. The Brandon/Tyler feud ended in another incredible match and then Phil and Mitch took over from there as they put him up against Eddie [Peak.] I was still coming down from the high of how great that feud was when one April morning I got a call from Joey Minnesota asking if what he had heard was true. I told him, I had no idea what he heard and let me know that it was going around that DaVE had officially folded. And that’s how I found it.

 

I called Phil and never got an answer. I wouldn’t even talk to him again for about nine months or so. Nobody did, outside of Mitch and two or three others that is. At the time, I was pretty pissed that he didn’t get back to me when here I was standing with my job and my income suddenly gone. But, in retrospect I feel a little guilty that I didn’t try harder to get in touch with him. After what he did for me when I got my diagnosis, I should’ve realized that he was going through the exact same thing. His life as he had only ever envisioned it was just suddenly over. I really should have understood more, but I’ve since had a heart to heart or two with him, and I believe he forgives me for being selfish about it.

 

Me: So, what’d you do next?

 

Jack DeVille: Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait very long to figure that out. There was an entire roster full of incredibly talented people that were all suddenly without work, it was a pretty safe bet to say that a few phoenixes would rise from DaVE’s ashes. And of course they did.

 

Me: I would imagine you mean, Mitch Naess’s PSW and Puerto Rican Power’s FCW in particular?

 

Jack DeVille: Of course. Yeah, those were the two big ones. While he wouldn’t have dared tell Phil this, Mitch had seen the collapse coming for a few months before it happened. So, he was ready to open PSW almost immediately, only two or three months later. Naturally, I was one of the first guys who jumped at the opportunity to let Mitch know I was on board with his plans and I was there on night one. A road agent on the very first show at the old DaVE arena.

 

Me: How was your relationship with Mitch now that he was the man in charge? Considering you had just been his right hand over the past few months?

 

Jack DeVille: See, I know you asked me that because you already know or assume the answer. Because, you have to be aware that I was only with PSW for a short amount of time and you’ve gotta be wondering why. Plus, I’m sure you’ve read the internet.

 

Me: You got me.

 

Jack DeVille: Mitch was… well Mitch was, like you said, he was the man now. And, see I know NOW, after looking back to the first few months or so of SYN’s run that it’s an incredible, unimaginable amount of pressure on your back to suddenly have that kind of responsibility. And as a guy who decided I could do all that and book the shows as well, I NOW get how easy it is to drop a few plates, as you try to spin them all for the first time. But, that’s now.

 

Back then, I couldn’t understand why Mitch refused to make me the head booker or let me help him run the company. I don’t want to be so petty as to say I took it personally, but even just on a professional level it made me incredibly frustrated. Here I was, a guy that Mitch himself had firmly under his wing for the better part of a year and he refused to let me help him, when he should have known first hand what I was capable of doing. Especially coming off of seeing an entire company collapse I couldn’t stand the feeling of having my hands tied behind my back and not being able to make a significant contribution to the promotion.

 

I didn’t want to see this venture go the way of DaVE and I thought I was more than capable of helping to avoid that. But, Mitch was dong what he could to keep everything going, there was a lot of weight on his shoulders and I’m guessing he just wasn’t ready or willing to share that with anyone. He had to do this on his own and I get that now, but there was no way to convince me of that back in October of ’07.

 

I told Mitch that if I couldn’t help build PSW as much as I knew that I could than I couldn’t understand why I was coming to the shows at all. Mitch didn’t lift a finger or even try to fight to keep me. And with some sting in his voice he told me that everyone in PSW was there because they wanted to be there, and if I was saying I didn’t want to be there then I was welcome to stop showing up. I agreed and I walked out.

 

Me: So you and Mitch had a falling out?

 

Jack DeVille: Like I said, I understand now why he didn’t put me in the position I felt like I should have been put in. So, I don’t entirely hold that against him. But what I do take personally, still to this day, is how easily he let me walk out. Now, I understand how it looks, like I played the “I’m leaving if I don’t get what I want” card, but I really didn’t. Whether Mitch wants to believe me or not, I actually had no intention of walking out on PSW and I didn’t mean for it to come off that way. I just meant that I felt like I was being underutilized and underappreciated.

 

It was true that I felt like I didn’t know why I was going to the shows at all, but only because I cared about the success of the company more so than just the small road agent gig I had been given and it drove me crazy to show up to each show and not have a say in the bigger picture stuff. So, I just needed to understand why. Why I had this spot and why Mitch wasn’t giving me as much responsibility as I knew I could handle.

 

Mitch took that conversation and twisted it in his head to make it sound like I was giving him an ultimatum or something. That I was telling him “make me booker or I walk”. And without even letting me explain myself he pretty much hit me with a “Fine. Walk.”

 

Now, there’s two sides to every story and I’m sure he could spin a yarn for you that would put you squarely on his side. But all I can tell you for sure is that after knowing the guy for two years and being his right hand man for one, it was slap across my face for him to more or less tell me that he didn’t need me in his company. And I walked out of that place damn bitter and angry.

 

Me: Have you spoken to him since?

 

Jack DeVille: Only a few times. Never on a personal level. It’s no secret that I positioned SYN to be in direct competition with every east coast based promotion. So, naturally he and I have had to speak over some professional owner to owner situations over the years. Usually over shared talent and concerns over venue bookings, things like that. But, we’re not friends. In fact we’re professional enemies for sure.

 

Me: Is there any part of you that hopes you reconcile at any point?

 

Jack DeVille: I certainly wouldn’t be against it, eventually. But I don’t really see it happening. Though I guess I should thank him. If it wasn’t for this falling out I may never have had the bug to run my own company. And even if I did I certainly would’ve felt guilty at how quickly my company grew compared to… well, I don’t want to sling any mud. Let’s move on.

 

Me: Well, it’s your story Jack. Where we moving on to?

 

Jack DeVille: I’d say Puerto Rico.

 

Me: Puerto Rico it is.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, after walking away from Mitch I decided it was time to take it easy for a few months. At this point I hadn’t gone a week without being at some kind of wrestling show in about what, seven, eight years? Something like that? I had a few bucks saved up enough to support myself unpaid for a good year or so. It was the perfect time to step away from the business for a little bit and just try to get my head straight. Do other things, let my mind wander, live a little, away from the wrestling.

 

Me: How was that?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, I can’t really say because that only lasted about three weeks. The itch is strong my friend. And while I can say that it was nice to relax for a few days, I “casually snapped” almost immediately and started booking myself gigs out of boredom.

 

I worked a few spot shows as an “agent”. Which, usually consisted of me getting paid $50 just to make sure everyone who was booked on the card was there. And if they weren’t… well… then they weren’t. Then, there was one show… and by one I mean more than one… where I… well, don’t tell my doctor or my mother this but I actually took a few bumps in the main event.

 

I figured, hey, I didn’t actually have full on nueropraxia yet, so what hard could it do me to take a hip toss, right? Well then that became “what harm would could it do to take a suplex?” and then a DDT, then a piledriver… I think that was the night, when I was upside with my head in between the legs of a twenty-one year old kid I just met named “Xavier Reckless”, hoping that he knew how to not cripple me, that it dawned on me I was playing with fire.

 

Me: I would say that’s as good as any “come to Jesus” moment I could imagine.

 

Jack DeVille: I was certainly saying some prayers as we crashed to the mat. I decided the life of the wandering, half broken down, trying to recapture his glory days, half-retired wrestler was a not the life for me. I put the word out, applied to a few places.

 

The head booker of CZCW had just quit, so I took it as divine intervention and headed over there for a few interviews. Of course that all ended up falling through and [Cliff] Anderson ended up going with someone else. I want to say it was Dylan Sidle, who is a great guy. Has pretty similar story to myself actually. Sweet guy really. I couldn’t hate him, wished him the best.

 

The process did last about a month, and I ended up meeting a bunch of good people over there, a few guys who I would end up placing my entire company squarely on their backs for a few years. So, as they say “everything happens for a reason” right?

 

Me: I suppose.

 

Jack DeVille: Eh. Actually, I think things just happen. I have been pretty lucky though, gotta admit.

 

Me: Jack… Puerto Rico?

 

Jack DeVille: I was getting there, come on now. Don’t start getting all ancy on me. Actually. We’re there now.

 

Me: Well, alrighty.

 

Jack DeVille: The CZCW gig fell through around February of ’08. Which was about a month after Phil had finally gotten ahold of me and we had that heart to heart over the closing of DaVE. That’s relevant because after my falling out with Mitch, I really hadn’t spoken to anyone who I had known or had become close with in DaVE.

 

I just kind of closed the door on what felt like it had become a very cold and bitter chapter of my life. But, see, that was the thing. My time in DaVE was the greatest in my life up until that point. So to let things that happened after it died, affect the way I remembered it’s life was just a poor decision on my part. And after I spoke to Phil I started to realize that. So, I started reaching out here and there and, of course, one of the first guys I called up was Shawn.

 

Me: Who was running FCW at this point?

 

Jack DeVille: Well no he never actually ran FCW---

 

Me: Right, right. He was the head booker of FCW, I should say.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah. Puerto Rican Power and he had also taken advantage of the hole left by the death of DaVE and started up FREEDOM Caribbean Wrestling. The first Puerto Rican based wrestling company EVER and it was run by their national hero and one of the best eyes for talent in the business. There was a hell of a lot of potential to this place. At this point they had been up and running for about six or seven months and they were already off to the races. It was a sizable meal for a pretty hungry wrestling town.

 

But anyway, I called up Shawn and we went back and forth through voicemails for a bit, but eventually we caught up. And it was nice. I hadn’t realized how much I missed that guy. We weren’t best friends in DaVE or anything but the more we caught up the more I started wondering why we weren’t. It was during one of these calls that he came clean about the whole Wolverine thing.

 

Me: Oh, okay good. I’ll mark that.

 

Jack DeVille: Do your thing. After about two months of bullshitting every other week or so, I finally decided to ask if he was ever going to set something up between [Puerto Rican] Power and I. He said he was just waiting for me to ask. Said he enjoyed watching when a man finally stopped hoping for things and just went and took them. I told you. Mentor even when he wasn’t trying.

 

Me: Are you aware of how highly you speak of him?

 

Jack DeVille: So aware that I’m almost offended by your question.

 

Me: I hope the key word there was almost. But, anyway you went down to Puerto Rico?

 

Jack DeVille: Finally went down there and first of all… it was damn hot. Like the temperature, it was balls hot. I thought it was going to be nice you know? What could be better than constant direct sunshine and heat? Well, the answer is “NOT constant direct sunshine and heat.” I got used to it eventually, but still.

 

Me: How’d things go with Power?

 

Jack DeVille: All Power needed to know was that Shawn vouched for me and he was on board with bringing me in. Which would mark the second time in my life that happened.

 

Me: How long were you with FCW?

 

Jack DeVille: Well I officially joined them in April of 2008 and I wasn’t fired until February of 2012 so, almost four years.

 

Me: What was your job? And what’d you learn?

 

Jack DeVille: First I was just a road agent, obviously. But, I latched on pretty quickly to Shawn and eventually became one of his right hand men. Which lead to becoming a member of his unofficial booking committee. It was me, Hell’s Bouncer, [Handsome] Stranger, and Mainstream [Hernandez]. That was the core group of guys, us and Shawn.

 

Me: You guys would book the shows?

 

Jack DeVille: Pretty much, yeah. Shawn was a fantastic trainer and great with young talent but I don’t think he ever really found as much joy when it came to booking matches and shows. He was damn good at it, and had one of the best minds for the business that I’ve ever had the pleasure of coming across, but he just didn’t have that same passion for it that he did for teaching.

 

So, this is where I really got to stretch arms and legs when it comes to writing shows. Shawn had faith in us, and we put together some damn fine shit over those few years if I may say so myself. Especially considering most of it always ended in “Puerto Rican Power topples the bad guy champion and saves the day.”

 

Do you know how hard it is to make that feel fresh three or four times in a row? [Laughs] But, I think we did a pretty good job. The TITAN / Mainstream feud over the People’s Championship sticks out in my head too. I loved that stuff. Mainstream impressed me quite a bit with his willingness to sit in the same room and help us book him into some situations where a lesser man may feel he was being buried by the big monster heel. And I’m sure there’s a ten more storylines I could think of if given a few minutes.

 

Me: We’ll come back to it if anything, but was that all your run there consisted of?

 

Jack DeVille: No, no. After about a year there I started to wonder about the more “business-y” aspects of running a wrestling promotion. I got in Shawn’s ear about introducing me to the people who were charge of that, and I think Shawn was just a sucker for anyone who wanted to learn so he hooked me up through Power.

 

Before long I was sitting in on merchandising meetings, advertising meetings, sponsorship calls, etc. It was during this time I really learned the importance of the business side of things. I already understood certain aspects of having your finger on the pulse and getting your name out there, just from my time in DaVE.

 

But conversely coming from a place where we were almost literally bleeding money until our heart stopped beating, what I really learned to appreciate in FCW was the importance of sponsors. DaVE was too blood thirsty and NC-17 to ever get any sponsorship money. But FCW was thriving on all of the deals that Puerto Rican Power had made throughout his homeland. Obviously, that was mostly thanks to the stroke he carried on that island but it was a fine lesson on what’s actually important if you want to keep your show in business.

 

Me: Did you ever attain a position on that side of things?

 

Jack DeVille: No, I was only ever an observer. It wasn’t until I started SYN that I ever directly dealt with any of that but, if it wasn’t for all that time spent in those meetings down there, SYN would’ve been filing for bankruptcy long before we celebrated a year in the business.

 

Me: So… if nothing else of note happened from ’09 to 2011… I suppose I’ll have to ask you to talk about Shawn---

 

Jack DeVille: That he died?

 

Me: Yeah. You’ve spoken so highly of him it must have hit you pretty hard.

 

Jack DeVille: … Shawn Gonzalez was my best friend. I wasn’t his, I don’t think. And he wasn’t always mine but over the course of the three years we worked together in FCW, I just fell in love with that guy. He was just one of those people that had that presence about him you know? Like, you knew he was the smartest guy in the room before he even opened his mouth.

 

I’ve given a few examples of how he was always teaching, always mentoring. And I want to make it clear, those weren’t just a few isolated incidents or a few good stories. Those were just the ones that were relevant. I learned so much about life, just being near him. Learned a lot about myself too. He was always such a good guy to talk to. His advice was so perfect every time. Just enough of a sting for tough love, but enough encouragement to know that you had the power to get through whatever it was that brought you to him in the first place.

 

The way he looked at new talent, that eye he had for something special. That carried over to everything, man. He just saw things in people. Things nobody else did. Usually, things that person didn’t even see in themselves. I just wanted to see the world the way he did. That was my goal. Like, if I just hung out with him for a long enough amount of time his wisdom would sponge and absorb into me or something, I don’t know…

 

I went to him a few months before the accident. One of the last real big talks we had. I told him I wanted to start my own promotion within the next few years. But, I was scared. That I thought I had what I took but I didn’t know if I was willing to risk finding out that I didn’t. That holding on to the dream of doing it might be better than trying, failing, and losing that dream. It was pretty hard for me to admit all that stuff. And it would have been impossible for me to do it to anyone else.

 

He said… well… he said some things to me that I’ll never forget. Personal things. Stories about himself, his life, his journey. Stories that aren’t my place to share. And he told me some things about myself that… I don’t want to share. It’s a, it’s a conversation that I’m gonna keep between Shawn and I. But, that man… he believed in me. And if he believed in me, I knew I could I believe in myself.

 

Me: Do you remember your last words to him?

 

Jack DeVille: “If you see a stingray, whistle.” …inside joke… It was the day before. He was on a boat. Diving trip. He kept going on and on about some turtle he saw and how he was pissed he didn’t have his underwater camera. It’s funny how little you can care about something in one minute and then how incredibly important it can become to you the next. At his funeral, when Carlos [his brother] was giving his eulogy. All I could think about was that stupid turtle. I wish he had his camera with him.

 

Me: I’m sorry for your loss.

 

Jack DeVille: No, you shouldn’t be. It’s been so long. Plus, I mean, he meant a lot to me, sure, but there were so many others that deserve your sorrow before me. His mom, his brother, his ex, Bouncer. Those are the guys that really deserve it. I moved on, I think about him all the time, sure. Usually when I’m hiring new talent, I try to imagine what Shawn would have seen in them. But, I’ve adjusted fine enough over the years… I think. I can’t imagine what it must be like for Carlos. So, I can never really feel comfortable accepting condolences for his passing. But, I’m rambling now, can we move on passed this part?

 

Me: If you’d like---

 

Jack DeVille: Losing Shawn was tough on the whole company. I only vaguely remember that first show after it happened. I remember the ten bell salute and the general haze of sadness, and disbelief, grief and denial backstage. Power gave a speech to the crowd, but I couldn’t watch it. I don’t know it was just too real.

 

Everything was just a blur for a few weeks after that. For the first few shows Power sat in on the booking meetings in Shawn’s spot, which had never happened before. He was feeling us out, trying to figure out who would take over the reigns. Power and I clashed on pretty much every idea, and I wasn’t in the right headspace to adequately fight for them or come to good compromises. On one occasion, I pushed back a little too hard and ended up pissing Power off and getting thrown out of the room.

 

Me: Is that how you got fired?

 

Jack DeVille: No, I was welcomed back to the booking meetings the next week and I apologized to Power… albeit begrudgingly. The next show after that was when Power told us that [Handsome] Stranger would be the head booker going forward.

 

Me: How’d you feel about that?

 

Jack DeVille: I never really had anything good or bad to say about Stranger before he took over as booker. Unlike, Shawn or Mainstream, we didn’t talk outside of the meetings really. But, after taking over as booker, I don’t know if he changed or if I was finally just getting to know the real him, but we quickly ended up on each other’s bad sides.

 

Me: Was there any situation or moment in particular?

 

Jack DeVille: No, not really. I just felt like he did a lot of posturing in those few months. Sometimes I felt like he shot down ideas just to let it be known that everything had to go through him. I never talked to anyone else about it and I should say that maybe, just maybe I could’ve been reading too much into it. But I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.

 

Stranger brought in a few more people to help write the shows. Bouncer saw the writing on the wall and stopped showing up to the meetings. Before long I think I was only still attending them out of spite.

 

Me: How did Mainstream Hernandez fit into the new situation?

 

Jack DeVille: Stranger and Mainstream got along fine. Which I think made me start to take the rift between Stranger and I more personal. Because as I don’t think his style and his ideas were all that different than mine and yet he never received half the roadblocks from Stranger that I did.

 

Me: Do you think it was a matter of you being one of “Shawn’s guys”? And wanting to start from a clean slate?

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t know. Maybe. But HE was one of Shawn’s guys. At least over the course of those last few years. So I don’t know why he would feel that way. But whatever the reason I was sitting on these meetings well passed the point where I should’ve gotten the hint that I was no longer welcomed there.

 

Me: So, how were you fired?

 

Jack DeVille: It was at Fight for FREEDOM in February of ’12. FCW’s biggest show of the year and as soon as I got there I ran into Art Fetu [Arthur Dexter Bradley] and he let me know that Power had been looking for me earlier in the day. I knew at that point. Why else would he want to see me? We never had a personal relationship like that. I thought for a second that maybe Stranger hadn’t made it or something and he just wanted to make sure the rest of us were coming. But, I knew that was just wishful thinking.

 

I decided I might as well get it over with then and there, and found Power in the weights room. He told me that he had wanted to talk to me earlier but it was too close to showtime now, so we’d talk after the show. I went off to the booking meeting, pretty sure this would be the last one, threw out a few ideas, Mainstream liked one of them so I think that was the only one that got through. I worked with a few guys on their matches that night; the show went off without a hitch. Power dropped the belt to [Leper] Messiah in the main event. So, that meant I was gonna have to sit through the whole post match beat down and sell job by Power as I sat in the backing waiting for him to fire me. Finally around 1AM when he came out of the shower into his office and let me know that my services were no longer going to be required.

 

Me: Did he cite any reason?

 

Jack DeVille: Ah, I don’t know, just the expected bullshit. Said that with Fight for FREEDOM over now the company was looking to start fresh with a “new direction” for the next year. That he appreciated my work over the years but that he didn’t think I fit in going forward.

 

Me: Did he mention Handsome Stranger at all?

 

Jack DeVille: I brought him up. He shut me down on that. Told me this was completely his decision, which obviously he had to. I can’t really blame him though. I mean, I thought four years of work, longer than any job I’d ever had in my life had earned me a little more respect than the WAY he was firing me. But the decision that I no longer fit in was probably right on the money.

 

Me: That was it?

 

Jack DeVille: He cut me a check to help me pay for a plane ticket back to the States.

 

Me: “Help” you pay for a ticket? He didn’t buy the whole thing?

 

Jack DeVille: That’s PRP. Huge muscles and I’ve got to give him a little credit, I guess. That’s more than most people got. I should be thankful.

 

Me: Should you?

 

Jack DeVille: Eh. I don’t have a problem with Power on a personal level. Professionally, now that’s a different story. The guy is a legend in that part of the world and savvy businessman. But everything beyond that… well, let’s just say I have no sadness in my heart that we no longer work together.

 

Me: Do you ever deal with him now on an owner to owner level? Like with Mitch?

 

Jack DeVille: Well like PSW, FCW was in my line of fire and my direct competition. But unlike with Mitch, I have never once spoken to Power since leaving Puerto Rico. Any communication I’ve had with FCW has been through Lee Bambino, who I assume Power assigned to deal with other companies. Makes sense. How would he have time to pick up the phone or type up an email in between reps in the weight room? But I digress.

 

Me: I’ll just go ahead and mark that quote…

 

Jack DeVille: [Laughs] Oh boy, the internet is going to eat this up. I think we may have a hit on our hands.

 

Me: I do believe. Okay. So you’re done with FCW.

 

Jack DeVille: It’s March of ’12 and I’m back state-side now... well, technically Puerto Rico IS state-side but you know what I mean…

 

Me: Yes, yes.

 

Jack DeVille: So. I’m unemployed. Again. And this time, I have no one left to call. I maybe could have called up Phil [Vibert] in Canada. He might’ve been able to get me a job as an agent in Golden Combat as he’d been working there for about three years at this point. But, I knew that I needed more than that at this point.

 

I felt so creatively stifled after the last few months in Puerto Rico and anything less than a booker gig would lead to nothing more than some severe angst and regrets on my part. I couldn’t just go back to putting together random matches again. I needed more. And as much as I appreciated Phil’s genius, he wasn’t the owner of CGC. He was just the booker. Without having anything else to distract him from writing the shows, I knew that he wouldn’t be nearly as open to the thought of sharing the pencil with anyone.

 

Me: I imagine this is when the idea of SYN finally came into play?

 

Jack DeVille: No, the “idea” for SYN had been in play for about five years at this point. In my head at least. But it was March 8th 2012 that I finally grew the balls to start making it a reality.

 

Me: You remember the date?

 

Jack DeVille: I remember four dates in my life. My first match, the day Shawn died, my wife’s birthday, and when I decided to start SYN.

 

Me: The wife’s birthday huh? Better man than me…

 

Jack DeVille: … Okay, three dates. I remember three dates.

 

Me: [Laughs] Don’t even ask, I’ll leave this part out.

 

Jack DeVille: One of which! Is March 8th 2012.

 

Me: So, what made you finally decide to go for it?

 

Jack DeVille: I decided to save a little money by staying with the parents in New Jersey until I figured out what I was doing next. And the second or third night I was sitting in the guest room, which had been my room-room about thirteen years earlier. I was just sort of spacing out, reminiscing, replacing all of the furniture in my mind with what had been there back in ’98.

 

The posters on the walls, the square TV, the futon bed that was never actually used as a couch. I couldn’t help but realize just how much time had passed and yet it felt like no time at all. Some how during that, I started thinking about that last big conversation I had with Shawn, the one I told you about earlier. I had been thinking about it on and off for the last few weeks or so, but I always had a distraction to let my mind wander. But now, I had nothing but time to really let it sink into me that I had no time at all. I was going to blink and be, well, forty.

 

If I ever wanted to make an impact in this business, the way I knew by now that I could, it would have to be now or it would be never. It was the perfect time, I had the experience and knowledge and I had enough of a name that people would have heard of me. The only problem I faced was the money. If I was going to do this, I was going to have to be willing to risk every dime to my name on being successful.

 

But it was there, that day in that room that I realized I was willing to take that chance. That I would rather go broke trying to do this than die wishing I had done something differently. And if I worked my ass off and put everything I had into this I would never have to worry about failure.

 

I went to bed that night and rested easy knowing that the next morning I would start writing the story of the rest of my life. That everything I’d done up until now was just the beginning of something truly great. That I would not stop until I did myself, my parents, Shawn and anyone else who had ever helped me get here, anyone who I’ve mentioned to you so far… proud.

 

So… how’s that for chapter one of my book?

 

Me: [Laughs] Oh right. You know, I’ve got to say. I almost forgot we were still in the prologue. Almost.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, you might want to give ol’ Stallings himself a ring and tell him he’s got an epic on his hands, because I’m pretty sure I just gave you a bit more than twenty pages.

 

Me: Honestly, you might want to consider making this a multi-book deal.

 

Jack DeVille: But now that you mention it, how long have we been sitting here?

 

Me: I lost track at the Alexander Robinson slap.

 

Jack DeVille: Hey, is that coffee offer still on the table? I think I could use a little pick me up and I’m a little parched.

 

Me: I thought your mouth never got dry, Jack?

 

Jack DeVille: I… never said that.

 

Me: You know I’m recording all of this, right? I can just play back the tape here and…

 

Jack DeVille: I fail to see how that would get me a coffee, though. So, let’s not.

 

Me: Alright, alright. I could use a little stretch for my legs. Let’s take ten and then pick up at Chapter 2. With how SYN got off the ground and all that. Considering that’s, you know, what this whole book is actually about in the first place.

 

Jack DeVille: Oh don’t you worry. We’ve got plenty of story left. And that’s before we ever even get to the first show.

 

Me: Oh I’m sure. So, how do you take your coffee?

 

Jack DeVille: Coconut milk and chocolate syrup.

 

Me: Oh… okay, yeah… maybe we’ll take twenty minutes.

 

~ END OF TAPE ONE ~

 

~ TAPE TWO ~

 

 

Me: Are you stirring that with your finger?

 

Jack DeVille: I am. Yes.

 

Me: Isn’t it hot?

 

Jack DeVille: Neuropraxia remember? Did I not mention I don’t actually have any feeling from my knuckles up? … knuckles down or knuckles up?

 

Me: Knuckles to fingertips? I’d go with knuckles up.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, that sounds good. But yeah, no pain so stirring with my knuckles up. You know, I didn’t make this up by the way. I see the way you’re looking at. It’s called a “Coconut Cowboy”.

 

Me: Well whatever it’s called Jack, I am still just going to stick to milk and two sugars myself… smells good though.

 

Jack DeVille: Tastes good too, you don’t know what you’re missing. The wife actually introduced me to this. Well, she was the secret girlfriend back then but it was the morning of End of Days in 2015---

 

Me: Whoa Jack. [laughs] I’m sorry but we just sat back down, let me at least get my pen back out.

 

Jack DeVille: What do you need that for when you’ve got that thing recording me?

 

Me: A fair point. But either way, the way I remember it before we took a break for your Chocolate Cowboy there we hadn’t even gotten to SYN being a thing yet… let alone jumping to a story from 2015. So, let’s back it up a bit shall we?

 

Jack DeVille: Firstly, it’s a Coconut Cowboy… Chocolate Cowboy is a whole other thing. Much messier.

 

Me: Okay that’s just… Jack. 2012. You wake up in your parents’ house and you know that you want to build a wrestling a company. Go.

 

Jack DeVille: [Laughs] Dang man. All you had to do was ask, sheesh. I don’t like what coffee does to you.

 

Me: You and my mother.

 

Jack DeVille: What’s that mean? Is that like a saying? Or an actual thing?

 

Me: Probably a little bit of both.

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t think that makes any sense… When I’m writing your book we’re gonna get into that.

 

But, Okay! Okay. Before you say anything, yes. Okay, I decided that I would wake up the next day and start making moves to start a company. Right? That’s where we were?

 

Me: That’s it.

 

Jack DeVille: Sweet. Alright, so I woke up that next morning in my old bedroom feeling mighty inspired. But, I can’t explain to you how much it sucks to know you’re only on day one of something huge. Even when it’s something you really want to do. People never talk about that. That first day when you’re on the road to something is the most overwhelming feeling I’ve ever felt. By 10AM that morning I already wanted to quit.

 

I could be a road agent for hire for the rest of my career. I could make decent money. This though, this was huge. Too huge. I mean, where do you even start, right? So I made a list of everything I’d need to get done. And it was a long, impossible looking list. When that was done, it was the first time I felt like giving up.

 

How could one man do all this? But every time I wanted to quit, I just… I don’t know. I forced myself not to. Like when you’re running on a treadmill. And you know your legs are just starting to burn. Your body tells you “Okay, you need to stop now.” But you brain says “No, no. We’re doing this on purpose.” So you keep going. Even if just for another ten seconds longer.

 

That’s what it was like at first. And I’m talking every single moment of the day.

 

Me: What was the first thing you did?

 

Jack DeVille: Ah man, there really is no “first thing”. I just tried to do it all at once. But I can tell you two things. One: I was going to stay with my parents until the very last second I could. Because two: I needed to make sure I saved every last penny I could.

 

Me: So, was money the biggest issue?

 

Jack DeVille: Easily. You can’t do anything without money. I had about $5,000 to my name at this point. Which, yeah, is nothing. It was enough to get the wheels in motion but it wouldn’t be enough to support a company past more than one show.

 

Hell, it wouldn’t have even paid all the talent. But I knew that was a risk that needed to be taken in order for this to succeed. But, don’t tell any of the boys and girls that go back to day one that I was cutting deals with them using money I didn’t actually have. I don’t know if they’d forgive me.

 

Me: I remind you to tell them not to read this book. Or the internet.

 

Jack DeVille: So, needless to say. I need more money. First, I went to the banks. Like the nice, real banks with names that you would know. They turned down all of my loan applications. Then I went to the banks that send you letters telling you that you’re preapproved for stuff. And they un-preapproved me.

 

Turns out “I want to start a professional wrestling company” isn’t quite a phrase that gives people whom you’re asking to borrow money from warm and fuzzy feelings on the inside.

 

This was the second time I wanted to quit. But, I kept running.

 

I decided “screw it”. If I couldn’t get the money up front, then I’d just need to get it on the back end. So, the single most important thing to do now was nail down a sponsor.

 

Somebody, somewhere, would be willing to advertise on our shows. I knew in my soul that as long as we got that first show done we’d be successful. So, now I just needed to convince a company, a brand to believe that too. You know an energy drink or… a beer or… a local restaurant… hell goddamn dick pills, it didn’t matter. I just needed to make sure I’d get a check at the end of our first month in business that would at least keep our head above water and keep our people paid. Then, we would be able to put on show number two.

 

Me: So, I take it you went after a lot of sponsors?

 

Jack DeVille: Oh yeah. I put the word out there to hundreds of people. Dozens of which actually got back to me. And I’d say about one dozen of which I ever actually spoke to in person. All pretty small companies. Mostly, fairly local stuff.

 

Me: Well, how had you picked out a region to call home base yet?

 

Jack DeVille: No, see I don’t think you realize how much this sponsorship stuff mattered. I didn’t have a home base yet. It didn’t matter to me WHERE my company called home. That depended entirely on who was going to give me money to run it.

 

I was reaching out to companies all across the country. Hell, there were even a few in Canada. Whoever I spoke to I’d give the same sales pitch about how great the company was shaping up to be, how we’d already signed such great talent, and how happy I was to be starting up the business in their region of the company.

 

Me: You lied through your teeth then?

 

Jack DeVille: I will be very honest with you about my dishonesty. I bullshitted every one of them. But to me, at the time, it just felt like the ends justified the means. Because I knew that even though I may have been lying to grocery store chain in Des Moines or the local pub in Battle Creek… technically, at some point whoever actually agreed to advertise with me would not be getting lied to. Because, all those things I said would be true… eventually.

 

Me: Eventually.

 

Jack DeVille: Eventually.

 

Me: Well, you have any preference or hope maybe for a certain area?

 

Jack DeVille: I did sort of want to stay on the East Coast. If possible. Only because it was already my home and I had sort of name there, you know? Not much. But there were still people, the hardcore fans, who would remember me from my stint with DaVE… I hoped. And maybe that would bring some people in you know? Plus, the reverse was, I know them more. I didn’t know how to work a crowd on the West Coast or the middle of the country; the mentality of a Nevada wrestling fan is much different than a Texan wrestling fan or a Jersey fan.

 

I felt comfortable on the East Coast. Particularly in the Mid-Altantic/Tri-State areas. But, like I said, all that mattered was where the money was. And I would have gladly set up shop in New Mexico if that’s what had to happen.

 

Me: Well, I know where you ended up but how’d it come to that?

 

Jack DeVille: Long story short I had a really good deal set up with… well a company in Southern California.

 

I’m talking a really good deal. It took some finessing, sure, but this was the kind of deal where not only would be alive after the first month, but I was pretty sure we’d be making enough money to actually have put some quality in our production.

 

Was pretty excited about this one. I should’ve known better. I think my mistake was that I started talking to some of the guys I had met during my short tease with CZCW four or five years earlier. Got in touch, let them know I was opening a wrestling promotion in the area soon if they were interested. Some real jumping the gun, amateur shit.

 

Me: I take it the deal fell through.

 

Jack DeVille: I got a phone call one day telling me that they were pulling out of the deal, which hadn’t technically been finalized yet. I asked why, tried to change their minds. They just told me that it would conflict with arrangements that were going to be put into action sooner. Lo and behold two months later I hear this company had it’s ads on two full size ringside apron spots for Coastal Zone.

 

Me: They stole your sponsor?

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t know what happen. Maybe the company went to CZCW and said “We’re gonna fund a new competitor if you don’t take our ads.” Maybe word got around the locker room and somebody decided they didn’t want some new kid coming into town stealing fans so they open up their purse strings. Maybe, it was total and complete coincidence. All I know is I thank god it fell through when it did and not after I had actually moved there.

 

Called up a few of the key talent I had talked to and showed interest, let them know I was changing plans but that they’d be still be welcomed wherever I ended up.

 

Thankfully, I did have another offer still on the table. And I wasn’t dumb enough to let them in on how close I was to calling San Diego my new home.

 

Me: This is how you ended up in Mid-Atlantic?

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah. It was around September or so of 2012 at this point and I was getting really itchy to get the business shit out of the way and start getting a roster together.

 

It was a fine deal. Not nearly as good as the California deal, but acceptable. Plus, it worked out. Like I said, I felt way more comfortable staying on the East Coast.

 

Me: What is Mid-Atlantic specifically? Virginia, DC..

 

Jack DeVille: Technically it’s the Virginias, DC, Maryland, Delaware and the Carolinas. But in the world of pro-wrestling, that would also being considered direct competition to anyone who neighbors the borders of those states. So the Tri-State area, the South East including Puerto Rico, hell even the Great Lakes.

 

Me: So… pretty much everybody on the East Coast?

 

Jack DeVille: Yep.

 

Me: As in PSW… and FCW…

 

Jack DeVille: Yep. That’s not awkward. Oh and NYCW… and especially MAW. I mean Mid-Atlantic is actually the name of their company so I’d say they probably had the most right to be upset.

 

Probably a shame for them nobody picked up the phone and asked Cliff [owner of CZCW] how they should proceed when it came to my new sponsor. Not that I think he had anything to do with that.

 

Me: Of course not. Did you talk to anyone at MAW before you started?

 

Jack DeVille: Skipping forward a few months, once the plan was already well in motion, eventually someone over there must’ve gotten wind of a new kid in town company to pitch his tent because I started getting phone calls and voicemails from them to set up a meeting to “just talk.”

 

Me: Threatening?

 

Jack DeVille: No. Seemed like they just wanted to talk.

 

Me: Oh.

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t quite remember who had gotten ahold of me first but I do know that it was Sam Keith himself that actually showed up to a lunch to talk things out.

 

I’ve got to say. I did not expect I’d be talking to him directly about. For some reason I pegged him as a guy who was above that sort of thing. The grizzled veteran who had achieved far more in any one given year of the last decade of his career than I had in the entirely of mine.

 

Figured he wouldn’t be bothered by some new rinky dink promotion that I’m sure he thought wouldn’t last more than a few months.

 

Me: How was that lunch?

 

Jack DeVille: Man, I was so wrong about that guy. He was instantly likable. Real down to Earth kind of dude, one of those real man’s man kind of guys though too. He ordered two whiskeys before we even sat down. And neither were for me. I hadn’t even realized they served alcohol yet and I don’t think he’d ever even been there.

 

We bullshitted about life, he seemed pretty interested in hearing my story and was more than willing to share a few of his own. Real personable guy. Easy to talk to but, pretty intimidating. Just his presence.

 

And I really felt it when it was time to start talking business. I realized pretty soon once we started down that path that it would be incredibly hard to try and defend myself if he started trying to strong arm me in any way.

 

Me: Strong arm me?

 

Jack DeVille: You know, something like “I like you kid, but if you run any shows in North Carolina I’ll have to break all of your fingers.”

It’d be pretty hard to say anything other that “Absolutely Mr. Keith sir, understood. I’d prefer to keep my fingers.”

 

It was easy to see why he was credited with that whole Coalition Of The Territories pact between his and a few other companies.

 

Me: Did he threaten to break your fingers… or something less violent but as straight forward?

 

Jack DeVille: No. Thank god. Well not really. I don’t know. Honestly, looking back now I get the feeling that he didn’t actually think much of what I was putting together. Didn’t really see it as any kind of threat or anything he should get on board with. I wasn’t offered a spot in the COTT or anything like that.

 

Actually, weirdly enough. He was the one who gave me Matthew and Greg’s numbers.

 

Me: Really?

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, he joked or maybe half-joked that it could be a way to get them to come around to see their old man if they were working near by. I’m guessing they had an issue with working for their pop.

 

Me: Interesting… very interesting.

 

Jack DeVille: I’m not getting started on that stuff. That is definitely their story to tell.

 

Me: Was that it?

 

Jack DeVille: No, we did come to one agreement though. And by agreement I mean he said it, I felt a little uneasy about it but I shook his hand anyway.

 

But basically we agreed that we wouldn’t “share” any talent. That anyone who worked for MAW would be off limits for me and anyone in SYN wouldn’t be picked off by him.

 

Me: Well that SOUNDS fair but…

 

Jack DeVille: But it put me at huge handicap right off the bat and wasn’t really fair at all. I know. Because, MAW had a ton of guys that were already established in the Mid-Atlantic and I wouldn’t be allowed to bring any of them in. Yeah. Not really that fair.

 

Me: So he did strong arm you?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, a little I guess. But as much as it made me feel uneasy to agree to something like that at first, I actually kind of liked it immediately after.

 

I didn’t want the temptation of just bringing in established stars that were working down the block the night before, you know? I didn’t want to be MAW’s little brother. I wanted to stand on my own. This was a perfect excuse to force myself to accomplish that.

 

Me: Had you signed anyone at this point?

 

Jack DeVille: Well this lunch was in late November / early December something like that. And our first show was on January 15th so yeah I had a decent amount of guys and girls signed by then. But, I was smart enough to decide to not talk to anyone from MAW once the calls started coming in. Figured I would after the sit down with Sam. Obviously that didn’t happen.

 

Me: Alright well lets start talking about them. The initial roster for SYN.

 

Jack DeVille: Surely. Let’s start at the top…

 

~ END OF TAPE TWO ~

[The Chosen One]

Saved for ROSTER

[The Chosen One]

Saved for CHAMPIONS

[The Chosen One]

Saved for EVERYTHING ELSE

 

-------------

 

And yes... there will be an actual... you know... gameplay based dynasty here. Not just text.

[Jaysin]

I am a fan of DeVille already, but his name immediately made me think of Jaxson de Ville. Luckily the Jaguars are my favorite NFL team, so I'd be on board regardless.

[The Chosen One]

I am a fan of DeVille already, but his name immediately made me think of Jaxson de Ville. Luckily the Jaguars are my favorite NFL team, so I'd be on board regardless.

 

Ha. That connection never even dawned on me. But for you, bothering to comment and giving this dynasty the slightest relevancy, I'll pretend it was intentional.

[The Chosen One]

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/1/9/7/119781_logo.gif

 

“LIVING IN SYN”

Unedited Interview Transcript

Autobiography Subject: Jack DeVille

For the professional use of Jason Lawrence

Property of Stallings Publishing Co.

 

~ TAPE TWO ~

 

 

Me: Are you stirring that with your finger?

 

Jack DeVille: I am. Yes.

 

Me: Isn’t it hot?

 

Jack DeVille: Neuropraxia remember? Did I not mention I don’t actually have any feeling from my knuckles up? … knuckles down or knuckles up?

 

Me: Knuckles to fingertips? I’d go with knuckles up.

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, that sounds good. But yeah, no pain so stirring with my knuckles up. You know, I didn’t make this up by the way. I see the way you’re looking at. It’s called a “Coconut Cowboy”.

 

Me: Well whatever it’s called Jack, I am still just going to stick to milk and two sugars myself… smells good though.

 

Jack DeVille: Tastes good too, you don’t know what you’re missing. The wife actually introduced me to this. Well, she was the secret girlfriend back then but it was the morning of End of Days in 2015---

 

Me: Whoa Jack. [laughs] I’m sorry but we just sat back down, let me at least get my pen back out.

 

Jack DeVille: What do you need that for when you’ve got that thing recording me?

 

Me: A fair point. But either way, the way I remember it before we took a break for your Chocolate Cowboy there we hadn’t even gotten to SYN being a thing yet… let alone jumping to a story from 2015. So, let’s back it up a bit shall we?

 

Jack DeVille: Firstly, it’s a Coconut Cowboy… Chocolate Cowboy is a whole other thing. Much messier.

 

Me: Okay that’s just… Jack. 2012. You wake up in your parents’ house and you know that you want to build a wrestling company. Go.

 

Jack DeVille: [Laughs] Dang man. All you had to do was ask, sheesh. I don’t like what coffee does to you.

 

Me: You and my mother.

 

Jack DeVille: What’s that mean? Is that like a saying? Or an actual thing?

 

Me: Probably a little bit of both.

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t think that makes any sense… When I’m writing your book we’re gonna get into that.

 

But, Okay! Okay. Before you say anything, yes. Okay, I decided that I would wake up the next day and start making moves to start a company. Right? That’s where we were?

 

Me: That’s it.

 

Jack DeVille: Sweet. Alright, so I woke up that next morning in my old bedroom feeling mighty inspired. But, I can’t explain to you how much it sucks to know you’re only on day one of something huge. Even when it’s something you really want to do. People never talk about that. That first day when you’re on the road to something is the most overwhelming feeling I’ve ever felt. By 10AM that morning I already wanted to quit.

 

I could be a road agent for hire for the rest of my career. I could make decent money. This though, this was huge. Too huge. I mean, where do you even start, right? So I made a list of everything I’d need to get done. And it was a long, impossible looking list. When that was done, it was the first time I felt like giving up.

 

How could one man do all this? But every time I wanted to quit, I just… I don’t know. I forced myself not to. Like when you’re running on a treadmill. And you know your legs are just starting to burn. Your body tells you “Okay, you need to stop now.” But you brain says “No, no. We’re doing this on purpose.” So you keep going. Even if just for another ten seconds longer.

 

That’s what it was like at first. And I’m talking every single moment of the day.

 

Me: What was the first thing you did?

 

Jack DeVille: Ah man, there really is no “first thing”. I just tried to do it all at once. But I can tell you two things. One: I was going to stay with my parents until the very last second I could. Because two: I needed to make sure I saved every last penny I could.

 

Me: So, was money the biggest issue?

 

Jack DeVille: Easily. You can’t do anything without money. I had about $5,000 to my name at this point. Which, yeah, is nothing. It was enough to get the wheels in motion but it wouldn’t be enough to support a company past more than one show.

 

Hell, it wouldn’t have even paid all the talent. But I knew that was a risk that needed to be taken in order for this to succeed. But, don’t tell any of the boys and girls that go back to day one that I was cutting deals with them using money I didn’t actually have. I don’t know if they’d forgive me.

 

Me: I remind you to tell them not to read this book. Or the internet.

 

Jack DeVille: So, needless to say. I need more money. First, I went to the banks. Like the nice, real banks with names that you would know. They turned down all of my loan applications. Then I went to the banks that send you letters telling you that you’re preapproved for stuff. And they un-preapproved me.

 

Turns out “I want to start a professional wrestling company” isn’t quite a phrase that gives people whom you’re asking to borrow money from warm and fuzzy feelings on the inside.

 

This was the second time I wanted to quit. But, I kept running.

 

I decided “screw it”. If I couldn’t get the money up front, then I’d just need to get it on the back end. So, the single most important thing to do now was nail down a sponsor.

 

Somebody, somewhere, would be willing to advertise on our shows. I knew in my soul that as long as we got that first show done we’d be successful. So, now I just needed to convince a company, a brand to believe that too. You know an energy drink or… a beer or… a local restaurant… hell goddamn dick pills, it didn’t matter. I just needed to make sure I’d get a check at the end of our first month in business that would at least keep our head above water and keep our people paid. Then, we would be able to put on show number two.

 

Me: So, I take it you went after a lot of sponsors?

 

Jack DeVille: Oh yeah. I put the word out there to hundreds of people. Dozens of which actually got back to me. And I’d say about one dozen of which I ever actually spoke to in person. All pretty small companies. Mostly, fairly local stuff.

 

Me: Well, how had you picked out a region to call home base yet?

 

Jack DeVille: No, see I don’t think you realize how much this sponsorship stuff mattered. I didn’t have a home base yet. It didn’t matter to me WHERE my company called home. That depended entirely on who was going to give me money to run it.

 

I was reaching out to companies all across the country. Hell, there were even a few in Canada. Whoever I spoke to I’d give the same sales pitch about how great the company was shaping up to be, how we’d already signed such great talent, and how happy I was to be starting up the business in their region of the company.

 

Me: You lied through your teeth then?

 

Jack DeVille: I will be very honest with you about my dishonesty. I bullshitted every one of them. But to me, at the time, it just felt like the ends justified the means. Because I knew that even though I may have been lying to grocery store chain in Des Moines or the local pub in Battle Creek… technically, at some point whoever actually agreed to advertise with me would not be getting lied to. Because, all those things I said would be true… eventually.

 

Me: Eventually.

 

Jack DeVille: Eventually.

 

Me: Well, you have any preference or hope maybe for a certain area?

 

Jack DeVille: I did sort of want to stay on the East Coast. If possible. Only because it was already my home and I had sort of name there, you know? Not much. But there were still people, the hardcore fans, who would remember me from my stint with DaVE… I hoped. And maybe that would bring some people in you know? Plus, the reverse was, I know them more. I didn’t know how to work a crowd on the West Coast or the middle of the country; the mentality of a Nevada wrestling fan is much different than a Texan wrestling fan or a Jersey fan.

 

I felt comfortable on the East Coast. Particularly in the Mid-Altantic/Tri-State areas. But, like I said, all that mattered was where the money was. And I would have gladly set up shop in New Mexico if that’s what had to happen.

 

Me: Well, I know where you ended up but how’d it come to that?

 

Jack DeVille: Long story short I had a really good deal set up with… well a company in Southern California.

 

I’m talking a really good deal. It took some finessing, sure, but this was the kind of deal where not only would be alive after the first month, but I was pretty sure we’d be making enough money to actually have put some quality in our production.

 

Was pretty excited about this one. I should’ve known better. I think my mistake was that I started talking to some of the guys I had met during my short tease with CZCW four or five years earlier. Got in touch, let them know I was opening a wrestling promotion in the area soon if they were interested. Some real jumping the gun, amateur shit.

 

Me: I take it the deal fell through.

 

Jack DeVille: I got a phone call one day telling me that they were pulling out of the deal, which hadn’t technically been finalized yet. I asked why, tried to change their minds. They just told me that it would conflict with arrangements that were going to be put into action sooner. Lo and behold two months later I hear this company had it’s ads on two full size ringside apron spots for Coastal Zone.

 

Me: They stole your sponsor?

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t know what happen. Maybe the company went to CZCW and said “We’re gonna fund a new competitor if you don’t take our ads.” Maybe word got around the locker room and somebody decided they didn’t want some new kid coming into town stealing fans so they open up their purse strings. Maybe, it was total and complete coincidence. All I know is I thank god it fell through when it did and not after I had actually moved there.

 

Called up a few of the key talent I had talked to and showed interest, let them know I was changing plans but that they’d be still be welcomed wherever I ended up.

 

Thankfully, I did have another offer still on the table. And I wasn’t dumb enough to let them in on how close I was to calling San Diego my new home.

 

Me: This is how you ended up in Mid-Atlantic?

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah. It was around September or so of 2012 at this point and I was getting really itchy to get the business shit out of the way and start getting a roster together.

 

It was a fine deal. Not nearly as good as the California deal, but acceptable. Plus, it worked out. Like I said, I felt way more comfortable staying on the East Coast.

 

Me: What is Mid-Atlantic specifically? Virginia, DC..

 

Jack DeVille: Technically it’s the Virginias, DC, Maryland, Delaware and the Carolinas. But in the world of pro-wrestling, that would also being considered direct competition to anyone who neighbors the borders of those states. So the Tri-State area, the South East including Puerto Rico, hell even the Great Lakes.

 

Me: So… pretty much everybody on the East Coast?

 

Jack DeVille: Yep.

 

Me: As in PSW… and FCW…

 

Jack DeVille: Yep. That’s not awkward. Oh and NYCW… and especially MAW. I mean Mid-Atlantic is actually the name of their company so I’d say they probably had the most right to be upset.

 

Probably a shame for them nobody picked up the phone and asked Cliff [owner of CZCW] how they should proceed when it came to my new sponsor. Not that I think he had anything to do with that.

 

Me: Of course not. Did you talk to anyone at MAW before you started?

 

Jack DeVille: Skipping forward a few months, once the plan was already well in motion, eventually someone over there must’ve gotten wind of a new kid in town company to pitch his tent because I started getting phone calls and voicemails from them to set up a meeting to “just talk.”

 

Me: Threatening?

 

Jack DeVille: No. Seemed like they just wanted to talk.

 

Me: Oh.

 

Jack DeVille: I don’t quite remember who had gotten ahold of me first but I do know that it was Sam Keith himself that actually showed up to a lunch to talk things out.

 

I’ve got to say. I did not expect I’d be talking to him directly about. For some reason I pegged him as a guy who was above that sort of thing. The grizzled veteran who had achieved far more in any one given year of the last decade of his career than I had in the entirely of mine.

 

Figured he wouldn’t be bothered by some new rinky dink promotion that I’m sure he thought wouldn’t last more than a few months.

 

Me: How was that lunch?

 

Jack DeVille: Man, I was so wrong about that guy. He was instantly likable. Real down to Earth kind of dude, one of those real man’s man kind of guys though too. He ordered two whiskeys before we even sat down. And neither were for me. I hadn’t even realized they served alcohol yet and I don’t think he’d ever even been there.

 

We bullshitted about life, he seemed pretty interested in hearing my story and was more than willing to share a few of his own. Real personable guy. Easy to talk to but, pretty intimidating. Just his presence.

 

And I really felt it when it was time to start talking business. I realized pretty soon once we started down that path that it would be incredibly hard to try and defend myself if he started trying to strong arm me in any way.

 

Me: Strong arm me?

 

Jack DeVille: You know, something like “I like you kid, but if you run any shows in North Carolina I’ll have to break all of your fingers.”

It’d be pretty hard to say anything other that “Absolutely Mr. Keith sir, understood. I’d prefer to keep my fingers.”

 

It was easy to see why he was credited with that whole Coalition Of The Territories pact between his and a few other companies.

 

Me: Did he threaten to break your fingers… or something less violent but as straight forward?

 

Jack DeVille: No. Thank god. Well not really. I don’t know. Honestly, looking back now I get the feeling that he didn’t actually think much of what I was putting together. Didn’t really see it as any kind of threat or anything he should get on board with. I wasn’t offered a spot in the COTT or anything like that.

 

Actually, weirdly enough. He was the one who gave me Matthew and Greg’s numbers.

 

Me: Really?

 

Jack DeVille: Yeah, he joked or maybe half-joked that it could be a way to get them to come around to see their old man if they were working near by. I’m guessing they had an issue with working for their pop.

 

Me: Interesting… very interesting.

 

Jack DeVille: I’m not getting started on that stuff. That is definitely their story to tell.

 

Me: Was that it?

 

Jack DeVille: No, we did come to one agreement though. And by agreement I mean he said it, I felt a little uneasy about it but I shook his hand anyway.

 

But basically we agreed that we wouldn’t “share” any talent. That anyone who worked for MAW would be off limits for me and anyone in SYN wouldn’t be picked off by him.

 

Me: Well that SOUNDS fair but…

 

Jack DeVille: But it put me at huge handicap right off the bat and wasn’t really fair at all. I know. Because, MAW had a ton of guys that were already established in the Mid-Atlantic and I wouldn’t be allowed to bring any of them in. Yeah. Not really that fair.

 

Me: So he did strong arm you?

 

Jack DeVille: Well, a little I guess. But as much as it made me feel uneasy to agree to something like that at first, I actually kind of liked it immediately after.

 

I didn’t want the temptation of just bringing in established stars that were working down the block the night before, you know? I didn’t want to be MAW’s little brother. I wanted to stand on my own. This was a perfect excuse to force myself to accomplish that.

 

Me: Had you signed anyone at this point?

 

Jack DeVille: Well this lunch was in late November / early December something like that. And our first show was on January 15th so yeah I had a decent amount of guys and girls signed by then. But, I was smart enough to decide to not talk to anyone from MAW once the calls started coming in. Figured I would after the sit down with Sam. Obviously that didn’t happen.

 

Me: Alright well lets talk about them. The initial roster for SYN.

 

Jack DeVille: Surely. Let’s start at the top…

 

~ END OF TAPE TWO ~