[Jeff Marek and Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski are conducting their radio show at a local radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The radio station is Mojo Radio AM 640. Their show is called Live Audio Wrestling. It is 12:35 am early Monday morning, and they are just coming back to the show after a Mojo Sports Radio update. Overkill by Motorhead plays to introduce the show. The music gets quiet, and then a one-liner by Vince Russo plays, “This is Vince Russo of the WCW and you’re listening to the LAW, stay tuned for Nitro.” The music comes back to regular volume, then begins to fade as the show continues.]Jeff Marek – Welcome back to the LAW, I’m Jeff Marek and with me is Dan Lovranski. Man that liner by Russo still gets me, I can’t help but laugh.
Dan Lovranski – Ya, the way he helped ruin that company, it is a real shame. So you’ve got a big interview coming up you’ve been saying?
Ya Dan, this week I was able to sit down and have a chat with UWA Superstar, their current Television Champion, and the self proclaimed best wrestler on TV, and I’ve gotta say he isn’t right, but he really isn’t too far away from being that man, real name Nic Hay, Nic Totopoulous.
[The interview begins.]
Jeff Marek – Nic Totopoulous, it’s good to have you with today.
Nic Totopoulous – Well thanks Jeff, I must say that I used to listen to the show religiously when I was younger, and still do listen to the show if I have the time.
Well that’s nice to hear Nic. Now you’ve never been on the show before. I was just wondering how you got into wrestling?
Well, I was a fan of the WWF when I was younger. I was a true Hulkamaniac. Then I lost interest for a while, then in my late teens I started watching again, and the athleticism of wrestlers like Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero really caught my attention. They really did show me what wrestling was all about. Then I really wanted to know more. I started following wrestling news on the internet, on your show, and I really got interested. I thought that I could do that. I was already working out, so I had some type of a physique, so I just joined a school in Toronto. From there I was working, going to school, and wrestling. The I earned enough money to move out to Calgary where I trained with Stu Hart in the so-called dungeon. Let me tell you, it truly is a dungeon, but it was the best thing for me. I wrestled in Stampede Wrestling for a few months before moving into TNT Wrestling, where I got my first real exposure to the life of a professional wrestler. I guess from there on, the true wrestling fan will know the rest.
Well, I was also wondering what was the best dressing room you have ever been in, and which was the worst, because when you were with EWF and WWW, there were from what I understand some real problems backstage.
Ya, it really did get a lot of publicity, and it was all true publicity. In the EWF I was one of the bigger stars I guess, and I didn’t abuse the power I had because I was a big part of the company. Other guys though, their names I will leave unsaid, tried to push their weight around backstage because they were top talent. Management would have nothing of it, and these people really purposely hurt the moral backstage. They also ended up quitting because they didn’t want to see me as champion because I wasn’t one of the group that was trying to control everything backstage. Then in the WWW, there wasn’t so much a problem with the moral backstage, it was more that all of the big names that joined just stopped showing up to shows, and then the staff had to try to come up with a whole new focus to the show at the last minute. The show really was going on the fly, and I’m sure it was evident for the viewer.
Well, ya it was. What was the best locker you’ve ever been in?
Well, most definitely the UWA locker room when I first joined there. Everyone was working toward a common goal, and that was putting out a great show for the fans, and that’s what we did. Then the moral went down a little as people started quitting, but now we have a flood of young and eager talented people coming in who really want to make this company work. Things are really getting back on track, and I’m excited about the way things are going now. Oh, and also the locker room at TNT Wrestling for a while. I’ve got to tell you that these people were serious about success. The staff went at it 24/7 to put out a great product. Then the company started to lose money, and the plug was pulled. It really is a shame.
Ya, it was a great alternative to what you see from most companies on TV these days. In your days in the EWF, you played a very odd character, Joe Shmoe. Tell us a little about that.
Ha, ya, that guy was a riot. He was my favourite character by far. Myself and J.D. Onslaught loved to cut promos together because Shmoe was so insane. His show, the Super Fun Happy Hour was my favourite part of every show.
The material for Shmoe, was it all yours?
Yes, everything I say is mine. Of course there are the check points you have to hit, but it has always been all mine.
So what can we expect from Nic Totopoulous in the not so distant future?
Well, I can’t tell you for sure because I really don’t know. I’ve been thrown a couple of ideas about a program with Michael Edwards, but nothing is for sure. I figure I’ll just keep things up with P.U.N.K.S. and see where I end up.
Thanks a lot for coming onto the show with us.
It was my pleasure, I hope I can come back some time.
For sure.
[Back to the live show.]
Dan Lovranski - That was an interesting interviiew. There were some things in there about the WWW and the EWF that I did not know about.
Jeff Marek – You’ve got that right. We’ll be back with more of your phone calls and emails right after this. Remember the numbers of (416)870-6400, AND 1-888-666-MOJO, and email at [email protected].
[Raising Fear by Armored Saint begins to play. Then the one liner by Nic Totopoulous plays, “This is the Tickin’ Time Bomb of Destruction Nic Totopoulous. Keep listening to the LAW.” Then the music plays and they go to commercial.]