But before JBL’s version of a reign of terror on Smackdown, WWE decided to reach out further to the Hispanic audience that watched the show, and thus Rey Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero became a focus of Smackdown. In time, they separately became WWE and World Heavyweight Champions. “Rey is the ultimate underdog.” Lagana explained. “The night Rey beat Matt Hardy in Anaheim, it provided a moment of pure emotion, which is hard to get these days. Here was Rey with his whole family sitting in the front row, winning the match and the show ends with him hugging his son and the cruiserweight title. We all have families and we all can feel that.” On Eddie Guerrero, “Eddie treated everyone as if they were family. That night in San Francisco, the title victory over Brock Lesnar, that was something special. And that’s the one word that sums up the life, career, and talent of Eddie Guerrero – special. We all miss him.”
WrestleZone then shifted gears from the past to the present, and we asked Lagana how he feels about the current pro wrestling product and whether or not it’s heading in the right direction. “It seems everyone is very critical of every promotion all the time,” Lagana explained, “but nobody on the outside of each of those companies truly knows the roadblocks of why things fail from minute to minute. The industry needs to commit to finding a performer with passion a John Cena, a Rock, a Steve Austin, a Ric Flair, a Shawn Michaels, a Triple H, a Dusty Rhodes and take that guy to the moon…” Lagana feels that creating new superstars is all about timing. He notes that guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin may have seemed to happen overnight, but in reality these guys often work for years before something clicks between them and the fans. “Look at CM Punk,” Lagana reminded us, “the timing wasn’t right last year for Punk when he was World Champion, but look at him now. Would we be getting this heel version of Punk now if last year didn’t happen?” This is an appropriate question to ask, I believe, as it exposes the ground work necessary for creating new stars and personalities.
Following David’s release from WWE, the question of “why?” was met with several different answers amongst wrestling “insiders,” most notably that he was an internet “leak” and provided story line spoilers to various sources. Lagana questioned, “Wouldn’t the story of me being a leak, be a leak in itself? I’m sure whoever put that information out had a grudge. I’m a fan first; I love the surprise aspect of the business. Nothing is better than a live crowd living and dying on the emotion created by the boys in the ring. To spoil is ruin; I wouldn’t still be trying to help the business if I was out to ruin.” Then he joked, “plus, if I was the leak I would have had much better press out about me. Some people out there really dislike me. Spend an hour talking wrestling or even life with me; you’ll learn what I’m all about.”
WrestleZone then asked Lagana how story line leaking in general affects the pro wrestling business. Lagana explained that it is generally agenda based depending on who’s providing the information. “A disgruntled member of the pro wrestling community is going to spin the information based on their own agenda. “ He went on to explain that because wrestling is not a competitive sport, there is a lot of politicking happening behind the scenes and this might be the reason some find the need to spoil things for everyone.
On the other side of the pro wrestling coin is of course Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling, which boasts such stars as Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and the genre bending Bobby Lashley. David Lagana’s feelings on TNA, in addition to his thoughts concerning whether or not he feels Lashley can be successful in both the pro wrestling and mixed martial arts worlds will be the subject of the third and final part of our exclusive interview with the current Ring of Honor mind. So check back to WrestleZone for that article, and be sure to catch Ring of Honor in its brand new time slot on Monday nights at 8pm EST on HDNet.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
