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Chris Sabin was surprised to hear that it has indeed been a while since last being on The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network, last appearing over three years ago. After some on-air catching up, Chris was off and running with his fourth trek back into the squared circle of “Your Home Of Wrestling Radio.”
Mosh asked Chris what it has been like to experience TNA’s growth personally and professionally, by being a part of the leaps and bounds over the past several years. Chris said that it has been “real cool” to see TNA grow from the weekly pay-per-view shows at The Asylum in Nashville, to being on national TV and traveling worldwide, to the debut of TNA Impact in high-definition. He added that it has also been cool to be able to build his career with TNA while they were both growing in their early “infancy” stages.
The Mayhem Crew and Sabin then talked about this Sunday’s Turning Point Pay-Per-View and Chris’ match — where he will team up with longtime Motor City Machine Guns partner, Alex Shelley, against Beer Money, Inc. for the TNA World Tag Team Titles. Chris said that he is looking forward to the show, and hopes to be able to add Tag Team Champion to his resume that already consists of being a four-time X-Division Champion.
Mosh then mentioned some of the other TNA tag teams and how they have had “time to shine,” and how now it seems The Motor City Machine Guns are getting another chance to prove themselves. He asked Chris to elaborate on his own personal thoughts of being able to team with best friend, Alex Shelley, as an established tag team and not one that was more or less just thrown together. Chris said that he believes he and Alex both work well together, with “a tag-team kind of bond that most tag teams don’t have.” He added that growing up in the wrestling business with Alex, both living in Detroit, training and wrestling together, and with their similar sizes and athletic ability, everything worked out well.
Adam then addressed last week’s edition of TNA Impact where The Motor City Machine Guns got more involved in the current “young lions vs. veterans” storyline that TNA has been building up for the past several weeks. He then asked Chris if he believes it is something new and refreshing that could help draw some more new viewers to the TNA product. Chris said that so far, he thinks it “has all of the aspects that could be really big,” although there has not been a lot of time to develop it yet. While he would not say that it will “take off to be huge,” just from the past few weeks of television, he thinks that could be a distinct possibility.
Being a former four-time X-Division Champion and with the disappearance of the Cruiserweight division in the WWE, Mosh asked Chris if he thinks that the X-Division has been “lost in the shuffle” over the years in professional wrestling and where he sees it headed into 2009. Chris believes that over the past few years, it has not been as “prevalent” as it was in the past. He mentioned examples of how X-Division matches used to main event pay-per-views and how the X-Division Title would be looked at as being a pedestal, while “nowadays, when people think or talk about it, it doesn’t seem to have that mystique.” He then added that with the current storyline mentioned before, the focus could be put back on the X-Division Championship and be built up to “what it once was.”
Mosh then asked Chris about some of the recent news coming out of TNA, including the departures of Glenn Gilbertti and Pat Kenney from their agent positions, and who, if anyone, Chris sees replacing them. Chris said that he does not think their departures were anything more than budget cuts and does not see anybody replacing them. He also said that he’s “bummed out” that they are gone, saying that Gilberti was a huge locker room morale booster with his sense of humor, and Kenney gave him his first real big break in the Super 8 Tournament. He then said he does not think either of them are “replaceable,” but if TNA does bring new people in, he hopes they are as good as Glenn and Pat are.
Switching to a better note, The Mayhem Crew asked Chris his opinion on the “main focus” right now in TNA and what could help get more ratings and pay-per-view buyrates. Chris mentioned the current storyline with “the young lions vs the veterans” (The Main Event Mafia). He said that with all the recognizable names in that group, hopefully it will catch the interest of some new fans…and since they are feuding with the younger guys, those same fans would be shown a whole new crop of talent they might not have known about before.
Adam Martin mentioned The Machine Guns’ recent return to Ring Of Honor, and asked Chris for his thoughts on the recent departure of the now former head booker, Gabe Sapolsky. Chris said that his initial reaction was that he was surprised. He said he really did not know anyone in Ring Of Honor “really, really well,” or as much as Alex did, but said that there must have been a reason why he is gone after being one of the main guys behind ROH.
Adam then asked Chris about his thoughts on being a part of the first tour of The United Kingdom that TNA had a few months ago, and how much he is looking forward to returning in January. Chris said that the TNA tour was “great,” and added that whenever he has gone to the UK, the fans have been “awesome, so reactive, and so loud.” Looking towards the next tour, Chris said that he is mostly hoping to be booked on it, but also hopes the fans will be “as good, if not better” than the first time.
In closing, Mosh and Adam mentioned how Turning Point is TNA’s first pay-per-view back at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Fla. in quite awhile, along with the first one with the new HD set, and asked Chris if The Motor City Machine Guns have somewhat of a boost of confidence getting a shot at the World Tag team Titles and a chance to enhance the tag team division. Chris said, “absolutely,” and added that this is the first time the MCMG have ever had a shot at the gold, so he is looking forward to it, along with the continued growth and progress of TNA, as well as being used more into the future like they have the past several weeks.
There is much more in this 20-plus minute interview including, more analysis on the Main Event Mafia vs. TNA Originals feud, more on the tag title match at Turning Point, and as sort of a “tongue-in-cheek reference” to long-time listeners of The Mayhem, Chris Sabin’s thoughts on Jeff Hardy.
