Ring Rust Radio: As a former WWE Superstar and now a top name in TNA, what was the experience like for you moving from one company to the other and what went into your decision to sign with Impact Wrestling?
Tyrus: The biggest thing to me, and I had the opportunity to sign with other companies, it was the overall professionalism. A big thing to me was to be able to be in a situation where I could speak my mind freely especially when it came to my character. Get the actual right feedback and not have too many chefs in the kitchen and allow me to be me. They didn’t plug me with a bunch of false promises and wild stories. Dixie said we would like to have you here and just do your thing and that was enough for me. I enjoy the family atmosphere and everyone in back is very close with one another. I fit in right away and the locker room is just outstanding here. You can hear a lot of things from the outside but it’s generally a very positive place to work with everyone pulling for each other to do great work even if you disagree with each other. Perfect example is I can’t stand Matt Hardy to save my life but he is one of my biggest supporters even if the night before I was bouncing him all over the ring. As wrestlers we may hate each other in the ring but we still want each other to do well and I think that’s the difference in TNA. Maybe in other companies you wouldn’t see guys so positive for each other even when they disagree or stand in the way of championships or dreams and things like that.
Ring Rust Radio: The Funkasaurus gimmick in WWE was obviously a big departure from anything you had done previously, and it was unexpected from the fan’s perspective, but it always came across on TV like you really took the ball and ran with it. Looking back, what are your impressions of that time period in your career, and do you believe it ultimately helped you or hurt you in the long run?
Tyrus: First of all, when you are a little kid and you say someday you want to be a football player and a wrestler and all this stuff. Then your Mom looks at you and just says yea whatever, all right. If you remember that’s what your dream was, it didn’t matter what they asked me to do or what they threw at me, I still was given the chance to go out in the ring and entertain and do what I do. The Funkasaurus character was great and it taught me about being humble, about the character, about not being concerned with what people think you should be. If you’re good at what you do regardless of what is thrown in front of you, you will make it work. It was a challenge for me and lucky for me, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes worked with me and helped me make that work. Even to the point of working better than what people were expecting from the character. Sometimes when things get bigger than they thought they take it the wrong way. I enjoyed that time and even now that it’s still being talked about goes to show it was a good character and I enjoyed it. Tyrus is what I enjoy doing and I think at some point there may be a marriage of the two but I don’t miss the dancing character as much with the character.
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.
