GM: How and when did you get started in pro wrestling?
JD:I got started in pro wrestling 15 years ago thanks to Malcolm Monroe. I did everything from pass out flyers to time keeper to ring announcer to sound guy i did whatever was needed, it also helped me a lot to learn about the buisness when i started with them Bobo and the Sheik were still working on the shows and who better to learn from than guys i grew up watching on tv.
GM: What promotions do you work for now and which promotions have you worked for in the past?
JD: I now only work for my promotion the NSWA but i have worked for CWF, GLW, MWCW, and Border City, from time to time i help out the MWA which is runned by my good friend David St"onge who put the Dan Curtis Memorial together.
GM: What got you interested in pro wrestling?
JD: My father got me interested in wrestling when i was growing up, it used to come on late saturday nights and thats was the only time we could spend time together with his busy schedule thats what he was watching so i would watch to. Sad to say he passed away 1 year from when i started in wresting i would have liked to been able to introduce him to Bobo and the Sheik and to have had him seen me working in the buisness in my work name i chose Johnny as a tribute to him that was his first name, my mother enjoys the shows as well and no matter how much we gain or lose from a show along as she enjoys them i guess we will keep on doing them.
GM: Tell us about your partnership with the late Dan Curtis and the NSWA when it started.
JD: The partnership I had with Dan Curtis was the best thing i ever got from this buisness, we had become friends while working on other promotions shows and we also worked together on booking the CWF shows. One day we both decided we wanted to do something different from what was being done around here and that was to bring in indy talent from outside of Mi i.e Montoya, Youth, Lance Diamond and Twiggy Ramirez plus use some names from the past HTM, Valentine, Santana etc. We put them all together and the rest was history we got covered on the internet, WCW hotline, Detroit News and the Apter mags people were taking notice of the NSWA we were selling out the building we ran, we drew 800 on a debut in Jackson and even the ICP took notice and we did a show with them. Besides the NSWA Dan and I ran the pro wrestling ringside report hotline that not only got flooded with calls from fans in Michigan but also from fans in Canada, NewYork, Ohio and Chicago. Dan and i were good friends outside of the buisness as well he was part of our family the hardest thing i had to do was tell my mom that he had passed away she looked at Dan as if he was her son to, they both found out they were diabetic at the same time it was like 1 or 2 days apart so they helped each other with that. The day before Dan passed away i called him to give him the new hotline number for the NSWA and to let him know who was booked for the first Flint show at the time he said he wasnt updating his line because he thought he had the flu sad to say as we later would find out that wasnt the case Dan is missed by me my family and the fans in Mi.
GM: What caused the downfall of the original version of the NSWA?
JD: The downfall of the NSWA was simple now every online mark or teenage hotline host had there own takes on what happened the night of our last show, Jd ran off with the money, he had to pay off the mob for gambling debts, whatever there story was its not true this is the truth of what happened, the building we were running sold tickets in advance for the show and they sold over 200 at 12.00 per ticket but the night of the show they had only 240.00 in the cash box an employee of the building claimed the money was in the managers bank account who just so happen to be out of town, now before the show started the employee came up to me and said you owe 1300.00 for rent and damage to the carpet from another show now there was damage to the carpet that was fixed for 200.00 we paid 150.00 of that before the show so the total we should have had to pay that night was 650.00 no matter how you do the math thats what it comes to 600 rent 200 carpet minus 150= 650.00 the employee said okay pay that amount and well discuss the rest later, at that point i said ok you have 240.00 plus your boss has 2000.00 in the bank that belongs to us so why should we have to pay any thing, she said either pay the 650.00 or your not running the show and she said we could get our money on monday from the building, so i took 410.00 out of my pocket and gave it to her to go with the 240 she already had. Later on i went up to Dan and said that if we didnt get the money back from the building on monday that we were done since i used my rent money and bill money to make payroll well needless to say i called the building and was told we are not responsible for the money thats missing and oh by the way your future dates here have been canceled, now everybody said i took off after the show and did not say anything what was there to say goodbye everybody im going home to figure out how im going to pay my bills with the 11.00 i have left over. Days before that show i loaned 1500.00 to a local worker to pay his car, phone and rent and i was supposed to get some of that back at the show that didnt happen either. I had to sell my truck to pay my bills but i ran off with the gate.
GM: What made you decide to start the NSWA back up?
JD: I started the NSWA back up to piss off all the smart marks that talked smack about us and to see if the workers that talked smack about us would call to be booked guess what it worked, the reason i started it back up was because 2 people that had followed the shows wanted to get in to the promotion on a buisness end and they bugged me for 6 months to do it so we did on there suggestion they also wanted all tickets to go through ticketmaster so there wouldnt be any problems like before and they wanted to run bigger buildings as well. Ask any one of our workers how it is to work for us now with the new ownership it works good for me since i basicly work for the promotion i dont lose a ton of money if the show bombs but i get a 50 percent cut if it does well thanks to the partners involved. The workers we use are happy they get 2 to 3 times more pay from us and they get paid an hour before the show starts.
GM: Who are some of the wrestlers in Michigan you think have the talent to make it big some day?
JD: In the Michigan area i think the workers with the best chance to move on to the big 3 are Alexis Machine, Brian Fury, Skull Ganz and Jimi V . These 4 have all the tools to move on, attitude, looks, charisma, and top notch work rate and on my end they have all been a joy to work with plus Tommy Rogers raved about how well his match went with Jimi V in Flint, Tatanka requested working Brian Fury again on 9/25 after the match they had and Santana and Severn both enjoyed working with Alexis Machine. After that group i would say keep your eyes on Truth Martini and Jason Kronan as well as a young tag team out of Ohio Too Delicious.
GM: You have a show coming up on Sept. 25th for the NSWA. What can the fans expect out of that show?
JD: On 9/25 in Warren Mi the fans can expect to see the NSWA go back to there roots besides seeing Tatanka, Gillberg, Doink and Tommy Rogers they will also see Machine, Fury and Jimi V plus some names from the old NSWA days Don Montoya and Jason Fabio and it was going to be a suprise but what the hell Reckless Youth and making his NSWA debut on that show Mike Quackenbush
GM: Do you have anything you want to plug? websites? shows? ect??
JD: Also in November Angel and Adam Pierce will be brought back as well. I would like to plug our website http://nswawrestling.com and our hotline 248-988-7599.
GM: Do you have any other comments you would like to make?
JD: I would like to say we will never be the next ECW, WWF or WCW but what we will be is a promotion that will bust there ass to give Michigan fans there moneys worth when it comes to putting on a show look at our track record it speaks for itself not only do you get the top indy talent but if you attended our shows you got to meet and see in action Tito Santana, Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, ICP, Don Muraco, The Bushwackers, King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, Ken Patera, Jimmy Snuka, The Headshrinkers, Tommy Rogers, Gillberg and Pitbull#2 Garrett thank you for your time and the space to clear some things up.