Gordo, the wizard of id, Interviews

JD MICHAELS

 

JD Michaels has seen many turns on the road he’s traveled from small town Central Canada to his recent explosion on the NE U.S. scene. He’s paid his dues on the ugly realities of Northern Canadian road tours, survived a horrific car accident and the politics of Indy Wrestling. He’s been courted by the WWE, appeared on PPV, carried Indy Feds and skimmed just below the surface of Superstardom. Talented, controversial, outspoken, creative and oh, so sexy; JD Michaels, through hard work, dedication and intensity, has carved an identity of his own that far eclipses the comparisons to that ‘other’ Michaels his gimmick name implies. And… he’s engaged to April Hunter, Yes, it’s okay to be that jealous!

Recently, JD sat down to talk with the DOI’s Gordo, the wizard of id, to deliver an interview that’s as captivating and entertaining as the man himself. Here then, in his own words, is the story of the man who personifies the words: “Confidence, Attitude, Personality and Sexuality.” The one, the only, JD MICHAELS!

 

Wizard of id: Hello JD, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today.

JD Michaels:  No prob. Thanks for asking me to do this. I always have time for a fellow Canadian.

 

Wizard of id: Canadian yes, but you’re hanging your hat in the states these days, right?

JD Michaels:  Yeah, that's correct. I'm currently living in Wallingford, CT with April...it's a lot smaller than my hometown of Edmonton, but I'm adjusting fairly well.

 

Wizard of id: Well, Canada’s loss is April’s gain. How are things going with that? Have you two set a date for the big day yet?

JD Michaels: Not yet. Still have a few things to sort out. But it looks like it'll go down in sin city....Vegas, baby!

 

Wizard of id: You just spent some time together in France, worked a fight convention over there?

JD Michaels:  You know it. I have a 2-part blog on my site (www.jdmichaels.net) and MySpace (www.myspace.com/jd_michaels) with pics and it's also on the main page of the DOI. It was a really great trip and a lot of fun to be a part of an important convention like this.

 

Wizard of id: That’s a long way from the Canadian prairie. Did you ever think your life would take the turns that it did?

JD Michaels:  Honestly, yes but no. I have always known where I wanted to end up. But how you get there you just can't predict. I can say that I am really happy the way things have turned out so far.

Wizard of id: When did you start getting interested in wrestling? Were there any particular stars that inspired you?

JD Michaels:  I've been into wrestling since about the age 2. I don't remember that far back, but my parents kept a baby log and apparently that's the age I first watched and supposedly responded to it. Back in those days, it really was Hogan that grabbed my attention first. Then I noticed the Hart Foundation, The Rockers and The British Bulldogs. In the 90's it was Bret, Shawn, Flair, Owen, Henning and Jarrett who stood out to me for many reasons - not just because they were the smaller guys, but their wrestling was always better; had more psychology and kept you entertained at the same time. 

 

Wizard of id: I understand you didn’t have a lot of formal training when you started; you just entered a weekend camp or something?

JD Michaels:  Basically, my senior year of high school, Maxim did a story about the WCW Powerplant and had a video on the 'net. When I checked it out, it was showing how bumps were taken, lockups, how the ropes were run, how to slam someone, drop legs and elbows, etc... Just a bunch of basic stuff. I actually went to a boxing ring and practiced these basic moves over and over and over. The autumn after school ended, a promotion opened up (CCW), so I went to a weekend camp to see what their school would be like. At the end of the second day after camp was done, I asked them if I could show them a few things and see if I was doing them right. So I did all ten basic moves or whatever and surprisingly they were actually impressed. They ended up telling me to skip wrestling school and just come work out with some of the boys. I basically did that and drills until I was able to put a match together, then they asked me to work.

 

Wizard of id: You had your first match November 4th, 2001. What do you remember about it?

JD Michaels:   It had been two years since I watched an Indy show (Stampede) so I was very nervous. 150 people or so were there, including my whole family. I got some good heel heat when I came out just because of my attitude/arrogance, and when they started to boo, I was like "sweet, this is gonna be fun!" The match itself was the opener, about 10 min of back and forth with yours truly doing the job. The most important thing to me however was the feedback from vets who were watching. I'm not one of those guys who thinks just because I'm booked on a show that it means you can't always learn and get better and I've considered myself lucky to have the veterans critique my matches. 

 

Wizard of id: What was it like being the new kid on the block? Did you suffer any ribs or hazing from the vets?

JD Michaels: I honestly didn't get ribbed too much. I was always stuck driving the first leg of a long drive on a tour while the other nine guys snored away - and chopped excessively sometimes - but when I heard stories of how it used to be, I don't even consider what I got as ribs. It might have been because I was always asking questions, never slacked, worked and sold my ass off...or maybe not.

 

Wizard of id: You must have improved because you won the CCW title in February of 2002 and held it for 3 months.

JD Michaels:  My style mostly comes from Flair/Shawn/Henning which emphasized bumping and selling. Any-and-everything that was given to me in that ring; I would sell my ass off for and make it look as real as possible. Guys wanted to work with me because they knew I would do my part to make them look good by selling their shit. I also had gear and boots from day one so I always looked like a wrestler (just not as built at that time) so the promoter liked that he had a local guy he could advertise that had somewhat of a look and gave 100%.

 

Wizard of id: In the summer of ’02, you started working for Monster Pro Wrestling and stayed with them almost two years. What were they like to work for?

JD Michaels:  For the most part, they were great to work for. When the company was being formed, they approached me in CCW and asked me to come there. They had plans to bring in talent from outside of Alberta and that was appealing to me as I wanted to work and learn from different guys and get better myself. Two months after I left, CCW folded...guess I made the right choice.

 

Wizard of id: In the fall of that year you embarked on a tour with Can Am Wrestling.

JD Michaels:  We traveled all over Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Most of the places we went I couldn't give you the name of as they were Indian reservations. Those shows were good to hit for 2 reasons; A.)The reservation would "buy" the show in advance for a set price and B.) They were really easy crowds to work which helped us greenhorns in the confidence department.

 

Wizard of id: I’ve heard some horror stories about Canadian road trips; how was it traveling on that tour and wrestling in small town Canada?

JD Michaels:  I think everyone has heard of those. (Laughs.) Basically, one big difference between Canada and the US is the distance between shows. Down here I can find a dozen promotions in a 4 hour radius of where I live. In Canada, you have to drive...and I mean DRIVE. The promoter would rent an eight-person van, cram ten wrestlers in there (more than half were the size of someone like Rhyno) and we would drive six hours here, then eight hours to there, two more after that, then another nine this way and by the time you hit the last stop, you were eighteen hours away from home...if not further. The other thing that would be shitty was the eating situations. Gas station food was pretty much luxury. We would go to some places that would have a "do not drink" in effect for all water, so if you didn't have bottled water, you couldn't make a shake or even cook unless it was boiled first. The more north we went, the colder it got. Your nose would damn near freeze shut just from walking from the van into building.

 

Wizard of id: So things were going well. You were starting to get known in Central Canada, developing your skills, getting a solid grasp on the direction you wanted to go and suddenly, everything changed in March of 2003 when you were involved in a car accident. What happened?

JD Michaels:  My girlfriend at the time was moving to Edmonton from Vancouver and I had gone out there to help her pack and then drive back. There had been a really bad snow storm in the mountains a few days earlier so the highways were heavily sanded. But the snow melted and we were going across a bridge; the car was in cruise-control and when we drove over a big patch of sand (which you couldn't really see) the Mustang started fishtailing. We did three donuts and slammed into a concrete wall head-on. It was a '94 Mustang which had the early-style airbag; the ones they had to change soon after due to how many injuries they were causing instead of preventing. My jaw was pushed to the side, whiplash, tissue damage in my neck and down into my shoulder and bad tissue damage in my right elbow.

 

Wizard of id: Did you think your career was over?

JD Michaels:  Nah, I was still walking. I had to have physio-therapy on my neck and upper back for quite a while, I had my jaw fixed without getting stuck with TMJ and wasn't allowed anywhere near a gym. But never did I think it was over. It was nothing more than a pain in the ass inconvenience.

 

Wizard of id: When did you return to the ring?

JD Michaels:  I was told I would have clearance in August, but I did a guest ref spot in late May to set up a return in June. There were disks in my neck that weren’t fully healed and I paid for that about six months later.

 

Wizard of id: You still bumped like a motherfucker; did the neck injury make you consider changing your style at all?

JD Michaels:  Not really. I sell hard. A large part of my selling is bumping, so no.

Wizard of id: In the fall of ’03 you had the opportunity to wrestle some PPV matches for Cyberfights. How did that come about?

JD Michaels:  Cyberfights contacted me to come out to their tapings in Vancouver. They paid for the flight; put us up in a condo downtown Vancouver. I wrestled six matches in three days. Each match is 30 minutes in three 10 minute segments (they sell them in segments). The thing was, there was no crowd. It's strictly for a PPV internet audience, so we had to play it up to the cameras they had. There are rumors out there about the audience that Cyberfights targets, but I have to say, all we had to do was wrestle. The first time I was there I was brought in to work Frankie Kazarian and Matt Stryker (unibrow). Late last year, I worked with Matt Sydal, Jimmy Jacobs and Rob Anthony. Being from Canada, you don't get many opportunities to wrestle guys from the US, so aside from the great payday, it was all about working different wrestlers.

 

Wizard of id: Did that exposure play a role in you making the Western Canadian tour early the next year?

JD Michaels:  Actually, no. One of the bookers, Vance Nevada, I had wrestled earlier in the year out in Edmonton. Apparently, I impressed him and he asked me about coming out there.

 

Wizard of id: You took part in ECCW’s NWA Pacific Cup, probably the biggest event on the West Coast. What was that like?

JD Michaels:  It was cool. I'd heard it was popular with tape traders so I figured it was a chance to help get my name out there. They had a good, hot crowd and I wrestled the promotions' top babyface. When the match was done, he actually said that when he pinned me it was one of the biggest pops he had ever gotten, and we'd only had nine minutes.

 

Wizard of id: Too bad you didn’t win; it might have been some consolation for losing your real job because of that tour.

JD Michaels:  Yeah, just when you think you are moving forward, something happens to spoil the fun. I was working as head of security at a hotel. I'd asked for time off and was granted it. I did the NWA Pacific Cup, then did another shot in British Columbia for Top Ranked Wrestling, then went down and did TV in Portland. While crossing the border, my phone rings, and it's work. Basically, my boss had quit and not made note of my allowed time off. When I got back, they said because I "skipped' work, I was fired. I was so hot. For the most part, you cannot survive the Indies without a real job. I cut a promo on that bitch, but I was still jobless.

 

Wizard of id: You left MPW around this time too, why was that?

JD Michaels: Personal reasons for the most part.

 

Wizard of id: You care to elaborate on that?

JD Michaels: Nah, it's old shit not worth talking about.

 

Wizard of id: You’re sure?

JD Michaels: I’m positive.

 

Wizard of id: Okay, moving on; in October you had a 3 day evaluation with OVW. How did that come about?

JD Michaels:  They had an open evaluation to see where they thought you belonged - or if you even belonged in wrestling. They had two that year; I tried for the first one, but the response was overwhelming. However, right after it happened (March) Jim Cornette emailed me and told me to be at the one in the fall.

 

Wizard of id: And what happens at an OVW evaluation?

JD Michaels: There were various types of people there. A few had never been in a ring. A couple were greeeeen, and the rest were like me, who had a few years under their belts. They put us through lots of drills, broke everything down and explained how things should make sense. We had matches that were taped and then Simon Dean would critique them. There were face drills, heat drills, cardio drills, drills of sequences, proper kickouts etc.

 

Wizard of id: So how’d it go? Were they were impressed with JD Michaels?

JD Michaels:  I was nervous when I got there, but at the end of the first day, Simon Dean privately told me something that eased my nerves and boosted my confidence. On the last day, Cornette took me aside and gave me a proposal. He asked me to relocate to Louisville, as he saw me fitting into the OVW roster. He wanted me to train with the developmental guys--BUT he couldn't offer me a contract. He told me when I got home, to contact immigration, get what I needed and come back right after Christmas. However, after 9/11, things didn't work like that any longer. My only options for coming back were to live off of whatever money I had (which was fuck-all) for six months, or come back on a contract. Basically unless a shitload of money would conveniently fall out of the sky or I won a lottery, I was pretty much stuck. Cornette said they had no idea how stiff it was since they never had to deal with a Canadian coming down before except Rene Dupree, but he was already signed and had a green card.

 

Wizard of id: Yea, I know all about border crossing issues.

JD Michaels: You care to elaborate on that?

 

Wizard of id: No

JD Michaels: You’re sure?

 

Wizard of id: Yeah, I’m positive. Okay. So, you got back from OVW and started working out of Edmonton for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance?

JD Michaels:  PWA was the other promotion in Edmonton. I had a long talk with the promoter who seemed really interested, so I started working for them.

 

Wizard of id: But in March, you worked in Winnipeg for Action Wrestling Entertainment?

JD Michaels:  Yeah, promoters only had beef if you worked the rival promotion in the same city. With the lack of Indy wrestling in Canada, I would have told a promoter to fuck off if he told me not to take outside bookings. AWE was a new promotion that wanted to debut with a bang and be "above" an Indy show. Billy Gunn, Rikishi, Jamie Knoble and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were brought in for draws. We had probably 1500 people there, a production crew to tape it as it was to be aired on PPV across Canada.

 

Wizard of id: I guess that was one of the best gigs you ever got, from a personal standpoint at least.

JD Michaels:  (Laughs) That would be at the next set of TV/PPV tapings for AWE later in the year!

 

Wizard of id: We’ll talk about that in a minute; there was a lot of stuff happening before then. Like you parting ways with PWA in May. I thought you were tearing things up there, what happened?

JD Michaels:  I had been working heel for a while and getting good heel heat everywhere. The booker of PWA was also heel and decided he wanted to use me as a face.  But, all the fans knew me as heel and especially without an explained turn, wouldn't buy the babyface bullshit I would spew at them. So, show after show I would 'face it up' and they shit on it. If I did anything heel at all in the match, it would get a big pop. I knew they wanted me to be heel. So, in the spring of 2005, I was booked in a face/face match, and I decided 'fuck it, Ima play up the heel' and the match got far more over than it would have if I fed them baby tactics. Within a few shows, fans were already saying I was the best heel on the show. I would lose my voice incorporating the fans into the match. It didn't sit well with the booker who was heel as he got less and less heat, to the point where he just came out as a face one show and put the strap on himself. There was a lumberjack match, I was a lumberjack and the place was chanting "JD Sucks!!" The booker from the other side of the ring just gave me the dirtiest look, but too bad if I worked harder than you and got more heat. Tough titties. Don't hate me for it. If you can't keep your heat, that's not my fault. There is more to getting heat than saying "shut up" to the fans.

 

Wizard of id: (Laughing) Tough titties?

JD Michaels:  That's right. I did everything I was asked to do. I did the job to everyone I was asked to. I sold and worked my ass off in the ring for guys I despised--but I am a professional so the match came before personal feelings. I know there were a few guys who didn't like me and they politicked with the booker who didn't care for me anyway, and then had audacity to say I wasn't a professional and that the PWA didn't want me back. Actually, I had to hear that second hand because the promoter never once called me, yet told everyone and their dog that me and him had a long conversation and that we parted mutually. I was fed up by that point on my own, and if he would have called I would have quit and told him and his little crew of "circle jerkers"(and that is a shoot) where to go. Five years of running and they only drew just over a hundred, tops. Lame. I really don't like talking about this stuff publicly, but they were just such a joke.

 

Wizard of id: Yeah, I can relate; I lost my job over politics.

JD Michaels: Tough titties....welcome to the club...not that anyone cares about you losing a job.

 

Wizard of id: (Laughs) You’re probably right. Speaking of jobs, you did a pretty high profile job in June for the WWE against the Bashams at a Velocity taping.

JD Michaels: That was cool. It was only my second time backstage. There were about a dozen Indy guys there, so very little was accomplished during the afternoon workout. It was pretty much all standing chain wrestling. Chavo Guerrero had half the ring, as he was teaching the divas hiptosses and armdrags....I did notice Vince sitting in the tenth row by himself, just observing. About twenty minutes later, Johnny Ace informed me and Ted Hart that we were working the Bashams and to go find our agent and get sorted.

 

Wizard of id: You get any positive feedback from the WWE from that?

JD Michaels:  The agent, Steve Kerin, said he'd heard I was a "good sell" so he told me to take the heat. We had five minutes, so right then and there I knew I wasn't going to get anything off in the match. But it's their office, and you gotta do what they ask, so I sold my ass off. Right after the match, Vince was standing there waiting and pulled all of us aside. He shit on the Bashams for a delayed suplex they gave me that made the ref look stupid since after he counted to five they were still holding me. He said something to Ted and then turned to me and said, "Great selling, you did exactly what you were supposed to do". He shook my hand and walked away.

 

Wizard of id: It was around this time that Tim Strom from Power Zone Wrestling contacted you to work there wasn’t it?

JD Michaels: Tim was a former Stampede employee who started a new fed about six hours south of Edmonton in Lethbridge. He basically called me up and said he wanted to push me as the main guy and he really believed I could help get PZW off the ground. The first show is always the hardest, and we only drew around 40 people. Lethbridge, however, was a city that didn't have any Indy wrestling so that in itself was going to be an uphill battle...spreading the awareness that there was local wrestling.

 

Wizard of id: Forty people? Wow.

JD Michaels: Hey, one time I wrestled for 20. If there are 40 people who sit on their hands, it's going to be a long night. We were really pleased with just how hot people were. PZW did two shows a month starting in October. Attendance went from 40 to 150 in just two months. Tim pushed me hard in whatever advertising he could get. I started a feud with a guy I helped break in--Brady Roberts. Our first match took place three days after Eddie died, so the finish to our match was the gimmick where I get caught with chair and DQ'd. The next match we had I cranked him with a chair behind the ref and evened it up. Our final match was billed a "steel chair on a pole/loser leaves town" match. That match took place in February, and we drew 300. Since we couldn't run in December, in basically 3 months we went from 40-300.

 

Wizard of id: Okay, but somewhere in there you hooked up with Lance Storm in Calgary.

JD Michaels: WWE had told me that since I was under 6'2 that I was too small because at the moment, they're only looking for wrestlers that height and over. I couldn't go back to OVW due to those border policies. Lance had quit OVW and opened up a school in Calgary. I emailed him about possibly doing some training sessions to try and learn what they were going to teach me in OVW, and since he'd been the head trainer there, who better to get in the ring with. He liked my idea, and every Wednesday, I drove down. He was getting near the end of his beginners class, where his guys were learning how to put together matches, so I would go in the mornings, have matches with his students and then later get in the ring with Lance for 3-4 hours. Lance is awesome. He's very smart and knows his shit. He is so easy to wrestle, too. I learned so much just from listening to him talk. I highly recommend anyone wanting to get into wrestling to look into the Storm Wrestling Academy.

 

Wizard of id: And you also did some TV tapings for The Fight Network and another PPV taping in December for AWE. That’s when you met April Hunter, right?

JD Michaels:  Yeah. December 6th was a taping for PPV and the 7th was for the Fight Network. Scott Steiner, Billy Gunn, Rick Steiner, Chuck Palumbo, Buff Bagwell and April were all brought in. Again, we probably had 1,500 each night; they had a big screen and the production was top notch. April's opponent didn't catch her right on a cross body and April hit her face on the mat, breaking her nose. After the show I could see she was worried about the swelling and bruising, so I went up to her and made a joke about how big my nose is and it's not even broken. We ended up talking till 6 am, it was crazy, but in a good way.

 

Wizard of id: And obviously, you guys hit it off pretty good.

JD Michaels:  Yep.The next night after the show it was the same thing. We stayed up till 8 am, talking. Time just flew. Then I had to leave, but we talked on the phone every day since. She came up to Edmonton for a week during New Years, then I went down there for three weeks, went back home, finished up any Canadian bookings and then we moved in together. Everything just seemed right, so the first night back I proposed.

 

Wizard of id: You want to share any details of the big moment?

JD Michaels: We were taking a nap. She left for a minute, I grabbed the ring, she came back and I hugged her from behind, reached around and put it on her finger...she said "Holy shit, what the fuck is this?" "What do you think it is?" she turned around, smiled and said "Yes".

 

Wizard of id: What’s it like being in a relationship with someone who’s so well known and desired by so many? I mean, April’s certainly been exposed to a lot of people. How do you feel about that?

JD Michaels: I try not to sweat it. Modeling is just her job. April is a very loyal and honest person. To be together has been a lot of hassles and cost a lot of money due to the distance. If she wasn't really into me or vice versa, neither of us would have gone through everything we have. Many guys may want her, but she only wants me. I couldn't care less, though, if nobody knew who she was or if she wasn't a model. I know her as April the person on many levels that most people will never get to.

Wizard of id: You guys obviously work a lot of the same shows; when was the first time you actually worked together?

JD Michaels: When she came to Edmonton, we actually did a photo shoot. But as far as wrestling, it was the TLC Royal Rumble for UXW.

 

Wizard of id: Now, I’m not saying I think it’s deserved, but April has a reputation for being a bit of a, um, what’s the word I’m looking for?

JD Michaels: Bitch? This business is very funny. There is a lot of jealousy, envy and bullshit. I've found on my own, that sometimes honesty makes you a heel as some people would rather avoid the truth. Like I said, April is a very honest person. She has paid enough dues in wrestling to have an opinion. It's way easier to "hate" someone, than to look at yourself in the mirror and improve your game. April was an independent entertainer before wrestling--where you had to stand up for yourself and have a voice or you got walked over, but in this business you can get heat for it. She'll be the first to admit she's still learning. This business still has sexism in it. For example, some of the boys who would refuse to sell for her just because she is a girl, but she isn’t 5'2, 110lbs. She is a big, strong girl and I guarantee you if she hit you, it would probably hurt. I haven't walked in her shoes, but I can only imagine what she has had to tolerate being a woman in man's world.

 

Wizard of id: Okay, that’ll work. Do you think that perception of her has, or will, impact your ability to get bookings or the way people treat you?

JD Michaels:  I hope not. I am my own person. I'm a professional and can take care of myself. I don't judge people and shouldn't be judged if someone doesn't like April, 'cause at the end of the day, talent speaks for itself. I'd been working almost 6 years before I met April and if someone dislikes her, that shouldn't affect the dues I have paid.

 

Wizard of id: Well said. Okay, moving on… you worked the ABC show in March against Nick Berk and then later on the card, substituted for April in a match against Mercedes Martinez.

JD Michaels:  Back in February, April fell down some stairs and it really screwed up her lower back. She was in a lot of pain. The hospital said it was badly bruised and with all the nerve endings as well as a few herniated discs she already had, that she absolutely had to give it time to heal. She really wanted to wrestle Mercedes but the chance of her taking a bump and not getting up were way too high. We came up with a way that I could be inserted into the match. So, I wrestled Nick Berk in the opener, then later on wrestled Mercedes.

 

Wizard of id: Was that the first time you ever wrestled a woman?

JD Michaels: I'd worked out with some while helping at schools but that was my first actual match against a woman.

 

Wizard of id: Well, you certainly gave her a match all right.

JD Michaels: I treated Mercedes the same way I would a guy - and she asked me to. That didn't mean beat the shit out of her. There are things in a match that need to be snug. But all in all, I do my best in taking care of who I’m in the ring with and protect them as much as possible. And I did the same for Mercedes.

 

Wizard of id: You mentioned April being injured. Injuries are a fact of life for wrestlers; have you suffered many in your career?

JD Michaels: Nothing major...cracked ribs, dislocated hip, broken nose, ligament damage in my right wrist, crooked discs in lower back, concussion, and a severely bruised heel.

 

Wizard of id: Nothing major? Jesus. I’d consider a dislocated hip major; at least when it first happens.

JD Michaels: A guy slammed me on the floor and didn't protect me. My feet never even touched. Between the hip popping out and the smack of my back on the cold floor, it felt like I was hit by a car. It was hard for the chiropractor to pop it back in the next day. It's fine to mutually agree to really lay it in or do something for an angle, but this wasn't either of those.  I want my opponent I'm in the ring with to take care of me as I will do the same. Sure accidents happen, but some things are just so careless that they can be avoided.

 

Wizard of id: Speaking of opponents, is there anyone in particular you’d like to face in the ring?

JD Michaels: There are so many talented workers out there that I haven't worked... really it's 'the more the merrier'. I want to work as many guys as possible. I'm game for just about anyone.

 

Wizard of id: Anyone you wouldn’t wrestle?

JD Michaels:  Not off the top of my head.

 

Wizard of id: What about Slyk Wagner Brown?

JD Michaels: You know what, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and there are always two sides to a story. However, this is an exception to the rule and there's enough evidence to one side of the story. I don't want to say much, as it's still pending in court...I know very little of him as a wrestler and don't care what he can do in the ring. The fact of the matter is, he had a knife against April's throat when the cops came in and tasered him. If they hadn't come in, who knows what would have happened to her. It takes a certain kind of person to beat the shit out of a woman, but then to attempt to kill them? I try to keep things very professional and keep personal issues out of the ring. But at some point you have to draw the line, and I would never "work" with him. I have absolutely no respect for him and hopefully he'll find out first hand that the biggest bitch of all is Karma.

 

Wizard of id: JD, you’re a very talented worker, you’ve got great crowd skills and you play an awesome cocky heel. I’ve got to ask, what’s up with the Shawn Michaels thing?

JD Michaels: From day one, the Shawn gimmick was put on me. Shawn was retired at the time and I didn't have a name when I started so the promoter of CCW said "You look a lot like Shawn, your last name will be Michaels, and you come up with a first name. I think it'll be controversial." My nickname at my real job was JD, short for my actual name, and one day it just rolled off my tongue...JD Michaels.

 

Wizard of id: You ever consider changing it? Shawn Michaels is pretty famous and he’s still around; does wrestling need another Michaels?

JD Michaels: I tell people to refer to me as JD. If your doing match results, write it up like "then JD hit him with this"...not "then Michaels hit him with that". I asked WWE if I should change my name and they actually were fine with it. They said that it's not impossible for more than one person to be in wrestling and have the same last name.

 

Wizard of id: What I mean is, it’s not like you need the connection to Shawn, and you’re certainly good enough to carve your own identity.

JD Michaels: When Shawn came back late in 2002, tons of fans started asking me not if but how "are you related to Shawn?" So, I ran with the story of being Shawn's nephew. I wasn't familiar with Michael Shane/Matt Maverick until about two years after that. By then it had gone on too long to drop with all the fans who saw me on a regular basis. After OVW, I toned it down, started wearing less and less ring attire like the vests, earrings, chaps that I'd worn when he was retired.  For new fans, I tried not to acknowledge the 'nephew' gimmick. I am who I am. I wrestle like JD. The only Shawn-esque move I do is the top rope elbow and Randy Savage made it famous before Shawn did. Ric Flair says in his book that he ripped off Buddy Rogers right down to stealing his nickname and finishing move. In that same book, HHH and HBK both admit to ripping off Ric Flair. How about Chris Benoit and his idol The Dynamite Kid? "Superstar" Billy Graham had "24 inch pythons" (brother), wore tie-dyed tights and feathered boas years before Hulkamania was running wild. I honestly think that all the greats, no matter what generation, will be "ripped off" to some extent or another. Every current worker out there today had someone influence them and either incorporates that into their look or work - or both. Every time I go into a locker room, I see plenty of Indy guys who "tribute" their influences.

 

Wizard of id: Can you see you yourself in the WWE? With your in-ring skills and uber-heel character, I think you’d be a natural.

JD Michaels: Yes. I have tunnel-vision. I know I will get there; it's only a matter of time. I think once they start phasing out of the 'big guy' phase they're in, it'll spark another era of smaller guys who have better matches. Then it will be just about being in the right place at the right time.

 

Wizard of id: Maybe you could wrestle Shawn in a "Winner Keeps the Name Match;" that would make a helluva PPV main event.

JD Michaels:  When Ric Flair was still "up and coming", he wrestled Buddy Rogers. They were both calling themselves "Nature Boy" and Rogers passed that torch to Flair. I have never referred to myself as "The Heartbreak Kid", so I don't know about a name stipulation, but I do know it would be an honor and pleasure if that match were to ever take place, as he will go down as one of the best of all time. As a matter of fact, to wrestle anyone of that caliber would be nothing short of amazing.

 

Wizard of id: What are you’re thoughts on TNA?

JD Michaels:  I hope TNA continues to grow. Competition is always a good thing. No, they aren't competition yet for WWE, but they have the potential. If they get more successful, it's just good news for anyone on the Indies as well. 

 

Wizard of id: How about Ring of Honor; do you think you’d fit their product?

JD Michaels:  ROH is a work-rate based promotion. I am a work-rate wrestler. I can adapt to other styles pretty well. I'll give you an example; one of their hot new prospects, Dave Richards, and I had a match in the summer of 2004. His style is very different than mine. We went 25+ minutes. The psychology was bang on -- two contrasting styles, yet everything made sense. Honky Tonk Man was on the show and told me it was one of the best matches he had seen in a long time. I have a video clip of it up at Youtube...unfortunately; it's only like 5 minutes long... however, I don't want to be labeled with one specific style. I prefer to be all-around. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwa9lhTXN0  )

 

Wizard of id: Seems to me that a company like JAPW or UXW could really run with you at the top of their roster; any chance fans will see more of you in those Feds?

JD Michaels:  Last time I checked, I'm not the booker of either of those feds, so you'd probably have to contact them.

 

Wizard of id: So what’s on the horizon for JD Michaels; where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years?

JD Michaels: I'd like to be earning a living from wrestling. I hope to be in WWE or if TNA continues to grow maybe working for them or a similar promotion. Once I can earn a full-time living; that will open the window to start a family, which I would also like.

Wizard of id: JD, you’ve been a good sport with this. I appreciate that. Is there anything you’d like to add; something you’d like to say directly to the fans?

JD Michaels: My site is www.jdmichaels.net  and MySpace is www.myspace.com/jd_michaels 

Check these out see what I'm up to. I have videos on both. My site is in the process of getting a new webmaster, so I might have more info on MySpace. If you like what you see, contact your favorite promotion and ask for me. For any workers looking for new gear check out www.myspace.com/superstargear  I do custom made wrestling gear.

 

Wizard of id: It’s been a pleasure talking with you. On behalf of the DOI and its readership, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Good luck in all that you do.

JD Michaels: Thanks for the press, anytime you wanna plug me go right ahead! Remember, JD Michaels=Confidence, Attitude, Personality & Sexuality!

 

Check out JD’s Website: www.jdmichaels.net

Visit JD’s MySpace: www.myspace.com/jd_michaels

Need awesome wrestling gear? www.myspace.com/superstargear

Check out April’s Website: www.aprilhunter.com

Visit April’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theultimateprize

All Photos courtesy JD Michaels & April Hunter

Contact Gordo, the wizard of id: zapflash@sympatico.ca