Naphtali Interview

Naphtali is one of the many talented wrestlers that NWA Florida boasts on there roster. He will be participating in the 2nd annual Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup on June 4-5. In this interview, Naphtali candidly discusses his first wrestling match, a trip to Japan, his friendship with Jeff Peterson and the upcoming Peterson Cup. At this time, I would like to thank Naphtali for granting me this interview.

Will Rivera: Let’s start off with a little background history. Why did you become a professional wrestler?

Naphtali: I guess I always was a big fan. A big Ric Flair, a big Freebirds fan, as probably evidenced in my style of wrestling. I just happened to run into one of the old IPW guys at a Walgreens one day, and I talked to him and he said, ‘hey we just opened up a training school. Ya know, come down and check it out. It’s in the experimental stages right now.’ So I did that and the next day I signed up, and that was in June of ‘98.

WR: What do you recall about your training days?

N: It wasn’t a gym. It wasn’t anything other than a produce warehouse. We had to set up the ring every day we wanted to use it and tear it down when we were done. And that’s pretty much it. We knew the ring inside and out. Anytime we had to go somewhere, it was me…it was pretty much me and one other person, if not two, doing the ring. And we pretty much put up the ring everyday and tore it down, which is something I don’t think a lot of the young guys here know anything about. And I don’t think most of ’em are actually paying their dues the way they should, but I’ve gained a lot of respect from the veterans here in Florida because of the way I busted my butt. And they know what I went through when I trained. I went through hell. And that’s why I garner the respect that I do here in Florida.

WR: What do you remember about your first ever professional wrestling match?

N: It was against a 600 lbs. guy by the name of Haystacks Calhoun, Jr. (Laughing) It was a typical squash match, in which the 150 lbs. guy got beat by the 600 lbs. guy. I coulda sworn I almost had ’em. But, no. The only thing I really remember was that his clothesline was not really a clothesline. He just stuck his arm out there, and when I hit it I thought it broke my jaw because it hit me from, everywhere from my forehead all the way down to my waist. His arm was so big. And it wasn’t muscle. No, It was all fat, and it all hurt!

WR: You currently run, pretty much, with NWA Florida. What other promotions do you work for?

N: I work for another NWA affiliate in Florida called NWA Sunray. And every once in a while I’ll go do some other shows. There’s one that runs out of Tampa called USWS and I think I’m their cruiserweight champion there (Laughing). I don’t mean to make that sound bad, it’s just after a while I’ve had so many matches that it just starts to mix in. I don’t even know the dates anymore. Most of the time I have guys say ‘are you coming this weekend?’ and I say yes. Where? And that’s how I know my bookings.

WR: Which of the promotions are your favorite? And which ones are your least favorite?

N: This one is, by far, my favorite, NWA Florida. It’s a family. I started with IPW, which became NWA Florida not too long ago. I started with ’em, like, a couple months right after its inception, so these guys knew me from the start. It’s a big family. I’ve known these guys since I began, and they haven’t treated me any different. They treated me well when I was green and treat me better now. But it’s a family here, and that’s the type of atmosphere you can walk in and just go up and hug somebody and be all…ya know, it’s a family, that’s all I can say. It’s Camaraderie. As for least favorite, man if I’m wrestling there is no least favorite. I’m getting’ it done. There’s not a lot of locker rooms like this one, but if I’m wrestling I’m happy. I’ve never really been in a bad locker room. If I was, I wouldn’t be in there.

WR: Thus far, who has been your favorite opponent and why?

N: I got a couple, but I have to say the late Jeff Peterson would be my favorite. When I was training, he just moved down from Delaware. He taught me a whole hell of a lot about this business because he had grown up around it his whole life. He has been my greatest influence, I think in wrestling. And still to this day, I use everything I learned from him in just about every match. So, he was my favorite. Always said “hey what do you wanna do?” And never had a problem with it. There’s a bunch of others like Justice, Jerelle Clark, David Babylon, Sedrick Strong, who are amongst my favorite. But I would have to say that Jeff Peterson would have to be my favorite. Unfortunately, I can’t wrestle him anymore, but I can still wrestle for him.

WR: Ok, we’ll bring up Jeff Peterson a little later then. Your unorthodox style in the ring has been people wondering… you’ve been known to break out the Garvin Stomp and the Polish Hammer during your matches, so it’s safe to say that you grew up as a wrestling fan. You mentioned that Jeff Peterson was one of your influences. Who else has been influential in developing Naphtali, the wrestler?

N: Ric Flair, as I mentioned. Michael Hayes. Oh my gosh, if you go back and watch when the Freebirds won the NWA world tag titles from the Road Warriors on that baseball field in Chicago. I believe that’s where it was, I don’t know. My brain’s been splattered too many times! But the first 15 minutes of the match is just him walking around the baseball field just totally getting the fans hating him, spitting, throwing stuff at him. The match had been going on 15 minutes. Nobody had done anything in the ring. It was just him on the outside, walking around the entire baseball field just getting yelled at, and that’s story telling. That’s getting people to hate you rather than just coming in here and doing what you gotta do. I believe in the good ole southern style, NWA style. I was more of an NWA fan than I was a WWF/E fan, so the old Ric Flair type wrestling…4 Horsemen! Oh my God, I can go on and on about the Horsemen, the Freebirds, Midnight Express, Jim Cornette! I can go on and on! But I won’t because you’ll run out of tape. But the old NWA, the old school has greatly influenced me. And really, everyone…right now, the whole wrestling world seems to be like ‘look at this move I just created.’ Or, ‘wow, oh my God, he did 18 flips and landed on his head and he’s still walking.’ Well, I’ll do the Garvin Stomp, the Polish Hammer, the heart punch and the chicken wing any day over that and live.

WR: You’ve been featured in the PWI 500 the last few years, most recently last year’s edition at #313. Is this a big honor for you? What are your views on the PWI 500?

N: Oh, I went from 313 to 304 back up to 313, so I’m shootin’ for 304 again this year. Nah, actually it is an honor. Just being mentioned, somebody knowing me. Them looking at me and them looking at my credentials and knowing my credentials. It’s people knowing who I am. That’s the big deal, people down here in the south really don’t tend to be noticed a whole lot. The northeast is pretty much dominate, as far as news on independent dirt sheets. So being from Florida and being recognized, it is an accomplishment. But the numbers don’t mean nothing. After a while, they seem to be random. I know a lot of guys who been left out that you wonder why they get left out. They’re better than some of the pictures I’ve seen on some of these other guys who are like #225 and you’re like ‘who the hell is this guy and why is he like 400 lbs. and his face is painted?’ But after a while, everybody just becomes one. I think here in Florida, we strive to be different than the northeast, and to be recognized for that is a accomplishment amongst itself.

WR: You’ve traveled the world, wrestling in such places as Japan, and I believe Puerto Rico. Am I correct?

N: Yes.

WR: What were those experiences like?

N: Oh my God, I fell in love with Japan. If I could move there and wrestle there for a living, I would be in heaven. Everyone there was so nice. They helped me out whenever I needed anything. The guys there were willing to work with me. There was no attitude, as far as the locker room I worked with when I worked with Big Japan. I fell in love with it there. Tokyo, as far as the city, and Yokohama where I stayed at. Beautiful places, lots of stuff for a tourist to lose his money. It was definitely the best wrestling experience I’ve had thus far.

WR: Now, let’s talk about the Peterson Cup. I know the Peterson Cup is special to you because you were really close Jeff Peterson, as you said earlier. Could you share some more memories that you have of Jeff Peterson?

N: Sure. As I said, Jeff had just moved down when I was starting, so he brought a great deal of wisdom to me. We shared tapes and watched each other’s matches over and over. When we got the chance to wrestle each other, it was great, flawless matches. It brought out the best in me. I mean…there was a bunch…one thing I put on the Jeff Peterson website was he wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is. We had this one show. I worked as a favor for him because he was working as a favor for somebody else, so they said ‘Jeff, we want you to bring in somebody.’ So he said ‘alright, I’ll bring in this guy.’ Prince Iaukea happened to there. So Prince Iaukea comes up to us and says well, you guys need to do something about your gear. You need to get different wrestling boots. The Asics don’t cut it. And Jeff said ‘well I don’t think you should be telling us about our gear. You don’t even wear boots.’ That’s just Jeff being honest. That’s pretty much him. Always being honest. Always looking for a laugh. Always…Jeff was a great, great person. Always made you laugh and always made you smile. And wrestling was his life. There’s nothing else to be said about it, but that wrestling was his life.

WR: You participated in last year’s Peterson Cup, advancing to the semi-finals. This year’s edition seems even bigger. I know that there is a lot of buzz about the Peterson Cup outside of Florida, in particular, the northeast. Does that add any pressure to you to want to perform as best you can, seeing how everybody seems to be watching.?

N: I’m the same person no matter where I am, how many people are watching, how many people are paying attention. I go out there and do my job. But the fact that there are more people paying attention will definitely get me acknowledged, as far as doing my job. I go out and do it the same way every night. And maybe somebody will be like ‘hey, that guy is actually not half bad, even though he doesn’t have any muscles!

WR: You face Petey Williams in the opening round of Bracket B. What do you know about Petey Williams?

N: I know he does this wicked, cool piledriver that looks like it hurts. So, I’m gonna try and stay away from that ‘cause I don’t like hurting! Other than that, I really…I’ve been out of touch, as far as the indy scene lately. My computer sucks, so I haven’t been able to follow anything lately, but from what I’ve heard, the guy is really good. Or else he wouldn’t be here. We got 16 of the best in the country, in my opinion. It’s looking even better than last year. I mean we got a lot of great guys. So I’m looking forward to actually watching some of these matches, as well as participating in some of ‘em.

WR: Ok, let’s have a little fun here. You’re starting your own promotion. You need 5 guys right now, not signed to the Fed. Who do you pick and why?

N: Shane Twins, Homicide, C.W. Anderson…and…I don’t…the fifth one would have to be a tough one, but probably Justice. I love ‘em. He needs to be represented.

WR: Alright, before we wrap it up, do you have any final words for those reading this?

N: Hey, my name is Naphtali and I like long walks on the beach (Laughing). No seriously, man I just like to wrestle. I just like to go out there and do my job. I think I do it pretty well. I guess everybody else will have to be the judge of that. I’m just a different type of cruiserweight, junior heavyweight, if you will. I go out there…if the fans wanna see a shooting star to the outside, well sometimes you just have to give ’em that. But sometimes you have to give them the Garvin Stomp and sometimes you have to give them the Polish Hammer and the heart punch just to make them think, ’oh my God, I remember when…’ And when they start doing that, that’s when you start bringing back the little kid in them. Now all of a sudden, they’re a little kid, there kids are kids and all of a sudden everyone’s having a great time. So, I’m just out there to do my job and make that happen.

WR: Ok, well thank you for your time.

N: Alright, no problem.