Peter Ferriero
Peter Ferriero
What up everyone in DOI land and welcome to another McInterview, exclusively here on the DOI. This time, I interviewed Peter Ferriero aka Peter Van Orton, as he brings his company, IHPW back to NJ. Pete and IHPW have had an extended vacation and are looking for a big turnout on June 13th, 2004, as IHPW rehits the indy scene. What has Pete been up to? What can you expect? All that and more, in this exclusive interview. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey: Peter, the first time we did an interview was on April 3rd, 2003, which can be seen here: Pete's First DOI Interview . A year has gone and past, and alot of things are changed. IHPW came and went and is now back again. You went to California to relax during IHPW's break period. First off, how the fuck are you? Secondly, why is IHPW coming back?
Peter Ferriero: I am doing good, full relaxed and ready to run. IHPW is coming back because I felt for along time there was unfinished business there. We were just starting to get things moving nicely, and things stepped in the way. But, I am very excited about working with some new people and going at this again from a new approach. A refreshed approach, really.
Peter Ferriero:It was horrible. It was more or less one of those, I can do this thing in California and put IHPW on hold for a while, or never see what it was like to live out on the West Coast. For those that say the west is the best, must be very confused. Although the weather is beautfiul and I have questioned my own sanity on wanting to return to NJ in general, I chose to do a full time job over this wrestling thing. But a wise man once said you will never succeed at what your trying to do, if you don't have passion for it. I didn't have passion for what I was doing in California, like I have for IHPW and wrestling in general.
Peter Ferriero: I think the secret is to not get caught up in the other promotions and just focus on our product. I haven't been around in a while and I am not sure if there are wars going on, other than a few I have heard about on DOI. Pretty much we'll try to stay out of all that and just focus on what we are doing, and try to be as respectful to the others around us as possible.
Peter Ferriero:Interesting, I think JCW and JAP pretty much can do what they want and own NJ. It's more of a matter of longetivity and persitance. Ricky O, I remember from years ago, and when I was working with the people I was with at the time, I use to say- why don't we do things sort of like Ricky does them. When that fell on deaf ears, I just decided that he was someone that we'd kind of like to be like, promoting wise. JAP, the same thing. I like the innovative attitude JAP has. Almost everyone has come from there or ECPW. ECPW is another fed that I have a ton of respect for. Other promoters have referred to them as the minor leagues, which I feel is kind of silly considering they promote more in one year than most do in 3 months. SSCW is SSCW. I like Carmine, we have had a ton of great conversations and I cherish those. As far as others like CSWF, I haven't personally seen, but have heard some great things about.
Peter Ferriero:Well, if your looking for a night filled of Pure Wrestling- than possibly you'd want to check out another show. But if your looking for entertainment, with some guys who really give it their all than you'd want to come to see it. Plus, I guess the way we differ from the other feds, is to just try to bring our own spin on characters, and legends, etc. I can promise if your looking for surprises, awesome matches, and everything in between your getting it with us. ESPECIALLY on the return show, we have some awesome things in store. I can guarentee that everything is guarenteed (how cheezy of me).
Peter Ferriero:Pretty much a majority of wrestlers that were with us before. Some may take a while to get back in. And some might not be on every show. And some we might not use at all. I want to mix it up. But I really want to keep a small roster of guys who want to be with us. I realize on the indies, mostly everyone wants to be everywhere. But the guys we have right now have always seemed to get along with us pretty well. Specifically, guys like Eckos, Wing, Daniels, Wenzel, Thundar, VIP, with some new additions as well.
Peter Ferriero:There is no longer a Queen of the Catfight. However, some of the old stories will be referred to.We have changed the IHPW World Title to the IHPW Championship, the US Title is now the IHPW Diamond Division Title, which will focus mainly on mat wrestlers. The Tag Team Championship will remain the same. All the champions as of now will be recognized, e'nuff said on that. We tried to eliminate locations for our titles, as it's a bit silly to have a US Champion when the furthest we have promoted is in Lyndhurst NJ. We also are having another title that we are gonna explore in a few months called the IHPW Northeastern Title. This will be very interesting. It will consist of 32 known superstars throughout the Northeast competing in a year long tourament. This will hopefully open us to work with guys you normally wouldn't see on our every show roster, such as Slyk Wagner, Homicide, Tom Carter, Tyler Payne, etc.
Peter Ferriero:Funny that you mention it, but no! We are no longer friends. I feel like sometimes I don't know enough about what goes through his mind at all. The lies, rumors, etc. I think he has some serious issues that he needs to get resolved. I have a lot of associates that still work for ROH, and I think thats fine. ROH has had a tough time. Rob being silly, should never destroy the product. However, I suppose what irks me a bit is if it had been any other promoter I think the wrestling community would come down a lot harder on them. Which might not be too fair for the rest of us...
Peter Ferriero:Chris Idol and I have been friends for a very long time. I can tell you that it's a very troubling time for my good friend, and it's because someone was trying to impress a 14 year old child over the internet. I think when you step back and look at the entire conversation he had, you can find holes in almost everything. ENTER YOUR SICK JOKE HERE. But, in the end Idol is telling the truth. Sometimes this wrestling business can be very cruel. People can say some hurtful things personally, it comes with the territory. Just look at the source it came from.
Peter Ferriero:Firstly- the Diamond Cup is gonna be filled with passion. I can tell you the tag match is gonna be hot, and any time I get Steve Corino on one of my shows, I am estatic. I consider him one of my 4 favorite wrestlers of all time. Him vs Wenzel will be awesome. I can tell you that what you see on the card at this juncture will be ampliphed the night of. There will be many surprises, and I really can't say this enough that if you like to be surprised, if you like to be on the edge of your seat come out to this show. This isn't one of those WWF promises where the surprise is that Edge has returned after they just showed his commercial saying he was returning. This is gonna be simply awesome. Let me also state if you love 1980's WWF, your gonna like something we have in store for everyone.
Peter Ferriero:This is easy. Carmine. Not because I hate him. Not because I secretly have a war with him. It's simple. Carmine says things to me on-line, and even publically in chat's that are simply bizzare. Comparing himself to the owner of the New York Yankees, is absurd. He knows it, he lives for that attention. I love the guy, but sometimes I feel like saying to him- just be quiet- let your product speak for itself. Don't get into the hooplah- of he said, she said. Just do your shows and be good at it. As soon as you say something anywhere like I am better than him, or he is a joke, the person you said it about is gonna do something 10 times better.
He needs to focus. And I say this to him, again not with bitterness but as a friend. A very good friend.
Peter Ferriero:I don't recall writing for them, lol. Of course I did, and may I say if I'm allowed to- that Brett Scwan's picture with Stevie from Family Business made me enraged with jealousy. Ricky is a smart guy with more dedication than anyone I know. He is a guy with strong principals, and a guy who practices the old practice of a favor for you, a favor for me. He is a nice guy- who has always made me laugh. CJ- besides needing to sometimes keeping himself quiet, is a friend of mine. He always is quick to help when need be, and also believes in the favor policy. I don't think either of them are at all the way promoters were years ago, with tearing down posters, cancelling buildings. I think they respect other promotions, as we all should and realize that there is strenth in numbers. I know they both are at odds right now, but individually- they are both very good to me, and have not one bad word to say about either.
Peter Ferriero:LOL- Well last I heard Ricky bought his gear, and is waiting in a ring somewhere, but CJ is still baby stepping his way to the mailbox. How off-color of me. I was just having some fun with two good friends. Let bygones be bygones. We all need to work together.
Word Association
Fat Frank Peter Ferriero:It's so dead, its sickening. Please bring back Nitro. Not Johnny Nitro, WCW Nitro...or something close to it.
Peter Ferriero:I like JAP locally, JCW locally, SSCW is cool, like the CSWF concept, TNA is ok, WWE I watch while im doing a million other things, ROH limits themselves, but I don't want to get into that.
Peter Ferriero:It's not the tradition cup...lol, it's a tournament to determine our Diamond Division Championship Title. It will gain a winner who is a great mat wrestler, someone who can mix it up with anyone...
Peter Ferriero:By next year, a small TV deal, 2 other venues, and 3 shows a month...
Peter Ferriero:Teddy Hart! God what a fireball, you never quite know what your gonna get there. I guess for the smart fans what I can say is. Sure your gonna get a lot of the same workers as you see all over NJ. Yeah you might even run into a few of the same matches. We have a different approach we are working on. I think we are going to try to entertain you all, make surprises for real, and work off of characters and story as opposed to shoot angles, and inconsistencies. I'm not pointing out anyone. We are all to blame for it. I think what I can say is, if you want to have a blast and see Sports Entertainment the way it was, than come check us out. If your looking for shoot angles, and pure wrestling in every match- than there are other places for you. But give us a chance cause I think we are gonna have a lot of neat f'n things coming up.
Peter Ferriero:Just stay tuned to our web site, www.ihpw.com, please check out our return June 13, and check out the multimedia section on our web site for some classic moments.
-A Brilliant Promoter who rules NJ and a hell of a nice guy to me always.
Firehawk
-Met him once or twice, always kind to me. Nice Guy- big heart from what I hear.
Dave Levy
-Under-rated. Nice guy to me always.
Carmine Sabia Jr
- Good friend, nice guy- put a pipe in it!
Frank Goodman
- Doing things in a very good way.
Jac Sabboth
-Saw one his shows, lives on as one of the best I have ever seen till this day- saw it with a good friend of mine Ray Kuvatro-a few years ago.
Ricky O
-Dedicated to what he does and better than most of us at it. Sometimes...
Gino Caruso
-Consistent, easy going, and always a pleasure to do business with. A great trainer with a great mind from the business. I learned a lot from Gino. More than he will ever know...
Joe Panzarino
-Good guy- promoter in every sense of the word.
Rob Feinstein
-What do I say? I told him one time on-line that Karma sometimes sneaks up on you when you least expect it. It got him bad this time. But he will bounce back from his personal troubles and I think hopefully he will take something from it and turn his bad into good. We can only hope for his sake.
Chris Idol
- The Triple H of IHPW..., yeah anyways someone said that to me once, great friend, nice guy, always willing to do whatever it takes to make the show come off the way I want it to.
Wenzel
-The Future of IHPW, The Future of Wrestling.
Inferno
- Great Friend, Great Mind for wrestling, surely missed in IHPW. Hopefully he will do some spots for us as time permits.
Noel
- I think Noel forgot that wrestling is fun. Hopefully she finds what made her love it in the first place. And Noel- don't think I forgot our night after Ricky O's show. I'm sure Carmine remembers...(Don't you hate when people put inside jokes in an interview?)
Damian Dragon
-Great wrestler, nice guy.
Foxxy Dreams
-I think I have always had a secret crush on Foxxy,i'm kidding..im an egaged man with a girl I truly love and adore. I apologize Damian- always nice to me- always respectful to me, very funny...
Steve Corino
- # 3 behind Roddy Piper on my favorite wrestlers of all time. That is no joke. The easiest person I have ever dealt with in the entire world. I have no shame in admitting that I am a Steve Corino mark. First saw him tagging with Simon at a NWA show, followed him through ECW and everywhere else.
Shawn Sheridan
-A Genius and so ahead of his time...a real nice guy, someone who works for the end result rather than himself.
Tiger Mulligan
-Great Guy- He needs more opportunity to show off how good of a wrestler he is.
Tommy Fierro
-I will never forget him. I owe him every bit of gratitude there is. For with out him, there would be a lot of us that would not be where they are right now in this business.
Eric Simms
- Nice guy- just a bit misunderstood.
"Peter Van Orton"
-An Asshole- someone I wish I could be all the time. Maybe the real Pete in some ways.
Frankie Hawke
-Oh my- I haven't heard that name in a long time. Good kid- welcomed to my shows. Keep training...
Vicious Vin
-I did a SSCW show as a manager once- good guy- cares very much about the product and the people he works for.
Justin Credible
-Easy to deal with. Great Hardcore worker, totally not used correctly on the indies in NJ.
Dusty Rhodes
- An Icon, an honor to work with someone who I looked up to for years. Who doesn't?
Message Boards
- Cant live with them, can't live without them. However we chose without...
Internets Role On Wrestling
-Destroyed wrestling, yet opened the doors for the ability to do so much more. From promoting to getting employed to everything you can imagine....
Johnny Thundar
- A Franchise Player
The Wedding of Pete & Noel
- Different...
Bastion Booger
- A legend beyond legend.
Giant Gonzales
- When it was cool to laugh at wrestling..
Declaration of Independents
- Great guys, great site, funny boards..just keep on loving it...
Peter Ferriero
-Becoming more aware of the difference between owner, friend and employee, dedicated to the product, dedicated to his ideas, and someone who will work his hardest to grow IHPW, while not stepping on any toes and doing everything honestly.