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Pick My Brain:
Jani Bon Neil
Metal Sludge Masermind
September 22, 2002
In perhaps our biggest coup
yet, we've scored an interview with
MetalSludge.tv mastermind Jani Bon Neil. Metal-Sludge is the most
popular rock n roll website on the internet; in fact, it's the 14,965th
most popular site on the internet as of September 21.
Jani is a hilarious
ball-buster, and music fan or not, you must visit his site. He's done
"20 Questions" with wrestlers like Chris Jericho, Blue Meanie, Nova, and
even rock celebrities like Tommy Lee & Nikki Sixx. Jani also happens to
be a huge old-school wrestling fan, which is why we contacted him. Sit
back, shut up, relax, and enjoy.
1. First off, please tell
all the wrestling fans why they owe it to themselves to visit
Metalsludge.tv.
How about I give you 5 reasons? Good.
Reason #1: You'll find out truly worthless information about rock bands
that you really don't need to know, but for some reason you'll enjoy
reading it. All the latest gossip and sludge, from who's going bald to
our Exposed section featuring embarrassing photos of bands before they
were famous. We have a little bit of everything.
Reason #2: Donna Anderson's
World Famous Penis Chart. A list of over 200 names giving you their
penis size. Who doesn't want to know how big Mick Mars' dick is?
Reason #3: Metal Sludge's
Famous 20 Questions. We ask rock stars, and not so famous rock stars,
the questions you want to know. Or at least the questions we want to
know. It's a good way to find out who has a sense of humor and who
can't hang. No topic is off limits for us.
Reason #4. Get the latest CD
sales and concert attendances. Find out how much your favorite band is
really selling and who's coming out for their shows.
Reason #5: Our Gossip Board,
which has to be seen to be understood, as well as Ozzy Stillbourne's F.U.
Awards and Random Thoughts.
2. How long have you been a wrestling fan, and what wrestlers did
you admire when you were growing up?
I've been a wrestling fan all my life and I grew up on Antonio Rocca,
Gorgeous George, Haystacks Calhoun, Lou Thez, Sam Muchnick, etc.
No, just kidding, I'm not that old. I was partial to "Rowdy" Roddy,
Bobby Heenan, Paul Orndorff, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair & The Four
Horsemen, and I'd be lying if I didn't say Hulk Hogan.
3. What was the best musical performance you ever saw on a wrestling
show, and why?
A. Motley Crue on WWF Raw, 1998
B. Jackyl on a WCW PPV, 1996
C. Megadeth on WCW Nitro, 1999
D. KISS on WCW Nitro, 1999
E. Kid Rock on WWF Raw, 2001
F. Salt N Peppa on WWF WrestleMania, 1995
G. Drowning Pool on WWF WrestleMania, 2002
H. James Brown on WCW SuperBrawl, 2000
I. Fozzy on WWF Raw, 2002
Actually, it wasn't Jackyl on that PPV, it was 2 members of Jackyl on
the nWo PPV. They were called Captain Virgil. Write that down. I'd
have to say Kid Rock probably sounded the best out of all of them and
came off the best.
4. In your "20 Questions" with Marvelous 3's Butch Walker, he stated
this as one of the reasons his follow-up single to "Freak of the Week"
didn't do so well:
"Well you know... and
back in the day, we didnt have f*cking wwf and wcw or playstations and
shit like that for entertainment."
I'm a big fan of Butch,
but how many levels is that statement ridiculous on, considering "back
in the day" that WWF, WCW, and video games were not only still around,
but still extremely popular?
I never really thought about that comment before, but I'd have to
agree. Butch is from Atlanta, so you'd think he'd be at least familiar
with the NWA back in the 80s. Also, while Playstation wasn't around,
Nintendo and Atari were. I understand what he probably meant, but I
think that was a poor example to prove his point.
5. Don't you think that if Edge, Kevin Nash, Christian, Chris
Jericho, and Rhyno all posed for a group photo, they'd look just like
any of the bands featured in Metal Edge, circa 1990?
Yes, that would be true but they would all have to lose at least 80
pounds first.
6. It is no secret that Undertaker and Mick Mars are good friends.
If Undertaker is such a Motley Crue fan, why did he suddenly cut his
hair short, start talking in rapper jive, and adopt Limp Bizkit and Kid
Rock entrance music?
Mick Mars is friends with many undertakers because he's old enough he's
probably going to be needing one soon. I really had no idea that Mick
knew The Undertaker or was friends with him, so it was a secret to me.
7. When Metal Sludge
interviews wrestlers like Chris Jericho and Blue Meanie, how many
clueless fools write you asking who in the Hell they are?
Actually not too many. We always get emails from fans bitching about
who we interview. We could do 20 Questions with John Lennon and
somebody would bitch about it. A lot of the Sludgeaholics are now
familiar with Jericho and Meanie. Probably the most emails came in when
we did 20 Questions with Nova. We also did an interview with indy
wrestler Adrian Lynch, but that wasn't an official 20 Questions.
Speaking of interviews, we were supposed to do 20 Questions with Bubba
Ray Dudley, but he never sent back his questions. Jericho set us up
with him, but I guess Bubba didn't like our questions or something.
8. When Fozzy performed on Raw recently, they were boo'd out of the
building. Was this because wrestling fans hate that type of music, or
because Jericho is one of their lead heels and they felt they were
SUPPOSED to boo?
I don't think it had anything to do with Fozzy, though it probably
didn't do them any favors. No matter what Chris did the fans were going
to boo him. We asked Chris about this in an upcoming interview so we'll
have to see what he had to say.
9. All joking aside, wouldn't a tall, hulking, ghostly woman like
Gerri Miller make a great on-air wrestling character or valet who would
scare all the little kids?
She's like the opposite of Chyna! I think it could work. She could be
called the Cryptkeeper and be the Undertaker's valet.
10. Which rock musician has the best pro wrestling physique?
A. Kerry King = has Stone Cold's attitude down
B. Zakk Wylde = has Stone Cold's drinking down
C. George Lynch = would probably have the work rate of the
Ultimate Warrior
D. Stevie Rachelle = has Stone Cold's hairline but that's about
it
E. Glenn Danzig = would be perfect to wrestle the minis
F. The Misfits = too much like the Headbangers
G. Bret Michaels = Would be too worried about his bandana coming
off in the ring.
I'm going to say none of the above and go with Fuzz from Disturbed.
11. Who would you guess is
Rob Halford's and Marq Torein's favorite
wrestling personality?
A. Pat Patterson
B. Terry Garvin
C. Mel Phillips
D. Rico
E. Adrian Adonis
F. Beverly Brothers
G. Adrian Street
H. Billy & Chuck
I'd say Rob Halford would go with Pat Patterson and Marq Torien would
have to be Adrian Street.
12. HHH's theme song, which is performed by Lemmy and Bruce Kulick,
is extremely popular among young wrestling fans. What percentage of
those teenagers do you think have a clue who Lemmy and Kulick are?
As far as I know, Bruce Kulick didn't perform on that track, but his
brother Bob Kulick produced it. I never saw Bruce's name mentioned in
any credits or anybody ever talking about him having anything to do with
it. And no, not too many wrestling fans know who Lemmy is, and even
music fans don't care who Bruce Kulick is.
13. How un-cool has Edge become ever since he admitted his current
favorite band is Weezer?
Really? I didn't know that. Well I guess that explains why he hasn't
gone to that next level yet.
14. In 1996, the nWo took over the announcers' booth on Nitro. Kevin
Nash looked into the monitor, saw himself on TV, and said, "I look like
Vince Neil over here!" Scott Hall just sat there and said nothing.
Whose drinking problem is more out of control, Scott Hall's or Vince
Neil's?
Vince Neil, absolutely. Drinking impacts Vince's performances a lot
more than it ever did to Scott Hall. Scott can still go out there and
not embarrass himself, and he still looks like Scott Hall! I can't say
the same thing about Vince.
15. While Motley Crue were hyping their upcoming gig on WWF Raw in
1998, they did lots of radio publicity saying they were "huge wrestling
fans." One time, a caller asked what they thought about DX, and no one
in the Crue knew who or what DX was. How could they be huge wrestling
fans, yet NOT know who DX was, especially considering they were scripted
to jam with DX on stage to "Wildside" on Raw?
It's called being full of shit. Wouldn't be the first time those guys
said something that wasn't true.
16. This past June, the
entire band of Poison was sitting front row at Raw, right behind Jim
Ross and Jerry Lawler and totally visible on camera. However, they
never once acknowledged them as being in attendance. Why do you think
that was?
A. Ross & Lawler have no clue who Poison are
B. They don't want their "cool" TV show to be associated with an "uncool"
band like Poison
C. They were embarrassed that this summer, Poison shows are outdrawing
many WWE shows
D. They were afraid that in real life, Rikki Rockett can beat the shit
out of anyone in the WWE locker room aside from Kurt Angle and Brock
Lesnar
The funny thing about that is I watched that show I didn't even notice
them! If anybody should have noticed that it should have been me but I
totally missed it. How did that happen? I guess the reason they
weren't mentioned is probably a cross between A & B.
17. After I wrote Dave Meltzer and told him about your most recent 20
Questions with Chris Jericho, he plugged and praised your site in his
Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which reaches thousands of high-ranking
wrestling industry professionals all throughout the world such as Jim
Ross, Paul Heyman, and Michael Hayes. Meltzer said your questions and
staff were hilarious, and gave out the link to Sludge. How did it feel
to be mentioned in the most respected wrestling publication in the
world, or was anyone on the Sludge staff not even aware of this?
I wasn't even aware of that, though I did see that we were mentioned in
the Torch before. I didn't know about the Observer mention, but that's
really cool! I'm glad hardcore wrestling fans enjoy our 20 Questions.
It's always an honor to be given props and it's a kick to know those
people who have entertained me for so many years are entertained by what
I'm doing. That's cool.
18. What is the greatest wrestling match you have ever seen?
There are so many it's hard to pick one. The Shawn Michaels' ladder
matches come to mind. The Undertaker vs. Mankind Hell In The Cell match
simply for Foley's 2 bumps. It wasn't a mat classic but the drama and
shock is something that really stands out. It was something you had to
show other people, even if they weren't wrestling fans. Almost any Ric
Flair/Ricky Steamboat match from 1989. And for some reason I have to
throw in Savage/Steamboat from WrestleMania 3.
19. What is your opinion
on this series of events:
1999: Steve Austin tells Howard Stern he'll never get married again
Famous last words
2000: Steve Austin marries Debra
A sign that he drinks too much
2002: Steve Austin walks out on WWE
Started living his gimmick
2002: Steve Austin nearly gets arrested for allegedly hitting his
wife, Debra
Temper temper
2002: Steve Austin DOES get arrested for hitting his wife, Debra
What?
2002: Steve Austin and Debra file for divorce from each other
What?
20. Here is a long list of wrestlers who used to have long hair, and
then cut it. For each of these guys, tell us if you think they look
more menacing with long hair, short hair, or completely bald:
Steve Austin: bald
Undertaker: long hair
Big Show: bald because he hasn't gotten over with long or short
hair.
Mike Awesome: short or long, just so long as the mullet is gone
Ric Flair: long
Owen Hart: short
Chris Benoit: short
Chuck Palumbo: short
Billy Gunn: see Big Show
21. Few TV moments are funnier than Jim Ross interviewing Riki
Rachtman on WCW Saturday Night in 1992, which is one of the lowest-rated
WCW TV shows in history. Riki plugged the appearance on Headbanger's
Ball and said lots of guys in the WCW locker room were big metalheads.
Years later, WCW hired Riki Rachtman as an announcer who constantly
mispronounced the names of the wrestlers he interviewed. Why is that
every project Riki seems to take on, always ends up bust?
I don't know, but he was selling Volkswagen cars in LA recently, and now
he's working with the L.A. Kings. He's like a cockroach, he'll always
be around in one form or another.
22. Has any rock star
cheated on his wife as frequently and openly as WWE owner Vince McMahon
has?
I'd say most of them do! Vince Neil has been married a few times and
still acted as though he was single. Nikki Sixx cheated on his wife
while she was in the same house! Compared to a lot of rock stars, Vinny
Mac is a virgin.
23. WWF was deep in scandal in 1992, amid allegations of sexually
abusing teenage ring boys, raping WWF referee Rita Chatterton,
conspiring to distribute steroids, and lying about it to the public.
How much of that do you think was really going on?
As far as I know, none of those allegations were really ever proven and
they sound like they were made by people with an axe to grind. I'm sure
the steroid shit went down, but who knows about the rest. I just read
Bobby Heenan's book the other day and he wrote about this: "As for the
molestation, these were young guys who wanted to get into the business
like I did. Tom Cole, the ring attendant who started all the
accusations, was a troubled soul. When I first saw him, I could tell he
had problems. I put up the ring too when I was a kid. I carried the
jackets as well. But I never had a relationship with another man to get
ahead in the business or keep my job. No one ever propositioned me."
From the people I've talked to, nobody has ever seen anything like that
go down, so that's all I can go on.
24. Who has/had the best ring entrance music you've ever heard?
For old school, I have to say Demolition's theme was pretty cool as well
as Jake "The Snake" Roberts. For new school I'd have to say DX's theme
and HHH's theme.
25. Who has/had the worst
ring entrance music you've ever heard?
Pretty much anything Billy Gunn has ever come out to, and all the music
that WCW ever used! Chris Jericho's old WCW theme, which was a Pearl
Jam ripoff, was pretty lame, but that's not his fault.
26. Is HHH treading on
dangerous waters by dating his boss's daughter? I mean, if they break
up, his career could be toast.
I don't think so. It's not wise to date the boss's daughter, but if
they
broke up I don't think Vince would get rid of him because they need him
right now. Anything is possible in the wrestling world so it's possible
that he could break up with Steph and still keep his job.
27. Once upon a time, Raw
sucked really bad, and Nitro was awesome. During the Monday night
wrestling wars, which show did you watch, or did you flip back and forth
between each one?
I was always faithful to the WWF, but still kept up with what WCW was
doing. I flipped back and forth mostly, but I will say that there were a
few times I watched Nitro from start to finish. However, they replayed
Nitro later that night, so sometimes I'd watch the WWF and watch the
Nitro replay.
28. We all loved ECW,
which played music on its TV show by Pantera, AC/DC, Fight, Jackyl, Ugly
Kid Joe, Morbid Angel, and even Jesse James Dupree. How was it that a
bankrupt small-timer like Paul Heyman was able to score the rights to
those songs? Even more amazing, how are you allowed to post all those
Metal Edge pictures without infringing on any copyright laws?
Nobody says Paul E got the
right to those songs. Maybe nobody complained because they figured
there was no money to go after, and they would have been right. A lot
of times you can get away with using stuff because you have no money,
and by the time the artist finds out about it, it's too late. What can
they really do? Or Maybe Paul E had some sort of deal worked out. I
don't know.
As for us, I can say we use
the Metal Edge stuff just like a million other fan websites do. If you
go to a Motley Crue fan page, you see pictures from all over the place.
It's not taking the money out of anybody's pocket and if somebody was to
bitch at us, they'd have to bitch at the rest of the internet for doing
the same thing. We have had some photographers email us about photos
they've taken and have asked for credit, and we have no problem giving
them credit. We also have some photographers send us photos to use, and
even most of the bands do. The people I get a kick out are the fans
that bitch about using a photo they scanned in from Metal Edge. "Hey,
you used my photo!" Shut your mouth, you don't own the picture anymore
than we do. All you did was scan it in before us. I guess certain
people like to have their egos stroked and pretend they're special.
29. Howard Stern blasted
the Hollyweird tour this summer for being a collection of bad bands.
Meanwhile, Stern's commercial bumpers include Poison's "Talk Dirty to
Me." Howard also has badmouthed wrestling for years, although he does
have many wrestlers on his show. Stern recently announced that he has
consulted with Vince McMahon, and contemplated starting his own
wrestling promotion. How do you think Stern would fare in the wrestling
world, considering others with more money like Ted Turner, Gene Simmons,
and a host of others have failed miserably?
I think if you want to be a success in the wrestling business, you
basically have to have a love for it, just like anything. You need to
have a passion for it and understand it. Metal Sludge is a success
because we love what we do and we started doing it because it was fun.
We weren't in it to make money and it ended up being something we could
make money at. At the beginning though, it was a fun hobby, and we
still try to keep it that way. Gene Simmons only got into wrestling
because it was cool at the time and he thought he could make a buck. He
probably doesn't know the difference between a powerbomb and a
clothesline. Howard isn't going to start his own promotion but if he
did, he'd fail like the rest because he's not really a fan. People
would be interested in the beginning but over the long haul I doubt it
would take off.
30. Our last question. Vince Russo: creative genius, or blithering
fool who killed WCW dead into the ground?
I think Vince Russo is totally overrated but he's not 100% responsible
for the death of WCW. WCW had no leadership and nobody had any clue as
to what to do. At least when he was in the WWF, Russo had McMahon to
edit his ideas. In WCW that wasn't the case. They were a sinking ship
and he just added weight to it.
------------------------
It's always good to interview
someone who knows how to do these kinds of interviews. Thanks to Jani
for his time and humor, and please visit
Metal-Sludge if you any sense of humor whatsoever.
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