Interview with My Cousin Jason

Jason's FCW promo photo as Aiden Frost. (credit: WWE)

My cousin Jason wrestled with the WWE off and on for about 7 years. He and his brother John worked as a tag team and as singles wrestlers in the OVW and FCW developmental territories.

Jason wrestled in his most recent run as Aiden Frost while John wrestled as Dylan Klein, a character that got pretty over in FCW. I’ll post matches and promos from each at the end of this interview.

Both made it close to the big time a handful of times, but neither was able to stick on the main roster past a squash match or two. In this interview with Jason, he talks about some of those times they almost got called up, a couple of those squash matches, and even mentions some of the guys he liked and didn’t like during his time in FCW.

It’s a pretty good read. I’ll go ahead and tell you, we just talked over Facebook, so there are definitely some grammar and spelling errors. I wanted to leave as much as I could the same so you guys could really get his voice.

John's FCW promo photo as Dylan Klein. (credit: WWE)

Before we get to the interview though, I want to ask you guys to do something for me. Jason is retired from wrestling now, and he’s got a new graphic and video game design company he’s trying to launch called Evil Tree Studios.

He’s already working on an iPhone game that will launch soon, and he’s had some discussions with Sony about doing some work for the Playstation Network.

He’s really starting to make his mark there like he did in wrestling, but he’d like for you all to go like the Evil Tree Studios Facebook page and get familiar with his work.

As a favor to me or simply as a thank you to him for taking the time out to talk to me about this stuff for all your enjoyment, you should do that. I mean, it’s the least we can do, right? Plus, I’ve already liked it, and I know you want to be cool like me.

For those of you who want to go directly to the page, here is the link. Evil Tree Studios

Now, onto the interview:

Me: Let’s start with the first thing. Obviously WWE contacts you, offers a contract, etc…but how do they get you set up in developmental exactly?

Jason: Pretty much anyone who is contracted now a days, unless they are already known like Booker T for example, are ALL sent down to developmental. They set you up with a moving bonus which varies from person to person and they move you down to their current dev. territory. For example John and I got like 2,500 each to move to FL when we were FCW and the to go to Louisville when we were with OVW. You pretty much find your own housing, transportation, ETC. Anything more specific as far as that topic goes, because that is the general with out to much detail.

Me: Nah. I just basically wanted to know how they got you set up at their various territories. What do you do once you get there? Like, do they throw you straight into the ring? Or do you do actual training once you get there?

Jason: That depends. For John and I, yes, for a lot of people, no. For us, we had a two week try out on the road, which The Undertaker got for us. We were welcomed and helped in by the guys that everyone was afraid of i.e. Bob Holly, Kurt Angle, Taker, The Dudley’s (in TNA). All guys who had reputations of stretching the young talent John and I got a long with. I think it was because John and I beat the shit out of each other when we tried out every time.

So any way back to what I was saying. We had a two week tryout on the road with all of the guys. This is the second time we were signed, and we did awesome. I did a few job matches on TV and John and myself wrestled every single day we were there. It was cool because after the first day Viscera/Big Daddy V came to us after, I think it was RAW, and told us that he could tell we weren’t “just some typical indie guys.” And then at the end of our tryout Ric Flair came up to us and said “part of the family now boys.” That kind of turned me into a fan boy lol.

Me: Holy shit. Do you realize what I would have done in your position? If Undertaker got me a tryout and Flair welcomed me into the family? I probably would have shit my pants right then and there. How did that respect feel?

Jason: lol hahaha, it was an awesome feeling. It wasnt even two days after our tryout we flew ourselves down to FCW for another tryout. John and I delivered, and I have never in my life received such praise and excitement from legends like Steamboat, Double A Arn Anderson and Pat Patterson. Long story short, we killed the second try out at FCW, but that is also where I blew out my knew, which lead to my retirement

Me: Ouch.

Jason: I had like a 90 percent tear or rupture of the patella tendon.

Me: Good lord. How did you do that?

Jason: It was the second day of the tryout, day 2 of 5. A guy who had his first shot with WWE was nervous and made a mistake that pretty much ended my wrestling career. My knee cap was literally on the side of my leg. But I still got signed and got paid by WWE for almost a year even though I was injured.

Me: That sucks, man. To hear your mom talk about it, it was a big dream for you. What was it like to have it all taken away?

Jason: During our time with FCW, that’s when John flourished. His Dylan Klien character stood head and shoulders above EVERYONE there. There is a LOT of politics involved with WWE and I don’t politic. That’s the same reason we never made it to the roster the first time we got signed. So by the time I had my knee injury, I was over it honestly. Like I always say, I love pro wrestling, but I hate sports entertainment. But yeah, when we got down there John and I were put right in the ring and right into shows, others it took them a while.

Me: Yeah, the dirtsheets always talk about politics and who plays the game the most, but I guess I never really figured it made its way all the way down to FCW. How did politics hold you guys back? From the way I understand it, John almost got the call to be in Nexus. Well, for the first season of NXT…which eventually led to Nexus, that is.

Jason: You gotta remember John and I earned our spot at WWE. We were working on the indie scene for 5 years before even getting signed the first time in 2004.

As for the politics, yeah if John didn’t quit WWE he would have been a big part of the Nexus. The office LOVED John’s Dylan Klein character. They BEGGED him to stay, even upped his contract 2 or 3 times.

An example of the politics: the second time I got signed I killed it with a Boondock Saints rip off character.
The office, everyone loved it. It’s the reason I got resigned. It wasn’t Dusty’s [Rhodes, FCW booker] idea, so he began to sabotage me.

But when I got down to FCW, first he told me that the office didn’t like the idea whenever Johnny Ace told me he loved it and it was the reason I got resigned. He told me I looked too much like Orton, which at the time I looked nothing like him because he still had hair. So first Dusty took away my entrance attire, then
he took me from short tights like the old ones AJ Styles used to wear and put me in trucks like Orton wears. Then he took away my kickpads and put me in black boots like Orton wears. Then he made me grow my hair out. After that I looked like a complete Randy Orton wannabe which killed what the writers were wanting out of me. Not only that, but I was injured and couldn’t do anything in the ring.

Jason's knee before the surgery. Notice his kneecap off to the right of his knee, left side of the photo.

But I tried to make a comeback regardless of the injury. My scheduled return to sport time was 16 months; I forced myself to come back at 8 and a half to 9 months. But because I wasnt progressing as fast as they thought I should with the rehab, I got talked to. Dr. Tom Prichard pulled me in the office — and I put none of this on Doc because he was awesome — but I got pulled into the office and Doc asked me about my knee and how I was struggling and how he knew I was trying really hard. And he asked me how I was doing. At this point, I was already sick of Dusty, the politics, and the BS. And I straight up asked him, “Do you want the P.C. answer or do you want the truth? Because the PC answer is ‘I’m awesome and ready to go!'”

Me: Please tell me he asked for the truth and you gave it to him.

Jason: And he replied with, “No I want the truth. What’s going on? Are you OK? How are you feeling?” and I replied, “Honestly, I don’t know I don’t even know if I want it anymore.”

I could barely move without being in pain at the time. And I had to have help from the trainer before and after every single match I had. WWE was literally crippling me.

The very next day, we weren’t even done with practice yet, I got a call from Ty Bailey telling me I was let go. “But he said the door is open for the future and I have all of the tools of a main event superstar.” It was that very second I retired from pro wrestling, and I havent set foot in a ring since.

Me: So you’ll never go back? Even though you’re all healed up?

Jason:If I wanted to, I could probably have squeezed another 10 years out of my body and have a tryout tomorrow if I really tried, but at what cost? I hurt every single day I get up, and my knee has never been the same. I think I have pics of my knee before and after the surgery on my FB.

Jason's knee not long after his surgery, complete with several staples.

Me: I’ll have to check that out. Sounds awful.

Jason: I still get the bug to go back all the time, and I still watch my boys who are still on TV. But I’m 32 years old, and I refuse to turn out like the Iron Sheik or Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler.

Me: At least the Iron Sheik tweets funny shit all the time.

Jason: I look at it like this, I set out to accomplish a goal and I did it. Twice. I worked for the top companies in the world in pro wrestling, and John and I were undefeated in TNA lol. Not that it matters lol.

Me: Okay, two more questions, then I promise I’ll let you go get food. Although the third one is a three part one.

1) Was there ever a time besides the NXT deal where you or John were close to coming up to the main roster? And if so, why didn’t it pan out?

Jason: Shoot I’m having fun talkin about it.

Many times. John and I were supposed to be part of the Spirit Squad but our egos messed it up for us lol. We were like, “Cheerleaders. F that.” lol.

Me: That would have been so awesome. I loved the Spirit Squad.

Jason: We were also supposed to be in the spot where Hawkins and Ryder first got their chance. I was told that by Shad Gaspard.

Me: Lol. Could you imagine John as Zack Ryder now?

Jason: And in TNA, we got there the same time that [Kurt] Angle got there, and we were suppose to be the new Team Angle in TNA. We even did vignettes, the whole nine. Kurt even referred to us as “his students.” But the writers scrapped it because we made Angle look to small lol.

Me: Lol. Nice.

Jason: At Genesis, we had to re-shoot a vignette like 7 times because we dwarfed Angle lol.

Me: Did any of these vignettes ever air? I’ve GOT to find them.

Jason: But Kurt was awesome. Like I said, we got a long with all of the guys with bad reps lol. Go figure lol. The Riggs Brothers were undefeated in TNA lol. Take that goldberg lol.

No nothing we did for TNA ever aired but you can read about our TNA stuff on the net…Or at least you used to.

If John didn’t quit he would prob still be on TV. So yeah those are the only times that I know of that we were close.

Me: That really sucks. That’s been my dream my entire life, but I’ve never had the body or work ethic for it…which totally counts me out. I’m so jealous that you guys got to do that for a living, even if only for a while. And for the record, I would have blown every dime I had on Dylan Klein or Aiden Frost mechandise.
Well, one of my dreams. I have several.

BTW, was it Chris Raaber who blew out your knee?

Jason: lol hahaha Thanks. No, that was when I was trying to come back only a few weeks before I left. If you watch the tape, you can see my left knee was heavily wrapped up.

Me: Yeah, I’m watching that match now. It said it was your debut. [Match at the bottom of this interview.]

Jason: Rabaar sucks…bad but he wasn’t careless lol. Yeah, they did a whole pre production interview with me talking about how I was going to be the next WWE champion. It was crazy. It had video bits with John Cena, Triple H, and HBK in it. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever had made for me. But I dont think its on the net.

Me: The only thing I’ve found of you is this match with Raaber. [I found more. It’s also at the bottom of this interview.]

Jason: It was an FCW Spotlight featuring me as Aiden Frost. The promo they had me cut sucked, but it was still cool. My match with Hacksaw and Kofi is on YouTube, I was wrestling under Jason Riggs though during those. I think one was ECW and one was HEAT.

Me: Bitchin’. I’ll have to pull those up. Might even put them in the blog so people know I’m not making stuff up.

Did you train with Regal at all? Those European uppercuts look awfully familiar.

Jason: lol no lol I just like using different STIFF stikes lol. I felt bad during the Rabaar Match because on my come back, when he ducked the clothesline and I caught him with the left clothesline, I actually broke his nose and gave him a concussion.

Me: Alright, last set of questions. This one’s a big one.

Last bit about FCW. Three parts. 1) Tell me some of the things you hated about FCW and/or WWE. 2) Tell me some of the things you loved about FCW and/or WWE. 3) Who are some of the guys (or gals) who worked there while you were there and are either on the main roster now or you expect to come up soon?

Jason: Ok part one! Things I hated about FCW and WWE: The politics and WWE signing guys who were failed athletes who had absolutely no love for wrestling and just came there for a paycheck, like Titus O’Neal and Jack Swagger. There are a lot more but those are the two I don’t like the most. I don’t know Jack, but he was an arrogant ass who doesn’t deserve to be in that company.

Titus, I remember the first day he got to FCW, he almost broke his neck hitting the ropes. One of the funniest things I have ever seen lol. Titus was also very careless. He almost hurt so many people. I remember when he was wrestling Joe Hennig, a good friend of mine, and he dumped Joe on his head. I though Joe broke his neck.

The things a love about WWE: Number 1 above all else is being in that ring. There is NOTHING like being in front of 8,000…10,000…12,000 people. The most intense feelings I have ever encountered. Second is the people, once you get past all of the pricks. Not saying any names, Amish Roadkill *** Cough Cough***, lol. There are a lot of really good people in WWE.

Last is the experience. Wrestling has taken me all over the place, and I have been places and met people I never would’ve met otherwise. So my time wrestling was a priceless experience.

Part 3 the people: John and I know almost EVERYONE on TV. We first started in UPW with John Cena, Nathan Jones, John Hiedenriech, Frankie Kazarian or Kaz, Samoa Joe. A lot of the main roster now, I remember one time I almost beat CM Punk’s ass in OVW…but then again so did a lot of the guys lol.
But over time Punk became humbled, and the last time I saw him in FCW he was really cool, so I’ll give him that.

Me: What did you almost beat Punk’s ass over?

Jason: He was just trying to put himself over in front of all of the boys when he first got to OVW, and rather than get fired for kicking the shit out of him, I walked outside of the Davis Arena in KY, where he soon followed and asked if we had heat. Then he squashed it, and we have been cool ever since.
But at that time man did I want to kick the crap outta that kid lol.

Me: Lol. You should have. That’d be a kick ass story.

Jason: I know lol. I am still friends and keep in touch with a lot of the guys: Shad Gaspard, Johnny Jeter (Johnny from the Spirit Squad), Nick Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler), Heath Slater, Joe Hennig (Micheal McGillicutty), Justin Angel [Justin Gabriel], Drew McIntire, Stu (Wade Barret), Sheamus, Angela Fong (Savanah). The list goes on and on.

Funny story, when we first started in UPW I wrestled Cena. But at the time I had just got signed by WWE, and I didn’t want to lose my job lol. And the promoter told Cena to stretch me (kick my ass), because we were a little on the cocky side, but Cena felt bad, so he didn’t do it. He told me what he was supposed to do and told me when I come back to the locker room just act like I was hurt or got the crap kicked outta me and seem a little mad. lol.

Me: Seems like he’s a pretty good guy. I think he gets a bad rap on the internet. People hate him. I don’t get it.

Jason: He is a really stand up guy and an awesome person. NEVER, not once, did he ever big league us or treat less when he became who he is. Always remembers us even after years of not speaking to one another. He asks about our family, our mom. He’s a real class act. So no matter how much I don’t like to watch him wrestle lol, he will always have my respect.

Me: That’s what I say. The guy isn’t the best wrestler in the world, but he works his ass off and seems like a decent guy. I won’t root against him for that. Although I’m damn sure rooting for him against The Rock.

Jason: lol hahaha that’s the only thing in Wrestlemania that has my attention at all.

Me: Really? Not even Punk/Cena? That’s got the possibility to be one of the best matches in a decade.

Jason: Yeah, I loved that angle, but WWE dropped the ball on it, in my opinion. They could’ve gotten three or four PPV’s out that angle, but you are right, that was the best angle they have had in a long time.

Me: Jericho is my all time favorite. I love anything he does, and this match with Punk is a dream match on par with the one he did with Michaels at Wrestlemania several years back for me. I’m buying the PPV solely for that match.

Jason: That will be interesting. Can’t really go wrong with Jericho.

Me: Never. Out of curiosity, who are some of your all time favorites?

Jason: Before I got into wrestling, Warrior, LOD, DX, heel Rock (Corperate champ). After I got into wrestling, Triple H (one of my major influences), Benoit, Angle, Regal, Bret and Owen Hart, Micheals, Low Ki (another good friend of mine, when we were with WWE that’s who John and I traveled with), AJ Styles and the Dudleys.

Me: I think it’s crazy we like all the same guys for the most part. But anyway, I’ll let you go get something to eat. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, man. I really appreciate it.

Let me just say that it was really cool to get to pick Jason’s brain for a little bit. I’ve always wanted to do something like that, and the journalist and wrestling fan inside me were screaming like little girls when he agreed to talk to me about wrestling, so a big thanks goes out to him for that.

Here are some videos of Jason and John throughout their careers. Because this interview is with Jason, I grabbed four things of his and only one of John’s.  If you guys would like, I’ll gladly post more of John’s stuff later. Just let me know. Enjoy.