As seen in the embedded video below, former WWE Star JTG spoke with “SO CATCH by Hal 2” to discuss several wrestling topics, including:
- 2’36: JTG body transformation and why he wasn’t allowed to look like that when he was in WWE
- 3’27: JTG feelings about Cryme Tyme never winning tag team championships in WWE and why WWE did not want them to be champions
- 6’57: JTG does not know if Shad Gaspard will be introduced to the hall of Fame, nor Cryme Tyme
- 8’55: JTG explains how it feels to be under WWE contract but not used on TV anymore.
- 9’34: Having access to Vince McMahon backstage, needing to have balls to go face to face with him
- 11’20: JTG giving an idea for him to Vince and writers, Vince liked it but the gimmick ended up to R-Truth (little Jimmy gimmick).
- 14’04: JTG’s very cool idea to be associated with Booker T for his solo career (that never happened)
- 15’00: JTG explain the process of giving ideas to writers, trying to find ideas and fresh start but being released at the end
- 17’24: JTG potential return to WWE
- 19’25: JTG’s Mont RushMore of pro wrestling
Here is a trascription from the interview:
Hal : Hi JTG how are you doing ?
JTG : I am doing great on this thursday morning how are you doing ?
Hal : yeah i’m doing great too. I hope you still want to do this interview despite what just
happened.
JTG : yeah you’re okay okay
Hal : let’s do it let’s do it, thank you. I have to ask, my very first question is how did you become so big ?
JTG : how did i become so big ? If you follow me on instagram or anywhere on social media you saw that i got big by using my my very own product called tmos. Something i came up with during the pandemic. I was making breakfast smoothies every morning and i
was using tmoss and different herbs in the mornings with my smoothies and i noticed a drastic change and you know that’s what i wanted because i did the research. I decided to bottle up and sell it and it’s working. All my customers are happy so if you are interested in
getting putting some size on, just visit t-moss.com.
Hal : Do you do you ship some to France ?
JTG : yeah i got you man i’ll take care of you
Hal : Very good very good i’m also trying to grow my own beard. You’re successful in that too. Any advice ?
JTG : yes if you can see the the video you can see this very luscious beautiful beard I
got right here and i got that using my very own product once again ! And not only do we do beard, it’s beard and body […]
Hal : Okay that’s good to know i’m gonna have a look at your websites. That sounds interesting.
JTG : Appreciate.
Hal : Why didn’t you look like that when you were in wwe ?
JTG : I think when i came in with cryme tyme it was very hard to get away with get away uh from that look from that gimmick. I tried very hard and then it kept pulling me back and then eventually i just got stuck.I got back stuck into the crime time look.
Hal : You’re talking about cryme Tyme, that’s a big part of your career of course. You started with Shad as your tag team partner, you won the ovw tag team championships. That’s one of the few times that you guys were champions together as a team. How do you feel about never winning any tag team championships while being in WWE ?
JTG : While I was in the WWE I definitely felt like Shad and I were shafted but post wwe career, looking back, I believe having the fans, being the fans favorites is way more important than being tag team champions you know. Because the company chooses
who they want to put the tag team titles on but they can’t choose who they want the fans to love and we will always be fan favorites and we earned that and they didn’t give that to us.
Hal : Do you know why they never give it to you ? Is there any reason ?
JTG : I’m just gonna chop it up to politics it’s always gonna be politics. You know there’s only gonna be situations that could change the the direction of your career last minute.
Hal : Do you think there were people at thetime that didn’t want you to win the the
tag teams ?
JTG : I’m gonna go ahead and assume so. I don’t want to give any names but i might have some ideas. But yeah there were definitely some names that didn’t want to see Cryme Tyme being champions.
Hal : After wrestlemania 26, you and Shad are done as a tag team. Who was behind this idea ?
JTG : I think we both wanted it, we both wanted to see where our careers could go solo.
So they did talk to us about it but afterwards we didn’t they didn’t really have any direction
for us afterwards because they kept changing the plans. We were supposed to be be on
different brands and then we ended up on the same brand. And then they wanted to push Sahd as a monster heel [I do not understand this part].
Then I pitched the idea and then I was waiting for that to manifest … That didn’t come and so many different ideas switched around so they didn’t really have any direction…
Hal : A couple of months after that Shad is released, in november 2010. How did you react ?
JTG : I spoke to Shad you know. I was disappointed because that was also, besides being my tag team partner, he was my best friend and brother. So you know I was sad to see that he was out of a job. But i knew he would be he’ll bounce back and he’ll be all right because you know he had bigger dreams and aspirations outside of wrestling.
Hal : Did you feel like guilty for not being released too ?
JTG : No i didn’t feel guilty at all, being honest.
Hal : At least, you still had a job at the time.
So you mention it, Shad was your best friend. Did you saw him on a daily basis outside of pro wrestling ? Did you talk to him every day?
JTG : I didn’t speak to him every day but I probably spoke to him at least once a week.
Hal : Do you think wwe should induct him in the hall of fame ?
JTG : With that company i really don’t know … it’s weird they have like a weird way of doing things so i don’t even know if they would do it or not… If they would induct Shad into the hall of fame or if they’ll induct Cryme Tyme into the hall of fame or if they even give Shad the warrior award. I don’t know, it is all again like i said, it’s politics.
The fans do want it but if somebody behind the scenes does not want it, then it is not gonna happen.
Hal : A lot of fans uh criticized the tribute that wwe did. They basically said that should have done more. What’s your opinion on that ?
JTG : I was just surprised even did one. So i mean i’m cool with well what they did.
Hal : You also wrote two books about your career in wwe and your your your life as a pro wrestler. You talk about having heat backstage and being able to play the game which i believe is what you you called politics. If you had the opportunity to go back and start all over again, would you do things differently compared to what you’ve done in the past ?
JTG : Yeah with the knowledge and wisdom that i have now yeah my my career definitely would have took a different direction. But you know that’s not how life works. You know you learn later on in life.
Hal : How much is it frustrating for a wwe superstar to still be hired but not used on tv ?
JTG : It’s very frustrating especially if you love your craft you know you’re very passionate about your in-ring abilities. You want the world to see it especially on the wwe platform and you’re not being used. It could definitely get to you. Especially if you start pitching ideas
and you know they’re not using them or they are using but not with you. It can be very frustrating.
Hal : Is it hard to have access to Vince and talk to him ?
JTG : To to the writers ?
Hal : Yeah the writers and also Vince because i guess is the one that takes the the big
decisions.
JTG : Vince, when i was there he wasn’t very hard to get in. I mean you just had to be patient because you know he’s got a lot of things going on but yeah you could definitely knock on his door and then he’ll give you a minute or two. But yeah you just had to have the balls to go knock on his door. The writers were also very … when i was there, i am going to speak for when i was there … they were easy to get a hold of but it’s only if they took the idea and run away with it.
Hal : Concretely like you go and see Vince before the show or is there a more formal procedure ?
JTG : It would probably be before.
Hal : So you try you try to squeeze in the office and like quickly talk to him.
JTG : Yeah.
Hal : You said that you need to have some balls to do that what why ?
JTG : There’s some guys that really are intimidated by vince you know they don’t
want to knock on the door and have a hell of a 1 on 1 you know. You make that eye contact you know, just you and him, some guys can’t do that.
Hal : But it was different at the time because right now you can uh you can get released
really easily. At the time it was different !
JTG : Yeah you’re right !
Hal : You said that you gave an id for you. Vince liked it but the creatives use it
for someone else, I’m just like being super curious. Can you tell us who it was ?
JTG : So it wasn’t exactly the same idea but it was in the same realm. I had pitched the idea to have a imaginary puppet, imaginary friend by my side that the wwe universe could only see and hear. It was going to be a muppet and i was going to do it backstage. It was kind of similar to like the Big Mouth Show (on Netflix) with the hormone monster. Where the audience and the character cone you see the hormone monster and the hormone monsters making jokes and being witty and all that good stuff. So i pitched that idea, they loved it and then after a few weeks,after talking about the idea … they started getting frustrated with me because I was very passionate and I really wanted to do this. I wanted it to be done right. They just wanted to do a hand puppet and i’m like no it can’t be a hand puppet it’s got to be like a jim henson type of production.
Then after that the communication just slowed down and nobody’s returning my emails. Then a few months I see somebody else with an imaginary friend. Who can you think of somebody else with an imaginary friend that got over ?
Hal : I don’t remember man …
JTG : Little Jimmy ?
Hal :Oh yeah yeah little jimmy ! That is R Truth !
But did you wanted someone to play the friend or was it just invisible ?
JTG: No i wanted somebody to actually be the puppet. I wanted the puppet to have a personality. It could have been a comedian, it could have been one of the boys who were funny. It could have been somebody, it could have been me.
Hal : Did you pick someone to do it ?
JTG : I had a few suggestions yeah.
Hal : R-Truth would have been good in this role too!
Did you pitch some other ideas like that you think could have been good ?
JTG : Yyeah i pitched the idea to work with Booker T. I wanted to do like a rocky five type of storyline where he takes me as his protégé, takes me on his wing because we have
similar backgrounds and career. We both came from tag teams you know and he’s still solo singles career and you know i have my singles career and he was going to take me into direction of being a top guy. And then after i get to a certain level, I turn on him. I tell him than I don’t need him anymore, I can do it on my own. And me and him have a big match. I pitched that, the writers liked it and then I never heard anything anything else about it.
Hal : Why do you think this happened ?
JTG : I have no idea i don’t know that one.
Hal : Is this just the way that things went when you were there ? Just people
giving ideas, ideas, ideas and no feedback?
JTG : Yeah. That’s when you just stop when you double email, you email again and again and you don’t hear nothing about it. Then you start seeing them avoid you in the hallways and avoiding eye contact. It’s getting awkward so now i’m just gonna leave it alone.
Hal : It’s hard to keep being motivated when you try to reinvent yourself and you don’t have the support for that.
JTG : The support or direction.
Hal : So when you know nobody is gonna help you and work on your ideas, what happened for you ? You just give up ?
JTG : No i kept pitching some more ideas. They started getting more out there but i was pitching ideas and after I started pitching a few more ideas and then i just slowed down. And then I was just at home for months until i got the call.
Hal : Were you expecting the call ?
JTG : Yeah i kind of was expecting it yeah but i only had like a few more months left in my contract so i really thought that they were going to let my contract ride out. So when i got released it wasn’t really kind of like a big surprise … It’s just that i had probably had like four or six more months left in my contract but I got released sooner … I didn’t plan on resigning anyway!
Hal : When you’re not used on tv, can you come to the show ? Because we often hear that “is not used but he’s backstage just in case uh we need him”.
JTG : Yeah they they usually fly you in, they still fly you in. They weren’t flying me in so i wouldn’t take my own money and buy my own ticket to fly myself into work if i’m not gonna be on the show.
Hal : Of course.
We saw several former wwe superstars made their comeback ; on weekly basis for some of them or just for special events like the Royal Rumble. But that was not the case for you, why ? We want to see you.
JTG : Yes the world does want to see jay the gawd !
I don’t know, i don’t really don’t even … My mind isn’t even
focused on where i’m not wanted now. I focus on where i am wanted, and wherever I go I put on great shows I put on great matches and i do what i do.
I go where I’m wanted you know right now NWA wants me and i am having a blast there and having a good time. Of course the chase will always be for the gold in any promotion that i go.
Hal : Do you target anything else in the us or outside the u.s?
JTG : I would love to definitely come back and do like a tour in the UK. It’s on my
to-do list because i’ve never been. Also I want to perform in Japan, that would be nice.
Hal : Any specific promotion ?
JTG : No, nothing specific but japan in general.
Hal : What’s your more rushmore of pro wrestling ?
JTG : I would definitely have to put Hulk hogan on there, even though I don’t agree with a lot of things that he’s been saying. You have to put stone cold … Ric flair … I got one more right ?! Okay so i have hulk hogan, stone cold flair. Let’s put the rock up there !
Hal : All right
JTG : I go by top drawers you know who put the most asses in seats in the era.
I’m a big Bret Hart fan but he didn’t put as much wrestling fans in seats as those wrestlers who i mentioned, you know they crossed over.
Hal : Thank you very much jtg
JTG : Thank you
