Dave Lagana Interview w/ Bryan Alvarez

Figure Four Wrestling recently had a radio interview with WCW booker Dave Lagana. Here are the highlights:

On the anti-spoiler crusade: I feel it's integral to a product - like TV or movies or comic books or whatever it is - I feel it's integral that you keep the secrecy of the product so that first-time viewers get the full effect. It's like watching the Star Wars trilogy for the first time. You get blown away in Empire Strikes Back, but if someone tells you beforehand that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, then it completely ruins that entire moment in the movie. I think it's the same here. We knew it wouldn't work for the first taping, but can you imagine watching week-to-week and not knowing what will happen next? Imagine you're watching the third episode of Underground, with no idea what will happen, and then all of sudden here are Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas - two guys with a history with Kurt Angle - and they're beating up Kurt Angle and Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. That's one of the big advantages of going live, but we can't do that right now. It's not in the finances. But now we have this weekend and the tapings and we're hoping that the measures we've taken with the lawsuits and the non-disclosure agreements, that we'll be able to keep some things under wraps. We hope too. We have some big, BIG things in store for this taping and we want to keep that under wraps for as long as possible. And let me thank you for your part, because you certainly did yours. You didn't post the results when they were e-mailed to you and we really appreciate that. It might seem to you that you got the better of that deal because here I am, but really we did and I'm happy that things have gone how they've gone. It's not the most popular decision, but we did what we needed to do to build and keep interest in our product.

On Kurt Angle's arrest, which took place one day after the last WCW TV tapings: That was a real blow. We had just - the day before - we had just filmed four weeks worth a television. All of it building to this six-man tag team match with Angle and the Wolves taking on Alberto and Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team. We had done all of that TV and the next day that happens. And you have applaud the management, because they could have simply slapped him on the wrist and we could have proceeded as planned. It would have made my life easier, sure. But I think they made the right call. If you nip it in the bud - if you nip the drug problems and the alcohol problems in the bud right at the beginning - then it will hopefully save trouble in the future. And think about the message it sends - this was Kurt Angle. He was meant to be the top draw of the promotion, make no mistake about it. He was to be our John Cena. But even the top guy, the guy we rely on the most, isn't invincible. He made some careless mistakes and he's going to pay for them. The best part of it is, he's owning up to those mistakes and he's taking the punishment. You have to respect that. I hope this is just the first step in a change for him, because he is a genuine future Hall of Famer for sure.

On Angle's suspension and how it effects storylines: It definitely created some problems. We had four weeks of TV building up a match on our next iPPV, which is on 10/29 on GoFightLive.tv [laughs], and all of sudden he's going to be suspended for two months following the next taping. So I could have him for four more episodes basically, but not the iPPV. So it creates an issue of what do we do to fix this? And not to toot my own horn, because I'm only a portion of the equation here, but I think we came up with a reasonable solution. Look - I had planned out everything through December with Kurt Angle in mind. There was logical beginning, middle, and end to this story we were going to tell. Now we can't tell it. So we had to go back to the drawing board and come up with something else. And that's what we did and I think what we've come up with is just as strong and plausible as where we were going with Angle and Eddie and Davey. I think as the fans tune in next week and in the weeks leading up to to the iPPV and the iPPV itself, I think the fans are really going to enjoy what we're giving them and how it all fits together.

On Jim Ross joining WCW as Head of Personnel: Jim Ross is the guy who found the Rock, who brought Steve Austin and Triple H to WCW, he's the guy who discovered Brock Lesnar. It's easy to see that Jim Ross has an eye for talent and that's why he was brought in. And you're going to see the effects of that almost immediately. We told him, "Ross, we need a guy to talk for Bison and Takeshi." And he went out, watched some DVDs, caught a live event, and came back with the perfect person. And I don't think it's any surprise at this point, but that person is Jimmy Jacobs. He was Ross' first big hire. We had Jimmy do a promo with the guys and we had a certain mindset for how we wanted it delivered. We gave him some bullet points - we're not scripting promos here you know - and told him to operate in this frame of mind, and he delivered gold. Just absolute gold. So we were definitely excited with what Ross has already brought us and what he's going to bring to the table. He's a great talent both on commentary and when it comes to seeking out talent.

On Jim Ross possibly doing commentary at some point: Well, I guess there's no harm in saying this: Jim Ross will be doing broadcast commentary on every iPPV from here on out. He won't be doing TV, but he will be doing the live commentary on iPPV. We haven't decided on whether we'll go with a three-man booth or just Ross and Layfield or Ross and Lenny. We haven't gotten there yet. But yeah, Ross will definitely be doing some commentary for us. And what a great idea that is. The man is the best of all time on commentary, bar none. He'll sit there and list all these guys he thinks are better than him, but when it comes to calling matches, Jim Ross is in a league of his own. He'll call the 10/29 iPPV.

For the full radio interview, visit f4wrestling.com.