Chad Collyer has all the tools to thrive and become a main player in
the pure wrestling environment of Ring Of Honor. He is set to debut
for ROH this Saturday night, Dec. 7th, when ROH returns to the Murphy
Recreation Center just five blocks from the ECW Arena in South
Philly. It is a special fan appreciation night and tickets are just
$10!!! For ticket and show info that includes a main event with
Abdullah The Butcher go to ROHwrestling.com, RFVideo.com or call 215-
891-9404. Here is an interview with this standout athlete.

1) Give us your athletic and wrestling training background?

Chad Collyer: I wrestled amateur style for 11 years in high school
and college, then coached for two years after that. I wrestled for
Manchester College at 150 and 158 pound weight classes. While there,
I was NCAA West Regional Champion in 1995 and qualified for the NCAA
National tournament twice. After my senior year of wrestling in
college, I decided to head down to Tampa, Florida to train at
Malenko's Pro Wrestling School to become a pro wrestler. I trained at
Malenko's from August 1997- December 1997. During those five months I
was trained by Dean Malenko. When Dean was away doing house shows or
Nitro/Thunder for WCW we were trained by Jeff Bradley, who was the
former Dudley Dudley in ECW. I was lucky enough to get trained by
Dean about 80% of the time I was down there.

2) Describe your in ring style?

CC: Most of my in ring style revolves around my mat wrestling and who
I am wrestling. I like to combine many Japanese, Lucha Libre, and
European styles into all of my matches.

3) Tell us about working in the UK and Japan recently. Who did you
work for? What was it like going back there after WWE? What were some
memorable matches?

CC: It wasn't rough at all going back to Japan (Michinoku Pro) and
the UK (All Star Promotions) after my short WWE stint. I actually
preferred to go back there because I wasn't really having too much
fun with the WWE developmental program and wanted to get back to
wrestling every night like I used to do. In Japan I did a new masked
gimmick called The Metal Master. It was fun and I got to have some
really good matches with Curry Man (Christopher Daniels), Great
Sasuke, Ikuto Hidaka and Dick Togo. In England, I always have good
matches with James Mason, Jonny Storm, Jody Fleish, Robbie Dynamite,
and Doug Williams.

4) You are booked on all upcoming ROH dates, would you say that you
are trying to make ROH a home?

CC: I am all for wrestling for ROH while I am home in the United
States. I am sure I will do a Japan tour here and there but would
like to work as much as I can with ROH because it is my style of
wrestling.

5) What have you heard about ROH?

CC: I know that it is the only real alternative product to the WWE
right now. I heard that ROH takes the wrestling seriously, which is
something you don't hear too much of anymore. I think that ROH will
go far with the talent they bring in for their shows.

6) What can fans expect when they see you in ROH?

CC: A little bit of everything. Lots of wrestling. Good athleticism.
I lay everything in.

7) How do you feel about working "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson in
your first ROH match?

CC: Dragon is a very good wrestler. I know I will enjoy my match with
him. He was trained very well. He is a good, smart wrestler and he is
in great shape.

8) Have you and Dragon wrestled before? How did it go?

CC: I wrestled him once out in California for All Pro Wrestling. I
enjoyed our match very much, but we didn't do as much wrestling as we
could have. I think that it will be very different this time in ROH.

9) How would you sum up your WWE developmental experience?

CC: Enjoyed getting a paycheck every week. Didn't like anything else
about it. I felt like I was taking a step backwards doing drills and
all kinds of other beginners nonsense. I believe it would have been
better for me if I could have just joined the active roster while on
the road and practice on the things that I needed to the most. I
already had more wrestling experience in my four years in the
business than just about anybody else there. I just needed work on
promos. The WWE seemed more interested in acting skills before
wrestling ability. I remember one day coming into practice and there
was a list on the desk asking wrestlers to sign up for acting
classes. I laughed and just said "you have got to be kidding me!" I
did have some good matches while I was there that I was really proud
of. My matches with Spanky, Jamie Noble, Shannon Moore, Kaz Hayashi,
and EZ Money were some of my favorites. I learned the most from Dr.
Tom Pritchard while I was there. I really apprec! iate his and Les
Thatcher's help while I was there. I would always be up for joining
the WWE again, but would not sign a developmental deal. I would
rather just make my money wrestling overseas and ROH. Hopefully, the
WWE will get away from the soap opera stuff and get back to some good
wrestling angles.

10) What are your hopes for the future?

CC: I plan on getting work wherever I can get it. I want to work ROH
fulltime and I want to continue going to Japan.

11) Do you look at ROH as an opportunity to showcase your true
wrestling skills?

CC: Absolutely. It is probably the only place right now besides Japan
where I actually can do the kind of wrestling that I like to do and
watch.

12) What do you think of the whole ROH concept that pro wrestling
should be presented as a sport and not sports entertainment?

CC: I think the focus should be on the sport with enough storyline
and drama to make the matches more interesting.

13) Any website or anything to plug?

CC: http://www.chadcollyer.com

Thanks a lot for the interview

CC: Thank you

Support TWO: Wrestling Vixxxens Video

Credit: RF Video.com