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JOEY RYAN DISCUSSES THE TNA GUTCHECK EXPERIENCE, THE REACTION HE'S GOTTEN, STEPPING TO TAZ AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2012-06-06 17:17:32
Joey Ryan from the Gut Check challenge joined Busted Open with Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman. You can hear Busted Open from 2-4 ET on Sirius 94, XM 208, and Sportszone 860 on the internet.

On the feedback he has received from the fans: "The support that everyone has showed me has been tremendous. It has been much more than I thought. Having this place to vent, where everyone kind of felt the same way and sympathize with me because they are not happy with the product that they are getting. It’s just been overwhelming."

Did he feel he did enough to sway the judges on Gut Check: "I definitely got the benefit of having a match with Austin Aries. It could have been worse. The promo…there was no format, there was no “ok we are going to do this and this”. They want to do very reality type television. They want to do something that is engaging to the audience. So they wanted all spur of the moment. Just based off the Alex Silva one, I knew they were going to give me a chance to talk. But to come up with something within 30 seconds without pandering for a job because I definitely wasn’t going to do that. I just took what I had, took what I knew which was the support of all the people and I used that."

Was he shocked by the outcome: "They didn’t give me any indication. I mean I know from the kind of drama for television that someone was going to say no and someone was going to say yes…And I didn’t know who the third judge was going to be until we went out there. When I got out there, I kind of felt like I was part of some kind of agenda or greater idea of Gut Check as a whole rather than one individual performance."

Is the Gut Check a work?: "People are going to think what they want. Everyone is smarter than pro wrestling. At least they think they are. TNA is very gung ho about this reality based thing for at least this segment. They didn’t tell me anything. The information I knew was very minimal. They just said “you’re going to go out there and they are going to judge you.” I don’t think they expected my reaction to it because I’m sure they are used to guys who just want to do business and do the right thing and even if they get rejected they will say “thank you sir and thanks for the opportunity”. I wasn’t going to sit there and have anybody talk down to me about my career and my life because they don’t know what I’ve been through. They don’t know the struggles I have gone through. They don’t know all the times in the Indy scene that I’ve heard three no’s to 1 yes that I have gotten for any booking I have ever done. Getting told no doesn’t faze me. I always bounce back."

On his confrontation with Taz: "I definitely don’t think Taz saw what was coming. It was very heated. He actually wanted to confront me after the show. He went back to commentary after and he was looking for me after the show, but a couple of friends backstage tried to calm him down. They told me it was best to avoid him. Honestly I didn’t see him after the show and I haven’t talked to him. I’ve read his tweets a little bit, but haven’t talked to him after the show since."

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