TPWW Forums
wrestling forum>Mike Bucci (Simon Dean) Interview
Providence Peep 10:00 AM 06-23-2010
On current WWE talent: "I still think Hunter's the best. Rey's good when he's on, I think Kane is awesome, he's underrated, obviously 'Taker, the in-ring teachers. Although they're being portrayed as such, when I look at the last season of NXT, or the next one, and I love these guys, I saw guys like Zack Ryder, and Kofi, like guys I either hired in WWE, or I trained with them, saw their first match, you know what I mean? It's like these are the guys now who are towing the line. These are the guys that are the pros. John Morrison, I must have wrestled him a thousand times, I helped train him. So it's like, I'm proud of these guys, but in the next thing, these guys have big shoes to fill."
Work-rate vs. Character: "I'll tell you the difference, Nova was a big work-rate guy in ECW, and when ECW went out of business, I was owed probably about $50,000, but Simon Dean was a really good WWE character who has a nice house and has money saved, has got an action figure and everything else....Simon Dean was a great character who would go out there and get a reaction, I would do what I was supposed to do in the ring,and I think character is a million...million times more important than work-rate."
Working with Paul Heyman: Eh, take him or leave him. You know, I was never really super friendly to Paul, I was very standoffish to Paul in the beginning, because to me he was the boss, what he says goes, I was intimidated by the guy and I mean, hell, I probably spent the first two years working for the company and said two sentences to the guy...I never really had guidance from Paul, I wasn't one of his guys, I don't think he viewed me as anybody he could make money with until probably the last couple months the company was around...he did a lot of stuff toward the end that was really crappy and I'm sure someway shape or form he'll pay for it someday...I haven't seen him in years and I have no desire to ever see him again."
On Triple H: "Dude, Hunter is the most misunderstood guy in the business, people forget, this man was a life long fan, started with Kowalski, went down to USWA, I was very friendly with Hunter, I respected him and liked him a lot, he was always a pro to me , I still hate when people talk crap on him and bash him. He was in WCW, had a career there, he was a World Champion before he even met Stephanie; and does anybody really think it was that easy to date Stephanie and go sit at Vince's house and say 'by the way I'm dating your daughter and eventually I want to marry her' are you kidding me? I mean that guy took a bigger career risk than anyone I've ever met in my life... I'd probably put Hunter at fourth, right behind Hogan, Shawn and Flair."
ECW One Night Stand: The only painful part about it was the debate with Balls Mahoney in the back, he kept telling me, and this was before what we know now about unprotected chair shots, and he just kept harping for an hour, and I like John, he kept saying 'the crowd man, it's a pay-per-view, don't put your hands up man, this has gotta look good, it's gotta look good' and I looked at him and said, 'what are you nuts? I'm getting up and wrestling tomorrow, John I'm going to Raw, I gotta be Simon Dean tomorrow, I don't really care about that stuff, this is a one night thing, I'm not letting you kill me... Jericho and couple other guys walked over and said 'if you let him hit you, you're crazy, dude'"
Talent he hired: "I hired Sheamus, Drew (McIntyre), Stu Sanders, Nattie Niedhart, Ted DiBiase, TJ (Tyson Kidd), Santino... I'm forgetting some others, but I hired a lot"
Work-rate vs. Character: "I'll tell you the difference, Nova was a big work-rate guy in ECW, and when ECW went out of business, I was owed probably about $50,000, but Simon Dean was a really good WWE character who has a nice house and has money saved, has got an action figure and everything else....Simon Dean was a great character who would go out there and get a reaction, I would do what I was supposed to do in the ring,and I think character is a million...million times more important than work-rate."
Working with Paul Heyman: Eh, take him or leave him. You know, I was never really super friendly to Paul, I was very standoffish to Paul in the beginning, because to me he was the boss, what he says goes, I was intimidated by the guy and I mean, hell, I probably spent the first two years working for the company and said two sentences to the guy...I never really had guidance from Paul, I wasn't one of his guys, I don't think he viewed me as anybody he could make money with until probably the last couple months the company was around...he did a lot of stuff toward the end that was really crappy and I'm sure someway shape or form he'll pay for it someday...I haven't seen him in years and I have no desire to ever see him again."
On Triple H: "Dude, Hunter is the most misunderstood guy in the business, people forget, this man was a life long fan, started with Kowalski, went down to USWA, I was very friendly with Hunter, I respected him and liked him a lot, he was always a pro to me , I still hate when people talk crap on him and bash him. He was in WCW, had a career there, he was a World Champion before he even met Stephanie; and does anybody really think it was that easy to date Stephanie and go sit at Vince's house and say 'by the way I'm dating your daughter and eventually I want to marry her' are you kidding me? I mean that guy took a bigger career risk than anyone I've ever met in my life... I'd probably put Hunter at fourth, right behind Hogan, Shawn and Flair."
ECW One Night Stand: The only painful part about it was the debate with Balls Mahoney in the back, he kept telling me, and this was before what we know now about unprotected chair shots, and he just kept harping for an hour, and I like John, he kept saying 'the crowd man, it's a pay-per-view, don't put your hands up man, this has gotta look good, it's gotta look good' and I looked at him and said, 'what are you nuts? I'm getting up and wrestling tomorrow, John I'm going to Raw, I gotta be Simon Dean tomorrow, I don't really care about that stuff, this is a one night thing, I'm not letting you kill me... Jericho and couple other guys walked over and said 'if you let him hit you, you're crazy, dude'"
Talent he hired: "I hired Sheamus, Drew (McIntyre), Stu Sanders, Nattie Niedhart, Ted DiBiase, TJ (Tyson Kidd), Santino... I'm forgetting some others, but I hired a lot"
VSG 10:29 AM 06-23-2010
I was impressed with his list of talents signed and then bothered enough to check who Stu Sanders was. Not bad, Simon, not bad at all.
Providence Peep 10:43 AM 06-23-2010
Originally Posted by VSG:
check who Stu Sanders was
Yeah, I didn't know. My ass had to calllllllll some-bodddddy. check who Stu Sanders was
XCaliber 10:45 AM 06-23-2010
Originally Posted by Providence Peep:
Talent he hired: "I hired Sheamus, Drew (McIntyre), Stu Sanders, Nattie Niedhart, Ted DiBiase, TJ (Tyson Kidd), Santino... I'm forgetting some others, but I hired a lot"
I'd say that's a good crop of talent right there folks.Talent he hired: "I hired Sheamus, Drew (McIntyre), Stu Sanders, Nattie Niedhart, Ted DiBiase, TJ (Tyson Kidd), Santino... I'm forgetting some others, but I hired a lot"
Nark Order 11:56 AM 06-23-2010
James Steele is Simon Dean?
Haze 12:24 PM 06-23-2010
Great read, and this guy has a serious eye for talent.
Schlomey 12:52 PM 06-23-2010
I especially liked the parts on HHH. I never thought of it that way and thought it was pretty cool.
Jordan 12:58 PM 06-23-2010
Through the interviews I have read he seems like the kind of guy that marches to the beat of his own drum. He doesn't follow the flock. And it paid off for him, not overtly in the ring but he had a decent run and made money, but most importantly he obviously was instrumental in the development of WWE in the new millennium.
MoFo 01:03 PM 06-23-2010
Didn't know he was a talent scout, let alone a brilliant one.
Schlomey 01:06 PM 06-23-2010
Is he still currently employed as a talent scout by the WWF?
jskinnyg 02:05 PM 06-23-2010
I think he just recently was released right?
The Pope 02:11 PM 06-23-2010
I love Simon Dean (Super Nova)
VSG 02:15 PM 06-23-2010
Originally Posted by Schlomey:
Is he still currently employed as a talent scout by the WWF?
Both parties came to a mutual release in mid-2008 I believe.Is he still currently employed as a talent scout by the WWF?
Afterlife 02:16 PM 06-23-2010
He got released after the Benoit thing, I think. Some kind of connection to that steroid doctor.
The Pope 02:37 PM 06-23-2010
Was it Dr.Perfect?
Emperor Smeat 07:34 PM 06-23-2010
According to Wikipedia, him having to move from his home in Kentucky to a new one in Conneticut and years of dealing with backstage "politics" were some of the prime reasons.
The illegal steroid drug bust and him being suspended while working in development probably was the final reason he was fired/mutual release.
The illegal steroid drug bust and him being suspended while working in development probably was the final reason he was fired/mutual release.
DaVe 10:55 PM 06-24-2010
Didn't see much of this guy outside Simon Dean, but I like his attitude and beliefs.
KayfabeMan 03:19 AM 06-25-2010
He was great in the ring as Nova.
I never really cared for the Simon Dean character, but whatever.
Met him a few times, had a couple of lengthy talks with him - he seems like a smart enough guy, but a little stuck on himself as well.
I never really cared for the Simon Dean character, but whatever.
Met him a few times, had a couple of lengthy talks with him - he seems like a smart enough guy, but a little stuck on himself as well.
RiX1024 06:22 AM 06-26-2010
Nova was awesome, like Simon Dean at first then got bored of him, he was no Nova, still one of my fave tag teams was Chris Chetti and Nova, very underrated.
James Steele 10:03 AM 06-26-2010
