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INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS BROCK

@oliver_sheen: Greetings, EWC Nation. I’m Oliver Sheen and today, I’ll be conducting an interview via Discord with our FSW GM, Chris Brock.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to speak with me.

So, my first question is what are your first thoughts with any news and/or events that have happened in the orange brand thus far? Did anything in particular really take you aback? Impress you? Something else altogether?

Chris Brock : Oh wow… What a loaded question (haha). This season has been such a rollercoaster from start to finish. Our roster has exploded and we have so many new faces, along with a lot of familiar ones. I think the most shocking thing that has happened this season so far was getting that call from Buddy Love about Killjoy Ito wanting to come to FSW. Much like Candy last season, the top star on Prime decided it was time to swim in bigger waters and I welcome that with open arms. Also, I have to say the emergence of new hitters like Darlene, Joseph Hall, L.A. Meyers, and Aidan O’Sheahan have all been impressive.

@oliver_sheen: With what you’ve seen from your roster thus far and Stranglemania quickly approaching, do you think either the North American or FSW Championships will change hands?

Chris Brock : I mean… yea, that’s always a possibility. Wes and Stitches are obviously deserving champions. They put on one hell of a match at FSW #94. Stitches has proven that he will do whatever it takes to keep that title, but he’s not unbeatable. Robbie Rayder proved that last year at FSW Uprising. Mercenary has come into this season setting the World on fire and there is a real chance that he could have Stitches number the same way he did in 2018 when he defeated him. Wes Walker defeated Kyle Gautier at WrestleFest to cap off a very strong rookie season, but another rookie has come in and really taken FSW by storm this year as well and that is Darlene. I hope Wes and Stitches are both preparing for these matches because their challengers could both pull off upsets. But that’s the great thing about this sport. Anything can happen.

@oliver_sheen: Anything can indeed happen. Now that your roster has expanded, is there a dream match within FSW that you hope to see happen before the year ends?

Chris Brock : Oh wow… I mean, I think we’ve already gotten some of that. My immediate goal when I took this job last season was to stabilize FSW. I had seen the roster just look dejected and depressed so I wanted to turn that around and in short order I had to put together a brand exclusive Pay-Per-View which people reacted well to, so I would like to think I did well to provide a good environment for my roster. Going into this season, I realized we had never had a meeting of the North American Champion and FSW champion, so that was one that I made happen already. I think any time Candy and Killjoy go toe to toe, it’s a dream match. Killjoy and Robbie Rayder tore the house down… As for current dream matches? I think Stitches and Darlene both have that killer instinct that could either be so entertaining to watch or it would end in a blood bath. Joseph Hall and Killjoy Ito I think could be an absolute barn burner. That’s just two, but I could probably spend all day coming up with new scenarios (haha)

@oliver_sheen: If you don’t mind, allow me to backtrack for a bit. Since you hinted this position is relatively new for you, what made you accept this position? Mind giving us a bit of background about yourself?

Chris Brock :: Absolutely. I’ll start with what led me to this spot first. So last year was a bit of a year for EWC as a whole. The biggest thing being that our Fearless leader, President Mac, was in a very bad accident. Near fatal is the term that was being thrown around I believe. In his stead, the board of directors appointed Victor Price acting President. So Price is charged with finding a new FSW GM, and then shortly there after the old Brawl GM leaves as well. So 50% of the company now does not have a General Manager. Now, I’ve been retired from active competition for some time at this point, but this business… it…. It never leaves you, so of course I am always watching. Anyway, my agent starts calling me out of nowhere, telling me that I am getting calls. That made me laugh, HARD. Nothing for 5 years and then all of a sudden my agent is like a shark in the water sniffing blood it was hilarious. Anyway, he tells me EWC is calling and that I should take the meeting. I remember asking him at the time “Please tell me they aren’t trying to sign me to wrestle again” and his response was “I have no idea, but you don’t turn down the EWC.” This is THE fed, that is very clear. So I take the meeting and Mac walks in, this was before his accident. and lays it out for me “We need a General Manager. You’ve done the job for other feds, you’ve run your own company before. You know this, so just say yes and we can all move on with our day” It was unlike any other business meeting I’ve ever attended. There was not strategy talk, no “tell me your vision” crap, none of that. He knew before he ever called I could do the job so he just put it out there. So at first I actually turned him down. He looked at me and just told me to go to a live show. gave me tickets to FSW #80. I turned those down as well. But I made sure I tuned in to watch. I picked up the phone halfway through the show and talked to Mac again, gave him my thoughts on how to get the show back on track and what to look for in a GM. He again offered me the job, but I turned him down again. He left the door open though because he really wanted me. Then his accident happened. It got me thinking. Life is so short, you never know what is going to happen. I decided I was going to go see a show before I really made a final decision. So I went to Paris, France and they let me backstage. What I saw there made me so sad. The entire roster was so down. The show was being terrorized from within. Before I even walked to my seat, I picked up the phone and called Victor Price. He laughed in my face, told me the job wasn’t open, but I knew that was a lie. Luckily Mac had already drawn up the paperwork so it was a done deal as soon as I said yes. The rest…. well the rest played out on FSW #81 in Paris.

As for my background? Well, like I said I was a wrestler. I put 20 years into this business as a competitor. Won a couple titles, got my ass kicked… like a LOT. I had ups and downs like anyone, but my passion for this business never wavered. At a certain point, I decided that It was time to hang up the boots and let the younger men and women do what they do best. I took a year or two off at first, and then I got a call from this guy named Caleb Hawk. he was starting a new promotion called Legacy Pro Wrestling and needed someone to run the day to day side of things. So I decided to give it a try. I found out I loved it. like REALLY loved it.

At a certain point though, Caleb ran the company into the ground and for a bit I tried to run it myself but the name was just so tainted by that point, that I had to scramble to get some investors together so that I could buy Hawk out and purchase the assets of LPW so I could form a new company, DCW: Dynasty Championship Wrestling. We started small and started getting a name for ourselves, even had a Pay-Per-View or two and then the owner of APW called me with a buyout offer. I’m not a bad businessman, I know a good deal when I see one. So I took that offer. DCW merged into APW and the rest is as they say History.

@oliver_sheen: Thank you for telling us your personal story. Like you said earlier, your goal last year was to stabilize FSW. Do you have different goals for the orange brand this season, and if so, what are they?

Chris Brock : This job we do as General Managers…it’s not unlike being an active wrestler. We’re all competing constantly. As I did more and more research into the history of the FSW brand you know what I discovered? FSW has never once been named brand of the year. Not once. Don’t get me wrong, Prime, Brawl, and Rampage all have deserved their nods. But this year. I want it. Orange is the new Red is my motto for SZN 21 and at the end of the year I want to be the GM of the Brand of the year because FSW has the talent and the staff in place to make that happen.

@oliver_sheen: That’s quite the ambitious goal. I wish you luck in that endeavor. I have one last question, so here it is. If you could ask anyone from the other brands – particularly Brawl or Rampage since Prime has crossed over to FSW every now and again – to have a one-off match with any of your roster members, who would it be? And in what kind of match?

Chris Brock : Oh man. Well, we kind of had that happen on FSW #094 with NSFW taking on Lunch Time and earlier this year when Xavier Reid came back to FSW. But there’s one match…ONE match that I think anyone who has followed FSW will tell you they want to see: FSW champion Stitches Vs. Undisputed champion and FSW alumni Melody Malone one more time. Those two TORE UP last season and every time they stepped in the ring together it was magical. Title for title FSW champion vs Undisputed champion. As for a stipulation? I’d have to think more on that but it would have to involve weapons somehow as they both are fond of them. Can you imagine that Oliver? Man my skin has goosebumps just thinking about it!

@oliver_sheen: And that wraps up our interview for now. Thanks again for your time, and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of this season.

[end]

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