Chris Masters Interview: Early Career, Time in WWE, Carlito, Much More...

On Getting into Wrestling: “I loved pro wrestling my whole life. Probably from the age of 8 or 9 years old. Ultimate Warrior actually caught my attention,” Masters joked, “Guilty as charged. Looking back at the character, the music, you can see why as a kid you’d love a guy like that.”

“[At] 16-years-old, wrestling was the only thing I loved. It was career day for me and I thought to myself, ‘What can I do with my life? What do I love?’ I was like, ‘Shoot! Pro wrestling.’ I decided on that day I was going to do it and I started working out. The rest is history.”

On UPW and Getting Injured: “I started [at UPW] when I was about 17-years-old. The same day as John Cena…He was the prototype back then. I was only there a couple months and suffered a fractured ankle injury from a leapfrog over Andrew Bryniarski, who you’d know from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So I got injured, but I also realized I was too young. I was 17 and all the guys they were looking at were real built.”

“It was back to the drawing board [after my injury]. I had surgery for my ankle. Concentrated and took body building up as a hobby in pursuit to professional wrestling. I knew I was going to come back, but I wasn’t in a rush. I was going to come back when I was ready to make noise and possibly get a job.

“[The injury] was the best thing for me actually. It gave me a taste of [pro wrestling]. I saw what they were looking for…I realized, ‘I’m 17. Why would I pay for wrestling school at this point. I don’t have the option to become a wrestler yet. I’m not physically there and I’m so young.”

“I go back to UPW at 19 and I got signed by the time I was 20 to WWE, because UPW was constantly getting looks every time [the WWE] would come to California. Once I got to OVW in Louisville, this was my first time leaving home, mind you. You know, 19-year-old kid moving from Los Angeles, California where I was born and raised to Louisville, Kentucky, I didn’t know what to expect there. But it turned out to be like my college. Looking back is was some of my most fun years. We had a tight knit group.”

On Getting the Name Chris “The Masterpiece” Masters: “I got to OVW and it wasn’t maybe a week or two when they changed my name from Mordetzky to Masters. Dr. Tom Prichard told me, ‘Your new name is Masters.’”

“Maybe a few months down the line I was sitting with Mickie James, Matt Morgan, Johnny Jeter…and Matt Morgan of TNA specifically dropped the name ‘Masterpiece.’ As soon as he said it a light went off, ‘The Masterpiece’ Chris Masters. I brought it to Jim Cornet the next day and the rest is history.”

“Vince kind of identified me with a young Paul Orndorff”

On the MasterLock: “The full nelson is an effective hold…I used it as a bouncer here in LA when I was still working and going to wrestling school. Because they don’t want you to hit anybody obviously. They want you to restrain them and get them out [of the bar]. I always thought it was funny that I used that as a finishing hold. But [the MasterLock] will really make you pass out if you tort the neck. Just ask Shelton Benjamin.” “I was such a big, young kid and they had me so fired up and I didn’t really know as we call it in the business, ‘Shakespeare,’ which is creating the act of movement. You know, I was really swinging people around. Eventually, I learned better.”

On Miz Bringing Back the Figure Four: “[The Figure Four] was one of those moves a kid that I used to test out. You see the moves on TV and you’re like, ‘How much does that hurt? Does it hurt?’ Let me just say, ‘That move hurts!’”

On the Pec Dance for Sharon and Ozzy Osborne: “[The WWE] wanted to use [the pec dance] and use me in that role every week. To me it was funny, but I thought it should bridge to my real personality. Anybody who knows me knows I’m really silly and I don’t take myself too seriously and I can still be lovable and cocky. So I was like, ‘How can we bridge that moment into something else than just have it be about bouncing pecs all the time?’ That got kind of old to me and I felt that was bad writing after a certain point.”

“My last year and a half with the company was when my work rate was at it’s absolute highest. I couldn’t have a bad match with a heel on the show.”

On His Body Before Wrestling: “I was really skinny as a kid. I was about 160lbs…but then I started eating like a pig and working out and I eventually ballooned up to 300lbs. Yeah, I was pretty fat…I remember one day waking up and looking in the mirror and being like, ‘Wow, you’re fat!’ I just saw the tire iron around my waste and thought it was time to clean it up a little bit. Then I dropped down to 240lbs…I never had a trainer, so I taught myself everything.”

“Initially, I was so skinny. I didn’t have a diet scheme. I was in high school stealing those little cartons of milks that they give out. You know, you’re allowed one per person. I’d go up and stuff five of them in my bag because then you get 50 grams of protein if you’ve got five milks. Milk is great. If you’re a skinny kid trying to bulk up, have some milk with every meal…I kind of was just force feeding myself.”

On Getting Released from WWE: “I take full responsibility for my first release. The second one was a little bit more of a shocker to me. I had fallen into the typical wrestling problem which as prescription pills. I fought that battle and haven’t gone back. [At the time] I became a liability to the company and I understood them letting me go.”

“Even when WWE sent me to rehab, I didn’t believe I had a problem…so I eventually messed up again and had a relapse. It derailed my career. I never really got the shot that I got the original time.”

On His Tag Team Partner, Carlito: “[Carlito and I] were a pretty good tag team. I could feed off him really well…It was a love hate relationship and it was funny. We almost got into a fight on an airplane one time and literally five minutes later we were watching a movie on a DVD player together.”

On Rescuing His Mom from Her Burning House: “Every second that went by felt like ten minutes…The big part of the story that everyone [exaggerates], is I didn’t rip the tree from it’s roots, but I did bear hug the tree down to the ground and broke it…She pops out and I’ve never loved my mom more than that moment.”