"Wildcat" Chris Harris Discusses AMW, James Storm Feud, Time in WWE's ECW, More

Former TNA World Tag Team Champion "Wildcat" Chris Harris, also known briefly as Braden Walker in WWE's ECW, recently appeared on The Two-Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast.

His thoughts on splitting up America’s Most Wanted: “I think it could have gone either way. At that time they could have always found more life with AMW. I never felt like that would go away. But with the idea of splitting us up, again we go back to it is another step in the business where we have to prove ourselves and that is really the natural progression. The team had been together for so long and we had a great run and when that was all going on it was one of those things where we knew we were going to feud so it was like the opportunity that had been offered to us back in the day where we were willing to go to any extreme to prove we could both hang and thank God that we knew each other so well we could get away with doing anything to each other and we knew that whatever it took we were going to take the next steps.”

Harris on going extreme with his blood feud with James Storm: “I have to admit to you that I did. We knew and I think everybody knew we could get in there and have some classic matches. When you split a team up and you have to take it to the next level and you have to take it extreme and that is what we did. But the thing is about doing that is we still were focused on adding psychology into the match and make it such a free-for-all with the weapons and whatever else we could do and putting the psychology into those matches and the way people talk about them it kept people glued to it.”

On his earlier run in TNA’s world title picture: “In my opinion (Kurt Angle) is one of the greatest ever and I mean that and I have always thought that. Once Storm and I was done they immediately put me into a World Title “King of the Mountain” match at Slammiversary and I was in the ring and starting to hang with guys like Kurt, Samoa Joe, AJ (Styles) was always in there, Christian was there at the time and it was a whole different level for me and I needed to step it up and step up my game and hang with those guys and we (again) we had some great matches.”

His thoughts on how some former TNA stars are currently succeeding in WWE: “It’s hard to believe a company like them would be like that but that was my experience that I went through. I always told myself that no matter what happened and no matter where I went and still say this today and since I am not full time in the business I would never put myself through that (again). I am so glad that guys like AJ, Ron Killings broke the mold and now guys like Samoa Joe who has a great spot and Eric (Young), Bobby (Roode) are there now and glad that the WWE has completely acknowledged the fact there is life before WWE because these guys were stars at other places in the world and if you acknowledge that it just gets over so much better.”

Harris on not liking the dialogue he was given by WWE writers as Braden Walker and wishing he could’ve done it on his own: “I would have been so much more comfortable if they just let me do my own thing. They are trying to put a vignette together and they are like here say this or say that. I want to be a team player. This is there company and I have to do what I am told so they were the ones feeding me those lines and I just said it. I knew when I was saying it that it was garbage and they take a look at it and accept it and sure enough it is almost laughable and ridiculous that people put in these positions can’t come up with something better than that. Either come up with something better or leave it to me. I had some experience doing interviews and promos so let me do something like that but I couldn’t go in with that attitude and I didn’t want them thinking I was better than them because that is the wrong way to go about it. So I did what they told me to do and it was a disaster from the start.”

Harris on if he’s frustrated by the fan response to Braden Walker since it’s arguably due to WWE’s lack of effort with the gimmick: “I tried to not let it get to me. They did such a great job in, and anybody who knows me knows how passionate I am about the business but at that time with everything that was going on and for what I was dealing with at TV and I was dealing with a lot down in Florida at the training center down there. They are master manipulators and they made me hate the business that I was passionate about and going about it so bad that I couldn’t even do indies after that and it is just being in that whole bowl. People are going to say what they want to say and that we thought Chris Harris was talented but he proved that he wasn’t and you guys know a little bit more about the business that most of it falls on creative and we are just kind of pawns in the business and that is what I did. I went in with the mindset of doing what I was told and no matter what they give me I will be able to make it work and it proved to me that is not necessarily true. If they are not on board with giving you a little something it is not going to work out. It has been a long time now and enough people have heard me talk and maybe they will understand coming from my view how different it was than just walking in and crapping all over the fans but I’ve rebounded and I feel better about it and it is what it is, I gave it a shot and it didn’t work out and I’ve got to move on to the next part of my career.”