A Harold interview:

Harold: I want to thank The Great Malinko for sitting down with me today to do this; I know you've been very busy since your return to SFT.
The Great Malinko: Busy? Dryden and AOD hardly constitute a full week for me.
The Great Malinko: Gust has another thing coming if he thinks he's going to slow this down.
Harold: First I gotta mention, what’s with the name, are you really a jugallo? Or is it just a gimmick?
The Great Malinko: It's a gag.
Harold: So you aren’t an ICP fan then?
The Great Malinko: Just something for my opponents to obsess about.
The Great Malinko: I like ICP, but I'm not about to go around shouting "Down with the Clown" out my car window.
Harold: I'm down with the clown and I say it proudly, ah well, give us some history on you, where you got started, how you got into the business and how you ended up in SFT? The Great Malinko: I got going in a place called NCW, I was another gimmick wrestler there named simply "Phil". The gimmick was comical, but I couldn’t' get the respect I needed for title shots with it, and so NCW died with me never getting a single serious match.
The Great Malinko: I took Phil to BCW where I got respect and title shots, if not a world title shot, and I had a great time there midcarding and dominating my matches. I think I only lost two matches. This is also where I met Gary Mac.
The Great Malinko: When BCW closed, Ian Wynn asked me to join EWA which is where a good number of BCW folk were going and I reluctantly joined, but felt I needed to do something different to get some actual respect, and not just laughs. So I created Malinko.
The Great Malinko: As we all know the story of EWA was good, but brief and my Legend of The fed status vanished with the EWA brand.
The Great Malinko: Where else was there to go but UP right? So I went to SFT where I heard there were some really talented RPers. I started as a new character not wanting to play off my EWA time and came in as Hub.
The Great Malinko: Hub did well, but I couldn't get a feel for him. He had no gimmick (a first for me) and I ran out of story fast.
The Great Malinko: Malinko was reborn shortly after.
Harold: Since your return you've sorta been pushed back a bit and made to reprove yourself as they say, do you feel this fair? Or do you feel you proved yourself worthy of title shots last time around and shouldn’t be made to start from square one again?
The Great Malinko: I'm not a big crybaby over title shots like some people in feds. If I get a title then great, something to add to my resume, but so long as I can still play and still win, then I'm happy and feeling fulfilled in a fed. Besides, I'm not a common name in SFT like you're Cage's and Nirvana's, I'm not a contender for a HOF spot, I'm cool with proving my worth for as long as I have to.
Harold: Allot of wrestlers feel that most of their pushes or lack there of are due to Shadow and most have some sort of love hate relationship or hate hate relationship with him, and even though you've been around a while, I don’t to my knowledge know of you and Shadow ever had any interaction, so first question is, how do you get along with the boss Shadow? Secondly do you feel your push or lack of them is due to your own efforts or is the boss to blame? What’s your take on it.
The Great Malinko: I've had very little interaction with Shadow. He's PMed me a few times to let me know I'm being pushed or that a title match that I have has been changed for a higher title, but that's about it. As for Shadow holding me back, I've actually only had one disagreement with Shadow and that was when I turned down a World Title shot he wanted me to have against Burton Edwards.
The Great Malinko: Edwards was my tag partner at the time and I had no interest in facing him.
Harold: Wait Wait Wait, let me get this right, Shadow offers you a world title shot and you turned it down? And they say im the stoner without a brain. Now looking back do you think you made the right choice? Burton is nowhere to be seen and here you are fighting for shots at Hardcore titles.
The Great Malinko: I wasn't really interested, I knew Malinko would have to take a leave soon and I didn't want to vacate a title that I just won, at the same point in time I didn't feel like losing to Edwards as my status at that time was pretty much undefeated. It was a lose lose proposition for me, and even if I did win, it would have caused more disrespect to the SFT world title. Something that happens all too much around here.
Harold: Well now you're back, and you're in the swing of things, I got to ask this, you like so many other vets return solely to SFT, why? I know we lovingly call it "home", but what is it bout SFT that just keeps people coming back? What's the appeal?
The Great Malinko: For me, I came back because I have, as you put it, yet to prove myself here. I haven't left a great mark in the fed and I don't just fight every week to win that week's match, I fight to leave an impression. SFT has some of the highest quality players I've seen in one fed, and if I can leave being known as one of the best here, I'll know that I leave as one of the best. I talk a lot of smack about people like Dryden and Christian Cage, and those other's that I've beat, but I respect them and talk about my wins over them because I feel that it is those wins, the one's against the greats that give me my legacy.
Harold: Who would you say helped shape you as a wrestler? Who’d you come up watching and trying to emulate? Who helped shape Malinko, and whose promos do you enjoy currently and are left feeling "wow I like that one"? Is there anyone in particular whose work stands out at you?
The Great Malinko: Honestly it's been a while since I've read a promo for enjoyment. I read those of my opponents and stable mates, tag team partners and those I'm in angles with cause I might be mentioned and I my need to reply to something. As a wrestler Gary Mac, Excidium, Acheston have all had a hand in shaping Malinko into the twisted sadist that he is, as a person, I just try to let it all go to the side and have my own personality.
Harold: If you could choose anyone past or present, who’d be your top 3 dream matches? The Great Malinko: Excidium. He brought me into this world and we've always been good working together.
The Great Malinko: Rachel Pitt. She holds a win over my head that I've never been able to pay back.
The Great Malinko: Lastly, Christian Cage. He and I have had a feud going that is almost as old as Malinko himself. It ended with my losing at my last PPV, which was my first PPV loss ever.
The Great Malinko: That didn't sit well with my pride.
Harold: Tell me from a wrestler’s perspective, why is the world title so hard to hang on to? is it the competition or they get too comfortable, or is the title just jinxed?
The Great Malinko: I think that people dream about holding it, but once they get it they don't give it the respect it deserves. They don't realize that the guy they'll be facing the next week or week after that wants it just as much if not more then they did only three slaps of the matt ago.
The Great Malinko: The effort of a number one contender is by far greater then that of a champion in SFT.
The Great Malinko: The sole acception I've seen to this has been Nirvana who fought every match like it was he who had to prove himself.
The Great Malinko: How long did he hold that title for?
Harold: So Malinko tell me how do you see your odds at this coming Inferno for the IC title?
The Great Malinko: Honestly, it's an even draw. I don't underestimate Murphy in the least, yet if he's off his game in the least I know I'll take it
The Great Malinko: I've been working hard and I haven't felt this motivated in a while. Harold: Speaking of motivation, what motivates you to wrestle, where do you draw your power and inspiration for the work you do?
The Great Malinko: Mainly I draw my motivation of my dislike for losing. I don't complain about losses, it never does anything for you except make you look like a baby, but it burns me when I lose and I know I could have won if I had tried a bit harder.
The Great Malinko: My inspiration just comes from what I feel I need to tell people. What I need to do to win.
Harold: Lets change up a little bit, tell me what cds do you have in your cd player, and what movies are laying on top of your vcr or dvd player? what music and movies people like says quite a bit bout that person.
The Great Malinko: Right now? I guess the disk I last listened to was System of a Down, but I have a very eclectic taste when it comes to music. I have
rap/rock/metal/oldies/swing all sitting in my glove compartment waiting to listened to. The Great Malinko: My DVD's are a different matter. Right now I have Kill Bill vol 1&2 and fightclub on top of my player with Sin City just waiting for it's turn on my shelf.
Harold: I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
Harold: Quick question if you had a shot against Havoc? For the title, do you think you could beat him?
The Great Malinko: Right now? I never like to count myself out, but at the moment I wouldn't like my chances.
The Great Malinko: A month from now when I've shaken off the ring rust of being off for 6 months...I'd be more then confident going in.
Harold: Well Malinko this has been one strange interview. I want to thank you for taking the time to do this.
The Great Malinko: Any time. I do so love to hear the sound of my own voice and the undue attention that I get when I come back after almost half a year of absenteeism.