By Chris Walters on September 18, 2004 at 4:03 PM EST

Thanks to Richard Trionfo for sending in the following:

This week on Between the Ropes, sponsored, Terry Taylor joined Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci to talk about his wrestling career and his current work with TNA.

The interview began with Terry talking about working with TNA. He likes working for TNA and mentions that the business is cyclical. They have wrestlers who want to do well, management is giving them the opportunity, and there is not that much stress. Terry's current job is to translate what the writers want for the wrestlers with the other agents, like Shane Douglas, Jerry Lynn, and Scott D'Amore.

Terry said that when he was a writer, he was second guessed a lot. He was asked if having people 'second guess' is good as long as they are not trying to undermine you, and he agrees that other input is good as long as everyone knows that one person has the final say. The important thing is that everything agrees once it is presented to the talent outside the writing meetings.

Terry was asked about what it is like to be underutilized with his background. He said that sometimes gets on people's nerves and it might have an effect.

Terry was asked about his work both in the smaller territories as well as the national companies and the formula needed to get TNA to the next level. He feels that in order to turn the corner, the business needs to bring back the unpredictability, character development, and getting ways to have an attachment with the fans. He feels that there are too many recent angles being redone too soon. Terry feels that there are angles to take that are fresh. He talked about how Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Dean Malenko were floating around, but then he suggested using submission moves to win matches. He thinks if things are done right, they will work if they use the right formula.

Terry was asked if he ever has 'the itch' to get back in the ring, and he said that he does not. He has had 11 knee surgeries as well as neck fusion surgery so he could not do it. This is even though he still looks like he could wrestle.

Terry mentioned that most of the Goldberg angles in WCW were his idea, including the short matches, winning streak, and using only his last name. He said that the short matches made people want to see more. He said that he quit WCW when Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash were brought into the booking meetings and he found out that Goldberg was going to lose despite the work they did to build the character. He was disgusted with the decision by WCW and he called Vince when he quit, and he was in the WWE the next day. Vince Russo and Kevin Dunn did not like the fact that Terry was there, and wanted to get him out of there. The talent liked Terry being there, but the office people were not happy to see him there.

He talked about how Vince Russo brought the edge to the WWE product in the mid 1990s, and now 'Crash TV' has been done so many times now. Terry feels that TNA has the perfect opportunity to develop young talent and protect them. He brought up Public Enemy and how they could not do what they did so well in ECW when they went to WCW.

Terry was asked about the addition of David Sahadi and he said that David invented the genre of emotional images, pictures, and music to get wrestlers over in the WWF. Terry said that David's Victory Road commercial was amazing, and he apologized for it, claiming he was rusty. Terry didn't think that he was rusty at all when he did the Victory Road commercial.

Between the Ropes airs every Wednesday from 10:00 p.m. to Midnight on 740 the Team in Orlando, Florida. Check out www.betweentheropes.com to hear the live stream of the show every Wednesday. Archives of recent interview can be found at www.betweentheropes.com.

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