Danny Doring: “I still can get in there and do it”
Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Danny Doring AKA Danny Morrison
Date: 03/24/2022
Your Host: James Walsh
ECW Original and veteran pro wrestler
Danny Doring, who now wrestles as Danny Morrison, joined the Wrestling Epicenter for the first time in 19 years! Yes, 19 years! When last on, he was in the middle of a brewing catfight between Francine and Jasmin St. Claire and he fired some pretty brutal shots during that exchange. Now, a more mature and yet still entertaining Danny stopped by to talk about life as we pick up where we left off 19 years ago!
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To listen, visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com
On how he felt during the brief time with WWE’s version of ECW in 2006:
“You know, I guess we all had hopes that it was going to be something like ECW. And, in the beginning, we did. I think the first show was at the ECW Arena and we ran similar markets. We did Pougkeepsie, White Plains… We did a lot of ECW buildings! But, then, it became what I think it was going to become all along and that was a third brand to introduce developmental guys. That became very clear very quickly. Road Kill and I were split up as a team and put on different loops and doing singles stuff. It just kind of morphed into us getting guys over Not long after, we were out the door.”
On how he felt about the ECW show not being like ECW:
“I think it was off the strength of the One Night Stands. One Night Stand was a perfect introduction to it becoming a third brand… Believe it or not, there are some people who tell me that they liked it! (WWE’s ECW) *laughs* But, there was some good guys there, man. Some guys that are still out there doing it now. Matt Cardona is out there killing it right now! Brian Myers too… There are guys out there who have gone through WWE and are still doing great things But, everybody knows the December to Dismember is up there with WrestleMania III as one of the greatest pay per views ever! (laughs) That was extreme sarcasm! But, I think it became, to us originals, very clear very quickly what it was going to be.”
On his changes since we last spoke amidst his feud with Jasmin St. Claire in 2003:
“I just don’t get involved with any drama, wrestling drama, at all anymore. Right after WWE, I started to have a family of my own. With that, I kind of got away from wrestling a little bit. I would do some shows here and there for a little extra money. But, I’ve really come into my own in my personal life. After wrestling, I got back to my first love which was football and coaching in several different levels for that.”
On returning to the ring for ISPW:
“And then ISPW came along and they asked me if I would wrestle a little gentleman by the name of Little Guido. For our age, we went out there and we really had a pretty good, fun match. We kind of caught the eye of what they were doing there (in ISPW) and Tommy Fierro asked me if I wanted to run with the ball a little bit. We bounced some creative ideas back and forth… It made wrestling fun to do again! Since then, I’ve been able to do different podcasts and have had a lot of fun doing that. Wrestling has become an escape for a lot of things. It is fun to do again. It is fun to even watch again because I’m not watching it with those “I just got released” eyes. (laughs) I can watch it again and a lot of the guys I saw working for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore are on TV now and I mark out for. I’m just a different person and I’m having a lot of fun in pro wrestling again which has been a real shot of life for me this year.”
On changing his ring name from Danny Doring to Danny Morrison:
“Danny Doring is a character. And, it is most synonymous with ECW and WWE. The Danny Doring character really only worked with Road Kill. I mean, how many play boy characters can you have? It only worked because of the complete opposites – Paired with an Amish character with is a religious character who just happens to want to catch and maim chickens. (laughs) I think (Tommy) Dreamer (in House of Hardcore) wanted me to be my true self and play off that in my character. So, now (as Morrison) I’m free to be me – Amplified, of course, for the entertainment factor. But, it is fun to be me instead of putting on the clown make-up, so to speak.”
On the team with Road Kill being compared to the Hart Foundation:
“I was a hard gainer! So, when I graduated from House of Hardcore, I was like 165 pounds. I had shed off all the weight I had gained playing football. So, I was small… Maybe not Spike Dudley small. But, still, pretty small. So, we started looking at some gear that I could wear. We kind of wanted to go more an X-Pac style but it ended up looking more Bret Hart. I had started growing my hair out a little, slicking it back… Well, Road Kill kind of looked Anvil like with his beard and Paul E wanted us to be the Wright Foundation because our manager was Lance Wright at the time. We did the Hart Attack finish just because of that gimmick. So, a lot of people drew comparisons to the Hart Foundation from that.”
On who influenced him more, Randy Savage or Bret Hart:
“Randy Savage! I always loved pro wrestling but Randy Savage was really the guy that hooked me. It was like, that guys is the dude, you know what I mean? He hooked me into pro wrestling for the rest of my life. Now, that isn’t a slight on Bret Hart or anybody else. He (Bret) was an incredible performer. But, the Hart Foundation was a little intended because of the Wright Foundation but me being Bret Hart was not what I was looking to do.”
On if he ever met “Macho Man” Randy Savage before his passing:
“I did! They always say “Don’t Meet Your Heroes.” I believe that because I met so many people that let me down. But, Randy Savage was definitely NOT one of them. He was at one of the indy shows I was doing in Florida at the time. He was an incredible guy! I went up to him and told him, “I just want you to know, if you even care, you’re the reason I ever bought wrestling boot s in the first place.” I paid the ultimate respect to him and he was completely accommodating which was tremendous!”
On ISPW getting a good reputation in the New York, New Jersey area:
“It is starting to get a lot of eye-balls on it and people are talking about it. Some people are emailing in and wanting to come in. Some even want to work with me which is a great sign of respect. The roster does have a lot of great talent from guys that were doing it before me, guys that were doing it the same time as me, and guys that are a lot younger. It has been a fun 6 or 7 months now, for sure!”
On getting back in the ring more regularly after years away:
“I still can get in there and do it. I leave the flips and the flying to the younger guys but we can still get in there and slow it down and there is still a market for that. But, I think especially coming out of the pandemic, which we’re still coming out of, it is important to stress the interaction with the fans. It has been so needed. They need it, we need it! Everybody needs that interaction for our own mental stimulation.”
On his take on wrestling being so high spot heavy these days:
“I get it. I probably see things differently than some. But, I get it. When we were coming in to ECW, we were the under card guys who were probably the more spotty guys for our time. Nobody was threatened by that in ECW. ECW was a very “Raise the Bar” like atmosphere. We were an “empty the barrel” type locker room. Match 2 would come out and they’d be like, “Well, I guess we have to top that.” A lot of other places, you’d get heat for doing too much or the older guys would tell you, “You’re doing too much.” But, what you have to realize is a lot of these guys are fighting for spots. TV time is hard to come by and in this time, with a saturated market, when you get TV time, it is huge and you have to lay it out there. You have to get to a spot in your career to where you’re over enough to where you can slow it down. But, if you want to get noticed, you have to sometimes lay yourself out and empty the barrel. So, I watch it and sometimes I’m like, “Oh my God, they kicked out of this or that.” But, looking at it from the inside out, you have to realize that some of these guys might not get any TV time for a month. So, I get it. But, I also see the other end of it. That comes with time, that comes with maturity, that comes with repetition, that comes with who you are and where you are on the card where you’re able to slow it down. Nobody wants to see 2 cruiserweights working a headlock for 30 minutes!”
