Dan ‘The Mouth’ Lovranski chat

Moderator: Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski of Live Audio Wrestling (The LAW) has invaded the offices of CANOE and SLAM! Wrestling. “The Mouth” is ready to field your questions about wrestling, Motorhead and his LAW-partner in crime Jeff Marek. Just a reminder that you can listen to the LAW live this Saturday on TALK640 from 5PM to 6:30PM and this Sunday at a special time from Midnight until 2AM. Let’s go to the first question.

law fan: How did you get involved with The LAW and what are some of the jobs you do at the LAW office?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Well, I just managed to hook up with Jeff Marek through a strange set of circumstances that would take too long to tell here. I came on board as just outside help, screening calls, writing segments etc. I just stuck to my guns and when the opportunity arose to move into a bigger position, I was ready. Besides doing the radio show, I also do a lot of stuff for the website, host the Monday night parties at O Grady’s and interview my favourite wrestling stars.

Anonymous: who in your opinion are the top Ontario indy workers and indy fed in Ontario?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Picking the top indy fed is tough because they never seem to last very long. As far as indy performers I like, the Hollywood Hunks, Sexy Baby Jamie Jackson and the Custom Made Man. They have great matches with teams like Ebony Express, who are another great team. I also like Tornado and Larry Destiny too. And when it comes to Hardcore wrestling, you can’t beat Bloody Bill Skullion or Notorious TID.

Hopey: What was the best moment of your career?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Well, to be honest, it hasn’t been much of a career yet, but there have been some highlights. Getting to interview some of the legends of the sport like Nick Bockwinkel, Jacques Rougeau, George The Animal Steele and The Honky Tonk Man were definite highlights. But we still have to get to Ric Flair. I’ve met Lemmy from Motorhead and I missed out on Frank Zappa, but if I meet Flair, then it could all end tomorrow and I’d be happy.

Terry Harris: What are your thoughts on the Chyna/Killer Kowalski situation. Personally I wish Chyna would leave wrestling forever.

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I think it is very disrespectful of Chyna to insult Kowalski the way she has in her book. Obviously he taught her a lot and she should be grateful because many trainers won’t even take girls on nowadays as actual wrestlers. Since Kowalski has been telling the same story for a couple of years now about how Chyna got into the WWF, I have to side with him. Its just plain disrespectful for her to talk that way about him.

Hot Rod: What advise would you give for someone wanting to get into radio and television?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: The best advice I can give on getting what you want out of life, no matter what it is, is to work really hard and never lose sights of your goals. I did a university radio show for eight years for free, six hours a week, just so I could get on air experience. You have to be willing to do alot of stuff for free and just take the experience. I worked for The LAW for a year and a half before I got on full time. And most of all, do whats best for you. Stick to your guns and don’t get disappointed. I could spend a whole chat just going over all the opportunities that slipped through my fingers. Stick to your guns, work hard, and things will happen.

Devin (ProWrestlingDaily.com): Do you think ECW is finished?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I would have to say its dead and buried at this point. You have to hand it to Paul Heyman for trying his best and keeping it afloat as long as he did. He truly is responsible for changing the face of wrestling in the 90’s by coming up with all those ideas that McMahon ended up stealing and putting on a national stage. Thankfully, it appears that most of the workers have found homes in other places and maybe we’ll even see Heyman doing creative in the WWF.

Peter Traverse Placentia, NF: There is a lot of great prospects in wrestling today, Edge, Christian, the Hardyz, Mike Saunders, etc. Out of all of them who do you think has the most potential?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Both Edge and Christian have great potential and I expect they will go far. Guys like Mike Awesome and Lance Storm could be huge stars if WCW could figure out what to do with them. Sean O’Haire in WCW looks like a great prospect for the future. I guess a lot of it depends on how wrestling will change over the next decade because I keep seeing more and more smaller, yet very agile and talented guys coming in and if that catches on, then there is tons of guys with great potential. What will happen to the big man in wrestling?

Jeff Jacobson: My dream match is Lance Storm vs. Chris Benoit. If you could have any two North american wrestlers match up for a match, who would they be and why?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Storm and Benoit would be an excellent match that I’m sure every wrestling fan would love to see. My own personal fave would be seeing Yoshihiro Tajiri with Chris Benoit since Benoit has the Japanese background and they could have a great match together. I’d like to see Storm and Jericho too because they were partners with each other in Smokey Mountain Wrestling and they know each other well, so they could work up a great match in the ring.

Roberto (www.bigpoppa2k.com): What do you think about the cruiserweight tag team division in WCW? And do you think that WWF will start using their light weight division?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Since I’m such a fan of the New Japan cruiserweights and they have had a cruiserweight tag division for some time, I can’t wait for WCW to make that work. Its an incredibly smart idea and it makes for hot undercard matches even if the stuff on top stinks. I would love to see ex ECW team the FBI in the WCW cruiserweight division as well. As for the WWF lightweight division, Ross talks about how he wants to do it all the time, but it appears that Vince isn’t interested. They have the talent to do it, especially since they have been signing all the ECW teams like Matthews and York, but they have to put some work into it. They can sign all the stars they want, but they have to make a concentrated effort to make the division seem important to the fans or it won’t go anywhere.

Dark Angel: What Was The Best Wrestling PPV You Have Ever Seen?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I would have to go with the Women of Wrestling PPV!! No, sorry, just kidding. My fave is still the AAA “When World’s Collide” PPV that WCW did in 1994. They did nothing to promote it but it was the hottest collection of matches. The crowd heat was amazing, especially for the tag match with Eddy Guerrero and Art Barr against Octagon and Santo. It also, unfortunately, shows that both Art Barr and Louie Spicolli would have been big stars if they hadn’t passed away so young and suddenly. If you have never seen this one, I highly recommend it.

Anonymous: What do you think of wrestlin’ sites that did nothin’ but spill out false rumors?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Well, obviously, I don’t like it because it makes the sites that do a good and honest job look bad because people will just lump them all together. It also makes it hard to maintain a relationship with the major promotions because they find it hard to trust you. That’s why it so tough sometimes to get WWF stars on our show because they have a bad image of what internet wrestling sites are all about. As for the motivation of the people that run those sites, they just want their 15 minutes of fame.

Seth Parker: Why do you always kiss Bret Hart’s ass as the superior wrestler to Shawn Michaels, when all Bret has become is a whining crybaby?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: There is no doubt that both men were extremely talented in the ring in their heyday. However, Shawn Michaels never had the duration that Bret Hart had in terms of his career. Michaels had a couple of really hot years and then he was out of the game, whereas Hart’s career was much longer and more successful. And if you want to talk about crybabies, Shawn was just as bad as Bret. How many times did he find ways out of dropping the belt without actually losing matches? I really think they both are very similar individuals and that’s probably why they never got along.

The Unholy One: My dream LAW show would have guys like Hogan and/or Scott Steiner. Any plan on having either one of these two?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Hogan would never do our show because we wouldn’t just suck up whatever he was dishing out like his buddy Bubba the Love Sponge does. Scott Steiner would be a good guest to have on and we will try and make an effort to get him on in the future.

HE HATE ME: Is their a chance that Booker T could be pushed to the top once again as world champion after fusient takes over with Eric in charge?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I would love to see Booker T get another chance at being world champion. It was one of the few things they did over the last year or so that I enjoyed. I think Eric Bischoff realizes that Booker T has lots of potential still and I’m sure that he will make use of him once Booker recovers from his injury.

cwhofDotCom: What was the best match you have ever seen?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I have spent way too much time in my life watching wrestling to limit myself to one “greatest match of all time”. I still love Savage vs Steamboat at Wrestlemania III, almost all the Flair vs Steamboat matches from the late 80’s, Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada from 1998 when Kawada broke his wrist early on and wrestled the whole match. Bret and Owen at Wrestlemania 10, ladder match between Benoit and Jericho at the last WWF PPV, Villano vs Atlantis from last year. I gotta stop there or I’ll be here all night. Suffice it to say that I have seen many great matches that always have me coming back for more.

Anonymous: jefff since you interviewed bruno sammartino what is his true opinion of larry zybysko are they friends in real life

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I’m afraid I don’t have any real insight into that story. We have been trying to get Zbyszko on the show and if we do, we will put that question to him.

Terry Harris: I heard your interview with Billy Red Lyons, it totally sucked. Do the boys in advance go over what they will and will not talk about. Because this one with Billy I thought would have been great, instead it reeked of garbage.

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Yeah, we do sit down and go over all our questions in advance but we don’t usually ask the person being interviewed what we can and cannot ask, we just go for it. I’m surprised that you didn’t like the Billy Red Lyons interview. Perhaps you could drop me an email at and tell me what you were expecting because I thought it really went well.

Anonymous: are there any wrestlers you admired, but after interviewing them changed your opinion of them?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I honestly can’t think of one wrestler I’ve interviewed that changed my opinion of them for the worse. Certainly after talking to people like Kurt Angle, Nick Bockwinkel or George Steele, my opinion of them was even more elevated. No one yet has had such an effect where I felt I didn’t care for that guy anymore.

Devin (ProWrestlingDaily.com): Which deceased wrestler do you wish you could have interviewed before they died?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: There are several deceased wrestlers I would have loved to talk to. A lot of the younger ones who passed away early like Brian Pillman, Louie Spicolli or Art Barr would have been great interviews. Some of the older guys like Ray Stevens, Big John Studd, Bruiser Brody and even Gorgeous George would have been great to meet.

Mike “The Mighty Mouth” B.: I keep hearing that Scott Steiner is the meanest guy backstage. Has he always been like this or did it just happen after the Big Poppa Pump gimmick?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Steiner has always been a bit of a hothead backstage. I don’t think it was just something that showed up in the last few years. I think a lot of the guys in WCW get angry and frustrated when the company is doing so poorly. A lot of those random violent incidents seem to be sparked by the pressures of working in a company that is going nowhere.

HE HATE ME: Has there been any talk of bringing back Big Daddy Donnie?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Donnie has moved on to become a teacher and is very busy at this time. He also does his own wrestling line on the talking yellow pages entitled “Wrestling Love” There are no plans to bring him back to the show at this time.

Steve Mcintosh: For a few months on the law you and Jeff thought that the main event for wrestlemainia would a “heal” Austin vs. a “face” Rock. I totally disagreed with that. My question is what is wrong with a face vs. face main event at WrestleMania?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: As of late, I would have to agree with you. In terms of classic booking, it just seem natural that the match should be a face vs a heel. From what they have been offering on the TV, I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep it face vs face going into the Wrestlemania match and then having Austin actually turn in the match, put Rock out in the most dastardly of ways (which would have to be pretty nasty nowadays) and then have Rock come back as the conquering hero after he finishes his movie. And when Rock is gone, Austin can be running roughshod over everyone in the fed.

mike rubin: are bobby the brain heenan and hulk hogan real life enemies

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: It sure seems that way. Heenan kinda of played it politically when he said that he thought Hogan was a great performer but there does seem to be some underlying tension there past their character roles of face and heel enemies.

The Unholy One: About Big Daddy Donnie, I was wondering if he left the LAW to become a teacher, why did he do his own wrestling love hotline? The reason why I’m asking this it’s because from some of my friends I’ve talked to, they feel there was some heat between Donnie and the LAW

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Donnie’s leaving really didn’t have a lot to do with me. Jeff just approached me one day and said that Donnie was taking a break for awhile and would I like to host the show with him. Then Donnie left that summer to go to teacher’s college and that was the last I heard of him.

XFL Cheerleader: Who do you think has got the best promo’s?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Ric Flair is still a fave of mine when it comes to promos, although he’s not quite where he was 10 years ago. Randy Savage was great in his heyday but he really seemed to lose that skill later on. Of the current crop, I love The Cat, William Regal, Foley, Jericho, Edge and Christian, Kurt Angle and even The Rock when he doesn’t get completely bogged down with the same lines and comes up with something new. Oh and of course, The Iron Sheik. His promos where he always attacked Hogan for stealing his belt even years after it happened, always made me laugh.

Mike the Tool Corn Flabbit: Who do u think is the Best wrestler in the WWF ? and why do u think that Person is the Best

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: If you are talking pure wrestling skill, then I would have to pick Chris Benoit because no one can match his skills and his amazing selling abilities. But he still needs some work on his mic skills. For overall complete packages, you have to go with Triple H, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho because they can really do it all.

Mr. XFL: On some wrestling site it stated that The Rock has got the biggest ego in the world. Is that True or False and who do you think actually does have the biggest ego?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the Rock having a big ego and, in fact, I get the impression that the majority of the WWF locker room right now is pretty ego free and everyone wants to work together to continue to keep the product strong. I still think the biggest ego belongs to Hulk Hogan because he refuses to realize that his day at the top is over. He could still be used in a mid card matches but he just can’t accept not being on top.

Moderator: As a follow up to the previous question, what wrestling web sites do you like and routinely visit?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: There are a few of them that I like. Dave Meltzer’s wrestlingobserver.com is very good as well as Slam Wrestling. Puroseupower.com is really good for Japanese news. I prefer the ones that don’t have an affiliation with any wrestling organization, like ourselves, because they can be the most unbiased.

Mae Young is my Grandma: Who do u think is a Rising Star in the Indie circuit?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: There are few like Tony “The Shooter” Jones, who had the match with Mike Modest in Beyond the Mat and the “Prototype” John Cena in UPW that could be breakout stars. Alot of the guys I would have picked if I had been asked this just a month ago have been finally getting their breaks like Modest, Chris Daniels, AJ Styles and Air Paris. Also, all the local indy guys I mentioned earlier could be stars if the right person sees them.

Devin : What do you think of the XFL? Will it survive long enough for a second season?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Sure doesn’t look like it at this point, does it? I think a real tell tale comment came from NBC last week when they were asked about the low ratings and NBC said “we’re committed for the entire season”. Not the duration-just the this season. If it continues to spiral downward like it is right now, then there will not be a second season. I know the USFL made it through three seasons, but I don’t think the XFL will.

Devin : Do you find Kaientai’s new gimmick offensive?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I really think it is an insulting gimmick, for two different reasons. First off, we don’t need to continue to perpetrate the stereotype that all foreign people are unintelligent and can’t grasp concepts like English. Secondly, both Taka and Funaki are extremely talented wrestlers that should be having hot matches and not dumb vignettes or being cannon fodder for Big Show or Kane to throw around. I just hope they don’t subject Tajiri to the same dumb gimmick.

MIKE RUBIN: DO YOU THINK WE WILL EVER SEE THE DREAM MATCH OF THE ROCK AND GOLDBERG AUSTIN AND GOLDBERG

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: You can never say never in pro wrestling but I expect it would be awhile before anything like that could happen. Austin might be finished in the ring by the time that Goldberg would be able to jump from the WCW and go to the WWF. I can’t really say they would be dream matches myself. Goldberg and The Rock or with Austin would probably be pretty limiting matches in terms of what we would see in the ring.

Steve Mcintosh: What wrestling books do you suggest I read, and which do you suggest I stay away from?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: They are several good wrestling books available but some of them are hard to find. Hooker by Lou Thesz is tremendous if you are interested in the early days of the sport. Drawing Heat is really great too because it covers the indy scene in Ontario in the 70’s which is where I first saw wrestling, but its a hard book to find nowadays. Mick Foley’s book was good and Pure Dynamite  by the Dynamite Kid is essential reading for info on the WWF and Japanese ’80s. Oh, and Dave Meltzer’s Tributes is another great one for you history buffs because its just career overviews and obits of some of the biggest stars ever. I really didn’t enjoy Goldberg’s book because too much of it focused on football and I just finished BlakWidow by Amanda Storm but it was a boring read.

Hot Rod: What is the greatest Motorhead album?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: That is a real tough one for me because almost all their albums have some merit. I guess the best one all the way through is the classic “Ace of Spades” which came out in 1980. “Bomber” and “Overkill”, which both come from the same era are also very good. For recent stuff, the live album from last year “Everything Louder Than Everything Else” was a great career overview and a smoking live album.

Moderator: Just to fill everybody in, Dan is a HUGE fan of Motorhead!

Terry Harris: Aside from Chris Benoit is there any other superstar in the WWF you feel should be pushed harder?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Yeah, I think Chris Jericho is getting the short end of the stick. He came on strong after his debut and it is obvious that he would be Angle’s spot right now if Angle hadn’t caught on so quickly. It wouldn’t hurt to get Eddy Guerrero a little higher on the card too, especially now that he’s put on some extra weight and could really fit in with Austin and Triple H.

Peter Traverse: Dan, if you could choose any 5 wrestlers in the world to starts a federation who would they be and why?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Wow, you guys have really thought about these questions, haven’t you? I would pick Tajiri from ECW, Shinjiro Otani and Koji Kanemoto from New Japan and Shane Helms and Kaz Hayashi from WCW. Then I would form a strictly cruiserweight promotion and work really hard at getting it over to the fans as something special by presenting killer matches on TV every week. If the public just got educated about cruiserweights and you had some good angles to get them involved in the matches, then I think you would have a real alternative to the big two and you might even give them a run for their money.

Moderator: We’ll take two more questions before wrapping it up.

Mankind-Wants to be over: I think if anyone else has read Mick Foley’s Book would agree with me and say that it was just a BIG PLOT TO GET HIM OVER ! what do you think

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: Well, I think that Foley was over long before the book was written. It would never have done so well if he wasn’t over. I’ll admit that his book ignores the darker side of wrestling, but it still is one of the best ones out there, especially for his days in WCW and comments on that whole scene back then.

Roberto: Who do you think that WWF and WCW will put in their main event scene this year?

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: I would hope that both Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit will be elevated up to main event status by the end of this year. They’ve had chances to get these guys up there before (especially after the ladder match at the Rumble) but they always seem to blow it. In WCW, I’d like to see Mike Awesome and Lance Storm higher on the card as well as the return of Booker T to the top.

Moderator: That’s it. SLAM! Wrestling wants to thank ‘The Mouth’ for participating in this live chat and we want to remind everybody to tune in to TALK 640 this Saturday at 5PM and this Sunday at midnight to catch Live Audio Wrestling. Dan has the final word.

Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski: First off, I’d like to thank Greg Oliver and John Molinaro for having a chat with me. I’m genuinely surprised that there were that many of you that wanted to ask me questions. This was a lot of fun and its a great way to gauge what sort of things are on you fans’ minds. Feel free to drop me an email anytime if you have further questions and don’t forget to check out The LAW comment board where I can also answer your comments and questions. Thanks once again to everyone that participated and thank you all for your continued support of The LAW!! Take care BROTHER!!!!!