Adam Pearce discusses his Seven Levels of Hate documentary, the NWA politics, his current relationship with the NWA, and how mentally tough the business can be

Between The Ropes interview with Adam Pearce
Host: Brian Fritz
Interview available at Betweentheropes.com
Subscribe to Between The Ropes on Itunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/between-the-ropes/id652853185

On when he got the idea that he wanted to do a documentary on the #7LevelsofHate matches with Colt Cabana: I would say about halfway through. We knew going through the matches themselves that Cabana and I were doing something that was special in terms of the wrestling itself. Just by the feedback and the buzz we had wrapped around the thing. and then once the dramatics, if you will, began to kick in behind the scenes and things were happening that I knew were going to impact what we were doing, I thought it was a good idea to sit down and make sure we were able to document this. People were asking questions and wanting to have answers to things that we weren't in position to tell at that point. Here we are know, almost a year removed from it, and I wanted to make sure I could tell it as completely as I could.

On the politics that got involved into the series especially with the changes at the top of the NWA: Things happened and it took away from it for all the wrong reasons. Again, I get it and having been in the bubble for so long you're right there on top of it. People have become emotional attached to whatever issue they're dealing with and I understand all of that. At the end of the day, it comes down to business. Bottom line is professional wrestling is a business. It is designed and made available to us to make money. And I understand all of the other things that people are attracted to the business about and for and the notoriety and the spotlight but at the end of the day, you want to do the best thing to put money in the coffers. And I certainly think we were on the right track -- and when I say me I mean me and Colt Cabana -- and obviously there was an opposition to that and it's pretty well documented in the movie.

On how mentally tough the wrestling business can be? You don't think about that when you get into it. And then here I am coming up quickly on 18 1/2 years and it would be comical if it wasn't so sad. In a lot of ways it's pathetic because on the independent level we're not talking about millions of dollars. We're talking about, the lucky ones, the ones who are able to make a living on the independents and I consider myself lucky enough to be part of that group, we're still not talking about seven figures annually. We're talking about relatively modest amounts of money. No one is getting rich off of what we're doing and a lot of it seems foolish off as a result of that. And I can see if we're talking big money deals and there's a lot riding on things and some cases there are but for the most part we're talking about ego. Ego. Ego ego ego. It's terrible.

What's your relationship now with the NWA? I don't have one. And I think on a number of different levels that's sad. Of course, there's a number of people still involved with the brand that I know. I'm a big fan of their champion now Rob Conway. I think he's a hell of a person first and foremost, a great wrestling and a great choice to be champion. I wish he was being allowed to do more with that belt. I think the way he travels and gets around he could be doing similar things with it that I did. I don't get the sense that they're interested in any type of business with me and frankly, you know, I think we spelled it out pretty clearly in the DVD how we all feel.