The Shining Wizards Podcast sent out the following:

Recently the Shining Wizards spoke with Joel Gertner.

Here are some highlights:

On breaking into the wrestling business: “Game shows were my first love, going back to when I was four or five years old. Then when I was about eight or nine I found wrestling, and just heavy into it, my number one hobby. I started following it more and more every year. I was calling 976 numbers, the precursor to 1-900 numbers. I started subscribing to a couple of newsletters. Eventually, by the summer of ’89 I started subscribing to The Observer. By the time I was 16, in ’91, I found out about the Lower East Side Wrestling Gym at the projects on FDR Drive and East Houston. Pete McKay, who wrestled for WWWF, ran the school. Bobby Bold Eagle was a trainer, he had worked internationally as Black Tiger. That’s when I started, a little over 21 years ago. I got to meet Jason Knight, who was doing enhancement stuff for WCW; Little Guido, who was working for IWCCW; Chris Kanyon, who was from Sunnyside; Devon Storm, who I think was breaking in around that time. It was a lot of fun, it was something to do during high school to see if this was something I could embark on, as a career down the line, maybe after college. I wound up getting the ECW opportunity during college, after my third year. Me and Cornell University came to the mutual decision that I had other places to be at that time. So I left school and ran off and joined the circus.”

On his progression through ECW: “We did Gertner-Vision for a few weeks, for a little while I was doing Hype Central, I was trying to steal it from Lance Wright. It just kinda was always evolving and reinventing itself. I became the ring announcer. Bob Artese had taken some time off and then came back. I was doing foreign language ring announcing for the lucha guys, and from there became a heel ring announcer, and then moved around, doing personal announcing for a bunch of different guys, eventually leading to doing it for a version of the Dudleys.”

On the neckbrace and the look: “It was something that just happened and we ran with it, made it work. I started wearing just a regular shirt, tie, suit, like a ring announcer would. And I was a heel at some point and was putting on enough weight that it would be funny. We were doing a show in Reading, PA. It was in a warehouse kind of building, like a barn, and it felt like it was 125 degrees in there. And I think that was when I started not wearing a shirt. It was hot, so why not give it a try? And then after Total Elimination (at Barely Legal) I started wearing the neckbrace. And then I would start to get different colored stockings to put around it, different patterns, and wear different colored bowties. Eventually one night I got medical clearance to stop wearing the neckbrace and that was when the Dudleys made their face turn and were getting ready to leave ECW for WWF, and on the same night I went out there without a neckbrace, I got slapped in the face and took 3-D. And at the very next show I was back on the neck brace.”

The signs ECW was closing: “The checks started coming less frequently. There started to seem like financial issues. And then at the last PPV, we were back to doing syndication, I was one of the announcers, so I would do production once a week, and I was watching some of the show in the truck. And Paul came up to me and had mentioned something, schedule-wise, that there would be a little down time. I guess tab “A” and slot “B” and certain things started happening. I remember at that show I was in the locker room, and I was managing Christian York and Joey Matthews. They looked at me during that show, and I was kind of off in my own thoughts. I think they noticed I looked different, like sad or whatever, and they asked me what was up. I remember I looked at them and I said “If you guys were only able to come along three years ago.” So I felt bad for them, I felt bad for a lot of people, just starting out in 2000, that were ramping up and would’ve had great careers in ECW, and just for want of the timing aspect, you know, it was impossible.”

For more with Joel Gertner, including being a member of the Gastronauts, keeping in shape, whether he was intimidated starting in ECW, the night Shane Douglas threw down Gary Wolfe, behind the scenes up to ECW’s first PPV and the reason for the quick ending, taking Big Dick Dudley’s moonsault, the ribs in the locker room, who he hung out with, how “real” New Jack is, his food competitions with the Dudleys and Big Sal, how the business is ‘for life,’ working in WWE at One Night Stand and how the ECW brand was treated, going from on-air talent to promotion in MXW and the Hardcore Roadtrip, his thoughts on the Extreme Rising Final Four and more, go to shiningwizards.com and listen to Episode 67: Joel Gertner – Well, Well, Well. The Shining Wizards is a weekly wrestling podcast dedicated to discussion of WWE, TNA, ROH, Extreme Rising, PWS, DGUSA, Evolve, Chikara, CZW, Beyond Wrestling, and the entire wrestling scene, including talk of the yesteryear of the sport. Past guests included Jerry Lynn, Buff Bagwell, Matt Hardy, Christopher Daniels, Headbanger Thrasher, Scotty Riggs, AR Fox, Michael Elgin, Gregory Iron, Nigel McGuinness, Justin Credible, ACH, “Primetime” Sam Roberts, Gabe Sapolsky, Pat Buck, Jonny Mangue, and Rhett Titus. Join us every Thursday night and on Facebook for ongoing discussions about the state of the sport. The Shining Wizards, where it’s wrestling talk…..and talk about wrestling.

Merry Christmas from Tony, Eddie, and Matt, the Shining Wizards!