Simon Diamond recalls the beauty of the wrestling business and reminisces about the ‘characters’ he encountered in ECW.
Diamond (aka Pat Kenney) recently spoke with WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard ahead of his appearance on the Extreme Virtual Signing presented by 80s Wrestling Con’s Virtual Signing Series. Diamond is currently working with the National Wrestling Alliance in Talent Relations but looked back on the beginning stages of his career and on getting national exposure for the first time with ECW.
“I’d say it was just the experience of it, because at the time it was a cutting edge product. We had a lot of characters in there, and I mean ‘characters’, in front of the camera and characters behind the camera. So, it was an adventure, every day it was an adventure in ECW. Literally, you didn’t know what was going to happen because of the amount of characters. That made work very fun,” he explained, “and sometimes it didn’t make it as fun but I miss seeing a lot of those guys that you’d work with every day.”
“The other great thing about it was that it was a great learning experience. At the time, I wasn’t young but it was my first break. Working with guys who are better than you, the Jerry Lynn’s, the Mikey’s, the Tajiri’s, guys like that on a daily basis, automatically makes you better. That’s the thing about wrestling; when you go from the independents or the Performance Center and then you get called up or you make it to that next level,” he explained, “you’re no longer the big fish in the little pond, now you’re working guys that are your equal or better every night and you just get better. More importantly, you learn how to work a specific style geared towards television which is completely different than working that style in the independents or in a performance center/training center school.”
During his time in ECW, Diamond worked as a tag team with Johnny Swinger and the two were managed by Dawn Marie. Diamond was asked about his most memorable match in the company, and he chose the three-way tag team tournament finals match featuring Swinger and Diamond against The Unholy Alliance (Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri) and Jerry Lynn & Tommy Dreamer. He explained how vivid the memory the closing moments of the match still are now, and said it’s a great feeling when you have the fans’ attention like they did that night.
“Probably the tag-team tournament finals, just because I remember so vividly going up to the top rope. It was us against Dreamer and Jerry Lynn—it was a three-way—and Mikey and Tajiri. Then we eliminated Dreamer and Jerry Lynn so now it’s me and Swinger vs. Mikey for all the marbles, and I go up to the top rope,” he explained, “we’re gonna finish Mikey off and I just remember looking to the right and pointing up to the last row. Everybody started to stand up because they knew something was about to happen, that was probably going to be the finale of the match. I’ll never forget that and it was the most awesome feeling that you are in control of these people’s emotions. That’s the beauty of the business, and that’s the one thing that stands out to me, the one match.”
Read More: Shane Douglas Recalls Vince McMahon Wanting Him To Be WWF’s Version Of Bon Jovi
The next signing in the Virtual Signing Series goes to the Extreme, as Jerry Lynn, Mikey Whipwreck, Shane Douglas, 2 Cold Scorpio and Simon Diamond will all be on hand this Monday, April 19. Fans can get their own items signed, purchase 8×10 photos and get a shout-out from your favorite ECW alumni — full details on the Virtual Signing Series website at this link.
