SONNY ONOO INTERVIEW RECAP: TALKS SUING WCW AND MORE- 12/10/2008 (12:25:50 am)
- James Walsh
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Show: The Interactive Interview courtesy of www. WrestlingEpicenter. com
Guest: Sonny Onoo
Date: 12/10/08
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley, Nick Noel, & James Walsh
Transcript By: Patrick Kelley
When we announced that we were going to have Sonny Onoo on the show, the reaction by the wrestling community was not entirely positive... There was a lot of "uh oh" and "be careful" responses to us via email... To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd get with Sonny either. But, what we did get was a very nice and hunble man who does not deserve the reputation that seems to surround him. And, he explains his positions and why he sued WCW in great detail in this brand new exclusive interview.
We invite you to come check out the interview at http://www. WrestlingEpicenter. com and take a listen. Sonny Onoo really lays it on the line and gives us a glimpse at pro wrestling from both the on camera perspective as well as from the office.
He's done a lot in wrestling and is finally cleared to talk all about it!
To listen, visit http://www. WrestlngEpicenter. com. It is entirely free of charge to you without any registration required. All we ask is that you support us and help keep our site free to all! It is our pleasure to do this and we hope to do it forever... All we need is your suppport!
SONNY ONOO
- James welcomes Sonny to the show and Sonny admits that he is very thankful and surprised that so many wrestling fans still remember him. "I am just so happy to be a part of one of the great wrestling resurgence periods...It was a great time for wrestlers"
- Onoo originally started with Karate & Kickboxing which is where he met Eric Bischoff. He says that Bischoff actually was a pretty good fighter.
He really enjoyed it: "We get to fight without getting trouble"!
- Sonny joked that there wasn't much money in the game then and that being ranked #1 for a few years in the late 70's and early 80's was especially great because not only did he get to fight but he even could pay his bills.
- He came to WCW through Bischoff. Because he was from Tokyo, Sonny was used to help mend the relationship between WCW & New Japan.
- He had a lot of fun playing a character on TV. He says that it might have been difficult for those who knew him through Karate to understand what he was doing. He got to do alot in the Karate world, and addibng wrestling to it was fun for him.
- He would have loved to get involved MMA if it was a big deal when he was originally coming up. He was familiar with amatuer wrestling as well and say MMA is something he would have liked to try. On another side note, he mentions that Eric Bischoff took up karate because he blew his knee out, but before that he was a pretty good amatuer wrestler.
- When asked if his knowledge in Karate ever served him in the wrestling world, he says that he once put Ernest Miller in an Ankle Lock and got him to tap. He puts over Miller as a great friend from wrestling. He says that Miller is still participating in Karate competitions.
- He managed many guys, mostly foreign wrestlers many because he was their mouthpiece. But when he was paired with Ernest Miller, he could just lay back and have fun with it.
- James brings up the Al Green skit that Sonny did with Miller. Sonny says that there was a whole series of skits they wanted to do. For example, when Miller wrestled Prince Iaukea, he wanted to do something using Prince's Purple Rain.
- His experience with WCW was "riding a big tsunami that we got to have fun with" He still keeps in touch with many of the guys he worked with during that time.
- When asked about Perry Saturn and any clues to his current whereabouts, he says that the last he heard Perry was in Minnesota training young amatuer wrestlers. That was about two years ago. Sonny says that Perry was always a good friend and he helped Perry out during some financial troubles that he had. He also says that Saturn was probably too nice for his own good.
- Sonny is then asked about his departure from WCW, the lawsuit. He says that basically what happened is that Vince Russo made it clear that he had no intention of using many foreign wrestlers, and was moving to push American wrestlers. Sonny says this was even stated and recorded on an episode of WCW Live!, the company's live internet show that ran from 1999 through 2001, where Russo guested and made those views perfectly clear. Sonny had just signed a two year deal, so when he was terminated, he felt that somet
