Brian Damage
After being trained and graduated from the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy, ‘Shooter Schultz’ was signed to a WWE developmental deal. He along with fellow Shawn Michaels trainees Bryan Danielson, Brian Kendrick and Lance Cade became some of the company’s top prospects. Then one day, he was inexplicably released. Shooter Schultz would soon vanish from professional wrestling altogether. Today on ‘Answering the 10 Count’ we found Shooter and asked him what has he been up to since his WWE release back in 2001.
Ring The Damn Bell: Did you grow up a wrestling fan? If so, who were some of your favorites growing up?
Shooter Schultz: I didn’t grow up as a wrestling fan, I was introduced later when a good friend invited me over to watch a WCW pay per view. I started going over and watching Monday Nitro with him after that. I was a big fan of Eddie Guerrero, Benoit and Dean Malenko.
RTDB: What made you decide to take the leap into pro wrestling?
SS: I was working at a steel foundry at the time and would talk to one of the guys I worked with about it on Tuesday morning. One morning he came in and handed me a list he printed out of wrestling schools and suggested I look into it.
RTDB: Was the Shawn Michaels Academy your first choice?
SS: No, the first one I contacted was in Pennsylvania, I think it was run by one of the Wild Samoans. Warrior University was on the list too but I didn’t hear back from them. I called Shawn Michael’s Academy and talked to his mom for about a half hour, great lady, and got started the next day with making preparations to move to San Antonio.
RTDB: Can you describe what a day consisted of training at the school?
SS: Training was intense, we started every day with calisthenics (push-ups, sumo squats, etc.) and then running laps around the gym. We learned fundamentals first, lock ups and chain wrestling, then taking bumps and basics like running the ropes, moves like back drops and hip toss and eventually psychology of a match. Later we started putting together matches and then were given time limits on the match.
RTDB: I’ve heard rumors that Shawn Michaels wasn’t really hands on at the school. Bryan Danielson once said in an interview that when Shawn did decide to show up, he would sometimes be “out of it.” Meaning high. What were your personal experiences with HBK?
SS: I remember Shawn being there, especially when we got to putting matches together. Him, Rudy Gonzalez, Ken Johnson and Paul Diamond would watch and then evaluate and tell us what we needed to work on. I remember working with Danielson a few times and we had some good matches together. Shawn was great, I feel he genuinely cared about all of us, there was a time I had gotten really sick with stomach flu and didn’t have a doctor or insurance or much money. He sent me to his doctor and took care of the bill to help me out. And every time we did dark matches once we were signed to our developmental contract he would always check up on us.
RTDB: Who came up with your ring name of Shooter Schultz?
SS: Shawn came up with my gimmick and ring name.
RTDB: What was it like wrestling in the Memphis developmental territory?
SS: Going to Memphis was a great experience for me, I definitely improved having the opportunity to work with guys like Steve Regal and Tracey Smothers at shows and in training. And also training with Bobby Eaton for a bit. I loved working with The Mean Street Posse and Joey Abs, Ron Killings, Steve Bradley, York and Matthews one of my favorite guys to work with Reckless Youth. I also got to work with Umaga and Rosie a few times and Viscera.
RTDB: What were your memories of the Kliq 2000 faction? Any good stories you can share of Danielson, Lance Cade, Brian Kendrick etc?
SS: We had a blast doing Kliq 2000, well I did for sure. Having (Jason) Sensation was great, he and Kendrick came up with a lot of our promos and they were always fun to do.
RTDB: What caused you getting released from developmental? Who broke the news to you?
SS: It came right after the buyout of WCW. They sent 2 guys from the office, I had never met either of them and can’t remember their names now, but they said they were evaluating the current developmental talent and I didn’t make the cut for guys they wanted to keep. I remember Shawn called a few days later and said ‘sorry, it happens, don’t worry about it and just keep working and you’ll get another shot.’ But, unfortunately for me after about 6 months of independents, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
RTDB: Why did you seemingly quit pro wrestling?
SS: Unfortunately, I walked away because I just couldn’t make enough money on the independent circuit. I never got a chance to go to Japan or work for any of the bigger indy promotions like ROH.
RTDB: Do you still keep in touch with any of the boys or have you completely moved on from the business?
SS: I talk to Sensation all the time. We keep in touch regularly and I have recently reconnected with Rudy Gonzalez. I plan on taking a trip to San Antonio in the fall and going to one of the shows he promotes.
RTDB: What are you up to these days?
SS: I ended up going back to the steel foundry for a while, now I am working as a Corrections Officer for the County Jail where I live in Missouri.
RTDB: It has been a number of years since Lance Cade sadly passed away. Any memories you can share about him?
SS: Definitely, I remember training with Lance and being impressed with how well he moved for such a big kid! Tremendous natural athlete. He was quiet at first but really developed quickly into a great worker. I worked with him a lot in Texas and we had some really good matches. I remember right after the tournament for the heavyweight belt, Lance and I got to be the last match of the night the next weekend at a house show, my first title defense. I thought we had a great match and I remember both fo us being really excited about headlining that little show, great crowd that night! Lance was a good kid, loved the business, hard worker. I didn’t get to see much of his tag team work with Murdoch but I was happy to hear that he got that opportunity and everyone I talked to has said it went well and he continued to get better and better in the ring.
RTDB: Any funny or crazy stories from the road you can share with everyone?
SS: Unfortunately not, I traveled with Lisa Marie (Victoria) and Danielson, we were pretty boring lol. I drove, Lisa Marie read and Danielson slept.
RTDB: What was the most sound piece of advice you ever received in your days wrestling? It could be from school to working in developmental and who was it from?
SS: Some of the advice I got that I still remember, that stuck with me, Steve Regal said ” we are performers, everyone knows that, but you never see an actor pull out a script in the middle of a movie so make every match, every performance look as good as you can. Give your audience what they deserve.” Shawn said something very similar to this to us too.
And Tracey Smothers said “there’s never a blown spot, sometimes a spot doesn’t go as planned, but you’re the only one that knows it, you just make an adjustment. Make it look good and keep going.”
RTDB: Recently, some former WWE developmental wrestlers complained about the pay structure in NXT (WWE’s developmental brand) saying it goes as low as 30 grand a year. May I ask how much you were making working down in Memphis?
SS: That’s about where I was, between 30 and 40 grand a year. But 25 years ago it went further than today.
RTDB: If there was one opponent you never faced but wish you had in your career…who would that have been?
SS: I can’t imagine how incredible it would have been to work with Eddie Guerrero, that would be a dream match for me.
RTDB: Why did it seem you completely vanished from the spotlight after retiring? Was that by design?
SS: It was by design, once I decided to walk away, the only other thing I did was a bodybuilding show out in California. But after that I just slipped into working at the foundry and kept to myself for over a decade.
RTDB: Is there anything you would have done differently in your career?
SS: One thing I would have done differently, I focused really hard on training and my ring work, I wish I would have worked equally as hard on developing my character, my gimmick. That might have a made a difference for me in getting more opportunities to work.
RTDB: What is the biggest takeaway from your years in pro wrestling?
SS: The biggest takeaway for me was the great people I had the opportunity to work with. Great guys, we had a blast! I had so much fun entertaining even the crowds of just 50 people those nights at the National Guard Armories and little Civic Centers. It was all those guys and that camaraderie that made it all worth it for me.
RTDB: Thank you for your time again. You have been a delight to talk with.
SS: No problem Brian, it’s been a pleasure!
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