Brother Devon and TNA 'Ready to Do Whatever' to Become Number One

Things are starting to heat up in wrestling as the big day approaches. The big day – of course – is Monday, March 8 when TNA Impact moves to Monday nights on Spike TV going head-to-head with WWE Raw on the USA Network from 9:00pm – 11:00pm ET.

The last time we saw anything like this was back in the mid-to-late 1990's when WWE was battling WCW on Monday nights. Current TNA wrestler Brother Devon was involved with that battle on the WWE side. Back then, he and his partner Brother Ray formed as the Dudley Boyz and were one of the prominent tag-teams in the company.

The duo is still going strong as Team 3D in TNA and have become the most decorated tag-team in wrestling history. Recently, FanHouse caught up with Devon to get his thoughts on the upcoming move of Impact and the big changes going on in the company.

Brian Fritz: How is every going right now with TNA right now as the company gets set to move Impact to Monday nights and the changes that have happened over the past month or so?
Devon: TNA has been doing fantastic. I'm loving the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and I'm ready to start the Monday Night War again. Every federation we've even been in, at that point in time, has been so successful and has reached tremendous numbers whether in ratings or people in attendance. It's a tribute to everybody's hard work. It's a tribute to everything that's going on now with Hulk Hogan being with TNA. Some people thought it would be a bad idea to bring him in. I think a lot of us were iffy about it because we didn't know what he could bring to the table. Since he's been with TNA, he's done nothing but good things in my opinion and I think the ratings are showing it lately.

What's the most impressive thing you've seen from Hulk Hogan?
It would have to be this last TV taping. Young talent is being pushed. Young talent is being made from stars to superstars and what better person to do that than Hulk Hogan. A lot of people thought he was going to come in and try to still be Hulk Hogan, try to go in there and run the show the way Hulk Hogan wanted to. Well, Hogan proved a lot of people wrong. He's in there pushing young talent. He wants to make a difference. He wants to see TNA prosper. He wants to see them succeed. To do that, you bring in some stars from yesterday but you mix them in with today's stars and there you go. And that's exactly what he's doing.

How do you and Bubba (Brother Ray) fit in there considering you been in wrestling for a while now and have been successful?
I think the company knows what we do. So any time we need to turn it on, we turn it on. Any time we need to sit back a little we sit back.

You've been in wrestling now for so long.
Eighteen years now from December 13.

Does something like TNA Impact moving to Monday nights and trying to kick start another Monday night war rejuvenate you?
Absolutely. Everyone asks me are you looking to run Vince (McMahon) out of business and I say no we're not. We've seen what happens when there is only one company left and the rival company is run out of business. That one company that stays in business holds a monopoly and that's never good for anyone. With TNA, we're not trying to run Vince out of business. What we want to do is give him competition yet we want to be number one. That's what we're striving for. We want to be the number one company in professional wrestling. We want to have the number one ratings. We want to have the number one talent. That's what we're looking for. We're not looking to run Vince out of business. I don't think anyone would want to see that. I think competition is very good for the business and knowing that it's going to keep both companies on their toes. There will be times when TNA will lose. Their may be times when WWE may lose. But then, knowing when we lose that we regroup, get back together and try to kick their behind. I'm sure they're saying the same thing with us. So either you're on board and going full tilt and you're bringing your best or you have to ship out.

What is a realistic expectation for TNA going head-to-head against the juggernaut, the established brand in WWE on Monday nights?
See, I look at it like this. You have TNA which is on Spike TV and there are some viewers that don't get Spike TV. That was a problem for WWE at one point because they liked to use that reason why their ratings were going down in the first place. OK, we're on Spike TV and we're getting very good ratings. We're not getting the ratings WWE has because they've been around for so long but we will get there. We're inching along, slowly but surely. I'm going to have to same the name recognition. We probably have the most names on our show compared to the WWE. You have your Hunter (Triple H), Undertaker, (John) Cena, Batista, your (Chris) Jericho and Rey Mysterio. Then after that, you go on the younger talent who haven't been really established. With a lot of the guys that are on their TV, you're like "who?" You don't really know who these guys are because there was never a real connection when you brought them in the first time. Now, you're force feeding them down the fan's throats. I generally feel that we have the opportunity to gain momentum. Not taking anything away from the WWE cause they are who they are but we're TNA and we're going to do whatever we have to do to become the number one company regardless.

Isn't the biggest hurdle for TNA right now to overcome is getting people to know that TNA is out there and the talent on the show?
Absolutely and I think this war is going to do that. I think this war is going to be able to get the people who don't know TNA is out there and they're going to know TNA is out there. I think this is a very, very good thing for us especially. Do I think Vince is happy with this? Probably not. I'm sure he wanted to hold on to the monopoly and I'm pretty sure he's probably trying to run us out of business. But I don't see that happening. I see us really really striving and really really going. I'm excited about it. I can't wait. I can't wait to be on live TV every other Monday night and getting it going because I know Bubba and I are at our best when our backs are against the wall and we're fighting.