Wrestling - Ring of Honor: Colt Cabana’s sillier side

Though he may be remembered by some wrestling fans for his brief WWE run as Scotty Goldman, Colt Cabana has been one of Ring of Honor’s top draws for several years. A well-rounded entertainer, Cabana is not only known for his wrestling abilities, but also for his quirky sense of humor. When he comes to town for ROH’s two sold-out shows at Center Stage, he’ll also stick around for a comedy show at Avondale Estates’ Academy Theatre.

When you last wrestled in the Atlanta area, it was for Platinum Championship Wrestling’s Sacred Ground event in September, and you lost to Nemesis. Who will you be facing at these Ring of Honor shows?

That hasn’t been announced yet, but I know that one of them is going to be a really fun match on Friday night. It’s somebody who’s not in ROH, so it’s going to be a really fun surprise. I’m really looking forward to it.

You recently defeated Adam “Scrap Iron” Pearce for the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship. That title has a lot of history in Atlanta. How does it feel to be the one bringing that belt back to Atlanta?

I never really looked at it that way, as far as Atlanta being the home of Ted Turner and WCW and all those guys that won the NWA Championship for all those years. It’s cool. It’s been a great experience so far. I won the title and the next week took it over to Germany, so I’ve already defended it internationally and done it successfully. I just look forward to taking it all over the country and all over the world and representing the NWA as the World Heavyweight Champion.

You’ll also be doing one of your stand-up comedy shows on April 2 at Academy Theatre, where PCW runs its weekly shows. Tell me about this show.

A couple of years ago, Mick Foley and I were doing a stand-up comedy tour together; he would headline and I would open. Now I’m doing this project called $5 Wrestling where we do “Mystery Science Theater”-style commentary over really bad pro wrestling. It’s myself and another stand-up comedian named Marty DeRosa from Chicago and we’re playing really awful wrestling on a big screen and commentating over it. So it’s not so much stand-up as a live interactive performance with the people.

You also have a podcast, “The Art of Wrestling,” that’s doing very well, which also allows you to showcase your comedic talents and wrestling knowledge.

It’s a weekly podcast that is consistently ranked number one on iTunes. It’s just me with a different friend from professional wrestling. Sometimes it’s lesser-known guys that have been around for a while like Chad Collier and Rocky Romero and other times it’s guys who are big stars like CM Punk and X-Pac. Each week it’s something different and it’s not meant to be taken very seriously. We just have fun and shoot the shit and it’s really cool. I get a lot of good feedback, a lot of people are really enjoying it and I think it’s kind of changing the game a little bit when it comes to wrestling and a new form of media.

CM Punk, your former ROH tag team partner, also wore one of your T-shirts on live WWE TV. Do you think that’s some sort of foreshadowing of another run for you with WWE?

I’d like to go back there and be successful like he has been. But that was just him supporting a friend. I sell those shirts on ColtMerch.com and he knows that, so he wanted to give me a little advertising and wore it in front of 3 million people on Monday night “Raw.” We’ve known each other for about 13 years, since we started wrestling together. Maybe I’ll have another run there, maybe not. All I know is I can only do what I can for myself right now. Whether that’s in WWE or not is out of my hands. What is in my hands is my career and taking care of myself.

You also recently released a movie. What’s that about?

It’s called The Wrestling Road Diaries and it came out March 21 at WrestlingRoadDiaries.com. It’s the week before Bryan Danielson now known as Daniel Bryan leaves for WWE. We documented a 10-day road trip, so it’s a documentary about pro wrestling. There are trailers online and it’s gotten some pretty good reviews already from my wrestling friends.