Jim Powers [RF Video Shoot Interview]

The Good
Sometimes a whole lot of honesty comes from an unexpected source. For the same reason that Jim Wilson's Chokehold was good, this shoot interview with former WWF and WCW undercarder Jim Powers is good. Both were good athletes with potential, both squandered underneath, both blame politics and even homosexuality and both are quite honest about the dirty world they lived in. Jim Powers, however, was generally liked by his peers and was by no means a rabble-rouser. He is also much more straightforward about his own abilities, dependencies and legacy. While I went into to this expecting nothing special, it ended up being very enjoyable. Powers ran with some rebellious types and was able to shed light on characters like the Ultimate Warrior (whom he calls "Jimbo"), Kerry Von Erich and Paul Roma. He is also as up-front about drug use and abuse as anyone this side of Jake Roberts. His views on steroids - "they work!" He even goes into such detail about his and his buddies' daily pill-popping, needle-poking and line-snorting that he takes a second to acknowledge his daughter might here this and than continues. His views on the matter are very well thought-through and although I don't agree with living that lifestyle, he certainly explains how it was practically essential. This was unlike many others.

The Bad
Who is Jim Powers? I don't mean to bury the guy, but a career of jobbing at the worst and being a middle-of-road guy at best does not exactly make you a great shoot interview candidate. Jim Powers' greatest strengths are whom he ran with, what he saw and remembers and how honest he is about it all. Does he really dish the dirt? Not to the extent that he seems bitter and makes those old buddies look bad, but he definitely does not the WWF any favors in terms of PR. What Jim Powers lacks in star power, main event experience, booking knowledge and psychology sense, he makes up for in being in the right place at the right time and being alive and aware in an era that wants to ask him about it.

The Rating: ****