O’Haire returns to WWE with win on HEAT by Seth Mates
It was just about one year ago that Sean O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo made their debuts on World Wrestling Entertainment programming. At the time, they were WCW Tag Team Champions. They first made their presence felt on an episode of SmackDown! from Madison Square Garden, attacking the Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz. Little did O’Haire and Palumbo know that the entire WWE roster was waiting in the wings to put a beat down on them, culminating in the APA putting them through tables in one of the most memorable WWE moments of last summer.
Fast forward a year. Palumbo is now simply known as “Chuck,” one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, with Billy. And after eight months with Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), O’Haire, 29, has finally returned to the big dance, as he pinned Justin Credible on Sunday Night HEAT.
“I’m 110 percent better, wrestling-wise, fighting-wise – it was like going to a hardcore camp for eight months where you do nothing but fight, train, eat and breathe,” O’Haire told WWE.com.
O’Haire has an extensive athletic past. A third-degree black belt in karate, he also has experience in boxing and kickboxing. He put together a tape of his athletic acumen and sent it to former WWE Superstar Paul Orndorff, who ran the WCW Power Plant wrestling school.
“I showed him the tape and he hired me right away,” O’Haire said.
O’Haire trained with WWE Superstars Johnny Stamboli, Palumbo, as well as developmental athletes Mike Sanders and Mark Jindrak under trainers Orndorff, Mike Graham, and Sgt. DeWayne Bruce.
O’Haire says he considers Orndorff a mentor. He also cites Kevin Nash, Jim Cornette and Danny Davis as some of his role models in the business. “I ask those guys everything now,” O’Haire said.
At 6-foot-5, 280 pounds, O’Haire dominates his opponents with raw power. But O’Haire’s repetoire also includes a number of high-flying maneuvers, including a top-tope standing backflip and a variation of the senton bomb, which he calls the “Seanton Bomb.”
“People told me I couldn’t do it, and it pissed me off, so I did it,” he said. “I like the rush. I like to be able to do it. I think I should be able to do anything, whether I’m big or small. If I put my mind to it, I can do anything I want. And that’s what I’m here for.”
A three-time WCW Tag Team Champion, O’Haire says his time in OVW was crucial to his development as a sports-entertainer.
“OVW got me so pumped, but I need to take a step up and learn more from the more seasoned veterans, who I respect very much,” he said. “I need to pick their brains now, more so than I was before. It’s like going from elementary school to college – I had to get back to high school first.”
He says that as much as he enjoyed his run in WCW, he’s now more well-rounded than ever.
“Back then, I got to do whatever I wanted, and I liked it,” he said. “I got to do all my gymnastics and martial arts. Here I don’t have to do that as much. I don’t have to fly off the ropes as much as I did there. I haven’t changed my style totally, but I’ve learned more ground fighting and in-ring technique, more than just jumping off the ropes and flying around.”
What can we expect this time around from O’Haire?
“Just vicious fury,” he said. “Vicious, psychotic fury. I’m back and I’m pissed.”
Great news if ya ask me, I love this guy, he's very very talented, I'm glad they're finally gonna use him 
Fahgettaboutit! Johnny the Bull makes WWE debut by Phil Speer and Seth Mates
Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli is back with an international sports-entertainment company, and this time he says he's ready.
After training at the WCW Power Plant, Johnny was called up to WCW in 1999, where fans will remember him as one half of the "Mamalukes," along with Big Vito. Together, they were two-time WCW Tag Team Champions -- and Johnny himself was also a WCW Hardcore Champion -- even though Johnny says he doesn't think he was prepared for the big time.
"I was so green then," he said. "I still have a lot to work on now, but back then, they just threw me out there. I didn't know what I was doing. It's like I was in camp for a year, and then they just said, here. I had no clue what I was doing, and we were getting over. Big Vito and I made a pretty good tag team, and we were getting over, but in WCW, when something was starting to get over, they killed it."
Johnny was one of the superstars whose contract was immediately picked up by World Wrestling Entertainment when the company purchased WCW in March 2001. But Johnny's match on Sunday's HEAT was his first television exposure with WWE. He's spent the last year-plus at WWE's talent development organization, Cincinnati-based Heartland Wrestling Association, gaining much-needed experience.
According to HWA director of operations Les Thatcher, Johnny thrived in HWA. He was even HWA Heavyweight Champion for about a month and a half recently. Thatcher said the key was getting Johnny to break out of the bad habits that he had acquired while wrestling in the old WCW.
"It was basically like reprogramming him to a certain degree," Thatcher said. "He's settled in. He understands the direction that we're trying to go. And obviously WWE sees that, as they've called him up for a couple of shots.
"One of the things we've worked on is trying to expand the personality. In WCW, he was sort of like Robert DeNiro (in) 'Taxi Driver' -- 'You talkin' to me?' As you know, if you've seen the movie, it's pretty much a one-dimensional character."
Thatcher also said that Johnny has progressed to where he doesn't rely exclusively on his strength or is known simply as a "strong man," which seemed to be the case in WCW.
"We've tried to reverse that and make him a more complete performer -- good chain wrestling, mat techniques and psychology," Thatcher said. "And at 245 (pounds), he's able to get up in the air a little bit."
With any luck, Johnny's newfound versatility can help him avoid the disabled list. Still only 25, Johnny has suffered more gruesome injuries than most men -- even those in the sports-entertainment business -- suffer in a lifetime.
A native of Atlanta, Johnny left home at age 17 and fell into the wrong crowd. Living on his own at age 19, he was jumped and stabbed, which he said made him change directions in life.
Even after surviving the notoriously tough Power Plant and earning a call up to WCW television, the excruciating pain continued for Johnny. First, during a Hardcore Match against the legendary Terry Funk in July 2000, he tore his urethra -- he miraculously finished the match -- and missed two months. Just days after returning, he broke his fibula during a match in Australia.
"Knock on wood, I hopefully got it out of my system," he laughs, talking about his injury bug.
Although he lost his match on Sunday's HEAT to Tommy Dreamer by disqualification, he didn't hurt himself. So far, so good.
"I had a taste of (the big time), and then it was taken away," he said. "But I needed the training, so I'm glad I was sent (to HWA), because I didn't want to come here and then not be ready and go back again. I'm more excited than I am nervous.
"I learned a lot of psychology -- when to do things, why I should do things. I slowed down a lot; I was a little too fast. I relaxed more, paced myself more. I worked my butt off in HWA."
So what are Johnny's goals, now that he is back?
"I want to be successful, be safe, not be injured," he said. "I want everyone else around me to be successful. This is my dream. I want to wrestle until I'm 35 and then retire, another 10 years."
He smiles. "Hopefully I'll be able to walk then."
