JD Grunge Roundtable Pro Wrestling interview on stolen titles

In the JD Grunge Roundtable Pro Wrestling interview, JD Grunge said Monster Nation took the Dirty Crew’s tag team titles after his team won its match. He also explained why he and Janice wait for promoters to invite them to shows and named Hoochie Daddy as his favorite opponent to feud with.

What did JD Grunge say about Monster Nation and the Roundtable tag titles?

JD Grunge said Monster Nation took the Roundtable tag team titles without earning them. According to Grunge, the Dirty Crew had won its match when Monster Nation ran in and took the belts. He rejected Sam Sims’s claim to one half of the championship and said his team still regarded the titles as theirs.

Monster Nation’s claim to the belts

Grunge described Monster Nation’s possession of the titles as dress-up rather than a legitimate title reign. He said the run-in happened after the Dirty Crew won and claimed Monster Nation knew his team could not be at the following month’s show. The Dirty Crew had won the belts at Comic Con, but Grunge drew a distinction between how his team won them and someone taking the physical belts afterward.

He acknowledged that fans might object to his team’s methods. His complaint was that Monster Nation was cheered for an action he considered worse: taking titles it had not won. “I have respect for those titles,” Grunge said, adding that stealing them was dirty even by the Dirty Crew’s standards.

How did JD Grunge start wrestling and train with Steve Rush?

JD Grunge said he grew up watching wrestling with his family and got his first opportunity with a promotion where he began on the crew. He moved into training and in-ring work there, learning from CC Poison, Steve Rush and Gentleman George as well as other wrestlers willing to help before shows.

Learning before the shows

Grunge did not describe all of that instruction as formal training. He said he took whatever he could learn from people in the promotion who would get into the ring with him before an event and show him something. That approach continued as he gained more in-ring experience over the years.

His first promotion was also his only place to work for a time. After it closed, he began taking opportunities elsewhere in the Northwest, a shift that eventually put him on shows with Roundtable Pro Wrestling and other regional promotions.

What did JD Grunge say about wrestling promoters and backstage drama?

JD Grunge said talk about his past and disagreements in the Northwest wrestling scene had not stopped him from working. He said people could ask him directly about his history, and he preferred to judge promoters and wrestlers through his own dealings with them. He also said he would work with someone he disliked if the business terms made sense.

Responding to talk about his past

Asked whether he had faced blowback from an earlier Roundtable dispute, Grunge said people had tried to create it but that those who knew him could speak to him. He called himself an open book and offered to show paperwork to anyone with questions. He also said he had been to jail and prison; he did not give further details.

Grunge said he had heard people talk badly about promoters and had seen similar assumptions made about the Dirty Crew. Rather than letting those accounts decide where he worked, he said he wanted to form his own opinion. He argued that wrestlers should focus on keeping the business going instead of continuing personal arguments.

How does JD Grunge get independent wrestling bookings with Janice?

JD Grunge said he and Janice work across the Northwest but do not ask bookers to put them on shows. According to Grunge, the promotions they have worked for invited them. He said he remained open to working for virtually anyone, including a person he disliked, provided the terms and pay were right.

Invitations across the Northwest

Grunge named Roundtable Pro Wrestling, a coastal promotion and Pacific Wrestling Federation among his places to work, and said he was in talks with another promotion farther north. He also described a Longview show and a separate bar show on the same weekend. His account was of a schedule spread across different venues rather than one home promotion.

He said he and Janice did not want to press bookers who might not want their act. Even when discussing a promoter he had criticized, Grunge kept his position on accepting work straightforward. Introducing his clearest statement of that policy, he said:

as long as the terms were right and the money was right, I will work anywhere

What did JD Grunge say about the Dirty Crew and live wrestling fans?

JD Grunge said the Dirty Crew drew criticism when its members appeared frequently on one promotion’s cards, but he rejected the idea that they were trying to take it over. He also said he was willing to spend his own money on ticket discounts because getting someone into an independent show could change their view of wrestling.

The Dirty Crew’s place on a card

Grunge said the group appeared in many matches at one point because, in his view, other wrestlers on that card were not doing enough. He did not present that stretch as permanent: when discussing his feud with Hoochie Daddy, he said the Dirty Crew later took a beating. His favorite feud, he said, worked because the wrestlers had a story and a reason to keep facing each other.

A fan’s slap at Brewfest

At a Brewfest show, Grunge recalled being held in place while a fan was invited to strike him. He said he assumed the blow would be light, but it hurt more and lasted longer than he expected. The moment fit his argument for live shows: fans can get close to the action, react directly to him and become part of what happens.

Grunge said boos did not bother him. Rather than changing his personality to encourage cheers, he preferred to be himself and let the crowd respond. He added that a wrestler can lose matches yet still connect with fans through charisma, merchandise and autographs.

Who would JD Grunge team with, feud with and fire?

JD Grunge chose Roddy Piper as the wrestler he would have loved to team with and Hoochie Daddy as his favorite feud so far. Asked whom he would fire, he declined to name the person but pointed to a promoter he accused of stirring up drama and running shows in conflict with others.

Roddy Piper and Hoochie Daddy

Grunge’s choice of Piper was specifically the in-ring Portland wrestling character. He admired Piper’s ability to talk, create controversy and push a character toward the edge. For a feud, Grunge said he liked working with anyone when there was a story behind it, but put Hoochie Daddy first among his past opponents.

The unnamed promoter

Grunge said he would not normally fire someone without giving them a chance. His exception was an unnamed promoter whom he accused of repeatedly creating drama. He said he had no objection to that person running a promotion, making money and paying wrestlers; his objection was to conduct he believed made scheduling and cooperation harder for other promotions.