Catching up with Nova/Mike Bucci/Simon Dean: ECW, Cornette, OVW, Maven, Life After Wrestling (Patreon)

Fightful Select had the rare opportunity to get a few minutes with Nova at the Squared Circle Expo in Indianapolis.

Nova told Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that he has lived in Kentucky for twenty years; Nova said he did the short drive to see [Blue] Meanie and some of his other friends he has not seen in years.

Sean asked Nova about the process of being put into the Retromania game. Nova said he is on their cabinet and thinks a sequel to the game is being worked on.

Sean told the former ECW alum that he was doing a rewatch of the original ECW run on TNN. When asked about the music they used for their theme songs and how they were allowed to use [copyright] music, Nova said nobody ever thought that deeply into it. Nova said ECW paid no royalties for the usage. Nova also mentioned that none of the music went through audio channels.

Nova would say when you watch it now, and you see The Sandman make an entrance and you’re not hearing Enter Sandman, it’s not the same. Sean mentioned that Nova’s theme Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys, is iconic. Nova said that he loved it and that Randy Holt was the “sound guy of ECW,” Holt came up with the idea for Nova to use that as his theme. Nova said he had a great time in ECW and loved every minute.

Nova would then talk about his WWE tenure and the rumors about him having to cut his hair for his character Simon Dean. Nova told Sean that he always heard those rumors. Nova said he was working dark matches, and the blowback was that he looked like some of the other WWE wrestlers.

Nova said he did not care because he only wanted to make it onto the main roster. However, when he returned to OVW, Jim Cornette blew a gasket because he changed his look, and Cornette said they could have had a gimmick match.

Sean would ask how his transition has been outside of Wrestling. Nova said he had done very well and is now in banking and finance. However, he misses the guys, girls, fans, and the physical parts at times of the wrestling business.

Nova said he hopes the pro wrestling fans during his generation will recognize the wrestlers for what they did and not the tragedies. He said we do not all end up like Randy “The Ram.” [Mickey Rourke’s character from the film The Wrestler]

Nova said he took the skills he learned from wrestling and used them for the real world after wrestling. Nova said that he made money while wrestling but made a lot more outside of wrestling, and he said pro wrestling shaped who he is today and owes everything to it.

Sean told Nova how much he enjoyed the Simon Dean character. Next, Sean asked Nova if the name Simon Dean was created as a rib on Dean Malenko. Nova said he came up with the persona Sunny Slade and wanted his gimmick to be Sunny Slade’s Super Systerm of Self-Help and Supplements. Nova said he loved his time in the WWE.

They would close the interview by discussing former WWE Tough Enough Winner Maven. Nova said he loves Maven and hopes Maven sees this interview. Nova said the wrestling business did him some injustice because he won Tough Enough, threw him on TV, and pushed him to the moon.

Nova believes that the industry chewed Maven up and spit him out. However, Nova said he is proud of Maven and glad he came out on top.