This weekend marks WWE SummerSlam, the brand's premiere summer pay-per-view event featuring their biggest matches of the year, second only to Wrestlemania. Not only will it host the huge matches, but with NXT Takeover Brooklyn 4 also going down, fans will have a chance to see what the next generation of superstars have to offer before they blow up. Both of these events cut to the core of what makes WWE so far-reaching right now — no matter what a fan's background is, there should be something to grab on to.
Include among wrestling's diehard fans Municipal Waste frontman Tony Foresta, whose band is set to embark on a massive U.S. tour with High on Fire this fall. In the meantime, we spoke to him about growing up in close proximity to the many wrestlers who were living in Florida through the Eighties, why Sasha Banks is one of the best in the business right now, and more.
WHEN DID YOU BECOME A FAN OF WRESTLING?
I grew up St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Eighties. A ton of wrestlers from what was then called the WWF lived in my area. Hogan lived around the corner from my grandfather and I would actually see him at my local gym some times in my high school years — he actually spotted me once! But yeah, I've been into wrestling since as early as I can remember. A fond memory I have was when I went to Saturday Nights Main Event filming in the Eighties and a bunch of kids at my school saw me on TV doing the Koko B. Ware parrot dance when he came out. I thought I was hot shit at school for, like, a week.
WHO WAS YOUR FIRST FAVORITE WRESTLER?
I think back when I was a kid it was British Bulldog. Now that I look back on it, his character was kind of lame, but back then I thought he was really cool. My all time favorite wrestler is Sabu. You can't fuck with that guy.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE WRESTLER RIGHT NOW?
Sasha Banks. I love her. I also never thought I'd say this, but I'm really starting to enjoy Seth Rollins. His matches are always really good.
FAVORITE MATCH OF ALL TIME?
Landphil [Municipal Waste's bassist] turned me onto the Vince McMahon/Hogan match from Wrestlemania 19. That sounds weird I know. But people need to go back and watch that crazy shit. Vince is so jacked up on steroids that he is actually more ripped than Hogan. Both take huge bumps and there's a tons of blood and carnage. It's a fucking wild match during a weird era of WWE.
BEST ENTRANCE THEME?
Stone Cold's glass break is pretty sick. I really like singing the Big Show's theme song cuz it's so bad. Also, Diamond Dallas Page's blatant "Smells Like Teen Spirit" rip-off was also pretty sick.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FINISHING MOVE?
I like Chris Jericho's Codebreaker. I would also like to go on record here and say that Roman Reigns "Superman Punch" is the wackest wrestling move of all time. Seriously, fuck that guy. Nobody's buying that shit.
HOW ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE SUMMERSLAM MATCH?
I'm not sure if this counts as a SummerSlam match, but it was Summerslam weekend at the NXT Takeover in Brooklyn. Bailey vs. Sasha Banks. I think it's now regarded as one of the best women's matches of all time. In my opinion, it put both wrestlers on the map — both were moved up to WWE almost immediately after — and in general it did a lot for women's wrestling. I was there and it was so much fun to watch. We were all screaming our asses off.
IF YOU WERE A WRESTLER, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ENTRANCE THEME?
I'd have Joel Grind [of Toxic Holocaust] make me some sort of synth version of "Who Let the Dogs Out" ... I might just hit him up to do that, anyway.
WOULD YOU PREFER TO BE A HEEL OR A FACE, AND WHY?
I would be a good heel. I'm great at annoying people. Maybe, my character could be "The Lambgoat Comment Poster" or something bad like that.
WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE BEST MATCH OF THE WEEKEND?
I think it's a toss up between Jeff Hardy vs. Nakamura or Aj Styles vs. Samoa Joe.
