As wrestling fans, we were honored to get the chance to talk to one of the voices of The Pain Clinic. You’ll be impressed when you take a look at their show’s guest list, as it is a comprehensive list of the biggest names in wrestling over the last decade and a half.
Tune in weekly on iHeartRadio or locally on Rochester’s Sports Talk 1280 WHTK & FM 107.3 and you’ll hear a great show with past guests such as Chris Jericho, Jim Ross and Hulk Hogan.
Follow them on Twitter @Pain_Clinic and like The Pain Clinic Facebook page!
We had the chance to chat with one of the hosts of The Pain Clinic – The Cashman Richie Rich! We truly appreciate their time and look forward to working with them again this Saturday – as Tank & Howie from UnderScoopFire will appear on the first segment of The Pain Clinic’s special 2 hour pre-WrestleMania show on March 31! Be sure to check it out on iHeartRadio 10AM Saturday or download the show as a podcast!
How did you guys get started in radio?
I went to college to get into radio though my major was Journalism. Before I finished school I had my first job in Rochester at Goodtime Classic Oldies 99FM WKLX.
Since it was a part time job I found other part time jobs to supplement my income including a year as night manager at 94.3 WIRQ based in West Irondequoit High School.
I got my first full time job in radio working for a satellite radio network called Northeast Satellite Entertainment (who’s major investor was Tom Golisano) in 1991.
I joined WHTK in 1993 and have been working for them in some form since then. The Pain Clinic started in 1998 with myself, Sam Fantauzzo (aka Dr. Love and in Rochester he’s best know as Soccer Sam) and Bob Culmone who went by the name Mad Dog Bobby Rogers. We were riding off the success that WCW and WWF were having with the attitude era and Monday Night Wars. Sam and I had been doing the “Kick This” soccer show on WHTK for a few years before starting the Pain Clinic. We thought it would be a good change of pace. Who would have thought we’d still be here almost 14 years later?
I see a link for a “podcast” on your home page feelthepain.net – does that mean people can download your weekly radio show on a national level?
The Pain Clinic can be subscribed to through Apple iTunes as well as many podcast sites online or you can visit our homepage and listen to the link that’s there.
You can also listen to any show from the past year in our archives on the page.
You have a very impressive guest list on your show’s history. Do you have a special connection to the wrestling industry?
We’ve been on the air on WHTK since November of 1998. In that time I have built up a good relationship and reputation (and in some cases friendship) with a few of the organizations and their PR people. You get the right channel and they feed you the superstars and wrestlers to promote pay per views or local shows.
Does any guest or interview stand out to you as your favorite? Oddest appearance?
Some of our favorite interviews are with guys we really understand- wrestlers turned authors like Mick Foley and Chris Jericho. TNA’s Jeremy Borash is a friend of the show, we met when he worked with WCW and he is always a great interview. WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross has graced the airways with us on numerous occasions, he is a wealth of knowledge and a funny guy too.
I would say one of the oddest appearances we had on the show was The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkov. These guys were at their peak in the business around the time Hulkamania was born in the WWF. On the show these guys were on at the air at the same time and they were in ‘old school protective of the business mode’ which meant they talked in character and weren’t cooperative with our real questions. We tend to be a “shoot” interview style show. That means we talk real life and situations and not the imaginary world of professional wrestling.
One time we had the ‘mute’ character Sharkboy join us in the studio. (Since then he got bumped on the head in TNA and is turning into a fishy Steve Austin.)
And how could I forget Jake Roberts getting in an argument with one of our old hosts Dr. Love and it just turning into a train wreck.
WrestleMania 28 goes down this Sunday in Miami, FL. Team Bring It or Cenation?
I see both guys’ sides in this “once in a lifetime” match. The truth is the Rock left WWE and Cena stayed (not that anyone was knocking his door down to get him out of WWE). I’m pulling for the Rock. As we saw in their most recent buildup promo on the last Monday Night Raw, this means more to Cena than it could ever for the Rock. I want to see Cena disappoint and then deal with failure.
Could it be a personality change by the man who says “you can’t see me”? People are tired with the same-old same-old and this could lead us down a darker road than Kane could have ever expected when he tried to make Cena embrace his dark side just a few months ago.
I’m rooting for a good match and fireworks and a Rock Bottom to end the match for Team Bring It!
What match are you looking forward to most?
Of course the Undertaker and Triple H is going to be a great match- the story of the unbeaten versus the Cerebral Assassin. Could we see The Streak end? How long have they been selling The Streak? Wrestlemania 21 was where Randy Orton vowed to end it, so that must be it.
Will Triple H go 0-3 against the Undertaker in Wrestlemania matches (people forget the first time they met in Houston at Wrestlemania X-Seven). Will Shawn Michaels have anything to do with this? Could Shawn Michaels’ part in the outcome of the match bring Shawn back into the WWE as a wrestler? So many question marks that I will say this is what I’m looking forward to most!
Tell us how we can interact with you, and how you interact with fans during Pay Per Views.
We interact with fans from the Rochester area by hosting WWE Pay Per Views at our sponsors’ Salvatore’s at the Garage Door. We talk between matches, give prizes away and the fans come and hang out, watch the PPV with us. I personally talk with every fan in the place as I hand out raffle tickets before the show starts.
Of course anyone with a Twitter account or Facebook account can follow us or be our friend and interact with our official Twitter/Facebook page. We try to interact when we are live on the air. Since the show is on an iHeartRadio station, we are live nationwide from 10-11a on WHTK. We have regular calls every week from Boston, South Carolina and West Viginia.
In fact, a fan from WV drove to Rochester to hang out with us for a PPV at our sponsors. Of course, since he was in town he had to have a garbage plate too!
If you’re in the Rochester area we are at our sponsors Salvatore’s at the Garage Door (149 East Ridge Road) for a free viewing of the PPV. During the show we will be giving away prizes and a good time will be had by all!
There’s a link to Gilda’s Club on your website – talk about that relationship. Does The Pain Clinic work with any other groups or charities?
Gilda’s Club is special to me. I have been an active member since 2002 when I was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) in January of that year.
I am part of a Leukemia & Lymphoma Support group there. I volunteer at many Gilda’s events toraise money for them. I have been a model in the “Surviving in Style” fashion show fundraiser for many years there. I also participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk held every year in the fall. The past 4 years I have achieved a donation of over 1,000 dollars and been deemed a “Bright Light”. My cancer has been in remission since 2006 and I want to give back for all the help I’ve been given.
Many thanks to The Cashman for a great interview. For your Saturday morning wrestling fix, tune in to The Pain Clinic or download weekly on iHeartRadio!
It’s WrestleMania Week at UnderScoopFire! Check out our homepage for our podcast with WWE Hall of Famer George The Animal Steele, a list of the 7 Best Finishers of All Time, and more!
