Longtime pro wrestling veteran and one of the founders of WWE’s former developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), Steve Keirn, recently appeared as a guest on the The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast.

Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On helping launch WWE’s former developmental territory, FCW:

“Bill Demott had the territory for the developmental in Georgia and it was called Deep South Sports and then there was the one on Louisville (OVW). I parlayed all that because they closed Bill down and took everything away from Danny (Davis) and put everything right in my lap.”

“I had to something here it so I ran it and I ran FCW the same way they ran it back in the old days. I hunted for anyplace that would let us start and we started in Flea Markets and bars and in some of the worst places guys could ever wrestle in but it was in front of a live audiences and that is where you get your real education.”

On how FCW eventually transitioned into NXT:

“You never really know how certain things happen. You are only limited to so much information but what my belief was is they saw what we had done (not see the beginning) and they saw after it had been a five year build up.”

“I think they saw that this could be bigger if they begin to back it and dump money into it. I think Triple H had a vision after visiting a professional football camp. But he envisioned more of the WWE having something like that than the old style territory. The change of command in the WWE went from John Laurinaitis in the Talent Relations area over to more Triple H and when you change coaches, you change teams also. When it came down to me they asked what did I want to do and they were very courteous and very respectful to me (which I appreciated). The idea of the transformation from FCW to NXT was to make it bigger and make it more important but that puzzled me because it lost the concept of being new.”

On what led to him eventually parting ways with WWE:

“I started seeing less guys with passion and more guys with different situations and not that there is anything wrong with it, that just makes it harder to teach somebody that doesn’t love it. When it came time for me and I had a contract that went from December to December and when the time went from less years to less years they ended up wanting to make changes and they wanted to cut my pay because I am not doing everything and that is fine, they want me to move to Orlando and I said I can’t do that. I’m in my sixties and live in Tampa and I am Mr. Florida and know the best place to live and Tampa is where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I didn’t want to move eighty miles East into a tourist trap when I need to be in my home more. When the end came I said this is great and I’m glad it is over and now it is time for me to step back and when they said they weren’t renewing my contract I hugged them and said THANKS! I’ve been waiting for the end because I was told one time to not ever quit, make them pay you to the end.”

Check out the complete Steve Keirn interview at Podomatic.com.