Alan Wojcik: As Chase takes some time to cool off (Chase just finished a match with Vaughn) Ill begin with you Andy. How did you get into wrestling and who were you trained by?

Andy Douglas: I was trained by Killer Kurt. Im from a small town in Northeastern Kentucky and this local promotion came to town. I saw these crappy guys in the ring weighing 120 pounds and I thought if these guys think theyre wrestlers I can do this. I talked to the promoter after the event and two weeks later I began training. I had run into Chase many times over the years before I ever came here to Nashville.

AW: How does a nice girl like you get involved in professional wrestling?

April Pennington: I had been a Tennessee Titans cheerleader for about three years and I wanted to do something else. When NWA: TNA came to town I auditioned for the cage dancers. I hadnt been to a live event before the night I got hired.

AW: For people that dont live in Nashville give the fans some insight as to how the team of the Naturals came to be.

AD: Well thats a funny story. When I came to Nashville I worked for another promotion (Mike Porters NWA Main Event) and I was teaming with Rick Santel. We came to work for USA and the genius Bob Ryder decided it was time for a change. In my four years in the business I had worked heel twice. Bob didnt have to finish his statement and I said yes its time to turn. It was the look and the similar work ethic that led to our pairing. Then we went on a deep sea fishing trip with Bob. Chase and I had been brainstorming on team names and both of us had written down the Naturals.

Chase Stevens: Bob shot them all down (laughs.)

AD: Yeah Bob hated them all. We came up with Natural Heat and slept on it. We woke up the next morning and hated it so we shortened it to the Naturals.

CS: We said it about 3,000 times in one day and it didnt stick. Natural Heat didnt go right. On that same trip we got closer together as friends. We went to Cracker Barrel and signed more autographs than Bob had ever seen. We had signed maybe 30 of them as Natural Heat just to try it out and then we signed the rest as the Naturals. The rest is history.

AW: Since we have a special guest Ill ask him. What made you decide it was time to create the team of Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas?

Bob Ryder: It was a case of the situation being right. Andy was a babyface and partnered with Rick Santel and Chris Vaughn. We had a heel team work Andys knee for a couple of weeks. One week he came to the building on crutches and the next with a knee brace. The third week I told Andy we might never get a situation like this again. We have the perfect chance for the big impact. Bert (Prentice) made the announcement that Andys knee was damaged to the point that he would have to have knee surgery keeping him out for several months and he is here just to say goodbye to the fans and his fellow wrestlers. I made sure Andy, Chris and Rick were inseparable. They signed autographs and took photos with fans during intermission. In the main event Chris and Rick were tagging. They took lots of heat in the match and got the win. Andy was ringside in his brace and he gets in the ring. He raises their hands and then he hits Rick in the back with one of the crutches. It was instantly a shocking moment to the fans. I have the philosophy you need a strong heel team to feed to the babyfaces. Weve been doing this storyline for about a year now with Chris Vaughn and several partners. Chris is one of the top babyfaces and a well kept secret. You mix of strong heels and strong babies you get great storylines. You saw it here tonight Alan (I was attacked by Chris Vaughn fans as I cheered Chase on during a singles match) these fans can have their buttons pushed by having guys that can be great heels like these two guys are.

AW: I asked Chase this in a previous interview, how much fun are you having as a heel?

AP: Too much fun to describe.

AD: Its great to walk through that curtain and here your name chanted as the big babyface pop hits. Its even more fun to be able to control the fans and have the energy turned against you. Making the fans hate you shows how much control you have over your art.

AW: This is a non-USA Championship Wrestling question. I asked Chase and Athena this question, what was it like to work for Jerry Lawlers Memphis wrestling promotion?

AD: How can I say this without burning any bridges? It was a great experience and I had heard the veterans talk about they got up at 4am to drive for Memphis wrestling and drive back to Nashville and wrestle that night. Well one day that call came and 5am we hit the road. The first time we came through the curtain of the Mid-South Coliseum on the opposite side of the ring were the Rock n Roll Express. They were my idols growing up and to see them on the other side of the ring and see Ricky and Robert was something I will never forget.

AW: I got Chase and Athenas feelings on your Memphis gimmick, what were your feelings on the Alternative Express?

AD: Like Chase I thought it was a joke. We thought it was a rib to see how far they could push us and then it turned into something serious. All the guys in the back put it over. We thought it made us look like a couple of backyarders that you would see at any crappy Indy show in the Mid-South. If you never saw it we wore black pants, black shirts and makeup, it was ridiculous. We got sick of it and there were several other reasons that came up as to why we left Memphis.

AW: In October you wrestled Americas Most Wanted on the NWA 55th Anniversary event.

CS: We had a very good time and I enjoyed meeting great people. We had one of the better matches in our series with AMW. We had several promoters approach us for possible bookings. That was the first time we had been on a big stage like that night. To be invited to that event was a great honor.

AD: I was extremely proud yet extremely pissed. Extremely proud because we walked through that curtain and no one in the building with the exception of Bob and a few promoters knew who the hell we were. AMW got zero pop but by the time the match was over the fans loved AMW and they hated us. I was so proud of that match because it elevated our career and got AMW more fan support. Like Chase said we met some real nice people and make some good connections. I was extremely pissed because the oldest wrestling promotion in America has its biggest show and it got no coverage anywhere. Other than that it was a wonderful experience.

AW: What went through your minds when Bob and Bert told you that you were going to win the USA Championship Wrestling tag team championships?

AD: Not to sound like a big headed guy but I think we would have been pissed if we werent going to get the belts. We were the only established team in USA, the rest were two singles guys thrown together. No one had the same tights or wrestled for other promotions as a unit. Harris and Storm only work as a team for NWA: TNA. Chase and I are a team.

AW: For those that dont know the story how did you become their manager?

AP: It was weird. I was managing the Lifeguards and they got fired so I was without a team. Bert and Bob asked me if I wanted to go heel. Three months later I was a heel manager. It went from there and I dont regret it, they are good guys.

AW: Athena told me her feelings in an interview and then last week she cost you the titles. In your opinion what led to the spilt?

CS: The spilt began way before we lost the titles to Jason and Chris. Let me give you the back story on how we were with Athena in the first place. We were at the Fairgrounds and all night long we carrying around baseball bats attacking the babyfaces. Athena was dressed but her man Hot Rod Biggs was unable to wrestle. Being nice guys we let Athena come out with us. From that night on she got thrown in with us. We let her come out that night not knowing she would be partnered with us for months. Bert was the one that kept her with us and in her mind she created us and got us all of the heat. In reality we were a team and got the heat before she got involved. She did help out and did some good things. She has lots of friends that come out to shows with signs. When we worked on Xplosion they came out and she got them to hate us. We thought it would be bad because her friends cheer even as a heel. We told her that they need to boo her or we would be done. She got all 300 of them to boo us and we got the big heat pop. TNA and USA didnt see anything in her and we didnt need her manager heat or her help on the mic because we could talk and generate our own heat. So the office decided to put her with other people that needed a manager and she hated that. Around that time her fiancée was on his way back from Korea and whenever he came back from serving our country she quit the business. That is degrading to Andy and I. We have been throug