Interviews ;
Andy Douglas has a thing for vampires, dating back to his childhood when he often dressed as a vampire for Halloween. He’s watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula numerous times and his all-time favorite movie is Underworld. And when the Underworld sequel recently made its debut, Douglas was there opening night.
The tattoo in the middle of Douglas’ back is, in fact, from the movie Underworld, a tribal symbol of a bat. And, he’s going to add another vampire-related tattoo on his wrist.
“This is just something I’m really interested in,” said Douglas, who admitted he has fangs that, well, he wears for Halloween and special occasions.
So, does the vampire affection affect his in-ring ways?
No, he said.
“I think it’s completely separate – my in-ring persona and my out-of-the-ring interests. They’re almost at the other end of the spectrum from each other,” Douglas said. “When I’m in the ring, I’m an outgoing, out-spoken person. When I’m home, I’m a recluse. I’m one of those people who can disappear for four- or five-days and no one will hear from me. That’s my personality because I love alone time.”
Douglas is, naturally, a night-person, one who can stay up all night and sleep all day. In fact, he said, “it’s actually hard for me to go to bed unless I’m extremely exhausted.” Douglas is often awake until 5 a.m., and usually awake by 11 a.m.
“I really love wrestling, which is what I’ve been doing for seven years. Sure, I’m not getting rich yet doing this, but it’s paying the bills,” he said. “The best part is, I’m living a childhood dream.”
Douglas said he prefers tag-team wrestling versus the singles route. He’s teamed with Chase Stevens for three years after previously only wrestling against him.
“I just think there’s more you can do in a tag-team match; there’s more psychology that you can incorporate,” Douglas said. “Plus, in tag-team wrestling, if you get blown up in the ring, your partner is always there on the apron waiting for you.
“It sucks being on the independent scene without Chase because I turn around and – uh oh – I don’t have that support, that guy to lean back on.”
Douglas and Stevens first teamed together in Nashville, with a little help from veteran wrestling executive Bob Ryder, who speculated they’d be a perfect team since they then had the same hair style, the same in-ring style and the same body size.
But picking a team name was the hard part.
“Bob hated every name that we took to him,” Douglas said.
Then, during a deep-sea fishing trip in Louisiana, Douglas and Stevens decided on Natural Heat, and the name stuck … for 24 hours.
A day later, they shortened their name to: The Naturals, though Ryder still didn’t like the name.
But, obviously, The Naturals have survived.