12 Questions For Shawn Daivari
5. Change Of Plans
AS: Is there anybody there that you wanted to work a program that you didn't get to?
SD: Yes, the Main Event Mafia. That was Jeff's plan for the year. We were in a group called World Elite, and we were all evil foreigners, and I was going to be the figurehead of the group. But when Russo got in control, he didn't like my character. He thought the Arab thing was too dated, which it may be, it may not be, but it worked and TNA needed acts that worked. They weren't in any sort of position to try a new s**t, if that make sense.
So he thought Eric Young would have been better, and it was a test, it was trying a new thing. Poor f*****g EY. It didn't work . What he ended up doing later was great. It was just a s****y situation. Russo tried to do something new. It didn't work. I lost the head spot spot, which meant that I wasn't on the house shows. And I wasn't walking out with them in their matches, which is another pay off. I wasn't on the pay-per-views which is another payoff.
It was a good spot to be in, and at the time the Main Event Mafia were the top heels, they'd turn babyface, they feud with us; it goes to Lockdown. And pretty much after Lockdown the shtick is over. World Elite disbands, the Main Event Mafia disbands and they're going to figure out their new program for the next year. And at that point we could agree to have the second year option on my contract, or decide not to extend it, which is great.
But then, all of that got f****d. EY's thing didn't work, which I was really worried for him, but it's great because what he ended up doing later, and just being himself was a thousand times better than whatever the f**k they had him do in World Elite. The whole thing fell apart.
I wasn't the only one that was upset that Jeff was leaving. As you saw, World Elite disbanded and the Main Event Mafia quit (laughs). They'd had enough. All my money was f***ed.