9 Questions With Former WWE Superstar JTG
The former Cryme Tyme member chats about his books, WWE and heat.
To wrestling fans, Jayson Paul will always be JTG, one half of WWE’s Cryme Tyme team, which debuted on Raw nearly a decade ago.
JTG and team-mate Shad Gaspard were introduced by WWE as partners in crime, quite literally, via a series of spoof “training videos” in which they tested their speed and endurance by robbing a smoothie store and fleeing from a police officer.
Cryme Tyme debuted on the October 16, 2006 Raw, where they defeated WWE tag champs The Spirit Squad in a non-title match.
Though the charismatic JTG and Shad were one of the most popular teams of the era, they never captured the tag title.
After Cryme Tyme’s split in 2010, JTG was unable to gain a foothold and make an impression as a solo performer. He was released from his WWE contract in June 2014.
Last year, Jayson Paul published the memoir Damn! Why Did I Write This Book? A frank and humorous account of his years in WWE, the book revealed what a wrestler should and should not do to get ahead in WWE. Along the way, it offered clues as to why Cryme Tyme failed to reach the summit of Mount Tag Team in WWE.
Buoyed by favourable reviews of his first book, Jayson released the sequel last month, Damn! Why Did I Write This Book Too?, which featured more cautionary tales for aspiring WWE wrestlers, alongside anecdotes from his time in WWE.
We spoke to Jayson this week about his books and adventures as a WWE wrestler.
9. How To Play The Game
Your two books — Damn! Why Did I Write This Book? and Damn! Why Did I Write This Book Too? — could be described as the WWE Survival Manual, Parts 1 and 2. Do you wish someone had published books like these a decade ago, so you could have studied them and properly prepared yourself for life in WWE?
“Definitely. I wish somebody had written something like this when I started, because it’s exactly what I needed. I definitely would have read and learned from the book and applied it.
“When I got into WWE, I didn’t know that there was a game being played. If you don’t know what The Game is, I wrote a lot about it in my [second] book, which is subtitled: How To Play The Game. The Game is a bunch of strategic power moves that talent use to further themselves and their career outside the ring.
“I believe 60 percent of your success in WWE is based on how well you play The Game. [WWE] was a learning experience, and I’m passing down what I learned to aspiring wrestlers, so they can learn from my mistakes.”