Chuck Palumbo compares his former tag team partners to one another.
Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire, and Shawn Stasiak were three members of WCW’s Natural Born Thrillers. Chuck Palumbo would have the honor of teaming with both men and was even one-half of the WCW Tag Team Champions with Sean O'Haire when those championships came onto WWE television in 2001.
Now, in a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Palumbo is comparing both of his former partners. Acknowledging that they are very different, Shuffle Palumbo says that one advantage Shawn Stasiak had was his experience and second-generation knowledge.
"Two different guys. Very different guys. Shawn Stasiak comes from a wrestling background, right? Second generation. His dad was a great wrestler. Prior experience from WWF. In great shape. Solid worker. But, they needed something for him, right? So, I enjoyed it. Good guy. Got along great. He’s a quirky dude. He’s got an odd sense of humor, but I got it. So, I was fine with it. Good person. Not much of a partier. Very serious about taking care of himself and succeeding in the business. Practicing promos, thinking about characters."
Speaking about Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo would say that even though he was more inexperienced than Shawn Stasiak, those in power were very fond of Sean O'Haire and he believes that Sean would have benefited from a system like WWE NXT.
"Then you got Sean O’Haire on the other side. New to the business. Obviously, like Shawn Stasiak, great body, impressive physique. Facials. Athletically, here’s a guy doing Swanton Bombs at 6’5, 260 or 280, whatever he was, doing Swanton Bombs. Green. Not that I wasn’t. I was learning on TV, as was he. Green, but learning. Needed more time to develop. Obviously, we never got to see his potential. Shawn Stasiak was already a solid worker ready to go. But, they loved O’Haire. Think about it—he was a big, impressive dude, right?"
Chuck continued, "Yeah. He was a legit 6’5, easy 270. In shape and super athletic. So, he just needed time. He didn’t get that opportunity to go train at NXT or something like that where they really worked with him. I’m sure if Paul Levesque had taken—because Paul has got a great eye—if Paul took him right out of wherever he came from, so he wasn’t tarnished by any other wrestling organizations. If Paul Levesque had brought him into wrestling and kept an eye on him—because Paul’s good at that, got a great head on his shoulders, understands talent, likes big guys—he would have shot him to the top over time. Which, I think he could have did with a lot of us with the transition."
Stasiak’s final run in WWE would see him claim to be from Planet Stasiak in late 2002. Sean O'Haire was given the opportunity to be the mentee of Roddy Piper in 2003. Sadly, Sean O'Haire passed away in 2014.
For more Chuck Palumbo you can check out his YouTube channel, Chuck of All Trades
