In 2005, Father James Mitchell aligned himself with Abyss to create one of the best alliances in the history of TNA.
During a virtual signing for Captain’s Corner, the legendary sinister manager revealed that his partnership with Abyss was among the best runs of his illustrious career. He said,
“Clearly one of the best runs I ever had [was with Abyss]. Probably overall. I mean look, when I was on WCW, I was seen by more people but I was in a less important spot, you know what I mean? And TNA with Abyss, that was the perfect combination of manager and monster. Even when we were at the backburner, we were on the top of the mid-card, you know? When we weren’t figured in heavily. He’s an amazing guy. I used to tell him he gave way too much of himself, he’s left pieces of his body all over the f*cking world. But he’s very passionate about the business. It was an honor. He was one of the only wrestlers, other than [Chris] Kanyon, that I specifically lobbied to manage because when I first saw him, I said, ‘Man, I could do something with this guy’ and not to disparage anybody he worked with before, but, he had not been on that kind of platform before, Spike TV and I actually made the pitch, ‘Man, you need to put me with this guy’ and it might have taken nine, ten months but, he is a great friend, a very hard, hard, hardworking guy, loves the business and I’m glad to know that he’s cashed in his chips and he’s got a grown up job in WWE. I’m assuming the kind with insurance and benefits and 401k, dental vision, all that stuff… He deserves it man… There’s the famous clip of Jeff Hardy doing the Swanton Bomb or whatever it’s called, where there was the whole stage and he climbed on top of the set. Then he had to leap out, I don’t know, the length of this hotel room, to then fall all the way down and land on Abyss. I told them all day, ‘Guys, don’t do this sh*t. You’re gonna die’ and there’s a spot like right after he hits it, I have tears in my eyes. I thought they were dead. I thought both of them were dead and Abyss, he would just put himself through that all the time and he kept trying to top himself and I’m like, ‘Man, you gotta stop at some point. At some point, they’re gonna bring out the chainsaw. Let’s bring it down.’ Remember when [Mick] Foley fell through the cage and they play that highlight for 12 years, forever, right? But you can’t… At some point, you got to roll on your laurels. But, yeah, God man, what a sweet guy. I hate to say that about a heel but what a genuine, sweet person, good friend and I wish him all the best and he made me so, what can I say?”
Mitchell was released from his TNA contract on July 7, 2008.
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