He gives his phone number at the end, in case you want to call him. 
Four parts.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/103-indies/32819-elijah-burke-talks-life-after-tna
Before we talk about your wrestling career, some fans won’t know that you have been involved in working with the Sheriff’s Office and getting your degree two years ago you got your degree, with honours in criminal justice. Were you always interested in the law and did you think that that might be your career long term when you were younger?
Being young – if you let everyone else tell the story, or at least those on the outside looking in – my career was probably going to be in law enforcement, except I was probably going to be on the other side of the bars, if you get my drift! (laughs) I was not a bad child, but I was a very adventurous child, and sometimes I was devious, and so I got in a lot of trouble as a kid. Going forward into High School I kind of honkered down and tightened up and started focussing on my lessons a little more. I was involved in a lot of sports but I could never stay on the team. I played baseball, I played soccer, I played football, but my grades weren’t good enough to keep me in those activities.
So at High School I honkered down, and my grandfather was a cop, my sister was a Sergeant, and so it was only in my last couple of years that I started trying to figure out my career, as to what I would do when I would graduate, because I needed money – I want money and I want it now! (laughs) But I wanted to be taken care of; I wanted to make sure that I had a career. So my sister, who was a Sergeant, informed me – she said “Go to the Police Academy.” As soon as I graduated, that same year I enrolled in the Police Academy and the rest in kind of history.
Was that my plan? Was that my dream? Nope, but it was a goal and I goal that I knew I would be able to accomplish and make a pretty good living straight out of High School. (I was) the youngest guy to come out of my class, the youngest Officer – I was a Corrections Officer at the time, working in the jails – so it was pretty cool.
Do you think that you’ll fall back into that once you’ve called time on your wrestling career?
(laughs) Well that’s to be determined! Obviously as you mentioned – and a lot of people know – I went back and finished my College degree. It was something I started when I was in the Sheriff’s Office. I decided to pursue my degree, because while I was dual certified – meaning certified as a Corrections and a Police Officer – I was not sworn in, because you can’t be a Police Officer or go to the streets, in Jacksonville at least, unless you have a four year degree. So I started College to get the degree so I could go and have my own (Police) car and get on the streets by myself but then, you know, my dream came along. I had the opportunity to pursue my dream, as the old story goes.
I was booking someone into jail and since the jail was overcrowded at the time – or the intake, where you process new criminals was crowded – I started surfing the internet, I think, and I don’t know how I came across this but I believe I was surfing the internet and somewhere I came across the first ever OVW tryout camp for the WWE development system. And it just took off from there – I had the chance to realise my dreams. Will I go back into law enforcement when my ticket is punched and my time is up? That remains to be seen. I can’t say that I would go back to being an Officer or go and work in a prison or a jail, but maybe something in the realm if I decided to – but the Pope got another ten years left in this business, daddy! (laughs) So I haven’t even thought about that yet (life after wrestling).
I assume, then, that you were a fan growing up, which was what led you to go to OVW?
Absolutely, it was always a dream. Here in Jacksonville, Florida, we saw everything that there was to watch – NWA, Florida Championship Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling and, of course, the WWE. So, I was a huge fan from I think it was the age of two or three years old, that I first saw wrestling sitting on my dad’s knee – or sometimes, most of the time, at his feet! (laughs) We would just sit down and watch wrestling with him because that’s what he would always watch. Watching the likes of, of course, Dusty Rhodes, RIc Flair, Pez Whatley, Iceman King Parsons, the Von Erichs, the Horsemen, the Great Kabuki……I could go on and on. Those guys are what made me go “Wow!”
I think the biggest impact – and I don’t know if I ever said this before, ever, in an interview, or to anyone – I think what made it…..what gave me the googly eyes and made me go “Wow, this could be me!” or “This is what I want to do.” was that entrance video to World Class Championship Wrestling. That “boom-bobada-boom-bobada-boom” and when you see that satellite come out of the sky and it starts showing all of that pandemonium in different clips – that was probably the most awe inspiring moment of the year for me. I could care less about the wrestling itself sometimes, as long as I could watch that video opening. Yea, man, that did it for me. Of course, when you had a guy like Dusty Rhodes who was talking directly to me as I sat in front of the television, that was the hook, line and sinker right there.
Four parts.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/103-indies/32819-elijah-burke-talks-life-after-tna
Before we talk about your wrestling career, some fans won’t know that you have been involved in working with the Sheriff’s Office and getting your degree two years ago you got your degree, with honours in criminal justice. Were you always interested in the law and did you think that that might be your career long term when you were younger?
Being young – if you let everyone else tell the story, or at least those on the outside looking in – my career was probably going to be in law enforcement, except I was probably going to be on the other side of the bars, if you get my drift! (laughs) I was not a bad child, but I was a very adventurous child, and sometimes I was devious, and so I got in a lot of trouble as a kid. Going forward into High School I kind of honkered down and tightened up and started focussing on my lessons a little more. I was involved in a lot of sports but I could never stay on the team. I played baseball, I played soccer, I played football, but my grades weren’t good enough to keep me in those activities.
So at High School I honkered down, and my grandfather was a cop, my sister was a Sergeant, and so it was only in my last couple of years that I started trying to figure out my career, as to what I would do when I would graduate, because I needed money – I want money and I want it now! (laughs) But I wanted to be taken care of; I wanted to make sure that I had a career. So my sister, who was a Sergeant, informed me – she said “Go to the Police Academy.” As soon as I graduated, that same year I enrolled in the Police Academy and the rest in kind of history.
Was that my plan? Was that my dream? Nope, but it was a goal and I goal that I knew I would be able to accomplish and make a pretty good living straight out of High School. (I was) the youngest guy to come out of my class, the youngest Officer – I was a Corrections Officer at the time, working in the jails – so it was pretty cool.
Do you think that you’ll fall back into that once you’ve called time on your wrestling career?
(laughs) Well that’s to be determined! Obviously as you mentioned – and a lot of people know – I went back and finished my College degree. It was something I started when I was in the Sheriff’s Office. I decided to pursue my degree, because while I was dual certified – meaning certified as a Corrections and a Police Officer – I was not sworn in, because you can’t be a Police Officer or go to the streets, in Jacksonville at least, unless you have a four year degree. So I started College to get the degree so I could go and have my own (Police) car and get on the streets by myself but then, you know, my dream came along. I had the opportunity to pursue my dream, as the old story goes.
I was booking someone into jail and since the jail was overcrowded at the time – or the intake, where you process new criminals was crowded – I started surfing the internet, I think, and I don’t know how I came across this but I believe I was surfing the internet and somewhere I came across the first ever OVW tryout camp for the WWE development system. And it just took off from there – I had the chance to realise my dreams. Will I go back into law enforcement when my ticket is punched and my time is up? That remains to be seen. I can’t say that I would go back to being an Officer or go and work in a prison or a jail, but maybe something in the realm if I decided to – but the Pope got another ten years left in this business, daddy! (laughs) So I haven’t even thought about that yet (life after wrestling).
I assume, then, that you were a fan growing up, which was what led you to go to OVW?
Absolutely, it was always a dream. Here in Jacksonville, Florida, we saw everything that there was to watch – NWA, Florida Championship Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling and, of course, the WWE. So, I was a huge fan from I think it was the age of two or three years old, that I first saw wrestling sitting on my dad’s knee – or sometimes, most of the time, at his feet! (laughs) We would just sit down and watch wrestling with him because that’s what he would always watch. Watching the likes of, of course, Dusty Rhodes, RIc Flair, Pez Whatley, Iceman King Parsons, the Von Erichs, the Horsemen, the Great Kabuki……I could go on and on. Those guys are what made me go “Wow!”
I think the biggest impact – and I don’t know if I ever said this before, ever, in an interview, or to anyone – I think what made it…..what gave me the googly eyes and made me go “Wow, this could be me!” or “This is what I want to do.” was that entrance video to World Class Championship Wrestling. That “boom-bobada-boom-bobada-boom” and when you see that satellite come out of the sky and it starts showing all of that pandemonium in different clips – that was probably the most awe inspiring moment of the year for me. I could care less about the wrestling itself sometimes, as long as I could watch that video opening. Yea, man, that did it for me. Of course, when you had a guy like Dusty Rhodes who was talking directly to me as I sat in front of the television, that was the hook, line and sinker right there.
