By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Current TNA wrestler Elijah Burke says he's glad he turned down a slot in the Spirit Squad because he knew it was a short-term program that wouldn't keep him in the business long-term. Burke says he knew Vince McMahon would push the team when they feuded against DX in 2006, but figured his career would be over after the feud was over.

"Yes, I turned it down. It was not forced upon me but an opportunity for me if I wanted it. I chose not to put myself or career into a situation for the 'Right Now Money' as I plan on being around for a while in this business," Burke told forceofwrestling.com in an interview. "I knew the Spirit Squad would get a lot of TV time and PPVs 'cause Vince said so; it was his idea. But at what cost?"

Kenny Dykstra was re-packaged after the Squad disbanded, but he went nowhere and was released. Johnny Jeter, Mike Mondo, and Nick Mitchell never re-surfaced on WWE TV. Only Nick Nemeth, now known as Dolph Ziggler, seems to have survived.

"A year later, the stench of the SS killed (or hurt) all of their careers," Burke said. "Kudos to Dolph Ziggler for working his butt off."

The next wave of Shawn Michaels and Triple H's DX reunion program is staring down Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Cody Rhodes, who Hunter gave no credibility to on national TV last night. Fortunately, DiBiase has a movie coming out and both wrestlers have tremendous upside after being fed to DX.

Burke also spoke about Chris Benoit in the interview. Burke was the last person to wrestle against Benoit. He believes Benoit having the brain of an Alzheimer patient was the main factor in the Benoit Family tragedy based on his wrestling-related conversations with Benoit prior to the double-murder suicide.

"I remember talking to him, and he would tell me that he forgets a lot of things, and how he would like for me not to be afraid to communicate with him," Burke said. "He had a condition that I've witnessed older people deal with all the time, being that my mother's a nurse. And let me tell you, one minute they're telling you to help them, and the next minute they're screaming, 'Help, there's a stranger in my room.' So by Chris's brain being worse than an 80-year-old Alzheimer patient's, then who knows."

Burke claims Benoit selected him to be a future star on ECW. In Benoit's final match, he beat Burke to become #1 contender to the ECW Title on the June 19, 2007 episode of ECW TV. Burke says Benoit even called him the day before the Benoit Tragedy unfolded to check on his health after their match.

"He had handpicked me to help elevate to the next level," Burke said. "He called me the day before they say the first 'incident' happened to check on me following my back injury when he crashed into my knees during our first and last televised match. Does that sound like a monster to you?"

Burke turned his attention to TNA and said negotiations with TNA came down to timing and making sure both sides were happy. The first vignette for his new character debuted on last week's TNA Impact episode promising his debut on the Hard Justice PPV.

"My signing with TNA was about timing and both sides being happy, plain and simple," he said.

Link: Read the full interview with Burke at forceofwrestling.com.

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