I had a great opportunity to speak with "The Promise" Antonio Thomas recently, and here is what he had to say. Antonio is best known for being part of The Heart Throbs tag team of WWE fame, but is quite an accomplished singles and tag team competitor in the indy scene. You all know what a big fan I am of Thomas and Roselli, so I was really happy to have the chace to get a few questions in.

#1 - Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me. You most likely know the first question - How did it all come about for The Heartbreakers to show up in TNA a few weeks ago?

AT - We had visited with them in January and then did a dark match at the Impact! tapings a few weeks later. We got the call about a week or so before the Destination X pay per view and it was a pleasure and a great experience getting the opportunity to work for TNA and with VKM.

#2 - Outside of the TNA appearance, what have you been up to since your release from World Wrestling Entertainment?

AT - Ive just been trying to stay as busy as possible, working both singles and tagging with Romeo. I try to keep a busy schedule with 2-3 bookings every weekend, as my website and myspace schedules can attest, and keep working more and more new places withi the Northeast and around the country as well. I flat out love to work and there's no place I would rather be than in a ring, so I am always trying to fill up my schedule with as many dates as possible.

#3 - Ok - in my opinion - The Heartbreakers are probably the most charismatic team in the business, and one of the few teams that can actually wrestle as well. But I have noticed that you both have wrestled more as singles competitors since coming to the independent circuit. How do the two styles differ and do you have a preference?

AT - I enjoy both singles and tagging. Sometimes it's hard for promoters to book two guys at once, because its 2 paydays, 2 flights, etc.-all the costs are doubled, but we try to get as many tag team bookings as possible because we love to tag and we have a natural chemistry that you very rarely find. It would, however, be shortchanging ourselves if we didn't work singles as well. We started out as singles, and both love to work that way as well. My style doesn't change from a tag match to a singles match, but when you're working singles-its all in your shoulders, and I love that. In a tag format, it's 2 guys as 1, and I love that as well. I love the subtleties about tagging such as cutting the ring off, blind tags and trying to make anything we can do in the ring a double team or having it involve both of us. Tagging and singles are both challenges and I enjoy both.

#4 - What are your thoughts on the current state of the business? Are there any other wrestlers you like to watch yourself?

AT - The wrestling business is cyclical, it goes through it's up and down times. I feel the current state is rather good. The WWE has definitely picked up a lot of steam the last few months leading into Wrestlemania, TNA is growing and exciting and Ring of Honor is just great wrestling and action…period. It offers a little bit of everything and has a die hard fan base that is hard to top in any sport, or form of entertainment for that matter. As far as the independents, there is definitely more quantity than quality out there, in terms of workers and promotions, but there are many great promotions out there that have stood the test of time and have a great following that keeps them alive and strong. There will always be the "weekend warrior" worker out there, but there also always seems to be a new crop of independent workers who are up and coming and ready to break out, which is, excuse the pun, very promising.

#5 - Finally, are there any upcoming events, shows that you would like to let us know about the you will be appearing on?

AT - As I said earlier, I try to stay as busy as I can and anyone looking to see "the Promise" live and in color can do so by checking out my schedule at my official website, Antonio-Thomas.com or my myspace page at myspace.com/promiseantoniothomas.

Stay tuned for more interviews from The Franchise coming soon!