WWEDVDNews.com reports that the following matches are confirmed for WWE’s War Games DVD that comes out in June:
* Ultimate Jeopardy Steel Cage Match from ECW CyberSlam 1999: The Dudleys and Mustafa vs. New Jack, Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney
* War Games from WCW Fall Brawl 1997: Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Konnan and Buff Bagwell vs. Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, Curt Hennig and Steve “Mongo” McMichael
Jim Ross had high praise for Dolph Ziggler during last night’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, comparing him to Curt Hennig, Billy Gunn and Shawn Michaels:
“@HEELZiggler is special. A little of Mr Perfect, hint of Billy Gunn, & a pinch of @ShawnMichaels. But mostly he’s himself. #WWEChamber. I hope fans truly undstand how high I am on @HEELZiggler when I compare him 2 Perfect, @realbillygunn & great @ShawnMichaels. #WWEChamber”
WWE Superstar Michael McGillicutty tweeted the following on Sunday, the anniversary of the death of his father, WWE Legend Curt Hennig:
“Unfortunate milestone on this sad day. 10 yrs already since I lost my best friend. And I still miss him just as much today. Love You Dad.”
“My Dad lives thru me everyday. I swear on the moon & stars that my mark will be made in this business. The #Hennig name will endure forever.”
“Today I turn the corner. Ive endured pain, true, but its my time now. Im at a different level then all others. Physically and mentally.”
“Nothing can stop me. No one will slow me down. I own my life. I own my future. I own the ring. Im the Boss. #Hennig”
Sheamus recently spoke to Jonathan McLarty of The Flagship for an interview. Here are a few highlights.
Highlights from recent visit with the troops in Norfolk: We had a great time with them, actually. We got to hang out and play dodge ball with some of the groups. We got to walk around the USS Boise (SSN 764) submarine, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) aircraft carrier and the USS Porter (DDG 78). It’s amazing to meet all of these Sailors – to see how young and enthusiastic they are, how much they love serving their country and how much they love their job. They take great passion and pride in serving their country. It’s really great to see.
Who Sheamus looked up to as a kid growing up: : I was really a big fan of WWE as a kid. I used to love watching “Mr. Perfect” (Curt Hennig), “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Bret Hart. I’ve always been a fan of numerous Superstars and have taken inspiration from different guys in different ways, but those are really the four I loved watching as a kid.
Relationship with William Regal: One of the first guys to really text me or call me up was William Regal. He offered to help me and have me travel with him. We have the same sense of humor, same pop culture background. We got on right away from the start. He’s been a great help to me by watching my matches and critiquing them. There have been others like Triple H … Arn Anderson as well. I’m always motivated to pick the brain of people who have been so successful. Great number of minds and talents in WWE and they’re all at your disposal. It’s definitely helped me to progress faster than I would have on my own. … It’s about drive – never be happy with what you do. You can’t rest on your laurels because you’re only as good as your last match. There are a lot of hungry Superstars ready to come in here and want to knock you off your spot.
Future goals in wrestling: Foremost, I want to win the World Heavyweight Championship back from The Big Show. I will get that opportunity in Richmond at SmackDown TV. I would love to do a WrestleMania match with The Undertaker. I don’t know how many Mania matches he has left in him, but I would love to be the guy who breaks that streak.
Favorite ice cream: I am a big ice cream fan, so this will be hard one. Birthday cake ice cream is my favorite. The first time I came over to the states, I was 18 and had never heard of Ben & Jerry’s. I was training at the time and I remember looking at the “Chunky Monkey” carton where it said “Fat Content per Ice Cream Tub = 16 grams.” I thought, “Hey, there’s only 16 g of fat in this tub!” So, after a few weeks of eating Ben & Jerry’s, I realized it was 16 g of fat per serving. There were about six servings in one tub and I was eating 100 grams of fat every couple of days. I was wondering why I wasn’t losing any weight!
Matt Borne, who portrayed the original Doink the Clown, appeared on Inside The Ropes on Thursday to discuss his time as the character. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
How he was offered the Doink gimmick when he came back to the WWF in 1992: “I worked as Matt Borne on TV. I did whatever they asked me to do. On the third night, Vince called me into his office and he asked me about my history in the wrestling business and from that conversation, he came up with the evil clown thing. It took me a back at first. He thought I could do it given my background but only if I wanted to do it. He told me to go home and think about it and I called him the next week and he flew me back and they had drawings and all kinds of shit and they painted my face different ways. Two weeks later, I was on TV in the nosebleeds section being a clown.”
How much of Stephen King’s ‘It’ and Jack Nicholson’s Joker influenced early Doink: “I’ve actually been told that I have a lot of mannerisms like Jack Nicholson so yeah I watched a lot of Jack and I watched ‘It’ and watched pretty much any evil clown stuff I could get my hands on and you know I ate, slept and drank evil clowns.”
Who his original opponent for WrestleMania 9: “I was supposed to wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania IX and Hogan refused. I don’t know why, but I think it had something to do with a bad relationship between Hulk and my old partner Buzz Sawyer. Buzz and I, people thought we were brothers, we looked similar. Hogan, I don’t know if he was afraid to work with me, so the second choice was Davey Boy Smith and he refused to work with him too. I don’t know why because I always got along with him real well but a lot of people were wary of the clown character, so it ended up being me and Crush at WrestleMania IX.”
Matt’s theory on how Hulk Hogan got his black eye at WrestleMania IX: “Randy Savage gave it to him. I’d bet my left nut and my son’s life on it. Hogan showed his true colours, thats why he got the black eye. Randy Savage was a man. Hulk Hogan has never been a man. Hulk Hogan’s a big ass pussy. I don’t care if you call and tell him I said that. His ex Elizabeth was seeing this small time producer, who happened to be a friend of Hogan. Elizabeth was hiding in the back room when Savage went to see Hogan and he found out about it. Friends don’t do friends like that. Who can you say is Hulk Hogan’s friend? The only people that can say their Hulk Hogan’s friends are the people who are riding his coat tails and trying to make a living off of him like Brian Knobbs or some fat fuck like that. Hogan was supposed to be Savage’s friend and he threw him under a bus and he got a black eye for it.”
Why he doesn’t like Hulk Hogan: “He was an arrogant fuck. I still think he is. I look at him and laugh because know him for who he truly is. I don’t like him. I really find it hard to even like him as a person. He’s a phony inside and out. He showed that when he did that to Randy. When he said that him and Randy had made up, after Randy had died, well that’s bullshit. Randy hated Hogan.”
Differences between workers from the 80s/90s to today: “I could take Curt Hennig, Randy Savage and Bret Hart, those three guys, they could come to the building, haven’t seen me for three weeks and we’d just meet in the ring and we would tear it up. We wouldn’t have to say a word to each other. We didn’t have to talk to each other. That’s the way great workers do it. You don’t have to choreograph shit. These guys today they’re great athletes, but they’re not great workers. there’s a difference. Working is not going out there and doing a gymnastics thing. working is making the 200 or 20,000 people believe, it’s feeding people and making them like what they’re eating.”
Borne also talks about working the first WrestleMania, his beef with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, the original explosive finish of the WrestleMania 9 match with Crush, Steve Keirn also portraying Doink, Paul Heyman, and more. The audio interview is available at www.facebook.com/theinsidenetwork.
Dolph Ziggler spoke with Brian Scoscia’s The Scoscia Network program, here are some of the highlights.
On being enrolled in law school before becoming a WWE superstar: “Yeah, I was enrolled in law school. Law/politics is one of my loves. But, since I was five-years-old, I wanted to be a WWE superstar.
“I wear a lot of different hats. I stay up-to-date in politics and I’m interested in all that stuff. But, my love is entertaining.
“… I wish there was some funny story about how everyone told me I couldn’t do it, but I think everybody in my family has been behind me since day one. They knew that I had the talent, the discipline and the love for entertainment. It’s funny, it wasn’t like, ‘Ah, we’ll see.’ It was like, ‘Yeah, you’ll probably do it.’
On taking a slightly less-traditional route to WWE: “Like I said, I’d been a fan. I wrestled since I was 5-years-old all the way to high school and college. I broke records at Kent State University.
“Eventually, I was lucky enough just based on my discipline and being a great college wrestler — and just being interested, meeting a few people, shake a few hands — I was lucky enough to get a tryout without working the independent scene.”
On being sent back down after his caddy gimmick with Chavo Guerrero’s “Sherwin White” run: “With this business, you never know what’s going to happen. When I went back down, I said, ‘OK. Is that it? Do I start packing up, do I leave? I don’t know how this works.’ They said, ‘No, no, no. Keep working and we’ll find something for you.’
“So, I knew that that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, you get that one chance and that’s it. So, I was there and I’d already been going to two and three practices a day just to try and be better than everyone else there. I wanted no excuses. So, when they came looking for someone that they needed, they would want me to come join their roster because I would be a great asset.
“So, I worked hard. I went to extra practices, I went to extra shows. I did everything I could to be totally prepared for when they came calling if they did. I would be 100% ready to go.”
On whether he was nervous or excited about becoming Nicky of The Spirit Squad: “It was a little of both. Once again, I was doing something that I wasn’t totally comfortable with. I wasn’t a cheerleader. I was an amateur wrestler and an entertainer, I can do all these other sorts of different things. But, that wasn’t my specialty, you know, cheerleading. Man, how am I going to make this work.
“But, we worked so hard, all five of us. We got to be in the ring with legends on a nightly basis. We had a blast, we did a lot of fun things. It was a little scary though. We got to be in there with DX, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and all these guys.
“But, once it came to an end, it ended really quickly, I thought, ‘OK, maybe that was it. That’s unfortunate that it ended that way but I had some fun. I got a chance to work here, most people don’t even get that chance. And if I ever get another chance, I will not only be an asset to this roster, I will be known as the hardest working man in WWE.’”
On coming up with the name “Dolph Ziggler”: “It was a little bit of a combination of the boss and myself trying to think of something that stuck, that would stand out and be totally different. And I could make my own waves with it, getting away from The Spirit Squad and getting away from being a caddy. Something totally different and now i can make my own waves in this business.”
On the comparison he gets to Mr. Perfect: “Honestly, there are several guys that I watched and studied. Because I knew they were ring generals and I’ve always been a student of this business. Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Billy Gunn — any of those guys who were athletes who always wanted all eyes on them and wanted to steal the show every time they went out there.
“Subconsciously, I think I started moving around like Mr. Perfect at times, but it’s also a combination of 20 other superstars that I grew up watching and just knew that they were so fluid and so great in the ring. Subconsciously, you just start to pick up moves and traits.
“I think, more importantly, we have similar hair. Honestly, though, it’s a honor to be compared to those guys who were my heros growing up.”
On why he went with short, brown hair for a brief period in 2011: “At the time, I was in a little bit of a rut. The whole reason I have long, blond hair is to stand out and be myself, I love being different. If everybody else had long, blond hair, I would have short black hair. But, they don’t. So, I like standing out, I like having my matches be different. I like me moving around the ring differently.
“And, for some reason, I was in a rut and I thought, ‘Man, I’m not progressing like I want. Why is that?’ And I noticed that all these guys that seem to be going in the right direction have these clean cut, everybody-looks-the-same hair cut. Maybe me standing out isn’t so great for my career right now.
“So, I gave it a try. It didn’t work out. I said, ‘Listen, I don’t like pretending to be something I’m not. I need to be this show off guy that stands out, who goes out there to steal the show. Let everybody else look cookie-cutter, I’m going to look different.’”
Jim Ross posted his latest blog, here are some highlights.
Being At SummerSlam: ”Watched Summerslam in the THQ suite and did not miss announcing the show whatsoever. Loved watching the crowd and listening to them as well as the suites had no WWE video or audio. There’s no better marketing tool or focus group than the paying customers.”
Ryback receiving Goldberg chants: ”Irony…Ryback gets @Goldberg chants (which I have no issue with) and gets knocked by some of my Twitter followers @JRsBBQ because his singlet is airbrushed ala RVD as if that’s a mortal sin. At the same time, the higher skilled Dolph Ziggler is compared to HBK, Billy Gunn and Curt Hennig because of his hair, attire, and in ring moves but that’s o.k. Too many fans have zero patience when it comes to the slow build for Ryback. Some fans want immediate results or so it seems. God forbid that they would have lived in the territory era when some main event programs lasted a year or more while some stars were built over a 12 month or more period of time.”
If he is still employed by WWE: ”Yes I’m still employed by WWE, Yes, I love working in the talent development program, No, I don’t miss not being on Raw every week, Why, because unless you do it, air travel 51 weeks a year is a pain in the backside with security lines, oversold planes, the overall lack of customer service by some airlines, etc. For those that truly believe that I feel I’ve been ‘demoted’ because I’m broadcasting NXT and not RAW, you are sadly mistaken and misguided, trust me.”
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times to promote this week’s SummerSlam Axxess fan fest and Sunday’s pay-per-view, Dolph Ziggler commented on being compared to the late “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig. Ziggler said:
“Any comparison to a WWE legend or someone I’ve looked up to is really cool, but make no mistake about it, my ego is too big to want to be a really good replica of someone else!”
“It’s unfortunate that if you’re really good at your job, you are constantly compared to legends of the past. I am not trying to be the next ANYONE, I am going to be the FIRST Dolph Ziggler! Follow that!”
Ziggler was also asked about whether he’ll cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at SummerSlam this Sunday:
“SummerSlam is a grand stage, and I will find a way to steal the show that night one way or another, but I am still brainstorming on the perfect time to cash in. This is the biggest step thus far in my career, so it will be done right and be memorable!”
On this week’s episode of MLW Radio presented bywww.WWNLive.com, Konnan spoke about how much the culture has changed in the locker room since the 90s as well as past habits that later caused health issues.
“It was really hard [to stay clean] in the era I came in. It was like a party. The very first time I went to WWE for a dark match, Shawn Michaels was in the showers smoking a joint with Curt Hennig out in the open. There’s no way you could do that today. You used to have guys just shaking as they’d walk into a hotel. Just shaking from the somas and nobody really NARC’d on anybody.”
“I did have health issues from pain pills and anti-inflammatories and a whole bunch of other [stuff], but those are the two that really [messed] me up. A lot of vicodin.”
Also, Konnan, Court Bauer and Mister Saint Laurent shared stories about the best wing-men in wrestling, including hilarious road stories about Ted DiBiase, Scott Hall, Dean Malenko, Kevin Nash and more.
The new episode of MLW Radio is available for free at:www.MLW.com and on iTunes each and every Monday. You can also find more information about the show here.
Dolph Ziggler appeared on Between The Ropes with Brian Fritz (interview available at BetweenTheRopes.com) to discuss this coming Monday’s 1000th episode Raw, his favorite moments on the show, his strive for perfection, whether he is impatient when it comes to being a world champion and more. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
Whether or not he has been satisfied with a match: “(laughs) Honestly, nothing off the top of my head has me satisfied. I’ve come backstage a couple of times and said ‘OK, that was pretty good’ but I’ve never been fully, 100% satisfied with anything. That’s just something that always drives me to want to be better than everyone else. I don’t want to be a 20-time WWE Champion. I want to be the best ever and that drives me every single day.”
What stands out as his favorite Raw memory involving himself: “I’ve had several … my first match as Dolph Ziggler on Raw I had against Batista and I didn’t know if I was going to get chewed up and spit out or be one of the mainstay guys. We ended up having a hell of a match and we went back and forth and I said ‘OK, I can hang with these guys, back to square one and start working on everything I can’. That was a huge thing for me, to come back to the roster after being gone for a while and be able to hang with the top guys in the business and say ‘OK, I’m going to learn from these guys and make myself better’.”
What Raw era he would have liked to be a part of not counting the current one: “I know a lot of fans say the Attitude Era. I enjoyed watching that but I’m more of an old-school, classic guy. I try and live my life like a throwback to some of the legends like early Curt Hennig, Mr. Perfect. I like the ’80s. Not just because it was such a huge influence on my childhood — and that’s when I started watching when I was five years old — but those guys were larger than life stars and they were always doing something cool.”
Whether or not he is impatient when it comes to being his time and becoming a world champion: “Of course I do. I’m never satisfied. I’m never happy. I could be the World Champion, I could beat everyone on this roster and steal the show every single night and I would never be satisfied with the position that I’m in. It’s frustrating. They are so many superstars and there are only so many minutes of time each week on WWE programming whether it’s Monday night on Raw or Friday night on Smackdown.
“Either way, I’ve always found that I’ve kept at it. I’ve made myself vocal backstage. I stood up for what I believe in and if I thought something didn’t make sense, I said something about it. It’s not something you can just walk in and start doing. But if you’ve earned some respect from your peers, if you’ve earned it from a legend, you’re able to speak your mind if you see something that’s wrong. And I thought I need to be in a better position to help the WWE. I need to be in a higher spot on the card. I’m that good at my job and slowly but surely, one way or another, it’s a little slower that I would have liked but everything I’ve done is paying off right now.”
Dolph Ziggler appeared on Between The Ropes with Brian Fritz (interview available at BetweenTheRopes.com) to discuss this coming Monday’s 1000th episode Raw, his favorite moments on the show, his strive for perfection, whether he is impatient when it comes to being a world champion and more. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
Whether or not he has been satisfied with a match: “(laughs) Honestly, nothing off the top of my head has me satisfied. I’ve come backstage a couple of times and said ‘OK, that was pretty good’ but I’ve never been fully, 100% satisfied with anything. That’s just something that always drives me to want to be better than everyone else. I don’t want to be a 20-time WWE Champion. I want to be the best ever and that drives me every single day.”
What stands out as his favorite Raw memory involving himself: “I’ve had several … my first match as Dolph Ziggler on Raw I had against Batista and I didn’t know if I was going to get chewed up and spit out or be one of the mainstay guys. We ended up having a hell of a match and we went back and forth and I said ‘OK, I can hang with these guys, back to square one and start working on everything I can’. That was a huge thing for me, to come back to the roster after being gone for a while and be able to hang with the top guys in the business and say ‘OK, I’m going to learn from these guys and make myself better’.”
What Raw era he would have liked to be a part of not counting the current one: “I know a lot of fans say the Attitude Era. I enjoyed watching that but I’m more of an old-school, classic guy. I try and live my life like a throwback to some of the legends like early Curt Hennig, Mr. Perfect. I like the ’80s. Not just because it was such a huge influence on my childhood — and that’s when I started watching when I was five years old — but those guys were larger than life stars and they were always doing something cool.”
Whether or not he is impatient when it comes to being his time and becoming a world champion: “Of course I do. I’m never satisfied. I’m never happy. I could be the World Champion, I could beat everyone on this roster and steal the show every single night and I would never be satisfied with the position that I’m in. It’s frustrating. They are so many superstars and there are only so many minutes of time each week on WWE programming whether it’s Monday night on Raw or Friday night on Smackdown.
“Either way, I’ve always found that I’ve kept at it. I’ve made myself vocal backstage. I stood up for what I believe in and if I thought something didn’t make sense, I said something about it. It’s not something you can just walk in and start doing. But if you’ve earned some respect from your peers, if you’ve earned it from a legend, you’re able to speak your mind if you see something that’s wrong. And I thought I need to be in a better position to help the WWE. I need to be in a higher spot on the card. I’m that good at my job and slowly but surely, one way or another, it’s a little slower that I would have liked but everything I’ve done is paying off right now.”
Prior to entering a rehabilitation facility on Monday, WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch participated in an emotional interview with RF VIDEO where she addressed her variety of personal battles (available soon exclusively on DVD at www.rfvideo.com or watch instantly atwww.rfvideonow.com). A video preview of the interview has been released, which shows her accusing her former boyfriend (a police officer from New Jersey) of domestic violence, as well as her disclosing her drug runs to Tijuana, Mexico and her belief years ago that she would die prematurely. Quotes from the video are as follows:
“Everybody has heard about my “personal demons” in the past [voice cracking], but nobody really knows the truth about it.”
“…on Tuesday, I’m still good and then by like Wednesday, I just, I crack, ’cause I hate to be without him. I hate to be alone. I live on the beach. I go to the beach every day. But, I’m still just a depressed mess.”
“…seriously, the three most important people in my life, that I ever had, are gone. So it’s always going to play a part, it’s always going to hit that depression spot.”
“…I was afraid for my life half the time. It was really bad. It really wasn’t a good…wasn’t a good thing at all. [Tearfully pauses] On a daily basis I would be told that I was fat, ugly and worthless. Almost daily, I was hit. A couple times I ended up in the hospital…”
“…but like I said, there have been years in my life where I wouldn’t pick up a drink. For years…”
“Do you want to know how I got my first drink? With my “then boyfriend,” Shawn Michaels.”
“In my twenties, I once said to myself, I’ll probably die at 36 because I wanted to be just like Marilyn Monroe. And I actually looked in the mirror and said that to myself…because back then with the pills and drinking, everybody was crazy on the road…”
“If you think about it, when you’re drunk, you don’t even know what you’re doing. You have no idea. I don’t think I’m violent, I could be wrong…”
“…it’s a really hard decision to actually take this step. Don’t ever let anybody think it’s not because it’s…and being that I was there once, and I know what it’s like. It’s tortuous. It really is.”
“…turned me on to, “Hey, gotta hit Tijuana with me.” So first couple trips, I was making with Louie [Spicolli] down in Tijuana. After he passed away, I was going by myself, and I was taking orders, not saying for who, of what people needed from Tijuana.”
“…I said Davey Boy. I’m like, “Davey!” And I hear, “No, it’s Diana.” And right away, my heart sunk. I’m like, “What’s up Diana?” She goes, this is exactly what she said, “Davey just died.”
“…between Rick Rude, Curt Hennig, Davey, Owen, it’s just…”
“…how did it turn from New Jack saying he’s going to be in New Jersey next month, “I’m going to take care of him,” to me asking him to…I’m not even going to say the words.”
“…and I was getting tossed by Beth. So I grabbed Victoria and I grabbed Beth Phoenix and I said, “Listen, get me out, fast.”
“…the screwjob happened. Bret stormed into Vince’s office and was out within like three minutes. Immediately, Vince walks out of the room with a black eye. You don’t get a black eye that quick. If you get hit, it takes a little bit of time for the eye to get black. Three minutes is not enough time. My theory…”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog looking back at Sunday’s No Way Out pay-per-view, here are some highlights:
Dolph Ziggler’s future: Ziggler is going to have a stellar year in 2012. The former amateur standout seemingly does something in every match that grabs my attention. Dolph reminds me of many greats of the game including Pat Patterson, Curt Hennig, and Billy Gunn. Fans that have no patience with where Ziggler currently stands in the ‘pecking order’ at least in those fan’s eyes need to exhale and simply enjoy Ziggler’s performances and continue to watch him evolve.
Dolph Ziggler could easily be WWE Champion or World’s Champion by WM29. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The WWE Championship match: For my PPV dollars, the match of the night was the WWE Title bout featuring Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Kane with a timely cameo by AJ. I felt like everyone involved in the process came to play and delivered big time. The veteran Kane’s outing was special considering this is another in a long line of PPV bouts for the Big Red Machine who moved around like a young kid.
CM Punk as WWE Champion: Punk’s tenure as WWE Champion is making the coveted WWE Title more meaningful and it’s obvious that Punk’s popularity is growing. I’m a big fan of CM Punk and feel that he’ ranks with the most compelling WWE Champions in recent memory. Punk is smart, physical and durable which are all traits that are invaluable to WWE on many fronts.
Daniel Bryan being perceived as “too small”: Daniel Bryan is a joy to watch wrestle. People who think Bryan is ‘too small’ likely haven’t had their ass kicked in real combat and especially had it kicked by a smaller person. I can easily see Daniel Bryan becoming one of WWE’s most popular superstars simply because the fans seemingly are beginning to demand it.
His WWE status: Yes, I’m still working for WWE and consulting in the Talent Development Department and loving it. I’ll be with the NXT crew in Orlando again on Thursday July 12. This responsibility is supremely important to the future of WWE plus it keeps me off the road 51 weeks a year. I’m also going to be doing some scouting for potential, new talents.
Will JR be in St. Louis for RAW 1000? I hope so but that’s yet to be confirmed. I’m proud of my contributions to the program over the years that started for me in 1994. Favorite match from those very early days….Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid. Great stuff and one that many of today’s wannabe wrestlers and many that are on existing talent rosters can learn a great deal.
Jim Ross also spoke on Goldberg chants at Ryback, WWE having a UK PPV, Christian vs. Cody Rhodes and more.
Jerry Sags of The Nasty Boys spoke with WrestleShark.com. Highlights from part one of the interview are as follows:
On breaking into the professional wrestling industry: “Me and Knobbs grew up in Easter Pennsylvania. I wrestled and played all sports, went to college and played football and Knobbs went into the army. We both got thrown out….We got interested in the wrestling industry, and started bothering George “The Animal” Steele [anytime they were in town]. We kept going on and on at him until eventually he gave in and gave us the number, he said ‘if you’re serious about it you’ll go train at Verne Gagne’s training camp out in Indianapolis. We didn’t enjoy it [laughs]. We broke in in 1985, at the time you had to pay heavy dues…we wrestled for six months or more on Olympic mats…we would get physically and mentally abused, pretty much when you’re near throwing up on the mats, Vern would come down and stretch the living sh*t out of ya…It was made to run you off…12-15 of us started the camp. 3 of us finished it.
“That’s changed over the years, right now they don’t want the guys to quit cause it’s all about financial [stuff], if they quit they don’t pay. Back then, it was only the best, or only the guys who want it more than anything in life succeed…[the guys today] have it very easy. Very easy.”
On how “The Nasty Boys” gimmick came about: “It was actually Verne Gagne’s daughter down in AWA that gave us the name the Nasty Boys. You know, we were hanging around with Jimmy Snuka, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty were the Rockers, and they would take us out and get us in all kinds of trouble, and you know we were how we are…after one night out with us, she said ‘you know something, you boys oughta just go as the Nasty Boys, cause that’s what you are. Right around that time was when the Janet Jackson song, Nasty Boys, came out and we were like, let’s go. We didn’t have any money to get the gimmick like we have now, the long leather coats and stuff, so we went down to a fat lady shop and bought these long plastic coats and made up our own gimmick [laughs].”
Other topics discussed include the deterioration of tag team wrestling, working the territory system, how they got their big break in WCW, moving on to the WWF and breaking into Graceland with the Rockers.
The second half of the interview goes live on Thursday, where Jerry discusses the infamous “shoot” incident with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the death of WCW, his relationship with Brian Knobbs and their plans for the future.
WWE.com has posted a list counting down the top twenty-five Intercontinental Champions of all-time and Randy Savage comes in at number one. He is trailed by Chris Jericho, Ultimate Warrior, Mr. Perfect and Pat Patterson. To view the complete list, click here.
