Here is the transcribed version of the brief interview I conducted with former WWE star Jake “The Snake” Roberts last week at the Eastern Wrestling Alliance show in Parkville.

There are so many wrestling autobiographies out there now, but I would think your story would be as interesting as any of them. Are you working on a book?

I just couldn’t come up with a book deal, because these book people are [odd]. Instead of having people who don’t know me take what I say and write it the way they want to, I think what I’m going to do is put it on video and sell it on the Internet in installments. The people that buy the installments and survive the first 10 or 12 chapters, they may get a couple chapters free. I got a lot to tell. It’s going to be very unusual, because it’s going to be about me. [Publishing companies] always say, “We may have to enhance this and enhance that.” What do they mean by enhance? They’re changing the facts. I’m not about bull. It’ll be the truth.

How many independent shows are you doing these days?

One or two a week. Going out in front of people always feels good. It’s sad that in reality, you cannot go out there and do the same things you could do 25 years ago – and neither do I wish to. … I’ll never retire. It’s my passion. I hope to die in that ring.

I know that you were involved on the creative side of the business at one time in WWE. Is that something you would like to do again either in WWE or TNA?

I would love to. I just don’t know if that’s possible. I have a tremendous amount to give yet. How I’m going to give it, I don’t know. Because I’m not sure at this stage of my sobriety if I would be strong enough to accept the changes and the enhancements that they would put on what I write. I have a real hard time not calling a spade a spade. If I think you’re changing something I’ve done into [garbage], I take it personally. Why? Because it’s my baby. Power in the hand of an idiot is not a good thing, and there are a lot of idiots out there writing television.

This is kind of a philosophical question. Many of your peers have died within the past decade. As self-destructive as your lifestyle has been, why do you think you’re still here?

I think that a lot of guys died because they gave up on life. They gave up because their dream had been taken away – their notoriety, their ability to provide for their families, their love. I’m not a quitter. I used to get horribly angry at God. I was like, “What’s wrong, I’m not good enough for you to take?” I mean there’s Curt [Hennig], Bossman, Hawk. The list goes on and on. They’re all men I love. It’s not fair when you feel like you’ve been left behind. It ripped my guts out when Sherri Martel went. Sherri and I were lovers – 33 years ago. I remember being at her funeral and I said something that upset some people. I said, ‘Sherri, I thought we were good friends, but you weren’t. Good friends don’t leave friends behind.” I’m still here because God wants me to be here. I’m still here because Vince McMahon helped me to still be here.

When you wrestled Steve Austin at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1996 and he cut the famous “Austin 3:16 promo” after the match, did you have any idea that he was going to become as big as he did?

Truth be known, Vince McMahon said that Steve Austin would never be anything more than second or third match. I said, “No, that’s your next megastar.” He said, “No way.” I said, “Watch.” God, I hate being right. You know, they had Austin 3:16, but they missed the boat. What happened to Austin’s 10 commandments? Thou shalt not kill unless thou are [ticked off]. Thou shalt honor thy mother and father unless they’re [jerks]. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife unless she’s really hot. Thou shalt not steal unless you want it. I enjoyed helping guys like Steve Austin get there. Helping Ted DiBiase get there. Helping The Road Warriors get there. Helping Undertaker get there. Helping Rick Martel get there. Helping Shawn Michaels get there – OK, I was wrong on one.

Uh-oh, guess I wore the wrong shirt (I had on a Shawn Michaels shirt).

(Laughs) They have those in men’s sizes? I thought you were wearing it for heat.

To watch video of Roberts talking about how he credits Vince McMahon with saving his life, click here .

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
                    

Larry Zbyszko has been a world champion, the Rookie of the Year and a popular color commentator during a career in professional wrestling that has spanned four decades. He always will be most known, however, as the man who turned on Bruno Sammartino. Those who were around in 1980 when Zbyszko betrayed his mentor still talk about it as one of wrestling’s greatest angles and hottest feuds.

Zbyszko goes into detail about his career-making angle with wrestling’s “Living Legend” – including the intrigue that went on behind the scenes – as well as other experiences that he has had in the business in his recently released autobiography, Adventures in Larryland.

I spoke with Zbyszko about the book and other topics last week:

You reveal in your book that you came up with the idea of turning on Bruno and you pitched it to him. You had been in the business about six years at that point. If he hadn’t agreed to the angle, how do you think your career would have turned out?

You know, that’s a good question. If that angle didn’t happen back in those days, with the way the politics were – the McMahons were into big giant ugly guys plus other weird things, and I was never a butt-kisser – I don’t even know if I would have been in the wrestling business much longer. That made my career and it was easy after that. But if it wasn’t for that, who knows? I might have been a pro golfer.

Since Bruno broke you into the business and took you under his wing, was it difficult to play his antagonist when the time came?

It wasn’t all that difficult. I was a sharp guy. Like I said in the book, I kept my mouth shut and my ears open in those days. Bruno taught me a lot, and not only Bruno, but all the slick, old pros like [Chief Jay] Strongbow and [Gorilla] Monsoon. And by the time I saw this possibility in 1980, I was in the business five-six years or whatever, so I was pretty well-groomed by then and I was kind of ready for it.

Do you still keep in touch with Bruno?

Over the years things have kind of softened up and I talk to him once in a while. It was kind of emotional for years, but it worked out good. He’s a hell of a guy. He’s still my hero.

Was there ever any real-life heat between the two of you?

No, there wasn’t any real-life heat, but there were some years where we didn’t talk. It really wasn’t heat between me and Bruno; I think it was just more of a time when Bruno got very frustrated with the whole wrestling business and the direction it was going. But time kind of takes care of all that stuff.

When you wrestled Bruno at Shea Stadium, you said in the book that the two of you barely got a chance to speak to each other before the match. Was that a situation in which you knew the finish and then called the match in the ring? If so, is that kind of a lost art form today?

Back then you rarely if ever saw your opponent, because normally when you went to buildings, they had two separate dressing rooms – it was a very secretive kind of thing. Even in the Shea Stadium days, it was two separate dugouts. Plus, Bruno was such a big star, and the McMahons and the newspapers and everybody were so busy kissing his butt that I didn’t even see the guy. But it was different back then. Everything was just kind of done ad-lib in the ring.

Right, whereas now you’ll see guys in the back scripting their matches move for move.

It’s ridiculous. They go over a 20-minute for two hours (laughs). It’s because they can’t get any drama. It is a lost art.

In Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, he claims the reason for the big crowd at Shea Stadium in 1980 was his match against Andre The Giant, not your cage match against Bruno. Those of us who are old enough certainly don’t remember it that way. What are your thoughts on what Hogan said?

I don’t like to knock anybody, but I think the world, after what’s been happening lately, has found out Hulk Hogan’s true colors. He’s buried himself. Here’s an idiot who is trying to get a reality show based on the fact that his kid paralyzed somebody. Hogan is just not a good guy and I’m glad the world finally got to see it. No. 1, I doubt seriously that Hogan even wrote the book. It’s probably one of [Vince] McMahon’s ghost-written publications, so who knows if Hogan even said that or if it was more McMahon propaganda. But if Hogan did say it, he’s full of crap.

Anybody that knows anything about it knows back in those days, before Hogan became Hogan and broke out because he was so big and gassed up to the gills on steroids and got some movies roles, he was just Andre The Giant’s jabroni. He was on the third or fourth match with Andre, and Andre beat the snot out of him. Hogan used to follow me around the Garden crying, asking me for advice, because even though the McMahons hated me for holding them up [for 10 percent of the gross ticket sales during a dispute with Vince McMahon Sr. in 1980], I was kind of a hero to the boys.

You were the only WWWF heel during that time who didn’t have one of the big three (Lou Albano, Fred Blassie and The Grand Wizard) as a manager. Was that your call not to have a manager?

I didn’t go into the manager thing at the time because I really didn’t need one for what we pulled off. It wouldn’t have made all that much sense and it wasn’t necessary. If I would have stayed in the WWWF, then I probably would have wound up with one of them. But the way everything worked out with the McMahons, I didn’t stay there and I never went back.

When Vince McMahon Jr. started going national in the mid-1980s, I always wondered why you never returned. Do you attribute you’re not being invited back to when you held up the McMahons in 1980?

It was a combination of a couple things. They might have held a little bit of a grudge, because it got pretty personal at the time with [Vince McMahon] Junior crying on the phone – even though that was a ploy of promoters, the way they do things. But in the early ’80s right after that, which was kind of the time the old school went away and new things were happening, McMahon Jr. took over when his dad died. I wasn’t Junior’s cup of tea because he was into men’s bodies, and all he was promoting were guys like The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Zeus. He was into the guys who were so steroided up that they were breaking and dying, but he didn’t care. That’s the look he wanted. I wasn’t that cup of tea.

You state clearly in the book that you never took steroids. Being around in that era and seeing muscled-up guys that perhaps weren’t as talented as you getting big pushes, were you ever tempted to take them?

No, it wasn’t something I ever considered. I had such a name and reputation from the Bruno feud that I just didn’t need it. At 240 pounds for most of my career, I was plenty big enough. If I had gained another 30 pounds and my arms got bigger, it wouldn’t have made me any more money. And I’m scared to death of needles, so that took care of that.

Unlike a lot of wrestling autobiographies, you wrote your book without a co-author or ghostwriter. What was your thought process in writing the book?

I’m kind of old-fashioned. If you write a book, you should write the book. I had time to do it and it didn’t make sense to have someone else write it. It wasn’t a matter of not knowing the story – I knew exactly what happened. Plus, I wanted to put me into it. I’ve been lucky and I’m really good with the gift of gab, so writing is just a way of telling the story. And like I said, I had the time to do it, so I kind of got into it. I actually could have finished it a couple years earlier, but a couple years ago, everybody had a book. There were 50 books out there. So, I took a break and slowed it down a little bit. But I wanted it to be me and not some ghostwriter that would have messed it up and then I would have freaked out about it. I’m a perfectionist.

Your book definitely is one of the funnier ones I have read. The Haystacks Calhoun on the airplane story is hilarious. Did you set out to make the book as funny as it turned out?

People keep saying, “The book is so funny, I’m wetting my pants.” I didn’t think it was that funny when I wrote it. I put some humor in it and stuff, but I really didn’t think it was that funny. Actually, there’s a [film] company called Shaftesbury that’s interested in making a movie about it. You can’t believe it until you see it, but they’re interested. I think it could really be a cool flick. They’re kind of interested about the time, because wrestling was so different than it is today. When Bruno fell down bleeding, people in the audience died. I was actually shot at – I didn’t put that in the book because I didn’t want to give anyone ideas – and I was stabbed. There were riots every night. It was intense back then. It’s just so different today – and it’s too bad.

The focus in the book is on your wrestling career, with very little about your life outside of wrestling except for passing references, such as having a psychotic girlfriend. Did you just not want to reveal much about your personal life?

My idea was to write it like a dream-come-true story. I was like most little kids who see something on television and we want to grow up to be like our hero. That’s the story. If I got into some of the personal stuff – which, some of it was more outrageous than the wrestling life – I think it would have taken away from the story about the wrestling dream. Needless to say, now that people have gotten an idea from the book about the wrestling end, believe me, I’m talking to the publisher and I’m really thinking about writing another one that would involve a lot of personal stuff that went on during the same time as the wrestling stuff.

Now, when I write the wild and ridiculous more personal side, people can relate to the time it was going on with the things I was known for in the ring. It was crazy. I don’t know if I’m just a big believer in love or if I’m just an idiot. But I guess we’re all idiots because we keep getting married, right? So we’ll see what happens with the publisher. The sales are going great for this one, and I can write another one and make it different. But I don’t want to embarrass myself too bad (laughs).

Speaking of your personal life, you are married to the daughter of former AWA promoter Verne Gagne. These days, Triple H is a polarizing figure among the fans and his peers because he is Vince McMahon’s son-in-law. When you were in the AWA, did the boys look at you differently because you were Verne’s son-in-law?

I don’t think the boys looked at me differently, not anybody that knew me. There were always a couple jealous guys, like [Ric] Flair. You know, there’s always somebody that says something, but who cares? They actually wanted me to take the [AWA] championship belt a couple years before I did, and I switched it around and we put it on Curt Hennig, and that was before me and Kathy were ever an item. I already had a name and a reputation, so it wasn’t like Triple H coming along and getting rid of Chyna, the steroided-up lady. It was kind of a different story with him.

You mentioned Flair being jealous. What’s the story with that?

The fans might have one idea of Flair, but I know the truth. If he didn’t owe the IRS a million dollars and the promoters kept bailing him out, he probably wouldn’t have been around so long. Back in 1980 when I was doing the big Bruno thing, Flair was trying to get his break down in the South. In those days, all the publicity came out of the Northeast – the magazines and all that. He was jealous that I was getting all the big press and he was hardly getting anything. So he made some comments to the boys about, “Oh, Zbyszko ain’t nothing, it’s just Bruno. I’m really great.” I sent messages back through the grapevine that said, “Well, you just tell Flair that if he ever wants to find out about who’s great, let me know.” And he’s been kind of leery of me ever since, because he’s Flair – he’s an idiot.

But then there came a time in WCW when, because we’d been around 20 years and we never wrestled each other, they wanted us to wrestle. It would have been a great thing for the fans, which is my No. 1 priority in business. And Flair was afraid to get in the ring. He thought I was going to stretch him and embarrass him and all that because of what he said years ago, which I wouldn’t have. I look at the business as a business to make money and give the fans what they want. If you don’t give the fans what they want, it’s not good business. That’s kind of why wrestling is stale today.

So, what did you think of Ric Flair’s retirement and farewell?

I didn’t pay any attention to the retirement. It’s all hype and gaga. I never watch any of the WWE nonsense, but I was at a friend’s restaurant and they had WrestleMania on there. Remember in the book how I used to set the over-under on how many clotheslines there would be in a match? Well, when he and Shawn Michaels came out at WrestleMania, I set the over-under on chest slaps at 40. I’ll tell you what, I haven’t lost my touch. If you watch the match and count them, between Michaels and Flair, there was exactly 40 chest slaps, which is about all [Flair] can do now anyway.

It comes across in your book that you have a great mind for the business.

I had great teachers.

And you obviously learned your lessons well. Since you have that knowledge, do you have any interest in working as a backstage agent or producer?

I have a lot of interest in doing stuff, but I wouldn’t be an agent or a producer. What I would like to do is take control of someone’s creative end, because they really need help. Wrestling is really in a situation where they’re losing a big part of their audience to the Ultimate Fighting. What wrestling is doing – and I’m speaking for the fans – is stupid. Instead of watching wrestling and athletes, all you’re doing for an hour or more out of each two-hour show is watching ridiculous, stupid skits. And most of the stupid skits are about some broad with plastic boobs, and the guys are all becoming morons. It’s just so stupid.

And at the same time, they’re all complaining that they’re ratings are down, their buy rates are down. WrestleMania didn’t do nearly what they thought it would; McMahon’s stock dropped a whole bunch after that. They all keep crying the blues, but they don’t change it. They just keep doing stupid skits and pushing the same guys who they like that the fans don’t care about that much. It’s kind of like what I touched on in the book: The egos are running it for what they want, but they’re not giving the fans what they want, and the fans are turning it off.

Another aspect of the business that has changed since when you were in your prime is how promos are done. You came up with your own stuff, while today the guys are reciting words from a script. What do you think of that change?

It’s absolutely horrible. That’s why it sucks. No. 1, you’ve got writers in there who have no business in professional wrestling. Back in the old days, if a guy was smart enough to do a great interview without a script, he was a talent and you could push him and make money with him. Now they got a bunch of writers who have no business being in the business, and they’re writing all this stuff for guys who have no talent to think of their own stuff. So, they’re pushing a bunch of guys who shouldn’t be pushed and having a bunch of writers who shouldn’t be there, and they’re wondering why the business is stale. You figure that out.

You’ve worked for TNA in the past. Are there any plans in the works for you to back there?

I’d love to do some stuff with TNA. We got the book on their Web site and we’re going to push it on there. I was on camera with them for a few years and then took a little time off, but I’d love to go back on camera and I’d love to help them out behind the scenes. There’s a lot of politics, but they’re good people. The Carters are very nice people. Everybody that works there is working real hard, but in my opinion, they just need a little help. If you watch TNA, unfortunately they’re caught up in the wrestling mind-set that Junior set up. TNA has got it in their mind that, “Well, we’ve got a wrestling show. We’ve got to do all these stupid skits just like Vince does.” Hopefully, they’ll change. They have a chance. We’ll see what happens.

Any final thoughts?

I just appreciate that you like the book, and all the feedback I’ve got from everybody that read it, everybody loves it. I was concerned about the feedback because I was raised on making the fans happy. I’m just thrilled, and I hope everybody that buys the book enjoys it. It came from the heart, and if they like it, I’m happy.

To watch a video of Larry Zbyszko’s famous heel turn on Bruno Sammartino in 1980, click here.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
                    

When former WCW star Daffney appeared on TNA Impact last week, it was the first time she had been on a prime time cable wrestling show since 2001. Initially playing the role of David Flair’s stalker, the gothic scream queen was one of the more unique and entertaining characters during the last years of WCW.

I spoke to Daffney earlier this week to discuss what she’s been doing since WCW went down, her match against Awesome Kong on Impact, her time in a WWE developmental territory and her thoughts on the current state of women’s wrestling.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen you on TV before last Thursday’s Impact. Where have you been wrestling?

I recently moved to Charlotte. I’m from Atlanta, so I wrestled all over the Southeast, and now I’m all around the Carolinas. I was very lucky to have had the first-ever women’s singles match at PWT in California. I consider that a great honor and I had a lot of fun. I think that federation is wonderful. I wrestled a lot in Texas at Anarchy Championship Wrestling. Probably the greatest honor I have is wrestling with SHIMMER Women Athletes. If you want to see women’s wrestling, the cream of the crop, watch SHIMMER.

What are your thoughts on the state of women's wrestling? Specifically, what do you think of WWE's women's division and TNA's women's division?

I was very, very happy to hear that TNA was going to form a women’s division last fall. It was so nice to see a lot of my close friends get recruited and join the women’s division in TNA and be able to be on national television. It seems as though they took women that have worked hard and have a true passion for being wrestler, and have given them an opportunity to shine. WWE seems to me to have gone back to the state they were at when their women’s division was on top. They’re making their divas really learn how to work. They are focusing on the women that started off in the indies that worked their way up. They’re giving them the belt and making them shine. I’m really happy to see that it’s kind of come back around. For a while it was focusing on the diva search, but now it seems to me that they’re focusing more on the wrestling and the girls that worked their way up through wrestling. Like Mickie James – I’ve known her for years.

You two were roommates at one time, correct?

Yeah, but we were friends before that and we still are. Beth [Phoenix] was in SHIMMER before I was. Melina – she tried out at Tough Enough and then worked her way up. Victoria – she was signed to developmental and wanted to wrestle. So it’s really nice to see that they’re focusing more on the wrestling and trying to teach the girls that were in the diva search to focus more on wrestling and less on being divas.

What is your opinion of the bikini models and fitness models who got into the business by winning contests?

Well, I’m not really one to speak because I got into it through acting. But then I went to the Power Plant [WCW’s training center] on my own on my off days and worked my way into earning my spot. If you get discovered that way, [it’s OK as long as] you work hard and you show a true passion and you’re not there for the fame and the fortune but for true love of the sport, and there’s no complaining and no “I broke a nail” and “I don’t want to do this.” There are weird strokes of luck of how you get into the business. I think it’s all in the attitude and the dedication that you put into it once you’ve gotten your spot.

When you and the other women in WCW were being trained by Madusa, she had a reputation for being very hard on all of you. What was that training like?

That was way after I had started my training. I was at the Power Plant and I was lucky enough that Molly Holly [Mona in WCW] was there, so as soon as I started to show up on my own, I think she saw that I really wanted to learn. So she took me aside and just started showing me things. And then she moved back home, so I was the only girl. I was in there training with all the guys. I was still going to TV early and getting in the ring with Crowbar and Shane Helms. Terry Taylor was really nice and got in there with me if I had a spot in the match. I would just get in there and anybody that would show me something, I would just try to learn. So, when the time came that Vince Russo said that one day a week we’re flying [the women] to the Power Plant and you have to learn, I was kind of used to the drill. Yes, she was hard on us because you had girls there who really had no experience and training, like a lot of the Nitro Gils that were professional dancers. It was difficult to train with girls that didn’t have much experience, and they were kind of thrown into it – poor things, it was kind of thrown at them all at once, so it was kind of shocking.

When I talked to Madusa back then about the training, she said that she sent some of the girls home in tears. I’m guessing that you weren’t one of them?

No, I wasn’t. I don’t want to call them a wuss because they went home crying, because it’s tough. There have been 400-pound football players that didn’t last a day. So those girls tried. But Madusa is a tough lady and she was really tough on us because it’s a tough business.

You mentioned Melina earlier. What did you think of her screaming gimmick in WWE? Did you see that as gimmick infringement?

[Laughs]. I used to get so many e-mails: “Who do you think screams louder, you or Melina?” My answer used to always be: “Who’s Melina?” Actually, she’s a very close friend of mine now, and I’ve lost my voice, so I really can’t scream like that anymore. I stole her entrance, and she can scream if she wants.

Wow, you not screaming is like Ric Flair not doing his “Whooo!”

I don’t really do the crazy thing anymore. I’m different than your everyday average girl, but … I like to be taken more seriously as a wrestler. People are like, “Oh, we want to hire you as a manger.” And I’m like, “Well, do you want me to have a singles match?” They’re like, “Oh, do you wrestle?” Yeah, I’ve been wrestling now for eight years. When I get in the ring, I take my matches very seriously. There’s a little bit of screaming going on, but it’s not the crazy screaming for no reason and laughing maniacally and doing that sort of thing. My character has taken on a little more serious role.

I think we saw that more serious aspect during your match with Awesome Kong last week on Impact. You came out with the mouth guard and the gloves like you were prepared to fight.

Yeah, that was the point. You’re there to try to win $25,000 and the belt and you’re fighting Kong; it’s such a challenge and you’re trying to protect yourself. Yeah, I wanted to be taken seriously. I’ve heard from so many people, “Well, we didn’t like the scream.” I wanted to show that I don’t really do that anymore. I don’t think people believe that, so I’m like, “Well, just watch and see.” And I spoke in a normal voice, which I didn’t do for years.

Had you ever worked with Kong before? Were you prepared for how stiff she works?

Yes, I have worked her before. To be honest with you, she is a complete professional. I don’t know if stiff is the right word. You don’t leave a match with her going, “Oh my God, I can’t walk” or “I’m hurt.” She is a very talented woman. I think that every woman that she gets in the ring with, if given the opportunity to do what she wants to do, she elevates the person. Me being fortunate enough to know how to work her, I was prepared for how she works.

You had a WWE developmental deal in Ohio Valley Wrestling about five years ago. What was that experience like and why do you think it didn't lead to a WWE contract?

Yes, it was in 2003. The experience for me was not very positive because it was right around that time that they let all the women workers go. It was right when the WWE women’s division was at the top of their game and then it seemed to me that they decided to go in another direction. Gail Kim got let go; Molly Holly got let go; Jackie got let go; Ivory got let go. They let all the girls that could work go. And then it was diva search, diva search, diva search. I was there to be a wrestler, and I was not really given a chance to show that I could wrestle in the developmental program. I was put in a managerial role with talent that was not used to having a manager, that I had no chemistry with and that wasn’t really interested in creating chemistry with me. There are just some people that you work with that you don’t click with.

I would make suggestions. I really wanted to be with, at the time he was Carly Colon, and my character was Lucy. They were dead set against me being Daffney. I wanted to do the Lucy-Ricky Ricardo thing. And I was like [speaking in an exaggerated Hispanic accent]: “Do the Hispanic accent like this. Talk like this.” I pitched that. They shot it down, and next thing you know he’s on TV and he’s Carlito. And then I pitched [an idea for] Mark Magnus. He’s Italian, but I was like, “Man, you look Arab. You should do an Arab thing. I’ve got dark hair. They should put me in a burka and I should be called Dottie. It should be like the Macho Man-Miss Liz thing. No heat between the countries, but heat as far as you being mean to me. And then one day I rip off the burka.” Next thing you know, I get fired and then he’s Muhammad Hassan. It’s not like I didn’t try. It’s not like I didn’t pitch everything under the sun because I was so unhappy with what they gave me creatively. That’s why it was not a good experience. Their answer was: "We don’t have anything for you creatively.” And then everything that I pitched creatively was done without me.

That must have been frustrating.

Yes, and that’s why I was out of the business for a little while.

What made you want to get back in?

To prove myself to myself, because OVW pretty much sucked the life out of me and made me feel like I wasn’t any good. All the fans in WCW that would always say, “Oh, we like your character, we’re such a big fan of your work,” that was all taken away from me. I just did a few shows and I got such positive responses from people saying that it was so good to see me again that I was like, “Oh I’ll do a little bit more.” And then it just kind of snowballed. So it turned from wanting to prove myself to see if I could do it to wanting to do it for the fans.

What memories stand out from your time in WCW?

Getting schoolboy-ed by Ric Flair for him to become the world heavyweight champion for the 15th time. Then immediately afterward, taking the figure-four. Taking a piledriver from Terry Funk in England. Becoming the second woman to be cruiserweight champion. Just being part of the company and the whole experience. Being on the road – it was all just a very surreal experience.

I don’t recall the Ric Flair thing. How was it that he pinned you to win the title?

You know, suspend your disbelief. There was a bunch of us in the ring, and I don’t remember who he was fighting, but it was like, “He’s going to schoolboy you, 1-2-3, he wins the belt. He pins you, but it’s still a big schmazz in the ring and then he grabs your foot and puts you in the figure-four.” I’m like, “OK, cool.” At the time you’re green and you don’t really realize.

What are your goals in the business moving forward?

I guess just to ride the wave for as long as possible. Women’s careers are a little shorter than the guys, but I just try to do every show I can, try to keep booked pretty much every weekend.

Well, I know that you have a loyal fan base that was happy to see you on the TNA show last week.

It was real nice when I did Impact to get a lot of people saying, “Hey, it was so cool to see you; hadn’t seen you on TV in years.” It made me feel really, really good. My ODFs – Original Daf Fanatics – are true and loyal. Like I said, why did I get back in? Because of them.

Photo courtesy of Shannon Spruill

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                    

I’ve been interviewing pro wrestlers for well over a decade, and almost every one has been a “shoot.” Yesterday, however, I conducted a phone interview with Santino Marella, and it was one of the rare occasions when the subject did the entire interview in character. From the moment he greeted me in his exaggerated Italian accent, I knew I was in store for a fun conversation. Just keep in mind as you’re reading his responses that he is saying it in his “Santino Marella voice.”

I’m a big fan of Santino’s Casa on wwe.com. Do you pick the topics for the segment? And do you write the material or do you collaborate with writers?

I don’t pick the topics. I work with some writers, but we work together and they give me some freedom.

Has there been any talk of you bringing Santino’s Casa to TV as a regular segment?

There are some – what do you call it? – preliminary talks, but I guess they they want to see how the Casa develops and evolves, and maybe one day you’re going to see Santino’s Pit or something.

Speaking of Santino’s Pit, what it’s been like working with Roddy Piper, and what’s going to happen with this Cousin Sal?

You see, I was a Hulkamaniac growing up, so I know what Rodney the Piper is capable of, OK? And I was also a fan of Mr. T. So, although I respect Roddy Piper for his legendary accomplishments, he’s always been on the other side of the court, so to speak. Now, this Cousin Loser Sal – is this a joke for me? I’m a world class athlete. I beat Umaga in the past. This guy is like swatting a mosquito. But I’m not going to knock him off quickly or make him submit quickly. This is absolutely a lesson. I’m sending a lesson to Hollywood: You stay there, and we are going stay here and come there! Basically, this is going to be legal torture. He’s going to have to change his panties when I’m finished.

You obviously have great comedic timing. Do you have any background in comedy or are you just naturally funny?

People always told me when I was growing up that, “You are so funny person; you should be in movies and comedy and all this.” When the teacher in class tells you to stop being a class clown, there’s no job for this – ha, I guess there is.

I know that you have an MMA background and that you did a shootfighter gimmick when you were in developmental. Was it hard to make the transition from that type of character to a comedic character?

Not really, because there is a dichotomy within Santino Marella. Santino Marella can pretty much destroy anyone he meets. But there’s also that comedy component. So, at this particular time, I’m doing this component. Hopefully, one day the two can become one, and then I’ll be more dangerous. I’ll still be entertaining and pretty much be the best thing ever next to sliced bread – and I don’t mean Brian Kendrick’s finishing move. Because that’s called Sliced Bread – did you know that?

Sliced Bread No. 2, right?

Oh, it’s No. 2? Maybe you know more than me (laughs).

You mentioned your character becoming more dangerous. Do you really see that happening? Because I think the character would be more over if the character was more of a threat in the ring.

I think that’s just a natural evolution, because the more popular a character becomes, people want to see him competing for something worth competing for. In order to do that, they must allow my real ability to choke people, armlock people, leglock people and smash people on their heads. It must – this is a good word – permeate through the character. You like that word – permeate?

Yes, that’s a good word. Luckily, I have my dictionary here. Looking back at your WWE debut, it seemed like the idea was to create an instant babyface star with your win over Umaga. Why do you think that didn’t really get over?

Let me put it to you this way, Kevin. People like chocolate bars, right? What’s your favorite chocolate bar?

Uh, I guess I’m partial to Snickers.

OK, so I say to you, “Kevin, wake up, time to eat a Snickers. Oh, you like it? Have another Snickers, Kevin. Hey, don’t slow down with those Snickers – have three more.” Kevin, how long is it going to take before you don’t like Snickers?

I guess I’d get sick of them pretty quickly.

There you go. You can’t force-feed somebody. They must desire Snickers. Currently, you like Snickers because it’s your choice to go eat one. So now that Santino Marella is people’s choice to go indulge in him, it’s more popular.

I think you had the best gimmick in the company – being paired up with Maria. What was it like working with her?

Maria was a very nice chapter. We appreciate the opportunity to be together; we had lots of fun. She has very soft skin and smells nice. But, at the end of the day, Maria is just a chick. You know, I love Maria, but for people like me – I’m not sure about you, Kevin – they come and go like nothing. I am the true meaning of international playboy.

Can you talk about the infamous incident in which Jim Cornette slapped you because he thought you were laughing at an inappropriate time when you were in OVW?

Jim Cornette is a loser. Jim Cornette is an insecure person. And controversy creates cash, so maybe one day, Jim Cornette, I’m going to wrap that cheap tennis racquet around you neck. I’d like to have a cage match with Jim Cornette. I’ll put that out on the Worldwide Web right now. Jim Cornette is a misunderstanding person. Look, I’m watching wrestling in the audience – make it very clear – just in the audience. My daughter is sitting in front of me. Boogeyman turns to us, [and] I think, “OK, he’s going to do me a favor because maybe he knows I’m a student in this OVW school, so he’s going to scare my daughter for me, and treat my daughter to an experience.” So I’m happy. If your daughter is going to get an experience like this, you’re going to be happy as a father, right?

Sure, I would be.

Of course, there you go. So you are just as guilty as me then, Kevin, so Jim Cornette would have slapped you, too. Do you deserve it? No, because you are a good person. So anyway, this loser took advantage of a situation because he knew I would not hit him back because I was a student. He freaked out and he slapped me several times. I did nothing because I think to myself: “I am not American citizen. I don’t have green card. If I punch this guy, shatter his face the way my punches can actually do, then I’m going to be kicked out of the country.” You can’t just show up somewhere and start breaking skulls, Kevin. It doesn’t work like that. But now that I’m in a position to challenge him to a cage match, I make an official challenge to Jim Cornette for the first time, right now, right here.

OK, we’ll see if he answers.

Of course not. He’s a coward, Kevin.

You have a pretty interesting story as to how you got into pro wrestling. Can you talk about that?

I was under the understanding that you go to Japan, and you do good and then people notice you and bring you to America. So I went there with my vast judo background and my fighting ability. I have to really stress that I am a very, very serious fighter – it’s not comedy. So, I go there and I beat up lots of people, things are going great. I’m doing MMA and working for a good company called Battlearts. I don’t realize that you have to leave the country every 90 days. So, I made one mistake. I don’t leave the country for 94 days, and they say, “I’m sorry. You can’t come back.” At first it was for five years, but the law changed and it was for one year. So, here you are a young man, all the talent in the galaxy, trying to make it in this business and all of a sudden your plans just do a 180-degree turn. So, I have to reformulate my game plan, and we went to United States for school and it worked out pretty good.

There is more of an MMA influence in pro wrestling these days. Do you see the business continuing to move in that direction?

As a business, no. Some of the in-ring techniques? Probably. I saw one match where CM Punk was fighting like from the guard. It’s happening. The more it does, the better for me, because that’s where I come from.

The One Night Stand pay-per-view show is coming up Sunday. You aren’t on that show, correct?

Currently, I am actually not booked for that show. But I will be watching that show very carefully because there are some matches that are of particular interest to me, namely Randy Orton and Triple H. It’s no mistake that Randy Orton is my friend. So the more power he has, the better for Santino Marella. There’s just going to be some good fights. I want to see the girls. That’s going to be a good one, too.

Santino, I can honestly say this is one of the most entertaining interviews I’ve ever done.

Thank you, Kevin. It was a real pleasure for you to talk to me.

Photo courtesy of WWE

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
                    

My interview with Scott Steiner a few weeks ago elicited more response than any of the Q&A's I’ve posted since starting the blog a little more than a year ago. In particular, Steiner’s unflattering comments about Ric Flair, Triple H and Shawn Michaels touched a nerve with readers. Some applauded the controversial Steiner for speaking his mind, while others accused him of being bitter and jealous.

In this follow-up interview, Steiner clarifies some of his statements and responds to his critics.

A number of people who saw your comments about Ric Flair, Triple H and Shawn Michaels said that you were bitter and jealous of their careers. What is your response?

I have nothing to be bitter about. I’ve made a lot of money, and more importantly, I’ve saved a lot of money. I’m not bitter. I love this business and that’s why I’m still in it. I’m just telling you the way it is, man. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

There’s no way I’m jealous, because there’s no way I would want their careers. For one thing, I couldn’t be Triple H because there’s no way I could [have sex] with Chyna. And he was doing that before she even got face reconstruction. There has only been two people in the history of the Howard Stern Show where they had them go to the bathroom to make sure [they were women] – Chyna and Nicole Bass. And she was on the show after the face reconstruction.

Look at Triple H’s career before he started (having sex with) the boss’ daughter: He lost to Ultimate Warrior in 30 seconds; he was losing to guys like Alex Wright in WCW; he lost to one of the Godwins in a pig slop match. And then all of a sudden he’s [having sex with] the boss’ daughter and he’s the toughest guy in the world. I’m not the only guy who thinks that. It’s no secret what Kurt Angle thought of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Here’s one story I got from Kurt: Triple H was trying to block Kurt Angle from winning the [WWE] world title. He said in a meeting, “I think Kurt Angle’s too small.” And Jerry Brisco stood up and said, “Well, what do you think would happen if you guys fought for real?” And he sat down, shut his mouth and they ran with it.

Shawn Michaels is one of those wise-cracking guys who would say a smart comment to you, but then if you face him, he would run and cry somewhere. That’s exactly what happened one time when he was cutting down the Harris Brothers – I think it was Don Harris. Finally, he had enough. He waited until Shawn Michaels got in the room, kicked everybody out of the room, shut the door, grabbed him by the neck and was going to pound the [heck] out of him. A tear came down his eye. He turned around, started laughing and walked out. That is Shawn Michaels in a nutshell.

As for Ric Flair, I could go on and on. I was there one time when we were doing TV tapings at Center Stage [in Atlanta], and Rick Rude followed Flair around for about an hour and just totally blistered him. He told him he looked like hell and he was friends with the booker, totally blistering him. Finally, Flair had enough, left and did not come back to Center Stage until after the TV taping started. People think I’m making this stuff up.

Wahoo McDaniel could not stand him. He told me one time Blackjack Mulligan knocked Flair out with one punch. Jim Crockett at one time owned the NWA. I always liked David and Jackie Crockett, but I only met Jim Crockett once or twice, and everyone thought he was a [jerk]. But Flair had him as the best man in his wedding. Who has the promoter as his best man? Wahoo said back in the day when there were territories all around the country, one of the ways the boys made sure they wouldn’t get fired and wouldn’t have to worry about a job from week to week, is they would borrow money from the promoter. That way the promoter couldn’t fire them because he wanted to get his money out of them. Wahoo said that Flair had tax problems and Jim Crockett bailed him out, so there’s no way he was going to get rid of Ric Flair. Wahoo did not like him, did not like his wife – he called her the rat from Raleigh. The stories he would tell me – he just blistered him. And Flair had no idea.

When I was in WWE, it was right after Andre The Giant had died. We were doing a Raw in New Jersey. I was talking to Rene Goulet, who was an agent then. Everybody was pretty bummed out because everybody loved Andre – I only met him once, so I didn’t know him that well. Flair came by and did his usual, “Wooo!” I swear to God, Rene was so [angry], he wanted to punch him out. He said Flair lived like two hours from where Andre was buried in North Carolina. He said, “That piece of garbage. He wouldn’t drive two hours to pay his respects to Andre.” He wanted to kill him. I could go on and on.

I remember a world title match back in 1991 between you and Flair at a Clash of the Champions. What was it like working a match with him? Did you have a different opinion of him back then?

No. I always knew he was a piece of garbage. Flair never drew when I was in the NWA and WCW. Flair had all of his friends booking him on top and we were not drawing. People can say what they want, but I was there and we did not draw nothing. They may have papered the crowd to make it look good for a Clash or a pay-per-view, but we did not draw. I can say for a fact that Flair at that time did not draw a dime. And they say he was the greatest? If you want an honest opinion, you ask somebody who they would rather be on the card with – Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair. If they don’t say Hulk Hogan, they’re out of their minds. At least you knew when you were on a Hulk Hogan card you were going to get paid. Thank God in WCW we had guaranteed contracts. If we had been paid by the houses that we were drawing, we would have starved.

Here’s the deal with that Clash of the Champions. Things had gotten so bad, and they wanted to put the belt on somebody else. They actually wanted to make me the world champion. I had just beaten Ric Flair in a gauntlet match to set up for the Clash of the Champions. So we’re going over the match backstage, and he was like, “Yeah, I got this, I got that,” and then he went out there and sandbagged. It was one of the worst matches I ever had. And I was wondering, “What was that?” The match I had with him in the gauntlet was 10 times better. So I went in the back and I was disappointed. Then I heard a couple weeks later, he was telling people in the office that I got tired, I wasn’t ready for the spot. And to tell you the truth, I really didn’t want to be the world champion. At the time, I still wanted to team with my brother. About a month later, I was wrestling him in Philadelphia, and I gave him nothing. He tried to hit me with a chair, and I grabbed the chair and hit him with it. I just beat the crap out of him. I came back after our match and waited for him right at the door, waiting for him to say something. If he would have said something I would have clocked him one, but he didn’t say nothing. He put his head down and walked back to his dressing room. He’s a punk, man.

Flair was messed up on so many different levels. One time in Baltimore, Sting was going to beat Flair for the belt. So Flair pulled Sting aside, and Sting thinks he’s going to tell him something about the match or give him some big knowledge, and this is what he said to him, and Sting could not believe it. Flair said, “When you get married, it’s a big deal. When you have kids, it’s a big deal. But there’s nothing like winning the world title.” Sting came back and grabbed my brother and I and Lex [Luger], and said, “You’re not going to believe what Flair just told me.” That’s how messed up he was.

Here’s a story that Gary Hart told me. He was managing Muta at the time, and they were going to go in a different direction with Muta. Basically, they were thinking about getting rid of Gary Hart, and he was hurt by it. Back in the day, if you were NWA champion, different territories had to give you their vote to keep you as champion. Gary at one point was in Texas. So Flair at that time came by, whined and dined him and kissed his [butt]. So, later when they were thinking about firing Gary, he said to me, “I went up to him now to see if he could help me out, and that piece of [garbage] said he couldn’t do nothing for me.” Two or three weeks later, he was fired. That’s the way Flair was. He used you, and then he cut your throat.

Another thing that people took issue with was when you said that Triple H and Shawn Michaels were the only guys in WWE who respected Flair. What about guys like Batista, Chris Jericho and Big Show – who was crying during Flair’s Hall of Fame speech and during his farewell on Raw – and others?

Trust me, if it was a different time, Flair would cut their throats in a second, but he’s not in that position anymore. When Flair was in Evolution, he knew he needed those guys to keep his spot, so he helped them out. So I believe Batista has respect for him, because he helped him out. As far as Big Show, I think he’s a crier. He cried when Hulk Hogan retired, too. Can’t take him to a sad movie, either (laughs).

I think some people believe that you don’t respect anybody. Are there any guys in the business that you do have respect for?

The main guy you have to have respect for is Hogan. Hogan was the man. I remember when I was [in WWE], Chief Jay Strongbow used to call him the golden goose. He always said he could lay a golden egg. That was the respect that Hogan had – because he drew. The greatest is the one who draws the money. Would you rather be a 16-time world champion like Flair or would you rather be like Bruno, who had a 10-year run like he had and always sold out Madison Square Garden? That’s respect, man.

You have to respect the guys that have set attendance records and drew a lot of money – like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. And, of course, The Rock, not only for what he’s done in wrestling, but what he’s doing right now in the movies, which is unprecedented, where a wrestler has been so successful in Hollywood. One of the guys that I most respect is Kurt Angle. When he left WWE, I think a lot of people thought he was the best wrestler there. Not only that, but he was an Olympic champion. I think a lot of people don’t realize how hard it is to be an Olympic champion. Wrestlers in general I respect, because it’s a hard life.

One of your biggest gripes with Flair is that he was cutthroat in his backstage politics. A lot of people say that Hogan was far worse when it came to playing politics.

Oh, God. No. Flair was 10 times worse, and Hogan was a man about it. Hogan, if he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t [BS] you; he just wouldn’t talk to you. He wasn’t like these guys that come up to you and be all “ha-ha” and tell you you’re the greatest and then go behind closed doors and stab you in the back. Hogan had the best contract because he had creative control, and everybody knew that. But he had that respect man, and you got to give it to him. Hogan was the master. He went up there and actually convinced Vince, and he beat Triple H for the belt. I loved it. You know it had to [tick] off Triple H. And it was the worst match ever. It happened right after Hogan had that great match with The Rock at WrestleMania. And then Triple H wrestled him [a month] later and it was horrible. And they say Triple H is such a great worker. Yeah, right.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (139)
                    

“Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner has never been one to hold back when he’s asked for his opinion on something or someone. During a telephone interview on Wednesday, Steiner discussed his stints in WWE and WCW, his near-death experience in Puerto Rico last year and what he thinks about Ric Flair, Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

Steiner will participate in a three-way match against TNA world champion Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle in the main event of the Sacrifice pay-per-view Sunday.

You’ve had your share of injuries over the years. How are you feeling physically these days?

For the most part I feel pretty good. I’m starting to get back in pretty good shape, [but] not as great as I was at one time. I think ever since I had the accident in Puerto Rico, there was so much trauma to my body that I haven’t really been able to get as lean as I’d like. But it’s starting to come around. There was just so much swelling that it was hard to come back from. And there’s still a little bit of pain. My muscle back there doesn’t work entirely correctly because my lat was sliced in half. Other than that, I feel pretty good.

You were talking about the serious trachea injury you suffered in Puerto Rico. Can you take us through that whole experience?

I didn’t realize there was a big problem until later on that night. I got kicked pretty hard in the throat, but I finished the match. I felt like there was bleeding back there, but the EMTs at the building said there was nothing wrong. I actually went back to the hotel. My throat was hurting pretty bad, but I just thought it was swelled up, so I tried to eat some ice cream to bring down the swelling back there, but it didn’t help. Then I tried eating, and I couldn’t eat because it was just so painful for the food to go down. Then I went back up to my hotel room and stayed there for about an hour or so, and then I felt my lungs starting to get heavy and I was having cold chills. Then I started spitting up blood. That’s when I called the ambulance, and they rushed me to the hospital, which was an experience.

I’ve been to jail before, and it was like the gates of the jail at the hospital. There were 20-foot high steel gates and there were armed guards outside the hospital. The opened the door, which creaked, and then they slammed it shut. I walked in there, and there was literally people lined up, bleeding, screaming down the corridors. Nobody was speaking English, and it was kind of freaky. I was actually at the same hospital where Bruiser Brody died. So, I was kind of freaked out. I called a couple of my buddies because I wanted to get out of there. I came in and they took some scans, made me drink some stuff to see what the damage was. That was brutal trying to drink that stuff. They finally found that I did have a torn trachea. The bad part about it was that it was torn in my chest. They told me I had five hours to live. The air that was supposed to be going into my lungs was now going into my skin. That turns poisonous and then you die. I still didn’t really want to believe them. My buddy owns a private jet, and he was going to fly it down. They kind of sensed that I wanted to get out of there. Thank God that didn’t happen, because my lung would have collapsed and they couldn’t have saved me because the trachea was torn. They put me on some sedatives and kind of calmed me down. I was still fighting it and trying to get out of there, because I didn’t want to have surgery in Puerto Rico. Finally, a Puerto Rican doctor came in and calmed me a little bit, but he still sensed that I wanted to leave so he put me under.

The next time I woke up – I had been in an induced coma for two days because the pain would have been so bad – I felt like I was choking. It felt like I was going to drown because I couldn’t get any air. They pulled the ventilator out of my throat and I woke up. They told me they cut through my lat, basically split my ribs in half, and then cut through my lung, sewed my trachea up. Then they put a tube in my lung to drain for two weeks. I just swelled up. I looked brutal, like a 300-pound fat guy. It was the most swelling I ever experienced. I still couldn’t fly, so I had to take a cruise ship home. I went to get on the cruise ship – and no cruise ship. A guy jumped off and committed suicide, so the FBI boarded the ship and had to circle for like 17 hours. So I had to wait an extra day in Puerto Rico, got on a cruise ship, and it took me another week to get home. I took my tour bus back up to where I live, and I tried to recover. I still kind of worried, so I went to a doctor to see if they did everything right, and the doctor shook my hand and said, “You’re lucky to be here. Those doctors saved your life.” That will mess with your mind. I was kind of messed up for three or four months, knowing that I could have been dead.

Has a brush with death changed your outlook on life at all?

Yeah, a little bit. The thing that really messed me up was that one of my best friends had died a month earlier. Life isn’t fair. It definitely makes you look at things a little bit differently. I think I’m pretty much over the fact that I could have been dead, and physically I’m almost there.

Does that whole experience make you never want to go back to Puerto Rico?

Oh, no. The Puerto Rican people and the doctors were great. The nurses were fantastic. Other than the language barrier, they were nice. Here’s one funny story. I told you that I swelled up real bad – and my [testicles] swelled up really bad. I literally had to carry them in my hand to go to the bathroom. Some of the nurses weren’t so easy to look at, but one day, one of the most beautiful nurses I have ever seen walked in. I got up from my wheelchair and turned around, and she was beautiful. I dropped my drawers and I said, “Are my [testicles] supposed to be this big?” She ran out of the room and I never saw her again (laughs).

Switching gears a bit, why do you think your WWE run from several years ago wasn’t as successful as it could have been?

Well, if you look back, everyone from WCW got treated like [garbage], from Goldberg, to Kevin Nash, to Scott Hall. You have to remember – you were there – we beat WWE for 82 weeks straight, and Vince [McMahon] obviously took that personally, so he wanted to bring everyone in that was on top in WCW and bury them. Kevin Nash is supposed to be the best friend of Triple H, but he got the same thing. He won the first title match [against Triple H] by DQ and then lost the second one. I can’t really take it that personally because [Tripe H] treated supposedly his best friend the same way. I’ll tell you right now: People up there are miserable. Both times that I went up there, it was the most screwed-up place I’ve ever been.

Worse than WCW was screwed up?

Oh, my God, it’s not even close. You got Triple H, who’s [sleeping with] the boss’ daughter. She thinks she’s the greatest and he’s the greatest. He’s in the production meetings and the booking meetings. You mark my words: He will break Ric Flair’s record for world championships, because they’re both cut from the same mold – they’re both marks for the belt. It will happen. And it’s bull. I think [The Wrestling Observer’s Dave] Meltzer wrote that every time [Triple H] is the champion, ratings go down, pay-per-view buys go down – it’s a fact. But that’s what happens when you’re [sleeping with] the boss’ daughter. That’s the one thing that was worse going up there the second time – she was involved. And the only reason she’s involved is because she was part of the lucky sperm club. That’s her only qualification.

Scott, please stop sugarcoating it and tell me how you really feel.

(Laughs). There are other people that felt the same way.

Was a run as world champion ever discussed when you went to WWE?

Oh, no. I was there for the same [expletive] that Goldberg and Kevin Nash were.

So did you know that going in?

No, actually I did not expect that. I really didn’t think Vince was that stupid to buy out the competition and then bury it. How stupid is that? That’s his ego. He wanted to own the wrestling world. Well, now he has it and look how it’s done. Ratings are worse than they’ve ever been. They’ll never come back because there’s no competition. I hope TNA becomes a viable contender. If things work out the way it happened with WCW, where finally we went head-to-head live, there’s a possibility it can happen. Trust me, people want to jump. I’m not the only one that sees that Triple H is a [jerk]. If they can jump to a better situation, they will.

You mentioned WCW, and you and I were both there when the doors closed. How did the company go from being so successful to going out of business in such a short time, and who should take the most blame for it?

The people that are the most to blame are the higher-ups in TBS. They despised professional wrestling even though we outdrew basketball, baseball – even when the Braves were in the World Series. And then to sell it for $2.5 million? That’s ridiculous. That right there shows you it was a [screwed] up situation. Everybody wants to blame Eric Bischoff, and they don’t know what they’re talking about. Eric Bischoff was one of the best things to happen to WCW because he brought the pay scale up and he wanted to get rid of the old [expletive] that was going on in WCW. Unfortunately, he didn’t want anything to do with the booking. I had a number of talks with Eric where he said, “Man, I need to find some different bookers. Where do I go?” It was hard to find.

You’ve been very critical of Ric Flair in the past. What are your thoughts on his retirement, his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and his career overall?

I thought it was a joke how many times he cried. Remember the nWo skit when X-Pac was supposed to be Ric Flair, and every time they asked him a question tears would come down his face because he had a pump of water under his arm pit? Now that comes into play as far as what Ric Flair was like behind closed doors backstage. He was a crybaby. He was a little [wuss], man. And for him to do it during the match and then at the induction ceremony, come on, man. Are you kidding me? That’s the way Ric Flair was.

OK, I’m going to play devil’s advocate. Didn’t I see you cry on TV once?

Yeah, but that was for an angle that I did later on that night, and everybody knew I was faking.

I know. I’m just kidding.

He was doing it because he’s a mark, man. It was unbelievable. That’s how he was in real life. Here’s another story: Ric Flair thought his big Four Horsemen were going to come back again. So, [Curt] Hennig was going to join them, and we were going to wrestle them at a pay-per-view in a cage and it was going to be the Four Horsemen’s triumphant return. But Hennig was going to turn and join the nWo. When they told Ric Flair the finish, his eyes started welling up, and we had to leave the room because we started laughing. We were like, “Look at that little piece of [garbage]. He’s [freaking] crying. I’m not the only one who has that view on Flair. If you talk to Bret Hart, he’ll say the same thing about Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. They're all pieces of [garbage], man.

My first two months in the business was my first indication that Ric Flair was a piece of [garbage]. I broke in with Dick The Bruiser, and I was going to go down to the NWA for a tryout. I told Dick, and he said, “As soon as you get there, you drop your bags in front of Ric Flair and you tell him to carry your bags and you tell him I said so.” I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” I didn’t know anything about ribs back then. On the way home I was riding with “Bulldog” Don Kent, and he said, “No, you can’t do that.” But Dick The Bruiser had no respect for him. He said that’s how he got in the business – carrying guys’ bags. Look at Bruno Sammartino – he has zero respect for Flair. Ole Anderson once slapped David Flair and said, “I’ve got more for your dad if he wants some.” Flair had so much heat with the guys he wrestled with – he had zero respect.

I don’t know if you saw Flair’s farewell address on Raw, but everyone on the roster came out and it sure seemed like they all had a lot of respect for him.

Kevin, it’s written in the show. They have to show up. It’s just like if they tell you to go out there and do a match. They had to go out there and pretend like they respect the guy. The only guys that do are Triple H and Shawn Michaels. They’re three peas in a pod – three guys who couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag. They’re three of the biggest [wusses] that have ever been in the sport. And they’re all friends – imagine that. They all come from the same mold. They were never athletes and the way they got things done was behind closed doors and backstabbing people.

You’re really going to love it when I tell you this: I’m a big Shawn Michaels fan.

Well, I guess if you like to look at gay magazines that he’s posed in and watch him dance around in chaps like one of the Village People or a Chippendale, if you’re a fan, more power to you, baby. Personally, I think he’s a [freaking homosexual].

Well, all right then. Let’s move on. After some bad experiences in WWE and WCW, is wrestling fun again for you now that you’re in TNA?

Yeah. When I left I WWE, I had surgery on my foot. I had drop foot, where my foot was totally paralyzed. I had a tendon transfer and got nine screws in my foot. They broke my foot, took a bone graph from my hip and put it in my foot and put a plate in there. So, now my foot is not 100 percent, but it works, so I can wrestle a lot better than I did.

People were quick to criticize you when you were in WWE and say that you had lost it, but you were in constant pain your whole time there, right?

That’s why I really didn’t care a whole lot up there. When your mind is concentrating on pain 24 hours a day, which I was – I’d like anybody to try and wrestle with one foot. If I moved my foot it would just flop uncontrollably. I had total paralysis down there. And it causes pain up your legs and in your hips. It was hard. I was actually going to retire; I did not want to go up [to WWE]. But they offered me more money than I was asking for, so I took it, thinking that they would want to do business. Shoot, they paid Bill Goldberg more than they paid me just to bury him, too. It made zero sense whatsoever.

Speaking of Goldberg in WWE, there was an infamous segment in which they put a blonde wig on his head. If they had come to you with that blonde wig, what would you have done?

Yeah, I’d have told then to [expletive]. That was one of the first things that Bill did up there. I said, “Bill, that’s brutal. Why’d you do it?” He said, “Oh, they want to expand my character.” But that’s the way that politics work up there. They aren’t trying to expand his character; they’re burying him. But when you first get up there, you don’t think it’s going to happen because you figure they want to do business.

What was it like to team with your brother Rick again last year in TNA?

Oh, it was great. The fans wanted it. The only reason that we went into singles competition was because, as a tag team, we had defeated everybody, we had wrestled everybody. When went up to WWE, we beat everybody. There were no more mountains to climb. That’s when my career took off in a different direction – that’s when I became “Big Poppa Pump.” I’m glad it happened, but when we got back together, people loved to see it. It was good.

You mentioned that you considered retirement several years ago. How many more years do you see yourself wrestling, and what will you do after your career is over?

It’s hard to say. I’ve prepared from Day 1 to get out of the business, and now that it’s so close for me retiring, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But as long as they want to pay you and keep you around, I hope I can go on long enough to where we start challenging WWE for ratings, one-one-one live. Yeah, [retirement] is close, and I have no idea what I’ll do to fulfill that void. When you do something as long as I have, you obviously love the sport – although not everything about the sport. It will be tough to replace that high that you get because you like to perform and give the fans what they want, or in my case, make the fans hate you. I’ve got a couple options, but I don’t think anything is going to replace wrestling.

You’re wrestling in the main event of the Sacrifice pay-per-view Sunday against Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. What can fans expect from that match?

A lot of brutality. Everybody knows Kurt Angle. Everybody knows me. Everybody’s getting to know Joe. He’s one of those guys that fans are behind. He has some interesting aspects to his game that Kurt and I don’t have. I think it’s going to be a great match. We’re going to try to put on the best show possible.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (61)
                    

I conducted a phone interview with wrestling's "Living Legend," Bruno Sammartino, who talked about what he's been up to lately, his thoughts on the WWE Hall of Fame and his memories of wrestling in Baltimore. Sammartino, 72, also spoke with Sun reporter Childs Walker about drug testing and the state of WWE nearly a year after the Chris Benoit tragedy for an article in Friday's editions of The Sun.

I know that you still work out on a regular basis. What else keeps you busy these days?

There are people interested in doing a movie of my life, and so we have been busy with that. We went back to Europe to show where we hid from the Nazis during the war, so we went back and shot that. And we’ve done a lot of interviews. I also do some personal appearances. I don’t do a whole lot of them because I like to be home. My wife and I, thank God, we’re together. You never can make up all those years when you were on the road, but now that I’m here I will not keep myself busy because I want to be home. I have my sons here and my grandchildren here and I like to spend time with all of them, and I can’t get enough of that.

You know, in my day, it wasn’t like it is today where these athletes make millions of dollars. In my day, you made a good living, and I’m extremely grateful for everything that came my way after coming from Europe, but you didn’t make the big bucks back then. Don’t get me wrong — my wife and I, we’re fine — but if you have the opportunity to go pick up a payday someplace, I don’t turn my back to it. It’s not that I really enjoy the traveling because I despise traveling. The only thing I like about doing autograph shows is that the people who used to be fans are so wonderful. They’ll come over and give such wonderful compliments. Younger people say, “You were a role model for me growing up. My parents love you.” You hear these wonderful comments and it really touches you that people have these positive things to say about you. It makes me feel good that I never did anything negative.

I tell you how seriously I took my role in my life and what I was. I was the world wrestling champion, and I would be in restaurants, and being Italian, especially if I was in an Italian restaurant, a lot of time I’d go for dinner and people would say, “Let’s have a glass of wine.” I would loved to have had a glass of wine, but if it was during the afternoon and there were people there with kids, I would never, never touch it because I was afraid that if they recognized me and saw me drinking, I thought it just wasn’t a positive thing. I wanted people to have a positive image of this wrestling champion. I really tried to conduct myself properly.

During the war, I should have died. I lost a brother and a sister, and I came down with rheumatic fever. After the war, my mom brought me back to our home — what was left of it — and for three years I laid there. My mother swore that she had lost two children and she wasn’t about to lose another one. We had no doctors, no medication — nothing. That’s why when I came to America I was such a skeleton. My mother is the reason why I lived. She did more for me than any doctor could have done to keep me alive. So, that’s another thing that I was very, very strong about when I started to make a name for myself. I was never going to do anything that would have brought shame to my family. I owed too much, and I wanted them to be proud to say that they were Bruno Sammartino’s mother and father.

You have been an outspoken critic on some of the problems in the wrestling industry. Do you think wrestlers need a union, and will that ever happen?

No. I tried to get a union organized in the 60s. It will never happen. They guys that are making money don’t want to do anything to rock the boat with the promoters, and the little guys are afraid to do anything or say anything because they’re afraid of being fired on the spot. That’s the mentality, unfortunately.

I understand that you have no interest in being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. How would you feel if they inducted you without your consent, just because they feel you deserve to be in it?

When they started that Hall of Fame, Vince McMahon was going to show me, so he never considered me to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. What he didn’t expect was the outcry of the fans. They said, “How the heck could you call this a Hall of Fame when Bruno’s name was never even mentioned?” It backfired on him so bad that the following year or two years he didn’t even have a Hall of Fame. He figured let it die down. And then when he started again, again I wasn’t mentioned and again he got bombarded pretty darn big. So then because of all the pressure, he finally got his attorney to call my attorney to try to talk me into coming to their Hall of Fame.

The thing is this: I have been extremely critical of everything that this man has done to wrestling since he took over — extremely critical. I so resent all the vulgarity, the nudity, the profanity and all the ugliness, and I really was outspoken about the drugs going back to 15-20 years ago. And after that, I got away from it all, but still, if anybody ever questioned me, I remained that way. Now, what the heck kind of a guy would I be if, after expressing myself so loud and clear about how I feel about this organization, that then I would accept to be part of them into this Hall of Fame. I’d be the biggest hypocrite there was. And besides that, when fans tell me, “Yeah, but you belong,” I tell them, “OK, if I went in the Hall of Fame, where would you go to see it. You know, baseball has Cooperstown. If I’m in the Hall of Fame, wouldn’t there be a place for you to go and see it and see all these people that have been inducted?” They said, “Uh, I don’t know.” “Yeah, because it doesn’t exist.

McMahon started this — it’s all just a moneymaking thing. He puts out DVDs of the new Hall of Fame inductees, and then his TV goes to 126 countries and they’re selling these DVDs, and they don’t even give these guys anything. I understand when you get inducted into the Hall of Fame, they give you $5,000, and then they go ahead worldwide and sell the DVDs and I don’t think you get anything. So, it’s all a gimmick. It’s nonsense. But more than that, even if it was legit, I simply would never accept for the simple reason of what I’ve told you. Now, your question was, “Well what if they decide to do it whether you like it or not?” Well, I don’t know if there is anything I could do by law — probably not. But I would again be outspoken and make it very clear that this is being done and by no means do I approve of it or want any part of it. I’d want all the fans to know that.

You reportedly had a meeting with Vince McMahon in Pittsburgh a couple years ago to discuss some kind of business arrangement. Were you ever close to an agreement?

I’m glad you brought that up because I want to clear the air with that. [The Wrestling Observer’s Dave] Meltzer said something about how resentful I am, yet I actually met and tried to negotiate a deal with McMahon. Not true. This is the time when I told you we went to Europe to shoot my town, the mountains where we were hiding during the war and all that kind of stuff. Jerry McDevitt, McMahon’s lawyer, was contacted by Marty Lazzaro, my lawyer, because we were doing our story and we needed to use the Civic Arena, which is where I wrestled all those years, and that’s where wrestling still is. It turns out that WWE was going to be there for one of their TV shows. We knew that there was going to be a ring put up for that. Marty contacted the arena and asked if we could use the ring to film for about 15-20 minutes. They gave us the permission to do that, but because it was McMahon’s show, they’d have to get it OK’d with them, too. So that’s when I told Marty that I didn’t want any part of this. He said, “Wait a minute.” He said he heard from McDevitt and it was fine. He said all [McDevitt] wanted was to have a meeting between him and McMahon and Marty and me when we come there to do the filming. I said, “Marty, I’m not interested in meeting with the guy.” Marty said, “What have you got to lose? Please, let’s meet with them. I want to see this guy in person and I want to hear just what they have to say.”

I cannot tell how you how much I didn’t want any part of this, but, for Marty, I said OK. But I said, “Marty, I’m telling you right up front. I’m not interested in anything with these people.” So we met with them. Vince acted like there were never any ill feelings between he and I. He acted very friendly — “Hey, you son of a gun, you look great.” So we went in a room, and somebody said that Vince has nothing but respect for the old-timers. And boy did that give me the opening. That’s when I had to open my mouth and I have no regrets about it. I said, “I’m sorry, but I think you have shown nothing but disrespect for the old-timers. You bring some of the old-timers here, whether it’s Lou Albano or [Killer] Kowalski or Domenic DeNucci or [Baron Mikel] Scicluna or whoever, and whether it’s a big show or a pay-per-view, and you toss these guys $1,000, $1,500 or maybe $2,000 if they’re really lucky. But yet you bring in Mike Tyson and you give him $3.5 million to be outside the ring refereeing a special event. You brought Pete Rose and other athletes from baseball and football and you give them six figures for an appearance. People that have done nothing for this business, and a lot of them look at it as a joke. But those who have given their whole life to this business and never made any real money, what do they get for all those years of banging their bodies up? And a lot of them are physically practically handicapped. They get a bone thrown at them. This is respect for the old-timers? Give me a break.”

I said to Vince: “You could never use me in any way and show the disrespect you have shown for wrestlers. If you and I could ever work out anything, you would have to show me the respect you showed Mike Tyson.” That was my way of slamming the door and having him be the guy to refuse, because I know them. When it comes to wrestlers, they’ll throw you a bone. But if it’s a baseball player, football player or movie star or Mike Tyson, they want to show that they’ll make big-money deals and they’ll give out hundreds of thousands or millions. So at that point, I got up and said, “Whatever you want to discuss, discuss it with Marty, because there is nothing else here for me to talk about.” To those who think that I went there to really have a serious meeting to work something out with him, they couldn’t be more mistaken. I did it to please Marty Lazzaro, but there’s no deal they would have made that I would have come out of there and said, “Hey, great, let’s go for it.”

You were a big favorite in Baltimore for many years. Do you have any special memories of wrestling in Baltimore?

I loved the Baltimore Civic Center. I have nothing but pleasant memories. It was a nice arena, and I was there from the time they opened it. The fans used to make me feel like I was really, really welcome. Not that Baltimore was unique in that. I used to get goose bumps at Madison Square Garden. Every time I went to the ring the place would explode and they would chant my name. Boston was like that. Philadelphia, too. I always loved going to Baltimore because I loved the arena and the whole atmosphere. But also, there was Little Italy and a restaurant called Sabatino’s, and I used to go there and eat after the matches. Sometimes [DeNucci] was with me; a couple times I went with Andre. I always looked forward to that because I would eat around 1 or 2 o’clock in the afternoon because I wanted to be fully digested by the time I went to the ring. But afterwards I would be as hungry as can be. In every city, I had my favorite place. In Baltimore, it was Sabatino’s. You ever hear of it?

Oh, sure, I’ve been there quite a few times.

Is it still there?

It is.

Oh my God. Anyway, Baltimore was great for me because, if it was a Saturday night, for example, it was a short trip to get to Pittsburgh the next day. And like I said, the fans were always extremely great with me, and I knew where to go to get a terrific meal afterwards.

One of your most famous matches took place in Baltimore on April 30, 1977, when you lost the WWWF title to Superstar Billy Graham. What are your thoughts of that night? I know at that point you were looking to slow down your schedule. Was it a relief to finally not be the champion anymore?

Well, it was more than that. Let me tell you what happened. When I was champion for the first eight years, they had me on such a ridiculous schedule. I was hurting from head to toe. I was wrestling every single night. Two Sundays out of the month, I would go to Toronto because I had spent two years there and I had promised [promoter] Frank Tunney — who gave me a break and was a good man — that when I went back to [the WWWF] that I would still come in when he wanted me for the Maple Leaf Gardens. So, two weeks out of the month I would wrestle seven days a week, and the other two weeks I would wrestle six days a week and get to go home on Sunday. I was also making tours to Japan and Australia. [Vince McMahon Sr.] would not run Madison Square Garden without me, so he would always arrange my trips so that I would wrestle in the Garden on Monday and leave Tuesday morning for Japan or Australia. And I’d have to be back for the next Garden show. When I got through with a tour, I wouldn’t even go home. I’d be flying in from Australia or Japan to New York to be there in time for the Garden.

After eight years, I was hurting so bad. And anybody who really knows me will tell you that I will never even take an Aspirin much less anything stronger for the aches and pains. It just reached a point where I told McMahon that my body hurts from head to toe; I can’t train properly because I hurt. I have to get out for a while. I need a layoff from wrestling. Other people said I retired, but I n