wrestler instead of a sports entertainer, so he helped help me like Eddie would. It was his and
me make that transition between professional Undertaker’s idea to put me and Danny in the
wrestling and sports entertainment. After every cabinet, because we did the Tough Enough
match he’d come and tell me ‘you could do this here, challenge where we stopped the guys from going
or that there’. He was very helpful, very giving and and getting the flag and our reward for stopping
wanted to see other people make it. I love him like a every one of them was being put in the cabinet,
brother, you know. He was one of the guys I really which put us in the main event
wanted to work with when I got to the WWE, Eddie
was one, Chris Benoit was the other, because those >Talking of that Tough Enough challenge, was there
two guys, kind of like Shawn and Bret, I took those a lot of pressure on you at that point to succeed?
four guys’ styles, put them all together and came up
Hell yeah! We don’t know if it’s true or not, but we
with the style I wrestle now.
thought that if we let any of those guys get through
and get the flags we’d probably get fired, so come
>It must have come as quite a shock when they both
hell or high water we were going to do whatever it
died.
took to keep anybody from getting past us, whether
Yeah, it was. I was devastated. we had to knock them out, choke them out, rip their
hair out, whatever we had to do we were going to do
>You won tag titles twice in the WWE. Did you see it. And we did it!
titles as being important to you as a performer?
If the company cares enough about you to put their
>In the 2005 draft you were split up as a tag team.
titles on you it means they trust you to carry the ball
Was that a good thing for your team to be split up?
and represent whatever title they put on you, In the WWE, you have tag teams, and then I guess
whether that be tag title, US title or Heavyweight the company sees they want to try and take one of
title. So it was quite a compliment when they came the guys and push him, and then maybe push the
to us and said they were going to make us the tag other guy later. The tag team is like one guy, but
champions. there’s two guys in it, so if the company can make
more money with those two guys by splitting them
>Very few people will ever get to step through the
up, it’s a business venture that makes more money.
curtain in front of a Wrestlemania crowd as you
have done. What is that experience like?
The first time I stepped out at Wrestlemania was a
WE Had TO KNOCK THEm
big one for WWE, Wrestlemania 20, ‘where it all OuT, CHOKE THEm OuT,
begins again’. There’s 20,000 people out there,
RIP THEIR HaIR OuT,
screaming and just begging for entertainment, there
to see you. We walked through the door, and me and
WHaTEVER WE Had TO....
Danny just stopped for a minute and looked at each
other and smiled before we went to the ring. It was >When you first started out as a singles competitor,
like ‘We did it. We’re here. I can’t believe this. This is a you had a character ‘The Bash Man’. Where was
dream come true.’ It was unbelievable. I’d watched that going?
this on TV, and here I am being a part of it. Got it on
That was the biggest flop of my career! I came up
video! Got it on DVD! Definitely a moment I’ll never
with the idea, and the original idea was supposed to
forget.
be where I would ‘bash’ people. Where I would take
things in the mainstream media and then connect
>In 2004, you joined JBL in his ‘cabinet’. We’ve all
that with someone in the locker room, and just
heard the stories of JBL being a bully-what is he
‘bash’ them for it, and say ‘oh you’re trying to be like
actually like?
so-and-so’. I started working on it with a WWE
JBL is a passionate man when it comes to writer, who doesn’t work there anymore thank
wrestling. He likes to have fun, and he likes to rib, goodness, because he took my idea and turned it
and he doesn’t mind being ribbed. I don’t know why into what it was, he turned it around and made it
he gets a bad rep, he’s done nothing but help mine his idea and I didn’t know how to perform it
and Danny’s careers. He’d watch my matches and anymore, and when I got out there to do it it was
31 The online magazine for pro wrestling fans worldwide thewrestlingpress.com
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