Teddy Long not a fan of New Day
Chris Featherstone passed along this recap.
Former WWE General Manager Teddy Long was the latest guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show. He had much to share about his journey from an errand boy and on the ring crew to being a prominent role on WWE TV as GM. He also had some thoughts to share about not being a fan of The New Day, what black wrestler has the potential to be WWE World Champion, and much more.
Here are some highlights:
What one black wrestler do you see right now having the potential to becoming a star and a world champion?
“I think it would be Big E. I think he’s just in the wrong road. I don’t see him being with this “New Day,” this group. You look at him, he’s got a great look, and plus those guys are young guys. You can get 10 more years out of him. He’s got a great attitude. I had a chance to work with him and he’s just as nice as you can be. He’s the kind of guy that a promoter would want to work with. He doesn’t give you any problems, whatever you ask him to do, he has no problem doing it. He’s a company man, and that’s what you have to be.”
On not being a big fan of The New Day:
“I look at them and these are the WWE Tag Team Champions, and to me, I don’t think that they are portraying them as serious champions. There’s a lot of entertainment in the game, and there’s a lot of ha-ha from them. You know, I guess maybe times have changed. Maybe that’s what it is. As long as I remember, the world title and the tag team titles were serious positions to be in [and now] there’s so much comedy to it.”
Why he was chosen for the SmackDown GM role:
“I really don’t know why [it] happened. I’m being honest with you. One time, I remember I came out, I did a promo on Tommy Dreamer when I walked out with D’lo Brown, and I think that was the first time Vince had the opportunity to see my skills and see I could really talk. So I remember coming back into the Gorilla Position where Vince was sitting. He calls me over and says to me, “I can’t believe I had you right under my nose all this time.” The General Manager spot was something that they never [told] me ahead of time that I was gonna be. Nobody came to say, well this is the idea, this is what we’re thinking about, this is the direction we’re gonna go in, you’re gonna be General Manager. Nobody told me nothing. All I did is I walked in one day, and I guess maybe an hour before we got ready to go on, the writers came up to me and told me I was gonna be General Manager tonight; Vince is gonna make you General Manager. I was nervous as I could be, I was real nervous, because I’m like, Jesus Christ! I’ve never been in this position before! And I already understood working with Vince, you don’t play, you got to be able to get out there to perform. So, to me, I’m looking at it as this is a big responsibility, but I can’t say no! I can’t tell Vince I don’t want to be the General Manager and he’ll give it to somebody else. When they told me, I just thought about it, and was like, hey, I’m on and running. That’s exactly how that happened. I had no idea.”
How was the Kristal Marshall angle originally supposed to go?
“What the angle was supposed to be is that after I had the heart attack, Vickie and Kristal were supposed to take over. They were supposed to start running SmackDown, and I was going to be gone for a while. We really did it again, but we did it again with Vickie and Dolph Ziggler. Vickie and Crystal were supposed to be running the show, I was gonna be gone for awhile, and they were gonna run it in the ground. Then, I was gonna make a big comeback and take over SmackDown again. But what happened I think with Kristal, she was dating Bobby Lashley at the time. So, at the time, we’re doing this spiel on SmackDown, we were together and supposed to get married and everything is supposed to be real, so you’re supposed to protect what you’re doing on TV, and she didn’t do that. She started going to Raw and waiting on Bobby and then everybody at the end, when people were leaving, they would see her with Bobby Lashley. So she disposed everything. You’re supposed to marry me and, like I said, she didn’t really protect the storyline and what we were doing on TV. So that’s where it went sour.”
Who is the best and worst person you managed?
“Everybody was really good. Butch [Reed] and Ron [Simmons], I definitely have to throw their names out there. But when I had the team of Danny Spivey and Sid Vicious, they were great. Marc Mero was great. The worst person that I managed probably was [Marcus] Bagwell, because he was hard to get along with at the time with me, him, and Scorpio. He wasn’t totally bad, but he was just hard to get along with.”
Teddy along talked about the most racist wrestler he’s interacted with, his worst time as GM, praising Vince McMahon for giving him an opportunity, working with Vickie Guerrero, and much more.
Here is the link to the full interview:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pancakesandpowerslams/2016/05/11/pancakes-and-powerslams-episode-215
Santino Marella on Roman Reigns
Evan Prout passed this recap along.
Former WWE Superstar and Former 2x Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella stopped by Under the Mat Radio to discuss his feelings on life after WWE, Kung Fu movies, if he can wrestle again and so much more! You can listen to the full interview below; here are some of the highlights:
Santino on seeing the transformation of Triple H from talent to corporate figure:
“Oh yeah.. When I started DX was on the house shows with us, as you know Triple H is a brilliant guy and he really has his finger on the pulse of the industry of professional wrestling. He lacked the business side and he has since learned that, you with having Vince as the ultimate businessman as your mentor what a luxury that is…”
Santino on the Origin of the Cobra and how Cena helped:
“Well it was at a bar in Japan and a friend of Battle Arts Academy Submission Head Instructor his buddy transformed his arm in a snake, it was kind of just a little funny thing. Then 5 years later I call Cena and said Hey I want to try something in my match. I used it in my comeback and the crowd went crazy and after the match Cena told me I’d keep that if I were you …”
Santino on Roman Reigns being a locker room leader and fans perspective of the product:
“Sometimes the fans should just enjoy the product, if you spend your time as a fan wishing it was something different you not going to have a good experience. Roman Reigns is awesome (people are silly) he looks the part, he’s a great human being, he’s a locker room leader. There should be no reason people are booing him unless they jealous of his hair or something lol. He speaks up, he’s an independent man, and he’s a stud…”
Santino also discussed advice Dusty Rhodes gave him, him playing the Green Ranger back in the 90’s for a singing telegram company, his thoughts on a fun wrestling movie, and much more in this exclusive 90-minute interview on Under the Mat Radio.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/underthematradio/2016/05/11/under-the-mat-radio-santino-sanshiro
Bob Backlund on staying in good shape
Donald Wood sent this recap in.
We had WWE Hall of Famer BOB BACKLUND on the show this week, and it was a great episode with plenty of exclusive content.
YouTube interview:
Blog Talk Radio Episode: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ringrustradio/2016/05/10/ring-rust-radio-may-10-w-wwe-legend-bob-backlund-wwe-extreme-rules-preview
Ring Rust Radio: You were an amateur wrestling star at North Dakota State University. As someone who made the successful jump from the amateur ranks to pro wrestling, what are your thoughts on a Superstar like Brock Lesnar who made a similar jump?
“It’s not a hard thing to do more as it’s a mental thing to do. In amateur wrestling, you are always wanting to win matches and win matches and win matches. I changed my goal when I got into professional wrestling and I said I wanted to go out there and entertain at the highest level I could. I didn’t have any problem whether I won or lost as long as I had as good as a match as I could. Guys like Brock Lesnar that come from amateur wrestling love the business just as much as they loved the athletics in amateur wrestling.”
Ring Rust Radio: In much the same vein as Brock, Kurt Angle is a guy who was an Olympic gold medalist as an amateur wrestler before going on to become one of the all-time greats in professional wrestling. I always really enjoyed the work you did with him in 2000. How do you regard your time with Kurt looking back and what are your overall impressions of him and what he ultimately became in the wrestling business?
“I have a lot of respect for his in-ring skills. To go and win a gold medal in the Olympics, not too many people get a chance to do that and it is such a great accomplishment. He really is such a fantastic amateur wrestler. When we worked together, I was using the cross-face chicken wing and we were wanting to pass it on to him. He got it on me one time but then I am not sure if he used it much after that. I still use it and think it’s pretty good. I was with Heath Slater and put him in the chicken wing and everybody in the building was roaring. Maybe it just didn’t fit with him. I was the first one to use the cross-face chicken wing at the time. The chicken wing and the cross-face were in the business but I was the first one to clasp my hands when I had both of them on. So I was sort-of the inventor of it. I heard lately a female wrestler was using it but not sure who she is. When I go to the signings like at WrestleMania and people have the options of what they want me to do with them, and more often than not they want me to put them in the cross-face chicken wing.”
Ring Rust Radio: Do you still have the itch to wrestle and do you recall the last time you spoke with WWE about having a match?
“When I got put into the Hall of Fame in 2013, I told Triple H I would like to get back in the business and put a little bit more w in it and I was serious about it. I don’t know if he is ever going to take me up on the offer. I do think about it every now and then. I would like to get back in there and have a war. I am 66 years old but I feel like a spring rooster. I work out every day and my pulse was 42 the other day. The Harvard Step Test really makes your heart rate go down. I do that a few times a day and a high number of squats with other stretching and weight routines.”
Ring Rust Radio: You have seen top stars come and go in WWF, but one name making news lately for all the wrong reasons has been Hulk Hogan. What was your perception of Hogan and how did he stack up against legends like yourself and Bruno Sammartino?
“I know Bruno is a great man and has a lot of integrity and honor. He was very concerned at the time with what type of guy was going to replace him and take his spot. He didn’t know me very well and I didn’t know him, but about two or three years later we found out we were on the same page. We got along very well but didn’t talk very much. Hogan was a great person in the ring but we didn’t like his outside activities. We thought he wasn’t a very good representation of the business or a model for young people to look up to. He didn’t walk the walk.”
Ring Rust Radio: You had a chance to work for some of the biggest and most legendary promoters of all time, most notably Verne Gagne, Vincent J. McMahon and Vincent K. McMahon. Based on your experiences, which did you most enjoy working for and what set them apart from the others?
“Vince Sr. became like a dad to me. He told me four months ahead of time that he was going to give me the belt. At the time there were people like Billy Graham and others who were trying to talk him out of it. I didn’t know Vince very well at the time so I didn’t know if he was going to go back on what he said. He had some good reasons not to give it to me. I wasn’t a proven commodity as far as buying or selling out buildings at the time while Billy Graham was a proven success with the title in territory at the time. He told them all that he promised it to me and he was going to give it to me and it didn’t matter what they thought. He became like a father to me after that and a role model for me to look up to. I enjoyed wrestling for him and working with him. He would come and ask if you wanted to do something, instead of coming to you and telling you what they are going to do. He was such a nice guy to work for and with and nothing could ever top my time with him as my boss.”