source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
An indictment was recently filed against Dr. Phil Astin III, previously a personal physician to a number of professional wrestlers in the Atlanta area including most notably, Chris Benoit. Astin faces 175 federal counts of illegal prescription abuse to 17 different patients. At least six of these patients are believed to be professional wrestlers.
Perhaps the most notable thing is that even though the government claimed Astin had prescribed ten months worth of steroids to Chris Benoit every three to four weeks for one year between May 2006 and May 2007 (and somehow, someway never failing a WWE drug test along the way), none of the counts regard anabolic steroid usage. Astin was largely known in the Atlanta sports community for prescribing anabolic steroids to athletes, and not exclusively to ones in the area.
The government is going after Astin for prescribing drugs without often examining patients thoroughly. The indictment said that in one instance, drugs prescribed by Astin resulted in the death of a patient, believed to be former professional wrestler Mike "Johnny Grunge" Durham. Although, none of the counts in the indictment were related to Durham even though he was prescribed heavy doses of somas in the days before his untimely death in February 2006 at the age of 39.
The 17 patients are referred to by their initials in the indictment. Two of the patients are Oscar Gutierrez, better known as Rey Mysterio, as well as former WWE wrestler Mark Jindrak, as the indictment includes previous charges related to distributing painkillers and other drugs to them last July. When questioned about his involvement with Astin during an appearance on Fox News' Red Eye program last August promoting his wrestling return at SummerSlam a few days later, Mysterio said he was prescribed pain medication from Astin due to six knee operations. He also denied ever using steroids. Jindrak is currently living in Mexico City, Mexico, competing for the CMLL promotion under the name Marco Corleone.
Also listed in the indictment are the initials CMB and NEB, likely referring to Christopher Michael Benoit and Nancy Elizabeth Benoit. The initials MAB and RWH are also listed and believed to be well known pro wrestlers. MAB appears to be Buff Bagwell, who's real name is Marcus Alexander Bagwell. RWH is believed to be one-half of the current WWE World Tag Team Champions, Hardcore Holly, who's real name is Robert William Howard. Last July, ABCNews.com reported (click here for article link) that along with Benoit, Jindrak, and Gutierrez, Bagwell and Holly had their medical records seized by federal agents from Dr. Phil Astin's office. Lex Luger was also named in ABC's report, but no charges regarding him were filed in the indictment.
The indictment lists Astin as prescribing drugs illegally to Chris Benoit from December 13, 2004 to June 22, 2007, the day Benoit killed his wife. Astin prescribed him 600 Lorcets and 600 Somas on December 13, 2004, which lasted approximately 19 weeks, before Astin gave him a refill on those same prescriptions, which lasted about four months. That was the regular pattern of dosages prescribed to Benoit every few months until his death.
The indictment notes that Nancy Benoit regularly received prescriptions for Lorcet, Xanax and Somas -- mainly Lorcet -- from June 6, 2005 to May 30, 2007. According to the indictment, Nancy usually got 75 tablets of Lorcet every 11 days to nine weeks, although on August 11, 2006, she got an undated prescription allowing her to get 600 tablets of Lorcet and 600 of Xanax, which lasted eight weeks. From then on out she was getting 150 Lorcet tablets per visit, but on March 12, 2007 and May 30, 2007, she was given 120 tablets at first with the ability for 240 additional tablets with refills.
According to the indictment, Jindrak regularly received huge quantities of undated prescriptions during his time in World Wrestling Entertainment, which lasted through July 2005. He was still being prescribed drugs well into his departure from the company. From April 29, 2004 to April 16, 2007, Jindrak received Percosets, Vicoprfen, Xanax, Lorcet, Soma and Adderall. After moving to Mexico City full-time in 2006, he would return to Atlanta every three months or so to visit Astin. On September 8, 2006, Astin prescribed Jindrak a total of 1,740 pills (120 Percosets, 90 Adderall, 600 Lorcets, 480 Xanax and 480 Soma), which lasted for three months. That was the usual pattern with his visits, every three months with the same number of pills. Although, Jindrak went through one batch in six weeks in December 2006-January 2007. On December 8, 2006, Jindrak received prescriptions for 1,770 pills and came back just six weeks later on January 19, 2007. That batch lasted for about three months before his next visit to Astin on April 16, 2007 in which he was prescribed 1,740 pills.
Regarding RHW, who is believed to be current WWE star Hardcore Holly, he was prescribed Percoset, Lorcet and Soma every few months, and was given undated prescriptions for almost everything else needed. On September 19, 2006, Astin prescribed him total of 2,550 pills.
MAB, believed to be Marcus Alexander Bagwell, was regularly prescribed pain killers from Astin. On December 7, 2006, Bagwell received prescriptions for Percoset, Lorcet, Xanax and Soma totaling 1,680 pills and came back for a similar refill ten weeks later. Bagwell regularly visited Astin every eight to nine weeks up until his arrest shortly after Benoit killed his wife and son. Bagwell's last visit took place on June 14, 2007 and he was prescribed the same four sets of pills, as well as 60 40 mg. tablets of Oxycontin on the side.
And last but not least we come to Oscar Gutierrez, otherwise known as Rey Mysterio. Gutierrez also received undated prescriptions and post-dated prescriptions for either Percoset or Lorcet, although the dosages weren't as high as the other pro wrestlers. Since he lives in Chula Vista, California, he saw Astin less frequently than the other other wrestlers in question who all lived in the Atlanta area except for one. Since WWE's introduction of the Wellness policy in November 2005, he was only listed as having made two visits to Astin, which took place during the summer of 2006. WWE wrestlers are only supposed to use primary care physicians for prescriptions, so it seems a little strange that Gutierrez's primary doctor is in an Atlanta suburb when he lives in Southern California. On June 28, 2006, Gutierrez was prescribed 120 Percosets, 150 Lorcets and refills allowed for 450 more Lorcets. He received a similar level of medication a few weeks later on July 20, 2006 -- three days before losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Booker T at the Great American Bash.
At the time, Gutierrez was suffering from a major knee injury and had been putting off some much needed surgery for several months. Of course, Gutierrez was receiving the biggest push of his life in the wake of the death of close friend Eddie Guerrero, which is why he kept working through the injury. After losing the title, he kept going in order to work a three-month-long program with Chavo & Vickie Guerrero. He finally underwent knee surgery in October 2006 after his feud with the two came to a close, which put him out of the ring for about ten months. There were no records in the indictment of him dealing with Astin during his surgery recuperation.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Paralyzed pro wrestler now relies on inner strength
Lex Luger lives across from Shepherd Center, encourages other patients
By JOHN HOLLIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/17/08
Lex Luger was "The Total Package," a buff 6-foot-4, 270-lb. professional wrestler who made $5 million a year while helping to fill arenas throughout the world.
These days, he can barely walk, tips the scales around 185 lbs. and lives in a one-bedroom apartment across the street from the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where's he undergoing therapy.
Joey Ivansco/AJC
Joey Ivansco/AJC
A severe spinal injury from 30 years of football and wrestling struck down Luger while on a cross-country flight last fall. He spent two weeks in intensive care at Stanford University Hospital in California before transferring to Shepherd in November. He's also still hobbled by double hip replacement surgery in February.
"I was one of the strongest guys on the planet," Luger said recently. "I was freaky strong before. I was bench-pressing 450 pounds my senior year of high school. I was a freak. Now I can't lift a one-pound dumbbell.
"But God tells me that mind, body and spirit and what we are as a man is measured not by our physical strength, but our inner strength."
Luger, whose real name is Lawrence Pfohl, now takes great pride in each day's small victories. Things like getting showered and shaved on his own in only 30 minutes or standing a little bit more each day. Things like trying to gradually make full amends with estranged family members he took for granted over the years, including his 17- and 21-year-old children.
The new and humbled Lex Luger is a man of strong religious conviction whose faith has helped him remain mostly upbeat.
Luger has taken it upon himself to minister to young patients at the Shepherd Center, often telling them his story of widespread abuse of drugs, steroids and alcohol at the expense of his family and health.
Luger believes he was meant to lift their spirits and give personal testimony to the importance of doing things the right way.
Life hasn't been easy for MaryAnn Collins and her family from Alabama since Steve, her 23-year-old son, broke his neck during an automobile accident in March and became a quadriplegic. But getting to know the former professional wrestler has helped.
"No matter what," MaryAnn Collins said, "when Lex comes, he makes him laugh. Just his visits brighten his day. We're lucky to have a friend like Lex."
Luger once known as 'The Narcissist'
It's a role never envisioned by those who knew Luger before.
"He used to be on the other end of the scale, as far as helping people," said close friend Steve Borden, the professional wrestler better known as "Sting."
"He was known as 'The Narcissist.' His comfort was first and foremost. If he had still been that way when this happened, he'd probably be dead right now because he probably would have just given up."
Luger, 50, was on a flight to San Francisco in late October when he began having difficulty moving his neck. Thinking it was simply a case of having sat in an awkward position for too much of the cross-country flight, he tried to jar his neck back into place, only to make his predicament worse.
Luger arrived in San Francisco in considerable pain, but was still able to function. He awoke the next morning, however, paralyzed from the neck down and unable to even call for help. A desperate Luger maneuvered onto the hotel room floor, where he remained for more than four hours.
Doctors at Stanford University Hospital noted massive swelling of his spine from the C6 to T5 vertebrae, attributing the damage to the many disc injuries and bone spurs he'd collected during three decades of football and professional wrestling.
Doctors have told Luger that previous substance abuse problems had nothing to do with his spinal trauma.
Luger remained a complete quadriplegic for more than two months, without as much as bladder or bowel control when he was transferred to the Shepherd Center in early November.
Doctors have told him the swelling usually takes about six months to recede, but it's unclear how much function he will regain. Luger has gradually improved. He can now stand on his own for brief periods and uses a walker at times.
Motor and other finger skills are usually the last functions to come back with his particular injuries. A complete recovery is a "long shot," said Dr. Gerald Bilsky, Luger's physician and Sheperd's medical director for outpatient services.
In the meantime, Luger has had to re-learn even the most elementary functions, such as going to the bathroom and how to feed and dress himself.
"You just have to rehab every day and take great blessings with what you do have back," Luger said. "Rehab and try to make what you have stronger. It's up to the Lord to do the rest."
Luger has improved enough to be released from the Shepherd Center in mid-March, but he can be found at the facility every day.
He hopes that recounting his story to patients and their families will help spare others his mistakes.
Luger's self-destructive lifestyle played a role in the death of Elizabeth Hulette, his girlfriend and former wrestling personality known as "Miss Elizabeth." Hulette died of an accidental drug overdose in 2003 in the Cobb County home the two shared.
Luger was charged with 13 counts of felony drug possession after authorities searched the home and found steroids and other body-building drugs, as well as pain medication and anti-anxiety drugs. He later served two months in the Cobb County jail starting in late 2005 after violating probation.
It was while incarcerated that he gave his life to Christ.
Luger now lives in a one-bedroom apartment across the street from the Shepherd Center, complete with a couple of air mattresses for guests.
And he's OK with it.
"I've never been stronger or richer in spirit or as a man as I am right now," Luger said.
=============
Former wrestlers speak out against sport's culture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/16/08
By JOHN HOLLIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/17/08
Lex Luger was "The Total Package," a buff 6-foot-4, 270-lb. professional wrestler who made $5 million a year while helping to fill arenas throughout the world.
These days, he can barely walk, tips the scales around 185 lbs. and lives in a one-bedroom apartment across the street from the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where's he undergoing therapy.
Joey Ivansco/AJCLex Luger (right) visits Steve Collins in his room at the Shepherd Center. Collins, 23, suffered a spinal cord injury from a jeep accident.
Joey Ivansco/AJCLuger, a former pro wrestler known as 'The Total Package, ' is now in rehab at the Shepherd Center to regain use of his limbs -- unable to even lift a 1-pound barbell -- after a spinal injury last fall that paralyzed him.
A severe spinal injury from 30 years of football and wrestling struck down Luger while on a cross-country flight last fall. He spent two weeks in intensive care at Stanford University Hospital in California before transferring to Shepherd in November. He's also still hobbled by double hip replacement surgery in February.
"I was one of the strongest guys on the planet," Luger said recently. "I was freaky strong before. I was bench-pressing 450 pounds my senior year of high school. I was a freak. Now I can't lift a one-pound dumbbell.
"But God tells me that mind, body and spirit and what we are as a man is measured not by our physical strength, but our inner strength."
Luger, whose real name is Lawrence Pfohl, now takes great pride in each day's small victories. Things like getting showered and shaved on his own in only 30 minutes or standing a little bit more each day. Things like trying to gradually make full amends with estranged family members he took for granted over the years, including his 17- and 21-year-old children.
The new and humbled Lex Luger is a man of strong religious conviction whose faith has helped him remain mostly upbeat.
Luger has taken it upon himself to minister to young patients at the Shepherd Center, often telling them his story of widespread abuse of drugs, steroids and alcohol at the expense of his family and health.
Luger believes he was meant to lift their spirits and give personal testimony to the importance of doing things the right way.
Life hasn't been easy for MaryAnn Collins and her family from Alabama since Steve, her 23-year-old son, broke his neck during an automobile accident in March and became a quadriplegic. But getting to know the former professional wrestler has helped.
"No matter what," MaryAnn Collins said, "when Lex comes, he makes him laugh. Just his visits brighten his day. We're lucky to have a friend like Lex."
Luger once known as 'The Narcissist'
It's a role never envisioned by those who knew Luger before.
"He used to be on the other end of the scale, as far as helping people," said close friend Steve Borden, the professional wrestler better known as "Sting."
"He was known as 'The Narcissist.' His comfort was first and foremost. If he had still been that way when this happened, he'd probably be dead right now because he probably would have just given up."
Luger, 50, was on a flight to San Francisco in late October when he began having difficulty moving his neck. Thinking it was simply a case of having sat in an awkward position for too much of the cross-country flight, he tried to jar his neck back into place, only to make his predicament worse.
Luger arrived in San Francisco in considerable pain, but was still able to function. He awoke the next morning, however, paralyzed from the neck down and unable to even call for help. A desperate Luger maneuvered onto the hotel room floor, where he remained for more than four hours.
Doctors at Stanford University Hospital noted massive swelling of his spine from the C6 to T5 vertebrae, attributing the damage to the many disc injuries and bone spurs he'd collected during three decades of football and professional wrestling.
Doctors have told Luger that previous substance abuse problems had nothing to do with his spinal trauma.
Luger remained a complete quadriplegic for more than two months, without as much as bladder or bowel control when he was transferred to the Shepherd Center in early November.
Doctors have told him the swelling usually takes about six months to recede, but it's unclear how much function he will regain. Luger has gradually improved. He can now stand on his own for brief periods and uses a walker at times.
Motor and other finger skills are usually the last functions to come back with his particular injuries. A complete recovery is a "long shot," said Dr. Gerald Bilsky, Luger's physician and Sheperd's medical director for outpatient services.
In the meantime, Luger has had to re-learn even the most elementary functions, such as going to the bathroom and how to feed and dress himself.
"You just have to rehab every day and take great blessings with what you do have back," Luger said. "Rehab and try to make what you have stronger. It's up to the Lord to do the rest."
Luger has improved enough to be released from the Shepherd Center in mid-March, but he can be found at the facility every day.
He hopes that recounting his story to patients and their families will help spare others his mistakes.
Luger's self-destructive lifestyle played a role in the death of Elizabeth Hulette, his girlfriend and former wrestling personality known as "Miss Elizabeth." Hulette died of an accidental drug overdose in 2003 in the Cobb County home the two shared.
Luger was charged with 13 counts of felony drug possession after authorities searched the home and found steroids and other body-building drugs, as well as pain medication and anti-anxiety drugs. He later served two months in the Cobb County jail starting in late 2005 after violating probation.
It was while incarcerated that he gave his life to Christ.
Luger now lives in a one-bedroom apartment across the street from the Shepherd Center, complete with a couple of air mattresses for guests.
And he's OK with it.
"I've never been stronger or richer in spirit or as a man as I am right now," Luger said.
=============
Former wrestlers speak out against sport's culture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/16/08
Editor's note: This article originally ran on Dec. 19, 2007.
Lex Luger calls himself "one of the biggest cheaters ever" during a stellar 20-year wrestling career.
The man once known as "The Total Package" did whatever it took to sustain his abuse of drugs and steroids while starring in the World Wrestling Entertainment and the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.
He was far from alone.
Many wrestlers have relied on powerful drugs —- most of them requiring prescriptions —- to soothe their aching bodies while balancing the incessant travel and the pressure to maintain the buffed, gladiator-like physiques required for the modern TV and pay-for-view wrestling world.
The pressure to keep the coveted high-paying and high-profile jobs only increased as professional wrestling morphed into a billion dollar industry in the late 1980s.
"With all that added revenue and demand, the pressure just increased, " said Robert Rechsteiner, the former wrestler known as Rick Steiner who is now a real estate agent and Cherokee County school board member. "Either you knew how to handle it or you didn't. And you compensated one way or the other."
That compensation often comes from pain killers, muscle relaxers, steroids, tranqulizers and alcohol. Usually, wrestlers will take a cocktail of several drugs at once.
The result has often been lethal.
"It's a culture that kills people, " said Cary Ichter, an Atlanta attorney who has represented a number of wrestlers in litigation against professional wrestling organizations.
More than 100 wrestlers under the age of 50 have died from various causes over the last 10 years, according to a list compiled by the London Sun newspaper, although just a few were employed by the WWE at the time of their deaths.
Lethal drug cocktail
The causes of death in a number of cases investigated by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution were similar, with each toxicology or autopsy report revealing the presence of the powerful painkiller hydrocodone and an equally potent and potentially addictive muscle relaxer called Soma.
The powerful medications were often combined with alcohol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax or another sedative.
Most recently, former WWE performer Brian "Crush" Adams, 44, died at his Tampa home on Aug. 13. The Hillsborough County, Fla., medical examiner's office attributed the accidental death to a mix of a strong painkiller with muscle relaxants and two different types of sedatives.
Dr. John Xerogeanes, the chief of sports medicine at Emory University and the team orthopedic doctor at Georgia Tech, called the Adams tragedy indicative of the larger problem facing the industry.
"All the drugs you see in those guys' bodies indicates there is a problem, " said Xerogeanes said. "Normal people don't have one of those medications in their body, let alone three of them."
The link betwen professional wrestling and drug abuse became the focus of national attention when Chris Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son before taking his own life at their Fayetteville home in late June.
Medical tests showed Benoit had nearly 10 times the normal amount of testosterone in his body at the time of his death.
The federal government indicted Phil Astin III, a Carrollton doctor who authorities say supplied Benoit with a 10-month supply of testosterone every three to four weeks from May 2006 to May 2007. Astin faces seven counts of overprescribing to two patients, but authorities have said Benoit was not one of them.
The case has prompted Congress and the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission to look into professional wrestling.
Manipulating the system
WWE chairman Vince McMahon and minor league wrestling organizations, Total Nonstop Action and the National Wrestling Alliance, have provided documents detailing the organizations' drug policies to the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Interviews are still ongoing, but hearings could soon come.
In Georgia, the Athletic and Entertainment Commission, better known as the boxing commission, is considering regulating professional wrestling in the state, although the WWE is exempt.
After protests from more than 50 wrestlers and promoters at a meeting Tuesday, the commission decided to postpone consideration of the issue for 60 days.
Something must be done quickly, said Larry Shreve, a former wrestling bad guy who used the name Abdullah The Butcher.
"It's just getting out of hand, " said Shreve, now an Atlanta restaurant owner. "All these guys are dying. Every time you turn the page or turn on the news, you hear of some wrestler dying.
"It used to be a few beers after a match. Then it progressed into a few beers and a couple of pills."
Luger, now living in Cherokee County as a man of strong religious conviction, spoke freely about his former ways.
He confessed to formerly being one of 700 patients —- from a number of different sports —- of a California doctor who would arrange for steroids and human growth hormones to arrive at Luger's door chilled on ice.
He declined to provide the doctor's name.
Finding a doctor to prescribe testosterone was easy if you could show your body level of the male hormone was low, he said. Wrestlers often did that by taking a six-week cycle of steroids, enough so that eventually the body would shut down its own natural production.
They'd wait two or three weeks before going to a doctor for blood tests that then showed low testosterone levels.
That provided the free pass necessary for more prescriptions.
"You don't have to be a doctor, " Luger said. "You just need one to write the scripts."
Luger, whose real name is Lawrence Pfohl, also was fond of an oil-based testosterone cream that can be rubbed into the body.
"It was like the fountain of youth, " he said.
Regular drug testing, which the WWE has cited as proof of its hard line against drug and steroid use following the Benoit tragedy, was hardly a deterrent.
Luger cited numerous times he wasn't asked to strip down to his knees —- as he was supposedly required —- when giving a urine sample. It was then easy to sneak in other samples in place of his own. Or the other times he'd soak his Visine-covered fingers into the sample knowing the chemicals in the eye drops would mask the drugs in his system.
And when all else failed, the 6-foot-6, 270-pounder would intimidate lab techs to witness the wrestlers provide a urine sample.
"Just imagine a guy my size giving 'em a glare and saying [something intimidating], ' " Luger said. "I was one of the biggest cheaters ever."
Changed landscape
However, WWE officials and current performers insist transgressions like his would be discovered in today's more stringent testing environment.
They point to the Wellness Program, the organization initiated in February 2006 that includes tight rules governing random drug testing and monitoring the cardiac health of its athletes.
But despite the renewed interest, some observers don't hold out hope that drug use will be curtailed.
"It's kind of like baseball, " said Greg Oliver, a Canadian freelance writer who has covered professional wrestling for more than 20 years. "It'll probably change the way we look at these guys. But will it really change anything?
"Probably not."
Sunday, May 11, 2008
101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler
101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler is by far the most controversial pro wrestling documentary ever released with an assortment of famous pro wrestlers talking about serios issues in the wrestling business such as drugs, injuries, losing a job, the "McMahon monopilization" of the wrestling industry and other issues such as backyard wrestling, mma - ufc - k1 - pride VS pro wrestling and so much more.
The DVD is filled with nearly 5 hours of backstage, in your face interviews with the biggest names in the pro wrestling industry.
ORDER: www.HollymoodEntertainment.com
The DVD is filled with nearly 5 hours of backstage, in your face interviews with the biggest names in the pro wrestling industry.
ORDER: www.HollymoodEntertainment.com
ddp on flair
The following is a brief clip from the Hollymood Entertainment DVD release, 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler.You can buy the DVD today at www.HollymoodEntertainment.com
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STEINER SPEAKS OUT
Ring Posts
Ring Posts is a Baltimore Sun blog about wrestling
Q&A with Scott Steiner“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 shit 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 if 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.
Ring Posts is a Baltimore Sun blog about wrestling
Q&A with Scott Steiner“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 shit 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 if 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.
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