Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard-Episode 72
Recap by: Denny Walker Crum
Air Date: 11/03/17
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Newsworthy Items:
-Rockabilly was originally an idea to get Honky Tonk Man back on TV
-Shawn Michaels is credited with the idea of putting The Outlaws together
-”Your ass better call somebody” was an homage to Ernie Ladd
-Bruce hated working with Isaac Hayes
-The WWF stole a lot of ideas from There’s Something about Mary because Vince loved the movie.
-The Outlaws are in Bruce’s top 5 tag teams of all-time.
(Questions are asked by Conrad and answered by Bruce unless otherwise noted. Anything in parenthesis is my own commentary.)
What Happened When…The Road Dogg Jesse James and the Bad Ass Billy Gunn joined forces to form the NEW AGE OUTLAWS?!
This show opened with a pretty cool intro from Road Dogg. And then a little New Day music to tip the hat to Kofi’s Brother Love Halloween costume on Smackdown.
They talk about last week’s episode on The Rock. Someone from Sports Illustrated wrote an article based on the episode. Rock responded to a tweet promoting the article and put Bruce Prichard over.
They warn us to skip ahead if we only wanted to hear about the New Age Outlaws because they are going to be putting themselves over for several minutes.
Conrad mentions Kofi dressing up like Brother Love and Big E as the “Alabama Dream”. Bruce loved Kofi’s costume. Conrad pointed out that Corey Graves referred to Big E as the “Alabama Dream” instead of the “African Dream” as a nod to Conrad. (I didn’t catch that on Tuesday. That is pretty cool though.)
They put over an article about Bruce in a Houston newspaper.
Conrad brings up the WWE 2K game that’s advertising for the show, New Day paid homage to them on Smackdown, and Road Dogg did their intro. Would Bruce like to address the rumor and innuendo that they are secretly on WWE’s payroll? The answer to that question in a word is no.
They congratulate the Houston Astros for winning the World Series. Bruce says they will have a special guest for their live show in Houston from the Astros. They will announce who at the end of the show.
Conrad says there is no poll for the next three weeks. They already have the shows picked out. Next week is Bret Hart ’96/’97. They will focus a little on the Montreal Screwjob. But mainly focus on Bret dropping the belt to Shawn in ’96, taking a hiatus, coming back for the overseas tour, his return, and everything that happened in his heel turn. Wrestling with Shadows as well. Conrad speculates that it will be their longest show ever.
The following week is going to be Survivor Series 2002 and the very first Elimination Chamber. Conrad runs through the rest of the card.
The week after is the 30-year anniversary of Survivor Series 87. This was Bruce’s first PPV and first time at Gorilla Position for a live event. It’s also the very first PPV that isn’t WrestleMania.
They are going to do a new poll on November 17th with a slight change. They are going to now do a week delay between polls. The show for the poll on the 17th will come out on December 1st. This is to give Conrad more prep time for his notes.
It’s time to talk about the New Age Outlaws. Conrad says they were such unlikely candidates to set the world on fire the way they did during wrestling’s most popular period. In a locker room full of Hall of Famers and all-time greats, The Roadie and Rockabilly became one of the greatest tag teams of all time.
Conrad encourages us to check out the Jeff Jarrett episode for more about the start of Road Dogg’s career. Conrad brings up the story of when Road Dogg walked out of the WWF with Jarrett that was discussed during the Jarrett episode. The WWF had lost interest in bringing Road Dogg back. How did Road Dogg get welcomed back to the company? It was a different time and different place. Jarrett was gone. Road Dogg didn’t have anywhere to go and had the ability to actually sing. (Bruce obviously sings “With My Baby Tonight” here) The thinking was to bring him back as Jesse James so they could call him “The Real Double J” with the real talent of singing. They wanted to capitalize on the original storyline with Jarrett that didn’t get a payoff.
When did they realize James could sing? They always ask guys during their interviews what their hobbies are and what they enjoy doing. They knew Steve Armstrong (Road Dogg’s brother) could sing. Road Dogg said he could sing. They figured they could capitalize on that. When his singing abilities were tested, he delivered.
Who is asking the guys what their hobbies and abilities are? Everyone in creative would try to get to know the talent the best they could. It is easier to write for someone if you know what makes them tick. If you know what their passions are and find a way to capitalize on it, that is a win for everyone.
How did Road Dogg’s singing develop? It was something he had always done. Steve could sing. They had originally brought Steve in to be a singing cowboy. Steve was the first one who told them Brian could sing. (They are going everywhere with names. Brian James, Road Dogg, Roadie, Jesse are all the same person just so there isn’t any confusion.) Brian was serving in the military at the time. Steve’s words stuck with Bruce for years.
When you have a guy who was legitimately in the military like Road Dogg, was there any consideration to give James a military gimmick? There really wasn’t. Bruce isn’t sure why. The original introduction as The Roadie fit and worked. The military background was always something they could fall back on. But it was never really discussed.
Conrad wants to take the time out to acknowledge Road Dogg’s service in the Marines. He was there from 87-93. He served in Desert Storm. He was a Marine and a Platoon Sergeant. He is a legit bad ass and a natural leader. Does Bruce agree? Hell yeah. Bruce adds Road Dogg is very proud of his country. Bruce is proud of Road Dogg for overcoming all he has in his life. He is truly an American success story.
Conrad says that people are going to point at some of James’ struggles and wonder how has risen in the ranks backstage at WWE, but wants to remind us that he was leading Marines in a war for years. He is a natural leader.
Conrad wants to mention to newer listeners who may not know, James comes from one of the most famous families in wrestling. They are more southern-based. He says the Armstrong’s are the Hart family of below the Mason-Dixon Line. “Bullet” Bob was a star who ran spot shows. He was a big deal everywhere he went. All of his sons got into the business. Scott, Brad, Steve, and Brian. Bruce adds Bob was also a Marine and firefighter. Scott works with the WWE as a referee.
Brad was talented in the ring and behind the scenes. Did Bruce ever have any interactions with Brad Armstrong? Bruce knew Brad very well. Brad was Tom Prichard’s best friend. Brad was one of the best natural workers inside the ring. In the locker room he was hilarious, witty, and a good guy. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the personality and wit out of him while the camera was rolling.
Conrad notes James has the history of the business in his DNA. Billy Gunn took a totally different route to get into the business than James did. He came into the WWF in 1993 with his kayfabe brother Bart as the Smoking Gunns. How did they come in? Who’s idea was the cowboy gimmick? They were working in Orlando. Bruce saw their stuff. They were already doing a cowboy gimmick. They were comfortable with the gimmick and it seemed to fit them. They were both big guys. Both of them in the 6’4”-6’5” range. Wide and solid. They are deceivingly big.
The Gunns had a good run. They won the Tag Team Championship on three different occasions. At one point, they were paired with Sunny. Why were they turned heel? Because they had gone as far as they could with them as babyfaces. The fans were sick of the “good cowboys” gimmick.
They do a break-up angle and have a singles match on Raw. Bart hit Billy with a Stun Gun (the move, not the weapon) and Billy just lays there and doesn’t move. They had his wife come down with a bunch of officials. Was that his real wife? Bruce believes it was. The reasoning behind this is to make it a blood feud.
When they first did this split, it looked like the WWF saw singles potential in both of them. Who did the company think was going to be the bigger star of the two? They didn’t know. They put them in a feud on equal footing to try and figure it out. They thought Bart had more natural heel tendencies. They were wrong. Billy is a natural heel.
From here, Billy would become Rockabilly, where he would be managed by Honky Tonk Man. This seems out of place considering the Attitude Era was on the horizon. Conrad has to ask, who booked this s**t? Bruce laughs and does his Vince impression. It was Vince’s idea. This is how things happen sometimes. Vince thought Honky could contribute as a manager. It was more of a vehicle to get Honky back on TV than it was to do something with Billy.
Where did Vince see the upside of bringing in a character who was over ten years earlier into the present WWF? They didn’t have anything for Billy. The sell was Honky could maybe get him over with promos and give Billy a rub.
How does Bruce think it worked? Bruce does his Cornette impression here. It didn’t work, basically.
Conrad brings up what Bruce said in the Doink episode about the office thinking Doink could headline WrestleMania with a circus theme and how ridiculous that notion is to fans. He makes that comparison to why Vince thinks Honky Tonk Man was a good pairing for Billy. Bruce says he would go scout talent and tell Vince how good of a worker or talent certain guys were. Vince didn’t care. He just wanted to know if they could headline WrestleMania. When you scout talent from that perspective, you have to go through that exercise. There are a lot of guys who are good workers. Vince just doesn’t care. He wants them to be a good worker, be larger than life, and talk people into the building.
Rockabilly and James are working together at house shows at this point. Allegedly, they went to Russo because they weren’t happy with their Rockabilly and Real Double J gimmicks. The rumor and innuendo is Russo decides to put them together. Road Dogg says that the New Age Outlaws were one of Russo’s first projects. He credits Russo’s writing to a lot of their success. Russo says it was McMahon who put the Outlaws together and he didn’t see anything in them at the time. How does Bruce remember it? Russo didn’t see anything in them individually. The first time he remembers the pairing suggestion was from Shawn Michaels pitching the idea to McMahon and Bruce. Vince loved it. Bruce also has to praise Russo for the 2nd week in a row. He says Russo’s writing did have a lot to do with The Outlaws success.
Billy Gunn has yet a different story. (How many different ways could this have happened?) The first time they were put together, they were supposed to do a run-in during an Undertaker/Michaels match. They were on their way out, they hear from the back they were going out too soon. They stop to kill time in front of the crowd until they were supposed to go out. The next week they are put together as a team. This was sort of a rib on them. Does Bruce remember this being a rib? No, it was not a rib.
Bruce digresses and goes on a tangent about the legitimacy of their fan polls. He says he likes to know what the fans want to hear about. They don’t like to decide which shows to do, so they leave it up to the fans.
On an episode of Shotgun Saturday Night, after another loss by Rockabilly, James comes out and asks Billy to drop Honky Tonk Man and join him. Billy smashes the guitar over Honky’s head. Is the experiment with Honky done? There were no long-term plans. Vince had discussed doing something with him on commentary. But Honky knew there were no long-term plans and he was there to try to get Billy over.
How did the react to finally being put together as a team? Like kids in a toy store. It was something new. They saw it as an opportunity to go beyond what they were doing at the time. Bruce thinks they knew Shawn endorsed them. They thought Vince was excited about it.
Very early on, they didn’t have entrance music. Road Dogg would just talk on the mic as they made their way to the ring. Who’s idea was that? Bruce thinks it was Road Dogg’s idea. “Your a** better call somebody” came from Ernie Ladd. It was different and unique.
The audience was so engaged with what they were doing, they would start doing Road Dogg’s catchphrases before he would as soon as their music hit.
What was the original plan with putting them together? To give a different look to the tag-team scene. This was two guys who were cool. They weren’t like the other tag-teams that dressed alike. They had their own identity.
Where do the names Road Dogg and Bad Ass come from? Road Dogg came from The Roadie name. It just morphed into Road Dogg. Billy became Bad Ass Billy Gunn because it helped the intro fit. Eventually, as a joke, they referred to him as Mr. Ass. Since his first name is Bad and his last name is Ass, if you were to refer to him properly, you would call him Mr. Ass.
Conrad goes over some random match results. Based on who they were wrestling and the fact they were on Shotgun Saturday Night, it didn’t feel like there were big plans for them. This brings us to their first PPV, which was Survivor Series ’97. The Outlaws were the survivors of their match.
A few weeks after the PPV, they defeat the Legion of Doom to win the Tag Team Titles. Coming to the ring, the Outlaws wore the Legion of Doom shoulder pads. Road Dogg mocked Hawk’s “What a Rush” catchphrase. After the match, Gunn and Road Dogg ran to their car with the belts and drove away. Ross said they looked like bank robbers leaving the bank.
How did LOD feel about losing the belts to the Outlaws? They didn’t really have a problem with it. They realized this was the Outlaws first big push. LOD knew they could give them the rub and needed credible opponents, so they had to get someone over.
This was Gunn’s fourth time as champion. This was Road Dogg’s first time holding gold. Conrad speculates this was a big deal to beat the Road Warriors for Road Dogg since he grew up in Georgia. There’s a rumor that Road Dogg would put his belt in the back window of his car so people could see it when he’s driving. Allegedly, he wore the belt through some airports. Are these rumors true? Bruce can confirm wearing the belt in the airport. He jokes that everyone puts their belt in the back window so everyone knows there’s a champion coming through.
Not long after they win the titles, JR starts to refer to them as the Outlaws on TV.
Conrad goes over more random match results. They get to an angle where Cactus Jack would bring in Terry Funk as Chainsaw Charlie. Conrad speculates this sounds like a Jim Cornette idea. Bruce does his Cornette impression. (It’s hilarious, every time Conrad tries to move on when he thinks Bruce is done, Bruce jumps back in with a “mother f**ker”. I laugh every single time.)
Terry Funk came into the company here but didn’t want to be Terry Funk. He wanted to be Chainsaw Charlie. Bruce says he was told to call Funk to see if he wanted to team with Foley. Bruce explained to him the idea with The Outlaws. Funk wanted to pay homage to his childhood friend who died of cancer. Funk and his friend would call their local barber Chainsaw Charlie. It was Funk’s idea. Bruce thought it was interesting. It was Terry Funk, let him do whatever he wants.
LOD faces Triple H and Shawn Michaels in the main event of Raw. The Outlaws would interfere and cause a DQ. They shaved Hawk’s head and powerbombed Animal through the announce table. This was a glimpse into the future. It was done to give the Outlaws the rub of working with Shawn and Hunter.
Conrad mentions the talk of Shawn and Hunter playing politics against other wrestlers in the past. How did the Outlaws gain the favor of those two? It came from Shawn seeing them on the house shows and pitching the idea for them to be together. Then once they got together seeing how well it worked. Best of Bruce’s recollection, it was Shawn’s idea to bring the Outlaws into DX.
Conrad gets to the debut of Chainsaw Charlie. Cactus Jack defeated Road Dogg by DQ while a mystery box sits at the entrance ramp. Cactus and the Outlaws fight up the ramp to the box and Chainsaw noises start. Bruce says the trick to the chainsaw gimmick is you fixate the chain and dull the blades. So if you hit something metal, sparks come out. But you won’t get cut by it. They rehearsed it during the day. They used a real chainsaw to cut through the box, then handed Funk the gimmick chainsaw to take out to the ring. Funk got out to the ring and lifted the chainsaw above his head. The chainsaw had gasoline in it. The gas is coming down Funk’s face and clothes. His vision is already obstructed by the pantyhose on his head and the gas made it worse. Funk was hitting the chainsaw on the ring post to make sparks. The safety guy in the back was in the back freaking out thinking the sparks could catch the gas and set Funk on fire.
February of ’98 on Raw, Cactus Jack was facing Chainsaw Charlie in a match. There was a dumpster at the top of the ramp. The Outlaws attacked them, locked them up in the dumpster, and pushed them off the ramp. Conrad and Bruce put over how Jim Ross called the action.
Who’s idea was the dumpster? Bruce thinks it was Vince’s idea. He remembers rehearsing it and trying to make it safe for Foley and Funk. He didn’t think it was going to be possible. Funk just wanted to take the bump. But they padded up the inside of the dumpster and some things for them to hold on to so they wouldn’t land on their heads. It was scary even after all of the safety measures were in place.
Conrad does some more match results. He gets to the No Way Out PPV where it was Cactus Jack, Chainsaw Charlie, Steve Austin, and Owen Hart on the same team as they defeated the Outlaws, Savio Vega, and Triple H. Michaels was originally in the match, but his back injury forced him out.
Why was Vega the guy to fill Shawn’s spot? Vega was the go-to guy. He a utility guy. He didn’t have anything going on and could work his ass off.
Conrad gets to WrestleMania XIV where Cactus and Chainsaw Charlie defeat the Outlaws for the Tag Team Championship in a Dumpster Match. When did it go from an angle with the dumpster to using it as a match? When it got over the way it did. It was something unique.
Storyline-wise, the Outlaws protested they didn’t get put in the right dumpster since they didn’t go in the one by the ring. This led to a rematch the following night on Raw. Before the match, they showed highlights of Funk being treated after the match the previous night. Funk had a massive bruise that Road Dogg said he didn’t sell one bit. How tough is Terry Funk? Funk had the massive bruise, he refused medical treatment. It was ugly. Funk’s wife knows when he is okay and when he might not be okay. They were at the WrestleMania party, Funk made his way into the production office at the hotel. Someone came to get Bruce and told him Funk’s wife is looking for him. She told Bruce Terry might not be okay and won’t go to the hospital. She wants Bruce to talk to him. Bruce finds Funk who insists he is okay. Bruce looked at the bruise, and it had gotten worse. Bruce got the doctor. The doctor told Funk he had to go to the hospital. At this time, they had a really high tech security team that was interviewing for a job they had used for WrestleMania. Bruce gets the security team to discreetly get Funk into an ambulance. Funk asked Bruce for a lot of alcohol for the trip to the hospital because the doctors will tell him he can’t drink anymore for the rest of the night and the bar might not be open when he got back. Bruce obliged against his better judgment. Funk went to the hospital, came back and said he was fine. To this day he doesn’t know how much damage was really done to Funk since he completely no-sold it. Also, the bar was still open when Funk got back.
This Raw was the coming out party for the new DX. This is the night after WrestleMania. Conrad asks if this is the first time the Raw after WrestleMania is a big deal? Bruce says they didn’t have live Raws before this. So yeah, it was. This was the era of being live. This was the beginning of their new year.
On this Raw, the Outlaws would defeat Cactus and Chainsaw Charlie to regain the Tag Team Championship inside of a “salad” steel cage. Earlier in the night, Waltman returned to the company from WCW and cut a memorable promo. Triple H, X-Pac, and Chyna run out and X-Pac hits Cactus with a chair as he is trying to climb out. They beat down Cactus and Funk. At the end, Hunter, Pac, and the Outlaws each climbed one corner of the cage and it is strongly insinuated that the Outlaws have officially joined DX.
Road Dogg has said Shawn and Hunter noticed how over the Outlaws were getting and approached them about joining. They played hard to get for a few minutes before agreeing to join. Conrad goes over some of the history between the men. Road Dogg and Hunter were both in WCW in 93. Road Dogg’s dad had fired Shawn from Continental Wrestling once upon a time. How does Bruce remember this night since this feels like a change of the guard with Shawn out, Hunter in charge and the three new members? Losing Shawn left a big void. So they needed to create a faction. The Outlaws would be the tag team, X-Pac was the utility guy, and Hunter was the singles guy.
Conrad brings up the segment where Pac and the Outlaws urinated on DOA’s motorcycles. He says this feels like a Russo idea. Bruce says it was a McMahon idea. If you go back and look at that, the urine is true urine color. It was “working” (fake) urine. Bruce jokes saying they got it from Urine-Is-Us. Bruce credits Richie Posner for this. Posner came to Bruce to make sure it was the right temperature and color was right. Bruce told Posner the people watching wouldn’t be able to tell the temperature.
Conrad gets Bruce to do his Vince impression to tell him what it would sound like when Vince pitches this idea.
Conrad moves on to April 27, 1998. This is the iconic day that DX invaded Nitro. What does Bruce remember about this? It was something they talked about in a production meeting. Someone asked what would happen if this was back in the day and a rival promotion was coming in your backyard. Well, they would send their toughest guys straight to their front door. The opportunity presented itself when both promotions were in Virginia. Bruce produced all of the invasion segments. Russo worked a lot with them as well. Bruce had been given what he could and couldn’t do from Vince. Vince told the guys Bruce has the final say and if Bruce had to pull them back, the guys had to listen to Bruce. You never know what you can run into. They were told by their lawyers not to go into the building under any circumstances. The biggest thing that came out of this from a talent perspective is every member of DX was ready to fight. They weren’t afraid. They were ready to make noise to make sure this got over big time. Road Dogg saw the door was open and proposed going toward the door. Bruce told them they could go down the ramp because it was technically a street and not the building. DX impressed Bruce with how far they took everything without crossing the line. A lot of guys wouldn’t have done what they did. When they were discussing what to do if Meng led a group of guys out to confront them, Bruce suggested they feed him to Meng because he felt like Meng wouldn’t “eat” him. Meng and Bruce had a friendship and Bruce didn’t think he would be killed. Road Dogg joked that he would kick his brother’s ass if he came out. Everyone in the group wanted the confrontation. They knew this was their opportunity to stand out.
Of the three invasions at the live event, CNN Center, and WCW headquarters, which is the most memorable and which is the least memorable? They were all equally memorable because they had different sets of confrontations. There were so many great stories. Cops were called on them in Norfolk. At WCW headquarters, they called 911 and screamed they were being attacked with weapons. The entire police department showed up. At CNN, it was a great story about how Bruce kept the crew there. They requested to talk to Ted Turner and got many Turner employees on camera doing the DX chop.
Bruce tells a sidebar story about when they went to WCW headquarters. There was a sign on the grass that says “No trespassing and no solicitors”. Road Dogg jumped off the tank and makes fun of the sign. He made a joke about it looking like it was in French and read the sign poorly. In the deposition during the lawsuit, Bruce was trying to say they weren’t trespassing or soliciting. They just knocked on the door and wanted to talk to Eric Bischoff. The lawyer asked him if he knew there was a sign-up. Bruce said no. The lawyer played Bruce that tape of them by the sign.
Conrad brings up the Outlaws winning Tag Team of the Year in the Observer. Meltzer made it clear that it was due to their charisma and not their work rate. How does Bruce respond? You can get his response by checking out his “FDM” shirt on his website. (FDM = F**k Dave Meltzer. Bruce really doesn’t like Meltzer.)
Conrad brings up a Triple Threat Tag Match where the Outlaws won when Billy pinned Road Dogg. This gave birth to the “Outlaw Rule” which states partners cannot pin each other in Triple Threat Matches. Creative finish. Who’s idea? It was Russo’s idea.
Around this time, Road Dogg starts doing his famous introduction and throwing it to Billy for the “If you’re not down with that…” line. This got crazy over. Who’s idea was this? It was Road Dogg’s idea. Nobody anticipated it would get over as much as it did. This was a time period when the audience is singing along with a lot of talent. The fans loved being part of the show.
The Outlaws fought the New Midnight Express in an unannounced match at King of the Ring ’98. The match was added last minute. Conrad felt it was odd considering how over The Outlaws were. What does Bruce remember about putting them on the show without announcing it? It was last minute, something they needed for time. It was also an era of Vince Russo’s crash TV. They didn’t always announce all of the matches for TV or PPV. They mostly focused on promoting the top matches.
Around this time, the fans start to turn DX babyface. They start feuding with The Nation. Bruce says they were cool. They were young, tough, and cool. No matter what they did, the audience loved it.
Conrad brings up the infamous DX segment when they impersonate The Nation. He mentions every time they talk about it, Bruce gets criticized for not criticizing blackface enough. He gives Bruce another chance to show his outrage for this. Bruce mockingly says he is outraged. They’ve mentioned this before, Bruce thinks Road Dogg stole the show with his impersonation of D-Lo. (For a more in-depth story about this, check out my recap of last week’s show about The Rock. I give my candid thoughts on this segment and Bruce’s apathy for blackface.)
The Outlaws eventually dropped the Tag Team Titles to Kane and Mankind on Raw. Kane and Mankind almost immediately lose them to Austin and Undertaker. Do the Outlaws have a problem with this? Absolutely not. They didn’t need the championships. They had a personal feud with The Nation. The feud between Kane/Mankind and Austin/Undertaker did need the championship.
Why was a hot act like the Outlaws left off Fully Loaded ’98? They had so much to put on the PPV and so much to feature. Sometimes it is good to leave a hot act off a card so the audience craves it more. Conrad says the fans are getting a break from Roman right now. They bring up times where guys went away for awhile and came back really over like Seth and Triple H when he went down with his quad injury. Conrad says this feels like a copout in the Outlaws case here. Bruce blames Russo and makes some jokes. It was pretty funny.
Conrad moves on to a Street Fight between The Nation and DX. Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice come down and attack X-Pac. They beat Pac down and cut off a piece of his hair. Conrad notes it feels like Jarrett and Southern Justice feel out of place here. He jokingly asks if Jarrett had nude photos of Russo’s mom. Bruce answers jokingly saying “so,” but answers it was to get X-Pac and Jarrett into their hair match.
The Outlaws beat Mankind at SummerSlam ’98 for the Tag Team Titles. This was Billy Gunn’s sixth Tag Team Championship, which was a record at the time. It was supposed to be Kane and Mankind, but they were having problems so Mankind went out there alone. Kane was hiding in the dumpster by the ring and hit Mankind with a sledgehammer. This shot has been highly criticized over the years. What did Bruce think of the sledgehammer shot? It was a “theater of the mind” type shot. Bruce feels like sometimes what you don’t see is better than what you do see. If we saw the shot and it was weak, people would have groaned at it. But since we didn’t see it, it allows our minds to wonder.
Conrad and Bruce argue a bit about the “theater of the mind” comment. Bruce uses an example from a recent Raw when Kane gave the Tombstone to Finn Balor. He referred to Balor as “the little fellow” and says if the camera would have cut at the right time, it would have looked like it killed him. Conrad encourages us to send our hate tweets about the Balor dig to Bruce. Bruce says he likes Finn, but likes the Demon character a lot more.
Conrad goes over a few more random match results. He gets to a big Raw for Billy Gunn where he pinned Jeff Jarrett and later teamed with Austin after Vince scheduled Austin and a volunteer to take on Kane and Undertaker. Conrad finds this interesting because Austin and DX hadn’t been involved with each other much. Why was this done? To test the waters with Billy? Bruce believes they picked a name out of a box. He doesn’t think there was any rhyme or reason.
Conrad goes over more match results and gets to an interesting scheduling note. The Outlaws worked two shows on consecutive nights. It isn’t something Conrad runs into often. Does Bruce know why that was done? The business was really booming. There was a big demand, so they went back to how things worked in the 80’s. They were concentrating on the weekend schedules since the middle of the week didn’t draw well. So they doubled down on the weekend to capitalize on hot business.
They move on to Survivor Series ’98 where the Outlaws worked a Triple Threat Match. The match got a poor review by Meltzer where he cited that three-way matches are almost always awful. Conrad notes that Bruce is a pretty old school guy and asks his opinion on three-way matches. Bruce says a three-way match with three guys is a good concept. When you add tag teams, you have an extra three guys in there, and it makes it tough. The rationale doesn’t always make sense with tag teams.
The Outlaws beat Kurrgan and Golga. Conrad asks Bruce what his favorite Kurrgan match was. Bruce jokes it was against Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes. He goes on to say Kurrgan was too nice to be in the wrestling business. He could have been a much bigger star. He didn’t have a lot of personality though.
Conrad asks whose idea it was to bring Earthquake back as Golga. The original idea behind Golga was to be this deformed monster with a burlap sack outfit and his mask was going to have a huge knot in it. They would tell the story about how disfigured he was. They knew Tenta could work. Vince was looking for a way to hide the fact that he was Earthquake and all of his other gimmicks in WCW. Golga would give Tenta new life. The mask didn’t work out the way they wanted it to. The bulge would move when he worked. Then someone suggested the knot be in a different place on his head every time he came out. It didn’t work.
How was Tenta’s response when he got pitched this idea? He really liked the original Golga idea. Once it didn’t get over and they started with the goofy stuff, it went downhill. Bruce thinks it could have worked if they could have made him a monster.
Conrad notes that South Park and the WWF were both on fire as far as ratings and merchandise go. Did they have a working relationship with them? Or was Golga just carrying the Cartman doll out to the ring? Bruce wishes they would have had a relationship with them. They tried to get some of the WWF guys on South Park, but it never came to be. It was a way to capitalize on the popularity of the show. Did South Park not want to work with the WWF? That wasn’t the case. They had a time when Isaac Hayes came in and sang Chocolate Salty Balls. Bruce says Hayes was a “miserable prick.”
They talk about Golga’s Cartman shirt. Bruce goes into a sidebar story about how Jim Cornette would always wear t-shirts to Vince’s house when they would do work there. The shirts would have goofy phrases on them that always made Vince laugh. Vince had to be shown what South Park was.
What does Vince watch on television? Sometimes Linda would get into shows like ER. Vince would watch some of that show sometimes. He loves movies. He watches the Washington Redskins play football. What was his favorite movie back in the day? Anything comedic. Vince loved There’s Something About Mary. Bruce says they stole a lot of gags from that movie. That was the premise behind Mae Young flashing. Conrad finds it interesting that Vince has watched ER since there were so many angles done in hospitals. Bruce says Vince watches things when people suggest things to him. But he works all the time.
Conrad asks about Insane Clown Posse. Was this a Russo idea? 100%. What was Bruce’s favorite memory of working with ICP? When he knew it was the last time he would be working with them. Did they rub him the wrong way or did he just not think they belonged there? Bruce just didn’t think they belonged there. They are actually decent guys. They came in and had to work with Tom Prichard to see if they could deliver in the ring. They didn’t want them to get hurt or to hurt someone else. They had seen some ICP matches that weren’t good. ICP didn’t look like they knew what they were doing. They weren’t properly trained. They came in and took bumps and worked. Hats off to them. But Bruce didn’t think it fit.
The night after Rock Bottom, DX impersonates The Corporation. This was fun, but not nearly as memorable or as popular as the Nation impersonation. What does Bruce remember about this segment? Why wasn’t it as popular? The reason it wasn’t as popular is because it wasn’t the first time. Bruce felt like this one was just as, if not more entertaining. Bruce thought it was well done.
December 14, 1998 Raw if you want to check it out on the WWE Network.
Later in the show, Shamrock and Bossman beat the Outlaws for the Tag Team Titles when Shawn Michaels hits Gunn and Shamrock puts Gunn in the Ankle Lock. Why was all of this done? Shawn was available and they were thinking about doing something with him. They wanted to use his star power, this was a way to reintroduce Shawn back into the mix.
A week later, Road Dogg beat Bossman to win the Hardcore Title. Another unexpected title change. At this point, Road Dogg hadn’t even wrestled a Hardcore match. Is this them trying to test the waters of a singles run for the Outlaws? Yes, but it was also a time where anything could happen. Tag teams could compete in singles competition or vice-versa. There was no rhyme or reason. They just threw stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
Royal Rumble ’99, the Outlaws are both in singles matches and in the Royal Rumble match. What was the logic behind splitting up such a hot team after they were floundering in the mid-card before they were together? Bruce thinks it makes perfect sense. If you have a hot team and they have run their course, it is time to break them up. Instead of having two guys selling one merchandise item, they thought they could have two guys selling two things and hope that separately they could be as valuable as they are together. It wasn’t happening at this point, but they didn’t want to give up on them. Bruce loved watching Billy work with Shamrock.
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, there’s a match for the vacant Hardcore Championship. The storyline was Road Dogg was out with an injury. The rumor and innuendo is he was in rehab. What can Bruce tell us about this? He was in a bad way. He was doing pretty much any drug you could get your hands on. It was a period when guys were doing things after the show, but Road Dogg would show up to the shows messed up. It was hurting his work. One time, they sent him home from a TV taping. It may have been St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Bruce was the one who had to tell Road Dogg he needed to get help. When they walked into the hotel, Road Dogg was in the lobby. Vince didn’t want to talk to him, so he had Bruce do it. Bruce pulled him to the side and talked to him. Road Dogg started crying and confessed everything to Bruce and admitted he needed help. Even that night, he was high and drunk. His wife had even reached the point where she didn’t want Road Dogg coming home.
They discuss what is basically wrestling culture. Conrad brings up Ric Flair’s 30 for 30 ESPN special. Flair drank a lot, but never worked drunk. People didn’t care what he would do after the show as long as he performed. Bruce says they had the same attitude with drugs. As long as it wasn’t affecting performance or causing a scene in public, people didn’t care. Conrad notes that people are going to feel like Vince should do more. There are two schools of thought here. The thought of people not wanting to be the morality police and letting them live their lives, and the thought of “I should take care of everybody.” That means not just when they are at work, but when they are away from work. Which side did Vince fall on? How did Vince rationalize some drugs being okay as long as he’s not messed up at work? There is some partial truth to that. Vince is the first person to help someone if they need help. In this case, he just didn’t know. He was insulated. They weren’t around the talent all the time. They could only judge based on what they see. The boys will protect each other as much as they can when it comes to things like that. When they did find out, there was an effort to help those guys. They didn’t want to get those phone calls. If they were told about problems, they acted on it. Once they got that information, if they didn’t act on it, yes they would be responsible. It’s not fair to say they should have known. Conrad notes that it may not feel like it right now, but this is a happy story. We have the benefit of knowing things are much better for Road Dogg now.
Conrad notes as bad as you feel for Road Dogg, you kind of feel bad for Billy Gunn here too. He is working without a net. Bruce agrees. That is often what happens to the guy on the other side. It can happen if your opponent in a program messes up and you’re now sitting there with nothing. It affected people Road Dogg was working with and Billy too.
Road Dogg would return from rehab at the beginning of March. What was the conversations like with him on his way in and out? As far as going in, it is kind of tough to rationalize with someone who is in that situation. They aren’t in the right frame of mind. Until they see it, it is hard for them to accept your words. They think they can do it on their own without help. Once they get in there and embrace the work and therapy, it gets better. The hard part comes when they get out of rehab. They were there for Brian. He had a good support system. Triple H didn’t drink or do drugs or party like that. He had Road Dogg ride with him so he wouldn’t see any kind of temptation.
Road Dogg would eventually beat Val Venis for the Intercontinental Title. A lot of people assumed it would be Billy who would win the IC belt. But Road Dogg won it just a few week out of rehab. Did anyone have an issue with that? Some of the guys felt like Road Dogg screwed up, went to rehab, and was rewarded with the belt. Bruce felt like it was a valid complaint. McMahon and Russo wanted to throw him right back in to see what he could handle and to help him through. Conrad asks who specifically would have an issue with this? Bruce thinks Val had a small issue. At the time, Val was a straight-laced guy. Didn’t party a lot.
Same Raw, Gunn won the Hardcore Title. It feels like the Outlaws switched roles. Who’s idea was this? Russo and McMahon’s. They had the “anything can happen” philosophy.
Gunn and Road Dogg would eventually square off in a title vs title match. It goes to a no-contest when Al Snow, Goldust, and Venis attacked them. The Outlaws teamed together to fight them off. This was done to remind people of the team because they were stronger as a unit.
Why was there a flirtation with putting the Outlaws together, then apart again? Was it Russo keeping things in a state of flux? Yes. Russo would argue the plan was to not know what was going on.
The Outlaws would come down after Triple H turned on X-Pac at WrestleMania XV. They would get beat up by Hunter. Was there any thought of keeping The Outlaws together with Pac? The real thinking was trying to get Road Dogg and Billy in singles. They were moving with Pac and Kane. They wanted to build that relationship. There was no consideration to adding Kane to DX. Keep them associated with DX since it was a hot brand. But let Hunter split and do his thing.
The night after Raw, Road Dogg dropped the IC Title to Goldust. Goldust could have won the belt at WrestleMania, why not do the title change then instead of Raw the next night? More people would see it on Raw and to have a happy babyface ending at WrestleMania.
Billy Gunn debuts new music and is now going by Mr. Ass. How did this come to be? Did Vince and Russo just find this to be hilarious? Yes, they did. This is how crazy things could get. Road Dogg was the better talker and worker. Billy had the better look. Vince was determined that Billy could put it all together with the right gimmick and story. Bruce felt like it was like a fart in church.
Was this something Gunn was excited about? He appeared to be excited. Bruce’s feeling is it was hard to get behind or to hate a guy whose gimmick is Mr. Ass. Mr. Ass isn’t something you want to see on the marquee.
The Outlaws finally officially split up. This feels like something they may not have been happy about considering the success they had together. Bruce says there were some mixed emotions. There were some feelings they did want to be on their own so they wouldn’t have to split it. (I assume by “it” he means merch checks.) Road Dogg was always looked at as a utility guy. You could always count on him to have a good match with anyone. Billy had to have the right opponent in a singles match.
Conrad notes people always compare tag teams who break up to the Rockers. One of them went on to have great success while one of them was never the same. At this point, did they think they knew who the breakout singles star would be? Vince was hoping Billy would be the breakout star. Most people felt Road Dogg was the guy who had everything except the look. Bruce doesn’t think the Rockers comparison is fair here. Bruce notes when the Rockers split, the company thought both men had upside. Bruce asks Conrad who he feels is the Shawn and Marty in this instance. Conrad says Road Dogg did more, but Billy was likely the apple of Vince’s eye at the time of the breakup. Bruce agrees.
Going into May, Rock worked with Billy a lot. Bruce chimes in saying they were like oil and water. How did Rock like working with Billy? Why didn’t they click better than they did? They didn’t have chemistry. The matches stunk. Rock didn’t enjoy it. Billy was too concerned with the gimmick instead of getting better in the ring.
Billy defeated Road Dogg at Over The Edge ’99. This was the show where Owen Hart had his tragic accident. The match happened after the accident. Did Bruce get a chance to talk to them about performing after something like that happens? He never talked to them after the fact. It’s a moment of time you try to forget. He didn’t want to go back and rehash it. Bruce thinks they likely thought it was an awful situation to be in.
Conrad moves on to Billy winning the King of the Ring in ’99. It looks like his assumption that Vince believed Billy could be the guy was correct. This is the same tournament that made Triple H and Austin. What does Bruce have to say? They hoped it was the launching pad for him. It would give Billy something to brag about. Conrad noted Road Dogg lost in the semifinals to X-Pac, who would lose to Gunn in the Finals. Why wasn’t it Road Dogg vs Billy in the finals? To save it for a PPV they could hype. This was a tournament. It was supposed to be the anointing of Billy, don’t confuse it any more by having his former partner in the match with him.
At Fully Loaded ’99, X-Pac and Road teamed to defeat Billy and Chyna. What does Bruce remember about this all DX tag match? It was a cluster f**k. There were so many different stories, issues, and angles going on. Bruce prefers a more simplistic story.
Conrad moves to a story from the Observer. Meltzer reported Austin didn’t want to work a cold match with no story against Billy the night after a First Blood Match with Undertaker. Austin preferred to just cut a promo since he was a little tired and beat up. Austin seemed to not have an issue working with Gunn if there was a story, but didn’t want to do that particular match for no reason. What does Bruce remember about this incident? Steve was right. There was no reason to have the match. Steve and Undertaker had just beat the hell out of each other the night before. Things like this bugged Bruce because they would have these great PPV matches, then come out on Raw and just pretend like nothing happened to have a cold match. Steve wanted a story. The story at the time was for Rock and Billy. Nothing for Steve. Also, selling the match from the night before is more important than just working a match against someone.
July and August, Billy and Road Dogg were working each other on house shows in a Dog Collar Match. What does Bruce remember about this? The guys enjoyed doing it. Bruce and JR suggested it because it made sense with Road Dogg’s name. It was a way to have a big match on the house shows different than TV.
Billy is being prepped for a match with Rock at SummerSlam. They do an angle on Raw where Billy is complaining about a rash on his ass. Rock comes out and introduces the woman who massaged Billy’s ass earlier in the night with poison ivy. Billy hits Rock with a kendo stick and then rubs his ass on Rock’s face. Who’s idea was this? Not Bruce’s idea. Bruce asks who likes to have people kiss his ass on TV? Then does his Vince impression sounding like Vince is pitching this idea.
Rock would beat Billy at SummerSlam. The following night on Raw, it seems like Rock buried Billy on commentary during a Triple H vs Mankind match. Rock says “Rock vs. Billy Gunn, who booked this crap?” The following week, Rock worked Brooklyn Brawler. What does Bruce remember about Rock on commentary here? Rock did that all on his own. He was right. The match at SummerSlam sucked. Rock was frustrated. He’s a perfectionist. Conrad notes the fans have believed Rock’s comments hurt Billy’s singles run, but it seems like the match at SummerSlam hurt Billy more because Vince wasn’t going to place blame on Rock for that. Bruce agrees.
What was Vince’s reaction to such a bad match? It sucked. They had high expectations. They expected Billy to step up and Rock to elevate him. Neither happened. The harder they tried, the worse it got. No chemistry.
At this point, is Vince ready to pull the plug on the Billy experiment? Not outwardly. Billy had breathing issues. The reason he worked so well in tag teams is he wasn’t going out there and having to work a whole match by himself. He didn’t have the wind to do it. He was in great shape, but his condition hampered him.
Does someone sit him down and tell Billy he has to get in better cardio shape if he’s going to be a top guy? Yes. Both Vince and JR told him. Conrad says he has friends who work in the WWE or have worked there, and they don’t get that kind of feedback after a match. Nobody tells them it didn’t work and here is why. Does everyone just not get that kind of treatment? When Bruce was there, Vince, JR, and himself always had those conversations with guys. It’s not fair to the talent if they don’t have those conversations.
Was there any sort of heat with Rock and Gunn given the bad match and the dig on commentary? It blurs the line of reality, but that is something Rock would say in character. Billy probably felt like Rock could have given him more. Billy is an incredible tag team wrestler. It was tough on the singles route for him.
Billy goes from working with Rock at Summerslam to losing to Chyna in under three minutes. Is there a bigger fall than this? Yeah, he could have lost to Brooklyn Brawler.
On a Smackdown in September, The New Age Outlaws make a surprise return and beat the Rock-N-Sock Connection for the Tag Team Championship. Bruce says this was basically a hail mary. They had two great talents who were just better together.
Conrad goes over some match results. Then gets to a singles match between Road Dogg and Chris Jericho. This was shortly after Jericho debuted. It has been written about that Jericho didn’t get off to a great start. He has a hot debut, but then kind of flounders. What was the thinking behind putting Jericho with Road Dogg here? To see how he can get over with someone else. Give Jericho a push by putting him in the ring with someone who is over.
A few weeks after winning the titles, the Outlaws dropped them back to Rock and Mankind. It feels like they were playing hot potato with the belts. What was the thinking here? It was during a time of hot potato with all of the championships.
Conrad notes the differences between Billy as a singles wrestler and him in a tag team. As a singles, he is losing to Chyna in just a few minutes. But in the Outlaws, he is main eventing against Rock and Austin. The Outlaws get the victory as Triple H and X-Pac interfere to reunite DX. What’s the thought behind putting DX back together? Nostalgia. DX worked. The singles experiment didn’t work. So put them back together since that was working before.
The Outlaws beat Mankind and Al Snow to capture the Tag Team Championships again. On his way to the ring, Road Dogg has Al Snow’s action figure. He talks about how they were pulled from the shelves because people were accusing Snow’s character of abusing women and cutting off their heads. What does Bruce remember about this? It was absolutely silly. Domestic abuse is a serious issue. To look at an action figure that had a mannequin head with it and compare it to that is ridiculous. People just wanted something to complain about.
Conrad moves on to a match with the Outlaws taking on Brisco and Patterson. What does Bruce have to say about this? You have the first IC Champion who won the tournament in Rio De Janeiro (the tournament never actually happened, for those who do not know. Bruce was making a joke here), the greatest shooter of all time in Brisco against two former IC Champions in the Outlaws. Jerry and Pat were over as the Stooges. Bruce was entertained. Pat and Jerry embraced the stooge gimmick.
Rock would beat the Outlaws and Pac in a three-on-one match. Rock was the thing at the time. They wanted to make things unpredictable. Logically you’re thinking three guys should beat one guy. But you turn the tables. Rock outsmarted them and won.
Just a week later, Road Dogg beat Billy Gunn. This prompted Conrad to simply ask “What the f**k?” Bruce says there was no rhyme or reason. People were tuning in just to watch Raw. They could put anything on, people were watching. It was all over the place. (Perhaps if they didn’t have this attitude towards logic, more people would be watching today.)
No Way Out 2000, The Outlaws drop the titles to the Dudleys. Billy worked the match with a rotator cuff injury that would keep him out for eight months. Was the plan always to put the belts on the Dudleys here? Yes. They were hoping to have a run with the Outlaws vs the Dudleys and continue to get the Dudleys over.
In the storyline, DX beats Billy down and kicks him out for losing his temper too much to explain his long absence with the injury. He would return in October of that year.
No Mercy 2000, Billy and Chyna lost to Right to Censor with the stipulation being he could no longer be called Mr. Ass if he loses.
Billy, Road Dogg, Chyna, and X-Pac battled the Radicalz at Survivor Series. Benoit and Saturn were the survivors of the match. Conrad asks if Benoit and Saturn are the two members of the Radicalz the company has the most faith in. Bruce says yes.
The next night on Raw, Road Dogg teamed with K-Kwik and Billy. How does K-Kwik get introduced into the fold? K-Kwik was working in Memphis as Ron Killings. He was a rapper. Road Dogg and Kwik became friends. They had done some music with Road Dogg singing and Kwik rapping. They were going to do a music thing with the two men. It was Road Dogg’s idea.
The Outlaws never had an official final breakup. They eventually just stopped teaming together. Why didn’t they get a blow off of the team? In Vince’s mind, he didn’t want to do a big breakup. He didn’t want to do the singles matches. He wanted to move right to Road Dogg and K-Kwik. Also, he wanted to leave the door open for another reunion.
Conrad wants to talk about K-Kwik. He notes that Killings and Road Dogg are obviously friends since they had a run here and did some things in TNA. Conrad mentions there is a weird fascination with wrestling fans wondering what Vince’s relationship with Killings is. Apparently, there are tons of pictures of Killings and Vince hanging out. Does Bruce know anything about Vince’s relationship with Killings? Before Bruce can answer, Conrad clarifies that he isn’t implying anything homosexual is going on between the two men. He knows he will get comments saying that. He’s asking how they get along. Bruce has no idea. It all took place after Bruce left. Ron is a nice guy. He can see where Vince can get along with him. Bruce thinks Ron is friends with everyone. He’s an entertaining guy.
Road Dogg was suspended indefinitely in December when he showed up to a show in no condition to perform. Many speculated it was a nice way of saying he was fired. A few weeks later, a report came out saying Road Dogg was taking independent bookings and telling people he had been fired. What can Bruce tell us about this? Road Dogg showed up to TV out of his mind. They offered to get him help. Bruce believes this was the time Road Dogg felt like he didn’t need help and wasn’t ready to go back into rehab. He didn’t take the suspension well.
Conrad mentions Road Dogg’s TNA run where he started the VKM group. Road Dogg and Billy did some shoot interviews where they had some unkind words for the WWE. What is the feeling in the office when this is going on? Bruce thinks Triple H felt a little betrayed. In the wrestling business, you expect it sometimes. Guys are doing things to try to get over. Nobody paid attention to VKM.
Conrad notes both men are currently in favorable positions in the company. Road Dogg is in a high position on SmackDown. Billy was a trainer at NXT. He had some hiccups, but Conrad expects him to be back with the company at some point. This is another example of Vince welcoming guys back.
Conrad mentions their brief return in 2014, where they won the Tag Team Titles at Royal Rumble. They would eventually drop the belts to the Usos. The Outlaws are six-time World Tag Team Champions. They’re a huge part of the Attitude Era.
What does Bruce think their legacy is? Billy’s legacy is the Outlaws and time with DX. Road Dogg’s legacy is part of The Armstrong/James legacy. They used to say when Brian was in the Outlaws, his true legacy would be in creative. When all is said and done, creative will be his real legacy.
Bruce thinks they should go into the Hall of Fame as both the New Age Outlaws and DX.
Starting the Monday after this show aired, Bruce will go live on Facebook every day for a few minutes. He will be sharing insight and anecdotes.
Where does Bruce rank the Outlaws? Top five. Who else is in the top five? In no particular order, the Hardy Boyz, Hart Foundation, Road Warriors. Bruce tries to put Rock-N-Roll Express and Midnight Express in there. Conrad tells him that makes six. Bruce squeezes out the Hardy Boyz to make room for the last two teams.
Time for Facebook questions.
Was there ever another tag team that had heat with the Outlaws? Bruce can’t remember anyone having heat with them.
Did Road Dogg always have a great mind for the business? Road Dogg had a great mind for the business from day one.
How much did Billy hate “the One” gimmick? Billy was happy to have any kind of singles push.
Rumor and innuendo is Road Dogg didn’t get along with Rock. Bruce doesn’t recall that.
How much of a concern were laser pointers at the time? Bruce notes at the beginning, laser pointers were associated with sights on guns. When everyone started seeing them, there was a slight concern for that. Nobody ever got hurt. Security did look for them and confiscated them if found.
Who was the biggest cheerleader for the Outlaws joining DX and was anyone against it? Michaels was the biggest cheerleader. Nobody was against it, except Russo didn’t see it working.
How did Honky Tonk and Billy get along? Fine.
How did Vince feel about Road Dogg’s Doggystyle Pumphandle Slam? Bruce does his Vince impression with an obnoxious laugh. It was the Attitude Era.
Someone asks Bruce to do his Johnny Ace impression and sing Billy’s Mr. Ass entrance music. It was pretty funny.
Did WWE ever consider using Road Dogg instead of Chuck for the gay innuendo angle with Billy? No.
Was there bad blood between the Outlaws and Hunter toward the end of their WWE run? No.
When DX was brought back in 2006, was there ever any consideration to bringing the Outlaws back to be part of that? No to that too.
Honky Tonk Man said Billy threatened to go to WCW in a shoot interview. Bruce says Billy was upset. He doesn’t remember Billy threatening anything because threats don’t work with Vince.
What does Bruce think of their in-ring work? He thought they were excellent and complimented each other well.
Are they the most underrated tag team of all time? Not the most, but they were certainly underrated back in the day.
Were the Outlaws always scheduled to join DX with X-Pac when they did or did it happen because Shawn got injured? It was in the timeframe, they were building toward that. He doesn’t remember the exact timing of the plans prior to the injury.
Would either of them had reached the same success without DX? No.
Who in the office was an ass man? Bruce does his Johnny Ace impression saying “I like Vince’s.”
Was there ever talk to giving the Outlaws a signature team finisher? They didn’t need one. That’s what made them unique.
The special announcement teased at the beginning of the show is Josh Reddick of the World Series Champion Houston Astros is going to join them at their live show in Houston. Reddick is a huge wrestling fan and loves talking wrestling. They are going to have a World Series celebration.
Rating: 7/10. This was a marathon of a show. Something to Wrestle is one of the few podcasts that can go almost four hours and remain entertaining throughout. I enjoyed it. Conrad and Bruce’s chemistry is great. There were a lot of cool stories in this episode. I loved getting a glimpse into what Vince McMahon actually watches on television. It seems almost every week we talk about an iconic show that Vince has never heard of. The story behind Chainsaw Charlie and Funk after WrestleMania XIV gave great insight on Funk. Road Dogg’s story itself is a great one. I think a lot of people out there at least know someone who is struggling with addiction. For him to go from being fired to cleaning his life up and getting a high-level position in the company is inspiring. Recommended.
Timestamps
1:40 Reactions to last week’s episode
3:36 Something to Wrestle with…New Day
9:20 Are Conrad and Bruce being paid by the WWE?
12:18 November’s show schedule
19:21 New Age Outlaws
20:08 Bringing the Roadie back
21:40 Road Dogg can sing
24:18 Road Dogg: American Hero
27:48 Armstrong family legacy
32:03 Smoking Gunns
36:30 Rockabilly
43:13 Forming the Outlaws
55:05 New names
57:34 Tag Team Champions of the WOOOOOORRRRRLLLLD
1:00:50 Chainsaw Charlie
1:08:26 Chainsaw and Cactus take a dumpster dive
1:16:35 How tough is Terry Funk?
1:21:48 Joining DX
1:28:48 Invading Nitro
1:39:29 The famous introduction
1:42:29 DX turns babyface
1:52:14 Billy teams with Austin
1:55:59 Bruce’s thoughts on 3 ways (matches)
1:57:15 The Oddities
2:05:06 What does Vince watch on television?
2:07:46 ICP
2:12:15 Testing singles runs
2:18:22 Road Dogg’s personal struggles
2:28:56 Road Dogg wins IC Title
2:38:20 Mr. Ass
2:41:20 Breaking up
2:49:15 King Ass
2:52:25 Austin turns down working with Billy
2:55:37 The beginning of the end for Billy’s solo run
3:05:36 Reuniting
3:20:56 K-Kwik
3:29:03 The Outlaws legacy
3:33:20 Bruce’s top 5 tag teams
3:36:21 Facebook questions
About Denny
Denny Walker Crum has been watching wrestling for as far back as his memory will allow. He is a radio personality at a hip-hop radio station in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. He has done stand-up comedy and starred in several independent, local films. Wrestling has always been his first love. He also performs as a wrestling manager for an Indy promotion based in Toledo. He most famously was body slammed onto thumbtacks and stinkfaced by Rikishi in the same night. Follow Denny on Instagram and Twitter @Dcrum26
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