From: Prakhar
*Which announcer did you most enjoy working with?
Tony Schiavone. Revisionist history has downgraded his work, but he was excellent, period. If you want to say Tony got bad when WCW went downhill, well, not even great announcing can shine crap. Tony gave me a lot of guidance and treated me with respect. He never got mad when I screwed up, and I certainly did. Tony was an excellent straight man, too. Fed me time and again. My only knock on Tony was that he was overworked, and it occasionally showed in his performance. He did PPVs, he did Nitro, he did Thunder, he was in charge of announcing and he did office work. People said Tony was always paranoid about losing his job, so he did everything he could to make himself difficult to replace. I loved him, though. A pro’s pro. Not better than Ross, but not far behind.
*Who came up with the idea for your match with Mean Gene Okerlund, and what was your reaction when it was suggested?
Russo. I knew it would be an awful match – c’mon, two non-wrestlers, one fat, one ancient – but I was enthusiastic because I knew where it was headed. Gene was NOT AT ALL enthusiastic. The tag match pitting me and Kanyon vs. Gene and Buff was merely lousy because Kanyon and Buff are good workers and both really tried. I took the Blockbuster like a champ, too. The singles match was one of the worst ever. I was on the second turnbuckle acting like I was going to Vader-bomb Gene, and Pam Paulshock TOOK FOREVER to get there and nutshot me. Before the match, Arn Anderson said to me, "Make sure Gene doesn’t get hurt." And I’m thinking, "Who’s going to make sure I don’t get hurt?" The upshot of Pam helping Gene was supposed to be me wrestling Pam on next week’s Thunder, putting her in every possible sexual position by way of dominating the match, then pinning her with her ankles around her ears. The next week, I was going to declare myself Intergender Champion (like Andy Kaufman) and defeat all the girls in similar style while cutting promos that channeled Kaufman (and Larry Flynt). Then at some point, to quote Russo, "Madusa’s going to kick the crap out of you. To be honest, I mean that literally. She doesn’t hold back with the girls. She’s obviously not going to hold back with a guy." To which I replied, "Vince, I’m 39 and very overweight. What if I have a heart attack?" To which Russo replied, "Tell me that wouldn’t be great TV." In the end, the storyline was kiboshed because TBS wouldn’t allow violence against women, not even pretend violence. So I missed feeling up Pam Paulshock and getting my ribs kicked in by Madusa. Even trade.
From: Josh
*What was Ultimate Warrior like backstage in WCW?
Surprisingly normal, at least from my point of view. I heard all these stories about how he’d flip if you didn’t call him "Warrior," but I always called him Jim. I asked about his time in Texas and WWE and he was always very polite and forthcoming. If you treat a guy like he’s nuts, he’s more likely to be nuts. I treated Jim like a regular guy.
From: Jesse
*Why do most wrestling fans disrespect Chris Benoit since the tragedy?
Because we all like to sit in judgment. It makes us feel superior. Chris Benoit was a guy with a lot of problems who had one twisted moment of anger/bad judgment. I knew Nancy, too, and I still mourn her. But my memories of Benoit are nothing but good. Chris always took time to encourage me, to tell me I deserved better and to work for it. He not only asked my opinion on things, he seemed to value it. Here’s how I’ll always remember Benoit: Doing an endless lap of the underbelly of whatever arena WCW was in, drinking a bottomless cup of coffee and thinking about his match. He was always shirtless and wearing dress slacks. I remember him pickpocketing my credit card in Las Vegas and using it to run up a bar tab for the boys (including me, without me knowing) before returning it the next day and saying, "That’s your initiation. You’re one of us now." I remember going out with him and Nancy but sneaking away because I JUST COULDN’T KEEP UP. "You gotta go drink for drink, pill for pill," Chris said, and I just couldn’t. Chris Benoit took great pride in his work. He never stole a paycheck. I counted him as a friend, and I’m still honored to have known him.
