Tank Abbott was recently interviewed by The Hannibal TV, and he talked about his WCW run. The former UFC star discussed his relationships with both Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, and how he almost won the WCW title.
Transcription by WrestleZone.com Senior Editor Tyler Treese.
On Eric Bischoff:
Eric was a great guy. All my dealings with him he was straight up. One of the first things I said to him when we were having a meeting about me coming to WWE, he was talking to me and I said “The main thing that makes me tick is honesty and integrity.” He went “You have no problem with me on that.” I said “Okay,” and then we hammered out the deal and shook hands. All the way until the last time I saw him he was a great guy.
His dealings with Vince Russo:
There was no heat, nothing like that. He just always seemed so busy when I came around. I never asked him where we were going with [storylines] or anything like that. That was it. Russo just seemed busy all the time, and I was a project that he just needed to hammer out real quick and move on to somebody else.
Why he was never WCW World Champion:
I was just cruising on the road, doing my thing, and trying not to make any waves in the water. Russo, I think it was Russo, I got told after the fact that they were going to make me WCW Heavyweight Champion in some kind of [battle royal] and I was going to win it. Then all the boys freaked out saying that I wasn’t from this sport and that I couldn’t take it. So, they ended up at the very end of the day they told Sid Vicious that I was going to lose to him. There was a lot of heat coming down the pipe on that one. They didn’t want to give the strap to someone who didn’t have the pedigree of professional wrestling. However, once I got into wrestling, I actually found it very fun, and I’m all into it. Everything about the culture and everything else, so the powers that be did not let me win the strap.
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