‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund: Bruce Prichard Shares His Memories

On Gene Okerlund At SummerSlam 1989:

We did pre-tapes and during one of the earlier pre-tapes, I think it was Bobby Heenan and Rick Rude. In the middle of the pre-tape – the SummerSlam sign had been set up and it was like masking tape or something that was holding the sign to the wall – and in the middle of the interview the damn sign fell. Gene just turns around and says, ‘Well f*ck it.’

On Okerlund’s Famous ‘Put That Cigarette Out’ Vignette:

I laughed my ass off because it’s in the moment live and there’s no way to go back and edit that. It lives forever. It’s one of those classic moments. All I can imagine is Pat Patterson or Jack Lanza being backstage at the time and smoking a cigarette or maybe one of the crew guys having a cigarette and Gene catching it out of the corner of his eye. I don’t know what happened, but that’s probably what took place at that time.

On Gene Getting A Strip O Gram For His Birthday:

I remember one year for Gene’s Birthday we actually got him a strip o’ gram to come to the studio and they did a strip tease for him and Gene thought it was something else. He was like, ‘Oh, you got me a girl? Thank you very much.’ ‘No, Gene. You can’t keep her. She just has to sit there and she’s gonna strip over here.’ I remember afterwards and he just sat in the chair and she stripped for him probably about 3 or 4 feet away and she came over, put her clothes back on, and gave him a little kiss on the head. He looks at us all like, ‘That’s it? That’s it? That’s all I get.’ It was typical Gene.

On Okerlund’s Reaction To The Gobbledy-Gooker At Survivor Series 1990:

Gene’s takeaway was everybody else’s takeaway, but Gene had a front row seat for it. ‘What the f*ck is this?’ When we rehearsed the damn thing I don’t think we had the head on the Gobbledy Gooker, so you really couldn’t understand him and we kept doing it for him, so it was Hector say, ‘Gobbledy Gooker,’ but we were the Gobbledy Gooker damn it. It came off even worse live. Gene had fun with it and he went out and Vince wanted him to do some somersaults and he was like, ‘I just can’t do that Vince. I can’t physically do it. If you want me to take a bump or do a somersault, I’ll never get up.’ I think he did one or two, but it was absolutely horrifying and Gene embodied that moment so much with his reaction to it because it was a, ‘What the fu*k am I looking at?’ You felt it all over him.

On Okerlund’s Relationship With Vince McMahon:

Great. Really and truly great. Vince trusted Gene. You could give Gene something and feel confident that he was gonna deliver, so that relationship was one of trust and they liked each other. They had a good time together. They would go out and party together. It was a mutual respect and they genuinely liked each other, so that helped, but most importantly there was respect and trust on both sides. Vince trusted Gene and trusted his judgment and that whatever he was gonna do was gonna be the right thing.

On The Reaction To Okerlund’s WWE Departure:

I wouldn’t say panic: sadness, yes. I think from my vantage point and I definitely know from the production standpoint – the guys at the studio – they were really sad. They were upset that Gene left because he was one of the boys. He was one of the crew and he was someone that always hung out with them. We always had a really good time together, so there was just sorrow. It’s genuine sadness when someone that you love is leaving you.

On His Last WWE Memories With Gene Okerlund:

I remember going back to the 25th anniversary of RAW. I remember that evening when Gene was getting ready to go out and talking to him and him just saying, ‘Wow they’ve got so many writers. There’s so many people running around. Remember how we used to do it?’ We kinda chuckled and reminisced a little bit and then he looks at me and says, ‘Bruce, I don’t know any of these guys. I need them to write it down for me now and they’re telling me, ‘Gene you got it.’ I don’t know who the hell I’m talking to.’ That was typical Gene and then he pulled it off like the champ that he is.

On His Last Ever Interaction With Okerlund:

The last time that I saw him was this past November in Winston Salem and the last thing I did was kiss him on the forehead and said, ‘I love you Gene and I’ll see you later.’ Had I known that was the last time I was gonna see him, but I’m glad I got to tell him that and we were sitting there at the bar when he was having dinner before we went to go do our show and I invited him to the show and he was tired. I just got up and kissed him on the forehead and told him I loved him.

Readers may listen to Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard in its entirety below:

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