David Arquette recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet and discussed various topics, including his new movie, You Cannot Kill David Arquette. In the interview, Arquette reflected on his time with WCW. Here are some highlights:
On wanting to prove himself as a wrestler when he was with WCW:
Arquette: “I always knew I wanted to like prove myself in the wrestling world, that I wasn’t just some punk pushover actor cheeseball, so that always stuck with me. That stuck with me while I was in WCW. I was like, let me do some stuff, I can do some stuff. And they were like—they didn’t really let me do anything. Then, they maybe tried one thing and I was just terrible. All I can remember is Jeff Jarrett saying, ‘Nut shot, nut shot, nut shot,’ and I was like what? So that’s probably like I didn’t remember the spot, so they probably knew I couldn’t do much back then. But I always wanted to learn, I always wanted to prove myself.”
On crossover promotions with WCW for Ready to Rumble:
Arquette: “[For] the first thing, I was just supposed to kinda get involved. I don’t even remember what it was. I think I jumped and tried to save someone, and Jeff Jarrett gave me his finisher, but I don’t know, it kinda just steamrolled. One of the things was, I was walking around backstage with one of these little kid’s wrestling belts, and I was having all the guys sign it because I am a fan. And then Vince Russo saw it, and I think that’s maybe where the little germ of the idea came from. He’s like, ‘Oh he’s a fan, he’s really a fan.'”
On being told he was going to win the world title:
Arquette: “It was actually DDP. He came up and I said, ‘So what’s the plan for today?’ And he’s like, ‘You’re gonna be the champ.’ And I’m like, ‘Shut up. No, really, what are we doing?’ And he’s like, ‘No, seriously.’ He explained to me, he’s like, well listen, I don’t recall him saying you don’t have to do it. But I think he may have said if you don’t do it, it’s all over, the Ready to Rumble’s over, the promotion of it’s over, you won’t be coming with us. But if you do it, then you stay ’til the pay-per-view.”
“And I was like, I get to do this whole thing ’til the pay-per-view? ‘Cause I was only supposed to be on a one or two [shows.]
On not wanting to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship:
Arquette: “Yeah, but I also could have said no. I didn’t really know how much I could have said no, like I’m an actor. So people tell me, ‘Here’s your role and this is what you read and this is where you stand.’ But I didn’t really think, and I could have said no, but then I just wouldn’t have been able to be a part of it. I did say it was a terrible idea, but we just never knew it was gonna be taken as bad as it was. We thought people would be more on the, ‘Hah, this is fun, like ridiculous’ [side] but they’re like discrediting the belt, and the legacy, and the fact that it was held by all these different people, and that it was me or something. And that I was an actor from Hollywood that wasn’t perceived as being tough at all.”
“I mean I still think like, if it was Vin Diesel, you know what I mean, people would have been a little more like, ‘Oh, yeah.’ But I could f— Vin Diesel up, you know what I mean? So that’s what my point is. I thought it would be more of a comedy spot, but obviously, when it comes to something as important as the belt, you know what I mean? I just don’t know, I don’t know what I was thinking, really. I really just wanted to be a part of the guys.”
The full interview is available here:
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