Crowbar closed out the 1990s partnering with David Flair and the late Daffney.
The former WCW star won the company’s World Tag Team Championships in early 2000, alongside Flair. David Flair previously just worked with Daffney, before Crowbar joined the mix to become an official group. In speaking on Under the Ring, Crowbar opened up about the formation of the trio, and shifting a crazier character.
“I had been doing a darker, more gothy version of Devon Storm on the [Shotgun] Saturday night show, and I was being groomed to be the next Cruiserweight to come up. [My character] was going to be a bit more aggressive, larger cruiserweight that would make his way up to Nitro and Thunder,” Crowbar shared. “[We] arrived in Vail, Colorado to do WCW Saturday night and the crew had gotten back from Nitro that night. I walked into the hotel bar slash restaurant, a leather jacket, hair down. Vince Russo saw me and he liked my look, [at least] this is what I was told,” he clarified.
“At that time, David Flair was going around behind the scenes, whacking people with a crowbar, being a nut, stalking women and he had this Gothy girl with him, Daffney. He was popping a rating, David was popping a rating. The only thing that was a problem was that he was not a very strong in-ring performer, unfortunately. So they came up with the idea, ‘let’s put David in a tag team. We’ll have the partner do the majority of the work, that way we still get David out there.'”
“They could see him compete in the ring, but the partner could do the majority of the work. That [dynamic] was really what enabled me to get from Saturday night to the main show,” Crowbar added. “Not as a cruiserweight, but as kind of this crazy character.”
The former tag team champion continued on to give an update on his relationship with the son of “The Nature Boy”, Ric.
“I haven’t spoke to him in a while. Last time or so, I have to say, about maybe eight, nine years ago, David, Shannon (Daffney) and I all did an autograph signing,” Crowbar admitted.
Despite not keeping in much contact, Crowbar recalled his lasting respect for Flair and the “fond memories” they created as a faction.
“I love David to death,” he proclaimed. “He was a great guy [but] I had not met him prior to us being paired up. When they told me I was going to be paired with Flair’s kid, [I didn’t] know what to expect. Is he going to be very cocky because he’s the son of the Nature Boy? He couldn’t be nicer, couldn’t have been sweeter. Great guy. He knew his limitations. He wanted to learn.”
“Honestly, [if] people ask us, we were three young adults, three kids just having a great time enjoying this ride. It was one of the most fun times of my entire life in wrestling and just very thankful for that time. It was just great. I had no complaints. It was so much fun working with the both of them and it just all just super fond memories.”
In regards to Daffney, Crowbar noted his praise for “The Scream Queen” both in and out of the ring. “She was amazing,” he said. “She was an actress by trade. I believe she answered a casting call to be Flair’s girlfriend and she killed it. She looked great. Then we were traveling together. I found out she had a gymnastics background and stuff like that.”
“So we started to teach her how to do some moves like the Frankensteiner, tornado DDT and stuff like that. We integrated that in small spots here and there where we worked, and it really, really worked well. She wanted to learn. She ate it up and she wanted to assume that role and be more physical in the matches and really add to our whole shtick.”
Besides adding to their “shtick”, Crowbar recalled the way Daffney would “walk into a room and light it up just off all smiles.”
“To see her with fans was amazing,” he noted. “We all try to be great with fans, take a picture, sign this, that. She would stop with a kid and ask the questions. ‘How’s school? What’s your name? What kind of sports do you like?’ She always went the extra mile and just an incredible human being professionally with us and the guys in the back and with the girls in the back, but also with the fans. She was just amazing to her fan base.”
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