Former WWE star Rick Boogs details a scrapped pitch he made while working in the company.
For much of his main roster WWE career, fans knew Rick Boogs as an electric guitar playing superstar. Before he blossomed into that character, though, Boogs originally envisioned himself with one leaning into his need for his Rec Specs sports glasses.
Appearing on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Boogs (real name Eric Bugenhagen) revealed the initial character pitch he made to WWE.
“I wear these Rec Specs. Really strong prescription, I’m legally blind without them, so I just kick so much ass when I have my Rec Specs on, but every match, whatever the cut-off is, they get pulled off my head and then I can’t see,” Boogs said (H/T Cultaholic). “I’m swinging, I’m getting my ass kicked. And then, whatever, hope spot, I get them but they fly out of my hands, but then I get them on, I can see everything crystal clear and I fire up and kick his ass. Or they come off again and I eat the pin. So I pitched that and they’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s funny but that’s like a one-off thing.’
“If that’s how you see it, that’s a damn shame. Why is that a one-off thing? Maybe I sometimes just show up without them. My music starts playing and I’m like, ‘I don’t have my Rec Specs.’ And they have to carry me out there because I can’t even see how to make my entrance, and I just instantly get cut off and take heat and eat a pin. Then the next match or whatever, I have them this time. The guy thinks he can just squash me the same. Nuh uh, now I see you.”
Boogs joined WWE in 2017, with his main roster call-up following in 2021. The same year, Boogs aligned with and offered his musical talents to former WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Come September 2023, WWE released Boogs as part of another wave of talent cuts.
Prior to his WWE exit, Boogs planned for another on-screen partnership, this one with LA Knight. It never truly materialized, however.
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