The following are highlights of a recent interview with Mr. Anderson from the Busted Open radio show:
Mr. Anderson on WWE PG rating: “I don’t know how you have guys beating each other up and half-naked women running around and make it a PG… To me it doesn’t make sense. I understand they have investors and things like that to answer to, which kind of sucks in a way. I think when that company went public, that was the start of the sinking ship, that was the little hole in the side of the ship.”
Mr. Anderson on his WWE release: “When I left and I started talking to different people who had been there a while who had left like Booker (T) and people like that, I remember telling Booker that story. He said, ‘Ah, they got you with the old being stiff routine, huh?’ This has been used for years and years and years. If you don’t want somebody to be there anymore, you start complaining that they’re too stiff or they’re prone to injuring others and stuff like that, and eventually the person gets pushed out the door.”
Mr. Anderson on his “asshole” promos: “I started saying ‘nice guys finish last, thank God I’m an asshole’ in OVW. I actually started saying it on independents right before I got to OVW. I said it during promos at OVW, and the boys popped for it and they liked it. It’s a good test, if the guys like it, the fans are usually going to like it. They are more critical, they’ve seen everything, and heard everything. When I got brought up on the road, I asked Vince (McMahon) in our first sitdown meeting… I asked him if I could say that. He said no, you can’t say asshole.
“We started trying to figure out ways we could work it in. Johnny Ace came up and said, (impersonating John Laurinaitis) ‘Hey, uh, your name could be like Adam and your last name could be hole and you could be like thank God I’m an a-hole.’ Vince looked at him like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I went to Johnny, I like that idea, but I think that’s an idea for someone who is going to be here for a month or two. It’s pretty gimmicky and I plan on being here for a long time. Vince looked at me, ‘Yeah, that’s the right answer.'”
Mr. Anderson on Kurt Angle: “Kurt Angle is a guy who… You know how much he’s done in this business, what he’s done and where he’s been, how much he’s done for this business. He’s in a position right now where he doesn’t really have to give anything back if he doesn’t want to, but that guy puts 110 percent in every single day that he comes to work. All of his matches, he wants them to be the best matches on the show.”
Check out the radio show appearance online at Facebook.com/bustedopen.
