By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Alex Pourteau
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
Breaking into the WWF: It was quite the interesting run I had in the WWF, but I wouldn’t change it for nothing. When I was in Titan Towers for the first meeting I had with them before I signed, the last thing I told them was that I wrestled for four years before I turned pro. Actually Bruce Prichard and Vince McMahon were a part of our meeting briefly, but mostly the agents took us around Titan Towers for the tour. So I waited a few weeks and finally heard back from Bruce Prichard who said, so we’re going to call you Alex “The Pug” Pourteau and you’re going to have an amateur wrestling background as your gimmick.
His gimmick and how it led to Kurt Angle: Like anyone else, I wanted to have a longer run up there. I wish I would have gotten a bigger push and I wish they would have used me a little better, but I can’t complain too much. I enjoyed my time working for the WWF. I do think that my gimmick intrigued them and it brought them the idea to bring in Kurt Angle later on. They liked the idea of an amateur wrestler turning pro and becoming this great champion. I think Kurt is one of the all time greats and did a great job when he was up there.
The stars of the WWF at the time: We’re all in the same dressing room, we’re all the boys, but I knew my role there so to speak. They had bigger stars with bigger contracts and my job was to put those guys over. When they brought me in, they knew what they needed us for. The other guys with the bigger contracts got the big push. They had some great talent there at the time like Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Vader, Bret Hart, so I didn’t expect to get over those guys.
On Steve Austin: I never worked Steve Austin, but we crossed paths many times. We were friends going years back to when he was being trained by the “Gentleman” Chris Adams. I’m still friends with Steve to this day. It’s one of those things, when we were in the WWF together, the Pug never got off the ground, but Stone Cold took off and he became one of the top stars of all time.
Other topics include breaking into the business, his entire WWF run, Vince McMahon, WCCW, Skandor Akbar, Chris Adams, Steve Austin, Global, WCW, Japan, Bruce Prichard, and more.
You can listen to other shows apart of the TMPT Empire including Shane Douglas’ Triple Threat Podcast, Taking You to School with Dr. Tom Prichard, Talking Tough with Rick Bassman, Taskmaster Talks with Kevin Sullivan and the University of Dutch with Dutch Mantell.
What made Kurt Angle successful was not an amateur wrestling gimmick. It was the amateur wrestling gimmick being used as a heel. Plus Angle’s natural charisma helped so much too. Pourteau was just a generic babyface that really had nothing going other that the wrestler gimmick which had been done before.