By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Lash LeRoux
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
Lash Leroux on getting a WCW contract: EA Sports, to their credit, love what they saw in me, and they love my work ethic and they love how hard I was willing to pour my heart into it. And they went to WCW and said, this is the guy we’d like to work on the video game with us. And WCW, to my understanding, I don’t know directly who this came from, but EA Sports said the office came back to them and said, you would probably be better served to get someone that’s already under contract. And EA Sports, again, to their credit, my great benefit said, even if we have to pay them, that’s what we want. And word was getting back to the office of how good of a job I was doing representing the company. I was on the road and I had a call from my wife. She told me that there was a contract from WCW in the mail. And so I took a look at it and signed it. It was that simple.”
On Eric Bischoff: Eric, or Mr. Bischoff to me at the time, was always good to me, but I didn’t have that much interaction with him. He was always busy and he was the boss. I didn’t bother him. I let him do what he needed to do week in and week out. And towards the end of WCW, when there was a lot of ifs, ands, and buts and what ifs when it came to who’s going to buy what and what’s going to happen to the company. The rumor mill was so strong, and it was almost a foregone conclusion that Eric had put together this group of investors, and he was going to buy the company, to such an extent that the last few shows that I worked on, Bischoff was there backstage calling the shots, and people were treating him like he already owned the company. And I remember my very last show was that match against Rick Steiner on Thunder. And Bischoff had come up to me and he had walked past me. That night, as a matter of fact, we stopped doing the MIA gimmick. And towards the end of WCW, when there was a lot of if ands and butts and what ifs, when it came to who’s going to buy what and what’s going to happen to the company. The rumor mill was so strong, and it was almost a foregone conclusion that Eric had to put together this group of investors, and he was going to buy the company to such an extent that the last few shows that I worked on, Bishoff was there backstage calling the shots, and people were treating him like he already owned the company. And I remember my very last show was that match against Rick Steiner on Thunder. And Bischoff had come up to me, and he had walked past me that night, as a matter of fact, and he walked by me backstage, and he looks at me, and he goes, ‘cut your hair. You look goofy’ and just keeps walking. And that was almost the most he ever said to me.”
On Vince Russo: “I think he’s great. I think he’s wonderful, man. And the reason why I say that is twofold. First of all, when he came into WCW right away, he had certain guys that he kind of had an eye on and that he thought were talented, that he saw it out. And he specifically said, look, I can see something with you and doing some good business, and I happen to be one of those guys, and I benefited from that. And it was the first time in my career that anybody with any kind of substantial leverage or pull took some time to talk to me about my career and what the future might look like. So I greatly appreciated that. I also appreciate the fact that he’s a very creative guy. He’s a very creative guy, and he comes up with some good ideas. And there’s no denying the success that he’s had in the wrestling business. It’s not easy to write these wrestling shows. With that being said, you can’t sit back and say all the critiques that he receives that some of those aren’t merited, but you can say that about anybody at any given time. And I think, again, it goes back to speaking to, you need the Russos in the wrestling business, you need the Kevin Sullivans in the wrestling business, you need the Eric Bischoffs, you need the Dustys [Rhodes]. Now, all those guys are going to upset somebody at some point, and there are going to be plenty of people to criticize them and be negative, because they’re the ones that happen to be in that position and have the pencil and have the book. But with that being said, overall, when you look at the landscape, and the tapestry of work that he’s put together over the years, you know, that’s something I’d be proud of if I was Russo.”
A match with Rick Steiner on WCW Nitro: They wanted to give him (Rick Steiner) some of that allure. So they said, I want you to accomplish a couple of things tonight, if you don’t mind. You know, we want you to go out and have a match with Rick and just make him look like the monster that he’s always been. Even if you told me, I’m not going to lay a finger on this guy in the match, what can I do to get my character over? What can I do to help tell that story in a way that’s unique to me? And one of the things was, and this was my idea, I said, well, what if I at least to get my character over? We get in the ring. Maybe I don’t take it as seriously as I should have. I look at the crowd, and as soon as I turn around, you pop me, and we’re off to the races. That’s exactly what happened. And that punch looks like he knocks me out. And from then on, it looks like I’m somebody in a match, in a boxing match that has gotten tagged early and just get his feet back underneath him. And that’s exactly what I wanted to look like. That’s called working. And when you can make it look real, now suddenly the fans are starting to believe it again. And that’s when you get stopped at the airport, and people say to you all the time, they go, ‘Look, I know wrestling is fake, but, man, Rick Steiner really knocked you out on that punch, didn’t he?'”
Other topics include his entire run in WCW, his artwork, Lashing Out segment in WCW magazine, HWA, TNA, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, Johnny Ace, and more.
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