By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Vince Russo
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
On his relationship with Jeff Jarrett: Dixie (Carter) had brought me in, bro, as a consultant, while Jeff was there. But basically, the terms were it was supposed to be a secret. And if anybody found out, the gig was up. Jeff (Jarrett) was having a meeting with Dixie, and Janice Carter was on the phone. And not knowing Jeff was there or Jeff didn’t know, whatever. Janice asks the question, ‘How are things working out with Vince?’ And that’s where Jeff learned about it. So what happened was he stopped talking to me. So then I went to a convention, bro, like, years ago, this is going back, like almost five years now. And Karen (Jarrett) and Jeff were there. And I went up to Jeff, like, in front of everybody. I said, well, I’m not going to play this game with you. And I kiss him, like, right on the mouth, right? So afterwards, Karen comes and finds me, and she says, ‘Vince, I want you to know something.’ She goes, ‘Jeff isn’t hot at you and mad at you because of the consulting gig.’ She said, ‘Jeff’s not talking to you because Dixie told Jeff that you were talking shit about him.’ I don’t know what he’s talking about. I don’t know what she said that I said, I have no idea. But my disappointment came with twenty-year relationship. Dixie says I said something about you, that triggers you to cut off communication with me, and you’re not even going to tell me what that is. And that’s it, bro. That’s where it was left.”
Road Warrior Hawk’s issues: “I’ll never forget one of the most disturbing things I ever saw in my entire career, bro, I’ll never forget this because, bro, you got to understand. And you do, John, the boys always hide everything, man. I never knew. I never knew how bad off Hawk was. I never knew because they hide it. They don’t tell you the truth. They always tell you, It’s no problem, it’s no problem, no problem. And I’ll never forget, bro, during this run, bro, I witnessed Animal pushing Hawk through the airport in a wheelchair. And Hawk was completely out of it, bro, literally foaming at the mouth. Oh, my gosh. When I saw that, I had to see that with my own eyes. Then I realized, holy shit, bro. I had no idea. No freaking idea this guy was this bad off. And I’m sure in talent relations, they knew. So Droz was always kind of there as a plan B.”
Steve Austin and Undertaker’s friendship: “Taker and Austin were really, really close friends at the time, OK? And they wanted this match to be a babyface match. And I said to Vince (McMahon): ‘Bro, this is New York City. This is Madison Square Garden. It’s going to be sold out. This is huge as a freaking New York event. And you’re a New Yorker yourself,’ even though he’s from Connecticut. ‘You know damn well I understand. Taker and Steve are good friends. I respect that. Those fans are not going to want a babyface match, bro. They’re going to want to see these two guys absolutely kill and destroy each other.’ But bro, listen, I respect Vince’s decision because out of respect for those two guys, you let him go out there and have a babyface match.”
On The Rock getting over: “Think about that too, bro. That really says a lot because the ‘Die Rocky Die’ started at the Garden. I mean, that’s where when they tried to shove Rocky Maivia down everybody’s throat, that started at the Garden. So to now come full circle. That really says a lot about Rock as a performer. And a lot of times heels get over because they’re cool, and you like them. But Triple H was really like a dick heel. Like, he was really like a dick. There’s a difference. Rock as a heel was cool. Rock was never a dick. Triple H was always a dick. So I can kind of see that transition over to The Rock.”
Other topics include Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mankind, Kane, Vince McMahon, The Lion’s Den, Ken Shamrock, The Rock, The Highway to Hell, AC/DC, and more.
Does Russo get money every time he says ‘bro’? There are FIVE in the Hawk excerpt alone.