{"id":189680,"date":"2026-05-05T15:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=189680"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:35:27","slug":"eric-bugenhagen-f-k-a-rick-boogs-on-landing-a-role-on-american-gladiators-whether-hes-finished-with-pro-wrestling-whether-his-knee-has-fully-recovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/05\/05\/eric-bugenhagen-f-k-a-rick-boogs-on-landing-a-role-on-american-gladiators-whether-hes-finished-with-pro-wrestling-whether-his-knee-has-fully-recovered\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Bugenhagen (f\/k\/a Rick Boogs) on landing a role on American Gladiators, whether he&#8217;s finished with pro wrestling, whether his knee has fully recovered"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-257345690\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><b>Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Eric Bugenhagen (f\/k\/a Rick Boogs)<br \/>\nHost: Chris Van Vliet<br \/>\nPodcast available via <a href=\"https:\/\/podcast.chrisvanvliet.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Podcasts.Apple.com<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>So how\u2019d you get on the radar for American Gladiators?<\/b> &#8220;I just found an email address for a casting director that was involved in that. Emailed them, \u2018Hey, my name is Eric Bugenhagen. I hoist, heft, and heave mega loads.\u2019 Sent some clips and stuff whatnot, told him what I\u2019ve done in the past. They said, Okay, we\u2019ll set you up with the Zoom call. So give me the Zoom call a couple of days later, and I don\u2019t know what to expect. Luckily, I have the 20,000 hours of promo practice from the WWE Performance Center. If that Performance Center has done anything well, for me, I don\u2019t know about anyone else, but grinding those promos in. Because I learned if you wanted to stand out in that business, you got to be different.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>You got all the promo practice like you\u2019re talking about, how did you blow them away in that Zoom call?<\/b> &#8220;First and foremost, I know you gotta have a gimmick. You gotta be recognizable. \u2018Who is this guy?\u2019 One sentence: Who is he? So what I pitched was, I\u2019m The Max. I\u2019m The Maximum. Maximum entertainment value, maximum intensity, right? So I said, \u2018I am The Maximum, aka The Max, you will call me The Max.\u2019 They asked me a bunch of questions about where I\u2019m from, if you had 30 seconds or whatever, you just whooped someone\u2019s ass, what would you say? That kind of stuff. So I felt like it was grand slam home run. But then months go by, and I never hear back, and I\u2019m like, wow, now I can see why WWE fired me. I just don\u2019t have what it takes. But apparently, they were just extending. They wanted to be sure they had the cream of the crop.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s how casting goes a lot of times. You\u2019ll audition for something, think you nailed it, then it\u2019s like six months to a year later\u2026<\/b> &#8220;So I think it was a week or two [later]. It\u2019s like, we got the in-person tryout. It\u2019s gonna be push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups. There might be some wrestling. So all I did, because I\u2019m a man of specificity, I understand the thing called specificity. Alright, normally I lift heavy barbells. Lots of deadlift variations. I\u2019m like, for this, next couple of weeks, all I\u2019m doing is push-ups, planks, sit-ups, and the wrestling part I had. So when I went to that tryout, if Amazon Prime is watching this, Amazon MGM, release the tryout footage. Release the footage. Please put it on YouTube or something like that. The Bull\u2019s tryout, the first thing I did was as many push ups you can do in 60 seconds. I hit 100, or maybe it was 99. After the try-out, it was like you got the most push-ups. I weighed, I think it was 274 or something, 100 push-ups. Then we did pull-ups. I think I got 36 or 37, just put myself over. Sit-ups, I can\u2019t remember, but I did okay with these gym class sit-ups. Hadn\u2019t done those since gym class, PE elementary school. The rope, climb up and down as fast as you can twice in a row. It\u2019s a big rope too, and then a little tussling, like it was sumo wrestling stuff. I mean, I\u2019m a Greco-Roman state champion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Are you done with wrestling?<\/b> &#8220;I don\u2019t think so, man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Because you haven\u2019t wrestled in almost exactly three years as we sit here right now, and when you were on the show two and a half years ago, you weren\u2019t really sure?<\/b> &#8220;I was a little soiled, sour flavor in my mouth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Are you a little more open to it now?<\/b> &#8220;Yeah. I mean, as I get older and wiser. Three years, you\u2019ve almost graduated high school. That\u2019s a freshman to a senior. Look at how much you\u2019ve developed in that point in time. Or in college, baby-faced freshman to, like, grizzled, a real man. I\u2019m going out to the real world. But I\u2019m also glad, though, because if anything would have happened, it\u2019s hard, man, pro wrestling is tough. What if I had a kink in my shoulder, I can\u2019t do the tryout, I can\u2019t do any push-ups. So I missed the try-out for American Gladiators because of that. Or what if I can go but I got a kink in my shoulder, and I can only do six push-ups instead of 100.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Do you think your knee is not at 100% still?<\/b> &#8220;No, definitely not. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll ever be. But my 90% is still exceptional. I\u2019m running now. I\u2019m trying, because it\u2019s one of those things that I\u2019m like, Okay, I\u2019ve lifted, I\u2019ve done tons of rehab. Obviously, I did rehab for a year after surgery, and I\u2019ve gotten very strong again. Still doesn\u2019t have the snappiness. What have I not done? I need to sprint on it. I need to get that frickin tendon rigidity, stiffness, recoil, snappiness, and how do you get that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Do you feel like you wrestled differently after that injury?<\/b> &#8220;100%. Just slower. Because if you think about it, tendons are basically what make you athletic. It\u2019s not your muscles. It\u2019s strong tendons, jumping, and stuff like that, sprinting and all that. That\u2019s power, and you don\u2019t have to be a big, bulbous balloon man to have power. You just have to have freaking stiff, strong tendons. So when you lose that, it\u2019s like, yeah, I could squat. I think when I returned, I was able to squat 600 pounds, but jumping rope? I couldn\u2019t do it for more than 10 seconds because my knee, just the tendon was like jello.&#8221;<\/p><div id=\"prowr-1683746068\" class=\"prowr-content-4 prowr-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_2 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_2\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div id=\"prowr-1199717738\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":187121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,2],"tags":[2602],"class_list":["post-189680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview_highlights","category-misc_news","category-newsticker","tag-eric-bugenhagen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast 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