AEW’s Chris Jericho Regrets Never Working With THIS Wrestling “Hero”

Chris Jericho “wishes” he’d been given the chance to wrestle ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage when the pair were on the same roster back in the WCW days.

The AEW star responded to a fan tweet by saying Randy was “one of [his] heroes for sure”. Later in the same thread, Jericho also revealed that the icon was “always nice” to him behind the scenes – there are loads of stories out there about Savage being fiercely protective of Miss. Elizabeth, or perhaps a little standoffish on show days.

That intensity definitely existed, but Jericho didn’t see that side of ‘Macho’. The legend was always polite to him, but they’d never get to mix it up in-ring. That’s something the JAS leader regrets now, perhaps because it was the only chance he had to work opposite someone he idolised.

Jericho grew up recreating Randy’s critically-acclaimed WrestleMania III bout vs. Ricky Steamboat with friends, and he was on the same roster as Savage between 1996-1999. However, Chris was very-much a WCW midcarder and rarely clashed with headliners on TV.

‘Macho Man’ vs. ‘Y2J’ is one match that’ll obviously never happen.

One Of Chris Jericho’s Biggest Regrets Is Never Working With Bret Hart, Randy Savage

Chris Jericho has wrestled the best of the best in pro wrestling history, but the two that got away are Bret Hart and Randy Savage. While recapping an episode of “Saturday Night’s Main Event” on “Talk Is Jericho” recently, Jericho stumbled across a singles bout between Hart and Savage, which got the AEW star feeling both nostalgic and regretful.

“Savage is on fire right here, man,” Jericho said as he watched the match alongside Lance Storm and others. ” What a fucking talent. That’s one of my biggest regrets — I never got to work with Bret or Savage, even though I was in WCW with both of them!” As Jericho alluded to, 1998 saw him share a roster with both Hart and Savage. While Hart engaged in rivalries against the likes of Ric Flair and “Diamond” Dallas Page, Savage was in a highly personal feud with “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, which culminated with him winning the WCW World Championship. Jericho, meanwhile, was involved in mid-card feuds for the WCW TV Championship and WCW Cruiserweight Championship, two titles that “The Lionheart” held at various points that year. 

When asked why Jericho never shared the ring with Hart or Savage, the AEW star was as blunt as ever. “I was never allowed to get booked with those guys,” Jericho revealed. “It was so stupid.” Years later, Jericho ran into the late Savage at a promotional event for a radio show. Jericho recounted the conversation. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I wish I had a chance to work with you.’ I’m like, ‘Then why didn’t you request it?'” When WCW was eventually purchased by WWE in 2001, neither Hart nor Savage made the jump back to their old stomping grounds. While Hart had officially retired from in-ring competition, Savage was reportedly not on the best of terms with WWE. Both legends were eventually enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Molly Holly Discusses How She Got Into WCW

Molly Holly is a WWE Hall of Famer, two-time WWE Women’s Champion, and even a Hardcore Champion. She also had a hand in training a number of wrestlers, and one in particular led to her first big break in the wrestling industry.

In a new installment of “K&S WrestleFest,” Holly reflected on her days of juggling her full-time job of telemarketing with wrestling on the indie circuit in the late ’90s. Her boss at the telemarketing agency was good friends was Lanny Poffo, whose brother is the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Savage was looking for a female wrestler to help train his new valet in WCW, Gorgeous George.

“Lanny told Macho Man, ‘This girl, Nora, is really nice, and she knows a lot of wrestling moves. She could probably really help her,'” Holly said. “So then I asked my boss, who’s friends with Lanny Poffo, if I could take a leave of absence from my telemarketing job so I can train Gorgeous George for one month in a warehouse in Tampa. During that month, I taught her as many moves as I could, and at the end of that month, Macho Man asked me if I would want to be part of their entourage on television.” 

Known as Miss Maddness she appeared alongside Savage, George, and Madusa on WCW programming. Holly said she never envisioned attaining that level of exposure in pro wrestling because she didn’t think she fit the mold of the female stars of that era. “I worked in the indies, but I didn’t think I’d ever be on TV,” she said. “I mean, Sable was the top star, and I wasn’t a Sable, you know?”

Jeff Jarrett Reveals Which Top WWE Stars He Initially Wanted For TNA

On the latest episode of the My World Podcast, Jeff Jarrett spoke about creating TNA with his father and who they wanted to start the company with. Jarrett said he and his father, Jerry Jarrett, who was an American professional wrestling promoter in the late 70s through the 90s, were recruiting former big name wrestlers who worked for WWE.

“He was putting out his feelers and I was doing the same,” Jarrett said. “Who’s available, who wants to be a part of this, who believes in it. Who’s out there available, who can we sell tickets with and who are we going to go after.

“Sean [Waltman] has always had a relationship with my father dating back to him being a part of the creative team in 1993-94 and of course Mick [Foley] came to the territory in [1988]. He always had an eye for talent and scouted it, you don’t always bat a thousand, but you miss every shot you don’t take and you miss every talent that you never look at. Back to Mick and Sean, my dad had personal relationships with both those guys.”

In 2002 when TNA launched, Brian “Road Dogg” James was one of the first big name wrestlers the company signed. Road Dogg and Jarrett were great friends through their time together in WWE and Jarrett said James’ time as a singles star in WWE proved to him that he could be a big draw for TNA. Jarrett also named Sid Vicious, Ken Shamrock and Randy Savage as starts that they thought about bringing to TNA for the start of the company.

“Road Dogg is this simple, Brian going single and the merchandise sales, he was the Attitude Era in so many ways personified,” Jarrett said. “A mega singles star at the time and one of my best friends. He was a no brainer. Sid, I was in the ring with when his leg broke. He had told me, ‘I’m going to make a comeback.’ He had been a big box office attraction, Sid was going to get back in the game and I was excited about that.

“The mindset of UFC and [Ken Shamrock], Kenny being led can have great matches but I really like Ken as a talent to represent the brand coming out of the gate. Huge box office attraction, huge pay per view box office attraction. So as much as I wanted to put the anchor in the ground about the kind of wrestling we were going to have, Ken checked all the boxes, Ken was up there. Randy [Savage], him and my dad had a unique relationship, I never saw Randy coming and being a part of a start-up [wrestling company].

On a previous podcast, Jarrett broke down what happened when he left WWE before a match with Chyna at No Mercy 1999. Jarrett spoke about wanting Chyna to come to TNA at the start, saying she was a box office draw and he saw that during his time with WWE.

“Hell yes,” Jarrett said when asked if he wanted Chyna in TNA. “I’m going to go back to me being a witness night in and night out on live event after live event and knowing the reaction she got walking to the ring, the aura she presented. Obviously my matches and my storyline with her, but even outside of that. When DX, the New Age Outlaws, X-Pac and Hunter and Chyna. Chyna was box office, so of course I wanted her a part of the roster.”

Brutus Beefcake On Working With Zeus In WWE: “We Pulled Off The Impossible”

During his recent appearance on The Wrestling Inc. Daily, WWE Hall of Famer Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake recalled the main event of SummerSlam 1989 where he teamed up with Hulk Hogan to face “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Zeus.

Beefcake said he felt a sense of validation to main event a pay-per-view after selling out arenas all across the country as the headliner alongside Hogan.

“It was actually well deserved,” Beefcake said. “They put me up in a position where I deserved to be. I wrestled [with] Hogan all over the country in front of sold out crowds every night of the week – in front of 20 to 30,000 people. So, SummerSlam was well deserved.”

Following their SummerSlam match, the four men had another Steel Cage match at the No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie PPV a few months later. Beefcake felt that he, Hogan and Savage “pulled off the impossible” by having two pay-per-view matches with Zeus, who came into WWE as a celebrity performer to further his feud with Hogan from the movie No Holds Barred.

“Taking this guy, who had never been in the ring before, and doing what we did, and pulling it off without a single mistake is a mitzvah,” Beefcake admitted. “It’s a miracle. I started patting myself on the back like Barry Horowitz because we pulled off the impossible.”

Seven years later, Hogan, Savage and Zeus were once again in the ring together at WCW’s Uncensored 1996 in the Doomsday Cage Match. Although Beefcake wasn’t officially a part of the match, he appeared as The Booty Man and helped Hogan and Savage escape the three-story cage structure.

Recalling the Doomsday Cage Match, Beefcake said: “That was insane stuff. I didn’t feel safe in there, I was just happy to get out of there in one piece.”

Besides The Booty Man and The Barber, Beefcake portrayed several other characters in his career including The Zodiac [as a member of Dungeon of Doom], The Disciple, Dizzy Hogan, Brother Bruti, The Butcher and  The Man with No Name.

When asked by Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman if fans at conventions have an affinity for his characters besides The Barber, Beefcake said: “It’s mostly all about The Barber. I mean there are definitely some Zodiac fans, some occasional fans refer to be The Disciple, but 99.9% percent of the fans know me as The Barber.”

Beefcake spoke on the challenges of portraying such a wide variety of gimmicks.

“It was a challenge to step into a completely different personality and make it work, and be successful at it. I’ve had to a bunch of them, and was successful at all of them. Not sure a lot of others have been able to accomplish that, so I feel really good about myself. It required me to either lose or add weight, grow a beard, or do particular things to get into a character.”

Eric Bischoff Says He Was “Embarrassed” Being A Part Of Randy Savage Documentary

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff spoke about him and his wife being involved in the latest A&E Documentary about Randy Savage. Bischoff talked about when his footage was shot and why he wasn’t happy that they were both involved after seeing the release of it.

“I’m embarrassed that I was a part of that as well,” Bischoff said. “So people understand and know, both me [and my wife] shot those segments while I was still working for WWE and both of us were still living in Stamford a year and a half ago. I’ve been involved in so many WWE projects, and I hope to continue to be involved.

“Had I known what this biography was going to be, neither my wife nor I would have participated. Had I known that they were going to put Bubba the fucking Love Sponge in this thing, I would’ve said thank you but no thank you. I’m embarrassed too [to be involved in it] by the way.”

Bischoff had the opposite sentiment for the Brian Pillman Sr. Dark Side of the Ring episode on VICE. The former WCW President said it was much better than the Savage documentary and felt good after watching it.

“For people to understand why I went off the way I did on the Randy Savage A&E documentary, I just felt like there was a lot of dirt for the sake of dirt,” Bischoff said. “Sensationalism for the sake of sensationalism. The exact opposite happened on VICE with the Brian Pillman episode. There were a lot of negative things that were apart of Brian Pillman’s documentary but the way it was presented it didn’t feel like they were trying to bury Brian Pillamn’s legacy.

“A lot of people that were involved in that had a direct relationship with Brian, they told a story but did it respectfully. They didn’t do it just to bury somebody and at the end of the documentary I felt good about Brian Pillman’s story as sad as it was. I had to think in my own mind if Brians watching this right now, if Brian could’ve been involved in this decision making process and edited that final edit, what would Brian would’ve changed and I think he wouldn’t have changed anything. I felt hopeful at the end of it, that’s the direct opposite of how I felt when I saw the A&E Randy Savage documentary.”

A key component of the Pillman documentary was his son, Brian Pillman Jr., who currently works for AEW. Bischoff talked about first time meeting him, saying that he gave some advice and is happy to see where he’s ended up in his career.

“I met Brian Pillman Jr. about 4 years ago,” Bischoff said. “I remember thinking to myself, I hate to say this, but I was afraid for Pillman Jr. I know what he’s trying to do, I know why he’s trying to do it, I admire him for trying to do it but unless you have a really solid foundation underneath you, the entertainment business once you commit to it for a career, is an amazingly challenging journey. You have to be mentally and emotionally prepared and have a good foundation. To come out of a dysfunctional family, having lost your father at such a young age and then trying to follow in his footsteps, which is hard for anybody under the best of circumstances. It’s incredibly hard in the professional wrestling industry to follow in your fathers footsteps particularly when your father casts such a large shadow as Brian Pillman Sr. did.

“I was afraid for him, I think I gave him my phone number and said ‘If you ever need anything, if you just want to talk, don’t hesitate to call me.’ I never heard from him, I kind of went ahead with my business and didn’t see him again for a long time. Now to see this and to see how far he’s come, as a performer in the ring, I think he’s really come a long way and he’s got a ton of potential but beyond that, I’m really hoping that he continues his journey, succeeds in his journey and rises to the level he’s capable of rising too as a performer and a talent and come out of it healthy. That would be the best tribute to his fathers legacy. Stay healthy and not make the same mistakes his father made.”

Bruce Prichard On If Randy Savage And Vince McMahon Would Have Reconciled

On the latest episode of Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard spoke about Backlash 2006, which featured the infamous match with Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon facing Shawn Michaels and “God”. Prichard also discussed rumors at the time about WWE considering inducting Randy Savage into their Hall of Fame. Prichard suggested that if Savage were still alive today, that he would have mended fences with Vince.

“Yeah I definitely think Randy would’ve been there [Hall of Fame ceremony] in person,” Prichard said. “100 percent. I don’t doubt that for a second.”

In 2006, WWE revived ECW as their third brand alongside RAW and SmackDown. Among the hires from ECW was commentator Joey Styles, who was also worked play-by-play on RAW for a short time. Prichard spoke about how WWE had Jim Ross backstage to coach both Styles and Michael Cole and help Styles transition from ECW to WWE’s style.

“Absolutely, Jim was the coach for the play-by-play guys,” Prichard said. “Jim was the coach for Michael Cole, Jim was the coach for Joey Styles to teach him how to tell stories more.

“It’s a completely different animal from being in a one man booth to being in a two man or three man booth. Every time you add someone else, the difficulty level rises as well. It was a learning curve for Joey and I doubt Joey was very produced if at all in ECW. So he goes from not being produced to being heavily produced and it makes a difference.”

In May of that same year, Joey Styles came out and quit his job with WWE in a storyline a promo where he criticized WWE’s view on sports entertainment. This led to Styles moving to the ECW brand. There were some fans who were convinced that Styles’ promo was a shoot, but Prichard noted that it was scripted.

“It was scripted and all laid out for him,” Prichard said of Styles’ promo. “Great delivery.”

Molly Holly On Why Her WWE Heel Run Wasn’t Her Favorite

Just before it was revealed that she would become the first WWE Superstar to be inducted in this year’s Hall of Fame, Molly Holly spoke with the panel on WWE’s The Bump on how far the Women’s Evolution has come since her time as a full-time wrestler. While she appreciates the flattery that comes with being one of many who have broken the glass ceiling in women’s wrestling history, she believes her time does not compare to those who sacrificed so much more before her.

“Well, I am very impressed with how far it’s come,” Molly Holly exclaimed. “I always feel a little bit weird when people say that I was a part of it because I feel like there were so many people way before me. Whether it was “Chainsaw” Liz Chase or Leilani Kai, Rockin’ Robin, Madusa, all these people were generations before me that really were the ones that were doing things that women…it wasn’t proper for them to do.

“I feel like in my generation women had more…it was acceptable to do things outside of the homemaker role. But to see how much it has changed, it’s awesome!”

The panel took a look back at Molly Holly’s very first match in WWE at Sunday Night Heat in 1998. She mentioned that at that point, this match was just a tryout. Unfortunately, she did not receive a contract following this matchup. But she was happy that two years later, she would make the cut in WWE.

“What I remember was that I really wanted a full-time job. Like, I wanted to be a pro wrestler for a living, and this was my big chance to do it,” she recalls on her first-ever WWE match. “One of the things was that I didn’t have good gear. Every time I see myself in that outfit, I go, ‘Oh, this is so bad!’

“Yes, I did want to be hired. I would say that this was a tryout. At the time, WWE decided that I wasn’t exactly what they were looking for at that time. I was really bummed that I didn’t get hired at that point.”

Prior to her WWE debut, Molly Holly spent one year honing her craft over at WWE’s biggest rival at the time, WCW, where she would become one of the three valets for “Macho Man” Randy Savage. She recalls how Savage asked her to train his other valet and girlfriend at the time, Gorgeous George, for in-ring competition and what that did for her career after.

“I lived in the Tampa Bay area, and so did ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, and he was looking for a girl that worked in the indie scene to teach his girlfriend, Gorgeous George, awesome wrestling moves,” she began. “So, the local people said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to meet this girl. She wrestles, and she’s nice.’ So, Randy asked me if I could teach his girlfriend some wrestling moves. We went to a warehouse, and I spent a lot of time teaching her the basics, and we all became friends. Then, he asked me to be on TV with him.

“The one story that means the most to me was we had this match with Gorgeous George, and she was going to wrestle referee Charles Robinson. I spent so much time teaching her moves, and we were really nervous about it. But at the end of the match when she won, I had never seen him so happy. We were backstage, and he had a genuine smile on his face, and he was like, ‘We did it. We did it.’ It just made me feel so good that something that we had worked so hard on that he was like, ‘That is it!’”

While many remember Molly Holly’s singles run as the villainous brunette from 2002-2003, she revealed that this wasn’t her favorite character to portray in her overall career.

“I didn’t want to be a bad guy,” she admitted. “Usually, a good bad guy has a lot of experience. At that time, I had a lot of years under my belt. The bonus was that I didn’t have to bleach my hair blonde anymore. It did become my most successful part of my career. I was able to be the champion. Yeah, I was successful at that turn, but it wasn’t like my favorite persona to have.”

Towards the end of her interview, the panel and she came full circle to talk once more about how women’s wrestling has changed from when she first started to where it is now. Molly Holly is excited to see how the women of today will influence the little girls watching around the world.

“When I started, there was just a handful of women. There didn’t seem to be a priority to hire more. It was kind of like, ‘Oh, they’re the novelty or the sideshow or whatever warms up the crowd before the show starts,’” she stated. “To see how that’s changed, really, I feel like the fans demand to want more women’s action. The women are delivering.

“I think that if the women had not advanced their skills and put in so much effort into being equally as good as the men, that now they’re finally getting to showcase all that they can do, it just opens up so many more doors for little girls all across the world that are watching TV saying, ‘I want to be a pro wrestler someday.’ Now, they have that opportunity.”

Bruce Prichard Recalls Working With “Macho Man” Randy Savage To Train Shane McMahon

While Shane McMahon spent over half of a decade away from WWE, he remained a popular figure among WWE fans.
 
Speaking on Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed the prodigal son’s role in creating WWE’s website.
 
“Yeah, Shane was a big part of WWF.com, and even going back to, as you look at the different things Shane did, Shane started on the ring crew as well, when he was going to go on the road and learn the business,” Prichard said. “He set the rings up, tearing them down every night.”
 
While Shane-O-Mac was cutting his teeth in the business, Prichard revealed he and the Macho Man only had the intentions of grooming Shane to work behind the scenes.
“We had strict instructions, Randy Savage and I did. That under no circumstances, we were to let Shane get in the ring and take bumps or anything like that,” Prichard said. “Once the ring crew got there, they would get there early. They would set up the ring. We’d go work out and then, come back.”
 
Despite their best efforts, the two could not keep Shane away from the squared circle.
 
“Shane just so badly wanted to get in the ring,” Prichard said. “Savage agreed, ‘Yeah, brother. Come on! I’ll teach you things.’ I was the tackling dummy. I was the first one to lock up with Shane and work with him. It was a lot of fun. Shane wanted to know everything and be a part of as much as he possibly could.”
 
Shane wowed millions with his death-defying stunts within the ring, and according to Prichard, he carried that same mental attitude when he was working backstage.
 
“I thought he was very good. Shane had the same intensity in the office and in the business and the same intensity he had in the ring,” Prichard said. “Being able to utilize that and in business on that side of things, having the last name, McMahon, wasn’t something that people held against him.
 
“Shane was just integral. He was doing the magazines. He was doing all of the internet stuff and had these global aspirations and able to get out and have the people in the right roles to be able to negotiate those deals and get involved. So, he was out there doing it.”
 
For a good part of the Attitude Era, The Corporation stable commanded TV time as on-screen antagonists. Eventually, the group merged with another faction, The Ministry of Darkness, when Vince McMahon was revealed as the mysterious ‘Higher Power’ that Undertaker had been teasing for weeks.
 
To this day, there has been speculation on if the WWE Chairman was always pencilled in for the role. Prichard shed some light on the situation, saying some wanted to bring in a former AEW Tag Team Champion to lead the giant stable.
 
“There was no original plan, which is what f–ked up the original plan,” Prichard said. “Russo wanted to bring in Christopher Daniels. I don’t think they ever really had anybody for The Chosen One.”

Bruce Prichard Explains Why WWE Fans Did Not Embrace Ultimate Warrior Like Hulk Hogan

Bruce Prichard was recently back on his Something To Wrestle With show and reflected on Ultimate Warrior’s time in WWE. The topic of discussion was brought up when Prichard was asked if Vince McMahon believed the move from Hulk Hogan to Ultimate Warrior was disappointing. Prichard said he wasn’t sure if you could classify it as a flop, but would have been interested in seeing how Ultimate Warrior was able to do on his own in terms of drawing power.

“I don’t know at that time that he was really looking at it as a flop per se,” Prichard said. “If both sides– let’s say for example that Hogan and Warrior both weren’t drawing. Then you would have looked at it as a flop. I think it was an experiment to look at from, ‘Is there someone else? Is there another attraction that we can get to the point of being as viable as Hulk’? And Hulk was still an attraction and people were still paying to see Hulk, and the argument was made that a lot of people thought, ‘Well, s–t’. It’s hard to give Warrior that flunking grade, if you will, when Hogan’s still active, because now, I’ve got a choice. The truer test probably would have been taking Hogan out of the equation and seeing how Warrior draws on his own. Given a choice, I think the people preferred Hulk.”

Prichard went a little more in depth and explained why he thinks Warrior wasn’t the draw that everyone hoped he was going to be. He said mainly, up to that point, a babyface got over by beating a really strong heel, but this storyline was essentially more of a passing of the torch scenario with two babyfaces. He explained that a majority of the audience was still cheering Hogan and rejected the change.

“You can sit there and make excuses all day long, and there are people, old-timers in the business, that would tell you that if you want a babyface champion to be over, he needs to defeat a strong heel champion,” Prichard said. “Warrior beat the biggest attraction in the business. The perennial babyface was Hulk Hogan. So to a segment of the audience that was really cheering Hogan, yes, it was a passing of the torch. Yes, it was sprinkling Hulk dust on him. But there was a big part of the audience that was like, ‘Nah, f–k him. Hulk’s my guy’… I think that you can create a lot of excuses, but having both of those guys still on the roster and you compare them? There wasn’t a comparison because Hulk was clearly out drawing and still doing magnificent business, whereas Warrior in the same position did not.”

While on the topic of Ultimate Warrior, Prichard went on to compare the babyface runs as champion between Macho Man Randy Savage and Warrior respectively. Prichard said he believes Macho Man did a better job as a champion and did not have the drop off that Warrior had.

“Well I think the more people you have over, the better,” Prichard said. “I don’t think the drop off was as big with Randy Savage the year before; I really don’t. I think that Randy held his own and worked as a champion. Was it as big as Hulk? No, it was not, but I think it was better than Warrior as far as that immediate turn, and that’s what I kind of point to a little bit. Randy beat a heel in a tournament but he beat the top heel in the company at that time in [Ted] DiBiase, in the tournament, to win the championship, and then he went right into the program with DiBiase after that.

“So, it was a hot program with a distinctive babyface and heel, and Hulk was out of the picture in the beginning,” Prichard said. “Hogan came back, what, in July after Warrior won? So Hulk wasn’t really gone that long before he made his return. I think you can make excuses all day long, but the bottom line comes down to they want to see Hulk more.”