"I didn't get smartened up until I was out there for my first match."

 

is pretty common for older guys.

"I didn't get smartened up until I was out there for my first match."

 

is pretty common for older guys.

True. Along with "This match turned into a shoot."

I have to admit Maria talking about how rough she worked as opposed to today's divas was one of the funniest things I had ever heard. Coming from Victoria, Trish, Jazz or Molly I might have taken it seriously.

JYD/Race were 2 of maybe 6 workers at the WM presser. Its on youtube.

Yeah Savage and Steamboat weren't there. I remember seeing JYD there, not Race though.

Most common: "I created hardcore wrestling"

First to use entrance music too

I can't think of any WWF house shows JYD-Race headlined, unless you want to count the 6 man elimination matches.

 

I have a broader question, do wrestlers do this out of massive insecurity or simply because they've lived a carnival lifestyle for so long they have no idea where the lies begin and reality ends?

 

I mean someone like Hogan who constantly exaggerates his deeds. Which would be fine and good if he were say Sam Houston and had a massive insecurity complex. But he's arguably the most famous wrestler of all time, why the hell does he find the need to add a few hundred pounds to Andre's weight for instance? Does he even know he's lying anymore? And if not, does that make the shoot interview, for all its BS, the best insight into the mind of a wrestler we are ever likely to get.

It's usually gets followed with "Andre died soon after." Yeah, nearly 6 years later!

 

I'd say it is a mixture of staying too much in kayfabe and probably one too many shots to the head through the years.

 

No clue, beyond steroids, about Hulk's drug or alcohol usage, but copious amounts of recreational drugs or alcohol, or both will do that as well!

I have to admit Maria talking about how rough she worked as opposed to today's divas was one of the funniest things I had ever heard. Coming from Victoria, Trish, Jazz or Molly I might have taken it seriously.

Seriously. Maria was a hard worker, and willing to try stuff, but she never was better than passable. Her trashing the Bellas for example is hilarious, because she was never better than a Bella level worker, and probably not even that good. AJ, Nattie, Layla and Kaitlyn are all better workers than Maria ever was. Kelly Kelly and Candice were better workers than Maria. Eve was miles and miles better than Maria. etc. etc. etc. She wasn't the worst, but she wasn't very good.

 

That "guys today don't know how to work" talking point will never go away though. You get the same thing from old timers in every sport. The guys from today who "don't know how to work" will say the same thing about the next generation of workers

As far as in ring goes I'd probably take Maria over the Bellas. Maria never reached the heights of the Bellas' best work, since circa 2011 with their title run they were pretty good, but the Bellas have also been pretty wretched at other times (like now), while Maria was pretty consistent and a decent sympathetic babyface for someone to beat up.

 

But you're right in that all those other names you mentioned are better.

"We were selling out every single night for ______".

"We were running 4 towns a night, seven nights a week"

We worked 350 days a year (even the AWA guys say that!)

'I worked 60 days straight, doing double shots on the weekend.'

We worked 350 days a year (even the AWA guys say that!)

I'd chalk stuff like that up to that it maybe felt like they were working 350 days a year,and that the further away from that time of their life they are it becomes fact in their own heads.

"The cops let us go...."

I specifically recall Kevin Von Erich talking about World Class running 3 towns a night, and that he had to work them all after Kerry's foot injury. Which contradicts what most other people who worked WCCW have said as far as the travel and road schedule.

A lot of the rib stories from the older guys are great but the embellishment factor is expected when re-telling them. I'd love to have had a bird's-eye view of them as they happened to see how the end result differed from the retelling of the stories so many years later.

 

I believe most of those ribs happened, but I have a hard time thinking they all ended so hilariously, if that makes sense.

A lot of the rib stories from the older guys are great but the embellishment factor is expected when re-telling them. I'd love to have had a bird's-eye view of them as they happened to see how the end result differed from the retelling of the stories so many years later.

 

I believe most of those ribs happened, but I have a hard time thinking they all ended so hilariously, if that makes sense.

Just the ones on Verne in Bockwinkel in 86-7 or all of them?

A lot of the rib stories from the older guys are great but the embellishment factor is expected when re-telling them. I'd love to have had a bird's-eye view of them as they happened to see how the end result differed from the retelling of the stories so many years later.

 

I believe most of those ribs happened, but I have a hard time thinking they all ended so hilariously, if that makes sense.

Just the ones on Verne in Bockwinkel in 86-7 or all of them?

 

I'm thinking about the "Mabel" stories that guys like Stu Hart told, or the story of Pampero Firpo's first road trip after coming to the US, where his travelling partners spun an elaborate yarn where he thought one was going to murder the other. Stuff like that.

*bump*

 

"Rock Stars/Athletes/Other Celebrities all wanted to be like us."

A lot of people carried knifes to wrestling shows back in the day for some reason.

See, I totally believe that. Wrestlers are dangerous, paranoid lunatics, I can see them all carrying weapons at all times for fear of their lives.

I would say for every 10 males I know, at least 3 carry pocket knives.