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RF Video Shoot Interview with Marty Jannetty, Volume 1


This interview was filmed in 2004. It runs at three hours and forty-five minutes long.
 

 
Marty starts by stating that he accidentally wound up in wrestling. He wrestled in high school and in junior college, where some of the promoters used to scout guys. He said that he was not interested in pro wrestling back then, only in NCAA and had a goal of being a champion and then wrestle in the Olympics. Marty also adds that it wasn’t until the popularity of Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar that promotions would start to focus on amateur wrestlers.

 
He then said his college dropped wrestling as were most at the time, to add women’s sports.  He then walked on at Troy State for football. He said a promoter went to talk to him and gave him a cash figure that he thought was decent but passed and ended up working for North American Van Lines. After carrying furniture all day long, he thought there was a better way to make a living. Jerry Oates from Georgia Championship Wrestling met up with him and told him about his school then after thinking about the prospects of driving furniture for the rest of his life, he decided to give it a shot. Oates also had connections to Harley Race and Bob Geigel, of Central States Wrestling

 

Marty said he was a fan of Bob Armstrong growing up then stopped watching until Tommy Rich got popular with matches against Buzz Sawyer. He stopped again when he got to college and was too busy training.  

 

He is then asked about training. Said Jerry had mats in the back of a weight room . They would only practice for a few hours on Saturday’s. He also said that there were no ropes and he is pretty sure that Oates never cleaned the mats. Marty also mentions how hard it was getting used to bumping when you only did it once a week. He also said that Jerry was old school,. He only taught lockups, armdrags, slams then would ship you off somewhere else. He adds how he learned the rest of his moves wrestling for the Central States promotion and would go to the shows two hours early to practice and visualize moves in the ring.

 

Marty is then asked if any veterans helped him out or held him back. Marty adds that the was lucky that they were looking for a tag-team to copy the Rock n Roll Express and was paired up withTommy Rogers, not the one from the Fantastics but the one who went on to become one-half of the Rock ‘n’ Roll RPM’s. , and they were called Uptown Boys. Marty claims to have had no idea ripping off the Express until someone showed him their picture. He puts over the Grapplers (Len Denton & Tony Anthony) for helping him out. He also puts over Rufus R. Jones, who told Marty that the business is all about entertainment.  After a while, Rogers and Buzz Tyler were shipped off to the Carolina’s and he wrestled in singles for a bit until teaming with Bulldog Bob Brown, who has in his mid-forties.

 

Marty says that he loves Harley Race. He says that he has seen some of the wild stories about Harley and doesn’t doubt that the others were true. He tells his first Harley story of the shoot about how he had a strap match against Sheik Abdullah from the Portland territory. Harley had his family in the front row. After the match in the locker room, Marty heard a cracking noise coming from the showers. Marty thought that Harley was attacking the Sheik but when he went over, he saw Harley whipping himself with the strap. Marty asked him why he was doing that and Harley’s response was that he couldn’t go home and let his family see that he really wasn’t whipped that hard in his match.

 

Marty was asked about the psychology in the territory. He does confirm that less is more was stressed. He mentioned how one of the referees told him that you could constantly punch someone and it will not mean anything but if you wait and stall then connect with the punch, the crowd will go nuts. However, Marty said that style could only go on for so long.

 

Marty said that he loved Geigel. He then adds that he could cheer you up when you were feeling down and also bring you back to earth when you were too cocky.

 

 

He is asked about Gypsy Joe. Marty said that he had good and bad stories about him. He recalls a story of a kid he trained with, who was about 300 lbs, that was always nervous and forgot everything he learned. His first match was against Joe, who was known for being rough in the ring. During the match, the kid froze after getting tackled and just sat on the mat. Joe punted him in the face and the kid was afraid to fight back and ended up bleeding hardway from a chairshot. After the match, Marty saw the kid crying because he fucked up the match, not because of the pain. Marty said he was pissed off and went to Joe after the match. Joe said that he had to teach him a lesson.

 

Marty is asked if a veteran ever messed with him in the ring. He said no but that Scott Hall screwed him over badly once. At the time, Hall was teaming with Danny Spivey. Marty said that he would party hard with Shawn Michaels and DJ Peterson at the time. He also adds that some of his checks would be negative as a result of having to pay for hotel damages. One night, he rented a room with DJ and they brought in a lot of girls. The next day at the show, he was extremely hungover on the table in dressing room, which he points out was not uncommon for him. All of a sudden, he was on the ground and heard screaming and Hall was acting crazy before leaving. Marty ended up with a split lip because Hall punched him repeatedly while he was sleeping. Marty said he then took a pipe and went looking for Scott. Geigel and Bulldog Brown grabbed him and held back before taking him to the hospital. Next night in St. Louis, he sees Hall who asked if he wanted to go another round. Hall put arm around Marty and said he got worked over by DJ, as he signed in the hotel under Scotts name and got discount on the room because he was a wrestler and DJ was not well known, but someone told him that it was Marty who signed in under Scott’s name and destroyed room on purpose in an attempt to get him fired. Marty then asked who told him that and he said it was Bulldog Brown.  Marty then said that he was kicking and slamming doors looking for Brown.  Harley saw him and pulled him aside and asked him what was wrong. He told him the story and Harley said that he would take care of this but he never did. Marty said that he got along okay with Hall after that but the beating he took was hard to forget.

 

Up next is how he got to All-Japan. He said that Harley got him there in 1985. He said that Japan was always ten years ahead of the United States when it came to wrestling. He teamed with Harley and one of the champions in Japan against the Funks and Giant Baba.  Marty says that in Japan, no one leads you around in the ring and they will eat you up if you don’t try to get in any offense.  He tells another story about Harley, this time in Japan. He was in a restaurant with Tim Horner, Tim Brooks, Kerry Von Erich and Harley. Inside the restaurant, they were shooting a film and at times, they would yell to be quiet before they started shooting. One of the big female movie starts in Japan came in and went over to their table. She went over to Horner, Brooks, and Von Erich and knew them. She then went over to Harley and had no clue who he was. Harley stayed silent, which is what he did when he was mad, then told Marty that he would show her who the star was. So, just as they are about to shoot, Harley tells him to get up and they open the doors, where the people were screaming for Harley, who then goes over to the female star and asked her who the star was now.  

 

Now we get to where Marty first met Shawn Michaels. He said that Shawn came into the territory with high expectations. Terry Garvin, who would later work for the WWF, told Marty and DJ to help him out with rides.  Marty then approached a young kid with his pants tucked inside his boots, who he assumed was a local jobber, and asked him what the big deal was about Shawn Michaels and the kid replied that he was in fact, Shawn Michaels. Marty then pokes fun at Shawn for the way he dressed, with his pants pulled all the way up to his chest. Anyway, they became friends and partied like crazy. One night at a TV taping, they had them team together and they had an instant chemistry. They never tagged their again and Shawn wound up transforming his look.

 

Marty recalls how they would party at the Marriott in St. Louis on Friday nights but Shawn was underage and couldn’t get in the bar so he waited in the lobby where occasionally the boys would sneak him some beers. Marty said that all the rats hung out there and says it was like shooting fish in a barrel. He points out how he couldn’t afford a room there so would have to borrow someone’s room key and take the girls up there.  He then said how he would be on the 12th floor and would take the girls out on the ledge of the room and screw out there. 

 

He left Central States after a year-and-a-half and went to the AWA. He liked the fact that he could make more money and wrestle in bigger cities. When asked, Marty said that he received no interest from the NWA or WWF. Marty wanted to get DJ to go with him and eventually that happened. He then tells a story of his last night in the territory. He and DJ were celebrating at the Capri Lounge, which he said was always filled with rats. One side was a bar and the other a restaurant. All of a sudden, Geigel walks by them, and asks why they were quiet. Geigel looks over to the girls standing around silently and says that something must be wrong then pulls up the table cloth to reveal two girls blowing the guys. Geigel sees this then proudly proclaims that these are his guys and tells the girls that they couldn’t learn this in four years of college before leaving. 

 

Once in the AWA, Marty wrestled in singles for a few weeks. He mentions how everyone else was plainly dressed  and he stuck out with his ring gear. After a month or so, Greg Gagne pulled him aside and said they were looking for a teeny bopper team and asked if there was anyone that he felt comfortable teaming with. He instantly said Shawn then afterwards realized that he could have gotten DJ in if he said his name.   

 

Marty then tells us the story that he said foreshadowed his career. He said that the AWA would go to Las Vegas every three weeks. Shawn was scheduled to fly in there to make his debut. Marty said that he was waiting for Shawn with Curt Hennig, who Marty refers as the go-to guy for partying and ribbing. Marty was playing the slot machine right next to the door. Shawn arrived and they went to the room and showed him there new ring gear, then Shawn wanted to go down and gamble so they went down to the casino and a lady was playing the machine that Marty was at earlier. She leaves and Shawn sits down then hits triple 7’s on his first pull.

 

He is then asked how the Midnight Rocker name originated. Marty said that the name came from Curt Hennig. Verne Gagne was trying to come up with names and suggested the American Express, which was a credit card company, and the US Express, which was already the name of a tag-team company. Marty then mentioned how the tapings in Vegas would end around 1030pm and their flights would be at 7am the next day so they would just stay up all night and party until they boarded the plane but one night they were tired after the taping and Curt mentioned how they didn’t party until midnight and that was how they came up with the Midnight Rockers name. They then took it to Verne, who was worried that fans would associate them with rocking chairs but Shawn was able to assure Verne that wouldn’t happen.

 

Marty said that the crowds were dwindling when they teamed up, as the Freebirds and the Road Warriors recently left the territory. He said that Verne panicked when the crowds dropped and as a result, their paycheck dropped too. He said t was asked about Verne and if he ever told them to slow down in the ring. He said he did not then noted how Verne ws always mean and a complete egomaniac, calling people a “fag” if they disagreed with him but feels a little different about him on as he realizes that he was losing his company at the time.  

 

 

Marty is asked about Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. He loved Buddy, who he calls a “locker-room lawyer,” a term that was given for a guy who smartened up the young guys to the business, which angered some of the veterans. He said that Somers got heat on him as a result. He then said how for the most part, they all partied hard together as the company was a sinking ship at the time. He puts over Pat Tanaka and Hennig as great ribbers. He also said that Curt Hennig would stockpile combination locks that he would take from the locker rooms of the schools they wrestled in and use them for pranks.

 

 

Marty then tells us a bunch of Hennig stories. The first is about a guy Silo Sam, who was a very tall guy and at one point in a Pee-Wee Herman movie, was in a battle royal. Well, Curt said that he had to do something about this guy and during the match, Marty could hear him laughing as Sam was found to be locked to the ropes and everyone was chopping him. Another rib involved Greg Gagne , who would irritate everyone. Greg always used a pencil to check off stuff during the interviews. Anytime he moved, they would steal his pencil. At one point, they got a sharpener and sharpened all of his pencils down to tiny nubs. Greg then brought up the pencil incident to his dad during a meeting. Marty then tells another story about Curt and how one day he came out of the bathroom laughing and told Marty to look in the toilet at the far end of the bathroom. He looks in and sees a turd floating no top of a picture of Nick Bockwinkel. He laughs then walks out of the stall to see Nick standing in the bathroom asking what was so funny then looks in and commented how that was just nasty. He then mentions how at one point Verne threatened to shut down the territory due to all of the ribs that were taking place and at the end of the meeting, he reached for his bag but it was locked to the desk and he flipped out a punched a wall. Curt also pranked Bockwinkel again. It was a snowy night in Wisconsin and Marty was driving with Curt, Shawn, and Tanaka and they saw Nick’s car and Curt started to laugh, so they knew something was up. They also heard noises and Curt told them to look and they saw locks attached to the door handle and the hood ornament. They look over again and see that Bockwinkel also had a lock attached to the middle of his glasses.

 

Up next is their bloodbath match against Rose & Somers. Marty said that before Shawn was supposed to juice, he was scared to get the blade out and went over to Marty after fumbling around and asked him for his blade. Shawn eventually got it out and the match went fine. Marty is asked what he learned from those guys and jokes about how he learned to balance the correct amount of beer and “powder” then says that he learned about how to pace the match. He said that the Brainbusters were the best at that but Rose & Somers taught them first. He also mentions how the Gagne’s fucked with them by asking them to do an angle where they were attacked in the parking lot and were told to scrub their faces with a towel to sell the angle. They did that for an hour and their faces were scabbed and they lasted for a while but after they did that, the Gagne’s told them they changed their minds.

 

He is asked about a few more teams. He liked Randy Rose & Dennis Condrey and though they were easy to work with. Marty is then asked about Paul Heyman and said that back then he would party with them and liked him but hated him in ECW. He talked briefly how Paul would score them pills somehow then says that he wants to change the subject, as it is obvious he cannot stand Heyman at all. He loved Bad Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond)and said that they were one of the best teams they had ever wrestled, along with the Brainbusters. He likes DDP, says that he always had women around him and was a great talker, unlike himself. Marty said that he would even practice talking into a tape recorder on the road and still couldn’t improve on the stick.

 

We go on to some more rib stories. Marty tells us about how Scott LeDuc (a former boxer) and Leon White (Vader) were arguing in the car while he was in the middle. The next day at the airport terminal, he was with Hennig and those guys were fighting again so in the locker room of the show, Curt locked their bags together and they had to carry it through the airport home and take off with boltcutters when they got back to Minneapolis. He said that after the lock pranks, they moved on to head shaving. He recalls a story of him, Shawn, Curt, and the Nasty Boys in an apartment. There was a Japanese photographer there with them and he passed out so they shaved his eyebrows off and in the process, nicked him and he drew blood. The reporter got up and looked in the mirror and asked where his eyebrows were and Curt told him that he didn’t bring them with him. The reporter then goes out in the parking lot and flips out and while that happens, Curt calls the cops and says that the guy was rolling around a parking lot with a brick in his hands screaming about Pearl Harbor and the cops came and took him  away.

 

Marty then tells us of a system he and Shawn developed when they wanted to party before the bars closed. He said that if they got there just before last call, they would order a dozen shots then leave and speed away somewhere else to party. He said that they kept a blade in the console and if pulled over, they would cut themselves and then tell the cop they were wrestlers and speeding in order to get to the hospital. One time, they got pulled over but the system backfired as the cops made them go to the hospital.

 

Before levcing the AWA, Verne lied to them about the amount of cash they would be receiving and told them to drop the belts to Bad Company. Verne brought a few guys in the room, including Wahoo McDaniel, in case the Rockers were to givethem trouble. Marty said that they were partiers, not fighters and dropped the belts and the next day, called Terry Garvin in the WWF and got a start date.

 

Marty then tells about the Rockers first stint in the WWF. They came to the TV tapings in New York and the rest of the locker room thought they were punks. Vince had a meeting with the boys, which was uncommon at that time, and stressed professionalism in the business. Later that night, Terry Garvin told them to hang out with the guys so they didn’t think they were pricks. So they went with Jim Powers, Davey Boy Smith, and Jimmy Jack Funk to a bar. Jimmy kept on ragging on Shawn about how he was supposed to be a big partier and then breaks a glass over his own head. Shawn eventually breaks a glass over his own head and that made Jimmy happy. Anyway, when it was time to leave,  Jimmy asked him to wait a minute before and the girl told Marty that she could either wait or him or leave with her so they left and drove past Jimmy in the parking lot. The next day in the lunch line, Marty was hungover and Jimmy comes in and starts screaming how they were telling everyone that he was just a jobber and that they were the big stars. Everyone else stops eating and is now looking at the Rockers. Jimmy then points to Shawn and said how he kept breaking glasses at the bar last night. They get the booking sheets after the cafeteria incident and see that they are working against Jimmy Jack Funk  & Jose Estrada.  They asked the road agents, Pedro Morales and Chief Jay Strongbow if they could change the match but they didn’t and they ended up having a good match and afterwards, Jimmy apologized to them. He said that Vince went up to tehm and told them not to raise too much hell. The next day after they got home, Terry Garvin called them and said that Vince was letting them go after tearing up the bar and causing fights. They wanted to talk with Vince and Garvin said they could pay their own way and fly out so they did.  Vince sees Shawn’s snakeskin boots and joked how they were made for walking. Vicne then brought them in and said that he was doing them a favor by letting the go as the locker room did not want them there.

 

Seeing how they couldn’t go back to AWA, they ended up going to Continental in Alabama. While there, Tom Prichard and Scott Armstrong told them that they heard they broke all of the glasses at the bar and lit a fire. He said that the story always grew about the incident and they might as well take credit for everything they were told they did. He said that they still managed to party hard there but one day, Shawn autographed the back of a fan’s shirt but instead wrote “I’m a Real Big Asshole” and that fan took it to the new owners, who Marty said didn’t know anything about wrestling and bought the company in an attempt to make money, and they cursed them out and Bob Armstrong told them that they were fired. They only lasted several weeks there. After that, they went to work in Tennessee for Jerry Jarrrett and made very little money. He tells a story of how after a night of partying with the Nasty Boys, they climbed a fence and went to Elvis’s grave where Jerry Sags took a piss. He also tells a story of how they got shot at once when they went to a girls house and kept banging on the door and a man answered, who was either her father or husband and started shooting at them.

 

They ended up back in the AWA then called Terry Garvin again and wound up back in the WWF. When they came back, they kept to themselves, which Marty said was a mistake as they didn’t shake any hands and as a result, Andre the Giant hated them and he was a guy who wouldn’t change his opinion. Since Verne owned the “Midnight Rockers” name, they had to come up with a new name and after a night of thinking up a bunch, Vince went to them and asked what people called them backstage and they said just the “Rockers” and Vince said that should be their name.

 

Marty said that they were never promised a push when they got to the WWF and was just glad to be there. He is then asked if they were held back because of their size and he said he wasn’t sure but that Demolition refused to job for them as did the Hart Foundation at the beginning. He loved working with the Brainbusters and the Orient Express. He liked the Powers of Pain and said both guys were nice. He calls his match against the Orient Express at the 1991 Royal Rumble the best match that he ever had.

 

He is then asked if Shawn changed in beginning of their WWF stay. Marty said yes as they always roomed together and did a ton of crazy shit. He mentions Ted Dibiase and Jake Roberts as big partiers but they did the most. No matter what size the town as long as there was at least one girl, they would party and after partying all week, they would be burned out on the weekends. He then said some of the women thought the Rocker gimmick was true and would love to hang around them as did the guys because they knew a lot of women would also be there.

 

Marty tells a story while in Denver. There was a girl who was in a wheelchair that would always talk to Marty when he was in town. Marty said that she was pretty and one day, Curt Hennig told Arty that the girl really liked him and that he should do something for her. Marty said that Curt tells the story the bet but one day, Marty and the girl have a conversation away from everyone in the ballroom. AMrty said that he doed off and the girl took advantage of him and Curt wandered in the area and could hear the wheels of her wheelchair screeching and he turned the lights on and saw the girl blowing him while he was passed out. Marty said that he remembers asking the girl for her chair, which was motorized, and went down to the bar area as he propped her against the wall. Marty remembers that  he drove it around the bar and gave it back at the end of  the night. The next morning, Curt told Marty that the girl wanted her autograph and Marty motioned her to come over and she said she couldn’t as Marty drained her battery and she had to plug in her chair so it could charge.

 

Marty also said that smaller towns did not like the boys taking all their attention in the bars and mentions how one night, Shawn and Dino Bravo got arrested. He left the bar and went up to his room with a girl and received a few calls from Dino but thought he was pranking him but the third time Dino was flipping out and saying they were arrested so Marty had to go to the station and pick them up. He had to wait a few hours before Shawn could be released, as he was still legally drunk, and Shawn came out and was all busted up. Marty adds that Shawn has a tendency to mouth off when drunk, especially when there is a bigger guy around him, like Hall or Nash. Marty was hungover in the police station and Shawn starts yelling at him for leaving the bar earlier and they get into a shouting match when a teacher brings their class through the station for a tour and some of the kids recognized them as the Rockers.  Marty says that Shawn mouthed off to the cops and they cuffed him and kicked his ass in the cell.

 

Marty is then asked about the tension between him and Shawn. He said that Shawn wanted to do singles, which Marty didn’t have a problem with. He said that it started in Arizona when they were having dinner and Shawn got off the phone with his wife and was all pissed off. Marty asked him what was wrong and Shawn said that she went to a high school football game and Marty snickered then Shawn threatened to kick his fucking teeth down his throat for talking about his wife. Marty said that this was about six months before they broke up. The next day, they were in their hotel room with Roddy Piper and some girls. Piper kept splitting the two, constantly talking up Shawn as being a star then telling Marty that he needed a lot of work. After a while, Marty asked Piper to not talk business with the girls around then Shawn pushed him in the chest for disrespecting. Marty said they fought and were on top of each other rolling around. Marty got up and tried to leave but Shawn kept running after him. The girls tried to break it up but Roddy told them to go away. Back in the room, the girls cleaned all the blood off of Shawn and Marty felt bad and went to extend his hand and say he was sorry but Shawn pushed it away and told him to fuck himself. Marty said the cops showed up and Marty yelled at them so they cuffed him and took them through the lobby and the passed Macho Man Randy Savage.  Mary does a tremendous Savage impersonation and says that he told the cops that they were wrestlers and just working an angle, even telling the cops that the blood all over his pants were the result of blood capsules, and he got Marty off. He then said after that, Macho Man asked him what really happened. He said after that, he blacked out and woke up to what he thought was the ugliest girl he had ever saw and tried to sneak out without waking her up but found out that it was actually Piper. He said that luckily they were both fully clothed, with Marty still covered in blood. He went back up to his room with Shawn and packed his stuff and told Shawn it was time to go  but Shawn told him to fuck off and said that he quit because he couldn’t go to work looking the way he did and he looked over and Shawn was all fucked up and Marty felt awful. Marty truly looks on the verge of tears while telling this story so I truly believe that he felt awful. Shawn eventually made it to the TV taping and Vince sat them down and they made up but Marty believes that Shawn never forgave him for that.

 

 

Marty then tells a story that Shawn did in his shoot interview and mentions that he left out some parts on purpose. While doing a commercial shoot for “Superstars Cereal,” they found out that they only got $5,000 each while the other tag-teams got $10,000 each. Shawn told Marty that they should quit and then Marty said that if Shawn really is Christian, he would have told the whole story he is about to tell. Marty ends up calling Vince at Shawn’s request and tells him that they are quitting. Vince tells them to come to TV and talk about it but he said that they already talked to him a few months prior about how they could become bigger stars. Vince said they could leave after the Survivor Series, which was just three weeks away and that made him happy because usually you had to give three months notice and they would job you the entire time. He told Shawn the news and Marty said his jaw dropped and he seemed shocked that Vince would let them quit and this confused Marty at the time. Marty then flies home and gets a message from Vince to call the office. He does and Vince told him that if he wants to wrestle as a single, he doesn’t have to quit. Marty said they both made the decision then Vince informs Marty that Shawn called him and said that it wasn’t his decision to quit and that he was coming back. Marty said he called Shawn, who said that he was married with house payments and could not afford to quit. At the next TV taping, the guys got word about what happened and Wayne Bloom told Marty that he would kick Shawn’s ass for him. Shortly after that, Vince sat them down and said it was time for a split and Vince told Marty that they were going to turn Shawn into a superstar but that he did not see that in him. Marty told him he wanted a chance to prove him wrong and Vince told him he liked that attitude.  Later that night, Marty got depressed and drank a lot. Shortly after that, they ran the “Barber Shop” angle, which Marty said Shawn took credit for but only remembers the window part being his idea.

 

When asked if he had a deal with the NWA, Marty that he did but the ydid not want Shawn as they felt he was too much trouble and he represented the WWF.

 

Marty said that he was only supposed to be off of TV for a few weeks after that angle but it wound up being for six months as he was under house arrest. He said that happened as he was in Florida at a bar with a 20 year old girl.She went to the bathroom and Marty said hi to a girl that he knew and when the underage girl came out from the bathroom, she fought her and the cops arrived. The cops asked her for ID then after pretending to look for it, she kicked the cop in the shin but the cop picked her up and slammed her off the ground. The cop grabber her bt the hair and Marty got angered and took the cop off the girl then after realizing what he had just did, put his hands over his head while the cop called him an asshole, stating that his son had his poster on his wall. The cops patted Marty down and pulled out a small bag of cocaine that Marty forgot he had on him. He ended up getting arrested for obstruction of justice and got six months of house arrest. They dropped the possession charge against him. He said Vince called a few times to check in on him. 

 

He said when he came back with the mirror angle, it was easy to work with Shawn in the ring and not too difficult to work with personally. He talks about their Royal Rumble match next. The night before in Denver, the two had an awesome match and word got back to Vince that they would steal the show. The night before the Rumble, Marty partied until 7am and went to the show at noon and was completely exhausted. They were going to duplicate the match they had in Denver but added Sherri to the mix. Marty said he blew a few spots and afterwards, Vince called over both guys and said he was disappointed. After that, Marty got fired after someone told Vince he was drunk in the dressing room. Marty said that he always slept on the table in the locker room. Marty said that that he was devastated and got fucked up for two months straight until Hennig called him up and said that he could get him his job back. Marty thought he was ribbing him at first but then curt told him that Shawn went to Vince and told him that Marty was drunk and he had to lead him around for the entire match. Meanwhile, Curt told Marty that the night before, Shawn was passed out in his food at a restaurant after taking too many somas. Marty said that him coming back to RAW and winning the Intercontinental Title was the result of Shawn being punished.

 

Marty is asked if he has a relationship with Shawn now. He said that he doesn’t and tells a story of Shawn calling him up in 1999 about a chance to help with his TWA territory and have a possible Rocker reunion. Shawn asked him about a price and Marty said that he would do it for whatever Shawn wanted to give him and tells us that he didn’t want to name a price and would have done it for free but Shawn took offense to that and told Marty if he didn’t want to do it, then just say no and he hung up the phone.

 

Marty is asked about an Iron Sheik story. Once again, Marty does a fantastic impression and tells a story of how he was told by Vince that he tested positive for Cocaine. Sheik  thought that was excellent but then was told that it meant he failed. Sheik then unknowingly rats on Don Muraco, Jake Roberts, and JYD (who he apparently referred to as JVD) by asking if they tested positive. Vince said no and Sheik said that they also did it with him. H also tells a story go how Marty was with one girl in a bar and went to go over to another one but wanted the Shiek to keep an eye on the girl he was originally with. While he was in the room with the second girl, the police knocked on his door and asked where the Sheik was and he lied and said no idea. Marty then snuck out to the Sheik’s room and saw the girl getting wheeled out on stretcher. Marty asked the Sheik what happened and the Sheik told him that he gave her powder  to wake up and pills because she felt sick and she kept asking for Marty but Sheik told her to fuck Marty as he gave her stuff then hits her with a clothesline. Marty asked him why he did that and Sheik said that she moved and she didn’t know how to work.

 

The interview closes with him plugging his new tag team with a wrestler named “Rod the Bod” and how they wrestle as the “New Millenium Rockers” for Capital City Wrestling in Tallahasse.

 

Final Thoughts: I thought this was fantastic. Sure, it was mostly about great party and rib stories than anything else and if you don’t like to hear much about those, I would still recommend this as the stuff about the Rockers splitting up is worth the price of the interview. If true, it makes Shawn look even more like an asshole. Marty was also his own worst enemy and I am not so sure that he realizes that. If he even partied just half as much as he did, he could have had a longer career in the WWF. By no means was he a saint either and they did a follow-up shoot with him in 2009, which was awful as Marty could barely speak and seemed to be detoxing during the interview.  After watching this, I am now looking forward to the “Breaking Kayfabe” shoot that will be released on him in October.  It will be interesting to see if they reveal the reasons as to why he partied the way he did and why he blacked out at times before fighting. That has to be the result of some sort of trauma.

Comments

  1. I think he got off Twitter but Marty was hilarious to follow. He would lash out at his haters in incredibly entertaining fashion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't know Shawn was married before being married to Whisper.

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  3. Charismatic e-Negro Jef VinsonAugust 29, 2013 at 2:36 PM

    Yeah. He talked about it in his book. He got married young and he talks about there was no drama in the divorce.

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  4. Charismatic e-Negro Jef VinsonAugust 29, 2013 at 2:37 PM

    The Sheik story is funny as fuck. Good read.

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  5. Makes them sound like middle school girls with a lot more coke.

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  6. Scream09_HartKillerAugust 29, 2013 at 2:42 PM

    "....Demolition refused to job for them as did the Hart Foundation at the beginning."



    To be fair, it must have been in Canada.

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  7. Just reinforces my opinion that most wrestlers are utter arseholes

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  8. Great summary! Marty did a lot of crazy shit.

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  9. Its so fucked up because I know Marty rocked pills and coke and all the hard shit, but for some reason he just comes off like a regular Dudeish stoner. Like I imagine when they told him he'd be doing that UT thing at the Rumble, they were like "you'll be floating up toward the ceiling" and he was like "way ahead of you, man".

    Also, Curt Hennig stories are some of the best. World champion ribber.

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  10. "He then mentions how at one point Verne threatened to shut down the territory due to all of the ribs that were taking place and at the end of the meeting, he reached for his bag but it was locked to the desk and he flipped out and punched a wall."

    This was the best story of all of them, in my opinion. Absolutely classic.

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  11. 100% agreed. Sheiky baby is the best.

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  12. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 30, 2013 at 7:50 AM

    Hey Brian, what's your email?

    BTW, I always dig reading your recaps. You're thorough, without being boring.

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  13. BBayless781@gmail.com

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  14. Perfect use of a big pile of locks. Hennig was the fucking man. Unlike a lot of other wrestling ribs I've read about this shit was actually funny. I wish I could have been there when he locked Verne's bag to the table.

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  15. The AWA was basically a live version of Super Troopers, apparently.

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  16. I know I've said this before on another of your posts, but as someone who is hard of hearing and can't understand TV without captions, these are phenomenal to read. Keep up the good work!

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