Virgil On The Importance Of Being Able To Talk As A Wrestler, AEW Competing With WWE
Wrestling Inc.'s own Andy Malnoske caught up with former WCW and WWE star, Virgil, at the 80's WrestlingCon to discuss his evolution from college wrestler to performing in front of thousands of people as a pro wrestler. Virgil thinks that the biggest hurdle was learning how to talk on the microphone, however, he's confident in his speaking abilities now.
"I'm a college wrestler so I had to learn this 'pro' wrestling, okay? Then you have to learn how – I was a scholar when I came out of college! You have to learn how to really talk in front of the camera and when I learned that, guess what? Bingo bango, I'm here!"
Virgil is arguably best known from his work as Ted DiBiase's bodyguard-turned-rival in the late 80's. At the time, he was featured guarding DiBiase's cash and prized possessions, including his Million Dollar Championship, but after months of enduring humiliation by DiBiase, Virgil finally stood up for himself and ended up winning the Million Dollar Championship at SummerSlam '91.
"I went in and I won it, and then I definitely put it around my waist, or on my head, or on my leg, or on my arm," Virgil joked. "And I had a couple of girls wearing that belt, too!"
With the Wednesday night war between AEW and WWE heating up as NXT beat AEW in the ratings for the first time last week, Virgil sees this as a wonderful time for companies to draw attention to themselves on TV. Virgil, who has made a pair of appearances on AEW Dynamite under his former ring name, Soul Train Jones, hopes that wrestling becomes such a hot ticket again that WWE or AEW can sell out Madison Square Garden or the Staples Center in mere minutes.
"It will better everyone where they can get on national TV and shine. Show around the world what you can do and then come to Madison Square Garden, or the Staples Center in LA, and pack it in 3 minutes. We should sell out Madison Square Garden in a minute."
Virgil's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post, or viewed via the video player at the top.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.