Jerry Sags Discusses Breaking Into Professional Wrestling, Origin Of The Nasty Boys
Jerry Sags of The Nasty Boys spoke with WrestleShark.com. Highlights from part one of the interview are as follows:
On breaking into the professional wrestling industry: "Me and Knobbs grew up in Easter Pennsylvania. I wrestled and played all sports, went to college and played football and Knobbs went into the army. We both got thrown out....We got interested in the wrestling industry, and started bothering George "The Animal" Steele [anytime they were in town]. We kept going on and on at him until eventually he gave in and gave us the number, he said 'if you're serious about it you'll go train at Verne Gagne's training camp out in Indianapolis. We didn't enjoy it [laughs]. We broke in in 1985, at the time you had to pay heavy dues...we wrestled for six months or more on Olympic mats...we would get physically and mentally abused, pretty much when you're near throwing up on the mats, Vern would come down and stretch the living sh*t out of ya...It was made to run you off...12-15 of us started the camp. 3 of us finished it.
"That's changed over the years, right now they don't want the guys to quit cause it's all about financial [stuff], if they quit they don't pay. Back then, it was only the best, or only the guys who want it more than anything in life succeed...[the guys today] have it very easy. Very easy."
On how "The Nasty Boys" gimmick came about: "It was actually Verne Gagne's daughter down in AWA that gave us the name the Nasty Boys. You know, we were hanging around with Jimmy Snuka, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty were the Rockers, and they would take us out and get us in all kinds of trouble, and you know we were how we are...after one night out with us, she said 'you know something, you boys oughta just go as the Nasty Boys, cause that's what you are. Right around that time was when the Janet Jackson song, Nasty Boys, came out and we were like, let's go. We didn't have any money to get the gimmick like we have now, the long leather coats and stuff, so we went down to a fat lady shop and bought these long plastic coats and made up our own gimmick [laughs]."
Other topics discussed include the deterioration of tag team wrestling, working the territory system, how they got their big break in WCW, moving on to the WWF and breaking into Graceland with the Rockers.
The second half of the interview goes live on Thursday, where Jerry discusses the infamous "shoot" incident with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the death of WCW, his relationship with Brian Knobbs and their plans for the future.