Vampiro On Lex Luger And Sting Dissing Him In WCW, Sting Ripping Him, Cliques In Pro Wrestling, More
Recently, Lucha Underground color commentator and AAA Director Of Talent Vampiro stopped by 317 Gimmick Street for another conversation with WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin. Among other things, Vampiro talked about the problem of cliques in professional wrestling, being big leagued by Sting and Lex Luger in WCW, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash making things difficult to many WCW performers, Luger being unable to bodyslam him, and being disappointed by Sting saying negative things about him.
On the subject of cliques in pro wrestling, Vampiro explained that cliques can range from "road families" to "power hungry" and the latter are really the problem.
"You kind of ride with your friends, and you eat with your friends, and you go to the gym with your friends." Vampiro said, "that kind of clique is healthy because that's your road family, but once you have the cliques that are power hungry, and they have their own agenda, and they go out of their way to stop you, that ruins you as a person. That's what really soured me in WCW."
Apparently, Sting and Luger refused to shake Vampiro's hand when he got to WCW in 1998.
"When I first came in the dressing room and I went to say 'hi' to Sting and to Lex Luger," Vampiro recalled, "it's in my head like it happened this morning. I went to shake their hands and they went literally turned their back on me. That was something that took me aback."
Without specifically naming names, Vampiro indicated that Nash and Hall made things difficult for a lot of talent in WCW.
"There were two tall guys that came from Vince [McMahon]'s company and they went to WCW." Vampiro described, "one looked like Magnum PI and the other had long hair and he just had a knee operation. Those guys, when they were in control, I'm cool with them, they were always friendly to me, but, boy, did they make life hard for some people. And seeing that breaks your spirit in the business."
Also during the podcast, Vamp shared that the musclebound Luger could not even pick him up for a bodyslam.
"I had a singles match with Lex Luger when he was Lex Luger." Vampiro recalled, "like, 'oh man, he's just Lex!' He couldn't pick me up to bodyslam me if I paid him $10 million. He dropped me and he yelled at me. I looked at Elizabeth like, 'what did I do?' And she goes, 'I don't know.' He was just so mad because he's all jacked up and he couldn't pick up a 220 lbs. guy. He couldn't do it. No! I didn't know what the hell [sandbagging] meant back then! I was like, 'dude, just tell me what to do and I'll jump!' And he couldn't do it. He dropped me. Unbelievable."
With respect to Sting, Vampiro divulged that he was disappointed to learn that Sting said negative things about him, though 'The Franchise' really helped him understand the American way of doing things in pro wrestling.
"As a person, I was really disappointed after when he spoke bad about me, but I have nothing but good things to say about him," Vampiro explained. "He said he didn't like the gimmick, the gimmick wasn't getting over, my workrate was bad, things like that. And we all know why things like that get said, right? But, to be honest with you, he took the time to talk to me, to explain things to me, the American way businesswise, he smartened me up to a lot of things. I thought it was an amazing education. Even though we aren't the best of friends, I'm so grateful that he took that time to teach me."
What? If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show