Darren Young Reveals Trick Titus O'Neil Taught Him To Make Money In WWE
On a recent episode of The Wresting Inc. Daily podcast, WWE veteran Fred Rosser made his return and chatted with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman about his involvement in Theality TV. Rosser discussed how he focuses more on quality over quantity in his career and how he is never afraid to be in front of the camera from his time in WWE, especially in Total Divas where he revealed that he would always try to get on the show because you get paid for those appearances.
"I was with WWE from 2009 to 2017, nothing lasts forever," Rosser stated. "Once I moved on, again, you got to grind it out. You got to hustle, and I was wrestling here, doing more quality over quantity. Again, in my head, no one knows I want to have that mystique of The Undertaker. You don't see him as much, but when you do see him, it's special, and that's how I envisioned myself, focus on more quality over quantity.
"So doing quality matches and then when I got this offer to do the musical in 2019, like I said, Jericho was an inspiration, and I was out and about and comfortable with myself. I said, 'Well, let me do this' because this is something amazing I can add to my resume. I believe in the project. I think it's funny. I'm ready to roll with the punches, and I'm not afraid to be in front of the camera.
"With WWE and their reality show, Total Divas, anytime the cameras are around, I get right on there because for me, not being a part of the show, you're going to be get a check in the mail because you're on their show. They pay you. Any time I see Nattie (Natalya) Neidhart, I go, 'Hey girl, how you doing? How's everything going?' And Nattie knows how to turn it on. 'Oh my God, I'm having so much problems with this Diva, that Diva,' and I'm just listening, listening. So I know when the cameras are on, a check is in the mail for me. After you're done and the cameras turn away from you, they're writing down who was involved in each scene."
Hausman pointed out that Rosser's former tag team partner Titus O'Neil always seemed to appear on Total Divas, and Rosser revealed that he learned that tactic from O'Neil. He noted that O'Neil was always hustling and doing whatever he could to try to get them noticed when they weren't on TV.
"That's who I learned it from. He learned the wrestling from me," Rosser admitted. "I learned from the best. I don't know if I mentioned it with you before but the most intimidating thing about Vince McMahon is his office door. Once you get through his office door, the sky's the limit. That's something I learned from Titus. If we weren't on RAW, at the time, they had the app. The app was getting popular. No one was doing the app.
"So when we weren't on RAW, Titus would bust into Vince McMahon's office. I'll be like, 'Hold up big man. Wait a second. Let's have a game plan or something,' and then he bust in, 'Hey boss, what you got for us on RAW?' Sometimes we would have something on RAW. Sometimes we wouldn't. If we didn't have anything on RAW, we would go right over to the app, and at the time, I would be like, 'Come on. I want to wrestle. I want to wrestle,' but we definitely made the app when it first came on the map.
"Titus is a hustler. That's something I learned from him, and he learned the wrestling from me because we set foot in FCW late 2009. No one wanted to get in the ring with him. He was fresh out of football, and no one wanted to get in the ring with him. I said, 'Titus, the same people that are crapping on you are going to be kissing your butt years from now,' and those people are. I helped him wrestle. He helped me how to be a better businessman."
Hausman noted that O'Neil doesn't get credited for being a good businessman and that many fans know him from his infamous spot at Crown Jewel. Rosser admitted that that slide would have ended tragically for him, but he pointed out that O'Neil got a t-shirt from that spot while everyone was laughing at him.
"If you were to ask me, 'So what did you think about that fall?' I say, in every interview, first of all, thank goodness he's okay because if that was me I would have probably decapitated my head because there are poles underneath the ring," Rosser noted. "I would have probably decapitated my head, but I said to myself, the same people that are haha-ing at Titus, he's going to be laughing to the bank, and the next day, they had shirts made out with Titus. So he's laughing to the bank."
You can watch Fred as part of Theality TV via Broadway on Demand. All episodes are FREE to watch until the end of December. Rosser's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.