Scotty Riggs Recalls What J.R. Told Him When Turned Down By WWE

Former WCW star, Scotty Riggs was a recent guest on the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast. During the conversation, he spoke about being released from the company, admitting it did shock him.

"It was a little bit of a surprise because I had actually sat down with JJ, who was doing the contracts then. I was just finishing up a three-year deal with a pay raise every year, got a nice little thing going. We sat down and they had just started doing a whole bunch of — firing these guys," he said. "When I got my contract in '96, was when I got my first contract, there was 47 people under contract. When I finished up in '99, I think there was 220. Nitro girls, everybody. There were guys that had a contract that never worked. Randy Savage's brother, Lanny, had a contract and never showed up on a TV, never did anything. There were a lot of guys that were like that."

Scotty Riggs went into more detail, admitting that he had spoken about a new deal with WCW. He had a one-year extension planned, but that was then taken away from him.

"We had kind of worked on the outlines of a new contract," Riggs revealed. "It would have been a one-year deal with another little pay raise to go for one more year. It was maybe about three weeks after we had our first little meeting, he called me over and said, 'we are going to have to pull the option for the contract and put you on a deal where we will sign you to make a couple of grand a match. Maybe you'll work once or twice a week, maybe you won't work.' I was like, 'Nah, I'm out of here.'"

Despite being released, Scotty Riggs admitted he was no longer happy backstage beforehand. He felt that things had felt like a job, with talent walking on eggshells.

"I didn't like the way Vince Russo was booking things," he said. "Everybody was walking on eggshells back then because all of a sudden, standards and practices became a reality, where they didn't want you to do this, they didn't want you to say that. Instead of being fun to be at a TV taping, to be at Nitro, it just became a job."

Scotty Riggs also confessed that it was good to get out of the company. He stated that WCW kept him at home for 10 weeks without using him.

"It was a breath of fresh air to get out of there. Actually, when they pulled the contract and said, 'we will offer you a nightly,' I just said, 'no, I'm done. I'm out.' I think the Benoit match was in November when it got taped, and it might have aired in the first week of December. They didn't call me in for anything. I basically stayed home, sat and watched TV, worked out. I still have checks coming in through the end of January," he revealed. "So basically for two months, 10 weeks, I didn't really do anything because they didn't book me on anything. They didn't book me to lose to anybody."

Finally, Scotty Riggs also admitted that he never developed a character overall. He said this is the reason why WWE never ended up signing him.

"I just never developed that character," Riggs confessed. "That's the only thing, I think I could have had a much longer career and a much higher-profile career probably if I'd have had that. That's what Jim Ross was saying when I didn't get hired by WWE. He goes, 'we don't have anybody that we can identify you with. You're not a commodity. You're a great hand, a great talent, a great technician, a great in-ring worker, but maybe in time when you can sell us on who you are, maybe we can hire you. But right now, we don't have the time to develop who you could be.' Alright, cool, I understand that, I respect that. Because that's the one thing I was lacking, who Scotty Riggs was."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.