Ricky Morton Reveals Plan He Made With Robert Gibson To Fake In-Ring Injury

One half of the Rock N' Roll Express, Ricky Morton joined Talk 'n Shop to tell some stories from his years on the road. Ricky Morton talked about the biggest year he ever had in the business monetary-wise, how he and Gibson worked without a contract in the early years, and how low pay led Morton to stand up for himself and fellow wrestlers at the front office of Jim Crockett Promotions.

"Robert and I, when we first went into Charlotte, we never had a day off for a year," Morton recalled. "Jimmy Crockett told me, 'if y'all take a day off, I'll lose 30 or 40 grand'.' I never had a contract in the wrestling business. My biggest year in the business was $125,000. That was my biggest year in the business, and my whole thing of fighting him for is because the money they were making, they could've been better to the boys and that's what I stood up for."

Ricky Morton also detailed Robert Gibson's torn ACL injury while they were both in WCW in 1990. He reiterated the story he has often told about how they both staged it to make it seem like Gibson got hurt in the ring when he had actually suffered the injury the day before.

"Robert and I were in WCW," Mortal said. "But Robert got his leg hurt. And he didn't get it hurt in the ring, he got it hurt somewhere else. I told Robert, I said, 'Robert, we're not on contract.' We're in a tag match with Butch Reed and Ron Simmons. Our music plays, I mean, his whole leg is black, he hurt it outside the business. I go, 'when the bell rings, I'm going to shoot out the curtain. I'm going to go around this side, I'm going to go up.' I said, 'whatever you do, get your a– to that ring and stand up in that corner. Okay? Just stand there.' I said, 'I'm gonna start the match off, I'm gonna give them a good match. When I tag you, come in, trip and fall. Butch goes 'd-mn, what's wrong with him?' I said, 'did you hear his knee pop?' 'Yeah, I did'. They took Robert, sent him to that doctor down there. His whole leg, paid him two grand a week. Paid all his doctor bills, he got paid for a year."

After Gibson hurt his leg, Ricky Morton was then approached with the idea of The New Rock 'N Roll Express with WCW wrestler Brad Armstrong. That then led to him turning heel and feuding with Gibson as part of the York Foundation, before the two eventually reunited the Rock 'N Roll Express proper.

"When Robert hurt his leg, they come to me and said, 'listen, this is what we want to do. We're going to give you a contract and we're going to make you and Brad Armstrong the New Rock 'n' Roll Express,'" Morton said. "Now Brad was one of my best friends. I named one of my kids after him, I love Brad Armstrong. He is my friend, Robert was my business partner. It didn't have nothing for me. Anytime you're in a territory and they turn you heel, it's because they have nothing for me.

"I teamed up with Terry Taylor and made the York Foundation, I did that. I did a little thing where Robert came back and I wrestled him. And the next day, we made up and went to Smoky Mountain and that's the whole deal about it. You know, it's been 40 years, you know? This is the Roll 'n' Roll, Robert and I have been together for 40 years. And if you're around us, you'll know, we're like an old married couple."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Talk 'n Shop and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription