Matt D Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 They just had him show up in one of the youtube videos talking to the prime time players as IRS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 Is it that remarkable that Vince signed Rotunda multiple times? How many times did he hire Windham? How many times did he hire any high-profile wrestler in the years when he major competition? Most everyone I can think of from The Iron Sheik to Bossman to Jake to Bulldog to Sid to Luger and whoever else was signed 3-5 times by Vince. Rotunda always struck me as a 9-5 kinda guy who a boss could depend on. When half the locker room are roid heads and the other half are smacked out of their heads on coke, I can see why you'd want someone like Rotunda around. Incidentally, I've seen that Windham Timeline too and found him a bit glib in it. He's never really willing to say more is he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Is it that remarkable that Vince signed Rotunda multiple times? Depends on what the reasons were for Rotonda being let go/quitting each time, I suppose. If there was acrimony, it's a bit more curious. If it was just regular business, then it probably isn't an unusual thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Is it that remarkable that Vince signed Rotunda multiple times? Depends on what the reasons were for Rotonda being let go/quitting each time, I suppose. If there was acrimony, it's a bit more curious. If it was just regular business, then it probably isn't an unusual thing. 1.) Mike got nuts on the road and went home. Barry freaked out in response and went home too. Mike came back. Barry didn't. 2.) WCW offered him a shit ton of money. To me the most interesting thing about Rotunda's career is how he got into wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted April 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 How did he get into wrestling....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Didn't he date Mulligan's daughter (now his wife) first before getting into it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I remember it from his shoot, but I found it here too: http://www.wwe.com/classics/wherearetheynow/mikerotundo "If you want to talk about Mike Rotundo's career you have to begin with The Destroyer. Born Dick Beyer, The Destroyer was a legendary masked wrestler, internationally known for his brutal rivalries with the likes of "Crippler" Ray Stevens, Giant Baba and Mil Máscaras. He was also a Syracuse University alumnus — the same college a 20-year-old Mike Rotundo was attending when the two men crossed paths. "The Destroyer spoke at one of our wrestling banquets," Rotundo recalled. "He had just returned from wrestling in Japan and he asked me if I ever thought of getting into wrestling. I told him I knew nothing about it." At this time in his life, Mike Rotundo had no interest in WWE. An incredible athlete, the Florida native was a standout in both amateur wrestling and football at his alma mater. He had spent his youth infatuated with these sports, but, with The Destroyer's urging, he began to watch WWE on television whenever he could. Impressed by young Superstars like Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino, Rotundo decided to give wrestling a shot. Immediately after graduating, Rotundo found himself in Germany being trained by The Destroyer in a rock-solid ring. After two weeks of intensive schooling, Rotundo was competing against young Americans and European veterans all across the country." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 His RF interview was like watching paint dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I don't know why anyone would expect much out out of a Rotundo shoot. Nothing about the guy screams excitement. Someone whose career was essentially defined by being boring isn't the first guy I want to sit down a listen to talk for 90 minutes or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 The biggest take away i got from it was that he, more than anyone else I've come across, I think, saw wrestling as a job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I have a feeling of dejà vu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Someone whose career was essentially defined by being boring isn't the first guy I want to sit down a listen to talk for 90 minutes or whatever. It seemed to work for a while for Lance Storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 There's going to be a Timeline 1993 with Lex Luger I know you're all excited because I am Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 That could be like waiting to watch dry paint crack. Luger definitely comes across as having treated it as a job. It might be interesting if he had any insight into what went on with Hogan during this time. I know they interviewed Jake Roberts for something but it was canned. I'd LOVE to see him do a '91 Timeline, as it was an interesting year for him in WWF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 I want to see what he says about not winning the WWF Title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 I honestly thought Luger's RF shoot I heard years ago was the most boring of the ones I ever listened to. He basically claimed he was never involved in any of the politics of wrestling ever for every question, which is 99% of the fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 I've seen both those Rotunda and Luger shoots. Rotunda's is excessively boring. He comes across as someone with zero passion for the business. Luger I always thought comes across as a really nice guy who is just a little bit stupid. I mean just thick. Listening to him it always feels like he was widely misunderstood and that what was taken to be his arrogance back in the day was in fact a manifestation of him just not being one of the boys. While, as with any wrestler, you do have to take him with a healthy dose of salt, I do think he's one of the people who gets an unfair rap -- not least because WWF gave virtual carte blanche to guys to bury him in shoot situations for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickHithouse Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Luger I always thought comes across as a really nice guy who is just a little bit stupid. I mean just thick. Post-stroke, there's bound to be some deterioration. Academically speaking, let's not forget Jim Ross's excessive mentions of Luger's 3.78 GPA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Yeah, Luger's life fell apart around the time he started dating Elizabeth, and he just continued to slowly deteriorate from there. I think in his shoot, we were seeing someone either still on drugs or who was so damaged from doing them that he just wasn't the same anymore. I think we also saw a guy in denial that his career was over, thinking if he said all the right things, WWE might bring him in for that last run. Shortly before this, he was selling himself to indy promoters as a guy who was getting offers from WWE to return all the time, which we know wasn't true. But Luger's rep was of a guy who was the polar opposite of stupid. This was a guy who got heat in the 80s for openly questioning why Jim Crockett didn't insure his wrestlers. This is a guy who worked the smartest clause about working outside the U.S. into his WCW contract that I have ever heard of a wrestler doing, which pays off with a hilarious story about the '91 Starrcade in Tokyo show and why Luger wasn't on it. He was in some ways the precursor to Kevin Nash somehow getting great deal after great deal because he was such a shrewd self promoter (although he worked harder than Nash at comparative points in their careers). He was a businessman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Yeah, there is all that. The guy he is in the shoot is not the guy he was in the late 80s. Have you heard Luger talk recently? I watched his interview with Sting on this Christian show on youtube a while back, he has a different perspective again now. (usual Born Again stuff) I always got the impression in wrestling that smarter guys -- Ventura also springs to mind -- aren't that well liked by the locker room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Also as a side issue, was Luger ever involved with trying to get a union or insurance guarantee together? I can't remember if it was him, Ventura or both at different points, but I believe it's one of the reasons he always had heat with Vince. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 I always got the impression in wrestling that smarter guys -- Ventura also springs to mind -- aren't that well liked by the locker room. My impression is that guys who are loners, not big partyers (or even at all) and smarter than the average wrestling immature fuck-up and who take wrestling for what it is, a job, are not well liked in general. Pro-wrestling is a sleazy business and the "old-school" mentality of "paying your dues" and stuff is pretty much a bunch of shit. Goldberg who from all acount is a really smart and nice guy also got shit for not being a wrestling fan and treating wrestling as a job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 The thing I love about Luger's is how into it he gets when a rumor is mentioned. "What! Is that what they say? I don't use the internet. Tell me what they say. that's crazy. wow." It's pretty funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted April 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/shoo...iews-gary-hart/ Gary Hart shoot review! Plus I offer an overview into the WCCW history and downfall in the 80's. Hope you enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 I always got the impression in wrestling that smarter guys -- Ventura also springs to mind -- aren't that well liked by the locker room. My impression is that guys who are loners, not big partyers (or even at all) and smarter than the average wrestling immature fuck-up and who take wrestling for what it is, a job, are not well liked in general. Pro-wrestling is a sleazy business and the "old-school" mentality of "paying your dues" and stuff is pretty much a bunch of shit. Goldberg who from all acount is a really smart and nice guy also got shit for not being a wrestling fan and treating wrestling as a job. I always saw Goldberg as a guy who was too normal to be in wrestling. He also always seemed like a pretty decent human being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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