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The Fight Club 12.2.00: Exclusive Interview With Scotty 2 Hotty Posted By Josh Nason on 12.02.00 From 411wrestling.com
About three months ago, I asked some of the higher ups of my employer, the American Hockey League's Portland (Maine) Pirates, if they ever thought about doing a wrestling night. They had mentioned that had been considered and Vampiro was originally targeted to come in last season. For a small-market like Maine, that wasn't going to cut it.
I told them about Westbrook, Maine, native Scotty 2 Hotty. After negotiations with the WWF, it was confirmed that Scotty would come to a Pirates game, do the Worm on a local DJ and sign autographs. To say I was excited after the event was an understatement. Scott was the most professional entertainer I have ever come in contact with and the WWF should be proud to have him. Before the local media got to him, I got the chance to sit down with Scotty 2 Hotty for a brief interview. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed conducting it.
FC:This past year has been nothing but meteoric for you. Can you even explain how you feel about this last 12 months for you?
S2H: It's gone so fast. It's like a dream come true. There really isn't a way to describe it like everybody wants. It's like it happened overnight, but I didn't. It's been 11 years since I started wrestling. The past year has just flown by and it's been awesome. We've (the WWF) sold out arenas every night. We were in the main event in Madison Square Garden sold out and the main event on RAW with the Rock and Triple-H. I remember when I first got in. I must have been 18 years old and I was going to Memphis to work in the USWA. I weighed 180 pounds and really didn't think I had a chance in the business At that time, it was 1993 and it was all monsters. Owen Hart, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were the smallest guys and they were going 230-240. I remember laying in bed the night before I was supposed to leave and thinking, "What am I doing? Why don't I get a real job?" Of course I went down there and came back and worked half-a-dozen real jobs before I worked in the WWF full-time. It's been awesome.
FC: How did the Worm start?
S2H: It started out as a joke. We were working with DOA and I was doing it on house shows just to make those guys laugh. I didn't do it on TV. We would do it in our entrance. The Harris Boys were like "Do it! Do it!" and we did it just to make those guys laugh. We started the Too Cool thing on Heat (Tuesday night taping), and then Wednesday we were here (Portland) and Brian tore his ACL. I sat home all summer wondering just what was going on. I drove to Boston (later that year) and met with the people that did RAW there and they said, "Yeah, we're bringing you back. Brian's ready."
The original gimmick was (Vince) Russo's idea. Then I heard Russo quit and I was like "Sh*t! Where does that leave me?" I'm sure a lot of guys had the same thoughts about themselves. So we came back and Vince McMahon had a different vision of Too Cool than Russo did - a better idea. We were just supposed to be heels and Russo told us to go out and dress like the kids would dress. I was like, "I don't even know what's cool. I hate these clothes on kids." So we went out in Boston and asked the guys in the stores what was cool. (I was thinking), "To me that isn't too cool!" It just snowballed. I guess people like the dancing and all the funny stuff and just the entertainment part of the gimmick. That was in October and in December, they told us (Rikishi) Phatu was going to run down and help us out. "What is this guy going to do for us?" I remember talking to Brian and asking, "Is this guy going to be with us all the time? This sucks!" But it was like magic. When you get a old gimmick, it's not something you say, "That's going to work." Nothing is. It's all trial and error. We hit the jackpot with that.
FC: Since you have entered wrestling, the business has changed from passed off as strictly sport to entertainment. Your thoughts on the change?
S2H: It's 10 times better. I can sit down and do an interview and not be like "That Rikishi..wait till I get him in the ring. For example, like the Rock when he goes on the View and is in character, the average person recognizes the Rock, but the women who watch that show don't really know who he is. But if they see Dwayne Johnson on The View, they're like, "Wow, he's a wrestler? He's pretty intelligent."
I still see guys with WCW - Hogan and Savage and some of the other guys - go on shows in character. Something like this (Pirates appearance) is different. They don't want to see Scott Garland - they want to see the character of Scotty 2 Hotty for appearances. If I was to go on the news and do a sit-down interview with someone, I wouldn't do it in character. I think it's an insult to fans or to anybody, even if you're not a fan. I think that is what turned a lot of people away. Now people know we're actors who do our own stunts. The only people that don't know it is entertainment are those who don't watch and say, "It's all fake." Well, no sh*t! We've said that a million times. I think it's the greatest (time) ever. I used to hate doing radio interviews or any interview because they wanted it in character. |
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