Bubba Ray Dudley has done most of everything in the professional wrestling business and added a coach alongside fellow legends Mickie James, Booker T and The Undertaker in “WWE LFG: Legends and Future Greats.”
The show, which premieres on February 16th at 8pm on A&E, will be a male winner, with 16 WWE hopefuls and female winners walking on NXT contracts, with men's winners at various times at the company's performance center. We will welcome you.
Before LFG's debut, the WWE Hall of Fame spent time Q&A with professional wrestling post-pro wrestling columnist Joseph Stassys.
(Edit for clarity and length)
Q: Do you think this show is different from some of the other competitive shows? It has a mix of “tough” and feels like there's something like the “ultimate fighter” element.
A: It will give you a very realistic look behind the scenes of what's going on in WWE when it comes to developing young talent and basically developing young talent from day one. (WWE) Program for two weeks before meeting myself, Mickey, or Taker.
I think the honesty of the show would appeal to it. As for this show, there's nothing as authentic, not real, or pannett as we can now, as we're as pannett as we can. I've got all the stories I've heard about Bubba, Bubba.
Q: What do you look for when you first see talent?
A: What I'm looking for is, whatever I see twice, so that they do something, it's like I want to hear, and it captures my attention and orders . I had a lot of talent before me throughout my career and it's like OK, OK, OK. But then you get something to bang quickly. There's something.
LFG has a girl from the first day that everyone wrote down. A girl named Zena. Each person, including the Undertaker, Mickey James, Booker T, and all of her future greats, wrote her down in full. They judged the book on its cover and then she grabbed the side headlock. And when she grabbed that side headlock, I said to myself, “Wow, she reminds me of Randy Orton,” and I can't pay higher praise.
It'll be a spectacular show that is more eye-opening than I think WWE has allowed anyone.
Q: Someone is clearly interested. What was his first impression?
A: Elijah Holyfield is a good guy and is very quiet. I don't know much about him yet. He's not really a man who stands out to me. There are so many talents that really pop up here. Elijah has definitely taken a step forward, but I don't think he has taken as many steps as some of the other greats of the future.
Just recently I saw Elijah perform and I said to him, “Man, you woke up this club lang.” And because his eyes are what I saw and Clubber Lang is one hell of a character who can sink your teeth. Hopefully he can do a little more with it.
Q: How competitive is things among coaches and how was it to meet Takers in that environment?
A: The competition between coaches is definitely there. And part of this show that I personally found very interesting is the Undertaker appearing on the show. I haven't seen Mark Karaway much. So this is the first opportunity to see him interact with truly young talent, very young talent. We can see him every week with his natural attitude.
I love the documentary WWE has done with him. And I said this to his face. I told him in a private conversation. I told him in “Bust Open: Dark After Dark”, I said, boss, I don't need to see your (Undertaker) entrance again. I've been investing a lot more in Mark Calaway lately than I'm an Undertaker. That's what you get from him. I think people will be shocked because you get a very authentic side of him.
Q: TNA has a long history. How about watching these two companies work together? And what do you think is the long-term advantage of this relationship?
A: I think it's great that TNA and WWE (mostly NXT) are working together. It's an advantage for both companies. In the case of (TNA), it is clear that they can put their talent into a larger stage. I saw Jordynna Grace at the Royal Rumble. Since then, Jolding Race has been signing with WWE. We saw current TNA men's champion Joe Hendry do a lovely little show at Royal Rumble. If you are thrown over the top rope of the Royal Rumble, you will probably want to be eliminated by Roman rule. And he did.
Also, WWE has many talents with a very successful career at TNA. Some of AJ Styles' best works take place at TNA, if WWE wanted to do documentaries, special features of AJ Styles, or features for 12-15 years of his career (at TNA). I'm sure WWE has access to all of that now.
There is a tag team named Dudley Boys. When the Dudley Boys went to TNA, they changed your name to Team 3D. A lot of the best things happened between me and D-von. If WWE needs to access it, they can probably get it. The list goes on and on.
I think this relationship will work very well. I said in the busted open, I want to creatively see TNA being allowed to do what they want to do. I don't want to see WWE getting over their shoulders with their everyday talent. When talent is over, obviously it must be 50-50 and it must work for both companies. I want TNA to move forward with TNA without worrying about anyone looking over his shoulder.
Q: NXT may not have hit the top of the cards that are thought to be the factor.
A: I don't really like that guy, but Ethan Page certainly has something to him. While Ethan talks to the AVA, Lock decides to step into Ethan Page's promotion. He could sit down and say he was going to visit his daughter, but he also had a considerable amount of interaction with Ethan's page. Rock could have interacted with the person he wanted that night on NXT. He chose Ethan Page. I think Ethan will definitely be something for WWE, given the right time.
Roxanne (Perez) will become a small heel that wants to slam her into her mouth and shut up like in the cartoon. “Hey Spike! Hey Spike! 'Hey Spike! Roxanne reminds me of Flintstone's little bulldog or maybe Dino. He's always going to be a mile per minute. And like you (it) When I get someone, I just want to see them shut up. I think Roxanne does well. I think Julia does well. I think Stephanie (Varker) does well.
Q: WWE has released several clips of Gunther, featuring them and interacting with some of the show's contestants. Punk was there. How was it to watch Punk interact with young talent?
A: The day Punk appeared was really stFor the long day here at NXT and for the future greats of LFG. What really stood out for me that day was that after Punk spoke to the greats of the future, he challenged them. He basically hangs the microphone, hangs the pipe bomb in front of them and says, “It's okay, who would you like to try this?”
They had both stood up Xena Sterling and Jasper Troy before he could even draw words from his mouth. I was very impressed that both of them wanted to be the first to grab that microphone and cut that promotion.
And the casters were able to reach the microphone first. And he said that everyone was on the microphone on the floor. It was very realistic. It was very emotional. And I saw him when he was finished, and I said, “I praise you for taking the bull to the horn. And you know , which I did first, but you were waiting for that promotion to cut into your entire life, right?
He went after the punk. Getting courage first is one thing. Chasing Punk is why it's not an episode of mistakes. This future drank a cup of coffee and biscuits chased the commercial punk.
