BILL DUNDEE TALKS LAWLER, CORNETE, MEETING VINCE MCMAHON, MORE
- 03/01/2016 (2:00:41 pm)
- Bob Mulrenin
…
The legendary Superstar Bill Dundee joins The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling today for a special look inside his iconic and well traveled career. Starting with leaving his home country of Australia through his greatest battles with his on again/off again partner Jerry Lawler, Dundee provides great insight into his most iconic moments and how he helped shape the Memphis territory into one of the hottest destinations ever in pro wrestling.Full Episode Download Link:
Superstar Bill Dundee On His Rivalry & History with Jerry "The King"
Lawler:
Working the Bill Watts Mid South Territory & brining Memphis talent
with him:
I was there two years and it's a hard ass territory. Bill worked seven
days a week and in the Spring time and the Fall you worked two shows on a
Saturday. You did a Saturday afternoon show and then again that night. You were
working a lot of wrestling matches and doing a lot of miles in a car and a lot
of miles in an airplane and it was a hard territory. The two years that I was
there The Midnight Express left and first went to Dallas and then over to
Charlotte, Ricky (Morton) and Robert (Gibson) followed them and Magnum TA went
over there as well so all of the guys that I brought down to Mid South to begin
with just wanted to go over to the Crockets. So I thought, well they are
leaving, so I'm leaving and I went to Charlotte and did not like it and just
went back to Tennessee.
Pairing the legendary personality of Jim Cornette with the Midnight
Express and Cornette's present day perception:
Well I don't know about the legend part but he has been around a long
time and I got along good with Jimmy and I do like Cornette. He wrote all my
finishes down that he learned in Louisiana and when he went and did his own
thing and I don't blame him because that is how you learn and that is what you
did. To say did he ever have an original thought of his own? I really don't
know. There used to be a formula with this business that if you stick to it, it
still works. We can all cuss and we can all swear and we can all call people
names and that don't make you tough that makes you look more ignorant then tough
and anyone can do that . I think Jimmy gets mixed up with what tough is and what
cussing is, because that don't make you tough.
In comparison the reception his son Jamie Dundee gets for his very
controversial comments and persona:
There is definitely some Cornette in him. He wanted to be a white/black
guy and when him and Wolfie D started and called themselves PG-13 they had the
same gimmick as Cena and wore the sneakers and wore the shorts and they thought
they were from the hood. Now he signs everything "white trash" and he's got
tattoos all over him and he's back to being a redneck. He'll say silly stuff and
he'll call people names and say stuff on the internet and write sh*t and it's
just more stupid then it is anything else. The only bad thing is people know you
didn't come into this world by yourself so when you say stupid stuff like that
they think your mother and your father are like that and we ain't nothing like
that. He says well you know I'm nothing like that and it's just a gimmick. But
they don't, the marks that listen to you on the radio shows and the podcasts
hear all the things you say and they get you drunk and hear you saying silly
words you and the (Iron) Sheik, they think that is you. When you do it on the
internet it goes to Australia so your Aunts, Uncles and all the people that
still live in Australia say look at Jamie. I think he has calmed down a little
bit on that and he had a hell of a talent for this business but he got it all
screwed up. I told him the drugs and alcohol are gonna kill you if you don't get
away from it and most of the ones that didn't are not here.
Thoughts on Jeff Jarrett and seeing him come up through the
business
You kind of have to feel sorry for the promoters son. Greg Gagne got it
with his Dad, Mike Graham got it with his Dad in Florida and when you are the
promoters son people either like you or they don't like you because well he only
got to do that because his Dad is the boss and you have that cross to bear. It's
hard not to be Dad and not put your son in that position. Jerry said well I'm
not going to push Jeff, well bull-sh*t you are going to push Jeff because that
is your boy and that is what you are doing and that is how it is. Did he push
him too fast? Maybe, who knows it took awhile for him to get his act together
and I never thought he was one of the better talkers in this business because
babyface wise his father was a very good talker. I got a long good with Jeff and
drove up and down the road with him but were we big buddies? No, but when we
were on the road we like to drink a beer and go to the bar so we had somethings
in common on that part but we weren't like the best of friends but we weren't
enemies either. I got a long good with the kid and tried to get along with
helping him.
Continuing with sons in the wrestling business, thoughts on Brian
Christopher:
I got a long good with Brian. Brian has a few demons that he has to get
rid of. Jamie, Brian and Wolfie were all kind of painted with the same brush it
was like what they did away from the ring was just goofy. Like I said, I'd have
a few beers after the match but it ended there, I never wanted to stay up all
night and party but the three of them were like that. They all ended up on the
mountain and all ended up with Vince McMahon and all ended up with a job and all
ended up getting fired for the same reason. Stupidity.
Meeting with Vince McMahon after WrestleMania 1:
I went up to Vince's house after his first WrestleMania. He's got that
big friggin house up there in Connecticut, it's like a damn castle. I asked him
why did he have Liberace and the Rockets on his show and he said "Bill my father
was in this wrestling business all his life and like you he thought just
wrestling". "When he went to the big arena in the sky he left a few dollars but
I made more in the first WrestleMania then he left being in the business all his
life and show business works". He just got worse on the show business. How much
can you do with the smoke and mirrors and his show now is all smoke and mirrors.
I watched Raw (last night) and some of the stuff he's doing on Raw is absolutely
terrible in my opinion. Vince is a brilliant man for Vince and he's made a lot
of money and he turned his father's business around so obviously he's not a dumb
guy. There are more millionaries in the wrestling business today then there ever
was back in the good old days.
The day I went up there Shane was about 14 maybe and Stephanie was just
a little girl and they were just young kids then. We talked and we just never
quite saw eye to eye on anything and he fed me lunch and I got on the plane and
had to wrestle in Jackson, Tennessee that Sunday night. It was fun and I can
always say that I've been to God's house and that was it.
Superstar Bill Dundee in an over 90 minute interview also discusses his
biggest feuds in Memphis, his relationship with Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler,
his time in WCW, growing up in Australia, meeting Jim Barnett and much much
more.
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