Despite being seven-foot-tall, Big Bill knows what it’s like to fight from underneath and his baby nephew Connor is doing the same after only just being born at 28 weeks.
Big Bill, real name William Morrissey, who is nearing five years of sobriety, spoke with me ahead of his trios tag match involving The Learning Tree taking on The Congolmoration on the upcoming episode of AEW Collision.
Big Bill is no stranger to Arthur Ashe Stadium as Queens, NY is his almost literal backyard, but did give details about Connor who is now home after spending nearly three months in the neonatal unit for premature babies. Bill mentioned Connor was nominated for the 2024 Good Housekeeping Baby Of The Year Award and if Connor wins, the family will take home $25,000 to benefit his future. Big Bill also said how appreciative he is for the wrestling fans and the support they’ve already shown for baby Connor.
“No matter what side you’re on, or who you love or who you hate, the wrestling community always comes together for something like this so put it out there and a lot of people have responded so I’m really, really appreciative of that.”
You can vote for Baby Connor by going here (deadline is Sept. 26 at 7 PM Pacific Standard Time)
Big Bill Has Learned From Chris Jericho
Big Bill is also appreciative of his Learning Tree branches in Bryan Keith and Chris Jericho Bill mentioned Chris helped donate to Connor and planned on thanking him at Arthur Ashe, but did say what he’s actually learned from Jericho. A big takeaway is always playing it straight no matter how ridiculous a segment can be.
“I agree with him. No matter how goofy things may seem, no matter how silly, no matter how much you think someone may look at that and be, ‘Oh, that is so stupid.’ As long as you play it straight, you believe it and you believe it’s real, it’s going to work and I feel like that’s what we’ve been doing.
“The thing with a character like that is yeah, you can be funny, but when things get real you gotta lock in and I think we’re also very good at that.”
As for Keith, Bill knows that he’s one mean man, and “The Bad Apple” conveys viciousness, but has the charisma factor as well.
“T-shirt material. He’s got all these things that he says that can all be t-shirts. He’s killing it.”
The full conversatoin with Big Bill is below:
