The folks at the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast are back with another interview: Mean Street Posse member Pete Gas (Pete Gasparino). Being that his on-screen persona of being one of Shane McMahon’s childhood friend was no gimmick, he has a unique perspective that you don’t really hear from anyone else. Here are some of the key quotes from the interview:
Did Shane have aspirations to take over for Vince?
Because of our friendship it’s not like we ever sat around at a bar on Greenwich Avenue and he said “I’m going to run this place”. It was never that type of conversation. Shane started from the bottom up, his father was and we all know his father is a genius. Shane started doing summer jobs and working for the company, he would work in the warehouse one summer. Eventually as he got older he started going on the road during summer break and he would set up the rings, he would get involved and do some refereeing.
Shane was groomed to learn every facet of the business and this way the more you know, the better you are and that was the way it is. I believe Stephanie was too. If I remember correctly she was working in the office in the main building at Titan Tower working in different departments there as well. The family is so close and I know that the bond that they all have is that since it’s just such a close family they always wanted to be together and this business is the air they breathe. It’s everything to them.
Will Shane ever return to WWE?
I think it’s one of those things where you don’t want to live in your Dad’s shadow. To be honest with you the only person who can truly answer that is Shane. It will always be in his blood to be in the business, whether or not he ever comes back. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. But he’s one of those guys that truly loves the business, he loved everything about it but maybe it was something he had to prove to himself.
How did the Mean Street Posse end up getting trained to wrestle and put into the developmental system?
At the time Dr. Tom [Prichard] was scouting talent and living in Stamford and it was like a toned down version of what they do on Breaking Ground, it wasn’t as intense it was just about the wrestling aspect. When he didn’t have anybody to train he was working just with us and God Bless Him because we gave him a few potatoes and I know we hurt him a couple of times but he was great to us. We learned from him at the studio and we were training every day after work and as time went on the office said we need to get you more matches so we are going to send you to Memphis to do TVs and you are going to fly back to Memphis on Wednesday’s and do shows with the developmental program.
Did he like the pro wrestler lifestyle?
I could honestly tell you that I woke up every single day jumping out of bed and I truly mean that with all my heart. I would jump out of bed and say I cannot wait to find out what I was going to be doing today. It was new, it was exciting and to live that lifestyle and I see how people get worn out and are beaten down because of the job but I guess it is the individual because for me I absolutely loved it, loved the attention, I always loved giving autographs and helping people out. Whether it was charity or going to a hospital whatever the case was I enjoyed it. The wrestlers that are upset, those guys didn’t have it like Rodney and me had it. Rodney and I never got to win a match. We never got the shine in a match we basically just got our asses kicked and I loved every bit of it.
In the full interview, he also talks about Pete his feud with Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, meeting Shane McMahon, getting cut by WWE, and more.