During an episode of his podcast Something To Wrestle With, Bruce Pichard spoke about RAW Superstar Shelton Benjamin’s tenure with the company. Prichard noted how he doesn’t feel that Benjamin has reached his full potential in WWE.
Prichard reflected on Benjamin’s early days in pro wrestling. He looked back on how he was a part of the developmental class that included Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Batista.
“JR would say, ‘Goddamn! Blue chipper class! Sassafras!’ And Shelton, first of all, he could do anything — to this day, he can do just about anything. Incredibly talented performer. Yeah, maybe missing a little bit of that it factor, but a great performer and being given the opportunity and being able to work with someone like a Jericho makes him shine all that much more.”
He stressed how Shelton Benjamin’s “stock” was high within WWE, and that many higher-ups felt he could become one of their top guys. Despite this initial belief, however, Prichard divulged how WWE “hit a wall” with Shelton Benjamin and just couldn’t get him to that next level.
Because of this, Prichard doesn’t believe Benjamin has ever reached his full potential. As far as he’s concerned, Benjamin could’ve been a “much bigger star” but doesn’t believe audiences would accept him at this point.
WWE aired a special preview of their upcoming show WWE Backstage on Tuesday. During the preview, the Game Triple H commented on the appointment of Bruce Prichard as the new Executive Director of SmackDown.
Talking about the change the Game revealed that he doesn’t
know the specific details of the same but claimed that Prichard can bring the
Blue Brand where it needs to be:
”I don’t know all the details exactly [as to how he got the
job]. I’m excited for it. Bruce has been a key figure in this industry over the
past 40 years … having Bruce at the helm of SmackDown, he can bring it where it
needs to be … He’s going to be making some big moves.”
Eric Bischoff had also recently commented on the matter via a tweet and while he didn’t address the reason for his release from the company, Bischoff praised Prichard as a great producer and good friend.
It’s unknown what led to the departure of Eric Bischoff but reports say that the news was not a shock for the people backstage. You can check out a report with additional details on this change here.
Bruce Prichard has been named the new Executive Director of WWE Friday Night SmackDown. He replaces Eric Bischoff, who was appointed to that role in late June at the same time Paul Heyman was put in charge of WWE RAW.
As Heyman does and Bischoff did, Bruce Prichard will report directly to WWE CEO & Chairman Vince McMahon. The shakeup comes just two weeks after SmackDown’s big move to Fox.
According to a press release sent in by WWE, “Prichard will oversee the creative development of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business, replacing Eric Bischoff.”
The announcement touts Prichard’s ‘extensive background’ in character development and creative storytelling. He returned to WWE’s creative team earlier this year after a lengthy hiatus from the company and has been in the wrestling business for nearly four decades.
WWE has since confirmed Bischoff is no longer with the company, which is unfortunate since he and his wife recently moved from Wyoming to Connecticut for the Executive Director job.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown airs at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.
If you’re one of WWE’s main event Superstars, chances are you’re going to have a pretty good relationship with Vince McMahon.
In an episode of Something To Wrestle podcast, Bruce Prichard addressed Vince’s relationship with his top Superstars. He reflected on the friendship between Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash back in 1995.
“Well, that’s accurate, but, you know, I think that a lot of it starts, most of the time, it will start from a whole different relationship. I mean, Shawn Michaels wasn’t Vince’s favorite person in the beginning,” Prichard explained. “But, when [the top star gets] to that point, yeah, you got to have a strong relationship and a strong bond to be able to work together is as closely as we all do.”
He added that Vince McMahon wants input from his top Superstars, knowing that they’re the ones showcasing the promotion. He stressed how, like most friendships and relationships, trust is built over time.
“It’s not like, ‘God, I love you and I’m gonna make you champ,’ It’s, ‘We’re gonna put this on you, and we’re gonna get through it together.’ And if a bond builds, a bond builds, sometimes the bond doesn’t build.”
Jim Cornette appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast this week to promote his appearance and 35th Anniversary Celebration of The Midnight Express at The Two Man Power Trip’s TMPT Con 3 this coming May in Richmond, VA.
During the interview, Cornette spoke about Bruce Prichard working as a Senior Vice President since rejoining the WWE a few weeks back. His start date was at Monday Night RAW TV event in Atlanta, GA last month.
Although he’s best known on camera as Brother Love, his work behind the scenes has earned him the great reputation that he has due to him directly working with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon as one of his top lieutenants.
According to Cornette, he thinks Prichard will be able to articulate what McMahon wants to people probably better than McMahon can.
“It was about twenty-two years ago as a matter of fact and I was there when Vince got fed up and decided that he wanted to go with the only person that wasn’t responsible for anything and that is how we got Vince Russo because he was mad. Here’s the thing; he sends out in a lot of cases (and we used to joke about it) he sends out what he wants by mental telepathy and if you don’t pick up on it it’s your fault. I’m sure that he’s been thinking, Vince McMahon didn’t not hire Bruce Prichard back because he’s the greatest booker since Bill Watts or Toots Mondt, Bruce Prichard is going to serve on the creative team because Vince McMahon knows that Bruce get it. He gets it and he can relay it to other people. What is “it”? “It” is what Vince McMahon likes and what Vince wants and I he is probably (and I can see Vince sitting there) saying that they just don’t get it, these damn people and these kids they just don’t get it.”
“I guarantee you that Bruce Prichard will be able to articulate what Vince McMahon wants to these people probably better than Vince can because Vince sometimes sends it out by mental telepathy. But Bruce has been picking up on those signals for twenty-five years. So is Bruce going to come in and immediately re-write the television program and come up with the most interesting finishes since Eddie Graham, no. Bruce is going to be able to convey to everybody else what Vince wants. I didn’t comment on the quality or the quantity. I’m just saying that Bruce gets “it” and “it” is what Vince wants.”
The future of one of the professional wrestling community’s favorite podcast’s, “Something To Wrestle”, has been called into question as of late. Of course, that all started when it was announced Bruce Prichard had been re-hired by WWE to re-join creative. Prichard will be joining the company on a full-time basis once again and had his first show back this week on Monday Night RAW from Atlanta, Georgia.
However, with Prichard now fully committed to WWE again, how much time does that leave him to keep up with “Something To Wrestle”? He got the opportunity to clear some things up in a recent episode of the show. Prichard said that the show will not be canceled and will continue to go on. He did admit that some changes could occur as far as scheduling, which will take time to iron out:
“We’re going to figure out what it’s going to be, where it’s going to be and all of that good stuff,” Prichard stated.
“All those questions are still to be answered. We’re working our way through it. We’re going to experiment with some things and have some fun and see where we go.”
What do you think about Prichard returning to WWE?
Over it the weekend, news broke that Bruce Prichard has been rehired by WWE. The man formerly known as Brother Love is returning to the WWE creative team on a full-time basis. His first show back with WWE will be tonight’s live Raw from Atlanta, GA.
Prichard’s new role with WWE has been described as being “as important as possible.” The man who once served as Vince McMahon’s ‘right hand man’ will once again be a key player on the writing staff.
Bruce Prichard has regained notoriety in recent years via the wildly popular Something to Wrestle podcast with Conrad Thompson. The podcast got so big that Bruce and Conrad have been doing live stage shows for their loyal listeners all across the world.
We reached out to Conrad Thompson, who confirmed he and Bruce will fulfill all of their outstanding commitments for the Something To Wrestle Live tour.
Those dates include:
1st March – Montville, CT
9th March – Crown Point, IN
10th March – Cleveland, OH
22nd March – Sydney, Australia
23rd March – Melbourne, Australia
24th March – Brisbane, Australia
6th April – New York City, NY
8th April – Brooklyn, NY
Tickets for Something To Wrestle Live are available to purchase at BrucePrichard.com.
As we announced recently, WWE has rehired former employee and personality Bruce Prichard. The company has brought back the former ‘Brother Love’ for a role in the creative team.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Prichard has been travelling with WWE and working as a backstage consultant since January. It is being reported that Prichard’s new deal to advance him to a top creative position was finalised as soon as this past Friday.
Apparently the idea to bring Prichard back as a full time employee was first mentioned last week. This was instantly well received backstage and the idea gained traction leading to the new signing. Prichard will apparently be Vince McMahon’s ‘right hand man’ and a “very key guy” in the WWE creative team.
This evening’s RAW show will be the first with Prichard in his new role working directly alongside Vince McMahon. Already advertised for tonight’s RAW is Ric Flair’s 70th Birthday Celebration. Former WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will also be making his return to Monday Night RAW.
Several new hirings have been made backstage for WWE over the past few months. These include Steve Corino, “Hurricane” Shane Helms, Sonjay Dutt, Shawn Daivari, “Abyss” Chris Parks and WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett.
Bruce Prichard is slated to make his return to the WWE as an employee while working on the creative team for the company.
On Saturday afternoon, Pwinsider.com reported that Prichard is returning full-time to the company to work in a top position on the creative team. His start date will be at Monday’s Raw TV event in Atlanta, GA.
It was noted in the report that his position in the company is being “as important as possible” in creative and he will be one of the top point people in the creative team going forward.
Although he’s best known on camera as Brother Love, his work behind the scenes has earned him the great reputation that he has due to him directly working with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon as one of his top lieutenants. According to the report, his new role is going to be very similar to his former position in that he will be working directly with McMahon on all things creative.
He worked for the company for decades before departing from the company in 2008.
Once WWE brought back Prichard as Brother Love for an appearance on RAW 25, which was an anniversary show that took place in January 2018, it led to a reunion with Prichard and the company that he worked for over the span of two decades.
Last year, WWE made a deal with Prichard and Thompson to bring a video version of their podcast that would air on their streaming service, WWE Network, for several episodes. Since then, fans have wondered about a potential second season of “Something Else To Wrestle With” and when it could air.
At the same time when Goldberg was rising as the top star of WCW in 1998, WWE made it clear that they were building the Rock as one of the company’s faces by putting the WWE Championship on him during the Survivor Series PPV.
The Great One’s push led him to defend the coveted title in the main event of WrestleMania XV and people saw him as the company’s answer to Goldberg.
However, during the latest episode of his Something Else To Wrestle podcast, Bruce Prichard, who was one of the key WWE writers at the time, opposed these beliefs.
He was talking about how the company was confident in building around the Rock and his rival at the time Stone Cold Steve Austin. When asked about this notion, he claimed that it’s “Quite the contrary”.
Prichard explained that both the Rock and Steve Austin were over and implied that WWE chose to commit to their younger talents, opposed to their rivals who chose to bet their money on aging superstars.
Aparrt from this, Bruce Prichard also talked about The Hollywood Star’s rise to the top in the company saying that he had proven to be reliable and that’s why they were willing to take a chance on him.
Bruce Prichard reveaed the origin of the term “worked himself into a shoot” on the latest episode of his Something To Wrestle podcast. On Episode 125, titled “When Hunter Met Stephanie,” delved into the on and off screen relationship between Stephanie McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
During the 2+ hour deep-dive discussion, Bruce’s co-host Conrad Thompson asked when Stephanie and Hunter became a real-life item. While the actual timeline remains fuzzy, Bruce tells all of what he knew and when.
While answering Conrad, Bruce tells the story of when he first heard the term “worked himself into a shoot”, a phrase that has become part of the wrestling lexicon. Whether it be the legendary Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels feud, or a bizarre tweet from Hulk Hogan, wrestling fans are familiar with the term. But where did it start?
According to Prichard, the term was coined by none other than WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
“Gerry Brisco and I have this thing… We used to see two people hanging out together, and catch them on the road sometimes hanging out together, and you’d go, ‘Oh, boy, that’s going to turn into a couple right there,'” Prichard said.
“We used to have a term for it. Well, actually, it’s Vince’s term. The first time I heard Vince use it was when Hunter and Chyna had gotten together. And Vince said ‘I think he’s worked himself into a shoot’. So we used the same term here. They had to kiss and be husband and wife on screen, and we said ‘If he’s not careful, he’s going to work himself into a shoot here,'” Prichard said.
And there you have it.
For a detailed snapshot of one of the more infamous angles from the Attitude Era, you can check out the full episode below.
When referencing this transcript, please credit SEScoops.com. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When did you first hear the phrase, “Worked himself into a shoot”?
Today, SmackDown Live is essentially viewed as WWE’s “B show.” However, upon its inception, SmackDown actually rivaled Monday Night RAW for quite some time. The show has had quite the history, establishing some of WWE’s top stars of all time. This includes The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, JBL, Batista, and many more.
To think, that it all very nearly didn’t happen. During a recent edition of his podcast, “Something To Wrestle,” former WWE producer Bruce Prichard discussed the first-ever episode of SmackDown. The topic is fitting considering today (Tues. October 16, 2018) WWE is airing its 100th episode special of SmackDown Live.
During the show, Prichard revealed something rather interesting. In the midst of the development of SmackDown, the idea of making it an all-female show was actually considered:
“We definitely discussed it,” said Prichard. “We looked at it, but we just didn’t have the depth to do it on a consistent basis week after week.
“We really didn’t have enough talent to do that, and in addition to that, if you were going to do that maybe not do it on the broadcast show because Vince McMahon was looking at that the more eyeballs maybe if this broadcast show takes off to possibly make Raw an all-women’s show, but we definitely discussed that many times throughout the years.”
What do you think about SmackDown almost being an all-female show?
Madison Square Garden is no longer dominated by WWE. Earlier this year some big news broke for the professional wrestling community. New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring Of Honor (ROH) managed to sell out New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The two promotions will hold their G1 Supercard at MSG on April 6th.
The action goes down during WrestleMania 35 weekend. The Garden is a big deal to McMahon and the McMahon family, who have been promoting there for years. Recently, former WWE executive Bruce Prichard offered his thoughts on the matter during his podcast, Something To Wrestle.
Prichard said he thinks McMahon is probably “hurt pretty bad” about the ordeal. But also, he envisions McMahon perceiving this as an opportunity to grow as well:
“I think there is a big part of him that is probably hurt pretty bad, just thinking about the tradition of his grandfather and his father promoting in The Garden,” Prichard said.
“But at the same time, the Vince McMahon of today has grown a lot too, and sees it as, alright, it is a part of growing. It is a part of progression and we will have a new home and move on.”
How do you think McMahon feels about ROH selling out MSG?
The Starrcast convention is underway in Chicago. The multi-day convention features numerous fan interactive sessions including one last night with Eric Bischoff and Bruce Pritchard.
Both Prichard and Bischoff have weekly podcasts with Conrad Thompson (convention organizer) where they relive their times as key figures for WCW and WWE respectively.
At last night’s “Monday Night Wars” panel, Bischoff and Prichard shared the stage and both reflected on “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s departure from WWE in 1994.
Bruce Pritchard and Eric Bischoff on Randy Savage in 1994
According to Bischoff, Savage approached him in 1994 saying that Vince McMahon didn’t want him to wrestle anymore. Vince had given him a job at the commentary booth instead and Savage wasn’t happy. According to Bischoff, Savage told them he wanted to wrestle but Vince wouldn’t let him.
“Essentially (Randy Savage) told me, he said ‘Vince didn’t want him in the ring any longer. He wanted to retire him to the announce booth,'” Bischoff said. “Randy called me and said ‘I’m not ready to give it up in the ring, is there a spot for me?'”
Furthermore, Bischoff continued to say that Savage’s contract was “almost free” until 1997 as it was covered by his Slim Jim endorsement deal.
Meanwhile, Prichard’s story is that Macho Man had recently moved to Connecticut at the time in order to work in the office. Savage told them he didn’t want to take bumps anymore and was looking at the next 20 years of his career.
“He was saying different things to different people,” Pritchard said. “If he had told us ‘hey I want to go back and I want to be on the road, I want to work, put me in a major program’, to have Randy Savage involved in something – that would have made a big world of difference.”
“Randy expressed to us he didn’t want to take bumps anymore,” Pritchard continued.
On the latest episode of Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson’s Something To Wrestle podcast, the guys dug deep into WWE’s 2001 Invasion pay-per-view. It was the culmination of WWE purchasing WCW & ECW and injecting what was left of both brands into television storylines.
WWE had a ton of dream matches that they wanted to make, but a certain contractual issue prevented that form happening. After the WCW sale stars were still being paid by Turner Broadcasting from guaranteed contracts. Some of them decided to continue collecting guaranteed money instead of signing a deal with WWE.
Two big matches that were impacted by this were Goldberg vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Sting vs. The Undertaker:
“I think again without all the particulars, the first match that comes to mind was Austin vs. Goldberg. To have that matchup at some point. To be able to build to it. Same thing with Undertaker and Sting. There was thinking, ‘okay do you bring back Hall and Nash and put them back into the fold?’ There were a lot of what if’s.
“It all becomes mental masturbation at that point. Because with the exception of JR, I don’t think there was anyone who had really dealt with Goldberg and Goldberg showed zero desire, nil, zilch to come in. He had his deal [with Turner] and was going to be paid out. He didn’t want to come in so the fact that he didn’t want to come in — we sure as hell wasn’t gonna go after him. We didn’t want anybody that didn’t want to be here.”
Listen to the Invasion episode of Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard & Conrad Thompson:
Former WWE official Bruce Prichard was recently interviewed on the Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast and talked about what it was really like working for Vince McMahon.
One topic of discussion brought up was whether or not “The Chairman Of The Board” ever takes some time to get some rest. Prichard said that McMahon likely gets a few hours of sleep each night before an early wake-up call to get in a cardio workout.
He also detailed how McMahon sometimes takes 30-minute naps during the day from time-to-time. Prichard shared an experience of his own with McMahon, who used a tour bus to take a nape in once:
“He’d probably get a couple of hours of sleep before he’d wake up to do cardio. He takes like 30 minute power naps every once in awhile. I’ve gotten alcohol poisoning two times in my life, both times with Vince McMahon.
“The first time drinking moon shine and the second time was just a crazy night and I remember Vince coming to me and going, ‘Brucie, what are those buses like?’ Those were the early days of the rock n’ roll buses we had for the cameramen and the ring crew guys. Actually they’re pretty nice. McMahon said, ‘Get everybody off. We’ll take a nap in there.’
“We would go and just 30 minutes. He would go nap. He goes out and when he wakes up he’s like, ‘Goddamn let’s go. Holy cow that was good! Good times, huh? You know what? I think I got an extra minute there. I think that made a difference”
You can listen to Prichard’s interview on the Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast by clicking this link here.
Former WWE official and host of the “Something Else To Wrestle With” show on the WWE Network, Bruce Prichard, recently caught up with TV Insider to speak about the show’s upcoming season one finale in which they’ll be covering CM Punk. Prichard noted that he doesn’t know much about the defamation lawsuit between WWE doctor Chris Amann and CM Punk, aside from what he read online.
Since he doesn’t have any first-hand knowledge of the event he’ll just stick to discussing the early parts of Punk’s WWE career:
“I don’t know anything about the court case other than what I’ve read online and different things like that,” Prichard said. “Me trying to comment on that is no different than any other media source commenting on it. I don’t know firsthand. I wasn’t there for that time. I want to tell stories of Punk in his early days in WWE and the growth before he exploded.
“We covered it on the podcast, and it did really well for us. He is topical, so it was a perfect way to end the season. And if they don’t pick us up for Season 2 — no, we hope to be back for Season 2. You always want to end on a high note. I think covering Punk in his early days is a high note.”
Prichard then discussed the deal he has in place with WWE and the Network. The content remains theirs and they also have final approval over things. He noted they don’t get much of any direction from WWE with the exception of some suggestions:
“The content is ours. That’s something we have final approval on. We pick the subjects, and we write it, we do it, we perform it with no direction from them. Then we give them direction with the footage, and they come back with suggestions. That portion of it is pretty neat.”
You can read Prichard’s full interview with TV Insider by clicking this link here.
Bruce Prichard has given some more insight into talking about the career of CM Punk in the WWE on his Something Else to Wrestle podcast.
Prichard recently discussed this topic in an interview with TV Insider. We noted earlier on the site that the podcast would feature Prichard and Conrad Thompson discussing the early WWE career of CM Punk from the period of 2006 through to 2008. This will be the season finale of the show.
It was later revealed that they would talk about the recent lawsuit that was brought forward against Punk and Colt Cabana from WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann, which saw the former WWE stars win.
In the interview, Prichard noted that he didn’t have anything more on the lawsuit other than what he has read online, which made him focus his efforts on telling the early parts of Punk’s WWE career.
“I don’t know anything about the court case other than what I’ve read online and different things like that,” Prichard said. “Me trying to comment on that is no different than any other media source commenting on it. I don’t know firsthand. I wasn’t there for that time. I want to tell stories of Punk in his early days in WWE and the growth before he exploded.”
Prichard noted that it did well for them to talk about it as Punk is so topical and a perfect way to the end season. Prichard added that if the WWE doesn’t pick them up for a second season then they believed that they ended on a high note by covering Punk in his early days.
It’s known that Prichard has a unique deal with WWE Network and that the content is theirs and they also have the final approval on the product. He broke down the process of doing the podcast. “The content is ours. That’s something we have final approval on. We pick the subjects, and we write it, we do it, we perform it with no direction from them. Then we give them direction with the footage, and they come back with suggestions. That portion of it is pretty neat.”
Do you plan on watching this episode? Sound off in the comment section.
The Redneck Triathlon between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff during Bad Blood 2003 was one of the most unique contests we have ever seen in WWE.
During the recent episode of Something Else To Wrestle, host Bruce Prichard talked about the PPV in detail and discussed the reason behind this booking.
Bruce revealed that Austin was going through injuries and couldn’t take any bumps. However since Vince McMahon wanted him on TV all the time, they came up with the idea of doing a contest between him and the heel authority figure Bischoff.
Continuing on the topic, Prichard explained how The Redneck Triathlon was created, saying that they had an idea and then Mr. McMahon came up with the name:
“We had an idea early on of what it could be, They could compete in an Olympics of sorts in Texas, you know? The Texas Olympics. Then Vince came up with the Redneck Triathlon and that’s how we came to it.”
The Redneck Triathlon consisted three separate events which saw Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff compete in a belching contest, a pie eating contest, and a pigpen contest. Bruce Prichard was a part of WWE creative back then.
The Texas Rattlesnake ended up winning the whole thing after he was victories in the first and third events. He forfeited the second event when Mae Young hit Bischoff with a bronco buster and then Steve delivered a stunner to her.
Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson decided to dedicate an episode of their podcast to King of the Ring 1998. On the 20-year anniversary of the event, Prichard revealed an emotional backstage story which took place during the event.
Prichard also revealed that contrary to popular belief, the second big bump taken by Mick Foley was planned. “I knew the two big bumps and I knew the finish but I didn’t know what they were gonna do immediately after the bump into the ring. I’m screaming backstage for Pat Patterson,” Prichard said.
“I’m going f–king nuts and I’m angry at this point because Pat’s the agent for the match and he’s not there at Gorilla to talk me through the thing. And Jerry Briscoe comes to me and sits down and says, ‘what do you want?’ I said, ‘I’ve gotta know what the hell what we’re doing here, what was planned here, what can we cut out? What can we do? What’s going on? Where the f–k is Pat?'”
Unfortunately, the reason Pat Patterson was absent was his long-time partner had died.
“Jerry just looks at me and says, ‘he got a call about Louis.’ Louis was Pat’s partner for many many years, 35 plus years. It shut me down I looked at him and said, ‘oh my god, is Louis okay?’ Jerry just looks at me and said, ‘he’s dead.'”
Prichard continues to say the events had an impact on him. “I’m screaming like an asshole and a lunatic for Pat not knowing what had happened,” he continued.
“I think Jerry knew I don’t even know if Vince [McMahon] knew at that point. Just that calm comes over ya and it’s a surreal feeling because all this other s–t that you think is so important becomes really unimportant.”
In a recent edition of Bruce Prichard’s Something To Wrestle, Prichard discussed Sable’s run with WWE. One of the more interesting topics of discussion was WWE striking a deal with the famous men’s adult magazine Playboy. Sable graced the cover of the April 1999 edition of the magazine:
“We were hot at the time and the product itself was hot and Rena was — good god, Sable that character [was] one of the most downloaded females in the world,” Bruce Prichard said. “Playboy as they often or at least did back in the day would often reach out to celebrities or other people who would appeal to their audience and make that offer, ‘would you pose nude for Playboy?’
“They approached WWE about Sable and asked. There was even talk of doing the women of WWF and all that other stuff but Playboy had approached us. I don’t know all the particulars about this but usually they approach the company and since we have the talent contract we’re the ones that broker the deal and yeah the company gets a portion of that money because they’re under contract to the company.
“So I’m sure Vince looking at it and saying, ‘which of the females?’ Then approached her and asked if she would even be in interested in it if it’s something she’d consider doing and she interested in doing it so they went further on with the deal until finally it was actually done and everybody agreed on it.”
Two different photos were shot as options for Sable’s cover photo. The first was Sable being covered by nothing except a WWF Women’s Title. The other, which was eventually selected, was Sable wearing a black catsuit:
“I think it was Playboy’s choice looking at the two pictures and deciding which one was gonna sell more magazines,” Prichard said. “Not just appealing to the wrestling fan with the belt and what have you. I don’t know what the hell their thinking was behind it but I thought the cover they picked was a pretty good one.”
You can listen to Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard by clicking this link here.
In the latest episode of Something Else To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard on the WWE Network, Conrad Thompson and Bruce discussed current WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy’s 2003 release from the company. This was Hardy’s first release from the company since starting with them in 1994.
He was released in April of 2003 after a downward spiral of issues. Hardy suffered form drug addiction, erratic behavior, and consistently arrived late to events or even no-showed. Here’s what Prichard had to say on the matter:
“Jeff did have a drug problem, and everything that you just said was taking place. All of the sudden, we had a different human being on our hands, and it wasn’t someone that anyone really liked to work with anymore. if he did show up, he would go on high, and you couldn’t find him all day long, or he’d show up and then leave again.
“It was difficult times being with Jeff Hardy. Jeff had a drug issue—Jeff admitted having a drug issue—but Jeff didn’t want to go to rehab. The condition was ‘Jeff you have to go to rehab or we’ve got to let you go. We’ve got to release you.’ And they released him because he refused to go to rehab. In my opinion, Jeff had a drug problem. Jeff had a lot of issues going on and wasn’t handling them well.”
Long-time WWE producer Bruce Prichard has built an extremely popular podcast.
Prichard decided to team up with the sports entertainment company to air a version of his podcast on their streaming service, WWE Network, earlier this year.
A new episode of “Something Else to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard” was slated to be available in the on-demand section of the WWE Network on Wednesday, June 6, 2018.
However, that is not the case as Thompson revealed in a social media post that the release of the latest episode is being delayed until Friday due to “creative differences” with WWE. This episode will be about WWE’s ECW brand. “Hey, what’s up guys? No show today. WWE wanted to edit some stuff, we’ve got creative differences, it ain’t airing,” Thompson said. “I wanted you to hear it directly from us. It’s not because we didn’t tape the show, we did, we’re just not happy with the final product. This is the first time this has happened and rather than just throw something up to have something up, it’s going to air on Friday. “We’re not re-shooting it, Bruce and I are done, we’re happy with it but we’re not going to change the narrative. I don’t want to white-wash everything that ECW was. So I’m fighting for it. We’re going to get you the best possible product to you this Friday on the WWE Network, with a delay, and our most controversial ‘Something Else to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard’ ever. Tune in Friday.”
Once the podcast premiered on the WWE Network back on April 18th of this year, it was revealed that it was scheduled for a 13-episode run in the first season. Part of the reason for the success of the podcast is both Prichard and co-host Conrad Thompson setting the truth on the topics that they are talking about.
Former WWE official Bruce Prichard recently dedicated an episode of his podcast, Something To Wrestle, to overlooking the WWE career of former WWE Champion Rob Van Dam. Prichard first discussed that RVD made his WWE TV debut back in 1987 as a fan:
“Rob told me, when I first met him. He said, “You know I was one of those people that came out of the audience and did one of Ted Dibiase’s ‘Will you do this for money’ deal,” Prichard explained.
“He actually did the ‘Kiss My Feet’ thing with Ted Dibiase where he got paid to kiss his feet. We actually went back and found the footage and it was Rob Szatkowski, so I thought that was really cool. He was a mega fan.”
Prichard also revealed that after seeing Van Dam get his start in WCW he seriously considered bringing him in to WWE:
“The first time I saw Rob Van Dam was actually with Dory Funk Jr, long before he was in ECW. Right about the time he was going to WCW. Rob Van Dam does the ‘Van Dam Deadlift’ where he takes two chairs and does the splits and then he lifts a barbell in between,” Prichard said.
“Extremely difficult to do and extremely impressive when someone does it. He had a unique look and had a different style, so watching Rob from day one thought that he was special and thought someone that can come to WWE and have a big niche following.”
RVD got his start with WWE in 2001 as a member of the Invasion storyline. Prichard said that he became a fan of RVD’s during this storyline when he saw his interactions with WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin – as he believes the ECW legend has great chemistry with the Texan:
“The Alliance stuff with Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam, to me, that was where I fell in love with RVD because I really didn’t know him that well, except superficially, but when we were doing stuff with Steve Austin and Steve was doing stuff with his watch and doing the ‘What?’ chant and looking at his watch, we’re shooting and I am telling Rob to act natural, react and just go with it because I wasn’t a big fan of scripts, so I would let the guys freestyle at times, and if it would work we would go with it,” Prichard said.
“So, Steve is putting his watch in his ear and RVD takes the watch and puts the watch up to his ear asking what it is he was listening to. It was real, and it was something that everybody wanted to do but they’re looking for a script, but I told Rob to just freestyle with it and it was good.
“Steve and Rob had a chemistry in the backstage vignettes where we thought that there may be something there. It was just good chemistry.”
You can listen to Bruce Prichard’s comments on Something To Wrestle by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has had a storied career in the professional industry and will go down as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Michaels headlined major pay-per-view events between 1989 and 2010, closing the sports entertainment company’s biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, five times.
He has held every big championship that WWE had to offer and had some classic matches as well as a feud with the biggest names in pro wrestling. Those names would include The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Triple H, and Ric Flair.
Although he turned his life around when he returned from hiatus in 2002, his final match before taking time away from the WWE was interesting, to say the least as he was dealing with some issues that have been well documented.
During the first episode of WWE Network’s Something Else To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, the long-time WWE producer reflected on the issues that Michaels had leading into his WWE Title Match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania 14 in 1998.
Prichard talked about whether people believed Michaels back injury was real and how difficult Michaels was to work with at the time (transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc).
“There were definitely grumblings and I would venture to say that there were far more skeptics than there were sympathetic ears at this point because of the timing and the fact that a year [before], his knee was injured and while talking about dropping the title due to a knee injury, he brings up losing his smile.” Prichard continued, “so I guess it was ‘suspect at best’ as my friend, J.R., would say. People doubted it. People didn’t know if it was legitimate, which, by the way, it was a legitimate injury and it was a very bad injury. The timing of it though, didn’t help. And it certainly didn’t help that, Shawn being Shawn, wasn’t talking to a lot of people and I think that he didn’t allow anyone to feel sorry for him, really.”
“At this time, during this whole run, earlier, you could deal with people who were assholes and people who were difficult because you knew what you got and how to deal with them. You can figure all that out. That’s not that difficult. Shawn, at this point, going into WrestleMania, and probably from January on, the injury on, he was a good 9.5 to deal with. Yeah, he was there.” Prichard recalled, “Shawn had made a lot of demands. Shawn wanted security when he arrived in Boston. And he felt that the unruliness of the fans at the [public] workout [where Michaels was struck by a battery] and in general he had a lot of heat on him in general. Steve [Austin] was so red-hot as a babyface that Shawn wanted protection 24/7, and he got it, and we got it for him. We had the police escort him everywhere that he went leading up to WrestleMania and all the way till WrestleMania and after, so that’s the reality and that’s something that we did do.”
What are your thoughts on Prichard’s recalling comments about Michaels at this time? Sound off in the comment section below.