Former WWE Head Writer, Brian Gewirtz, was the guest on the latest episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. The three discussed a lot of their memories working together, including the time they were taken to Wrestler’s Court for what was perceived as Edge and Christian’s attempt to curry favor with a writer by bestowing gifts:
Edge:
“I get a Flash figure, I give it to Brian because I assume, he wears the tee shirts, that he’s a Flash fan. I was like ‘I got this, I don’t want it. I like Flash, but I’m a Thor guy and a Daredevil guy.’ So I give it to Brian, Bob Holly sees it, next thing you know we’re going to wrestler’s court, because yeah, payola (laughs).”
Brian:
“Yes you gave me a Flash figure, that’s indisputable. The big rumor, though, was that, when we were in Nassau, Long Island, where I grew up, my mother invited the two of you to my childhood home (and we had) matzo ball soup.”
Christian:
“There was some sort of rumor that we were invited to your parent’s place and we went there and had a big feast.”
Brian:
“Which would have been delightful, but that didn’t happen. But that raised the ire of a lot of people. You guys were completely prepared for it, that’s the thing.”
Christian:
“Well, we received an anonymous tip from, I don’t want to say his name here because I don’t want to incriminate him. We’ll call him ‘Burt Angel.’ We received a call from him in between towns. He’s like ‘You guys didn’t get this call from me. You’re going to Wrestler’s Court tomorrow.’ We’re like ‘For what?’ ‘Uh, for kissing a** with the writers.’ We’re like ‘Ok.’ ‘I just wanted to let you know, but you didn’t get this call. I’ve got to go,’ then he hangs up (laughs). “
Brian:
“Let’s just set the stage. Wrestler’s Court is a time-honored tradition of self-policing within the locker room with the entire roster there. Not only the roster, but all the agents and referees, pretty much everybody, and I wasn’t told that. I was told ‘It’s a rite of passage, you get pizza and beer.’ I literally brought a box of pizza and a six-pack of beer, because I thought it would be like a tribunal or something. Like ‘Ah, there will be like five people, we’ll discuss the misunderstanding, everyone will enjoy some pizza and beer, and then we’ll be on our way.’ No. So I burst in the door and there’s like over a hundred people there.”
Christian:
“So we got tipped off and we discussed it on the drive, what we would do, and then we decided we were going to flip it back on them. It was a little risky, but we decided we were going to go this way. So we decided on making a book, because a lot of the talent were getting book deals at this time. I think Chyna’s, at the time, was about to come out. We had got to the building early, we took a book, just a whatever book and we took it to Richie (Posner), who used to do the props and the magic. We didn’t tell him what was going on, but we just said ‘Hey, we need this book and we need the cover to be our picture and we need it to say “Edge and Christian: How To Kiss Ass, Our Road To The Top.’”
Edge:
“Complete with a picture of us with total s**t-eating grins.”
Christian:
“We’d also come up with this speech were we were going to talk about how we had been kind of pegged as a**kissers, and we weren’t going to hide from it, and we presented the book. We said ‘There’s a lot of a**kissers on this roster, so we’ll take the fall for all of them.’ We just kind of owned up to all of it, and at the end we said ‘A lot of the talent have been getting book deals. We probably should just tell you now so you’re not surprised when you find out, but because of the stuff we’ve been doing, we’ve received a book deal.’
“You could just see, silence in the room, you could hear a pin drop, and just peoples faces turning beet red. They were mad, like ‘These guys have been here for, like, a year and they get a book already,’ and we pulled the book out, we read the title, and the whole room burst out in laughter. Bob Holly had tears in his eyes, he was laughing so hard. Steve Blackman was laughing. Triple H came up to us and goes ‘Guys, that’s the best defense I’ve ever seen in my life.’”
Brian:
“Oh yeah. You two were such a delight. So wonderful, but if you recall, the three of us were up there together. You two worked it like gangbusters. Remember that Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are playing to the big house and Bugs does his routine and gets a standing ovation and roses. Then Daffy does his schtick and it’s like crickets, silence. That, I think, is an appropriate approximation of our day in Wrestler’s Court. You’re using prop comedy, you’re using funny anecdotes.
“JBL, as the prosecutor, says ‘Well, Mr. Ger-witz, here…’ and I say ‘Excuse me, my name is Gewirtz, so if we’re going to get this sham of a trial underway, the least you could do is get my name right,’ thinking ‘It’s tongue-in-cheek. They’ll like that I stood up to John,’ and nothing. In fact, even more anger. People need to be, like, restrained. Everybody is, you know, putting over Adam and Jay. ‘You boys learned your lesson, you little scallywags,’ and I’m like ‘I learned my lesson, too.’ ‘No. No you didn’t.’ Just so much, so much anger.
“That spiraled out of control rather quickly, I remember Stone Cold walked out about halfway through, he had seen enough. Pat (Patterson) came in when Stone Cold was leaving and didn’t really understand that there was tension with me and the other people. So he was like ‘That little s**t, he changed the finish of the matches.’”
Edge:
“Which just like ramped it up on top of what was already happening. I think that was one of, if not the last Wrestler’s Court, because what we did was show how to turn it on its head. How to turn a really ridiculous, asinine, infantile thing on its head is just to, you know, go with it.”
Brian:
“Yes, there was a distinct ‘How to’ and ‘How not to’ handle Wrestler’s Court…”
Christian:
“…And both were shown that day.”
Rush’s Analysis: Each week, this show continues to be one of the few must-listens out there, and as Christian concluded at the end, this was less an interview and more three friends catching up. Edge’s feelings towards the silliness of Wrestler’s Court and the way he and Christian chose to handle their day in it are perfect examples of the attitudes that help make this show so good. Both are removed from the wrestling bubble and possess a keen awareness of not only what is ridiculous about the wrestling industry, but also what makes it so good. Their weekly conversations are some of the best you’ll hear.
This conversation also touched on the fall out from their day in Wrestler’s Court, Edge and Christian’s feelings on being split up as a team, working with John Cena’s dad, and a hilarious story titled “The Ballad of Little Dave Batista.’ To listen to the show, check out E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness.
Be sure to check back later this week for Jeff Indelicato’s complete recap of this episode.
Please credit PWPodcasts when using any part of this transcription.
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