Talk is Jericho – ROH’s Beer City Bruiser
Release Date: 08/10/2018
Recap By: Caitlin Lavelle
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4:40 – Beer City Bruiser on being a WWE Extra
Beer City Bruiser was a televised extra during Simon Dean’s Monday Night RAW debut in 2004. Bruiser says he was in the ring working out prior to the show, and that Jericho, Jim Ross and Paul Heyman watched him and vouched that he was a good worker.
Bruiser says, “So the script got changed, so I got to bump and say lines…I was the fat kid in the second row. Remember how he used to make fun of everybody in the row? They had me as a plant, and when he came to me I got all offended and I jumped the guard rail and got in his face. We went back and forth.
“After I got done, you (Jericho) were walking out of the dressing room when I was walking in. I walked up to thank you, and you said, ‘Man, that was funny. Keep doing funny stuff and you’ll make it.’”
6:11 – Beer City Bruiser on his name
Bruiser says, “The real beer city is Milwaukee. Everyone calls it the Brew City, but I couldn’t be the Brew City Bruiser because there’s a girl’s roller derby team called the Brew City Bruisers. I get confused with them all the time. A bunch of them have my T-shirt, which is great! Helped my merch sales.”
6:28 – Beer City Bruiser on getting trained
Beer City Bruiser grew up watching wrestling. In 2000, he was approached by a friend, who offered to introduce Bruiser to his neighbor, who was a wrestler named Jeff Bennett. Bruiser told Bennett he wanted to be a professional wrestler, and Bennett gave him a list of Wrestling Schools.
Bruiser ended up training at a local gym under Trevor Adonis. Bruiser says he worked locally while Adonis taught him basic moves and psychology.
10:05 – Beer City Bruiser on his first gimmick
Bruiser says, “My first gimmick was Din T. Moore, like the stew. I was a lumberjack…I had that for ten years.”
11:20 – Beer City Bruiser on training with Harley Race
Bruiser says he participated in a couple of Harley Race’s training camps in Eldon, Missouri. According to Bruiser, Race’s wife B.J. approached him and said, “You need to move down here. You could be so good with Harley’s training.”
Bruiser decided to pack up and move to Eldon. He says, “Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, training would be from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. The thing is, I saw Harley got to the school at 10 a.m., so I’d get to the school at 10:30. I’d have lunch with him. I’d leave to go to the gym for an hour and come back. I’d do stuff around the school like yardwork. I’d get to the ring and just roll around by myself…It would basically be one-on-one training with Harley.”
Bruiser says that Harley eventually gave him a key to the school. He says Harley would sit outside the ring and yell at you if you did something wrong, but that the hands-on training was mostly done by Trevor Murdoch or Darin Corbin. Eventually, Bruiser would become one of the hands-on trainers at Harley’s school.
After a while, Bruiser says he felt ready to move back home and move on from the school. Bruiser says Harley gave him his blessing and still used him afterwards, putting him up for WWE tryouts and extra work.
14:05 – Beer City Bruiser on Curtis Axel
Bruiser says Joe Hennig (WWE’s Curtis Axel) started at Harley Race’s school a couple years after him, and that they spent a lot of time training together. Bruiser says he told Axel to be himself and not try to be like his dad.
15:07 – Advertisement
18:00 – Interview Resumes
19:25 – Beer City Bruiser on advice he’s gotten in wrestling
Bruiser says Harley Race taught him to always be humble and to tell a story in the ring.
Harley also taught Bruiser to talk to promoters, ask for money and get multiple bookings. Bruiser says Harley taught him to always ask for three bookings, because that will give you three chances to make a solid impression on promoters.
Bruiser also says that WWE Trainer (former ROH Announcer) Steve Corino told him he should get a new T-Shirt and promo picture every three months.
Jericho says that this is why he always changes his hairstyle and tights – so that WWE will have to make a new action figure to incorporate his new look.
34:05 – Beer City Bruiser on joining Ring of Honor
Bruiser had a close relationship with his father-in-law, who he said was a big supporter of the Wisconsin independent wrestling scene and individual local wrestlers. While his father-in-law always encouraged Bruiser to attend a Ring of Honor (ROH) tryout, Bruiser dragged his feet and wasn’t sure he wanted to go.
Bruiser’s father-in-law died in 2013. While reviewing his will, Bruiser learned that his father-in-law had left him money under the provision that he attend a Ring of Honor tryout camp.
Bruiser says, “In October of that year, I told my wife, ‘I’m doing it. This is a sign. But I’m not going to go to just be a guy. I’m going to be the guy.”
Bruiser says he stayed in character throughout the camp, ended up in the top prospect tournament and was eventually signed by Ring of Honor.
37:20 – Advertisement
39:40 – Interview resumes
40:45 – Beer City Bruiser on working in Japan
Of working ROH’s Honor Rising Tour in Japan, Bruiser says, “I got to wrestle Hirooki Goto in Japan in Korakuen Hall for the NEVER Openweight Title. It was Amazing.”
Bruiser says he got to work a lot in Japan due to Dalton Castle and Trent Barretta’s respective injuries, and that he made a good impression with New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s (NJPW) Gedo as a result.
To stand out from the other Americans who came through, Bruiser decided to spit Beer on the fan’s faces. Bruiser says, “After the show, walking from Korakuen Hall to the Tokyo Dome Hotel, all the fans are there. They’d walk up to me with beer and yen, and they’d hand it to me. I’d be like, ‘Oh, thanks!’, and they’d be like, ‘No, no, please!’ They wanted me to spit beer in their face! I’d end up with like 24 beers for free!”
52:35 – Beer City Bruiser on The Young Bucks, Cody, and their impact in ROH
Bruiser says, “I was there (in ROH) right when the Young Bucks started coming back around. This was before Being the Elite. Then I got to be around when they started Being the Elite. They’re great guys, because they do it for themselves, but they also do it for Ring of Honor. They want all of us to be successful.
“I worked Cody one time. I remember when Cody came in, it was like, oh great, he’s going to be one of those guys who was up in New York. He’s going to come in and this isn’t WWE. This isn’t New York. He’s going to change it. And Cody wasn’t that way. Cody was all for Ring of Honor.
“A lot of us undercard guys, we’ve been benefiting from that – getting bigger. There are contracts now. The houses are getting bigger.”
1:08:30 – Beer City Bruiser on Cody/Dusty Rhodes/Diamond Dallas Page’s Fur Coat
Bruiser says “The fur coat that (Cody) wore on one of the Ring of Honor pay-per-views, his dad wore it. Magnum T.A. bought it for the tag team tournament. (Cody) says, ‘Look in here’, and he opens it up. It has embroidered in it Dusty Rhodes. I was like ‘Oh that’s awesome!’
“(Cody) says, ‘Wait, watch this.’ He opens up the other side, and it says Diamond Dallas Page. I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’
“(Cody) says ‘Page took this coat from my dad, never wore it on TV, saw the embroidery, so he embroidered his name. My mom pulled it out of the attic for me. I’m wearing it. I saw the embroidery, so tomorrow I’m actually going to the embroiderers, so right underneath my dad’s name I’m going to put Cody Rhodes.’”
Timestamps:
0:37 – Introduction
4:11 – Interview Starts
4:40 – Beer City Bruiser on being a WWE Extra
6:11 – Beer City Bruiser on his name
6:28 – Beer City Bruiser on getting trained
10:05 – Beer City Bruiser on his first gimmick
11:20 – Beer City Bruiser on training with Harley Race
14:05 – Beer City Bruiser on Curtis Axel
15:07 – Advertisement
18:00 – Interview Resumes
19:25 – Beer City Bruiser on advice he’s gotten in wrestling
34:05 – Beer City Bruiser on joining ROH
37:20 – Advertisement
39:40 – Interview resumes
40:45 – Beer City Bruiser on working in Japan
52:35 – Beer City Bruiser on The Young Bucks, Cody, and their impact in ROH
1:08:30 – Beer City Bruiser on Cody/Dusty Rhodes’s Fur Coat
1:10:57 – Outro
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