Bruce Prichard has taken the podcast world by storm with his ‘Something to Wrestle with’ show, alongside Conrad Thompson, where he tells stories about his long tenure behind the scenes in WWE and beyond.
He’s taking the show on the road, including a tour of the UK and he spoke to the Buzzards Wrestling Podcast in association with Sportskeeda about that. He also shared his thoughts on working for Impact Wrestling again, which British Wrestler he thinks could’ve been a ‘megastar’, and he also discusses his good friend The Undertaker’s retirement.
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Q Has the success of the ‘Something To Wrestle’ Podcast taken you by surprise?
”Absolutely, I didn’t even know what a podcast was. I had an idea, I had done Steve Austin’s, but I wasn’t sure of the magnitude of the podcast world and the last thing that I thought was that anybody would want to listen to me talk for 3 minutes, much less 3 hours.”
Q We love the nostalgic feel of the show, do you also enjoy going down memory lane?
”I do. It’s fun to go back and relive and just to be able to give folks another viewpoint and another narrative, something that they haven’t been able to experience in the past, so from someone that was actually there and lived it.”
Q Do you have a favourite episode so far?
”I think my favourite episode so far has been the Houston Wrestling episode, which no one voted on and everyone said it would be horrible, but it’s turned out to be one of our biggest episodes and it most fun because it was simply about my history and my time growing up and my love for the business.
“It kind of took me back to the people that formed a lot my early opinions and the experiences that you have as a kid are hopefully some of the things that shape your life for the future and mine in wrestling and Houston certainly did just that.”
Q You’re back with Impact Wrestling, which is interesting because a previous episode of the podcast was very critical of TNA during your first stint there. How different is it now, compared to what you discuss on the podcast?
”Completely different. New owners and a whole new direction and just a completely different work attitude in my opinion, so it’s like working for a different company. You get to do the same things that you love, be in the business that you love, doing what you love to do and that makes it fun. I’ve never had to actually have a real job in my entire life.”
Q Did you miss that side of the business now that you’re back in it with Impact?
”I didn’t miss it, however, I say that with a caveat. Getting back into it was something that I’m thoroughly enjoying, and I’m happy that I did.”
Q Are you confident the troubles that TNA had are behind them?
”I think that the big troubles are definitely eliminated and that with the new regime, I think they have an actual shot of making it, and I think with the team behind everybody and the talent that they’ve got; they’ve got a lot of great talent there, I think the possibility is a very real one.
“For the fans, it’s important to have a choice, and it’s important to have variety and allow them to choose what style they want and do you know what? They may like them both, but they may favour one over another, but more importantly for the people that work in the industry, it gives more opportunity for them to do what they love to do.”
Q On your relationship with WWE, is there one and could you ever see yourself going back?
“You never say never. If you were to ask me that question today, I would say probably not, but you never say never in this business. I probably would’ve even said ‘I would never be back in TNA’ if you’d have asked me that question a year ago, so things change and what’s good today is bad tomorrow and vice versa, so you just never really know and go with the flow and be able to adapt.”
Q What can we expect on the ‘Something to Wrestle with’ UK Tour?
”I think it’s going to depend on where the audience takes it and we do have some things planned, and we’ve got some specific subjects that we’ve already mapped out for each night, so it’s going to be interesting but if I were going to describe it in one word, it would be ‘fun’ but every single one will be different, so if you went to Dublin and then you went to London, you’re not going to get the same show and I don’t think I could cut the same promo twice if my life depended on it, so I know that I can’t do the same show twice.
“We like to just adapt to our surroundings, and we take what’s around us and what’s relevant at the time and have fun with it.”
Q There’s never been a British WWE World Champion but is there anybody that came the closest in your time?
”Bulldog was probably the one that would’ve come closest. Beyond that, I look back at guys like ‘Gentleman’ Chris Adams, who I thought could’ve been a megastar back in the day but it just never really happened. You never know, and I think that the world is getting smaller, so to speak, so it could happen a lot sooner rather than later.”
Q With the success of the WWE UK brand, do you think there could be a British-born World Champion from that crop of talent?
”Sure. They’re actively looking, and they are actively trying to get talent from all over the world, so without a doubt. I look at guys like Nick Aldis (Magnus), who is a tremendous talent and had grown tremendously in the past 5-6 years, so if you were to ask me about him years ago, to me he was still green and needed an awful lot of work but now he has actually become a lot more seasoned and somebody that I say, keep an eye on.”
Q Do you think it’s a surprise that Nick Aldis (Magnus) has never had a chance in WWE?
”No, not yet but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him there eventually, and I think that Magnus is one of those guys that somebody could build something around and I don’t think he would let them down. I think he’s got the heart and desire to do it.”
Q You were The Undertaker’s first manager in WWE (as Brother Love), did you expect him to go on and have the career he had?
”You hope that for everybody but right off the bat you have realistic expectations. I don’t think that anybody saw him going to the magnitude that he did, and that speaks to the performer and the man behind the performer, so I’m happy as hell for him, and I think we put the right person in the right gimmick and he made the most of it and 100% of that credit goes to Mark Callaway for being able to pull that off.”
Q Have you spoken to him since his apparent retirement at Wrestlemania 33?
”We text every once in a while, and he seems to be doing good. He’s always in great spirits, and I’ve always told him that he would be able to do it until, he could go out on a walker and still be The Undertaker, so I hope that he does as long as he’s healthy.”
You can hear the full interview with Bruce Prichard and an interview with his ‘Something To Wrestle’ co-host Conrad Thompson on The Buzzards Wrestling Podcast by downloading on Apple Podcasts or listen on Audioboom here.
Tickets for the ‘Something To Wrestle’ with Bruce Prichard UK Tour, in association with Hooked On Events are available to buy now from http://www.hookedonevents.co.uk/store with dates in Birmingham, Manchester and London on the 16th, 17th and 18th July 2017.
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