Life After Wrestling For J.B.L.

[Kellie]

What have you been up to since your retirement from the WWE?

I’ve been just going about my business. I have been running business for the last 8-10 years of my career. I didn’t go into retirement. I actually am working full-time. I don’t have to worry about traveling with the WWE so it’s freed me up to work with my companies.

Tell us a little about the Vyper Fight League.

I fell into it. Danny Davis who runs Ohio Valley Wrestling needed a sponsor. Danny is a dear friend of mine and I hated to see him lose his TV because that would kill his territory. I agreed to sponsor his TV and it created a great opportunity for distribution for me. Danny told me he wanted to get into MMA and I thought it was a great idea so we sponsor that as well. Bruce Pritchard has come onboard as a producer with Danny. Bruce has done WWE television for over 20 years. We have a great production crew and a built in arena and TV cameras that are owned by Danny. We’ve got a turn key type deal. In exchange it helps promote my product. We have the TV and we use the commercials to promote my energy and relaxation products.

When and where is your next show?

It’s May 29th in Louisville, KY at the Danny Davis Arena. It’s at 4400 Shepherdsville Rd. It’s in an industrial area. It’s about a 430 foot arena. It’s built for pro wrestling but it works for MMA. We have VIP tables. It’s a cool atmosphere.

How often do you plan on running shows?

We plan on running them once a month. We have deals with CW in Louisville and CW in Lexington along with WBOZ in London, KY. We hope to add to that and have a regional presence. We are working on trying to get a a TV deal for Tennessee and up as far as in Ohio over to St. Louis and build the region which is an MMA hotbed. We will run more than one show a month in Louisville and Nashville up to St. Louis and maybe into Cincinnati in the next three to six months.

If MMA had been an option when you were younger would you have pursued it?

I would’ve loved to. I am a big fan of the sport. It’s the greatest competition in the world. I trained with Guy Mezger and Kenny Shamrock’s Lions Den when the WWE did the Brawl for All. It was a Toughman contest with takedowns. It wasn’t pure MMA. I wasn’t young enough or tough enough to do it at the time but I would have liked to to see what I could’ve done. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have been as good as a guy like Brock Lesnar. In fact I’m sure I couldn’t.

You were very successful at getting fan to boo you in the WWE how important is being marketable like Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz in MMA?

It’s huge. Those guys have done a wonderful job. It’s important to stick out because of all the fighters out there. You can’t be fake. Fans see through fakeness. You have Rampage and Chuck Liddell. They are themselves and they have got that character out there on the UFC show. And Dana White has highlighted it tremendously. Both guys are stars. There are a lot of great fighters and a lot of great fighters don’t get to that level because they haven’t made themselves into personalities

Would you help young fighters develop their personalities?

Yes, what we’ve told them is don’t be something you’re not. We told them if you’re humble, under the radar, and introspective, be that way but if you’re over the top be that way. We give them no boundaries and let them be themselves. That’s how you find stars.

If you tell them to do this or that they think they you want them to be a pro wrestler doing a Hulk Hogan type of promo and it won’t work. But if you tell them if you’re a jerk be a jerk or if you’re humble be humble. They have free reign in our system to do what they want.

No one wants to be a bad guy in MMA.

I’m looking for someone to be a bad guy. You can’t force that on someone. Tito Ortiz came around and wasn’t afraid to do that. A lot of the guys want to be bad during the hype of the fight but afterwards they come out and kill it by being humble and nice and maybe they are they that way and good for them. It’s been succesful for the UFC but I’m looking for someone to be the Muhammed Ali of MMA and they’ll make a lot of money.

I wish I could’ve done the promo for Brock after the lost to Mir. I would’ve told Mir that half the WWE locker room could beat him. There would’ve been a riot that night but they would pay to see him the next time. But he followed it up and beat Couture and they pay huge money anyway. I don’t fault Brock at all. I wish someone would come along and be the villain in NASCAR or PBR. They are all high testosterone men that are crazy but no one wants to get booed.

I wish Brock would’ve been that villain but he wanted to be part of the UFC and that’s what he is. He’s a fighter.

What do you think about Brock’s success in the UFC?

He was a national champion. He’s a brute. I’ve never felt anyone as strong as him. When he went down to Mir it felt like I went down with him. It broke my heart. I was pulling for him so strong. I was out there with Undertaker and Stone Cold just to support him. I knew he’d come back. I didn’t think he’d dominate Couture like he did. I thought he had a good shot and I hoped he would win and I think he’ll get Mir this time. I’ve never seen anyone like him. He’s going to be dominant. I’ve never seen a freak like him and he’s such a nice guy. I couldn’t be happier for him.

If Brock wins it sets up a third fight and that makes for a good rivalry which is good for the sport.

People want to see if Brock makes a mistake. I think he’s a lot better than he was the first time they fought. Mir can capitalize if he makes a mistake but I think Brock will take it.

Didn’t Brock and Kurt Angle have an amateur wrestling match a few years ago?

They got after it one day after the boys tried to get them to go at it for a long time. We stirred that pot like crazy. It wasn’t a shoot but it was a wrestling match and they went at it pretty good and it was fun to see for about 30 seconds.

Who got the best of whom?

I’m not going onto record. I love both of those guys. I wish they could’ve gone at it in their prime. I’d pay big money to see that. Those guys aren’t good at wrestling. They are great at wrestling. Kurt Angle out of 6 million people was the very best. He vs. Brock Lesnar was King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Do you think Angle will ever do MMA?

I love Kurt and I hope he doesn’t. He’s been hurt a bunch. If he would’ve got into it he would’ve owned it. 100% he would’ve owned it. Now he’s older and I don’t want to see him do now that he has a bad kneck. Those guys hit hard, Randy Couture, Rampage, Tito Ortiz, if it was a wrestling match he would do great. If it was ten years ago but I would hate to see him do it now because if he took a bad blow it would be bad because of his neck.

Who are some of the guys in the WWE that you think would do well in MMA?

Shelton Benjamin is one of the best athletes I have ever seen. I think he’d do quite well. A few years ago we had Kenny and Steve Blackman. Blackman could’ve done well and Kenny was a champion. Bart Gunn could’ve been a great MMA fighter if he had any training. Bart was a big tough guy who hit really hard but he didn’t have any training.

Does Shelton have any interest in doing MMA?

I don’t know, he was a big pro wrestling fan and didn’t have any desire to get into it because it wasn’t as big then.

Shelton isn’t old and he’d kill me if I called him that so I will say he’s old because he will get mad at me. He called me one time when I was Fox News on live TV and I had to answer the phone on live TV. He laughed as he watched me answer the phone on live TV like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I love Shelton. I think he would’ve done well if he had pursued it.

What about Jack Swagger?

Yeah, he’s legit. He is raw boned. That kid is tough. I’d love to see him train for something like MMA because he would be awesome.

What are your thoughts on Wrestlemania 25?

I was happy. I had wanted to retire at Wrestlemania 25 for years and with the back injury I didn’t think I was going to make it. I was fortunate to make it. When I got to make it it was like a dream come true. And to see the Funks and the Von Erichs, my childhood idols get inducted into the Hall of Fame along with my buddy Stone Cold. I couldn’t ask for a better sendoff than to go out any better with all my friends in Texas, my home state.

Did you pick Rey to be your last opponent?

Absolutely, he actually retired me the first time. I was trying to figure who would be the guy to send me off. Rey is a good friend of mine. If Eddie Guerrero was around he would’ve been the guy but Rey was close to Eddie and he’s a good friend of mine. Since he retired me the first time I thought it would be great to have him do it again.

My wife was actually rooting for Rey that night. She hopes the retirement is for good this time.

Are there any regrets with your wrestling career?

There are regrets in everything in life. I did some stupid stuff and a lot of that stuff detracted from what I did the ring. But if I change anything I may not have been where I am now. Regrets yeah, but I wouldn’t change where I am now.

Is there anyone you would’ve liked to work with?

I wrestled with Flair but I didn’t do a program with him but other than that since I was in the WWE for so long I did extensive storylines with nearly everyone in the company.

Is it true that you never met the Macho Man?

Yeah, I’ve never met him. He was gone when I came to the WWE when he was in WCW. He’s one of the guys I’ve never run into which is unusual. I hear he’s on bad terms with just about everyone.

In 20 years what match would you out in the DVD player to show your friends and family what you did?

A couple, the match with Undertaker at No Mercy. It was a championship match. It was my finest match. It was so physical. I couldn’t walk for a week afterwards. I had two black eyes and a bunch of stitches in my head. It was a physical disaster. But it was in my opinion one of my best matches.

The other one was the “I Quit” match with John Cena. It was the first time they had seen that John Cena was a tough guy. I was proud to be there when that was brought of him.

The other one was the first one where Eddie Guerrero almost bleed to death, literally. That was my first main event on a big time level. We set the attendance record that day at the Staples Center and they didn’t know if we could draw or not. We ended up doing it and delivering the match which thanks to Eddie not to me.

If I had three to play those would be it.

How cool was the Shawn Michaels feud?

It was awesome. He was one of those guys who I could’ve gone to Wrestlemania to retire with but they had the big match with the Undertaker set up for him. That match was one of the best matches of all time.

I worked with him back in 1996 when I first came in. He is as good now as he was then. I wanted to work with him again and a lot of the storyline was his idea. And it was an unbelievable pleasure to work with him. He’s a great person and as a wrestler he’s unparalleled.

Who do you think will be headlining Wrestlemania is five years?

That’s a great question. There are a lot of good young guys. Ted DiBiase is one of the greatest natural wrestlers. He reminds me of Randy Orton with his natural talent. He has God’s gift to do this and if he stays healthy he’ll be a huge star.

So he’ll be fighting Triple H in the main event five years from now?

(Laughs) If he’s still around he will.

What happened between Chris Jericho and Mickey Rourke behind the scenes at Wrestlemania?

Mickey Rourke didn’t know Jericho was working him or not so he brought Frank Shamrock and a couple of heavys in cage Jericho took him down. He was really worried Jericho was serious about hurting him. He even admitted it afterwards. He made a movie about wrestling and he didn’t know Chris was acting (laughs).

Jericho is the best talker now that you have retired.

Chris has done a great job. We’ve been friends since he and I started in Japan. I think he’ll do a great job on Smackdown. He was a star on WCW and he was a star on Raw. He’ll shine anywhere they put him.

What was the locker room like after the Chris Benoit tragedy?

Shock, he was a dear friend of mine. I never ever saw him get violent. Something like that happening was unbelievable. When someone snaps like that and does something reprehensible people say they never saw it coming. Well I was good friends with Chris for a long time and I can’t believe to this day that it happened.

Chris was a wonderful human being. That’s tough to say that when you talk about a guy who apparently committed double murder and committed suicide. I say apparently because no one will ever know for sure. I’m not denying anything because that’s what they say but I don’t know what happened those last 24-48 hours of his life.

How proud are you of helping organize the WWE shows in Iraq?

That’s probably the most proud thing I have. That deal kind of came about when I was over in Kuwait one summer and I thought how great it would be to have the whole WWE to come over. I wrote up a report for Vince and Kevin Dunn. I told them about it and they got the ball rolling. It was my idea but they give me too much credit. From that point forward Vince and Kevin did everything and have done a great job with it.

Would you ever consider taking a MMA show to Iraq?

It’s funny you ask. I may be June 20th at a MMA show in Iraq. I heard about it today and it will be the first MMA show in Iraq. I was down at Fox News today doing a TV show and they told me about it.

Tell us a little about your energy plus drink.

I would love to. It was something I designed because my back was hurting and I wanted to play golf again. I saw some guys taking an energy shot taking and some Advil. I thought it would be cool to combine that in one little shot. It took about a year to come up with the formula. I started working out with it and felt great. I then gave it to the WWE guys who told me they had the same results. I realized I had to get out and get it to retail. You can get it at Vitamin Shop and Custom-Muscle.com. We are doing really well with it.

You have other drinks too don’t you?

Yes we have a relaxation drink. It is a 2 oz purple shot. It gets lost in the energy section because there is no relaxation section. We are the only one. It has melatonin and rose hips. It’ll knock down a bull. You wake up without the groggy hangover. Once people start taking it they love it.

We also have Mamajuana. Some take it as a sex shot. It’s a testosterone booster. It’s testosterone and enegy. Any guy over 30 loses it. It’s really a daily use product. People who take it rave about it.

Where can people get it?

Those products are in or around Nashville. They are in Vitamin Shop, Custom-Muscle.com, Amazon.com. A lot of convience stores in Tennessee and Kenucky have them.

Do you plan to go nationwide eventually?

We hope so. We thought we would initially and realized we couldn’t. To go nationwide you have to have deep pockets and a good marketing team and we had neither. We realized we had to pull back and be a regional company and grow from there. Our numbers have tripled since the first year.We are happy with the strategy. We won’t be national anytime soon but we hope to be one day.

What were you thinking as you rode to ring in your limo for the last time?

I kept thinking how cool it was. The walk back was the one that had so much retrospection in it. It was unbelievable the walk back. It was a quarter mile back to the back. They asked me if I wanted to ride in the golf cart that was ferrying the guys back and forth. I told them I wanted to walk back. I realized it was the last time I’d ever wear wrestling boots and wrestling tights and be a wrestler. It was cool there was no sadness. I was happy how I went out and I was happy it was over. I am ready to move on with my life.






AroundTheOctagon.com

[DUKE NUKEM]

thanks for this Kellie