Rip Rogers (11:42)

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Steve Austin (13:03)

Hey, let's talk about your Twitter account a little bit. Usler2754 I just pulled off some of the tweets that you've been sending out. You said, reaction does not mean you're over. When you're over, they put you in the main event and you draw. So let's talk about reactions and being over.

Rip Rogers (13:21)

Okay, now this was a rib I did. Now, Ernie Ladd was my booker in Louisiana and he'd be in the back playing Pac Man. So he go, rogers, I listened to your match. It was exquisite tonight. I just listened to it and that place was going bananas. I said, ernie, I pulled every shortcut thing as a rib. Cause I knew you was back here playing Pac Man. I might as well pulled my fucking dick out, gapped my fucking head or what. I said, that was nothing but shortcuts and I'm back here and I ain't broken goddamn sweat. So you should have been watching my goddamn match and you'd be bollocking me. But as far as drawing when you were hot, WWF came to Louisville within a matter of hours. They couldn't fell into more tickets. And I remember just saying, holy shit, you know, I mean, so when you're hot, you're hot. You know what I mean? And then seems like now they can't draw a house anywhere. But you know, you know, they're overexposed, they've seen the same old shit, blah, blah, blah. And you know how cyclable wrestling is and stuff like that. So.

Steve Austin (14:32)

Yeah, but I think as long as.

Rip Rogers (14:34)

They'Re making the profit, that's all right.

Steve Austin (14:36)

Yeah, it is cyclical, but I think just the core from what I'm getting out of that to me is like, you know, someone to go out there and you get a pop or decent pop and it's cool. I mean, it's a response, it's a reaction to you coming out. But you know, just because, you know you're Getting, you know, it depends on what kind of reaction you're getting. It doesn't necessarily mean you're over, okay? It could mean they like you, okay? Or they don't hate you, they're not stoning you, you're not in Puerto Rico, not throwing spark plugs at you, you know, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're over. I think some people have a false perception that they're over just based on a reaction. Unless you're just, just lighting this motherfucker up and tickets flying out of the ticket counter, that's a whole different ball game. But you know, to me, if someone goes out there and gets a pop, you don't just say, oh yeah, he's over. It don't work like that. It's a step, it's a step to the process. But a reaction don't mean you're full blown over, right?

Rip Rogers (15:35)

If you're over, you've got great business in the arena. If you're over, the pay per views are out the ass and the television ratings are up. If you're not over, they're all down right now. Nobody's over, right?

Steve Austin (15:54)

All right, Rip, you said this. Appreciate the grind. You don't become a real doctor overnight. Same with being a real pro wrestler. Embrace the grind.

Rip Rogers (16:04)

Just thinking how hard it is to be a doctor. All those hours of college, medical school, internship, now you're a rookie doctor and nobody. I don't want that young son of a bitch operating on my knee. I want that old fucker that's done 70,000 knee operations. Even though he's. His hands can't do it. He can have them glasses on, he can see and he can still lead you with that young firm hand. But I want that old guy taking care of me now. I don't want no young guy. Because this other guy has had how many knee operations? He's had all this failure and he's known how to overcome it. And wrestling the same way you need, you know, it's like in the territory days, you could have 340 matches in a year with no big deal.

Steve Austin (16:51)

Yes.

Rip Rogers (16:52)

You know, got the big indie stars are trying to get eight in a month, you know what I mean? Against more indie guys. So how can they get pushed to get better? So when I started, I'm in my 20s, I'm working with 40 years old every night. And they're showing me how to do this shit, how to survive, how to make it easier, how to protect each other if my legs hurt. What's he do if his shoulders hurt. What do I do? So I know how to protect every body part without trying to make it look that way.

Steve Austin (17:18)

Talk to me about this one. Rip. Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses. Or make your weaknesses your strengths. Either way, it's on you, nobody else.

Rip Rogers (17:28)

That's right. Now, if you can't throw a punch, be the world's greatest practicer of punchers and get a great punch on your own. Or learn other strikes, headbutts, rake chops, elbows, forearms, whatever you want to do. You know what I mean? And as far as your stuff in the ring, have you ever come off the top rope?

Steve Austin (17:51)

A few times.

Rip Rogers (17:52)

I did okay, and I did a knee drop off the top one, and I said, I'm never doing this again. That one only took me one time to figure that one out. So if you learn six, seven things to do well, just do them and that's it. And people will buy that because it's fucking solid. You're not trying to be the master of a thousand holes. You're not being Malenko, you're not Dory Funk Jr. Jack Briscoe. You're solid. You're a solid performer with nothing but goddamn basics. But the thing is, they believe in you. They believe in your character. Yours is a contest. You're out there with goddamn emotions. You're ready to kick somebody's goddamn ass, and they believe in it.

Steve Austin (18:37)

What would you tell you guys or your girls down there at OVW, how to practice their working punch? Because I've heard different people use different methods. What were yours?

Rip Rogers (18:47)

Well, throwing a punch is the hardest thing to do that there is in a wrestling business. And the taller you are, the harder it is. So when you got those long arms. And I grew up with Memphis wrestling, and I didn't really like it because they threw too many punches. Hell, there might be 60 punches in a match, it would seem like, and there was, but there wouldn't be a mark on the guy. So I was always. I said, no. One jab sequence and one nice big right as a heel. Then when the baby face can retribute later on, he can do. Say, as a baby, he can do it to the heel later on. Because I remember one night, Buddy Landell said, oh, he punched me so many times in the corner, I said, buddy, there's not a goddamn mark on you. Why would you do that? I said, you can do the goddamn rhythm thing and whatever and get him counting with this and that. But. But the punching thing. Jesus Christ. And then you walk out there and now I'm here, I am still protecting the business like I'm a mark, you know what I mean? Yeah. So no matter what I do phony wrestling, I just try to make it not as phony, but the ways of practicing, but that it is so hard to do and most of the guys can't do it. They're too lazy to do it. And it's just so hard. And most of them don't have enough willpower and gumption to get out there and practice it.

Steve Austin (20:12)

But I've heard some guys practice on a door, the corner of a door jamb, Some of them hang pie plates. What was. What would you tell your guys to do if they don't have an actual person that they could practice with?

Rip Rogers (20:23)

Okay, we got a shower curtain and we got a towel hanging off the towel rack. Or we got like, let's see, the curtain and the towel rack is Danny Davis. He practiced on the nail. So you learn to measure very quickly with that.

Steve Austin (20:41)

Okay, you said WWE is not looking for a copy of HBK, Taker, Jake, Stone Cold, the Rock, Savage, Hogan, Piper, etc. They're looking for new stars and new gimmicks.

Rip Rogers (20:55)

Yeah, that says it all right there. Nobody. You guys didn't copy anybody. You guys were originals. So let's tweak something else and figure something else out. Because then again, you're just looked upon as a Stone Cold reject. The fucking Hogan reject, Savage reject, the Piper reject, or whatever. Be something fresh, be something new. You're still wrestling. And there ain't gonna be another Dusty Rhodes.

Steve Austin (21:21)

Nope.

Rip Rogers (21:22)

But you can go out there and create your own character and go from there.

Steve Austin (21:27)

Yeah, I think that's real short sighted. When someone says, hey, man, who's gonna be the new Shawn Michaels? You know, with respect to, I think he's one of the best performers in the ring I ever saw. Who's gonna be the next Undertaker? Jesus Christ. And to your point, that gimmick and him are like peanut butter and jelly. I don't know if anybody could have taken that gimmick and made it into what they did. And then Jake or Stone Cold or the Rocks, anybody, Those people. I hate when people say, oh, yeah, when is it going to be? Okay, let's talk about who's going to be the next Cena. I love John Cena. They're not looking for the next John Cena. They're looking for the next whoever it is. Not like when I got out, they weren't looking for who's going to be the next Stone Cold. No, you're not looking for the next Stone Cold. Don't put everybody in a box. Just look for whatever the next good thing is or the next great guy and gravitate towards them. I don't want them to if they were inspired by 10% of my work or some of the rocks or some of Jean's or some of Buddy Rogers or anybody, but they're going to be a unique entity in and of themselves. The next draw, whatever, But I just hate to see people boxed in and get labels. Who's going to be the next so and so. Just. Just go out there and let the chips fall where they do and try to be the best you can be.

Rip Rogers (22:49)

Mm. You know what's so funny is like when. When I'm breaking the business and in my mind I did nothing original and you probably didn't either. We're all copying somebody of somebody we saw. It just come different when we do it with our style, our flair, the way. How coordinated we are, how athletic we are or whatever. I'm doing my Jimmy Valiant, this, my Bestie Rhodes, that my Dicta Bruiser, this my Fritz Von Eric Claw, whatever I'm doing right? And I'm just imagining them as I'm doing this, as I'm a little kid or Pete or fucking adult.

Steve Austin (23:25)

Right, here we go. On to the next one. Rip. There was a picture on your Twitter account. It was you And Billy Robinson, 40 years ago in Detroit, Cobo hall, working for the Chic. I remember that building well, and I always loved working Detroit Rock City. It was a good town for me. Tell me your thoughts on Detroit working for the Chic and the illustrious Billy Robinson, a guy that I never got a chance to meet, but God dang, I sure like watching that guy work.

Rip Rogers (23:54)

Yeah, he was. He was phenomenal. I used to go there and work the old Sheik there. Now this is when the territory was. The auto industry had sort of crashed, so he started that place was on fire for years. But then he sheep to death, you know, with the fighting outside. Double Juice, whatever, same old shit. No matter who the apart, the thing was who the opponent was. But I go up, do channel 61 TV there and then work Cobo that night. And, you know, he'd bring. He'd bring in all these top stars and everything, because they was strictly nwa. So he held on for years. And then when I was with the Popos, he'd come in and work for us, so. Because they knew the Popos and everything, but the Sheik was a chic Hell, I was still scared to death that help he was still alive, I'd still be scared of him. He was just, he was, he was a real character, you know what I mean? He was just a real character. And I believed in himself, bitches, no matter what. No matter what. I was a little kid. He was a sheep. That's all there was to it.

Steve Austin (24:56)

Hey, was Billy Robinson a pretty salty guy? Would he take advantage of you in the ring or just shoot on people? I mean, with the catch wrestling and all that shoot stuff.

Rip Rogers (25:04)

He knew well, he was so talented and so good, and a lot of Americans, we weren't very good, you know what I mean? So he could do whatever he wanted to with, you know what I mean? And some guys might go out there and roll around, just have some fun with it for a while, but if he would have done anything to me, I just screamed, I give up. Right away. That many.

Steve Austin (25:31)

I was gonna get to a tweet later on. You said you were working with somebody. You just started yelling, you give up, you give up. Who was that you were working with?

Rip Rogers (25:39)

Gene Anderson.

Steve Austin (25:40)

Yeah, Gene and only.

Rip Rogers (25:41)

Yeah.

Steve Austin (25:42)

What happened on that occasion?

Rip Rogers (25:44)

Well, it was just Gene fucking with me and he really fucking clamped an arm bar on me, right on my elbow and hurt me. I'm looking at him like, is this a rib or what? And he's just fucking laughing and snarling, hahaha. I said, okay, Ronnie west is a referee. I said, ronnie, I give up. He says, what? I said, I give up. I start screaming, I give up. He dropped that stuff so fast. Always had. Tag me in there. I said, only you want me to. I said, you want me to beat? He says, told you not. The genie might have a fucking heart attack. And I said, I know, but why is he being such an asshole? That means he likes you. Well, fuck, I want him not to like me then. He's hurting me. I said. I said, oli, you know I don't know how to fight. What the hell's the matter with you?

Steve Austin (26:30)

What was your deal if a guy was being too snug with you, Rip?

Rip Rogers (26:35)

Well, when I was young, I didn't know if he was. Anyway, I just thought he was a shit, you know what I mean? And. And then as he got older, if he hit me hard, the first one was a accident. He hit me hard again. I said, okay, it's two to nothing, so that I would make it three to two. And I said, now I can hit you just as hard as you can hit me, but you're not Going to blow me up and I am going to blow you up. So it's all up to you. But I. But I am not a fighter. I am a lover or used to be, whatever, you know what I mean? So I'm in there strictly for performance, to get as. Get whatever we can out of this without breaking a sweat and not getting hurt.

Steve Austin (27:15)

When you talk about not blowing up. Did you do anything on top of the wrestling and hours spent in the ring to build up your cardio?

Rip Rogers (27:22)

Man, I did in the dressing room. Hell, I did squats and lunges every night. I was doing knee pull ins and all that. And then I'm using a rubber hose and then push ups between chairs or push ups, you know what I mean? I was just a nut because I was a fat little kid. And then. And then no matter if I was shredded or whatever, I always saw myself as a fat little kid. Because you look at how I look in the mirror and see a big old fat ass and love handles and no fucking chest. You know what I mean? Because that's special. I didn't know understand nutrition. I didn't understand working out when I finally started getting it. And then. And it's just the way it is. So if you was a. If you was a skinny kid, you could be looking like Mr. Universe. You're still looking yourself in the mirror as a skinny little kid, even though you look fucking great.

Steve Austin (28:11)

I get you, I get you. But when you got all shredded up, there was no, there's no doubt you had great genetics.

Rip Rogers (28:17)

Well, if I had great genetics, I could have ate all that shit food when I was young, but I'd have looked half decent.

Steve Austin (28:23)

You know how well you put it that way. But when you dieted down and got yourself in shape, you know, there was a good physique there, a real good physique. Were you a health nut going through the business? Did you ever party any, Hang out with the drinkers, get into drugs?

Rip Rogers (28:38)

Well, I probably drank three beers in my life maybe, and I couldn't stand the taste. And I probably put two puffs of marijuana in my mouth. I said, this is stupid. And it made me sick. And cigarettes were the same way. Cigars were the same way. Now if you give me some free pain pills, I would take those. But cocaine, never in my life. No, it was just. It was just strictly the free pain pills that if I could get those. And then it. Cause when I was over in Germany, Regal said, you're turning the drug addict. I said, really? He says, yeah, I taped you on the as I was called on the phone and it was like I said holy shit. I did said a fuck this. And I never did them again because I was. I'd listen to that sub bitch, you know what I mean? Right? Fucking. I sound like a fucking drug addict. Well, what it was Steve, I was trained about five hours a day in Germany, right. But we live two minutes from the fucking building, right? What do you do all day? You can only train so much, right?

Steve Austin (29:44)

Yeah.

Rip Rogers (29:44)

So now you're looking at fucking boredom. So there's one thing with wrestling where you got to make 250 mile trip every day and 250 back. We had to go out the caravan in there and there was the building, right. So it was now was the other spectrum. Now you got, now you're bored fucking shitless and you can't train anymore. So now what do I do? So that's why the guys would be fucking drunk on the fucking pills of the dope or whatever. Yeah, but that wasn't my thing. But it's like the bodybuilder thing we talked about when we saw Kevin Sullivan on Jared show in the Mr. Tennessee contest. And Randy saw that and he got me and all of a sudden he started pushing me and him to get in contests, you know. So I got in 12 and 18 months, which is fucking impossible. That's my obsessive compulsive. So I ended up winning two with no steroids. And then I fucking like went fucking crazy, you know, I mean. And I took years off and I guess pose to Puerto Rico in 89. I got one in 91 just for the hell of it. And then I just, I said oh, I'm over this, you know.

Steve Austin (30:53)

But didn't you, weren't you living with Randy Savage at the time when you got in this bodybuilding phase and you guys were kind of competing with each other?

Rip Rogers (31:01)

Oh you know Randy, that's some. Whether you're playing talking euchre, wanting to run a race that wanted to compete with everything. Bench press curls, no matter what it was then you beat me and I was too stupid to put him over. Hell, I go out and beat the son of a bitch and he'd get mad. So I was just stupid of knowing how to work somebody and put somebody. Oh, I saw shit, Randy, you're the better man, you know what I mean? No, I go out and run him in the 40 now and then I'd. Then I'd run backwards the last couple of yards. He'd get mad and tackle me, you know, threaten Me, spit on me, you name it.

Steve Austin (31:39)

Hey, you mentioned how close you were with the Poffo family, Angelo. Lanny and Randy really helped you out. You guys, man. It seems to me like you guys had a great friendship. I never really got a chance to get to know Randy. He was always in one place and I was in a different place. Except one time they came down there, WCW down in Orlando. We did a four minute match. I did the favors for him, didn't talk about anything, nothing special. And then I went my way. He went his way. When I watched back after he got out of business, his promos, I mean, he's basically the Randy Savage that I saw on tv. Well now, dialed down a little bit, but very, very serious, very intense. What was the guy like back then? Was he always the macho man or I mean Randy Savage instead of Randy Poffo? You just see he's probably the most intense guy that I've ever seen on video.

Rip Rogers (32:33)

The only time I ever saw him out of character, he had a little dog and it died. And then he got a new dog, Backup dog. And that was the name, Backup. But he cried for the dog. But I'd never. He was always in character. He was always macho man, Randy Savage. I'd never seen anything like it. You know what I mean? Me, I'm just goofy myself. And then I go into Rip Rogers character or character. When I get around the boys, we start making a trip or you know what I mean, around office or something like that. But he was always, he was always that way. He just learned. He just looked. Well, hell, you got a. Remember he was a wrestler son, right? He was like a genius in this shit. And hell, my dad worked at the post office and I'm getting in the wrestling business. Wasn't trained and didn't even know how much it was real or if it was real or not. So the second generation wrestlers, they just have such a tremendous advantage of learning. And then the veterans are always helping some wrestlers, kid, because they like them or it's like tradition of helping them and stuff. Whereas if he was a nobody like me, you know, it was tough. Like you had Chris Adams train you, right now he's a great trainer, shooter, etc. And I'm not even smart to the business and trade, right? So look at the advantage you had. And here was goofball me and then I'm actually training people, right? That's a hell of a rib.

Steve Austin (34:12)

Hey, you said one of your tweets, food is overrated. I went 150 straight days on milk, orange juice and chicken broth. Lost 63 pounds in five months. Be mentally strong. What's up with this?

Rip Rogers (34:27)

And I ate then I ate for three days. Then I went on another 20 day fat or 20 day thing like that. I just did it. I was heavy. And then after three days, Steve, you don't get hungry at all. As a matter of fact, food sort of makes you sick at your stomach. So I said, well, there's my protein, there's my carb. And I got a little chicken broth in there. And the bad part about it was after five months I still had all this hard shit in me. So that just shows you what, what's in your intestines and everything. But once I did that, I saw almost everything is a. It's just like when you do 5,000 free squats in a row. Everything's mental. If you can lock that mental side into anything, you can be a success on this shit, no matter what it is because you're not gonna let that sub beat you. But yeah, that was just a thing. And I did it once and I said, no, it worked. 232 to. Down to 169. And then I'll probably. Hell, I might do it again, who knows?

Steve Austin (35:28)

Hey, talk to me about your time in Puerto Rico. There's a picture of you says me getting in the ring in this Puerto Rican brawl. Bring your own weapons.

Rip Rogers (35:35)

Oh my God. You know how they have gimmick boards and shit in that Puerto Rican brawl? They had real boards. They would take them weightlifting belts beat it. That's why they drew. They beat the out of each other. Jimmy Valiant was there and he was running. He didn't know what the hell was happening. But they was just. They would beat you with real boards. They would hit you with this strap, you with those belts. It was the most violent thing I ever been in my life in the ring. I think my dick was getting half hard. It was hitting me so hard for that son of a. I didn't even pay any extra or anything.

Steve Austin (36:15)

How did you like Puerto Rico?

Rip Rogers (36:17)

Well, I loved it. It was a little bit different and I had to learn. Let's see, two, two Wednesdays in a row I closed tv. Going up in the stands, going after some marks and you had to learn that. But it was, you know, they'd sell the bags of rocks to throw at you. They would throw all kinds of shit at you. They'd have the chicken wire like what was the fucking Belushi Butters movies. They would throw the thing in the beer. Yeah, but they had that chicken wire everywhere. And I did the English version television, so I had extra heat. I was getting on the greasy Puerto Ricans. So I wasn't in the top 10 list of being liked. But I had a hell of a time down there. They let me do a lot of the finishes, do what I want, do what I wanted to do. And I come in, I said, hey, if you think I'm gonna get fucking colored like these other, you can stick it up grass. You called me, you wanted me to help the book here. You called me from home. I didn't ask to come in here, you know what I mean? So I got color one time when I was there against Jose in a street fight, and he says, amigo, you didn't get much color. I said, I got ice white hair. I said, give me some of your blood. I put it on my head like that, and I said, good. That's it.

Steve Austin (37:32)

So what was the deal? You just weren't. Weren't a fan of the blade?

Rip Rogers (37:36)

No, I knew they. I knew how they would abuse you. They would just. Every night, Steve. Every night, Every night, every night, Every night. Every night. I said, now ain't happening with fucking me, you know? But that's why they drew Carlos's dad hit the ring and he almost fucking killed himself flipping over the baseball diamond by the dugout because he was trying to get somebody. And that's a guy said, your fucking dad's there. He goes. He goes, he's not smart. I said, what? He said, no, he ain't smart. That's why we draw.

Steve Austin (38:12)

So how did you get in position to have part of the book over there, or the book in general?

Rip Rogers (38:17)

Well, it's like I was sitting at home. I was getting ready to go in the Maritimes. For I'd worked the Maritimes four different times for a meal to pray. You get a guarantee. It's very laid back. It's like all the Americans, 1950, I could trade all day. I knew all the fucking towns and everything. So I was getting ready to go in for him, and then they called me up and they offered me this. So I just. I said, well, I don't really want to because I'm in six weeks, I'm leaving, but I'll go for you. And I said, but you got to give me so much money, and if you're $1 short, I'm leaving. Tell you right up front, because you're asking me to come in, you're asking me to help, and I Said I ain't going to the goddamn office. If you want to do that, that's fine because I don't really want to go there, you know, but. But that was it. So that's like when I went in for Bob Geigel and I started laughing because I had to give Nick Bachwinkle a finish, right? Because they couldn't get one. So here I am laughing and I'm giving the great Nick Bockwinkle a finish like shitting my pants, right. I'm like a little kid in a fucking candy store, you know?

Steve Austin (39:26)

Did you cross paths with Eric Embryo over there?

Rip Rogers (39:29)

No. I knew Eric from when he worked for Don Pruitt in around Louisville, Lexington in Kentucky. Randy had his last match in his hometown, I think it was Irvington or around there before Eric got in the car and drove all the way to Vancouver to go work for the Vancouver office. I think it was with Gene Kaninsky at the time. But Eric was all. Eric was a little heat getting son of a bitch. That motherfucker knew how to work. He knew how to get fucking heat. He could make those people hate him. He was good.

Steve Austin (40:03)

He was good. He was on the podcast a couple of times and had some, some great stories from Puerto Rico. But. And I just remember him from down there when, hell, I just first get into the business. He had the book and Chris was kind of writing our storylines and so he would just approve it. He was always really, really good to me. And he was a guy that when you listen to him talk, he knows his shit in and out. Let's talk about some referees. It was always great to have a fantastic ref like Ronnie West, Nick Patrick or Fonzie in your match. You knew they would help if need be. I love talking about them good referees.

Rip Rogers (40:39)

Yeah. So I tell everybody, I said a great ref could save a shitty match and a bad ref can kill a great match. So, you know, they're always putting people in as referees in and they're not ready to be in there. And you got guys like Ronnie west or Fonzie was good like that, Patrick was good like that. They could lead you, you know what I mean? And if you got stuck, they could help you. And a lot of was just ex workers themselves that had worked for 20 years and then became referees, whatever. But these guys a, they know the business inside and out and be while we were lucky to work one show a night, hell, they might be having six matches that night at the show. They might have mall, right? So look at the experience they got of getting in that ring of seeing everything, learned it. Learning all these angles, seeing everybody's fucking style, seeing how everybody calls bucket spots and everything. And that rep, the rep is the most important part of any show. That's all you can say about it, you know.

Steve Austin (41:40)

And Nick Patrick was Jody Hamilton's son, a part of the Assassins hellacious tag team. So I mean, obviously he was second generation. Whatever happened to Nick Patrick?

Rip Rogers (41:50)

I don't know. I guess he was. When I was. He was still there at wcw and then I have no idea what for sure, for sure. But him and Regal and Max Payne, they all played that music with the Armstrongs. Remember that?

Steve Austin (42:05)

Yeah.

Rip Rogers (42:05)

When they had the band thing and was making an album or something like that. Because I'd go stay at their house a lot of times when I'd come in for TV and. But I don't know what Nick's doing.

Steve Austin (42:18)

Yeah, when I got fired out of there, I left. And he was still a young man at the time. Obviously that's been 20 some odd years, but hell, I never knew what happened to him. But here's one I had to ask you. There was a picture there on your Twitter account. In Nashville in 1978, I got to drive Andre the Giant around in a van with mattresses in the back because he was too big for seats. Drink and fart. Talk to me about riding around with the great Andre the Giant.

Rip Rogers (42:47)

Well, I'm just a fucking mark, right? And I'm like, you got to drive a disco, you got drive out, you gotta drive the Giant around. Okay, Nick. So there he was, this big old empty van with no seats in it and two big mattresses, right? And they had all this beer in there for him. And all he did was drink fucking beer and rip these fucking farts. So I wait till he's fucking loop and I get on the half talk about that big head and big hands, that big feet. And then as I'm getting out of van, I said, in no dick, as I'm running, right?

Steve Austin (43:24)

What was it like riding him around? Was it. Was he friendly with you?

Rip Rogers (43:28)

Well, he's, he's observing you, right? He wants to see if you're an asshole, if you're a prick, if you're a total fucking mark, like I was or whatever. And then he just fucked with you. Just. Just little things, you know? I mean, hey, hey, boss. Don't miss that term boss or whatever you want. I mean, to me he was, he was so larger than life, right? I'm sitting there going, I can't believe this. I'm here driving Andre the Giant around. Holy shit. Who would believe this son of a bitch? You know what I mean? And I'm just on fucking cloud nine. Hell, I'm making two, five at night, you know, whether I. Whether I deserve it or not.

Steve Austin (44:10)

Was Andre drawn at the time?

Rip Rogers (44:12)

Oh, when he got 10% the house. So he would come in about twice a year, you know, and the houses would all be up, you know, and that's all you could ask for. So he was booked through Bent Senior, and he was treated like a champion. He got the 10%. So he was just a great draw in the small towns, you know what I mean? They would turn people away in the small town because the other places had seen him before.

Steve Austin (44:38)

Gotcha.

Rip Rogers (44:42)

Steve Austin unleashed.

Steve Austin (44:45)

Boy, here's one I see a lot of these days, not a lot of sometimes. You said on your Twitter account, hustler2754, don't do an eye gouge, then proceed to do a high spot. You kill your own shit. If you got a hurt leg, please fall down instead of running the ropes. The old I gouge into a high spot rep. It doesn't make sense, does it? But you see it all the time.

Rip Rogers (45:10)

Well, you know, you got the greatest agents in the world, and they go over all this stuff and they have the rules that they say is okay. And so if. If they say it's okay, I guess it is okay. But it would be a taboo with me. That would. That would be the middle immediate bell ring if you're having the max bank. Get out. Boys, explain to him what he just did wrong. But the business has changed, so I'm just going by my personal preference. It's like anybody, if you're a head football coach, you run the offense, you run, you run the defense, you run right? And then if you work for somebody else, then you all of a sudden, you're a position coach. You got to do what the other guy wants. And that's just the way it is, that as a pro, we got to be able to adapt to do whatever. So if all of a sudden they said it's okay that the gouge in the eyes, I said, boys, ladies and gentlemen, from now on, you are allowed to gouge them in the eyes. If you hurt your leg. If you hurt your leg, just keep on going into that crisscross, baby, and look even stronger.

Steve Austin (46:13)

You said when high spots are too perfect, they look phony as hell. A spot is supposed to be reaction to your opponent. Treat it as a contest, and it's better.

Rip Rogers (46:22)

That's like a simple high spot, a simple tackle boom. In today's high spots, all of a sudden the guy's laying there and instead of your weight forward ready to pounce on him, do something offensively to him or grabbing, all of a sudden you turn your back and hit the fucking ropes and he's just laying there. Why would you do that? Because it's pre arranged bullshit. It's just when you could see Terry Funk doing a high spot, it looked like reaction. Whereas everybody else in high spots looks so perfect that you knew it was fucking choreographed. It was just, I want that sub look like it was reaction and not a pre planned spot. That's just my personal, that's just my personal opinion.

Steve Austin (47:06)

Well, one of my, one of my pet peeves is just the tackle, okay? If you're gonna give a tackle and then just, you're not gonna cover, you just go give a tackle. You want to sell the tackle and set the set. The story that, okay, I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you, you're gonna be the, you've taken a lot of bumps or you're going to fall down a lot. So you can set the table like that. But in a transition, because basically a high spot is someone has control, either the heel or the baby. And so it's a counter move by the person to send that person in to get out of the predicament that they're in. So therein goes the tackle, drop down, hip toss, arm drag or drop, to hold, whatever. But the high spot is to get out of a hold. So I hate when a guy does the high spot. It's going to be a series, say it's three, four, five step high spot. But then there's that tackle. And that's when they sit there and they look at each other for really three to five seconds while someone gets their character in and then proceeds to hit the rope to continue the drop down, drop down, reverse hip toss or whatever. And that's when it just fucking kills it for me. You knock that motherfucker down. If you're going to sell being a strongman, then you kind of live it up or you go down for the COVID or if it's that transition, high spot, tackle, drop down, whatever it is. But you don't sit there, you ain't got to rush it, but you don't sit there and look at the cocksucker all day long to get your shit in to endorse your character. You fucking run the high spot because it's an athletic sequence of offense and defense. You understand what I'm saying?

Rip Rogers (48:45)

Yeah, I'm just listening to you. I like that. Mm. I. I understand exactly what you're saying. I just can't say it as intelligent as you just did.

Steve Austin (48:56)

I don't know if I said it. Intelligence. Sometimes I get worked up. But just those tackles where they just sit there and look at each other and then they proceed. It's like, come on, man, why the mother. You know, he's just gonna let. Just gonna let him lay there on his back or you're just gonna lay on your back and look at the dude. You ain't gonna try to get up if he's not gonna hit the ropes or if he's gonna. Fuck, clothesline him. Yeah, just stop the. Stop the high spots. Fuck if he just go sit there and look at you.

Rip Rogers (49:19)

I remember one night, me and Lanny Papa, we worked 30 minutes without saying a word just to do it. And if he had a headlock, I shot him off. I dropped down early, right? I would telegraph everything and he would counter everything. And I started laughing because Garvin wouldn't. Garvin would have a 30 minute match and he'd never say a word. You didn't do high spots, or if you just shot him off, he'd give you a tack or whatever it was, whatever was there, right?

Steve Austin (49:47)

Right.

Rip Rogers (49:47)

And you telegraph something a little bit and guys could get it. And he was just so good. He goes, that was good, guys. I watched it. You didn't say a word, did you? I said, nope, just like you. He said, that was really good. But so it can't be done because I was always trying to just do stuff a little bit different, you know what I mean? But Hank Arvin really did any spot except a fucking tackle or a tackle and it slam you or whatever, right? And he was 5 foot 7. And hell, I said, ronnie, I've never seen you take a bump in your life. He says, as you get older, first they teach you the bump for safety. Then as you get older, you take a bump. Like it's realism, which he did. He would land on his side, go to a knee, and it wasn't a flat back or he didn't attack the mat or something. He'd like, he got knocked on his ass. Like. Like boxers, when they get punched, they don't take a flat back. How they would crumple and go to a knee and wibble, wobble and stuff like that. So it's nice to see the. How your work changes Changes as you get older, how even though you're older, your stuff just looks more, it looks, it looks more real. When everybody else did all this athletic stuff, taking all these bumps, everything in these great bodies. But people half ass believe in yours because it's, it's the old thing of less is better is all it is. And that's the hardest thing in wrestling is a slow down and less is better. And usually probably until you're 40, you're not going to get it. So I remember when, I remember when I was 38, I tore my quad, wrestled over in England, me and Regal. And I used to fly like a fucking nut just to do it because I said, I'm gonna do it till I can't. Then I tore my quad. Then all of a sudden I climbed that top rope to dive to the floor. And I'd say, ref, count me down or have the baby face back away. I ain't jumping no more. That's like a squad bike. My whole leg might go right that.

Steve Austin (51:53)

You said wrestling is kind of like being a quarterback. By the time you're 40, you get it, but by the time you get it, you're too old to really make the most of it.

Rip Rogers (52:03)

That's it, isn't it? That's it in a fucking nutshell. Just think how athletically gifted you are at 25. Can do all this shit, all these bumps in shape, could do everything. But you don't really understand it. Then all of a sudden you're 38 and now you understand it. But you've got a bad knee, you got a bad shoulder, your hemorrhoids bleeding, your neck's up, your ear. Were Bobby eating? That punched me when he was 17 and busted my eardrum and still pops, which I remind him of every time I see him. I'm sorry, Dicky, I'm sor. Bobby, why'd you punch me in a year? You did that? No, I didn't. No, I didn't. But now I started rambling again. Sorry.

Steve Austin (52:54)

No, but that's, you know, half, half the part of it is, I think guys really come into their prime, into their, in their mid-30s. I mean, these days a lot of guys get started sooner than I did. I started at 24, but man, you get 10 years and for the average guy that's right at that 35 mark, you've done a heel turn, a baby face turn, probably the way the business moves so fast now a couple of times. So 10 year mark, you fucking got it. Pretty much. I mean, if you ain't got it. You never will. But then all of a sudden I think you're really coming to your prime at that 10 year mark. So for me that was kind of 35. And then the injury started happening, got dropped on my head, boom, out of the business by 38. How old were you when you got out?

Rip Rogers (53:40)

Well, I was still wrestling when I was 48. I think I was 48 when I got. Yeah, I was 48 when I got hit by that car. And at the time I was teaching, but I was teaching more hands on. And I would demonstrate, you know what I mean? And then once that happened, now I don't get in the ring anymore at all. I pretty much can't go up steps and to get in that ring and stuff like that. What I'll do now is I'll said, hey, I'll say show him what I want. You those guys that I know I'm guinea pigs with him and they get it exactly. Showing what I want and stuff like that. But I was still working when I was 4, when I was 48. But hell, Angelo was working till he's about 60. And hell, I remember when he was, when he was 58, he did sit ups the whole hour on television on our ICW TV show. Really don't practice. Yeah, he just gutted it out. When I saw that, I said, like, if he can do that, why in the hell can I do that? You know what I mean? If he can do, I'm just a pussy. A pussy on a pussy in my body and a pussy in my goddamn brain. So then I, then I threw them subject blinders off. And then that time with Regal, I told you about that $10 pizza bet with the squats, push ups, the bike, lunges, etcetera and stuff like that. And then on Cornet's TV show, I did squats the whole hour. And he called me home, he says, can you do squats for an hour? I said, call me back in an hour ten, I'll tell you. She said, okay. He says, hey, I was going to talk to you. I said, no, I did it. He said, what? I said, yeah, I just did them. I said, it's all in your mind, Jimmy. Jesus Christ is muscle memory. You know, I've done this for so long, I just hadn't had to push myself. Just kick it in gear and then go get it. So I remember Bob back did that Harvard step test in WWWF years ago. I said, wow, that shit's hard. And he was like a machine. He was just real. He was There he was really there. He was an athlete. He was a stud.

Steve Austin (55:45)

Hey, you said you were told you couldn't train every body part every day. So you did nine years.

Rip Rogers (55:51)

Yeah.

Steve Austin (55:52)

What the fuck was up with that?

Rip Rogers (55:54)

Well, I don't know, Steve. I was. I'm obsessing, propulsive, and I get it in contests. I needed my upper chest. Look, so I just started doing extra inclines, and I said, well, hell. So then I just started training my butt, and my body responded, and I said if I wanted it, if I. If I didn't care about getting strong, I just wanted to look good. Because that pump, you get them endorphins going in you, that's. That's fucking one of the greatest things in goddamn life. So. So I'm doing 10 sets of biceps every day, 10 sets of triceps, 20 sets of chest, 20 sets of shoulders. Doing free squats every day, lunges every day, leg extension every day, bike every day. Leg extension, leg curl, squat your back. You do that every day. And then it just became a way. Like, it just became a way of life. And then I would change the order, change different exercises. So you didn't get stale or anything like that. But it was awesome, and I love it. There's no. There's no stress to do it. It's all me against the world. I compete with anybody. If I wanted to get bigger, I ate more. If I wanted to get smaller, I ate last. It's pretty simple.

Steve Austin (57:09)

God dang. Hey, let's talk about this GoFundMe that you started. Okay, let's talk about that.

Rip Rogers (57:16)

Well, I had two vehicles with about 250 to 20,000 miles on it. And my old one, my old red car, it sort of blew up. So I had to rent a car till I couldn't afford one anymore to go down to Louisville and teach. So then I got the van, but my lady, she needs that to go to work. So I'm sort of vehicleless, so Kiss a Dance, public rides or whatever, tried to get by. And in the old days, even though you were employed, you didn't make the kind of money they make today or anywhere near it. So in other words, I've been sort of fucking carless, so. So it's hard to get by it. And me club dragging around with bad wheel and everything of the hips and everything. So I got a GoFundMe thing up on. I think it's called Rip Rogers Raw Deal or something. Yeah, a little little thing there. So I'm getting the donations coming in. Of course it Was okay first couple days that it slows down. But I don't have stone, but I'm not on stone Cold stuff radio show, you know. So with his 3.7 billion followers, so that's. Hopefully that'll be a different story, but that's that. So like everything in life, you have your ups and downs and you got to see what your character is made of. And even though sometimes you, you cut back. Let's say I could be the tightest son of a bitch in the world, but we're not making anything, it don't really matter. It's like, it's like flair would come in and that some would actually buy everybody in the bar drinks and. Right. Holy. You know. And then hell, I remember in 1983, I had a meal working for Watts. It was, it was 12.99 or something like that. And that was my only meal over $10 in my life until a couple of months ago. I went to a couple buffets and I said, oh, what the. Right? So I said, I'm only croak and die anyway. But I had that record for years of having that one ten dollar meal because Grizzly Smith made me eat because he's doing the Oklahoma City Tulsa double shot for walk. He said, this is the only stop, so you better eat. And I was like sick all day knowing I spent that goddamn money.

Steve Austin (59:33)

Oh, that's the thing about saving money though. But because on that note, if you, yeah, you can see, you can save all you want, but if you ain't got nothing to spend and you can't. Yeah, it doesn't, that doesn't make sense. But like the motors, I mean they tell you, you know, it ain't what you make, it's what you save. Well, make another hard to save it.

Rip Rogers (59:52)

Yeah, Nick. Go Nick. Gooless. I was making $130 a week and I was living on 85. So it was still, it was still. Okay. Well, that's what he's talking about. I was just so stupid. I didn't, I didn't really take it into account, the money thing, no matter where I was at work. And I was going to live on basically $200 a week. All I was going to do was make the town, go to the gym, I'd wash my clothes in my tight. In my fucking. In my room with hand washing, you know, and stuff like that. And I didn't spend any money on anything. And that was just. I was never into possessions and never will be. Never had a new car in my life. I Just looked as a car or something to get me from point 8 in the rest of this. Used to have to have a car and a fold, right? Always had to have a car and a folk and nothing else really mattered. So now I lost. Now I lost my car, so. And I ain't in jogging shape, so anything could be given, you know. I'd sure appreciate that.

Steve Austin (60:56)

So what's up next for you, Rip back at the OVW tomorrow?

Rip Rogers (61:00)

Well, let's see what's. Whenever this airs, I'll be going up, I leave. It's 4:30 in the morning Saturday, so I'll leave there and then I'll drive to my mom's. It's an hour and a half away. I'll ride the bike there for an hour and then I'll go to OBW and I'll work out for about two hours before class and I'll drive back to Indianapolis, which is two and a half hours and I'll work out again for about an hour there and then I have to go back on Sunday and do a repeat thing. It's tough. But this, that's the business I chose. I love the wrestling business. The rest of business is pretty much families and personal life. But that's what I chose and let the card let alive there. Hey, I got. I got a bet, Steve, I wanted. I wanted to put you up on Now I got our train at Anytime Fitness in Indianapolis on Pendleton Pike.

Steve Austin (61:56)

Yep.

Rip Rogers (61:56)

The manager is named Zach from now if you would give him a hell, Hell yeah. To Zach from. I get two free months at Anytime Fitness.

Steve Austin (62:11)

Zach from, you son of a bitch. To Stone cold Steve Austin give you an. Oh, hell yeah. Dynamite. Anytime Fitness. Take care, Rip. I'm gonna come down there, stomp a mud hole in your ass and walk it dry. And that's the bottom line because I said so. How about that?

Rip Rogers (62:29)

That's fucking beautiful. That's one of the greatest of all times right there.

Steve Austin (62:33)

Well, shit. Goddamn, Rip is good catching up with you.

Rip Rogers (62:37)

You're the man. What can I say?

Steve Austin (62:39)

No, dude, I'm just doing a podcast. That was good talking to you. I always enjoy talking to people about the business and watching your Twitter account. Hustler2754 RIP Rogers. If you're in the business, want to learn about the business, think you know about the business, but you have any interest in it. Follow Rip's timeline. He tweets out some good shit. It's common sense stuff. Some of the shit I never even thought of. A guy's been around the horn for a long time and knows what the fuck he's talking about. So I just enjoyed talking to you, Rip.

Rip Rogers (63:06)

Well, Steve O, thanks a lot. God bless you, babe.

Steve Austin (63:08)

All right, everybody, give me the Go home Q. It's time to wrap up his podcast and ride off into the sunset. I just got a text message from my contractor. Another problem. One of them damn goddamn doors. So I gotta go see what the fuck's going on. So skip the video. I gotta go see what the fuck's wrong with my crib over there, man. ProWrestlingtease.com SteveAustin and Broken Skull Ranch.com has all the badass shirts that I wore filming the last season of Broken Skull Challenge. We just released eight more shirts about two weeks ago. Check them out over there. Some badass designs by some badass artists. And the best damn IPA on the planet is Broken School IPA Escundo Brewing Company. And you can get it at Whole Foods and Total Wines if you live in Cali. If you don't live here, check out insidethecellar.com and see if they ship to your state. And you can find everything Steve Austin related at broken skull ranch.com including the cold steel Broken Skull knife. And I gotta say one more thank you to all the fine sponsors of the Steve Austin show, because that's how I'm able to do this podcast for you free twice a week. And you can find all my sponsors@podcast1.com just click on the Killer Deals button at the top of the page and then click on the Steve Austin show banner. And just a reminder that the Steve Austin show is also a participant in the Amazon Associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and you can link to Amazon@podcast1.com by clicking on the Q Killer Deals button at the top of the page. And on this Tuesday's family friendly show, I got the second part of my conversation with Five Finger Death Punch founders Olten Bathory. We're going to get into his martial arts training, his monster truck racing, and the tour that Five Finger Death Punch did in military bases in the Middle East. And they do a lot for the American military. So more with Zoltan Bathory from Five Finger Death Punch on the Tuesday show. Hey, keep listening. 62nd AP News Headlines are coming up next. Until then, my name is Steve motherfucking Austin, and I will catch your ass down the road. Download new episodes of Steve Austin Unleashed every Thursday@podcast1.com that's podcastone.com. Georgia the World Pluto TV is free.

Rip Rogers (65:29)

With all the best.

Steve Austin (65:33)

The longer days are brutal so if.

Rip Rogers (65:36)

You'Re feeling Frugal Stream Pluto TV Stream Pluto TV Stream Pluto TV for free Stream Blockbuster hits like 21 Jump Street Ted, The Expendables and so much more on Pluto TV. Stream Now Pay Never.

Steve Austin (65:53)

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

Rip Rogers (65:56)

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

Steve Austin (65:59)

Could you be more specific when it's cravenient? Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM. I'm seeing a pattern here. Well yeah, we're talking about what I crave, which is anything from AM pm. What more could you want?

Rip Rogers (66:16)

Stop by AMPM where the snacks and.

Steve Austin (66:18)

Drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience AM PM Too much good stuff.