Before he was a WWE Superstar, Ivar worked alongside John Cena on the independent wrestling circuit.
War Raiders member Ivar was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. When asked about working with John Cena on an independent wrestling show when Cena was a contracted WWE talent, Ivar told a crazy story that also involved Eugene and Vince McMahon.
“He’s on the main roster, but he thinks he thought he was getting fired,” Ivar said. “He was coming to his school. He was coming to Chaotic Wrestling at that point in time. So we’d see him there and his dad was a manager, Johnny Fabulous, on our shows, and did commentary for years. So I texted you about that.
“But then John made a name for himself. And then at some point in the late 2000s I want to say 2008 he wanted to do a benefit show. One of his brothers was a police officer and was in an accident. He wanted to do a fundraiser for their police department. So he talked to his dad, and they contacted Chaotic Wrestling, and they said they’re going to put on a benefit show.
“Vince gave the blessing for John to come in and also Eugene, who was under contract at the time. So we had this big show right by West Newberry at a high school, very close to West Newberry, Massachusetts. I wrestled Eugene on it, which actually the promoter gave me the option. He said, Do you want to wrestle in the main event with John Cena as a referee, or do you want to wrestle Eugene?
“And I’m like I think I want to wrestle Eugene because I was just such a wrestler at the time. I wanted to have that experience wrestling. I look back on it, I know it was weird. He was like, Are you sure you want to wrestle Eugene? Yeah, I want to wrestle Eugene. Okay, so I wrestle Eugene, and then the main event was Big Rick Fuller from WCW fame against Brian Milonas, who’s a really good friend of me, Tommaso, and Kofi.
“He was in Ring of Honor for a bit, big, almost 400-pound monster. They were the main event with John Cena, who was currently the WWE champion, as the referee. I gotta rewind a second, I’ll get back to it, because this is a really good story, too.
“Johnny Fabulous was Rick Fuller’s manager. So John Cena Sr. earlier in the show he cut a promo. And this is running 2500 people at a high school. He goes now, usually, I’m a heel that’s a bad guy, but tonight, I’m a baby face that’s a good guy. We’re watching the monitor in the back.
“I’m sitting next to Eugene, and Cena is standing up in front of us watching on the monitor. And when that happens, he just turns back to me and Eugene and goes, my pops is killing the business and walks off. It’s such a good memory.
“But main event, Rick Fuller, Brian Milonas, is for the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, with John Cena as the referee, who is the current WWE Champion, and Cena had Eugene put together the whole back end of the match to do whatever they were going to do, layer it with false finishes and belt shots and whatever.
“So again, I’m watching it with Eugene, all of us around the monitor, I just wrestled Eugene so we’re sitting next to each other. Then they start to go into this finish that Eugene called, and then all sudden, there’s a big commotion, like, what’s going on? And then in the ring appears a figure in a suit, and we’re like what? Vince McMahon [was there]. Eugene was totally confused.
“Dinsmore had no idea what’s going on because that’s not what he called. Cena had him call a whole back end of a match without any Vince McMahon. But Vince got in the ring. I think he’s face-to-face with Milonas. I love hearing Milonas tell the story. So Vince was like, are you the babyface of the heel?
“He’s like I’m the heel. And he grabs his hand, and he raises his hand. There is a picture somewhere, what is going on? Vince takes the worst Attitude Adjustment ever, just as bad as that last Stunner he took so bad, and he rolls into the ring, goes over the guardrail, out to a limo, and takes off.”
READ MORE: Ivar Details How A Delayed WWE Return Led To A War Raiders Revival
What do you make of Ivar’s comments? Have you ever heard this story before? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
