Today John and Chad welcome one-half of the tag team PG-13 and the writer of the legendary “Nation of Domination Rap” the innovative and artistically inclined, Wolfie D to the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling. Wolfie’s stories of the Memphis territory and teaming with longtime partner Jamie Dundee make for an entertaining ride through a career that saw PG-13 dominate the Memphis tag team scene and what helped them catapult to the WWF in 1996 to join the Nation of Domination. Wolfie also gives his rather amusing take on the “imposter” teams that grabbed the PG-13 look and attempted their own spin on what was at the time an original act. Additionally, Wolfie’s artistic abilities are discussed as Wolfie explains what Jerry Lynn means to the wrestling business and why he designed a t-shirt that pays homage to one of the best workers in the history of pro wrestling.
Full Episode Download: http://tmptow.podomatic.com/entry/2015-09-09T21_00_00-07_00
Wolfie D Talks Writing The Nation of Domination Rap: https://youtu.be/6ZQxvIl5NLU
PG-13’s initial tryout with WWE in 1995 and why they did not last:
The wrestling business is all about timing and we were just a little bit early on our timing going up there because that was a time when everybody was huge giant monsters and we were not that big. We went up there and they loved our work, they loved our gimmick, they loved our interviews but “oh they are too small” is what they said. A couple of years later all of a sudden the Mexican invasion happens with the cruiser-weights and everybody starts shrinking and there was room for guys our size. So it’s like we were a little bit too early. Had we come along maybe a year or so later it could have been a different story and we might have stuck around the whole time and we didn’t because they said we were too small. So we went back to Memphis and then in ‘96 we get called up to do the rapping for The Nation of Domination.
Rejoining the WWE and being an essential part of The Nation of Domination:
That was cool and of course we were always trying to find ways to get involved in the match instead of just standing there, which was kind of the original thing of maybe just to take something here or there. Believe me we were going to Ron (Simmons) and we were creating sh*t for ourselves and probably more than they really wanted us to do but that is how we knew how to get over, so we had a one-up on people because we were from Memphis and we worked all the time and had a little bit of experience. We would always find the camera and if you ever watch it and especially Jamie we knew where that camera was at all times and we would be sure to put our faces in it as well as when I wrote the rap, I put our names in it. Little things like that to help us stand out more than the original Nation crew that were just basically bodies to be around Farooq.
Vince McMahon’s response to the Nation of Domination rap:
It kind of sucked the way it happened. We flew up to the office and I had written it all out and we met with Jim Johnston the guy who does the music and he laid down a track for it and we knew we were going to have to rap this thing live every night. They gave us a copy on a cassette tape and gave us a copy of the music. It didn’t have all the “We are the Nation” in it, it only had it like one time and we were driving up and down the road every night putting that instrumental in and me and him (Jamie Dundee) rapping back and forth. We got the timing down. So we get to Survivor Series and that was the debut of it and us and before the show here comes Vince and we are supposed to walk out and do this thing for Vince right there. We get live mic’s, we get ready to start rapping and they f*cking changed the beat. It was kind of a scramble for us to figure it out but we did it. I’m not going to lie, there was a lot of times and Jamie wouldn’t either, that he has no rhythm and he was playing off of me and there was times when he would get off rhythm and I would have to jump in and try my best to get us back on.
WWE releasing the PG-13 version of the Nation theme:
So I wrote that and they laid the track down and it’s on tape. When they came out with the CD of the WWE Music Volume whatever in the Nation song they took our vocals out of it. Years later and the internet wasn’t what it is now I find out that the overseas version does have our vocals in it and I’ve never received a nickel for that and that kind of gets me hot.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
