Pete Gas recently spoke with CBS Local Sports to help promote his book “Looking at the Lights: My Path from Fan to a Wrestling Heel”, and below are some interview highlights:
JBL working stiff:
“Stiff is an understatement. It’s understandable because those guys paid their dues… JBL beat the heck out of me with a chair one night and literally wrapped it around my head. When we went backstage, I stuck out my hand. I think he was expecting me to be a little hot, but instead I shook his hand and said thank you. Basically it was my way of saying ‘you brought it and I took it and I can handle it.’ He told me months afterward that was the day I earned his respect. It didn’t happen overnight, but after a while they started to accept us for being there and respecting the fact we were putting them all over. I think I took every finishing move in the business… I would take every finisher again tomorrow. That’s how much I love this business.”
The Undertaker leading Wrestlers’ Court:
“True. He is the judge. The judge is typically the wrestler with the most seniority in the locker room. I tell a story in the book where, unfortunately Undertaker was there, and Triple H had to step in. It was probably the funniest thing that I ever got to see in WWE. The A.P.A. (tag team of JBL and Ron Simmons) was actually suing Teddy Long. The charges that were brought up were that Teddy was a cheapskate (editor’s note: he was actually called much worse). The room was set up just like a courthouse. The bailiff was played by The Godfather. Ron and JBL were the plaintiffs and Teddy Long was all by himself as the defendant. Triple H explained that wrestlers court was a lot different from regular court because you can lie, cheat and steal, bribe, whatever you need to do. So, JBL reads out the charges and it was stuff like when they came up to a tollbooth Teddy wouldn’t put his hand in the pocket until they were 30 yards passed it because he didn’t want to pay the toll. And he never put his hand in his pocket for meals and gas and all of that. After the charges were all read, Triple H says, ‘Teddy, you’re pretty much screwed here…'”
The Mean Street Posse making a return to WWE:
“I wish I could sit here and play with this and say yes. But the answer is no. I know they’ve brought some guys back. I saw The Headbangers not too long ago, and I was happy to see that. Mosh’s son got to enjoy seeing his dad in a WWE ring, and that meant to the world to him. But there haven’t been any talks of it. They has so much talent there. Not that age is anything but a number, but I’m going to be 47 in May. Not that I wouldn’t do it, because I’ve always said, and I mean it, that if WWE calls, I would pack my bags and be out the door in five minutes. That’s how much I love the business. And Shane knows it.”
Pete Gas was a recent guest on WZ Radio’s WZ Weekly, and you can listen to his full appearance, along with WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze, in the player below:
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.
