Former WWE superstar Trasher of the Headbangers joined Kayfabe Wrestling Radio and spoke about the formation of the Headbangers, what it was like being a part of the Monday night wars, getting “ribbed” by Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith & more. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
How The Headbangers Came About “We actually got together, I was the head trainer for the world famous Monster Factory Wrestling School in New Jersey; which was owned by ‘Prett Boy’ Larry Sharp, and I was the head trainer there. I trained Chaz (Headbanger Mosh), D-Lo Brown, the Big Show among others, and me and Chaz just really hit it off and we jumped in the car and headed out on the road. We did our round in Memphis, we did our round for Smokey Mountain Wrestling where we actually became the Headbangers; Jim Cornette gave us the name ‘The Headbangers’ and when Smokey Mountain was closing, that when Cornette was trying to get all of his guys from Smokey Mountain into WWE/WWF. At that time, they were doing the part-time contracts and we were hired, just for TV, on a part-time basis. So we came into WWF as the Headbangers; that wasn’t a Vince McMahon made gimmick or anything else, and frankly, it’s not really a gimmick. That’s how we are, we’ve always had the tattoos, the piercings and everything else; I just don’t walk around my house in a skirt.”
How Much of the Headbangers Material Was Scripted: “Probably about 90% of it was ‘Hey guys, go out there and be yourself’. So, I’d have to say at that time, in that era and stuff, it was about characters and it was about being how you are and stuff like that; not everyone tried to go out there and be Stone Cold Steve Austin. We had colorful characters that people could get emotionally attached to and plainly I think that’s what’s missing from Today’s wrestling.”
Would He & Mosh Liked To Have Had Social Media Back When They Were With WWE?: “It’s funny because we’ve talked about this; I like it now because I love, and everyone knows that, on Twitter and stuff like that, if you follow me, then I’m going to follow you; If you ask me a question, I’m going to answer you. Sometimes, it might take me a little bit, I’m actually going to get to it sooner or later. But it’s funny because me and Chaz have always talked about it; we said if he’d had the access of Facebook and Twitter and all of that stuff, back then as we do now, yeah, I don’t know how many people would still be free. I think there would be some who would be incarcerated right now, I think. Because, you end up having to find ways to, when you’re out on the road, to find ways to entertain yourself and a lot of times, they might not be lawful. So, I’m actually glad we didn’t have it back then, because I’m free today.
The Monday Night Wars: “It was a really good atmosphere. You had guys competing against the other company at that same timeslot; so if you were the first match on RAW, you wanted to outdo the first match on Nitro. It was a head-to-head, really and not too far-fetched from being a real competition. I mean, you wanted to have your ratings be better for that segment than Nitro’s. So, it was a lot of fun back then because on Tuesday, you’d run up there and see what the ratings were and everything else and be like ‘Oh, man. We almost had them.’ or ‘Oh, man. We got them this week!’ It was a lot of fun. Now, I always tell people ‘Why didn’t you like WWF back then, because you didn’t like WCW? Why do you like WWE now?’; because there’s nothing else to watch. Mark my words, TNA is up-and-coming and I can see them, in the next two years, rivaling WWE for ratings. I absolutely love what TNA is doing now, more so that what WWE is doing.”
Being ‘Ribbed’ by Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith: “It was funny, because Owen used to do funny, silly stuff where the rib would last two days. I can remember him being in the locker room and taking someone’s wrestling bag and taking a padlock and padlocking it to a chair, just a steel chair. Or he would take two guys bags; he did that to me and Chaz, he took a padlock and locked our two bags together and we were just like; we walk in and catch the end of it. We’re like ‘Oh, hey. What are you doing?’ and he’s like ‘Oh, your bags are locked together. I don’t know who did that; I just came over and saw it.’ We knew who did it, because it was just Owen. Just to see what would happen tomorrow, is what he would do. Me and Chaz, we lived in the same hotel room, so the bags went together. We played along with it and lasted until Tuesday when we came to do TV and when we got there, we’d break the lock open.
“It was harmless stuff but it was just so funny and it happened so often. One time, when Mark Henry first started wrestling, he broke his ankle or his leg. So, we’re in the arena and Davey takes his crutches because he was sitting down. So he steals the crutches without Mark Henry even knowing and then Owen comes up to Mark and say ‘Hey, Vince wants you and he’s on the other side of the arena.’ So, Mark is looking around and going ‘Oh my god’ and can’t find his crutches. So, Mark Henry gets up and he starts hopping, on one leg, all the way across the arena and no Vince McMahon. It was things like that and once you know it was a joke, it was so funny.”
