@@tonyclifton2230lol yeah, after how many rehabilitation stints? Or did I miss the part where any of those promotions picked him up after he left the WWE in the mid 90s?
@Salesman ecw had him after there, tna had him after ecw, neither was when he was rehabilitated. He is actually now in aew and has been for years. Big bully bill hasn't seen much employment since he was let go in the mid 90s. A month in the wwe?
@@tonyclifton2230 so basically you are taking this as a win because he was in ECW for a cup of coffee and in TNA where he did what exactly? As for Bill Watts, he himself got out of the wrestling business after his WCW stint and knew it was not for him anymore. And all we 90s wrestling fans have of him is just people bad mouthing him and wrestlers who hated the guy because he was a tough promoter to work for even though his territory is highly regarded by everyone who experienced it. Kind of like what 90s ECW was.
@Salesman bill watts didn't get out of the wrestling business wrestling got out of the bill watts business. He was actually in the wwe for a cup of coffee after wcw. Diesel has a story of him and yoko going out and doing a squash match as payback for watts the tough guy sucker punching nash when he was in wcw.
THIS is a real shoot interview, you won't get this realness and honesty from today's wrestlers, all you'll get is a bland " I respect him" answer, And All the smarks will Go wild, because they love respect
Jake always blaming HTM for his drug problems never sat well with me when he was already known to be an unreliable addict prior to his WWF days. I'm glad he got his life turned around though. Always great to see.
Yea one good thing about AEW is they pay him lots to do nothing so he doesn't have the temptations of the road or stress of money which is a big relapse cause.
I didn't listen to that many shoots but I know Jake lived an extremely traumatic childhood and his father was pure evil based not only on his account but the account of others. That will fuck you up for life and will most likely make you go down the wrong path many times. Watts was no choir boy either. To complain that Jake was in it for himself is just the exploitative mindset of a promoter who used and even abused pro wrestlers. I side with Roberts even though he's not perfect.
Bill Watts, a good wrestler, but an innovative promoter. Pioneered weekly episode television with Mid-South Wrestling in 1979. 1982 was when it took off. Jim Ross debuted on commentary, Junkyard Dog vs Ted DiBiase tore the house down, and numerous characters would be established. Mid-South peaked in 1985, then WWE started expanding, then the 1987 recession f&%^ed them over.
Fair play to Jake for turning his life around over the last ten years. Sounds like he was his own worst enemy back in the day though. Was it Lanny Poffo who said there were only two real gimmicks in wrestling: Andre was a giant and Jake was a snake. Something like that.
Watts is still alive in 2024 - he is 85 years old - while Jake and so many others have died broke and well before their time from roids, booze, drugs and then there are others who are still with us but are miserable and bitter like brett hart
@@joe77750 Bill Watts was smart - he created his own promotion and made sure he was not reliant on Vince and at his mercy as Vince ate up and took over regions and promotions around the country! Only a few pro wrestlers were good business men -- The Original Sheik, Bill Watts, etc - to see Hacksaw fighting Doink in some tiny hall in front of a few folks for chump changing was depressing.
@@justinherbert9146 Hacksaw Jim Dugan vs Doink is appropriate for Hacksaw. Fakest looking worker in the ring you can watch on RU-vid, every punch, kick even a slap looks like a 90 year old grandma could take it with a smile.
I've heard that Bill Watts was afraid of Scott Steiner and so afraid that he started packing a pistol with him. This is in a 2 hour interview with several people/wrestlers talking about Scott Steiner. It might still be here on RU-vid.
