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Bill Watts discusses his book, spiritualism, a good reason WCW destroyed itself, allegations of racism, Ric Flair & more

Posted: May 17th 2006 By: CMBurnham

Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest(s): "Cowboy" Bill Watts, Raven, & SoCal Val
Date: 5/16/06
Your Hosts: James Walsh, Ben Benya, & Brendon Brooks

Last Wednesday night, the boys from the Wrestling Epicenter had a chance to sit down with a man who has had more things said about him than he could ever say about himself. He's a legendary promoter and a legendary wrestler as well. And, if I dare say so, I actually enjoyed speaking with him and respect the man... He's "Cowboy" Bill Watts!

Also on this show is Raven's teleconference. You can hear that entire teleconference on the Weekend Warriors show on the site. In addition, SoCal Val stops by to chat about TNA and a lot more.

It's a jam packed show and might be the last one I, James Walsh, do with Ben Benya & Brendon Brooks as I have graduated college and am about to join the work force!

To hear this great interview, go to www.WrestlingEpicenter.com.

"COWBOY" BILL WATTS INTERVIEW -

According to Watts, the reason why people either completely love him or completely hate him is that he was passionate. He also says that it's better that people have an opinion of you than not.

A recent interviewee, "Leaping" Lanny Poffo, said that "Bill Watts is the halo to Ole Anderson's horns." Bill gets a chuckle out of that, then puts over Lanny as someone enjoyable to work with. Watts then goes into how he helped Randy Savage (Lanny's brother) while in Atlanta and how grateful Savage was, even when making big money in the WWF.

Watts could care less what people say behind his back or in their books. He then mentions his own book, where he admits making mistakes unlike other wrestler's books.

Bill laughs at Jake Roberts, who called him out in a book.

After threatening to stop the interview, fearful that the only questions were going to be about people who hated him, the conversation goes into how the wrestling business is anti-God and that there's nothing positive taught through the business anymore. The topic turns to the Mid-South days and how the fans and the wrestlers seemed to enjoy the product.

Watts claimed that he wanted to take himself off of Mid-South TV, unlike Vince, who seems to be on TV more and more.

Watts goes into how WCW paid $30,000 for a survey, the results of which said that the fans wanted something other than what Vince was offering at the time. WCW then did the opposite of what the survey, which was a financial failure.

The question of "Why ban top rope moves in WCW" leads Mr. Watts to explain that a heel needs to cheat to win and if they jump off the top rope to get a win. The point was to make the move mean something. Watts then explains that women nowadays are powerbombed through tables and walk away, and that the fans have been trained to that kind of wrestling.

Watts says that Ron Simmons, who called Bill a racist, was unable to cope with the pressure of being champion at the time. On the subject of being a racist, Bill goes into how he created more credible black wrestling stars, had the only black booker and had a black office manager in WCW. He claims that ignorance is the cause of the claims of racism.

To Bill, the "Death of Kayfabe" didn't help the business, also adding "If there's no mystery, where's the excitement?" He then goes into how he didn't see "Titanic" because he knew what the ending was going to be! He later puts over the movie "Shane" as a classic way to build an issue between a babyface and a heel.

Bill then tells a story about how he and Killer Kowalski had a match that was so intense, it fooled the boys!

Initially, Bill didn't want to write a book because it most of them are self-agrandizing. However, when Scott Williams, the co-writer, came in with the project, Bill said he wanted to include his spiritual
beliefs in the book.

Watts then goes into how he wishes he was a better parent to his children, including not screwing around on their mother and not drinking while driving.

After a touching and heartfelt explanation into his spiritual beliefs, we go into...

Word Associations -

Gordon Solie - "I loved him. Loved him. What a wonderful guy."

Bruno Sammartino - "Awesome. I have nothing but the highest respect for him."

Jim Ross - "Another guy I think the world of."

"Crippler" Ray Stevens - "I love the guy, I learned a lot from Ray Stevens."

Ric Flair - "I like Ric. I have no problem with Ric. Ric used to carry my bag when I was a big star and he was just getting in."

Scott Steiner: "Scott Steiner is, without a doubt, a great athlete and, I don't think, as great as a person. He and I did not get along."

Erik Watts: "My son, Erik, is a neat kid."

Verne Gagne: "Verne Gagne was a neat guy."

Vince McMahon, Jr.: "I think he's a very, very driven guy. I enjoyed
booking with him."

This interview ends with a plug for www.cowboybillwatts.com.