In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed Nick Dinsmore, the man formerly known as Eugene in WWE. Dismore talked about how Eric Bischoff reacted when being told that he would be working with the Eugene character, how Stone Cold Steve Austin helped with the character, working with Triple H in WWE, his lesser-known run in WCW under his real name, and more. Scroll down to watch the video interview.
Dinsmore talked about Steve Austin helping get his character created:
“One of the trainers I had in Louisville, KY was the Hustler Rip Rogers. Rip’s son was I think three, four, five years old at the time. He brought an idea of a character to me. His son has autism. Now the kid’s like the valedictorian of his high school I think and he’s in college doing great. Rip gave me the idea, what about a character much like Rain Man? He might not be very sociable, he might not be able to tie his shoes correctly, but the minute the bell rings, he can do everything he’s seen on TV flawlessly, an idiot savant of wrestling.”
“I pitched that idea to the agents when they would come down to Louisville. They would come down every week. I pitched it to guys like Dean Malenko, Fit Finlay, and Arn Anderson. They said, ‘No, wrestling has gone beyond that. We are more reality based now.’ I pocketed the idea. This was in mid to late 2003. A couple months later, a couple of the writers came down. The writers didn’t come down frequently, so everybody was trying to get some time with them. I pitched this character to the writers. They said, ‘Vince will never do that.’ So, I put that idea back.”
“I saw a lot of guys in Louisville complain and they would get called up. The squeaky wheel gets the oil was playing out right in front of me, so I thought maybe I’ll try it. I told my friend Doug Basham, who was one half of the Basham Brothers, I said, ‘Doug, I think I’m going to quit and go to Japan’, but I didn’t know anybody in Japan. I had no idea how to get there. I was in my hometown. I was the top babyface or top heel in my hometown on TV, so I had it pretty good, but I just wanted to see what would happen.”
“Doug tells Dean Malenko. Malenko tells Johnny Ace. Next thing I know, in February 2004, I’m sitting in a meeting with Vince McMahon and Stephanie. Vince goes, ‘I want to get back to character-based wrestling. I spit out that idea. Right then, Stone Cold Steve Austin walks in. Vince goes, ‘Steve, have you ever seen this kid wrestle?’ He said, ‘I don’t think I have.’ I said, ‘Nightmare Danny Davis trained me’, because I knew my trainer Danny Davis and Austin had become friends in the Dallas territory years and years ago. Austin looked up and said, ‘Well he’s probably one of the best.’ It was that vote of confidence from Austin and Vince was like, ‘All right. We’ll start him on Monday.’ We didn’t actually start until the following Monday, but the wheels were in motion.”
Click below to check out the interview.
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
