Doc Gallows was a key member of the popular Aces & Eights faction in TNA Wrestling, but his time with the company ended after just one year due to a contract dispute. On a recent episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, he detailed the story of his departure and shared a hilarious behind-the-scenes story involving a gimmick hammer.
The Hammer Incident
Gallows first shared a story about an infamous spot where he was supposed to hit “Cowboy” James Storm with a rubber mallet. He revealed that, due to a mix-up, he was accidentally given a much more solid prop. “There were two gimmick hammers… a show gimmick hammer, and then there was a TV gimmick hammer,” Gallows explained. “He ended up getting hit with the wrong hammer, and he was none too… I think it was D’Lo Brown’s fault, though… he threw me the hammer and I was in the ring.”
The Contract Dispute
That run with TNA lasted one year, and he explained that his exit came down to the company not honoring a contractually obligated raise. “I signed a one-year deal with a one-year extension, with the deal being that I got a raise,” he began. “Bob Ryder called me and goes, ‘Hey, they like you… but we’re not giving you the raise.’ And I was like, ‘Can’t do that, because the first time you do that… you know it’s going to continue to happen to you.’ So we had two or three calls back and forth, and I said, ‘Well, if you guys can’t do the raise, then I can’t do it.’ He goes, ‘Well, then we’re releasing you.'”
Gallows was most frustrated by how the company framed his departure. “That’s what pissed me off about it was then he put it out there on the internet that I got released. I’m like, ‘Why don’t you put out there that you didn’t give me my raise?'” he said. He concluded that it all worked out for the best, however. “If I didn’t leave, I never would have got to New Japan a couple months later, and I never would have been in the Bullet Club.”
Today, TNA Wrestling is under a completely different management regime than the one Gallows dealt with. The company is experiencing a creative resurgence and has a working partnership with WWE that sees talent from NXT appear on their programming.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
