In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall spoke with former WCW/WWE star Bill Demott (aka Hugh Morrus).
These days, DeMott is a “Public Speaker, Traffic Safety Advocate, Victims Advocate, TV Personality, and Founder of The Keri Anne DeMott Foundation.” The charity was started after his daughter Keri Anne was killed by a drunk driver in 2015. Click here for more information. He has also launched a YouTube channel at this link.
On Hacksaw Jim Duggan turning heel:
“They convinced him to cut your hair, shave your face. This is going to be the biggest run you’ve ever had. I don’t want to speak for him, but I believe he was hesitant, but he did it because this is going to be the biggest turn in the history of the free world. I don’t remember it lasting that long because, one, I think he was frustrated and he told him he was getting out of it.”
DeMott on Vince Russo creating the Hugh G Rection gimmick in WCW:
“Vince Russo and Ed (Ferrara) came to me. What had happened was Booker had gotten hurt, I think a concussion or something. He was supposed to work with Scott Steiner that night for the United States Championship. Booker couldn’t make it. They wouldn’t clear him to work, so they came to me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to work?’ ‘Of course, I want to work, and on a pay-per-view, yes.’”
“They sent someone out to get me military pants and boots, or whatever it was. They said, ‘We want you to cut this promo.’ I’ve been there for I don’t know how many years. I’ve never been handed a sheet of paper. If I had something to say, here’s the idea, go run with it, bullet points kind of thing. They swore up and down, Ed Ferrera swore to me it’s one night. It’s the only time, and you’ll never say it again. So I come out and say, ‘I’m sick and tired of not being taken seriously. My name is no longer Hugh Morris. I’m going by my real name, Hugh G Rection.”
“They showed me the prototype for my action figure, and then I was told, ‘We can’t put anything on the shelf with Hugh G Rection’, so no shirts, no action figures, no nothing. Everything that was Hugh Morris remained. It was a blessing and a curse, but that was probably the most fun I’ve ever had.”
On working for WCW after WWE:
“I think for the most part, the initial group that was brought in, we weren’t as big a threat as your Goldbergs and your Jarretts and all those guys that were on top because they weren’t coming. They had guaranteed money. They didn’t care if the company was sold. I don’t think we had as much pressure on us, but at the same time, we’re coming into a company that already had more than enough talent that wasn’t getting that TV time, so now there’s more cats in the locker room, more bodies around, more opportunities for someone to get looked over. It was a little tense, but I think it was intense because of how people carried themselves and handled it more than the animosity of who the hell are these guys. I think everybody had relationships with each other. We all knew each other from somewhere else we worked and things like that.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
