Pro wrestling legend Dan Spivey (aka Waylon Mercy) was interviewed on the Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw. Gerald Brisco and John Bradshaw Layfield talked with Spivey about the famous fight with Adrian Adonis, his run as Waylon Mercy, and more.
Here are some highlights:
Spivey talked about his Waylon Mercy character, and Bray Wyatt asking Spivey’s permission to do the Wyatt character:
“Jerry called me and wanted to talk to Vince. We got to talking, and Cape Fear came up. I said, ‘That’s great.’ The biggest mistake I made in professional wrestling was leaving when I did. I did get operated on, but I got hooked on pain pills. I really enjoyed doing that character. It’s something I think about all the time. It was the first time I wasn’t Dan Spivey. It was the first time I got to play a character. It was so much fun. It was so easy for me. Even when Bray Wyatt came out, he came to me and asked me if he could do that. I said, “Sure man, go with it’, so we talked about it. He grew up in a redneck area, so he ought to know some rednecks around there. He really did a great job with it. It’s unfinished business for me. It’s something that haunts me to this day that I didn’t suck it up and keep going with it.”
Brisco said, “Danny, you were so injured back in those days. It was painful to watch you go out in the arenas. It was even more painful to watch you come back to the dressing room and try and get dressed to make another 200 mile trip. You gave it everything you had. That had to mean so much to you. That shows you the respect that you had for this young guy, Bray Wyatt coming up to you many, many years later and saying, ‘Hey, I remember that Waylon Mercy deal. Do you mind?’ That had to have made you feel really good that you left something to the business, and all people have to do is turn on the TV today and still see an incarnation of Waylon Mercy. By the way, I gave you the Waylon Mercy name.”
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.
