In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed former WWE/ECW star Justin Credible (PJ Polaco), also known to some fans as Aldo Montoya when he was in the World Wrestling Federation. The entire interview can be watched at the bottom of this page.
Justin Credible on who created WWE’s Aldo Montoya and why he hated the mask:
“Tony Garea, who was one of the producers slash agents at the time said, ‘Well, you know, we’re doing a new show called Monday Night Raw in Manhattan. If you want to come, we’ll pay $150 a night to do some jobs.’ I said, ‘Great, it’ll be a great experience’,etc. Long story short, I ended up doing really well. They liked me. They used me quite a bit. One time I was doing work at the office for Mark Calaway, The Undertaker, and Brian Lee when they did the double Undertaker gimmick. Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson were also there. Pat and I were a little friendly and he started asking me questions about what nationality was, who had trained me, etc. I told him I was Portuguese and he popped huge and he told Vince, and all along they were looking for a Portuguese speaking guy to fit this role of this character, Aldo Montoya. So again, the right place at the right time.”
“That was the biggest problem was the mask because when Vince had the design, he proposed the design to me. I looked like a Power Ranger, almost. I wish I still had it man. I don’t know what I did with it. I wish I still had it. It was dope. I had Road Warrior shoulder pads and this cool mask. I remember when WWE was downsizing in those days and business was really down in those ’94 and’ 95 years I remember they had a seamstress or costume lady go with me into New York City to a bondage shop. No lie, like a leather bondage shop and try on like S&M masks. We had a really hard time coming up with because the original mask was made out of leather and it was almost like a Kane mask, but they did not perfect it, like everything was just leather and there was no movement. I couldn’t use it so we went with the cloth and it just did not go right. It was a shame because I think that really hurt the character.”
Justin Credible on who created his ECW persona:
“It was not me and believe it or not, it was not Paul Heyman. It was one of Paul’s younger wrestlers who went to the wrestling school and he was actually on the ring crew, and later on, he ended up wrestling as a Belvis Wesley, but he came up with a character for himself and Paul paid him $500, He came up with the name, Justin Credible, not the character, but the name. He saw it on a bumper sticker or something and Paul said, ‘I don’t see you with this name, but I’ll pay $500, but I’ll give the name to someone else.’ He came up with it. He gave it to Paul and Paul gave it to me. I guess he’d had that name for a little bit and the rest, I just kind of, you know, just did myself. I was just trying to be, you know, a little bit of Stone Cold, a little bit of Razor, a little bit of everything, you know, just kind of inventing myself and the character just kind of slowly came to me. I didn’t plan anything. Nothing was predetermined. I kind of did most of it out there and the name and the catchphrase and all that just kind of slowly built.”
Justin Credible on winning the ECW Championship:
“I didn’t find out until about halfway during the show. Paul would put up the list of matches and I noticed my name is not on it, which was odd because regardless, I would always do something. I was like, ‘Oh my God. Do I have heat? Did I do something wrong? I’m not on the show.’ So we wait and wait and then you know maybe 15 minutes before the match goes out, Paul gets me together with everybody and kind of explains what’s happening.”
Justin Credible talks wrestling Scott Hall in ECW:
“Something had happened with him in WCW. I think he got fired. There was some heat somewhere so he got let go. I’m like, ‘Yo, you want to come wrestle me’, because we used to always do TV tapings for the WWF in Poughkeepsie at the Mid Hudson Civic Center. A lot of those famous matches happened at that arena. I was wrestling there and here I am the world champion. I had a little bit of pull so I’m like, ‘Scott, you want to come wrestle me at that building we used to love and do TV at?’ He’s like, ‘Yea’, so he booked a ticket with his frequent flyers. He came up and we worked in the main event just for fun. He didn’t get paid or anything. Paul E would have paid him. He didn’t want any money. He did it all on the arm just to come up and he stayed at my house. We hung out and it was a nice time. It was kind of like a thing for us just to kind of be able to do.”
Justin Credible talks returning to WWE and forming X-Factor with Sean Waltman and Albert:
“I did enjoy X-Factor a lot because I loved X-Pac and I loved the fact that we got to work again. You gotta remember that they were so stacked in the WWF at this time, WWE, I don’t know, whatever. I don’t know if they turned to WWE yet but either way they were so stacked. It was going to be hard for me to make it as a singles. So I figured with me and Pac as a tag team, they had the Dudleys, Edge and Christian, The Hardys, we could have a good run as a tag team. So I thought it was a great idea for us to differentiate. As a matter of fact, the reason I picked Uncle Kracker or I submitted it to the office was because I was friends with Joe C from Kid Rock, the little, the small person. Yes. Uncle Kracker was their DJ. They were all wrestling fans and Uncle Kracker’s brother became my agent. He was coming up with his solo record and he’s like, you know, ‘Use one of my songs’, because I wanted something cool, something different, something that was going to get a little bit of heat and everybody still talks sh*t about that Uncle Kracker song. It was just so different. I loved it.”
Justin Credible on being in the Kliq:
“I was always friends with them. I was always hanging out with them. I mean, so I don’t know, I guess that was never officially in, but what does that even mean? I guess the perception was, I was never a big star like they were, so maybe I was just a hang-around or something. I don’t know. I get asked that all the time, but I don’t really have an answer.”
Justin Credible on partying with Hulk Hogan in a hotel:
“I remember. We were in Minneapolis I believe doing TV. I was with Sean Waltman and we went over to Hulk’s room because Scott and Kevin were there and he was still in the gimmick and stuff and went to his room because we were gonna smoke a joint. There I was smoking a joint with Hulk Hogan after Monday Night Raw, so that was pretty cool.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
