WWE Hall Of Famer Paul Ellering was interviewed this week on the “Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling” podcast.
Ellering was on the show to talk about his legendary run with Road Warriors Hawk and Animal, his time in NXT, and the current wrestling scene. Check out some of the highlights below:
Paul Ellering was asked why he didn’t go to the WWE with the Legion of Doom in 1990: “I was all on board with them. My thinking at that time was I’ve dealt with all these promoters from Puerto Rico to Japan to Montreal to Texas, you name it, and every one of these promoters would make a deal with me. My word was always my word. It was a bond. It was something we were going to fulfill and they could trust me that we would be there. Our deal was our deal. We had about 6 months left on the contract and the guys wanted to go to New York. I was all on board for it. I just didn’t want to back out of the contract that I had signed. I told the guys, you go ahead and I’m going to finish out my contract. I signed this contract and that was my word. That was my bond and I didn’t want to walk away from that. That’s why I stayed in NWA/WCW and then I came in later.”
Ellering explained why the Road Warriors were called the Legion of Doom in WWE: “The Legion of Doom was purely a business deal. Vince wanted to be able to trademark the Road Warriors name, but those guys already did that, so Vince couldn’t have that. Hawk off the cuff said, how about the Legion of Doom and Vince said, yes, that’s good and then Vince could trademark that.”
Ellering was asked about the Rocco puppet the Legion of Doom started to incorporate into their act: “I thought it was a great concept but there wasn’t enough creative to give it what it needed to grow. Look at Bray Wyatt. They did all that kind of stuff with the dummy like that. But, it has to be that kind of development. You had all those Chucky movies at that time, but it didn’t grow. You can do a lot with it. Everybody was so interested in selling merchandise. That was to be a softener and humanize them.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
