Quit your crying and pay what’s due… or IRS will audit you!
Mike Rotunda, aka Irwin R. Schyster, recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of his virtual signing for ’80s Wrestling Con. Rotunda looked back on his WWE career as “IRS” and talked about the success he saw in tag team action alongside “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
Money Inc. won the WWF Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions and Rotunda talked about why the team grabbed people’s attention and still lasts in people’s memories today in spite of being heels.
“Sometimes, when you team up with somebody, it just clicks. It was the same with Barry Windham and I. Dusty Rhodes put Barry and me together and we did the US Express, and then when I met Ted, it was just like a perfect match. The rich guy and the crooked I.R.S. guy—it was easy to get heat. First of all, with Ted’s persona, you know, being a rich guy that didn’t care about anybody, and then you have a crooked I.R.S. guy—and nobody likes the I.R.S. to begin with. So it was a natural heat-getter, calling people tax cheats and whatnot. And like I said, we just clicked together as a team and that happens sometimes when you get a new partner,” Rotunda explained, “you kinda know what the other guy’s gonna do and it just meshes well. So it was a perfect fit and it got a lot of heat so it was fun. It was a fun time in my career because going in front of people, we were doing our job well if they hate you, and that’s what we were shooting for.”
Rotunda spent more than three decades in the ring and won multiple titles in his career, and was asked how he wants to be remembered in wrestling. He says it would be hard to choose one match or moment in particular, but looked back on his respective runs in the US Express, Varsity Club and portraying IRS as some of the most memorable.
“That’s hard to say because I really enjoyed doing the IRS character. I thought that worked well. And another one of my favorites was doing the Varsity Club and realistically, Barry Windham and I, we came into WWE and became the Tag Team Champions within a month and we had a great run with Sheik and Volkoff. It was fun doing that as well, so it’s hard to pick a time and say that’s the best time ever because I enjoyed all three of those and they were so different. Being a babyface when we first went up there with Barry, doing the US Express and then I had a chance, I left WWE but it was kind of good because the first heel character I ever did was in WCW,” Rotunda explained, “and that’s where we started the Varsity Club so I had a good run down there and learned how to kind of be a heel. Then when I came back to WWE and became IRS, you know, I was ready, more so than staying there all throughout WWE and trying to switch as a heel. I left, got experiences, you know as a Varsity Club heel and then went back and I thought it helped me to develop the IRS character because of that.”
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