Former WCW star Ray "Glacier" Lloyd stepped in to the IN THE ROOM program with Brady Hicks and his crew this pastTuesday night to talk about his time with WCW and what it could have been; his legacy in wrestling; thoughts on DDP, Bill Goldberg, and The Great Muta; the lack of the territories; and what mentor Lou Thesz thought of his Glacier character. Plus, Lloyd gives the inside scoop on his new Florida Fight League.
IN THE ROOM airs live Tuesday nights, 9 PM ET, as part of the VOC Nation Radio Network at vocnation.com. Call in to the show (855) VOC-RADIO.
On WWE's "Attitude Era":
I think WWE was definitely on the inside lane on [being racy] … I just wasn’t a fan of [risque content]. I never have been and I never will be. I think that a great wrestling show should be family entertainment for everybody, from the 5-year-old to the 95-year-old. I'm not saying that there's gotta be a totally. absolute G-rated type of thing. You just don't need to push the envelope as far as profanity and all of that stuff. You just don't need it. It's a cheap gimmick that only gets a limited reaction … I know you don't need all that to have a great show, and I think at the end of the day fans really appreciate that. You can go edgy, that's fine. But you don't have to go there. To me, anybody could do that. My grandmother could get in the ring and curse at people. She probably could do a great job at it. That doesn't say you're a professional to me.
On The Character of Glacier:
Did it turn out exactly the way I'd hoped? Absolutely not. Then again, I don't know of any wrestlers whose careers did turn out as they hoped. The thing was we were given a great challenge, to bring something to life that had never been done before. Eric [Bischoff]'s vision was to bring heavyweights into the ring that really kind of move like cruiserweights, and it had never really been done before. Kind of bring a video game to life in the ring. He was very, very determined that he wanted it to be played totally straight. He didn't want it to be made fun of or comical … Some people laugh all the time at the Glacier gimmick, but I say all the time, "As soon as I'm done with the wrestling, I've got a great Halloween costume. Trick or treat!"
On the "Secret" to Succeeding:
I tell these young wrestlers that ask me … looking for that mythical secret that doesn't exist … You have to be consumed by this business. Its gotta to be a 100% commitment. That means when you're sitting at home and you're watching TV, and you see something on TV that you can somehow take that, add that and make it part of your gimmick or who you are. You have to be thinking and you have to be on all of the time. You have to constantly be thinking, "How can I get better? What can I do to improve? What can I do to stand out? What can I do to make me better so that I can share that?" … People will forget what you said or what you did, but they won't forget how you made them feel.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
