On the latest episode of “Talk is Jericho”, wrestling legend and Tough Enough host Chris Jericho provided a platform for Bill DeMott to air his side of the now-infamous WWE developmental controversy that saw him resign earlier this year.
“If you can make it in NXT, then you’re so prepared for what the WWE is. From two hours of sleep and being at media calls at 4AM, to driving 500 miles. Some of them drive to Lakeland [Florida] and want the next day off. And you think to yourself, ‘we can’t let that happen.’ You’re gonna go from Buffalo to Wilkes-Barre, make the drive, you’re gonna have a meeting at 6AM, still make your RAW call-time, and then sit in front of Stephanie, Triple H, Vince, Paul Heyman – the guys that are up there on top that have that work ethic – and you’re either gonna hang, or you’re not. It’s not to break you down, it’s to prepare you.”
On the subject of gaining a reputation as the “hard-nosed” trainer in WWE, DeMott claims that was just “a red-light guy” who acted like “an a**hole” when the cameras were on, and because it clicked it became what they had him do on every season of Tough Enough going forward.
Jelly Doughnut Scandal
With regard to some of the alleged incidents that happened, such as the “jelly doughnut scandal”, the two explained that wrestling has always been a boys club, and you do ridiculous things to keep up moral. Part of that was what he called “Make-a-Deal Friday”, where the developmental stars would make a crazy deal to get out of their Friday workout, the day after the Thursday television taping. And it became something fun and ridiculous the crew did as a team-building and morale exercise, but the problem comes when one person takes that out of context, and uses one incident 4-5 years later as an excuse for them not making the cut.
Zack Ryder
“I didn’t think that Zack Ryder would make it on his own. Only because the Major Brothers, back in Deep South, and how good they were. They’re such fans, both him and [Curt Hawkins]. They’re both good guys. And when I heard about the split, I was more concerned for Zack than for Hawkins, because he just had that aggressive thing – he wasn’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer.”
WCW Invasion
The two also discussed the fall of WCW and DeMott being a part of the original crew that appeared in a skybox at WrestleMania X-Seven, right before the launch of the Invasion angle. He tells a great story about how the original angle was supposed to go down, and claims the group should have been in the ring with Shane McMahon at WrestleMania, but because Shawn Stasiak leaked the entire list of names to the media the night before the show.
For the complete interview, check out Talk is Jericho on PodcastOne.com.
