Book: Is Wrestling Fixed? I Didn’t Know It Was Broken! by Bill Apter
This week Bill chatted candidly about:
- Who should win the Royal Rumble next Sunday
- His thoughts on the new stable Social Outcasts
- The potential of Curtis Axel as “The Son of Mr. Perfect”
- Sting being announced as the first member of the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame class
- His work collecting memorabilia for the WWE for a potential physical WWE Hall of Fame
- The latest rumors swirling around about The Bullet Club heading to WWE
- If it’s too early to be inducting JBL in to the WWE Hall of Fame
- More…
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You can listen to Bill’s lastest installment of Apter’s Alley starting at the 1:10:05 minute mark in the embedded audio player below. Some of Bill’s comments have been transcribed below it:
On what’s on his mind this week in the world of pro wrestling:
BA: Listen, I’m very upset. I’m very, very, very upset. You know this is Royal Rumble season? Right? The Road to WrestleMania. Royal Rumble season. Competitors just lining up to be in the Royal Rumble. We don’t know who we are going to see. What surprises. There’s rumors going around about Nakamura and AJ Styles and Gallows and all of these people coming to the Rumble. I have finally got my rejection today! I sent them a home video of me defending the COW Championship Title. I said, “It would be a hell of a surprise for me to be in the Rumble.” I got back and I am not going to tell you who it came from but it said, “Dear Bill, keep your day job.”
Related: Bill Apter Talks The COW Championship
On whether he is surprised to see the son of Mr. Perfect Curtis Axel in a comedy group like Social Outcasts:
BA: I don’t know. I wouldn’t put that stamp of “comedy” on them. They are trying to be a group of outcasts. I don’t know if I actually look at it as “comedy.” No, I am not. They are trying everything they can to give him a place. I really think had they made him after this amount of time say, “Listen, my father was Mr. Perfect. As of tonight I am going to try and be as perfect as he was.” Let them shoot the same videos that they did with Curt Henning. At the beginning maybe he screws up what his father was able to do because no one can be as perfect as his father. There eliciting maybe some cheers but perhaps starting a winning streak with the Perfectplex. He doesn’t have that amazing finisher yet. Maybe his Dad has left him the secret of the Perfectplex.
On how he feels about Sting being announced as the first member of the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame class:
BA: I’m over the moon. Not only is he a great performer in the ring but in terms of personally he is one of the sweetest, classiest, nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. When my son was probably nine or ten he wanted to meet Sting. I remember after a very tough match my son was backstage with me. WCW used to let me bring him backstage periodically at some of the non-televised shows. He said, “Can I meet Sting?” We walked in to Sting’s dressing room and he’s sitting there on a bench totally sweated up. He was still in his trunks. He was getting ready to go in the shower. I said, “Bad time Sting?” He said, “No, who is the little fella here?” I said, “My son Brandon.” “Brandon! Come here!” Sat him next to him. Asked him everything about school. Every subject that he studies in school. Asked him about his social life. Games he likes to play. Etcetera. He took all that time and to this day my son Brandon is still texting him. They’re friends. Just an absolute, terrific kid, Sting. I’m going to tell you something that I am not sure I put in the book. When Sting won the WCW World Title… the first time we ran a big story in the magazine of course. A cover story. Two days after that hit the girl Natalie, our assistant, said, “Come out here, there’s something unusual here. They said it’s for you.” I go to the front desk and there’s a huge bouquet of flowers. HUGE bouquet of flowers. At that time he was married to this woman named Sue and it says, “Thank you for all you’ve done for my career. – Steve and Sue Borden.” It was for the whole staff. It was addressed to me but it was a bouquet of flowers. How classy. Really.
Related: Mick Foley Talks Bill Apter Helping His Career
On the story he tells in his book about working for the WWE years ago collecting memorabilia for an eventual physical WWE Hall of Fame and whether he has any updates on if one is going to be built soon:
BA: They tried it. They didn’t actually get the building up and all that kind of thing. I know the Debbie Reynolds hotel in Las Vegas was going to be a site. They had called me to possibly be the curator of the WWE Hall of Fame if it came about. I think it will happen at some point. I would love to see it. I’ve seen drawings and renderings of what they thought this might look like and, boy, I’d want to be there every day.
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