Tool guitarist and noted wrestling fan Adam Jones recently spoke with Rolling Stone‘s James Montgomery, discuss his love for pro wrestling, hanging out with Triple H, attending NXT shows, and much more. You can read a few excerpts below:
Adam Jones explains how he became a wrestling fan:
I lived in the suburbs of Chicago, in Libertyville, so I didn’t get too much exposure to it except through UHF channels. I would watch some local stuff, but they would come and go so often that I don’t really remember what I was watching – it’s like how a record label changes hands all the time; I can’t even tell you what record label we’re on right now! I grew up with WWF, now WWE – it was one of my outlets; I was into horror movies and creepy comics, but also sports, so wrestling kind of had it all. And a lot of times there was blood!
As I got older, my interests expanded to include makeup effects and music, but wrestling truly makes me feel like a little kid. For a long time I kept it personal. You know, I wouldn’t tell people I was into it – but now that I’m older, I don’t give a shit what people think about me. A lot of my friends give me shit – “Why don’t you watch UFC? It’s real” – but I tell them, “Look, what these guys do is exciting! It’s entertainment!” No one is going to hit anyone with a chair in UFC.
Jones talks about not picking favorites, or over criticizing the wrestling product:
That’s the thing; I don’t really have favorite wrestlers. When I see a guy who is up-and-coming, that’s really exciting, but I really enjoy the vibe more than anything. I can say, “Randy Savage is the best shit-talker ever,” or “CM Punk is great,” and on and on, but it’s hard for me to pin down one wrestler.
Honestly, no. It’s like when I go see a movie. My friends won’t even ask me what I think about it, because I always just say, “It was good!” People will criticize everything about it, but I’m always like, “Hey, it’s better than your movie.” Everyone is so jaded, but when I was 12, I wasn’t analyzing everything. It’s like, “Hey, just be entertained for a while. Not everything needs to be Star Wars.” I love it when they find some weird guy from Mexico, or, you know, bring back some really famous guy – like when Shane McMahon came back, that was a great moment! I’m friends with Lita, and when Shane-O Mac showed up on Raw, she was like “Did you see Shane? That was so great!” I just really enjoy the things I like, including wresting, because they all inspire me to be creative.
Adam Jones explains the feeling of playing the national anthem at WWE Summerslam:
Doing the national anthem at SummerSlam was honestly the most frightening thing I’ve ever done. [Tool] played Bonnaroo, and there were like 800,000 people there – it was a fucking sea of people, and I was like, “No problem! Let’s do it!” But going out on live TV, at a WWE event being broadcast all over the world, where the guys behind the scenes aren’t really directing you, they’re kind of just shoving you out like “OK, go, go, go,” it was hardcore, man. Plus, you know, it was in L.A., Billy Gibbons was there, all these famous people were there; it was something.
