Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling welcomes the one and only “Hardcore” Bob Holly. Holly sits down with John and Chad to discuss a wide array of topics including his 15+ years in the WWE, his attempt to be cast on the History Channel’s series ALONE and how he likes to spend his free time away from the wrestling business. But we also get to a story that occurred this past June at a wrestling convention where Bob confronted Rene Dupree over Dupree’s ongoing claims that Bob mistreated and took liberties with him while they were both in WWE. It is a compelling story and shows how much of bad-ass Bob really is and that if you want a straight shoot…he isn’t hard to find.
Below are some interview highlights with an h/t to The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling for the transcription:
Recently confronting Rene Dupree at a wrestling convention:
“Rene was saying how the next time he saw me that he was going to beat me up. So, I was like Rene is here and there’s Sylvan (and I love Sylvan) so I wanted to say hi to Sylvan anyway. So when I went over there to say hi to Sylvan and Rene was standing over there with him and I can’t quite remember what Sylvan said so Rene stuck his hand out and shook my hand and thought well that is cool and I did ask Rene what is going here because I thought we were cool and that we had squashed it and talked about it and got it squared away and now all of a sudden you still have a problem with me. He just said very arrogantly: “Well I opened up this WWE magazine and I see where you are talking about and bragging about kicking me in the head.” I don’t know where he got it and why he is so stuck on this kicking him in the head thing but I said; “RENE, you know those magazines and I didn’t brag about, so you show me the magazine where I bragged about kicking you in the head because that didn’t happen.”
“I said (to him) you did say the next time you saw me that you were going to beat me up and now I said I am standing right here so what are you going to do? He didn’t even look at me and he just kind of had this smug look on his face and just filled his chest full of air and tried to bow up. Rene is a big boy and he is not small by any means and I am definitely not as big as I used to be because I am not on the gas anymore and I don’t need that stuff. I said there is nothing between you and I but air and opportunity and I said I am right here so you can beat me up or at least try and he just turned and walked out of the room. That was pretty much the end of that and that is the whole thing. I don’t know why he is so bitter and upset at everybody because I always thought he was a great talent and I always thought he was a really good heel and I enjoyed watching him and enjoyed working with him and like I said before I thought him and I had talked this whole thing out and got it in the past and he’s still harboring hard feelings.”
Working a snug and physical style in ring:
“The way I like to work is I like my stuff as believable as possible without being real. That is why I am rough but I don’t hurt anybody at the same time. I have never hurt anybody tot he point where they had miss any work whatsoever because I was rough. I’ve always taken care of everybody that I worked with and I don’t know where this whole thing is that I always took privileges with people and stuff like that and I don’t know where that came from.”
“The thing is that I welcome it back. I want people to be rough back with me because in the wrestling world if I hit you hard than you are allowed to hit me just as hard and that is just the way it is and it is a gentleman’s agreement and just the way it works. It is not right if I was rough with somebody and they got rough back with me and I got pissed off that they were too rough with me, it doesn’t work like that.”
How people still refer to the Matt Cappotelli incident in reference to his in ring style:
“The thing is I was just going out there and I was just doing what I normally do all the time. In Matt’s defense he didn’t know me and how I wrestled and I did not mean to kick him and hit him like I did because it was my boot is what got him. If you watch the film he was just flailing in the corner and it was boot that caught him. Accidents happen in wrestling and I had no intentions of going in and doing that to him whatsoever despite what people at home that sit there and think that I did it on purpose that watch. Me and Matt are cool and I hate what he is going through right now and it is a terrible thing he has to deal with because he is such a nice guy and a good person and I just hate what he is going through.”
Al Snow recently saying Bob knocked out Cappotelli during that in ring exchange:
“Al Snow did an interview on X-Pac 360 not too long ago and he basically threw me under the bus and said I just got in the ring and hauled off and just punched and cold-clocked him and knocked him completely out cold and if you go back and listen to the interview that Al did on X-Pac 360 he said I hauled off and cold-clocked him and knocked him out. I DID NOT touch him with my fist at all, I gave him a boot to the stomach and gave him a few forearms and backed him into the corner and never punched him in the face once. I don’t know where Al got that from but all of a sudden now Al is telling everybody that I cold-cocked him and I say what match was he seeing?
“You get a different perspective from everybody of how it went down and the only two people that really knew how it went down is Matt and myself and the people there watching and if it was so terribly bad than why didn’t anybody step in to stop it? That is the question I have. If what I was doing was so bad than how come Al didn’t step in? Bill Demott didn’t step in? Why didn’t anybody step in and say stop because nobody did but in the wrestling business accidents are going to happen and he’s going to get a black eye and he is going to get a bloody lip and as long as you don’t knock somebody’s teeth out and I didn’t break any bones it was a black eye and a bloody lip and that was purely an accident and it was nothing intentional.”
“Al was really upset with me about it and Bill was kind of on the fence about it and I said well why didn’t you guys step in and stop me if you guys thought it was so bad. Mind you, when I had a cracked vertebrae in my neck and when I went and did that episode for MTV I was in a lot of pain. They sent me to L.A. and than I had to go to San Antonio and I stepped in that ring because they told me to and WWE basically sent me there to get in and be part of that show and wrestle and do what I did and I got in the ring with a cracked vertebrae. People are going to get upset because I gave Matt a black eye and a bloody lip when I could have just taken one bump wrong or moved in the wrong way and could have been paralyzed just that quick and yet i still went out and did my job and never complained about it or anything. It is just funny to listen to how people get upset because somebody got a black eye and a bloody lip.”
Did he complain after Brock Lesnar broke his neck:
Not at all and when Kurt Angle broke my arm and I didn’t cry about that. Accidents happen in wrestling that is just the nature of the business and when people are going to get upset about it, why are you watching it if you are going to get upset if somebody gets a black eye? It is going to be talked about forever and I am surprised that is still brought up all the time and it was a long time ago. It sucks because when that happened I could have at that time and this is before social media started exploding, one of the writers called me at home and ( I was out 13 months with my neck surgery) it actually it was Brian Gewirtz that called me and said that I wish we could capitalize on you being out because right now you are the biggest heel we have because of the whole deal with Matt and I’m thinking my timing is horrible but it is what it is and like I’ve said after the whole thing Matt understood and he realized it wasn’t intentional and it was a total accident. Me and Matt are good and have always been cordial with each other and hell we even worked with each other after that. I don’t know why people still get upset about it because it just makes me laugh.”
Wanting to be cast on History Channel’s ALONE:
“I’m not saying that I’d get in there and kick ass and win the whole thing because you never know when you are out there what is going to happen. The concept of the show is they take 10 people and you are supposed to outlast the other 9 and you go out (into the wild) and survive. They give you ten items of your choice that you want to take with you and that is all you get. I’m a huge fan of that show so my goal is to get on that show and right now I am in the process of getting some video done for my audition tape and I am going back in the woods again to finish up. Hopefully they will pick me as one of the cast members because I promise you that some of the guys you watch on ALONE right now is just kind of hum-drum and the whole concept of the show is you having to video yourself the whole time you are out there. I honestly think that the whole wrestling world would tune in whether they like me or not I think they would tune in to see if I survived or if I would fail. I can’t guarantee that I am not going to fail but that is a chance I want to take.”
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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.
