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DVD Review:
Derek Burgan reviews Shoot Interview with Bad News Allen

 
The interviewers for this shoot were RF Video's Doug Gentry and Rob Feinstein.

First topic that was discussed was Bad News training for the Olympics back in the mid '60s. Allen said that if he could have made money in the world of judo he never would have gone into wrestling. Allen's coach at the time suggested wrestling as a revenue source, but Bad News laughed off the idea saying, "I don't want to do that phony baloney stuff." Eventually Allen decided that eating was more important than whether or not wrestling was legit, so he went to Japan to train. This was pretty interesting as Allen described the day in a life of a Japanese pro-wrestler and it was straight out of some Army boot camp. Allen earned the respect of the Japanese by being the first one into the dojo and the last one to leave. Because he was such a natural athlete and bumping came easy to him, Allen was also immediately used to stretch out the young kids to teach them wrestling isn't a game.

The biggest difference between the American wrestling scene and Japan? Allen feels it is the dishonesty in America as everything in Japan is based on the concept of respect. Well, I can imagine that would be pretty eye opening. Allen went into the politics in Japanese wrestling at the time while also discussing how well the heels were treated thanks the Japanese mafia having such an influence over the sport. Allen said that when he went back to Canada and saw how poorly Christ Benoit was being treated by the Hart family, he asked Antonio Inoki to take Benoit to Japan. We all know what happened from there.

Throughout the shoot, Bad News would give his thoughts on wrestlers who were around during the era he wrestled in, including putting over Andre the Giant as being one hell of a worker until injuries got the best of him. Bad News actually had a lot of good Andre stories including one incredible one which Andre
was making racist remarks while a bunch of wrestlers were on a bus. Seriously, picture this as Hulk Hogan was sitting behind Bad News on the bus and other guys there included Chavo Guererro Sr., Stand Hansen, and the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. Anyway, Allen yelled to Andre, "Giant! You watch your mouth!" Andre responded, "Bad News!" Allen turned around, "Yeah?"

"Go fuck yourself."

OH~!~! That's one Andre story that Lord Alfred Hayes forgot to mention on Andre's DVD.

Bad News made the bus driver stop the bus and challenged Andre to step outside the bus and say that again to his face. Andre never came out. The next day a still-pissed Bad News confronted Andre at the hotel they were staying at and said that he didn't appreciate what the Giant said that he better not hear anything like it again. Andre apologized, but there was tension between the two men for years afterwards until the hatchet was finally buried before Andre passed away.

Allen compared Vince McMahon Sr. with his son and explained that when Vince Sr. shook your hand, he kept his work. Shockingly, Vince Jr. doesn't. It's not like we haven't heard that a thousand times, although the more I hear and read about Vince Sr., the more I think he must have been one hell of a guy, especially in this business. Bad News discussed going to Los Angeles and working for Gene Lebel while saying the Guererro family was nothing
but a bunch of "egos, egos, egos." Bad News said that while Eddie Guerreo turned out good, "his older three brothers were all jerks." Bad News gave his thoughts on a ton of guys around at that time including Bill Eadie (the Masked Superstar), Jim Duggan, Freddie Blassie and Dick Murdoch. Allen couldn't stand Dick Murdoch because he was such a racist. Allen needs to watch The Wrestler DVD to at least see one good side of Murdoch.

"In the dictionary under dysfunctional, you'll find their picture" is how Allen described the Hart family. Like Ric Flair, Allen said that "if you see one Bret Hart match, you've seen them all." Rob Feinstein told Bad News that Bret Hart said in his shoot that Bad News wouldn’t sell for Hart during their matches. Allen said that the reality was that if Bret didn't make a move appear to hit him, he wasn't going to sell it. Allen said that "everything Dynamite Kid said in the book was true." This was referring to the book Pure Dynamite, that was particulary scathing to several wrestlers, including Bret Hart. Allen went on to say that he and Bret Hart invented the ladder match while together in Stampede.

The Andre the Giant shit story: Oh man, another wonderful Andre story came when Bad News talked about a time that the Giant was sick, but also had been drinking heavily all day long. The two had a match and Andre threw Bad News into the corner while saying, "Big ass, boss." This meant a splash in the corner. Once Andre hit Bad News with the splash he involuntarily lost control of his bowels. Okay, that's gross. Bad News went immediately to the shower and was completely disgusted, although it didn't add any heat to their "feud" because he knew Andre was sick and it wasn't intentional.


Bad News went on to completely bury Mike Shaw (also known as Bastian Booger and Norman the Lunatic), saying that in Stampede Shaw was a total stooge for Stu Hart and that "If you kicked Stu in the nuts, you'd break Mike's nose." Allen said that in Stampede Chris Benoit was a dedicated worker and that everyone there was jealous of Benoit's talent. Allen also put over Dynamite Kid as being the best wrestler he ever saw. I have to admit, seeing Stampede
stuff on the new Bret Hart DVD set was all kinds of awesome.

"This guy's a total moron." Bad News on Lex Luger.

Owen Hart: At first Allen hated working with Owen, but Bad News said Owen smartened up after his second run with WWE and became a "really good guy." During Owen's first run, Allen said he was totally oblivious and told a story about how Owen would get immediately up and play to the crowd after taking Allen's finishing move, the Ghetto Blaster. As you can imagine, this did not make Allen happy at all.

"Another one who is crazy." Bad News on Cpl. Kirshner.

While discussing his WWE run in the '80s, Bad News talked about Vince McMahon Jr. telling Allen that he wanted to put the strap on Allen "but the office talked me out of it." 20 years later I think I can still see Bad News' eyes rolling at that one. Allen was asked about the rumor that Inoki offered Allen two million dollars to break Hogan's leg during a match. Bad News' answer reply was, "What?!"

"A mess." Bad News on Junkyard Dog.

Allen went into the drug scene that was going on in WWE during the '80s and talked about the various managers that were around at the time as well. Allen discussed the Ultimate Warrior, saying that Warrior hated wrestling despite making so much money off it. Allen talked about doing ten minute dark matches with Warrior before Warrior hit it big and that after the matches Warrior would be gasping for air while needing help to the back. It is interesting to note that even though Warrior and Vince McMahon would later sue each other over the rights to the name "Ultimate Warrior," Bad News had been using the name for years while in Canada. Unfortunately, that was back when wrestlers rarely trademarked anything. Allen also had some interesting stories with Randy "the Macho Man" Savage, including one that had Savage potato'ing Allen in the ring. Bad News responded with a stiff clothesline to Savage's neck that "almost killed him." Bad News described Savage as a very paranoid person, but the more I see and hear about the reality of wrestling, the more I think I would be paranoid as well.

Allen put over Big John Studd as a good guy in the business and said "without a doubt" that Haku was the toughest. Allen gave another  side to the story that Dynamite Kid talked about in his book concerning the time one of the Rougeau brothers sucker punched Dynamite. The Rougeau's were suspended for that hit and when they came back they shook the hand of everyone in the locker room. When they got to Allen he said "Get the fuck away from me." Allen also told a hilarious story of Adrian Adonis leaving a rental car on a train track that led to no more rental cars for any "Titan Sports" employees.

"Total asshole." Bad News on Big Van Vader.

Allen hated working with Roddy Piper and flat out called Hot Rod a racist. Bad News loved working with Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Allen's wife hated Jake and his gimmick. Bad News talked about the up and coming Harry Smith and said that Harry's biggest problem is that he hangs around Teddy Hart. Allen said he is eventually going to release his own book but has to edit it down first and his biggest regret is that he never got to see his kids grow up, which seems to be a common regret for people in the business.

Overall Thoughts: This was a fantastic TWO DISC shoot interview and my review only covers a fraction of everything that Allen went into. From the grueling training for the Olympic team, to working in Japan, Stampede, and WWE, to stuff that happened recently such as the Montreal Incident and the sale of WCW to McMahon, Allen has an opinion or story for everything. Bad News holds nothing back and I can't help but be amazed by his frank criticisms of many wrestlers over the past twenty plus years. Dave Meltzer constantly puts over what a great talker Bad News Allen is and after watching this shoot interview, I couldn’t agree more. Allen is very talkative and constantly steers the shoot into an interesting direction. If you would like this DVD Click HERE, or head on over to www.RFVideo.com and check out all the DVD releases they have to offer.

Special Thanks to Keith Lipinski for his help with this review.

Derek Burgan can be seen wasting everyone's time with wrestling DVD and comic book reviews over at Wrestling Observer and the world famous Wrestling Enjoyment Index at Figure Four Weekly online~! Don't forget about his Opinion Pieces at World Wrestling Insanity and goofiness at WrestleCrap as well. Whew! Derek can be reached at: derek@gumgod.com

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TWF FLASHBACK

November 2006

SATIRE: DISCONTINUED WWE XMAS PRODUCTS!

by Sean Carless

With Christmas just around the corner, what better way to spend your few remaining dollars (left over after the seemingly infinite line-up of fucking pay-per-views ) then on the following "quality WWE merchandise!" After all, if they don't move this stuff, and fast, stockholders just might get time to figure out what "plummeting domestic buyrates" means!... and well, I don't think they need to tell you what that means! (Seriously. They're not telling you. Everything is fine! Ahem.).