Exclusive With Pete Gas, Talks Posse, Chyna and Partying In WWE

 
 
I grew up on WWE’s acclaimed “Attitude Era.” Monday nights were must see TV at the time and Shane McMahon was one of my favorite personalities on the show each week. When he was given the opportunity to expand his character by bringing in his lifelong friends, the Mean Street Posse, it put him over the top. I recently had the chance to interview a former WWE Hardcore champion and member of the Mean Street Posse, Pete Gas. His recently published book “Looking at the Lights” is a wonderful read, wrestling fan or not.

 

The journey of the Mean Street Posse story is one of the most unique in wrestling history. What made you want to tell your story in the first place?
I always felt that a lot of the fans looked down on the Mean Street Posse and said we were riding the coattails of the McMahon family, when that really wasn’t the case. We got our opportunity from them, obviously. But the fact of the matter is, it was only supposed to be for a couple of weeks. Then they saw the reaction from the crowd and Vince McMahon is all about giving the crowd a reaction. That’s why we’re in business, that’s why we wrestle, that’s why you entertain…to get a reaction. Whether they’re booing you or cheering you. And we were able to do that. So they knew they had something with us and asked us to go on further than those couple of weeks that we were doing it and it just evolved. The truth of the matter is and what the fans don’t realize is that if we sucked, we would have been gone after a couple of weeks. But we were getting that reaction from the crowd and then they decided that they should bring us on full time. That’s when we had to start learning how to wrestle. It was all backwards. We were literally being thrown in there with the best in the business and they say, “Don’t kill yourselves.”

I can’t imagine what that must have felt like.
Any fan that really watches the show has thought, “Jeez, I wonder what it would be like to wrestle The Rock, or be in front of that crowd going crazy with a million signs being held up in the arenas.” We lived that. We lived their dreams literally, because we were fans, just like the people at home. 
Tell me about the process for writing this book. How long did it take you?

17 years. (Laughs) I always knew I wanted to write the book but I just never knew how to get started. Then Jon Robinson, who wrote the book with me, was writing a book about the Attitude Era at the time. The WWE called me and said Jon would like to hear a couple of stories about life on the road. I’m telling him my stories and he’s laughing his ass off. He said, “You should write your own book.” I told him it’s funny you say that because I’ve always wanted to but never knew how to start. He said, “Let me finish this book, and then I have to write a book on the Ultimate Warrior. Then we’ll get started.” That was two years ago in January and we’re here today and it’s done.
What’s your favorite match you’ve ever been a part of?
That has to be the 15 man battle royal at WrestleMania, where I actually win the (hardcore) belt for 30 seconds before Taz takes it away from me. 
What match got you hooked on wrestling when you were younger?
The match that got me hooked was when Hulk Hogan slammed Andre in the Pontiac Silverdome at Wrestle Mania 3. That’s when I really knew. The crowd just went bonkers. That had me hooked right there.
You mention Chyna and how much of a sweetheart she was in Chapter 3. With Mania and the Hall of Fame right around the corner, do you think she should have been inducted into the Hall this year? Do you think they’ll ever induct her?
I think they will. I just think it’s too soon to induct her from the viewpoint of how she passed and it’s sad that she had her demons. She didn’t have an easy life, but her happiest times were when she was at the peak of her career in WWE. You could just see it. When she first got there I heard she was teased and mimicked and made fun of and that bullying stuff is not cool. Then everyone learned to accept her for who she was….a great talent. When she left, well that was her life. This business is very addicting. You can easily get attached to being loved or hated by the crowd and getting that reaction. It’s a drug, it really is. When it’s taken away from you it’s kind of devastating. But she was a great person, always had a smile on her face backstage. I think she will make it one day. They have their reason for why they do things; they have an image to uphold. I know that little kids will google her once she gets inducted and unfortunately they’re going to see some things on there about her past that the WWE wouldn’t exactly want to be in sync with. You know what I mean?
Throughout the book you tell about how you’re good friends with Prince Albert (Matt Bloom) – Have you ever gone to the performance center to see him?
I have, I went this past November. I took my wife to Florida for her birthday to get away from the cold weather. Just a weekend thing; to do something different. I thought about where I wanted to take her and I thought lets go to Orlando to see Matt and Farah, who is Matt’s wife. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking of how my wife is now a huge wrestling fan as well and how she would love to see the performance center. So I told Matt we were coming into town and we went to dinner with Scottty 2 Hotty, Matt and his wife. Before dinner Matt gave me a tour of the performance center and my jaw just dropped. They have everything you could ask for. It’s beyond first class. It’s the equivalent of having a private jet. There’s no excuse to not get better in there. If you’re not getting better in that Performance Center, there’s something wrong. To be honest with you, if you look at the NXT guys, they’re great. They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. They have such great trainers. They have Matt, Steven Regal, Robby Brookside and Scotty 2 Hotty. These guys have so much knowledge and experience. On top of that, they have all the best, state of the art equipment. They learn to do promos; they even have ramps for them to practice their ring entrances and walking. It’s just phenomenal. I can’t even stress how great that place is. We got sent to Memphis, Tennessee when we first started training. We were in a backyard with dead mice on the ring and rusted out gym equipment. It was just a terrible situation. Steven Regal saw the dead mice and said, “We’re not working here.” Vince ended up getting us a warehouse and he put a couple of rings in. One of the rings in there was the Andre the Giant’s ring, which was extra-enforced. That thing was like wrestling on concrete. It had no give to it and you really got hurt when you tried to wrestle in it.    
At the end of chapter 4 you talk about good heel heat and fans even punching you. Were there ever any altercations with fans like that where you actually feared for your life?
No, it was never like that. But it definitely was to the point where people wanted to fight. People literally believed the gimmick, which is a testament to us. Again, for people to literally want to fight you, that’s exactly what you want. That’s the reaction all the heels want. They want people to want to fight them.   
How was the Rock in the ring?
The Rock is a true professional. I can totally see why this guy is so successful. He’s unbelievable to work with and he’s an absolute perfectionist. I actually took the very first Rock Bottom on the very first episode of SmackDown. We went over it and he made sure we looked good and did things right. I was to throw a punch to his head and he’d tilt to the side and let me miss. Then he’d hook me for the Rock Bottom and he’d give me a little pinch on my side with his fingers as a que to jump.  He’d kick my legs out and give me the Rock Bottom. It was phenomenal. I loved working with him and wish we could have worked with him more but when we did it was always a pleasure. It was so much fun and the crowd was always electric.
In chapter 8, you talked about the combination of life on the road, steroids and drugs possibly taking the lives of many wrestlers. Is the health and wellness policy we see today a direct effect of some of the Attitude Era stars lifestyles?
Oh, without question. There are certain types of pain pills that wrestlers aren’t allowed to take anymore. There is a very strict policy now and it’s a great thing. A lot of guys are so much more worried about their bodies and so much more conscious about what they put in their systems because they don’t want to get suspended. It’s a great thing, what they’re doing. 
I know a lot of guys now are more the video game, comic book type….Not exactly partiers. How was it back in the attitude era after the shows? I imagine the Wild West.
Actually there was a lot of video game playing. There was a lot of dominos playing, which is what I used to do with the Godfather. I was told before my time there; for example during the Ric Flair days, that they would go out to a local bar after a show, drink, pick up some ring rats, have their way with them and have a good time. I remember a lot of times playing dominos and looking over at another table and there would be guys investing money on their laptops and checking their stocks and stuff like that. It’s definitely changed for the better. 
You, Rodney and Joey Abs all won and lost the hardcore title at WrestleMania 16. Would you like to see that division or that title make a comeback?
I think that they’re trying to get away from that. They’re much more kid friendly now than they were during that era. Back in that era it was college kids drinking beers, watching the show and going out to a bar after Raw or SmackDown. Now you got kids in the crowd much more-so. There was a period before the attitude where it was mostly kids. Then it became the attitude era came and you had girls flashing the cameras in the crowd, doctors watching, lawyers watching, every type of person and profession was watching. It was a different time but now it’s back to being that kid friendly show and the last thing they want to do is implement using chairs a lot and going through tables a lot. Especially chair shots to the head. They don’t do that anymore. 
Being sent to Memphis and Puerto Rico was definitely a step down from being the highest rated segment in Monday Night Raw history. Why do you think they sent you down?
In the beginning we were just told to work on a new gimmick and someday they’d bring us back, split up as singles wrestlers going forward. We had to come up with gimmicks. We were working in Memphis on those gimmicks and working singles matches. I got word that I was being transferred to Puerto Rico. In fact, I did Jim Ross’ podcast a few weeks ago and finally got the chance to ask him why I was sent there and Rodney and Joey Abs stayed in Memphis. It wasn’t just them that stayed, it was Daniel Bryan, Lance Cade, the Haas Brothers, all those guys were there and they only sent me to Puerto Rico. Jim told me they wanted to increase my training because I was working with the same guys over and over again in Memphis. They saw the ability to make money with me because of my size, clean cut look and the way I was working. They saw something in me. It was always an open end in my life that I really didn’t have any closure on.  He really helped me with that closure that night and I’m so glad I asked him that because I’m sure I’d still be wondering why to this day.
After they wanted to release you from Puerto Rico, why didn’t you go to Japan like they had suggested?
I got a phone call from JR’s assistant, and he told me that I’ve been released, but they’re going to put me in touch with Dr. Death, who was in Japan. He was going to get me some work there. I was ready to go. I would have gone straight from Puerto Rico but I never got the phone call. So, there wasn’t a lot to do. There were independent promotions and stuff but when 9-11 hit, that was the end of it. There was nowhere to go. A lot of places were closing up and not many people were spending money.
I saw an episode of Raw where you won the Hardcore Title at the Newark airport. Tell me about that experience.
I don’t know how we got away with that. We used an empty baggage claim area that nobody was using at the time. There must have been no flights coming in. I don’t know how they let us do it, but we did. We had a hardcore title match right there. Crash (Holly) hit me in the back of the head with that scale he used to carry around. After that he slid down a luggage chute and escaped. (Laughs) We didn’t need much clearance back then.
Who do you like the most on the current roster now?
In NXT I have a few. I love Bobby Rude and No Way Jose is awesome. Bobby Roode is a phenomenal heel and there’s no reason for him not to get called up. In WWE, it’s AJ Styles. He’s got everything, he can make anyone look great and he’s just got it all. He doesn’t have a bad match.
With Shane McMahon back in the spotlight again on SmackDown Live, is it out of the realm of possibility to believe a Mean Street Posse return is around the corner? Does Shane ever hint at it?
No. Shane’s not in control of that. He’s not doing any of that decision making. If he was, you may see us. I don’t see it happening so I wouldn’t even think of it. If there were to be a return, I think the only member of the Posse to come back would probably be me. I would love to come back. He knows I’d be back in a heartbeat and it sure as hell wouldn’t hurt the book sales!

An Interview By: Philip Meraglia
You can follow Phil on Twitter at @phillyb1313