BG James interview

[Guest MideonMark]

In one of the most entertaining 45 minutes The Interactive Interview has ever offered, BG James (the former WWE’s Road Dogg Jesse James) takes the time out to talk to us in a truly interactive experience.

 

BG James

 

-- BG starts out by saying to check out the TNA PPV this week where he and a fellow 3LK member takes on 3 other teams for the #1 Tag Team Contendership. If you’re reading this after the 17th, you can either check out the replay or pick up a tape of it as it will be a big one for BG and other TII past guests Konnan & Killings.

 

-- Brian was trained when he was just 14/15 by Tommy Rich, Scott, Steve & Brad Armstrong.

 

-- His father, Bullet Bob Armstrong, discouraged him from entering the wrestling business, and BG now understands why.

 

-- He fought in Desert Storm and is glued to the TV to watch the troops in Iraq. He sometimes remembers what he went through when he was fighting, and wishes he were there.

 

-- Smokey Mountain was “awesome”, but Jim Cornette never paid the cheques he wrote. That was pretty much where he got all of his in-ring training.

 

-- He called the Roadie character the “best gig in wrestling”. BG felt it was easy work and that he and Jeff had some legit heat when nobody else did.

 

-- Jeff Jarrett came up with the Road Dogg name just by saying “the old Road Dogg”. Jesse James was a name which was bantered about, and the New Age Outlaw was a name he wanted to use.

 

-- The ‘New Double J’ gimmick was one he really hated doing. The crowd didn’t want a babyface who sung country music, so he told Vince his thoughts and asked to be turned heel.

 

-- When Billy Gunn was the Rockabilly and he was the ‘real’ Double J, they decided that putting them two together would be a good idea since nothing was really being done with either of them. And Southern Justice (later known as the New Age Outlaws) was born.

 

-- Brian says he hasn’t spoken to Billy since he left the WWE. He says he’s not a computer guy so he doesn’t use the computer or text, which makes him a pretty hard guy to get in touch with.

 

-- Working LOD was a great experience for him. Getting to work them, win the titles from them and even shave one of their heads was in his mind the “elbow brush of success”.

 

-- Hunter and X-Pac approached him about joining D-X. There were plans to make himself and Billy the tag champs anyway, and when HHH asked BG to work alongside him he knew it’d be a great idea as “Hunter would always be in a great spot”.

 

-- If D-X was to be brought back, it would be totally dependant on them if it were to fail or succeed. BG feels that the viewers just aren’t there at the moment to do something as big as a return of D-X. Timing wise, he feels it would be a bad idea to reform.

 

-- Doing the whole “D-X Invades WCW” angle was fun for him to do, and they almost got arrested numerous times, as WCW would keep calling the cops. Back then D-X produced their own stuff.

 

-- When the Nation parody was recalled he felt that they didn’t know how it was going to come off. They didn’t want it to be too ‘racy’, and he portrayed D’Lo Brown, but they felt it came off well.

 

-- Before the Dumpster match at WrestleMania 14, BG sat backstage with Billy Gunn and they said they’d beat the hell out of Terry Funk. However, when they got out there the boot was on the other foot.

 

-- BG also told Mick Foley to hit him with a chair shot to end the match, a chair shot so hard that it would knock him out. The finish was Road Dogg falling into the Dumpster, and it was a very hard chair shot but didn’t quite knock him out.

 

-- The idea of making the WM14 Dumpster Match a Barbed Wire match was tossed about, but BG and Billy both were against the idea due to the fact that it would limit the match. In addition, “Barbed Wire sticks in your skin and HURTS REAL BAD”.

 

-- BG then talks about his stint as the Hardcore champ.

 

-- He remembers a time back when he was new and he was scheduled to go over Al Snow. BG didn’t feel worthy of going over him so early in his career, and Al planned the match out and put him over in the middle of the ring.

 

-- Daniel brings up how he’s worked in the United Kingdom before, and Brian speaks on how

 

-- He then talks of a story of when he wrestled Bradshaw at Survivor Series once and was knocked out by him twice in one match – once from a Clothesline, and once from a Powerbomb. BG says how great a person Bradshaw is though.

 

-- Originally when himself and X-Pac went over The Dudleys in a Table match the plan was for the Dudleys to win the match. However, X-Pac felt that since he and BG were the finish end of D-X, they should go over and ended up getting the finish of the match changed so they won.

 

-- BG then explained why he doesn’t know if Hunter has changed as a person, but tells a story about back when he started using drugs and how much Hunter frowned on him for that. Brian says at that time he needed a friend, not somebody to look down on him. He also explains how he was lucky to become an extended version of the Kliq when he first joined, and how they were “large and in charge”.

 

-- On December 20th 2000 a message was placed on WWF.com about how he had been suspended from the company. At that time he had been released by WWE. James then says how mad he gets thinking about the way Jim Ross released him, and calls Ross a liar – and he doesn’t like liars, because when BG says something he means it. However, if he hadn’t been released and rehabilitated, he felt that he would end up a statistic and kill himself through drugs.

 

-- When asked if he ever lost his love for the business, he says yes – he has. However, he says he’s gaining some of his ‘like’ back for it.

 

-- He worked Zach Gowen when he was in NWA:TNA, and he loved not only working with him, but also the fact that a few weeks after working with Zach in TNA, he was on WWE working with Hogan and Piper.

 

-- BG says he really loved doing all of his 3 Live Kru skits, but felt that his earlier ones were funniest. The ‘weekday updates’ were a highlight, but he thought that towards the end it was time to just start wrestling – but he’d much rather do comedy skits than get hit in the head with chairs.