Former WWE and UFC star Dan “The Beast” Severn” came on the In the Room podcast this past Tuesday, March 24, 2015 with wrestling journalist Brady Hicks and former WCW wrestler The Stro. This episode can be downloaded at both vocnation.com and thebradyhicks.com. Here are some highlights:
On the WWE locker room fearing him:
The first few weeks, as I’m kind of watching things unfold before me, I’m watching the talent greeting each other. And as they’re greeting each other, they either refer to one another by their first names or by their worker names. It’d be “Hey, Steve,” or “Hey, Rock” … But then each time that they’re coming [into] contact with me, it was like “How are you today, Mr. Severn?” It was always Mr. Severn. And I kept thinking … maybe they’re just kind of ribbing on me or whatever … Eventually after a few weeks of this I finally asked one of them one day when they were by themselves … He says, “You scare us. We’re afraid that you’re going to wig out in one of our matches.”
On WWE’s backstage climate:
[It was a] very impressive operation there, but what really struck me after just a few days of being at the different events, I looked at it as a glorified babysitting job for [WWE] … They wanted you to arrive so early, because I think they wanted to find out who was going to turn up missing in action, who was going to turn up under the influence of who knows that … I’m not trying to say something bad about the whole entire roster, but as a broad statement, I would say that this is true.
On the Royal Rumble “controversy”:
[One of the WWE agents] said “We could have you start losing matches.” And I said, “You could ask me to lose a match, but where does it say in my contract that I have to lose to anybody? What if I take your wacky world of fantasy, and I turn it into reality? Which one of your stars stands a snowball’s chance in hell against me?” His eyes just got so big. The Royal Rumble was coming around the corner, and it even crossed my mind, what if I approached Ted Turner [and] Eric Bischoff, and said “Hey guys, I’m going to be in the Royal Rumble. It’s a live pay-per-view … And when it comes time for me to have to exit the ring, [what if] I turn fantasy into reality and I clear the ring … and all I have to do is wait every 90 seconds for [WWE] to send me some fresh meat?”
Plus, The Beast offered his thoughts on Brock Lesnar’s choice to re-sign with WWE, compared the effects on the body of MMA and wrestling, explained his decision to pursue a career in both, and pondered how he would fare in today’s UFC. He also talked about his leverage in WWE (being able to leave for WCW at any time), clashes with WWE creative, hanging with Stu Hart, having Bill Goldberg thank him, people being afraid of him on the street, and emerging from the fighting world with his health and looks.
In the Room airs live, weekly, Tuesday nights at 9 PM ET on the VOC Nation Radio Network. The show is also available via iTunes.
