During the 6/11 episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE star John Heidenreich shares what he is doing now, his health, the infamous segment with Michael Cole and what led to his release.
On life after wrestling – currently working at Walmart:
“When that photo emerged of you working in Walmart, there was so much love that poured in for you, and people were so happy to see you doing well. Did you see the reaction to that?
“No, I didn’t really. I didn’t see it when it happened. These kids, I call them kids, kids that I’ve known from working the indies, they started messaging me and calling me about it. ‘Have you seen the internet?’ So I don’t really do that. Then I found out from them, and then the guy who posted it, Wade, he handed me a piece of paper, I think [it was] your contact. Then someone was saying, ‘Man, he’s been saying he wanted to interview you for a while now. He wondered what happened to you, like, where is he at? Is he lost or MIA or something?’”
On a co-worker taking a picture with him:
“Yeah, he’s actually on the renovation team that travels around, but he was there for a couple of months. He’s coming back. He’s from Ohio.”
On living in New Orleans and life at Walmart:
“The Big Easy is Heidenreich’s town. I’m part of one of the many people from here. But yeah, I saw he was from Ohio, and asked him if he knew about Ohio Valley Wrestling, and he says yeah. He was a wrestling fan, and I told him some stuff I did, and he left that night, and I think he said he didn’t really believe me that I was saying I did all this stuff, but he looked it up, and then he was like, this dude’s Heidenreich!? I remember you! He said, ‘I got an action figure, you gonna sign it for me?’ I was like, yeah, of course, that’s cool. He’s like, why don’t you tell me? I’m like, well I don’t unless wrestling comes up. Then a bunch of his buddies found out, they were telling him, why didn’t you tell us that he was a wrestler, man? They all have action figures, too. When my coworkers found out, one of the guys, Larry, found out at Walmart, he was shouting at everybody, ‘You know who this guy is? You’re like a legend, man!’ I guess so. They’re always messing with us, ‘That’s our superstar wrestler!’ But they’re cool. A lot of people like wrestling, man.”
What his job is at Walmart:
“I put out freight at night.”
On how is health is currently doing:
“I mean, I had some heart issues. But my blood pressure’s down and my weight’s down. I’m not doing anything crazy like I used to do a long time ago. So, considering all the sports I did my whole life, I’m in good shape. I mean, they say I need to replace my left knee, because I had to reconstruct it, and I have degenerative arthritis everywhere. Like I told you, the bone spurs in my spine. I don’t think they removed any, they said don’t wrestle anymore. That was from car wrecks, football, wrestling, because I was in sports when I was six years old. Then football is pretty violent, and wrestling is too, so I mean, my health, I’m beat up, but I’m not overweight. I would like to start getting in a regular training deal again. I was riding my bike around for transportation and travel, but it’s too dangerous if you, I crashed twice and broke a bunch of stuff, and that’s not cool. I gave up to two wheel anythings.”
20 years later, on how he feels about the Michael Cole segment?
“It’ll always be disturbing, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, it was brought to me, I don’t remember particulars, but I do remember thinking, man, this is really off the wall. When you’re training to do vignettes and practicing in Louisville, you don’t practice for a vignette like that.”
On what the pitch for the segment was:
“Well, I mean, they said I was gonna abduct him, and bring him to the back, and then put him in a room. Then I think it was like you’re gonna act like you were like watching him, and you’re going one place with it. It’s like you’re going like it, and then you say, I’m gonna give you a poem. But it sounds like I’m gonna give him something other than a poem. I don’t know if it’s innuendos and stuff when you say it, ‘I’ve been watching you, I know what you want, and I’m gonna give it to you.’ But I look back and all the things that have been said about all these years, it’s kind of made me infamous, more than famous. But it’s disturbing still, and it’s weird.”
Understood there was some innuendo, but looks plain as day as to what the angle was supposed to be:
“Yeah, for sure, man. But I mean, when they bring it to you, I’m not gonna say no. Like when they said you’re gonna be with Legion of Doom, I’m like, all right. Whatever they bring to you, that’s where I was. If they told me to do a backstage thing or do this, and not like killing somebody or something, where you have to go to jail. I would do it, I’m gonna do it the best I can.”
On how did Michael Cole felt about the segment:
“I guess he was kind of like, this is weird, and joking around. But he wasn’t like I didn’t like it, off-put or not wanting to do it. I mean, I could tell he was down for whatever. It’s like we’re working together, right? It’s a scene, and we’re building a story. He was whimpering. I mean, even though it was disturbing and weird and bizarre, I would have never come up with that on my own. I think it helped. That thing made me more memorable. People will never forget that.”
If he has any regrets about the segment:
“No. I think I did the best performance, I guess. I liked it the way it ended. He was about to leave, I said, “You’re going to thank me? It was a poem by Heidenreich. I thought it was cool. I ended up calling them disaster pieces after a while, because I figured they’re so bad instead of masterpieces, but yeah, I mean, I like the character Heidenreich. Always in my mind, I thought I would go back. I had an idea to come back. I didn’t even think about telling you this. I never went back, but I wanted to. I just probably just didn’t know how to approach it to do it. If I would have went back, could I say the idea I always thought about? I thought they would show from my perspective, somebody watching Vince, almost stalking him, and whatnot, but never show it’s me. Eventually I abduct him from the show. I take him and I put him in a trunk, and I bring him to a building, and they still don’t know. He’s missing, and then eventually I have him chained a building with a light or something, low light. Then I walk up, and you see the red gloves, and then I read him a poem. My thing is, you cut me, you took my life from me, you took my world. That was my world, and I was gonna abduct him and make him pay, and I guess try to make him re-sign me or something, but it was gonna be kind of outside, not just getting back to wrestling, being like he robbed me of everything. Because it was a big thing.”
On what led to his release:
“Some of it was my bad decisions at the time. I was showing up late for some shows. I guess it was mostly me probably being late. I would say that it was my bad. I didn’t realize how lucky I was, and the opportunity I had at the time. I mean, my worked my whole life to make it a football, I really didn’t make it to that level. I get in wrestling and get to that level, and here I am. I was doing Legion of Doom, we had the belts, I think we maybe dropped them, but still a top spot, bro. I had an ear infection issue where I couldn’t wrestle, but that wasn’t the reason they sent me home and released me a couple days after that. It was a built up of probably me being stupid and then them probably thinking, man, this guy’s out of hand. Maybe release him and get he either gets himself straight and comes back, which I never really tried to go back. A bunch of times people would tell me you need to go to this house show or show and talk to somebody, and I think my pride was too big, stupid...some drug use, and basically that would cause me to be late. Sometimes I would miss my flight and have to buy another flight to get there. But I was never messed up at the building where I screwed up in a match, but at home, I may have stayed out at night. The night before I was going to travel, I’d go out and I stay out all night, and then I’d come home, I’d be like trying to get ready and I’d fall asleep or something.”
How long has he been clean now?
“About 10 years, probably at least. Pain pills was a terrible addiction. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. I started out taking them. I was hurt. I didn’t want to get into taking them all the time.”
All quotes are courtesy of Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
Heidenreich also talks on his poetry gimmick, John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, Paul Heyman, Undertaker and more!
You can watch the full episode below: