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SCOTT HUDSON INTERVIEW ONLINE |
Scott Hudson is quite frankly one of my favorite wrestling
announcers of all time. He'll always have a warm spot in my heart for his
work with the Global Wrestling Federation of the early '90's and has gone
on to work for WCW and TNA as well.
In this interview, my appreciation for Mr. Hudson shines
through as he congratulates and thanks us for an interview that isn't what
the other guys do, "What was Sting really like?" Trust me, you'll enjoy listening
to this one!
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SCOTT
HUDSON
-- Scott was a
big wrestling fan growing up. Scott just turned 39-years-old last weekend
so his days of watching wrestling goes back to 1970. One of his favorites
back then was Bob Armstrong.
-- Scott has a
collection of degrees. Other than an announcer, he's a Criminal Investigator
for the Federal Government. So, he has several degrees in terms of criminal
justice but he has none in terms of broadcasting. He feels you learn broadcasting
on the more than anywhere else. He was a DJ in college, though.
-- He feels the
Global Wrestling Federation was one of the biggest missed opportunities of
professional wrestling. He feels it hit when wrestling was in a popularity
valley. If it would've come in 1987 or 1997, it would've worked. But, it
was when wrestling was in a popularity valley and it failed.
-- One thing that
made Global different from other groups was they didn't kayfabe you as much
as the WWF and WCW were doing at the time. Many recall the early 90's WWF
being very cartoon like and he feels Global was smarter. He says they would
give you facts about the performer's history in sports or Japan well before
that was done anywhere else.
-- Joe Pedicino
treated him very well in Global. He credits Pedicino for giving him his first
break. He went to an independent show in Georgia and they had a guy doing
the announcing that wasn't very good. Scott approached Pedicino and offered
to be his announcer for no pay and Pedicino hired him. Scott spoke to Pedicino
as recently as last night. After every NWA TNA pay per view he speaks with
Pedicino to get his opinion and take on the product.
-- The reason why
Scott left Global was because originally the GWF was based out of Atlanta.
Many thought it was based out of Dallas because the television tapings were
done there in the Sportitorium but it was really out of Atlanta. It became
a cost cutting problem in that they didn't want to pay to fly people from
Atlanta to Dallas so they only used Dallas based talent which left Hudson,
Pedicino, Buff Bagwell, and Scott Levy (Raven) out.
-- In between GWF
and WCW, he announced for the North Georgia Wrestling Alliance. It was himself
and former ECW personality Steve Prasac. He said it was fun because all that
worked there wanted to be there but it was full of a lot of green talent.
He worked there from 1991 to 1996.
-- Scott had been
given the Employee of the Year award in his federal job at a Christmas meal
in 1996, and was at a rather up scale restaurant when a waiter said he had
a phone call. It was Eric Bischoff telling Scott that Dallas Page liked his
work and WCW wanted him for a try out. He accepted and got the
job.
-- He says there
is no better thing in the world than live television, nothing compares to
live television.
-- Recalling the
beating he took from Rick Steiner on a Monday Nitro, Scott told him to beat
him as hard as he wanted because he could take it - so Rick did. However,
the first thing he was told by the 'lead EMT' (floor director) was "don't
laugh because there's a camera like 2 inches from your face when we come
out of commercial". He spoke to his mother (on the phone) as soon as he got
backstage - she was in a complete panic thinking it was real.
-- In his own words,
the difference in how WCW was being run in general from when he joined them
to when he left, was "like night and day".
-- The main problem
with WCW in Scott's eyes was giving talent creative control. He compares
it to a situation where Jennifer Anniston is given creative control for Friends,
and have her say "I don't think I wanna do that".
-- Scott then gives
off two stories of when he was promoting the WCW Hotline. One time he did
the Godfather's "Pimpin' Aint Easy" spiel, and another time where he did
the whole Rock gimmick with Mike Tenay. However, with the Rock story, it
ends with a comment in return from Rock himself…
-- In regards to
the Souled Out 2000 pre-show, the only nWo PPV, it was quite literally as
off the cuff and out of control as it looked.
-- He mentions the
"black Sunday" as he called it, where Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris
Benoit and Perry Saturn left WCW, and how it should've signified the writing
on the wall but it never did.
-- Scott then speaks
about a huge night in his life, the April 10th Night The World Changed episode
of WCW Nitro. Not only was it his first live Nitro, the night that Eric Bischoff
and Vince Russo returned and stripped all of the titles to vacant, but Scott's
dad also died that night. He gives his thoughts.
-- On the topic
of the Bash At the Beach 2000 (where the Hogan shoot occurred) event where
Hudson and broadcast partner Schiavone were put on camera, Scott says that
he was just so pleased to have such a great seat and a live mic to be able
to react to it. He says that when people look back on it, he is so pleased
to be seen as a part of it.
-- Speaking about
announcing, the WWE announcer that Scott respects the most is Jim Ross. He
also enjoys Michael Cole's work saying that "Michael Cole and Tazz should
buy each other huge Christmas gifts as they compliment each other so
well".
-- When he went
to WWE he went to a tryout in which he called matches with Michael Hayes,
as well as many other things. He passed their tests, but in order to obtain
the job they offered him he would have to quit his federal job and move closer
to the studios. He couldn't do that, so he just ended up working the short-term
Invasion angle.
-- During that stint
in WWE, he and Arn Anderson had the (dis)pleasure to call the Booker T/Buff
Bagwell match in which both competitor's weaknesses were extremely evident.
Scott said he hasn't seen Marcus (Buff) since, and just didn't think either
man in the ring was ready.
-- Scott speaks
about his current wrestling related role in NWA:TNA, in which he works as
the backstage announcer. On the topic of Don West, he says how he always
ordered the TNA pay per views before he became a part of their family, and
how Don has improved so much since he made his debut to become a solid announce
table fixture nowadays. He feels he's had his 5 year run with WCW at the
top of the sport, and whilst he'd love to work on the TNA announce team again,
now he just wants to have fun.
-- Hudson then speaks
on some of the younger TNA talents that have come through and shone on the
product, such as Sabin, Kazarian, as well as former TII guests Michael Shane,
Trinity & AJ Styles.
-- Scott also feels
that the pushes of guys like Randy Orton and John Cena are triggered due
to the huge success that TNA have been having with the younger talent they're
developing.
-- A possible gimmick
was brought up to him in the early 90's where he would be a Parole Officer
style manager, but it never really went much past the thinking
stage.
-- In another question
about diversifying his role in wrestling, we asked Scott if he'd ever consider
becoming a heel announcer. Scott then speaks about days where he worked a
small indy fed called the South Georgia Alliance, close to his home as an
announcer where he gradually over a course of working for them a few weeks,
every other weekend, turned heel.
-- This interview
was recorded the day after Roddy Piper's re-debut on NWATNA, and James Walsh
then brings up Roddy and how he was acting backstage at TNA the night before.
Scott gives his honest opinions on how Roddy was behaving, and explained
how he pretty much kept himself to himself.
-- In regards to
what Scott would do if he was put into a booking position with the company,
he feels he would make a greater use of Women in the company. Valets, Athena,
the b*tchslap girls, etc.
-- A direct quote
on a possible WWE return; "if the WWF produced the show, sent it down here
to a production house in Atlanta, let me go in with whoever I'm doing color
with I'd start tomorrow".
-- Scott says that
when he left WWE he had no heat with them and left with no hard feelings,
so he guesses that's still the case.
-- We then play
word associations with names like Mark Madden, Mike Tenay, Vince McMahon,
Lillian Garcia and many others.
-- And in a rare
coverage of word associations, Scott then tells a touching and emotional
story when we mention Jeff Jarrett. Scott's mother had been diagnosed with
Breast Cancer, and one day before Nitro he saw Jeff sitting doing nothing
in the arena. Jeff's wife also suffered from Breast Cancer, and Scott asked
if Jeff wouldn't mind speaking to his mother, since she was feeling a little
down. Jeff sat and spoke to Scott's mother, comforting her, letting her know
what to expect, and telling her to never give up etc, for over 30
minutes.
-- We wind up the
interview with a message to Scott's fans before we feed into the after-show
wrap up segment which runs around 50 minutes.
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