...............
O'Brien: ...he's starring in the new film Hercules, coming out in two weeks on July 18th, he's a former WCW World Heavyweight champion, please welcome Dave Bautista to the show!
Baustia: Thanks for having me on the show, Conan.
O'Brien: Well, you'd kick my ass if we just let you backstage.
[Laughter.]
O'Brien: Anyway, so you're starring in this big blockbuster movie, still appearing on wrestling regularly, and there were even rumors that you were going to compete in an MMA match earlier this yeah. Now, don't you ever just lay back and eat some cheetos and drink a two liter of soda like a normal American?
Bautista: Oh, there'd be days when I'd love to, but I've been blessed with a work ethic that means if I'm not doing something, I feel like I'm losing, so I'm stuck always needing to do something. Hell, I almost tried to fixed that busted chair that was in the green room.
[Laughter.]
O'Brien: Yeah, you could send the bill to NBC. Maybe they'd be scared enough of you to pay it. Now, when you first got to wrestling, you weren't exactly the cool 'Pinoy Punisher' character you currently are, right?
Bautista: Oh boy, yeah. Now, look. Imagine, I'm down in Kentucky, where the WWF was training guys. I'm already behind the 8-ball by getting into things as an older guy, surrounded by a bunch of young pups. So, I'm open to any wacky idea they dream up for me. So, Jim Cornette, the guy who ran things down there said, “OK, Dave. From now on, you're going to be the “Demon from the Deep” Leviathan. Now, go ahead and shave your head -
O'Brien: - shave your head?
Bautista: - hey, I guess demons from the deep don't have hair. So, I shave my head, get new gear, all that good stuff. But now I'm told by a guy in the office to show up down by a small river in my gear, which ya' know, at this point is just some little black trucks and a chain around my neck. So, I go there, and there's Jim, a camera guy, and another dude who handled um, props, and stuff. So, the prop guy hands me some cheesy fangs, then Jim says, “OK, now go ahead and get in the water. All the way under, and come out like you're a monster rising from the bottom of the sea!”
[Laughter.]
O'Brien: So, what do you do?
Bautista: I did it! Almost damn near got a gallon of water in my lungs, but I did it. I guess it worked well, because right after the next Wrestlemania, I'm told by Vince McMahon, “buddy, you're coming up to the main roster and you're going to be the next Undertaker!”
[Laughter.]
O'Brien: Obviously, that didn't quite work out for you. Not able to rise enough zombie from the dead or something?
Bautista: Something like that. Actually, I never felt like myself. The old line is that the most successful wrestlers, whether they'd be Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, The Rock, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar or even somebody like CM Punk is just their normal personality, just turned up to eleven. Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a demon from the deep, Conan.
[Laughter.]
O'Brien: Nobody has gotten possessed or disembowled by you, so I think I believe you.
Bautista: So, that's why when WCW approached me and said they had faith in me and what I could do as Dave Bautista instead of Leviathan, I was willing to go work for them. So far, two World title reigns and three blockbuster movies later, I think it's gone all right.
O'Brien: I'm not going to argue with that, and not only because you could crush my trachea with your pinky. We'll be right back, but first, let's look at a scene from Hercules...
- Transcript: Interview with Dave Bautista on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien – July 3rd, 2014
#13: Kurt Angle wins the WCW Title on Nitro in impromptu title match – November 21st, 2006
It wasn't just Kurt Angle had only come to WCW the previous Summer, with a bucket load of hype, promises, and dream matches, all throughout the Internet. It wasn't just that all throughout 2006, the WCW World title had been a bit of a bouncing ball, ending up in the hands of three or four different guys from the beginning of the year.
It's that at the start of that edition of Nitro, we weren't even supposed to have a World title match. 'The Fallen Angel' was the new World Champion and that was that, even if the 4-way the previous night at Mayhem had ended in an inconclusive way that we all assumed was setting up the main event for Starrcade in Seattle.
We continued to think that, even as Styles, Hudson, and Douglas ran down the card for the night, and the hype began for not only Starrcade, but the main event of Daniels teaming up his “Apostles” to take on Styles and the perennial leaders of the tag division, Knoble & Yang.
Now, the fact the main evented started at 10:30 seemed weird, but at the same time, Raw was hyping up a confrontation between Shawn Michaels and Robert Page [2] over their title match at Survivor Series, so maybe there was a big angle to set up Starrcade. At least, that was my thinking.
So, imagine my surprise when before the main event even starts, the Apostles, along with Helms and his bodyguard of the month wipe out Styles and the tag champs from behind. Daniels is in the ring, being the arrogant prick he was spectacular as, when all of the sudden, Angle's music hits and the crowd in Cleveland freaks the hell out.
Next thing we know, the match is on and we all know what happened – Angle wins his 1st WCW World title. It's just too bad what happened only a few years later, but it was bound too, with everything that was going on, both in wrestling and the rest of the sports world.
- culturewave.com - “Top 25 Moments of WCW Nitro in the 21st Century” by Thomas Reis.
Pro Wrestling X (PWX) was an American pro wrestling federation, that was open from March of 2002 to July of 2005. The company was formed by Fusient Media Ventures, and ran by Eric Bischoff until his departure from Fusinet in April of 2005. It's main stars included Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Marcus Bagwell, The Road Warriors...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/Pro_Wrestling_X