411’s Legends with JBL: Alundra Blayze Report

411’s Legends with JBL: Alundra Blayze Report

-Welcome to a new edition of Legends with JBL. This time JBL catches up with WWE Hall of Famer, Alundra Blayze and I am sure we will talk at length about trashing the Woman’s Title on Nitro.

-As always JBL does his over the top and awesome introduction of his guest. He makes mention the WWE Woman’s Title was brought back for her and that The Montreal Screw Job was due in part to her actions. She is stunned by that introduction and JBL asks if it is Alundra or Madusa. She is ok with whatever he wants to call her.

-They start from the beginning of her career as she was trained by Eddie Sharkey. She met with him and her original intentions were to be a stunt woman, but she agreed to give pro-wrestling a try. Things came naturally to her and that caused her to quit her nursing job to pursue her new career. Her first paying gig netted her a total of $5 which she thought was criminal.

-She received a phone call from Wahoo McDaniel who she credits for saving her career. He wanted to bring her to the AWA and her first match was with Sherri Martel. She got her ass beat all across the country by Sherri, but Verne took care of them and her first check with the AWA was $800. With that first check she was able to buy tombstones for members of her family that had passed.

-She loved Verne Gagne and puts over everything he did. This leads to her meeting Verne’s “gopher”, Eric Bischoff. She admits to liking Eric though he has pissed her off a few times and most notably in WCW. There are times she has told him to his face that he wasn’t fair with her in regards to paying the women. It has always been an issue with her since day one and says that she was released in WCW over her and the other women’s pay.

-JBL goes back to Alundra winning the AWA Woman’s Title and that led to her being the first American to sign a contract with Japan. She lived in Japan for some time and she learned the hard way. It molded her a certain way and is part of the reason she had an issue with the women that popped up in the Attitude Era. She says she has a lot to say about the Attitude Era, but for now will focus on Japan.

-In Japan she did her homework and knew that she needed to learn her craft. She needed something marketable and a name that could be chanted. She thought of Madusa as it was something that could be chanted and gave idea of “being Made in the USA.” She took beatings ten times worse in Japan than what she took from Sherri. She would get beat across the ankles with kendo sticks to keep disciplined. Damn!

-From there she went to Thailand to learn Muay Thai. She was a natural at boxing and from there picked up kick boxing. That is when they sent her to Thailand. She was a sponge and learned all she could in that month. She had her first Muay Thai match and everything went black around here. She had her nose broken and something came over her as she knocked out their champion.

-She mentions that she did Playboy well before anyone in the WWE. She didn’t sign to have the pictures released because she was heading to Japan and didn’t want that following her as she was trying to be known more for what she did in the ring. JBL jokes that she broke a lot of hearts by not letting the photos be released.

-They cover the generations of wrestlers that came before her. She wanted to bring back the old style in Japan, but knew they wanted some sex appeal. It did get to the point that women didn’t want to wrestle her so WCW started having her wrestle guys which she hated. JBL says except when she had to wrestle “Shooter” Paul Heyman. She loved working with Paul who did a lot to help her. She is the first Paul Heyman Girl.

-We jump to her move to the WWE as the Women’s Division is brought back just for her. She says it is all thanks to Greg Valentine who put a call in for her to Pat Patterson. Vince liked the name Madusa, but she didn’t want to give it to him. He told her that was fine because they would come up with another name. She has nothing bad to say about Vince as he has done so much for her. Even before coming to the WWE, she had an issue in Japan where she had money ripped from her and she was flat broke. She worked independents to scrape by and was homeless for a time. Vince called her and asked if he could help and she joked that he could pay her IRS bill. The next day she had a check from Vince to pay it off. She spent a year on the streets homeless.

-Vince did piss her off though when he was going through his IRS and Steroid Trials. He didn’t know what he wanted to do and they decided to axe the division. She still has the letter from JJ Dillon letting her know that she was being fired.

-After being fired she reflected on things and was at peace. Then she got a call from Bischoff while she was sitting on the toilet. He asked if she wanted to come to work and asked if she still had the title. Her asked her if she would be willing to throw it in the trash. She agreed as long as she got the title back so she could give it back since it didn’t belong to her.

-They show the video of her cutting a promo on the WWE and then tossing the title in a garbage can. She doesn’t think Bischoff knew it was going to be the start of The Monday Night Wars. JBL brings up how guys would take different titles to different territories and use it to their advantage. He wants to know why Madusa had a problem with what happened, and she says it’s because she wasn’t raised like that.

-JBL says he would have done the same thing she did and that a lot of guys would have done the same. She has heard different as a lot of guys called her trash and ran her down for doing what she did and she is going to name someone who called her out for it. JBL is all ears as Madusa says this guy went way back with her. Mick Foley crushed her for it, and she says that just a few days ago he finally came up to her and apologized. He was trying to say the right thing when he started with the WWE and she is grateful that he took the time to apologize.

-She is still hurt by what some of those guys said and they never walked a mile in her shoes. She has a ton of respect with the girls today as they are working their ass off in the ring.

-JBL says that she started off a chain of events that kicked off the Monday Night War, killed Women’s Wrestling in the WWE, and led to the Montreal Screw Job which ushered in the Attitude Era. The Attitude Era led to WWE getting more crass and thus we get things like bra and panty matches.

-She brings up the WCW girls that made it to the WWE and while they couldn’t wrestle they fit in with that area because “damn, did they look good.”

-JBL asks if the era that followed with Trish and Lita was really good because of what they did in the ring or because of what it followed. Madusa says they still had the good looking girls and that Trish was the right girl at the right time. She thinks she looked amazing and could wrestle a little, but wouldn’t call her a great wrestler and that is all she is going to say. Ouch!

-She thinks today’s scene in the best there has ever been in the division. They have options and can face multiple people which she didn’t have as she always seemed to be facing Bull Nakano.

-She says there is fire in the division and you can feel it. They show Lita unveiling the Women’s Title at WrestleMania. Divas was an era just like the Golden Era, Attitude Era, etc. She goes back to Lita and Trish and she isn’t knocking them. They both shined and they were good and deserve credit.

-We jump to Monster Truck talk and JBL has a plush toy of her truck. She got a call in 1999 and was asked if she wanted to drive Monster Trucks. She had no clue what the guy was talking about, but she is a gear head and she decided to try it. She talks about the first time she drove one and ended upside down in a swamp. They hired her on the spot because they were blown away with how well she did with it being her first time behind the wheel.

-At the same time WCW was cratering and she knew she was screwed when there were rumblings that Vince may buy WCW. She was worried that Vince might end up owning the name Madusa when he bought the company so she had to leave.

-Also at the time she was WCW Cruiserweight Champion and was being stuck in matches with Oklahoma. She obviously hated it and WCW was doing all they could to embarrass her because they knew she wanted to leave. She tried to cover as much of her body as she could, but they would also rip her shirt off and pour barbecue sauce on her.

-In 2001 she found out that was pregnant and that nearly killed her. She was driving home from Nitro and started to pass out as she was driving. It seems she was having a tubal ectopic pregnancy which means the embryo attaches outside the uterus. She was in intense pain and was rushed to an emergency room. She had last rites read to her as they thought she was going to die from the blood loss. They saved her on the table though she lost the baby.

-She ended up getting pregnant again in 2004 and was going to have twins, but sadly lost both of them six months into the pregnancy. She figured it was not meant to be so she just went on with her life. She grieves in different ways but won’t let anyone see that when she is out there to entertain no matter the field. She says she is a self healer as she doesn’t like to reach out for help. She then made the decision to adopt and she was about to adopt a boy named Timothy. He was living with her and right when the papers were to be signed the birth parents came back to fight and he was taken away from here. This is just heart breaking!

-Some good news next as she met her husband on a military dating site. She says he loves military men and JBL mentions he was in ROTC and she says she would have hurt him. Heh!

-Her husband has been in the military for nearly 30 years and he was given a 2 week leave so he could attend her Hall of Fame induction. Her speech was rather awesome and the crowd response to her husband was fantastic. I remember Mark Henry saluting him because Mark is awesome.

-They show footage of her and Vince meeting for the first time on stage just before the ceremony. They shared a hug and she told him that she is so sorry as she had tears in her eyes. She says he said something that she will never forget “you know what I am trying to do is bring back you through these current women.” He wanted to bring back her style and that blew her away and she thanked him.

-What’s next for her and she has a lot of side projects including Yoga Instructor and finishing getting various degrees.

-Time for No Bull: Favorite female superstar of all time: Sherri Martel and Vicki Guerrero (who she loved watching and JBL gushes over her as well). Favorite Movie: Mommy Dearest; Greatest Career Accomplishment: surviving being in the business; Favorite Hobby: Riding her Harley; Favorite Place: her heart is in Japan; JBL pulls out the title she threw in the trash and she says she probably wouldn’t change anything because her intentions weren’t to do anything bad; Her legacy: she has become who she is because of her beliefs and morals. Her legacy has kept her humble, grounded, and real.

-JBL says she broke into the business 25 years ago in Minnesota. Each time he went to the gym there was a picture of Madusa and he would look at this beautiful woman each day and think this was the business he was getting into. He ends the show by calling her even more beautiful today than she was then because of all she has done and been through.

-Tremendous episode here as Madusa left it all out in the open. Her story is an amazing one, and it is great that a lot of fans can learn all about it.