411’s Legends with JBL: Brian James Report

411’s Legends with JBL: Brian James Report

-Legends with JBL is back for a third edition and the guest this time is Brian James (Road Dogg). I have already seen jokes on twitter claiming they are stretching the “legends” term, but we got to cover DX Invasion of WCW again because it’s what won The War you know! All joking aside at least this is a rather new story to hear.

-JBL welcomes us and runs down the ups and downs of James career and mentions he is one of the creative forces in the WWE. JBL mentions that Brian is known as “they” now. That was the term they always used to refer to the office and now Brian is in that group.

-The two of them met 20 years ago and James talks about how crazy it is that they are sitting here wearing suits and ties, and drinking water. James is very humble in this piece so far and he jokes about how he has a vague idea of what happened in the 1990s.

-They briefly discussed the crazy days of wrestling in the 80s/90s. Today the wrestling world is very corporate and sterile and they both agree the change has been for the better. James says he remembers when things started to change and he puts over Edge and Christian. They were two hungry young guys that were always on time and were very professional. He says that he would laugh at their behavior because he thought it was crazy that they were actually staying in at night and not getting into fights.

-JBL switches topics to Brian’s family. Brian says his dad talked him out of becoming a wrestler, and instead he opted to join the military. He loved the military and spent 6 years there. It wasn’t hard for him and he had fun being a Marine. He built his body up while there and he always held onto the dream of being a pro-wrestler. Brian served in Gulf War I and he felt great because his father served in military during The Korean War. Brian was security detail and tells a story of taking 2400 prisoners in one day as they were just surrendering left and right. They were very much unprepared and a lot of them just wanted to get back to their families thus why they surrendered so quickly. It made Brian realize a lot of those guys were just trying to get through things like he and the rest of the guys on the US side. He spent 6 months in the desert, and lived in a hole in the sand with his buddy. He has come a long way from there to getting to ride a corporate jet and it has put things in perspective for him.

-James says he thought about re-upping and becoming a drill instructor. He looked up to them and respected them so much he wanted to be that. Bill Clinton became President and budgets cuts were made, so he decided he wanted to come home and pursue wrestling.

-JBL jumps right into stories about Billy Gunn. Brian says they are great friends, but there were times they clashed a lot. Before getting back to the NAO, JBL brings up how James helps coach the young guys. He has been working with the guys in NXT, and James says he loves coaching. He talks about how his job is to help suspend disbelief. JBL calls it the blurring of the lines as there is an element of danger, but you know there is a trick to it.

-They discuss how some of the young guys think that spots are the way to go, and they get positive feedback from social media. James talks about criticizing a well know talent and the guy came back that his fans on twitter loved the match. James says he loves social media, but just because his fan loved the match doesn’t mean it was good. James uses the term “vocal minority” which is always a nice way of dumping on the IWC.

-That leads to the talk of Daniel Bryan leading into WrestleMania XXX. They feed the bullshit of how it was their plan all along and even toss Foley under the bus making fun of him for threatening to boycott. Unreal they are still spinning that story.

-We jump back to James joining the WWF and being paired with Jeff Jarrett. The “My Baby Tonight,” story is covered, and JBL mentions it never got the proper ending due to Jarrett leaving. JBL compliments James on his voice, and James says he is very proud of the song. It was a great opportunity for him as he got to be in a studio with a great producer like Jim Johnston, and he tells everyone to go get the song on iTunes.

-They discuss Brad Armstrong and how great of a worker he was. Brian says his brother was always the perfect baby face. They talk about how Brad was very entertaining behind the scenes, but never showed that on camera. The same thing holds true for Dean Malenko as he is fantastic behind the scenes, but always played things straight once the red light was on.

-Vince Russo is the one that gave James the chance as he came up with the idea of throwing him in a team with Billy Gunn. He and Billy would just do things they were doing backstage to make the boys have fun. They just decided to have a good time in the ring and brought the fans along for the ride.

-More with Russo as JBL brings up the conspiracy theory that Russo was sent to WCW to destroy the company. JBL asks Brian for his opinion on Russo, and he gives him some credit. He says that Russo would put DX in interesting situations, but he never wrote anything they said. JBL says it was scary when Russo left, but it turned out it was the best thing. They talk about how crazy the stuff was that he did in WCW and it made them realize that Vince McMahon probably cut off a lot of the crazy shit he wanted to do.

-The Invasion of WCW is brought up as expected because of course we haven’t had enough of this story. JBL asks him about Plan B that HHH always brings up and Brian says he wasn’t in the know. He had no clue it was happening until that day. He says he never thought about the WCW guys attacking them and JBL laughs about what would have happened if Haku came out to confront them. James says he was worried about Eaton and Arn. At worst he would at least get to see his brother.

-JBL gets deep as he brings up how some psychologist believe creative people are so open the world is moving too slow for them and it leads to their vices or something like that. He lost James on that one as well it seems. They bring up Robin Williams though and Brian says his wife compared him to Williams. He found out he turned to drugs and alcohol out of fear because he hated people and crowds. He was worried about if they were either thinking about him or why they weren’t thinking about him. He has to work at slowing things down, and he has to take things one minute at a time. He tiptoed on the line between creative and dangerous and at times stumbled off it. He admits to being screwed up all the time and he feels he cheated himself and the WWE fans.

-Now that he is sober he cherishes the opportunities to have the down time in the hotel that he once hated. He loves the person that he is now and that he doesn’t have to alter his mind. They reminisce how they once knew cities by bars and now they know them by gyms.

-JBL talks about how the death of Eddie hit him hard and that was a wake up moment for him. James says he never had a moment like that, but he says the WWE saved his life as they paid for him to go to rehab 4-5 different times. He did think about suicide, but what stopped him was the thought that his wife or kids would find him in the shed with his brains blow out and that was reason enough not to do it. He got sick of living like that and he didn’t have a come to Jesus moment. He just wanted to stop living the life he did. JBL asks if he thought about the run he could have had in 95 if he didn’t have drug issues, and he does at times, but there is nothing he can do to change that.

-JBL brings up TNA which is crazy to hear and mentions the anti-WWE stuff he did down there with Gunn. They bring up the Voodoo Kin Mafia and he says it was a Russo idea. He was offered $1500 a week to go down there to bury Vince and HHH. He did it because he needed the money for drugs. He did apologize to both men and it took HHH going to Vince 4 different times before he finally agreed to bring him back. He put it all on HHH though if things went wrong. He talks about Vince being a father figure and how it feels great to hear that Vince is proud of him.

-JBL asks about the future and James says he doesn’t think too much about the future because he trusts the plans God has for him. JBL brings up how the saying is that dumb people are happy and James says he is as happy as a pig in poop. He doesn’t want to be dumb, but at certain points it is ok to be.

-JBL brings up a new segment on the show called “No Bull” which is just rapid fire questions. Greatest Tag Team of all Time: Road Warriors, Rock N Roll Express, or Midnight Express. Greatest Era: Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 80s. Favorite Episodic TV Series: American Horror Story. Greatest Influence in his life: His mother. He starts breaking up as he talks about her and calls her the rock of the family. He says she calls him every day and that she has faith like a child and love in her heart.

-That ends this edition as it was another fun show. JBL does a hell of a job with this show, and it is becoming more interesting than the much more hyped Austin podcasts. Once we got through the often talked about DX invasion we get some great stuff. James was very open and honest and I have a greater respect for the way he has turned his life around following his drug issues. Good stuff all around and thanks for reading.