Marc Mero Reflects on How His Johnny B. Badd Gimmick Changed His Life, the Peak of His In-Ring Career

During a recent interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE and WCW star Marc Mero discussed the peak of his career being his Johnny B. Badd gimmick in WCW and how it changed his life, as he was recovering from a drug addiction. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Marc Mero on When He Felt Like He Was on Top of the World

“It had to be as Johnny B Badd. First of all, I am a boxer from New York. My boxing career was over 10 years of drug addiction, and then the next thing you know, I get off the drugs. I had a bunch of friends over at my apartment, and one of my buddies had the remote control for the television, and he’s flipping through the TV channels, and he lands on professional wrestling. I go, ‘Stop it there. Let me see this.’ I’m looking at the television, and I get this aha moment. Some people call it the aha moment, and I go, ‘Guys, I can do that.’ My buddies, who are still my buddies today, they bust out laughing. They go, ‘Marc, are you crazy? Look at the size of those guys.’ I think the Road Warriors were on TV. They had traps from their ears coming down. They go, ‘Look at the size of those guys. They’re gonna pick you up and just throw you around that ring.’ I said, ‘No, man, I’m telling you, I can do that.’ Because I was always a good athlete. Another friend of mine goes, ‘Marc, you’re 30 years old. You want to start a pro career now?’ I remember, and I use this to this day, and I said two words, I go, ‘I believe,’ and those two words changed my life. It’s always about taking action towards a dream or goal, and the action I had to take back then, I had to find out whether there was a wrestling school.

“I don’t know how to wrestle! I was living in Venice, Florida, and there was a wrestling school in Tampa, Boris Malenko, Dean and Joe Malenko’s father had a wrestling school, so I drive there after working on weekends. One year later, at 31 years old, is when I signed my first contract. But being at Malenko’s school now, and I gotta tell you, remember, I boxed, played football, hockey, lacrosse, all physical sports. Boris Malenko had me get in the ring, and they kind of have you just cross your arms and just fall backwards. I hit that mat, and I sound like a seal from Sea World. I was like [gasps]. I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t believe it. I thought to myself, how do these guys do this night after night and land on their backs like this? Because I didn’t know how to fall at the time.

“Of course, he trained me and taught me and got me ready to get a try-out. I was a job guy that would drive nine hours from Venice, Florida to Center Stage here in Atlanta, hope to get picked on television. And that’s when they picked me to be on television. After my match, is when Dusty Rhodes came up to me and said, ‘Hey, kid, anybody ever tell you you look like Little Richard?’ And I thought to myself, I thought he was talking about a wrestler. I go, ‘I never heard of Little Richard.’ He goes, ‘You don’t know Little Richard?!’ I go, ‘Oh, the singer? No one’s ever told me that.’ He goes, ‘Oh, I think I got a gimmick for you.’ That’s how I became Johnny B Badd. From making $23,000 a year digging swimming pools to becoming a multi-millionaire in wrestling was because Dusty Rhodes said, kid, anybody ever tell you look like Little Richard?”

On How the Gimmick Changed His Life

“It changed my life, man. And not only that, but it also opened the doors to meeting so many people. Oh my gosh. It was like all these celebrities wanted to meet me. They obviously knew who Little Richard was. First of all, they all thought I was black, you know, being so tanned and a Little Richard gimmick. To this day I’ll go to a place and someone goes, ‘What character were you in wrestling?’ I go, ‘I was Johnny B Badd.’ ‘No, he was a black guy.’ ‘No, that was me.’”

As noted, Mero also spoke about his ex-wife, Sable, during the interview, and how she deserves to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.