Bob Holly Discusses Dealing With the Highs and Lows of Being in WWE and Not Having Much Time for Your Own Life Outside Wrestling

– As previously reported, former WWE Superstar Bob Holly recently appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast earlier this month. Below are some additional highlights from the interview (transcript via WrestlingInc.com).

Bob Holly on not having much spare time when you work for WWE: “Once you’re signed to the WWE, and I mean your life belongs to them, you don’t really have time to do anything else other than what you’re doing and that’s wrestling and traveling because you really don’t have time to do anything. And it’s something that [has] always been in the back of my mind, when I get time to do it, that’s what I’m going to do. And that’s spend more time outdoors and in the woods and stuff like that. A lot of guys don’t have any hobbies and also they don’t have anything to fall back on as far as a trade, which I think isn’t a good thing. You should always have something to fall back on, but [Austin] is right – a lot of guys don’t have hobbies and all they do is eat, sleep, and breathe wrestling. And it’s like I can’t do that. I’ve got to do some other things other than that.”

Holly on how he kept his sanity on the road: “My outlet was my working out and sometimes, on the road, like [Austin] said, back when I first got there [to WWE], we were working 30 or 40 days on the road without a day off and double-shots on the weekends. My outlet was the gym and sometimes I did two-a-day, which, obviously, in the workout world two-a-days [are not] really good for you, especially when we didn’t get much rest and wrestling at night. But that was how I kept my sanity. And back then, you were stuck with three other guys in a car, so you were with each other 24/7. Working out was my outlet to get away from everything and get my mind off of wrestling.”

Bob Holly on staying in WWE for so long and dealing with the highs and lows: “I had a lot of highs and lows and the way I kept going as far as getting through the lows is [thinking] things are going to get better, things are happening. And they did. They did. In the [pro] wrestling business, everything is up and down. Everything is up and down. It’s like a rollercoaster ride. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions. And you go through every single emotion that there is in the wrestling business. And it’s tough dealing with that and people don’t understand if you’re not in the wrestling world, like, if you’re not in the type of business we’re in, a lot of people don’t understand, like, what we go through as far as being away from our family and having to be on 24/7. And it’s tough because your mind, it’s on overload all the time, as far as what we do, because we constantly have to be on and the days off are far and few between. The things we went through, that was our choice as far as our job decision. That was our career path and that’s how I looked at it. Everything that came around with the [pro] wrestling business, I looked at it like, ‘okay, this was my choice to get into this kind of business, so I just need to deal with it.’ And that’s what I did. And as far as the up and downs, it was one of those things where I just dealt with everything and I just tried to handle it as best I could. And I think that’s another reason why I lasted 15 years [with WWE].”

Bob Holly on worrying about someone taking his spot while he’s injured: “Dealing with injuries and stuff like that was always a setback because there’s always that next person that wants to take your job, take your spot and you always had to worry about that, and so, that was something else I always had to worry about, ‘okay, if I’m off because I’m hurt, is somebody going to take my spot to where I won’t be back?’ But I weathered that storm and I lasted 15 years and I attribute that to working hard and doing what I’m told to do, being on time everyday because I was never late. I was one of those guys who was always early and never late. I was always on time.”

Bob Holly on his life after WWE: “It’s funny because the way I always looked at myself, I was never a big deal and so walking away was actually easy for me. When I talked to Johnny [Ace] and we came to an agreement, I was like, ‘let me go’, and they sent me my release. I didn’t think twice about it because I didn’t think like, ‘okay, what am I going to do now?’ I was just like, ‘life moves on. I’ll figure it out along the way.’ And that’s what I did. And yeah, I’m a welder by trade. I’m a mechanic. I’m a heavy equipment mechanic. I can do anything, so work was never an issue for me. It’s like the whole time I was wrestling, if [WWE] let me go midway through my career, guess what: I can have a job today if I wanted to. It’s like right now. If I wanted to go out and find a job, I could find one right now, today. If we hung up from this phone, I could find a job right now. So it was never an issue for me. As far as having the validation of walking down that ramp and hearing the cheers from the crowd, that stuff, it doesn’t bother me. I’m comfortable enough within myself that I don’t have to do that. I don’t need validation from people verifying that I was ‘Hardcore’ Holly, ‘hey, you’re a big deal.’ I don’t need that. If I was never on TV again, I’m okay with that. If I was never recognized again in my entire life, I’m okay with that. I’m okay with being Bob Howard. I’m okay being that person. I have no problem with that. I could stay in my house. I don’t have to go out. In fact, I don’t like leaving my house, to be perfectly honest with you.”