wrestling / News

Darren Young on What It’s Like Working for Vince McMahon, Says the People Under Vince Didn’t Have His Back

August 28, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Darren Young Fred Rosser

Sportskeeda and Gary Cassidy recently spoke to former WWE Superstar Fred Rosser (Darren Young). Young discussed his WWE career and what it was like working for Vince McMahon. Below are some highlights.

Darren Young on his personal WWE highlight: “My personal highlight… You know, of course, winning the Tag Team Championships with Titus O’Neil. Whether people can say, “Oh, I wish WWE would have done this with you, or that with you better.” I achieved my dreams by getting signed with WWE. I achieved my dreams by becoming Tag Team Champions with Titus O’Neil. I achieved my dream after teaming with Titus by teaming with Bob Backlund and him being my life coach.”

Darren Young on coming up with the Bob Backlund storyline: “What a lot of people don’t know is… They thought Bob Backlund was paired with me, they thought it was the WWE writers that put the storyline together, it was actually me. Because tag teams don’t last forever. So, I’ve done personal appearances with Bob Backlund, he’s very energetic, I’m very energetic, he likes to stand during his autograph signings, I stand during my autograph signings. I said to myself, when it’s all said and done teaming with Titus O’Neil, I’d like to have Bob Backlund as my life coach, because I feel like the missing ingredient in all of professional wrestling are managers. Managers are so fun and so important in the wrestling game, and I wanted to bring Bob Backlund along and just have him be my life coach. We are both strange bedfellows, very different personalities but we were actually really good friends, and it was actually me who wrote down the ideas, had visuals, and I proposed them to Vince McMahon.”

Darren Young on what it was like working for Vince McMahon: “The most intimidating thing about Vince McMahon is his office door. Once you’re past his office door, it’s all gravy. It’s just unfortunate the people under Vince McMahon didn’t have my back. I had a lot of fun with the Miz, he helped me out with the promo work that we did, he made me feel comfortable because Miz is one of the best at it, and for him to help me out and go to war for me, to win the championship title will always be near and dear to me.”

“Vince McMahon gave me many shots. He gave me shots teaming with Titus O’Neil because Titus and I were backstage and Vince seen us backstage acting crazy and he saw that this could be on TV. He gave Titus and I and opportunity, he gave me an opportunity with Bob Backlund, so I will never honestly have a bad word to say about Vince McMahon, it’s just that it still hurts sometimes that people under him didn’t have my back, but you can’t win everyone over and, like I said, I’m not going to complain about anything. I’m going to celebrate all of my successes.”

Darren Young on AEW and NJPW: “Never say never. I haven’t retired at all. I still have a lot left in the tank, I have a lot left to offer. This year, 2019, was spent doing so many other projects that I haven’t wrestled this year. I’ve been doing so many speaking engagements, I’ve been a part of a few cameos out here in LA, so I have done no wrestling until the fall time so when the fall time comes, I’ve got a few dates coming up, for quality promotions. I try to focus on the quality over quantity, so, like I said, I haven’t retired. I’ve made it known to AEW that I have strong interests in AEW, I have strong interests in New Japan Pro Wrestling. I’ve wrestled all of the world but I’ve never wrestled in Southeast Asia so hopefully maybe with this interview, a lot of interviews I do, I always put it out there, hopefully, I can accomplish a bucket list of performing in Southeast Asia. So, I’m working on that as we speak.”

“I would say just because moves aren’t being announced doesn’t been moves aren’t being made, so, as we speak, I make the connections, I’m emailing, I’m doing what I have to do to make moves. That was Titus and I’s theme song by Sugar Tongue Slim. “Making moves, making moves, making million-dollar moves,” and it’s something that I preach every day.

I might not be making million-dollar moves, I always said for wrestling, if I would have done this for the money, I would have complained a long time ago. I do this for the love, I do this for the passion. I’ve wrestled in front of 20 people, 30 people with no shower and no toilet. I’ve traveled… I’ve traveled 300 miles to a show to get paid $20-25 to do a show, but, do you know what? I love entertainment. There’s no better feeling for me than being under the big, bright lights.”