Glacier on How DDP Helped Him Get His Break in WCW, Cody Rhodes Bringing Him in for Double or Nothing, AEW Having a Bright Future

– WrestlingInc.com recently interviewed former WCW wrestler Glacier, who discussed his career. Below are some highlights from WrestlingInc.com.

Glacier on DDP helping him get his break in WCW: “Dallas [DDP] went to bat for me with Eric Bischoff back in the day and that got the ball rolling for the whole Glacier thing. But one of my favorite sayings is, ‘It’s not what you know. It’s not who you know. It’s who’s willing to say they know you.’ It’s who is willing to put their name and reputation on the line for you. What Dallas did for me was go out on a limb with Bischoff for me.”

Glacier on his Coach Buzz Stern gimmick: “I broke away from Glacier and did the Coach Buzz Stern gimmick and [Dusty] was in charge of shooting and producing all the videos for it. That’s when I started to really get to know him but not really on the level I wanted to because I was still a little in awe of him. In 2000 when he left WCW and started his own company with Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, he was asking around and wanted to bring on someone to become his right-hand guy. Someone to oversee the locker room when he ran shows and to run his wrestling school. I was still under contract with WCW but he went to Dallas and once again Dallas recommended me.”

Glacier on starting his own promotion and what Eric Bischoff said about it: “Eric said, ‘As long as it doesn’t interfere with us [WCW], in his spare time he can do whatever he wants.’ That’s what we did at the beginning – in my spare time I was being mentored with Dusty. But that’s how it all got started.”

His thoughts on Cody Rhodes: “I’ve known Cody since he was a teenager. A lot of people know Cody as an amateur athlete who was a great high school wrestler and state champion. He went to Lassiter High School which is the same area where I lived and I actually used to be a school teacher at a time. Once WCW got bought out, I turned down an opportunity for WWE which was a modest offer, but I turned it down because one of my best buddies who was a wrestling coach offered me a position to come back teaching at the high school. Through that, I got to know Cody more and my other best buddy was Cody’s freshman football coach. And he was wrestling for Turnbuckle so all of our worlds kinda came together. So I’ve seen Cody grow up from a 15 year old kid to the professional he is today.”

Glacier on being part of All In: “The Nightmare Family kinda comes back together here in Atlanta and I’m so happy for them. I was over at the house this past Sunday and Brandi has a great YouTube show called ‘A Shot of Brandi’ that I was a guest on. I told her I don’t know much about cooking, but my specialty is eating so if you cook it, I’ll eat it. People ask me all the time about my future with AEW and right now nothing’s official, I’m just here to support Cody and Brandi and AEW. I think they’re gonna do some great things and I’m not just saying that. I’ve been around this business for 32 years and have seen a lot come and go, and I see them breaking new ground. I see them connecting with fans in a way that has never been done before and I think that’s their secret weapon – the way they are approaching their connection with the fans.”

Glacier on entering the MGM Grand Garden Arena: “I never ever thought that at 55 years old I would ever enter the MGM Grand again much less perform in front of a sold-out crowd. Cody called me up and it wasn’t even a question. He says, ‘I need you in the Battle Royal. You’re gonna be in the Battle Royal, aren’t you?’So I sincerely thank Cody from the bottom of my heart because he didn’t have to do that.”

His thoughts on AEW: “AEW’s future is extremely bright. They’ve got a huge challenge ahead of them doing weekly TV…So I’m anxious to see how they approach this and if they try to do things differently or try methods used in the past. I think AEW is getting really to do some really exciting things and it’s great for the professional wrestling industry as a whole. It’s great for the fans and the wrestlers. Like Tony Khan said, he just wants to put great wrestling out there. He’s not trying to put anybody out of business or compete with guys. He just wants to give the fans more wrestling to watch and that’s what’s great about it.”