wrestling / News

Jay Bradley on the Value Billy Corgan Brought to Impact Wrestling, Working a Smackdown Match Against Big Show on 48 Hours Notice

December 1, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

Jordan Garber NOW recently interviewed former Impact Wrestling talent Jay Bradley, who discussed a variety of topics. Below are some highlights (via Jordan Garber and h/t Fightful).

On getting called to work against the Big Show on Smackdown in 2008: “I got called 48 hours beforehand the Saturday night before that Tuesday and I would be debuting against Triple H. When I got to the building that day… The Big Show came with the creative staff to flip it to me vs Big Show, then to me vs Triple H, and then The Big Show. It was pretty nerve-racking getting TV time and wondering where this is going to go. I remember after that match my phone blew up that night. From family friends and old colleagues and everybody else was emailing me and saying they watched. I have nothing negative to say about the match and The Big Show said he was really happy for what I did for him that night.”

Jay Bradley on getting into TNA through the Gut Check: “I was literally going through my head, the mic is in my hand and the ball is in my court. I either put the ball in play and connect with the audience or I don’t. But it’s all on me. There was no scripting. I got to improve my mic skills with the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Al Snow and used that to my advantage and I was happy with that segment and how it went.”

His thoughts on Billy Corgan: “Billy is very well-spoken and self-educated on a number of topics. With IMPACT, it looks like the previous ownership was looking for money or notoriety for having him around. I think some of the talent he worked with saw the creativity he could bring. At a set of tapings and I watched him put the Decay together with the 3 individuals involved and the way he pulled this into play where he took it upon himself to develop the idea and saw what it become it became the hottest thing for a while but that was his baby and that was a lot of him and a lot of input with the talent which is great because they allow you to be creative with them and mold it all together. That’s kind of what the Aiden O’Shea character was.”