Stevie Ray on the Origins and Samples of the Harlem Heat Theme Song, How It’s Easy Not to Give in Pro Wrestling

– Fightful recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Stevie Ray, who discussed various topics. Below are some highlights from Fightful.

Stevie Ray on how Arn Anderson first greeted him when he came into WCW: “Well, the thing is, man, just like when I was doing my Hall of Fame speech and I talked about how Arn Anderson had greeted me when I first came in, me and my brother, and I never forgot that. So, when it comes to professional wrestling, it’s just like in life, man. It’s easy to not give. It’s hard to give and have empathy for others that’s trying to come up and do the same thing. ‘Cause I’ve never been one of those persons worrying about somebody taking what I got. Never been that guy. If I can help you, I’ll help you. I can inspire you, I’ll inspire you. I think that’s how life should be because that’s how Jesus Christ lived his life.”

Stevie Ray on his slapjack gimmick: “Somebody heard me talking in conversation with some other wrestlers and I was saying, ‘Man, if I could think of my own gimmick, you know what I would do? I’d make me a slapjack and I’d hit somebody in the back of the head.’ Like they used to do on the old gangster movies, right? So, somebody heard that and it got back to the office. The office thought it was cool. Next thing I know they made me a slapjack, but they never told me about it. And I’m like, ‘Where’d this come from?’ That was a true story. But, in the real—yeah, I still keep a couple of me slapjacks with me. Maybe I’ll start marketing them!.”

Stevie Ray on the Harlem Heat theme song: “Well, you know, I’ma be honest with you. I didn’t produce the song. Then it got into the hands of Jimmy Hart from what I was told. The rest is history, I guess. I knew that wasn’t him. But, I thought it was somebody had sampled a theme from the Flintstones or something like that. But, be that as it may, that’s good history. That’s good to know. I’m kinda glad they didn’t.”