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Bruce Prichard was a guest on the Steve Austin Show and talked about his time in TNA. Below is a recap:
On his departure from TNA:
"I was there from October 2010 till July 2013. It was one of those deals where we reached a point, they gave me an ultimatum and I made my choice. I couldn’t do what they were asking me to do and it was like, either do what they’re asking me to do or kinda move on .... So I kinda moved on."
On the atmosphere in TNA compared to WWE:
"Night and day, it’s completely different. In TNA, it was a lot more relaxed atmosphere. The inmates kinda ran the asylum, no pun intended. You had a lot of young talent that had never been produced before. And they’re going off in directions that they feel may be good, but there’s no one either pulling them back or pushing them out, one way or the other, and giving them feedback – good, bad or indifferent. So you had a lot of guys that came back and thought everything they were doing all along was just the greatest thing in the world. All of a sudden, when I came in there, you know, I can be a little vocal. I started trying to produce the guys and change some of it and give them immediate feedback as soon as they came back and just try to help them. Less is more a lot of times."
On giving feedback to the talent:
"Some guys took it well and some guys didn’t take it so well. A boo boo face scenario, when you’re in the heat of the moment and you’re doing live TV and you’re trying to give guys feedback, if something is the sh**, then sometimes you just gotta say that was the sh**. Like, what the f*** were you thinking? No one had ever talked to them like that before. The guys were used to coming back and people patting them on the ass and ‘Oh, that was great, man. You’re the best. It was really good and it was really cool after you did those 14 moves.’
"As a matter of fact, and I won’t mention names here, I had a guy that came back one time and it was his return. He gets in the ring, and we shot an angle where the heel had taken him out and he had been gone for like, 6 months. He's making his big return and he walks right across the ring, completely ignoring the heel in the ring, the guy that took him out. Completely ignores him, walks right by him, goes to the top rope and raises his hands looking out at the crowd. Then he walks over to another corner and never acknowledges the heel standing in the ring.
"So when they came back, I jumped up their asses, because a) the babyface shouldn’t sh** on the heel and b) the heel, if the babyface did do that to him, should‘ve jumped his sh**. The babyface looks at me and says, 'Well, you heard the crowd. Austin used to do that.' And I blew a gasket.
"No, motherf***er. Go back and watch. Austin never took his f***ing eyes off of his opponent. Austin walked in the ring and gave the heel the 'go f*** yourself' look, went up the top rope and never took his eyes off of the guy in the ring. If the guy went out of the ring, he still kept his eyes on him. And when he walked across, he did that bad motherf***er walk and went across the ring. But he never sold the heel. That way, the heel meant something when he whipped his ass. But you walked out there and just sh** all over the heel and sh** all over the program. And the heel, you let him sh** on you. Those are nuances that people don’t always get."
On his departure from TNA:
"I was there from October 2010 till July 2013. It was one of those deals where we reached a point, they gave me an ultimatum and I made my choice. I couldn’t do what they were asking me to do and it was like, either do what they’re asking me to do or kinda move on .... So I kinda moved on."
On the atmosphere in TNA compared to WWE:
"Night and day, it’s completely different. In TNA, it was a lot more relaxed atmosphere. The inmates kinda ran the asylum, no pun intended. You had a lot of young talent that had never been produced before. And they’re going off in directions that they feel may be good, but there’s no one either pulling them back or pushing them out, one way or the other, and giving them feedback – good, bad or indifferent. So you had a lot of guys that came back and thought everything they were doing all along was just the greatest thing in the world. All of a sudden, when I came in there, you know, I can be a little vocal. I started trying to produce the guys and change some of it and give them immediate feedback as soon as they came back and just try to help them. Less is more a lot of times."
On giving feedback to the talent:
"Some guys took it well and some guys didn’t take it so well. A boo boo face scenario, when you’re in the heat of the moment and you’re doing live TV and you’re trying to give guys feedback, if something is the sh**, then sometimes you just gotta say that was the sh**. Like, what the f*** were you thinking? No one had ever talked to them like that before. The guys were used to coming back and people patting them on the ass and ‘Oh, that was great, man. You’re the best. It was really good and it was really cool after you did those 14 moves.’
"As a matter of fact, and I won’t mention names here, I had a guy that came back one time and it was his return. He gets in the ring, and we shot an angle where the heel had taken him out and he had been gone for like, 6 months. He's making his big return and he walks right across the ring, completely ignoring the heel in the ring, the guy that took him out. Completely ignores him, walks right by him, goes to the top rope and raises his hands looking out at the crowd. Then he walks over to another corner and never acknowledges the heel standing in the ring.
"So when they came back, I jumped up their asses, because a) the babyface shouldn’t sh** on the heel and b) the heel, if the babyface did do that to him, should‘ve jumped his sh**. The babyface looks at me and says, 'Well, you heard the crowd. Austin used to do that.' And I blew a gasket.
"No, motherf***er. Go back and watch. Austin never took his f***ing eyes off of his opponent. Austin walked in the ring and gave the heel the 'go f*** yourself' look, went up the top rope and never took his eyes off of the guy in the ring. If the guy went out of the ring, he still kept his eyes on him. And when he walked across, he did that bad motherf***er walk and went across the ring. But he never sold the heel. That way, the heel meant something when he whipped his ass. But you walked out there and just sh** all over the heel and sh** all over the program. And the heel, you let him sh** on you. Those are nuances that people don’t always get."
