Scotty 2 Hotty On The Move Linda McMahon Told Him To Never Do Again

Answering a fan question on the "Wrestling With Johners" podcast, WWE alumnus Scott Garland (aka Scotty 2 Hotty) said he is lucky to remember the finish to his Backlash 2000 match against Dean Malenko for the Light Heavyweight Championship, and that he dodged a bullet.

"It was very dangerous and I could've easily broken my neck," said Garland. "It looks like I broke my neck on it."

In the match, Malenko retained the championship when he countered Garland's attempted Superplex from the top-rope into a Cradle-DDT that spiked Garland's head into the mat. The move garnered many "ooohs" from the live crowd as well as Jim Ross, who said on commentary, "Oh my god ... The DDT from the top rope ... Scott 2 Hotty drilled!" 

"It was Dean's idea," said Garland. "He told me had done it with (Chris) Jericho; I recently just saw it with Jericho taking it a month ago for the first time and I was like 'oh, that's what I was supposed to do.' I was supposed to jump out further so I would land more on my stomach and I didn't jump out. I just kind of spiked myself right into the mat from the top-rope."

After the match, Garland was pulled aside by Linda McMahon, who told him "don't ever do that again!" Garland's response was, "You don't have to worry about that."

Though Garland says the finish of the match was dangerous, he is proud of the match, as its a hidden gem that fans bring up all the time. He enjoyed his series of matches against Malenko, both on television and at live events.

"I think the reason we worked so well is we were so different," said Garland. "Here's Dean, who is very serious, a very good technical wrestler and the man of 1,000 holds ... On the other hand, you have this goofball, who is just there to have fun and kind of make fun of Dean; his finishing move is The Worm; does the moonwalk; breakdances; that's what to me makes wrestling so cool is when you have all these different characters and they come together to see what happens."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling With Johners" podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.