Former NWA Champ Talks Working With Goldberg & Steve Austin, His Early Gimmicks In WWE, More
"Machine Gun" Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows welcomed Rob Conway to the most recent episode of Talk'n Shop (#37) on MLW Radio. Conway, who once wrestled in WWE as half of the tag team La Résistance and is a former NWA heavyweight champion, shared a few stories about his time in the ring during his spot on the show.
Asked about his favorite moment from his time in La Resistance, Conway said it was when he got his first check for working a pay-per-view. Despite a good deal of cajoling from the hosts, he declined to share the amount. He also said it was a really big deal to win the tag titles in Montreal in a match against Edge and Chris Benoit. Conway then recalled his experiences in getting his career moving in WWE.
"I (had) long, blond hair, I'm wearing pink trunks. They brought me up and said 'We're going to team you with Stevie Richards?' and make Victoria my girlfriend, and they were going to call me The Golden Boy. That was great with me, I'm wrestling Tommy Dreamer that night. Then about 6:30, Johnny Ace comes to me and says, 'Hey Robbie, we sh-tcanned your match tonight. You're not on the road.' And I was like, 'Oh, that pretty much killed my career.' I hadn't even done anything yet. ?So he goes?in his Johnny Ace voice?'We're going to bring you back next week. I think I've got something better for you.' They bring me back the next week and I met Bobby Roode for the first time and 'Showtime' Eric Young and a guy named Tyson Dukes. And I'm sitting at catering and I've got the blond hair; Johnny says, 'Come on, Robbie. We need you.' They set me down in a chair, cut off all my hair and gave me an Air Force uniform and kind of told me what I'm going to do. I went back to catering and the same three guys I'd just ate with introduced me again because I looked like a completely different person."
Conway also said that he was once cast as part of an entourage for John Cena with Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore. He said this was during Cena's "Thug Life" phase and that Dinsmore and he were supposed to come out to the ring with Cena wearing sideways baseball caps.
The NWA champion talked about working with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin around the peak of Austin's popularity remembering a moment during one match in which Austin called an audible without telling his competitors.
"WrestleMania started out with us picketing in the ring that the wrong guy got pinned in a tag match the week before," said Conway. "He rode his four-wheeler down to the ring and he was supposed to do something to Rene (Dupree) and give me a stunner and then he pushed me out of the ring and gave Renee the stunner and then gave us the match. (He) came (to the back) and goes, 'Pretty funny, man. Ribbed him and gave him the stunner instead of you'."
Conway recalled working a segment with Goldberg in which Goldberg was supposed to dominate La Résistance and end with a big finish. He said they went over every move in the match meticulously but before they went out to the ring, Goldberg seemed concerned that he'd forget the finisher. According to Conway, Goldberg politely asked him to call it in the ring if he didn't hit a jackhammer at the end of the match but Goldberg ended up pulling it off without a reminder.
You can listen to the entire episode of Talk'n Shop at this link.