The Blue Meanie Talks Reason For JBL Heat, JBL Lobbying For Him In The Royal Rumble, WWE Release
On episode 223 of Talk Is Jericho, the nine-time WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho spoke with The Blue Meanie. The Blue Meanie talked about his stints with WWE. Specifically, The Blue Meanie detailed his initial release from the company and his heat with JBL.
The Blue Meanie described the years 2000 till 2004 as his "dark years". The beginning of that period coincided with the passing of his grandmother and his release from WWE. According to The Blue Meanie, he was released by WWE after the company asked him to lose weight, despite the fact that he managed to lose 160 pounds.
"I had lost 160 pounds. WWE asked me to lose 160 pounds and then they still fired me. Yeah, they teased my release the first time. Kevin Kelly asked me to come on [WWE] Byte This!, their cyber show at the time, and he was like, 'yeah,' during the course of the interview, 'I'm sorry to hear you were let go, but you'll lose the weight next time, right?' I was like, 'oh, so this is all about getting me to lose weight.' So [Jim Ross] called me and he goes, 'there has been a reprieve from the warden. He's going to keep you around.' And I was like, 'alright.' I started losing the weight. I started going to Headbanger Mosh's brother, who was a nutritionist over here in [New] Jersey. I dropped like 160 pounds within a good seven months."
With respect to The Blue Meanie's heat the JBL, apparently, it began after The Blue Meanie was released from WWE and he publicly complained about JBL's bullying.
"I did an interview when I left WWE. I said, 'I had a great time in WWE. I saw the world. I got paid to see the world on Vince McMahon's dime.' I thanked WWE. I was like, 'the only thing is, JBL was kind of an asshole.'" The Blue Meanie added, "during my whole tenure there [in WWE] from '98 to 2000, it was like, I don't want to say, like, hazing, but bullying. Whether it would be shots in a match or we'd be on a plane and you know he's telling a story about some fat f–k and you know he's referencing you."
By the time The Blue Meanie was brought back to WWE in 2005 for ECW One Night Stand, word got back to JBL and he took the opportunity of the planned brawl following The Dudley Boyz versus Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman to shoot in The Blue Meanie.
"I feel this punch right on my scar [a recent injury from wrestling] and I go, 'what the hell?' I turned around and there's JBL. He starts throwing shots. He does the hockey thing, he pulls my shirt over my face [and] starts throwing live rounds. He [has] got a fistful of rings, so I was like, 'I ain't going to take this!', so I snatched a headlock as much as I could on a 6'6" man and I start throwing punches back. We kind of get pulled apart." The Blue Meanie continued, "I go to the back and Johnny Ace meets me at the curtain and he goes, 'what the hell was that?' I was like, 'what? JBL shot on me!' No, no, he was like, 'who told you [that] you could blade?' I was like, 'I didn't!' He was like, 'what?' I gave him the elevator pitch of the heat that we had. I was like, 'hey, this, this, this' and he was like, 'that's unacceptable. We don't do that here. Blah, blah, blah.' And I walked further into the 'Gorilla' position, and there's JBL. And [he said] 'you were talking about me on the internet.' I was like, 'crap, dude, was I wrong? You're having a hard time proving me wrong!' So long story short, WWE did the right thing. They stitched me up. They doubled my pay for that night."
WWE decided to capitalize on the controversy by signing The Blue Meanie to a short term deal and letting the real life drama play out in the squared circle. Further, The Blue Meanie and JBL managed to work things out and remain on positive terms today. JBL even lobbied for The Blue Meanie to be a surprise entrant in last year's Royal Rumble match.
"From that ugly incident to now, we're Twitter buddies. Yeah, you can make friendship with somebody once you make money with them. The coup de grâce was this last year, he tried to get me in the Royal Rumble since it was in Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]. He lobbied because I had just done ECW Unreleased Volume 3 for WWE [and] what better way to announce the DVD than an ECW Original in Philadelphia coming to the ring." The Blue Meanie added, "it came down to that Friday before and they picked Bubba [Dudley]. I love Bubba and I marked out seeing Bubba come out too!"
In addition to these topics, The Blue Meanie discussed getting his start in ECW, some of his successful professional wrestling parodies, and much more. Click here to listen to the podcast. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho