Wrestling Promoter Richard Borger On Show In Barbados, How Vince McMahon Is Backstage At WWE TV
Richard Borger runs Face2Face Wrestling School and is promoting the first ever wrestling show in Barbados this Saturday. Wrestling Inc's Raj Giri spoke with him about the upcoming Bruggadown Barbados show and asked him how it came about.
"We were approached at mid-last year about putting on a show in Barbados. I thought it was kind of a venture so we took it on and we thought we'd run it in November but it ended up getting cancelled. We thought we'd bring it back in March and we've got a really good card," said Borger.
"We had some other people slated for our other show and you've got the Rajback thing going. Ryback was gonna be on our other show but he couldn't make this one unfortunately. But we've got some pretty big names. Marty Scurll going up against PJ Black. Brian Cage is injured but Brian is still gonna be there. Flip [Gordon] and Matt Sydal, I think is gonna be a good one."
Borger said that Gordon told him his previous match with Sydal is what led to ROH picking him up and this will be their first match since that one.
Borger's day job is running his Face2Face Wrestling School and he discussed the WWE luminaries that work with him.
"We started out with a wrestling school with Heath Slater and Teddy Long as my partners. Ron Simmons takes part here and there when he gets free time," revealed Borger. "It's been amazing and we run local shows here in Georgia but I think our mainstay for now is gonna be these international shows. Our next show was set to be in China before the end of the year but I think we'll avoid that one for now and wait for things to simmer down."
Borger is alluding to the coronavirus which has affected many events in the Far East including some New Japan shows. He also said that they are taking every possible precaution in regards to their Barbados show.
"It's been insane. When you have something happening and nobody knows how long it sits on a table top and it's not just spread by common contraction through coughing, it's definitely something to be concerned about. But in talking to Barbados, they're not really concerned about it. We've talked to our guys heading into the show and everybody's taking precaution on flights and beforehand to make sure we're all good. We don't wanna take anything anywhere or bring anything back so we're taking all measures to ensure this is the safest show we can put on," stated Borger.
Wrestling promotions have to balance long-term planning with doing things at the spur of the moment, and many think WWE is off-balance with those. They cite the constant changes and the lack of planning in regards to programming and Borger spoke about that.
"I don't know that they plan. You've been in this business for a lot longer than I have and I've got friends there and I've been backstage. I can tell you that it's literally an up-to-the-minute change," revealed Borger. "I've seen guys sit there and be ready to not do anything and then three minutes before the main event, it's 'You're going against this guy. Get out there.' It's insane and I've never seen anything like it professionally and to see a company that's worth billions operating that way just baffles me.
"XFL, with Vince taking a lot of time with that and Heyman doing a lot of stuff backstage, hopefully it gets better. But for the foreseeable future, I don't see it."
Borger mentioned that he's been backstage before At WWE television tapings and he was asked to describe the scene as far as Vince McMahon in the backstage work environment.
"Vince will come in and out. When Vince walks by, he'll go, 'Hey guys' and then just walk by. That's about all, from our perspective, we'll get but when he sees his boys back there, he's talkative," said Borger. "He'll joke with them and stuff like that. He's got a great personality and you know when he comes out, if there's somebody not happy with him or he's not happy with them, then they'll just put their head down and that's about it. He's a billion-dollar company owner and I think he's handling that business ? as far as his interactions backstage ? like any business owner of that size would handle it."
Borger then talked about the talent themselves and how they are backstage at shows.
"They're back there going through their stuff and talking to each other. You've got the agents going over stuff with them. They stay mostly active but I can see where guys get bored as they have to show up at two o'clock in the afternoon and sit there for a few hours before anything comes down. Then the massive changes they do except for the top guys. Roman and Daniel Bryan know when they're going on but for the mid-card guys, it's hectic. They're all over the place running around and seeing if they can get a spot. I don't blame them," stated Borger.
Face2FaceWrestling's Bruggadown Barbados event takes place this Saturday in Barbados. It is the first pro wrestling to take place on the island country. At the show, Marty Scurll will face PJ Black, former WWE Diva Melina will battle Renee Michelle, Carlito will clash with Chris Masters, Matt Sydal will face Flip Gordon and more. For more information you can visit Face2facewrestling.com/barbados.
Borger's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of Tuesday's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: