Gerald Brisco On Being Responsible For "Evil Empire" WWE, How He Felt About His WWE Release, More

WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco recently spoke with Paul Guzzo of The Tampa Bay Times to discuss his recent WWE departure, his career, and more. Brisco was furloughed from his talent scout job back in April due to COVID-19, but then was released altogether in September. Brisco spent 36 years of his 51 year career with WWE.

Brisco admitted he was initially upset over the release, but that feeling has passed.

"I'm okay with it," he said, adding that he expected to be released if the COVID-19 spread kept paying crowds out of arenas.

While Brisco's travel schedule lightened as a talent scout, he was still on the road for at least 26 weeks per year.

"The way I see it, I earned a break," Brisco said.

Brisco has trolled fans with his recent "big announcement" videos on Twitter and one of the top fan topics coming out of those videos is how he's grown sideburns. Brisco said he's always wanted to grow the "mutton chops" but he held off just in case he might be needed on TV.

Regarding a potential life of retirement, Brisco joked that he doesn't want to drive his crazy. He's thinking about writing a book because he has a lot of stories to tell.

Brisco apparently did well for himself over the years. It was noted that he bought stock in Championship Wrestling From Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling years ago, and then in the early 1980s he brokered the deal to sell the promotions to WWE during its rise to an international company.

"Yeah, I'm responsible for the rise of the evil empire," Brisco joked.

Brisco wrestled for WWE for around a year before working as a backstage agent in 1985. He noted that he's credited with one of WWE's most famous matches and one of its most infamous matches – the WrestleMania 13 match between WWE Hall of Famers Steve Austin and Bret Hart in 1997, and the Kennel From Hell match between Al Snow and WWE Hall of Famer Big Boss Man in 1999 at Unforgiven.

Brisco and WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson worked as "The Stooges" of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon during the Attitude Era. He called that one of the best periods of his life.

"That was one of the best times of my life," Brisco said. "I was allowed to be goofy and have fun."

He suffered three strokes in 2009 and that ended his full-time WWE schedule as doctors said he shouldn't travel so much. Brisco was then put in charge of scouting future stars for WWE. He said he searched the college wrestling ranks for the most outgoing and the most athletic talents. Among his recruits are Brock Lesnar and RAW Tag Team Champion Angelo Dawkins.

While Brisco won't commit to retirement just yet, he said he's content with what he's accomplished in the pro wrestling business.

"I've been around the world," he said. "And I've gotten to help build the WWE into an empire from the ground floor. I'm good."