Zach Gowen Talks Brock Lesnar's Strength, Roddy Piper Pulling On His Wrong Leg, Backstage Heat
Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling interviewed Zach Gowen. In the clip above, Gowen talks about the strength of Brock Lesnar and noted that it was almost "inhuman," although Lesnar never hurt him. They also sent us the highlights below, you can download and listen to the full interview by clicking here.
Performing on the WWE Stage so early in his career:
"I was just incredibly nervous and I wanted to perform. Looking back it's really insane to think how much trust they had in me to perform what they asked me to perform considering I had no experience on television and had less then a year of wrestling and we were doing this angle that was never ever seen so there was no template to follow. We were literally flying by the seed of our pants and trying to come up with it on the fly. Looking back I have a greater appreciation for it now, because when you are in the middle of the hurricane you can't appreciate how powerful it is. For me it's the same thing with my WWE career and to be sharing the space with not only these wrestling legends but cultural legends of Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is a guy I put up there with Walt Disney."
Did Rowdy Roddy Piper attempt to pull of his "wrong leg" during an in ring segment:
"I got laid out and the spot was Piper was going to pull off my prosthetic leg and we were going to have this moment that really only a talent like Piper could 'pull-off' (no pun intended). At first he was grabbing the wrong one, he was grabbing my real foot and he was yanking on it really hard and so I am talking to him in the ring while this is going on and said "Piper, you are grabbling the wrong foot" and he looked at me and said "sorry kid" and he grabbed my prothstetic leg and pulled it off. If you watch that segment back it almost makes it look more realistic and that he was out of control in a moment of chaos. Only a legend like Piper could real pull that angle off and I certainly have fond memories of the man and the talent."
The magnitude of working with the legends (Hogan, Piper, Vince McMahon):
"It was insane. Guys like Hogan, Piper and Vince these guys were basically my father figures. They were giving me direction, they were my role models for me growing up and were larger then life super heroes. I never got into Superman or Batman or comic books but my super heroes wore spandex. So being a 19 or 20 year old kid and cutting promos with Hulk Hogan backstage was truly mind blowing for me. Again it is something that I have such great appreciation for and especially now looking back."
Any perceived heat from the locker room for his spot at that point in 2003:
"There was no jealousy there. I wasn't taking anybody's spot. So there wasn't like another one legged guy that was in the business longer then I was. Everyone was really encouraging for me. They helped me out a ton, where the heat came from was that I wasn't conducting myself as a WWE Superstar. There are guys now that have an appreciation for it and there were guys then that were in the business for 15 years and dedicated their whole lives to this busienss and had families and had wives at home and took the business very seriously. Me, I came in as a twenty year old who was just really a fan more so then a wrestler and I didn't understand the gravity of the gift that was handed to me and I think that some of the wrestlers resented the fact that I wasn't embracing the gift as well as I should have been."
Zach also digs further into his WWE career, he discusses his runs in TNA, ROH and various Independent Promotions, he also comments on his new documentary, his career goals and not wanting to be a wrestler in the next five years. You can download and listen to the full interview by clicking here.