Perry Saturn shoots on TNA, talks about his drug abuse in WWE, Benoit, more

PERRY SATURN SHOOTS ON TNA, TALKS ABOUT HIS DRUG ABUSE IN WWF, PERSONAL MEMORIES OF CHRIS BENOIT, EXTREME RISING, AND MORE
By WorldWrestlingInsanity.com

For him, Extreme Rising is more than a wrestling company. It’s symbolic. Extreme Legend Perry Saturn has returned from the brink, found sobriety, and is rising back in wrestling. Now Saturns joins James Guttman on ClubWWI.com for a 35 minute shoot that will shock and awe with its blunt honesty. Among the many topics JG and Saturn discuss are his misery while in WCW, the political games of those in power, why he split with John Kronus, disappearing from wrestling, becoming homeless, his intense drug abuse, the night the Radicalz jumped to WWE, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, and tons more. For a larger list of topics head to: http://www.worldwrestlinginsanity.com/am2/publish/newsnotes/ClubWWI_Perry_Saturn.shtml

Those who have been following Perry Saturn’s return to wrestling know that he’s been through the fires of hell. Returning from drug abuse and homelessness, Perry now is able to look back on his career with a new found enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the choices he made lead to the loss of some memories. As the ClubWWI.com begins, James Guttman asks Saturn about his run in WWF alongside “Moppy”. The gimmick was funny, but Perry’s response might be considered startling to some.

“Yeah. The people, for the most part, really enjoyed that Moppy stuff. Unfortunately, I was so high all the time, I have such a clouded memory. I don’t remember most of it…All the ideas were the writers. I had no idea. Like I said, I was so stoned all the time, I’m lucky I made it to the shows ,let alone come up with anything creative. WWE has an outstanding creative staff, they come up with stuff. They try to come up with ways to get everybody over and you do or you don’t. I didn’t have anything to do with that creative because at the time, I really hated it too…Now, I get the humor of it. At the time, my main concern was making sure nobody knew I was high.”

As Guttman points out, one of the most overlooked things about those who abuse drugs is that there is a constant fear that they could be caught in the act. It adds a level of paranoia and stress to someone who’s already battling problems. Perry agrees.

“I was so standoffish. I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on.”

James notices how much effort Saturn put in to covering his habits in WWF at the time. Many fans assume that pre-Wellness Poilcy WWF was a place where drugs were openly done. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the policy not being as solid, it still was something the company didn’t tolerate. As the ClubWWI.com interview continues, Saturn explains why he made such efforts to hide it.

“If they had found out, they would have sent me to rehab. They always, for whatever reason, took care of the guys as best they could. But I didn’t want to quit doing everything. I didn’t want to go to rehab. I wanted to keep doing things the way I was doing them. I wasn’t a big drinker. So when you drink a lot on top of doing drugs, that’s really hard to hide that. I think that’s what helped me keep mine hidden was that I just did the opiates, which was easier for me to hide.”

Perry goes on to talk about the time he thought Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Jim Ross were trying to trick him into an intervention, nearly killing himself accidentally, and much more. Of course, the names Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero are almost always spoken with Perry Saturn. The four Radicalz were famous for their friendship. Perry shares his personal feeling with ClubWWI.com members about each person in the group. When James Guttman gets to Chris, Saturn talks about the man he knew and the shock over what he did.

“All the time I’d been with Chris, I honestly don’t think I’ve seen him mad. I’m sure he’d been upset, but mad? I’ve been mad where they’ve had to grab me and calm me down mad. Eddie’s been so mad that I’ve seen Eddie throw a f****ing pool cue across a bar for just about no reason. I’ve seen Dean twice scream at somebody. I’ve never seen Chris do that. All those times I went out every night partying – because that’s what I did – and on occasion I was able to drag these guys out with me. Chris told me on day one – and it never changed – that he didn’t cheat on Nancy. Chris was a faithful husband and loving father. I have no idea what happened. I could never explain it and it blows my mind – the whole thing.”

Perry speaks in-depth about the night he and his friends jumped to the WWF from WCW and the misconceptions about the move. He also speaks out about his misery in WCW, being unhappy with his decision to go there, how the drug usage for many kicked up a notch while in WCW, management’s adversarial relationship with wrestlers, top guys holding mid-carders down, and more. After listening to all that during the ClubWWI.com discussion, Guttman asks if Saturn is surprised that those who were in WCW management still find work years later. Without mentioning TNA owner Dixie Carter or TNA itself by name, JG asks and Perry lets them have it.

“It’s amazing. The ‘Predictability of Stupidity’ is unbelievable. To believe that someone could see what they did (in WCW) and use their own money to give these people another chance to do it again. Tell me TNA is going to be a successful business. That’s hard to believe. Eventually that woman’s going to run out of money and you have to think someone else will give them the same opportunity. Funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time was one of Vince Russo’s Tweets, obviously after they let him go. He said he was sure glad to see the lucrative deal TNA signed with Hulk Hogan especially since Hogan’s only appearances in TNA are during his Rent-a-Center ads. Nobody should ever get paid to stay home.”

It’s that work ethic that lead to some of Perry’s memorable moments in ECW. Now, years later, his career is coming full circle. Underneath the “Extreme Rising” banner (ExtremeReunion.net), Saturn is returning to his roots and working for a company that has the ECW feel. James mentions Perry’s appearance on June 30th with the group and how it’s offering the fans a chance to do something they haven’t been able to do in over a decade – get the ECW feel at a live event. Saturn agrees and tells ClubWWI what made ECW so special…and how Extreme Rising has that same asset.

“The ECW fans are totally different than any other fans. So it’s wicked cool. I’m at Extreme Rising on the 30th this month. The show on the 29th is going to be outstanding too…I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to my match more than any other match in a long time. I have no idea who I’m working with or anything, I’m just glad to be in front of the ECW fans again, you know…In ECW and WWE – both places – the guys worked as hard as they could. The difference was that that ECW fans made the whole experience different. They were special, man. They never had fans like that anywhere else.”

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