Paul Roma: “It was more relaxing in the locker room in WCW”

Recap of Paul Roma on In Your Head Wrestling Radio, 05/08/2018
by Vic Schiavone

Host Jack E. Jones welcomed former WWF and WCW wrestler Paul Roma to IYH Wrestling Radio. Paul is best known as being one half of the tag team “Power and Glory” with Hercules Hernandez in the WWF from 1990-1991 and as a member of the Four Horsemen in WCW in 1993.

Highlights included the following:

How did the two companies compare when you went to WCW?

“It was more relaxing in the locker room in WCW; less tension less stress…And then, things started to change; they started bringing in more WWF guys. Then (Hulk) Hogan came in and started to basically run the show. (Eric) Bischoff was in charge, so to speak; (Ric) Flair was in charge of Bischoff. The storylines weren’t great; the product was OK. Obviously, when you’re running the show you’re keeping yourself in the limelight, and that’s fine. Then Hogan came in, and it was all about Hogan. And then he had to bring his boys in, the Kliq, and then it was about them. It was no longer about what was good, what was right for the business, what was right for the storylines. It was about how much money can I take from these people and get some for my friends, and not worry about tomorrow or down the road. You’re ruining the company, and the business isn’t going to be there, and that was the problem with a lot of these guys.”

“When I had a talk with Vince (McMahon) and I left, when I quit, I said to him, ‘You know what your problem is Vince? Guys like me, and Ray (Hercules) and Perfect (Curt Hennig) and the rest of us, we broke our ass for you. We got hurt, we worked injured for you. Now, your new guys, they get a hangnail and they’re out a week.’ And they don’t care about the business. They didn’t care about your product; they didn’t understand that you worked whether you were hurt or not, whether you were tired didn’t matter. We went balls to the wall, every night, and that’s why we had such a great product back then. That’s why it’s such a crappy product now. They’ve got guys that are writing themselves into the storyline; there are guys that have no idea what a storyline is. It’s the truth. And that’s the way it was in WCW. Guys like Hogan don’t care about nobody but themselves. Do they bring their boys in? Yeah, so they have somebody to pat them on the ass, to kiss their ass, to say hey, thanks buddy, I owe you man, you’re the greatest; to suck up to them. That’s what it’s all about. They don’t care if the business folds in a year’s time, or a couple of months’ time. They’re just bleeding the company for everything they can get and not doing what’s right for the company. And that’s just how they are, and that’s how I saw it after a few years. Even working for Vince that’s what I saw. Most of the guys didn’t give a crap; there were a chosen few that really cared. And that’s the problem today. They don’t have that anymore. That’s why their product is so crappy now; it’s why their wrestlers are so crappy now. They don’t care about a great product. They’re just sticking a product out there, and just trying to make money; that’s it.

Do you feel that you were a good fit for the Four Horsemen?

“I think I fit the part as far as my looks, my physique, what people would consider to be an athlete. Ric is a phenomenal showman; he is tremendous with the microphone. Arn (Anderson) is a tremendous wrestler, tactician if you will. And it was only us three; they threw Ole (Anderson) in there but he wasn’t working at the time. They just needed to throw him in to make four. When I came out with my tux on and I met the other guys on stage; it was freaky to say the least. There were a lot of ‘what the hells’; you could just feel that in the audience. There was some booing, there was some cheering…it was all of the above. Was I a good fit? I think if Ric was a little more accepting…I respect the guy; I respect what he did for wrestling, where he took it. I do. The guy’s a hell of a performer; a hell of a mouthpiece. That doesn’t change or make me take back anything I said about him personally.”

Other topics discussed included:
What tag team did he think that Power and Glory had their best matches with?
Why was Power and Glory’s tag match with the Legion of Doom at WrestleMania VII so short?
When he left for WCW, did Vince try to talk him out of it?
Whose idea was it for him to be a part of the Four Horsemen?

Paul will be appearing at New England Fan Fest 6 on Saturday, June 2, 2018, in East Providence, Rhode Island, and will also be inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame that night. For additional information, go to
http://www.AllAxxessEntertainment.com .

This interview is available for listening at
http://www.inyourheadonline.com/viewnews.php?autoid=36225
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