Anthony Bowens on nearly signing with WWE, origin of scissor me Daddy Ass, more
Via Alex Hunt:
I wanted to pass on the interview that Chris Van Vliet did with Anthony Bowens on INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet. He talks about Max Caster’s raps, the origin of Scissor me Daddy Ass, original plans for Billy Gunn’s birthday bash and more.
On Max Caster’s raps:
“So yeah, I’m grateful to have you know, every time when the siren hits, people lose their minds, because they want to hear what Caster has to say. Because you never know what he’s gonna say, that’s the beauty of him having a live microphone. We hit on just about everything, which seems to make people upset with certain things. But it’s just like, if it’s news, like, we don’t operate within the realm of we have to live in a bubble of just our company. If it’s news, if it’s out there, if it happened, it’s up for grabs. And you know, obviously, if it’s tasteful. But, you know, we will touch on anything. And that’s the way it’s gonna continue to be. So get used to it.”
The origin of scissor me Daddy Ass:
“One day, it was probably about five minutes before we went out to, I think it was Rampage? I think it was a Battle Royale on Rampage. And I was sitting in the wheelchair and I was giggling to myself. I was trying to figure out a way to end our entrance, because Max would rap I would get the crowd to yell Ass Boys, but I didn’t have an ending. And I just giggled to myself and I thought I think I’m just gonna say ‘scissor me Daddy Ass.’ I don’t know why that popped into my head, but I started laughing. Literally me like sitting in the wheelchair in gorilla just like laughing at it. And then I didn’t tell anybody, I think I had told Billy, I think I’m gonna say ‘scissor me Daddy Ass.’ He didn’t say anything. I just remember he just smiled at me and he walked away. And that was it. Five minutes later, when I screamed it on Rampage, I came back, I looked around, no one said anything to me. I was like, okay, so I guess that was okay. And then it was trending. And then I started to see the signs, that’s when you know, I’ve got to say this every single week.”
Original plans for Daddy Ass’ Birthday Bash:
“Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I don’t like pulling the curtain too far back. But I will say that the Daddy Ass Birthday Bash celebration. I thought it would be a fun idea, and I did put it together. What you saw people enjoyed, but was about maybe 30 or 40% of what I had originally planned. [Chris asks Were you going to invite Chuck Palumbo?] He was going to be my birthday gift. I thought the irony of me reuniting Billy and Chuck would be perfect for this birthday bash. But he wasn’t available. I don’t like putting things out there. But like, I really want people [to know this one].”
On nearly signing with WWE:
“I think I’ve told the story a couple of times. I haven’t really gone too much into detail with that but you know, screw it might as well. So I had a try out with them in 2015 at the Arnold Classic. I did well enough there, they invited myself and Bianca [Belair] to the Performance Centre. We did a full one there. They told me not right now, keep in touch. I kept in touch and then randomly in 2017 I got hit up, hey, you know, we’re looking to bring you in 2018. So I started preparing I did you know, the background, I did everything. The only thing I needed was just the contract, and it never came. And I would check in every six months, like hey, this is what you told me to work on, you know, presented to them. Nothing. And then, you know, budget issues. There’s no room, like how is there no room, you know, just hired 50 people, there’s clearly room. But they ghosted me really for three years. And then I did Dark, and then right after Dark, they hit me back up. They hit me back up and they asked if I was a free agent, which I said I was. They ended up offering me a contract. I said yes, but then they never sent me a contract. And in that timeframe, Tony had found out and he wanted me to go meet with him. And unbeknownst to me, I guess something similar was happening with Caster. So I felt like well, you know, this is kind of the second time that this has happened, where I haven’t gotten, you know, what I needed to so I might as well hear this guy out. I went out, spoke to Tony and I liked our conversation, I liked the opportunity that he was giving us and combine that with, you know, everything I talked about with the locker room. And truthfully, you know, I had a family emergency at the time, and it kind of made me realise that I didn’t want to move to Orlando at that point in my life. So everything was just telling me I needed to go to AEW. So once they presented us with a contract, I signed it and I told WWE unfortunately I had to pass on their offer, I was never sent anything. And I trust Tony’s vision for us.”
On his AEW debut and if he has watched it back:
“I can’t. I’m dead serious, I cannot watch it because it was very awkward. And basically that was the same day that we had a meeting with Tony, that was the first time we ever met like Tony face-to-face, and that’s when he told us that we were going to be The Acclaimed and that was basically our try out match, it was against Best Friends. And we didn’t know what The Acclaimed was. We just knew that Max rapped and Cody told me, the only piece of information I was given was from Cody and he said just whatever dis Caster says, it’s the craziest, best thing you’ve ever heard in your entire life. That was the only thing I got. And I had to figure out who I was under the umbrella of The Acclaimed. But two hours later, after meeting Tony, I had no idea what that was. So we came out and there was no theme music, so everything was just like it’s acapella. He did the rap, and I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m like that was a good one. Yeah, it was terrible. I will never [watch the entrance]. I’ll watch the match, the match was great. I will not watch the entrance.”
