MANNY FERNANDEZ SHOOTS ON RIC FLAIR, CALLS HIM A BORING “GARBAGE CHAMPION” COMPARED TO HARLEY RACE, EXPLAINS HOW NOT WANTING TO BE DUSTY RHODES IS WHY YOU’LL NEVER SEE HIM IN TNA OR WWE, AND MORE By WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
Forget $2 steaks. This week’s special guest is tougher than a free one. That’s right. Legendary tough man, “The Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez has come to ClubWWI.com for a 34 minute uncut shoot interview that is guaranteed to ruffle a few feathers.
Any fan of Manny’s knows that he shoots like no other. A Navy Seal, Fernandez is known for being one of the toughest both in the ring and out of it. Among the hard-hitting topics he discusses with James Guttman are: His Hatred For Paul Jones, Advising Rick Rude To Leave Their US Tag Championship Team and Jump to WWF, Rude’s Hatred For Jones, Trying To Convince Rick That Bobby Heenan Would Be a Different Manager, What Happened When He Recently Saw Dusty Rhodes, What Happened When He Recently Saw Paul Jones, The Fall of The GWF, The Original Ending To The Infamous Bungee Match, What He’d Do To Hulk Hogan In The First Five Seconds of a Match, Being a Navy Seal, Reject Hollywood Writers Doing Wrestling, The Issue Between Homicide and AJ Styles, John “Hawk” Layfield, The Ebony Experience, Terry Funk, and More.
When speaking about his early days, Fernandez brought up the men he worked with and learned from. One star in particularwho people bring up a lot on ClubWWI.com is Harley Race. Fernandez is no exception.
“When I was young I had them all. I learned how to work from all these guys. Especially Harley Race. Oh my God. That guy was unreal. ”
Guttman says that Race’s name comes up a lot from stars that say he was physical, but could make anyone look like gold. Manny agrees.
“Oh heck yeah. Carried me for about an hour and 90 minutes. We did about 14 hours and four 90 minute matches. Sheesh. That guy was…the difference between him and Ric Flair, to me, I thought Ric Flair was a garbage World Champion. That’s why the belt didn’t mean nothing. Harley Race could adapt to anybody. His match, number one, was never the same every time he worked them. Never the same. Always a different match. Wrestling Flair, he’s so boring, it’s always the same thing.”
Fernandez went on to talk about Ric getting “beat up by a 20 year old” and the things he didn’t learn during his career that would have taught him how to handle himself. He also speaks about Flair’s drawing power, a recent show that he only drew 77 for, and more.
One topic that many fans will be amazed by is Manny’s outlook on wrestling. His job was to be a wrestler, but when he was off the clock, he didn’t live it. Because of that, even with Terry Taylor, a former Fernandez student, in TNA, you won’t see him there. JG asks if there’s any interest in going to TNA on his part and The Raging Bull explains why not to ClubWWI.com listeners.
“No. No thought with me working with anybody. I’m done with the business. It’s not my life. I’ll train guys. I’ll do shows or conventions, but as far as me going out there and doing stuff – I have no ego for this business. I’m done with this business. Outside of doing things here or there – I’m not Dusty Rhodes, who wants to be the Superman superstar all his life, for the rest of his life. That’s his ego. It’s the kind of ego person he was. With me, I’m done. When I’m done, I’m done.”
The Hardnosed quotes you see here are only the tip of the iceberg. Manny’s full 34 minute shoot is something that any fan needs to hear. Aside from The Raging Bull, over 160 stars are available on ClubWWI.com including: Bobby Lashley, John Cena Sr.,Kizarny, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bobby Heenan, Terri Runnels, Kevin Nash, The Iron Sheik, Jesse Ventura, Kenny Dykstra, Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler, Vince Russo, Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, Eric Bischoff, Nikita Koloff, Nunzio, Armando Estrada, Dangerous Danny Davis, Ronnie Garvin, Colin Delaney, Jim Mitchell, Chris Harris, Ahmed Johnson,Glacier, Balls Mahoney, Francine, Sid Vicious, Paul Bearer, Brian Knobbs, Bruno Sammartino, Bryan Clark, Sean Mooney, Scott D’Amore, Tito Santana, Al Snow, Tod Gordon, JJ Dillon, Charlie Haas, Tom Prichard, Jacques Rougeau, Paul Roma, Jim Powers, Tammy Sytch, Too Cold Scorpio, The Honky Tonk Man, Ole Anderson, Kid Kash, Ivan Koloff, Jackie Gayda, Mr. Hughes, Scotty 2 Hotty, Dawn Marie, John Heidenreich, Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Valiant, Rick Martel, Bad News Brown, Nick Bockwinkel, Dory Funk Jr, Diamond Dallas Page, Rob Conway, Sylvain Grenier, Mike Bucci, Samu, Erik Watts, Buff Bagwell, Christian Cage, Jazz, Demolition Ax and Smash, Koko B. Ware, Ricky Morton, Lance Russell, Bruce Hart, Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes, Damian Demento, Fred “Shockmaster” Ottman, Justin Credible, Cpl. Kirchner, One Man Gang, Scott Steiner, Shawn Stasiak, Ted DiBiase, Ivory, Chris Masters, Elix Skipper, Kamala, Samoa Joe, Giant Bernard, Bill DeMott, Juvi “Juice” Guerrera, Nora “Molly Holly” Greenwald, Ni ck Dinsmore, Harley Race, Bull Buchanan, D-Lo Brown, Road Warrior A nimal, Missing Link, Rikishi, Slick, Nidia, George Steele, Christy Hemme, Disco Inferno, Paul Ellering, Vito, Steve Blackman, Bushwhacker Luke, AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, Dennis Stamp, Shawn Daivari, Kevin Sullivan, B.G. James, Ron Killings, Zach Gowan, D-Ray 3000, Dan Severn, Earl and Dave Hebner, Sivi Afi, Baron Von Raschke, Spike Dudley, Rodney Mack, Downtown Bruno, Larry Zybszko, Rick Steiner, Mae Young, and many, more.
James Guttman’s second book, “World Wrestling Insanity Presents: Shoot First…Ask Questions Later,” is available at BarnesandNoble.com or wherever books or sold.