On Wednesday, April 29, 1998, Bad News Allen took the time to answer questions fans had sent in to Slam Wrestling. As always, he didn’t hold anything back. If a question is not credited, then it is from Slam Wrestling’s Greg Oliver .
Q: Since you stay in Calgary, do you keep in touch with the Harts? [Kim Fagan]
A: No, not really. Stu, I run into him every now and then.
Q: Would you consider them friends? [Kim Fagan]
A: No. Personally, no. We never were friends.
Q: Did you feel that your race had something to do with your treatment in the WWF, and do you think it’s better now for blacks in the industry? [Kim Fagan]
A: Yes, my race had something to do with it and whether it’s better now, as long as Vince McMahon is there, no.
Q: What did you think of that angle a while ago when Roddy Piper painted half of his body black? [Mark Sherrick]
A: Well, I told him personally that it was an insult. But they did it because they wanted to do it, Vince and him. I said whatever happens to him, it will be on their heads. I had nothing to do with it. But I told him personally it was really an insult to me and my people, but they insisted on doing it anyway.
Q: How much reaction did you get to it afterwards? Was it something that was talked about?
A: Yeah, a lot of negative reaction. Especially when I went to the east coast, and all my family still lives down in the States, they were really, really mad about it.
Q: With the recent influx of a more hardcore style into wrestling how does he feel the old Stampede would compare for hardcore content and inventiveness? [Terry Massey]
A: Well, I haven’t seen much of ECW in the last few years. Since I have a satellite dish, I get it, but I always thought that Stampede really put on a good show. They always had really good workers there.
Q: Do you know what happened to his old tag partner Mr. Hito? [Terry Massey]
A: Yeah, I ran into him in Japan last year. [laughing] He lives there. His uncle died and he owned a restaurant and left it to him. So he left it to him. He lives in Osaka and he actually runs the restaurant now. Yeah, I ran into him last year.
Q: Back in the 1980’s (around 1984-85) there was a match where you fought in a tag team against Archie Gouldie and his son [Editor’s note: actually another person acting as Gouldie’s son]. To make a long story short, there was a fork involved, and at the end Ed Whelan “quit” as an announcer for Stampede Wrestling. Was this an angle to cover up the selling of Stu Hart’s promotion to the WWF at the time? [drs]
A: No, it wasn’t.
Q: What are your memories of that one?
A: [Laughing] Ed Whalen really flipped out. I didn’t know he was going to do that. Actually it was about a year later that Stu sold his promotion. It wasn’t an angle. Ed Whalen really went off the deep end that night.
Q: How did that affect you? Did you try to talk to him afterwards to try to bring him back?
A: Well, I didn’t. Personally, I was happy to see him leave. I thought he was a terrible commentator and he wanted to get too involved with the wrestlers all the time. He was always up in the heels’ faces all the time and I didn’t think that was a good thing. But then, a year when he did come back, they actually brought me down and I had to promise that I would behave myself and all this nonsense. And they actually turned me babyface for a while there, so he would come back. Otherwise he refused to come back as long as I was working there.
Q: What do you think of the direction the WWF has gone/is going now versus when you worked there? [JEFF]
A: I think they’ve really gone overboard. Every time I think Vince has gone as low as he can go, he goes even further. You know, he used to tell us all the time, this is a family program, family entertainment. But now he’s gone so far overboard it’s unbelievable. My youngest son is 13, and some of the language they have on there … You know, you try to bring him up to do the right things and you see them with every kind of angle you can imagine that most parents would be against their kids to watch. He seems to be wanted to do it.
Q: Do you let your son watch?
A: Yes, sometimes. He’ll watch it. Myself, I’ll start to watch it and a lot of times I won’t even finish watching the show because I get so disgusted with what I see.
Q: With your extensive Judo and wrestling background, would you compete in the UFC or one of the ‘ultimate fighting’ matches? [JEFF]
A: Yeah, years ago when I was younger. Too old now and too beat up.
Q: What do you think of the UFC and the whole ultimate fighting debate?
A: I enjoy it myself when I do get to see it. The thing that really makes me laugh is that they have such a hard time down in the States with certain states won’t give them liscences to compete. But yet they’ll have auto racing where not only do some of the people get killed, but the spectators do too. They had a race up here in Toronto where the wheel flew off and killed somebody in the stands. That’s okay, that’s fine. But a couple guys in hand-to-hand combat and a little blood and they get all excited.
Q: Do you plan to tour with Maritime Grand Prix Wrestling this coming summer? [James]
A: Well, I heard that he [Emile Dupre] wasn’t sure if he was going to start running it or not. So, I’m not sure. I don’t know what he’s doing.
Q: What shows do you have coming up?
A: Mostly in Japan. And we’re going to run some shows for Tony [Condello] in Winnipeg.
Q: What are your feelings about working in a Shoot Style promotion made by Lou Thesz couple of years ago in the UWFI? How do you feel about people like Albright and Yamazaki that made it to All-Japan? [Gery Roif]
A: I enjoyed working there. Like I said, I just wish that I had done it when I was a lot younger because I was beyond my top ability at that time. I enjoyed working there and I liked most of the guys like Yamazaki, Gary [Albright] and them.
Q: What are your thoughts about Abdullah the Butcher? [Gery Roif]
A: [Laughing] I think he should retire by now. He’s a lot older than I am. I think he’s seen his day.
Q: If Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff would offer you a job, would you accept, and what do you think your role would be? [Gery Roif]
A: Well, I don’t know would be, but I won’t mind going to work for Eric because I really don’t know him and haven’t been down there before. But I would never go to work for Vince.
Q: Is the 100 dates a year contract an attraction?
A: Yeah, that’s a lot better than when we were working.
Q: I heard you trained the NYPD officers in martial arts, how was that experience. [wayne reifferscheid]
A: Yeah, that was years ago when I used to live in New York. It was pretty good. I used to be the guest lecturer for the police department. Because I friend of mine, he used to work down at the academy as a hand-to-hand combat instructor and he used to bring me in sometimes to go down their and show them stuff.
Q: What’s your take on the Honkytonk Man?
A: [Laughing] I like Wayne. He’s quite a character.
Q: Where did beer belly sharecroppers come from? [Ryan Bailey]
A: I don’t know. I just made it up one day. I remember because Freddie Blassie was my manager when I was with the WWWF and worked for Vince’s father. He always had that hook, when he would say ‘pencil-necked geek’. So I was thinking, I’ve got to come up with something like that. So I came up with beer belly sharecroppers for myself.
PREVIOUS BAD NEWS ALLEN STORIES
- April 9, 2007: Guest column: Allen Coage, my hero, our hero
- March 13, 2007: Family and friends bid farewell to Bad News
- March 6, 2007: Bad News Allen dies suddenly
- September 20, 2000: Bad News on his judo bronze medal
- July 13, 2000: Delivering the Bad News to Stampede
- Mar. 22, 1998: Coage still actively delivering Bad News
