Bruce Prichard on Vince McMahon, the Magic of Live Wrestling, and XFL 2.0

Bruce Prichard has been around pro wrestling for a long time and he’s done pretty much everything: wrestler, manager (his best known role is Brother Love, a red-faced televangelist who was infinitely hateable), booker, and writer. These days, he co-hosts the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast, alongside Conrad Thompson. On the podcast, he tells stories, real ones, about pro wrestling events, infamous and otherwise.

The podcast is riveting and the interplay between the hosts lifts it to the ranks of the best pro wrestling podcasts out there. STW is now on the road. I caught up with Prichard for a phone interview prior to a Saturday show in Philadelphia, to talk about why pro wrestlers are suddenly so forthcoming, the strangely admirable willingness of Vince McMahon to let bygones be bygones, and how live shows will always be the most important part of pro wrestling.

VICE Sports: You're doing a bunch of live shows. Could you tell me a little about the ones you've been doing in New York and Philadelphia?

Bruce Prichard: Well, you know, we take our show on the road. It's a live version of the podcast, but it's all the things we can't discuss on the air. So it can be a little more risque, and we have a lot more audience participation with people. We do some live Q&A. We allow people, and we encourage people, to be a big part of it. It's just so fun. It's a raucous, live show.

I tend to think wrestling fans love it so much that they get really into live shows, wanting to hear the stories and all that. I imagine you guys feed off of that.

Yeah, there's nothing like a great live audience. Just to feel that, it's a good time. It kind of takes you back to your performing days. I love to perform in front of a live audience.

So your live shows came from Something to Wrestle With. Did you have any expectations that your podcast would blow up like it did?

Not at all, no. I kind of laughed at it and thought it would never take off the way that it did. It's worked out great and if you'd asked me two years ago to do a podcast I don't think I'd even know what that entailed. If you'd told me that all these people would be listening to you I would've laughed in your face.

You're not alone, obviously, in that wrestling podcasts are really popular. You've got Chris Jericho and Steve Austin, just off the top of my head. What do you think explains the public's fascination for and appreciation of pro wrestling these days? Even in the boom periods, it didn't seem to be treated seriously by the broader public.

Well I think there's always been a fascination with wrestling, and I think there's always been a huge audience. It's funny to me when people ask about a newfound popularity. They've always tuned in and been there. Always one of the most watched programs no matter when it was.

My favorite is when people would tell me, "Yeah, I don't watch that stuff anymore. I used to watch it when I was a kid, but not anymore. I don't like the things they're doing. Like the other night, they did that thing with that Roman Reigns guy. And he's a hell of an athlete, and they're just doing him wrong."

Well, I thought you didn't watch! "Well I just happened to see it the other day." It's so funny to me that people will do things like that.

The flip side of that is that wrestlers and folks involved backstage, they're much more willing to talk about how the business works. How you put together a match, how angles work, everything. And you do that, obviously. What do you think explains why wrestlers are so willing to talk about it these days?

I think the times have just changed. The audience is much more sophisticated than it ever used to be and we are all kind of creatures of the internet and more and more news. It's hard to keep things secret. The inner workings are going to be out there and the only thing they've ever really been subject to is dirt sheets and people who've never been in the business reporting what they want to report. So an opportunity to set the record straight is, I think, attractive to some people, to get out there and tell your story.

Let's talk about Raw 25 briefly. How was it being back in WWE?

It was amazing to me, because it was just great to be back around the machine, and to be involved in something like that was just cool as hell. But also to see all your old friends and come back to be able to reminisce. It was kind of like I'd never left, a little bit. That part of it was nice. It was an awful lot of fun to see all the old timers, if you will.

Without getting too into the details of how you left WWE, were you surprised that you got the call?

I got a call from Talent Relations. And I did see Vince and Stephanie, and we had a really great time quickly catching up, but it was just kind of "how are you doing" and saying hello to everybody. It was fun! That was just nice… it was just nice to see everybody. It was nice to be welcomed back into the fold and to have fun with it.

I was going to say, one of the things that I find legitimately admirable about Vince McMahon is his willingness to bring people back in all kinds of circumstances, good or bad. What explains that willingness to not burn bridges?

He's a businessman! He does what's best for business. If there's an opportunity to bring people back in spite of perceived things in the past he's willing to do that. He doesn't like to look back a whole lot. He likes to just look forward. In that regard, he doesn't care.

When he retires, do you think WWE will be substantially different, whether that's under Triple H and Stephanie or Shane or someone else?

No, I think it'll continue to move forward. At this point, it's a well-oiled machine. It's like the NFL… hell, it's been around longer than the NFL! It's where people look to, and if you want your wrestling fix, that's where you've got to go. If you're looking for that, there's only one place to look and that's WWE. Right now, of course, and hopefully they'll get some competition and that will make everyone better. But, WWE's going to continue for a long, long time.

I think Vince McMahon is going to announce the return of the XFL in about 20 minutes. (Editor’s note: He did) I get this sense, wholly from the outside, but it's been popping up in places, that it seems like he's getting a little restless, with the XFL happening and rumors of a sale. It seems like we're on the cusp of a shift in pro wrestling. What do you anticipate changing in wrestling in the next five or so years?

Well, more than anything is going to be the delivery system and how people enjoy the product. There are so many ways… and in five years there will probably be new ways to enjoy wrestling. And that's probably the biggest, but the best way always has been and will continue to be live events, so I think the focus on making a live event must-see and getting people to leave their homes and actually participate… you may see that change a little bit, to try to make it more enjoyable for the fans. I think we've all been complacent, sitting at home and have everything delivered on a screen.

That goes to what you were saying about performing in front of a live audience. There is no accessible live entertainment anymore except pro wrestling, right?

Right! And to me it's the greatest form of live entertainment you're going to get. That live entertainment dollar, you've got to be special to get it. You've got to make people get up, get in the car, load up the family, buy the tickets… that's an investment for people and I think we forget that sometimes. You have to make it worthwhile.

You've got Philly coming up. Where else are you doing your live show and how can people get tickets?

We've got Las Vegas coming up on February 24th and we'll be in Columbus, Ohio. The night before WrestleMania in New Orleans we'll be at The House of Blues for a late night show. Pretty much every major market where WWE is going with major events you can look for us the day of or day before. The Philly event is actually going to be a double header with Jake "The Snake" Roberts. His show is first, which is riveting, with us after. Then on St. Patrick's Day—this is crazy—we're doing a show with the Florida Panthers, right after the hockey game. That'll be a rowdy crowd. Right after a game on St. Patrick's Day, I can't wait!