Jimmy Wang Yang joined Chris Van Vliet as the guest on the latest episode of his INSIGHT podcast for an in-depth interview.
The following are some of the highlights from the interview.
Did you have any idea for what this gimmick would be for you? “No. So all I was told was you’re being an Asian redneck coming to SmackDown. I was like, cool. When they pitched the character to me at that time, I was like, sweet, I’m gonna be the new Doink the Clown, comedy character kind of thing. That will be cool to have. As a Korean kid in Georgia, I got my material a lot from the people I knew, and I just made it as ridiculous as possible. So then the debut, and then having a match, all of a sudden it was this switch of being kind of like a celebrity, I didn’t know how that would take off so well. Because I just remember after debuting, and then I’m going to the airport and wear my goofy ass cowboy hat, I get mobbed by everybody. I’m like, holy crap, this really took off. I was kind of surprised how well that took off.”
So what did you think when you heard your theme song for the first time? “I know people love that theme song, but I hated it. I hated it as a wrestling theme because I couldn’t get fired up to some bluegrass. I was like how am I supposed to get fired up to this song? I need to get fired up for this match that we’re about to have. But it is a good song when you’re sitting on the porch and all that kind of stuff. But as wrestling music, it was kind of too slow for me.”
You got vignettes, and not everybody gets a vignette. That sets the character up so that by the time you do debut, people know exactly what to expect. When you were reading these vignettes, were you like, ‘You want me to say what?’ “Yeah, that’s really because they didn’t know how the audience was gonna react to me. But it was different times. When I see it, I kind of am ashamed of some of the stuff that they wanted me to say, because it is like, ‘Oh it’s funny when you say it because you’re half Korean. I couldn’t say it, but you can say it because you’re Korean.’ No, it’s gonna be funny to you guys. I understand what’s going on. I say this is funny to you guys. But for my culture and my people, it is offensive.”
What was the most offensive thing? “The most offensive thing is me wearing the Confederate flag on my back. They said, ‘Hey, we want you to be an Asian redneck.’ Okay, what do you think of? I think of rodeos. I think of NASCAR. I think of Dukes of Hazard and General Lee. I’m like, Oh yeah, I’m an Asian redneck, so I gotta wear the Confederate flag on the back of my vest and go out there. But if anybody knows what that symbolizes, it’s God-awful, and it’s horrible. I wish I hadn’t done that. Undertaker is the one that told me. He saw me wearing it, ‘Jimmy, take that f*cking sh*t off!’ I said I’m playing a character, an Asian redneck. ‘That sh*t means some horrible sh*t. Take it off.’ All right. Then I take off, and they said, ‘Hey, where’s your jacket at?’ [I replied] ‘Undertaker told me to take it off.’ ‘Okay.’”
Watch the complete Jimmy Wang Yang interview via the YouTube player embedded below.
