Chris Masters appeared on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
The following are some of the highlights from the interview.
I don’t think it’s talked about enough that you were only 22 when you made your WWE debut, looking as jacked as you did. I think because you had that much muscle, people assumed [you were older]: “I was 21. I know that because I was turning 22 when I worked the Elimination Chamber. That’s how that always stands out to me. So I definitely didn’t look my age. I think most of the guys didn’t even treat me like I was my age because of that. I was a kid. It was me, Muhammad Hassan and Renee Dupree, just a few young guys amongst a locker room of men that most of us kind of grew up watching. So yeah, I just think most of them just kind of treated me like I was a grown man, when really, I was a kid. If you think, because when I do seminars, or even just indies, I’ll see guys who were right around that age, and they still look like kids. So I’m like well, that was me. I was that age too. I just looked older. It doesn’t mean I was necessarily more mature or had any kind of wisdom or anything like that at point.”
Didn’t Cena give you the very first STFU? “Yes, and it was a shoot STFU. I mean, again, I’m not saying that Cena was purposely doing it to shoot on me. I used to think sometimes with Cena, he got so fired up in the moment that he wouldn’t even know his own strength type of thing. So, yeah, he did it to me for a shoot. You’ll see my face starts turning red, I start trying to get it a little bit looser. I’m pretty sure that I heard later on that he was working with Kurt, and Kurt had to tell him to loosen it up a little bit. But Kurt with his neck issues and stuff. But my Master Lock could be kind of brutal sometimes with guys, because I didn’t really know how to work it either. So sometimes when I look back at those videos and I look at me putting on Kurt, I’m kind of like, oh man, I was probably rougher with him than I needed to be. Because when you’re that green, you don’t know how to shake spirit as much. You do stuff a little more real than you have to. I can remember, actually, there was a time with Shane Helms, we were working at a live event, and I Master Locked him, I guess, way too hard. So I released the Master Lock, they ring the bell, the match is over, and he gets up, and I think he tells me to f off, and just walks off. I’m not even saying it to heel on him, I was too stiff, I didn’t know how to work it, and it became a big drama with everybody, because then it was like, you know, he no sold the hold, I’m obviously doing it too rough, and I know that too. Because with Shelton, one time, he was telling me, I was about to pass out. I mean, if it’s too tight, some of the guys were so broad here that it’d be so tight that it would be tough, because you start twerking their neck from the start. [It’s a legit hold] You’ll pass out, cuts off the blood flow, and you’ll go out.”
Watch the complete interview below.
