Former WWE star Jimmy Wang Yang appeared on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet,” where he discussed topics including signing with WCW at just 18.
Yang said, “I was 18 years old. So, it was a crazy day. So what happened, we were wrestling at that bar in Atlanta, and all sudden, a Sunday comes, and the promoter calls, saying, ’Hey, Jimmy, I need you and Ryan down here right away. Chris Canyon is coming to look at you guys. You’re gonna have a trial match in front of Chris Cayon.’ I was like, what? The thing is, I was such a fan, I was like, oh my god, Chris Canyon is gonna be there. It’s like, I’m there, you know.”
On how he was received in the locker room:
“So I must have been kind of good at hiding it. That’s another big moment for me is when I got my first WCW Saturday Night Main Event match. Growing up in Atlanta, I only had two channels growing up, PBS and TBS. But WCW Saturday Night was my show. It was WCW wrestling, Atlanta Braves baseball. Then when I got the call saying, ‘Hey, we need you in Amherst, Massachusetts for Saturday Night main event.’ I’m like, Oh my God, this is actually happening. So I got there, going to the arena, and I’m such a mark. I’m telling you, I walk in, I was like, oh my god, there’s El Dandy. Oh my god, Bob and Steve Armstrong, the Armstrong brothers, Juventud Guerrero, all these guys. I’m like, oh my god, this is so awesome. I think I was taught properly about respect in wrestling. DDP knew who I was, but they didn’t know the crazy wrestling fan. But it was pretty awesome.”
On not sensing the end was near for WCW:
“Not at all. That’s the thing, I grew up on WCW. No more WCW? That was never in my mind. But it was crazy, but I’m 18 years old. I don’t know what’s normal. I went from that bar wrestling and see New Jack stab somebody in the parking lot. Seriously, first time I met him. But then, yeah, going to WCW, and seeing some of the guys and seeing the environment, like I said, Oh, this is just pro wrestling, this is crazy life, the wild wild west. But I just knew I was very young, and didn’t know any better. I had about five different bosses during those two years. I’m like, this doesn’t sound right, but I didn’t think WCW would ever end. That’s a stake with my life.”
On his contract moving to WWE after WCW got bought out:
“So that last Nitro, I can’t believe it’s 25 years. … So what I think, because they bought WCW, they had bought our contracts, they just bought ECW, and then they had the WWE roster. At the time, they didn’t have the separate brands, they had just one show doing Raw and SmackDown. So I just think the roster was overloaded at that first time in WWE. I don’t know how many people were on the roster, but you can only have so many matches on Monday, you can only have so many matches on Friday, and then whatever else But that first run, I think it was just so many people and they couldn’t find me a spot.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
