During the latest episode of the “After the Bell with Corey Graves” podcast, WWE referee Charles Robinson commented on his storyline with Ric Flair in WCW, how he was introduced to The Rock, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his favorite WCW memories and how his storyline with Ric Flair came together: “The biggest thing that stands out is when they had me do the little Nature Boy storyline with Ric and Arn. Got to work with some of the greats – I worked with Roddy Piper, I worked with Randy Savage. I was in the business for one year and they put me into this storyline, and it was Kevin Nash who came up to me and said, ‘What do you think if we have you wrestle a girl and you lose?’ I said, ‘OK.’ And he goes, ‘And we’ll give you a Ric Flair robe.’ So that’s what we have right here behind me. I remember that because I’m working with some of the most legendary guys ever in the business and they all have such a great mind for it. Randy Savage – he took the time to work with me in the ring and to work on the match to make sure what we gave the fans was fun and entertaining. It wasn’t meant to be a comedy thing because it wasn’t. I thought the match actually turned out pretty good. He was just fantastic.
“The only problem I had with Savage was about a week later after my match, which was in a sold-out RCA Dome in St. Louis – Ric Flair and I teamed up to take on Madusa and Savage. They called it a mixed tag match, and I think they were saying I was a part of the other mix. But of course, Savage and Madusa, they were going over and Savage was gonna do the elbow on somebody. Ric Flair looked at me and said, ‘It ain’t gonna be me.’ I was volunteered to take the elbow drop from Savage, and unfortunately, he landed on me and put me in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He collapsed my lung, cracked some vertebrae in my back, and my wrestling career was over……I was supposed to tour with Ric all summer long and we were supposed to do the tag. Well, if that would’ve happened, who knows what it would’ve done to my referee career. I’m of the mindset things work out the way they were supposed to.”
On his memories from the last edition of Nitro: “That was a sad day in Panama City Beach. I show up thinking everything’s great and WCW’s great. I knew that they were struggling because our houses were way down, but there was talk of Eric Bischoff buying the company, and so that’s what I thought we were going to do. We’re going to be WCW, we’re going to carry on under Bischoff’s reign. We show up, and there’s Shane McMahon, [Bruce] Prichard, [Gerald] Brisco, and all these other guys. It was sad because no one knew if they had a job the next day. They said, ‘Hey, everybody’s good,’ but they don’t need a whole roster of referees and wrestlers to come over to WWE. It’s just not needed. We did that show, and we cried. I did the last match, which was Flair vs. Sting, which was so historical. So lucky to be able to do that.”
On how he was introduced to The Rock: “The guys, they were playing cards, and I had never learned how to play cards. I’m just not good at it. But for some reason, I had a cup of water in my hand, and I think it was Jack Doan that said something to me and acted like I was going to throw water on him. He goes, ‘You won’t do that. You’re the new guy here.’ OK, so I throw the water on him. All the referees, they get me, and they tape me to a chair. They tape my mouth shut. They tape my finger in a position – the middle finger showing – and they put a sign on me that says, ‘The Rock who?’ They pushed me up in the chair to meet The Rock that way. So, that was a lot of fun……he does this little thing with his eyebrow. He did that to me. That was it. But it was so much fun.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
