During a recent interview with Chris Featherstone (audio below), Konnan commented on his match with Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach ’96 and Nancy Benoit being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. You can check out some highlights below:
On working with Ric Flair at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996: “I looked up to him. How could you not? He was an incredible performer. It was kind of weird because he was kinda talking to me like in carny and I didn’t understand like what language he was talking in the ring. So, I was kind of lost out there, to tell you the truth. But when I looked at the match, the match wasn’t bad at all… working with Flair was great. And I even asked him to do a couple of his ‘Flairisms’, you know like the bump that he takes on his face, he did that. So, it was really cool working him. I just didn’t understand was he was telling me in the ring, because he was kind of most of the match in the ring like he probably did billions of times. He probably had so many matches in his head.”
On talent backstage being surprised that Hulk Hogan joined the nWo that night: “We didn’t know who it was gonna be. They really kept that a secret … Yeah, super [surprised].”
On if Nancy Benoit should be in the WWE Hall of Fame based on her wrestling resume: “Oh yeah, for sure, 1000%. She was really smart. You gotta remember, she grew up in the business at a very young age with Kevin [Sullivan] and doing all those crazy promos… down there in Florida with Mark Lewin and all that. So she knew about the business, you know. When I first came to ECW, I didn’t know anything about American wrestling. Really nothing, because I was trained in Lucha Libre. I went directly to Mexico, and I was there for 10 years in the Mexican bubble. So I didn’t look at the United States, I never really thought about wrestling in the United States, to tell you the truth. So when I went to ECW, I was lost. I didn’t know the style, and Paul E. put me in with a guy the very first time I went there, the second time, against this guy that didn’t know Lucha Libre and I didn’t know American wrestling. And I was like, ‘bro, why are you putting me in a match like this?’ He goes, ‘oh, I thought you knew how to wrestle American style.’ I go, ‘yeah, because I speak English? No, I don’t. I started in Mexico.’ And so that’s when he started teaming me up with Rey Mysterio, and they brought in Parka, and Psicosis, and those matches were incredible. And I kinda did something with Sandman, next thing you know, I was off to WCW. But, the short time I was there, she helped me out a lot, and she was really, really, really, smart to the business, more than what people know. So, yeah, definitely, I think she deserves to be there.”
