Gas informs that Shane McMahon was good friends with Mike Tyson, and it was Shane who set up Tyson’s guest appearance at WrestleMania 14. Gas still thinks Rousey can come into WWE and have a similar impact as Tyson did nearly two decades ago.
Lane mentions that Ric Flair gave an interview this past week where he blamed his drinking for his recent health issues. Russo asks Gas if heavy drinking was an issue amongst performers during the attitude era. Gas says that drinking wasn’t a big problem but a lot of guys were popping somas, a type of muscle relaxer. Gilbertti agrees and says he saw people with pill problems over the years, but he rarely saw someone with a drinking problem.
Nowadays, drinking alcohol is really the only thing that WWE Superstars can get away with, so drinking has reportedly increased amongst performers. Gilbertti says that there are certainly some people who go overboard with their drinking but the WWE locker room often has a way of policing itself, and as long as performers aren’t drinking all day and showing up to work drunk, it’s probably a safer choice than popping pills.
Gas says that the WWE locker room had a real team environment during the attitude era, but Edge in particular was a massive help to him early on in his career. He recalls working tag team matches against Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe, who would book the matches. He says Patterson would tell them not to try any offence on him because he was afraid they would hurt him.