Various: Alicia Fox on Career Future, Original Concept for Dark Side of the Ring, Hulk Hogan & Ric Flair on Billy Graham

May 24, 2023

Alicia Fox Comments on Future of Her Wrestling Career

As noted before, Alicia Fox’s contract with WWE expired earlier this month ending a seventeen year career in the company.

MuscleManMalcolm held a recent interview with former WWE wrestler Melina. During the interview, Fox popped in to greet Melina and the two had a conversation regarding the future of Fox’s wrestling career.

Alicia Fox – “Where should we go do this forbidden door stuff? We have some stuff we haven’t finished. Are you working, wrestling?”
Melina – “I don’t want to [wrestle] because it seems like everybody’s just like, ‘Here, do a match.’ It means nothing. If we’re going to do something, let’s tell a story. Let’s make it amazing.”
Fox – “We’re out of the box. We’re out. I was like, ‘well, I got some things to take care of. This is what I’m going to do; I’m going to go knock some ring dust off with Booker —”
Melina – “Oh my God! Really? I thought you were done!?”
Fox – “I never said that. The machine said that. Girl, this appearance has been eye-opening. I didn’t put my face on that alumni section. I never said that. My bags are still packed. I’m pissed about it. So this is what I’m thinking, so I’m talking to Booker and Sharmell, and then I’ll go do that. Then, we’ll go knock on Trin’s house and then Sasha’s house…”
Melina – “If this is the plan, I am 100% for that, and then I’ll end my career on that.”
Fox – “That’s fine, me too.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Dark Side of the Ring Co-Creator Evan Husney Comments on Original Concept for Series

A recent episode of the Sports Guys Talking Wrestling podcast featured Dark Side of the Ring series co-creator Evan Husney as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Husney revealing that the original concept for Dark Side of the Ring was for it to be a feature length documentary film based on Bruser Brody.

“Not at all (could we have imagined Dark Side of the Ring becoming what it has). When we started putting the idea together for what would be Dark Side of the Ring, I mean, we actually were just focused on making one episode. We actually thought that would be a feature-length documentary about Bruiser Brody. I mean that’s what we kind of started with and that’s all we had in mind was just making this one documentary about Bruiser Brody and I think along the way, as we were developing what that would be and what Viceland at the time, the network wanted, we decided to kind of build it out into a whole series covering a bunch of different stories in the wrestling world and that’s kind of how we got Dark Side of the Ring and of course the first season. But no, never in my wildest imagination would I have thought when we were working on that first episode that it would be something where by the end of this year, we’ll have done 40 episodes of. I never would have thought that plus, notwithstanding all of the spin-offs of course and never would have thought of that. I mean we always thought that the show could exist covering other areas of interest, like once we started to get it going, we’re doing season one into season two, we thought, yeah, comedy, that makes sense and then other areas definitely could make sense for sure.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Hulk Hogan & Ric Flair Comments on “Superstar” Billy Graham’s Influence on Their Careers

As noted before, wrestling legends and WWE Hall of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham passed away last week.

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. One of the topics discussed included Hogan and Flair’s thoughts on the influence the late Graham had on their own wrestling careers.

Hogan stated:

“He was decades ahead of his time. When I saw him, he was a bad guy, yet he drew you to him like a magnet. He looked like a superhero, but when the good guy put his fist up and acted like he was going to punch him in the face, Billy Graham would drop to his knees and start begging and pleading. I modeled ‘Hollywood’ Hogan after that. Watch Hogan-Sting from WCW, and you’ll see a lot of the way Billy Graham carried himself in the ring. Even as a babyface, I did that, too. He was really something special.
The first thing that connected with me about ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham was the physical aspect. I was eight or nine when my father started taking me to wrestling in Tampa. Years later, when I started playing in a rock-’n’-roll band and my dad had retired from working construction, I remember telling him, ‘You took me to the wrestling matches. Now I want to take you.’ We were so excited to see the matches in Tampa, which were in the [Fort Homer Hesterly] Armory. I still remember ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham standing on the second turnbuckle and doing the double bicep. That was the moment for me. I told my dad, ‘I want to be just like that guy.’ I was already a huge Dusty Rhodes fan, but ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham took it to a whole new level.”

He looked like a superhero, but when the good guy put his fist up and acted like he was going to punch him in the face, Billy Graham would drop to his knees and start begging and pleading. I modeled ‘Hollywood’ Hogan after that. Watch Hogan-Sting from WCW, and you’ll see a lot of the way Billy Graham carried himself in the ring. Even as a babyface, I did that, too. He was really something special.

I still remember ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham standing on the second turnbuckle and doing the double bicep. That was the moment for me. I told my dad, ‘I want to be just like that guy.’ I was already a huge Dusty Rhodes fan, but ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham took it to a whole new level.

Flair stated:

“Look at the reaction following his death and the outpouring of love, that’s because of the impact he had on people. He certainly had that impact on me. For me, I thought he was the greatest thing going. Him and Dusty Rhodes were my two favorites.
His look changed the whole perspective of the business. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham—often imitated, never duplicated.
I tried to be just like Billy, but there’s only one Billy. I have so many fond memories. I was his chauffeur, driving him around in that white El Dorado with red interior. I loved that. His wife was the first woman to ever bleach my hair. He and Dusty were the two biggest influences on me, ever, in this business. They were so damn charismatic. It was a gift.”