Death Clutch - Brock Lesnar [32]
Kurt and I should have had a bond. We both rose to the top in amateur wrestling. We were both real athletes, true competitors. But at the same time, Kurt wanted my position just like everyone else in the locker room. He just wanted what I had.
Vince never looked at Kurt the way he looked at me. Kurt had that Olympic Gold Medal, but Vince and HHH didn’t see an Olympic Champion. They only saw a five-foot nine-inch guy in tights. In their minds, fans pay to see the huge guys perform. Kurt could never be “bigger than life.” It didn’t matter how good he was in the ring, Kurt just wasn’t tall enough or big enough to be Vince McMahon’s top guy for any length of time.
Believing I could trust Kurt, I told him I was thinking of getting out of the business. I didn’t tell anyone else, and he said he wouldn’t either. But soon after I confided in him, I became convinced that Vince knew I was planning to leave. Did Kurt stooge me out?
At the time, Kurt and I were traveling together, and I was already thinking something was up with him just from the way he was acting. Then, one day, I went out to move the rental car, and saw Kurt’s cell phone on the seat next to me. I opened it up, and the last call made was to Vince McMahon. Does that prove anything? Maybe, maybe not. But from that day forward I kept my mouth shut, and didn’t say anything to Kurt that I didn’t want anyone else to know.
I dropped the WWE title to Eddie Guerrero at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The whole story line was centered on Bill Goldberg getting into the ring and giving me a spear. I didn’t believe Vince wanted the title on Eddie Guerrero because he thought Eddie would draw more money than I could, or that Vince had this vision in his head about me versus Goldberg at WrestleMania. I suspected Vince made the decision to take the title off me because Kurt had told him I was thinking about leaving.
I started to concentrate on just getting through WrestleMania, and getting my hands on that nice payday before getting out. You know it never works out that way, of course, because just as I was getting my head into survival mode, WWE pulled another bullshit move on me.
We were scheduled to go to South Africa, and that’s just a miserable trip. It’s on the other side of the world. The food sucks. It’s a long trip to get there, and a long trip back. There’s nothing good about it except you can make some good money when you’re in the main event.
I was scheduled to wrestle in those main events against Kurt and Eddie in Triple Threat matches for all four South Africa shows, but right before we left the United States, the WWE changed the main events to just Kurt vs. Eddie. I was told the two of them needed to get their match down for WrestleMania, which meant I was stuck wrestling Bob Holly, who I had just beat in four minutes at The Royal Rumble.
I like Bob. He’s a good guy and he takes his shit seriously, but I didn’t want to work with him. Nothing against him, but wrestling Bob Holly wasn’t worth anything to me at the time.
We did our match at The Royal Rumble, and that should have been the end of our story line. But now I have to travel all the way to South Africa to work with Bob Holly? Could anyone please tell me why? I knew no one would pay to see that match. Since I’m not really needed, give me some time off. I really needed the break by this time, but John Laurinaitis told me how much I’m needed on the card. AGAINST BOB HOLLY? Are you shitting me?
I knew the truth. I was just on the card, taking up space. That’s not where I wanted to be. It’s never where I wanted to be.
Even today, at this very moment, I’m still pissed at myself for getting on the plane to South Africa. I should have just walked. The trip sucked all around, the money wasn’t worth