Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Justin Credible recently spoke to WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T on Heated Conversations. Here are the highlights:
Getting his first opioid from Scott Hall: “I started to do it simply to get along,” Credible recalled. “I remember the first pill I ever took. I wrestled The Brooklyn Brawler at a high school show and I was traveling with Scott Hall. And I hurt my shoulder real bad and we had a long tour ahead of us and he popped a pill in my beer and told me, ‘drink it.’ And I drank it and I felt good and I liked that feeling. It made me feel good.”
Taking cocaine before his entrance in ECW: “Oh, it’s true. It’s true, man.” Credible continued, “I can recall when I got a little up there in the game, I haven’t said this to too many people, but I’ll just keep myself named in this, I remember in the War Memorial [Auditorium] in Fort Lauderdale [Florida], I was hip enough and cool enough at the time to have my own locker room and I’d have a good amount of cocaine put out there because I’d know nobody would come into my locker room. And literally, my music would be playing and I’d take a couple of good rips and I’d go out there.”
Feeling “emasculated” in WWE with stars like The Rock and Stone Cold: “When I came back to team with Sean Waltman as X-Factor in 2001 with the invasion angle, I was part of that with [Booker] and all that, I was still that young guy in that big world of the big dogs.” Credible considered, “I was still kind of like in ECW I was a big fish in a little pond. In ECW, I was that guy.
“But when I went to Vince’s world again, I felt emasculated. Not that anyone made me feel that way, but I guess my own confidence, still that mark in me was like, ‘man, maybe I don’t belong here with Booker T, Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin,’ even though I consider all of you guys great colleagues and friends and you’ve all been so kind to me. Nobody treated me, but myself that way.”
Not living up to his potential in WWE: “I was so disappointed with where I thought I was headed or could have been going because when I got there, I couldn’t do the superkick and that was one of my big things because of Shawn [Michaels], couldn’t do my tombstone because of Taker, and, of course, these are guys that I love and respect, I’m not pooh-poohing anybody. But I knew Vince McMahon wasn’t going to push me.
“Paul Heyman had this genius about making chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what. He really knew how to get the best out of you. He was a great director whereas for Vince, I mean, he’ll let you do it too, but I think it was a combination of the drugs, of course, a huge impact, I’m not going to deny that, but also I was still when I went back, Book, I was still Aldo.
“I was Justin Credible and all that stuff I accomplished, but in my heart and the way I behaved in the locker room.” Credible added, “I think that kindness was mistaken for weakness and I was taken advantage of a lot, but, hey, if I was mentally fit and not on the drugs I was taking to deal with my mental health issues, then I would have gone further. I still believe that because I did essentially get fired for not showing up and that’s a whole story in itself.”
You can listen to Credible’s interview on Heated Conversations with Booker T by clicking this link here.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
