During a recent appearance on the “It’s My Wrestling Podcast”, former WWE Superstar Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) commented on Steve Austin going to Vince McMahon and pitching Vince to use him on television, whose idea it was for the Eugene gimmick, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the creation of the Eugene character in WWE: “It was my idea but I do think Vince McMahon did enjoy it, he found it funny. Rip Rogers was one of my trainers. Rip’s son has autism so he came to me one day and says what about a character that maybe can’t tie his shoes or can’t put a square peg in a square hole, isn’t very social, but when he gets in the ring he can do wrestling flawlessly. At that time I’ve been wrestling for eight years, I could do an hour draw with no sweat. I was pretty proficient and I was confident in my skills. He gave me this idea and I kind of mulled over it, couple months go by, the agents come down, Arn Anderson, Fit Finlay, Dean Malenko, I pitched this character to them, they said no, they think wrestling is kind of going beyond that, those types of characters.
Okay, couple more months go by the writers come down. Oh no, Vince wouldn’t like that he wouldn’t do anything like that. Okay, couple more months go by, now I’d seen guys that would start complaining and all sudden they get on TV. So I told them, I said I think I’m going to quit and try to go to Japan, but that was just a bluff, I didn’t know anybody in Japan, I didn’t know how to get there I was living at home, I was top of the OVW I mean I was in Main Event matches, heavyweight champion getting paid, working four days a week. It was pretty good job so I wasn’t gonna quit but I just want to kind of rattle the cage and see what happened. Dean Malenko tells Johnny ace, Johnny tells Vince, next day I’m sitting in a meeting with Vince McMahon and Stephanie was there. Vince goes, I want to get back to character based wrestling, and I just pitched out that idea for a character that I hadn’t thought about in months. Well, suddenly, Steve Austin walks in, it was February 2004 Austin came back for a spot for something on TV. Austin walks in, Vince asks Steve do you know this guy, Austin looked at me goes no, I don’t think so. Danny Davis trained me, Danny Davis and Steve Austin became friends when they both wrestled in Dallas. Steve says well it looks to me like he’s probably one of the best, and it was like that vote of confidence that Vince goes – okay, let’s do it.”
On if the character could still work in WWE in 2021: “I think they could bring Eugene back if they want, because he can always put something out there and make it right. They took the mask off Kane, and they made it believable. You know what I mean, some day they start a storyline you think there’s no way, this is horrible. Then the next week, oh my god, now I get it. But as far as when I first started, I think there were some radio DJs or news outlets that were like, what’s that, what are WWE doing now, this is not right. Then it was it was like four weeks that Eugene was on TV before I had my first match wrestle Ron Conway. Then after that for Eugene it was like, oh it’s a story of an underdog, a wrestling fan that finally gets a chance and an opportunity to make his dream come true. Since then, I’ve gotten way more positive affirmation than I ever had anyone tell me I was doing something wrong or they didn’t like it. I heard some media outlets say I’m doing something wrong, but since then I’ve had people come up to me like Hey, my younger brother has special needs and he used to watch Eugene he says he knows he can do anything because Eugene did. I’ve got so many stories like that where people come to me, family members, brothers, sisters, whatever and they’re like you really helped this person and they looked up to you, so it was really an honor and it really made me feel good that I could represent a section of the world like that.”
On getting to work with The Rock in WWE: “Sylvain Grenier told me not to say anything but they’re gonna try to bring the rock in for the segment with you. and I thought, he’s not coming. There’s no way to bring the rock in as a secret. And then someone’s like, well if the rock can’t make it, they’re going to use Rhino and no knock on Rhino but rhinos no rock. I’m like, it’ll be Rhino but it’ll be fine. It’ll be good, and then rock shows up. Oh my god, he did show up, you know, so we went over our stuff, we talked about it, and he was working with Brian Gerwitz and I was running around to other places, working on the other segments that I was doing. And then we come back into the room where Vurwitz and rock were and we go through it I have one line. One line and I missed it every time. The Rock would go and then look at me. I forgot again. He just puts the mic by his side he walks past and says your lines next, and just said it to me. I met him shook his hand but for him to come down and help somebody and give somebody a pull up who he didn’t know that he didn’t have to do -he probably had to take time out of a busy schedule to come down there – I mean it was something that he did for the business but it was something that made Eugene and I had my career to thank for him because WWE gave Eugene the platform but it was the rock that made me a made man.”
On if he’d ever return to WWE: “Although I have reservations, I don’t think that anybody would turn down an opportunity in WWE. But that being said, the job of writer, the job of agent is a difficult job. You got to you got to put in a lot of time you know you’re working pretty much around the clock, the agents are the first guys in the building, and the last guys to leave and then they’re babysitting the whole crew, while they’re on live events. You can imagine all the wrestlers were getting wild and crazy around the world, and the agents are the ones that have to report back to Vince. I’ve never heard Vince yell or scream unless he’s on TV backstage but I’ve heard that he will yell at those agents if something goes wrong I mean like really degrade them.”
On Gene Snitsky actually having a foot fetish: “He’s a great dude travelled around with him a lot, but the foot fetish thing was absolutely true. I remember we were on a flight to the Philippines 16 hour flight to the Philippines and towards the end of the flight, he convinced one of the airline stewardesses to take her shoes off, so he could touch her feet. And I’m thinking, I’ve seen this woman walk up and down the aisles for 16 hours serving drinks and now you want to touch her feet, not when you first get on the plane? That was him, and then they just brought it out on TV that stuff he did, he would get pedicures and have his toes painted. We’re in Australia and we’ll head outside. Every night he would be smoking a cigar wearing stockings and his toes out.”
On his thoughts on The Great Khali: “Great guy, but he was enormous and strong, and he was kind of unstable, like like standing unbalanced because like his legs were oddly built like knees down, he was not as tall as knees up, and that’s why they were always shooting straight up because like he only came off his feet when he lost. He was absolutely a cool guy, but he would hurt you and not know it. So I would have to convince him to do less moves but I had to convince him to give me one move and beat me, and that way it makes you look so much better when he wanted to do five moves… I’m not taking a clothesline and the slam and all this shit that he wants to do and hurt me and then hit me with a finish to knock me out, I just want the finish.”
