Remember that big guy with white braided hair and a white suit who ran in on The Godfather last summer on WWF TV? That was Vic Grimes.
Remember that big Baldie who fell with New Jack from a scaffold at this year’s ECW Living Dangerously PPV, in one of the sicker bumps in recent memory? Once again, that was Vic Grimes.
More and more fans are becoming familiar with Grimes since he started with ECW. He’s been turning heads in a company where heads aren’t always easy to turn. While he is still under a WWF developmental contract, Grimes has found his groove with ECW, and if he has his way, it won’t be long before everybody remembers his name.
I had the opportunity to chat with Grimes before ECW’s TNN tapings in Poughkeepsie, NY this past Saturday. Here’s what the Baldie bump-taker had to say.
What’s the status of your relationship with the WWF?
VIC GRIMES: I’m still under a developmental (contract). I have three years left on it and they loop every March. Basically, whenever they want to call me up, they call me up. They sent me here, they told me to blow it up. They said make a name for yourself, and we’ll take that name and walk it down the ramp.
Say you are called up tomorrow or next week – who do you think you could do a good program with?
VG: Feud with? Crash Holly. We go way back. We went to the same school together, and he was my tryout match in the WWF, me and him. I helped him get into the WWF. It was my tryout, but I gave him a lot in the tryout, and they liked him. They used him, and now they’re using him more than me, so whatever, but more power for him.
Are you guys good friends?
VG: Oh yeah, yeah. He used to be my roommate when I was in Memphis, when the WWF sent me to Power Pro Wrestling. We were roommates for 11 months. Then they called him at the exact same time they called me. (They) used me, didn’t like my character. Most people don’t even know what my character was. It was a Colombian drug dealer. I was called “Kilo,” which they never even told anybody. I was supposed to be whacked out on cocaine. I did a bunch of vignettes, did a bunch of promos, you know, doing drugs, selling drugs in the back. All kinds of stuff – sniffing on GTV, all that. It was way too over the edge. They said no, we’re not going to do this, it’s just too over the edge, so they killed off the idea. They sent me here to get some more experience – that was another one, they said I needed a little more experience.
How long have you been doing this now?
VG: January of ’95 is when I first started class, so five years.
You’re wrestling a really hardcore style now, tangling with New Jack and with your involvement with Da Baldies. Do you enjoy the hardcore style, or do you want to get more into ring wrestling?
VG: When I first started pro wrestling, I wanted to be a guy that, for my size, could be a high-flier, a bumper like Mankind, and a wrestler. I don’t feel since I’ve been here that I’ve been able to wrestle yet. And I wish that they would allow me to, but you can only wrestle as good as who you’re in the ring with.
What was going through your mind when you were on that scaffold before you took that bump with New Jack?
VG: To be honest with you, I got up there, and the first thing that went through my mind was “This ain’t that high.” (laughs) I swear, that’s what I said! I go “This ain’t that high.” And then I said to myself, “I gotta hit that table.” Then when we were up there, we were jogging for footing, you know. There was no footing. Most people don’t know that that was supposed to be a superplex. He was gonna go, and I was gonna go. He couldn’t get his footing. I just said, “F*ck it, throw me off. Throw me off.” He didn’t want to do that. He grabbed me and he said, “F*ck it – here we go.” And he just grabbed me and pulled me down. I tried to flip out as far as I could, not trying to squish him. I don’t even think I hit the table; I don’t remember. All I know is when I hit, I was glad it was over.
It looked like you totally missed it.
VG: Yeah, I didn’t hit the table. I clipped him with my back on his chest. Everyone thinks I landed on his head – I didn’t. It was on his chest. I mean I am sorry that he got hurt, but as Jack said, shit happens. I just wish that it would have went right, because I’ve heard good reviews and I’ve heard bad reviews, you know, that that kind of stuff don’t belong in pro wrestling. But, you know, Mankind goes off a cage and gets worldwide glory. I go off, and it’s a f*ck-up. I think it was just as good as his cage thing.
Do you think that if you continue to do this, it may shorten your career?
VG: No. I fear nothing except responsibility. And I finally did it, though. (waves his wedding ring) I just got married on April 21st. It was great. I went home; a lot of people were wondering where I was the last two weeks. That’s where I was.
Congratulations.
VG: Thanks.
Who’s your toughest opponent ever?
VG: That’s a tough one, I’ve had a lot of them. Al Snow is pretty good, me and him had it pretty good. Of course New Jack, but that’s not wres… (stops mid-word, laughs) I’d say Balls (Mahoney), Balls is a good one. Actually the toughest I think I had in my career was Tommy “Wildfire” Rich. Doug Gilbert – Doug Gilbert’s the one who gave me my tattoos (refers to the small tattoo of stitches on his right cheekbone). We were fighting in a match and we were carried away. I grabbed a pitcher and hit him with it. He got mad, hit a beer bottle, and cut me up. We went and started shooting, then we calmed it down, got back in the ring and finished the match. But he cut me open real good, and that’s how I got my tattoo on my face. It covered up the scar. Most people think, “Oh, he pencils it in,” but it’s a real tattoo, everybody! Here’s my other one (turns to reveal a tattoo of Japanese writing on the back of his neck – the phrase translates into “insane”)
Where do you see yourself five years from now?
VG: Hopefully surpassing Mankind, you know. If given the opportunity, and that’s the key word – opportunity. But the thing is if they get their head out of their ass and use me, it would be nice to be able to show my talents to a different audience. But believe it or not, I love it here just as much, if not better.
If you were a foreign object, what would you be and why?
VG: (laughs) I don’t know, that’s a weird one. Foreign object? Probably a pizza cutter – why, because I like pizza. I don’t know! I really don’t have an answer for that one.
Anything else you’d like to add?
VG: I wish that they (the WWF) would have gave me more of a chance. I wish they would have gave me more of a chance to show my talents. A chance to bump – I never got a bump, period. I never got to do anything, and I was executed before I even got a chance up there. Most people don’t know the real story; I don’t care to tell the story. But I wish I had the opportunity to go back and show my talents.
I’m getting the impression bumps are a pretty big thing to you.
VG: Yeah. To me, like I say, it’s just another day at the office. I mean, I used to say I’m indestructible; nothing hurts me. I haven’t had anything hurt me yet, thank God, knock on wood. But when I started in the business I said to myself there’s only one Mankind. What if there was someone else like him, you know? No one bumps like him. I want to be like him in a sense, but I’m not him. Everyone says, “Oh, you’re gonna be a likeness to him,” or whatever. I’ve been hearing that throughout my entire career. I’m not him – I’m Vic Grimes.