It’s one thing to go against protocol. It’s another to go against protocol when a match is already taped for a pay-per-view called Uncensored…
But that was the rationale behind the fallout from this strange WCW endeavour revealed a former WWE Tag Team Champion. The inaugural WCW Uncensored featured numerous gimmick matches and the promise that none of which would end in disqualification or count-out. Results coming out of the event went against the entire original premise but perhaps the most perplexing thing about Uncensored was that bleeding was strictly forbidden. Uncensored. As in not censored? Not quite.
Speaking for Wrestling Shoot Interviews, former WWE Tag Team Champion, Barry Darsow, referenced the infamous ‘King Of The Road’ match from when he was known as the ‘Blacktop Bully’. Darsow had the unscrupulous task of wrestling a singles match in the trailer of an 18-wheeler truck whilst it was in motion.
“They had barbed wire and all this stuff in this truck and it was this huge operation. They had helicopters, they had pickup trucks… and then they had cops shutting down the road cos we went fifty miles around Atlanta. It was a big-time deal.”
Darsow, best known for his time in the WWE as Smash from the legendary tag team, Demolition, faced Dustin Rhodes in this strange setup; a man he was locked in a feud with and the match itself, was the idea of road agent, Mike Graham.
“We were bleeding from head to toe and getting hit with shovels and this and that and everything. We got done with the match after about an hour of wrestling this thing and it was brutal because of the hay and horsesh*t… It was the real deal. So we get out and we’re done and we’re in this field and I looked at Dustin and said “What a hell of a match. Y’know, thanks.””
Already a former three-time WWE Tag Team Champion, Darsow recalled both he and Rhodes filming the match in advance of the live event before receiving a phone call the following morning from senior vice president, Eric Bischoff. Bischoff explained that he had both good news and bad news.
“I said “what’s the good news?” He goes “it was a hell of a match. Everybody loved it.” I said “what’s the bad news?” He said “you’re fired!””
Bischoff went on to explain to Darsow that the company was against blood on television at the time, despite the PPV being called Uncensored. Bischoff fired both Darsow, Graham and Rhodes for the match; the latter resurfacing as Goldust in the WWE later that year and the rest is history. However, for Darsow, he also told him to lay low and he would be rehired. Bischoff turned out to be a man of his word as Darsow would indeed later reappear in WCW as ‘Mr. Hole In One’; an undercarder with a golf gimmick. Today, the now former Blacktop Bully calls it “the greatest wrestling gig in his life” as he would only “work once every two months.”
Dustin Rhodes Discusses WWE WrestleMania 40 Main Event
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