Repost: Missy Hyatt Shoot Interview (Wrestling Universe)
by Brandon Truitt
Jan 26, 2004, 21:00


Sorry this is late, but I'm busy trying to get my new computer working. With any luck, I'll be able to have everything up and running perfectly so that I can be ready next week.

The next shoot interview I review appears to be either the Jim Cornette Q+A from 1993 (I've been saying 1994 but was incorrect), the second Sandman shoot, or the Dustin Rhodes shoot from 2001.


This is a repost of an article originally posted at the beginning of August 2002.













Hi, I’m Brandon and I’ll be sharing my collection of shoot interviews with you through this series of columns, every Tuesday. I have a large collection, so there should be enough material for me to do this for a LONG time.

For those who don’t tend to watch them, shoot interviews are conversations with wrestlers, past and present, where they have the opportunity to say whatever is on their mind. These range the gamut from VERY interesting, when the interviewee is someone like Jim Cornette, Honky Tonk Man, the Road Warriors or Missy Hyatt, to downright boring and/or painful to watch when the interview is with someone like the Iron Sheik, Abdullah the Butcher, or the late Terry Gordy.

People in that first group tend to say what's on their mind and have a lot of stories to tell, while people in the second group either are seriously exaggerating their stories, they won't break kayfabe, or every question is answered in the same way. (Gordy, who looked like the living dead at that point and indeed died several months later before the interview was released, wouldn't go into detail on almost anything. From what I saw, it was because his near-death experiences fried his brain.)

I will attempt to cover all major questions of the interview, include quotes when necessary, and give background when needed. This will be especially important when dealing with stories from old-school wrestling territories or behind-the-scenes happenings that may or may not be common knowledge, such as the now infamous story surrounding Honky Tonk Man’s IC title match with Randy Savage at the Main Event in 1988. (This one will be covered in HTM’s shoot interview, which I've already reviewed and will be post in a few weeks)




Missy Hyatt shoot interview (Wrestling Universe)


*note* This is very spot-tastic, but that's because Missy kept jumping around so much. There wasn't a whole lot on any single topic.


Missy got started in the business as John Tatum's valet in World Class Championship Wrestling (Fritz Von Erich’s Dallas-based federation), and had been brought in to feud with Sunshine (a valet for one of the Von Erich brothers, probably Kevin).

She was known to the wrestlers because her roommate was a ringrat (people who hang around wrestlers in an attempt to sleep with them) and ended up meeting a lot of wrestlers including Jake “the Snake” Roberts, whom she dated.

World Class was paradise because Dallas worshipped the whole promotion and everyone involved in the promotion got to run wild in town.

She tried to drink Kerry Von Erich under the table to find out if he'd lost his foot, but passed out before she could find out.

Background on Kerry's foot- Kerry HAD lost his foot as a consequence of a motorcycle accident he had in the mid-80’s. No one has ever said exactly when it happened, as it was not revealed that he’d lost it until a match in the late 80's. Kerry's opponent, who I believe was Colonel DeBeers, pulled on Kerry’s boot during a match and it came off... complete with Kerry’s prosthetic foot. He then took the boot back and went under the ring to reattach it to his leg. Most theorists figure that it happened either because Kerry walked around on it at the hospital when he wasn’t supposed to, that he’d come back to wrestling too soon after injuring it, or that all the painkillers pumped into his leg upon his return damaged it beyond repair.

As a rookie in the business, she had to do shit work like driving to all the towns, pumping all the gas, etc. in addition to constant ribbing. For those who aren't familiar with them,"ribs" are jokes that wrestlers pull on each other, ranging from the harmless (Davey Boy Smith stealing towels from wrestlers' bags, Owen Hart spraying Jim Cornette's pants with a watergun right before a promo) to the very serious (putting knockout drops in someone's drink, replacing asthma medication with kerosene).

Put over Sunshine for helping her out back when she didn't know jack about the business.

She got spanked by Kevin Von Erich and liked it

Dark Journey, Dick Slater’s valet, was a "crack head" who got into the business because she "was blowing Dick Slater" and was involved with Bill Watts, leading to his divorce.

Got her start doing promos because John Tatum talked "like he had a mouthful of marbles", so they tried her instead.

Watts was ultra-kayfabe. Heels and babyfaces sighted together in public would be fined. Mid-South management tried at one point to break up Missy's relationship with Eddie Gilbert by turning one face and the keeping the other as a heel. She talks about how Eddie had one of the best minds for the business she's ever known.

She talked up Fritz Von Erich as a nice guy. (Fritz is generally despised or pitied, depending who you talk to, because all but one of his sons died at a young age. Fritz’s inability so see how messed up his kids were on drugs tore the family apart.)

Jim Ross was another nice guy. "The only reason WCW was afloat as long as they were was because of Jim Ross."

Talks about how Jimmy Garvin is now a USAir pilot. She says if she gets on an airplane and hears "This is your captain, Jimmy Jam Garvin, speaking. We're going to take off in a second…” over the intercom, followed by Badstreet USA (the Freebirds’ theme), she is getting off the plane ASAP.

The Freebirds were horrible ribbers.

Buddy Jack Roberts of the Freebirds was insane. When he got off the plane in Israel, he said "This is where Jesus was born... and you fuckers have been fighting over it ever since", which got the entire World Class crew pulled aside by security personnel for their own safety.

Chris Adams superkicked an Arab hotel clerk and had to be smuggled out of Israel because the Arabs threatened to blow up the World Class crew's hotel.

World Class was one of the most popular shows on Israeli TV. "You could bomb Tel Aviv on Friday at 8:00 and people would hook up their generators just to watch World Class"

She talks about how sad it is that only one Von Erich (Kevin) is left. Doesn't know much about the family's problems, but claims Fritz didn't deserve that. Said that David was the heir apparent, so his death in about 1983 was a significant part of the family's problems.

She was in UWF (formerly Mid-South) for about a year before Mid-Atlantic promoter Jim Crockett bought it.

Eddie Gilbert, her husband, had the book for quite a while during their UWF tenure. Took advantage of Eddie's position to abuse the other wrestlers.

Hated Bill Watts (Owner of the Mid-South/UWF territory).

Liked Baby Doll, a valet who’d worked in World Class before moving on to programs with Tully Blanchard and Dusty Rhodes in Mid-Atlantic. Put over her skills in the ring and her family background in the business.

Went to WWF briefly to host the segment Missy's Manor in 1987. Was clueless about how to interview talent. One of her first interviews was with the Can Am Connection (Rick Martel and current internet columnist Tom Zenk), which is a running joke between Hyatt and Zenk today.

"Rick Martel is the gay one" in the Can Ams.

The story that New Jack told on ECW programming about Zenk and Brian Pillman was wrong. New Jack claims that Pillman and Tom Zenk had gotten caught having sex with each other in WCW. Missy says that what actually happens went like this: Pillman was dating Terri Boatright (Alexandra York, Marlena, current WWE interviewer Terri) and he tried to talk her into doing a threesome with Zenk. It only got as far as all of them being naked.

She did a horrible version of the Hanukkah song with wrestlers instead of actors.

Ric Flair was a pervert and often exposed himself. He’s capable of getting uptight women dancing on tables with their skirts above their heads. She wouldn't really have a problem with Flair exposing himself if he actually packed a decent gun in his shorts. Thinks he must suck in bed if he's anything like his in-ring self, doing the same matches every night.

Wasn't well liked by Eddie's family. Refers to Doug Gilbert as "Sponge Doug".

Throws out an open challenge to Madusa Micelli (Alundra Blaze, who threw the WWF Women's Title into a trash can on Nitro in 1995) if she's interested in trying to marry her most recent ex-husband. Madusa had married Eddie after he and Missy got divorced.

Missy and Eddie went to Memphis after Crockett bought UWF because of the mistreatment the UWF guys got. Both of them loved working for Lawler but Missy didn’t like Jeff Jarrett because he “was a bad worker” and for driving a new Corvette when the other wrestlers were only making $50 a night. Doesn’t like Jerry Jarrett either due to his cheapness. They only stayed for Lawler’s booking tenure and then moved to Continental, where Eddie got to book. Missy told Jarrett she’d rather work at Burger King than work for him.

Puts over Mick Foley (Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love) big for his mentions of her in his book.

She and Eddie came back to the NWA in 1989 because Dusty offered him a spot on the booking committee. Said that managing the Steiners was fun because they’d do playful ribs. Said that the Steiners were really close together.

Got fired from WCW because she was asked her opinion of a Clash of the Champions TV special by a Turner Broadcasting executive. She didn’t give the answer to the executive that Eric Bischoff (then WCW president, current “general manager of RAW”) wanted her to give and was fired as a result.

Talks about the storyline she had with Stan Hansen, making fun of the situation where the female reporter had a rough time interviewing players after a Patriots game.

Jason Hervey- Met him through Terry Funk, who’d done a TV show with him. TBS used him for a lot of publicity in the early 90’s once he was linked with Missy. “Very nice guy”.

Talked about being thrown into a trough of freezing water at a Clash of the Champions by Abdullah the Butcher. This was a Falls Count Anywhere match between Van Hammer and Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) and neither wanted to put her in the water, so they got Abdullah the Butcher (Foley's tag partner at the time) to do it. He apologized to her as he did it. (This is covered in more detail in Mick Foley’s book Have A Nice Day)

Steroids made Scott Putski’s cock and balls shrink. “Not even a Vienna sausage”.

Her firing and lawsuit- Between going over Bischoff’s head about the Clash of the Champions broadcast and having color copies of her boobs being posted in CNN Center, she got fired and sued the company. She was supposed to work at Wrestlemania X but her lawsuit changed her status at the WWF from “incoming talent” to “Missy WHO?”. She isn’t allowed to talk about the settlement, but says that it was enough to pay for her kids to go through college.

She was the original “head” cheerleader for Shane Douglas in ECW.

Her ECW stint in the mid-90’s- She was Sandman’s valet. His stuff was always easy to find due to the mess of 50 beer cans around it, and he had bad BO too. Got Sandman to pour beer on her chest and lick it off to outpop Beulah McGillicutty and Kimona Wannalaya, who were doing their lesbian act to big pops.

ECW Arena- There’s not a clean chair in the place because they’d all been used in the matches. Calls Paul E Dangerously / Paul Heyman the “David Koresh” of wrestling.

Porno rumors- She denies being in a porno. She says if she did one, she’d sell it herself. (This predates her Wrestling Vixxens site, where she and Tammy Sytch (Sunny) post nude photos of themselves and make porno tapes).

She got Marcus “Buff” Bagwell into the business. She was looking for an apartment after getting divorced from Eddie Gilbert and saw him washing his car. She insisted that she get the one next to his. She set him up with a trainer that wouldn’t rip him off, had him work in Global Championship Wrestling (The Texas-based promotion that featured Booker T, X-Pac, and Jerry Lynn among others), then got his tape viewed by Jim Barnett at WCW.

Names:

Jesse Ventura: Always nice to her. If she’d known what was going to happen with his political career, she’d have blown him.

Kevin Nash: Owes him a blowjob for getting Scott Putski’s contract from being renewed when she broke up with Scott.

Virgil/Vincent: He has a really huge dick and let an unnamed WWF official suck it to get his job.

Lanny Poffo: Contortionist who can suck his own dick.

Ultimate Warror: Used to be a male escort before he got into the business.

Rick Martel: “He’s a fag”

Mene Gene: Pervert. Always had coke in his pocket, would ask if she “wanted to smoke a fatty”.

Val Venis: Was a huge mark for her. Porn star gimmick is just a gimmick, nothing to back it up.

Francine: Nice girl, but before she got a boobjob, she was so thin “you just wanted to shove a goddamn cheeseburger down her throat.”

Beulah McGillicutty: “Douchebag”. Very snotty.

Ricky Steamboat and family: Nice people. However, she says that Little Ricky will need therapy after coming out to the ring on a pony, dressed as a dragon, etc. because Bonnie Steamboat thought it was cute to do at the time.

Sable: Moron who didn’t realize she had it made in the WWF.

Tom Pritchard: He’s hot.

Shane Douglas: She and Eddie gave him the name Shane Douglas when he tried out for UWF. (Until that time, he wrestled as Troy Martin (his real name) or Troy Orndorff) Talks about how Shane and Mick Foley came in for tryouts to join the UWF. Mick’s story of why he didn’t get signed is covered in his book Have A Nice Day.

Stan Lane: Put him over for being able to keep looking good this long after leaving the business.

Nancy Sullvan (Woman)- Never talked to her back in the day because "that troll" (Kevin Sullivan) wouldn’t let be Nancy around her. They got along great in recent years, after Nancy had left Sullivan for Chris Benoit.

Road Warrior Hawk: They were together until right before she was fired from WCW. She slapped the shit out him because he broke up with her before she could break up with him. Liked to mess with guys in the locker room because Hawk could beat them up if she asked him to.

Kevin Sullivan: Devil worshipping little troll. “I think he molests children too, but don’t have proof”

Brian Pillman: Liked him. Thought he was sexy. “If I thought he was going to die, I would have slept with him”

Arn Anderson: One of the nicest and funniest guys in wrestling.

Ole Anderson: Pervert who’s hard to work for.

El Gigante / Giant Gonzales- Hated him. He told her that she “could make a lot of money” in his country.

Jake Roberts: The MacGuyver of Crack. “Can make a crackpipe out of anything.”

Taz- Midget, Mini-me, etc. Paul E got her to convince Paul Varleans, a UFC fighter, to tap out for Taz. She promised to perform favors for Varleans in order to get him to lose to Taz, then reneged afterwards.


No matches are included on this tape


Thoughts: This is the Jerry Springer of shoot interviews. While there wasn’t a lot of substance to much of what she said, in addition to being pretty damn annoying, it’s still enjoyable to watch this just for the shock value. One thing I’ll give her is that she will speak her mind on whatever subject is brought up, although she does tend to whitewash ex-husband Eddie Gilbert in comparison to others she discusses.

Recommended, if only for the entertainment value of the dirt she discusses.



Questions or comments? E-mail them to me at [email protected].