I recently had the distinct pleasure of speaking with the Soul Train man himself, pro-wrestling legend Virgil, who is front and center of a new mobile video game entitled “Meat Sauce Madness.” Highlights from our talks, which include his thoughts on the Million Dollar Championship returning, how his AEW appearance came to be, his cameo as Starman at a GCW event, his time in the NWO and more are below. If you’re interested in downloading “Meat Sauce Madness” click here.
JG: This July 4th wrestling fans will be treated to the new mobile video game enttiled “Meat Sauce Madness,” which features your legendary personality fighting his way to the main event scene while devouring beef and breadsticks. How excited are you to be front and center of a game, and what else can you tell us about it coming together?
VIRGIL: The truth is I have never been more excited in my entire life… I have travelled the world 100 times over and now that I am eternally embedded as The Meatsauce God I can sit in one place guzzle beef and watch all my billions of fans play the greatest video game ever.
JG: WWE’s NXT brand recently re-introduced the classic Million Dollar Championship, a belt that you are quite familiar with from your early WWF days. Is it exciting to see such an iconic title make its return to contemporary wrestling?
VIRGIL: EXCITING? Not really… I mean those guys are trying to recapture something that without me does not stand legitimately on its own… Since Ted has been carrying my bags since 89 and he is trying to mooch the spot light but without me he is just regular.
JG: Back in 2019 you made a cameo for All Elite Wrestling. What was that experience like and do you foresee yourself making more appearances for them in the future?
VIRGIL: TK (tony Khan ) and I go way back… He is a Soul Train fan and he loves the meatsauce… Since I have been working with Young Christopher Jericho since he was nine I was always a mentor to him… Really enjoyed seeing guys like Dean, Arn, Dustin, Cody, DDP, Janela, and I always wanted to feud with Omega and Hangman, which we can get to sooner rather than later…it was great to see the company thriving.
JG: Along with your tremendous work as a wrestler, fans grew fond of the Lonley Virgil memes that surfaced back in 2012. Did you or do you enjoy the memes?
VIRGIL: LOVED being Lonely… I was never lonely lonely just lonely… It was totally fine for me to be in that spot as the Slave and it really forced me to be a survivor of the business… Never drank, never did drugs, so i survived the dark times and now more than ever their is a RAY OF LIGHT on me.
JG: One of my favorite moments in your career is when you wrestled as Starman at GCW Spring Break. Whose idea was it for you to work as the classic character from the NES Pro Wrestling video game?
VIRGIL: Joey Janlela, who is my biological son but gave him up at birth because he wasn’t white enough allowed me to come back to his life to be the father I never wanted to be… that was cool for like a few minutes but then he paid me and I was happy to do whatever the fuck he wanted… So this is why I did that shit… it was cool… similar to Mania 4.
JG: Another video game you appeared in was the classic N64 WCW/NWO Revenge release, where you were playable as a manager and featured your classic “Vincent” NWO persona and attire. Do you think that game really captured the essence of what WCW was at that time?
VIRGIL: Oh ya… WCW at that time was just paying you to do nothing… we loved making that Fuck Money.. it was so easy.
JG: Any personal fond memories of your NWO run?
VIRGIL: Well when I was brought in Hogan was all over me and loved my aura… Loved being with Macho and Curt… Scott was fine he was a little bit of a donkey butt but we were fine.