Jimmy Wang Yang recently appeared as a guest on the popular INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the former WWE Superstar spoke about the end of WCW, eventually joining WWE, being pitched the Asian redneck character, what he regrets about it and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
Could you kind of see that the end was near for WCW? Could you tell that things were going downhill there? “Not at all. That’s the thing, I grew up on WCW. No more WCW? That was never in my mind. But it was crazy, but I’m 18 years old. I don’t know what’s normal. I went from that bar wrestling and seeing New Jack stab somebody in the parking lot. Seriously, that’s the first time I met him. But then, yeah, going to WCW, and seeing some of the guys and seeing the environment, like I said, Oh, this is just pro wrestling, this is crazy life, the wild wild west. But I just knew I was very young, and didn’t know any better. I had about five different bosses during those two years. I’m like, this doesn’t sound right, but I didn’t think WCW would ever end. That’s a stake with my life.”
Why didn’t your time in WWE at that time last very long after you got picked up? “So what I think, because they bought WCW, they had bought our contracts, they just bought ECW, and then they had the WWE roster. At the time, they didn’t have the separate brands; they had just one show doing Raw and SmackDown. So I just think the roster was overloaded at that first time in WWE. I don’t know how many people were on the roster, but you can only have so many matches on Monday, you can only have so many matches on Friday, and then whatever else. But that first run, I think it was just so many people and they couldn’t find me a spot.”
Did you have any idea for what this gimmick would be for you? “No. So all I was told was you’re being an Asian redneck coming to SmackDown. I was like, cool. When they pitched the character to me at that time, I was like, sweet, I’m gonna be the new Doink the Clown, comedy character kind of thing. That will be cool to have. As a Korean kid in Georgia, I got my material a lot from the people I knew, and I just made it as ridiculous as possible. So then the debut, and then having a match, all of a sudden it was this switch of being kind of like a celebrity, I didn’t know how that would take off so well. Because I just remember after debuting, and then I’m going to the airport and wear my goofy ass cowboy hat, I get mobbed by everybody. I’m like, holy crap, this really took off. I was kind of surprised how well that took off.”
So what did you think when you heard your theme song for the first time? “I know people love that theme song, but I hated it. I hated it as a wrestling theme because I couldn’t get fired up to some bluegrass. I was like how am I supposed to get fired up to this song? I need to get fired up for this match that we’re about to have. But it is a good song when you’re sitting on the porch and all that kind of stuff. But as wrestling music, it was kind of too slow for me.”
You got vignettes, and not everybody gets a vignette. That sets the character up so that by the time you do debut, people know exactly what to expect. When you were reading these vignettes, were you like, ‘You want me to say what?’ “Yeah, that’s really because they didn’t know how the audience was gonna react to me. But it was different times. When I see it, I kind of am ashamed of some of the stuff that they wanted me to say, because it is like, ‘Oh it’s funny when you say it because you’re half Korean. I couldn’t say it, but you can say it because you’re Korean.’ No, it’s gonna be funny to you guys. I understand what’s going on. I say this is funny to you guys. But for my culture and my people, it is offensive.”
What was the most offensive thing? “The most offensive thing is me wearing the Confederate flag on my back. They said, ‘Hey, we want you to be an Asian redneck.’ Okay, what do you think of? I think of rodeos. I think of NASCAR. I think of Dukes of Hazard and General Lee. I’m like, Oh yeah, I’m an Asian redneck, so I gotta wear the Confederate flag on the back of my vest and go out there. But if anybody knows what that symbolizes, it’s God-awful, and it’s horrible. I wish I hadn’t done that. Undertaker is the one that told me. He saw me wearing it, ‘Jimmy, take that f*cking sh*t off!’ I said I’m playing a character, an Asian redneck. ‘That sh*t means some horrible sh*t. Take it off.’ All right. Then I take off, and they said, ‘Hey, where’s your jacket at?’ [I replied] ‘Undertaker told me to take it off.’ ‘Okay.’”
