Former WWE superstar Duke “The Dumpster” The Droese was recently a guest on The Steve Austin Show. During the interview, he discussed his drug issues, trying to evade the WWE drug testing policy, the time he refused to job to Austin and how he believed he was underpaid by the WWE. Here are the highlights:
On Refusing TO Job To Austin:
I pretty much got myself into the sh*t storm ‘cause I started taking it all personally. You know how it is. There’s lots of broken promises and what ended up happening – if you remember correctly when you [Steve Austin] came in is when I started to kind of get pissed off about things. I was supposed to wrestle you and I respectfully declined: one of my many great career moves. I’m not gonna job to the future biggest fu*king star in the business, no. I stood my ground. Once in awhile you’ve got to stand your ground with what they’re doing with you and that’s the point where I was at, so at that point I basically asked Vince McMahon, ‘Dude, what do I got to do to improve my position?’ At that point, I was killing it in the gym, getting in shape, working on my ring work, all these things and it just felt like they were taking me further and further down. I got frustrated and of course, you know Vince, ‘Well, pal you’re doing it now.’ Big bullsh*t line. It felt like he was promising the moon and the stars and the biggest push to come….and they just kinda moved me to opening match, mid-card, babyface, doing jobs for all the new guys that came in. That’s when I really started to get pissed off and frustrated and letting it get to me and that’s where I really started making much bigger mistakes.
On His Drug Use:
I came in with the attitude that I wasn’t gonna drink and get messed up and go out and party all the time. I’m gonna be very serious. I’m gonna build my name and work really hard and do it that way and probably 4 months in, I just remember walking into a hotel room and I was rooming with Bob Holly at the time and he looked at me and I walked in and I stuck my tongue out and I had like two Xanax bars on my tongue and he just looked at me and goes, ‘Wow dude, you’ve changed.’ It steam rolled from that point and became a situation where you had a cocktail for every occasion; getting out of bed in the morning, getting to the gym, getting to the building, getting into the ring, getting out of the ring. When I started out I tried to be mister straight and narrow and that didn’t last very long.
On Evading Drug Tests:
It was Luna Vachon who filled me in on the loophole gimmick for the drug tests. She said, ‘As long as you write it on the paper what you’re taking, you don’t have to show them a prescription.’ You just had to write it. As long as you wrote it – I didn’t even know how to spell half of the occasions. [laughter] You don’t spell Xanax with a Z [laughter]. I used that loophole, big time.
On His Bad Attitude:
I had a really sh*tty attitude at some points and the drug use just kind of escalated and it was really early into my rollover. I just finished that first two year deal and the funny thing was when I stood my ground and wouldn’t do the job for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin that was when my contract was rolling over, so they were much more willing to talk to me. When I tried to stand my ground again later, it didn’t work out so well. Vince said, ‘Just show up with a smile on your face like you always do and do your job.’ I just said, ‘Well, OK,’ and that’s basically how it worked out. I didn’t last much longer after that.
On His Interactions With Vince Prior To His Release:
I started doing more drugs. I started training less. That was my big ‘Fu*k you’ to the office. I’m not gonna train and I’m not gonna tan and I’m gonna look like sh*t, which makes all the sense in the world and I started using a lot more drugs and getting more irrational and I would have these meetings at TV where I would talk to Vince and just say, ‘Well what are you gonna do with me?’ Vince always had [Jerry] Brisco standing right next to him when he’d talk to me because I think he was worried that I was gonna pull a Nailz on him or some sh*t, I don’t know. Clearly, I was extremely irrational at that point, but what ended up happening is I just got frustrated to the point where I actually said this sh*t to Vince McMahon one day, ‘If you ain’t gonna use me any better than this, just send me on home.’ That’s what I fu*king said to Vince McMahon. Those were the words that came out of my mouth. Of course, he didn’t sell it at all. Later on he came back with an idea where I was gonna work in Memphis and he was gonna pay me a grand a week and I’ll never forget it. My next words to him were, ‘I’m gonna need to have that in writing.’ [laughter] Brisco almost popped on that one. He almost started laughing his ass off on that one and Vince did that thing where he swallows and looks at you funny and it was shortly thereafter where Brisco came up to me on TV and said, ‘Vince said you can go on home.’ That was pretty much the end of it.
On His Drug Use Getting Worse Once He Went Home:
That was the problem. A lot of guys go back home and they turn back into the family man: the husband, the father. I didn’t have a wife or kids, man. I got home and I partied just as hard or harder with my buddies. A lot of people would get home and have two or three days or rest. I would go home and have two or three days and get on a plane or get back on the road twice as hung over then when I got home. It just kinda kept spiraling out of control in that respect, but yeah, when I got home I partied. I kept partying. I’d go to the local strip club and waste all my money. Any payoffs or money I had I’d spend on liquor or whatever else.
On WWE Backstage Politics:
My expectations in the beginning were very unrealistic. I thought I was gonna be this big star [laughter] and you learn real quick, the grind, and if you’re not smartened up to the money, if you’re not smartened up to the politics right away, you better learn that stuff real fast or you’re not gonna last and that’s kinda what happened to me. I went up there with stars in my eyes thinking I was gonna be this big star just based on the merits of my ability to work, especially I considered myself a big guy that can move in the ring. I found out real quick that there’s a whole lot more to this business than just what goes on in the ring actually. It’s not necessarily the best wrestlers that are gonna get the best accolades and the push and the things of that nature because sometimes the business works different and it’s all a matter of getting smartened up to that stuff when I first came in, so I was kinda behind the eight ball. That’s why I was like the goofy little brother running around making stupid noises and making everybody laugh because I was just there to have fun a lot of the time. That was just what my attitude was. I was gonna be friends with everybody. I was gonna make everybody laugh. We were gonna have a good time and I was gonna be the biggest partyer in the room and unfortunately you end up being out of the business because one of the few things that happens is you’re gonna end up not surviving it, or like me you’re gonna end up, like me, losing your sh*t and losing your mind a bit and working yourself out of the business. I’ll never forget and that saying of Randy Savage’s always rang in my ears, ‘Don’t ever take yourself out of the game. Don’t ever take yourself out of the game.’ That’s exactly what I ended up doing. Like I said, I wasn’t smartened up to that stuff.
On The Money He Earned During His First Year With WWE:
The money wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I thought that that was the big time and you were gonna come in and make great money. Of course they offer you that ridiculous guaranteed contract: 10 matches a year for $150 per match, $1,500 per year. That’s your guarantee. I don’t suspect anybody down there working for [Ted] Turner had that guaranteed contract….but, that was the guarantee and J.J. Dillon used to always say, ‘But, of course, you’re gonna make more than that.’ [laughter] I haven’t heard many people to do this, but I’ll go ahead and be honest. My first year I’ll tell you exactly what I made. I made $24,000 fu*king dollars and that was before expenses and taxes: $24,000…after expenses and taxes I think it was just below the poverty line. That year’s salary was just below the poverty line.
On What He’d Do Differently:
I would have never drank a drop, never took a pill. That’s one thing I would have done. If I could have changed anything, that would have been the biggest thing….I got to the point even where I was still out there in the World Wrestling Federation where I had to have drugs to function and that was the beginning of the end and that was the point where I really started to become what I call unemployable because you become a slave to those drugs. If I could change anything, that would be the big one. The big one would be not doing the drugs and the alcohol. The other one would be to pay attention, keep your mouth shut, look at the guys that are doing it right, get with them and try to get advice from them.
On What He Regrets:
That’s a very good questions and I’ve been asked that in many different ways and in many different forms and I’ve had a lot of regret for a long time after I first left the business. People don’t realize what kind of a drug walking out of those curtains every night is and when all of a sudden with the snap of you fingers it’s gone, people do not understand the toll that can take on you mentally. I had a lot of regrets and I was angry at the world. You become this bitter resentful person for a long time and that’s kind of when I dropped off the grid because I was angry at the world and the drug use got worse and I regret it. I look back at all I’ve done, all the mistakes I have made: I was so angry and so bitter and after going through all the things that I’ve gone through and after making it to the point where I am now, I am thankful for the experience. I loved parts of the wrestling business. People often ask me if I miss it and I always say, ‘I miss walking out the curtains. I miss interacting with the fans. I miss the look on the kids faces when you sign autographs and they look up to you, that kind of stuff, but I don’t miss all the bullsh*t that went on in the back.’ That’s part of it, but if your head’s not screwed on straight and you don’t how to navigate and play that game, you can fall apart pretty easy, so I had a lot of regrets, but I’m very happy with where I’m at now. I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons, but now I’ve been afforded the opportunity and the ability to help other people that are struggling in similar ways that I did and that is a very rewarding thing and I think the wrestling business and all of the things I went through were all part of it. It was all part of the big plan for me to end up where I’m at and I’m extremely happy with where I’m at now because finally I’ve got my head screwed on straight. I’m not bitter. I’m not angry.
You can listen to the full episode of The Steve Austin Show featuring Duke “The Dumpster” Droese by clicking HERE
Credit The Steve Austin Show. H/T Wrestlezone
