• Rick Boogs Wants To Prove Chris Jericho Wrong
During a recent interview with GiveMeSport, SmackDown wrestler Rick Boogs talked about his name change in WWE (from Eric Bugenhagen to Rik Bugez to Rick Boogs), getting praised by current AEW Superstar Chris Jericho & more.
Below are the highlights:
On his name:
“Originally when I was new to the Performance Center, they wanted us to create personas and pitch names and things of that sort. Obviously my name is Eric Bugenhagen, so in high school that, just for jokes, call me Rick Boogs. That’s what my name is short for.
So that was one of the names that I pitched, and I cut promos like Ricky B and the Boogs Cruise, all that good stuff. It was fun, it was fun to play around with. And then for my NXT debut, they just went with my real name, even though I was going by Rick Boogs on the Florida shows and stuff. I was like ‘oh, that’s kind of weird, but whatever.’
And then people really liked Bugenhagen. So I was then kind of upset when they changed it back. But it is fun. Rick Boogs I feel like is one of those names where it’s like, I’m not going to say it’s stupid, but I think it’s going to stick because like ‘Rick Boogs?’ It gets people.
Every time people ask me ‘what’s your name?’ ‘Rick Boogs.’ They always go ‘really?’ They don’t really know what I’m saying. You’ve got to reinforce it. Rick Boogs, with the g. I feel like it’s going to stick because of that, because it’s over the top in the sense. Whereas with Bugenhagen it’s just a really cool name.”
On Chris Jericho praising his work, but saying his name is going to hold him back in WWE:
“I was definitely (grateful) for the most part. The only thing that was negative was him saying Rick Boogs was going to hold me back, that name. And I accepted it as a challenge, because I don’t think so.
I think Rick Boogs is going to get way more over in a sense. I take that as ‘let’s see what we can do with this name Rick Boogs.’ Like what would we have done with Bugenhagen in that sense?
Maybe it could’ve worked, but I think Rick Boogs, it just works better in that sense. He had a lot of praise and I’m very grateful for that, and hopefully I can live up to that. I think that’s what I’m doing. And I just want to prove him wrong in the Rick Boogs schtick.”
Also Read: Rick Boogs Reveals What Vince McMahon Appreciates About Him
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• ON THIS DAY IN NWA HISTORY (December 20, 1986) – NWA Pro
On this day in 1986, Jim Crockett Promotions aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘NWA Pro’.
This episode featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments featuring the 1986 NWA Wrestling Superstars.
The card can be found below:
– Ivan Koloff vs. Rocky King (JIP)
– Hector Guerrero vs. Denny Brown
– Brad Armstrong vs. Gary Royal
– The Road Warriors vs. Bill & Randy Mulkey
– Barry Windham vs. Bear Collie
– Ron Garvin vs. Big Bubba
