Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: David Sahadi
Date: 02/10/2026
Your Host: James Walsh
This is our second press release on what was really an epic conversation with David Sahadi. Last time, we discussed the WWE name change from WWF and Vince McMahon’s odd desire to call the promotion “WE” instead of “WWE”, the famous RAW is WAR cold open that set the tone for the show so well, accidentally naming the Attitude Era, and a whole lot more. This time? Well, we pick up where we left off! We have the infamous TNA versus WWE “Cookiegate” involving Abyss, Traci Brooks, Shane Douglas, and David Sahadi himself crashing the WWE Royal Rumble commercial shoot that had a huge impact on Sahadi’s life and, ultimately, TNA. We also discuss The Rock’s growing ego, Sahadi’s issues with Kevin Dunn, his true opinions of Vince McMahon, and more!
While there is still meat on the bone for this interview that we have not transcribed including a wonderful conversation on the virtues of Real American Freestyle, we think these subjects are the best for the Internet wrestling fan to enjoy! But, if you want to hear the whole thing, you can! Just check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com or watch the YouTube video below.
A reminder that David Sahadi has a brand new book out next month called Backstage Pass where he discusses his real life experiences behind the scenes at WWE and TNA. We have a copy of the book. If inside baseball, or in this case, inside wrestling, is your bag, this is your fix!
If you do use this content on your site, please remember to link back to www.WrestlingEpicenter.com as that really helps us out so we can keep creating this unique content!
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ojHHCyMqYZ0
DAVID SAHADI:
On The Rock getting a big ego:
“Some people say I throw shade on The Rock. He cast that on himself. I knew The Rock when he was nobody… Well, I shouldn’t say that. Everybody is somebody. But, in terms of wrestling, nobody knew who he was. I saw him training with Dr. Tom Prichard and I saw something in him. I took him out to dinners because he didn’t have a lot of money. I used him in many, many commercials. I used him in the video game commercial! I used him in the Aggression music video and he looked like a major Hollywood movie star and this is before he ever went to Hollywood. I called him directly. I didn’t have to go through anybody. I would call directly. Then, well, I said this to somebody. “Somewhere along the way, that kid became a Hollywood legend!” (laughs) It got to where I would have to go through the office to get him or I would have to go through his publicist. But, we had this one shoot and he gave me 20 minutes. He gave me 20 minutes. Brock Lesnar gave me 5 hours! This is before he (The Rock) went to Hollywood and did the Scorpion King. He said, “I work with better directors in Hollywood than you.” (grunt noise) First, there was no reason for him to say that. That was just a mean thing to say. And second, I said, “Of course you do. They get $1,000,000 for a shoot and we’re working on a f***ing $50,000 budget.” And, I was like, “I f***ing helped make you.” I didn’t say that. But, I thought it. So, the very last time I worked with The Rock, we were doing a shoot in Miami. He was in Davy, Florida which was like 20 minutes away. So, everything was set up for The Rock. We had John Cena. We shot the John Cena spot. It was time for The Rock. He said, “Ok, just give me an hour. I want to do this.” Or, “Just give me an hour, I need to do that.” He kept on blowing me off! It really gave me the impression he just didn’t want to do the shoot. Well, he says, “We’ll do it before the match!” Then he says, “Ok! We’ll do it after the match!” Well, he has his match and he comes back through the curtain and I’m the first person he sees. I’m standing there with my hands on my hips and I’m mad at this point and I said, “Lets do this now.” The Rock says, “What do you mean? I’m The Rock!” I said, “Yes! We came here for you to do this!” He said “(growl noise) FINE! I’ll give you 5 f***ing minutes to do this. 5 f***ing minutes!” So, he goes and he’s ready to do it and we get about 1 minute in and there’s a “hair in the gate”, which is a Hollywood term for something went wrong and it is going to take a minute to fix it. The Rock goes, “What was that? Is there a hair in the gate?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “That’s it! I’m done!” I said, “Hey Rock, did you get those books I sent you?” He said, “No! I didn’t!” I said, “Well, that’s funny because I got the signature that says that you signed for it.” Back then, they would send you the photo of the signature. Instead of owning that he got caught in a lie like a man, he started playing it like a character. So, he puts a smirk on his face like he’s playing a character and he puts his hand on my shoulder and says, “Dave, how’s your father doing?’ I said, “Oh Rock, he’s great.” He knew my dad from a bunch of stuff we had done together. He was a part fo the Wrestlemania 2000 commercial, the Heartbreak Hotel… Lots of stuff. I could tell he was playing me. There’s a line in the Batman franchise where the Joker says, “Sometimes you have to play the fool to fool the foll that thinks he’s folling you.” So, he says, “How come he’s not here, Dave?” I said, “He wanted to be here!” He didn’t, but I was playing along. For him to have played the father card really pissed me off. Now, I might have just gotten The Rock on a bad day. But, it just so happens it was the last day I ever worked with The Rock. And, it was a pattern I had seen growing over time. I knew him before he was ever on TV. I bought him dinner just because I cared and I wanted to encourage him. I put him in a music video, it wasn’t a Hollywood production but it was close, the thing got played on MTV! It really bothered me. It really did. To feel used and thrown away like a used bottle cap or something. If he didn’t envoke the my father card, I probably wouldn’t have been as bothered by it. But, that is just something that you don’t do.”
On his initial opinion of Vince McMahon:
“I have a lot of opinions on Vince McMahonOn what and msot fo them are favorable. It was his enthusiasm when I interviewed there that made me want to go there. When I walked in, he was in sweatpants and he was playing with a toy truck. He made it seem like it was a fun place to go and work.”
On what modern wrestling is missing:
“It is all about emotion. Vince McMahon taught me that. It is all about emotion in the matches. But, I brought that in every spot, every cold open I ever did. I wanted you to feel something. Now, it is a spot fest. But, thnk about it. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Is he the greatest wrestler? No. But, he was a great character. The Rock wasn’t the greatest wrestler. But, he was a great character! Hulk Hogan only had 3 moves. But, he was a great character! Think of The Rock versus “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18. Hulk Hogan came in as the heel, the black and white “Hollywood” character. But, they told such a good story in that match that they switched the crowd to where the crowd was cheering Hulk Hogan and booing The Rock. That is what I don’t feel when I watch today. I don’t feel the stories. I don’t feel the emotion. I see spots.”
On Hulk Hogan winning the title at WWE Backlash 2002:
“I’ll tell you a funny story. I guess it was in CT because I was at the gym and Triple H was working out and we were in the locker room. He was there, naked, which was no big deal. He was sitting next to me. I knew I was going to ahve to do the promos after the pay per view and leading into RAW. So, i asked him, “Who is going over?” Triple H said, “I’m going over. Hulk Hogan is great. But, he is like a KISS Reunion tour. Or, a carton of milk. It gets old fast.” So, I’m sitting at home watching the pay per view and everything was going along the way Triple H said it would until Hulk Hogan wins the belt. I was like “What the Hell!” (laughs) I have to believe that is something they changed on the day. I don’t believe Triple H was lying to me. I believe he thought, when he said that, he was going over. But, he didn’t.”
On TNA’s Cookiegate Incident where WWE Filmed at TNA’s Home Base of Unversal Studios:
“Can I sear on this? Because, when i tell the story, I tend to get carried away. Well, I took my sabbatical from WWE and twice while I was gone for about a year, Kevin Dunn and Big contacted me and we went out to eat. We were still friends at the time. Twice they offered me a chance to come back. But, I said I wanted to come back and do a documentary or something first and ease back into it after a year away. They said it was “full time or no time.” So, Jeff Jarrett calls and I agreed to do 3 months for TNA. It was part time which is what I wanted from WWE but they wouldn’t agree with that. So, Kevin Dunn basically said if I work there, nobody from WWE could be in contact with me which I found ridiculous. Because, it was me. I was part time. And, it was TNA. You have to remember, TNA was just coming off of their $9.99 weekly pay per views and they didn’t have a real TV deal at the time. The deal they had with FOX Sports Net was going to run out in June and that show cost us $30,000 a week to air. The deal was that FOX got half the ad revenue, we got the other half. But, we weren’t really allowed to sell space. So, it basically cost us $30,000 a week to air that show weekly. But, it got eyeballs! It caught my eyeballs. I was on vacation and saw it and was like, “What the Hell is this?” I had seen some of the Wednesday pay per views. I didn’t like them. But, I saw the FOX Sports Net show. Anyway, it was the first monthly pay per view for TNA, Victory Road 2004. Hulk Hogan was backstage. Randy Savage was backstage! And, I found out that WWE was going to be coming to Universal Studios to film a vignette a few days later. So, I had the idea, “Wow, it is the first TNA monthly pay per view, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage are there. And, even the WWE is coming down just a few days later!” We could have Abyss there in his mask, Traci Brooks with the milk and cookies, and Shane Douglas with a microphone. Well, Universal must have gotten wind of it because they told us not to do it. But, we figured we should shoot on Stage 21 because that was our stage. That wasn’t really an issue. Then I thought we could go out and film in the common area and maybe see somebody passing by. Well, WWE must have gotten wind of it too because the only people who were out there were production people. Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio did stick their head out and say hello. But, we didn’t have any tape of anyone from WWE when Big came out and said, “David, what are you dong? Stop this right now!” I said, “I don’t work for you. We have the right to be here.” He said, “You’re dead to me! You’re f***ing dead to me!” Well, a few minutes later, someone comes over and tells me that Vince and Big want to speak with me. I said, “Where?” They said in their studio. Well, I said I wasn’t going to go unless I could bring Abyss and Shawn with me. I was really afraid fo physical harm. I really was! Not from Vince, so much. But, from Big. Well, I didn’t go. A few days later, I talked to my father and told him. He said, “I hope they don’t cut up my Legends check.” My dad wasn’t getting Social Security because he was older and his author days were limited. So, that $3,000 check from Vince McMahon Sr. and Vince McMahon Jr. every month meant the world to him. Well, I found out that Kevin Dunn called my father during the Holidays and said, “I’ve got bad news. We have to cut up your Legends check due to budget cuts, we’re losing money!” Bullshit! That was done to f*** with my father. When I found out they f***ed with my father, that really made mad. It was done with malicious intent. If you f*** with my father, you f*** with me! So, at that point, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to continue with TNA. But, I called Jeff Jarrett and I said I want to come to work in TNA. He said “Good.” And, I said, “I’ll get you a TV deal too.” Not that long after, WWE informed Spike TV that they were leaving to go back to the USA Network. I had a contact at Spike because of my time at NBC and I got TNA a TV deal on Spike starting the week after WWE left. And, I put together packages that aired on Spike during RAW promoting TNA. WWE tried to tell Spike to air spots for TNA but Spike was like, “Well, you’re leaving us anyway” so they aired them. So, I’m not going to say TNA wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me. But, I will say that I got them a TV deal and helped to make them relevant. And, it was all because they f***ed with my father.”
