Former WWE Superstar Heidenreich says he has no regrets about his infamous SmackDown segment with Michael Cole.
In his first major interview in years, former WWE Tag Team Champion Heidenreich appeared on the INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast. During the conversation, he opened up about the infamous segment with commentator Michael Cole on the September 16, 2004, episode of SmackDown.
He noted even 20 years later, the segment will always be disturbing. Heidenreich remembers thinking the segment pushed way past the boundaries when it was pitched to him, and noted that it wasn’t like anything he practiced for during his time in OVW.
“It’ll always be disturbing, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, it was brought to me, I don’t remember particulars, but I do remember thinking, man, this is really off the wall. When you’re training to do vignettes and practicing in Louisville, you don’t practice for a vignette like that,” the former WWE star said.
Heidenreich says the segment made him more infamous over the years
Heidenreich explained that WWE deliberately played out the segment as a bait-and-switch, using heavy innuendo to make the fans believe something scandalous was about to happen before diverting it into a bizarre poetry reading. In simpler terms, when he told Michael Cole, “I’ve been watching you, I know what you want, and I’m gonna give it to you,” he meant “giving him” one of his signature poems.
“Well, I mean, they said I was gonna abduct him, and bring him to the back, and then put him in a room. Then I think it was like you’re gonna act like you were like watching him, and you’re going one place with it. It’s like you’re going like it, and then you say, I’m gonna give you a poem. But it sounds like I’m gonna give him something other than a poem. I don’t know if it’s innuendos and stuff when you say it, ‘I’ve been watching you, I know what you want, and I’m gonna give it to you.’ But I look back and all the things that have been said about all these years, it’s kind of made me infamous, more than famous. But it’s disturbing still, and it’s weird,” the former WWE star said.
The former WWE star reveals how Michael Cole felt about the segment
Speaking further, Heidenreich shared that his approach was to never say no to any pitch WWE creative presented to him. He said yes when they asked him to tag with Road Warrior Animal and later become an official member of the Legion of Doom, and likewise, he didn’t refuse when they pitched him the Michael Cole segment.
Speaking about Michael Cole’s initial reaction to the pitch, he revealed that the WWE commentator thought it was weird and joked around, but didn’t turn it down. Cole even went the extra mile to make the segment work by whimpering when Heidenreich was “giving it” to him, the poem that is.
Heidenreich does not have any regrets about the segment
When Vliet asked him if he had any regrets about doing the segment, Heidenreich said he doesn’t feel that way and believes he did the best performance. He loved his character and said he always wanted to return to WWE with a specific idea, which he never knew how to pitch.
“No. I think I did the best performance, I guess. I liked it the way it ended. He was about to leave, I said, “You’re going to thank me? It was a poem by Heidenreich. I thought it was cool. I ended up calling them disaster pieces after a while, because I figured they’re so bad instead of masterpieces, but yeah, I mean, I like the character Heidenreich. Always in my mind, I thought I would go back. I had an idea to come back. I didn’t even think about telling you this. I never went back, but I wanted to. I just probably just didn’t know how to approach it to do it. If I would have went back, could I say the idea I always thought about?” the former WWE star said.
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