Book: Is Wrestling Fixed? I Didn’t Know It Was Broken! by Bill Apter
This week Bill chats candidly about his memories of introducing Andy Kaufman to Jerry Lawler, what Ethan Carter III did to his glasses at the TNA Impact Wrestling TV tapings this past week and more…
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You can listen to Bill’s lastest installment of Apter’s Alley starting at the 1:13:34 minute mark in the embedded audio player below. Some of Bill’s comments have been transcribed below it:
On the story from his book about Andy Kaufman befriending him in the early 80’s:
BA: He knew who I was from the wrestling magazines. He was a fan. He was a fan of the magazines. He knew who I was because my picture was in there quite often.
On Andy Kaufman’s friend Bob Zmuda not agreeing with Bill’s assertion that Bill introduced Andy Kaufman to Jerry Lawler:
BA: For some reason Bob Zmuda does not recognize that I am the guy who introduced Andy Kaufman to Jerry Lawler. It’s like I am not on Bob Zmuda’s radar at all. I have no clue why.
On Andy Kaufman hanging out at Bill’s apartment one night after a Madison Square Garden show and Bill calling Jerry Lawler at 1 am to introduce him to Andy:
BA: He said to me, “You got Andy Kaufman… the guy from Taxi… in your roach infested apartment?” Then I put him on the phone. I’m thinking back now it was sometime early-1982 that he was at my apartment. Andy was a good friend. When he got sick he dropped out of contact with me. I never knew he was sick until towards the end. He just didn’t let a lot of people know.
On being on-set during Andy and Jerry’s now infamous exchange on The Late Show with David Letterman where Jerry slapped Andy in the face:
BA: Former Pro Wrestling Illustrated editor Craig Peters and I photographed that. I had no idea it was going to get physical. I don’t think they knew. I never knew what was coming. They were not anywhere near each other in the green room or anything like that. They took Andy out of the building. Nobody was quote-unquote “in on it” because nobody knew it was going to happen. It was one of the most significant moments in television history. Nothing like that had ever happened on television. Craig and I called The Associated Press and we got the photos that we took in all of the New York newspapers.
On Ethan Carter III breaking his glasses backstage at the recent TNA Impact Wrestling tapings:
BA: That was two night’s ago in Bethleham at the Sands Casino. I did a very nice interview that I did for both 1Wrestling and WrestleZone talking to the new champion that will be up in a day or two. (You can view that video below) Everything seemed fine. I had had some incidences with him at WrestleCade. He’s a wiseguy. Before I left last night… or, two nights ago rather… before I left on Wednesday night he was near the exit of the building and I just playfully kind of threw a wrestling punch. The next thing I know… I had my glasses hanging on my sweater… I had just kind of tucked them in to the top of the sweater. The next thing I knew he had touched me and the glasses were in half and down on the floor. I don’t know if he was being a bully. If he intended to do it. He did get a big laugh out of it. He said, “Hey! Listen! Why don’t we show everybody what this is all about?!” That’s when he handed his phone to somebody and was very proud. He Instagrammed and Tweeted it.
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