Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Busted Open Podcast. This is Dave LaGreca. On today's episode, myself and Tommy Dreamer talk to one of the greats, someone who's never been on the Busted Open Podcast before. Sean Mooney joins us right now on the Busted Open Podcast. This is the Busted Open Podcast. The legendary Mr. Sean Mooney. Sir, how are you? And thank you so much for the time.
Thanks for having me. It only took longer for me to get an action figure to, we're coming on this show. Finally got one.
I got to listen. You're somebody we can, we get this with anybody that we talk to that's involved in wrestling on the announcer side, play by play or color commentator, you know, you've done so much before and after. So, you know, you, you worked with, with doing baseball, like talk about that transition going in to professional wrestling.
Wow, that's a lot of ground to cover. Yeah, I worked for Major League Baseball Productions. That's how I ended up starting in the business, at least working in production. And that's what I initially did. And we did highlight films and This Week in Baseball. And the way this all crazy situation happened was we started to branch out to do other things.
And they did a show called Light Moments in Sports. I don't know if anybody remembers it, but Joe Namath, they got Joe Namath to host it. And they wanted to go out and do these bits where they could, you know, it's kind of one of the first blooper shows, sports blooper shows. And Joe certainly couldn't go out there with his knees.
So I raised my hand and like, I'll do whatever you guys want me to do. And they had me doing all kinds of crazy things, right. Writing camels and, you know, going to paintball camps and that kind of thing. And I went to the monster factory. Somebody came up with an idea. They had an in to one of the wrestling schools and Larry sharp. Let us in.
And I went there and, you know, of course they beat the crap out of me and we just, we had a really good time, but it was a great segment. And Vince apparently saw this. It was on the NBC affiliates. And I had a friend who was working at Hamilton at the time, the production facility. And he called me up and said, Vince McMahon wants you to come up here and audition. And I was like, what?
You know, I knew about what was going on with professional wrestling at the time. This was like 1987. So it was really blowing up. And I took the train. I was living in Manhattan at the time. I took the train up and auditioned and sold the broom. And two weeks later, I was working for the WWF. And so it was wild.
And Tommy, I wanted to bring up something to you because you might find it amusing that your greatest nemesis, Scott Levy, was at the school at the time. I connected with him later and put the dots together, but he was at the school. And in this segment, he was going by Scotty the Body then. And I did this, you know, stupid interview thing with him.
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Chapter 2: What led Sean Mooney to transition from baseball to professional wrestling?
And I remember seeing it later. Somebody sent it to me. I'm like... that guy looks familiar. And I did a podcast with him later, you know, prime time with Sean Mooney. And I said, look, I don't know if you're going to remember this. And he he's like, oh, my God.
He goes, yeah, that was like one of the first television things that I did, you know, like actually felt that I was tested to see if I could do a promo. But it was crazy that he was at that school and we know how his career went. So that's how it all started. I ended up in Stanford, Connecticut, working at
the television facility doing the event center i'm definitely going to look that up because uh those things are i love seeing stuff like that before you start now uh hang on when you said you were this week in baseball that was one of my favorite shows really uh What, you worked on production on that show?
Yeah, I was a producer. I actually produced it. People go back in credits that- How about that? I had a whole other world back then that I was actually a producer for a year on the show with Mel. Yeah. And it was just an incredible experience in my life. I mean, I was 22 when I went back there with a couple of bags. and started working for them.
But it was this young group of people that, you know, lightning in a bottle. I mean, Mike Tolan, he went on to become a big producer. Joe Levine, who produces, you know, produced all the HBO documentaries. And these guys were just we were these young kids and they let us do whatever we wanted. And so it was like a great opportunity. And I had a chance to produce this week in baseball.
I did a show with Tim McCarver called Greats of the Game that you used to see when during rain delays. Yeah, but it was it had all these Hall of Famers and we traveled around the country interviewing these guys. So I had like this whole crazy experience of meeting people like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. I'd love to write a book someday.
I think I'd call it Boys in the Dugout because we had no business doing what we got to do. But being around Mel Allen and that show was incredible.
The closing music to that was amazing. Oh, man, it was awesome. The plays, great stuff. I didn't know you did that. That was amazing. All right. Stock music.
That was stock music that they ended up buying. They just, you know, we go through the library and they found it.
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Chapter 3: How did Sean Mooney's early experiences shape his broadcasting style?
You could put in 60s. And their job was to go in and change the tape every hour to make sure you got the whole game. And then they'd put it in the box and then drop it off at the FedEx place and get it back there as soon as they could so that we could cut highlights for the show. And it was a pretty well-oiled machine, but not a really giant staff.
I mean, you'd think it would have been bigger, but there was probably... I think we had maybe five or six people who worked on, you know, This Week in Baseball. And, of course, we used the stuff for, you know, the other shows we did, too.
But it was pretty amazing, even back then, how they did it. Dave, I mean, us growing up in New York, Mets were nine, Yankees were 11. And until cable television, then you got the Braves. And then later on, you got the Cubs when WGN were a superstation as well.
Same as wrestling, man. No, but before Rick Cerrone broke my heart and I gave up baseball until 2025, not every game was televised. I remember just sitting in my kitchen and listening to games. Most of the games weren't even televised. You had to listen to the game on the radio.
yeah completely crazy times it made it is amazing how how much things change in in pretty much a short period of time that you know that's how fast things change that and they were out of their time doing things you know as far as cutting the you know they did the first uh you know musical uh pieces that they did with with uh
with the baseball players, you know, ESPN of course would take that to much bigger Heights, but a lot of the stuff we did, one of your first assignments was to cut the bloopers that would play in the stadium. And I used to, we used to take it, we call it the, the dollar, I think it was a buck 25. Then you, it was the buck 25 round trip.
and we'd go up there and eat, but you'd want to go because they'd play your bloopers at Yankee Stadium. You're like, I wish I had my phone bend to be able to send it to my friends and go like, I did that.
So you go to Stanford to audition. Was Vince McMahon there for your audition?
I don't think he was in the building that day. Bruce Prichard ran it, and they hustled, and I remember it was like a line of people
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Sean Mooney face when starting with WWF?
And then I would wrap it up by saying all the card and when it's going to be. And so when I came in, Howard Finkel, believe it or not, Howard wore a lot of hats and he was kind of in charge of the event center because he was in Stanford and he would keep track of all the markets. And we didn't have any computers then, so he would keep it in this big giant ledger.
They have all the things and he would sit on the floor and with his legs crossed and he'd go through, okay, now, you know, Altoona. And, and I would sit there in the studio and one after another, and you couldn't put this in a teleprompter. You had to ad lib the whole thing. So it was like great training for me, but it took a long time.
When I first got there, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. And here, my mentor is a ring announcer, right? So Howard's got me announcing, you know, this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, you know, Hulk Hogan. And that's how he was having you got to project. Sean, you got to project. And I'm doing this. And about, you know, a week in, I've got no voice left.
And I finally I tell Howard, I'm like, Howard. I don't think this was going to work for me. You know, this just isn't, I can't do it. I said, can I just try it my way? Just, I'm just, well, okay, go ahead and give it a shot. And so I did my thing the way that I eventually would do the delivery. And he kind of backed off on it and said, yeah, okay, maybe this might work.
But he was really my first mentor. Gene was tremendous to me because he wanted this to succeed because he was tired of doing it in the arenas. And so he and not that he I don't think he would. He was always so great to me.
But initially, like he's just like, kids, you got to get this, you know, and he would come in and actually sit in there with me when he was in and help me out because he really wanted that to happen. But. The other guys, I mean, Gorilla, you know, they were there. They would come in about every three weeks to do the voiceover stuff at the studio. Bobby and Lord Alfred Hayes was also there.
And really, if it wasn't for Alfred and Gino, Gorilla, I would have never survived that first year because they smartened me up early. I don't know why they took me under their wings, but I mean, thank God they did. And the fact that I was stationed there, living there, I would see Alfred every day, but Gorilla was there a lot.
So those two guys, they really, they helped me out so much that there's no way I would have survived that first year. And you guys know what that business was like then. Tommy with ribs and new meat and being out there. And they just basically said, look, Keep your head down. It's coming. No matter what, just keep going. Don't retaliate. You don't go hang out with them at the bar.
You don't, you know, and don't fall asleep on planes. Don't take your shoes off. You know, the whole thing. And it was. And I and I that's I followed that to a T. And the best advice ever that Gorilla gave me was, you know, just know you can be friends with them, but just know you'll never be one of them.
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Chapter 5: Which legendary wrestling figures influenced Sean Mooney's career?
Coming up next, more of our conversation with Sean Mooney. Your one stop shop for R-A-S-S-L-I and that's wrestling. Pro Wrestling Nation, 24-7, channel 156.
Your visual of Howard. Howard was a close friend of mine. I worked with him in the office. But Howard sitting on the floor. Howard would stuff everybody's envelopes. And by I say, as a wrestler, you would go to TV and you would get all your appearances, what you had to do, your travel. And Howard would personally...
get everybody's envelope, and he would put the sticker on the name and personally stuff every envelope. And you'd walk into his office and he'd have, he'd be sitting on the floor, Indian style with his legs crossed and just shoving. And we'd be like, Howard, use your desk. Howard does it. And it just like that visual just brought back such a great memory of my friend.
So thank you for that one. Howard was tremendous.
He loved WWE like no other.
Yeah. I mean, he really was the epitome. And I don't know if he was the number one employee. I think he was. But to the end, you know, that Howard just that was his life, that company and everything about it and was there from the very beginning. And what was also really wonderful at the time when I went to work for them, this was in 88. Stanford was Camelot.
It was where everybody, the company was really small still. everybody knew each other. You would see Vince driving that clinic around Stanford in the, in the three piece suits with the top down radio blaring, you know, uh, it was kind of that real small town field. You would, you would see him and Linda out at the movies. Uh, and, and whenever there was a function, everybody was there.
And that included, you know, Basil DeVito, who was the, you know, promotions guy to all the production people and, uh, It was so much this small company that you knew every part of it. So whenever you traveled or anything, as I've come back and seen what they're like now, like with the trucks and the arenas and stuff like that, there was maybe two or three when we did TV tapings before like that.
And it's just been amazing to see how it's changed over the years. Just amazing.
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Chapter 6: What memorable moments from wrestling does Sean Mooney recount?
Randy was very, very tough. And because he had come up, and I think this is very true with guys that come up through families that have these traditions and an honor code, I mean, very much like the mafia in many ways, and you had to become a made man to them. And Randy was always professional with me. He was really great. I think he's one of the best guys that ever cut a promo.
But it was always like, you know, done. And we had an incident, I think it was a Tuesday in Texas, where he roughed me up pretty good and kept trying to get me to bow down, bow down. And one of the things that Vince was very adamant about with me is that he wanted me to be this credible news guy that was seeing the... sport as, as I saw it.
And, and so he would never really let the guys go after me or do, you know, rough me around. And, and Randy went over the line. It was too much. And I was like, when it's done, I was like, what, what was that? Randy's like, what are you talking about? You know? And then he just kind of left the room. Well, Liz was doing Spotlight in Stanford.
Vince, at one point, just decided he wanted to do the show with her. So Randy and Liz would come up to Stanford and tape the show. And this was very, this was close after that, that they came there. And I'm like, I have to say something because otherwise I, you know, I'm losing this credibility. There were other people, there were other boys who saw it.
And I'm like, man, I got to say something to them. And so I say, hey, when I got a break there, I went over and I say, Randy, can I talk to you? And he's like... What's up, brother? And we go into the green room and I said, Randy, look, I don't know what happened in that interview. But I said, you can't do that to me. I said, you know, you've got what you've got to do.
I've got to do what I've got to do. And I got to keep that credibility, too. And I said, you humiliating me like that. And you didn't tell me. And I could work with doing anything as long as they told me, okay, this is what we're doing. I said, you didn't tell me. And I said, that was, to me, very disrespectful. I respect everything you do.
And I just remember to this day that look that he gave me. It was like, mm-hmm. And here we are, and I realize I'm in a closed room with him. There's nobody else around. If he wants to backhand me or something, nobody's going to ever know about it. I'm certainly not going to tell anybody. And he's just like, long time. Then he goes, mm, fair enough, mm. and then left the room.
And I'm like, what the hell was that? Fair enough. What does that mean?
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Chapter 7: How did Sean Mooney navigate his relationship with wrestlers like Randy Savage?
And from that point on though, we were, everything was tremendous. I mean, I could, I was in a circle and whenever we did interviews, he made sure I was set. And, and it was like, and we had a really great relationship after that, but it took, it was tough with Randy and Tommy. I'm sure you can attest to that, that, you know, he was different, but also, um,
to me, one of the greatest performers ever in the ring. And, and, uh, he, whatever people thought of him when he went in there, he gave everything he had. He, he used to say that, you know, if you go in there and you don't, you're a thief because people came here spending money to see you. And, uh, and if you don't give it to them, you're stealing from them.
And, um, I always had a lot of respect for him. So he was, he was the toughest though.
Yeah.
what uh would you say there's this trend on social media this is what my dad was like in the 90s or stuff like that but what would you say your favorite if you had a show hey this was my favorite career moment in wrestling what would you say yeah i get asked that um and there's so many tremendous moments that you know i got to be a part of of course when my first wrestlemania when uh
in Atlantic city and, and, uh, doing an interview with Donald Trump of all people. And I just totally booted it. I mean, it was, I was so nervous and I had this stupid earpiece that kept falling out and they didn't tell me, you know, and of course I didn't have any time to say, Hey, what do you want to talk about or something like that?
And then of course the, the bushwhackers, uh, mauling me afterwards. And, uh, but I think overall for moments in, in, uh, in the WWF WWE for me was that summer slam at Wembley in 92, um, with, with the match between Brett and Davey boy, uh, there was so much going on behind the scenes with that.
And, and to this day, uh, even in the family, they have two different opinions on where, what was going on with Davey at the time. And what, you know, Brett preparing for that match and, and the lore is they didn't have any time to even get in the ring together. And he, uh, Brett says, you know, I had to walk him through the whole thing. And Diana Hart saying that wasn't the case.
He was really sick and everything. And I just remember, and I interviewed her in the crowd for that event. And honestly, you could just see the emotion of the whole event was just riding on this, this match. And when it was over, you could just feel it that, oh my God, they pulled it off. And more than that, I mean, to me, it was one of the great matches that I ever witnessed.
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Chapter 8: What insights does Sean Mooney share about the evolution of wrestling commentary?
Oh, OK. So then I go do this and it works. So it's just that you said that I was like, wow, that could be another perfect match, David.
Yeah, no, there's no doubt about it. It's a great one. You know, first of all, thank you so much for the time this morning. It's been an amazing conversation. That first run with the WWF was what, five years? About five years, that first run you had?
Yeah, 88 to 93.
Yes, did you ever think that that five years is going to be talked about 10 years, 20 years, 30 years after the fact?
No, no, and obviously I didn't realize at the time, you know, people have asked me, like, why did you leave Atlanta? Because I'm an idiot. I was young and stupid.
It was your choice, right? It was your choice?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was my choice. I don't know, you know, guys, there was a lot happening with the company at that time. I don't know if Vince would have let me go or not. I don't know. People were heading south, and Vince was convinced that's where I was going when I went and had that meeting with him, and he said, you know, Pal, you can tell me. You're going south. I'm like, no, Vince.
I said, if I work in professional wrestling, I'm working for you. And I went off, and a year later, I was on WWOR doing news. And I remember the first night after I premiered as an anchor for WWOR, Vince sent me a telegram. I got a telegram at my house congratulating me. And I think that it was two things. Vince saying, you know, I appreciate that I realized, okay, you were straight with me.
But also that I had helped elevate that team of broadcasters. And so that really meant a lot to me. But I wish I would have hung out. I would have loved to have been a part of the Attitude Era community. I think that I would have had so much fun with some of the personalities there. But it was one of the greatest times of my life. And it is, like you say, Dave, I'm kind of blown away.
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