An Interview with George "The Animal" Steele

Green Tongue? Eating Turnbuckles? Those questions and more answered here on IGNPS2.

George "The Animal" Steele is one of the great legends featured in Acclaim's newest wrestling game for the Playstation 2, Legends of Wrestling. Among dozens of other great old wrestlers from the early years of wrestling, George is known for his green tongue, strange eating habits (namely turnbuckles), and being the furriest man in the WWF. Ever wonder how he got a tongue green? Or why he ate turnbuckles? IGN asked the questions you always wanted to have answers to in a telephone interview with George "The Animal" Steele earlier this week.

When I was told I was going to interview George "The Animal" Steele I nearly peed my pants. I love wresting and watch it as much as I can. In fact, I can still remember Wrestlemania 2, George "The Animal" Steele versus "Macho Man" Randy Savage, a classic battle between beauty and the beast. And by the names "Macho Man" and "The Animal," you already may have concluded who is who. But maybe after this interview, you might change your perception of who is the beauty, and who is the beast.

IGN: So, let's start simple. What is your real name and where do you live?

George "The Animal" Steele: My real name is Jim Myers. M-Y-E-R-S everyone spells it wrong. And Koko Beach Florida.

IGN: Are you still active on the independent scene?

George: Very rarely, but occasionally.

IGN: Why did you get into wrestling?

George: [Laughs] I WAS BROKE! I got out of school and college in 1961. I signed with the Patriots. I had blown my knee and I signed this contract for $4,300 a year and that was for teaching and coaching two sports. Probably for driving a bus, too. And I had two children and a third one on the way. I certainly couldn't live on that, so I was looking for a job as a bouncer in a bar. I was doing other things like recreation nights and umpiring.

Now you remember in 1961 that was the average pay, it wasn't low pay, no one was making any money. And my contract with the Patriots was only for $4,300 (a year) to give you some idea of what I'm talking about. And when you go looking for a job as a bouncer you don't take your buddy with you, you don't drink. But you get hired. That's a good thing.

I never watched wrestling, I was never a fan of wrestling really, and my buddy he was a big-time fan and he talked me into calling the local promoter at about 2:30 in the morning. Kept on me, "You're a natural, you're a natural, Killer Kowalski makes all this money, blah blah blah." And so I called Burt Ruby about 2:30 in the morning, woke him up, and said I WANT TO BE A WRESTLER. I went over there the next day, down to the gym and he started training me. When I started, I put on a red mask, a red cap and gown, and called me "the student," because I was learning the business. Long story, huh?

IGN: When did you start using the name George "The Animal" Steele?

First of all I got my name George Steele in Pittsburgh. They wanted me in Pittsburgh in the WWWF at that time. (Back in the day the WWF was the World "Wide" Wrestling Federation.) I wore a mask as the Student and when I went in there they didn't want a masked man. So we're trying to figure out a name, I didn't know what the heck to call myself, I didn't want to use Jim Myers because I taught school. One of the wrestlers, who later on was president of the Steel Workers, said, "Well this is the steel city! Call him Jim Steele!" I said, "I don't like Jim!" Somebody else said "George." I said, "That's it." And that's how I got that name.

IGN: The next question I have probably millions of fans want to know, how did you get your tongue green?

George: [Laughter] I had a couple of drinks at a TV shoot. You remember the old Clorets mints? They just quit making about six months ago, and that's why I don't wrestle much anymore I guess. [Laughter] I put a couple of those in my mouth, because I didn't want the promoter to know I had a couple of drinks. It was live TV in Pittsburgh and when I went out my tongue was green. The place went nuts, switchboard lit up, "why is its tongue green?" So for about a year and a half I would do that every month or so, for a laugh just for my own entertainment. Took me about a year to figure out "Hey, this is a pretty good thing."

IGN: Who do you think your best match was against?

George: My best match? Not sure I ever had a good one. [Laughter] I think, the ones that really stand out were the ones in Madison Square Gardens, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia with Bruno Sammartino.

Acclaim: You had some amazing matches with (Randy "Macho Man") Savage.

George: Yes, but they were nowhere near the same. By that time they had changed my character. I'm talking about way back when I was probably the most hated heel [bad guy] in the business. I love that part of it. People were scared to death of me, they thought I was nuts, when I walked out they turned and ran. When they got to know me, they knew I WAS nuts. Back then, Bruno was bigger actually, it's hard for you guys to understand this, then Hulk Hogan was. When he came out, in Madison Square Gardens, he actually blew the roof off. And at that time, everybody took wrestling very seriously. So these were championship matches. People were really into them. So, I'd say Bruno. But, I had great matches with Savage. That was a different thing altogether, but I think the matches weren't as good as Liz (Miss Elizabeth) not being in the corner to add something. I think that's what made those so good.

IGN: Do you still keep in contact with any other wrestlers?

George: Yeah, a few of them. The business is real but you know when you're wrestling, it's really a tight... what would you call it? It's almost like a fraternity. But when you break away, once you're out of the business, you really don't talk to anybody hardly. I stay in touch with Bruno occasionally and Kowalski, and a few other people. But not a ton of them. But remember Horiwitz, Berry Horiwitz? He had a great saying, "You want a friend in the wrestling business, get a dog." [Laughter]

IGN: Do you play wrestling games?

I don't. They're too technical. Remember. I'm 64 years old. I don't know which buttons to push. My grandkids play them. In fact one time I was over at their house, I don't have any of the games, they were playing a game, and they said "Come on, play!" so I got down and started pushing buttons like crazy. And all of a sudden I realized that I'm getting more turns than they are. These kids were like 6 or 7 at the time. I said, "What's going on here?" He's all, "We're trying to let you have a good game grandpa."

IGN: What do you think of how they represented you in Acclaim's game?

George: I'm excited about it. I'll probably learn how to wrestle (in the game) because my nature is I don't like to lose, so I'll learn how to make the George Steele win. Somehow, maybe cheat. I'll figure out a way.

Acclaim: We'll definitely give you a list of hints and tips so you can take on your grandkids.

George: There you go, if I could just break even. [Laughter]

Acclaim: We'll make sure you have a good showing, absolutely.

IGN: What kind of input or consultation did you do in Acclaim's game?

George: You know without having a big background in the gaming world, I wasn't very helpful there I'm sure. But they told me they had a pretty good idea of what I had done (in the business). They had a lot of video on me. They had watched me.

Acclaim: I think with all the legends that we have in our game we really made conservative effort to make sure that we preserve the integrity of their characters and depict them in the best light. So we tried to work very closely with all of the wrestlers that appear in the game. We don't take the term legends very lightly. There's a lot of respect there and George and all the other guys that appear in the game they've entertained generations of fans. They've worked so hard over the years to make this sport what it is today. And we want to make sure that translates well, not only into the game and the gameplay, and the presentation, but that they all feel good about what they see as the end result.

George: And that's exactly what they told me. How they asked me for input. I told them I was living in that area and this is what they told me they'd do for me. And I think that they've done that.

IGN: How did those turnbuckles taste?

George: They were much better when they were saut¿ed. [Tons of Laughter] There's a little bit of story there, too. Years ago, in Pittsburgh again, I was getting ready for a match with Bruno, and back in '65, '66, they didn't charge to get in actually, in fact, they gave you gifts to come because they wanted a crowd. This was all studio wrestling, maybe 150, 200 people there. And this particular day they gave them pillows. This one lady got pissed, and threw a pillow at me. There were three things I could do. Everybody had a pillow, remember that. If I threw it back I was going to get bombed. I knew that. If I sat on it, it would've been boring. So I just took the pillow, bit it, threw it up in the air, and the stuffing was lighter than air so it came down like snow, it was great TV. When it was almost empty I took the pillow and put it over my opponent's head. Now this was one of those little couch pillows, the kind of satin couch pillows. So I put this over my opponent's head and I started choking him, it's great TV. I pull it off, and he's blue. [Laughter] This pillow was lighter than air. So the stuffing went down in his lungs and it almost killed him. I go back to the locker room and the other wrestlers are all laughing, "Boy, you damn near killed that one!" One of the guys said "Yeah, maybe if you get someone to throw a pillow at you every night, you'd have a pretty good shtick!" And Tony Puglise, who just passed away, said, "Maybe you could eat the turnbuckle! HA HA HA!" They're all laughing. About two weeks later I was working with Strongbrough and it was a match that just wasn't not working. It was horrible. I looked at the turnbuckle; I thought, "I wonder." I reached over and I popped it. That's how it started.

IGN: If someone was getting into wrestling, what words of wisdom would you give them?

George: I have a strong feeling about that. There are a lot of young great athletes out there; they're much better athletes than what we were. They're bigger, faster, stronger, unfortunately, there're fewer places to go.

When I broke in, we had small territories around the country. We'd work different areas. Different Superstars. Every area had their own superstar. The TV was not national, it was localized. So you could develop in one place, or the next place and be a better star, go to the next place and be a superstar. Fortunately, you could be a well-paid superstar. That's kind of the way it was.

Now, there's no place. What are you going to do? You're going to finish once or twice a month beating the same guy every three months. So you have no ring experience. And they do it. They got guys teaching how to wrestle who've never wrestled. You know they see all this stuff in the backyard, flying around taking tremendous risk, if that's what you want. Then they wrestle on TV, their adrenaline is running, they take it to the next level. I'm 64, and I not going to live that long. But I doubt I'm going to be in a wheelchair. That's how I see it, that's what bothers me about it.

And they're really not controlling their own destiny. I get asked this question every time I'm out. I tell them, you know, if you really hang in there and really go at it you might make it. It's not a whole lot about your ability, because everyone has ability now. There's only 10 guys making big bucks in wrestling, and the rest of them they're making good money, but they're not blowing it away. I tell them this, if you're really serious about being a professional athlete, think about the NFL. Because it's a numbers game; 30 something teams, 50 guys on a team. You know, it's really a tough deal for young kids. And it's too bad because it's a great sport and great opportunity, but there's no place to go.

IGN: Yeah, it's just Vince McMahon now because he bought out the WCW.

George: And even then when they had the WCW, they only had around 10 guys who were making money. So you're only talking 20, including the WWF. You got to look at the math. I was fortunate, we weren't making the kind of money they are now, but we were making big money. My first year at the WWF I was making $40,000 a year. Remember, I was making $4,300 teaching. And the top quarterbacks in the NFL were making $35,000-$40,000. Bruno was making $150,000. People don't understand that's part of the history. And when the other sports got unionized they passed us. We were supposed to be a union.

Acclaim: Bruno was making more than the President of the United States back then.

George: Probably. And in New York he was stronger than the President [Laughs]. He was fantastic. Yeah, he was one of the top paid people around. People don't realize that.

IGN: What are your impressions of Vince McMahon Jr.? [For those of you who didn't know, he is a junior. His father was Vince McMahon Senior.]

George: My biggest mistake is (when) I helped break Vince into this business; I should have taken him to the wrestling gym. I should have taught him the proper respect of what we do in the ring. But at that time he wasn't a wrestler, so he couldn't go there. That part bothers me a bit, and I don't blame Vince.

I have a lot of respect for Vince. I don't agree with him all the time, but I respect a lot of people I don't agree with. He likes to get out on the edge. I worked for him both as a wrestler and an agent. I ran shows for him. When he first came into the business, there was a lot of heat on him because he had fired somebody named Bill Cardell, who everybody really liked. Bill asked for a raise, they fired him and put Vince on camera the first night. Most of the guys really didn't like Vince. Vince Senior, you would never hear anyone say anything bad about Vince Senior, called me aside and said "Listen, I got a lot of heat on my son. Could you just take him out, and take him around, let the guys get to know him, and see if he can't fit into the groove a little better." So I did that.

The thing about Vince is he's got about eight personalities. He's the Cybil of wrestling. There's a real good side to him and a real dark side to him and then everything in between. You just never know where he's at. He does what he's got to do. He has no life outside of wrestling. He's got a wonderful family, but that comes in at number two. It's really kind of sad. But he really wants to be loved. Like everybody. He just doesn't know how to go about it. And a lot of people think it's just a power stroke. It is, but it's a lot deeper than that. Sometimes I think he hates wrestling. He wants to see how far he can take it.

IGN: My final question is what do you think of today's wrestling stars and what do you think of where wrestling is going, before being mostly technical and people believing it wasn't set up and now everyone knowing it's more for entertainment value?

George: That's about five questions. [Laughter] I think it's fine; people think it's entertainment. At first I had a hard time with that, but now I think it's fine. The major problem I have with it is hurting people. In the old school, we were taught not to get a lot of people got hurt. But it was competition-type pain, it was still a work, with the competition rules, and we were always responsible for our opponent's safety when we took them off his feet. Which is very important. The first time you went to the gym, to be trained and worked out, there'd be about four or five wrestlers, they'd take you to heavy calisthenics and then they beat the tar out of you... after you got tired. If you came back the next day they'd do the same thing. After about four days of you surviving this punishment, then maybe they might show you how to wrestle. That was to teach respect. I see these kids at risk. They're dangerous, they do it by choice, they got the stars in their eyes and no brains in their head.

IGN: Well George, that's about all the time we have. Thank you so much for your time and we wish you the best of luck in the future. If you'd like to know more about George you can visit him online at www.georgesteele.com.

-- Mark Fujita

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