How The Rock's first coach landed a job in WWE
Dr Tom Prichard has revealed that he landed the job in WWE by chance. The former coach of The Rock went on to say that he does not remember the exact date, but was with Tiger Conway Jr back in the 90s when he helped Tugboat Taylor.
There was a ring in his building and they decided to help the guys with some tips. Prichard showed them how to put headlocks, do arm drags and also pull off other spots. He claims that his brother, Bruce Prichard, took it up with Vince McMahon and the current WWE Chairman decided that he wants him on board.
Tom explained that it was enough for the whole thing to be set and he had landed a job in WWE. Prichard was on Taking You To School with Dr. Tom Prichard's second episode when he said:
"Bruce and I were in Houston and I don't remember what year it was but it was obviously in the 90s and we were in Houston at the same time. I hooked up with Tiger Conway Jr. and he said why don't you come on down to this place where a guy named Tugboat Taylor had a ring set up in this building and Tiger was going to go down there and help the guys and said why don't you come along and just see what you could do with these guys too.
I had never taught anybody anything, I taught karate but I never taught wrestling and we went in and Bruce came with me and when I got in the ring I just showed a headlock takeover and arm-drag, a go-behind and went over a couple of spots and just basic stuff. But I stopped and explained why I was doing what I was doing and I really didn't think anything of that because at this stage of my career and in the late 80s I was finally a heel and part of my job was to help whoever I was working with tell a story and the heel was leading the match at that time."
"Bruce and I had talked to these guys in Houston and he had seen me teach and he just brought it up to Vince and said that Tom has done it before and Tom has done it in Houston and so why not? Now, I don't know if Vince even thought anything past this or past the three guys or if he was actually going to go with doing a whole system or program but later I learned that Bruce was under the impression that is what he wanted to do and that is how it came about. We had a conversation and it went from there and from there it turned into a new position in WWE."
You can listen to the whole podcast here:
Tom Prichard has trained other WWE Superstars other than The Rock as well. Kurt Angle, Val Venis, Shane McMahon, Giant Silva, The Bella Twins, Steve Bradley, Dolph Ziggler, Brakkus and Cheeseburger are a few names.