Big Vito Lograsso has experienced just about every environemnt the business has to offer.From the WWF, WCW, ECW, working the indys and now working in brand new, XWF, he has truely seen it all. In part one of our two part interview, he covered topics such as, his feeling son ECW, his storylines in WCW, his commitment to conditioning, and how he viewed some of the industry's biggest names. In part two, he spoke to me about his tag team with Johnny The Bull, dream match ups, hardcore wrestling, and unions in wrestling.

MM: Describe your working relationship with Johnny the Bull, in "The Mammalukes". Did you ever see those characters becoming as big as they did?
BVL: Johnny the Bull is a phenomenal athlete. He has a great body. When I came into WCW, he was (only) 9 months out of the Power Plant. He didn't really have any experience. They said "Hey Vito can you work with him?". My job was to take care of him, teach him and make him understand the game, which he did. He listened, and it was good. We worked well together. Our tag team was one of the best in WCW if not the best. As far as growing I think we could have been bigger than what
we were. We were 2 time world tag team champions and I think we could have been 4 or 5 time world tag team champions.

MM: So you think WCW could have used your team better?

BVL: Of course they could have, anything is possible. You know with the right people doing the right things. I mean with WCW, at the time they had a lot of management changes, storyline changes, change in personal, change in a lot of things and it was just tough on everybody, not just one person or team.

MM: Which other teams did you consider to be WCW's best?
BVL: I'd probably say the best tag teams in WCW history were, the Steiner brothers and Harlem Heat. Nowadays, you look at those two tag teams and can see they were on top for years. Booker T and Stevie(Ray) were 10 time world champions. That's a lot of greatness there. The
Steiner brothers, I don't even know how many times they were tag team champions, at least 6 or 7.

MM: Johnny sustained an injury, pretty early in his tenure with WCW. How did you play a part in being supportive?

BVL: I always told Johnny he doesn't need to do moves like that. He's got the look work as a mat technician and work on the ground. I mean, he doesn't need to leave his feet. When we split the tag team and I was hardcore champion, he was wrestling (Terry)Funk, he wanted to do a move, and I didn't know about it. Probably, because I would always tell him, "John you don't need to do this, John you don't need to do that, John, John, John". After he did it, I was the one going in
the ambulance with him, I was the one that went in the hospital with him. It was 4th of July weekend, it was July 3rd and went to the hospital. July 4th I spent in West Virginia, in a hospital with John
as soon as I got there. He says, "Vito, don't tell me I shouldn't have did it, I am so stupid, I should have listened to you". I said,
"You just got some experience under your belt". From that day forward when, he was always a little more careful. When he hurt himself again, he just looked at me, he shook his head and says, "I already know".

MM: Do you think he has the experience now?

BVL: You bet your ass he does, and I know he is working hard
in Ohio Valley (Wrestling). He is trying to hone up his skills, there.
Hopefully one day, we can be back together and be a tag team again

MM: This question allows you to be more of a fan and not an actual athlete for a second. If you could face anyone past or present in a match or watch any match of any two wrestlers who would it be and what type of match would it be?

BVL: Well we have seen Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, so I guess the match you would want to see is ...Goldberg and Steve Austin. Maybe, Sting against The Rock would be an interesting match. I think Kevin Nash against Andre the Giant, would be a phenomenal match. I would say Bret Hart against Bruno Sammartino and maybe a Mr. Perfect of the (19)80's and maybe a Shawn Michaels of the 90's I think those would be some
really really good matches to watch. I am not trying to leave any of the great wrestlers out, believe me. I could stay out up here all night and tell you about all the matches I would like to see, but if I had to
pick some, those would be the ones.

MM: What intigues you about Nash-Andre?

BVL: I think Kevin Nash and Andre the Giant that would be a tremendous big man match. When you had Hulk Hogan against Andre back in 1987,in the Pontiac Silver Dome, no one thought that anyone could
give Andre a run for the money at the time. However, ann accomplished guy like Kevin Nash, who a true big man at 7 feet would go against Andre. I think Kevin has the agility and maybe Andre has the strength.
I really didn't know Andre as a person but I am sure his ring skills were very sharp and I think Kevin being a smart individual maybe, had a little bit of slyness at the time, so I say that would probably be a great match

Vito kicks the life out of Crowbar

MM: What do you think of the state of professional wrestling as a whole, (includling harcore wrestling) and where do see it headed? BVL: I would say that the hardcore was strong for awhile and maybe fizzled out a little bit. If they had to bring it out strong, I think it could be done. Do the guys like to do it? Maybe not, because there is a lot of bruising on the body and there is a lot of pressure to do it every single night. When I was Hardcore champion, I was doing house shows, 4-5 hour shows every week and my body took a beating, I was black and blue. The whole way threw I was black and blue. I did it,
it's really tough on the body. I think the state of wrestling right now, I think it's going to go real strong. I mean they are bringing it back now. They have a lot of good people that they wanted to bring in. You never know who's going to show up, into the mix. If they had to put it together again, I think it can work. The people who are running it,
there are going to be one boss, there is going to be one management, and there is going to be one creative team. It's not going to change. It's not going to be a difference of opinion. It's going to be done one way. I think it is going to be successful

MM: What else do you think, they are going do, storyline wise?
BVL: I think they are always going to walk the tight rope. Every now and then they are going to go over the line. That's just to throw people for a loop. To make them say, "Oh my God, I can't believe they did that", and then come back. Let it go for a little while, and then "Oh my god, I can't believe they did that". They are always going to teeter, on that borderline and that's what keeps the people interested because they are always going to want to see what's going to happen next

MM: What do think of the current state of professional wrestling today with the WWF's buyout of WCW? Do you think wrestlers should look towards moving in the direction of a union?

BVL: As far as a wrestlers union, I really can't say. I mean I don't know. They always talked about it and said things about it. I guess it will be talked about, for along time. I really don't know what to say about it. It's a really hard question to answer. Talking about something like that, you’re talking about a pay scale, years in the business, a retirement fund, insurance, representatives. You're talking about a whole different ballgame, when your talking about something that is big business, when your talking about a union.

MM: Have you ever been asked about a union?
BVL: Let's just put it this way, I was in the labor union,back in the day and those meeting get pretty intense. I could only imagine what a wrestling union would be like. So it would be a lot of philosophies floating around the table. Could it happen? Maybe. Would it happen? I don't know. If a wrestler today takes care of himself, trains and learns his craft, and learns the wrestling code of ethics 101, I think everyone would be happy with that. Everyone would be
on that same page because different guys have different experience levels. If everyone could learn the things on the same page as far as that goes. Then I think everybody would be happy with that

MM: In closing, what do you think it's takes to be successful?BVL: They way I was brought into wrestling, you learn thebasics and you learn them from the bottom up. If you can't get up off the floor, you don't need to be doing the big moves. If you know the basics, you learn how to work, how to be in a wrestling match and learn the psychology. It's thinking mans sport, it's not all brute strength you've got to be smart and if you could learn those things, you will be successful.

Don’t forget to keep with the latest on Vito by checking out his official website, VitoLograsso.com

This interview was posted on July 30th , 2002. If you want to use this interview on your site, please credit Marcus Madison and www.WrestlingEye.com