Preparing for a match
by Adam Knight on 2002-08-08

How do you prepare for a match with the Legion of Doom? In my mind, this is the tag team equivalent to being told that you're working Flair, Hogan, or Austin. The biggest of the very best.

A daunting prospect to say the least, but an exciting one.

Dalton and I did a lot of talking in the weeks leading up to this match. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was nervous about a number of factors going into this match (stupid things in retrospect, but they seemed valid at the time).

We had a show the night before in Brandon, MB. Animal made the trip with us, but Hawk was delayed due to travel inconveniences. On the trip back, I had the pleasure of riding back in Shane Madison's car with Animal where we talked, listened to stories, and basically "sat under the learning tree" for two hours with one the most considerate, generous workers that I have ever met. Let me say, that any concern that I might have felt prior to this immediately melted away leaving behind my more familiar sense of confidence in my ability to entertain.

Hawk and Buff Bagwell arrived in time for the show the next day (on a side note, Buff had a hell of a time getting through Customs, but was still exceptionally cool with everyone and took good care of Chris Parys that night). I met Hawk and liked him right away ... because he laughed at one of my jokes. Seriously, Hawk was just as cool as his partner and was willing to give two local flunkies (right Tony? relax, I'm ribbing) everything under the sun.

I was so at ease going into this match that I almost forgot who I was wrestling until I was standing in the middle of the ring, the LOD was announced, the music hit and the crowd POPPED! I have never been in the middle of an ovation like that before, and the fact that it wasn't for me didn't take anything away from it for me.

The match was just about as basic as it could be. We bumped, they sold, we put in about 15 minutes, I took the Doomsday and we went home. All in all, a very satisfying experience.

Final notes.

Animal mentioned that he would be very interested in working with myself and Dalton again somewhere down the line. He had a lot of good things to say, and, astonishingly enough, no real criticisms. Believe me, I asked him to rip apart and he laughed, saying "You were just fine."

At the end of the night, I tried to shake Hawk's hand, but he told me that nothing less than a hug would do, "Because we're brothers, now man. Brothers." And with that, he tried to break my ribs with a massive bear hug.

I guess this is where other people are going to take the time to call me a mark. Well, they'd be right. But I'll be damned if I'll feel bad about it.

A.K.