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Rick Boogs revealed backstage details on when exactly he was informed of his SmackDown debut.
Speaking to Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast, Boogs revealed that he was only informed the night before SmackDown about his debut.
He stated that he only had 12 hours to learn Shinsuke Nakamura's entrance theme.
“I was shocked, I was stunned. I had, let’s say about 12 hours of heads up. I get a text like the night before to be at SmackDown, and this is what I was going to do: so, I play his theme on guitar, sure. I [played] guitar [before], but I hadn’t played guitar other than a little bit here and there," said Rick Boogs. (H/T: Wrestlinginc)
Rick Boogs revealed that he hadn't practiced guitar in 15 years
Rick Boogs added that apart from playing something simple and easy here and there, he hadn't practiced playing the guitar in 15 years. He stated that along with learning the theme in hours, he had to deal with the anticipation and nerves of playing it in front of millions of people.
"I hadn’t practiced in like 15 years. From time to time, maybe I’ll do something simple and easy and just put it on Instagram, but it’s not like I practice. I’ve played this song when I was 16 years old. I can remember it. So, then they’re like, ‘learn this’, and I’m like, ‘of course I’ll do it.’ But the anticipation and the nerves with that? Not just playing guitar, because I was in a band in high school and the biggest crowd we played in front of was 25 people. So now, it’s like, can you learn this thing in a matter of hours? Everyone’s going to judge you, it’s going to be in front of millions of people, and it’s not really what I do," Rick Boogs added.
Boogs has had a fantastic start to his SmackDown career, picking up victories over the likes of Apollo Crews and Dolph Ziggler.
He has quickly chartered his way to becoming a fan favorite and has also earned the admiration of fellow superstars such as Toni Storm, who called him "Eddie Van Halen in wrestling boots." It will be interesting to see where his career goes from here.
What do you think of Rick Boogs' run so far? Do you see him becoming a top star soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
