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The focus of the second episode of Sportskeeda's The Rosser Rewind with Fred Rosser, AKA Darren Young and host Korey Gunz was on the iconic WrestleMania 30 PPV.
Rosser opened up about his own WrestleMania experiences during the episode and revealed that he was actually a druid during The Undertaker's WrestleMania 20 entrance in 2004 at the Madison Square Garden. Rosser wasn't an employee of the company back then and worked as a non-contracted extra.
He also shared an unseen moment from the entrance which saw one of the druids get caught on fire in a freakish accident. However, WWE panned the cameras in time to prevent the fans across the world from seeing it live.
You can check out the full episode below:
I've had a lot of experiences with WrestleManias, at WrestleMania 20 I was actually a druid. WrestleMania 20 was at MSG, I was a druid and one of the guys that were carrying the big stick of fire had got caught on fire and you actually can see it live when you watch it back, but they panned to the crowd and they extinguished the guy that was kind of lit on fire by accident from the flames coming from the torch. So that was my first WrestleMania being a part of it and I was a part of it as an extra, I wasn't even hired by the WWE.
Rosser stated that before he signed with WWE in 2009, he worked as an extra for the promotion on countless occasions. He credited former WWE Developmental head trainer Dr. Tom Prichard for the opportunities he got before his official signing.
I first stepped foot in a ring on September 11th, 2002, and then from 2002 to 2009, until I got signed, I did so many extra spots for WWE.
I was probably an extra over 40 times. There was a time when I would just show up in the North East area and the head trainer at the time of the developmental system, Dr. Tom Prichard, would say to me, 'Anytime WWE was in the North East area and I'm not booked, just show up and if you work, you get paid and if you're not, you just go there for the experience.'
The former WWE Tag Team Champion shared more details on playing the role of a druid and revealed that it was a nerve-wracking experience as there was a risk of messing up the greatest entrances in pro wrestling history.
You know having an opportunity to be a druid, it was me and a few other guys that came out of my wrestling school - IWF (Independent Wrestling Federation), where I originally started. And Dr. Tom Prichard hooked it up for me. He hooked it up, he gave me an opportunity to be a druid and let me tell you, man, it was a nerve-wracking experience because it's something you don't want to mess up.
You don't want to mess up the Undertaker's entrance. People travel all over the world to see his entrance and his entrance is something special, something you don't want to mess up. And those sticks, those sticks that you carry with all the fire coming out of it, those things are freaking heavy and like I said, being a druid at WrestleMania 20 is something that I'll never forget. Seeing it live and in-person that, as you said it, this is what I want to do and I'm going to do it, that laser-like focus of seeing controlled chaos at its finest and you say to yourself, 'I definitely want to be a part of this.
Korey Gunz asked Rosser about the druid who got caught on fire and the veteran revealed that it was his head trainer from his wrestling school who was involved in the accident, and luckily, he didn't suffer any serious injury as a result of the mishap.
No, no, it was another dude from IWF, I think it was actually my head trainer that got caught on fire. He wasn't injured or anything but just like the gowns, the black gowns we wore, it got caught on fire, and they just kind of had to extinguish out and they panned to the crowd or panned to a different camera angle. But you do see it, you do see it for a couple of seconds. So yeah, it's controlled chaos that comes along with live combat theatre.
Don't forget to check out the entire episode of The Rosser Rewind which has a host of incredible backstage stories about Batista, Mark Henry a potential WWE return and reunion, and much more.
