John Heidenreich is not pretending one of the strangest WWE segments of his career has aged normally. The former WWE Superstar looked back on his infamous Michael Cole backstage segment and admitted the whole thing still feels disturbing two decades later.
During his recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Heidenreich was asked how he feels about the Michael Cole segment 20 years later. The angle saw Heidenreich abduct Cole, drag him into a private area, and create a heavy amount of uncomfortable tension before revealing he was only going to read him a poem. Heidenreich said the segment still stands out for obvious reasons.
“It’ll always be disturbing, right? There’s no doubt about it. I mean, it was brought to me. I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember thinking, man, this is really, really off-the-wall. This is — I didn’t train for, like, when you’re training to do vignettes and practicing in other, like Louisville, you don’t practice for a vignette like that.”
When asked what the actual pitch was for the segment, Heidenreich explained that WWE wanted him to abduct Cole and make it seem like the segment was heading in a much darker direction before swerving the audience with poetry.
“Well, I mean, they said I was gonna abduct him, right? You know, and bring him to the back and then put him in a room. And then I think it was like, you’re gonna act like you were watching him and you’re going one place with it. You’re going like it, and then you say, ‘I’m going to give you a poem,’ but it sounds like I’m going to give him something other than a poem, the way you understand what I’m saying.”
Heidenreich said the language and delivery were clearly meant to create that uncomfortable feeling. He remembered the lines being built around watching Cole and telling him he knew what he wanted.
“I’m watching you. But it was like, I don’t know if it’s innuendos and stuff when you say it. ‘I’ve been watching you. I know what you want and I’m going to give it to you.’”
When the host compared the segment’s tone to something out of Pulp Fiction, Heidenreich agreed that the direction was obvious.
“Oh, well I’m sure. I mean, yeah. For sure, man. But when they bring it to you, I’m not going to say no.”
Heidenreich made it clear that, at that stage of his WWE run, he was willing to do what the company handed him. He said unless WWE asked him to do something completely impossible or criminal, he was going to give the segment everything he had.
“When they bring it to you, I’m not going to say no. You know, like when they said you’re going to be with Legion of Doom, I’m like, ‘All right.’ Whatever they bring to you, that’s where I was. If they told me to do a backstage thing or do this, unless it was like killing somebody or something where, you know, you have to go to jail, I would do it. I’m like, I’m going to do it the best I can.”
Heidenreich said much of the heavy breathing, grunting, and bizarre delivery came from his own instincts as he leaned into the character.
“I mean, there’s a lot of grunting, a lot of heavy breathing. And I think a lot of that is my ad-libbing, you know, just with being Heidenreich. Somebody else might have done that totally different. I may not have done it at all. I don’t know. I just did what I thought felt natural.”
Heidenreich also said Michael Cole seemed willing to go along with the scene, even though the whole thing was strange.
“I mean, I guess he was kind of like, this is weird and joking around, but he wasn’t acting off-put or not want to do it. I mean, I could tell he was down for whatever. It’s like we’re working together, right? It’s a scene and we’re building a story.”
Despite how uncomfortable the segment became, Heidenreich believes it helped keep his name alive with fans because people still bring it up all these years later.
“Even though it was disturbing and weird and bizarre, I would have never come up with that on my own. I think it helped me, like, keep me — that thing made me more memorable. I’m not saying I’m great, but that definitely people will never forget that.”
Heidenreich said the backstage reaction was positive once the segment was finished. He also said Vince McMahon loved that type of strange character work because it was believable and intense.
“People I worked with, they thought I was good with all those things. Not that I’m a great actor, but it was always positive, you know, good job, man. And Vince loved all the stuff. I know he liked it because it was disturbing and it was believable, I think.”
Heidenreich added that the segment was not some generic throwaway angle. It was strange, intense, and it kept people talking.
“It’s something different. It’s not a generic thing. It was like, okay, this is disturbing. But I think it was believable. It was weird. And it definitely kept my name.”
When asked if he regrets doing the Michael Cole segment, Heidenreich shut that down quickly.
“No. No, I don’t. I thought I did the best performance, I guess. And I mean, I liked it. I liked the way it ended.”
Heidenreich also remembered the ending, where Cole tried to leave and Heidenreich demanded thanks for the poem.
“He was about to leave. I said, ‘Aren’t you going to thank me?’ He’s like, ‘That’s a poem by Heidenreich.’ Cuz the poem by Heidenreich, I thought was cool, you know.”
Heidenreich’s Michael Cole segment remains one of those WWE moments fans still talk about because it pushed the weirdness of his character to another level. Even Heidenreich knows it was disturbing, but he also understands why it stuck with people for so long.
What do you think about Heidenreich’s take on the Michael Cole segment after all these years? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
