A Crash course in believing yourself: Crash Holly may be small, but he has a gigantic drive to prove he can excel in the WWF - Cover Story - Interview

Wrestling Digest, Feb, 2002 by David Kimble

ALTHOUGH HE ALWAYS LOOKS the part of an "up-and-comer," in reality, Crash Holly has been playing his trade for 12 years. He began his career in 1989 in California under the moniker of Johnny Pearson and gradually evolved by performing in the West Coast independent circuit. He eventually assumed a leprechaun gimmick and called himself Erin O'Grady.

Hoping to become a full-time wrestler, he supported himself by working at a Safeway grocery store while training and performing in the ring on weekends. In 1998, while performing in California's All Pro Wrestling promotion, he caught the eye of WWF talent scouts who eventually gave him a shot--and Crash Holly was born.

In the following interview, Holly candidly discusses how he overcame his small stature to achieve success in the WWF, which has included a tag-team championship and multiple singles titles.

WRESTLING DIGEST: How did you get interested in pro wrestling?

CRASH HOLLY: I first started to get interested when I was in eight grade when I saw Brady Boone [a former wrestler/referee who died in an automobile accident on December 15, 1998, at the age of 40] wrestle in the WWF. I thought, "My god, he's not that big, so maybe I have a chance to do something like that." I was accustomed to seeing big guys like Hulk Hogan, but when I saw Brady Boone wrestling, I said I could probably do that. So, after I finished high school, I signed up at Woody Farmer's wrestling school in California. They had some great trainers there, including the great veteran Pepper Gomez. I kept going to the school and doing shows for a couple of years. After a little while I got hurt--dislocated my left shoulder about five times and had to sit out for about a year and a half. I came back working for a couple of independents in California using the ring name of Erin O'Grady. One of those indies was APW. There I met Vic Grimes, who had a connection to Jim Cornette, who was with the WWF office at that time. On February 20, 1999, I had a tryout match for the WWF. Two weeks later, they called me and put me into a WWF developmental camp. I would up being sent to Memphis for about six months.

WD: Were you still performing as Erin O'Grady at this time?

CH: Yes, the Leprechaun Erin O'Grady, to be exact. It was a babyface persona. I had gold coins that I would throw out to the fans. Then I turned heel and I had whiskey and I would hit opponents over the head with whiskey boxes. It was a pretty good gimmick. I made pretty good money with that.

"THE GREEN GHOST" GOES TO MEXICO

WD: What happened next with the WWF?

CH: They had their eyes on me for their Spanish language show, because of my ring style, I guess. One day, talent coordinator Bruce Prichard told me he wanted to send me to Mexico to get me ready to work the style of the Spanish show.

WD: Do you speak Spanish?

CH: Not a word of it. Going down to Mexico was the absolute worst experience. I was sent there in the summer of 1999. It was 120 degrees down there. They put me under a mask and called me "the Green Ghost." It was some sort of joke, because if you say "Green Ghost" really fast it comes out as "gringo."

WD: How were you accepted by the Mexican wrestlers?

CH: Some of the luchadors were really cool and some were real jerks. They didn't like me because I was an American and within a week of me coming there, they had me in the main events. There were 20-year veteran luchadors standing around looking at me like what did I do to earn this spot when they had been in the promotion forever?

WD: What did you learn in Mexico as far as performing?

CH: Putting the matches together with those guys was unusual. Most of their matches are six- or eight-man tag team matches. So, I'm watching these Mexican luchador wrestlers doing their thing, and I get tagged in and now it's my turn. You have to keep up with the pace of those guys. It helped me with the pacing and timing.

WD: How long did you stay there?

CH: Three long months. Then I came back home, and the company didn't know what to do with me, so I went back to Memphis for a short time before Bruce Prichard called me again. He told me they had an idea for a character they thought I would fit into. They brought me to WWF TV in August 1999, and I wrestled a non-televised match with Kurt Angle in Cleveland. After the match, I got mainly positive feedback. That led to August 16, 1999, at the Milwaukee Bradley Center under the new character name of "Crash Holly."

THE HOLLY FAMILY EXPANDS

WD: How did the character actually begin?

CH: All they said was, "We're going to have you dye your hair blond, and you are now going to be Crash Holly, a relative to Bob Holly."

WD: Were you familiar with Bob Holly?

CH: Yes. At that time Bob was starting to really get over. I never knew him, though, on a personal level. I don't think Bob really liked the idea of Crash Holly at all, because Bob was really starling to get over. He had been there for so many years. He had his own thing going pretty strong, so his attitude was like, "Who is this guy?" They didn't tell Bob they were going to bring me in as his cousin. He didn't really want it at all. After awhile he was pretty cool with it.