Review Fix Exclusive: Pete Gas Talks WWE, New Book And More

Review Fix chats with former WWE Hardcore Champion Pete Gas, who discusses his new book with author Jon Robinson, “Looking at the Lights: My Path from Fan to a Wrestling Heel.” Breaking down his creative process and goals for the book, Gas lets us know just what it was like to be a part of the WWE during the “Attitude Era.”

About the Book:

As a childhood friend of Shane McMahon, Pete Gas was given the opportunity most only pray for. Beginning with appearances to interfere in McMahon’s matches, his role blossomed into becoming a full-fledged wrestler and leading the Mean Street Posse to WrestleMania, becoming one of the most fascinating success stories of the era.

From his humble upbringing and friendship with Shane (and the McMahon family as a whole), Gas shares how a nine-to-five average Joe got the chance of a lifetime and made the most out of it.

Review Fix: How was this book born?

Pete Gas: It was something I always wanted to do but having never written a book, I had no idea how to even get started. Then back in 2014, Jon Robinson was writing a book on the “Attitude Era” for WWE and I was asked to be apart of his book. While telling my stories, I had Jon really laughing hard. He asked me why haven’t I written a book? When I told him why, he offered to write it with me. Probably the best move I’ve ever made. Jon is a great writer and he really got the best out of me.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Gas: Jon would interview me for hours. After that he would go back and listen and outline the interesting parts. He would write, send it to me to either add to it or subtract. Once I would edit it, I would send it back to him. We did this for almost 2 years.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this different from other wrestling books?

Gas: It’s different because there’s no other story like it. It tells the story of how the WWE took two guys with athletic ability and zero training, and put us in the ring with the best in the business, at arguably the hottest era in professional wrestling. It was something that was only supposed to last for a few weeks that we parlayed into 3 years. Along the way it tells how we had to earn respect in the locker room, pay our dues in the business and a lot of fun stories about the biggest stars back then in the WWE.

Review Fix: How was it to be in the locker room during the attitude era?

Gas: At first, no one including us expected us to be around very long. So everyone was cool. As time went on and we weren’t going away and we were “getting heat” with the crowd, some guys seemed to get distant and you could tell they weren’t happy.

Review Fix: Was there any resentment towards you and the other talent?

Gas: At certain times we would face guys who would be pretty “stiff” with us. They would hit us harder than usual in the ring. But over time we were able to earn the respect from our peers and build relationships with them that are still strong today.

Review Fix: Why is your book a must-read?

Gas: Any fan of professional wrestling would love this book. Whether they remember the “Attitude Era” or not. It’s for any fan who has sat in their living room and wondered what it’s like to be in the ring with Superstars like The Rock, Stone Cold, The Undertaker and Mick Foley to name a few. It explains how through all the beat downs and everything that goes along with the business, I always had a smile on my face because I was in love with the business and everyday brought a new challenge. Like I said before, there’s no story like this out there.

Review Fix: How hard was it to edit all of your experiences?

Gas: Not hard at all. I was able to take advantage of the WWE Network to remind myself of stories by watching every match I had during my tenure.

Review Fix: Can you share a cool story that didn’t make the book?

Gas: I can honestly say I gave this book everything I have.  It’s all in the book!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Gas: Now it’s just about promoting the book and getting the word out there and hopefully get people to enjoy it.

Review Fix: Anything else you want to add?

Gas: Fans can follow me on Twitter @iampetegas. I love feedback. Good or bad I want to know what people thought of the book.  I’m also looking forward to shooting the second season of “The Edge and Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness” in the near future.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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