No longer in a wheelchair, Butterbean is healthy–and back in the squared circle
“I was at the point where I’d do anything to make it work, even yoga”
The Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.
Contents for The Week in Wrestling:
Butterbean returns to pro wrestling
An inside look at the past week in wrestling
AEW would benefit from restructuring its pay-per-views
Tweet of the Week
Butterbean learned to walk again before getting back in the wrestling ring
Next week, a familiar face steps back into the ring.
Eric Esch–who the world knows as Butterbean–will wrestle a match against Minoru Suzuki during WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas. They will square off on April 17 at WrestleCon’s star-studded Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow, which streams live on Highspots.TV. Dan “The Beast” Severn will serve as the special guest enforcer as Butterbean steps back between the ropes.
And that is a remarkable feat.
Esch, 58, is healthy and active. Yet the complete opposite was true as recently within the last five years, when the boxing phenom struggled to even move–and tipped the scales at a staggering 515 pounds.
“I was in a dark place,” said Esch. “I was in a wheelchair for three years. I couldn’t walk.”
Then fate intervened–in the form of “Diamond” Dallas Page. The high-energy, full-of-optimism Page operates with a unique lens on life. Where others see problems, Page sees a chance to embrace the struggle.
“When I was over 500 pounds, I was at the point where I’d do anything to make it work, even yoga,” said Esch. “And that’s how DDP Yoga came about.
“If it weren’t for Dallas, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my life without him.”
Looking svelte at 290 pounds (“I can’t remember the last time I was this small”), Esch will dust off his trademark red, white, and blue shorts and turn back the clock by doing some damage in the ring. He wrestled at a show in South Bend, Indiana last month, and the WrestleMania week bout against Suzuki is the next step in this unexpected journey.
Nicknamed Butterbean at the beginning of his career when he went on a chicken and butterbean diet to make weight for a local Toughman competition, Esch slowly captured interest from fight fans across the nation. His unique, round appearance, coupled with a memorable nickname, allowed him to stand out–but the quality that really made him resonate was his power.
Famed boxing promoter Bob Arum set up shortened bouts for Butterbean, which increased his popularity dramatically. After defeating Ed White for the IBA super heavyweight championship in 1997, Butterbean defended the belt five times before giving it up in 2000.
An entertainer at heart, a sojourn into pro wrestling was inevitable. Vince McMahon brought him to WWE in 1997. Butterbean defeated “Marvelous” Marc Mero in a Toughman match at D-Generation X: In Your House, and the door was left open to further the feud.
“People forget about this, but I stole Sable from Marc Mero,” said Esch. “We had a good time, and I liked Marc and Rena [Sable] a lot.”
The evening prior, Butterbean boxed in Atlantic City, defeating Doug Phillips by unanimous decision–and Sable was a ring girl. But that was never mentioned on WWE programming, and the program with Mero was dropped. Butterbean returned in March of ’99 for WrestleMania XV in Philly, where he created a lasting WWE moment by knocking out Bart Gunn in a boxing match.
“We’re still friends and we just spoke the other day,” said Esch. “Bart should have just slugged it out with me. But he trained and tried to learn to box. That was his biggest downfall. He should have come out swinging. It didn’t matter–I was going to win, but that would have been his best chance to land a couple shots.”
Despite two hip replacements, Esch is excited to wrestle Suzuki in Vegas. He is working hard to stay in shape, and even wants one more fight in the boxing ring.
“I really want to fight Brock Lesnar–I would knock him out,” said Esch. “I’d fight Mike Tyson, and I’d love to fight Jake Paul. I was with Mike two weeks before the Jake Paul fight. He couldn’t believe I got in such good shape. Jake Paul, we spoke after the Tyson fight. I said, ‘When are you going to fight me?’ He said, ‘I can’t–you’re a legend.’ I can’t figure that one out.”
Operating with a renewed spirit, Esch is hungry to make the most of his final act as a competitor.
“Look at me–I wasn’t even walking, and now I’m back doing what I love to do,” said Esch. “If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. I live by that. And wait until you see what I do next.”
This past week…
Seth Rollins is making the most of his opportunity to be part of the triple threat match that is closing out Night One of WrestleMania 41. But this really should be a singles match, with either Rollins against Roman Reigns or Reigns vs. CM Punk, as there is one person too many involved.
Jey Uso cut a tremendous promo on Raw ahead of his WrestleMania match against Gunther.
There were plenty of solid moments of Raw, including Iyo Sky standing up to Rhea Ripley–and El Grande Americano getting a WrestleMania bout against Rey Mysterio. But it was disappointing to see how The New Day continues to move without direction, especially after such a hot start as heels.
Does anyone else see Dom Mysterio leaving WrestleMania as the IC champ? Also, that spear from Bron Breakker on Carlito was outrageous.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling returns to Chicago on Friday for Windy City Riot, which will feature Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match in the United States.
AEW pay-per-views would present far differently with less matches
This past Sunday, AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view aired a card with 10 matches.
Last month at Revolution, there were nine matches. In December at Worlds End, there were eight. There were nine in November at Full Gear.
It isn’t breaking news to state that AEW pay-per-views feature a lot of matches. By no means should this be viewed as a negative; AEW is offering the most it possibly can to people who pay to watch their shows.
But what if the company altered its stance–and limited the number of matches on its pay-per-views?
Let’s use Dynasty as an example.
Instead of 10 matches, let’s aim for six. The Jon Moxley-Swerve Strickland title match obviously stays, as does the Kenny Omega-“Speedball” Mike Bailey-Ricochet triple threat. Will Ospreay is an athletic marvel and opening the card with him is a treat, so let’s also keep the Ospreay-Kevin Knight bout (which was a quarterfinal for the Owen Hart Cup). “Timeless” Toni Storm defended her women’s championship against Megan Bayne, which belonged on the card, and The Death Riders-Rated FTR six-man also needs to stay, especially since the closing sequence saw FTR turn on Adam Copeland.
Now we’re at five. Here are the rest of the matches from Dynasty:
The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Learning Tree for the tag titles
Mercedes Moné vs. Julia Hart in an Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal match
Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe in an Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal match
Chris Jericho vs. Bandido in a mask-for-title match
Daniel Garcia vs. Adam Cole for the TNT title
There is plenty of star power in that group. But neither the tag title bout or the Moné match were essential to the pay-per-view, and the same can be said for Fletcher-Briscoe and Jericho-Bandido (though all of those matches would benefit Dynamite or Collision). So I’d keep Garcia-Cole. Even though they struggled to connect with the crowd, that was an important moment with Cole winning the belt, as well as the next step in Garcia’s evolution.
Narrowing the matches on the card helps with the rhythm and pacing of the entire pay-per-view. It also keeps the crowd fresher for the main event. To their credit, that was not an issue for Moxley and Swerve on Sunday, though it was an entirely different story a month ago when Moxley and Copeland struggled in the main event at Revolution following a card with multiple outstanding matches.
By the time we hit the main event, it feels like we’ve seen every spectacular move in wrestling. There is good reason for it–with a roster as talented as the one in AEW, we probably have witnessed the extraordinary. But pay-per-view matches should be a reward for wrestlers, not an expectation, so limiting the number of matches also increases the level of competition. In a manufactured world like pro wrestling, adding a dose of organic energy is invaluable.
If AEW ever made this change, their PPV structure would be more like WWE. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It would afford the young promotion a chance to showcase how they can do anything WWE does–and do so in a more effective, entertaining manner.
Tweet of the Week
If the Duke men’s basketball program were a wrestler, it would be a heel. So it was satisfying to see Houston overcome a nine-point deficit with only two minutes remaining to win the game–which, of course, is a moment any fan from UNC would enjoy.