Ethan Suplee Recalls Almost Fighting WWE Fans On Boy Meets World
Hollywood Star Ethan Suplee has recalled almost getting into real fights with wrestling fans as he filmed Boy Meets World which featured Vader.
In the nineties, young people were surely transfixed by two things on television above all others – Boy Meets World and wrestling. When those two worlds collided, minds were blown.
My Name Is Earl and American History X star Ethan Suplee played rehabilitated bully Frankie Stecchino on the show, and fans were introduced in the second season to Frankie’s father who just so happened to be then WWE star, Vader. The younger Frankie’s friends – and the show’s main stars – Corey and best friend Shawn have to give The Mastodon some advice during an episode that sees Vader compete in the ring against Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts.
Speaking on Pod Meets World, Ethan Suplee discussed the storyline and explained that while he knew Jake Roberts who was also in the episode, he hadn’t heard of Vader:
“No idea. Never. I saw Hulk Hogan, I like knew Hulk Hogan, I knew Jake the Snake. I knew when he had a match with Jake the Snake. I knew Jake the Snake, but I had never heard of Vader before. Which seem sacrilegious to men now, ya know, having known now he was a big deal, but I didn’t at the time know him.”
Suplee then explained that while filming the match between Vader and Roberts that the actors were surrounded by real wrestling fans and their hatred for Vader almost led to Suplee getting involved in some physicality:
“I almost got into a fight with multiple people. Nobody prepared us! No idea, and I didn’t know. I think all the people there were just there as [wrestling fans] like they didn’t know what was happening. We didn’t know what was happening. And people hated Vader so much, and they were saying really nasty stuff. And I remember somebody telling me in between stuff, they were like, ‘You’re mic’d. Stop fighting with people because we can hear what you’re saying.’”
“I almost got into a physical fight with people in the audience. And one of whoever was… somebody there, somebody on our team was like, ‘Stop, you’re acting, like don’t listen to them. You’re gonna get in real trouble.’ And I was like, ‘Guys keep saying f*ck your mom!’ You know?”