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Eric Bugenhagen (@ericbugenhagenofficial) is an American Gladiator, bodybuilder and a professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE as Rick Boogs. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studios in Los Angeles, CA to discuss how he got the role in American Gladiators, why he is named “The Bull”, which pro wrestlers would make the best gladiators, his insane workout videos on social media, averaging 12 minutes on Cameo requests, his injury at WrestleMania, if he is really done with wrestling, his time in WWE coming to an end, and more!
So how’d you get on the radar for American Gladiators?
“I just found an email address for a casting director that was involved in that. Emailed them, ‘Hey, my name is Eric Bugenhagen. I hoist, heft and heave mega loads.’ Sent some clips and stuff whatnot, told him what I’ve done in the past. They said, Okay, we’ll set you up with the Zoom call. So give me the Zoom call a couple of days later, and I don’t know what to expect. Luckily, I have the 20,000 hours of promo practice from the WWE Performance Center. If that Performance Center has done anything well, for me, I don’t know about anyone else, but grinding those promos in. Because I learned if you wanted to stand out in that business, you got to be different.”
You got all the promo practice like you’re talking about, how did you blow them away in that Zoom call?
“First and foremost, I know you gotta have a gimmick. You gotta be recognizable. ‘Who is this guy?’ One sentence: Who is he? So what I pitched was, I’m The Max. I’m The Maximum. Maximum entertainment value, maximum intensity, right? So I said, ‘I am The Maximum, aka The Max, you will call me The Max.’ They asked me a bunch of questions about where I’m from, if you had 30 seconds or whatever, you just whooped someone’s ass, what would you say? That kind of stuff. So I felt like it was grand slam home run. But then months go by and I never hear back, and I’m like, wow, now I can see why WWE fired me. I just don’t have what it takes. But apparently, they were just extending. They wanted to be sure they had the cream of the crop.”
That’s how casting goes a lot of times. You’ll audition for something, think you nailed it, then it’s like six months to a year later…
“So I think it was a week or two [later]. It’s like, we got the in-person tryout. It’s gonna be push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups. There might be some wrestling. So all I did, because I’m a man of specificity, I understand the thing called specificity. Alright, normally I lift heavy barbells. Lots of deadlift variations. I’m like, for this next couple of weeks, all I’m doing is push-ups, planks, sit-ups, and the wrestling part I had. So when I went to that tryout, if Amazon Prime is watching this, Amazon MGM, release the tryout footage. Release the footage. Please put it on YouTube or something like that. The Bull’s tryout, the first thing I did was as many push ups you can do in 60 seconds. I hit 100, or maybe it was 99. After the try-out, it was like you got the most push-ups. I weighed, I think it was 274 or something, 100 push-ups. Then we did pull-ups. I think I got 36 or 37, just put myself over. Sit-ups, I can’t remember, but I did okay with these gym class sit-ups. Hadn’t done those since gym class, PE elementary school. The rope, climb up and down as fast as you can twice in a row. It’s a big rope too, and then a little tussling, like it was sumo wrestling stuff. I mean, I’m a Greco-Roman state champion.”
Were they putting you in any of the gladiator events to see how you do?
“No, because those have a lot of props and stuff like that. So it really wasn’t any of that. If anything was kind of like the breakthrough and conquer classic event.”
It’s funny that in WWE your freestyle background was never talked about at all. Probably because, with great credit to you, you were so entertaining
“Well, funny enough, when I first got to the PC, I wasn’t that entertaining. I kind of leaned into being more serious and stuff. Then I kind of lost my mind a year in. I think that’s very common to the PC. And then you just are like I don’t even know what’s gonna happen, I gotta change somehow. Promo classes were great, man, they were long, but they would sometimes put you on the spot.”
How did you become The Bull in American Gladiators?
“Well, I think they saw my bullish vigor at the tryout. Just like a bull rush. The main thing is, I was still promo-ing, because much like the PC at the tryout, also you had the physicality. Like I said, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, wrestling, rope climb, tire flip thing, like a football-type drill, which is pretty funny. But then it was like, Okay, you’re gonna go in that room now and cut some promos. So I just went all in on The Max still, because at this point I’m The Max and I’m like, and I told them whatever you call me, just include “the” that’s all I care about. Because you got all these names, Laser, Nitro, Turbo, Titan. But when there’s “the” it’s like, wait a second, yeah, pay attention to this guy. Why does he have “the” in front of his name?”
What is The Bull’s best event?
“Anywhere where I can freaking tussle, man. So basically, if you did a power ball or a ring, I’d rip them apart. But I don’t know if that would be good entertainment. Then it’s well, this guy’s such a force, let’s throw him on this balance beam and see if he’s got it. Anyway, you’re asking before, do you get to practice and try this stuff out? Yes and no. Because I understand how life works. You get where I’m going with this? That podium is like, almost 10 feet up in the air, and it’s not like a crash pad you’re falling on. So for practice, it’s like, alright, just have a go at it. I’m like, I think I’m just gonna take my chances and not. Because if I fall in practice, say, I rupture my Achilles tendon or something like that, break my hip. This is serious. You watch these events, and some people might be like, Oh, this is silly. It’s all very serious, even the steel cage balls. The last day, I’m like, I’m gonna just smash this guy. I’m just a freight train. So I’m pushing that ball as hard as I can. I gotta smash him and that steel cage ball and this thing, with that one hand, all that force went into my tricep tendon. And it’s the very last hit of the very last day. I was okay, but I was like, if my tendon was a little bit weaker, maybe that thing would have ruptured. So the risk of injury, and you’ll see it, I want to say it’s episode six or something. People get hurt. It’s serious.”
I feel like this is a perfect thing for you to be doing in your post-WWE career. It feels like you were put on this earth to be an American Gladiator.
“The funny thing is, I’m very competitive. Well, that was the thing with WWE. That was very hard for me. I get there’s definitely a competitive nature, of course, this is just an incredible art form of pro wrestling. But people would always tell me too, ‘Man, why don’t you just let loose and ragdoll people?’ Because I can’t. I’ll get fired if I do that, and I ended up getting fired anyway, so I should have just done it.”
Did you see that coming?
“Getting fired? Absolutely.”
Why did you know this was going to happen?
“Well, all right. I mean, I can only speak from [my perspective], nothing factual, we’ll just put that out first. But when I was brought back, the day of TV, people were like, ‘Where’s his guitar? Where’s all this?’ Brother, I didn’t know that either, until the day of. I had a double guitar! I was like, This is gonna be the sickest return ever. Double, like freaking Jimmy Page. But this one was way more heavy metal and stuff. I was like, this thing’s gonna be so sick. Then that was stripped and I’m like, well what’s my gimmick? Because that was my gimmick. It was cut a promo on the mic, rip a little tune, because I had my own theme song, but I made sure to learn that sucker. Because I’m like, I’m just gonna play that little diddly on the guitar when I go to the ring and stuff. So then after that, it’s just like, alright, well, back to square one on the day of TV. I mean, where do you want to go? LA Knight, Boogalicious Knights. Man, that would be freaking awesome.”
So it was supposed to be you and LA Knight?
“Well, for that little bit. But then when we did the filming it’s like, ‘All right, he’s gonna eat the pin, then you’re gonna beat him up afterwards, and then the next match, you’re gonna eat the pin again.’ Where does it go then? It’s done? Oh ok.”
Are you done with wrestling?
Because you haven’t wrestled in almost exactly three years as we sit here right now, and when you were on the show two and a half years ago, you weren’t really sure?
“I was a little soiled, sour flavor in my mouth.”
Are you a little more open to it now?
“Yeah. I mean, as I get older and wiser. 3 years, you’ve almost graduated high school. That’s a freshman to a senior. Look at how much you’ve developed in that point in time. Or in college, baby-faced freshman to, like, grizzled, a real man. I’m going out to the real world. But I’m also glad, though, because if anything would have happened, it’s hard, man, pro wrestling is tough. What if I had a kink in my shoulder, I can’t do the tryout, I can’t do any push-ups. So I missed the tryout for American Gladiators because of that. Or what if I can go but I got a kink in my shoulder, and I can only do 6 push-ups instead of 100.”
How did you get paired with Shinsuke Nakamura?
“Totally random. Originally, I was supposed to be with Alpha Academy, I believe. I’m an amateur wrestler, it would have been great too. Freaking Otis! You kidding me? This is great.”
There’s a great moment where Berto steals your guitar and trying to play guitar, and out of nowhere, Shinsuke leg sweeps him
“But then they stripped it for no reason!”
They didn’t say why?
“I think they wanted to make Shin more dark and serious and look where that got him. No disrespect, Shin is awesome.”
You got released from WWE in 2023 and now we see you on American Gladiators almost three years later. With great respect, what were you doing the last three years?
“So before even WWE I kind of was a strength coach, but my side hustle was YouTube, and I always kind of maintained that, just not with as much vigor. So like, I’m out now. I’ll try different things, and I’ll try to go all in on this. But then also partnered with Psycho Pharm, which I’m still with them, then they’re great, and we’re growing more than ever. We’re going international.”
You’re on Cameo. I’m on Cameo as well. I do a few a week, I was blown away to see that your average duration 11 minutes and 57 seconds!
“I got them normally at the 20-minute max.”
Most people are 30 seconds to a minute. So if someone orders a cameo from you, they’re getting a conversation:
“I don’t ever like to disappoint people. So I’m like, man, they’re paying for something. I want to freaking deliver you. So even if it’s like, Hey, say happy birthday, I’m like, All right, we’re gonna get we’re gonna get down and dirty. We’re gonna get to the philosophy of life and what a birthday means. Honestly, I saw Vince Neil do [a bad] one once, and I don’t ever want to be like that.”
Which WWE stars do you think would make great American Gladiators?
“I like that we’re going back to American Gladiators right now. It depends on the event. For Power Ball, I mean, Bron Breakker, obviously, right? Freaking Atlaspheres, Drew McIntyre, he’s a big guy. Joust, Omos. I’ve learned the hard way. If they can, like, hit your head, get you down, like, then it’s over. Because you can’t move them unless you hit their head. I’ve learned this the hard way. I’ve learned from experience. I’ve tasted experience.”
Give me your personal best for lifts.
“I’m a dead lifter for the most part. I mean, zercher squat, I’m great at zercher squatting, maybe not the best ever, but I’m pretty good. 635 zercher squat, 960 trap bar. I can do more than that. It’s just like the thing with lifting is you have to peak, and then once you stop doing it, your strength tapers off. Because a lot of it is nervous system adaptation. It’s not just like, oh, you get big, you get strong. Yes, you’re gonna get stronger the bigger you get, but it’s also specificity. It’s like, the more pro wrestling matches you have, the better gonna be a pro wrestling. The more you do a zercher squat, the better you’re gonna be at it. Your body gets more efficient, more comfortable with it. Romanian deadlift, that’s probably one of my best. I’ve done 785, Romanian deadlift, that’s where you just hinge the barbell just past the knees. My Romanian Deadlift is equal to that in my conventional though. I blew out my patella tendon many years ago and still haven’t gotten the quad strength back, unfortunately. Bench isn’t my best, I’ve done 520.”
Do you think your knee is not at 100% still?
“No, definitely not. I don’t know if it’ll ever be. But my 90% is still exceptional. I’m running now. I’m trying, because it’s one of those things that I’m like, Okay, I’ve lifted, I’ve done tons of rehab. Obviously, I did rehab for a year after surgery, and I’ve gotten very strong again. Still doesn’t have the snappiness. What have I not done? I need to sprint on it. I need to get that frickin tendon rigidity, stiffness, recoil, snappiness, and how do you get that?”
Do you feel like you wrestled differently after that injury?
“100%. Just slower. Because if you think about it, tendons are basically what make you athletic. It’s not your muscles. It’s strong tendons, jumping and stuff like that, sprinting and all that. That’s power, and you don’t have to be a big, bulbous balloon man to have power. You just have to have freaking stiff, strong tendons. So when you lose that, it’s like, yeah, I could squat. I think when I returned, I was able to squat 600 pounds, but jumping rope? I couldn’t do it for more than 10 seconds because my knee, just the tendon was like jello.”
What is Eric Bugenhagen grateful for?
“American Gladiators, my wife and daughter, and health.”
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