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EXCLUSIVE: Insane Clown Posse Reveal Why They Left WWE, Talk Wednesday's Wrestling Event

The Insane Clown Posse are coming back Wednesday with a vengeance.

Steven Muelhausen

Juggalo Championship Wrestling

Back in the 1990's and part of the 2000's, Juggalo Championship Wrestling was an underground sensation. They featured talents like Roddy Piper, The Great Muta, Matt Hardy and The Young Bucks.

Now, the promotion is back and ready to make some noise as they present Devil's Night from the Majestic Theatre in Detriot, featuring talents like Nic Nemeth and Matt Riddle.

Ahead of their event, Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse previews Devil's Night (8 p.m. ET, TrillerTV), why they are bringing back JCP, and their WWE exit.

Editor's note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

The Takedown: You are back in the wrestling business, this time with JCW Lunacy and airing episodes on YouTube leading up to your live-streaming pay-per-view event that will occur Wednesday. Why create a little brand inside the brand? Because I find it very fascinating.

Violent J: When we first started doing Lunacy and trying to gain traction with JCW, I was doing interviews, and I was saying things like, ‘I'm upset because we've been around this long, and I felt like we weren't getting the recognition we deserved because of how long we've been a national company and doing fairly good business. But I saw a comment that somebody said on a post, and it made me think, and it made me check myself because somebody said the reason you guys were so underground, even though you were doing big numbers and everything, your product was a very acquired taste. 

When I look back, I get what they're saying. The product we were doing back then was really wild. It was a lot to take in. The humor was different back then. I can see now that many traditional wrestling fans were not having it. I get it now. It was a little too different. It was a little too extreme. I don't feel that way anymore. I don't want to come across as bitter like that anymore because I realize that if we stick to this formula. After all, it is still a Juggalo product; we have more chances of reaching the heights I want to reach quickly. We're not starting over fresh. We have a lot of credibility. Maybe not where I'd like to be, but now that I feel we're on the right track. It won't take as long, and that's the goal. I respect and love wrestling so much. I want wrestling fans to see our product and not necessarily relate it to the band. I want people to give wrestling a chance because it's not just ICP doing this wrestling. It's so many incredible workers busting their ass. 

The Takedown: Many people don’t know but during you and Shaggy’s WWE run, you got paid just a little bit.

VJ: Money wasn’t our concern. They were paying us something, but that’s not why we were there. Our concern was we wanted the attention for the music. We wanted the exposure. 

The Takedown: Part of the deal was they would air a commercial for you guys?

VJ: Yes. We wanted that because we started getting popular with wrestling fans. But we felt like the wrestling fans think of us as a storyline in wrestling, and they don't know we actually have music for sale in the stores. They just thought we were portraying rappers, but we weren't rappers. We wanted the audience to know we had music in stores and that we were actually musicians. That was a worry back then. So we wanted them to air a 30-second commercial for us that says, available at Tower Records or Coconuts Music or whatever so that all those wrestling fans would be like, ‘Oh, wow, they really do rap, and they have music in the stores’. 

We kept telling them we wanted them to air that 30-second commercial. They kept promising they would, week after week after week. And then, after probably two months of that, we decided we were leaving because they kept putting it off. We started to feel like we were missing a concert every Monday. We take the Monday off tour and fly out wherever WWE was to do the wrestling. We were missing significant tour dates. At the time, we felt it would have been worth it if they had aired the commercial. But we were so consumed by our music goals back then that it wasn't too hard to walk out the side door and quit. 

The Takedown: A year or so later, you guys were in WCW. What was that decision process behind you guys after doing more touring, spending time with family, and then going to World Championship Wrestling?

VJ: When we left WWE, we went back to doing regular touring for a year. After a year, we started to be like, ‘Let's go back to wrestling. Let's try to go to ECW, let's see if WCW will have us.

We did two runs at WCW. I think we weren't as welcome maybe in the dressing room in WWE. Nobody gave us that vibe, though. Nobody gave us a hard time or anything. I just know that we had much more fun in WCW regarding getting along with everybody and everything. We made friends in WCW quickly, which we still have to this day.

The Takedown: You look at the live show on October 30. Why should fans watch the show on October 30?

VJ: We want to make that the night of the pay-per-view, and we're hoping people will want to see it because we're doing a live stream every day on the tour. So we're building storylines and building, I think the word is crescendo, so it all comes to a head on the 30th. As you're watching these live streams every day, free, you might be getting wrapped up in the storylines. You want to see what happens between these guys, or what if these guys end up falling out? All that's going to come to a head on October 30. It's also a test to see how well everything's working. By then, all eight episodes of Lunacy will be out. All eight of the episodes will be out, and then the. It comes down to October 30, Devil's Night in Detroit. Let's see if we can do a pay-per-view. Let's see if people are watching. Let's see if people are willing to pay to see this. 

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Steven Muelhausen
STEVEN MUELHAUSEN

: Steven Muehlhausen is a veteran combat sports writer for various outlets including Sporting News and Yahoo Sports. He can be reached at stevemuehlhausen@yahoo.com and followed on Twitter @SMuehlhausenJr.

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