Hammerstone Recalls Playing Muscular George Washington On WWE SmackDown
Alex Hammerstone reflects on portraying a muscular George Washington on the July 4, 2017, episode of WWE SmackDown. Hammerstone joined New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) for their rap battle against Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso. It was Independence Day, and as a result, New Day dressed very patriotically. Hammerstone played the first US president, but with way more muscles.
Hammerstone reflected on his WWE SmackDown appearance during a recent discussion with Jeremy Lambert and SP3 on Fightful Overbooked’s In The Weeds. He mentioned that, at the time, he was on the verge of signing with the company. He also noted that it was a rare television taping where neither Triple H nor Vince McMahon was present. Additionally, he recalled a moment where John Cena gave him a thumbs up after eyeing his physique.
“I was working extra work for the WWE and I had some tryouts. I was in a phase where I was talking with the company and really close to possibly signing,” he began. “I’m doing this extra work and early in the day, we’re supposed to have tryout matches. I’m ready to go. It’s Fourth of July weekend and because of the holiday, none of the important players were there. Triple H wasn’t there. Vince (McMahon) wasn’t there, which was super rare. A lot of the main office players weren’t there. There is nobody important, who is a decision maker, to see us extras. Before we’re about to do matches, they come down as say, ‘Hey, we don’t have time to do matches. Go change.’ I was like, ‘Why am I here?’ A lot of people like to do extra work where they go for the first time and get to experience WWE backstage. They get to dress up like as a security guard and be on TV. I had already done that. I was at the stage where I was like, ‘I’m here for a job.’ I’m taking it super serious. They come back and say, ‘We need extras. Come dress up and get costumes.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I didn’t do it. I didn’t go to rehersal or get a costume. I was one week away from a bodybuilding competition, so I was in incredible shape.
“I knew I looked great. Super tan, super lean, super ripped,” he added. “Right before it happened, I had this voice in my head, ‘If you get a chance to be on TV, go be on TV.’ I went to the costume truck, ‘Hey, I forgot my costume.’ They give me this full George Washington costume. I threw it all to the side, put on the wig and went out there just to show off my body on TV. I made sure I was positioned all the way towards the hardcam. We were standing backstage to go out and John Cena walked by. He’s walking, he stops, and he walked backwards, retracing his steps. He turns and [looks Hammerstone up and down, gives a thumbs up]. The other thing that happened was, the producer who planned the segment, walked over to us and was like, ‘Were you at the rehearsals?’ ‘Okay, we’re going out.’ I just ran through the curtain. That whole segment, I didn’t know what we were supposed to be doing, I was like, ‘I’m going to get myself on TV and look good doing it.’”
Alex Hammerstone has yet to sign with WWE officially. However, during his time in TNA Wrestling, he did have the opportunity to wrestle on WWE NXT. Now, he is back with MLW.
Check out the full interview with Hammerstone embedded above.
