Summary
- Heels season 2 dives deeper into the story and characters of the Duffy Wrestling League, with Wild Bill Hancock returning as an important figure.
- The DWL faces a new threat from rival wrestling promoter Charlie Gully, putting the future of the league at risk.
- Season 2 explores the backstory of Wild Bill and his relationship with the late Tom Spade, as well as his broken relationship with Willie Day.
Chis Bauer returns as Wild Bill Hancock in Heels season 2, which deepens the story and characters of the Duffy Wrestling League. Heels season 2 picks up from the DWL’s major league triumph at the Georgia State Fair, although Bill himself had an embarrassing outing when he soiled his own tights.
In Heels season 2, Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig) must put aside their differences when the DWL faces a new threat: rival wrestling promoter Charlie Gully (Mike O’Malley) has a grudge against the Spade brothers, and he plans for his Florida Wrestling Dystopia promotion to put the DWL out of business. Heels season 2 also reveals the backstory between Wild Bill and his former best friend, the late Tom Spade (David James Elliott), as well as Bill’s broken relationship with Willie Day (Mary McCormack).
Screen Rant had the absolute pleasure to chat with Chris Bauer about Wild Bill’s pro wrestling influences, wrestlers who pooped their pants in the ring, and the high quality of Heels season 2’s writing. Note: This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, and the show covered here would not exist without the work of writers and actors in WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
Chris Bauer Talks Wild Bill’s Past & Future In Heels Season 2
Screen Rant: I am a lifelong wrestling fan, and I love Heels. I’m the guy you made the show for.
Chris Bauer: Wow. That means extra coming from a wrestling fan.
Were you a wrestling fan before the show started or did Heels make you one?
Chris Bauer: I was a wrestling fan, but I’m gonna say lower case “F” because I believe I’m talking to an upper case “F” fan. And I have enormous respect for that. I always get into things in curious, sort of peripheral ways. I started watching indie wrestling in Southern California in around 2010 or 2011, and was so blown away by it. And simultaneously, my son was getting into wrestling, the WWE, and I started bringing him to these indie matches. And then the two of us really sort of followed indie wrestling for the most part for the next few years. To the point where I decided to start a promotion called QPW with my late friend Alan Denkinson. And we did one match with an unbelievable bill. And I got out after one because I was just terrified the whole time everybody was gonna get hurt.
I realized I’m not a promoter. You know, I’m a poser. (laughs) There’s no way I can hang in this world. But it really solidified my fan energy, my appreciation, because I’ve also worked in and around so many wrestlers who I find to be (though they don’t want anybody to know) incredible, ethical, hardworking, and profoundly generous. So by the time Heels rolled around, I was an extreme admirer of wrestling, almost more than a fan. And it’s been the joy of my career to play a pro wrestler on Heels.
I talked to (Heels stunt coordinator) Luke Hawx a while ago, and he raved about how hard the actors work when they get in the ring to really pull off the wrestling. Do you do a lot of your own wrestling as well or do you leave it to the stunt guys?
Chris Bauer: I leave most of the wrestling to Damian Wayne, who’s my double and who, as far as I’m concerned, should be in the Road Dog Hall of Fame for how many matches he’s done. But I did enough to establish that my character belongs in the ring. But I have a realistic view on that set of skills. And to me, Stephen and Xander, they’re in a different category. Steven can wrestle straight up and Xander can too. He’s basically an acrobat. And Kelli Berglund, she can wrestle, and she started from scratch.
But if I were to wrestle instead of Damien, it would sort of be like, in my opinion, going to the symphony and taking the violin away from the guy in the front row and saying, “Let me play that!” I can make some noise, but I’m not going to solo. On the other hand, all the wrestlers I’ve always liked, in addition to their physical skill, there’s an energy, there’s a performative energy, there’s a kayfabe devotion that I can do. And so, I tried to just front load Wild Bill with as much of the ethos and theatrical vocabulary of a pro wrestling lifer. So that the [wrestling] skills part, somebody else can do that as they should. But I did not back off on how I wanted to tribute a good wrestler on the microphone. And just how a good wrestler moves in space.
Wild Bill is really good at promos, and Heels gives you a lot of really amazing monologues. When I watched your performance as Bill, I see some Mick Foley, I see some Terry Funk. Who else is Bill based on?
Chris Bauer: Thank you. They are definitely in the recipe. I would say Terry Funk is the sort of flour in the bread, for sure. But it’s funny because I’ll watch bits and pieces. I love watching old promos. And I don’t think Bill has any of the idiosyncrasy of Macho Man [Randy Savage], but [he does have] the concentration, the sort of holding the camera the way Macho Man did, and also the kind of showmanship of DDP, [and] the psychological danger of Jake “The Snake” [Roberts].
Now, there’s bits and pieces. Jake was just so predatory in the ring. I remember early on, Chavo Guerrero, who put us through our first couple of weeks of training [which] feels like 100 years ago. But he was like, “Slow down, slow down, move slower. You own this ring.” And that immediately reminded me of Jake, and that’s something that I incorporated that I rely on. And then it’s so funny, because I’ll watch wrestlers now that I haven’t seen before Heels, and I’ll go like, “Oh, he’s got a Wild Bill element.” You know what I mean? Like Eddie Kingston. I’m not pulling from him in the performance. But there’s a trait to a certain kind of wrestler that he embodies that’s also present in Wild Bill.
Like a journeyman quality.
Chris Bauer: Like how Eddie doesn’t just enter. The lights come on, he marches down the ramp, and he jumps in to get to business. And that that singleness of focus in the narrative, of passion and authenticity and reality. Bill puts some feathers on that and throws a dance step into it, but he’s on a mission in that way. And I love that about the character.
Season 2 picks up pretty much right where season 1 left off. Bill had an accident in the ring. He pooped his pants. Hilarious. Do you know if that was based on any real life wrestling incident? Because it’s happened quite a few times to some famous people.
Chris Bauer: For sure. I mean, there’s enough anecdotal reporting for it to be a viable possibility. Let’s put it that way. And if I remember right, in season 1, I think it’s Diego Cottonmouth who says to Bill, “Are you sure you should be taking all these pills?” And he’s like, “I’m fine, doctor. Just get ’em for me.” So there’s a real cause and effect there for sure. But what’s so great about that moment to me in terms of a salute to the do-or-die commitment of a great wrestler – I think, but I’m subjective because I play the character – I think he spins it in a way to actually get over enough to not be a laughingstock.
And I think that actually happened to CM Punk. I believe the story goes he was battling a staph infection back when he was in WWE, and he took pills. And he had an accident in the ring or at ringside. I think that actually happened.
Chris Bauer: Well, if anybody would sh** their pants with pride, he’s the guy. He’s the best. The Best in the World, in fact.
In season 2, we find out a lot more about the Spade family history and how far back Wild Bill goes with Tom Spade. I love how deep the show goes into relationships with Bill and Tom and Willie and Carol. I don’t want to spoil, but can we talk a little bit about that backstory?
Chris Bauer: Bill and Tom Spade, go back to the genesis of the DWL. And they followed their dreams together. They came up together. And they started off with a sort of naive, but relentless passion as dreamers. Heels begins much later in the timeline of the Tom and WIld Bill relationship. But in season 2, I think it’s really nice to see a little bit more of the biography between those two, and a little bit more detail of what went down. And I think it sheds a little more complicated light on Wild Bill. I wouldn’t say it’s a revelation, because I think he’s always been loyal. I think he’s always been an adherent of old school wrestling ethics. You can trust him in the ring. I think people might be surprised you can actually trust him in life, too.
Do you think Bill and Willie are meant to be together? Is there a future where they could end up together? There’s so much between Bill and Willie in the past, it’s almost like an alternate reality where they could have been together.
Chris Bauer: I think Bill thinks that they’re meant to be together. And I think that he knows that unless she thinks that too, he’s doomed to walk alone. And that’s another thing we get to poke around a little bit. Season 2 is more of the dynamic between those two and it’s really nice.
I love the depth of these interpersonal relationships, and going back and looking at the younger days and seeing how it all built up to where Heels began. The show is so well written.
Chris Bauer: I agree. I feel so, so lucky to be in the hands of extraordinary writers. Thoughtful, humane, clever, intelligent, and emotionally respectful of what it’s like to be a human being. That’s what it’s like to play characters by great writers like we have on Heels.
We established Wild Bill is a really great promo guy. How do you think Bill would hype up Heels season 2?
Chris Bauer: Wow, what an anachronistic conundrum that is. I hadn’t ever thought of that. I think he would spin on the finale of the State Fair. And he’d made some pun relative to sh***** his pants, and say something like, “Hey, y’all! Pay attention to Number Two! Number Two is going to make you feel like you’re numero uno!” Something along those lines. “Just because it’s number two don’t mean you shouldn’t look!” Something like that. He’s a quick thinker.
About Heels Season 2
In Heels season 2, warring brothers Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig) must put aside their differences and bury their family secrets if the DWL is going to survive a rival wrestling league coming to put them out of business.
Check out our other Heels season 2 interviews with:
Alison Luff
New episodes of Heels season 2 air Fridays on STARZ.
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