Footage Of Robert Gibson Translating WCW Promo In ASL Reemerges

In a video clip posted recently on the @DeepCutsWCW Twitter account, the Rock 'N' Roll Express are being interviewed by Tony Schiavone for an upcoming NWA tag team championship match against Doom. As Ricky Morton tells the people how they're going to defeat Doom, Robert Gibson translates Morton's promo in American Sign Language (ASL). 

"If you noticed back in our career, a lot of times when Ricky would do his interviews, I would do sign language to the people and before long, it was amazing to see all these deaf and mute people showing up at the arenas," Gibson said in an interview on "The Steve Austin Show." "I would invite all the deaf mutes to the arenas and I would translate what Ricky said, and it was really surprising to see them all come out. Now that was really cool."

A hearing child of deaf parents, Gibson learned to sign when he was "one-and-half to two-years old," which was around the time his dad walked away from the family. As the youngest child, Gibson accompanied his mom when she would go out and try get people to donate money for ABC cards. Though times were tough, Gibson said his mom was a "hard-working woman" raising five kids as a single mother. He used sign language in the team's promos to communicate with his parents and other members of the ASL community. In fact, during their time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), Jim Cornette's Heavenly Bodies attempted to break Gibson's hands so he could no longer use that form of communication.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Steve Austin Show" YouTube with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.