The Complete Hulk Hogan: An Interview with Gino Brito, Montreal promoter

<v Speaker 1>So extremely pleased now to be joined by Gino Brito,
<v Speaker 1>also known as Lewis Sir Dan as a former WWWF
<v Speaker 1>Tag Team champion and a legend of the Montreal wrestling world,
<v Speaker 1>and he's here to talk to us about Virosok promotions
<v Speaker 1>and the time in nineteen eighty when Hulk Hogan, who
<v Speaker 1>was just beginning to break through as an attraction not
<v Speaker 1>only here in the United States but globally Japan as
<v Speaker 1>well as come to find out, Canada, and he faced
<v Speaker 1>Andre the Giant in Montreal that summer of nineteen eighty.
<v Speaker 1>Gino was the promoter at the time, along with Frank
<v Speaker 1>Vola and others. We want to really thank you Gino
<v Speaker 1>so much for joining us.
<v Speaker 2>You're welcome.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, this is great to get some history here, because
<v Speaker 1>until we really started carefully researching Hulk Hogan's history, I
<v Speaker 1>don't think a lot of people appreciated that he went
<v Speaker 1>to Montreal after the Shay Stadium match with Andre and
<v Speaker 1>you guys were a pretty big house at the Paul
<v Speaker 1>Suave Arena, could you.
<v Speaker 2>I have a matter of facts, Yes, it was at
<v Speaker 2>the Pulowe Arena, huh. And the place was really jammed.
<v Speaker 2>I even had one of the firemen that told me says,
<v Speaker 2>you know, we had some standing room there, and he said,
<v Speaker 2>you know, be careful because people were I mean hal Cogan,
<v Speaker 2>he just made such a hit and especially against the Giant,
<v Speaker 2>so we knew it was the biggest house ever drawn
<v Speaker 2>at the Paulsolvat Arena for wrestling.
<v Speaker 1>Is that right? That is fantastic? What was the house?
<v Speaker 1>Do you remember the gate?
<v Speaker 2>The gate? If I remember at those prices we had,
<v Speaker 2>I don't exactly remember it right now, but I know
<v Speaker 2>it was over which in those days was over fifty grand.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, that's very helpful. So tell me about Lerosock Promotions.
<v Speaker 1>That's you Frank and Andre.
<v Speaker 2>Right. Yes, At first my dad had started it and
<v Speaker 2>when he passed away, I took over the promotion and
<v Speaker 2>I went to see mister McMahon, not the son, the father,
<v Speaker 2>and I needed some help a little bit because I
<v Speaker 2>was kind of okay. I was wrestling, but I was
<v Speaker 2>green and promoting and I never had and he suggested
<v Speaker 2>to me that they can Frank Valua, which was from
<v Speaker 2>Montreal originally, and he he was pretty well at the
<v Speaker 2>end of his career and with Andre the Giant, and
<v Speaker 2>they came in as my partners at first. That's how
<v Speaker 2>you get the name barasag Vala Russiminov for the giant's name,
<v Speaker 2>and Akassela my name at the end there, which made
<v Speaker 2>Vara sact. That's what we call it death.
<v Speaker 1>That's great. So tell me about Andre and his interest
<v Speaker 1>in being involved, you know, having a piece of a
<v Speaker 1>territory in Montreal back then, not just wrestling.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Well, him, he didn't you know, like we say,
<v Speaker 2>he didn't put his nose in the business. But because
<v Speaker 2>he knew that Frank was handling it and I was
<v Speaker 2>handling it and him and I was gained pretty good
<v Speaker 2>friends over you know, which I had known him from before,
<v Speaker 2>and everything worked out fine. But you know, Andre Andrea
<v Speaker 2>was a happy, go lucky guy and but still he
<v Speaker 2>was and Trank Vovo was looking out for his interests.
<v Speaker 1>So sure, when did you know, do you remember first
<v Speaker 1>hearing about Hulk Hogan.
<v Speaker 2>The first time? I? Well, I knew that there was
<v Speaker 2>from the days when he ye, I think he rest
<v Speaker 2>for the Minneapolis territory under another name or something.
<v Speaker 1>He had been he had been in Alabama, Memphis, and
<v Speaker 1>he had been yeah, yes.
<v Speaker 2>And then he went to uh Golden something. It was
<v Speaker 2>his name and guy looks good and this and that.
<v Speaker 2>I had heard about him, but I had never met
<v Speaker 2>him until well, I didn't meet him the night of
<v Speaker 2>that show. I had met him before, and but I
<v Speaker 2>had heard of him because everybody was talking about him
<v Speaker 2>that the year is a potential to be a big,
<v Speaker 2>big star, which he was. And so when he came in,
<v Speaker 2>it's because of course of mister McMahon, Vince McMahon sending
<v Speaker 2>him in, because of the connection between the Giant, McMahon
<v Speaker 2>and Frank Vauvoir and all that. Sure, and so it
<v Speaker 2>was easy to book him. And since they had a
<v Speaker 2>piece of the territory, he even made it even easier.
<v Speaker 1>Right, How was how was Vin Senior about Andre owning
<v Speaker 1>a piece of a territory? He didn't consider Andre his
<v Speaker 1>exclusive talent. He was okay with him going up to Montreal.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, yeah, he's the one that suggested it too.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, uh, you know, when we talked, he knew
<v Speaker 2>Frank Frank would come in and that the Giant would
<v Speaker 2>be an asset. And then that was on the verge
<v Speaker 2>of getting TV all over on the English Channel and
<v Speaker 2>the French channels up here we eat French and I
<v Speaker 2>had TV going all the way from tender Bray, Ontario
<v Speaker 2>to the Marathimes, and so we seen that we've seen
<v Speaker 2>the potential in the territory and went Andre, well.
<v Speaker 1>That you know, that was your race there absolutely well,
<v Speaker 1>looks like it really started in Versoch for Hogan on
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty where we found some press clippings today there
<v Speaker 1>were we had.
<v Speaker 2>Some matches before that, this and that, and we had
<v Speaker 2>a couple of guys that that. We had the Rusial
<v Speaker 2>brothers here and rick later on he was he came
<v Speaker 2>in later Ricky Martel, but Dino Bravo came in and
<v Speaker 2>and with the Vagina and the territory picked up and
<v Speaker 2>every time we had the giant here. Well, of course
<v Speaker 2>we did some good business.
<v Speaker 1>It looks like in May he wrestled at war Capontier
<v Speaker 1>Hogan did Do you remember Hogan and Carpontier? Why would
<v Speaker 1>Why were they put together?
<v Speaker 2>Uh? I don't really remember. That was it for our promotion?
<v Speaker 1>It looks like, yeah, it looks like it was. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>all we have is one press clipping that shows that
<v Speaker 1>he was there in May. It's kind of the first
<v Speaker 1>time we didn't.
<v Speaker 2>Wrest Carpentier in Montreal, and that's what's true.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, perhaps it was, it was a different city. What
<v Speaker 1>was Edward Capontier's involvement with the territory and do you
<v Speaker 1>remember him having an occage?
<v Speaker 2>Had to worry Cambarantine never had any points, any percentage
<v Speaker 2>in the promotion or nothing. Yeah, he was just the
<v Speaker 2>here as per former wrestler, and he had been a
<v Speaker 2>year before and he's the one that they at first.
<v Speaker 2>They gave a good hand to my father when he
<v Speaker 2>first started, although the territory was completely dead then because
<v Speaker 2>we had they never had TV and they were all
<v Speaker 2>TV doesn't work, so but Carpenter he needed. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>he was one of our top guys here too, you
<v Speaker 2>know Edward with the Vashon, Maurice Vashon and O that
<v Speaker 2>and Rujo's. Yeah, he never had anything to do with
<v Speaker 2>the promotion. Said it was the commentary on television with
<v Speaker 2>g Ray, a man by the name of g O Ray.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, you know they.
<v Speaker 2>Used to do the French version of of our wrestling
<v Speaker 2>program on TV.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because we found an article from May fourth, nineteen
<v Speaker 1>eighty you remember we just lovec right, Yeah, yeah, so
<v Speaker 1>he did an article that said the Monday that wrestling
<v Speaker 1>season kicks off tomorrow evening Paul Schwave Sports Center. The
<v Speaker 1>promoter none other than Frank Vaulois, and his first card
<v Speaker 1>proved his seriousness. He pitted a favorite among Montreal wrestling
<v Speaker 1>fans at Ward Capontier against the current biggest star in
<v Speaker 1>New York, Hulk Hogan. So apparently that's where it went down.
<v Speaker 2>No, I don't remember. You could be right, but right.
<v Speaker 1>Now, Oh that's fine, yeah, yeah, just in case it
<v Speaker 1>jogs your memory.
<v Speaker 2>There is. I don't remember that. But yes, as a
<v Speaker 2>matter of fact, that the night that the Giant wrestled
<v Speaker 2>all Cogan, Regis which was a boxing promoter. Then I
<v Speaker 2>gave him, as I said, I want a big promotion
<v Speaker 2>on this because he was connected with the newspapers and
<v Speaker 2>all that I see and he had done. I held
<v Speaker 2>a story on Cogan, so that really helped too to
<v Speaker 2>pack the house. Was great talking about it.
<v Speaker 1>So you're talking about Regis Lovek. He was a boxing promoter. Yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 1>good to know.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he had the office next to ours, yep, on
<v Speaker 2>the second floor of the Postova Arena and the end
<v Speaker 2>of like the hal Tuns and all the he was
<v Speaker 2>in the boxing, in the boxing promotion, but he also,
<v Speaker 2>like I said, he helped us promote us another small
<v Speaker 2>town and you're in Quebec called Three Rivers and for
<v Speaker 2>that one show, which he had nine to do with
<v Speaker 2>the promotion, but the publicity he did all he did
<v Speaker 2>the public city for that show.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's great because it's some of the surviving material
<v Speaker 1>that we can look at his research. So that's just great.
<v Speaker 1>It looks like there's some surviving footage some fan took
<v Speaker 1>some film. I believe it was July twenty third, nineteen
<v Speaker 1>eighty in Quebec City where you can see Hulk wrestling Carpontier.
<v Speaker 1>It's on idiot.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well that could be the Quebec city, but not
<v Speaker 2>in Montreal, Okay, sure.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, it looks like there was a July fourteenth
<v Speaker 1>match in Montreal as well. But yeah, on Carpentier was
<v Speaker 1>he because he seems to me like he was from
<v Speaker 1>another generation. I was surprised to see that he was
<v Speaker 1>very active in nineteen eighty in terms of in the ring.
<v Speaker 2>What was that? Yeah, although you had a big point there,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, his best years were that generation before, but
<v Speaker 2>he was still a man for even he was in
<v Speaker 2>his late forties, I think, and it's still in great shape,
<v Speaker 2>and I must admit better fit than I was, But
<v Speaker 2>he and he can't. But the only thing is that
<v Speaker 2>I personally as a promoter and with miss with Frank
<v Speaker 2>and all that, we didn't rely on him toil the
<v Speaker 2>really drawn, big big houses anymore. You know. The only
<v Speaker 2>other guy that was of the other generation that's still
<v Speaker 2>the great for us because of his character and all
<v Speaker 2>that was Matt Doug But Shan but and but him
<v Speaker 2>and Carpenty first of all didn't get along too well.
<v Speaker 2>So you couldn't do much business with these two together,
<v Speaker 2>you know. But he did help still, he was a
<v Speaker 2>good draw on the card, but he was like the
<v Speaker 2>top baby faces, let's say, in those days. Of course
<v Speaker 2>he had the gianty aardno Bravo and the rules shows
<v Speaker 2>him stuff like that, yes, which, but Carponi was still
<v Speaker 2>plugging along and doing fairly well.
<v Speaker 1>So when you first heard about Sterling Golden Hulkogan, did
<v Speaker 1>you hear.
<v Speaker 2>That Sterling Golden I was looking for?
<v Speaker 1>Did you hear that he was limited in the ring
<v Speaker 1>and just really huge or did you hear that he
<v Speaker 1>had what did you hear about him that you know,
<v Speaker 1>he wasn't.
<v Speaker 2>Nick Bob Winker in the ring, you know that could
<v Speaker 2>make a broomstick look good, you know what I mean?
<v Speaker 2>But but he had that potential. He was the only
<v Speaker 2>guy and the man could talk. He was good on interviews.
<v Speaker 2>He knew what to say, and he had that presence
<v Speaker 2>and he got that, you know, and he stuck to
<v Speaker 2>his gimmick. Wood was good with the yellow boots and
<v Speaker 2>yellow and people just bought into him. And of course
<v Speaker 2>that's why that I don't think there's anybody that threw
<v Speaker 2>the money that he drew, and that in his time
<v Speaker 2>that he was on top.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely when you brought him in for the Andre programmed,
<v Speaker 1>how did you handle the fact that he didn't speak French?
<v Speaker 2>Help? That is?
<v Speaker 1>Did he cut promos in English on your TV?
<v Speaker 2>And Hulk? You know it? Skike? Here we got some
<v Speaker 2>hockey players that only speak English, but they're so good
<v Speaker 2>that people buy him, and Hogan was one of those.
<v Speaker 2>As far as wrestlings, they just loved all Cogan, especially
<v Speaker 2>the young kids. I mean, I had never seen so
<v Speaker 2>many fathers and mothers bring their kids to the matches
<v Speaker 2>as that night, Is that right? You know? And oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you had kids. They're especially ten twelve year old kids.
<v Speaker 2>They just knew. I don't know how, but they knew
<v Speaker 2>about hul Coogan.
<v Speaker 1>That's really interesting.
<v Speaker 2>But we had that pushed them a lot on TV
<v Speaker 2>and newspapers and you know we you know, which helps.
<v Speaker 2>But he was somebody special. I gotta say, I never
<v Speaker 2>had a guy that it was so easy as far
<v Speaker 2>as promotions go, for to push the right away, to
<v Speaker 2>to start drawing big money like that. You know, so
<v Speaker 2>oh Hogan the first time he came in like well
<v Speaker 2>with the giant, nobody ever wrote that Gratuate at the
<v Speaker 2>post overreada I don't think we could have anyway. I
<v Speaker 2>don't would have let us do with it. People were
<v Speaker 2>afraid for security and all that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that many people, So I would expect. I would
<v Speaker 1>have thought that if he came in in nineteen eighty
<v Speaker 1>he would have been a heel in Montreal against Andre Now.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, which he was then, but he would you know.
<v Speaker 2>It's like there's some guys in their business as you
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure you know, like Hogan, Steve Austin, they were heels,
<v Speaker 2>but people still cheer him and he was one of them.
<v Speaker 2>And I tell you there were as many people there,
<v Speaker 2>Probably not as many, but a lot of them were
<v Speaker 2>cheering Logan last night.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, that's fascinating matter.
<v Speaker 2>What they he was over, like I said, especially with
<v Speaker 2>the young children.
<v Speaker 1>Did you get you know, tapes from vincior did he
<v Speaker 1>send tapes that you played in your TV of Hulk
<v Speaker 1>wrestling and doing promos?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Yeah, yeah on channel for all of their way Away.
<v Speaker 2>We promoted a few things there and mostly, like I said,
<v Speaker 2>if I gave us a big hand there because I
<v Speaker 2>knew he was good with promotions. I mean his boxing
<v Speaker 2>shows us. Every one of his boxing shows was doing good.
<v Speaker 2>So I said, look to think over the publicity, and
<v Speaker 2>which he did, and he really pushed everybody was talking
<v Speaker 2>about wrestling there. That's and you could tell you we're
<v Speaker 2>going to draw a good house when you got all
<v Speaker 2>the tickets, so then advanced.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah do you remember Gino? Were you motivated to book
<v Speaker 1>Hulk because of the house that him and Andre drew
<v Speaker 1>at Shay Stadium? Was that sort of the catalyst for you?
<v Speaker 2>No? No, not, Look we all knew that that. You
<v Speaker 2>know what they say about ninety thousand, I don't know, maybe.
<v Speaker 1>I No, No, I'm not talking about not wrestling three.
<v Speaker 1>I'm talking about when he wrestled Andre in nineteen eighty
<v Speaker 1>in the summer underneath Bruno versus Larry's Obisco. Yeah that show.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah yeah Abisco. Yeah yeah. I knew that he
<v Speaker 2>draw money, that it was worth to bring him in
<v Speaker 2>there to way, it wasn't a losing proposition, yes, But
<v Speaker 2>of course in those days I was talking to Vince
<v Speaker 2>the Fathers and Vince was said, yeah, we'll push him
<v Speaker 2>this and that, and I said sure, because I could
<v Speaker 2>tell that the guy, even when he was wrestling as
<v Speaker 2>throwing Golden, which he wasn't all Cogan, I could hear
<v Speaker 2>from other restlans say this kid, he's green, but he's
<v Speaker 2>gonna be somebody's this is, you know. And we just
<v Speaker 2>booked him. And with the Giant, well you couldn't miss
<v Speaker 2>here in Montreal with the Giant. First of all, he
<v Speaker 2>spoke French, the Giant. The people knew he lived in Montreal,
<v Speaker 2>this and that. So if you got the guy to
<v Speaker 2>go against him and organ with his size and everything,
<v Speaker 2>and the people bought into it and it was an
<v Speaker 2>easy thing to book.
<v Speaker 1>What did Andre think of Hope?
<v Speaker 2>Did he like him? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I think he did,
<v Speaker 2>you know, unlike you could tell Andre, you know who
<v Speaker 2>you like, like right between you and and now he
<v Speaker 2>didn't like John said too much.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, well known, yeah, and then you could tell by.
<v Speaker 2>The matches that you know, it should have worked out
<v Speaker 2>to Giants home hosts and but but they was a Cogan,
<v Speaker 2>he knew and anyway to do what he did there
<v Speaker 2>at in Pontyak, Michigan for for the Hull, he had
<v Speaker 2>to like him because Andrea.
<v Speaker 1>Was his own man, absolutely so. So it was more
<v Speaker 1>Vince Senior recommending Hulk in nineteen eighty than it was
<v Speaker 1>Andre recommending Hulk in nineteen eighty to come up to Montreal.
<v Speaker 2>No, No, it was uh, it wasn't Andrea at all.
<v Speaker 2>It was Andrea we booked it, but everything was McMahon.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, he had the power and he had
<v Speaker 2>the restless and he you know, like when I talked
<v Speaker 2>to him, he gave me some pointers and I agreed
<v Speaker 2>with him on that and that was it excellent. But
<v Speaker 2>Andre just came in and like I said, he was
<v Speaker 2>in the office, but he never he never, like I've
<v Speaker 2>never seen him come in the office and sit behind
<v Speaker 2>the desk. I look at the booking or something like that.
<v Speaker 2>It was his sight.
<v Speaker 1>That's good to know. Did you know Louis Louis to la.
<v Speaker 2>If excuse me.
<v Speaker 1>Did you know Louis to A Louis TOI Lett He
<v Speaker 1>booked for Ron Fuller, and he booked in Florida, and
<v Speaker 1>he's from Montreal, Oh.
<v Speaker 2>Louis tellt Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I knew him well,
<v Speaker 2>very well.
<v Speaker 1>The reason I bring him up to now.
<v Speaker 2>Was over here when he'd come and visits Montreal a
<v Speaker 2>few times, because you know, and I had him in
<v Speaker 2>my house for supper and all that. I knew Louis
<v Speaker 2>Toilette pretty well. A good wrestling mind, by the way.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, But the reason I bring him Mupchino is because,
<v Speaker 1>you know, as far as we can tell, the first
<v Speaker 1>booker to really book Hulk as a monster was Louie.
<v Speaker 1>When Louie was booking for Ron Fuller in Alabama.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Yeah, Do you.
<v Speaker 1>Remember Louie talking about Hulk at all and kind of
<v Speaker 1>discovering him or at least giving him the Hulk gimmick?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, yeah, he did talk about him. The only thing,
<v Speaker 2>you know, like we used to about the Hulk no matter,
<v Speaker 2>you know, because some guys would criticize, Oh, he's not
<v Speaker 2>that good a worker. He can't do this, can do that.
<v Speaker 2>But like Ruie said, you know the bottom line is
<v Speaker 2>he's drawn the money. Yes, and so you know he
<v Speaker 2>knew he knew he had a business mine. I gotta say, Louie.
<v Speaker 2>And he could tell it when a guy would click
<v Speaker 2>that's the term we use in the UH. And he
<v Speaker 2>knew to push. Sometimes it wasn't the best of wrestler
<v Speaker 2>as far as the technique and all that, but the
<v Speaker 2>guy would throw all your money. And that's the way
<v Speaker 2>you look at it.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, he's the one.
<v Speaker 2>Actually, Luis a d When I told him another wrestler,
<v Speaker 2>Adullah the Butcher, which I I it wins Ontario, I
<v Speaker 2>kind of started. I would say, not promoting then, but
<v Speaker 2>a Dullah the Butcher. And I met with with anduisa,
<v Speaker 2>let that guy's gonna go far and and I said,
<v Speaker 2>you know they should. I said that she said that
<v Speaker 2>gimmick this and that I don't know if it's said,
<v Speaker 2>don't worry about it, he's gonna go far. So you
<v Speaker 2>could tell that the guy knew about promoting wrestling and booking,
<v Speaker 2>especially wrestlingstly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I bring him. I also bring up Louis because
<v Speaker 1>when he was booking for Ron Fuller, not only did
<v Speaker 1>he bring in Hulk Hogan in nineteen seventy nine, but
<v Speaker 1>he immediately he immediately matched up Hulk with Andre. The
<v Speaker 1>first time Hulk and Andre wrestled was for Ron Fuller
<v Speaker 1>in Alabama, and sure there he.
<v Speaker 2>Could see he could see all our science there. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>which you know, that's what you want to do. You
<v Speaker 2>want to draw some money no matter what sports you're in,
<v Speaker 2>and that's it. And Dods too, well, you had the
<v Speaker 2>biggest things there.
<v Speaker 1>In the business was Andre when he wrestled in eighty
<v Speaker 1>still Jean Forrey.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you're in Montreal. He always was Jean Forray always. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>they always called him Jean Feri.
<v Speaker 1>Jehan Fetty, sorry John fetti X. I'm looking at yeah,
<v Speaker 1>some of the advertisements in the newspapers up there, and
<v Speaker 1>you know it's Hulk and Andre, but it's John Freddy.
<v Speaker 1>That's how you can always tell if it's Montreal.
<v Speaker 2>Or yeah, yeah, you're everybody. Jean Peree because he had
<v Speaker 2>wrestled for Grand Prix Wrestling before in the early seventies,
<v Speaker 2>when he came in as Jean Forray for so many
<v Speaker 2>years that people you know, he said that to them
<v Speaker 2>he was, but people knew that his real name was
<v Speaker 2>Andrea russim Off because of the public of newspapers and
<v Speaker 2>all that. So you know, they bought also Andre the Giant. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>but they say, is you're in Montreal, Quebec, especially the
<v Speaker 2>province people was was Jean Foray, Jean.
<v Speaker 1>Forerray, somebody else? That hulk wrestled in Montreal, according to
<v Speaker 1>the records we have as Jackie Whites. Do you remember
<v Speaker 1>Jackie Whites, Jackie v X, Oh pardon me, Jackie v X, Yes.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, that he was the nephew of Carpentier.
<v Speaker 1>Tell me more about him.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, he was more of a journey man than
<v Speaker 2>you know, by the year, being the nephew of Carpentier.
<v Speaker 2>He came in and very nice and uh, you know,
<v Speaker 2>he had a few matches where you know, like double
<v Speaker 2>main events and stuff like that, and a good worker,
<v Speaker 2>the same build, the same size, a bit bigger than Carpentier,
<v Speaker 2>but the same size, you know. And but he didn't
<v Speaker 2>use the name Carpentier. First of all, Carparentier would wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>have liked that. And he used the name Jackie his
<v Speaker 2>real name is the xovich, so he cut it down
<v Speaker 2>to the X Jackie.
<v Speaker 1>That makes sense, Okay, great, Yeah, I'm also seeing that
<v Speaker 1>Hawk wrestled Ben Hallay. And if I'm not mistaken, did
<v Speaker 1>you have a guy there named Dick Van Dyke?
<v Speaker 2>We had a guy yeah, yeah, yeah, the fame as.
<v Speaker 1>The TV per Okay, that's true. That's not a typo. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>got it?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, was Dick van Dyke, another journeyman. It looks like
<v Speaker 1>it was like a squash match that he had against you.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, it was, it was. It was.
<v Speaker 1>How about Pat Patterson, of course, a Montreal guy. It
<v Speaker 1>was surprising to us.
<v Speaker 2>He came in there in the late eighties, about eighty
<v Speaker 2>four eighty five, right, and he did some good business
<v Speaker 2>as we in trenches with eyes Qebec in English is
<v Speaker 2>the dream of Quebec. Yes, he was a heel and
<v Speaker 2>he did good year in Montreal with against Saray Rougeo
<v Speaker 2>and all that.
<v Speaker 1>Right, that was years later. I was thinking more Gino
<v Speaker 1>because when we go back and find some of the
<v Speaker 1>earliest training footage of Terry Boleah Halcogen training in Florida
<v Speaker 1>and Tampa in the ring with him as Pat Patterson,
<v Speaker 1>who I think may have been an assistant booker for
<v Speaker 1>the Graham at the time in seventy seven.
<v Speaker 2>That I don't know. I knew that he was a
<v Speaker 2>big help to Vince during the w WF years there,
<v Speaker 2>and of course and this and that. Yeah, another good
<v Speaker 2>to a wrestling mind. By the way, Pat passes different
<v Speaker 2>than Louis Toilette. Luis Toilette was uh sometimes pat he
<v Speaker 2>wanted to do things a little too fast, but he
<v Speaker 2>still had that mind about wrestling. He's the one that,
<v Speaker 2>uh that you know that how do you call what
<v Speaker 2>you battle royal? When guys come in everything? Yeah, he's
<v Speaker 2>someone that figured that out and everything.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, I was wondering he had he had a good mind.
<v Speaker 1>Did Pat Patterson have an impression of Hulk Cogan? Did
<v Speaker 1>Pat Patterson support Hulk?
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Pat Patterson got he there's
<v Speaker 2>a guy I gotta tell you. He gotta tell me.
<v Speaker 2>He got along with everybody and you could see them,
<v Speaker 2>you know, anytime a guy was getting over. He like
<v Speaker 2>a few times he sacrificed himself for others because he
<v Speaker 2>knew that, you know, he said he wouldn't be staying
<v Speaker 2>here that long anyway, because Evince one of them back
<v Speaker 2>in New York where he did some work there with
<v Speaker 2>starting slaughter and all that. That's right business then and no, no,
<v Speaker 2>but and I like personally, I like Pat. The guy was, uh,
<v Speaker 2>no matter if you had a thousand people or ten
<v Speaker 2>thousand people, he worked the same way. You know. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>good worker.
<v Speaker 1>You had said, you know the difference between Pat Patterson
<v Speaker 1>and Louis Tillett from a booking perspective, I think was
<v Speaker 1>that Pat liked to move fast. What do you mean
<v Speaker 1>by fast?
<v Speaker 2>Louis tilt was more like I said that, Louis tell
<v Speaker 2>that to me. You know, I could see by what
<v Speaker 2>he did, like, you know, he wouldn't think, oh, we're
<v Speaker 2>gonna draw a big house and that well you know,
<v Speaker 2>tell him it was We're gonna build it up and
<v Speaker 2>really draw a big ouse. You know. Yeah, I think
<v Speaker 2>the patients plus see, he could recognize talent very very
<v Speaker 2>well Louis Toilette, which I'm not saying Pat could not, right,
<v Speaker 2>but to me, I put my money on Louis for that.
<v Speaker 1>Very very interesting. So in addition to the Montreal match
<v Speaker 1>at the Paul Suavel Arena that we talked about, Hogan
<v Speaker 1>also appeared to have wrestled Andrea in the summer of
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty and Timmins, Ontario and Sturgeon Falls, Ontario were those.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, those sounds. We used to go to Ontario also.
<v Speaker 2>He must have done some work for the other promotions,
<v Speaker 2>Frank Tony Promotions out of Toronto, Yeah, and probably sol
<v Speaker 2>Ogan there. But of course here he used to do
<v Speaker 2>the whole circuit there. He even went into the Maritimes,
<v Speaker 2>Gas Pay all the areas northn Quebec, Ontario. Andre did
<v Speaker 2>all the towns, even the small towns. He used to
<v Speaker 2>look to to be on the road. I had I
<v Speaker 2>had myself. I had bought one of those fans with
<v Speaker 2>the big bubble top for him.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And as long as the you know, he's right there
<v Speaker 2>with me and this and that and on the way back,
<v Speaker 2>that case of heir had to be there. I love it.
<v Speaker 1>So the big matches. August twenty fifth, nineteen eighty Paul Suaverena, Montreal.
<v Speaker 1>It's the match we started talking about Hogan versus Jean
<v Speaker 1>Frey under the Giant. What do you remember about the finish?
<v Speaker 1>You know, how did the match play out? Was it
<v Speaker 1>a was it a negotiation? Figure out? The finish how
<v Speaker 1>did that go? I?
<v Speaker 2>As a matter of fact, I was so busy I
<v Speaker 2>didn't even see the match. I'll tell you why, because
<v Speaker 2>people were even used paper. Guys were coming to me,
<v Speaker 2>I need tell me about this, tell me about that.
<v Speaker 2>So I'd get a glimpse and that's about it, you know,
<v Speaker 2>and uh, running around, And then I was my I
<v Speaker 2>had an office upstairs on that. Like I said the same,
<v Speaker 2>Floria and my wife were my My wife came to
<v Speaker 2>the matches and sh I can't go up It's full
<v Speaker 2>of people up there. I said, what the hell they're
<v Speaker 2>doing up there? The matches are down here. Wow. And
<v Speaker 2>so I was too busy to really look at the match.
<v Speaker 2>It's more first of all, I was nervous, but I
<v Speaker 2>was thinking, Hey, you know what, I was so proud
<v Speaker 2>of the house and all that and so that. So
<v Speaker 2>if you asked me about the finish, I'm sorry. I'm
<v Speaker 2>not with the one that could tell you that.
<v Speaker 1>That's okay. So I just I didn't know until I
<v Speaker 1>asked you. If you if you saw the match, do
<v Speaker 1>you think at the time it would have been a
<v Speaker 1>sensitive thing as far as like whether Hogan or Andre
<v Speaker 1>went over. He just did a count out even if
<v Speaker 1>you don't remember the finish. Was that a big part
<v Speaker 1>of bringing a guy like Hulk up is, you know,
<v Speaker 1>figuring out how the finishes would go.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, No matter what there is with Hogan, Uh
<v Speaker 2>you know, you know, I don't care if you would
<v Speaker 2>have lost in the middle of one, two three, p
<v Speaker 2>He's still the next week you were wrong with somebody else.
<v Speaker 2>He's still so love you know what I mean. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>he had that that that power, and of course, uh
<v Speaker 2>nobody we took care of the Giant might face it
<v Speaker 2>and nobody's gonna pin the Giant one two three there.
<v Speaker 2>But still I'm dad worked out, it worked it out,
<v Speaker 2>And that's why I say that Ogan that the Giant
<v Speaker 2>light oaken because of that. You know, Hey, it's just
<v Speaker 2>the fact that he put them over that strong. They're
<v Speaker 2>in Pontiac, Michigan.
<v Speaker 1>Fan wrestling podcast.
<v Speaker 2>He's a lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and for
<v Speaker 2>an Seo m J. Pisaro. That's something.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's that's a great point. You know that I
<v Speaker 1>think people that people that don't know about Hogan and
<v Speaker 1>Andre's history before Pontiac, Michigan might not appreciate the significance
<v Speaker 1>of Andre taking the one two three against Hulk because
<v Speaker 1>like you said, yeah, that's.
<v Speaker 2>Right, that that that was, you know, which he never
<v Speaker 2>did for anybody like you were to. You know, he
<v Speaker 2>had some matches with donal Lee, with Jonathan too. They
<v Speaker 2>called it here we had it. It wasn't my promotion though,
<v Speaker 2>that was a con priest promotion. He They called it
<v Speaker 2>Match of the Century and of course nobody beat anybody there,
<v Speaker 2>you know, but still he wouldn't have been pinned so
<v Speaker 2>to do it for Ogan. He must have really liked
<v Speaker 2>the Hulkin and of course he respected the Vincement plans
<v Speaker 2>so much too that that helps, you know, if Vince
<v Speaker 2>says we do it this way or that that was it. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Do you think that even though you didn't see the match,
<v Speaker 1>do you think helped me have slammed Andrea in Montreal
<v Speaker 1>that that night?
<v Speaker 2>No, No, he tried to. From what I hear, he tried,
<v Speaker 2>you know, like to pick him up a few times,
<v Speaker 2>you know that try they build it up there, you
<v Speaker 2>know he did they that would that would have been
<v Speaker 2>something special because you know, you don't want on Andrea.
<v Speaker 2>He had to put in the people's mind that Andre
<v Speaker 2>was unbeatable and to beat Andre or something. People say, well,
<v Speaker 2>this guy I might do it, you know, and and
<v Speaker 2>Hogan was the guy to do that. I don't. I
<v Speaker 2>don't see even your biggest seal in New York. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you would have sold out, a normal sellout. But let
<v Speaker 2>me tell you, if it would have been in the
<v Speaker 2>Montreal form, which you can sit twice the people that
<v Speaker 2>you can do with the Soviet we would have sold
<v Speaker 2>out the form too. Oh wow, you think so it
<v Speaker 2>fell out the form a lot of times anyway, but
<v Speaker 2>that would have sold out. So you know, when you
<v Speaker 2>talk about haul Cogan and Andre, to me, it's it's
<v Speaker 2>a it's a bit special. It's it's they're not just
<v Speaker 2>two wrestlers. I don't care who's on top. There isn't
<v Speaker 2>that many restlessly give that can continually you know that
<v Speaker 2>he did for so many years sell.
<v Speaker 1>Out like you had absolutely. Why wasn't the forum available?
<v Speaker 1>Was the forum having wrestling back in nineteen eighty Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we used to go to.
<v Speaker 2>The forum, but we went to the forum. We had
<v Speaker 2>the form like we'd go about sometimes once a month,
<v Speaker 2>sometimes every six weeks, because uh form was booked pretty hard.
<v Speaker 2>If it was, and if I remember, well, then there
<v Speaker 2>was something that night at the form at the I'm
<v Speaker 2>not sure now, don't take my word for it, but
<v Speaker 2>I think that's why we couldn't go there, and so
<v Speaker 2>we did it at the Paul Sobey, but we went
<v Speaker 2>to the form where we had sell. I was there
<v Speaker 2>too well. As a matter of fact, the match between
<v Speaker 2>Jonathan and the Giant that was at the Forum, Yeah, that.
<v Speaker 1>Was another battle of the giants, right.
<v Speaker 2>Like hold Andre, Yeah, that was like they call it here,
<v Speaker 2>the battle of the century Donalo Jonathan against the Giant.
<v Speaker 2>And we used to it to the Forum and we
<v Speaker 2>had some because the way you can put people on
<v Speaker 2>the ice with ringside, which cannot do it hockey. We
<v Speaker 2>had one of the biggest cross ever at the form,
<v Speaker 2>which it wasn't quite twenty one thousand people, but very
<v Speaker 2>close to it.
<v Speaker 1>This is for Jonathan, is Andre you're saying, uh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>yeah that.
<v Speaker 2>That match too, I think surefs them, but it did
<v Speaker 2>draw that match at least eighteen to twenty thousand people.
<v Speaker 1>Nomen So if the Polwavi did fifty thousand maybe at
<v Speaker 1>the gate, what what if Hulx payoff been for a
<v Speaker 1>night like that?
<v Speaker 2>Well that I don't remember exactly, but he had a
<v Speaker 2>percentage which we sent also a percentage to Vents. And
<v Speaker 2>it wasn't the money that he started to make. Oh no,
<v Speaker 2>you know, not even close to what he was making,
<v Speaker 2>you know, a bit too later run. But it wasn't
<v Speaker 2>good payoff. And also we had the Giant to pay. Honestly,
<v Speaker 2>if if we were at that kind of crowd without
<v Speaker 2>the Giant and oh Corgan, we would have doubled the prop.
<v Speaker 1>So looking back to you know, we saw a print
<v Speaker 1>advertisement in one of the Montreal newspapers for the Hulk
<v Speaker 1>Android match and it said on it that the patch
<v Speaker 1>was going to happen at Park Jerry, Jerry Park where
<v Speaker 1>the Expos used to play. I don't know if that
<v Speaker 1>was it.
<v Speaker 2>Never did, it never materialized. We never went to the
<v Speaker 2>Jerry Park with the Giant and Ogan.
<v Speaker 1>Right, was that a plan at one point? Was that
<v Speaker 1>something you guys were exploring.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we were loved to do it, but we just couldn't.
<v Speaker 2>Everything went wrong there because they were back in the
<v Speaker 2>sementies they went to but then they had change it
<v Speaker 2>for tennis, and and we only have a certain date
<v Speaker 2>and just did not coincide with the Big Office in Washington.
<v Speaker 2>So we couldn't really work it out, and the Giant
<v Speaker 2>Ogan by then, you know there are a plan for him.
<v Speaker 2>I guess.
<v Speaker 1>I see. So I'm clear. When you guys had the
<v Speaker 1>match of the Paul Suave Arena, was that supposed to
<v Speaker 1>be Jerry Park or was Jerry Park supposed to be another?
<v Speaker 2>No? No, no, no, no, no no. We had no
<v Speaker 2>idea about Jerry Park then, because first of all, it
<v Speaker 2>was all new right Ogan and this and that, and
<v Speaker 2>we knew he woulddraw. I would have loved to put that.
<v Speaker 2>I told you, I think I would have loved that
<v Speaker 2>that show. I had talked to Frank Vaudwin and we
<v Speaker 2>said we're gonna go down and see Cory which runs
<v Speaker 2>the forum, the forum, the forum that day that we
<v Speaker 2>could get Ogan. That Monday, we could not get the Forum,
<v Speaker 2>so we went to the Paul. So I was reading
<v Speaker 2>we had which we had wrestling at the Soulo every Monday,
<v Speaker 2>usually every Monday.
<v Speaker 1>I was reading in Pat la Prodd's book when Hogan
<v Speaker 1>came in. Did you yourself do you know Russell Hulk one?
<v Speaker 2>If I? If I?
<v Speaker 1>What did you wrestle Logan?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>No, no, you did not have a match against him? Okay, no, No,
<v Speaker 1>what was the What was it like working with Vince
<v Speaker 1>McMahons as far as putting the deal together?
<v Speaker 2>And I love it was very easy because first of all,
<v Speaker 2>you know, you said, sit down, talk business. Within ten
<v Speaker 2>minutes it was over. You would all just right away
<v Speaker 2>say yes or no when that was it, So you know,
<v Speaker 2>so and then I was greeingly on years too. So
<v Speaker 2>you know, for me to do business, I had worked
<v Speaker 2>for Evinces, you know, but never as a promoter, you
<v Speaker 2>know about the dealings and stuff like that. So that's
<v Speaker 2>why I had gone down to where we met was
<v Speaker 2>not in Washington, was in New York City at the
<v Speaker 2>hotel there. And that's it. And but you know, if
<v Speaker 2>you said, yeah, we're going to do it, you didn't
<v Speaker 2>have to worry. You know, we've done that.
<v Speaker 1>Last question for you. It used to be obviously the
<v Speaker 1>model where Vince Senior would rent out Andre for a
<v Speaker 1>fee to all the different territories when it came to
<v Speaker 1>working with you because Andre had a piece of verasak,
<v Speaker 1>was it different or did you have to pay?
<v Speaker 2>And no, no, we're still we had that deal there
<v Speaker 2>and where he got the percentage and this, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>but it didn't matter because you were drawing so much
<v Speaker 2>more money, you still made more money than usual, you
<v Speaker 2>know for sure?
<v Speaker 1>Did you have to do? Did Vin want?
<v Speaker 2>The deal? Was the deal and that's it. And everybody
<v Speaker 2>that used the Hulk as you just mentioned, whether he
<v Speaker 2>would wrestle the Porida or anywhere, and McMahon had a
<v Speaker 2>cut on I guess.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yes, you know, and not I guess I know, yeah, sure?
<v Speaker 1>Did it look to you? Do you know that Vince
<v Speaker 1>Senior basically followed the Andre model with Hulk?
<v Speaker 2>Uh? Yeah, basically probably, although you know he could not.
<v Speaker 2>You see, there's one big difference between Hulk too and anybody,
<v Speaker 2>and it would tell you the same. And Pat Patterson
<v Speaker 2>there was very adamant on that when he because he
<v Speaker 2>was very close to the McMahons. You could not do
<v Speaker 2>with the Giant what you could do with the Hull
<v Speaker 2>Cogan because all Cogan, like Bruno sa Martino, you could
<v Speaker 2>put a week after after a month after money, draw money,
<v Speaker 2>whereas the Giant was built more like people seem as
<v Speaker 2>a special attraction, you know, a big one. But how
<v Speaker 2>many how many guys could have worked with the Giant
<v Speaker 2>the same way Ogan? Did you know he worked with
<v Speaker 2>a guy like Paul Orndorf, which wasn't that big, and
<v Speaker 2>then he'd worked with the bigger guys, and but the Giant,
<v Speaker 2>there was just so many and unless you were so
<v Speaker 2>big like Ogan, people believed in Ogan or don Leo
<v Speaker 2>Jonathan you're in Montreal, they believed in it, but you
<v Speaker 2>could not you know, let's say an example, if I
<v Speaker 2>would have said that I would have put the Giant
<v Speaker 2>against some of his Vashan. I don't think it would
<v Speaker 2>have meant as much because people figured the Giants twice
<v Speaker 2>as big as you know, he was an attraction, a
<v Speaker 2>big attraction, I gotta say, unlike the Mitches were an attraction,
<v Speaker 2>but you know they were under card, but the Giant
<v Speaker 2>he had to put them on top all the time anyway,
<v Speaker 2>So I don't think you build him up the same
<v Speaker 2>way he built this champion Ogan that went away. And
<v Speaker 2>the Giant never needed a belt, never had one because
<v Speaker 2>he couldn't do what an ordinary wrestler would do.
<v Speaker 1>And they don't think so oh, I understand, yeah, exactly
<v Speaker 1>what I mean. Did McMahon's television reach Montreal back then?
<v Speaker 2>Uh? Yeah, yeah, because he had the program in Burlington,
<v Speaker 2>Vermont in English that came into montrealal all the first
<v Speaker 2>of all, all the in Canada year, we get all
<v Speaker 2>the American programs anyway, but they were so close that
<v Speaker 2>we were so already he was on TV. So it
<v Speaker 2>was easy, you know, because as when at first, I'll
<v Speaker 2>give you which got name to do with Ogan? When
<v Speaker 2>my dad died, I took over the business, and that
<v Speaker 2>same night that my dad died there we had a show. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and Montreal were drawing around a couple of thousand people
<v Speaker 2>every Monday, twenty five hundred, twenty eight hundred sometimes, But
<v Speaker 2>we brought in because of that TV in Burlington. Pat
<v Speaker 2>Parson again flew Albano and we almost sold out the
<v Speaker 2>place completely. So that's how strong that the American station was.
<v Speaker 2>Also it brought the English people, you know, they washed
<v Speaker 2>it probably Montreal being bilingual, and we had the French
<v Speaker 2>and the English, and that did it. I mean, by
<v Speaker 2>the time Ogogan came around, you know TV, first of all,
<v Speaker 2>I had all the TV's going. I had another one
<v Speaker 2>in Quebec city, went and all over the place, so
<v Speaker 2>it was you know, it was not but that's the
<v Speaker 2>way it is. So I don't think that get back
<v Speaker 2>to your question that all can Andre were promoted the
<v Speaker 2>same way. No, not at all.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much for those extra answers. I really
<v Speaker 1>appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>You know. Yeah, well that's my opinion, you know, from here,
<v Speaker 2>from my viewpoint, from here, you know, from Canada. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know how other promoters dealt with it. But like
<v Speaker 2>you say, we had an ace in the whole because
<v Speaker 2>Frank Vauba and the Giin were partners in the company,
<v Speaker 2>so a lot. That really helped a lot. Thank you.
<v Speaker 1>Did do you know Gino did did Andre have like
<v Speaker 1>the stake in Varsak all the way through the end,
<v Speaker 1>Like was that something that he ever sold?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Finally they got out, Frank got out. He got out,
<v Speaker 2>you know because the Giant actually was there, you know,
<v Speaker 2>because of Vince Firkman that said, you know, the Giant
<v Speaker 2>will go in with vowel and that's it. And like
<v Speaker 2>I said, he was there not as a promoter, as
<v Speaker 2>a wrestler. He never, like I said, he never looked
<v Speaker 2>at the books, never looked you know. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>he was always gone someplace. He'd come in to wrestle Montreal, yes,
<v Speaker 2>but then he probably was gone someplace elf, So he
<v Speaker 2>wasn't around to really be part of the promotion. So
<v Speaker 2>when he sold it him was with nothing, you know,
<v Speaker 2>he but kept the mirror a bit a bit too,
<v Speaker 2>was his restaurant that he had, So that helps a bit,
<v Speaker 2>you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the restaurant. I understand you
<v Speaker 1>went in there a few times. How you ate there?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? I went there, yeah, a few. I don't know
<v Speaker 2>how many times where I went there quite a bit.
<v Speaker 2>What was it? Like?
<v Speaker 1>What did you get? What did you order?
<v Speaker 2>But that sometimes, you know, I would have right to
<v Speaker 2>go in there like I go with my went with
<v Speaker 2>my wife sometimes when Andrea wasn't there, because with Andrea
<v Speaker 2>you couldn't pay, right, he never made me. He didn't,
<v Speaker 2>you know, you could not pay, and you know, I said,
<v Speaker 2>what the hell? You know, you know, I'm sponging off Andrea.
<v Speaker 2>So you know, but a few times when he wasn't
<v Speaker 2>there because he was with one of those actresses around
<v Speaker 2>your fiato was her name, the fiat And so I
<v Speaker 2>went just as you know, when he wasn't there, because
<v Speaker 2>I like to go there once in a while, and
<v Speaker 2>that's it.
<v Speaker 1>You know, what did you what kind of food was it?
<v Speaker 1>What did you order?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? He had all kinds of fool, A lot of
<v Speaker 2>French food. He make anything the castle, you know those
<v Speaker 2>French When I go in with the Giant, Actually I
<v Speaker 2>never ordered. He just said, I'm gonna make this, Ione,
<v Speaker 2>make that, put her on the table, and we need it,
<v Speaker 2>which was you know two times still too. We had
<v Speaker 2>meat like feakes and stuff like that.
<v Speaker 1>Wonderful, you know, so.
<v Speaker 2>You know it wasn't nice. And of course with the
<v Speaker 2>Giant also, I don't know why, but even I was
<v Speaker 2>drinking a little too much. I bet as feel as
<v Speaker 2>a glass of wine. Print of all him, I was
<v Speaker 2>a four guy? For why did they eat four and
<v Speaker 2>I take two? Six? I said, I called him in
<v Speaker 2>those days, who would call him Andre? Hey, what the
<v Speaker 2>hell you doing it? That's just still have full, you know,
<v Speaker 2>he laughing, Yeah, let's having the rink Bilin we toast
<v Speaker 2>but him, while I had that one drink, you probably
<v Speaker 2>had four or five. What is it? Uh?
<v Speaker 1>What was it like to see WWF go on to
<v Speaker 1>promote Hulk and Andre like they had never wrestled before.
<v Speaker 1>When you they wrestled for you in nineteen eighty That
<v Speaker 1>was so weird because so many people saw them wrestle
<v Speaker 1>all over the World, Japan, Montreal, but then come eighty seven,
<v Speaker 1>they had to pretend they never wrestled before.
<v Speaker 2>What was that like? Well, I mean, t you know,
<v Speaker 2>it's funny just the two three weeks ago, I was
<v Speaker 2>at a barber shop and the guy told me, he says,
<v Speaker 2>you know that, He said, no, Cogan, we were talking
<v Speaker 2>about every time he sees me talks wrestling. Oh. I said, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so oh co the Giant and I said, we can
<v Speaker 2>say that we had a mirror before everybody else, right, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you know, so it's funny that all of a sudden
<v Speaker 2>you mentioning that.
<v Speaker 1>I wondered, like wrestling, the three obviously went everywhere, including Canada.
<v Speaker 1>I wonder if the fans in Montreal were sort of like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, rolling their eyes when WWF was telling them
<v Speaker 1>that Hulk and Andre never wrestled before. But it was
<v Speaker 1>only seven years before.
<v Speaker 2>They you know. Of course if people thought about it,
<v Speaker 2>of course they knew, especially the people that were there,
<v Speaker 2>they've seen them match. They'd say, hey, those guys are lying,
<v Speaker 2>they're not telling the truth there, right, the definitely wrestled
<v Speaker 2>in Montreal.
<v Speaker 1>Do you remember Gino? Did Fred Blastie come with Hulk
<v Speaker 1>for that? The First, what did Fred Blassie come with
<v Speaker 1>Hogan to the match against Andrea in Montreal?
<v Speaker 2>No?
<v Speaker 1>No, okay no, And I guess just just finally I
<v Speaker 1>would I would ask you for your thoughts on the
<v Speaker 1>transition from Vince Senior to Vince Junior. How did that
<v Speaker 1>change things for you, because obviously the alliance with you
<v Speaker 1>and Vince Senior was very importance.
<v Speaker 2>There was, honestly, you know that I did that after
<v Speaker 2>my promotion. My trailed my promotion because first of all,
<v Speaker 2>the Dino Bravo, the Rugos, Martel, the Giant, everybody left, right, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>And I tried for seven eight months to keep going
<v Speaker 2>and my crew, which the Sovey was doing always well,
<v Speaker 2>and Quebec City and all that, and all of a
<v Speaker 2>sudden I wasn't drunk seven and people because I didn't
<v Speaker 2>have any more stars, and I dropped a lot, a
<v Speaker 2>lot of money very so I had to bankrupt the company,
<v Speaker 2>you know, all that, which was hard to take. But
<v Speaker 2>that's that's business. And its Pat Patterson that came to
<v Speaker 2>me and said, come to New York. I went to
<v Speaker 2>New York and I met Vince the father and Vince
<v Speaker 2>the son, and Vince said, okay, you promote. I had
<v Speaker 2>the license for them. I still had my the promotion
<v Speaker 2>with the Athletic Commission on that then there was an
<v Speaker 2>Athletic Commission and I promoted for them for a couple
<v Speaker 2>of years. Here all right, you with a bunch of
<v Speaker 2>Vince back on my feet, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 1>So you were losing the stars because Vince Junior wasn't
<v Speaker 1>letting them go.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I was losing. When I think about it, you
<v Speaker 2>know today you say, well, it's not you know, but
<v Speaker 2>in those days, when you're losing three four or five
<v Speaker 2>thousand a night, all of a sudden, you see, because
<v Speaker 2>I'd bring in guys and fire them in and this,
<v Speaker 2>and then your expenses were there, but that wasn't drawing
<v Speaker 2>any more money, right, But you know that's it. And
<v Speaker 2>now if I had to do it over again, I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna just put the key in the door. And that's it.
<v Speaker 1>The hard way, Yeah, And when.
<v Speaker 2>You find out the hard way. And also, you know,
<v Speaker 2>because my dad before I started doing good, my dad
<v Speaker 2>also I no TV, like I said, and I said,
<v Speaker 2>I said, you know, excuse the expression, I said, fuck
<v Speaker 2>he he uh. You know, my dad gave his life
<v Speaker 2>and everything crazy for the bid, I'm going to keep
<v Speaker 2>going and see it. But it didn't work out.
<v Speaker 1>Didn't work out.
<v Speaker 2>Then you make up, you shake hand and Vince Junior
<v Speaker 2>was good enough. They're giving me a job, and which
<v Speaker 2>I did well. I was then everything was doing good
<v Speaker 2>with the you know, you had all this Marschall Main
<v Speaker 2>and Ogan and British Bulldogs, everybody coming in there. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it was They didn't do the survey. We only did
<v Speaker 2>the form and and that with Vince.
<v Speaker 1>So besides besides Hogan, and besides Hogan and Andre, who
<v Speaker 1>are some of the other stars that Vince Junior didn't
<v Speaker 1>let come to Montreal anymore? Who else do you remember losing?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? I mean, first of all, my my local guys
<v Speaker 2>which I had the two friend Shanes, the Rugos and
<v Speaker 2>Martell and Tonga, remember Amy Russell, that name it coul
<v Speaker 2>And and those guys. They all laughed and they all
<v Speaker 2>came to see me, and I told him, I said,
<v Speaker 2>look for the money that you'll be making. I said,
<v Speaker 2>I cannot in all honesty ask you to stay. So
<v Speaker 2>he especially Diano Bravo, which I broke in the bit
<v Speaker 2>on you him since he was a nine year old kid.
<v Speaker 2>I broke into business and everything, and he felt bad.
<v Speaker 2>I said, God, don't feel bad, because you're going to
<v Speaker 2>make five times what you can make with me. Absolutely,
<v Speaker 2>and they all laugh. And that's it. And I remain
<v Speaker 2>friends with all of them. I mean, business is business.
<v Speaker 2>But then you know you still have a grudge a
<v Speaker 2>bit you're in there and then it goes away, and
<v Speaker 2>it goes away.
<v Speaker 1>I love it.
<v Speaker 2>I love it.
<v Speaker 1>So just finally looking back the Hogan Andre match August
<v Speaker 1>twenty fifth, nineteen eighty at the pul Suavorina in Montreal,
<v Speaker 1>just to revisit it, you you think that was what
<v Speaker 1>the biggest where would you put it? As far as
<v Speaker 1>the matches you were able to promote all the.
<v Speaker 2>Time, biggest throw, the biggest throw money was and everything
<v Speaker 2>to me, right and if I remember right there, we
<v Speaker 2>had you know, up the ringside a bit and everything,
<v Speaker 2>and we had a hell of a house. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>we never could have done that again because like I said,
<v Speaker 2>you know, they have a certain law that that there's
<v Speaker 2>so many people, you know, they're afraid of fire and
<v Speaker 2>stuff like that. And I don't know if it's still
<v Speaker 2>the same today, but then, and but to me, it
<v Speaker 2>was the the show that of all shows.
<v Speaker 1>I love that, the show of all shows. And just finally, Gina,
<v Speaker 1>what did you what went through your mind and your
<v Speaker 1>heart when you found out that who had passed away?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? So, I mean especially you know, okay at his age.
<v Speaker 2>You know, to me, he was still a young man.
<v Speaker 2>I'm eighty five years old now, wow, So you can
<v Speaker 2>imagine that, you know, when I see a guy in
<v Speaker 2>his sixties pass away, I've got a son that's sixty
<v Speaker 2>three years old. Yeah, to me, it was very young,
<v Speaker 2>and I couldn't believe that man. But I I don't
<v Speaker 2>want to say because I don't know for sure, but
<v Speaker 2>probably is his way of living and the way he
<v Speaker 2>abuse his body somehow, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>heard that he even he had shrunk like two three
<v Speaker 2>inches of set through.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's what he would say. Yeah, for sure. And
<v Speaker 1>he was hunched over because all the back problems.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, all the back. But he had so many
<v Speaker 2>operations and all that, and it's too bad. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>you guy could have had. You know, it's still a
<v Speaker 2>good life. What can you do. That's the way it is.
<v Speaker 1>Well, Gino Bredo, thank you so very much for taking
<v Speaker 1>the time to reflect.
<v Speaker 2>On this it's it's the kind of very happy. If
<v Speaker 2>tell you a few things, I'm sorry about what I
<v Speaker 2>don't remember. Oh, that's okay, Like I said a few things,
<v Speaker 2>you know, especially that night there I you will asked
<v Speaker 2>me my name and I Will have had trouble. That's
<v Speaker 2>so nervous.
<v Speaker 1>That's so amazing that it was such a crazy night
<v Speaker 1>that you couldn't even watch the match. That's unbelievable.
<v Speaker 2>No, I didn't watch the match, and neither the Frank
<v Speaker 2>Bauba watched that match because he was upstairs there, you know,
<v Speaker 2>because he said, I can't leave my accountant, Joe Blanchi alone.
<v Speaker 2>People were coming in and now look they want to
<v Speaker 2>pictures this and that thing. So we were we were
<v Speaker 2>busy there. Man. We have to take care of the business.
<v Speaker 1>End of it absolutely well. But we're grateful that we
<v Speaker 1>did get the perspective of what it was like to
<v Speaker 1>work with Hulk in Montreal. It sounds like overall, very positive.
<v Speaker 2>I tell you, I do it all over again, terrific.
<v Speaker 1>Gino Brdo, thank you so much for joining us.
<v Speaker 2>You're welcome. Take care now.