Ep. 425: WCW's Bash at the Beach 1994 (Part 1 of 3)

<v Speaker 1>It's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and carn
<v Speaker 1>s e O and JP Sorrow.
<v Speaker 2>He's a lapsed fan and all my years and wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>I never seen anything And it's the laps fan man
<v Speaker 3>like the one in the ring. Forget about Sado. He
<v Speaker 3>the real king of swing.
<v Speaker 4>When the bell.
<v Speaker 3>Goes in the kick like me throwing in the corner,
<v Speaker 3>but gets rash like stick even Jerry King gets take off.
<v Speaker 3>The crowd nodded in his head like its Steve low Brown.
<v Speaker 3>Would you get low down? We go even high up?
<v Speaker 5>Flipp you on your head, but you know cool driver,
<v Speaker 5>you speak more and Dragon spits fire, give you more
<v Speaker 5>shock than when he treats higher drop a more truth
<v Speaker 5>than the con of sniper unless you with a coconut,
<v Speaker 5>Roddy Pipper Jack a JP. He like j h D
<v Speaker 5>drop the cupcakes and gold the brain Bob means the
<v Speaker 5>best podcast Frost start the close cloud.
<v Speaker 3>If you all been a floss and Pose.
<v Speaker 6>A month out from his debut with World Championship Wrestling,
<v Speaker 6>Hull Hogan took to turn her owned CNN's Showbiz Tonight.
<v Speaker 6>He had just come off his movie Misadventures Right Boss
<v Speaker 6>with mister Nanny, Thunder and Paradise as well. Yes, most
<v Speaker 6>recently mister nd Loom turn Paradise said Yes. Indeed he
<v Speaker 6>was by this point as much of less celebrity as
<v Speaker 6>he was a wrestler, or at.
<v Speaker 3>Least in his own line, he was his own life.
<v Speaker 3>Sure it seemed to be what he was reaching for
<v Speaker 3>at least.
<v Speaker 6>And here on Showbiz Today June seventh, nineteen ninety four,
<v Speaker 6>he tries to get Well back on track the idea
<v Speaker 6>that Hull Hogan had gone irretrievably Hollywood, because boss, what
<v Speaker 6>happens when you go Hollywood but Hollywood doesn't go you? Well,
<v Speaker 6>I think you get a valth on them back in
<v Speaker 6>this Easy's phone ring, I think presenting the back and
<v Speaker 6>forth as featured way back in nineteen ninety four to
<v Speaker 6>set the stage for our coverage of WCW Bash at
<v Speaker 6>the Beach nineteen ninety four and the WCWD of Hulkvie
<v Speaker 6>host is Lauren Sidney, and she brings us in this way, and.
<v Speaker 3>Of course you know who's going to do Hulk. Oh yeah.
<v Speaker 7>Haul.
<v Speaker 6>Colgan parlayed his incredible career as a wrestler into film
<v Speaker 6>and TV roles. He currently stars in the syndicated hit
<v Speaker 6>Thunder and Paradise, but it was paradised this weekend when
<v Speaker 6>it was announced that Hulk signed a deal with World
<v Speaker 6>Championship were Wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>Did you send this to me?
<v Speaker 8>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, right in the chat window. There. Oh it's the
<v Speaker 3>chat window. Sorry, I wasn't looking the chat window. I
<v Speaker 3>wasn't going to you know. Oh, there we go. Perfect.
<v Speaker 6>There it is looking back in the ring early this summer.
<v Speaker 6>But we've got him now. I'm from Atlanta, the creator
<v Speaker 6>of Hulkamania. My god, we come up with it in
<v Speaker 6>a writer from the creator. I typed it out or something.
<v Speaker 3>The creator of hul Comania. Welcome the show is today. Help,
<v Speaker 3>Thank you very much.
<v Speaker 6>Now, why did you decide to come out of retirement
<v Speaker 6>once again?
<v Speaker 3>Why? Now, well, you know, it's really tough. The whole
<v Speaker 3>time I was at Disney MGM filming Thunder in Paradise.
<v Speaker 3>We were there for six months doing twenty two shows,
<v Speaker 3>everybody said, Hulk Hogan, you know when you're gonna get
<v Speaker 3>back on the ring. And the one question that really
<v Speaker 3>was driving me crazy was they were saying, Hulk Hogan,
<v Speaker 3>can you beat Rick Flair? Even my son Nicholas and
<v Speaker 3>my daughter, were asking no name for no name for
<v Speaker 3>the daughter.
<v Speaker 6>No, Actually he'd never, I would say never. But he
<v Speaker 6>names here a lot less than he does Nick Back
<v Speaker 6>when he's on this I have kids to charm offensive.
<v Speaker 3>Interesting, you know, even my son Nicholas and my daughter nameless.
<v Speaker 3>We're asking the same question. That's why I'm here with TBS,
<v Speaker 3>with the WCW. That's why I'm getting back on the ring.
<v Speaker 6>Okay, if Rick Flair happens to be watching at this
<v Speaker 6>very moment, what do you want to say to him?
<v Speaker 3>You know, Rick Flair, what you're going to do when
<v Speaker 3>Hulk Hogan and the largest arms in the world destroy you.
<v Speaker 6>Now, one thing Rick Flair might know is that you
<v Speaker 6>haven't really wrestled a lot in the past three years.
<v Speaker 6>So why are you in your usual Hulk shape?
<v Speaker 3>Well, I'll tell you. You know, I'm really in better
<v Speaker 3>shape than I've been before. You know, I've lost a
<v Speaker 3>little bit away, I've caught a lot of fat off
<v Speaker 3>my body. You know, I've I've the pythons. I've i've
<v Speaker 3>the pythons pumped up. And I'll bring the Rick Flair
<v Speaker 3>And if Rick Flair ever gets in the ring with me,
<v Speaker 3>and I'll trick him into getting in the ring by
<v Speaker 3>signing a contract with me. I can beat him right
<v Speaker 3>in front of the whole world. I wouldn't doubt that. Now,
<v Speaker 3>what about this new gig? Is that going to take
<v Speaker 3>any time away from your acting career? Are you worried
<v Speaker 3>about that at all?
<v Speaker 9>Well?
<v Speaker 3>Not really, thunder in Paradise. Like I said, we're done
<v Speaker 3>with the Sea this season. Uh with We're done this
<v Speaker 3>season with Dude's shows except for the post production and looping.
<v Speaker 3>You know that looping is part of the wrestling hulk
<v Speaker 3>is I have to work the loop? Ah? I mean
<v Speaker 3>fucking crazy that he actually fucking says that. And being
<v Speaker 3>one of the producers of the show and one of
<v Speaker 3>the owners of the show, one of the bookers of
<v Speaker 3>the show, I've kind of got the artistic liberty to
<v Speaker 3>have holes in the shooting schedule where I want to wrestle,
<v Speaker 3>you know, during the week or on the weekends, or
<v Speaker 3>whatever I want to do. I can make I can
<v Speaker 3>make myself available.
<v Speaker 6>So you're the king of everything you do? Huh, Well,
<v Speaker 6>I'm getting you have control of it all. Well, I
<v Speaker 6>we're real lucky in all this year. And now you
<v Speaker 6>mentioned your two kids at the beginning of the interview.
<v Speaker 6>Is this what you wear at your home on like
<v Speaker 6>on Father's Day? Well, on Halloween, I'm pretty much the
<v Speaker 6>Hulk of the neighborhood. You're also the Hulk of the neighborhood,
<v Speaker 6>but it's not Halloween exactly, and I'm actually, you know,
<v Speaker 6>I'm a hole with the neighborhood all the time. I'm
<v Speaker 6>only Terry Blain inside house. If you don't wear that.
<v Speaker 6>Well on Halloween, I'm pretty much the Hulk of the neighborhood,
<v Speaker 6>if you know what I mean. The kids come over
<v Speaker 6>to the house and they always call me Hulkster, Hulk Hogan,
<v Speaker 6>especially in the neighborhood, and sometimes I have a hard
<v Speaker 6>time even, you know, get my home kids to call
<v Speaker 6>me dad.
<v Speaker 3>But the only you should.
<v Speaker 6>Interview with not naming Brooke and getting his kids having
<v Speaker 6>a hard time calling him dad. You sure this didn't
<v Speaker 6>come out last week as opposed to nineteen eighty four.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the only time the red and yellow stays outside
<v Speaker 3>the front door when I come in because oh no,
<v Speaker 3>the only time the red and yellow stays outside the
<v Speaker 3>front door when I come in because my wife won't
<v Speaker 3>let Hulk of Mania run while in my household Halloween,
<v Speaker 3>I'm the best hole in the neighborhood.
<v Speaker 6>And what about that outfit? Is that what you usually
<v Speaker 6>wear around the house?
<v Speaker 3>This outfit? Yeah, oh, come on, are you kidding around
<v Speaker 3>the house? But you know, no, no, I around the house,
<v Speaker 3>But in the wrestling ring, I wear I wear it
<v Speaker 3>in there right before I get ready to tear the
<v Speaker 3>shirt off. What about your movie career, movie career, where
<v Speaker 3>is that going to go? Yeah? Fucking in there. Movie
<v Speaker 3>career question mark is just hilarious. We talked about movie exactly,
<v Speaker 3>like who have you even?
<v Speaker 8>Like?
<v Speaker 3>I was like, are you Terrible A does the movie queer?
<v Speaker 9>Dude?
<v Speaker 3>So I'm gonna just wonder what what what's going on here?
<v Speaker 6>And I was definitely. I definitely made it clear. And
<v Speaker 6>our communications with your people that you wanted hul Cogan
<v Speaker 6>on the show were not Terry bole. I would have
<v Speaker 6>been glad to bring Terry Blaya, but you told me
<v Speaker 6>you wanted huld Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, look, you got hul Cogan's cock. You don't have
<v Speaker 3>Terry blays cock, right.
<v Speaker 6>And then you doubled Then then you doublecross me, brother
<v Speaker 6>by bringing up something that only Terrible would know about
<v Speaker 6>what's next dude, you asked for Tory Blay is social security,
<v Speaker 6>and I we're gonna ask.
<v Speaker 3>We're gonna ask. You asked to have sex with Terriblay's
<v Speaker 3>wife exactly, Brother, that might that might be fine. I
<v Speaker 3>have to ask him. Dude, I know that I know
<v Speaker 3>that I can let you have sex with Bubb's wife. Well,
<v Speaker 3>you know, right now I'm called I called traded on
<v Speaker 3>the syndicated television to Thunder and Paradise. I'm saying it
<v Speaker 3>like it's the first time I mentioned on the entire show.
<v Speaker 6>He says, well, right now, I concentrated onto the syndicated
<v Speaker 6>television hill Thunder and Paradise everyone, and we're taking it
<v Speaker 6>home going. Ah yes, yes, yes, yes, I is ah.
<v Speaker 3>Thundering Paradise, Yes, very good. I yesy indication, yes yes yes.
<v Speaker 3>It's like he's mentioned thunder in Paradise like three or
<v Speaker 3>four times already.
<v Speaker 6>It's almost like it's a Turner adjacent.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Production. The last the last movie I did before
<v Speaker 3>before that was Mister Nanny. It was basically for the
<v Speaker 3>children audience, so that the whole families could come. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, I like to do more movies if I
<v Speaker 3>have the time. But right now I'm focusing on the
<v Speaker 3>WCW and the wrestlers in the Turner organization, and it's
<v Speaker 3>my first love. I can't let it go. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know, once you get hooked in this wrestling and
<v Speaker 3>once you see how cool it is, how entertaining it
<v Speaker 3>is for the whole family, I mean, it's the best
<v Speaker 3>boy on the market, as far as I'm concerned.
<v Speaker 6>Best buy on the market is how Hulk Hogan referred
<v Speaker 6>to his frame of mind. We were all Hulka maniacs.
<v Speaker 6>We've talked about it a million times over ten years
<v Speaker 6>of the lapsed fan, the trial of his life, Hulk
<v Speaker 6>Hogan posters looking up to his bodybuilding ways, trying to
<v Speaker 6>follow the demandments as best we could, lunch boxes, backpacks,
<v Speaker 6>Halloween costumes, T shirts, foam fingers, has bros, you know
<v Speaker 6>the rest. And so for our generation of Hulky maniacs,
<v Speaker 6>it was quite jarring when Yokozuna sat on his face
<v Speaker 6>at King of the Ring ninety three brutal and we
<v Speaker 6>didn't see him again. In the WWF. We talked a
<v Speaker 6>lot about those fleeting days of Hulkamania on the show,
<v Speaker 6>having covered several pay per views where those things take place,
<v Speaker 6>not the lease of which King of the Ring ninety
<v Speaker 6>three and Mania nine, but what happens between then and
<v Speaker 6>Hull Cogan's WCWW and what were the set of conditions
<v Speaker 6>that led to Bash at the Beach? So what's up
<v Speaker 6>with this whole thing about not wrestling in three years?
<v Speaker 6>They hit that so hard on the broadcast, didn't they?
<v Speaker 3>I just like and the fact that it was brought
<v Speaker 3>up here in this interview, I was gonna wait, but
<v Speaker 3>I was like that that was So that is so
<v Speaker 3>bizarre to me because even if okay, even if you
<v Speaker 3>want to take away like the idea that he didn't
<v Speaker 3>wrestle a lot in ninety three, even though he did
<v Speaker 3>all summer long, if I'm not mistaken, right he was
<v Speaker 3>in England, Yes to that, absolutely he was. And but
<v Speaker 3>so if you want to erase that, let's just say
<v Speaker 3>that didn't happen. He still wrestled in like, was wrestling
<v Speaker 3>regularly in early ninety two, So that's two years if like.
<v Speaker 3>But they're implying. What they're implying is that he hasn't
<v Speaker 3>wrestled since basically WrestleMania seven. But they're implying I mean
<v Speaker 3>eventing WrestleMania eight and nine.
<v Speaker 6>Is that Hulk Hogan hasn't wrestled since his name hit
<v Speaker 6>the press being associated with steroids. Oh my god, how
<v Speaker 6>easy we forget? What was That's one of the key
<v Speaker 6>storyline lynch pins when we got to the Hulk Cogan
<v Speaker 6>testimony when we did Vince McMahon's trial, that Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 6>testified three days before Bash at the Beach nineteen Ninety's right,
<v Speaker 6>that's very true. Yes, yes, yes, already inked up with Turner,
<v Speaker 6>already ready to go to the competition, already having declared
<v Speaker 6>himself firmly and unequivocally the enemy of Vince McMahon. Vince's first,
<v Speaker 6>well not his first, but his biggest sort of best
<v Speaker 6>friend turned worst enemy story. And that's quite a long list.
<v Speaker 6>Everyone's done a turn on that list if they've been
<v Speaker 6>a superstar. For Vince McMahon and for Hulk Hogan, it
<v Speaker 6>was an unbelievably strange time because while he had movies,
<v Speaker 6>he had television, he had this very lucrative WCW offer.
<v Speaker 6>He also was absolutely in the pits from a public
<v Speaker 6>relations perspective due to his tie ups and associations with
<v Speaker 6>illegal steroid use. Or allegedly illegal steroid use, arguably illegal
<v Speaker 6>steroid use. And so for Hogan, look, look, look, I
<v Speaker 6>don't do steroids. I'm not addicted to steroids.
<v Speaker 3>At any time I did and they were legal, and
<v Speaker 3>whenever I do, whenever I do do them, they are legal.
<v Speaker 6>I don't know if you know, but the statute actually
<v Speaker 6>moves with hul Hoagan.
<v Speaker 3>So there are times, you know, there are times when
<v Speaker 3>they're legal, and there are times when they're not legal.
<v Speaker 3>I'll just make sure I do it when it's all legal.
<v Speaker 6>So if I say I haven't wrestled in three years,
<v Speaker 6>that means I haven't taken steroids in like six and brother,
<v Speaker 6>I'm just legal then three hundred and you know, he
<v Speaker 6>has five hundred days in a year. He works twice
<v Speaker 6>on Sundays. He fits nine days in a week. I mean,
<v Speaker 6>it's all part and parcel.
<v Speaker 3>It seems normal, dude.
<v Speaker 6>It's so this whole thing. I'm going to WCW it
<v Speaker 6>is as absolutely hull coke and as it gets. And
<v Speaker 6>shout out to whoever it was in the Solar system
<v Speaker 6>who noted recently they never did bash at the beach
<v Speaker 6>ninety four. No we didn't, No, we didn't know. And
<v Speaker 6>if you are to believe Bubba the Love Sponge, which
<v Speaker 6>the TNH Journey tells you, it is a bad idea
<v Speaker 6>and a good idea. At the same time, we might
<v Speaker 6>not have the Hulkster around much longer, at least not
<v Speaker 6>in a form where he can continue to contribute to
<v Speaker 6>the canon of the things Hulk covi and has thought
<v Speaker 6>and said and did and added to the vast tapestry
<v Speaker 6>of one of the most important characters, of course in
<v Speaker 6>the history of professional rostling, but also in the history
<v Speaker 6>of this very podcast.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely so.
<v Speaker 6>Bash at the Beach ninety four his WCW debut, his
<v Speaker 6>first sort of cutting of the ties from Vince McMahon
<v Speaker 6>post to the hule Co mania phenomenon from eighty four
<v Speaker 6>to ninety three. That can't go, that can't go quietly observed,
<v Speaker 6>that can be observed.
<v Speaker 3>Can't go thunder observed?
<v Speaker 9>Right.
<v Speaker 3>It was a show, I mean, it's kind of it
<v Speaker 3>actually has been a show that at least we have
<v Speaker 3>talked in the past, back when we did it a
<v Speaker 3>little bit differently, when we did a tribute show instead
<v Speaker 3>of a tribute journey. For those who die are those
<v Speaker 3>are those who die? Who are worthy. I should say that,
<v Speaker 3>you know this was going to be that show because
<v Speaker 3>we kind of done right all of the other ones
<v Speaker 3>that would have meant something, you know that were a
<v Speaker 3>highlight yep. But yeah, it's it is, it is so
<v Speaker 3>it is kind of fitting, you know, if if the
<v Speaker 3>time has come when we lose the and when the
<v Speaker 3>immortal one becomes mortal.
<v Speaker 6>Wow, becoming mortal, it's definitely You're definitely right. That shift
<v Speaker 6>in how we've approached tributes just it almost makes it
<v Speaker 6>more necessary to do Bash of the Beach ninety four
<v Speaker 6>before we lose Hulk. Yes, yes, because there's so much
<v Speaker 6>to get under our belt. There's so many pieces, you know,
<v Speaker 6>you go back to paying off the Pacific. He's going
<v Speaker 6>to Japan right in this interregnant period between WWF ANDWSW.
<v Speaker 6>He's working Mudha, He's working Muda. He's throwing a leg
<v Speaker 6>over the arm on a bent over opponent and then
<v Speaker 6>front flipping into a straight arm bar. He's dropped toe
<v Speaker 6>holding and shifting to an STF. He's gurrying because because
<v Speaker 6>that that Matt is not grayish blue, That Matt is bright,
<v Speaker 6>bright blue, and that means we've got to work out there.
<v Speaker 6>Catch has to catch can Yep. Yes, indeed I can.
<v Speaker 6>You can tell he brought some of his uh his
<v Speaker 6>uh Japanese influences into the match with Ric Flair. Welcome
<v Speaker 6>to tlf's Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety four coverage.
<v Speaker 6>I simply ask you to start memories.
<v Speaker 3>Boss, memories of Bash the Beach.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, you were You've said it so many times
<v Speaker 6>it needs to be said again right here for posterity.
<v Speaker 6>You you you got very nervous when Hasbro Legends jump ship.
<v Speaker 6>You didn't know how to feel, yes, when your favorites
<v Speaker 6>made the jump. But if Hulk Hogan makes the jump,
<v Speaker 6>that is a different story.
<v Speaker 3>Totally different story. I was because as I as I've
<v Speaker 3>said many times that I started watching wrestling at the
<v Speaker 3>very tail end of the Hulk Hogan era, you know,
<v Speaker 3>late ninety one, and then he's gone to ninety two.
<v Speaker 3>Like I felt completely jypped. I felt like, are you
<v Speaker 3>kidding me? Like as soon as I start watching, he
<v Speaker 3>quote unquote retires. Then he came back, and I thought,
<v Speaker 3>we're going to get him again. Cause my mind, let
<v Speaker 3>me tell you this is this is how my mind works,
<v Speaker 3>being such a fan yep of the Royal Rumble. All right,
<v Speaker 3>I had never seen I'd never like, I'd never been
<v Speaker 3>able to purchase a Royal Rumble with hul Cogan in.
<v Speaker 3>It always watched on tape, right, it was always watched
<v Speaker 3>on tape. So that's what I wait. I wanted more
<v Speaker 3>than anything, even more than him winning a championship. I
<v Speaker 3>wanted him to win a Royal Rumble that I was
<v Speaker 3>watching live. And let me ask you a question, did
<v Speaker 3>you ever get that?
<v Speaker 9>No?
<v Speaker 3>Nope, never, never will And so you know when the
<v Speaker 3>ninety three thing happened, it was that was I was excited.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, oh my god, he's back. Yes, he's back,
<v Speaker 3>and he's going to be in the Royal Rumbland ninety four.
<v Speaker 3>He's gonna do it. And then he wins the title
<v Speaker 3>and it's like, okay, well great, even better, big fan
<v Speaker 3>of that. And he loses the title and I started
<v Speaker 3>getting a little nervous because, like I had, I was like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you know, there was one there was one
<v Speaker 3>little glimmer of hope that he wasn't gone. I had
<v Speaker 3>the feeling if he lost the belt at King of
<v Speaker 3>the Ring, he was gone. I don't know why I
<v Speaker 3>knew that, but I just felt it. I felt it
<v Speaker 3>in my heart that if he lost at d Yokozuna,
<v Speaker 3>he was gone. Maybe it's because Bobby Heenan, who an
<v Speaker 3>incredible irony, ends up in the commentary chair for Hogan's
<v Speaker 3>WCW debut, but was also in the commentary chair for
<v Speaker 3>Hulk Cogan's last televised WF match. That's a very that
<v Speaker 3>is that is very that's a good point, screams, good point.
<v Speaker 3>Hel Comania is dead. Maybe that's what drove it home
<v Speaker 3>to your young impression. But no, but I didn't watch
<v Speaker 3>it live. I didn't watch it live, so like that
<v Speaker 3>didn't that didn't affect me as much. Like it was
<v Speaker 3>really the idea that when I tuned into Monday Night
<v Speaker 3>Raw that Hulk Hogan had lost the belt to Yokozuna,
<v Speaker 3>I was like, oh shit, and even leading up to it,
<v Speaker 3>like like leading up to it, if he lost, like
<v Speaker 3>I just I don't know why I had this feeling,
<v Speaker 3>but I had a feeling that if he lost, it
<v Speaker 3>was gonna he was gonna be gone. But but the
<v Speaker 3>glimmer of hope was this. I did know he had
<v Speaker 3>at least one date scheduled after the King of the Ring,
<v Speaker 3>which was he was wrestling in Boston in a tag
<v Speaker 3>team match with with I wanted to go, but I
<v Speaker 3>didn't go. He was wrestling with Beefcake against the Beverly
<v Speaker 3>Brothers against the who the Beverly Brothers. And so you
<v Speaker 3>knew this, and you I knew. I knew because I
<v Speaker 3>was your anchor.
<v Speaker 9>That was it.
<v Speaker 3>Like, Okay, he's there, so I know he's going to
<v Speaker 3>be there past King of the Ring. But then he
<v Speaker 3>was gone, and they started hyping up the fucking and
<v Speaker 3>and I knew he was gone, Like you know, I
<v Speaker 3>know we've talked about how how everyone thought that he
<v Speaker 3>was in the helicopter when Lex Luger came down. I
<v Speaker 3>know I didn't. He was gone when he when he
<v Speaker 3>stopped showing up right away, I knew he was gone
<v Speaker 3>for good. Can I ask you a question? Yes? What
<v Speaker 3>else was gone when you realized he was gone? My childhood,
<v Speaker 3>my innocence, my my my hope, my hope that I
<v Speaker 3>would experience a Hulk Hogan era. Wow, that's all I wanted.
<v Speaker 6>And so let me ask you, does his debut in
<v Speaker 6>WCW Redangle that hope.
<v Speaker 3>His debut, well, I mean most things, just not a
<v Speaker 3>just not a royal rumble. Sadly, I thought he'd win
<v Speaker 3>a fucking World War three, but that didn't happen either.
<v Speaker 3>So when he come when it's announced, So I I
<v Speaker 3>had an inkling yes, because I had the PWI issue
<v Speaker 3>with Hogan, with Hogan, Jimmy Hart and Flair on the cover,
<v Speaker 3>and that came out like what months before, a couple
<v Speaker 3>of months before. So I was like, holy shit, what
<v Speaker 3>did that tell you?
<v Speaker 9>That?
<v Speaker 3>Did cover tell you?
<v Speaker 8>That?
<v Speaker 3>Cover told me that whole Cogan Mike and is likely
<v Speaker 3>going to the w CW. And I part of me
<v Speaker 3>was like, he can't go to WW right, that's what
<v Speaker 3>I want to get to. Yep, that's ridiculous. But at
<v Speaker 3>the same time, can he please go to w CW.
<v Speaker 6>Can I repeat what you just said, he can't go
<v Speaker 6>to w CW. That's ridiculous, But at the same time,
<v Speaker 6>can he please go to w c W. Can you
<v Speaker 6>open your email quickly?
<v Speaker 3>Yes? Oh? Did you tell me what you got? Tell
<v Speaker 3>me what you see? I'm getting there, I'm getting there.
<v Speaker 3>Why didn't you update, motherfucker? Why didn't you update yet?
<v Speaker 3>Why didn't you updating? You're making me nervous? Now I
<v Speaker 3>got nothing? Yeah, you get you know, in coming over
<v Speaker 3>the interwea. I slowly but surely, there we go. Oh
<v Speaker 3>my god, what do you see?
<v Speaker 9>Oh my god?
<v Speaker 3>Yes, that's the fucking thing I had the I mean,
<v Speaker 3>the making of a super stable that that didn't fucking
<v Speaker 3>that didn't. That meant nothing to me. I was like,
<v Speaker 3>what do you have fucking Hogan and Flair together? No,
<v Speaker 3>you have to have photo each other. Yeah. I I
<v Speaker 3>was like, yeah, yes, I remember. I saw that at
<v Speaker 3>Shaw's Market, okay in Milford, New Hampshire, and it fucking
<v Speaker 3>blew my mind and it made me just like the
<v Speaker 3>everything just went Like I said, he can't go, but
<v Speaker 3>god do I hope he fucking does go, because I
<v Speaker 3>just wanted to have a hul Cogan era. You know,
<v Speaker 3>that was it.
<v Speaker 6>April ninety four, Pro Wrestling illustrated Rick Flair in a
<v Speaker 6>long sleeve Armani black shirt and tan slacks, with his
<v Speaker 6>feet kicked up with the black socks and the loafers on,
<v Speaker 6>sitting back as if he's sort of entertaining Hulk Hogan,
<v Speaker 6>almost like Hulk Hogan's berating him in his office. Hulk
<v Speaker 6>Red Bandanna finger pointed at Rick Flair, accusingly ready to
<v Speaker 6>go Jimmy Harp just to Hogan's elbow, reading over what
<v Speaker 6>appears to be a contract. The headline Hogan, Flair and
<v Speaker 6>Heart's secret meeting and p w I was there.
<v Speaker 3>So it's not that secret. Then PWI was there anymore.
<v Speaker 6>And while we wouldn't have known this based on, you know,
<v Speaker 6>how naive we were as young wrestling fans at the time,
<v Speaker 6>the fact that this is in the pages of PWI
<v Speaker 6>also highly significant because PWI was in much closer allegiance
<v Speaker 6>with World Championship Wrestling, right they were that famously. You know,
<v Speaker 6>when Vince consolidates power, he banishes PWI from press credentialing,
<v Speaker 6>and they can no longer shoot photographs at ringside, and
<v Speaker 6>they no longer have backstage access to interview WWF wrestlers.
<v Speaker 6>And it's pretty clear if you follow the after mag's
<v Speaker 6>response to that bout of aggression, they start more aggressively
<v Speaker 6>covering WCW, more aggressively putting WCW wrestlers on the cover,
<v Speaker 6>actually appearing on WCW and NWA television shows for like
<v Speaker 6>Desk news segments with Bill after doing interviews in the such.
<v Speaker 3>Well, and then also too just the idea that forever.
<v Speaker 3>You know, they would you know, other wrestlers would take
<v Speaker 3>photos for the awards, not not WWE, right, they would
<v Speaker 3>always use a They would pose for photos, is what
<v Speaker 3>you're saying the other wrestlers. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 6>And who is on the cover of the Year end
<v Speaker 6>nineteen ninety four Pro Wrestling Illustrated issue for Wrestler of
<v Speaker 6>the Year holding his trophy proudly.
<v Speaker 3>Hullgan ul Cogan. Also also, by the way, the first
<v Speaker 3>ever fucking time they ever gave a trophy out right,
<v Speaker 3>it was always a plaque, but new for hull Cogan,
<v Speaker 3>it was a fucking trophy. Knowing this, you know, after
<v Speaker 3>I was thinking, brother, you know it's Russell the Year, dude,
<v Speaker 3>and why don't we God stut this thing up a
<v Speaker 3>little bit, can't take it up at that next level.
<v Speaker 3>And brother, like I just like I didn't just get
<v Speaker 3>a scholarship from the Lions Club, dude. This is like
<v Speaker 3>serious business, dude. No, dude, every want to you know it,
<v Speaker 3>because every award gets a plaque, but Russell of the Year, dude,
<v Speaker 3>that should kind of come be something a little you know,
<v Speaker 3>a little bit extra dude, but maybe only do this
<v Speaker 3>year or not in a year after.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, you can sell it afterwards. Brother, So what
<v Speaker 6>do you say you want to go down to page
<v Speaker 6>twenty four and get us back?
<v Speaker 3>Yeh, we do, be yes, I fucking do. This magazine
<v Speaker 3>cover would center you. This was in the arsenal.
<v Speaker 6>I didn't know when I was going to employ it,
<v Speaker 6>but I feel like the time is now. I feel
<v Speaker 6>like the time is now because this is April ninety four.
<v Speaker 6>He doesn't come until July. But they start the television
<v Speaker 6>teases a lot of people forget.
<v Speaker 3>This right right cool. They started at the super Brawl,
<v Speaker 3>they started talking super Brawl four. When we did that,
<v Speaker 3>that was the kind of the first time. Yep. It
<v Speaker 3>was insane.
<v Speaker 6>And it coincides with Dusty Rhodes stepping away from the
<v Speaker 6>booking and Rick Flair taking the book back over and
<v Speaker 6>all all that meant in terms of his his ability
<v Speaker 6>to pick up the phone and talk to hul Cogan
<v Speaker 6>or hul Cogan's willingness to even call Rick Flair. And
<v Speaker 6>one thing everybody says, from Hulk to Eric to everyone
<v Speaker 6>involved were of course Rick himself, that Rick is really
<v Speaker 6>the indispensable piece of getting hulkocin to come to WCW
<v Speaker 6>because nobody else could have made him comfortable that he
<v Speaker 6>could come in to WCW against an opponent that would
<v Speaker 6>help him shine, that wouldn't look to undercut him, that
<v Speaker 6>would protect him, creatively, protect the gimmick, make them look good,
<v Speaker 6>create heat, and basically get him off to the start
<v Speaker 6>he wanted to get off. He wanted to pick up
<v Speaker 6>that whole Comnia era right where it left off in WWF.
<v Speaker 3>What did so how well did they know each other
<v Speaker 3>before he Flair came to WWE in ninety one, hardly
<v Speaker 3>at all? They had hardly at all.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, cross paths. When Flair was champion going to Georgia
<v Speaker 6>Champions of Presting television tapings late seventies, well he wasn't
<v Speaker 6>champion yet, he was a mid Atlantic champ, but he
<v Speaker 6>was going to Georgia and Hogan was coming through with
<v Speaker 6>Sterling Colden. So he had known him a bit from
<v Speaker 6>that point in time. But after that, not only did
<v Speaker 6>their paths diverge, but they were, as we all know,
<v Speaker 6>the defining debate of the eighties. You were a Hogan
<v Speaker 6>kind of wrestling fan or a Rick Flair kind of
<v Speaker 6>wrestling fan, right? And did they become like were they were?
<v Speaker 3>They did. They become friends during that run, Like did
<v Speaker 3>they talking about Georgia talking about WWF No, wwe yes
<v Speaker 3>very much ninety one yes, wow, okay, because Flair was
<v Speaker 3>his conciliatory to Hulk because he wasn't nobody else. Flair
<v Speaker 3>doesn't have to come in and beat you. Flaire has
<v Speaker 3>to come in and make you look good to earnest paycheck.
<v Speaker 3>And Hulk was all years for that. While the match
<v Speaker 3>didn't take place at WrestleMania eight, as perhaps many of
<v Speaker 3>us fantasized about and it felt should have happened. You know,
<v Speaker 3>most people know by now, throughout October and the September, October, November,
<v Speaker 3>even through December, I'll cross the circuit for the WWF,
<v Speaker 3>Hulk and Flair are going one on one, be it Dayton, Ohio, Oakland, California,
<v Speaker 3>Madison Square, Garden, and many venues in between. And it
<v Speaker 3>was in working those matches that Hulk Rick gained the
<v Speaker 3>trust of Hulk Hogan because yeah, yeah, because he was
<v Speaker 3>out there playing ball, he was out there keeping it easy.
<v Speaker 3>He was pliable to the things Hulk didn't want to do. Yep.
<v Speaker 3>And one is trust and also too, something very interesting
<v Speaker 3>too is that and it actually and it kind of
<v Speaker 3>occurs in this in this match somewhat, is that Flair
<v Speaker 3>was able to kind of kind of play with the
<v Speaker 3>formula a little bit of the Hogan. Well, if you
<v Speaker 3>look at so if you look at I have you
<v Speaker 3>seen any of the ninety one shows, like they have
<v Speaker 3>one on them. Yeah, So if you look at that,
<v Speaker 3>Hogan will like drop the leg in the middle of
<v Speaker 3>the match, and he'll and he'll or he'll go forward
<v Speaker 3>or something like that in a weird way. Whereas if
<v Speaker 3>you look at any Hogan match, you know, any big
<v Speaker 3>Hogan match or whatever, you know, it's always Hogan waiting
<v Speaker 3>to the very very end. But in that especially ifically
<v Speaker 3>that that Madison Square Garden one that I think was
<v Speaker 3>in the summer or like September that's on in the
<v Speaker 3>old school section, he does like Hogan, it's like all
<v Speaker 3>over the place. It's all over the place like this
<v Speaker 3>the match like it's not the typical Hogan formula, and
<v Speaker 3>it was. And I don't know if you did that
<v Speaker 3>on house shows altogether or what, but I did. I
<v Speaker 3>just noticed because on this show, Hogan goes with the
<v Speaker 3>leg drop in the middle of the match as if
<v Speaker 3>he's as if he's doing any other like, you know,
<v Speaker 3>as if it's my current day where uh you know,
<v Speaker 3>you got uh my mom going for a stone cold
<v Speaker 3>stunner in the middle of the match, you know, instead
<v Speaker 3>of waiting for the end like she normally does, right
<v Speaker 3>my mom, you know, shorthand for any random person. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I mean person you know where he does it in
<v Speaker 3>the middle of the match and he misses. That's just
<v Speaker 3>not that's not a whole Cogan match. That's that to me,
<v Speaker 3>feels like Rick Flair's influence saying, hey, you know Nodden,
<v Speaker 3>you know, like just uh uh that's win him over.
<v Speaker 3>Huh Hogan, look at me right in the eye. I'm
<v Speaker 3>gonna tell you something you don't like. You gotta do
<v Speaker 3>a leg drop in the middle of the match, you know,
<v Speaker 3>And he does, and he misses, and then he does
<v Speaker 3>a boot like these are all movie. He doesn't do
<v Speaker 3>like these are supposed to be at the very end.
<v Speaker 3>But it's exciting that he's switching it up. And to me,
<v Speaker 3>it only happens with Ric Flair. Yeah, I think you nail.
<v Speaker 3>Rick is somebody one of the few people that Hulk
<v Speaker 3>would trust to lead the match, to call her outside
<v Speaker 3>the lines to protect Hulk in his you know essence
<v Speaker 3>the whole time. Remember how hard it was to get
<v Speaker 3>him in the ring with Vader. Yeah, and then you
<v Speaker 3>see the Vader match and you kind of see, like, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>if Hulk doesn't trust that when you lead the match,
<v Speaker 3>he's going to be protected and he's not going to
<v Speaker 3>be made to look too weak, or he's not going
<v Speaker 3>to be made to look like the weak baby face
<v Speaker 3>compared to the badass heel. It can fall apart quick,
<v Speaker 3>or he'll pull a fast one on you. Flair was
<v Speaker 3>somebody that you can lead the match because I'm confident
<v Speaker 3>that by the time the final bell rings you're good
<v Speaker 3>enough at what you do that the people are going
<v Speaker 3>to be with me. And for him to walk into WCW,
<v Speaker 3>a place that you know, had its identity wrapped up
<v Speaker 3>in being the antithesis of Hulk Hogan and what Hulk
<v Speaker 3>Hogan style wrestling meant. Even if the promotion and the
<v Speaker 3>executives wanted to change that from Jim Hurd on down,
<v Speaker 3>the fans did not want to seed that ground. Necessarily,
<v Speaker 3>there needed to be an an influx of w w
<v Speaker 3>F wrestling fans like yourself yep, to come in, to
<v Speaker 3>come to the w CW table, to change the dynamic
<v Speaker 3>of what would have happened if you know, even uttered
<v Speaker 3>the name Halkogan and a WCW arena prior to his arrival. So,
<v Speaker 3>Flair's a guy who's just so good. And I can
<v Speaker 3>tell you, I can tell you, honest to God that
<v Speaker 3>that that during from from the Class of the Champions
<v Speaker 3>in May or June May, I don't remember April or
<v Speaker 3>May which one you talked about, Cedar raptids when he
<v Speaker 3>does the promos, yeah, and Flair and Flair unites the
<v Speaker 3>Belt and that's that's June. It is June, Okay. So
<v Speaker 3>so when he from that moment on, okay, that is
<v Speaker 3>the most I ever watched WCW from there. From from
<v Speaker 3>that until Halloween Havoc, I watched so much WCW because
<v Speaker 3>I was so invested in hul Hogan being back. That's
<v Speaker 3>one of the reasons I so love talking about this
<v Speaker 3>Hogan era with you is because you are that fan.
<v Speaker 3>This this is my this is my Hogan era. You
<v Speaker 3>are I've came because of this, yeah, yeah, and it's
<v Speaker 3>like and and the the funny you know it, I've
<v Speaker 3>talked about this before, but in whenever I played my
<v Speaker 3>video games and I'm setting up my promotions, I never
<v Speaker 3>start off Hogan in WWE. He's always in WCW. I've
<v Speaker 3>always got to have him in WCW because and it's
<v Speaker 3>so strange, even though I watched all that, but this
<v Speaker 3>is the only time I ever experienced the Hull Hogan
<v Speaker 3>era was when he was in ww As It Happened,
<v Speaker 3>the Last.
<v Speaker 1>Fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys
<v Speaker 1>need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan. He's the Lapsed
<v Speaker 1>Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio and JP Sara.
<v Speaker 3>As It Happened. You know he he is in many
<v Speaker 3>ways more of a WCW wrestler to me than he
<v Speaker 3>was a WWE wrestler. That it's fascinating because you know,
<v Speaker 3>I'm the same vintage as you. And I'm sitting here
<v Speaker 3>thinking myself, how much of my understanding and falling in
<v Speaker 3>love with hulkokein was memorys Like there was the Rest
<v Speaker 3>Many seven, I watched live, Summer Slim ninety, I watched live.
<v Speaker 3>I watched those things happen. But now when you look
<v Speaker 3>at the full sweep, which I wasn't aware of at
<v Speaker 3>the time of his run. That's, of course, that's the fumes.
<v Speaker 3>That's like the last couple of years there, Yes, where
<v Speaker 3>they're kind of feeling around the dark wrestlem in the
<v Speaker 3>eight as well. But yeah, when I the only reason
<v Speaker 3>I'm acquainted with and have a feeling of warmth about
<v Speaker 3>eighty four to ninety in particular ninety rumble right, yep,
<v Speaker 3>it's because the videotapes that the Warrior match, the Andre match.
<v Speaker 3>We went to the Pontiac Silverdome thirty years after Wrestling
<v Speaker 3>three and walked that place and we and it tugged
<v Speaker 3>in our hearts as if we watched WrestleMania three live
<v Speaker 3>in nineteen eighty seven. We were four, We were four,
<v Speaker 3>well you were six whatever, I was six. Yeah, we
<v Speaker 3>didn't watch that line, but I don't even though we'restling
<v Speaker 3>was at the time. But it was possible, Yes, it.
<v Speaker 6>Was possible to capture that in tranquility, to recapture it
<v Speaker 6>through video cassette, and it's you know, it's possible. Now
<v Speaker 6>you see people that are bigger that are fans of
<v Speaker 6>territories that closed before they were even born because of
<v Speaker 6>so much being on YouTube which is a wonderful thing
<v Speaker 6>if you ask me. Right, Oh, I'll complains about technology
<v Speaker 6>on that front, but I will say that our whole
<v Speaker 6>co mania for fans of our era the nineties was
<v Speaker 6>made possible by the video store and was not We
<v Speaker 6>didn't get to experience it as people who were like,
<v Speaker 6>tonight Hogan's fighting, tonight Hogan's fighting. Right, No, today, maybe
<v Speaker 6>I'll find a new Hogan fight I haven't seen before.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, Yep, That's exactly it. And I mean because I again,
<v Speaker 3>there's only there are only a handful of times where
<v Speaker 3>I've where I've had that excitement of hulkg and like
<v Speaker 3>on w w TV, like where you know that Saturday
<v Speaker 3>nights main event, you know, Uh, I watched. I watched
<v Speaker 3>every week with the hope that he would wrestle a
<v Speaker 3>fucking jobber, you know, not knowing that that's not ever
<v Speaker 3>going to happen. I I watched, you know, and then
<v Speaker 3>in ninety three when he when it was announced he
<v Speaker 3>was coming back to my net raw, Are you kidding me?
<v Speaker 3>I watched that fucking raw. I had it ready to go.
<v Speaker 3>I was so excited, but it just it but it
<v Speaker 3>never it never turned into I know, Hulk is going
<v Speaker 3>to be there, right, you know, it became well is
<v Speaker 3>he going to be there? And that's and that's where
<v Speaker 3>that's where it really it all. It all kind of
<v Speaker 3>just it. I really felt like I was never going
<v Speaker 3>to have it. I really thought I was never going
<v Speaker 3>to have it. Got it, actually, I got I got comfortable.
<v Speaker 3>I got kind of comfortable with the fact that Hulkvid
<v Speaker 3>was never going to wrestle again. Did you watch Back
<v Speaker 3>to the Beach in ninety four live? I did not.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't. I was. It was still very hard for
<v Speaker 3>me to get pay per views at the time, especially
<v Speaker 3>because I had just got in WrestleMania, you know, a
<v Speaker 3>little before, and it's like, I I couldn't you know.
<v Speaker 3>The only w W pay for view I've talked about,
<v Speaker 3>the only one I've ever I've ever got was Halloween
<v Speaker 3>Havoc ninety four. Oh yeah, yeah, that one I talked
<v Speaker 3>him into. Yeah, you know that, that's that's that's the one.
<v Speaker 3>I mean because to me, in a weird way, that
<v Speaker 3>was a much more exciting match because it's in a
<v Speaker 3>cage and it's like, oh fuck, this is awesome.
<v Speaker 8>I was.
<v Speaker 6>I was unsettled. I was unsettled. By Hoko and a
<v Speaker 6>w c W. I knew about it, and I wasn't
<v Speaker 6>really I wasn't really keen on buying the show. It
<v Speaker 6>was kind of like, yeah, it was. It was a
<v Speaker 6>It was a place I wasn't willing to go yet,
<v Speaker 6>and I was almost resentful. I almost didn't want to
<v Speaker 6>watch him in w CW because I almost felt hidding,
<v Speaker 6>because I remember having this feeling of like, oh man,
<v Speaker 6>that is so lame, that hole has fallen so far,
<v Speaker 6>having no conception of like, this guy's getting paid better
<v Speaker 6>than he did probably most years in WWF for like
<v Speaker 6>half the work. You know, he's actually transforming the the
<v Speaker 6>view of Turner Broadcasting towards what WCW could be and
<v Speaker 6>opening up a series of bitchoffice talked about this and
<v Speaker 6>we'll re'llcap at all. It's part of our coverage. You know,
<v Speaker 6>the licensing doors he opened up, the ad sales doors,
<v Speaker 6>he opened up the conversations he could start around celebrity involvement.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, God is Bashed at the Beach nineteen ninety four,
<v Speaker 6>Chaca block from Sequille O'Neil. The George Foreman vignettes. You had,
<v Speaker 6>mister t you had so many others actually involved, but
<v Speaker 6>by the time it was all said and done, Chris Lemon, yep,
<v Speaker 6>I mean, come on, I mean Chris Lemon was there.
<v Speaker 3>I can't believe I've got their biggest star of them all.
<v Speaker 3>And it was just.
<v Speaker 6>It was just a it was just a trip that
<v Speaker 6>all that was happening for WCW. But I didn't see
<v Speaker 6>it as elevating WCW. I saw it as diminishing hul
<v Speaker 6>Covin that's interesting. I saw it as the rest business
<v Speaker 6>is so whack right now that the WWF and Hulk
<v Speaker 6>Hogan can't find a way to get together and do
<v Speaker 6>business like that was in my mind, like there's something
<v Speaker 6>not there's something broken about wrestling. If Hulk Hogan isn't
<v Speaker 6>in WWF for whatever reason, he's in WCW, that's why
<v Speaker 6>WWF is gonna suck. So I'm not even interested in
<v Speaker 6>watching WWF.
<v Speaker 3>And Wow, it was. It was a very strange. I
<v Speaker 3>had the opposite reaction of you.
<v Speaker 6>It did not draw me in. It pushed me first.
<v Speaker 6>It pushed me further to the sidelines. Now, maybe that
<v Speaker 6>was because I had different interests at that particular age.
<v Speaker 6>I remember that was when I really got into like
<v Speaker 6>X Men and basketball and shit. Yeah, but and I
<v Speaker 6>was watching wrestling regularly, but I wasn't It wasn't appointment
<v Speaker 6>viewing like it had been in the past few years
<v Speaker 6>and like it would be subsequent years after that and
<v Speaker 6>for the rest of my life.
<v Speaker 3>So I'm not that fan.
<v Speaker 6>That's why I'm so interested to talk to you about
<v Speaker 6>this era of Huligan WSW because.
<v Speaker 3>You were that fan. And yeah, it totally was. In fact,
<v Speaker 3>in many ways, I had two Hulk Hogans because I
<v Speaker 3>had like Luger in WW and.
<v Speaker 6>Look the fact that you're all waiting for the next Hogan,
<v Speaker 6>which I can identify with that that was that was
<v Speaker 6>something when you first said that, when we started talking
<v Speaker 6>about Nash and Luger getting pushed and even to some
<v Speaker 6>degree Brett like and and.
<v Speaker 3>Sean Michaels, Let's not forget that. He was my whole Cogan.
<v Speaker 3>He was my face winged eagle title. What's yep, yep,
<v Speaker 3>we're going right, We're back, We're back right. That's that's it,
<v Speaker 3>that's it. He was my whole coach. Listen, whoever was like,
<v Speaker 3>whoever was on top, who really wasn't. Brett Hard was
<v Speaker 3>my whole coach like Brett. For some reason, Brett was Brett.
<v Speaker 3>I could get behind Brett being Brett, and you know,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, Yeah, I don't know. I wonder why
<v Speaker 3>that is. I mean, I I think of it. I
<v Speaker 3>guess maybe from watching that that All American Wrestling episode
<v Speaker 3>where Gene they you know, introduces a miss champion like
<v Speaker 3>I I remember because I remember being excited about him
<v Speaker 3>being champion. So he really he couldn't qualify as my Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>I just never I never did that because he was
<v Speaker 3>too Like it was such a shock. Yeah, the match
<v Speaker 3>to have Brett as champion, you didn't see the match
<v Speaker 3>a live match, right, and well, just the idea that
<v Speaker 3>it was him, who I never considered a world champion, right,
<v Speaker 3>That excited me as a fan in ninety two. That
<v Speaker 3>I just never put him on, that he was on
<v Speaker 3>his own pedestal. Yeah, Brett especially pissed me off later on.
<v Speaker 3>He was on his own pedestal whereas other guys were.
<v Speaker 3>You know, like if I basically what I'm saying is
<v Speaker 3>when I would watch a show and I had and
<v Speaker 3>I had my my has bros around, Hulk Hogan was
<v Speaker 3>never used as Brett Heart Wow. Never it was Brett
<v Speaker 3>was always Brett Hogan was you. You know, I used
<v Speaker 3>Hogan for a lot of other guys over the years,
<v Speaker 3>but never as bretttheart, which is Yeah, I never realized.
<v Speaker 3>I'm realizing for the first time, no joke right now,
<v Speaker 3>that I really that, I I that there is some
<v Speaker 3>sanctity for Brett Hart to me. Yeah, and I never
<v Speaker 3>really realized that.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah.
<v Speaker 6>It was almost like you were stripping something away from
<v Speaker 6>him to try to make him be your Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Yeah, I had a little bit.
<v Speaker 6>It is something different than that, and you didn't want
<v Speaker 6>to compromise that by making him fit the Hogan mold.
<v Speaker 3>It just didn't work. It just did not work for me. Yep.
<v Speaker 6>And do you think if you were watching in nineteen
<v Speaker 6>ninety that Ultimate Warrior would have been your next Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>I don't think so. I don't think so because they
<v Speaker 3>never because I don't know, you tell, I mean, they
<v Speaker 3>never have said Hulk Hogan's retiring. You know. That's the
<v Speaker 3>thing that got me. That's what got me, is the
<v Speaker 3>idea that Hulk Hogan's retiring. You know, you have to
<v Speaker 3>move on. It isn't just like you're writing for him
<v Speaker 3>to come back. But I need Hulk Hogan in my
<v Speaker 3>Hasbro universe, and who am I gonna fuck?
<v Speaker 11>You know?
<v Speaker 3>I gotta I gotta want. I'm watching a show and
<v Speaker 3>I'm reenacting to compliment my universe. I needed to be
<v Speaker 3>I need somebody film that hole's massive. Yeah, yep, and
<v Speaker 3>so totally to the point.
<v Speaker 6>Let's settle into what it was like, because I probably
<v Speaker 6>breezed right by the supermarket newstand with Hull, Cogan and
<v Speaker 6>Rick Flair in the covery.
<v Speaker 3>You were stopped dead in your tracks. Yep.
<v Speaker 6>And so let's go to page twenty four, The Making
<v Speaker 6>of a super Stable. Hulk Hogan and manager Jimmy Hart
<v Speaker 6>had a private meeting when they visited Rick Flair's gym
<v Speaker 6>for a public appearance. Although nobody knows what they discussed,
<v Speaker 6>the trio gave Pro Wrestling Illustrated food for thought, Boss,
<v Speaker 6>take it away food, Just just give him food and
<v Speaker 6>food and thought, food and thought. Look at page one.
<v Speaker 6>Look at Hulk's cameltoe. Look at look at the pussy
<v Speaker 6>he has between his leg.
<v Speaker 3>Jesus, what is that about, Terry dude, brother? What what
<v Speaker 3>do you? I'm also look a look at look at
<v Speaker 3>the way his shirt is his ribs too. There's something
<v Speaker 3>really uncomfortable there, like he's got a like he's got
<v Speaker 3>a gash in there, like some kind of a gaping
<v Speaker 3>hole in his midsection. Hogan and Flair's secret meeting and
<v Speaker 3>PWY was there by Dave Rosenbaum. Rick Flair learned his
<v Speaker 3>lesson a long time ago. Burning bridges isn't a good
<v Speaker 3>idea from a business standpoint, right. This might sound like
<v Speaker 3>an unusual realization for a man who has made more
<v Speaker 3>enemies than nearly anyone else in wrestling, but it's actually
<v Speaker 3>a high sign of Flair's people skills. I make sure
<v Speaker 3>all my opponents know nothing that goes on between us
<v Speaker 3>is personal. He said, It's all in the game. How
<v Speaker 3>else would Flair have been able to put together the
<v Speaker 3>Superpower Summit to end all superpower summits if we thought
<v Speaker 3>it was news when Hulk, Hogan and Sting met for
<v Speaker 3>over a half hour in Japan last year, I don't
<v Speaker 3>remember that. That's crazy, Yeah, just that was on that
<v Speaker 3>don't taku, don't what is it right? Don't talk about it.
<v Speaker 3>Just imagine the surprise when we found Hogan, manager Jimmy Hart,
<v Speaker 3>and Flair in front of our cameras together, and they
<v Speaker 3>were speaking in a civilized manner. Yes, they were. When
<v Speaker 3>the picture taking to promote Flair's Gym and Charlotte, North
<v Speaker 3>Carolina was done, the trio retired to a back room
<v Speaker 3>for nearly forty five minutes. That's all legit.
<v Speaker 6>Hogan did go to Flare's gym. Yes, to sign autographs.
<v Speaker 6>It was kind of as part of the Thunder and
<v Speaker 6>Paradise promotional tour.
<v Speaker 3>I see.
<v Speaker 6>So they were there, and I'm sure that they had
<v Speaker 6>the idea to get some publicity for a future potential
<v Speaker 6>arrangement that I don't think any ink was dry in
<v Speaker 6>any contracts yet. Sure, but the trojan horse here was
<v Speaker 6>kind of that. Hulk was actively shooting and promoting Thunder
<v Speaker 6>and Paradise at the time he began his flirtation with
<v Speaker 6>ww so a lot of the things that he could
<v Speaker 6>do telling us fans that he was coming to WCW
<v Speaker 6>was done couched as Thunder and Paradise publicity. I see
<v Speaker 6>even his interviews on WCW Saturday Night in March of
<v Speaker 6>nineteen ninety four, which came out of nowhere all of
<v Speaker 6>a sudden, Hulk Cogan is being interviewed with the purple
<v Speaker 6>WCW logo and the mic flag by gene Okerland, those
<v Speaker 6>were supposed to be those those to my understanding, were
<v Speaker 6>sort of couched as Hulk's you know, exploiting all platforms
<v Speaker 6>to promote the show, including naturally.
<v Speaker 3>Remember I do remember, I do remember that that interview,
<v Speaker 3>and because you know I I watched it, I don't know.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I'm just remembering that I did watch it.
<v Speaker 3>I don't remember. I couldn't remember any details. We talked
<v Speaker 3>quite a bit about her when we did Super Brawl
<v Speaker 3>ninety four. Yeah, but what I do remember is that
<v Speaker 3>he right, he was talking about Thunder and Paradis and
<v Speaker 3>he wasn't really talking about wrestling.
<v Speaker 6>It was almost like gene Oakerland was there on behalf
<v Speaker 6>of WCW to interview Hulk to see if he wanted
<v Speaker 6>to come to WSW. But really the eason Hogan was
<v Speaker 6>there was he wasn't coming to WCW to be interviewed.
<v Speaker 6>He was getting run up on on the Thunder and
<v Speaker 6>Paradise set and a lot of the other things he did,
<v Speaker 6>like this gym appearance. From what I kind of can
<v Speaker 6>re gather and piece together, it seems like the reason
<v Speaker 6>people didn't see it as him necessarily going to WCW
<v Speaker 6>and promoting a WCW jump, because he still had flirtations
<v Speaker 6>with WWF. There was still a period where Vince could
<v Speaker 6>have matched what WCW was offering Hulk. It was in
<v Speaker 6>the Observer, like a month before Bash at the Beach
<v Speaker 6>that Titan had finally had informed Hulk via letter that
<v Speaker 6>they would not match the terms of WCW's offer. Un
<v Speaker 6>Thus he was free to go. But the reason he
<v Speaker 6>could kind of trojan horses way in a ww television
<v Speaker 6>was because, you know, generally he was contractually obligated to
<v Speaker 6>promote Thunder and Paradise. And where you gonna promote it,
<v Speaker 6>you're gonna promote it. Vince isn't gonna let him on
<v Speaker 6>his TV, right, you got to promote it to wrestling fans.
<v Speaker 6>Those are the people who care the most and have
<v Speaker 6>the highest likelihood of checking out Hulk Hogan's TV show.
<v Speaker 6>So put him on WCW. And so it wasn't like, oh,
<v Speaker 6>Hogan's on WWTV, Hogan's coming to wc W. It was, well,
<v Speaker 6>it's kind of like he's on TV for almost like
<v Speaker 6>a commercial for Thunder and Paradise. Because he wasn't in
<v Speaker 6>the arrange. He wasn't at center stage at the WB
<v Speaker 6>Center anight lot, he wasn't at Disney MGM, you know,
<v Speaker 6>doing worldwide taping. He wasn't in the CNN Center in
<v Speaker 6>Atlanta doing a WCW promotional shoot. And this magazine coverage
<v Speaker 6>here is also kind of You could also argue it's
<v Speaker 6>more about the Thunder and Paradise promotional tour, and naturally
<v Speaker 6>help's going to push that to the wrestling audience via
<v Speaker 6>the wrestling magazines.
<v Speaker 3>But they didn't.
<v Speaker 6>They still they knew what they were, they knew where
<v Speaker 6>they were headed. They knew that the germ of something
<v Speaker 6>was there to get Hogan and Flair in the ring.
<v Speaker 6>I don't think they quite knew when and how or where,
<v Speaker 6>but they were not hesitating to plant that.
<v Speaker 3>Seed because because I remember too, like it didn't obviously
<v Speaker 3>this this issue came out in March, right it I
<v Speaker 3>you know, and it didn't happen. Wait a minute, didn't
<v Speaker 3>come out in March. Should have if it's Mark April. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>but but but pter Mas were weird. They came out
<v Speaker 3>like it was weirder. I feel like it came out
<v Speaker 3>in February maybe.
<v Speaker 6>There was mention made of this magazine during one of
<v Speaker 6>those WCWTV interviews that Hogan did with gene Oakerland.
<v Speaker 3>I really feel like npter Max came out two months
<v Speaker 3>prior to their Yeah month it could have sense at all,
<v Speaker 3>because I always remember like it was like it always
<v Speaker 3>seemed like when I look at the data, it's like, well,
<v Speaker 3>wait a minute, when the fuck does this magazine come out?
<v Speaker 3>Like it's all over the place?
<v Speaker 6>Is that the hardest thing to just put on a
<v Speaker 6>magazine just the month that came out instead of some
<v Speaker 6>distant months.
<v Speaker 3>That doesn't make anything. Why do you have to put
<v Speaker 3>it like in the future. Why is it always in
<v Speaker 3>the future. I never understood that. Why is the March
<v Speaker 3>issue of w magazine coming out in February? Look, I
<v Speaker 3>mean super Brawl was full of Hogan references and that
<v Speaker 3>was in February, right, And I just I feel like
<v Speaker 3>I feel like I saw this and then nothing happened
<v Speaker 3>for a while, and then all of a sudden, he
<v Speaker 3>was getting these interviews on TV like it was finally
<v Speaker 3>paying off for me. I wonder anyway, they emerged smiling
<v Speaker 3>and silent, unwilling to divulge the contents of their extraordinary meeting.
<v Speaker 3>Hogan and Heart were there to help their old WWE
<v Speaker 3>campadre one it not on it the other Thanks, Jimmy
<v Speaker 3>Hart explained cryptically to a friend. But there was far
<v Speaker 3>more to this day than met the eye. Speculation is
<v Speaker 3>raging throughout wrestling's inner circles that Hogan, Heart and Flare
<v Speaker 3>talked about forming a high powered organization of the sport's
<v Speaker 3>greatest stars. Well that would actually happen two years later
<v Speaker 3>with THEWO.
<v Speaker 6>Well that this actually brings it up, and we'll get
<v Speaker 6>to it. There was credible reporting that Hogan was actually
<v Speaker 6>in talks with HBO about starting a new wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>Group Get out of Town. Yes, oh shit.
<v Speaker 6>Jimmy Hart would go on to say in his book
<v Speaker 6>in another forum that HBO was offering Hogan two million
<v Speaker 6>dollars to be basically do supercards, not not a weekly
<v Speaker 6>wrestling promotion, but wow, sort of like one off mega
<v Speaker 6>events that they could build up for subscribers.
<v Speaker 3>So interesting.
<v Speaker 6>Keep that in mind that it's not just WCW that
<v Speaker 6>they might be teasing and pointing to here by putting
<v Speaker 6>Hulk back in the wrestling press and in the wrestling eye.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, that's fascinating. Yeah, there may in fact be a
<v Speaker 3>connection between the Hogan Flair Heart get together and Hogan's
<v Speaker 3>meeting with Sting in Japan last spring. If these four
<v Speaker 3>are on the verge of competing under one banner, they
<v Speaker 3>would surely put all other stables to shame, including Flare
<v Speaker 3>Zone for horsemen. They would also have tremendous bargaining power.
<v Speaker 3>Would they wrestle in wwwwe in a Japanese federation or
<v Speaker 3>in all three? Hogan Sting the host Stings fucking brought
<v Speaker 3>into this whole stay. It is curious.
<v Speaker 6>Flair, you know, famously got a contract extension at gunpoint
<v Speaker 6>to do the job to Hogan and Halloween havoc ninety
<v Speaker 6>four in the retirement stipulation. I don't know how soon
<v Speaker 6>his contract was to expire, but it was coming due
<v Speaker 6>early enough that he started to feel a little insecure
<v Speaker 6>about his future and wanted to take the leverage that
<v Speaker 6>you know, losing that final match to Hogan provided before
<v Speaker 6>he disappeared for a while to lock down a contract
<v Speaker 6>that kept him around.
<v Speaker 3>And kept him paid.
<v Speaker 6>So what might also be the subtext of an article
<v Speaker 6>like this is Flair maybe even signaling to WCW that
<v Speaker 6>he could go with Hogan and do their own things.
<v Speaker 3>There you go, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.
<v Speaker 6>Donutlike, but they did in Australia in two thousand and
<v Speaker 6>nine before Hogan came over to the TNA.
<v Speaker 3>Right, Hogan's stinging Flair Hart would have so much power
<v Speaker 3>that they could force the WWE and WCW into a
<v Speaker 3>share agreement. That's a fucking bold statement.
<v Speaker 6>Oh yeah, well that's the magic of the aftermag They
<v Speaker 6>could just fucking say shit like that and the fan
<v Speaker 6>would be like, you know, none the wiser about how
<v Speaker 6>impossible it was.
<v Speaker 3>I'm I am. I will tell you I probably ate
<v Speaker 3>that shit out. Yeah, I probably ate that shit up
<v Speaker 3>of the idea about because you know, at this point too,
<v Speaker 3>I was disappointed, you know, as much as I wanted
<v Speaker 3>Flair to to lose that career ending match against Perfect,
<v Speaker 3>but then it's like, well now he's gone. Yeah, you know,
<v Speaker 3>like a careering match for a fan is great in theory,
<v Speaker 3>but then when you realize that the rest was actually gone, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's like, oh shit, kind of needed Flair around. Kind
<v Speaker 3>of sucks feel good, Yeah, Flair Flair made things feel great. Well,
<v Speaker 3>think about two I mean, you know, about how that
<v Speaker 3>would have gotten you as a fan. What about how
<v Speaker 3>many Hogan versus Flair who would win the dream Match covers?
<v Speaker 3>Did they run for ten years? Oh? I know, seriously, seriously,
<v Speaker 3>and I mean also keep in mind too, when I
<v Speaker 3>started watching WWE, Flair was there. Yes, he wasn't. He
<v Speaker 3>wasn't ever in w CW for me at the time,
<v Speaker 3>I didn't learn that for a long time.
<v Speaker 6>Last backwards are you? Hogan's w CW run is your
<v Speaker 6>whole Camania run and Flair's definitive thing. Flair to you
<v Speaker 6>is a WW wrestler more than a WW wrestler.
<v Speaker 3>It's right, It's like it's so as backwards, I you know,
<v Speaker 3>and really only fans who started watching in that particular
<v Speaker 3>time period can really have that, possibly have that, you know,
<v Speaker 3>starting in that weird time of ninety one. Honestly, it's
<v Speaker 3>you know, with the steroid thing happening, you know, all
<v Speaker 3>all these weird things happening, He's starting to watch wrestling
<v Speaker 3>in that in the second half of ninety one. Really
<v Speaker 3>puts you in a unique decision.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, because you're coming in, You're coming in as wide
<v Speaker 6>eyed as can be as a kid watching this, like
<v Speaker 6>incredibly kid friendly presentation and under the surface, it's all
<v Speaker 6>being corrupted and you're none the wiser.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. And I had no idea who the fuck Worck
<v Speaker 3>Flair was. I had no idea who he was. I'd
<v Speaker 3>never heard him before. I'm like, Okay, who's this fucking idiot?
<v Speaker 6>But he he's never been that that he's saying, you know,
<v Speaker 6>he just didn't wa fans didn't know who he was.
<v Speaker 6>They took Flair and Hogan to Oakland like week two,
<v Speaker 6>Like they didn't do any ticket sales. Yeah, theydn't do
<v Speaker 6>anywhere near a many ticket sales. Is disupposed a dream
<v Speaker 6>match you'd expect.
<v Speaker 3>But to me it was like, I mean it became
<v Speaker 3>a dream match. You know, it did become a dream
<v Speaker 3>match for me. Yeah, in ninety two. Uh, but like
<v Speaker 3>it was I was like, what is it? Like what
<v Speaker 3>I mean he doesn't have a Hassbro figure?
<v Speaker 9>What is he?
<v Speaker 6>And he would come to have one, and once he
<v Speaker 6>did one, after he was gone, Well that's some you know.
<v Speaker 6>Evan Husney it darks out of the ring told us
<v Speaker 6>like that's one of their guiding principles. It's like if
<v Speaker 6>a guy has a hasbro figure it's right in that
<v Speaker 6>demographic sweet spot. If we do an our episode on
<v Speaker 6>that guy, people will have a certain extra relatability to
<v Speaker 6>that character, like Ludwig Boring for instance.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, are you gonna do a Steve Kern one off?
<v Speaker 6>A Skinner episode fits that hits that level. But it's
<v Speaker 6>all it's all true. And you know, Flair, you know,
<v Speaker 6>WCW is so fucking lucky when we look at Bash
<v Speaker 6>at the Beach in nineteen ninety four that they didn't
<v Speaker 6>do Hogan Flair Wrestle in the eight because if they
<v Speaker 6>had done that match and promoted it as the dream
<v Speaker 6>match and all of that shit, it would not feel
<v Speaker 6>special when they did it in WCW, not just because
<v Speaker 6>it had already happened, but because it had already Because
<v Speaker 6>what made it even more of a dream match was
<v Speaker 6>not just that Hogan was the WWF champion from eighty
<v Speaker 6>four through ninety one and Flair was an NBA champion
<v Speaker 6>from that time period two and all those comparisons. It
<v Speaker 6>wasn't just that there was a second life to it
<v Speaker 6>that I would argue, it was even more important what
<v Speaker 6>made it even more of a dream matches that we
<v Speaker 6>couldn't get it in.
<v Speaker 3>The WWF right, yeah, of course, oh my god. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>when their paths did cross, we still didn't get it.
<v Speaker 3>It it it, you know, And as much as as
<v Speaker 3>wonderful as you know, it did, it did feel a
<v Speaker 3>little to me. It did feel a little bit of
<v Speaker 3>a letdown that when they did finally get on pay
<v Speaker 3>per view at Basche of the Beach, it happened in
<v Speaker 3>the summer show. Yeah, it was like that should happen
<v Speaker 3>on whatever your biggest show is. And I know, Bash
<v Speaker 3>of the Beach knew summer shows are never the bigs show.
<v Speaker 6>This is the first Bash of the Beach. They did
<v Speaker 6>Beach Blast the year of five. I know, I know,
<v Speaker 6>I know, but it was it was what, as we'll
<v Speaker 6>find out, it was about Orlando. It was about all
<v Speaker 6>the poll that Orlando had with them. They were shooting
<v Speaker 6>television at MGM Disney MGM, Hulk was shooting Thunder and
<v Speaker 6>Paradise in the same lot. A lot of the connective
<v Speaker 6>tissue there, and Hulk was plugged into Orlando big time
<v Speaker 6>in terms of like you know, tourism, marketing and like
<v Speaker 6>you know, local officialdom and people. You know, Orlando liked
<v Speaker 6>partnering with Hulk. Hogan on things that would bring spectator
<v Speaker 6>right of course, and so he was able to get
<v Speaker 6>a very favorable setup there in Orlando, Florida, for this
<v Speaker 6>particular date for this show and really fill out the building.
<v Speaker 6>It was kind of like that first TNA show when
<v Speaker 6>he came in. It's like you've watched this show for years,
<v Speaker 6>and all of a sudden, the crowd overnight looks totally different.
<v Speaker 6>It's like it's just the constitution of the audience is
<v Speaker 6>just totally different. And it's it's Hulk bringing his circus
<v Speaker 6>and bringing all of his his network of supporters and
<v Speaker 6>fans who might not want to buy a WCW ticket.
<v Speaker 6>Now he's wrestling, and all of a sudden, hit the guy,
<v Speaker 6>the Hogan imitator of his front row, and he'd never
<v Speaker 6>go away.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, nope. He's always fucking there, that guy. And
<v Speaker 3>so I think it was like always there. Even though
<v Speaker 3>the summer is an ideal in a way, it was
<v Speaker 3>also kind of like, this is when we can get Orlando.
<v Speaker 3>This is how the pieces line up. Because it didn't
<v Speaker 3>feel like it just don't feel like a supercard, you know,
<v Speaker 3>like the show. The rest of it just felt like
<v Speaker 3>kind of a because I remember even feeling it then
<v Speaker 3>like it just didn't feel like the supercard that it
<v Speaker 3>should feel like. I agree, it should have, like it
<v Speaker 3>should have had like a dozen matches underneath with some fucking,
<v Speaker 3>you know, crazy ass things, and it just didn't feel
<v Speaker 3>it felt weak.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, Bushy, it was weak on the undercard, it really was.
<v Speaker 6>I think for them it was it was a deal
<v Speaker 6>where like you know, star Kid was their big show
<v Speaker 6>and theory, but what was most important to them was
<v Speaker 6>just getting it into the ring. And yeah, yeah, you know,
<v Speaker 6>once finally all the things were over. Because it can't
<v Speaker 6>emphasize enough Hulk. You know, people knew I think probably
<v Speaker 6>that Hulk had immunity first testimony against Vince. But you
<v Speaker 6>have to remember, Vince. If Hulk said something up there
<v Speaker 6>that pissed off Vince, Vince's side could have called a
<v Speaker 6>witness up there that would just make Hulk look like
<v Speaker 6>the biggest fucking drug smuggling scumbag.
<v Speaker 3>You've ever seen in your life. Can you imagine, absolutely, God.
<v Speaker 6>And so until it was kind of clear that that
<v Speaker 6>that was the way it was gonna go.
<v Speaker 3>They would have they would have found that driver.
<v Speaker 6>They would have found the driver. Well, they knew they
<v Speaker 6>had the driver. They just they were able to scare
<v Speaker 6>the shit out of him and get him to contradict
<v Speaker 6>himself under oath.
<v Speaker 3>So man, they would have they would have under they
<v Speaker 3>would have they would have they would have had him
<v Speaker 3>to fucking target him against Hulk Hogan.
<v Speaker 6>One thing that Hogan does say in his second book,
<v Speaker 6>which we didn't really address when we did a trial
<v Speaker 6>of his life because we didn't really refer to a
<v Speaker 6>second book that much, is that in the audience seated
<v Speaker 6>next to Vince's team was Hogan's former drug mule, the
<v Speaker 6>guy Dan Broward, whatever his name was, in Tampa, that
<v Speaker 6>he would have steroids sent to to k Fabe, the
<v Speaker 6>fact that they were going to end up in Huld,
<v Speaker 6>which arguably is distribution, which arguably is you know, basically,
<v Speaker 6>it's more than just buying and possessing steroids, it's trafficking
<v Speaker 6>in them in a way. And you know, if that
<v Speaker 6>if Hults gets out of line, you know, that guy
<v Speaker 6>goes up there and basically makes Hulk look like a
<v Speaker 6>drug pusher or or some kind of like a smuggler.
<v Speaker 6>A ton of things could have happened to Hulk's reputation
<v Speaker 6>before that so you've got this undercurrent where it's like,
<v Speaker 6>when are we going to strike with this Hulgan natch?
<v Speaker 6>When are we going to when? When does the time
<v Speaker 6>make sense? Bishov has always talked about how they were very,
<v Speaker 6>very aware and kind of keyed in on the public
<v Speaker 6>relations risk, and that ultimately Ted Turner and Bill Shaw,
<v Speaker 6>who was the liaison between Eric and Ted and a
<v Speaker 6>huge big wig at Turner Broadcasting and who's in attendance
<v Speaker 6>for the first time at a WCW show at Bash
<v Speaker 6>at the Beach, ended up making the final call that
<v Speaker 6>it was worth the pr risk to bring Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 6>in at this time, even though it was a jump
<v Speaker 6>ball how he would end up being perceived, And you
<v Speaker 6>got to think that up until the way of his testimony,
<v Speaker 6>it was like, oh, is Hogan's trial is Vince's tround
<v Speaker 6>going to be in May? Originally was supposed to be
<v Speaker 6>in May, and it got pushed at July. Wow, Like
<v Speaker 6>that's really what it was. No one's ever said that directly,
<v Speaker 6>but I feel like, we don't know what the hell's
<v Speaker 6>going to come out about Hulk Hogan in this trial,
<v Speaker 6>And until it finally got under way and they felt
<v Speaker 6>probably a little more confident because Hulk had been briefed
<v Speaker 6>by the government as to what they wanted to say,
<v Speaker 6>and he probably had his ducks in a row to
<v Speaker 6>what he was going to say, and he was still,
<v Speaker 6>you know, sort of done negotiating with Titan. It's like
<v Speaker 6>they probably just did the match as soon as they
<v Speaker 6>practically felt they could get away with it without exposing
<v Speaker 6>themselves to huge headline risk around something crazy happening at
<v Speaker 6>this trial.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, you know, and to wait.
<v Speaker 6>They want to do it as soon as possible. And
<v Speaker 6>with that in mind, Stark, it doesn't make a lot
<v Speaker 6>of sense. How long and havoc doesn't make a lot
<v Speaker 6>of sense. They probably wanted to do it in fucking June,
<v Speaker 6>you know, or April, because I mean, if you watch
<v Speaker 6>Spring Stampede, it's a joke. I mean Flair and seamboat
<v Speaker 6>Like they talk about Flair and Hogan way more than
<v Speaker 6>they do Flar and Steamboat, even though that's the match
<v Speaker 6>they're presenting on the pay per view. Well, we'll get
<v Speaker 6>to it, and we didn't. When we did Spring Stampede
<v Speaker 6>nighty four, we talked we did it right, Oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 6>we did it.
<v Speaker 3>We did We did do it. We did do it.
<v Speaker 6>And the promos you know on Saturday Night between Flare
<v Speaker 6>and Steamboat leading in you get you ocal and asking
<v Speaker 6>Steamboat like if he feels overshadowed by all Cogan because
<v Speaker 6>Hogan's name dropping Rick Flair on those promos from the
<v Speaker 6>Thunder and Paradise set that they would play on Saturday night.
<v Speaker 6>So to me, that means, you know, they were already
<v Speaker 6>geared if they could, if everything lined up such that
<v Speaker 6>they could strike, they would have done it in the spring.
<v Speaker 6>They just did it soon as as soon as they
<v Speaker 6>thought the coast was relatively clear.
<v Speaker 3>That's crazy.
<v Speaker 1>The fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the
<v Speaker 1>boys need their candy.
<v Speaker 2>It's the Lapsed Fan.
<v Speaker 1>He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio
<v Speaker 1>m JP sorrow.
<v Speaker 3>Ah Okay, Federation Federal Federation heads would no longer be
<v Speaker 3>in the position to set agendas. I will see about that, right,
<v Speaker 3>It's an incredible concept, agreed Bill Watts. He's former vice
<v Speaker 3>president of wrestling operations. Shit. I bet Bill is all passed, right.
<v Speaker 6>He got ousted for Eric yep, and he's probably he's
<v Speaker 6>probably involved somehow on the back end here.
<v Speaker 3>You know, no promoters have always worried about the day
<v Speaker 3>when the wrestlers call all the shots. These four men
<v Speaker 3>get together, they could basically do whatever they wanted. They
<v Speaker 3>make the rules, but they wouldn't make mistake. So there.
<v Speaker 3>It's as if an Olympic style dream team decided to
<v Speaker 3>form its own NBA franchise, or if a baseball team
<v Speaker 3>rounded up Barry Bonds, Greg Maddox, Juan Gonzalez, and Joe Carter.
<v Speaker 3>The possibilities are mind boggling. Hogan and Flair nearing the
<v Speaker 3>ends of great career, nearing the ends of great careers,
<v Speaker 3>well you know, you know nothing. Hogan has in fact
<v Speaker 3>retired and unretired at least twice. Only under very special
<v Speaker 3>conditions would he unretire again. Flair, having accomplished all he
<v Speaker 3>set out to do, needs something different to keep himself interested,
<v Speaker 3>staying as a different motivation motivation. He's a peak performer
<v Speaker 3>doing very well on his own. Nonetheless, he couldn't resist
<v Speaker 3>the opportunity to opportunity to team with Hogan and Flair.
<v Speaker 3>Hart hasn't had much to do as a manager over
<v Speaker 3>the past year or so, and he knows Hogan won't
<v Speaker 3>wrestle too much. Longer. Where do they get this? Where
<v Speaker 3>do they get this information from?
<v Speaker 6>Whatever you're reading, it's going through the approval process of
<v Speaker 6>of Hulk Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>So like it? I mean, I may be a good point. However,
<v Speaker 3>he could use the prestige of the Hulkster, Flair's innumerable
<v Speaker 3>innumerable contacts, and Sting's reputation of the wrestling community to
<v Speaker 3>recruit younger stars into the fold who wouldn't want to
<v Speaker 3>be associated with them. Several insiders have speculated that Stay
<v Speaker 3>is no longer part of the pack right, and it
<v Speaker 3>may be why he wasn't invited. Flair, Hogan, and Hart
<v Speaker 3>might form their own team, or they could recruit two
<v Speaker 3>more horsemen. Possibilities include Lex Luger, Davy Boys Smith, and
<v Speaker 3>even the Ultimate Warrior, who's in early retirement and is,
<v Speaker 3>like Hogan, seeking success on the film and TV circle.
<v Speaker 6>That didn't happen at all. No me ask your question
<v Speaker 6>HBO Pro Wrestling, nineteen ninety four, Hogan, Flair, Sting, Davy Boy, Luger, Warrior.
<v Speaker 3>I mean I would want it. I wouldn't get it, though, wow,
<v Speaker 3>because my parents would never they you know, it took
<v Speaker 3>until my dad wanted to watch the Prano before we
<v Speaker 3>got HBO's that's a separate but I would want it, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I would. I'd listen. It didn't fucking matter if Hulk
<v Speaker 3>Hogan's going to wrestle on television, I fucking need it.
<v Speaker 3>Beat a path to the door. Yep, that's what it was.
<v Speaker 3>It did not matter to me that it was you
<v Speaker 3>know where it was or who it was with. I
<v Speaker 3>just needed Hulk Hogan. Flair laughed at the speculation. You
<v Speaker 3>boys are getting ahead of yourselves. You're talking, you're taking
<v Speaker 3>wishes and hoping they come true. Hulk and Jimmy did
<v Speaker 3>me a favor, that's all. We went back to my
<v Speaker 3>office to speak. Because the three of us don't get
<v Speaker 3>together too often. We're getting together, we're not getting together.
<v Speaker 3>I don't even know if it would work. Flare has
<v Speaker 3>a point. The California Angels used free agency to put
<v Speaker 3>together a team of high priced superstars. They won three
<v Speaker 3>American League West titles over an eight year span, but
<v Speaker 3>a World Series game has yet to be played in Anaheim.
<v Speaker 3>The New York Rangers, despite their spending, haven't won a
<v Speaker 3>Stanley Cup since Shout at Islanders and Wait, since Shouted
<v Speaker 3>Islanders and Devil Oh shouted Islanders and devil fans nineteen forty.
<v Speaker 3>The Minnesota Vikings traded away their future for herschel Walker
<v Speaker 3>and never saw the slightest return. The Four Horsemen are
<v Speaker 3>the greatest team that ever lived. Flair said, learn from history,
<v Speaker 3>appreciate what you saw, quit dreaming. That's good advice. Boys.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe maybe Heart and Hogan wouldn't comment or anything related
<v Speaker 3>to their meeting with Flair. Sting has also been silent
<v Speaker 3>on the issue. Several WCW ANDWWE wrestlers said they had
<v Speaker 3>no insight on the meeting and heard no rumors of
<v Speaker 3>a Flair Hogan Heart get together. Doesn't mean it won't happen. Hogan,
<v Speaker 3>stung by media criticism and reports of steroid abuse, carefully
<v Speaker 3>guards his privacy. Heart has stood by him. But as
<v Speaker 3>a little else lately related to wrestling, Flair likes to
<v Speaker 3>tease as a practice. Sting doesn't disclose private discus ussians
<v Speaker 3>to the medium. We have been left in a listen
<v Speaker 3>and wait situation. For now. All we have are pictures,
<v Speaker 3>food for thought, grizzle for the rumor mill, delicious anticipation.
<v Speaker 3>Just eat it up and we play a lot, and
<v Speaker 3>we plan to Mash at the Beach nineteen ninety four.
<v Speaker 3>I like the fucking rob band dam versus Saboo match
<v Speaker 3>right after that.
<v Speaker 6>I know how serendipitous is that all this is all happening.
<v Speaker 6>Those two are starting to get the publicity. Is like
<v Speaker 6>the indie match sensation yep, that you just have to see. Well,
<v Speaker 6>it was July nineteen ninety four, and for us, it's
<v Speaker 6>going to be August third. For us, it's going to
<v Speaker 6>be Comedy Village times Square by now, you know, damn
<v Speaker 6>fucking right, co Chairman, take the stage, the Lapsed Fan
<v Speaker 6>Live and we want to see you there as we
<v Speaker 6>just issue an edict on the state of being a
<v Speaker 6>pro wrestling fan in the Year of Our Lord twenty
<v Speaker 6>twenty five. What does it mean all these years after
<v Speaker 6>you know, hoping that Hulkamania would come back, that huole
<v Speaker 6>Comania and Hulkogan himself may never come back to the
<v Speaker 6>public eye ever again. What does it mean that so
<v Speaker 6>many other things that we held one sacred will collapse?
<v Speaker 3>What will it mean.
<v Speaker 6>Halfway between the biggest two night Summer Slam in history.
<v Speaker 6>Mm hmm, We're gonna lay it down as only TLF can,
<v Speaker 6>the only therapeutic experience a wrestling fan can have these days. Yes,
<v Speaker 6>TLF goes live. Chopping it up too hot for the
<v Speaker 6>pod is my prediction for what you're going to be
<v Speaker 6>hearing from the stage.
<v Speaker 3>Listen. It is, without a doubt, all right, the biggest
<v Speaker 3>pain of the summer.
<v Speaker 12>Sunday, August third, at noon, The Lapsed Fan takes on
<v Speaker 12>times Square tickets at Comedy Village dot com. There goes
<v Speaker 12>the neighborhood, you fucking bitch.
<v Speaker 6>Thirty five dollars a ticket to drink, minimum food and drink.
<v Speaker 6>You heard from the homie Rag Boots on the main
<v Speaker 6>feed who's been helping us put the shows together. Now
<v Speaker 6>about all of the upside of joining the co chairman,
<v Speaker 6>easy access heart of the city where where Vince.
<v Speaker 9>We were right in the middle of it all. That's
<v Speaker 9>really where we belong, and I think.
<v Speaker 6>That's there goes the neighborhood. The laps Fan live Comedy
<v Speaker 6>Village dot com. Don't just buy your tickets ahead of time,
<v Speaker 6>because they're moving. They're moving. We're hearing from folks they're moving.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah.
<v Speaker 6>But also email us at the laps Fan at gmail
<v Speaker 6>dot com. It's some proof of purchase and We'll try
<v Speaker 6>to get your shout out here, because we do appreciate
<v Speaker 6>folks acting early and often, and we do want to
<v Speaker 6>see you. Sunday, August third, Comedy Village, New York City,
<v Speaker 6>the co chairman back on stage and back talking that shit,
<v Speaker 6>back talking our shit.
<v Speaker 3>Right, absolutely, can you fucking ready believe.
<v Speaker 8>That?
<v Speaker 3>Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety four, The Hogan we
<v Speaker 3>see here, the flare, we see here the stage. Know
<v Speaker 3>what you're going to say? Make ten years after he
<v Speaker 3>beats iron cheek? Oh, that's what we're gonna say. Yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 3>what did you think I was gonna say? That he's
<v Speaker 3>uh like forty one years old? Oh, that's that's even
<v Speaker 3>more alarming. And that you know, he's forty one years
<v Speaker 3>old in this in the or almost or something like
<v Speaker 3>that in this uh for that show. But that's just
<v Speaker 3>not I mean, the fact that I'm older than him
<v Speaker 3>right now than he is in that show is just mortifying. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he has to be thirty years older than me all
<v Speaker 3>the time, right, well, he is, but that even back then,
<v Speaker 3>he can't be. I can never be older than I
<v Speaker 3>can never.
<v Speaker 6>Watch a show where Hal Coogan is younger in the
<v Speaker 6>show than I am at that.
<v Speaker 3>Moment right exactly. So he has to be seventy in
<v Speaker 3>that show, just the way it is.
<v Speaker 6>See the difference with what happens to your hair if
<v Speaker 6>you do steroids, if you don't, like he's no Air, no.
<v Speaker 3>Wonder he looked like he was sixty five, did no Air?
<v Speaker 3>It's true. But even Flair, I mean, Flair is only
<v Speaker 3>like a couple of years older than him, Like I think,
<v Speaker 3>I think, I think I'm still older than Flair, Like
<v Speaker 3>I'm older now than Flair. Wasn't that in that show?
<v Speaker 3>That's still not okay? I mean because Flair looks like
<v Speaker 3>Flair flare all always looks like he was fucking fifty
<v Speaker 3>years old.
<v Speaker 6>I think in some ways it is part and parcel
<v Speaker 6>what I'm saying, Like, how can this Hulkogan be only
<v Speaker 6>ten years older?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 6>Oh yeah, yes, yes, picture of the garden, chic eighty four,
<v Speaker 6>dimly lit crowd, all those weird changes happening, the naivete
<v Speaker 6>of the fan base, Hogan being like, you know, almost
<v Speaker 6>like a youthful poster boy, you know, losing his hair,
<v Speaker 6>but other than that, I still have like a little
<v Speaker 6>you know, it was like he still had a little
<v Speaker 6>bit but this is just full scullet. Yeah, all right,
<v Speaker 6>that's where we're at. I all scullet.
<v Speaker 3>The business changes used to change so much faster than
<v Speaker 3>it does now. Like I could watch a ww show
<v Speaker 3>from ten years ago and it would not feel drastically different.
<v Speaker 3>It would not despite their efforts to, you know, add
<v Speaker 3>production elements and make it look a lot different, feel
<v Speaker 3>a lot different. There is no comparison between twenty twenty
<v Speaker 3>five and twenty fifteen versus eighty four in ninety four.
<v Speaker 3>M I cannot believe that in just a space of
<v Speaker 3>ten years, Hulk went from running the wrestling world on
<v Speaker 3>the ascent to being someone who's getting one more shot
<v Speaker 3>at it ten years. That's it.
<v Speaker 6>After ten years, you've already retired and unretired like twice,
<v Speaker 6>and been through the fucking ringer of publicity and have
<v Speaker 6>to have this second lease on life. It's it's really,
<v Speaker 6>it's really amazing. You think of all the people that
<v Speaker 6>followed him. You know, Heenan has come over by this point.
<v Speaker 6>Jesse was there at WWF at the beginning with him,
<v Speaker 6>and now he's here at WCW. Not for long, of course.
<v Speaker 6>Even smaller players like Brian Blair ed Leslie Craig Leathers.
<v Speaker 6>Craig Leathers was in the fucking the credits for the
<v Speaker 6>original Colisseum home videos, yep. Yeah, And now he's in
<v Speaker 6>the truck for a World Championship Wrestling. Greg Gagney, Well,
<v Speaker 6>I didn't want to mention him, but.
<v Speaker 3>Sure.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, Jimmy Hart is a ringside screaming in the
<v Speaker 6>megaphone for the Hard Foundation, and now there he is
<v Speaker 6>with Hulk and WCW. It's just it's the same cast
<v Speaker 6>of care but the whole surrounding has changed. And and
<v Speaker 6>and motherfucker Austin's there. Y Foley's there. Foley's there, well
<v Speaker 6>not on the show. Triple H is there, yep, gold
<v Speaker 6>Dust is there. Mark Merrow is there. Mark Merrow is
<v Speaker 6>absolutely there. Regal, I mean not saying all these people,
<v Speaker 6>you know, you can tell which of those made huge impacts,
<v Speaker 6>and the WWF Vader, but they're all going there.
<v Speaker 3>Yep.
<v Speaker 6>The the the the incumbent crew in w CW, upon
<v Speaker 6>Hogan's arrival is all going to go to WWF and
<v Speaker 6>reinvent that place.
<v Speaker 3>Never look, change the whole game, Never look the whole
<v Speaker 3>fucking game.
<v Speaker 6>Think about it. Crazy for a second, because he's on
<v Speaker 6>the ship. He wrestles Ricky Steamboat two matches before Holt
<v Speaker 6>comes out.
<v Speaker 3>Yes he does.
<v Speaker 6>If one or two things were different and Steve Austin
<v Speaker 6>sticks around through ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight, he's
<v Speaker 6>on nitro with the nWo. I'm not saying that they
<v Speaker 6>would have discovered in him the electricity and that stone
<v Speaker 6>Cold would have been stone Cold in WSW I'm just saying,
<v Speaker 6>what the fuck would w w F had done if
<v Speaker 6>Steve Austin didn't find his way over there and strike
<v Speaker 6>the gold that he did.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, I really don't know. I mean, if everything
<v Speaker 3>went the same way too with Brett and all that
<v Speaker 3>stuff like ch I mean, they they they wouldn't have
<v Speaker 3>been I mean they really, they would have been up
<v Speaker 3>Shit's creek. I think so, I really, I just don't.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if they would have been able to
<v Speaker 3>because because you know, Rock was still just too far away.
<v Speaker 3>Rock wouldn't have been able to come Rock without Steve
<v Speaker 3>right that too, But he was also when you think
<v Speaker 3>about when he actually turned into something major, it wasn't
<v Speaker 3>for another you know, it wasn't until ninety eight at
<v Speaker 3>the earliest, when he was something.
<v Speaker 13>No, you you.
<v Speaker 3>I mean if if if Eric Bischoff had hadn't been
<v Speaker 3>so disappointed with black Trunks, we would not be where
<v Speaker 3>we are today. I mean Austin famously went to Eric
<v Speaker 3>when Hull came. Hey know what, I'll tell you what,
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you what if? I mean, well, think about this,
<v Speaker 3>think about this. What if if Austin hadn't gone over
<v Speaker 3>maybe we would be having a live show at w
<v Speaker 3>W bash and the Beach two Nier.
<v Speaker 2>Huh huh.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe that would be the case. It's allowed to deal with.
<v Speaker 3>It's a lot to deal with Jr. Going over there, yep.
<v Speaker 6>But just it really it really hit me more than
<v Speaker 6>ever before because intellectually, yeah, of course, why why didn't
<v Speaker 6>they see something in Steve Austin such that they kept
<v Speaker 6>him around?
<v Speaker 3>But it isn't that.
<v Speaker 6>It isn't why didn't they keep Steven pushing him to
<v Speaker 6>the moon and make as much money as WTIF could
<v Speaker 6>have with it. It's why didn't they deprive i've WWF
<v Speaker 6>of Steve Austin, right?
<v Speaker 3>I mean they they saw I mean really, it's they
<v Speaker 3>saw so little in Steve Austin right that they didn't
<v Speaker 3>care that he went away and I don't think.
<v Speaker 6>It would take much, you know, because Steve was just
<v Speaker 6>we've told the story a hundred times, deeply insulted by
<v Speaker 6>the way he was kind of treated.
<v Speaker 3>At the end.
<v Speaker 6>He famously went to Eric when Hulk came in and
<v Speaker 6>suggested ways that he could work with Hulk. It was
<v Speaker 6>quickly kind of dispirited from the notion. It was kind
<v Speaker 6>of like, well, that's not wrong, So really, how this
<v Speaker 6>is going to work. No one's gonna pitch Hulk taps
<v Speaker 6>you on the shoulder. You don't tap Hulk on the
<v Speaker 6>shoulder here, people didn't. I don't think I even understand
<v Speaker 6>what the creative control clause even necessarily implied at the
<v Speaker 6>very beginning in that way and thought the old way
<v Speaker 6>of lobbying to get in the ring with someone might
<v Speaker 6>might might prove efficacious. Like no, actually, what you guys
<v Speaker 6>don't realize this. Hulk Coagan pretty much is the boss now,
<v Speaker 6>like for all intents and purposes, rightly, he's not the
<v Speaker 6>boss of shows. He's not going to be here for
<v Speaker 6>but if Hulk's coming, he runs the promotion.
<v Speaker 3>That's it.
<v Speaker 6>Because if he doesn't like something, it's not going to happen.
<v Speaker 6>And if he doesn't like something, he's going to let
<v Speaker 6>it be known, and he will win every single time
<v Speaker 6>in a showdown over a battle of philosophies, or wherever
<v Speaker 6>the case might be. So you guys can all, you know,
<v Speaker 6>amuse yourselves with your programs when Hulk doesn't deem fit
<v Speaker 6>to enter the building. But if he does, you have
<v Speaker 6>now lost all control and the people you think you're
<v Speaker 6>lobbying have no power, and they're not going to admit
<v Speaker 6>it to your face. But it's over game, set match.
<v Speaker 6>Either Hogan's thriving and succeeding and WSW is or Hogan
<v Speaker 6>is not and ww is not, and that becomes the
<v Speaker 6>story of the promotion. But you know, if I don't know,
<v Speaker 6>if they just threw Steve a bone and said, yeah,
<v Speaker 6>you know, Hulk wants them. He doesn't want to go
<v Speaker 6>straight to wreck. He wants to run through a few
<v Speaker 6>heels that can bump their ass off for him. Steve
<v Speaker 6>would have put his hand up. He would have been happiest.
<v Speaker 14>Shit.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, you know, even if Fulk drops the leg on him,
<v Speaker 6>I'll stick around a couple more years. The money's good here,
<v Speaker 6>Hulk's here. Things seem to be turning around, even if
<v Speaker 6>I'm not going to be world champion. I can see
<v Speaker 6>myself being happy here and making good money. That's all
<v Speaker 6>it would take. And then WWF is fucking dead dead, yep,
<v Speaker 6>because we all know if it's all like Kulcamania, we
<v Speaker 6>live through it. We know that if Steve Austin doesn't
<v Speaker 6>come around, WWF dies, it might. It didn't necessarily go
<v Speaker 6>out of business entirely, but it has absolutely no shot
<v Speaker 6>of catching fire like it did without that character at
<v Speaker 6>the heart of it and leaning in and had being
<v Speaker 6>so desperate that they allowed themselves to lean in to
<v Speaker 6>the hyper violence of vulgarity and the intensity of the
<v Speaker 6>Steve Boston character, and all that portended for the changing
<v Speaker 6>of the very nature of the product, enabling and emboldening,
<v Speaker 6>you know, the Vince Russeau vision of things and all
<v Speaker 6>everything came downstream from embracing the Steve Austin dynamic.
<v Speaker 3>It's something to think, I mean it it is. I
<v Speaker 3>mean also too, let's not taking let's not take anything
<v Speaker 3>away from mc foley huge for that matter, and he
<v Speaker 3>you know is I mean that's right before Hogan right here.
<v Speaker 3>Pat you know, if if if Foley, if they had
<v Speaker 3>kept Foley too and they decided they wanted to do
<v Speaker 3>something with Foley and he hadn't left got me ECW
<v Speaker 3>and then got W. I mean that also would be
<v Speaker 3>a massive, a massive hit because he was so crucial
<v Speaker 3>in many ways, uh, in his own way of kind
<v Speaker 3>of ushering in some of that early that early extra violence.
<v Speaker 3>That that that that would become the attitude era.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, I mean, Ship, Austin Rock, Criple, h Edge, Orton.
<v Speaker 6>They all owe their careers to make fully. Yeah, of course,
<v Speaker 6>whether they will admit it or not, some of them will,
<v Speaker 6>some of them won't. But if Folly doesn't go out
<v Speaker 6>there and make them look like killing machines that we
<v Speaker 6>can believe as world champions, they never get there.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, hell, you know what I mean. Even Undertaker
<v Speaker 3>owes him his second life.
<v Speaker 6>Even Undertaker, I agree, Yeah, even Undertaker was made beforehand,
<v Speaker 6>but still it was when he came in it was.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, but he was also like he was also
<v Speaker 3>fucking just awful. Yeah at that point, fucking wrestling with
<v Speaker 3>a mask, oh, taking on fucking may desperately seeking something
<v Speaker 3>that anybody could give a shit about. Yeah, you talk about.
<v Speaker 6>Our journeys and now we always settle on heroes, people
<v Speaker 6>who are sort of just beneath the surface. They're not
<v Speaker 6>the main characters in the story, but they are indelible
<v Speaker 6>parts of the firmament of the whole thing. If if
<v Speaker 6>we were to look at the Attitude era as a journey,
<v Speaker 6>Mick Foley's the hero. It's very simple, yes, oh, no question,
<v Speaker 6>very simple, no question.
<v Speaker 3>Another's he's it's it's weird you know you don't you
<v Speaker 3>know again because he because he never he didn't hit
<v Speaker 3>the heights like Austin Rock or even Triple H. He's
<v Speaker 3>the through line, that's right. He's the constant. He's the
<v Speaker 3>guy holding it together, making you care the whole time, yep, making.
<v Speaker 6>You care, not even just about him, making you care
<v Speaker 6>about others that go on to that go on to
<v Speaker 6>feel like they belong in the spot that WWF wants
<v Speaker 6>to put them in. And and just the fact that
<v Speaker 6>ww had the opportunity again not to do that, not
<v Speaker 6>to do that before WWF, but to deprive WWF of
<v Speaker 6>the resources to do that. It's just just amazing to
<v Speaker 6>think about. And I didn't realize how fine a point
<v Speaker 6>Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety four specifically puts on that. Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>then I did watching it again for preparation and realizing
<v Speaker 6>who's on the under card and just how poetic it
<v Speaker 6>is that Steve Austin and Mankind turn over the stage
<v Speaker 6>to Hulk and therefore turn over the whole momentum in
<v Speaker 6>the business in some ways, and how it would how
<v Speaker 6>the course it would chart from there.
<v Speaker 3>But it was a.
<v Speaker 6>Long flirtation relatively speaking, between Hulk and WCW. And we
<v Speaker 6>lived through this. We lived through nineteen ninety three. We
<v Speaker 6>lived through picking up WWF magazine and seeing what I
<v Speaker 6>just sent you in the chat window.
<v Speaker 3>It's not something uh you said, some fucking alert of
<v Speaker 3>the goddamn chat window because it makes no sounds. That's
<v Speaker 3>very concerned, very concerning. Oh come on, people, what you see?
<v Speaker 3>Oh I love this thing. This was one of my
<v Speaker 3>fav its.
<v Speaker 9>It is.
<v Speaker 3>First of all, it was such a great thing that
<v Speaker 3>they would that they would do back then Matt Watch,
<v Speaker 3>which was a dream match thing.
<v Speaker 9>It was.
<v Speaker 3>It was the w magazine did a dream match scenario
<v Speaker 3>in the middle of their like I remember. One of
<v Speaker 3>the most random ones was they did like demolition in
<v Speaker 3>somebody else. It was like demolition of the Steiner Brothers.
<v Speaker 3>Weird it's like demolition. Like listen, I'm thrilled to have
<v Speaker 3>to to fantasize, but like they're long gone right by
<v Speaker 3>that point, by ninety three, ninety whatever they were how
<v Speaker 3>often they were doing this thing. But yeah, this is
<v Speaker 3>Brett Hart and Hulk Hogan. They this is sum Islam.
<v Speaker 3>They put it right in our face and asked us
<v Speaker 3>to consider it. Yep, they did.
<v Speaker 6>They asked us they think about the relative strengths and weaknesses.
<v Speaker 6>And we know from all the shows we've done, the
<v Speaker 6>intrigue around what would happen in ninety three after Hogan
<v Speaker 6>came out and beat Yokazun, after Yo Kazuna had beaten Brett,
<v Speaker 6>and where that was heading that we know that WWF
<v Speaker 6>would have liked to have done Brett taking the title
<v Speaker 6>from Hulk Hogan at a SummerSlam, and we wonder, you know,
<v Speaker 6>and but Hulk, you know, and this is the tension.
<v Speaker 6>Vince saw Hulk as riding off into the Babe Ruth Roll,
<v Speaker 6>somebody who would mostly do pr and do occasional legends
<v Speaker 6>matches where he faced off against.
<v Speaker 3>A big star for a big payday.
<v Speaker 6>All the way through, I mean, Vince kept this idea
<v Speaker 6>of who Hogan was till the very end. Remember during
<v Speaker 6>TNH we're reading through the deposition and Hogan's talking about
<v Speaker 6>Vince's floating John Cena versus Hulk Hogan in twenty thirteen
<v Speaker 6>or whatever the fuck it was. Yep, yep for WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 6>He still sees that use case for Hulk. But for
<v Speaker 6>Hulk that means it's over. That means he's no longer
<v Speaker 6>the full time top star, top earner. And make no mistake,
<v Speaker 6>as much as we'd make fun of Hulk for clutching
<v Speaker 6>the belt like pearls, all he's really clutching is the
<v Speaker 6>money that that belt represents. That's what he right, you know,
<v Speaker 6>that's what he wants is because it's still a business
<v Speaker 6>where if you're the champion, you command the most money.
<v Speaker 6>And that's real. If the Intercontinental champion made more money
<v Speaker 6>than the WWBF champion, Hulk Hogan would covet the Intercontinental
<v Speaker 6>Championship like you would.
<v Speaker 12>He.
<v Speaker 3>He'd glad to be the workers champion, right.
<v Speaker 6>Exactly, to get in that gym and show what he
<v Speaker 6>could do. But yeah, they compare the relative strengths and
<v Speaker 6>weaknesses of the two, their key wins and key losses,
<v Speaker 6>and finishing moves and strategy. And I just put this
<v Speaker 6>out there to highlight that real transition point we're at.
<v Speaker 6>When Hogan exits the WWF stage, they want to make Brett.
<v Speaker 6>Hulk knows they want to make Brett. Hulk doesn't want
<v Speaker 6>to make Brett. Not anything particularly against Brett, but more
<v Speaker 6>because what that would signal for his relevance in the
<v Speaker 6>wrestling world and the WWF going forward. And what we get,
<v Speaker 6>as far as I can tell, is Hulk Hogan starting
<v Speaker 6>to throw a bit of a fit about being edged
<v Speaker 6>out of the picture, about being edged out of the
<v Speaker 6>top money spot, and using New Japan and using WCW
<v Speaker 6>and using this HBO gimmick, and using all these other
<v Speaker 6>things he's trying to do as basically pieces of leverage
<v Speaker 6>to signal to Vince that if you don't think I'm
<v Speaker 6>worth building around anymore, there are plenty of people who
<v Speaker 6>will think that, And of course Eric Bishoff was most
<v Speaker 6>prominent among them. But May third of nineteen ninety three
<v Speaker 6>in Japan, you remember it from Paying Off the Pacific
<v Speaker 6>Hulk Cogan as I want you.
<v Speaker 3>To, I want I want to. I just want to
<v Speaker 3>point something out quickly, very very quickly, because I think
<v Speaker 3>I think this is the case. Now in that picture
<v Speaker 3>you sent me here, do you see his Do you
<v Speaker 3>see uh Hulk Cogan's wristbands. Yeah, I believe those are
<v Speaker 3>the ones that he's wearing at Bash of the Beach.
<v Speaker 3>I believe you right. Yellow WWE is WWE wristband licensed
<v Speaker 3>wristbands that you could buy at the merchandise stand, yes
<v Speaker 3>you could, or you could buy them in the the
<v Speaker 3>w merchandise catalog.
<v Speaker 6>Wasn't that what a what an addition when he came
<v Speaker 6>back in ninety three, Now we have the sweat band
<v Speaker 6>as part of the costume.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, yeah, the whole I mean, you know, his whole
<v Speaker 3>like ninety three attire was such a thing. You know.
<v Speaker 3>But I thought that was very interesting to me that
<v Speaker 3>he was wearing because it wasn't I could see it.
<v Speaker 3>I could see like he never I don't think he
<v Speaker 3>really had that triangle logo in WCW. That triangle thing
<v Speaker 3>was a very WWE thing. Yes it was, and with
<v Speaker 3>the whole commania in it, and it just didn't. I
<v Speaker 3>was like that, Nah, he's wearing something. He's doing something naughty.
<v Speaker 6>That was right, That was very those were like, you know,
<v Speaker 6>they were they didn't fit. They were like anachronisms. You
<v Speaker 6>saw like the wrestling buddies in the audience at Dash
<v Speaker 6>at the Beach, right, WWF licensed merchandise. Couldn't get more
<v Speaker 6>wwf ulll cokean than a wrestling buddy or the LJN.
<v Speaker 6>Some fans have lj ns in their hands. I'm sure
<v Speaker 6>people brought Hasbros. They didn't have any WCW hull coke
<v Speaker 6>and merchandise. What else are they supposed to try? Can
<v Speaker 6>I tell you anything?
<v Speaker 3>That was my my biggest My biggest wish actually with
<v Speaker 3>Hogan going to WCW was that Hasbro would follow Wow,
<v Speaker 3>like like Slim Jim did and some others. Yeah. I
<v Speaker 3>was really hoping that that has Bro would follow Logan
<v Speaker 3>WSW and we get a bunch of ww hasbrod you.
<v Speaker 6>Just fucking you know sometimes even after ten years. Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>you'll open a brand new door. Yeah oh yeah, never
<v Speaker 6>considered like a Johnny b Bad Hasbro. Yeah right, let
<v Speaker 6>us sit here and like a true Vader Hasbro and
<v Speaker 6>Arn Anderson.
<v Speaker 3>Has Bro Stunning, Steve os has Bro huh, like just
<v Speaker 3>an Evad Sullivan has Sting, Hasbro Sting Hasbro h just
<v Speaker 3>amazing at the thought, Like just I was like that,
<v Speaker 3>I just thought that would make sense, you know, because
<v Speaker 3>I already knew it's kind of funny. Well, I guess
<v Speaker 3>because by this point, because I never got the ninety four,
<v Speaker 3>like I never got the green cards. The green cards
<v Speaker 3>never made it to my right, you know, it was
<v Speaker 3>always you know, the last I had were the Purple cards,
<v Speaker 3>and I think they were probably already done by this point,
<v Speaker 3>you know, And so it was like I knew hasbros
<v Speaker 3>weren't around anymore. They were gone. So to me, it
<v Speaker 3>was like, oh man, what if he or maybe we
<v Speaker 3>happen a little bit later where I thought that, But
<v Speaker 3>I was like, what if what if they fucking went there?
<v Speaker 3>I said, I know, they're going to have to do
<v Speaker 3>new toys for for for WCW, but of course they
<v Speaker 3>do fucking San Francisco toys. James, Yeah, which is so annoying.
<v Speaker 6>Which was one of the things that you could point
<v Speaker 6>to that holding open the door for because Bischoff talked
<v Speaker 6>about how kind of frustrating it was to get these
<v Speaker 6>half hearted calls back from toy companies trying to get
<v Speaker 6>licensing going because Glub was over Glube, I think had
<v Speaker 6>already ceased to exist, or at the very least they
<v Speaker 6>were no longer producing WW action figures. And WCW didn't
<v Speaker 6>have toys for like three years.
<v Speaker 3>It's crazy.
<v Speaker 6>It's like, that's like cable stakes. You got to have
<v Speaker 6>toys like that's that's how you make new fans. And
<v Speaker 6>they didn't have it, and they it was it wasn't
<v Speaker 6>for lack of trying. But Hogan comes in and all
<v Speaker 6>of a sudden, we've got these lj and rip offs
<v Speaker 6>all over the place, to the point you can still
<v Speaker 6>find them. That's how surplus, how much surplus was created.
<v Speaker 6>You can find those things in any vintage wrestling store,
<v Speaker 6>no problem in the in the package. I mean, they
<v Speaker 6>made an Alex right San Francisco toymaker. They made a
<v Speaker 6>Colonel Pittman great, so you know they they make that
<v Speaker 6>just makes sense. So all of a sudden, I'm holding
<v Speaker 6>Boss this this hull COG and l j N. But
<v Speaker 6>he's got a shirt that doesn't come off and a
<v Speaker 6>bandana that doesn't come off. Yep, with that portally airbrushed
<v Speaker 6>h O G A N on his head now instead
<v Speaker 6>of up and this is what we have to This
<v Speaker 6>is what we're dealing with. This is what we're dealing with.
<v Speaker 3>And you know what I did. You know what I
<v Speaker 3>did with that? That that that that championship belt. The
<v Speaker 3>San Francisco toy makers went, yeah, Whi's doing it? That
<v Speaker 3>became my undisputed championship. Un I had. So I had,
<v Speaker 3>you know, because I had I had the King of
<v Speaker 3>the Ring ring. So I had two championship belts, two
<v Speaker 3>w W championship belts. So the older one that I had,
<v Speaker 3>I painted and I had it be like it was red.
<v Speaker 3>I painted the strap red and I used silver paint
<v Speaker 3>for the the Wayne Eagle stuff. And so what I
<v Speaker 3>I used those that was that became my w c
<v Speaker 3>W Championship belt. I used that one as the wc
<v Speaker 3>W Championship unbelievable. And and so I had these two titles, right,
<v Speaker 3>and so at one point I decided to to merge
<v Speaker 3>the championships and I and so the the what was
<v Speaker 3>going to happen was it was weird. It was like
<v Speaker 3>they were going to merge, but not really merge. So
<v Speaker 3>like there was going to be when they merged, they
<v Speaker 3>were going to create this undisputed championship, which would be
<v Speaker 3>the Championship of Championships, but there still would be a
<v Speaker 3>WWWW title underneath. You know. It's like you know, essentially
<v Speaker 3>it's like the Saudi Championship. Yeah, keep it in a
<v Speaker 3>trophy case, you know, but no, but I would use
<v Speaker 3>like that would be like that would be how I
<v Speaker 3>kept better track of my world champions was like that.
<v Speaker 3>When you had that belt, you were the real champion
<v Speaker 3>of everything. You know, it was, it was, it was
<v Speaker 3>grander than everything else. That's wild, weird ass times man.
<v Speaker 6>All made possible by Hulkogan's arrival in WCW A lot
<v Speaker 6>of ways, correct, They all kind of fell into place
<v Speaker 6>after that. But it wasn't the title at WrestleMania nine.
<v Speaker 6>But it isn't like nothing happens until King of the Ring.
<v Speaker 6>As far as we knew was American fans, nothing happened
<v Speaker 6>pay enough, the Pacific listeners know, and people who you know,
<v Speaker 6>looked at the history know. He went to Japan. He
<v Speaker 6>went to New Japan and he wrestled case Jimudo and
<v Speaker 6>in the Tokyo Dome, and he brought with him the
<v Speaker 6>Wing Eagle WWF Championship. He wore that belt to the.
<v Speaker 3>Ring in fence.
<v Speaker 6>He said, he needed footage versusle reels of Hogan for
<v Speaker 6>Bash at the Beach before they had him doing anything
<v Speaker 6>on their own tapes. They used footage of him walking
<v Speaker 6>down the ramp with the WWF title oh from New Japan,
<v Speaker 6>who they had a promotional relationship with Antonio ANDOK. No
<v Speaker 6>less than Antonio and Ok is in attendance and is
<v Speaker 6>serenaded at Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety four as
<v Speaker 6>the signal of the strengthening of that relationship as well,
<v Speaker 6>which had somewhat soured under Bill Wats's regime, and Bischoff
<v Speaker 6>looked to repurpose with his pal Brad Ringins being a
<v Speaker 6>key executive in liaison for New Japan with the United
<v Speaker 6>States back from the Minneapolis Days. But we know what
<v Speaker 6>happens after the match. We know that Hogan sits at
<v Speaker 6>the Days before the Japanese press, probably never expecting that
<v Speaker 6>technology would evolve that the Americans would ever see this promo.
<v Speaker 6>But he's out there trying to let the Japanese wrestling
<v Speaker 6>public know that he's very willing to play New Japan
<v Speaker 6>off of WWF. He's very willing to tell anyone who's
<v Speaker 6>listening in that country that Japanese wrestling is hotter than
<v Speaker 6>American wrestling right now, and there is more prestige in
<v Speaker 6>coming to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling than there
<v Speaker 6>is being the World Wrestling Federation Champion. This, hilariously is
<v Speaker 6>something Hogan denied ever, saying didn't having never considered, I
<v Speaker 6>guess that tape of it could get out now. It's
<v Speaker 6>as easy as a keystroke on YouTube all these years later,
<v Speaker 6>which really makes it an appropriate time to do a
<v Speaker 6>full vetting of the holster because of how easy the
<v Speaker 6>material is to access now. But here he is saying
<v Speaker 6>the things that one would say if he is expecting
<v Speaker 6>his WAF tenure to come to an end and a
<v Speaker 6>new home, a new home to become the priority.
<v Speaker 8>Five times World Wrestling Federation Champion. This belt is just
<v Speaker 8>a toy. It's like a trinket on a Christmas tree,
<v Speaker 8>like an ornament. The belt that I want is the
<v Speaker 8>one that the Great Muta has IWGP belt, because when
<v Speaker 8>Hulkovin wins the IWGP Championship, which he should have right now,
<v Speaker 8>it will prove the New Japan Pro Wrestling and Hull
<v Speaker 8>Covin is the greatest, the greatest partners in the world
<v Speaker 8>because I want all the great wrestlers to come to me,
<v Speaker 8>and I wanted to come to Japan where I can
<v Speaker 8>wrestle and not bullshit. I want to wrestle and prove
<v Speaker 8>that I'm the dust Kibo Ken. There's an old saying
<v Speaker 8>in the United States of America and that you can't
<v Speaker 8>you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. But this
<v Speaker 8>old dog does not need new tricks. I know all
<v Speaker 8>the tricks. I've proven that I'm a survivor. I've proven
<v Speaker 8>that I'm a leader, and I will not quit professional wrestling.
<v Speaker 8>Many many people you've seen quit and come back, quit
<v Speaker 8>and come back, but if you watch hulkovid, I have
<v Speaker 8>never quit.
<v Speaker 9>I will always be here.
<v Speaker 8>And now that I'm back in Japan, tonight was a
<v Speaker 8>great night for me because I was very worried because
<v Speaker 8>Muda is a brand new star. He's one of the
<v Speaker 8>best new Japan has, and tonight it was fun, it
<v Speaker 8>was easy. I want bigger challenges.
<v Speaker 7>I want more.
<v Speaker 8>Opponents than Antonio, andok has time to step down from
<v Speaker 8>his government job of a Senate.
<v Speaker 9>I would love to wrestle.
<v Speaker 1>It's the last fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that
<v Speaker 1>knows the boys need their candy.
<v Speaker 2>It's the lapsed fan. He's a lapsed fan.
<v Speaker 1>Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno and j Piso.
<v Speaker 6>Would love to wrestle Antonio and Noki. This is a
<v Speaker 6>guy looking to move on from Vince and acting out
<v Speaker 6>in ways you would if if you wanted to send
<v Speaker 6>a strong signal to the wrestling world at Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 6>is on the market. And to call the WWF Championship
<v Speaker 6>an ornament on a Christmas tree, that sounds to me
<v Speaker 6>like someone who knows that in just a matter of
<v Speaker 6>weeks he's going to be forced to drop said championship.
<v Speaker 6>Man oh man, he wants to downplay it sounds to
<v Speaker 6>me like someone who knows this is coming.
<v Speaker 11>Give him another gay fans, he's up, pitched up, say
<v Speaker 11>good night the yo go Zuda.
<v Speaker 2>Hold that and they're turning that. Drove up found this too.
<v Speaker 9>Oh my god.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't believe I kicked out of his leg Nobody
<v Speaker 3>gets can't believe it.
<v Speaker 15>The food just natup the air PRIs you goes in
<v Speaker 15>it kicked out him on his legs.
<v Speaker 3>I can't believe it. Never beat born. Has anybody done that?
<v Speaker 3>Lies but a photographer. They all give that photographer down.
<v Speaker 3>He shouldn't be up on the air press.
<v Speaker 2>A dangerous place to be. Well, he's puture like, oh
<v Speaker 2>his camera.
<v Speaker 16>Exploded what not and hung his face, his cameracks clouting
<v Speaker 16>and hungon's face.
<v Speaker 2>You goes in up preps a.
<v Speaker 16>Leadin un hugging, You go send the one he got two.
<v Speaker 11>Constata know you man, Hell.
<v Speaker 3>Happened, obviously, his camera exploding.
<v Speaker 16>Ladies and gentlemen, let's go hard be no on the official.
<v Speaker 3>But what of this boat, like Richard to me on
<v Speaker 3>you go.
<v Speaker 16>By my headlines in the papers in Japan are gonna
<v Speaker 16>be up his eyes on a sign that's been in
<v Speaker 16>parent from that explosion.
<v Speaker 3>Oh no, I can't call what happened because I don't know.
<v Speaker 9>It's obvious to me that that.
<v Speaker 3>Bright lights all right, flame Federation.
<v Speaker 2>Once again are too much for the hawkster.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, what's the what's the mission there? Certainly not to expected,
<v Speaker 3>God damn it, Bury the son of a bitch.
<v Speaker 6>And how about him saying the papers in Japan are
<v Speaker 6>going to be full of the same country that Hulk
<v Speaker 6>just made those remarks to.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's really funny, that's really fucking funny.
<v Speaker 6>Let the games begin. There are several bonds ie drops
<v Speaker 6>after that from Yoko to Hulk. Savage says Yoko was
<v Speaker 6>squashing the American dream. Heenan declares, hulkamania. There he was
<v Speaker 6>in ww kids holding wrestling buddies in the audience there
<v Speaker 6>in Ohio, watching Hulk just get extinguished before their very eyes.
<v Speaker 3>The you know one of the things, who was the photographer?
<v Speaker 3>I think it was Harvey Whippleman. And were they ever
<v Speaker 3>were they ever going to pay that off? No, I
<v Speaker 3>don't think so. I think they knew Hogan was going
<v Speaker 3>but still like they were just gonna like let that
<v Speaker 3>because that that always bothered me. Yeah, as a fan,
<v Speaker 3>like I want to know who that scumbag was. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>Hulk should still be seating answers honestly, because that's a
<v Speaker 3>huge loss for him, I know. And as we've joked
<v Speaker 3>about for ten years, I can't believe. I still can't
<v Speaker 3>believe he let he let he allowed Yoko's going to
<v Speaker 3>drop the leg on him and pin him. That to
<v Speaker 3>me is like, well, brother, dude, you know all all
<v Speaker 3>I'll do. I'll do business too, but I'm not.
<v Speaker 6>It sounds to me like a compromise of like I
<v Speaker 6>think it hurt me worse to lose to Brett, to
<v Speaker 6>the sharpshooter in the middle. So let me find something
<v Speaker 6>I'm willing to do, or at least I'm losing to
<v Speaker 6>a heel and I can conceive of a comeback off
<v Speaker 6>of it.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean, but why not just lose at the
<v Speaker 3>bonds I drop? Why lose to the to the leg drop?
<v Speaker 3>Like you know that that to me is insulting? Interesting?
<v Speaker 6>Well, I always felt the camera to the eye was mitigating,
<v Speaker 6>you know, like I'll lose, but I need to have
<v Speaker 6>some kind of hap.
<v Speaker 3>Well that that that that's it, I mean, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he he he lost dirty. You know, it wasn't he
<v Speaker 3>didn't lose clean, and and that always is the uh
<v Speaker 3>you know, that's the whole COVID way except for a
<v Speaker 3>few people. So that that that that for sure. But
<v Speaker 3>it just seemed weird to me that he would allow
<v Speaker 3>a leg drop to be the move that actually put
<v Speaker 3>him away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, come on, like,
<v Speaker 3>are we really we're really just gonna ignore WrestleMania eight folks,
<v Speaker 3>Like we really are just gonna you know, we're just
<v Speaker 3>gonna pretend that it didn't happen ago it happens even
<v Speaker 3>though it happens in fucking plane sight right there, Like
<v Speaker 3>anybody who rents the tape is going to see it.
<v Speaker 6>I think that's why so many people buy the you
<v Speaker 6>know Shango was later in the running story.
<v Speaker 3>Because they did. They didn't acknowledge it. They they ran
<v Speaker 3>to wallpaper it over right. It's so pathetic.
<v Speaker 6>And there has to be instances of that before in
<v Speaker 6>WWF where someone kicked out a leg drop, not that
<v Speaker 6>I can recall off hand, but I don't know. While
<v Speaker 6>the light drop is always kind of his finisher, I
<v Speaker 6>feel like only in only in Japan did he did
<v Speaker 6>people kick out of it. I remember, I can't think
<v Speaker 6>of another instance before before Sid. I can't think of
<v Speaker 6>an instance where someone can go to the lake drop.
<v Speaker 3>There you go, fans.
<v Speaker 6>Well, one person we did hear from in that clip
<v Speaker 6>was Jim Ross and his very brief initial tenure in
<v Speaker 6>the WWF. He was able to call King of the
<v Speaker 6>Ring in WrestleMania nine and so was party to Hulk
<v Speaker 6>Hogan's last you know Hurrah and political scheming.
<v Speaker 3>And here's JR.
<v Speaker 6>And his own podcast remarking upon what was kind of
<v Speaker 6>in the air and what the legacy was of Hulks
<v Speaker 6>finishing up with WWF.
<v Speaker 3>But this has to Austins. They have to.
<v Speaker 17>I imagine this piss is offense mcmon my goodness, why
<v Speaker 17>wouldn't it. Yeah, he's made the guy rich and famous. Yes,
<v Speaker 17>he's on top of the world.
<v Speaker 6>To be clear, he's talking about Hulk making those disparaging
<v Speaker 6>comments in Japan. Yeah about the ww titles. Let's start again.
<v Speaker 3>But this has to Austins. They have to.
<v Speaker 17>I imagine this piss is offense mcmon my goodness, why
<v Speaker 17>wouldn't it. Yeah, he's made the guy rich and famous. Yes,
<v Speaker 17>he's on top of the world. He was, Everything was
<v Speaker 17>built around him. So why aren't you professional enough? He's
<v Speaker 17>sticking a Hulk to do the right thing for the business.
<v Speaker 18>You want out That Problemo would have lent me to
<v Speaker 18>believe that you want out right, So let's get you
<v Speaker 18>out of here here, and to do that, you gotta
<v Speaker 18>there's gotta be a successor, and and and why I
<v Speaker 18>couldn't have been Bret hart I I'll still, like I
<v Speaker 18>said earlier, I don't know. I probably will never know,
<v Speaker 18>but uh it was I thought it was a cheap shot,
<v Speaker 18>and I thought it was the sign of you know,
<v Speaker 18>there's so much paranoia conrad in wrestling, especially guys that
<v Speaker 18>wanted to put somebody not wanting to put somebody.
<v Speaker 3>Over as if it's real.
<v Speaker 18>I don't get that. I don't get that. I thought
<v Speaker 18>Hogan was being unfair. He made a fortune, he became,
<v Speaker 18>like I said, rich and famous, because I can promise
<v Speaker 18>you that uh New Japan would not want Hogan if
<v Speaker 18>he couldn't if he if he wasn't rich and famous,
<v Speaker 18>he was a star, right, so uh and who made
<v Speaker 18>him a star? This made Hogan a star. And but
<v Speaker 18>someware along the way that the waters get muddy and
<v Speaker 18>you all of a sudden find out that, uh, you know,
<v Speaker 18>maybe you're not as great as you think you were.
<v Speaker 18>And it took a team to as they say, the
<v Speaker 18>Texas Village or registered family or gragious children or something
<v Speaker 18>they'd us to do something.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, it was just I.
<v Speaker 18>Never understood that Hogan should have been extremely uh uh happy,
<v Speaker 18>He should have been extremely thankful that he got this
<v Speaker 18>major break. And look, he didn't do it by himself.
<v Speaker 18>He ww didn't do it without Hogan. Hogan played his role.
<v Speaker 18>But there's a time for everybody, you know, someday Roman
<v Speaker 18>Reigns is going to lose the title in w w E.
<v Speaker 3>And it's just going to be time and so.
<v Speaker 18>But Hogan never saw it that way. He I never
<v Speaker 18>understood that was always a I was always kind of
<v Speaker 18>confused about his sometimes his motivation. But to not want
<v Speaker 18>to put Brett Hart, who was one of the best
<v Speaker 18>workers and maybe the best worker in the world at
<v Speaker 18>that time, pure worker, maybe that that was what That's
<v Speaker 18>what reet Hart was. So if I were Hogan, I'd say, well,
<v Speaker 18>I know he's gonna make me look great. I know
<v Speaker 18>we're going to have a hell of a contest. I
<v Speaker 18>know he's going to take care of me because he
<v Speaker 18>wants me to shine before he beats me, which is
<v Speaker 18>just logical. Any opponent should want their adversary to shine before.
<v Speaker 3>They lose, just makes sense.
<v Speaker 18>So I don't know, that was just a lot of ego,
<v Speaker 18>out of control, paranoia rest for paranoida is the worst
<v Speaker 18>kind of paranoida there is. It seems to be like,
<v Speaker 18>especially during that period of time.
<v Speaker 1>Fair Assessment a fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that
<v Speaker 1>knows the boys need their candy. It's the lapsed fan.
<v Speaker 1>He's the lapsed fan. Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnio, and.
<v Speaker 6>I would say, Yep, that's what's going on. And if
<v Speaker 6>you think he's not bringing that to w c W,
<v Speaker 6>then you are out of your fucking mind.
<v Speaker 3>For sure. You see threats around every corner. We have
<v Speaker 3>this caricature of laps Hogan for a reason. What corner?
<v Speaker 3>What did?
<v Speaker 9>Why?
<v Speaker 3>Why? Why didn't you want to lose to Brett?
<v Speaker 8>What?
<v Speaker 9>I didn't?
<v Speaker 3>Brother? I mean I was finally losing to Brett. Brother,
<v Speaker 3>It's just that, you know, dude, I was. I'm all
<v Speaker 3>about the thing is, dude. Well, people need to understand, brother,
<v Speaker 3>It's about timing, Dude, when's the right time it's next
<v Speaker 3>to lose to go from there at heart and I'm
<v Speaker 3>all about that, dude. I understand. I'm listening. I do business, brother,
<v Speaker 3>But what I want to tell you, dude, is that
<v Speaker 3>I said, you know, I think we gotta hond a
<v Speaker 3>little bit backwards.
<v Speaker 9>Brother.
<v Speaker 3>We're kind of right, you know, I can't just you
<v Speaker 3>know what happened when the first time I get up
<v Speaker 3>there and I and I jobbed to Brett Hart, dude,
<v Speaker 3>and all of a sudden, it's like, well, where does
<v Speaker 3>the whole hooven go from their brother, like where's where's
<v Speaker 3>the money in Matt, I'm fine doing it, but the
<v Speaker 3>question is where do we go from there? And then
<v Speaker 3>where do we go from there? Like where do we
<v Speaker 3>go ten years? I'm just gonna I'm just trying to
<v Speaker 3>think aboutdue, you know, I'd like I like to think
<v Speaker 3>about fifteen, twenty, twenty five years in the future, and
<v Speaker 3>these guys telling me, these guys are telling me to
<v Speaker 3>lose without telling me what's gonna happen in twenty years.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm and that's the thing, dude, am I going
<v Speaker 3>to be I went back in twenty years?
<v Speaker 6>Somebody just going to walk into this situation where I
<v Speaker 6>just take all the downside, brother, without any plan on,
<v Speaker 6>because that's when it starts to sound like justified PARANDOI
<v Speaker 6>your brother to tell you that true.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm just I heard him out, brother, I heard both.
<v Speaker 3>You know. I heard Vince out, dude. I heard I
<v Speaker 3>heard a Stief's caakeout, proved beefcakeout too. You know, Jimmy
<v Speaker 3>Hart kind of heard me out. And I heard him out, brother.
<v Speaker 3>You know, I heard your Canzuna, dude. You know we
<v Speaker 3>kind of all we're all getting I was I talked
<v Speaker 3>to Skinner brother. We kind of all just kind of
<v Speaker 3>gut around, dude and just figured out what's the best
<v Speaker 3>thing for business. And Brenahar agree with me, dude that
<v Speaker 3>if we're going to have him beat me a Summer Slam,
<v Speaker 3>then I got to beat him like fifteen times before
<v Speaker 3>Summer Slam. But Brett Haard agreed to that. You say,
<v Speaker 3>and but the thing is, you know, you know, and
<v Speaker 3>he was like, you know, was kind of like, all right,
<v Speaker 3>you know I can do that, dude, I don't mind
<v Speaker 3>doing that. But I said, I said, brother, well you
<v Speaker 3>mind doing it on television, dude? And then by was
<v Speaker 3>like whoa. And I said, brother, if you can't do
<v Speaker 3>that and do it for me, I'm supposed to turn around.
<v Speaker 3>I said, brother, do you do you mind doing in Montreal? Brother?
<v Speaker 3>He was like whoa? Whoa? Dude. You know, I was like, well,
<v Speaker 3>you know, how am I supposed to do business with you?
<v Speaker 3>This guy something to the honors? Brother, is a time
<v Speaker 3>honor tradition in the wrestling business.
<v Speaker 9>Brother.
<v Speaker 3>You know, dude, there's a timehard tradition that that the
<v Speaker 3>guy who's going to lead the company in the future
<v Speaker 3>loses to the other guy. Fifteen times beforehand. I don't
<v Speaker 3>think that's fair, dude. I just you know, I was like,
<v Speaker 3>I was like, I know, Vince, I don't know if
<v Speaker 3>this guy really understands what the wrestling behind I said, Vince,
<v Speaker 3>down and Bright, give him the lowdown, brother, the dick,
<v Speaker 3>give him. I just I just don't think that this
<v Speaker 3>is the money program.
<v Speaker 9>Brother.
<v Speaker 3>I'm just not digging the creative behind it, dude. And
<v Speaker 3>I really don't understand where Brett Hart's mentality is, and
<v Speaker 3>I can't. I don't know where your meal is either, Vince.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, coming at me with the suggestion like this,
<v Speaker 3>you know you're saying Brett Hart, I'm like, whoa, what
<v Speaker 3>about but yeah, but what about hul Coogan? You got
<v Speaker 3>Brett Hard? What about Hulk Coogan's herd my Horden? Feeling broken, dude,
<v Speaker 3>broken hard, running hard for so long? Brother, kept you
<v Speaker 3>out of jail, all right, I will keep you up. Well,
<v Speaker 3>it hasn't happened yet, brother. You know, I'm just thinking, like,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know what to think, dude, to tell you
<v Speaker 3>the truth, because I thought we were thick of Steve's brother.
<v Speaker 3>I thought we're going to ride this road together for
<v Speaker 3>a long time, and all of a sudden you're getting
<v Speaker 3>weird on me. Dude.
<v Speaker 6>I just want to pull off the side of the
<v Speaker 6>road when we're going apace.
<v Speaker 9>Dude.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm all about you know, dude, you got to
<v Speaker 3>build a new talent. Brother. I totally understand that. I'm
<v Speaker 3>all about that, dude. But what I want to know is, like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, I bought I thought we got built this
<v Speaker 3>thing together, built this house. You me, brother, modeling mile
<v Speaker 3>in the you know, push, you know, just kind of
<v Speaker 3>keeping things going up in a hotel in Atlanta, but
<v Speaker 3>you know, writing movies, script's brother. But out here we
<v Speaker 3>are and you're just saying, you know, just job the
<v Speaker 3>bread Hart, Like, just do right now in my living room, dude.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like what and I'm not, I mean, did you know?
<v Speaker 3>I mean is that? What did you did?
<v Speaker 9>You like?
<v Speaker 8>What you like?
<v Speaker 3>Why am I going to job somebody in the living room? Dude?
<v Speaker 3>You know what, where's the business in that? Like I'm
<v Speaker 3>just gonna say, oh, Hulk Hogan, you know, job the
<v Speaker 3>Brett Hart. You know, you just lay down for Brett Hart.
<v Speaker 3>Like what I can't It's like, oh, you know. Vis
<v Speaker 3>Mangos on television says Hey, you know, hold cold and
<v Speaker 3>lay down for Brett Hart my living room. Dude, it's
<v Speaker 3>like whoa, whoa whoa Like you know, how do you
<v Speaker 3>come back from that?
<v Speaker 9>Dude?
<v Speaker 6>And I've been saying this living room thing over and
<v Speaker 6>over again, brother, hoping, holding out hope, in my deepest hopes, brother,
<v Speaker 6>that you're going to cut me off and say, you know, brother, Hulk,
<v Speaker 6>I've never suggested you lose in the living room. You
<v Speaker 6>haven't done that yet. Brother, I'm sitting here waiting that's the.
<v Speaker 3>Thing to do. So now you haven't. Actually you haven't
<v Speaker 3>corrected me. Brothers make you think, well, wait a minute, dude,
<v Speaker 3>is he actually think about how many jops? Terry? Terry
<v Speaker 3>needless to say, I do not want you to lose
<v Speaker 3>to Brett in the living room, Terry out. I just
<v Speaker 3>want to be honest with you right now, Okay, I
<v Speaker 3>have not been paying attention to anything you've been saying.
<v Speaker 3>It's been a complete run on sentence of just bullsh yeah,
<v Speaker 3>understand and fantasize. I've been I've been imagining whatever to
<v Speaker 3>feel like to touch myself in the presence of a
<v Speaker 3>of a particularly naked woman, and this is not it.
<v Speaker 3>Now if you need to do a job in my
<v Speaker 3>basement or my living room. Broll, I'd say basement. Do
<v Speaker 3>I've never said baseball? What we talked wunder ground? Do
<v Speaker 3>you try to bury whole coke mean terrence? I'm not
<v Speaker 3>trying to. You wouldn't call them terrence, That's what you know.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not trying to bury anybody. I'm simply trying to.
<v Speaker 3>You know, we're trying to evolve. We are a you know,
<v Speaker 3>it's a it's a it's a cyclically evolving business, the
<v Speaker 3>w W. And you know we are you know, a
<v Speaker 3>multi national, multi programmed conglomerate, and we have to you know,
<v Speaker 3>we have offices. But what we need, you know, is
<v Speaker 3>that we need to we always need to to to
<v Speaker 3>think about the future and where are we going next?
<v Speaker 3>And and is that with hul Cogan or is that
<v Speaker 3>not with huld Cogan? Now I like to think of
<v Speaker 3>it as being with Hull Cogan. I think hull Cogan,
<v Speaker 3>this is this is your home, all right, this is
<v Speaker 3>where this is where you reside. What do you mean reside?
<v Speaker 3>Not figuratively? I would like you to evolve in figures, dude,
<v Speaker 3>what do you I want to what do I got figures.
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean figure? See for you, Terry is
<v Speaker 3>evolving into our babe Ruth are in house living legend
<v Speaker 3>and listening. You're the you will be you know you're
<v Speaker 3>You're you are the living legend. You are the the
<v Speaker 3>the slugger, all right, that's that's how we picture you.
<v Speaker 3>And you're you're going to be that guy. You're going
<v Speaker 3>to be the guy that did that. Every guy has
<v Speaker 3>to beat you know? And and does that mean every
<v Speaker 3>guy whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa?
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean every guy has to beat? Dude?
<v Speaker 3>What they have to beat you to?
<v Speaker 8>What?
<v Speaker 15>What?
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean that he's going to decide who's
<v Speaker 3>gonna side who beats me? Well, I mean, you know
<v Speaker 3>we we we book finishes, so you know that's a
<v Speaker 3>T shirt. You know we we we book finishes that
<v Speaker 3>provide entertainment outcomes. It's another word for Finnish entertainment outcome.
<v Speaker 3>The outcome of this of this entertainment was Hulk Wayning.
<v Speaker 3>And we we have a desirable entertainment outcome that we
<v Speaker 3>believe is the proper way to go. And we see
<v Speaker 3>that is moving Brett Hart into the the future position
<v Speaker 3>of the championship Thronelet's if you wants the most distressing
<v Speaker 3>to me. Brother, listening to all this and I'm listening closely, dude,
<v Speaker 3>I'll like you. You know. It's one thing for me
<v Speaker 3>to sit here brother, and you know, wait for you
<v Speaker 3>to say whoa uh. You know, I don't want you
<v Speaker 3>to lose in the living room, brother, while you're saying
<v Speaker 3>crazy things and you say nothing, and that hurts badly enough.
<v Speaker 3>But fifteen wasn't a hard number, brother, you know you
<v Speaker 3>know me, I'm willing to negotiate so everyone can win.
<v Speaker 3>It didn't have to be fifteen, brother, I could have
<v Speaker 3>negotiated down to fourteen. Brother, Dude, listen, it doesn't happen fifteen. Dude,
<v Speaker 3>I'm fine doing twenty. I'm fine. I'm fine beating Brett
<v Speaker 3>twenty times. Then this is twenty five times myscussion, right, Brother,
<v Speaker 3>we're open. You know it's not and it's all you know,
<v Speaker 3>it's all to seal the deal type of thing, dude,
<v Speaker 3>and are playing to hide the ball. Brother, So I
<v Speaker 3>thought I throw a fifteen out there. Know what it
<v Speaker 3>says anything? I mean? So I'm just trying to figure
<v Speaker 3>out what is it? You know, where are we at? Like?
<v Speaker 3>What is you know? I love that One of Logan's
<v Speaker 3>great lines is I'm just trying to figure out, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>you are? You know, I just want to know you
<v Speaker 3>know where your mind's at, dude, And we know where
<v Speaker 3>you know where Bert Hart's minds that brother, and you know,
<v Speaker 3>I mean personally, I think you know if I know
<v Speaker 3>Bert Hard And I've thought to Burt Hart, you know,
<v Speaker 3>call him in the room, Terry, what he's thinking? Why
<v Speaker 3>we call him in the room? Well? Why whoa is
<v Speaker 3>he here? From what I understand, Harry, I mean, Terry,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I believe in in in every one of
<v Speaker 3>my employees being at my beck and call he says,
<v Speaker 3>is he here? Everybody? Is he here? And Vince goes, well, Terry,
<v Speaker 3>I believe And oh boy, someone's about to not quite
<v Speaker 3>answer the question.
<v Speaker 16>Is he here?
<v Speaker 3>I mean that is a relative question. Are you here?
<v Speaker 9>Right? For that matter?
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean? I'm here? What else would I be?
<v Speaker 9>But are you?
<v Speaker 3>But are you here? Here?
<v Speaker 8>You know?
<v Speaker 3>These are the questions that we ask, you know, in
<v Speaker 3>in terms of the creative development of our characters.
<v Speaker 6>Hour he's talking to Hulk Covid, his his friend and
<v Speaker 6>working colleague, and he's superstar for almost ten years and
<v Speaker 6>he's talking to him like he's presenting to investors. He's
<v Speaker 6>meeting for the first time. That's Vince All. Needless to say,
<v Speaker 6>nothing came of those discussions, and Hulk never lost to
<v Speaker 6>Brett Hard and Hulk never really lost the WWF Championship
<v Speaker 6>in a way that made you feel like the new
<v Speaker 6>guy had been anointed and we can go forward from
<v Speaker 6>this basis. And it was kicking and screaming with New
<v Speaker 6>Japan and play and everything and all the subtext of
<v Speaker 6>you know, sending those results to Japan where he made
<v Speaker 6>the remarks he did. But as you mentioned earlier, wasn't
<v Speaker 6>the absolute end for Hulk in a WWF ring.
<v Speaker 3>It just was on television.
<v Speaker 6>After that. Well, let's take the full measure. I mean,
<v Speaker 6>you want to go back to March of ninety three,
<v Speaker 6>his first match back before WrestleMania was in North Charlee. Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>March eighth, ninety three, North Charleston, South Carolina, Hogan and
<v Speaker 6>beefk the Brothers Beverly.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, that was there. That was their go to on
<v Speaker 3>the road. Huh.
<v Speaker 6>Apparently it was Wow, Like you knows, must have won
<v Speaker 6>him over and fucking uh Bloom must have won him
<v Speaker 6>over in Awa or something.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, Yeah, I guess so.
<v Speaker 6>And they went to Augusta, Georgia on March ninth, ninety
<v Speaker 6>three and did the rematch, and then they went to Lakeland,
<v Speaker 6>Florida on March nineteenth, and Hogan and beef Cake beat
<v Speaker 6>Money Ink before WrestleMania nine even happens, Wow, and nine happens?
<v Speaker 6>May fourth, pardon me April fourth, ninety three. Not only
<v Speaker 6>did Money Inc. Lose Money Ink Russell Hogan and Beefcake,
<v Speaker 6>but Hogan of course wins the Deputatium Championship. By the
<v Speaker 6>time it was all said and done, that's wild. And
<v Speaker 6>then May third was the Fukuoka Do match. Hogan in
<v Speaker 6>great mooda because he he was still allowed, if you will,
<v Speaker 6>to make some paydays in Japan at the time. Comes
<v Speaker 6>back to the States. May twenty first, ninety three, Pittsburgh,
<v Speaker 6>Hogan and Beefcake beat Money Inc. With special referee Sergeant Slaughter.
<v Speaker 6>Invite you to picture that one Wow Wow. Philadelphia. May
<v Speaker 6>twenty second, Hogan beef Cake over IRS and Ted Dibiasse
<v Speaker 6>and then East Rutherford the same matchup May twenty second.
<v Speaker 3>We go to June.
<v Speaker 6>They go up to Winnipeg on June fourth. Hogan and
<v Speaker 6>Beefcake beat Money Inc. Minneapolis, June fifth, back to the
<v Speaker 6>place that Hogan owned when coming into the company the
<v Speaker 6>first time. He's going to say goodbye at Target Center.
<v Speaker 6>Beating Money Inc. All but in New York June sixth,
<v Speaker 6>Money Inc. Richmond, June eleventh, Money Inc. Indianapolis, June twelfth,
<v Speaker 6>Money Inc. King of the Ring ninety three, June thirteenth,
<v Speaker 6>ninety ninety three Nutter Center, Fairborne, Ohio. Kuzuna defeatshul Cogan
<v Speaker 6>to become the WWF Champion. Where does he go from there?
<v Speaker 6>To Columbus, Ohio? June fourteenth, Hogan and Brief Beefcake beat
<v Speaker 6>Money Inc. Huntington, West Virginia June fifteenth, Hogan and beef Cake.
<v Speaker 3>It was not the better of the others. It was
<v Speaker 3>Money Incorporated who they faced in Boston. Okay, yeah, we're
<v Speaker 3>in Massachusetts, which I'm waiting for you to get to.
<v Speaker 6>Just there, Huntington, West Virginia and then Rosemont Horizon in
<v Speaker 6>Chicago June twenty third, and then Boston June twenty sixth.
<v Speaker 6>This is like the John Cena farewell tour for Hogan
<v Speaker 6>in these cities. Yeah, they weren't playing it up that way,
<v Speaker 6>but people didn't realize it was a money inc It
<v Speaker 6>was money ink right. Yes, yeah, we had special refere
<v Speaker 6>s Ource and Slaughter as well.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, I didn't that. I was not prepared for deeply.
<v Speaker 6>Difficult for you to process if you admite it to
<v Speaker 6>that show.
<v Speaker 3>Oh I don't think I could have. He was nowhere.
<v Speaker 3>Slaughter wasn't even involved. Was he on television at thought?
<v Speaker 8>No?
<v Speaker 3>Well, no, he was kind of like loosely involved because
<v Speaker 3>he was I just remember in he wasn't named the commissioner,
<v Speaker 3>but he in the summer of ninety two. He he
<v Speaker 3>definitely they they mentioned that he took a behind the
<v Speaker 3>scenes role on television, that he was in charge of
<v Speaker 3>rules or something like that. Really, so yeah, I can remember.
<v Speaker 3>I just remember that because it happened in the middle.
<v Speaker 3>He was in the middle of a feud with a
<v Speaker 3>Mountie in like the summer of ninety two, and then
<v Speaker 3>he just was just retired out of nowhere.
<v Speaker 6>Then we go to July and WWF heads to Europe
<v Speaker 6>for their Summer European tour. We in Austria on July
<v Speaker 6>twenty ninth saw Hogan defeat Yokozuna by his qualification. Then
<v Speaker 6>they go to Dortmund, Germany, where Hogan beats him by
<v Speaker 6>DQ July thirty. July thirty one, they go to Hessen,
<v Speaker 6>Germany where Hogan beats Yo Kazun again. And then August
<v Speaker 6>ninety three and this is the last run. But before
<v Speaker 6>we get to August, what well actually it is in
<v Speaker 6>August it is.
<v Speaker 3>It is absolutely mind boggling to mass and just I
<v Speaker 3>don't even know how to describe the feeling I'm having
<v Speaker 3>that Hulk Hogan is wrestling Yokozuna for the title around
<v Speaker 3>the world while the les Express is going around the
<v Speaker 3>country like there is It's like there, there's an alternative
<v Speaker 3>alternative reality. It really is, because like they're they're there,
<v Speaker 3>you know, while while Hulk Hogan is doing his fair
<v Speaker 3>work well tour, the new Hulk Hogan is is you know,
<v Speaker 3>set in the stage for the future in his mind,
<v Speaker 3>in their mind. That's just absolutely unbelievable to me, I agree.
<v Speaker 6>And to be a fan of Europe at this time
<v Speaker 6>and to be you know, in England and to be
<v Speaker 6>watching WWF television at the time we're gassing up for
<v Speaker 6>Lex Luger and moving on from Hull Cogan. Yep, subtly
<v Speaker 6>and directly. And then suddenly you're even though he's acting
<v Speaker 6>just like Hulkogan. Of course he is and in fact
<v Speaker 6>making his name by body slamming the same guy Hogan's
<v Speaker 6>wrestling right in England, You're watching.
<v Speaker 3>W question did Hulk Hogan? Did Hulk Hogan body slam
<v Speaker 3>Yokozuna in in Europe? I don't believe he did. Wow.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, these matches aren't on television. These were all
<v Speaker 6>house shows.
<v Speaker 3>But I know, I know.
<v Speaker 6>Oh what was on television were the promost built up
<v Speaker 6>ticket sales. These are the final promos of Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 6>and WWF in the first run.
<v Speaker 9>You're in Great Britain.
<v Speaker 16>The buzz is all about the summer ninety three tour.
<v Speaker 16>I mean, the entire country, the British isles are talking
<v Speaker 16>about the fact that the immortal Hull Cogan is coming
<v Speaker 16>this summer. Some important dates to remember. Tuesday the third
<v Speaker 16>of August we're going to be in Edinburgh at the
<v Speaker 16>Royal Highland Center. Wednesday the fourth of August back in
<v Speaker 16>London at Earl's Court one At Friday, the sixth of
<v Speaker 16>August back up in Sheffield the Sheffield Arena. All the
<v Speaker 16>action starts in those venues at seven thirty pm. Joining
<v Speaker 16>us right now face to face the current World Wrestling
<v Speaker 16>Federation Champion Yokozuna, along with his manager Mentor Smiley, Mister
<v Speaker 16>Fuji and another gentleman joining us, the.
<v Speaker 11>Real world champion Hull Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>I say it like it is me, Geen.
<v Speaker 16>You are gonna be in the UK for this gigantic
<v Speaker 16>tour and as I said, the buzz is absolutely incredible.
<v Speaker 11>Well, your darn right, I'm gonna be there, brother. I'm
<v Speaker 11>there for a reason because in the UK I can
<v Speaker 11>feel it, just like I can tell if it's gonna.
<v Speaker 9>Rain the Venice Beach.
<v Speaker 11>I can feel it in the air that this man
<v Speaker 11>right here, Haul Cogan will probably be six times w
<v Speaker 11>W champion. This is the eye of a tiger, brother,
<v Speaker 11>this is the eye of Holster.
<v Speaker 3>I'm ready for you, dude.
<v Speaker 8>What is.
<v Speaker 15>Maaya going?
<v Speaker 3>Is ready for you? You are jes.
<v Speaker 11>You understand by you understand third times a charm brother.
<v Speaker 11>First time you challenge when you beat me? Second time
<v Speaker 11>I beat you. Second time you.
<v Speaker 3>Pro harbored me. I'm going all over.
<v Speaker 9>The UK to show all the hawk of Aniacs.
<v Speaker 11>When you believe in yourself and when you got the
<v Speaker 11>power of hawk of ania even yog zudo in mister
<v Speaker 11>Fuji can't prol harbor.
<v Speaker 16>Wait a minute, let me point out one thing mister
<v Speaker 16>Fuji and Yoko Zuna. I'd have to say that Holster
<v Speaker 16>is gonna have the home court advantage. I mean, his
<v Speaker 16>popularity throughout Great Britain is second to none.
<v Speaker 15>Do mean nothing to me and Yoko Zuno. Boy Son,
<v Speaker 15>you huggin, He's gonna say more you do the old dude,
<v Speaker 15>my man, you will pay if they will do.
<v Speaker 16>I detect a little fear there in the eye of
<v Speaker 16>Yoko Zuna.
<v Speaker 15>Yes, huh, Hogan, keep looking at your opponent, just raking
<v Speaker 15>for you.
<v Speaker 3>Boy.
<v Speaker 11>You know what he's afraid of, brother, He's afraid that
<v Speaker 11>I've tried power him power slam him in the UK
<v Speaker 11>after I grabbed the WWF title, after the.
<v Speaker 9>Hulk of Maniacs run wild.
<v Speaker 11>The fear in his eyes is that mister Fuji won't
<v Speaker 11>even be able to provide another bull or rice a
<v Speaker 11>roni for the brother. You know something, what, mister Fuji,
<v Speaker 11>I'm the real world heavyweight champion now, I'm gonna prove
<v Speaker 11>it all over the UK.
<v Speaker 3>What you gonna do.
<v Speaker 16>Summer ninety three? Go this summer here in the UK.
<v Speaker 3>Ah, what I beat you, Hulk Hogan.
<v Speaker 6>H Can you imagine these promos and having six five
<v Speaker 6>extra months of Hogan available to you?
<v Speaker 3>I mean I would, I would feel confident he was
<v Speaker 3>going to make the Royal Rumble.
<v Speaker 6>And so while that was the last glimpse of Hogan Yoko,
<v Speaker 6>this would be in a lot of ways the last
<v Speaker 6>glimpse we'd get of Hogan solo against w w F
<v Speaker 6>green screen backdrop, just by himself. And man, is he
<v Speaker 6>delusional about all the stuff he's got going on. Oh,
<v Speaker 6>this is Hull Hogan pretending taking WF airtime to pretend
<v Speaker 6>that he's going somewhere other than just another wrestling gig.
<v Speaker 3>I mentioned before.
<v Speaker 16>It is the buzz of the United Kingdom, the buzz
<v Speaker 16>of Great Britain, the buzz of the British Isles. The
<v Speaker 16>summer ninety three tour is coming, and that means hul
<v Speaker 16>Cogan is coming. He is standing by right now and
<v Speaker 16>joining us. Hul Cogan along with manager the Mouth of
<v Speaker 16>the South, Jimmy hart Holtster. This past week I talked
<v Speaker 16>to my longtime friend John Hart and his wonderful family
<v Speaker 16>up in Manchester and they firmly believe, as many fans
<v Speaker 16>around the country do, that you're going to be coming
<v Speaker 16>to the UK and that you're going to leave as
<v Speaker 16>the sixth time World Wrestling Federation Champion. That kind of
<v Speaker 16>fan support's got to make you feel great.
<v Speaker 11>Well, you know, at least you know what the buzz
<v Speaker 11>is all about, Brother, because hul Comania is coming to
<v Speaker 11>the UK for a bunch of reasons. But the number
<v Speaker 11>one reason, Brother, is the proof that with Hull Cogan
<v Speaker 11>managed by Jimmy Hart, it was my best friend Brutus
<v Speaker 11>the Barbara Beefcake, we can conquer odds in the number
<v Speaker 11>one odd is getting the WWF title back for the
<v Speaker 11>sixth time. But you know, when you talk about the buzz, Brother,
<v Speaker 11>there are no long faces a hal Coogan's face. Check
<v Speaker 11>this out, Bro, All this is is a face of determination.
<v Speaker 11>This is an angry hal Coogan, This is an aggressive
<v Speaker 11>Halk Corgan. This is the eye of the Holster. Yeah,
<v Speaker 11>the tiger and the thing is Brother, we want the
<v Speaker 11>WWF title back. That's what's going a lot of people
<v Speaker 11>buzzing they're still buzzing over my brand new movie, Mister Nanny.
<v Speaker 11>They're buzzing because they just found out the Holster has
<v Speaker 11>a brand new TV show called Thunder and Paradise just
<v Speaker 11>coming your way.
<v Speaker 9>And they're really.
<v Speaker 11>Buzzing because they just found out that not only just
<v Speaker 11>Jimmy Hart rock and roll, but Hawk Hoagan is a
<v Speaker 11>rocker in a roller in a little fucky too. When
<v Speaker 11>they found out about the brand new Monster Maniac Wrestling
<v Speaker 11>bout fans coming their way, there's a lot to be
<v Speaker 11>buzzing about.
<v Speaker 3>Brother.
<v Speaker 16>I'm very curious about thinking of your musical talents. I
<v Speaker 16>know you play at tremendous face and of course Jimmy
<v Speaker 16>Hart a tremendous vocalist. I like to sit down and
<v Speaker 16>tickle the ivories myself every.
<v Speaker 9>Now and then.
<v Speaker 16>It could be a chance we could get together for
<v Speaker 16>Little Jamson in the acer a victory party.
<v Speaker 11>Well, you know, brother, you figured in dude, you know
<v Speaker 11>the one, not only Monster Maniac Rustling boot band.
<v Speaker 3>Just like I'm gonna bump my way all the way
<v Speaker 3>to the.
<v Speaker 11>Sixth time w w F champion. There's a lot of
<v Speaker 11>surprises coming my whole the Maniac's way in the UK
<v Speaker 11>for the nineties movies TV shows the Monster Maniac Rustling
<v Speaker 11>Boot Band hanging.
<v Speaker 3>On to the w W title.
<v Speaker 11>You know something, now that Jimmy Hart has been guiding
<v Speaker 11>my career, I finally realized I can do it all. Brother,
<v Speaker 11>Tell him, Jimmy, you know.
<v Speaker 3>The Houkstea phone rings all the time in the USA.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe Julian Wall right there and reached the records hoction.
<v Speaker 4>He just called the other day and he said, we.
<v Speaker 3>Gotta have that.
<v Speaker 8>You.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, no, thank you. What do you think
<v Speaker 3>of that? I think that is? Is that not his
<v Speaker 3>thirstiest promo ever? That is somebody that is somebody right
<v Speaker 3>there who is like, well, brother, I'm out of the out, dude,
<v Speaker 3>so I might as well. You know, so good up
<v Speaker 3>walk hand. That's what he's doing there, he is. He
<v Speaker 3>is just off the fucking reservation, all right, forget it,
<v Speaker 3>forget it, He's done. He's insane. Wow.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, I just thought that was so fascinating to
<v Speaker 6>hear him sort of in one last ditch effort try
<v Speaker 6>to make people care about all the other things that
<v Speaker 6>he's telling himself are gonna make him money after he's
<v Speaker 6>off the WWFT Like nobody cares about nobody gives a fuck,
<v Speaker 6>and he's nobody'son to think anyone's gonna give a fuck.
<v Speaker 6>He comes, I'm talking about mister Nanny, you know, which,
<v Speaker 6>of course came out as he was leaving WWF. That
<v Speaker 6>was such a bad look. That was such a bad
<v Speaker 6>point to transition to the WCW, because mister Nanny proved
<v Speaker 6>that he was nothing at the box office. It made
<v Speaker 6>wrestling look like his Option B and Thunder Paradise went nowhere.
<v Speaker 3>I was actually, I'll tell you, it made Rustle look
<v Speaker 3>like his Option A is what it did. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's the thing. That's well, that's what I mean.
<v Speaker 6>It made it look like the only reason he's in
<v Speaker 6>wrestling is because he failed Hollywood Option B, and that
<v Speaker 6>option A was he would, you know, be able to transition,
<v Speaker 6>and he would admit as much later, but he would.
<v Speaker 6>Actually it's funny when you ask Colch the reasons for
<v Speaker 6>going to WCW before the Linda divorce and after the
<v Speaker 6>lend of divorce, you get a different answer, of course,
<v Speaker 6>we'll discover, but truly fascinating. I actually was surprised that
<v Speaker 6>there was ever a mention of Thunder and Paradise uttered
<v Speaker 6>on WWF television because I always think of that as
<v Speaker 6>something that's plugged aggressively on WCWTV.
<v Speaker 3>Right exactly, Yeah, exactly. I mean that's just that's that's
<v Speaker 3>I don't know what to make of that.
<v Speaker 6>We lived in the UK at that point. So it
<v Speaker 6>was August ninety three, the last Hurrah munch in Germany,
<v Speaker 6>he beats yo Kazuna by DQ August first, Berlin beats
<v Speaker 6>him August second, August third, at the Royal halland Center
<v Speaker 6>in Edinburgh, Scotland. He beats Yokazuna in London. On April fourth,
<v Speaker 6>nineteen ninety three, at Earl's Court Exhibition Center in London,
<v Speaker 6>he beat the qualification all qualification, Yes, sarth a bummer Sheffield.
<v Speaker 3>If what if? Like what if you fucking won the title?
<v Speaker 6>Even promos existing with him saying I'm gonna win a
<v Speaker 6>six the WWF Championship sound it's it's bizarre exotic to me.
<v Speaker 3>It is because it is.
<v Speaker 6>He never uttered a word on television after the okas
<v Speaker 6>in the King of the Ring loss.
<v Speaker 3>Not don't know what he wasn't on television. It's done.
<v Speaker 6>He's out there trying to get us, but you can
<v Speaker 6>tell he's half one foot in, one foot out. You know,
<v Speaker 6>he's like he's couching everything he's saying about wanting to
<v Speaker 6>win a sixth title as one of a menagerie of
<v Speaker 6>things that he's trying to accomplish right now.
<v Speaker 3>Along with success with movies and mister Nanny in his
<v Speaker 3>fucking boot band.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, we've done Mister Nanny under the cinemat folks
<v Speaker 6>should know. And just to tie this up, Sheffield was
<v Speaker 6>the last one of Sheffield, England August sixth, nineteen ninety three.
<v Speaker 6>Hull cogn beats Yokuz in vita qualification and that is
<v Speaker 6>truly truly the end. How the hullko n ww front
<v Speaker 6>right there in Sheffield, England. It's just like that last
<v Speaker 6>match he had in TNA and England that nobody knows about.
<v Speaker 6>It ended with a whimper without a television camera insight.
<v Speaker 6>I mean, and how many times have we seen that, I.
<v Speaker 3>Know, where the where, what?
<v Speaker 6>Where the the The journey ends with a whimper, Yes,
<v Speaker 6>even we even Hulk Cogan's journey ends with a whimper.
<v Speaker 6>That's when you know that this is this is not
<v Speaker 6>a business to get your hopes up about as a
<v Speaker 6>fan or as talent. No, it will, it will disappoint,
<v Speaker 6>It will dangle carrots, it will never let you eat them.
<v Speaker 3>That's not the idea. It's meant to disappoint, right, It's
<v Speaker 3>built to disappoint. Thank you, okay, And I mean mister Nanny,
<v Speaker 3>we've done it under the cinemato. What a great time
<v Speaker 3>to do this time time period of Hulkogan too, because
<v Speaker 3>we've done so much under the cinemat, from Thunder and
<v Speaker 3>Paradise to Mister Nanny to all the Turner movies that
<v Speaker 3>are to come that he's telling himself for you know,
<v Speaker 3>part of the reason that he's going right and it's
<v Speaker 3>going nowhere so fast in Hollywood for him. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know, in many ways, you know, I would say
<v Speaker 3>that that Mister Nanny was his real attempt at a
<v Speaker 3>mainstream movie, because even Suburban Commando, it's like, you know,
<v Speaker 3>it's still it's still under the WWE you know, during
<v Speaker 3>during his time there, you know, like he he went away,
<v Speaker 3>he came back.
<v Speaker 6>It's still a movie he talked between runs, and it
<v Speaker 6>still kind of feels like w W Undertakers in it.
<v Speaker 3>Right right exactly, But this is his first thing and
<v Speaker 3>it's like, you know, it's it's no, it's not like
<v Speaker 3>it's a small thing.
<v Speaker 6>No, it's him trying to get you know, credit for
<v Speaker 6>dressing in the two two and showing different kind of
<v Speaker 6>side of himself.
<v Speaker 3>Be cool, actually a venture car since for the kids,
<v Speaker 3>you know, I know, right, so for the kids. I
<v Speaker 3>mean there there are I mean, the articles around that
<v Speaker 3>time are just fucking hilarious.
<v Speaker 6>That's such great cinement stuff. You got to you know,
<v Speaker 6>if you haven't heard those shows Man dot Com Slash,
<v Speaker 6>the Lapsed Fan so much about Hulk's just psyche in there.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it really is. I mean, you know, you see
<v Speaker 3>you read these these articles of him, and he's just
<v Speaker 3>he's just not He's just not well, he's trying to
<v Speaker 3>cater to kids at the exact time, gonna go on
<v Speaker 3>fucking trial for you know, right, he's doing drugs to
<v Speaker 3>appeal to kids. No, and uh, lying about that whole process.
<v Speaker 3>I mean keep in mind too. You know there's also
<v Speaker 3>this insane wrestling montage at the beginning, don't forget. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's spilling with Beefcake as the as the Zodiac No
<v Speaker 3>holds bar. Yeah that's right, yep, Yeah, this is Beefcake.
<v Speaker 3>It's like Kamala, I think and somebody else. It's it's
<v Speaker 3>it's a wacky beginning. It's him getting together all the
<v Speaker 3>guys that he's gonna bring with him exactly. And yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's a it's it's and it's a disaster. It's a
<v Speaker 3>fucking disaster of movie. It's just awful. I mean, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's it's it really, it really is. The is the
<v Speaker 3>nail in the coffin of the whole Cogan movie career.
<v Speaker 3>It really is. You can't say you ever got it back.
<v Speaker 3>He did not. The only I mean, you know what's
<v Speaker 3>funny is in doing the entire Hull Cogan filmography filmography,
<v Speaker 3>his best performance is the one his last one, the
<v Speaker 3>Nomeo and Juliet, where he basically plays himself as a
<v Speaker 3>as as a you know, as a voiceover goof you know.
<v Speaker 3>But he's the best part of that movie. And it's
<v Speaker 3>it's it's wild. But yeah, it's it. He never recovered,
<v Speaker 3>and he shouldn't have recovered, honestly, like, there's no reason
<v Speaker 3>from recover. He's not a good actor and he's not
<v Speaker 3>a good movie star. He just does not have that
<v Speaker 3>His biggest and actually, when you really think about it,
<v Speaker 3>It is funny to me that more wrestlers, especially of
<v Speaker 3>that era, who tried to be in movies didn't like
<v Speaker 3>Why didn't houlk Hogan try to go off script and
<v Speaker 3>like kind of improvis lines, you know, because that's where
<v Speaker 3>he's at his best is having more kind of freedom
<v Speaker 3>and leeway. But reading scripted lines, he he comes across
<v Speaker 3>so wooden and goofy.
<v Speaker 6>To me, it all comes back to what I think
<v Speaker 6>was the key insight that we gleaned from tnh Yep,
<v Speaker 6>he can come out every week in a speaking role.
<v Speaker 6>He can come out every week and beyond six of
<v Speaker 6>the tw twelve segments, no one gives a fuck unless
<v Speaker 6>he's gonna fight somebody.
<v Speaker 3>Yep.
<v Speaker 6>And that's what this Rick Flair match at Bash at
<v Speaker 6>the Beach nineteen ninety four drives home. That's why it
<v Speaker 6>was a commercial success with high by rates. That's why
<v Speaker 6>this show does a great number. But the WCW Saturday
<v Speaker 6>nights and the clashes that he's a part of in
<v Speaker 6>the weeks leading up to it don't do special ratings.
<v Speaker 6>They don't do ratings that are considerably higher than what
<v Speaker 6>they were doing the year before for those same months.
<v Speaker 6>In fact, Saturday Night is dead even from nineteen ninety
<v Speaker 6>three to nineteen ninety four in June.
<v Speaker 3>How can that be?
<v Speaker 6>You signed Hulk Hogan for Christ's sakes, and you're putting
<v Speaker 6>them on television and your ratings aren't up year over year.
<v Speaker 3>How is that to be?
<v Speaker 6>It's because people care about Hulk Hogan when it's time
<v Speaker 6>for the showdown, you know, they don't care about Hulk
<v Speaker 6>Hogan otherwise.
<v Speaker 3>It's very strange.
<v Speaker 8>What did you know?
<v Speaker 3>I mean, did WWE Television do well outside of the
<v Speaker 3>special you know, like their weekly televis vision. Did it
<v Speaker 3>do like well when he was on you talked about
<v Speaker 3>w CW no WW like back in the day, like
<v Speaker 3>back in the boom? Like was it not really?
<v Speaker 6>Because it got really in that the only thing he
<v Speaker 6>really did was Saturday It's main event.
<v Speaker 3>Right, That's what's so? Yeah? Okay, But like if he
<v Speaker 3>did a promo or something like that, did it did
<v Speaker 3>it do any anything? Like? He never did it.
<v Speaker 6>It's hard because it's just an insert promo. I mean,
<v Speaker 6>that wouldn't be something that you would watch because you
<v Speaker 6>knew Hulk was going to speak this week. I mean
<v Speaker 6>they would kind of tease it at the end of Superstars.
<v Speaker 6>Who's going to talk next week but not really we'll
<v Speaker 6>hear from but no, no, it was never like it
<v Speaker 6>was never a thing that you know, episodes of Superstars
<v Speaker 6>or Challenge or All American Wrestling or Primetime Wrestling that
<v Speaker 6>Hulk Cogan appeared on did exceptional ratings because he was
<v Speaker 6>so sparing anyway that there really wasn't much of a
<v Speaker 6>reason just to isolate that. I mean, that's kind of
<v Speaker 6>the that's that's kind of the one model that they
<v Speaker 6>that they really every every yes, you know top kind
<v Speaker 6>of take like, yes, he's not. They fell into this
<v Speaker 6>thing where like when they went to weekly television live,
<v Speaker 6>they abandoned the idea that like the champion should be
<v Speaker 6>a sparing appearance that you only get on the road
<v Speaker 6>if you pay your ticket to see the match, and
<v Speaker 6>you're not gonna see him on television.
<v Speaker 3>But they went weekly.
<v Speaker 6>He was like, no, what's to be expected of the
<v Speaker 6>champion is that he he's on television every week talking
<v Speaker 6>and wrestling. It's like absolutely not, absolutely not I mean
<v Speaker 6>trying to win the Monday night Wars.
<v Speaker 3>But right I was gonna say that the you know,
<v Speaker 3>as we've said, we've said this a lot. The Monday
<v Speaker 3>Night Wars ruined wrestling, oh wow, because because when the
<v Speaker 3>format changed, it just it it ruined it because I
<v Speaker 3>just took a lot of things off the table that
<v Speaker 3>really made wrestling magical. Well, it made it also made
<v Speaker 3>wrestling a little more feasible because you could you know,
<v Speaker 3>before before the Monday Night Wars, you didn't. I don't
<v Speaker 3>think the champion was on Raw every week. O. He
<v Speaker 3>definitely was not, you know whoever it was, you know,
<v Speaker 3>definitely not a month would pass and they wouldn't even
<v Speaker 3>mention the champion, right, well, they'd mentioned they just wouldn't
<v Speaker 3>feature feature Yeah, I think I think you do have
<v Speaker 3>to mention the champion all the time, Yes, you just
<v Speaker 3>you just don't have to feature them all the time.
<v Speaker 6>It just wouldn't surprise me if that did happen. If
<v Speaker 6>they just got a program going that was a raw
<v Speaker 6>program without any intention of taking it through to the
<v Speaker 6>pay per view and just for a while, we didn't
<v Speaker 6>talk about it.
<v Speaker 3>And for God's sake, Hogan wasn't on wasn't outside of
<v Speaker 3>those pre tape things in ninety three, you know, he
<v Speaker 3>did a couple of pre tapes from from like location,
<v Speaker 3>I think of a thunder and paradise and that was it.
<v Speaker 6>Well, he came up in a system where you you shot,
<v Speaker 6>if you're going to do TV, you shot a month
<v Speaker 6>of it in one night. This idea that like you
<v Speaker 6>got to make TV every week like that was no way,
<v Speaker 6>no fucking way.
<v Speaker 3>And and and that's and the Monny Night Wars ruined it.
<v Speaker 3>The Money Night Wars ruined it because they were because
<v Speaker 3>there was such a demand to you know, be special
<v Speaker 3>at single week. You needed the star power every single
<v Speaker 3>week so could win the night. But when that ended,
<v Speaker 3>it's like they they caught themselves in a in a
<v Speaker 3>position where they couldn't go back. Genie was out, you know,
<v Speaker 3>the toothpaste without a tub, and there ain't no going
<v Speaker 3>back with that. And so it's wrestling has forever suffered.
<v Speaker 3>Well it just because of that. It just gave away
<v Speaker 3>the idea of building to the live event. You know,
<v Speaker 3>it's just well completely seated the idea. No, but even that,
<v Speaker 3>even that, it's not like it's just you don't need
<v Speaker 3>to I mean, Roman reigns prove it. You don't need
<v Speaker 3>to have your champion on every week. You shouldn't have
<v Speaker 3>to have your champion every week. You shouldn't have to
<v Speaker 3>have everyone on every week, Like you should be able
<v Speaker 3>to get by with a handful of people and you know,
<v Speaker 3>tell some concise stories that week, and then next week
<v Speaker 3>you have different people. You know, I know they do
<v Speaker 3>do that now though I mean, okay, maybe they do.
<v Speaker 3>The champion, Yeah, well the champion is, but I mean overall,
<v Speaker 3>like you didn't see everyone on the roster, you know,
<v Speaker 3>who had a program doing every little thing. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>it's just it's just all different. And and again I
<v Speaker 3>blame them Monday Night Wars, well.
<v Speaker 6>The Monday Wars with the thing with Monday What Night
<v Speaker 6>Wars was that not only was the champ on every
<v Speaker 6>week or the top featured act, every show ended with
<v Speaker 6>Steve Austin and the nWo every single show. Every show
<v Speaker 6>had to end that way. They didn't have the balls
<v Speaker 6>to have a show end any other way really, And
<v Speaker 6>and that's kind of that's back to where it used
<v Speaker 6>to be, where like any given week Raw, we'll have
<v Speaker 6>a main event featuring a different program, you know, won't
<v Speaker 6>be the main event has to be one person for.
<v Speaker 3>A single time.
<v Speaker 6>But I think when I was a live event, when
<v Speaker 6>I meant was more that you know, the proposition of
<v Speaker 6>the audience isn't like, if you really want to see
<v Speaker 6>the big stars in the big matches, you got to
<v Speaker 6>buy a ticket and go to a show that's not
<v Speaker 6>on television. Sure, that is so gone, and that used
<v Speaker 6>to inform how you did television, and that used to
<v Speaker 6>make television kind of more of a chill like experience.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know, and then I understand, like I get it.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, you're everyone they're trying to sell the Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>you know, the pay per view, which I get, and
<v Speaker 3>that's and that's actually fine. But I also don't think
<v Speaker 3>you need to have it. You know, you can have
<v Speaker 3>he shouldn't. It's just this, the this formula is just
<v Speaker 3>so Yeah, yeah, I agree. I just don't. Roman wouldn't
<v Speaker 3>be on TV. You know, he was the champion. He's
<v Speaker 3>three years and he's he's the exception. Like he's really
<v Speaker 3>the exception. Money he still works in Lesner too, Yes,
<v Speaker 3>Lesner too, the real star. Yeah, exactly. The ones who matter,
<v Speaker 3>they don't. The ones who matter aren't on television.
<v Speaker 6>How about that they're not in And they're not only
<v Speaker 6>not on television because they don't want to work all
<v Speaker 6>those dates, they're also on television because they know that
<v Speaker 6>that's going to make them an even bigger deal.
<v Speaker 3>Think about that, Johnson, when you turn right.
<v Speaker 6>But you got all these chumps, like you know, fighting
<v Speaker 6>for TV time and feeling all paranoid if they don't
<v Speaker 6>get TV time, and it's like, I'm sorry, if you're
<v Speaker 6>If you're a real star, not being on television not
<v Speaker 6>only helps you physically and mentally, but it also helps
<v Speaker 6>your appeal.
<v Speaker 3>And it should be right. It should be a requirement.
<v Speaker 3>People should want to see you more the more you're away.
<v Speaker 3>If you're afraid the people don't forget about you because
<v Speaker 3>you're not on television, then you're probably not over. And
<v Speaker 3>you're also yeah, exactly, you're just you're a fucking loser on.
<v Speaker 6>The grand spectrum. Perhaps yes, you fall more on the
<v Speaker 6>loser side. All that to say, hul Cogan is entering
<v Speaker 6>a very choppy period. After the WWF European Tour that
<v Speaker 6>ended his run. He did go back to New Japan
<v Speaker 6>on September twenty third, nineteen ninety three. At the Oklahoma Arena,
<v Speaker 6>he and the Great Mooda defeated Road Warrior, Hawk and
<v Speaker 6>Power Warrior. There's a match for you who's Power Warrior
<v Speaker 6>that is Ken's K Sasaki, the guy that Hayes reconstituted
<v Speaker 6>the lod with after falling out with Animal Wow. And
<v Speaker 6>then June a pardon me. September twenty sixth, nineteen ninety
<v Speaker 6>three at Castle Hall in Osaka, Hulkogan defeats KG Mudo
<v Speaker 6>in the Do You Want to Climax Special in nineteen
<v Speaker 6>ninety three and nine minutes and fifty five seconds. And
<v Speaker 6>then the final match that hulk Hogan has between the
<v Speaker 6>WWF run and the w ACW run is January fourth
<v Speaker 6>of nineteen ninety four at Tokyo Dome of course, New
<v Speaker 6>Japan Battlefield. Hulkogan defeats Tatsumi Fujinami in thirteen minutes, so
<v Speaker 6>a couple more checks to cash over there in New
<v Speaker 6>Japan after the demorphic thing ends. And then it's a
<v Speaker 6>question October ninety three, mister Nanny comes out it had
<v Speaker 6>been filmed in ninety two during his Wrestlmania eight hiatus.
<v Speaker 3>Right, yes, yes it was, And to the point earlier.
<v Speaker 6>About HBO being in play and not necessarily WCW from
<v Speaker 6>the beginning. Here is an article from October tenth, nineteen
<v Speaker 6>ninety three. Okay and the New York Daily News. New
<v Speaker 6>York Daily News knows what they're talking about, Hogan's hero.
<v Speaker 6>Just when Hulk Hogan, it reads, legitimizes himself and walks
<v Speaker 6>away from the world to professional wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, the powers that be pull him back in.
<v Speaker 6>Even though the Hulkster is making the national rounds promoting
<v Speaker 6>his movie Mister Nanny. This is obviously before it came out,
<v Speaker 6>so before it was a flop and yeah, considered as such,
<v Speaker 6>and is all set to celebrate his action venture TV
<v Speaker 6>show Thunder and Paradise being picked up for thirteen weeks
<v Speaker 6>of primetime syndication. He's really wrestling with the idea of
<v Speaker 6>donning his singlet once again. He never wore a single. Well, no,
<v Speaker 6>that's not true. But for God's sakes that this writer
<v Speaker 6>thinks he's dressed like an amateur wrestler out there.
<v Speaker 3>Can we be adults? Can we be adult? Please? He
<v Speaker 3>didn't fucking wear a goddamn singlet. He's not a fucking idiot.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, he's a fucking idiot, but come on, not
<v Speaker 3>that much of a fucking idiot, we hear.
<v Speaker 6>The article reads, Ted Turner, who happens to own the
<v Speaker 6>World Champions Wrestling League is about to launch a news
<v Speaker 6>I'm sorry, what now, the WCWL. They actually did capitalize league.
<v Speaker 6>So yes, the WCWL is about to launch a new
<v Speaker 6>league that will put on only huge supercard events each year,
<v Speaker 6>but will be available across the globe through pay per view.
<v Speaker 6>We understand Turner is dangling a healthy four year, one
<v Speaker 6>million dollar per match contract at the Hall Oh my God,
<v Speaker 6>and is asking him to do for the new league
<v Speaker 6>what he did for the WWF. Sources say Hogan is
<v Speaker 6>this close to grabbing the deal but wants to be
<v Speaker 6>called by his real name. Terry Malaya should sign Boy.
<v Speaker 1>Fan Wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys
<v Speaker 1>need their candy. It's the Lampsed Fan. He's a lapsed
<v Speaker 1>fan wrestling podcast with.
<v Speaker 3>Jack and JP.
<v Speaker 6>So there is a huge, inappropriate, basically untapped market in
<v Speaker 6>Europe and Japan, and Turner smells the kill here. A
<v Speaker 6>source said, great, but doesn't anyone care that the world
<v Speaker 6>may be robbed of a great budding thespian.
<v Speaker 3>That's a great question. Listen, we I'm all about the buddy,
<v Speaker 3>the buddy Thespian, the butting thespian. He was I think
<v Speaker 3>It was on a Leno show. He was asked about
<v Speaker 3>being a thespian and he looked at the guest next
<v Speaker 3>to him like, I'll paddict. Hesn't know what thespian meant?
<v Speaker 3>What he's very good lesbian? Am I a lesbian? Well?
<v Speaker 3>I don't I like women? I think?
<v Speaker 8>Do I? What?
<v Speaker 3>Why would he want to wrestle with Terry Blay? I
<v Speaker 3>can't believe that. What a stupid idea, Terry World Champion,
<v Speaker 3>Terry you know why? You know why because because as
<v Speaker 3>an actor, Hulk Hogan is a goofball name. So if
<v Speaker 3>he starts wrestling as Terry Belay, maybe people will know
<v Speaker 3>him as Terry Belaya.
<v Speaker 19>Wow.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, that to me is like him being like, I'm
<v Speaker 6>the real reason this all worked. I don't even need
<v Speaker 6>Vince's name.
<v Speaker 3>Right.
<v Speaker 6>That's true too, That is true to those discussions were
<v Speaker 6>like and the fact that was involved is so interesting
<v Speaker 6>to me. It kind of adds up because the tone
<v Speaker 6>of that PWI article.
<v Speaker 3>Wait minute, but.
<v Speaker 6>That's all because it's HBO, right, he's what he said, Well,
<v Speaker 6>I'm putting those pieces together. This article doesn't mention HBO,
<v Speaker 6>it just mentions a third league.
<v Speaker 3>That turn because HBO. I don't know if it was
<v Speaker 3>back then, HBO is Time Warner wasn't Time Warner back then?
<v Speaker 6>No, it was, it was Time Warner. But Turner hadn't
<v Speaker 6>merged with Time Warner yet. Oh, I see there were
<v Speaker 6>still separate companies. And I think I don't even know
<v Speaker 6>if if Warner and Time had merged merged yet. It's
<v Speaker 6>it's coming, so it wouldn't be too much of a
<v Speaker 6>leap to think that, you know, the relationship is already there.
<v Speaker 6>There's two kings of cable there, HBO and Ted Turner.
<v Speaker 6>But man, just to think about what that could have been, like,
<v Speaker 6>like what they were thinking that No one ever talks
<v Speaker 6>about that because it never went anywhere. But it's kind
<v Speaker 6>of the same card he played when w W folded
<v Speaker 6>and he's out there like you know, x w F
<v Speaker 6>and he's got these like one off ideas that are
<v Speaker 6>basically like Hulk Hogan comes to your country, you know,
<v Speaker 6>as specifically as they mentioned there Europe in Japan. I
<v Speaker 6>think he sees a play there because he's still doing
<v Speaker 6>good crowds at a time when the when the domestic
<v Speaker 6>wrestling market is depressed and they could give a fuck
<v Speaker 6>about Hulk using steroids in Japan, you know, right exactly.
<v Speaker 6>It's like the further leaves in their minds. I hope
<v Speaker 6>please use more, please do That's right. But yeah, Meltzer
<v Speaker 6>had said in The Observer, there was definitely some truth
<v Speaker 6>to the idea of HBO talking with hul Cogan about
<v Speaker 6>doing a limited amount of wrestling, despite repeated denials from
<v Speaker 6>the company. But I don't think anything ever got past
<v Speaker 6>the extremely formative stages. Well, Jimmy Hart is in play.
<v Speaker 6>We heard him in those promos for the Yokazuna matches
<v Speaker 6>in England. We know that he's now firmly a fixed
<v Speaker 6>at the hip to hull Cogan.
<v Speaker 3>How did that come to be?
<v Speaker 6>Because that would be relevant to his WCW debut as well,
<v Speaker 6>because everywhere Hulk goes and that early WCW run, Jimmy
<v Speaker 6>Hart is. Oh, I know in the camera frame, he's
<v Speaker 6>such just a round he is on the frame.
<v Speaker 11>I do.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I've always wondered how, Like, I mean, I know where
<v Speaker 3>it started on television that he you know, he started
<v Speaker 3>when when Beefcake get waffled by Money, inc. But I
<v Speaker 3>never really understood, like, how did that relationship really awsome?
<v Speaker 6>It came from mister Nanny, according to Jimmy hart play book,
<v Speaker 6>Yes Corner Jimmy Hart's book Vince Speaking. You know, as
<v Speaker 6>the trial is to taking shape, the grand jury proceedings
<v Speaker 6>are happening, Help comes to him and says, look, Jimmy,
<v Speaker 6>because he's got so much going on, you know, the
<v Speaker 6>lawyer's meeting up on this and everything. Well why Jimmy, Well,
<v Speaker 6>I think because he had been around him the WWF
<v Speaker 6>so long and had want his trust. Okay, yeah, I
<v Speaker 6>think that's pretty much what it came down to. I mean,
<v Speaker 6>Jimmy was somebody that you could count on to well.
<v Speaker 6>But they used to say about Briefcake and others like
<v Speaker 6>what they and what's his name, Tony Altamari? Before that,
<v Speaker 6>they would just carry his gimmicks, you know, like it's
<v Speaker 6>so that if someone popped, if someone popped pulled the
<v Speaker 6>car over, or someone popped him at an airport, if
<v Speaker 6>someone else is carrying the drugs and not.
<v Speaker 3>Him, you know, so he doesn't get arrested. Fucking hilarious.
<v Speaker 6>But you know, I think it's it's part part that,
<v Speaker 6>but part being able to make sure that you know,
<v Speaker 6>he gets on the plane and doesn't have to worry
<v Speaker 6>about the logistics of I need to be here at
<v Speaker 6>this time to make this shot, to make you just
<v Speaker 6>just Jimmy just tells you time to go home, you know,
<v Speaker 6>and he's just that's that's how Jimmy hard to say.
<v Speaker 6>That's the second half of his whole life. Basically, it's
<v Speaker 6>just managing hul Cone's affairs in that way. And a
<v Speaker 6>lot of guys had that, you know, World Warriors had
<v Speaker 6>Paul Ellering, sid had Harvey Whippleman, you know, and brought
<v Speaker 6>him over to w Towa for that reason, because they
<v Speaker 6>keep them together on the road, and pretty pretty soon
<v Speaker 6>you're convinced, as the wrestler that you can't fucking survive
<v Speaker 6>without this guy, Jimmy writes in his book. Throughout the
<v Speaker 6>investigation and during the grand jury proceedings which took place
<v Speaker 6>before the trial, Hulk cut back his wrestling schedule. Ultimately,
<v Speaker 6>he convinced me began exploring separate paths. At the same time,
<v Speaker 6>Hulk came to me and said, look, Jimmy, how would
<v Speaker 6>you like to work for me full time? I'm about
<v Speaker 6>to do some promotion for a movie called Mister Nanny.
<v Speaker 6>I'm going to have to start traveling and doing some things,
<v Speaker 6>and I'd like to have somebody with me to help
<v Speaker 6>on the road. I'd like you. I'd like to have
<v Speaker 6>you with me. I admit the offer was interesting. He asked,
<v Speaker 6>what do you make last year? I told him, and
<v Speaker 6>then Hulk said, I will have a cashiers check out
<v Speaker 6>your house tomorrow afternoon if you'll agree to this, because wow,
<v Speaker 6>the truth is, Jimmy, I need you. I'm going to
<v Speaker 6>do more movies. I'll be going overseas to promote this stuff.
<v Speaker 6>I'll be all over the place. I want somebody with
<v Speaker 6>that's capable of helping business. I think what you want
<v Speaker 6>to say, I'll be doing more movie. I know, well,
<v Speaker 6>you know he's he's delusional right now. He's thinking this
<v Speaker 6>is going to be the beginning of the huge part
<v Speaker 6>of it.
<v Speaker 4>I know, I know.
<v Speaker 3>I remember I was like a brother. I'll do all
<v Speaker 3>this this idea of action of venture comedy, the family
<v Speaker 3>comedy that the kid im won't be afraid to bring
<v Speaker 3>them because it's not all blood and guts, dude, but
<v Speaker 3>there's still plenty of action. There's still plenty of blood
<v Speaker 3>and guts, brother, but it's not like enough to like
<v Speaker 3>make you know, mothers not you know, be what exactly? Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I see you about to say something. Did you say something.
<v Speaker 6>Somebody can really depend on? As anybody knows, Jimmy hart
<v Speaker 6>Wright's managing a wrestler inside the ring is nothing like
<v Speaker 6>managing the day to day affairs of a star entertainer,
<v Speaker 6>which is what Hulk was still. By that time, I
<v Speaker 6>had done enough behind the scenes work for the WBF
<v Speaker 6>that Hulk thought I could handle the job. As I've mentioned,
<v Speaker 6>Vince McMahon had always put me over, always spoken highly
<v Speaker 6>of me, and called me the company's best employee. Help
<v Speaker 6>knew and respected that. There's your answer right there, Boss,
<v Speaker 6>as to why it is, I tried, oh gosh, this
<v Speaker 6>is great, but let's talk about it more when you're
<v Speaker 6>really sure of your plans. And then I really didn't
<v Speaker 6>think much more about our conversation until a week later
<v Speaker 6>when the phone rang. It was Hulk saying, Jimmy, me
<v Speaker 6>and Linda, his wife, would like to come and buy
<v Speaker 6>your house. A little while later, I was inviting them in.
<v Speaker 6>We sat down and he said, look, I've thought of
<v Speaker 6>everything out there I could have worked for me, and
<v Speaker 6>I really want you with me the whole time you've
<v Speaker 6>been in New York. You've always been dependable, You've always
<v Speaker 6>worked hard. He brought up the time he'd asked me
<v Speaker 6>to go out and manage Rick Flair and other things,
<v Speaker 6>and then he said, Jimmy, I need you. I guess
<v Speaker 6>there was a match where Heenan wasn't there and he
<v Speaker 6>needed a heal manager involved.
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy, I need you.
<v Speaker 6>I've got a cashier's check in my hand for your
<v Speaker 6>whole salary for a year, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
<v Speaker 6>I told him that the amount was fair, but that
<v Speaker 6>it really only represented my bass out. Here goes Jimmy.
<v Speaker 3>Here we go. Well what's the manby? Oh, I can't
<v Speaker 3>believe it. Look, that's such a great offer, you know I.
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you something, daddy, I come on the bit salary.
<v Speaker 8>You know what?
<v Speaker 3>Again? Else, By the way, keep in mind he is
<v Speaker 3>he is talking to Hulk Cogan with a megaphone. Yes
<v Speaker 3>he is.
<v Speaker 6>It is in his own house. He's looking to get
<v Speaker 6>more money. Because as soon as you tell a wrestler
<v Speaker 6>that you agree to their price, that's just the beginning.
<v Speaker 3>Right of course. Well that's before merchandising comes in. And
<v Speaker 3>you know what else I make and you know, bonuses
<v Speaker 3>and stuff like that. Oh okay, well here, what's that?
<v Speaker 3>Well if you add then you know, it's another fifty
<v Speaker 3>thousand dollars. Great, okay, yeah, sure, no problem, will do it. Well,
<v Speaker 3>that doesn't include this other you know, I've also got
<v Speaker 3>these these private moments, you know, where I get privately
<v Speaker 3>requested for certain appearances that you know, so I'll be
<v Speaker 3>giving up those as well. So that's another two hundred
<v Speaker 3>and fifty grand brother, whatever you need, dude, great, great,
<v Speaker 3>let's let's sey well, you know, but there's also one
<v Speaker 3>other thing too. There's also there exactly and and you
<v Speaker 3>know I need a wife, so what are we going
<v Speaker 3>to do about that? Uh, that's another million dollars right there,
<v Speaker 3>so I can buy a wife and I can get
<v Speaker 3>my sister a house. Oh whoa brother? Okay, dude, okay,
<v Speaker 3>we'll do it, brother, Melani I did. We'll do it.
<v Speaker 3>What you and and and okay, great, excellent. Well you
<v Speaker 3>know what, like you know what, there's one other thing too, brother,
<v Speaker 3>what just double it? Right?
<v Speaker 13>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>One thing? Walk god, well you have to double it
<v Speaker 3>at the end for me to say, yeah, well, why
<v Speaker 3>what do you mean why did what does that was
<v Speaker 3>that cover nothing. I just want you to double the
<v Speaker 3>price unless you want to lose me. Unless you want
<v Speaker 3>to lose me, I can walk, yep, and I'll go
<v Speaker 3>get my miserable base salary that that I was going
<v Speaker 3>to get, and that's it the whole time. I'll do
<v Speaker 3>it out of just spite. Yep. Yeah.
<v Speaker 6>I told him that the amount was fair, but that
<v Speaker 6>it really only represented my base salary because I'd always
<v Speaker 6>made a idiot git more from the sale of dolls
<v Speaker 6>and T shirts and other merchandise. He said, no problems.
<v Speaker 3>What dolls?
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, there was no Jimmy Hart dolls. Well there was
<v Speaker 6>an LJN, wasn't there.
<v Speaker 3>Let me think it like there might have been an LJN.
<v Speaker 3>But still by that point he's not making anything. There's
<v Speaker 3>no LJN. They're not being sold right, they're done. Well,
<v Speaker 3>if you take away to average and you regress, there
<v Speaker 3>was an LJN. There was an LJN. Yeah, that's it,
<v Speaker 3>he said, no problems, like fucking he looks like he
<v Speaker 3>looks like a Ringo star. Oh yeah, that LJM. Lj
<v Speaker 3>room are fucking brutal. Oh I know they're awful.
<v Speaker 6>He said, no problem, we could build it. Up a little,
<v Speaker 6>and then I asked about the bottom line, Hulk, What
<v Speaker 6>if I get seriously ill in a month? He said,
<v Speaker 6>the money's yours. Oh my god, what if I don't
<v Speaker 6>like it? Well, before you leave, smooth things over with
<v Speaker 6>e Vince. Make sure it's okay for you to come back.
<v Speaker 6>If you don't like the job, you can go, no
<v Speaker 6>hard feelings, whatever you need, because I need you. I'm
<v Speaker 6>gonna do TV series two Thunder Paradise, and I want
<v Speaker 6>you with me. I'll give you a little pardon it
<v Speaker 6>and you'll make the residuals off that. Well, what if
<v Speaker 6>I want you to give me money for doing nothing?
<v Speaker 6>I don't understand, Terry. What if I want all the
<v Speaker 6>money you make for the rest of your life? What
<v Speaker 6>if I want Yeah, well we didn't talk about that,
<v Speaker 6>Like why can't I get all your money? Why can't
<v Speaker 6>I get all your money? That went from that went
<v Speaker 6>from from like, you know, hey, Jimmy's gonna see how
<v Speaker 6>far he can take it. He's a Carnie, can I
<v Speaker 6>It went from can I get all your money? To
<v Speaker 6>why can't I?
<v Speaker 3>Exactly even though he hadn't said even though he hasn't
<v Speaker 3>said no, just you know, Theoretically speaking, why can't I
<v Speaker 3>have all your money? Yeah, like even stuff you earned
<v Speaker 3>before you even knew me. How's that fair? If I
<v Speaker 3>don't have your money, I'll give you a little part
<v Speaker 3>in it. You'll make residuals off that, Jimmy, take your cashiers.
<v Speaker 3>Look at getting getting the union, brother, Like you can
<v Speaker 3>ride that train for a little bit. Like it's it's
<v Speaker 3>it's all gravy, dude. Life a series of runs, brother,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm about to do the biggest run of your life. Dude.
<v Speaker 3>It's uh. Well, perhaps mister Hart is too foolish to
<v Speaker 3>know when his ship has come in.
<v Speaker 9>I I.
<v Speaker 3>Is it it?
<v Speaker 6>And you're with me full time? Holt tells Jimmy Hart. Wow,
<v Speaker 6>So I talked to Vince he Jimmy writes, I he
<v Speaker 6>appreciated my position and wished me well, saying that if
<v Speaker 6>every wanted to come back, the door was open. With
<v Speaker 6>all the uncertainty in the business.
<v Speaker 3>Ye, you know you're I just want to say, you
<v Speaker 3>know you're you. We You've been a pleasure, Uh more
<v Speaker 3>than welcome. I understand. Listen you you follow whatever your
<v Speaker 3>heart desires. We we follow you understand. Great, thanks for
<v Speaker 3>coming in. Good to see Patterson. What's up? Boss?
<v Speaker 9>Who was that?
<v Speaker 3>It's Jimmy Hart. Boss on a gimmick? Jimmy Hart's why
<v Speaker 3>what did he wants to go work for hoganenough? From
<v Speaker 3>what I what I gat ORed? Not a gimmick? Or
<v Speaker 3>does he know that he's not going to get paid?
<v Speaker 13>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah he does. He's not going to get paid. I
<v Speaker 3>mean he Hulk will pay him. But I don't know. No,
<v Speaker 3>he's not. No, he's not, because that's the you know what,
<v Speaker 3>that's what I take from Hulk Hogan for being Hulk Hogan. Ah, well,
<v Speaker 3>I don't think he knows that he's not going to
<v Speaker 3>get that, right, That's right? Are you sure he doesn't
<v Speaker 3>know anything about steroids in the company? Which one Jimmy Hart.
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Hart, Well, you know he I'll tell you what
<v Speaker 3>we will know because I did. I did put surveillance
<v Speaker 3>in his house. He went from who was that? I
<v Speaker 3>don't even know who that was too. I put surveillance on.
<v Speaker 3>Well why did you do Why did you do that?
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Hart? Well, I put surveillance in everybody's houses. You
<v Speaker 3>have surveillance too, I know everything you do. I watch
<v Speaker 3>everybody all the time. But I would that have anything
<v Speaker 3>to do with whether he knew about steroids in the company.
<v Speaker 3>How could it not. I'm confused what I know you
<v Speaker 3>are because you're not thinking forth dimensionally. Wow, i know
<v Speaker 3>what's coming down the pike. And I'm already beyond that. See,
<v Speaker 3>I'm beyond the trial. I've already been acquitted. Wow, I'm
<v Speaker 3>setting up my victory lap.
<v Speaker 12>Sunday, August third, at noon, The Lapsed Fan takes on
<v Speaker 12>Times Square tickets at Comedy Village dot com. There goes
<v Speaker 12>the neighborhood. You fucking bitch.
<v Speaker 3>You're right in the middle of it all.
<v Speaker 9>That's really where we belonged.
<v Speaker 6>With all the uncertainty in the business. Jimmy Wrights and
<v Speaker 6>after all my years and wrestling, Hulk's offer was just
<v Speaker 6>too good to turn down. I put the money in
<v Speaker 6>the bank. Really, the whole thing tells you a lot
<v Speaker 6>about the character of Hulk Hogan.
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy's just counting money, man, That's all he's doing, making
<v Speaker 3>sure the money's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And look, look,
<v Speaker 3>all he needs is money to color that hair. He counts,
<v Speaker 3>he countner it gets the more he needs the color.
<v Speaker 3>This guy will count the change at the counter. You know,
<v Speaker 3>what I mean, he's that absolutely absolutely.
<v Speaker 6>He didn't know if I was going to get sick,
<v Speaker 6>quit or screw up. But he gave me the whole
<v Speaker 6>amount up front. As I said, only tips. He tips
<v Speaker 6>exactly eighteen point when he has a eighteen and it's
<v Speaker 6>to the fucking penny. God, all right, you know, you
<v Speaker 6>know Jimmy Hart is a fucking little bitch when it
<v Speaker 6>comes to spending money, all right, it is.
<v Speaker 3>It is brutal. He will not spend a penny more
<v Speaker 3>than he has. He will not split the check evenly,
<v Speaker 3>no way. Ever, you're paying for everything. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>you know you had all the drinks, buddy, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I mean you know this was your idea
<v Speaker 3>to come out. Oh my god, I think you should
<v Speaker 3>pay for me. Yeah, I'll pay for you for with
<v Speaker 3>that position, as I said, in that position, dude, exactly.
<v Speaker 3>That seems to be the problem. What that's his? What
<v Speaker 3>that's his?
<v Speaker 9>What?
<v Speaker 6>Everyone has one? As I said, I left the WBA
<v Speaker 6>fun good term, so I've learned not to burn it
<v Speaker 6>any bridges. Hulk lost his title Yo Kazuna and June
<v Speaker 6>of ninety three, and that was it. We were off
<v Speaker 6>and running from then.
<v Speaker 8>On.
<v Speaker 6>I was with him all the time doing whatever he
<v Speaker 6>needed to be done. I'd be his go to guy,
<v Speaker 6>making sure everything he needed done was done right. A
<v Speaker 6>lot of it was promotion and publicity stuff. I'd screen
<v Speaker 6>media people, for example, and made sure interviews were completed
<v Speaker 6>on schedule. It all began with promotion for the movies.
<v Speaker 3>Like again, could you imagine, Oh my god, I knowed
<v Speaker 3>a legit being a legit media person and you gotta
<v Speaker 3>go through this fucking clown. It feels like you've already
<v Speaker 3>done an interview by the time you get to the end,
<v Speaker 3>exactly like you know, think about meeting Jimmy Hart. What
<v Speaker 3>ellan are you with? Baby? And you're gonna call the room?
<v Speaker 3>Is it the hair up high? Oh god, okay, he's
<v Speaker 3>the hair up two inches of like doing like six
<v Speaker 3>inches above his fucking head. All right, little fucking bee
<v Speaker 3>hive thing there he's got going on, you know, sunglasses
<v Speaker 3>inside and and just awful teeth. It's just I mean,
<v Speaker 3>what is this? You know, what do you like you're
<v Speaker 3>dealing with? This guy's supposed to be a legit individual,
<v Speaker 3>Like where did this fucking this guy's supposed to be
<v Speaker 3>a legit individual it's so awesome. It's what what is this?
<v Speaker 3>Look at him like, I mean, this is the guy
<v Speaker 3>I gotta see before I get interview, the real guy.
<v Speaker 3>This this guy fucking you know, negotiates for the other. Like,
<v Speaker 3>what the fuck this guy plans for him? Who is
<v Speaker 3>this little dweeb, this little muskrat the fuck? And I
<v Speaker 3>imagine he's wearing his fucking uh uh uh you know,
<v Speaker 3>what do you call it? The jackets that he were
<v Speaker 3>what do you call it? Air air brushed? Air brushed, yeah, airbrushed,
<v Speaker 3>fucking Hulk Hogan jackets who's not wearing normal clothes? Just
<v Speaker 3>fucking like just awful. I mean, he's he's like he's
<v Speaker 3>like a fucking roadie basically is what he is? Who
<v Speaker 3>has to you know, work, brother, it's not shooting dude, right,
<v Speaker 3>what is there plans? I don't know about who? You
<v Speaker 3>mean shooting dude? Can you imagine an interview for mister
<v Speaker 3>nanny Hollywood press and you've got to deal with this guy?
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, it would just be it says like
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Hart, representative for hul Cogan on like his business card,
<v Speaker 3>you know, yep, is this Jimmy Hart. Yeah, maybe he's
<v Speaker 3>in the room with Hulk, but he pretends Hulk. It's
<v Speaker 3>like in a different area, you know, yep, yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he's or yeah exactly. Oh he's not. He's not. He's
<v Speaker 3>in his living room. He's living, you fraud. All right,
<v Speaker 3>he's watching the set. How about that? Wow, he's watching
<v Speaker 3>the TV set. Or he's sitting on the set. Maybe, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he's on the set, all right? Yeah right.
<v Speaker 6>It all began with promotion for the movies Mister Nanny
<v Speaker 6>and or Is he writes in his book Urban Commando.
<v Speaker 3>Oh he does not. Is that the one with us
<v Speaker 3>instead of Hogan? Wait a minute, though, Urban Suburban Commando
<v Speaker 3>was what are you? What are you talking about? Just
<v Speaker 3>conflating things and lying. He's completely I mean he's talking
<v Speaker 3>about two years of difference. Yeah, years earlier. Suburban Commando
<v Speaker 3>was nineteen ninety one, like before he had this working
<v Speaker 3>relationship with Hulk. Hogan. I don't know what he's talking about. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know mister Nanny right, Yes, I was with
<v Speaker 3>him all day long, and they were long days. Hogan's
<v Speaker 3>a workaholic. The overseas promotion for Mister Nanny was extensive,
<v Speaker 3>and even on the road would be up at six
<v Speaker 3>in the morning lifting weights. Okay, Hulk was lifting weights.
<v Speaker 3>I was on the treadmill, acting like I was really
<v Speaker 3>working out with him. That's funny. I you have to
<v Speaker 3>pretend to work out with Hulk, coy with me. Brother,
<v Speaker 3>I work out, dude, Brother, change no, no, I don't no, no, no, no, no,
<v Speaker 3>I don't do that.
<v Speaker 9>I don't do that. I don't do that. Baby.
<v Speaker 3>Well, brother, yeah you do. So you want my paycheck?
<v Speaker 8>Brother?
<v Speaker 3>Now he's stuck. He knew there was a cat. I
<v Speaker 3>will gladly cancel that check, brother, even if it's already
<v Speaker 3>been depositive. I know the bank. You want to play
<v Speaker 3>getting the jim getting my chism?
<v Speaker 6>I want to play, he says, Oh, and I believe.
<v Speaker 6>He also said I know the bank, like like it,
<v Speaker 6>like he went to high school with the bank. After
<v Speaker 6>a limousine would come by and would really get going.
<v Speaker 6>Interview after an interview, after an interview, all day long.
<v Speaker 6>During all this, Hulk Carricter worked on the script about
<v Speaker 6>a next Navy seal and eventually he took the Oh no,
<v Speaker 6>he's just claiming, Oh no, Shadow Warriors.
<v Speaker 3>He's such a liar, that's it. Oh my god, he's
<v Speaker 3>such a fucking phony, and.
<v Speaker 6>He took the project to the people who produced Baywatch. Coincidentally,
<v Speaker 6>there had been a real life Navy seal xt Navy. Wait, no,
<v Speaker 6>this is a Thunder and Paradise. Who made it bigger?
<v Speaker 6>But Hulk didn't write Thunder and Paradise. No, no, worked
<v Speaker 6>on a script. No it was because yeah it was no.
<v Speaker 9>No, no, he did not.
<v Speaker 3>He did not because it wasn't even really done like
<v Speaker 3>the you know, yeah, anyway, go on next Navy. He'll
<v Speaker 3>be a big and wrestling chase wentory, Okay, Hulk and
<v Speaker 3>the producers eventually turned the script then TV serious Thunder
<v Speaker 3>and Paradise and this Hulk promises for Hey, you know what,
<v Speaker 3>why didn't I get offered Thunder and Paradise? Great question.
<v Speaker 3>I am an ex Navy sheet. Yeah, they're exit died
<v Speaker 3>there or they're underwater sealed demolition team. That's right, you know,
<v Speaker 3>Hulk Hogan's just a fake. I'm a real. I'm a
<v Speaker 3>real Navy shield. I had a thunder in Paradise.
<v Speaker 6>I'm a real. I'm monetizable on Facebook once again, the
<v Speaker 6>marriage of Rock and Rockland. Hey, I'm verified on social media.
<v Speaker 3>Hey that before you seek to credit me or not
<v Speaker 3>give me my just do Hey, hold on there, you
<v Speaker 3>you making comments you don't even understand.
<v Speaker 6>We've had a lot of discussions about this, and one
<v Speaker 6>thing I am not getting from you is the proper respect.
<v Speaker 6>I'm verified.
<v Speaker 3>Let me ask you something, Michael Cole? Are you verified
<v Speaker 3>on social media? Do you have verification on social media?
<v Speaker 8>Love?
<v Speaker 3>Which media? On which platforms? Well, you're you're here, You're
<v Speaker 3>here bragging to me about your verification. Well do you
<v Speaker 3>have what I have, which is two step verification? Jesse,
<v Speaker 3>that's a different what? No, you only have one I
<v Speaker 3>one step. Let me ask you this question. Are you
<v Speaker 3>a verified Navy Shield?
<v Speaker 9>No?
<v Speaker 3>Well then how can you be verified at anything? Wait?
<v Speaker 3>Why did he go through the cage door? Isn't that
<v Speaker 3>a little suspicious? Oh my god, Michael Cole is so
<v Speaker 3>angry during that, He's like, oh my god.
<v Speaker 1>Fan Wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys
<v Speaker 1>need their candy. It's the lapsed fan. He's an lapsed
<v Speaker 1>fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carneo, MJP sorow.
<v Speaker 3>Why is he so right? Why is he so right
<v Speaker 3>all the time? Speaking of which, Jimmy Hart writes, yes,
<v Speaker 3>once again. The marriage of rock and wrestling that I'd
<v Speaker 3>worked so successfully paid dividends. I became Jam and Jimmy
<v Speaker 3>one of the Beach Crowd regulars and appeared in fourteen
<v Speaker 3>of the show's twenty two episodes along with Jim McGuire,
<v Speaker 3>my songwriting partner from Summerset, Kentucky. I was in many
<v Speaker 3>of the beach bar scenes and I had a few
<v Speaker 3>lines here and there. Our characters were musicians and we
<v Speaker 3>played regularly at the scuttle but Bar. Our little band
<v Speaker 3>Jim and Jimmy and Tone Deaf was always set up
<v Speaker 3>in the corner and ready to before. Okay, that's great again.
<v Speaker 3>This kind of thing goes a long way and explaining
<v Speaker 3>the kind of person Hulk is. He always gets his
<v Speaker 3>friends involved in what he's doing. British peefkacking, Yeah, he
<v Speaker 3>sure does. Britis peefkick a Pritten four episodes with Under Paradise,
<v Speaker 3>and when you look at the credits from several other episodes,
<v Speaker 3>you'll find the names James, Henry Knightheart and Steve Borden.
<v Speaker 3>Wrestling fans recognize him, of course, is Jim the Anvil,
<v Speaker 3>night Hard and stings Terry Funk. I know Terry or
<v Speaker 3>Rick Flair, Good Terry Funk, that's right by watch watch
<v Speaker 3>Jenkinszalez also made in appearance as he did Sting. God.
<v Speaker 6>I wish Sting wasn't afraid of his own shadow and
<v Speaker 6>actually did shoot interviews because I know he disappears. He
<v Speaker 6>fucking disappears, and yes he was hurt, but he disappears.
<v Speaker 6>According to Flair, he did not like the finish of
<v Speaker 6>that class show where he loses the titles to Hulk
<v Speaker 6>and just disappear, loses the titles to Flair, merges them
<v Speaker 6>and disappears. He doesn't show up for Bash at the
<v Speaker 6>Beach despite being promoted as appearing on the show the
<v Speaker 6>day of.
<v Speaker 3>He was supposed to face uh.
<v Speaker 6>Steve and then he has an injury so they take
<v Speaker 6>him out, but then they say he's going to accompany
<v Speaker 6>Johnny be Bad as a as A as a cornerman,
<v Speaker 6>and then he doesn't even show up for that.
<v Speaker 3>He was passed when he was was he still abusing
<v Speaker 3>at the time, And I don't.
<v Speaker 6>Know if he had I don't know if he had
<v Speaker 6>had that problem quite yet. Okay, like the alcoholism and
<v Speaker 6>the womanizing and stuff, the stuff that caused him to
<v Speaker 6>become a Jesus guy. Yeah, No, I don't think so.
<v Speaker 6>I don't perceive that he was on that tip yet.
<v Speaker 6>Maybe he was, but I just think he was.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, if I was saying this, if he if
<v Speaker 3>he hasn't, if he hasn't solved it by this point,
<v Speaker 3>then he saw on it. Well he I mean, it's
<v Speaker 3>it's there. It's there anyway. I mean he might not
<v Speaker 3>be at a bad point necessarily, but it's it's for sure.
<v Speaker 3>I imagine it's there.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, I mean he had a lot to lose when
<v Speaker 6>Hogan came in in terms of his position. He was
<v Speaker 6>just he was never going to be the w StEB
<v Speaker 6>champion again. Ye, this wasn't gonna happen. He was literally
<v Speaker 6>restling for the TV title. What Hogan gets there all
<v Speaker 6>of a sudden, Yeah, you know, and he's pretty much
<v Speaker 6>stays there until they find the crow thing.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah that's true. And yeah he gets the tag tiles
<v Speaker 3>at least. Yeah, sure, but still it's not the same. No,
<v Speaker 3>he's not going to be a top guy. He's not
<v Speaker 3>gonna be the single superstar that he was. And I
<v Speaker 3>don't know, he probably applied, he probably tried to pull
<v Speaker 3>something on that clash that didn't work out and he
<v Speaker 3>just fucking just did the job and disappeared. I think
<v Speaker 3>he really got pissed off by all this Hogan stuff.
<v Speaker 3>And I always saw Sting's involvement in Thunder and Paradise
<v Speaker 3>is Hogan with an olive branch, knowing that if Sting
<v Speaker 3>was like actively working against him, that could really hurt
<v Speaker 3>his chances of establishing himself as ww's top dog, just
<v Speaker 3>in little small ways, you know, And he found a
<v Speaker 3>way to ingratiate himself to Sting, no question, you know,
<v Speaker 3>to the point that Sting was basically a tag team
<v Speaker 3>partner of his in the beginning. But right, I do
<v Speaker 3>think that.
<v Speaker 6>I do think there's a lot unsaid about Sting's role
<v Speaker 6>and viewpoint in all of this. But he just he's
<v Speaker 6>never been a guy to talk about stuff like that,
<v Speaker 6>and that's so interesting. Yeah, yeah, you won't find anything.
<v Speaker 3>No shoots.
<v Speaker 6>Even WWE when he went to work for them, they
<v Speaker 6>did a documentary. It's nothing, he says nothing. They even
<v Speaker 6>have him sit down and watch an old match and
<v Speaker 6>he says nothing about.
<v Speaker 3>The match, like he right, And the most exciting thing
<v Speaker 3>is he goes in the fucking warehouse there. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>because you know and looks at his fucking memorabilia, which
<v Speaker 3>just cool, you know, but that's not what I mean.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, like, let's get let's talk ship, you know,
<v Speaker 3>let's right, yeah about me? Yeah, I was pissed off. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>but he's you know, born again ship. That doesn't Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I bet that's a lot of it. Yeah, it's it's
<v Speaker 3>you know, you're supposed to forget that kind of stuff
<v Speaker 3>and all you want to do is positive, positive, and
<v Speaker 3>you know, and forgive and all that garbage boring. Fuck
<v Speaker 3>that guy. Get this guy a drink, I'm kidding, and
<v Speaker 3>seriously fucking shove a needle in him and see what
<v Speaker 3>happens like.
<v Speaker 6>That too, Now that you know, in no small part
<v Speaker 6>because of sting, you can't get a good sound bit
<v Speaker 6>out a luger now, yep.
<v Speaker 3>The TV series was.
<v Speaker 6>A lot of fun, but it was also very time consuming.
<v Speaker 6>Jimmy writes, for a thirty second spot, you could shoot
<v Speaker 6>all day. Things are completely different in professional wrestling, where
<v Speaker 6>generally what you see is what you get. The cameras
<v Speaker 6>are on, you're there, one take and that's it. Hulk
<v Speaker 6>always went out of his way to help everybody he
<v Speaker 6>could and lend his name to a worthy cause. No
<v Speaker 6>matter how tired. He was always visiting children's hospitals make
<v Speaker 6>a wish, never turned on anyone. Like I said, working
<v Speaker 6>for Holkman, I was as busy as he was shooting
<v Speaker 6>Thunder and Paradise. We developed the discipline schedule. The days
<v Speaker 6>again began early lifting weights. Then we were all on
<v Speaker 6>set all morning. I was there with him all the time,
<v Speaker 6>except when I was filming a scene for the show.
<v Speaker 6>But as soon as I was finished, I was back
<v Speaker 6>by his side when anything important came up, like an
<v Speaker 6>urgent call from his agent, Peter Young or his lawyer
<v Speaker 6>Henry Holmes, who also handles George Foreman and Pamela Anderson. Yes,
<v Speaker 6>you can see Peter Young and Henry Holmes front row
<v Speaker 6>at Bash at the beach. Do you see that guy
<v Speaker 6>with that those Hollywood glasses on sitting next to the
<v Speaker 6>guy from Thunder Paris.
<v Speaker 3>That's Henry Holmes looking at Hollywood Attorneys and Peter Young
<v Speaker 3>is to his left. And the reason the whole George Foreman, grill,
<v Speaker 3>whole Cogan and hilarious story thing is because they shared
<v Speaker 3>an agent. And who's the who's the There's another there's
<v Speaker 3>another guy with Linda on the on the other side.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know who that is. I don't, yeah, because
<v Speaker 3>he's another guy with sunglasses. Yeah, Linda is very prominent
<v Speaker 3>in the front row. And this year Chris Lemon sitting
<v Speaker 3>right next to Chris Lemon, and you see that, you
<v Speaker 3>see fucking Nick and Brook, Like it was crazy, Like
<v Speaker 3>I really didn't even think they would be there.
<v Speaker 6>Usually family is not sat on the hard camera side
<v Speaker 6>like that, but she's visible the whole night.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, yep, Like after after, after I found them, I
<v Speaker 3>almost couldn't watch anything else that fascinating to see how
<v Speaker 3>they reacted to everything exactly. I mean Chris, Chris Lemon
<v Speaker 3>is bored out of his fuck, so he's so humiliated.
<v Speaker 3>The smartest thing he could possibly do was where sunglasses
<v Speaker 3>in the buildings so he didn't have to see ship,
<v Speaker 3>that's right, and so people didn't have to see his eye.
<v Speaker 3>He could he could fall asleep in his chair and
<v Speaker 3>nobody would know and hide his disdain, right yep. I
<v Speaker 3>mean he just like there's no there is not an
<v Speaker 3>ounce of excitement in that in him and it's kind
<v Speaker 3>of I mean, yeah, like he just looks absolutely miserable.
<v Speaker 6>They'd called the discussed movie scripts, appearances and other business,
<v Speaker 6>and I'd pass information on a Hulk or provide them
<v Speaker 6>with the details. And when they weren't on the phone,
<v Speaker 6>I was checking in regularly to see if they needed
<v Speaker 6>anything from Hulk. Seven days a week, I was always
<v Speaker 6>on call. My hotel room was next to his, my
<v Speaker 6>airline seat, my place in the limo. It was my
<v Speaker 6>job to be there wherever I was needed. I also
<v Speaker 6>helped Hulk find his way in a new venture music.
<v Speaker 6>We worked out or deal with Select Records, and it
<v Speaker 6>brought in some big money.
<v Speaker 9>No it didn't.
<v Speaker 6>So both on TV and in real life, I was
<v Speaker 6>back in music, only this time I was working with
<v Speaker 6>Hulk Hogan instead of the Gentries. Thunder and Paradise was
<v Speaker 6>a great vehicle for me. Jim McGuire and I wrote
<v Speaker 6>eleven or twelve songs that were used in the fuck
<v Speaker 6>Up Beach and bar scenes on top. But that was
<v Speaker 6>a great vehicle. Fuck you, It was a great vehicle
<v Speaker 6>for no to vehicle. No one, no one fucking benefited
<v Speaker 6>from that fucking thing.
<v Speaker 3>They were just so. You wrote. You wrote music and
<v Speaker 3>songs that nobody fucking heard. So explain to me how
<v Speaker 3>that's a good view. I bet he didn't even write
<v Speaker 3>Thunder in Paris. I bet nothing. The co chairman think, twill,
<v Speaker 3>that's what thunder? Remember that? Yes, that's the best part.
<v Speaker 3>Oh oh, like one of the sucking uh fucking monks there,
<v Speaker 3>what do you call it? Gregorian chant there? Jesus Christ. Oh,
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you, if he keeps going this way towards
<v Speaker 3>w W is going to be a Georgian chant. That's
<v Speaker 3>for damn sure. By uh yeah, that's just man. We
<v Speaker 3>did Thunder Paradise because of the Hopper, right for for Brandon. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>we did Thunder Paradise before we ever even had under
<v Speaker 3>the cinemat. Absolutely, it was years before It's wild. It
<v Speaker 3>was that was that was the first. That was the
<v Speaker 3>first Hopper thing. Wasn't the very first time, not the
<v Speaker 3>very first one, but it was that first. It was
<v Speaker 3>within that first session.
<v Speaker 6>I see, yeah or yeah, yeah, that was probably rather
<v Speaker 6>than Hopper, it was probably the Patreon listener request series.
<v Speaker 3>It might have been that you got your pick. That's
<v Speaker 3>when we realized we had a fucking problem on our hands. Yeah, yep,
<v Speaker 3>because people needed it. We had actually on tap. On
<v Speaker 3>top of that, we also wrote the closing theme. We
<v Speaker 3>had actually written Thunder and Paradise to be the opening song,
<v Speaker 3>not knowing that the producers had gotten their own people
<v Speaker 3>to write something to begin the show. Still, our tune
<v Speaker 3>was used for the end credits. All right, look lolick
<v Speaker 3>all right, the fucking idiot guy that that follows hold
<v Speaker 3>on and he'd written a song? Can we find a
<v Speaker 3>place to put it? I mean, I just want to
<v Speaker 3>shut this guy up? Can we? Can we? Just because
<v Speaker 3>he is so fucking annoying? Has anyone seen do you
<v Speaker 3>know you can tell me? Can someone tell me what
<v Speaker 3>he fucking hides in that hair? Do you know I
<v Speaker 3>have to go through him to ask Colke what he
<v Speaker 3>wants for lunch? Do you know that I have? Like listen,
<v Speaker 3>all right, I don't want to talk to him. I
<v Speaker 3>don't want to deal with him. All right, Have someone
<v Speaker 3>else do it because I cannot. I cannot with that man?
<v Speaker 1>Like?
<v Speaker 3>Is he a man?
<v Speaker 8>Like?
<v Speaker 14>What is he?
<v Speaker 9>What does he do with?
<v Speaker 3>Is he a man? Speakure Jimmy Art's face? Is he
<v Speaker 3>a man? It's a great question. I mean he looks
<v Speaker 3>like alf all right, that piece of ship alf ol, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he does. I love how you pointed out how elevated.
<v Speaker 16>His hair is.
<v Speaker 3>So problem up there, man, it's I mean all because
<v Speaker 3>all if you know it, really, I never really thought
<v Speaker 3>about it until he was at that what was it
<v Speaker 3>saturny nice main event that we saw recently, and it's
<v Speaker 3>just like I was like, oh my god, because you
<v Speaker 3>could see through it, and I was like, that's a problem.
<v Speaker 3>That's a fucking problem. He hasn't aged. Man, Yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 3>that's that's supposed to be cool. Like no, no, it's
<v Speaker 3>incredibly disturbing. That's a problem. Okay, that's that's what that is.
<v Speaker 3>If he hasn't aged, that's a problem he gets. He
<v Speaker 3>gets in full gimmick every day of his life, every
<v Speaker 3>fucking day. He can't go anywhere without sunglass.
<v Speaker 6>He would be a mess if his hair wasn't dyed
<v Speaker 6>jet black on a given day.
<v Speaker 3>I really want to see what he's like in the morning,
<v Speaker 3>My god, you know what happened when he wakes up
<v Speaker 3>in the morning. He wouldn't let his soul see him
<v Speaker 3>until he never never like what does he look like
<v Speaker 3>in the morning, Like what does that hair do? He
<v Speaker 3>gets up in the morning, he does that hair, he
<v Speaker 3>puts it let and he puts one of those jackets
<v Speaker 3>on and then he leaves the house. Yes, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 3>you know. Just imagine seeing him walking down your fucking neighborhood.
<v Speaker 3>What are you? Why are you walking around with? What
<v Speaker 3>are you? What are you? Why are you wearing a
<v Speaker 3>fucking jacket that looks like a keyboard? Okay, a happy
<v Speaker 3>meal toy? You're a fucking clown. You're supposed to be
<v Speaker 3>a rock Crown rock and roll promoter. Like, what do
<v Speaker 3>you like? Yeah?
<v Speaker 15>What are you?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? What what's this outfit? What exactly what is this outfit?
<v Speaker 3>And why do you have twenty of them who said
<v Speaker 3>you were okay? Who gave you permission to.
<v Speaker 9>Be like this?
<v Speaker 3>My god, that's what I That's what I would ask Jimmy.
<v Speaker 3>I want to really break it down, and you're not
<v Speaker 3>being true to yourself. You're being false to yourself. Do
<v Speaker 3>you ever get sick of being a gimmick Jimmy, Oh,
<v Speaker 3>that's a good question for him. Do you ever get
<v Speaker 3>sick of being a fake? You ever wish just one
<v Speaker 3>thing you could do in your life is actually real
<v Speaker 3>instead of a fucking hustle to get money, put more
<v Speaker 3>pocket change for Jimmy Hart fucking fucking thunder Imparadise was
<v Speaker 3>a vehicle. Shut the fuck up, asshole, Like you said,
<v Speaker 3>the show's a vehicle for no one. Yeah, exactly. Sorry.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know why we have to be, why we
<v Speaker 3>have to point right, they just keep everyone talks about
<v Speaker 3>it like stop, like I know, like it's this thing
<v Speaker 3>that's like, okay, listen, I have no doubt people got paid.
<v Speaker 3>You know, there's a budget. People got paid, but this
<v Speaker 3>elevated nothing for nobody. Okay, not one person. It like
<v Speaker 3>went on, it's a bloody.
<v Speaker 9>It was right.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's watch, it is by Watch, it is
<v Speaker 3>bay Watch. It's very bay Watch esque, you know, and
<v Speaker 3>and but it's also you know, you don't have you
<v Speaker 3>didn't really have the the the women. You know, that's
<v Speaker 3>what made bay Watch great. That's why I could fucking
<v Speaker 3>watch bay Watch every Saturday morning. Because what was the
<v Speaker 3>name of the woman in Paradise? Ah, I can't think
<v Speaker 3>of her fucking name. She's like, she's like a she's
<v Speaker 3>like a pseudo somebody. I was gonna say, she's not like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, she doesn't she doesn't really matter, right, she
<v Speaker 3>kind of does. Carol Alt right, Carol alt Oh my god, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>she's in uh she's in uh, private parts. Oh, that's right,
<v Speaker 3>he's in private parts. She plays the you know, he's uh,
<v Speaker 3>he's on the plane with talking and telling the woman
<v Speaker 3>the story. And that's her. So is this show Carrol Alt?
<v Speaker 3>Was the show a vehicle for Carrol Alt?
<v Speaker 8>No?
<v Speaker 3>No, it was not all right. She already had a
<v Speaker 3>thing like she was kind of nice. Yeah, I remember
<v Speaker 3>that from the cinemat treatment that she actually was more
<v Speaker 3>established than I realized. Yeah, she was probably the bigger
<v Speaker 3>out of out of all of them, she was kind
<v Speaker 3>of the bigger star, was she. She's a model too,
<v Speaker 3>That's that's where she kind of it got her claim
<v Speaker 3>to fame. She was a model like in the eighties,
<v Speaker 3>and that's where she that's that's that's why she's she
<v Speaker 3>was way more in a different level. If anything, Thunder
<v Speaker 3>and Paradise brought her down, that's correct, you know, brought
<v Speaker 3>her down to zero.
<v Speaker 6>Meaning when the producers of the show led to a
<v Speaker 6>guest shot on Baywatch, I played Ricky Van Shelton's country
<v Speaker 6>music manager. Things went so well that they called me
<v Speaker 6>back for an episode called Bash at the Beach, which
<v Speaker 6>of course had a wrestling theme. Then the musical work
<v Speaker 6>out of a thunder Paradise prompted the producers to ask
<v Speaker 6>for a song for still another bay Watch episode.
<v Speaker 3>Can I can I tell you this? Okay? So now
<v Speaker 3>he is conflating two major like, oh yeah, ba's the
<v Speaker 3>Beach happened ninety five. Thunder and Paradise was done way
<v Speaker 3>before that Bash of the Beach episode of Baywatch happened
<v Speaker 3>in ninety five, because it coincided with Yeah, that's right,
<v Speaker 3>you're talking about Oh my god, Yeah, that can't be
<v Speaker 3>what he's talking about. That's what he's talking about, oh
<v Speaker 3>my And I mean because Thunder and Paradise was done
<v Speaker 3>in November of ninety four.
<v Speaker 6>Can you imagine this is in print? Imagine how many
<v Speaker 6>more liberties he takes to talking to someone on a
<v Speaker 6>party that doesn't care to actually verify anything he's saying.
<v Speaker 3>Right, right, I mean, I mean, I suppose it's possible
<v Speaker 3>that you know, he may have filmed Bash at the
<v Speaker 3>Beach the show, like you know, in March or something,
<v Speaker 3>but still like that doesn't give enough time that listen, nobody,
<v Speaker 3>nobody thought anything of that fucking music. Okay, so stop it.
<v Speaker 3>Do you know one of my songs kind of became
<v Speaker 3>the theme music for the character called the Pelican Man.
<v Speaker 3>All Can I tour the world together and became involved
<v Speaker 3>in numerous different projects for two years. We were inseparable.
<v Speaker 3>Along the way, we came to another understanding if we
<v Speaker 3>ever got back into wrestling, we'd do that together too,
<v Speaker 3>And that's just what happened. Thunder and Paradise was shot
<v Speaker 3>at the Disney Studios and Lando, or at the time
<v Speaker 3>World Championshipressling Ted Turner's organization. Wait wait, wait, I was wrong. Oh,
<v Speaker 3>Bash at the Beach did not happen in ninety five.
<v Speaker 3>It happened in ninety six. Fucking fucking idiot. So like
<v Speaker 3>nowhere near Thunder and Paradise, it's all the same. Knock
<v Speaker 3>it off. No, no, it's not. Actually it's it's it's
<v Speaker 3>a fabrication.
<v Speaker 6>While we were shooting, Eric Bischoff would come to run
<v Speaker 6>WW arranged to meet with Seric said, look, if you
<v Speaker 6>guys ever decided to get back into wrestling, I'd love
<v Speaker 6>to see it happened in a wcw ring. Ted Turner's
<v Speaker 6>promotion was the new kid on the block, the upstart,
<v Speaker 6>challenging vincig Man's model.
<v Speaker 3>Hold On, hold On, So now he's saying that Thunder
<v Speaker 3>and Paradise happened, and the Baywatch thing that happened in
<v Speaker 3>ninety six happened before Hulk went to WCW. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 3>kind of, yeah, yeah, okay, just checking, just making shirt
<v Speaker 3>because you know what, Listen, I I am fully on
<v Speaker 3>board with believing what Jimmy Hart says over what numbers say,
<v Speaker 3>because I I don't.
<v Speaker 6>Think he's saying that Baywatch happened right at the same time.
<v Speaker 6>All he says is that he met the producers of
<v Speaker 6>maybe the producers of Thunder and Paradise led to a
<v Speaker 6>guest shot on Baywatch. He didn't say when he didn't
<v Speaker 6>try to say it happened at the same time. Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>I mean that's still like it implies, It implies, it
<v Speaker 6>implies just bunching it all together. Ted Turner's promotion was
<v Speaker 6>a new kid on the block, not really. And although
<v Speaker 6>Turner WW it only technically existed for oh my god, well,
<v Speaker 6>Turner's WCW had only technically existed for three years. He says,
<v Speaker 6>So what Cogan wrestled last year, is that why he
<v Speaker 6>was on a hiatus because he wasn't around for WW
<v Speaker 6>for the first three years.
<v Speaker 3>It's talking about when they switched the letters of the unbelievable,
<v Speaker 3>because he does go.
<v Speaker 6>On to say the roots the organization would become the
<v Speaker 6>driving force behind the great man Wars of the mid
<v Speaker 6>to late nineties. Stretch back in time to the glory
<v Speaker 6>days of the National Wrestling Alliance. Blah blah blah blah blah.
<v Speaker 6>Buddy Rodgers reference to timut reference, but McMahon senior reference,
<v Speaker 6>We're run Wrestling Federation reference, the WWF ands ignored territories
<v Speaker 6>nineteen eighty two, blah blah blah. In ninety one, Turner
<v Speaker 6>decided to get into wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>No, he didn't.
<v Speaker 6>I was in nineteen eighty eight, and he'd been in
<v Speaker 6>wrestling since nineteen seventy two if you look at it
<v Speaker 6>a certain way. Leric Bischoff okay, had been.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Eric Bischoff had been a commentator with Vern Gunnes,
<v Speaker 3>his Minneapolis based ABA, and he brought it down to
<v Speaker 3>work for w W long with Damon Dallas Page. Eric
<v Speaker 3>had a knack for being in the right place at
<v Speaker 3>the right time, and when Turner decided to make a
<v Speaker 3>change in the front office of his wrestling business to
<v Speaker 3>really put a run at Vince, make a run at
<v Speaker 3>vance bischoffice put in charge. We hell can I met
<v Speaker 3>with America had just taken over. He was just beginning
<v Speaker 3>to get his mind around taking a regional Southern operation
<v Speaker 3>to the national stage. I mean, what is it by
<v Speaker 3>what going on channels? She's already on the revisionist history
<v Speaker 3>is so fucking bizarre to me, you know, kind of
<v Speaker 3>like did they know that they this is what again?
<v Speaker 3>You're they don't understand that that that only wrestling fans
<v Speaker 3>who know all the fucking truth are going to read
<v Speaker 3>this ship like no, no stranger is going to read
<v Speaker 3>this and buy your bullshit. No one's gonna buy you.
<v Speaker 3>That's right, right, and even attitude on bay Watch once
<v Speaker 3>what what my mom? I'll be read that one. Oh
<v Speaker 3>that's right, let it pour out. There's the here's the
<v Speaker 3>HBO piece, Okay. Eric dreamed a challenge in New York,
<v Speaker 3>immediately believing he would compete on the national stage if
<v Speaker 3>he could make one big, decisive, ministry shaking move. Ian
<v Speaker 3>Rick Flair, who was also part of ww's brain trust,
<v Speaker 3>decided that move was to sign Hulk Hogan. Hulk had
<v Speaker 3>been approached by HBO with an offer of two million
<v Speaker 3>dollars to start his own company for two pay per
<v Speaker 3>view telecasts, but Eric put a deal on the table
<v Speaker 3>that convinced him to come to WCW. Obviously it was
<v Speaker 3>the kind of offer Hulk couldn't refuse, and that was it.
<v Speaker 3>Hulk was going back to wrestling, and so was the
<v Speaker 3>Mouth of the South. Okay, So that is the story
<v Speaker 3>of how Jimmy Hart went from WWF hill manager to
<v Speaker 3>Hulk Hogan's manager, to Hulk Hogan's actual real life manager,
<v Speaker 3>to transitioning out of WWF with him through Mister Nanny
<v Speaker 3>and all the other things he did th Under Paradise
<v Speaker 3>into the front door of World Championship Wrestling an all
<v Speaker 3>over our television screen during Bash of the Beach nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety four, also in this transition, but being left behind
<v Speaker 3>at least for a little while much a man. Randy Savage,
<v Speaker 3>Hulkogan's former brother of arms over there. You heard him
<v Speaker 3>on commentary at the Fateful King of the Ring nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety three pay per view, What the hell happened? Fucking great?
<v Speaker 3>Such a great line. He's great. I know what they
<v Speaker 3>will happened. It's like he's running in on like a
<v Speaker 3>murder scene, you know, I know exactly or like or
<v Speaker 3>or he's coming home and his kids have like fucking
<v Speaker 3>thrown paint all over the place, or.
<v Speaker 6>His house has been robbed by the wet bandits.
<v Speaker 3>Wet banded so opened dah.
<v Speaker 4>So.
<v Speaker 6>Now that Hogan's out there putting behind him and being
<v Speaker 6>kind of a less than flattering in his public commentary
<v Speaker 6>about the place, they they're going to deploy Randy Savage,
<v Speaker 6>and Randy's going to take to the airwaves of their
<v Speaker 6>own a newfangled radio show in Networks Radio WWF. This
<v Speaker 6>is a famous deal. Jim Ross would host it for
<v Speaker 6>a short period of time. Johnny Polo was kind of
<v Speaker 6>like a co host. And shortly after hul Cogan leaves WWF,
<v Speaker 6>and it becomes very clear that he's going to make
<v Speaker 6>a move in wrestling elsewhere BA Japan or this HBO
<v Speaker 6>venture or WCW. The offensive begins right. WWF then begins
<v Speaker 6>in all points assault on the idea that Hull Cogin
<v Speaker 6>has any shelf life anymore, that Hull Cogan means anything anymore,
<v Speaker 6>that Hull Cogan is worth a shit anymore. And here
<v Speaker 6>is a transcript that survives. I sent it to you,
<v Speaker 6>boss via email. Oh boy of Randy Savage appearing on
<v Speaker 6>RADIOWWF after hul Coogin's WWF departure. This was an interview
<v Speaker 6>he did just you know, as an in studio guest
<v Speaker 6>on this new idea of a radio program. But there
<v Speaker 6>is some shooting going on here as it regards Hull Cogan.
<v Speaker 6>And while audio of the WWF radio show barely exists,
<v Speaker 6>Jim Ross kept a few copies that the atfree shows
<v Speaker 6>guys have but this doesn't exist in naudtio form anywhere
<v Speaker 6>I've seen. But fortunately someone got their hands on the
<v Speaker 6>tape years ago and put it in a rustling newsletter.
<v Speaker 6>I think it's called the Wrestling Digest or a Wrestling
<v Speaker 6>Flyer Wow, one of the lesser known newsletters. But this
<v Speaker 6>is the full transcript. So we're gonna get an idea
<v Speaker 6>of how guys back in the Tower and Stanford are
<v Speaker 6>strategizing around the fact that Hulk Cogan is now moving
<v Speaker 6>on to different pastures. Savage starts, I'll do Johnny Polo
<v Speaker 6>and Jim Ross as well. So this is the first
<v Speaker 6>time we've ever done this for the listeners.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think so under the shooter work you make
<v Speaker 3>the call section here right, Well, that's uh, that's amazing
<v Speaker 3>how the newsletter decided to frame him. Hmm, Old Cogan,
<v Speaker 3>Let's just see that I lost a lot of respect
<v Speaker 3>for whole covid Ak theory Bulea, you know, and that's
<v Speaker 3>his real name, with him as a man and as
<v Speaker 3>a human being. But that's an extreme understatement that I'm
<v Speaker 3>saying right here. I lost a lot of definite respect
<v Speaker 3>for him.
<v Speaker 6>Well, how did you lose this respect? This is fascinating
<v Speaker 6>a scoop from my own show.
<v Speaker 3>Oh this is great. Well, you know it's not your show, brother.
<v Speaker 3>A lot of people out there might be thinking it's
<v Speaker 3>professional jealousy. But now putting professional jealousy aside, if there
<v Speaker 3>is any which I'm not saying there is, or right,
<v Speaker 3>did you check that out right there when I said
<v Speaker 3>that I lost a whole lot of respect big time.
<v Speaker 3>Number one when he completely lied on Arsenio Hall denying
<v Speaker 3>the use of anabolic steroids except for rehabilitation for an injury.
<v Speaker 3>Have you ever used steroids, Randy?
<v Speaker 9>Yes, I have.
<v Speaker 3>I used anabolic steroids in him when I was so
<v Speaker 3>when I was on Arsenia Hall, I told the people
<v Speaker 3>I did when they were legal. But it's like putting
<v Speaker 3>poison in their bodies. Do you use them now? No,
<v Speaker 3>I sure don't, and nobody does in the WWE. But
<v Speaker 3>at the same time, when I was asked about it
<v Speaker 3>and I told him the truth, it was prevalent at
<v Speaker 3>the time, not just in wrestling, but all sports, baseball, basketball, football,
<v Speaker 3>you name it. It was there. It was in the gym,
<v Speaker 3>it was all over the place. It was legal at
<v Speaker 3>the time. But at the same times, yeah, oh yeah.
<v Speaker 3>If Oko is the guy, is the guy that says
<v Speaker 3>he is, if he's leading those who comaniacs down the
<v Speaker 3>tunnel where there's a light at the tunnel and he's
<v Speaker 3>showing them the way. Hey, listen, brother, the children are
<v Speaker 3>out or our future. And if you want a lot
<v Speaker 3>of them, you're lying to me. If you're lying to me,
<v Speaker 3>you're lying to everybody, brother, Because that's just like the
<v Speaker 3>way it's happened. I remember being in the car with
<v Speaker 3>him the day before we went onto our Sineo Hall
<v Speaker 3>in Saint Louis, Missouri, and I begged him for three
<v Speaker 3>hours not to do that. You know, he was gonna
<v Speaker 3>go on and lie exactly. I knew when he was
<v Speaker 3>gonna do it, and I knew that I was gonna
<v Speaker 3>lie about using anabolic steroids. And I knew that he
<v Speaker 3>was gonna lie about using anabolic steroids. And I told
<v Speaker 3>him that he could be a leader among men if
<v Speaker 3>he would tell the truth. But he was worried about
<v Speaker 3>the image of the character of Oulk Coogan aka Terry Blaya.
<v Speaker 3>And I said, brother, Listen, I said, we all make mistakes, bey, honest,
<v Speaker 3>you know the world is more is more forgiving than
<v Speaker 3>you think. Steroids were legal then, But he said, not
<v Speaker 3>a chance. He went on Sydney Hall and he lied,
<v Speaker 3>and he lied big time. He hurt himself. I'm not
<v Speaker 3>worried about him hurting himself, but he heard all though
<v Speaker 3>the World Wrestling Entertainment because, like I said before, he
<v Speaker 3>was a leader. He's a big He was a big
<v Speaker 3>time five time World Wrestling Entertainment champion and when he
<v Speaker 3>talks people, Listen said, he was the biggest star ever
<v Speaker 3>in the WWF. Yeah, when he went on her studio,
<v Speaker 3>whole line and then everything came down. After that, he
<v Speaker 3>realized that he hurt himself, that he cared about that.
<v Speaker 3>But I'll guarantee you from heart to heart right now,
<v Speaker 3>Johnny Polo, be quiet. I guarantee you. I guarantee you
<v Speaker 3>he would care less about hurting any of us at
<v Speaker 3>the WWE, the World Wrestling Entertainment. Would you say he's selfish?
<v Speaker 3>Selfish's to the oteenth degree. Brother, And I'm not perfect,
<v Speaker 3>no doubt about it. But this guy is really not
<v Speaker 3>even perfect, though he would want you to believe it.
<v Speaker 3>This is amazing.
<v Speaker 6>By the way, that our senior Hall appearance was three
<v Speaker 6>years ago. They're talking about it like he just recently betrayed.
<v Speaker 3>He just it.
<v Speaker 6>They're dredging all that up again because he's leaving. You know,
<v Speaker 6>it's two years ago actually, but by the time he
<v Speaker 6>goes to WW it's three years old, and there is
<v Speaker 6>This is their attack mode of attack. One thing's for sure.
<v Speaker 6>As the folks that listen and watch the one wrestling
<v Speaker 6>Federation that followed your career, at one time you and
<v Speaker 6>your former wife Elizabeth probably the most marketable entity in
<v Speaker 6>the World Wrestling Federation. You were synonymous, and I'm saying
<v Speaker 6>that respectfully. However, you and her have amicably styn her line.
<v Speaker 6>I don't know if it's amicably. You're divorced. I've been divorced, okay, Jim,
<v Speaker 6>I'm not saying it's a sin. But the issue is
<v Speaker 6>that is this thing? Is this part of the situation.
<v Speaker 6>I'm asking a personal question.
<v Speaker 3>It's all right, radio w W that's what it's all about, right,
<v Speaker 3>Hits you between the eyes, put you into the microscope.
<v Speaker 3>If you survive, you survive. It's the nineties, that's what
<v Speaker 3>I hear, buddy, isn't that right? Yeah, we don't pull
<v Speaker 3>no punches. That's enough. That's enough, right, There is not
<v Speaker 3>something Jim Rod. He asked me a question. I give
<v Speaker 3>you an answer.
<v Speaker 9>No, you won't.
<v Speaker 3>Apparently I asked the question about nineties six. I got work.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sorry, go ahead. I got a a kurd play
<v Speaker 3>hard attitude right now, the wild and crazy, just like
<v Speaker 3>I was. I was getting started at the very beginning.
<v Speaker 3>But there was a time I fell in love, I
<v Speaker 3>got engaged and got married and it was to Elizabeth.
<v Speaker 3>Then they got a point that maybe some of the
<v Speaker 3>kids out there can relate to. Maybe it happened to
<v Speaker 3>their mother and father, maybe their uncle or aunt or
<v Speaker 3>whatever it is. But sometimes it just doesn't go forever,
<v Speaker 3>like they say at the altar, and Elizabeth and I
<v Speaker 3>we were married, but we were having problems and at
<v Speaker 3>that time, Elizabeth and Hulk Coogan's wife were very, very
<v Speaker 3>very best friends, and they were running around together. I
<v Speaker 3>didn't think it was healthy for our relationship. But whatever
<v Speaker 3>is whatever, you know what I mean, a lot of
<v Speaker 3>people have a different kind of friends. But there was
<v Speaker 3>a time when I was wrestling on the road. Well
<v Speaker 3>we were having problems, and I would and would call
<v Speaker 3>home and Liz wouldn't be there, and during a certain
<v Speaker 3>segment of time, I would just get another phone call,
<v Speaker 3>you know, being the being at no I have been
<v Speaker 3>stopped in my tracks.
<v Speaker 1>The Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows
<v Speaker 1>the boys need their candy.
<v Speaker 2>It's the Lapsed Fan.
<v Speaker 1>He's a Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio
<v Speaker 1>and JP Sorrow.
<v Speaker 3>Being the Minister of the Phone that I is, it
<v Speaker 3>says that, and I swear to you, I have never
<v Speaker 3>read this before.
<v Speaker 6>The Master of the Phone. That ship we just cooked
<v Speaker 6>up off the top of our heads. One time because
<v Speaker 6>he was calling Dick Eversol for the overnight.
<v Speaker 3>He said that being the master of the phone, I
<v Speaker 3>am mean, what does that mean? It means the phone?
<v Speaker 3>Those would I say? I say phone and move, lift
<v Speaker 3>and right It does exactly what I do, exactly what
<v Speaker 3>to do. That's good. And I would have several conversations
<v Speaker 3>with Hulk Copan and he would give you swerve. He
<v Speaker 3>would give me swerves and curls, but never tell me
<v Speaker 3>what Liz was though. Tell me that Liz was over
<v Speaker 3>giving me swerves and curves. That's there, swerves and curves. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>he always giving me swerves and cruise. Yeah, but I'm
<v Speaker 3>never telling me that Liz was over there. Wait wait, yea,
<v Speaker 3>so this is going on and Hogan was lying to
<v Speaker 3>you will the on That's when I filmed The Leader.
<v Speaker 16>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but you're a liar too, so it really doesn't matter.
<v Speaker 3>This is a serious matter. I'm she was either out
<v Speaker 3>with his wife Linda or hiding out right hiding out
<v Speaker 3>right over there at their house, you know what I mean?
<v Speaker 3>Just whatever's whatever? Oh yeah, good point, exactly, It doesn't.
<v Speaker 3>I couldn't agree more. And later on, when I was
<v Speaker 3>wrestling on the road, basically when I would call home
<v Speaker 3>and there was no answer for four days and Elizabeth
<v Speaker 3>was emily missing in action for four days. You know,
<v Speaker 3>I was worried about my wife then, and still I am. Mad.
<v Speaker 3>Guy's nuts, He's insane. Yes, he's insane, master of the phone,
<v Speaker 3>but he can't get her on the phone, get her
<v Speaker 3>on the phone. He's worried about his wife, then she stay,
<v Speaker 3>he's worried about her now after they're divorced. MM, but
<v Speaker 3>I still am now if you know what I mean,
<v Speaker 3>can't hope that is my heart. I'll always love her,
<v Speaker 3>but it's very hard to let go. But you gotta
<v Speaker 3>let go. And that's for those people out there that
<v Speaker 3>situations like him. But no doubt about it, being honest.
<v Speaker 3>Four days went by and Liz finally called me and
<v Speaker 3>told me to get a lawyer because she wanted a divorce.
<v Speaker 3>You know, that was like the end of the story
<v Speaker 3>right there.
<v Speaker 6>Do you think Hogan knew about your divorce? Did he
<v Speaker 6>know what was going on?
<v Speaker 3>Obviously?
<v Speaker 9>What it is?
<v Speaker 3>What it is, you know what I mean? Like Hogan
<v Speaker 3>and his wife were in Miami making that movie that
<v Speaker 3>bomb Mister Nanny, which one that bombed? He was a
<v Speaker 3>three time lose. Oh shit started out with No Holes
<v Speaker 3>Bar that did ten million dollars, and then the Suburban
<v Speaker 3>Commando did less, and then he broke his own record
<v Speaker 3>for doing less with that. You know what I mean?
<v Speaker 3>Mister Nanny. Not to say there's anything personal right here.
<v Speaker 3>It's kind of like the crush Whole Cogan type situation.
<v Speaker 3>But anyway, I made numerous calls Whole Cogan. I was
<v Speaker 3>going completely out of my mind. I didn't know where
<v Speaker 3>she was and couldn't even talk to her about it
<v Speaker 3>because you wanted a lawyer and all. But he gave me.
<v Speaker 3>They gave me swords and curves again, and I said
<v Speaker 3>he didn't know where I didn't know like where she was.
<v Speaker 3>But but brother, if I heard anything, I would let
<v Speaker 3>you know. But in desperation, I frud to Miami at
<v Speaker 3>the Jockey Club, where Hogan was staying and where they
<v Speaker 3>were filming the movie mister Nanny. But then I found
<v Speaker 3>Liz shocking. Yeah, and obviously by this time only half shocked.
<v Speaker 3>He dig at Johnny Polo, just shut up.
<v Speaker 6>I understand that's a gut wrenching deal. Pal and Tarsha
<v Speaker 6>guts out. I mean, anybody can relate to relationships. We
<v Speaker 6>get into so much gaga and wrestling about this guy's
<v Speaker 6>face paint, this guy's music, and this guy's ring jacket,
<v Speaker 6>this guy's finish hold, what the fuck this guy left
<v Speaker 6>the w CW and this guy left the WWF. Sometimes
<v Speaker 6>it comes down to human beings and it rips your
<v Speaker 6>guts out when real things happen to people.
<v Speaker 3>You're right about that, You're ross honestly friendship between the
<v Speaker 3>Hull Cogan aka Terry Bulla and the macho man Randy
<v Speaker 3>Savage aka Randy Puff Brother. I'm right out there in
<v Speaker 3>front of you, you know what I mean, Hit me
<v Speaker 3>with your best shot, and the honesty in friendship wasn't there,
<v Speaker 3>Jim Ross, and possibly never was. And right now talking
<v Speaker 3>to Radio WWE, I will tell you that it was
<v Speaker 3>never there. I was fooled and I just didn't know it.
<v Speaker 3>And Liz didn't know it either. You know, she thought
<v Speaker 3>she had a best friend with Hulk Cogan's wife. But
<v Speaker 3>now we both know what separately, of course, because we
<v Speaker 3>are legally divorced. Can you believe the fact that Hulk Cogan,
<v Speaker 3>Holk Cogan's wife and Liz don't talk now, So what
<v Speaker 3>kind of friends do you think they are? They don't
<v Speaker 3>even talk now, No, they don't talk now. See it's
<v Speaker 3>almost like they got the job done. You know, this
<v Speaker 3>is the worst case scenario. Broke us up, did whatever
<v Speaker 3>they had to do with they were true friends. It
<v Speaker 3>doesn't matter what they were doing before or after whatever
<v Speaker 3>to talk. But it's a situation where they're not even
<v Speaker 3>friends now. So I think Louis realizes a lot because
<v Speaker 3>but because time goes by and I wish the best
<v Speaker 3>for her. So I think Louis realizes a lot because
<v Speaker 3>time goes by and I wish the best for her.
<v Speaker 3>What it's a great life, but a lot's changed and
<v Speaker 3>trust is broken, just like with me and Crush on
<v Speaker 3>Monday Night Show. Brother, Welcome to Monday Night Show, Amir
<v Speaker 3>or a murdy brother, you know what I mean. I've
<v Speaker 3>changed a lot. I've changed a lot in my lifetime.
<v Speaker 6>Andy, Is it time to go back to the old days,
<v Speaker 6>to lexing Kentucky days, to day's of Angelo Pafo teaching
<v Speaker 6>his boys how to defend themselves? Is it time to
<v Speaker 6>go back to what brought you to the dance?
<v Speaker 3>You can't forget your roots, Jim Ross brother, and a
<v Speaker 3>lot of people are gonna like me, or a lot
<v Speaker 3>of people are not gonna like me because of it,
<v Speaker 3>But that's just the way it is. If Hogan didn't
<v Speaker 3>like what I said over the year waves, if you
<v Speaker 3>want to do that in front of the w w
<v Speaker 3>WA and arena in nearby, or if you wanted to
<v Speaker 3>do it in the garage of his choice, that would
<v Speaker 3>be cool for the machio man Randy Savage brother because
<v Speaker 3>you come beat me, but you can't eat me. But
<v Speaker 3>I don't think that you will beat me. Imagine in
<v Speaker 3>nineteen ninety four, that is just tremendous. Sounds to me
<v Speaker 3>like this is going somewhere. So yeah, that's amazing.
<v Speaker 6>So things are in motion, and Hogan's on set for
<v Speaker 6>Thunder and Paradise, wtw's on set for worldwide tapings, and
<v Speaker 6>at a certain point the discussions happened. The discussions, in
<v Speaker 6>large part were sparked or not sparked, but supported by
<v Speaker 6>the fact that Eric Bischoff had gone to his boss,
<v Speaker 6>the guy who had selected him to be executive producer
<v Speaker 6>in the sweepstakes of who would replace the ousted Bill Watts,
<v Speaker 6>Bill Shaw and Bill Shaw at Ted Turner's ear and
<v Speaker 6>found out that Ted Turner would be extremely supportive Bischoff
<v Speaker 6>doing what it took to sign Hulk Cogan to a
<v Speaker 6>World Championship wrestling and knew that he'd have the financial
<v Speaker 6>support to do it. We turned to Bischoff's book.
<v Speaker 3>He says I was in bed.
<v Speaker 6>Bischoff writes, when the phone rang, it was late, maybe midnight,
<v Speaker 6>but I reached over picked it up. My little brother,
<v Speaker 6>I understand you'd like to talk to me. The fatigue
<v Speaker 6>I had felt just a moment before vanished. Hulk Cogan
<v Speaker 6>had a very distinctive voice, and I sure did want
<v Speaker 6>to talk to him. Coincidentally, the Disney tapings brought us
<v Speaker 6>into contact with Hulk Cogan. He was taping a television
<v Speaker 6>show at the Disney MGM studios called Thunder and Paradise.
<v Speaker 6>I don't know how I got his phone number? You
<v Speaker 6>do from Rick Flair?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, right, exactly.
<v Speaker 6>I don't recall, which means he recalls usually whether I
<v Speaker 6>could have put a call into him or someone else
<v Speaker 6>passed his or my number along. Why did you even
<v Speaker 6>put that in the book If you don't remember, all
<v Speaker 6>that makes me do is think that you try tomorrow
<v Speaker 6>is sent off the trail exactly. Legend has it that
<v Speaker 6>Rick Flair made the first contact. I'd be inclined to
<v Speaker 6>believe it anyway.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, what a fucking idiot.
<v Speaker 6>Now he doesn't qualify that at all, But that's what
<v Speaker 6>I love about his book is and he'll blame the
<v Speaker 6>co author, I'm sure, but it's such a check on,
<v Speaker 6>like the narratives he has now that he has a podcast,
<v Speaker 6>you know, and he's told the same story like six times,
<v Speaker 6>and it'll they only agree four times, you know. Like
<v Speaker 6>the Facts before Bashing the Beach two thousand, that's my
<v Speaker 6>favorite one. He goes from saying I told Hulk to
<v Speaker 6>send the facts, exercising the clause to I don't even
<v Speaker 6>know what you're talking about.
<v Speaker 3>There was no fact. I don't know thinking about facts.
<v Speaker 6>Anyway, as soon as I picked the phone up that night,
<v Speaker 6>I knew who it was. I explained to him that
<v Speaker 6>we were shooting our shows down at Disney MGM and
<v Speaker 6>invited him to come on over, and I add that
<v Speaker 6>I would love to have him come over to WCW.
<v Speaker 6>He didn't jump at the hint, but he didn't hang
<v Speaker 6>up on me either. We turned out of Rick Flair's
<v Speaker 6>book the morning after I defeated Vader. This is at
<v Speaker 6>Starkad nineteen ninety three, and we read from this when
<v Speaker 6>we did super Brawl in ninety four and Springs Stampede
<v Speaker 6>as well. I believe sure, and it belongs here as well.
<v Speaker 6>My phone rang. It was whole Coogan. He was busy
<v Speaker 6>taking his kid too, but he had one thing to
<v Speaker 6>tell me. You bade me cry last night, you old bastard.
<v Speaker 6>Help Coogan sitting at home Boss watching Star K ninety
<v Speaker 6>three Flair and cry.
<v Speaker 3>Why why Nate, Dude? Why? Brother? I'm just I'm sitting there, dude,
<v Speaker 3>wondering whoa dude?
<v Speaker 9>You know what you did?
<v Speaker 8>Dude?
<v Speaker 3>You also roll from behind?
<v Speaker 9>Brother?
<v Speaker 3>Right, I'll tell you what I'm not thinking of that, dude,
<v Speaker 3>how about Hulk putting in that call? Seven ninety three?
<v Speaker 3>The next time I saw Eric Bischoff flair Wright, so
<v Speaker 3>I told him about the conversation. You get along with Hogan?
<v Speaker 3>He asked, yeah, I get along with him very well.
<v Speaker 3>You think you consider coming here? I don't know. I'll
<v Speaker 3>talk to him. So I called Ogan and I started,
<v Speaker 3>what a great conversation to put in your butt? I
<v Speaker 3>don't know, I'll call you don't want whatever?
<v Speaker 6>That's flair? That's flair, I know. So I called Ougan
<v Speaker 6>and started to sell Eric to him. This guy's got
<v Speaker 6>a vision, I said, he's got some good ideas, and
<v Speaker 6>they have the money here to make things happen. Hogan
<v Speaker 6>was busy making a TV show called Thunder and Paradise.
<v Speaker 6>I don't know, brother, he answered every single time they
<v Speaker 6>named this.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god. I honestly, it's kind of sick of it. Really.
<v Speaker 3>It really is like he was filming a show called
<v Speaker 3>Thunder and Paradise. Oh my god, like ship, I know,
<v Speaker 3>especially after doing all this prep, it's like, oh my god,
<v Speaker 3>if I hear that fucking show one more time, wait
<v Speaker 3>till we do all the interviews with Gena on set
<v Speaker 3>here Thundering. It's it's so it's so thirsty.
<v Speaker 6>It's so like they're so proud of the you know,
<v Speaker 6>proud of himself that he actually is on a set
<v Speaker 6>of a TV show that he can't stop like letting
<v Speaker 6>you know that he's.
<v Speaker 3>Doing a real TV show. Guys. Exactly, it's it's it's
<v Speaker 3>it's not exactly fat dude, I won't say. Do you
<v Speaker 3>know what I like? I appreciate the idea of maybe
<v Speaker 3>coming to w C w D. But you know what, brother,
<v Speaker 3>I got I got this big TV show going on
<v Speaker 3>right now, dude, syndication man. You know, you know we've
<v Speaker 3>got things going on, brother, you know, working with you know,
<v Speaker 3>we've got Jack Lemon's son, Chris Lemone's my co star. Dude.
<v Speaker 3>You know we're talking big stars, Carol Alt brother, you
<v Speaker 3>know we're you know, this is the real field, dizziel
<v Speaker 3>if you know what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 6>Dude, was control Carol, control all deleite. That'd because it's
<v Speaker 6>not so, I'll talk to him. So I called Hogan
<v Speaker 6>started sell Eric to him. Scout's got a vision, He's
<v Speaker 6>got some good ideas, and they get the money to
<v Speaker 6>make things happen. Hogan was Okay, I don't know, brother,
<v Speaker 6>he answered, I'm kind of doing this other thing. Well,
<v Speaker 6>why don't you just talk to him? Eric and I
<v Speaker 6>begin a campaign to lower Hogan and WCW. Yeah, and
<v Speaker 6>you mentioned the PWI article Rick where you're gonna do
<v Speaker 6>a total then run around. Ww uh. We'll do this together.
<v Speaker 6>Eric said, My goal was to get bishoff in front
<v Speaker 6>of the Hulkster. The two of us flew to Orlando
<v Speaker 6>and drove to the Thunder and Paradise set. We sat
<v Speaker 6>in the trailer for three and a half hours before
<v Speaker 6>Hogan had time to talk to us. That's that's so
<v Speaker 6>Hulk Hogan like, yeah, I've got to prove that you
<v Speaker 6>really want to talk to him, you know, or he'll
<v Speaker 6>call you at one in the morning just to see
<v Speaker 6>like if.
<v Speaker 3>He can make you if you don't, like, yeah, if
<v Speaker 3>you're willing to have a conversation with him at fucking
<v Speaker 3>two in the morning, if he could make you give
<v Speaker 3>up your sleep exactly yep, not not to say, you know, like, uh,
<v Speaker 3>let's talk in the morning, okay, and you talk.
<v Speaker 6>Him right then imagine him like sitting watching the phone
<v Speaker 6>at like ten thirty till one am that night he
<v Speaker 6>called Bishop for the first time, just waiting for the
<v Speaker 6>time to click so that he can have a leverage
<v Speaker 6>when he calls.
<v Speaker 3>Just imagine him on fucking Willadella, Willadelia, Willadell, you know,
<v Speaker 3>and and Linda's asleep, the kids are asleep, and he's
<v Speaker 3>just like watching TV. Oh my god, you know, he's
<v Speaker 3>sitting up in bed watching TV, like just counting the minutes.
<v Speaker 3>And then then then it's time. It takes the phone, broller. Oh.
<v Speaker 6>The two of us flew to Orlando, drove thunder Paradise,
<v Speaker 6>sat sat in the trailer three and a half hours
<v Speaker 6>before Hogan had time to talk with us. Then we
<v Speaker 6>came back the next week and the week's after and
<v Speaker 6>the week after that, pretty soon he was ready to
<v Speaker 6>make a deal. And make a deal they did. And
<v Speaker 6>here's Flair recalling some of the some of the hoops
<v Speaker 6>they had to jump through, not only to get Hogan
<v Speaker 6>to agree to come in, but to have him feel,
<v Speaker 6>you know, I guess to some degree comfortable about the
<v Speaker 6>whole thing and what they had to do to uh,
<v Speaker 6>to get him. To make it sound like the w
<v Speaker 6>W fans were happy he was coming.
<v Speaker 3>No, it's because they just wouldn't.
<v Speaker 9>They wouldn't.
<v Speaker 7>We usually I put some bites in. He he won't
<v Speaker 7>be upset that I'm saying this. We had to put
<v Speaker 7>sound bites in and uh, it's center stage because they
<v Speaker 7>bowed him out.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, the local fans. They weren't hulkging people.
<v Speaker 13>No, no, no.
<v Speaker 3>But the first time we really got him to boo
<v Speaker 3>me and it worked and it's great.
<v Speaker 7>And I didn't know that that pay review was what
<v Speaker 7>launched the Nitro since then, Hulk told me, because Eric
<v Speaker 7>would never tell me that or pay me rightfully.
<v Speaker 9>Was the match we had in Orlando with Shaq and
<v Speaker 9>Me and.
<v Speaker 7>Sherry against him and Jimmy, and I do think we
<v Speaker 7>had a good.
<v Speaker 3>Match that day.
<v Speaker 7>It was entertaining. It never going to be you know,
<v Speaker 7>like a technical not going to be me and Steamboat
<v Speaker 7>or Seth and Manny or whatever. I mean, not nearly
<v Speaker 7>a technical. What we had great chemistry. Sherry added so
<v Speaker 7>much to it, and that pay per view is what
<v Speaker 7>launched Naitral.
<v Speaker 14>Yeah did you know that? Yep, you've told me that
<v Speaker 14>here on the show before. Yeah, and I didn't know
<v Speaker 14>what the Hogan told me. It's crazy, but he was,
<v Speaker 14>but that in that instance he was. That was the
<v Speaker 14>first time that he was a real legitimate bayface and
<v Speaker 14>that was the heal. But it took us a while
<v Speaker 14>to get there.
<v Speaker 6>And he was the only guy that could get Hogan
<v Speaker 6>to that comfort level. I mean, he's going to come
<v Speaker 6>into a company where they have to sweeten the sound
<v Speaker 6>to make it sound like people are excited for him
<v Speaker 6>to be there. It's not the kind of ego stroking
<v Speaker 6>that hul Cogan is looking for in nineteen ninety four,
<v Speaker 6>that's for damn sure, especially not at all after all
<v Speaker 6>the at all boasting about this huge next chapter of
<v Speaker 6>his career that he was about to enter after.
<v Speaker 3>Leaving the WWF. But yeah, they did.
<v Speaker 6>I mean people were kind of I don't say indifferent,
<v Speaker 6>but they weren't. They weren't outwardly enthusiastic.
<v Speaker 3>Yet I remember that. I do remember that. It's what
<v Speaker 3>it was one of those concerning moments for me as
<v Speaker 3>a fan. What was concerning, like why aren't you cheering
<v Speaker 3>for ho covid right? Like what's wrong with you?
<v Speaker 11>Like?
<v Speaker 3>What's wrong with me? If I'm excited in you?
<v Speaker 12>No?
<v Speaker 3>No, no, no, not what's wrong with me? Never? What's
<v Speaker 3>wrong with me? The same thing with with with the
<v Speaker 3>guys cheering sid in Madison Square Garden, Like what are
<v Speaker 3>you doing? What's wrong with you? Why do you have
<v Speaker 3>to be a jerk? Why are we among unfriends? Why
<v Speaker 3>can't you cheer? Why can't you cheer the guy that
<v Speaker 3>we all are supposed to cheer for. Follow the rules,
<v Speaker 3>it would be it would make everything so much better.
<v Speaker 3>But no, it was tough, and you know, it wasn't
<v Speaker 3>something that the fans were falling out of their seats
<v Speaker 3>excited for, even that clash the champions when he comes
<v Speaker 3>out and they do the whole motorcade and everything with
<v Speaker 3>the limo p That's that's what I mean, Like, that's
<v Speaker 3>what I mean, Like I remember I remember it being
<v Speaker 3>very lukewarm, and I was like, something doesn't feel good.
<v Speaker 3>I don't like it. Fascinating my own they love Hulk
<v Speaker 3>Holgan like I do.
<v Speaker 6>Well, we're gonna do the aforementioned pre and post divorce
<v Speaker 6>version of the story from the Holgstern. Here's what he
<v Speaker 6>said in his first book about coming in, and like
<v Speaker 6>Flair said, you know they did by the time. That's
<v Speaker 6>another thing that Bashed the Beach is special for is
<v Speaker 6>as much as the run of the mill, WCW shots
<v Speaker 6>like clashes and Saturday Nights didn't make it seem like
<v Speaker 6>anyone cared about Hulk Hogan by the time they got
<v Speaker 6>to Bash at the Beach and the way they worked it,
<v Speaker 6>it was like, well, actually we can bring in a
<v Speaker 6>new constituency here that will show enthusiasm. You know, there
<v Speaker 6>are people that will show up to a Hulk Cogan
<v Speaker 6>match that will remind you that he might be worth
<v Speaker 6>the investment here, and that just because he doesn't play
<v Speaker 6>towards the same limited audiences who were attending WCW before
<v Speaker 6>he came in doesn't mean that it's always going to
<v Speaker 6>be a flop when he goes out there, and also
<v Speaker 6>doesn't mean they're going to cheer Rick Flair every time,
<v Speaker 6>because Flair, you know, he's good enough to thread that
<v Speaker 6>needle to get people to boo him.
<v Speaker 3>Sure, and he did it. Sure.
<v Speaker 6>But here is how the deal was commenced. We heard
<v Speaker 6>from Flair, we heard from Bischoff. According to the Hulkster himself,
<v Speaker 6>I'll read from the first Hogan book and then you
<v Speaker 6>can do the second one.
<v Speaker 3>Sure.
<v Speaker 6>Since the day we started working on the show, we
<v Speaker 6>had been filming on sound stag J at the MGM
<v Speaker 6>studio in Disney World. It was funny because MGM had
<v Speaker 6>a backstage studio tour where three thousand people an hour
<v Speaker 6>went through a glass walkway and saw all the TV
<v Speaker 6>programs that were being shot there. Sometime after we started,
<v Speaker 6>Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling began shooting one of its
<v Speaker 6>syndicated wrestling shows next door to us on sound stage B.
<v Speaker 6>And actually the way it was set up, the lettering
<v Speaker 6>was backward, so the people on the tour saw soundstage
<v Speaker 6>B before they saw sound Stage J. In order to
<v Speaker 6>wet their appetites, the tour guy would say, come backstage
<v Speaker 6>and watch Hull Cogan film his new show. Naturally, everybody
<v Speaker 6>thought it was a wrestling show. It didn't occur to
<v Speaker 6>them that I would be making Thunder and Paradise. So
<v Speaker 6>they walked past soundstage B and they saw Rick Flair,
<v Speaker 6>who had wrestled return to WHW and staying, Arn't Anderson,
<v Speaker 6>all these wrestlers, but they didn't see me, so they
<v Speaker 6>would ask their tour guide, where's Hulk Hogan. So three
<v Speaker 6>thousand people an hour, three thousand people an hour, we're
<v Speaker 6>coming through the.
<v Speaker 3>Place asking for a whole thousand people an hour, asking
<v Speaker 3>for Hulk Hogan. Three thousand people in hour. Brother, it
<v Speaker 3>drove the tour guide's nuts. Then they walked past sound
<v Speaker 3>stage A and they saw me with a machine gun
<v Speaker 3>on my Navy seal coat, and Chris Lemon and Carol
<v Speaker 3>All and they went on, now we get it Thunder
<v Speaker 3>and Paradise, but really we want to see him wrestle.
<v Speaker 3>So three thousand visitors an hour, we're hounding the people
<v Speaker 3>from the tourner organization and asking where I was. The
<v Speaker 3>next thing I knew, Rick Flair came nosing around while
<v Speaker 3>I was eating lunch with my partners Doug Schwartz and
<v Speaker 3>Greg Bowen. We were talking about some overseas TV deals
<v Speaker 3>we had going okay, and Rick Flair said, hey, hulk Man,
<v Speaker 3>you want to dance with a nature boy? You want
<v Speaker 3>to make so many I said, what are you talking to?
<v Speaker 3>He definitely said right in the calf right in the
<v Speaker 3>studio cafeteria. Where are you talking about? Rick? And he said,
<v Speaker 3>I'm talking about WCW. I've been speaking with.
<v Speaker 6>Ted Turner and he said, if we can get Ahold Hogan,
<v Speaker 6>it'd be like getting lightning about. We can go on
<v Speaker 6>Alesia on Vince McMahon and beat his ass.
<v Speaker 3>That's thet A quote. I'm sure that's what he said.
<v Speaker 8>Wow.
<v Speaker 6>I said, I'd think about it maybe someday, but I
<v Speaker 6>still considered Vince my friend, even though there were some
<v Speaker 6>distance between us, and truthfully, I didn't think anybody could
<v Speaker 6>beat Vince's ass in the wrestling business. But Ted Turner
<v Speaker 6>wasn't about to let it go. Just like that, all
<v Speaker 6>of a sudden, Eric Bischoff, the executive vice president of WCW,
<v Speaker 6>started talking to me. Eric was a Minnesota boy who
<v Speaker 6>had been a big fan of mine back when I
<v Speaker 6>was working for vern Gania at the AWA.
<v Speaker 3>But of course that.
<v Speaker 6>Wasn't really the full story, as too the frame of
<v Speaker 6>mind right that Hull Cogan was in when he found
<v Speaker 6>himself amenable to a WCW on treaty.
<v Speaker 3>What about the do what about Linda? What about Linda's needs?
<v Speaker 3>What about Linda wanting to build a dream house? And
<v Speaker 3>where's the money gonna come from?
<v Speaker 6>Yes, you watch those ww shows around this time, especially
<v Speaker 6>as we had toward Halloween havoc, and Hogan goes back
<v Speaker 6>to the old playbook of putting his parents, his mom
<v Speaker 6>and dad on WCW television in the old childhood house
<v Speaker 6>talking about him as a young boy. And sure enough,
<v Speaker 6>Guine Oakland does a heart to heart with Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 6>on the construction site of the Willadelle House.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my God, that was.
<v Speaker 6>Made famous on Hogan knows best and stands as a
<v Speaker 6>towering symbol of the abject failure that was the blea
<v Speaker 6>family and my god, the things being constructed behind him,
<v Speaker 6>and what a harbinger of things to come, especially when
<v Speaker 6>you view it in light of what Hogan says, here
<v Speaker 6>coming your way, Boss h in his book number two,
<v Speaker 6>this is my life outside the ring of memoir. So
<v Speaker 6>this is without the w w e's you know, cooperation
<v Speaker 6>and editing and signing its own ghost writer, and this
<v Speaker 6>is not a book.
<v Speaker 3>I I've got it. If you want to just give
<v Speaker 3>me a page or what chapter or whatever. Oh okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it'll probably just be easier to give you this. It works,
<v Speaker 3>I'm much. I didn't record the page number. Uh so,
<v Speaker 3>so yeah, it's it's him doing the whole like you know,
<v Speaker 3>post Linda going out publicly and ripping them and all
<v Speaker 3>the bubba all the bubba stuff and all the infidelity stuff.
<v Speaker 3>So he's going back through his.
<v Speaker 6>Whole history with her and his whole history with you know, infidelity,
<v Speaker 6>and trying to you know, introduce all these circumstances on
<v Speaker 6>the domestic front and arguments with Linda that might make
<v Speaker 6>you see any of his his cheating ways or some
<v Speaker 6>of his drug use. I think he gets into as
<v Speaker 6>well in a different light. But this is like that
<v Speaker 6>part of that rehabilitation tour that coincided with the the
<v Speaker 6>TNA slash TNH run as well that you were called fondly.
<v Speaker 6>But so according to the book that he wrote, when
<v Speaker 6>he wasn't just trying to check a box for the WWE,
<v Speaker 6>and had had different allegiances to mind and take care
<v Speaker 6>of and and different targets to go after. This is
<v Speaker 6>really why the Holkster was compelled to sign with WCW.
<v Speaker 6>Not because Rick Flair came knocking one day when he
<v Speaker 6>was having lunch, but what.
<v Speaker 3>Exactly exactly a long one. It's not about that shit
<v Speaker 3>time for the truth. The reality is, there are other needs,
<v Speaker 3>there are other desires, very pro very prosaic ones. Just
<v Speaker 3>needed some money, quick money. Always that's all it's about.
<v Speaker 3>That's all it's about. It's always about the money, quick buck.
<v Speaker 3>The all thing is why once we left the WW
<v Speaker 3>I really thought I was through with wrestling, even though
<v Speaker 3>the one hour TV drama is too grueling a schedule
<v Speaker 3>for me to take. That's hilarious, I mean, that's I
<v Speaker 3>love how it's funny how you know, doing TV shows
<v Speaker 3>for some of these guys, it's worse than being on
<v Speaker 3>the road, It really is. You know, it's so funny
<v Speaker 3>to me.
<v Speaker 6>They can't, you know, Wrestling still feels like a con
<v Speaker 6>because you really are only putting in twenty minutes of
<v Speaker 6>work and you're making all kinds of money. You know,
<v Speaker 6>It's like you put in a lot of work to
<v Speaker 6>be there and to do it well, and you have
<v Speaker 6>to hang around at the building and everything but it's
<v Speaker 6>not like you're you're for twelve hours people are marching
<v Speaker 6>around telling you what to do. There's really only twenty
<v Speaker 6>minutes a week when people are telling you what to do.
<v Speaker 3>We and the rest.
<v Speaker 6>You're kind of a free spirit, you know, can do
<v Speaker 6>what you wan, yep. But here it's like you have
<v Speaker 6>no freedom of motion. He would talk about in press
<v Speaker 6>interviews at the time about, you know, just wanted to
<v Speaker 6>drive home and just like hang out with the kids
<v Speaker 6>and stuff. It came at a time, all these movie
<v Speaker 6>opportunities when Linda was kind of kind of in the
<v Speaker 6>frame of mind that now you've got Hulk back. Now
<v Speaker 6>the wrestling thing's over and he's going to be around more.
<v Speaker 6>But now he's, like Rick Flair said, he's driving the
<v Speaker 6>kids home, but driving the kids to school, but he's
<v Speaker 6>calling Rick about the Starkadvent.
<v Speaker 3>She can't right.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, he still wants that taste, and the film stuff
<v Speaker 6>is the TV stuff is much more of a drag
<v Speaker 6>on him than he expected.
<v Speaker 11>Mmmm.
<v Speaker 3>You know I would have I would have fold some
<v Speaker 3>swolled their way to make a living. How we just
<v Speaker 3>kept the home on Bellevue Island. I knew that nothing
<v Speaker 3>could bring me income the way wrestling did. The movies,
<v Speaker 3>TV shows, endorsements, and none of them was nearly as
<v Speaker 3>lucrative as selling out Madison Square Garden and a pay
<v Speaker 3>per view special, not even close. So I took a
<v Speaker 3>look around at this massive house, and I remember saying
<v Speaker 3>to myself, you know what, I'm better go back to work.
<v Speaker 3>If I hadn't been for that, hadn't been for that house,
<v Speaker 3>I honestly believe I would have retired from wrestling completely.
<v Speaker 3>In the end, I forked over somewhere around fourteen million
<v Speaker 3>dollars to get that house completed, the vast majority of
<v Speaker 3>which it went to Linda's brother. Fast forwarding a bit
<v Speaker 3>a few years later, Linda still insisted that she needed
<v Speaker 3>a home in California. She wanted to live there in
<v Speaker 3>the summers and go back and forth whenever she had time,
<v Speaker 3>so over another four point five million dollars for a
<v Speaker 3>gorgeous place on Thousand Oaks, right next to where head
<v Speaker 3>Lockleyer lives. After that, Linda wanted a little retreat on
<v Speaker 3>the sand, away from the Big House, but somewhere nearby
<v Speaker 3>in Florida as well, so she could try out a
<v Speaker 3>whole different decorating scheme. So we bought a house on
<v Speaker 3>clear Water Beach with nothing but sand between us and
<v Speaker 3>the ocean, and she filled it with tartan plaid carpet
<v Speaker 3>and Paisley wallpaper on the ceilings. Of course, Gil Claradge Interiors,
<v Speaker 3>the home Furnishings and furnisure store that's owned by none
<v Speaker 3>other than Linda's mother, furnished all those homes. You'll guess
<v Speaker 3>who's always been her best customer. Why that's actually not
<v Speaker 3>the proper French got it.
<v Speaker 6>Whah for that, it's not, But it's tremendous, hell attached
<v Speaker 6>like a sucubist. You know, all of our family has
<v Speaker 6>these businesses. All of a sudden that Terry's the only customer.
<v Speaker 6>Give me a fucking break.
<v Speaker 3>Exactly from the early nineties, from through the end of
<v Speaker 3>our marriage. Then they kept Jones in for real estate.
<v Speaker 3>It's just so weird. It was stopping Vegas and she's
<v Speaker 3>only be out looking at properties to buy in Vegas,
<v Speaker 3>well places, saying how great it would be to own
<v Speaker 3>a home in that desert. You know, we'd blow through
<v Speaker 3>Atlanta and she'd suddenly be out looking at properties in
<v Speaker 3>Atlanta's posh suburbs. I swear if we had gone to Alaska,
<v Speaker 3>she would have spent a day driving around looking about
<v Speaker 3>a high end igloo. It just never stop anyway. It
<v Speaker 3>was Linda's dreamed the house that made me change my
<v Speaker 3>mind and started taking seriously talking seriously with the w CW.
<v Speaker 3>I love how he calls it. The w C does
<v Speaker 3>always by the time of my career, even when Ted
<v Speaker 3>Turner himself off the Hulk Hogan name had been too
<v Speaker 3>tarnished by steroids scandal to transfer over to his organization,
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure he gave a shit, right, I'm sure Ted
<v Speaker 3>Turner was like, oh, well, you know, I don't know
<v Speaker 3>my bad doesn't now he didn't know that steroid shit.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know about that actually anything. I imagine he
<v Speaker 3>would have been like, goddamn, I bring that son of
<v Speaker 3>bit John Well that's what they said. Yeah, that's a
<v Speaker 3>Bishop says that he thought he was so anti you know,
<v Speaker 3>we know he's so anti everything, like he would have
<v Speaker 3>you know, if Ulkogan had been arrested for murdery but
<v Speaker 3>a fucking put him, you know, you know, the whole
<v Speaker 3>name is too Tarnabo was transfer over his you know,
<v Speaker 3>Eric Bischoff, Rick Flair and a guy named Bill Shaw
<v Speaker 3>stood up for me. As a dark cloud of visick
<v Speaker 3>man juniors federal trial loomed in early nine ninety four.
<v Speaker 3>They truly believed in me and fought for me. Well,
<v Speaker 3>you know what, we're fans, they said to the powers
<v Speaker 3>that being. We think that the rest of Hulk Hogan's
<v Speaker 3>fans are more loyal than to this to let this
<v Speaker 3>controversy keep him from the bring. I just really hope
<v Speaker 3>you were right.
<v Speaker 9>You know.
<v Speaker 3>Once Vince's trial finally began at the US District Court
<v Speaker 3>in the Uniondale in New York in the summer of
<v Speaker 3>nine ninety four, I was said to be called as
<v Speaker 3>a prosecution star witness. When I found out what the
<v Speaker 3>charges against him were the year before, I told him,
<v Speaker 3>you know, we got often to hide. I honestly didn't
<v Speaker 3>think he had anything to be scared about. He just
<v Speaker 3>couldn't believe I would go up there as a witness
<v Speaker 3>for the prosecution, though I had no choice. But he
<v Speaker 3>was so angry. I guess I thought I was going
<v Speaker 3>to make up, make up lives to hurt him, which
<v Speaker 3>wasn't the case at all. You know, if this was
<v Speaker 3>my hero, he's the guy who opened up all this
<v Speaker 3>whole universe for me. Why would I want? Why would
<v Speaker 3>I do anything to hurt him? I made sure I
<v Speaker 3>had full immunity for an exchange for my testimony. Of
<v Speaker 3>course I wasn't a fool. Then. All I did was
<v Speaker 3>tell the truth, the truth at that a truth the
<v Speaker 3>federal prosecutors didn't want to hear. The night before the trial,
<v Speaker 3>I got a taste of why Evince was so nervous.
<v Speaker 3>I was sound asleep at the Marriot across from the
<v Speaker 3>Massa Austhiviics Center, right by the courthouse, when someone started
<v Speaker 3>a pounding my door. Brother, what I woke up in
<v Speaker 3>the start and rolled over and looked at the clock.
<v Speaker 3>It was two am. Who's there, I asked, Is to
<v Speaker 3>the Federal prosecute Oh my god. It was to of
<v Speaker 3>the federal prosecutors on the case. They seemed worried about
<v Speaker 3>about how the case was going. They want to go
<v Speaker 3>over my testimony, and we're hoping to get some control
<v Speaker 3>over the situation. So they walked me through what they
<v Speaker 3>expect that I would say about buying steroids from Vincent,
<v Speaker 3>how he shot me up, how he sold steroids to
<v Speaker 3>all the other wrestlers, and how stories were a job
<v Speaker 3>requirement in the WWE, But the gist of this conversation
<v Speaker 3>was that they had spent millions on this case and
<v Speaker 3>they needed to They needed me to hit the ball
<v Speaker 3>out of the park, you know, for them. Maybe I
<v Speaker 3>was just nervous or overthinking the situation, but the whole
<v Speaker 3>thing seen in the middle of the night seemed like
<v Speaker 3>something not the Godfather, you know, Godfather to me. I
<v Speaker 3>was scared to death, so I yes, it was as
<v Speaker 3>much as I could just to get them to leave,
<v Speaker 3>even though the things that they seem to be counting
<v Speaker 3>on me saying didn't match the whole truth that I
<v Speaker 3>knew and expected to share in that courtroom. As they left,
<v Speaker 3>they said they would pick me up in the morning
<v Speaker 3>to make sure I got to the courtroom on time.
<v Speaker 3>That's fucking oh yeah, they will, Jesus. You know. The
<v Speaker 3>moment they were gone, I called my entertainment attorney, Henry Holmes,
<v Speaker 3>and his response was simple bullshit. He came to my
<v Speaker 3>hotel before sunrise and made sure I was out out
<v Speaker 3>of there before the prosecutors would come back. And outside
<v Speaker 3>the courtals that day it looked like I seen it
<v Speaker 3>from the oj trial, But the parking lot was just
<v Speaker 3>a sea of satellite news trucks. I had never encountered
<v Speaker 3>anything like it. I saw this interstinct that Vince was
<v Speaker 3>somehow going to try to flip the whole case and
<v Speaker 3>blame it on me. I had no idea how I
<v Speaker 3>would do that, but I just thought it would be
<v Speaker 3>an easy way out of if he poured a finger
<v Speaker 3>at Hulk Hogan and let the media run wild. Let
<v Speaker 3>the media run you know, I understand was right as
<v Speaker 3>I walked in my courtroom, I looked over him and
<v Speaker 3>saw my mule, the guy used to carry drugs steroids
<v Speaker 3>from me on the road, sitting next to Vince in
<v Speaker 3>Vince's attorney And why is he here, I wondered, if
<v Speaker 3>my testimony hurt Vince. I have no doubt that they
<v Speaker 3>would have used my mule to tell every tall tale
<v Speaker 3>in the book about my steroid use and how I
<v Speaker 3>was running them all over the country or selling them
<v Speaker 3>or forcing them on my opponents. You know, this mule
<v Speaker 3>must have been there as a as a backup to
<v Speaker 3>crush my credibility. That would have meant the end of
<v Speaker 3>my career forever. I Vincent truly had nothing to worry about.
<v Speaker 3>On the witnesses stand. The Fens asked me if Vincent
<v Speaker 3>Evers told me the steroids. I answered no. They asked
<v Speaker 3>me if he had ever injected me with steroids.
<v Speaker 1>No.
<v Speaker 3>I even explained to them how I wouldn't trust anyone
<v Speaker 3>else to stick a needle to me because I stuck
<v Speaker 3>myself a thousand times and knew how to do it
<v Speaker 3>without hitting any nerves. Brother, I never trust Vince to
<v Speaker 3>stick a needle of me. Dude, Fuck that bro, absolutely not.
<v Speaker 3>They asked me about every angle of their of their
<v Speaker 3>entire case, from Zahorean's role to Vince's secretary's role. I
<v Speaker 3>answered honestly about everything. The fact was I had introduced
<v Speaker 3>Vince the steroids during the film and a no holes
<v Speaker 3>barred the movie. We wrote together in a forty eight
<v Speaker 3>hour rundown in Florida, and I testified to that fact.
<v Speaker 3>I also spoke about how I shared steroids with Vince,
<v Speaker 3>and Vince shared steroids with me the same way two
<v Speaker 3>buddies might share cigarettes. That's as far as I ever went.
<v Speaker 3>You know, Vincent hadn't done anything differently than any of
<v Speaker 3>the rest of us. He wasn't distributing steroids if they
<v Speaker 3>were going to put him in jail, then they needed
<v Speaker 3>to put every single wrestler in jail along with it.
<v Speaker 3>I said that on the witness stand, and the prosecutors
<v Speaker 3>were dumbfounded and due the moment the just dismissed me.
<v Speaker 3>I slipped out of that courtroom through a side door,
<v Speaker 3>hopping a cab the Teeterboro Airport and chartered playing down
<v Speaker 3>in Florida as fast as I possibly could. I didn't
<v Speaker 3>go back to New York for years, scared of death
<v Speaker 3>of those Feds would find a way to arrest me
<v Speaker 3>or put a hit on me or something. Even when
<v Speaker 3>I was with the WCW, no, no one New York
<v Speaker 3>had a chance to see me wrestle in the flesh.
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't show up at those New York arenas. I
<v Speaker 3>was just too scared talking about word New York stuff.
<v Speaker 3>For WW he did that Paramount Theater show where they
<v Speaker 3>expanded to the Yeah, right, but that was later though, right,
<v Speaker 3>wasn't that nWo Oh? That was definitely a yellow and
<v Speaker 3>Red Hogan era. I think it was ninety four, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>late ninety four, Yeah, all right, well whatever, Yeah, it
<v Speaker 3>was worth it, though. You know, there is no better
<v Speaker 3>feeling than tell them the truth. How the fuck would
<v Speaker 3>he know that? You know that he's the last guy
<v Speaker 3>I turned to on that Yeah, no matter how much
<v Speaker 3>it hurts, and were terrible repercussions in my bring the
<v Speaker 3>truth I told in that witness stand that day was
<v Speaker 3>the reason that Vincezickman Junior walked away a free man.
<v Speaker 3>And that's all I ever want to see. And how
<v Speaker 3>did Vince take me? In return? He stood on the
<v Speaker 3>steps that courthouse, in front of all those microphones and
<v Speaker 3>cameras and satellite trucks and me buried me. I'm happy
<v Speaker 3>with a verdict, he said, But I wish Hulk Hogan
<v Speaker 3>had told the truth. Well, what do you mean by that?
<v Speaker 3>I told the truth. It only further proved me that
<v Speaker 3>I instincts were right. If it came down to it,
<v Speaker 3>Hulk was Vince was willing to throw Hulk Hogan under
<v Speaker 3>a bus to clear his own name, you know, when
<v Speaker 3>he didn't get a chance to do it in the courtroom,
<v Speaker 3>he did it in the court of public opinion. By then,
<v Speaker 3>Vince knew I was going over to wrestle for this competition. No,
<v Speaker 3>it was just business, Vince would say years later when
<v Speaker 3>I asked him why he did that to me, Well,
<v Speaker 3>I guess I'd taken the Hulk Hogan phenomenon over to
<v Speaker 3>w CW. Was just business to Vince, you know. Three
<v Speaker 3>days after testifying in New York, I russelled Rick Flair
<v Speaker 3>for the w CW Championship belt. That's insane. Threee, that's
<v Speaker 3>absolutely insane. The Bash of the Beach was a massive success,
<v Speaker 3>even though fans held up Sime saying, Hogan, did you
<v Speaker 3>take your shots today? And don't leave home without your steroids?
<v Speaker 3>Like I said, I stopped using steroids in nine ninety two,
<v Speaker 3>So not by our Senny Hall at all, right, like
<v Speaker 3>Savage Night, but lesson, I learned the hardest way possible
<v Speaker 3>at the media and how a trickle of a lot
<v Speaker 3>can snowball into that avalanche. Yeah, once a trickle get
<v Speaker 3>started the way it did with my Arsenio Hall commons,
<v Speaker 3>there's no way to stop it. All you can do
<v Speaker 3>is ride it out and hope you don't get buried
<v Speaker 3>so deep that you're lost forever. Over time, the tults
<v Speaker 3>from the fans went away, as my massive bulk from
<v Speaker 3>the steroids went away too. Something really strange happened. I
<v Speaker 3>actually started to look more I actually started to look
<v Speaker 3>better on camera. You' getting some Hollywood advice. Here we
<v Speaker 3>go with the it's actually the right thing yep. I
<v Speaker 3>didn't know anything about cow cameras and lining worked on
<v Speaker 3>my body when I set up to develop my twenty
<v Speaker 3>four guns back in nineteen seventy six. Nearly twenty years later,
<v Speaker 3>I started to notice that it was all about proportions.
<v Speaker 3>As a steroid free waste got a little bit thinner
<v Speaker 3>in proportion of my shoulders. I actually looked bigger on
<v Speaker 3>screen with the waterway gone my muscles. It just had
<v Speaker 3>more ripped in powerful looking appearance than they ever did before.
<v Speaker 3>And I put that lean, mean power look to good use.
<v Speaker 3>I blew the roof off. I blew the roof off
<v Speaker 3>of WCW. The audience exploded, for you know, exploded for
<v Speaker 3>a long time. We absolutely crushed me man in the ratings.
<v Speaker 3>But still, with the help of Eric Bischoff, I started
<v Speaker 3>to make far more money than I ever did with
<v Speaker 3>Vincent the WWE. I had a bigger cut, a bigger
<v Speaker 3>cut of every T shirt and a piece of merchandise
<v Speaker 3>that was sold. I was sharing in revenues from broadcasts.
<v Speaker 3>I had a bigger cut at the gate, a gate
<v Speaker 3>at the arenas. For the first time my whole career,
<v Speaker 3>I could finally look out at a stadium full of
<v Speaker 3>people who were there to see me and know that
<v Speaker 3>I was getting my fair share of that massive revenue
<v Speaker 3>that was walking in the door every night. That's tremendous feeling.
<v Speaker 3>Like I said before, all I wanted to do was
<v Speaker 3>give my family every opportunity to have whatever they desired
<v Speaker 3>in life. Right ever since that first moment when I
<v Speaker 3>held baby Brook in my arms, this was all them
<v Speaker 3>to know that I was going to be able to
<v Speaker 3>give them more than ever. That was a rush.
<v Speaker 6>Dude, Hulk Hogan, what brother, what do you think is
<v Speaker 6>it's because Linda wanted a fancy house? Well, uh, Linda, Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>I mean I listen, I would I would bet that
<v Speaker 6>there is certainly part of that in there.
<v Speaker 3>But I bet Linda has something different.
<v Speaker 6>Well, she's actually kind of mom on the transition, including
<v Speaker 6>in her book w WH. She's never very much to
<v Speaker 6>say about it because she jumps right to you know,
<v Speaker 6>w W equals Hogan turns. There isn't a lot of
<v Speaker 6>you know, reflection upon the time before he turns.
<v Speaker 3>Heel.
<v Speaker 6>But I just thought that was just such a such
<v Speaker 6>a classic Hogan thing where it's like, yep, you know
<v Speaker 6>the whole reason I wouldn't even have gone back.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't have to. I was fellow. I don't want
<v Speaker 3>to go back. Brother, I don't want to do that, dude,
<v Speaker 3>But you know why me? Fucking you know why me? Dude?
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, definitely the martyr complex definitely setting in for sure.
<v Speaker 6>But he makes it appearance on another WCP platform. It's
<v Speaker 6>called Colleague All Sports, and this is like a Collin show.
<v Speaker 6>And it's becoming very clear now that the Turner synergies
<v Speaker 6>are clicking into place, and that Hull Hogan is taking
<v Speaker 6>to Turner sponsored airwaves to promote and create some buzzer
<v Speaker 6>on the idea that he's coming back to the business.
<v Speaker 3>Got it.
<v Speaker 4>Did you ever think at age forty this would be
<v Speaker 4>a kind of a comeback for you?
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, well, you know, this is kind of like forty
<v Speaker 10>going on eighteen. I see what's happening in the WCWN,
<v Speaker 10>around the whole wrestling world. I've got myself in probably
<v Speaker 10>the best shape I've ever been in. So let's say
<v Speaker 10>the old timer who's been around the block a few
<v Speaker 10>times has got a few new tricks are going to
<v Speaker 10>show the young guys.
<v Speaker 4>So you feel like, you know, people should come out
<v Speaker 4>there and see what the haulks now for.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think so.
<v Speaker 10>I think Hulamania is going to run wild through the nineties.
<v Speaker 10>And I've been watching the twos man. I got my
<v Speaker 10>sight set on this. Rick Flair, got I can just
<v Speaker 10>get ted Turner by the arm and bended a little
<v Speaker 10>bit more.
<v Speaker 9>Am I getting to sign that contract? Rick Flair?
<v Speaker 3>And all Cogan?
<v Speaker 9>That'll be a good one.
<v Speaker 4>All right, It's go to the phones now, and John,
<v Speaker 4>where are we? Okay, Felton City, Wisconsin, Welcome to the show.
<v Speaker 9>Think you know the man?
<v Speaker 3>Am I right? Yeah?
<v Speaker 14>I do?
<v Speaker 13>And Paul Gallas wondering how you think the competitions get
<v Speaker 13>different from the where you the wrestling WWF Now at WCW.
<v Speaker 9>Well, you know, sports entertainment, as we coined the phrase.
<v Speaker 10>And WCW is a lot of great athletes, some of
<v Speaker 10>the greatest athletes in the world, a lot of great
<v Speaker 10>entertainers and great actors all rolled into one. I think
<v Speaker 10>the WCW places its emphasis more on the athletic promise
<v Speaker 10>of its wrestlers. And once I get these guys down
<v Speaker 10>in the center of the ring and teach him a
<v Speaker 10>few wrestling lessons.
<v Speaker 9>Then I'll get a chance to entertain them.
<v Speaker 10>But I realized to get to the top of the WCW,
<v Speaker 10>I'm gonna have to focus more on getting down on
<v Speaker 10>the mat than before. Then this character of Haltimani actually
<v Speaker 10>became bigger than in the sport itself. And now that
<v Speaker 10>some of the stars of the eighties such as Hal
<v Speaker 10>Coogan is still running wild in the nineties, myself and
<v Speaker 10>others like Rick Flair, We're gonna take the sport to
<v Speaker 10>another level and we can't wait to bring the families
<v Speaker 10>and the kids with us, because this is family entertainment.
<v Speaker 9>At its best. It's action instead of violence.
<v Speaker 10>And we really feel that with mister Turner and the
<v Speaker 10>whole w CW and TBS behind us, we've got the
<v Speaker 10>vehicle and we've got the guns, which are bigger than
<v Speaker 10>the twenty fournch Pythons to take.
<v Speaker 9>It to a new level, and we're gonna have you
<v Speaker 9>at ringside.
<v Speaker 19>Also, Hey, hey, you doing hall Cod And I was like, say,
<v Speaker 19>I have a lot of respect for you, and you're
<v Speaker 19>one of the grand sfessors that I am the biggest
<v Speaker 19>Rick Flair and for Horston fan there is, and Rick
<v Speaker 19>Flair has a history for being the sixty.
<v Speaker 13>Minute man is all night long.
<v Speaker 19>I was wondering if when you two do meet, if
<v Speaker 19>you think sam and will be a factor?
<v Speaker 3>Whoa whoa brother?
<v Speaker 9>Hey, man, he's a strong well the thing.
<v Speaker 10>Over the last couple of years, I've dieded down, I've
<v Speaker 10>gotten really good shape and I'm ready to go all
<v Speaker 10>night long with a man if he's ready for me.
<v Speaker 3>He gave you the.
<v Speaker 9>Very stuff.
<v Speaker 3>Help us out a little bit.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, your phoenix. What's happening?
<v Speaker 13>Hey?
<v Speaker 18>Not much?
<v Speaker 3>Not enough of mean?
<v Speaker 13>Hey?
<v Speaker 8>This wholser?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Man, what's up?
<v Speaker 8>Brother?
<v Speaker 3>Hey?
<v Speaker 17>Not much?
<v Speaker 3>Hey?
<v Speaker 13>I saw him that you know. I'm probably your number
<v Speaker 13>one fan here, and I just I saw one of
<v Speaker 13>your last wrestling matches with I'm getting kind of nervous here,
<v Speaker 13>but I saw one of your matches with Ric Flair.
<v Speaker 9>Uh huh. He's cheated, man, he didn't he cheated.
<v Speaker 13>I really want you to beat the heck got a
<v Speaker 13>rig Flair.
<v Speaker 9>I'm gonna do that for you, man, I'm gonna beat
<v Speaker 9>the heck Ric Flair for a lot of you.
<v Speaker 13>You're a phoenix and I definitely want you to hurt him.
<v Speaker 9>Really, No, we're not gonna hurt him.
<v Speaker 10>We're just gonna teach him of us and about what
<v Speaker 10>Hulkamania is all about. The training, the prayers, the vitamins,
<v Speaker 10>and about being positive and being a winner.
<v Speaker 9>That's what we're gonna teach him.
<v Speaker 13>I was just like, what, I'm proud of you and
<v Speaker 13>like you're doing a great job in teaching the kids
<v Speaker 13>about having to behave and uh stay from drug and alcohol.
<v Speaker 10>Well, brother, the thing is, you know we all have
<v Speaker 10>to stay positive and be a leader, not a follower.
<v Speaker 10>And you know something that anytime there's a negative in
<v Speaker 10>your life, you have to turn it into a positive.
<v Speaker 10>And that's what Haull Covid and hull Cammania is all about.
<v Speaker 4>Hey, with some of the now the word about the
<v Speaker 4>steroid use and the partying with the w W, what
<v Speaker 4>was that like that period of time and from being
<v Speaker 4>on top and then people challenging you then maybe having
<v Speaker 4>to come Yeah.
<v Speaker 10>Well, if there was ever a dark cloud in hull
<v Speaker 10>Cogan's career, it was during that time when the steroid
<v Speaker 10>allegations were going down. Hull Cogan, many of the rustlers,
<v Speaker 10>many of the athletes were part of that era. And
<v Speaker 10>once again it's about turning negatives into positives.
<v Speaker 9>That was in the past. We've all been brought up
<v Speaker 9>to speed.
<v Speaker 10>Hull Cogan's learned lessons, the American Medical Association has learned lessons,
<v Speaker 10>and you know, we need to send out a real
<v Speaker 10>positive message to the kids that there are no shortcuts.
<v Speaker 10>You have to believe in yourself. You have to work
<v Speaker 10>hard every day and if you work hard enough in
<v Speaker 10>this life, my friend, you can get what you want.
<v Speaker 10>But basically that was my only dark cloud. That was then,
<v Speaker 10>This is now and hull Commania has taken off for
<v Speaker 10>greater heights.