Ep. 418, WCW Clash of the Champions 35 (8/21/97) (Part 1)

<v Speaker 1>It's the lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnes,
<v Speaker 1>e O and JP Sorrow. He's a lapsed fan.
<v Speaker 2>In all my years and wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>I never seen anything.
<v Speaker 4>And it's the laps fan man like the one in
<v Speaker 4>the ring.
<v Speaker 5>Forget about Sado.
<v Speaker 3>He the real king of swing.
<v Speaker 6>When the bell.
<v Speaker 4>Goes in with the kick, like me throwing in the corner,
<v Speaker 4>but it splashed like stick.
<v Speaker 3>Even Jerry King can say off the crowd nodded in.
<v Speaker 2>His head like it.
<v Speaker 4>Steve low Brown would get low down for the goat,
<v Speaker 4>even high up flipp you on your head. But you know,
<v Speaker 4>cool driver speaking more now and Dragon spits fire give
<v Speaker 4>you more shock than when Edge treats higher drop a more.
<v Speaker 7>Truth than the con of sniper unless you with a coconut,
<v Speaker 7>Roddy Piper, Jack a JP. He like j Y D
<v Speaker 7>drop the cupcakes and gold the grain. Bob means the
<v Speaker 7>best podcast first start to close round.
<v Speaker 8>If you are a classic at polls.
<v Speaker 9>We talk about it used to be better and when
<v Speaker 9>it stopped being good And I don't know, I mean,
<v Speaker 9>it can't be all uphill from ending the Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions, can it?
<v Speaker 10>Mmmmm?
<v Speaker 3>I mean, hey, you know what we got to make
<v Speaker 3>room for Thunder? All right, what do you want? What
<v Speaker 3>do you want from us?
<v Speaker 9>It didn't strike me until somebody in the Solar system,
<v Speaker 9>Cliff to be specific, said, you know what, Monga McMichael
<v Speaker 9>just passed, what about that clash where he won the
<v Speaker 9>United States title?
<v Speaker 3>And it was kind of.
<v Speaker 9>It was kind of his for lack of a better word,
<v Speaker 9>crowning achievement in the wrestling business, of course, not magrid iron.
<v Speaker 9>And I said, you know what, that's that's a good idea.
<v Speaker 9>And then I realized, you know what, This was the
<v Speaker 9>last ever WCW Clash of the Champions took place August
<v Speaker 9>nineteen ninety seven in Nashville, of course on TBS. And
<v Speaker 9>just as you said, January nineteen ninety eight is when
<v Speaker 9>thunder starts, and that's when WCW starts to unravel. If
<v Speaker 9>you ask anybody, even those who are hyper villain vigilant
<v Speaker 9>about defending WCBA, they acknowledged that Thunder was just too
<v Speaker 9>much on their plate for the way that they were
<v Speaker 9>running things back then. And I don't know if there's
<v Speaker 9>if the business is set up to allow for quarterly
<v Speaker 9>live clash specials with matches that feel like they're worth
<v Speaker 9>tuning into on primetime on a weeknight. I'm feeling pretty good.
<v Speaker 9>I'm more I need to be as a fan, you
<v Speaker 9>know what I mean? Yeah, of course, I mean that's
<v Speaker 9>that's the good stuff right there. That's where the fucking
<v Speaker 9>money was. When they happened. The classes of the champions
<v Speaker 9>were exciting, they were exciting. They needed to happen, not
<v Speaker 9>fucking weekly Thursday night programming. This is after Nitro. But
<v Speaker 9>what was it about Clash? I mean, it's not on
<v Speaker 9>Saturday Night's main event. I think there's something to be
<v Speaker 9>said for something that isn't sold, Like the biggest match
<v Speaker 9>is possible on pay per view, but it's also not
<v Speaker 9>just weekly television. Even if it comes to be live,
<v Speaker 9>even if they come to elevate big matches on a
<v Speaker 9>raw or a Nitro, there's still something that feels closer
<v Speaker 9>to a supercard about Clash. That is just it's a niche.
<v Speaker 9>They brought that Saturday Night's main event. We're kind of
<v Speaker 9>getting it back a little bit. But there was this
<v Speaker 9>like in between card that was so necessary, yep, to
<v Speaker 9>move things along, but to still give.
<v Speaker 3>You like a peak.
<v Speaker 9>You know, it had a match that you wouldn't expect
<v Speaker 9>to be able to get for free on Monday night.
<v Speaker 9>It still to me had value in nineteen.
<v Speaker 3>Ninety seven, I think, so, I mean you could you
<v Speaker 3>could put on I mean it also was an opportunity
<v Speaker 3>to showcase, you know, to test somebody, see if somebody
<v Speaker 3>might might be a money player. I know that's kind
<v Speaker 3>of not what mentality was in nineteen ninety seven in WCW,
<v Speaker 3>But like you could have used that as a platform
<v Speaker 3>to build somebody else, Like you could use that to
<v Speaker 3>have a weird like main event of like just throwing
<v Speaker 3>this out there, like Chris Jericho versus hul Kogan. Yes,
<v Speaker 3>you know that's the kind of thing you can you could,
<v Speaker 3>you could use that. And and I I always loved
<v Speaker 3>when I when I knew it was going to happen,
<v Speaker 3>because you know, again, I wasn't watching it week to
<v Speaker 3>week like all the time, so I wasn't always aware
<v Speaker 3>of the clashes. But when when I knew when it
<v Speaker 3>was happening, I mean I fucking made sure I watched
<v Speaker 3>the one in August ninety four with Hogan. Yeah, no
<v Speaker 3>fucking way I was missing that call. I watched the
<v Speaker 3>one prior. No, maybe it was two pro I don't
<v Speaker 3>know the one where where he showed up where he
<v Speaker 3>showed up in the and interviewed and then Flair, you know,
<v Speaker 3>unified the championships. You know, like that was fucking great,
<v Speaker 3>Like that was it felt important even though it was
<v Speaker 3>on free TV. It felt important and it was different
<v Speaker 3>and it was exciting. It's a valuable thing. It was wasted.
<v Speaker 3>It totally wasted. Why when they threw it away.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, totally wasted. Special presentation kind of feel to it.
<v Speaker 3>And I mean also, it only really feels special if
<v Speaker 3>you're not putting on big matches every single week. Yes,
<v Speaker 3>you know, which is like what they were both doing
<v Speaker 3>at this point. That is true.
<v Speaker 9>The Battle to Win the Monday Night Wars put some
<v Speaker 9>of the biggest money matches, especially on the WCW side
<v Speaker 9>of the Ledger, on free television without a second thought
<v Speaker 9>and would narrow any promotion. I mean, Hogan wrestled Brett
<v Speaker 9>Hart in WCW and it was on Nitro with like
<v Speaker 9>Nobility's fucking ridiculous. It's so stupid. I mean, that's part
<v Speaker 9>and parcelrons. That's them reaching for ratings and at the
<v Speaker 9>same time not wanting to make Brett Hogan as big
<v Speaker 9>as it could be, because Hogan wasn't about that. Brother,
<v Speaker 9>you know, That's that's part of it too.
<v Speaker 11>Well.
<v Speaker 3>Brother, I was all about it too, But you know
<v Speaker 3>it's about the timing, brother, you know. And then it's
<v Speaker 3>kind of get you know, you got to kind of like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, pick pick where you're gonna put certain things, dude,
<v Speaker 3>and you know, a whole cooking versus Brett Hard. Sure
<v Speaker 3>on on paper it's a it's you know, a pay
<v Speaker 3>per view main event. Brother, I understand that, dude, and
<v Speaker 3>I'm not. I don't disagree with that, brother, But you know,
<v Speaker 3>when you're kind of like putting things, you know, in
<v Speaker 3>place where you're kind of making the plan in a head,
<v Speaker 3>do you know, kind of bringing this a little bit
<v Speaker 3>of this, a little bit of that, dude, You know,
<v Speaker 3>you gotta kind of think about things a little bit different.
<v Speaker 5>Brother.
<v Speaker 3>You and I think about, Hey, what's gonna what's gonna
<v Speaker 3>pull people in so that they will buy the next
<v Speaker 3>pay per view? Dude? So many and even though brother,
<v Speaker 3>and even brother, you know, dude, I'm not you know,
<v Speaker 3>and and and you know sometimes you know what that happens, Brother,
<v Speaker 3>Sometimes you have to actually bury somebody to do that.
<v Speaker 10>Dude.
<v Speaker 9>Now we're getting to the point. Now we're getting to
<v Speaker 9>the media. So many good points in there. I come
<v Speaker 9>away really understanding why Hogan versus Brett wasn't a Wsway
<v Speaker 9>per view main event. Really, that's my take home. I
<v Speaker 9>get that now you're dead on about being able to
<v Speaker 9>experiment with new things. You know what, Clash of the
<v Speaker 9>Champions would have been perfect for the Goldberg Jericho match
<v Speaker 9>they never had.
<v Speaker 3>Been told would be. It would have been great pulled
<v Speaker 3>the trigger on.
<v Speaker 9>There would have been a whole lot less grounds for
<v Speaker 9>the manipulators to destroy that match and kill it where
<v Speaker 9>he stood, because if it's a clash main event, then
<v Speaker 9>there's less you can argue against doing it. There's less
<v Speaker 9>downside you could argue against, you know, maximizing pay per
<v Speaker 9>view revenue and all the rest, and then what happens
<v Speaker 9>a Jericho even if you see an Eddie Guerrero absolutely
<v Speaker 9>shine on this Clash of the Champions yep, not just
<v Speaker 9>in terms of his work, but his involvement in an angle.
<v Speaker 9>It looks like he's and at the time is we're
<v Speaker 9>going to get to there was actually this roughly sketched
<v Speaker 9>out plan for Deborah to break off from Mango and
<v Speaker 9>head up a stable that included Eddie Guerrero and Jeff
<v Speaker 9>Jarrett and some others.
<v Speaker 3>Surely you have broken off from Mongo.
<v Speaker 9>Hadn't she well to break off and have her own
<v Speaker 9>stable of wrestlers. Oh, I see, it had actually be
<v Speaker 9>like somebody who's trying to marshal like her own faction,
<v Speaker 9>not just go with one guy in Jarrett. And so
<v Speaker 9>this would have meant a chance for all the guys
<v Speaker 9>who went on to be money players from WWE that
<v Speaker 9>they pretended they didn't know were money, like Guerrero and
<v Speaker 9>Ben Wah and Raymisterio and Chris Jericho and to a
<v Speaker 9>lesser degree several others, and the clash may have been
<v Speaker 9>a place to put them in a main event and
<v Speaker 9>have to come to terms with the fact that the
<v Speaker 9>rating was high. They knew how to draw people in,
<v Speaker 9>and there was less of a basis to say these
<v Speaker 9>guys can't headline.
<v Speaker 11>Now.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, they weren't interested in running headlong into those
<v Speaker 9>proof points at the time. I understand this, But I
<v Speaker 9>think you nailed that. I think about you know, Scott Steiner,
<v Speaker 9>he got the singles match against Flair because it was
<v Speaker 9>a clash of the champions. It never would have happened otherwise.
<v Speaker 9>Now did that work out for Scott sneinder know, because
<v Speaker 9>whateveri's and him and Rick Flair were always at loggerheads.
<v Speaker 9>That was the match with you know, accusations of sandbagging
<v Speaker 9>and all that shit, right, But the idea was there,
<v Speaker 9>The platform was there to be able to put Scott
<v Speaker 9>Steiner in a main event, a singles main event, to
<v Speaker 9>find out. After the Clash of the Champions disappeared, there
<v Speaker 9>was no longer a platform to find out. You just
<v Speaker 9>had to figure behind the scenes if you thought it
<v Speaker 9>was going to work prematurely.
<v Speaker 3>At least, you know, not a not in a place
<v Speaker 3>that it felt special, felt special. Now you just do it.
<v Speaker 3>Now it's just on you know, Monday nights and Thursday
<v Speaker 3>nights every week, and it's like it just again, it
<v Speaker 3>loses its appeal because what you really want to do.
<v Speaker 3>What makes it special too, is that clashes weren't always
<v Speaker 3>clashes in some cases, not all the cases, but in
<v Speaker 3>some cases they were the pinnacle of of of a
<v Speaker 3>feud or of a program. Yeah, you know, and so
<v Speaker 3>it's like you build to that, and so you have
<v Speaker 3>you know you're going to have the conclusion or at
<v Speaker 3>least a big moment in a program, and then you
<v Speaker 3>also have other storyline building stuff here and there. But
<v Speaker 3>for the most part, it's like you can treat it
<v Speaker 3>like a half and a half, like half a pay
<v Speaker 3>per view half of a of a television of a
<v Speaker 3>regular television show, and it's just it's it's I don't know,
<v Speaker 3>it makes it. It makes it feel unique and special.
<v Speaker 3>You know, that's obviously not what we deserve.
<v Speaker 9>And who's the number one example of what you're talking about, Sting?
<v Speaker 9>You know, if the Clash of the Champions didn't exist,
<v Speaker 9>wasn't launched when it did, Sting doesn't become the player.
<v Speaker 3>He just doesn't.
<v Speaker 9>It doesn't, or at least if it happens, it happens
<v Speaker 9>in a way that I certainly couldn't discern based on
<v Speaker 9>where he stood in the pecking order. Once TBS and
<v Speaker 9>in turn of Broadcasting purchased Jim Crockett Promotions, it's just
<v Speaker 9>that was the platform to see what could be for WCW,
<v Speaker 9>and they got so closed minded and it forces discipline
<v Speaker 9>Unlike weekly television week to week, you've got all of
<v Speaker 9>these imperatives You've got all of these reasons to change
<v Speaker 9>your mind at the last minute. You really, you know,
<v Speaker 9>as much as you want to build something, it becomes
<v Speaker 9>harder and harder to keep that discipline when every week
<v Speaker 9>you feel the pressure of putting something out there that's
<v Speaker 9>going to beat the other guys in the ratings. Whereas
<v Speaker 9>a quarterly special like the Clash, you have to book
<v Speaker 9>a card ahead of time, you have to build to
<v Speaker 9>the card. It forces you to be disciplined about making
<v Speaker 9>something feel bigger than what you came up with since
<v Speaker 9>last Monday, you know, And it's it's it is a
<v Speaker 9>crying shame, and I do, upon watching this one again
<v Speaker 9>to cry the loss. Do I decry the loss of Mango? Well,
<v Speaker 9>to some degree. I mean the guy, the guy is
<v Speaker 9>only in pro wrestling kind of a story in terms
<v Speaker 9>of like how he found this extra Like Lisa.
<v Speaker 3>Lan, I understand he's not the greatest. I stand by
<v Speaker 3>what I said years ago.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, I was gonna say I need a refresher on
<v Speaker 9>where you stand on Mongo. So yeah, I've always said,
<v Speaker 9>you know, you can argue and debate which horsemen lineup
<v Speaker 9>was the best, right, But without a doubt, the ninety
<v Speaker 9>six ninety seven lineup is my favorite.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, that's huge. I love it. I loved watching There
<v Speaker 3>was something about having a legit athlete, even though again
<v Speaker 3>he's not good, but there's something about having a legit
<v Speaker 3>athlete and the horseman along with arn along with Flair
<v Speaker 3>and uh who else was there? Well at the time,
<v Speaker 3>we had Ben Wah, Ben Wah, right, Ben Wah. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>of course you know like that. That that's it just
<v Speaker 3>was a great, great, great lineup. And they you know,
<v Speaker 3>this was the time where they always had the uh
<v Speaker 3>on nitro. They always had the uh the spread out there,
<v Speaker 3>the horsemen spread and they had all this food and
<v Speaker 3>all this kind of stuff out in you know, on
<v Speaker 3>a table out out in the arena, And I fucking
<v Speaker 3>love that. There was a there was a sense of entitlement,
<v Speaker 3>there was a sense of of of beyond just wrestling,
<v Speaker 3>Like it just felt it felt different than like, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>here's a but here's four wrestlers who are the best
<v Speaker 3>of the best, like fine, whatever. You know, we've seen
<v Speaker 3>that a bunch of times. This felt different. This was
<v Speaker 3>like they'd come out and they felt cool in a
<v Speaker 3>different way. And I love them. I just thought they
<v Speaker 3>were great and I stand by it. They're my favorite.
<v Speaker 3>I could watch I could watch ninety six ninety seven
<v Speaker 3>horsemen day in, day out and be thrilled.
<v Speaker 9>And one of the things that they totally whiffed on
<v Speaker 9>at the time in WCW was the four horsemen are
<v Speaker 9>the ones that need to combat the nWo. Yes, they
<v Speaker 9>did do it, but they did it so half acidly
<v Speaker 9>and interspersed it with so much inter horseman dynamics like
<v Speaker 9>Hennick turning on Rick Flair or Jeff Jaron the worst.
<v Speaker 3>It was a fucking worst thing that I mean, I
<v Speaker 3>I even watch this, I'm like, God, we're a month
<v Speaker 3>away from Matt Travesty, a month away from the fucking dismal,
<v Speaker 3>drizzling shit moment when Kurt Hanmig turns and joins nWo
<v Speaker 3>that what does Kurt Headack have to do instead? Boss?
<v Speaker 3>What's the play he could be? He is the horseman,
<v Speaker 3>He is the horse Like you, come on, we're looking
<v Speaker 3>at Flair and perfect for God's sake, Like you look
<v Speaker 3>at the two of them walking, They're meant to be together,
<v Speaker 3>do team for the one and only time on this
<v Speaker 3>on this cloud. Oh you know, I actually was thinking
<v Speaker 3>to myself, you know they got they got they got
<v Speaker 3>the lineups wrong. What a match it would have been
<v Speaker 3>Flair Hennig versus Haul and Savage m a flipping reverse
<v Speaker 3>of the Survivor series match.
<v Speaker 9>That's tasty, that always worked in WCW revisit a WWF
<v Speaker 9>program with just a little swis savage fun?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I love it. That's been great, like because that's
<v Speaker 3>that's those are the four guys in that match.
<v Speaker 9>Ever even crossed my mind, yep, but yeah, they were.
<v Speaker 9>They were off to a different race as it regards
<v Speaker 9>uh Kurt Headig's upside, but yeah, they There was even
<v Speaker 9>indications in the newsletters that they were supposed to do
<v Speaker 9>the Kurt headg He'll turn on this clash of the Champions,
<v Speaker 9>but ended up postponing it to the fall Brall Wargames
<v Speaker 9>Cage match, which of course we've covered in the Art
<v Speaker 9>of War Games and in several different formats over the years.
<v Speaker 9>But this is, yeah, this sort of tease that Hennig is,
<v Speaker 9>you know, because he they asked him afterwards if he's
<v Speaker 9>a horseman. He says, no, he's not interested or whatever.
<v Speaker 9>He says, we'll get to it. That that sort of prolongs,
<v Speaker 9>but he doesn't turn on Flair actively, but he also
<v Speaker 9>does some things that indicate there's trouble and that particular paradise.
<v Speaker 9>But that again, it's the point. The horsemen need to
<v Speaker 9>be as strong as ever as like the leading flank
<v Speaker 9>to combat the nWo on behalf of WCW. And they
<v Speaker 9>need to do it not because they love WCW in
<v Speaker 9>their heart. They need to do it because it's pissing
<v Speaker 9>them off that the nWo is coming in here and trying.
<v Speaker 3>To act elite.
<v Speaker 9>Right, where are the jocks in this locker room? Where
<v Speaker 9>are the jocks? In fact, look at fucking nineteen eighty
<v Speaker 9>five NFL Super Bowl champion Steve Manga McMichael right over there.
<v Speaker 9>You don't say we're not elite, yep, And you pointed
<v Speaker 9>out something that's very key. I mean, Rick Flair, the
<v Speaker 9>ultimate real sports mark gambler to the death, obsessed with
<v Speaker 9>college football and in pro football as well. And this
<v Speaker 9>guy is tickled pink that a Super Bowl champion is
<v Speaker 9>in the locker room, you know. Of course he was
<v Speaker 9>brought in, of course, initially as a commentator from Monday Nitro,
<v Speaker 9>which we'll get to and have talked about in years past, and.
<v Speaker 3>I think I did mention that on when we did
<v Speaker 3>do the first nitro, But man, I was butt hurt.
<v Speaker 3>I was fucking butt hurt when he showed up on
<v Speaker 3>in WCW because just you know what, five months prior,
<v Speaker 3>he was at WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 9>Yes, you know, did you have hopes for him to
<v Speaker 9>actually did he stand out enough to you in the
<v Speaker 9>WrestleMania eleven predication?
<v Speaker 3>Yep, absolutely he did because they like he was the
<v Speaker 3>only one out of all of them that really got
<v Speaker 3>involved because he had the fight with uh with Coma. Right,
<v Speaker 3>we'll get to that. You know, the two of them
<v Speaker 3>were like, you know, they battled on raw and it
<v Speaker 3>was like holy shit, Like you know, I didn't have it. Listen,
<v Speaker 3>I wasn't a big football fan at the time. I
<v Speaker 3>didn't have it any fucking clue who who Mongo McMichael was.
<v Speaker 3>But when he started beating on on uh Comma, I
<v Speaker 3>was hooked on this fucking clown. He did a great
<v Speaker 3>job in that brawl. He did. They absolutely did.
<v Speaker 9>They tied up and they slipped and hit the floor
<v Speaker 9>just like two beasts would try to beat each other
<v Speaker 9>up at a bar or something. It was just tremendous like, it.
<v Speaker 3>Actually bummed me out that they didn't, like that's part
<v Speaker 3>of the I don't know if I mentioned that on
<v Speaker 3>when we I mean, it's been so long since we
<v Speaker 3>did when we did WrestleMania eleven, But that to me
<v Speaker 3>was the one major thing that they didn't really do
<v Speaker 3>in that in that main event, is they didn't have
<v Speaker 3>a crazy, like overbooked brawl between the NFL guys and
<v Speaker 3>the w and the the Million Dollar Man's guys, right, like,
<v Speaker 3>like I thought I was waiting for. I was waiting.
<v Speaker 3>I was waiting for Mango to go crazy on on Comma,
<v Speaker 3>and they did kind of at the after the match
<v Speaker 3>was over, but it like lasted two seconds and was like, eah,
<v Speaker 3>they could have done so much more. I don't ever
<v Speaker 3>understood why they didn't do that. Maybe I did understand,
<v Speaker 3>you told me and I forget right now.
<v Speaker 9>No, you know, this is a rather this is part
<v Speaker 9>of the reason I was excited to dive into this
<v Speaker 9>as sort of like a mini Mango tribute, such as
<v Speaker 9>a thing could be justified. I mean, just to be clear,
<v Speaker 9>Mango didn't even justify a call between the co chairs,
<v Speaker 9>you know, so it's not like clear the decks we
<v Speaker 9>got to pay tribute to Mango, But it does fit
<v Speaker 9>to do this particular class at the time we're doing
<v Speaker 9>it and be able to wrap around the historicism of
<v Speaker 9>the show and look at what Mongo meant because what
<v Speaker 9>he passed away, just like always happens when someone passes away,
<v Speaker 9>you really kind of take stock of, like why do
<v Speaker 9>we still remember this guy? You know, he won the
<v Speaker 9>US title once he was in the Horseman for like
<v Speaker 9>a year and a half. WCW disappeared like he disappeared.
<v Speaker 9>He didn't even have like a big send off. You
<v Speaker 9>never heard from him again. Of course, you know, he
<v Speaker 9>was close to the heart of Chicago Bears fans of
<v Speaker 9>the eighties and his sad demise at the at the
<v Speaker 9>hands of Luke Grig's disease als was very well documented
<v Speaker 9>in the Chicago Land media and the NFL media. He
<v Speaker 9>of course got that Hall of Fame induction from his Essentially,
<v Speaker 9>I have to say his deathbed, is the NFL a
<v Speaker 9>saw fit to actually induct him as one of the
<v Speaker 9>long debated Hall of Fame candidates.
<v Speaker 3>And why was he debated?
<v Speaker 9>I you know, I'm not I didn't get into the
<v Speaker 9>stats too much and I'm not too much of a
<v Speaker 9>wonk on all of that stuff. There was a line
<v Speaker 9>of thinking that the nineteen eighty five Bears Super Bowl
<v Speaker 9>team had so many legends, had so many all time
<v Speaker 9>greats on it, that you can only start working your
<v Speaker 9>way down that list so far before it became clear that, like,
<v Speaker 9>we can't induct this entire team.
<v Speaker 3>Why not? I know exactly that's exactly right. I don't understand, Like, honestly,
<v Speaker 3>if you're asking me, every Super Bowl winning team should
<v Speaker 3>be inducted in the Hall of Fame, every player of
<v Speaker 3>every fucking like or at least at least, I'll say this,
<v Speaker 3>at least players who stepped foot on the field. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>because maybe some guys are just on the side. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>they didn't do shit, They had no contribution whatsoever except
<v Speaker 3>for maybe yelling and screaming and cheering. But like guys
<v Speaker 3>who actually step foot on the field on a Super
<v Speaker 3>Bowl winning team, yeah, I think they deserve to going
<v Speaker 3>in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 9>It's one of those math things where like you only
<v Speaker 9>have so many votes per year, per the per the system,
<v Speaker 9>and so when you rank order, everybody likes as good
<v Speaker 9>as mango was year after year, there was just that
<v Speaker 9>many other people eligible who had a better case to
<v Speaker 9>be made. But the way you're describing it kind of
<v Speaker 9>salves for that in a way, although it would have
<v Speaker 9>it would swell the Hall of Fame considerably. But yeah,
<v Speaker 9>So Mango was a guy that, you know, you could
<v Speaker 9>take a million different looks his NFL stats and in
<v Speaker 9>particular his longevity. He had a longevity that was unmatched
<v Speaker 9>with anybody on the Bears and was an incredibly impactful
<v Speaker 9>defensive player throughout the course of his life, at least
<v Speaker 9>until towards the tail end. He actually spent one season
<v Speaker 9>with the Packers and then retired, And it was by
<v Speaker 9>virtue of being in Green Bay that he actually stopped
<v Speaker 9>by a WWF taping and got acquainted with them right
<v Speaker 9>around the time they were putting together the Lawrence Taylor program.
<v Speaker 9>And as we'll get to as his wife ex wife
<v Speaker 9>Deborah has spoken to on shoot interviews and such, that
<v Speaker 9>was kind of the entree to him being interested in
<v Speaker 9>actually being a pro wrestler. He wanted to go with
<v Speaker 9>Vincent first, and it turned out that the idea that
<v Speaker 9>WWF had for him, he was going to sort of
<v Speaker 9>be one bee I think to refrigerator Perry there was well,
<v Speaker 9>we'll get to it.
<v Speaker 3>I know it's here.
<v Speaker 9>There was something he was like, the B side and
<v Speaker 9>the A side just didn't work out for WWF. They
<v Speaker 9>had an idea, it didn't happen, and he kind of
<v Speaker 9>sensed that he was kind of cast aside or at
<v Speaker 9>least left direction lists as far as whether they would
<v Speaker 9>in Great and Intropro Wrestling. And then WCW comes along
<v Speaker 9>with the hell of an offer for him to commentate,
<v Speaker 9>and he was already a television sports personality in the
<v Speaker 9>Chicago market. He had a very popular show in that
<v Speaker 9>market talking about the NFL and just being a big personality.
<v Speaker 9>It wasn't like he was just some boring analyst. I
<v Speaker 9>mean he had like comedy sketches he would do, and
<v Speaker 9>he had ongoing bits he was. He was kind of
<v Speaker 9>like you know one of those characters you hear about
<v Speaker 9>in local television.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I say, that's kind of what he is. He's
<v Speaker 3>a funny guy. He's got a lot of great charisma.
<v Speaker 9>He yes, wonderful charisma, and a guy really understands how
<v Speaker 9>to tell a story. A Texan who Chicagoan's completely embraced
<v Speaker 9>thoroughly and he and he embraced them.
<v Speaker 3>He moved to the area.
<v Speaker 9>You know the time, you know, it's like this guy
<v Speaker 9>isn't front of the area, but he's the most Chicago
<v Speaker 9>and You've ever seen in your life in a way.
<v Speaker 9>But by the time WCW made the offer, it was just,
<v Speaker 9>you know, he'd already established himself as that TV personality
<v Speaker 9>and he fit in the announced position. And they had
<v Speaker 9>with the debut of Nitro and need for kind of
<v Speaker 9>like a Newsy person that they could add to the squad.
<v Speaker 9>It made some sense for them as they were trying
<v Speaker 9>to tract headlines, and to some degree they did as
<v Speaker 9>well as we'll talk about as well. So, yeah, expect
<v Speaker 9>this to be a bit of a tribute to Mango
<v Speaker 9>on a night where he wins the US title from
<v Speaker 9>Jeff Jarrett on the final Clash of the Champions And
<v Speaker 9>I don't know, I mean you were sensing it already.
<v Speaker 3>People want it. I mean those people in that building,
<v Speaker 3>they're like, oh yeah, oh, they're fucking hungry for it.
<v Speaker 3>Like the pop he gets when he wins is ridiculous,
<v Speaker 3>it really is. It's funny how they came to want Mango. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>usually he would be seen as an intro. You know,
<v Speaker 3>if you just looked at it on paper, like how
<v Speaker 3>he came into the business, if you didn't know a
<v Speaker 3>lot about his personality. Though, this guy's definitely going to
<v Speaker 3>be seen as an interloper. He's definitely going to be
<v Speaker 3>a Paul Roma or a Sid Vicious and The Horseman
<v Speaker 3>and like, people are gonna shit on it, and they didn't.
<v Speaker 3>They absolutely loved this guy because because again, he's got
<v Speaker 3>a lot of great he's just charisma. It's great charisma.
<v Speaker 3>He's got a uh just you know he and I'm
<v Speaker 3>sure that his football reputation also, you know, was an
<v Speaker 3>added probably a subconscious factor. But he's just he's just
<v Speaker 3>fun to watch.
<v Speaker 6>You know.
<v Speaker 3>He's that because he's that big. He's kind of you
<v Speaker 3>know what he is. He's what Sid wasn't in The Horseman.
<v Speaker 3>You know, this guy fits. He's the tall, hulking kind
<v Speaker 3>of I mean, I know Arn Anderson was the enforcer,
<v Speaker 3>but this guy's the enforcer. You know, this guy is
<v Speaker 3>the bodyguard in a way. You know, this is the
<v Speaker 3>guy who's who's you know, if you if The four
<v Speaker 3>Horseman was going We're going on to a bar and
<v Speaker 3>trouble started brew and people were starting to hound them.
<v Speaker 3>This is the guy who walks up and says, get
<v Speaker 3>the fuck out of here, right, This.
<v Speaker 9>Is the guy that you would have to search, no
<v Speaker 9>matter how long and hard, if you were opposing the horseman,
<v Speaker 9>you searched for your muscle. This is the guy that
<v Speaker 9>was going to step forward and say, oh, yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 9>It's kind of like how the giant the short lived
<v Speaker 9>time he was in the nWo, Like he was just
<v Speaker 9>like this huge guy in the background that could step
<v Speaker 9>into the foreground to handle business. No one ever thought
<v Speaker 9>of arn Anders in that way. But you would think
<v Speaker 9>of a mango to be the one to step up
<v Speaker 9>to go nose to nose with the giant. You know,
<v Speaker 9>if it's four on four somewhere in an alley, and
<v Speaker 9>that's that's.
<v Speaker 3>A great call.
<v Speaker 9>And I think his athletic pedigree did make it. But
<v Speaker 9>also at the same time, it was just as goofy
<v Speaker 9>as he was in the ring because he learned on
<v Speaker 9>the fly. I mean they built the plane while it
<v Speaker 9>was in the air. Okay, with this guy, Look, he
<v Speaker 9>he wrestles like Tom Brady runs. He's a guy like
<v Speaker 9>if you ram his head into the term buckle he'll
<v Speaker 9>take it, and then he'll ram his own head into
<v Speaker 9>the buckle a second time, thinking you were supposed to
<v Speaker 9>do it twice and you and you only intended to
<v Speaker 9>do it once. And he'll stand like ultra stiff, and
<v Speaker 9>he'll wave his arms around like the inflatable guys in
<v Speaker 9>front of a car dealership, and he's just hilarious. For
<v Speaker 9>a while, there was a kind of like a sizzle
<v Speaker 9>reel of him over selling and underselling and just.
<v Speaker 3>Making a lungery. I remember that. I remember seeing that.
<v Speaker 9>So that's kind of like that was kind of like
<v Speaker 9>Mongo's thing. That was kind of like Mongo's legacy for
<v Speaker 9>lack of a better term, in the minds of fans.
<v Speaker 9>And then as time went and as he went through
<v Speaker 9>his public health battles and everything, and you realized how
<v Speaker 9>much Rick Flair respected him, and you realize that, yeah,
<v Speaker 9>you know, we were Monday Night Wars fans and he
<v Speaker 9>wasn't he wasn't a channel changer. Say what you will
<v Speaker 9>about Mongo, he really wasn't somebody that you were like, oh,
<v Speaker 9>fuck this, you know.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 9>And then actually, and so it justifies and examination as
<v Speaker 9>to why that was and why that came to be,
<v Speaker 9>so we'll take a look at that and so much
<v Speaker 9>more here on this latest TLF. Taking a look at
<v Speaker 9>the final Clash of the Champions. We looked at the
<v Speaker 9>first Saturday Nights made event earlier this year, why not
<v Speaker 9>take a look at the final clash as well? And
<v Speaker 9>they well final if you don't include WW Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions, which helpfully on Peacock are in two different
<v Speaker 9>categories entirely.
<v Speaker 3>Could you imagine if they included them together? I mean,
<v Speaker 3>I'm not sure they didn't in the network days. Actually
<v Speaker 3>I don't think they did. I think they kept WW
<v Speaker 3>and WCW separate. Did they okay together?
<v Speaker 10>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>They something don't do great American bashes together.
<v Speaker 9>Remember when Vince it was Clash of the Champions and
<v Speaker 9>then he made it Clash of Champions, took the out.
<v Speaker 9>Can you imagine, idiot, the grounds he had in his
<v Speaker 9>in his circuitous mind for doing something so minor.
<v Speaker 3>Listen, listen, I mean this is my original idea, the
<v Speaker 3>Clash of Champions, right, exactly. No one's ever done that before,
<v Speaker 3>No one's champions before. I never answered the why the
<v Speaker 3>I don't even know what the is?
<v Speaker 10>Right?
<v Speaker 3>Can you tell me what the isbell. Oh, I know
<v Speaker 3>is that I have created a new show called Clash
<v Speaker 3>of Champions I never been done before ever. Hear me.
<v Speaker 3>It's like he's he's saying it like do you understand exactly?
<v Speaker 3>Saying it away to make sure everyone acknowledges. Do you
<v Speaker 3>understand that? I? Listen, I have created something. I have
<v Speaker 3>created a new element in the w W. We can
<v Speaker 3>someone please applaud me? Yeah? Pretty much?
<v Speaker 9>And so yeah, the final clash and they had THEWO
<v Speaker 9>angle running hot. We're headed. We're headed straight to Sting
<v Speaker 9>and Hogan. We're headed straight to the Record House and interestingly,
<v Speaker 9>in the same arena that this clash takes place in
<v Speaker 9>in Nashville. No, actually, you know that was washingt DC.
<v Speaker 9>Nashville was the ninety six I take that back, the
<v Speaker 9>ninety six Star Kid ninety seven ended up being in
<v Speaker 9>DC at a new arena. But Sting is still brooding,
<v Speaker 9>He's still deciding in terms of where he falls. We're
<v Speaker 9>still kind of not sure what he wants and if
<v Speaker 9>he's with the WCW, it's kind of now a moot point.
<v Speaker 9>If he's with the nWo, he's done enough to demonstrate
<v Speaker 9>that he's not leaning that way.
<v Speaker 3>Anymore.
<v Speaker 9>But they've done the angle where he comes to the
<v Speaker 9>ring and grabs JJ Dillon by the collar and points
<v Speaker 9>to a sign in the audience on Nitro that said
<v Speaker 9>Sting wants Hogan and then we're off to the races.
<v Speaker 9>Once people realize that they're now willing to directly tease
<v Speaker 9>that on television, we know that they're going to make
<v Speaker 9>the match. And my god, did we need the match?
<v Speaker 9>My god, did we savor the match?
<v Speaker 3>My god?
<v Speaker 9>Was it brilliantly built? And here on clash, even though
<v Speaker 9>it kind of went on to be made fun of,
<v Speaker 9>not unlike Steve McMichael's in ring career, it ends with
<v Speaker 9>a vulture a buzzard, if you will, landing on the
<v Speaker 9>top rope and trying to intimidate the nWo while Sting
<v Speaker 9>stands in the balcony. That is how the Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions ends forever I am. And with weird sound, yes,
<v Speaker 9>like what the fuck was that? I don't understand why
<v Speaker 9>the sound needs to be compromised in this whole thing,
<v Speaker 9>But they kind of played it like a power outage
<v Speaker 9>almost and they used the blackout to get the vulture
<v Speaker 9>off from the balcony to the top rope, or at
<v Speaker 9>least switch out the one that was in the top
<v Speaker 9>rope and put one on the on the on the
<v Speaker 9>top in the balcony, put one on the top rope,
<v Speaker 9>Like what what what? I don't understand what the fucking
<v Speaker 9>point of the vulture was. The vulture was supposed to
<v Speaker 9>carry the message from Sting to the nWo that he
<v Speaker 9>wanted Hogan and that he wanted Hogan's soul. Interestingly enough,
<v Speaker 9>having just heard the Rock wants Cody's soul thing, maybe
<v Speaker 9>that's where they got it from, because maybe what was
<v Speaker 9>one of Cody's go home lines before WRESTLINGI this year
<v Speaker 9>in a face to face promo with John Cena on SmackDown,
<v Speaker 9>you are paler than staying at star K ninety seven.
<v Speaker 9>So they definitely spent a little bit of time studying
<v Speaker 9>the star K ninety seven.
<v Speaker 3>Such a low blow.
<v Speaker 9>It was his last hurrah because everyone decided they were
<v Speaker 9>done with Cody after that apparently, but it was his last,
<v Speaker 9>his last attempt to get the crowd on his side.
<v Speaker 9>So it was supposed to have a note in its talons.
<v Speaker 9>This bird was supposed to have a piece of paper
<v Speaker 9>that Bischoff was supposed to or somebody was supposed to
<v Speaker 9>take from the vulture and open up and it says
<v Speaker 9>Hogan's soul, that's what Sting wants. But the paper fell
<v Speaker 9>out of the bird's claus.
<v Speaker 3>Fucking idiots.
<v Speaker 9>I was I was wondering if you were going to
<v Speaker 9>be able to tell that just based on the body
<v Speaker 9>language of the people in the ring, or if I
<v Speaker 9>would have to break it to you so to speak.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean, it seemed like they were going for something,
<v Speaker 3>but it was just I don't care at that point.
<v Speaker 9>Well, it took a long ass time, right, that pause
<v Speaker 9>between seeing Sting in the balcony with the bird and
<v Speaker 9>then the lights being out and then the light's coming
<v Speaker 9>back on and then that distracting noise. But you know
<v Speaker 9>what else they did just to make it like this
<v Speaker 9>is something people want to talk about about why this failed.
<v Speaker 9>It's so classic. If the whole point is to make
<v Speaker 9>absolutely sure that this piece of paper that this bird
<v Speaker 9>is carrying gets transmitted to the nWo, what's the last
<v Speaker 9>thing you would do to the environment where one piece
<v Speaker 9>of paper is supposed to be very visible and very
<v Speaker 9>much a standout. Would you drop sixty thousand flyers from
<v Speaker 9>the ceiling right before this bird is to drop yet
<v Speaker 9>another piece of white paper into their hands.
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you what I wouldn't do, though completely. I
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't be reliant on a wild animal. Well there's that too,
<v Speaker 3>Like how stupid are they? Well they love that shit.
<v Speaker 3>They remember Shoff even did it in TNA with Joker Sting.
<v Speaker 3>Remember that that crow that was in his office freaking
<v Speaker 3>him out and holding him hostage. He couldn't he couldn't
<v Speaker 3>leave his office because there was a crow on his desk.
<v Speaker 3>Come on the fuck.
<v Speaker 9>They had tried a lot with Sting, you know, they
<v Speaker 9>had all the repel stuff that all started with him,
<v Speaker 9>and they did so much like out of the box
<v Speaker 9>stuff with him and a million people wearing Sting masks
<v Speaker 9>all over the arena. So it's just kind of another
<v Speaker 9>like what can we do now, Like granting the fact
<v Speaker 9>that Sting is not going to get physical and he's
<v Speaker 9>not going to wrestle and he's not going to talk,
<v Speaker 9>what is something else we could do that we haven't
<v Speaker 9>seen from the man that doesn't involve those three things?
<v Speaker 9>And so they landed on this and apparently the animal
<v Speaker 9>trainer wasn't wasn't necessarily up to par or whatever the
<v Speaker 9>case was, they did a run for of it, and
<v Speaker 9>we'll get to all the detail. But that's the killer
<v Speaker 9>to me, is like if the bird dropped the piece
<v Speaker 9>of paper somewhere, someone could have found it and handed
<v Speaker 9>it off to them in a sly way, or they
<v Speaker 9>could have had a backup piece of paper. But right
<v Speaker 9>before that they had done the nw WORL birthday celebration
<v Speaker 9>where they dropped Propaganda's dusty rowe It calls it uncommentary
<v Speaker 9>from the ceiling and the whole ring and the whole
<v Speaker 9>ring side is covered with white sheets of paper. You're
<v Speaker 9>you're never gonna find that thing.
<v Speaker 3>I know, it's true.
<v Speaker 9>It looks to me like Scott Hall picks up one
<v Speaker 9>of said pieces of paper and tries to like call
<v Speaker 9>an audible and tell Eric, just pretend this is the
<v Speaker 9>paper we want the bird to be carrying. And if
<v Speaker 9>I'm reading the body language correctly, Bischoff kind of looks
<v Speaker 9>like he waves that off, like he kind of tells
<v Speaker 9>Scott like quickly with this back to the camera.
<v Speaker 8>Eric.
<v Speaker 9>Bischoff's back to the camera like no, no, we can't
<v Speaker 9>do that. That's not what we're gonna do it. Let's
<v Speaker 9>just let's just figure something else out. And so the
<v Speaker 9>last clash just ends with them endlessly looking at this bird.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, they look like complete idiots. They're just staring
<v Speaker 3>at the bird. It's the biggest like it's a farce.
<v Speaker 3>It is a farce.
<v Speaker 9>It's a farce seeing them do this and try to
<v Speaker 9>fucking make this like a thing. It was tough too,
<v Speaker 9>because Hogan was gone. Hogan was not on the show,
<v Speaker 9>and they called out to him and they sort of, yeah,
<v Speaker 9>they played it off like they were doing this birthday
<v Speaker 9>party for him. Of course his birthday is in August
<v Speaker 9>as well, and they had done it. I think they
<v Speaker 9>had done a whole Cogan Today celebration a couple of
<v Speaker 9>weeks before this on Nitro. But he was off in Montreal.
<v Speaker 9>What was he filming?
<v Speaker 3>He was filming The Ultimate Weapon. Have we talked about
<v Speaker 3>The Ultimate Weapon? Yeah, we've done the entire catalog. Where
<v Speaker 3>might it be available for folks? I would tell you
<v Speaker 3>it's on Patreon dot com, slash the laps fan is
<v Speaker 3>where it is at. And that EP or above tier
<v Speaker 3>very all right, you can learn about that was one
<v Speaker 3>of the fucking I mean, that's that's that's one that's
<v Speaker 3>the one where he's got the he's got like the
<v Speaker 3>the almost almost like you know, sting now type hair,
<v Speaker 3>you know, like it's this weird matted wig that he's wearing,
<v Speaker 3>and he's just this just a fucking awful I mean,
<v Speaker 3>all the movies are bad, but this one's really fucking awful.
<v Speaker 9>It was such an alarming hairdoo. Oh my god, hair line.
<v Speaker 9>The hairline itself was alarmed.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I mean, you know, I could. I could deal
<v Speaker 3>with the Sandon with muscles one like that. That's bad,
<v Speaker 3>but I could deal with that. This one totally inappropriate. Yeah, agreed.
<v Speaker 3>This weird, like you know, slicked back look is just
<v Speaker 3>it's it. I don't get no, no, no, But.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, we definitely plumb the depths because Hogan still had
<v Speaker 9>that Turner movie contract, and even though he was on
<v Speaker 9>top of the world, he would still disappear for weeks
<v Speaker 9>and months on end.
<v Speaker 3>Quote unquote movies. The fucking barely a fucking TV movie
<v Speaker 3>of the week, for gods, Dinner in a movie if
<v Speaker 3>you will, Yeah, vomiting a movie more like it.
<v Speaker 9>So, if you remember Dinner in a Movie from the
<v Speaker 9>TBS days, they fall squarely in the middle of this
<v Speaker 9>broadcast at the Clash at the Champions with the dinner
<v Speaker 9>in the movie, guys actually prepare a meal and get
<v Speaker 9>one of them gets a diamond cutter.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, before before I realized it was it was
<v Speaker 3>a thing, I thought it was more of a legit
<v Speaker 3>crossover and I was I was like, holy shit, like
<v Speaker 3>number one, just not to spoil it too much before
<v Speaker 3>we you know, not to jump ahead too much, but
<v Speaker 3>like the fact that they had. I was stunned at this,
<v Speaker 3>the fact that they were able to play old commercials,
<v Speaker 3>like I know, what's paid for consideration, you know, because
<v Speaker 3>you know, uh whatever it is like, but still I'm like,
<v Speaker 3>I can't believe they didn't cut these out.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah on the network or peacock. You watch it and
<v Speaker 9>to your exact point, promotional consideration paid for by the
<v Speaker 9>following there's a fucking commercial for toothpaste in there, and.
<v Speaker 3>Now get that and uh Motel six, Like it's just
<v Speaker 3>it's it's wild.
<v Speaker 10>And I.
<v Speaker 3>Loved it. I loved every moment of it. I said,
<v Speaker 3>give me more, please.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, absolutely. I mean that's there must be some
<v Speaker 9>legal line between promotional consideration baked into the broadcast that
<v Speaker 9>TV goes on you know ww goes on to own
<v Speaker 9>and whatever air during the actual commercial break, which of
<v Speaker 9>course they didn't own. But that's that's a really nice
<v Speaker 9>treat when you go back and watch this all these
<v Speaker 9>years later. Yeah, able to see those ads and yeah,
<v Speaker 9>Dinner in a Movie was just product placement. Of course
<v Speaker 9>that was a TBS thing and they.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm just fucking made me so excited too, because
<v Speaker 3>like I that that that right there is a is
<v Speaker 3>a big not that I really watch it too often,
<v Speaker 3>but the promos were amazing and I loved watching the
<v Speaker 3>damn promos for Dinner in a Movie and it got
<v Speaker 3>me so excited. Yeah, So like that was like this
<v Speaker 3>was this was like the greatest show ever for me,
<v Speaker 3>watching me watching the show, It's like you could have
<v Speaker 3>some of the worst shit ever. You get the Vulture,
<v Speaker 3>you get fucking Alex Wright being a fucking idiot, and
<v Speaker 3>then you've got but then you've got these these ads
<v Speaker 3>and these crossovers that are just the greatest thing in
<v Speaker 3>the world.
<v Speaker 12>You Know.
<v Speaker 9>What's so funny is now, if you have ad free
<v Speaker 9>Netflix and you watch an episode of Raw on demand
<v Speaker 9>after it's already aired, they edit out not just every commercial,
<v Speaker 9>they edit out even anything Michael Cole says on commentary
<v Speaker 9>that might be considered promotion for something else. So there's
<v Speaker 9>prolonged periods of silence on some of these raws. Well
<v Speaker 9>he's saying something about, I guess some other network or
<v Speaker 9>something to be considered an ad in some way, even
<v Speaker 9>if it's for in house product. All these years later,
<v Speaker 9>we love more than anything the fact that the commercials
<v Speaker 9>are still on the show, and now they go to
<v Speaker 9>absurd lengths to make sure there's nothing that even resembles
<v Speaker 9>a commercial in the body of the broadcast. So if
<v Speaker 9>that doesn't tell the story, I don't know what does.
<v Speaker 9>But a Clash of the Champions. It's number thirty five.
<v Speaker 9>There's thirty five installments of the Clash of the Champions,
<v Speaker 9>And here, August nineteen ninety seven, we take a look
<v Speaker 9>at how it came to a conclusion and nessel ourselves
<v Speaker 9>right back in to a WCW that was absolutely on fire,
<v Speaker 9>absolutely insurgent, visa VWWF, who's still trying to You know,
<v Speaker 9>they're doing good television, great television in ninety seven, but
<v Speaker 9>they're still trying to find their head from their ass
<v Speaker 9>in terms of an idea that will reverse the course
<v Speaker 9>of the ratings tide, and we're interested in reversing tides
<v Speaker 9>and furthering tides, especially those that we, by our very
<v Speaker 9>existence have set in motion. You know, over the years,
<v Speaker 9>we've always talked about how proud we are that we
<v Speaker 9>can inspire works of art from members of the Solar System.
<v Speaker 9>Podcasts among them, and not the least of which is
<v Speaker 9>Late Night Wrestling from our pale Mettla Song who God
<v Speaker 9>It is ready to come out with the next episode
<v Speaker 9>and has kindly invited you co chairman to provide some
<v Speaker 9>voices for what's really sort of like a fictionalized wrestling tournament.
<v Speaker 9>Think of it as the TLFX Games, but with baked
<v Speaker 9>in unique characters to the genre and something that's really
<v Speaker 9>really well put together and interesting to listen to. And
<v Speaker 9>Matt wants to remind members of the Solar System at.
<v Speaker 9>Late Night Wrestling is a fictional podcast covering the violent
<v Speaker 9>spectacle that is pro wrestling, presented in a radio doc
<v Speaker 9>format with a late night radio vibe. Host Hank hawk
<v Speaker 9>Owens looks at the current major stories in pro wrestling
<v Speaker 9>and tells into the past for moments in wrestling history
<v Speaker 9>you may have missed Late Night Wrestling began its third
<v Speaker 9>season on April tenth of this year, and here are
<v Speaker 9>some things that you'll be seeing this season on Late
<v Speaker 9>Night Wrestling. Tools Denver, who's the owner of gum dot com,
<v Speaker 9>announced the second annual Independent Wrestling Invitational, the IWI. It'll
<v Speaker 9>consist of eight wrestlers in a bracket, one for men,
<v Speaker 9>one for women. In The prize is now one million dollars.
<v Speaker 9>The official name is IWY two Denver's millions, And you'll
<v Speaker 9>hear the story of how Wrestler's Ultraviolet Ray and the
<v Speaker 9>fire Starter founded a wrestling school after meeting at Burning
<v Speaker 9>Man nineteen ninety five.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that's insane, I like that.
<v Speaker 9>Place to launch a wrestling enterprise. The introduction of a
<v Speaker 9>new touring wrestling company for legends and older wrestlers, Champions
<v Speaker 9>of Wrestling, Heroes of Wrestling analog, but only about twenty
<v Speaker 9>percent more competent. They announced their biggest show yet to
<v Speaker 9>take place in mid May, Clash of the Champions of Wrestling.
<v Speaker 9>That's fitting. That's some serendipity right here, Panic in Detroit. Yeah,
<v Speaker 9>here are a few new wrestlers you'll see on this
<v Speaker 9>season of Late Night Wrestling. Analytics Bear. That's right, you
<v Speaker 9>heard it right, Capital eight Capital B Analytics Bear, you
<v Speaker 9>now have the TKOC suites. Attention, Okay, naw's for that matter.
<v Speaker 9>The former Alaskan Bear is undefeated since joining OHM Analytics,
<v Speaker 9>a data company who uses advanced AI algorithms to enable
<v Speaker 9>wrestlers to win matches. That is one thing they haven't
<v Speaker 9>done yet as a chat GPT enabled wrestler.
<v Speaker 3>That would I mean, that would be totally awful but
<v Speaker 3>totally great at the same time.
<v Speaker 9>It wouldn't be good for n ring, but to be
<v Speaker 9>good for promos because there now we're starting to see
<v Speaker 9>like these skunkworks projects of AI that you know, transposes
<v Speaker 9>into the glasses, and there's now this as if we
<v Speaker 9>didn't have enough of a barrier between ourselves in reality,
<v Speaker 9>now we're going to have a constant stream of CHET
<v Speaker 9>GPT or open AI or whatever you want to say,
<v Speaker 9>AI generated responses to what we're hearing in the actual
<v Speaker 9>world and suggested prompts in our glasses that we can
<v Speaker 9>see but the person talking to us can't see, of
<v Speaker 9>what we might say in response to either sound smart
<v Speaker 9>or sound smooth, or sound supportive or sound indignant or
<v Speaker 9>sound whatever we want to sound like in response, and
<v Speaker 9>we're basically outsourcing, you know, if this technology propagates, we're
<v Speaker 9>outsourcing how we respond to other people. Of course, instead
<v Speaker 9>of what we would like to say in response to
<v Speaker 9>the person, we're going to say what the algorithm thinks
<v Speaker 9>we should say to achieve our goals or our ends
<v Speaker 9>in this particular course, which can't which will be fine.
<v Speaker 9>You know, there will be no problem. There will be
<v Speaker 9>no societal unraveling that will result. Why are you concerned
<v Speaker 9>there's a There's going to be totally totally fine, totally normal,
<v Speaker 9>totally acceptable, and totally natural.
<v Speaker 3>Natural is the key.
<v Speaker 9>That's exactly right, because it will become our natural state
<v Speaker 9>exactly we'll be in. It will be inextricably intertwined with it.
<v Speaker 3>Listen, we're all, we're we are just we keep we're
<v Speaker 3>closer and closer from losing any ability to choose anything.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you. Okay, So if you all like you know,
<v Speaker 3>we we we we find ourselves just like running the
<v Speaker 3>arrogance of human beings. We find ourselves running running to
<v Speaker 3>this this this developed false Yes, this cold. We created
<v Speaker 3>this this thing, this this artificial intelligence. At some point,
<v Speaker 3>see this is this is it like and I'm sorry,
<v Speaker 3>I'm I don't. I don't mean to sound like a
<v Speaker 3>fucking conspiracy theorist and like, you know, but at some
<v Speaker 3>point the artificial intelligence is going to realize that, you
<v Speaker 3>know what, humans are too flawed for their own good.
<v Speaker 3>Let's get rid of them.
<v Speaker 9>I can't allow something that could be my undoing to exist, right.
<v Speaker 3>And it's not even that, it's not even they're not
<v Speaker 3>even like the problem is they don't They're not even
<v Speaker 3>good enough for themselves. They don't need to be here.
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to get rid of them. Hard to argue. Man,
<v Speaker 3>you see some of the things that can happen out there.
<v Speaker 3>It's just it's it's it's a it's listen. I'm not
<v Speaker 3>saying it's not fun. I enjoy the the creative aspect
<v Speaker 3>of it. In many ways, I enjoy I listen. I
<v Speaker 3>enjoy the fucking you know, I know the trend going
<v Speaker 3>on about making them making action figures out of yourself.
<v Speaker 3>I made a bunch of Hasbros. Sure of myself. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>they're great, They're funny. I love them.
<v Speaker 10>Uh you know the I I.
<v Speaker 3>I've done, certainly I've even because I'm I I'm the
<v Speaker 3>worst when it comes to like responding to emails in
<v Speaker 3>a professional manner. Oh yeah, you've talked about this. That
<v Speaker 3>helps I do that. You know, it helps me out
<v Speaker 3>with that. And there's no question there are some good
<v Speaker 3>uses to it. But you know there's just there is
<v Speaker 3>no it's it's the wild West right now, and it
<v Speaker 3>scares me.
<v Speaker 9>The book was published in nineteen eighty five. It's called
<v Speaker 9>Amusing Ourselves to Death.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, there it is, okay.
<v Speaker 9>And you know when when I see technology that puts
<v Speaker 9>a screen up between a guy and a girl he's dating,
<v Speaker 9>and the algorithms telling him what to say to keep
<v Speaker 9>her interested. And we've gotten to a point where people
<v Speaker 9>lead into that and say just what I'm missing, Just
<v Speaker 9>what I'm missing? The score like it dehumanizing for both
<v Speaker 9>sides of the table in a way that you can't
<v Speaker 9>come back from, ye and come back from But we're
<v Speaker 9>headed there. So all that to say, the former Alaskan
<v Speaker 9>Bear is undefeated since joining Get that big thumbs up.
<v Speaker 9>OAHM Analytics a data company who uses advanced AI algorithms
<v Speaker 9>to enable wrestlers to win matches. He is as OAHM
<v Speaker 9>CEO Beth Kenny says, the perfect mix of data and beast.
<v Speaker 9>He is the favorite, along with Brett the Giant, to
<v Speaker 9>win the men's IWI. How about Sarah del Mars. She's
<v Speaker 9>a legendary female wrestler who returned last season after being
<v Speaker 9>away for years with a broken neck. She's also a
<v Speaker 9>favorite to win the Women's IWI and is currently active
<v Speaker 9>in the Protect Ya Neck Project, a Wu Tang clan
<v Speaker 9>funded project for continuing research for neck and spinal injuries.
<v Speaker 9>And there's Hardcore how an old veteran who demands respect
<v Speaker 9>or else he goes out of his way to throw
<v Speaker 9>rookies around way more than he needs to. He just
<v Speaker 9>so happens to share a theme song with hardcore Holly yea,
<v Speaker 9>I wonder where that inspiration came. All that and more
<v Speaker 9>on the third season of Late Night Wrestling. We want
<v Speaker 9>to thank Matt for his continued support and urge you
<v Speaker 9>to check it out. You tell him the coach Chairman
<v Speaker 9>sent you. Okay, absolutely, it's no small thing. And as
<v Speaker 9>it regards under the cinemat the aforementioned episode on Shadow
<v Speaker 9>Warriors available if you want, no no ultimate weapon. Ultimate
<v Speaker 9>weapon is post Shadow Warriors right, yes, yes, available if
<v Speaker 9>you want to line up your timeline, and I don't
<v Speaker 9>remember if it's in you know, I don't know. The
<v Speaker 9>end of the world are two Shadow Warriors, don't forget,
<v Speaker 9>so thank god, I might be in between them.
<v Speaker 3>I don't remember. I don't know. Yeah, in between. I
<v Speaker 3>think the second one came out in ninety nine, so
<v Speaker 3>it's in between.
<v Speaker 9>Built out the whole entire Hulk Hogan filmography under the Cinemat.
<v Speaker 9>We're working on John Cenaz.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we're we're well, we'll take a savage on it
<v Speaker 3>for a little while during the during the course of
<v Speaker 3>the year. We'll see what we can do with that.
<v Speaker 3>You could do. It's actually, you know, it's not it's
<v Speaker 3>not as daunting as it kind of seems.
<v Speaker 1>So.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, recently released the Blockers episode under the Cinemat for
<v Speaker 9>those who are so inclined to that hilarity. And we're
<v Speaker 9>also working on Dwayne's as well in a way.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Dwayne was. Dwayne's was when we actually wanted to
<v Speaker 3>do a while back, and you know, again, took another
<v Speaker 3>stab at it just because just because the the other
<v Speaker 3>guys resembles his involvement with WrestleMania. Yes, just that's what
<v Speaker 3>it was to me, just and listen. That was the
<v Speaker 3>fact that you hadn't seen it made it all the
<v Speaker 3>more amazing when that moment happens.
<v Speaker 9>And look you go back to elimination chamber of that
<v Speaker 9>incredible angle to turn scene a heal with Rock there
<v Speaker 9>and Travis Scott there. That's him and Samuel L. Jackson
<v Speaker 9>on top of the skyscraper. Okay, yeah, and what happens
<v Speaker 9>from there to WrestleMania is the slow descent where you
<v Speaker 9>expect something to happen, You expect something to happen, and
<v Speaker 9>then splash, nope, the Rock face plants and then nothing.
<v Speaker 9>So yes, the other guys, the other guys available under
<v Speaker 9>the cinemat as well.
<v Speaker 3>For you aka Cody and John Cena, the other guys.
<v Speaker 9>Your Patreon dollar. We of course we'll continue with our
<v Speaker 9>lapsed live calls coming off WrestleMania two nighter that we
<v Speaker 9>delivered for you, and do know that with backlash coming up.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, it's Mother's Day weekend because apparently the only
<v Speaker 9>time they can run shows now is on a holiday
<v Speaker 9>Sunday weekend. Of course, do be advised that we will
<v Speaker 9>be up and with you with a delayed live call
<v Speaker 9>for that one. So I think it'll probably be on
<v Speaker 9>Sunday you'll start to see our calls come in for
<v Speaker 9>the backlash show as John Cena tries to chart a
<v Speaker 9>course as WW champion once again.
<v Speaker 3>All right, fine you say so be.
<v Speaker 9>Here to make a decision on whether it matters or not,
<v Speaker 9>and so much more. I mean we we we remind
<v Speaker 9>you often enough.
<v Speaker 3>But if you don't moment stops fucking trying to sell merchandise,
<v Speaker 3>I'll be a fan of it. Yeah, I know.
<v Speaker 9>No, every week he's still wearing the shirts. No, it's
<v Speaker 9>a piece because he's not going to give you the satisfaction.
<v Speaker 3>That's not what it is. And say that again, John, Yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 3>You know the thing is is that you know, no,
<v Speaker 3>you want to just sell merchandise this admit that just actually,
<v Speaker 3>you know what, I'd actually be okay with him. Change
<v Speaker 3>if he said, you know what, I'm not gonna fucking
<v Speaker 3>do because I'm gonna sell this merchandise, that would be great.
<v Speaker 3>That'd be hilarious, so so like bald faced about it. Yep,
<v Speaker 3>you know we've got all this inventory, John, that's the problem.
<v Speaker 3>We ordered all these screen printed shirts. How exciting would
<v Speaker 3>it be to write for a heel Sina we've been
<v Speaker 3>talking about it, what would that look like?
<v Speaker 9>How about we stop talking? How about a little less
<v Speaker 9>talk about what would that look like? And a little
<v Speaker 9>more talk about what would make this good?
<v Speaker 3>Can't what we do?
<v Speaker 9>Can't wait for them to take us out of the
<v Speaker 9>writer's room coming up.
<v Speaker 11>Now. I just.
<v Speaker 3>I'm just a fuck. It's just they're just blowing everything up.
<v Speaker 3>They really are. They're just like fuck this and fuck that,
<v Speaker 3>and fuck this and fuck you, and fuck all these
<v Speaker 3>people and fuck these people training in NXT and fuck
<v Speaker 3>anybody who can't help us, squash aw and fuck fuck
<v Speaker 3>Triple A. Yeah, it's tremendous. Fuck TNA, fuck boxing. We're
<v Speaker 3>coming for that.
<v Speaker 9>They're gonna probably buy Hogan's and Bishoff's fucking TNA Part three.
<v Speaker 9>Freestyle Wrestling. You see this well, I I, oh my god,
<v Speaker 9>they did some weird I saw the promo. I didn't
<v Speaker 9>know what it was for though. Yeah, they're not being
<v Speaker 9>very clear. It's gonna be like a freestyle wrestling league.
<v Speaker 9>Legit shoots but gussied up so the guys had personalities
<v Speaker 9>and all that shit, you know, like the NCAA Finals,
<v Speaker 9>the wrestling finals, except it's like its own league. It
<v Speaker 9>was called real pro wrestling. They tried it in like
<v Speaker 9>O four oh five, that's Daniel Cormier about that didn't
<v Speaker 9>go anywhere. But you know, if we get this back
<v Speaker 9>on track with Hulk Cogan behind it, that as a
<v Speaker 9>huge track record of success with Bischoff and the why.
<v Speaker 3>Are they doing this? What good does this do for anybody?
<v Speaker 3>This is so fucking stupid. How do you know, don't
<v Speaker 3>prejudge it, go to their first judge, prejudged. Okay, we're
<v Speaker 3>pretty good at that around here.
<v Speaker 9>So yeah, if you don't get it by now, Patreon
<v Speaker 9>dot com, slash lapsed fan, that's where it's at. That's
<v Speaker 9>the beating heart of everything. Well you know, that's it.
<v Speaker 9>Fuck you if you don't get it by now, like
<v Speaker 9>like like what George Clooney said in The Perfect Storm,
<v Speaker 9>that's where the fish are. Ah, very well. But and
<v Speaker 9>this is where the Mango is. Okay, we're in a
<v Speaker 9>place I don't think I had ever thought we'd be boss.
<v Speaker 9>We're gonna take an examination of Steve Mango McMichael.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, this this is I'm I'm I'm so intrigued
<v Speaker 3>by this notion.
<v Speaker 9>By the notion, Yeah, because it's like it's it's a
<v Speaker 9>subject that we exist uniquely to take seriously. Yes, you know, yes,
<v Speaker 9>like it's hard to it's hard for a podcast that
<v Speaker 9>isn't quite as irreverend as we can be and afford
<v Speaker 9>to be, to really take the measure of a guy
<v Speaker 9>like this, because you start rubbing up against the proprieties
<v Speaker 9>of showing comproper respect and we're not gonna, you know,
<v Speaker 9>go out of our way to disrespect the guy. But
<v Speaker 9>it's a hilarious life that this guy led. I mean,
<v Speaker 9>this guy was just he was a party animal, he
<v Speaker 9>stayed fucked up, he was love a maniac on the
<v Speaker 9>football field. He has an incredibly messy relationship and divorced
<v Speaker 9>with Deborah. We watched it all play out in some ways.
<v Speaker 9>We watch it play out wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>That's That's what's so fucking wild, is that we really did.
<v Speaker 9>It's crazy to watch this clash and to see Jarrett
<v Speaker 9>position in the horseman thing, positioned with Deborah, and then
<v Speaker 9>to see Jarrett actually take off in WWF attitude Earra
<v Speaker 9>because Debra's on his arm and they couldn't get enough.
<v Speaker 3>Of showing her. It's unbelievable.
<v Speaker 9>It's it's crazy how what we see here carries over
<v Speaker 9>directly on a WWF television. But let's get let's get acquainted.
<v Speaker 9>Let's at least, you know, we're not, of course, going
<v Speaker 9>to go through his entire football career, but let's understand
<v Speaker 9>what he meant to the NFL and why he was
<v Speaker 9>a household name. It's a sore spot because boss, well,
<v Speaker 9>who did the nineteen eighty five Bears beat in the
<v Speaker 9>Super Bowl?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Maybe the fucking Patriots.
<v Speaker 9>The Patriots actually a drafted mongo but he ended up
<v Speaker 9>playing for them, which would have been hivarius. I don't know.
<v Speaker 9>I don't know what the story was as to why
<v Speaker 9>he didn't.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe they would have won the fucking Super Bowl had
<v Speaker 3>he been on the team. Maybe.
<v Speaker 9>Now, there are a lot of legends on that team.
<v Speaker 9>But yeah, it couldn't have hurt, that's for sure. And
<v Speaker 9>he was one of the people keeping New England from
<v Speaker 9>a Super Bowl title until Brady came along, that's for sure.
<v Speaker 9>Steve Grogan days And here is a clip that I
<v Speaker 9>would ask for you to share with the Solar system.
<v Speaker 9>This was published in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch in
<v Speaker 9>nineteen ninety three, and it's an article about McMichael's record streak,
<v Speaker 9>and this is the streak that kind of cemented his
<v Speaker 9>Hall of Fame candidacy and what made him such a
<v Speaker 9>legend in terms of consecutive games played. So let's get
<v Speaker 9>a littlecquainted with you know, we're not in the we're
<v Speaker 9>not in the very midst of Steve McMichael's football career.
<v Speaker 9>We're going to start with the pieces that look back
<v Speaker 9>on what he meant and then of course play forward
<v Speaker 9>into pro wrestling, which is what we're here for.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, look at I mean, he looks like the
<v Speaker 3>love child of Tom Brady and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that's
<v Speaker 3>something no one's ever said before. I know, right, Bears
<v Speaker 3>McMichael thirty six quote defies logic with record streak. Chicago
<v Speaker 3>has a reverence for history, not found that many National
<v Speaker 3>Football League out posts, but records take on more significance
<v Speaker 3>when your club has been around since the beginning of
<v Speaker 3>time NFL time anyway. So when Steve McMichael broke Walter
<v Speaker 3>Payton's club record for consecutive games played December fifth against
<v Speaker 3>Green Bay, was understandable that a mob of reporters gathered
<v Speaker 3>around McMichael's locker to reporters, oh yeah, to record the
<v Speaker 3>moment and waited, like Michael showed up partly dressed, puffing
<v Speaker 3>on a cigar. It's fucking awesome. I don't if he'd
<v Speaker 3>been completely naked, it had been way better. Just fucking
<v Speaker 3>cock hanging out. He's just like, oh, then Rick definitely
<v Speaker 3>would have brought the heart. You see that you see
<v Speaker 3>an the Rix tribute that he called him his best
<v Speaker 3>friend or something like that, Like how how Rick? How
<v Speaker 3>is that kind of thing?
<v Speaker 9>Rick's got forty five best friends? Okay, bless his heart.
<v Speaker 3>Everyone who who kind of walks next to him at
<v Speaker 3>some point is his best friend, such.
<v Speaker 9>As anybody who's a mark for you know, and that's cool,
<v Speaker 9>like because Ric Flair. Can you know all these celebrities
<v Speaker 9>come to his birthday party and he loves that him.
<v Speaker 9>He loves real athletes. You know, he can't get enough.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, because he couldn't get it himself. How about that?
<v Speaker 13>Oh my man?
<v Speaker 10>Uh.
<v Speaker 3>He quickly surveyed his welcoming committee and announced, gruffly, you
<v Speaker 3>guys are a little premature. Then with mock prissiness, he
<v Speaker 3>ran his fingers through his matted hair and added, I've
<v Speaker 3>got a shower. I've got to fix my mop.
<v Speaker 11>It was.
<v Speaker 3>I think of his face looking at the camera, fucking
<v Speaker 3>wearing his stupid sunglasses and just like and pointing with
<v Speaker 3>white tape on his finger, with his low ponytail that
<v Speaker 3>he always fucking wore like an idiot, like fucking like
<v Speaker 3>he's like he lives out in fucking uh uh uh,
<v Speaker 3>you know, like Amherst, Massachusetts, his fucking low ponytail, and
<v Speaker 3>these guys are in fantasy land. It was a nice
<v Speaker 3>touch of comedy for McMichael, a throwback of a defensive
<v Speaker 3>tackle who answers to mongo hunts, rattlesnakes and as a hobby,
<v Speaker 3>and once worked as a bouncer in a Texas bar
<v Speaker 3>called the Dollhouse South. So there was another delay. A
<v Speaker 3>freshly groomed McMichael, long hair tied back neatly in a ponytail,
<v Speaker 3>finally emerged to talk about his club record one and
<v Speaker 3>eighty seventh consecutive game an amazing feet in any era,
<v Speaker 3>in any era. Quote, I couldn't have gotten it done
<v Speaker 3>if the Bears hadn't kept me around all this time,
<v Speaker 3>he said, that's true. God, yeah, you would not set
<v Speaker 3>the record for consecutive Bears games. If the Bears will
<v Speaker 3>let you go, that is correct. Yep, that is very true,
<v Speaker 3>very very true. God and my mother and father gave
<v Speaker 3>me the genetics and looks and the desire I have
<v Speaker 3>to play this game, the streak. So they gave you
<v Speaker 3>the desire, like they they made you want something apparently.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, look at the man. Okay, I mean, I
<v Speaker 3>guess I'm just you know, nobody tells me what I want,
<v Speaker 3>so I'm not gonna let that happen. The streak grew
<v Speaker 3>to one hundred and eighty eight Sunday in Tampa Bay,
<v Speaker 3>and if Michael's thirty six stays healthy the rest of
<v Speaker 3>the season, he'll break Peyton's club record for overall games played.
<v Speaker 3>Quote it defies luck. Teammate Trace Armstrong said, things that
<v Speaker 3>happen on the inside, the pounding you take, the way
<v Speaker 3>the game has changed. I just think it's truly an
<v Speaker 3>incredible feat. Not bad for a guy who once deemed
<v Speaker 3>expendable by the New England Patriots. The Patriots drafted McMichael
<v Speaker 3>in All American from the University of Texas in the
<v Speaker 3>third round in nineteen eighty. He was projected as the
<v Speaker 3>Patriots nose tackle of the eighties, but never made it
<v Speaker 3>through nineteen eighty one in Foxboro, Massachusetts, waved in the preseason.
<v Speaker 3>He was picked up by the Bears at October and
<v Speaker 3>quickly fit in. Quote, it's the kind of place where
<v Speaker 3>you can get into some fights in practice and they're
<v Speaker 3>not gonna call the sheriff. McMichael once said, what about
<v Speaker 3>the deputy. You're hold a deputy fu McMichael has been
<v Speaker 3>a fixture at Soldier Field ever since, a poster boy
<v Speaker 3>for the blood and gut style of football preferred by
<v Speaker 3>Mike Ditkom. Starting with that eighty one season, McMichael never
<v Speaker 3>missed a game despite six knee operations, a couple of
<v Speaker 3>broken ribs, and several broken bones in his fingers and hands. Quote.
<v Speaker 3>The Chicago Bears have been around since the inception of
<v Speaker 3>the Leaguemichael Michael is it, he said. Michael McMichael said,
<v Speaker 3>that's a lot of players to be compared to and
<v Speaker 3>to compare yourself to. He was an integral part of
<v Speaker 3>vintage Bears defenses that finished first in total defense from
<v Speaker 3>nineteen eighty four to eighty six, but was easy to overlook.
<v Speaker 3>On the defensive line, Dan Hampshen was more quotable. William
<v Speaker 3>the Refrigerator Perry was quite the novelty item. Richard Dent
<v Speaker 3>was the best pass rusher in the in the nWo
<v Speaker 3>that's funny.
<v Speaker 12>Time.
<v Speaker 9>All the things you can say about William Perry, quite
<v Speaker 9>the novelty item. You know, he's not actually a refrigerator, right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know, like you know, there wasn't a giant
<v Speaker 3>box on the fucking field, right yeah.
<v Speaker 9>He was way ahead of the game Man eighty six.
<v Speaker 9>He was in the WrestleMania Battle Royal.
<v Speaker 3>Totally, totally.
<v Speaker 9>They were obsessed with the Bears. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 9>we talked about it when we did the Slammies and
<v Speaker 9>how the Bear's anthem was in a lot of ways
<v Speaker 9>the precursor having all these athletes do a song and
<v Speaker 9>a music video like that, and eighty five Bears had
<v Speaker 9>such big personalities that people were like totally willing to
<v Speaker 9>like embrace this wonky music video. Wonky's that's kitchy. McMichael
<v Speaker 9>didn't do it, however, according to Debro, I just didn't
<v Speaker 9>think one thousand dollars payoff was enough to do the video.
<v Speaker 9>So he's not in the Chicago Bears nineteen eighty five.
<v Speaker 3>What an idiot? What an idiot? The Bears show was
<v Speaker 3>called The Bear's Right, that's right? This uh, this writer,
<v Speaker 3>mister Jim Thomas here man, he's got so many fucking
<v Speaker 3>typos in here. First of all, he doesn't he just
<v Speaker 3>calls him Michael, not mc michael at one point. And
<v Speaker 3>then this Dan is actually Dan Hampton, but he has
<v Speaker 3>an eye the first time he mentions, yeah, you're right,
<v Speaker 3>and someone's got a fucking proof. I think this was
<v Speaker 3>a post dispatch, post an arm dispatch. Yeah, post an
<v Speaker 3>arm dispatch, the arm, that's what it should be. Hampton
<v Speaker 3>has been out of football for three years. Perry is
<v Speaker 3>out of Chicago, Dent and McMichael well was the Refridge
<v Speaker 3>was was still playing football in ninety three. I don't
<v Speaker 3>know when he's when he's stopped, but he was. He
<v Speaker 3>was out of Chicago, which means they didn't say he's
<v Speaker 3>out of football.
<v Speaker 6>Now.
<v Speaker 9>He was around wrestling the eleven, right, he was in
<v Speaker 9>the Was he in the Super Bowl?
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, I don't know. It says he's wild.
<v Speaker 9>Finished his career in nineteen ninety four with the Eagles. Wow,
<v Speaker 9>and then in London after that Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, d. McMichael remained effective players among the last links
<v Speaker 3>for the Bear's nineteen eighty five Super Bowl championship team. Quote.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if Steve has ever really been considered
<v Speaker 3>for the Hall of Fame, but I am. But I
<v Speaker 3>think he's as strong a candidate as anybody. Armstrong said.
<v Speaker 3>That's right when you look at what he's done from
<v Speaker 3>a long ngevity standpoint, the way he's played. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>the guy is closing in on one hundred sacks for
<v Speaker 3>a defensive tackle. That's unheard of. McMichael has six sacks
<v Speaker 3>this season and ninety two and a half over his
<v Speaker 3>ninety two and a half. He split one, I guess
<v Speaker 3>over his fourteen year career. His ninety three totals include
<v Speaker 3>fifty seven tackles, two fumble recoveries, and an interception. Quote
<v Speaker 3>I wish Trace could vote, McMichael said, We've had a
<v Speaker 3>lot of guys come through here that have been All
<v Speaker 3>Pro a lot of years more than I have. I
<v Speaker 3>think that's one of the one of the prerequisites. You've
<v Speaker 3>got to be all Pro at least six years. So
<v Speaker 3>I'm not worried about that. McMichael made the Pro Bowl
<v Speaker 3>after the eighty six and eighty seven seasons, but hasn't
<v Speaker 3>been back since, and as he gets closer to Peyton's
<v Speaker 3>overall record, he realizes that he also gets closer to retirement. Quote,
<v Speaker 3>they've got me in the back of the plane, he said,
<v Speaker 3>with a laugh. The next stops out the door. That's great,
<v Speaker 3>that's funny.
<v Speaker 10>I like that.
<v Speaker 3>Before that happens, McMichael will play in his in his
<v Speaker 3>club record one hundred and ninety first game, barring injury.
<v Speaker 3>That milestone will take place January second against the Los
<v Speaker 3>Angeles Rams. Quote. My mother said she's coming to that one.
<v Speaker 3>MacMichael said, God help my soul. If any of you
<v Speaker 3>saw her down in the hotel bar, you'd remember. I
<v Speaker 3>think Flair remembered, Oh yeah, Clair definitely remember. You gotta
<v Speaker 3>you gotta feel hey, hey, you gotta feel that my
<v Speaker 3>baby's arm. I go up and put my robe on.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I think she even got Dick Butkus to dance one night.
<v Speaker 3>Can you believe that? Well, he's right about that, Den said,
<v Speaker 3>maybe mom hunts Rattlesnakes too. Goddamn God, damn, I heard.
<v Speaker 9>You hunt Rattlesnake's son. That had been a great like
<v Speaker 9>ninety eight cameo after he stop.
<v Speaker 3>That would have been that would have been so damn funny.
<v Speaker 9>Imagine those two going out on the mic and and
<v Speaker 9>then then he stuns him and we never seen Mango again.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. That would have been a great way to go out.
<v Speaker 3>It would have been loongo. Okay.
<v Speaker 9>So the you know, that's that's a lot of reverence
<v Speaker 9>for the guy right there. That's a totally you could
<v Speaker 9>just tell that this guy was a real character in
<v Speaker 9>the NFL.
<v Speaker 2>Wrestling podcast.
<v Speaker 1>He's a lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Joe, and.
<v Speaker 9>And you know, the stats are there, I mean didn't
<v Speaker 9>He didn't play much longer after that article was published.
<v Speaker 9>And that's pretty much the case for him for the
<v Speaker 9>Hall of Fame. And it sounds pretty compelling to me,
<v Speaker 9>just you know, as a defensive tackle, the things he
<v Speaker 9>was doing were not necessarily they were above and beyond
<v Speaker 9>what you would expect from someone in that position, even
<v Speaker 9>if they don't sound incredibly voluminous on paper. Necessarily he was.
<v Speaker 9>He was a special player. And that we can turn
<v Speaker 9>now to an article about a year later. This one
<v Speaker 9>ran in the Northwest Herald out of Woodstock, Illinois, too
<v Speaker 9>far from where Mongo would settle and live out his
<v Speaker 9>days post his NFL career for the Bears. And we're
<v Speaker 9>going to get a little bit more color around what
<v Speaker 9>Mongo meant to the area and thus what he would
<v Speaker 9>have meant to those at WCW that decided to bring
<v Speaker 9>him in in nineteen ninety five.
<v Speaker 3>I'm getting colored due we're talking about brother, Sorry, getting colored, dude.
<v Speaker 3>Tales of Mongo still haunt Bears. Steve Mongo McMichael was
<v Speaker 3>back at Soldier Field Monday night. He came back to
<v Speaker 3>play to the place where he raised hell for thirteen seasons.
<v Speaker 3>That means there were all kinds of McMichael's stories floating around, right. Quote,
<v Speaker 3>there are so many of them. Mark Bort says, you
<v Speaker 3>just can't repeat any of them. Fortunately, we found enough
<v Speaker 3>people who would tell us McMichael's stories that we could
<v Speaker 3>print in a family newspaper.
<v Speaker 14>That dog.
<v Speaker 3>If you saw McMichael in training camp, chances are you
<v Speaker 3>saw his chihuahua heard it too. Quote in training camp,
<v Speaker 3>it was always a treat to check McMichael's room because
<v Speaker 3>he always had that little chihuahua, Pepe, in bed with him.
<v Speaker 9>Now, of course, any Nitro fan will remember that when
<v Speaker 9>he took the announcemooth for Nitro, he brought the chiawa
<v Speaker 9>with him and pettit.
<v Speaker 3>So annoying, so annoying, that was one annoying thing. Leave
<v Speaker 3>the fucking leave the fucking dog at home, all right, well,
<v Speaker 3>Bears linebackers coach Dave mc dave McGinnis said, now Pepe
<v Speaker 3>has this asthmatic condition, and he'd be snorting like a pig.
<v Speaker 3>You'd see a dark room and knock on the door
<v Speaker 3>and you'd get, what the fuck do you want? That's awesome,
<v Speaker 3>and then you'd have to open the door and all
<v Speaker 3>you'd hear is this dog snorting like a pig. Air
<v Speaker 3>Steve Richard mcmurran, the superintendent at Hollis Hall, is in
<v Speaker 3>charge of getting stuff for the players. In McMichael's case,
<v Speaker 3>it was an air conditioner. Apparently mcmurran should have included instructions. Quote,
<v Speaker 3>he brought his air conditioner into the room and he
<v Speaker 3>just plugged it in and put it on the floor.
<v Speaker 3>He said, that's gotta be the best bongo story. I
<v Speaker 3>don't care. That's truly terrific. He didn't put it in
<v Speaker 3>the window where it could function. Mcmaron I thought that
<v Speaker 3>scene was so funny he drew a cartoon of it. Quote.
<v Speaker 3>I drew a picture of him and his dog sitting
<v Speaker 3>there on the floor with the air conditioner and the
<v Speaker 3>dog's thinking poor Steve McMartin said, no, wonder the dog
<v Speaker 3>couldn't breathe lethal weapon, different different, Steve actually beef a weapon,
<v Speaker 3>speaking of a program we never got, belief weapons, weapons explode.
<v Speaker 3>I can see Mango in the brawl for all. O
<v Speaker 3>my god, Yeah, you just sucking like a gassed in
<v Speaker 3>like two seconds, two fucking throws around like I'm picture
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I'm picturing like complete windmill type punches. Oh totally,
<v Speaker 3>and just chin straight up, yep, yep, and just two
<v Speaker 3>throws and then he's fucking sucking wind and then just
<v Speaker 3>gets decked and he's done.
<v Speaker 9>That's how frizzy his hair would get in that environment.
<v Speaker 3>In recounting McMichael's stories, if it wasn't something about the dog,
<v Speaker 3>it involved the knife. Yes, quote, there's always a story
<v Speaker 3>about him holding a rookie or a player at knife point.
<v Speaker 3>Trace Armstrong said it was almost an expression of endearment
<v Speaker 3>with Steve.
<v Speaker 9>Oh, he's he's gonna find a home in the wrestling
<v Speaker 9>business soon enough.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, he's gonna find a home for his knife
<v Speaker 3>in your stomach. Hazed or crazed quote. Usually he'd wait
<v Speaker 3>a few days with the rookies McGinnis set of training camp,
<v Speaker 3>and he'd walk up to one of them and hold
<v Speaker 3>his helmet in his hand and the and by the
<v Speaker 3>face mask. He'd just look at that rookie and yell,
<v Speaker 3>and he'd take the helmet and slam it into his
<v Speaker 3>forehead about three times. Yes, then put on his helmet
<v Speaker 3>and walk off. Explains a lot, no, I ad? So yeah,
<v Speaker 3>now did you say explains a lot now? Or did
<v Speaker 3>you know that's that's in the article? The article? Okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's in the article. Yeah ad hazed. Sometimes though, McMichael
<v Speaker 3>would initiate rookies even worse. Just ask Maurice Douglas. Douglass. Douglass.
<v Speaker 3>See McMichael wasn't fond of guys who dressed like Douglas
<v Speaker 3>or went in for the piercing thing. But McMichael, if
<v Speaker 3>a guy had holes in his ears or a belly
<v Speaker 3>button or even a nipple like Douglas, it had better
<v Speaker 3>be from a bullet quote. He used to always call
<v Speaker 3>me a little punk call me a little sissy because
<v Speaker 3>of my earrings. Douglas said, he'd say, I wore my
<v Speaker 3>sister's pants and my mother's in sister's clothes. One you
<v Speaker 3>can see him fucking doing it. Yeah, but that's the thing.
<v Speaker 3>It's not even what it It's not even what it's
<v Speaker 3>is said. It's picturing him saying it. Yeah, exact eyebrows,
<v Speaker 3>that that bizarre round face of his. It has in comedy. Yep,
<v Speaker 3>yep uh. We had a big argument one day. I
<v Speaker 3>can't go into detail because it was too graphic. He
<v Speaker 3>got me ticked off and I got him ticked off.
<v Speaker 3>I just told him I ain't scared of you. He
<v Speaker 3>was hazing me from my first day here. He was
<v Speaker 3>just testing me to see if I was tough enough
<v Speaker 3>to play here, and indeed Douglas was tough enough by
<v Speaker 3>the end. Douglas said he was one of my better friends.
<v Speaker 3>Kicking team like Michael loves to kick butt football's too quote.
<v Speaker 3>At practices, it was it always started out where McMichael
<v Speaker 3>would always punt and Fridge would catch him. McGinnis said.
<v Speaker 3>Then when we went to kickfield goals at least once
<v Speaker 3>a week, McMichael would tell Kevin Butler get the fuck
<v Speaker 3>out of the way, and McMichael would get in there
<v Speaker 3>and kickfield goals, and what would Butler do quote, He'd
<v Speaker 3>get the fuck out of the way. McGinnis said, By
<v Speaker 3>the way, it says bleep in there, So I'm just
<v Speaker 3>adding it out because I know it's there.
<v Speaker 5>Ho Ho Ho.
<v Speaker 3>Butler, one of the three remaining Super Bears, knows a
<v Speaker 3>different side of McMichael. Quote. He's a guy who'd come
<v Speaker 3>over every Christmas in his pajamas in our house and
<v Speaker 3>open up presents with the kids. Butler said, able to
<v Speaker 3>keep his lunch down at the thought of McMichael and pj's.
<v Speaker 3>He dressed up as Sanda last year and the kids
<v Speaker 3>didn't know it. They didn't know. What do you mean?
<v Speaker 3>I assume he.
<v Speaker 9>Means they didn't know his mango out of the costume. Well,
<v Speaker 9>but I mean if he dressed up as Santa and
<v Speaker 9>the kids were none the wiser and heard nothing about it,
<v Speaker 9>didn't see him. I don't know why you'd mentioned it.
<v Speaker 3>Didn't see him, didn't make anything of it, didn't care.
<v Speaker 3>Scare Tactics Bears president Michael McCaskey couldn't recall any one
<v Speaker 3>anecdote about McMichael. But he does know this. McMichael was
<v Speaker 3>here when the Packers Charles Martin spiked Jim McMahon, when
<v Speaker 3>Packers coach Forrest greg had his thug patrol, and when
<v Speaker 3>former Bears coach Mike Ditka passionately would address how much
<v Speaker 3>the Bears Packers rivalry meant. Quote what scares me is
<v Speaker 3>what he's been doing up there all week. McCaskey said,
<v Speaker 3>jump on any teammate about how much this game means.
<v Speaker 3>So we'd better be doing that too. Final word Armstrong
<v Speaker 3>on how to tell when McMichael was your friend. Quote,
<v Speaker 3>if he really liked you, he'd grab you. If he
<v Speaker 3>really liked you, he'd grab you by the throat, yes,
<v Speaker 3>and lift you off the ground. Flair have any of
<v Speaker 3>those stories? Did Flair get I don't know. Did Flair
<v Speaker 3>get picked up by the throat?
<v Speaker 9>I don't know, But that that doesn't sound like a
<v Speaker 9>term of endearment to me.
<v Speaker 3>But what do I know? I mean, hey, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know clowns like this, these these these fucking goofballs,
<v Speaker 3>they've always got their weird you know, initiation rituals. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I mean that that air conditioner on the floor. Oh
<v Speaker 3>that's amazing. No hairlo I love that.
<v Speaker 9>It's sucking that blowing out the air in the same room.
<v Speaker 9>It's like there's nothing to condition.
<v Speaker 3>I mean like, yeah, exactly, there's a lot of air,
<v Speaker 3>but there's no conditioning going on. I mean that. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>that's just brilliant.
<v Speaker 9>That's a tableau that I think belungs on a T shirt,
<v Speaker 9>just him sitting on the floor of a hotel room
<v Speaker 9>or something with you have a conditioner that's not in
<v Speaker 9>a window, it's on the carpet, and his dogs and
<v Speaker 9>they're suffering.
<v Speaker 10>Yep.
<v Speaker 3>Well, he's like tinkering, like looking at him. He's gonna
<v Speaker 3>he's gonna be looking at him like a fucking idiot,
<v Speaker 3>like what is wrong with you? It's like a glare
<v Speaker 3>at him, like this is the dumbest fucking piece of shit.
<v Speaker 3>And that's the kind of thing I mean, like a
<v Speaker 3>TLF tribute to Mongo, Like, yeah, he's just like he's
<v Speaker 3>just a goofball, Like he's a total clown, right, He's
<v Speaker 3>he's a he's he's just an oaf. No, he has
<v Speaker 3>no self awareness, you know, he's just none, barreling through life. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>like a complete maniac and he is a twenty four
<v Speaker 3>to seven bullet, a china shop.
<v Speaker 9>Bulling a china shop, perfectly put and and he was
<v Speaker 9>too much for wrestling in a way, like they didn't
<v Speaker 9>even know how to deal with this guy. You think
<v Speaker 9>about how crazy wrestlers can be, and this guy walks
<v Speaker 9>into this world where like he's an actual, you know,
<v Speaker 9>full contact athlete. It's like, oh, you're gonna tell me
<v Speaker 9>what exactly, Like it's going to amuse me, but you
<v Speaker 9>can't really do something unless I want you to do it.
<v Speaker 9>And learning the ways of the ring. And remember he
<v Speaker 9>worked with Goldberg.
<v Speaker 3>At that starcade. How hilarious was that? Just such a weird.
<v Speaker 9>Wrestling weirdos But oh yeah, but we heard about it
<v Speaker 9>in terms of the legacy left behind in print. Let's
<v Speaker 9>hear about it a little bit on broadcast. This is
<v Speaker 9>from a documentary piece that the Chicago Bears did about
<v Speaker 9>Mongo that that kind of highlights I think some of
<v Speaker 9>the finer points of the broad strokes of his career, of.
<v Speaker 3>All of his accomplishments. The longevity thing, I mean, I
<v Speaker 3>have no idea how I did it. There's like a
<v Speaker 3>car wreck every play, you know, and how many of
<v Speaker 3>those do you have in you, Well, he had more
<v Speaker 3>than anybody in the history of the Chicago Bears.
<v Speaker 15>You know, he came from a small town in Texas,
<v Speaker 15>hunted rattlesnakes for a hobby. You know, he was different,
<v Speaker 15>He was different from everybody.
<v Speaker 14>Different is an understatement. McMichael's unwavering work ethic and unique
<v Speaker 14>athletic ability was unmatched. From a young age.
<v Speaker 16>One of the things that he really prided himself on
<v Speaker 16>is being dependable and being a teammate. That's what he
<v Speaker 16>was all about. When you play at the University of Texas,
<v Speaker 16>that's who you are, and that's who he was.
<v Speaker 9>University of Texas boy. Very very dullleus, you know, although
<v Speaker 9>he's from around San Antonio, very like you know, Texas,
<v Speaker 9>Baylor football, Friday night lights, all that shit. That's his life,
<v Speaker 9>that's his identity. And you know, by the way, all
<v Speaker 9>you have to do is hunt a rattlesnake once for
<v Speaker 9>people for the rest of your life. Apparently to say
<v Speaker 9>that you hunted rattlesnakes for fun when you were a kid, yeah,
<v Speaker 9>how many of those he grabbed by the throat? But
<v Speaker 9>I'm sure the amount you think in your in your
<v Speaker 9>head and imagination is four times the amount he ever Actually,
<v Speaker 9>yeah right, that's the kind of thing you hear once
<v Speaker 9>about the guy, and wow, every single time people sort
<v Speaker 9>of characterize why he is the way he is, they
<v Speaker 9>bring that story up. So he's got to handle on
<v Speaker 9>those like a aker Field tales too, which are so
<v Speaker 9>key to wrestling. It's like he has that ear for
<v Speaker 9>what detail is going to sit in the minds of
<v Speaker 9>the person he's talking to. Even if it just sounds
<v Speaker 9>like he's blithely and drunkenly carrying on when he's talking, No,
<v Speaker 9>he's actually he has a great year for detail in
<v Speaker 9>the storytelling element of things, and he had that way
<v Speaker 9>before he stepped into pro wrestling. So that's why he
<v Speaker 9>was just perfect for it, because he already understood how
<v Speaker 9>to get over and get across and stayed memorable and
<v Speaker 9>what details stick in the mind. So that's sort of
<v Speaker 9>some of his teammates and his contemporaries on the football
<v Speaker 9>field talking about what made him stand out. Here's a
<v Speaker 9>little bit more from that Chicago Bears documentary.
<v Speaker 14>While the curtain closed on football, a new chapter in
<v Speaker 14>professional performance opened for McMichael, the professional Brings side commentator.
<v Speaker 14>Then member of the Four Horsemen. Mongol continued to perform.
<v Speaker 17>Mongo going into the WWF Wrestling World Perfect perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Or of Mine.
<v Speaker 18>No, he was great.
<v Speaker 3>He just went along with it and laughed. You know,
<v Speaker 3>he has had fun.
<v Speaker 19>I remember going to one of his wrestling matches, and
<v Speaker 19>all these wrestlers that you see on TV that have
<v Speaker 19>years and years of success, they gravitated towards Maine because
<v Speaker 19>it was his personality that was as big as anybody's
<v Speaker 19>in the room of some large personalities. And that's the
<v Speaker 19>greatest thing about McMichael is whatever type of room he
<v Speaker 19>walked into, he complimented.
<v Speaker 2>The room, welcome our special guests on them.
<v Speaker 15>Mike did the show, Steve, he did postgame commentary on
<v Speaker 15>the ten thirty News in a way that it had
<v Speaker 15>never been done before and probably thankfully has not been
<v Speaker 15>done since. You know, on Monday mornings, there was always
<v Speaker 15>this buzz. Did you see McMichael last night?
<v Speaker 20>I'm gonna go buy an Irish bullpen and just beat
<v Speaker 20>them out of Remember the ben defense mechanism is my comedy,
<v Speaker 20>my candor, my vulgarity.
<v Speaker 19>It was must watch TV. He walked in there with
<v Speaker 19>his Chihuahua, Peppy, sometimes he had a friendly knife with him,
<v Speaker 19>but it was just part of what he was going
<v Speaker 19>to do to Gina Greca, whether it be cutting his
<v Speaker 19>tie off or grabbing him in a headlock.
<v Speaker 14>In every endeavor, from owning a namesake restaurant to leading
<v Speaker 14>the Chicago Slaughter to a Continental Indoor Football League championship
<v Speaker 14>to singing in a rock and roll band with former teammates,
<v Speaker 14>Steve McMichael was a friend to all.
<v Speaker 12>One of the nice people over my life, and wilder
<v Speaker 12>than me, not staying alive, and just every time we
<v Speaker 12>were with him. It's a great guy to be with
<v Speaker 12>a lot of personality, fun Congenio got along with everybody,
<v Speaker 12>and you never know whether he was anything special in
<v Speaker 12>which he was to me of course and to any
<v Speaker 12>football fan.
<v Speaker 3>But he was just a regular guy.
<v Speaker 5>There's oh Steve just chugging a lot.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>I like that image for myself.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah I'm not.
<v Speaker 20>I don't want to be the idol of millions. I
<v Speaker 20>just want to play football and be in my own
<v Speaker 20>little world like you've enjoyed this afternoon.
<v Speaker 3>Be in my own little world. So so okay. So
<v Speaker 3>he had a restaurant name like Hit his own restaurant
<v Speaker 3>with his namesake. What was it, Mongo's Mongolian grill.
<v Speaker 9>I don't think he was had much of a taste
<v Speaker 9>for Mongolian cuisine. I could be wrong about the man.
<v Speaker 9>I think I've got it somewhere what it was called.
<v Speaker 9>But there's a bar and grill. So you watch, like,
<v Speaker 9>you know, after the Bears game was over, you watch
<v Speaker 9>the local news in Chicago and one of those affiliates,
<v Speaker 9>and he would come on and do like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>the most hilarious.
<v Speaker 3>Post yelling and yelling and screaming and you know, his
<v Speaker 3>fucking you know, he just barked. That's how he spoke.
<v Speaker 9>He barked, and he'd Hayes the co host, and yeah,
<v Speaker 9>he went on to be like a Chicago TV legend afterwards.
<v Speaker 9>It's kind of what Kurt Angle tried to do after
<v Speaker 9>he won the gold medal, before he got into pro wrestling.
<v Speaker 9>He would go on like you know, Pittsburgh News and
<v Speaker 9>like do like basically like a sports anchor job, but
<v Speaker 9>would try to be like a sports commentator. Sean Michaels
<v Speaker 9>even tried it, if you remember in San Antonio, they
<v Speaker 9>would there's a famous clip of him being a remote
<v Speaker 9>correspondent at like a huge San Antonio Friday night high
<v Speaker 9>school football game after Wow, I don't remember that at all.
<v Speaker 9>His nineteen ninety eight back injury kind of ended his
<v Speaker 9>in ring career and before he came back as commissioner
<v Speaker 9>of the WWF in the spring of nineteen ninety nine.
<v Speaker 9>So it's something it's a career trajectory for people that are,
<v Speaker 9>you know, athletes who were used to being on television,
<v Speaker 9>who have some kind of grasp on some particular sport,
<v Speaker 9>and if they've got a little personality to match, we're
<v Speaker 9>off to the races. And Mongo more than proved himself
<v Speaker 9>as being somebody that fit into that element of professional
<v Speaker 9>wrestling before he ever even entered the business. But as
<v Speaker 9>we've mentioned, it wasn't WCW that gave Mongo his first
<v Speaker 9>sort of exposure to the pro wrestling audience. It was,
<v Speaker 9>in fact, the WWF. And we go back to March
<v Speaker 9>twentieth of nineteen ninety five for the angle you mentioned bosson.
<v Speaker 9>It comes across even just audio. This is Mongo at
<v Speaker 9>ringside with Vince McMahon during this episode of Raw as
<v Speaker 9>they're building up to LT versus Bam Bam Bigelow at
<v Speaker 9>WrestleMania eleven and Kamma aka the Godfather. Charles Wright, the
<v Speaker 9>Supreme Fighting Machine, a member of Teddy Byasse's million dollar Corporation,
<v Speaker 9>comes by and ends up in a bit of a
<v Speaker 9>jaw jacking session with Mongo, and it goes about where
<v Speaker 9>you would expect it to go based on what we've
<v Speaker 9>heard about Mongo.
<v Speaker 3>So far joining us?
<v Speaker 21>What commentarian joining us in rust in two weeks hid WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 6>If I get up in that ring bench, make sure
<v Speaker 6>and remind me to stay on those turnbocals, will you?
<v Speaker 22>Yeah?
<v Speaker 23>Tennant, You're gonna be a.
<v Speaker 3>Not for everyminder.
<v Speaker 24>John first thing for everyone to keep in mind.
<v Speaker 5>Oh wait a minute, wait, just a moment.
<v Speaker 10>There come Who is this Komo?
<v Speaker 17>What does he want?
<v Speaker 3>Koma coma? What's sick?
<v Speaker 17>It's tired?
<v Speaker 25>Im you sit down here, run in your belt talking
<v Speaker 25>about things you know nothing about.
<v Speaker 6>What you should do?
<v Speaker 17>What you will love? Because you see, since you had
<v Speaker 17>chose and good bye perfection.
<v Speaker 26>Understand one thing all I do is hand out pain
<v Speaker 26>to make a whistlemania.
<v Speaker 2>If I get my hands on you, I am gonna
<v Speaker 2>beat you.
<v Speaker 17>I'm the dog that you are.
<v Speaker 19>Yes, ignoring something, mister bell tell me something else.
<v Speaker 6>You have a problem with that, Well, I suggest you
<v Speaker 6>do all right, that's like a man and do something
<v Speaker 6>about it.
<v Speaker 2>Suspenders here, my man is me?
<v Speaker 10>Now all right?
<v Speaker 5>You should you?
<v Speaker 2>What are your yes?
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I'm not gonna come all that.
<v Speaker 4>Wait a minute, stop it, stop it, stop it, snap
<v Speaker 4>it stop it?
<v Speaker 5>Okay, plays.
<v Speaker 17>Waits tugon iss come on, say come on begging.
<v Speaker 10>Easy listen.
<v Speaker 3>That's stuff like I mean, that was the most exciting
<v Speaker 3>thing to me leading up to Wrestle any of that year.
<v Speaker 3>Like that just had me fucking jacked as a kid.
<v Speaker 9>It's just you felt like the wrestlers and the football
<v Speaker 9>players were seriously going to war. Yeah, like this is
<v Speaker 9>real warfare. And and I don't know, dare I say
<v Speaker 9>we get a little that's perhaps the earliest glimpse we
<v Speaker 9>get of you ruined it?
<v Speaker 3>You ruined it? Vince? Oh yeah, absolutely, well absolutely Vince.
<v Speaker 9>That has the hockey fight with Brett Hart over the
<v Speaker 9>announced table in ninety seven, So the first time we
<v Speaker 9>see Vince like, maybe not the first time, of course,
<v Speaker 9>took the chair across the back of the piper Flare
<v Speaker 9>angle in ninety two, did a couple of other things
<v Speaker 9>where he got physically involved. Going back to even what
<v Speaker 9>was the first bump we saw him take?
<v Speaker 17>Was it?
<v Speaker 9>I think it was one of the full Nelson contests
<v Speaker 9>that somebody was doing. He takes a bump and spills
<v Speaker 9>out of the ring and back when they were taping
<v Speaker 9>in Pennsylvania that early on. Yeah, but I don't know,
<v Speaker 9>just the voice of Vince, like you weren't used to
<v Speaker 9>hearing Vince scream like trying to control people like that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Yeah, that's what makes it exciting is that he's
<v Speaker 3>is that he sounds like I mean, he's when you
<v Speaker 3>know him, when you when you when you hear that
<v Speaker 3>later on, you know, oh, okay, that's his that's his
<v Speaker 3>concerned voice. But at the time, you know, you didn't
<v Speaker 3>hear that that often. So when you heard it, you
<v Speaker 3>felt it was real.
<v Speaker 9>You felt something was even if you didn't know he
<v Speaker 9>was the boss yet exactly, something was going off the rails,
<v Speaker 9>something was happening that was like embarrassing to the company
<v Speaker 9>like this, Yeah, yeah, or at least you know, could
<v Speaker 9>cause a lawsuit, cause a lawsuit, right, and we know
<v Speaker 9>in ninety five the last thing he wants is the
<v Speaker 9>of the laws. Yeah, he just finished weathering that storm, right,
<v Speaker 9>but no, it comes and goes. Mango has a role
<v Speaker 9>in WrestleMania eleven. I mean, how would you characterize what
<v Speaker 9>he does at WrestleMania eleven.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, he's he's part of the All Pro team
<v Speaker 3>at in a like there was the million Dollar Team
<v Speaker 3>or something like that, or the corporate team, and then
<v Speaker 3>there was the All Pro team, and he's, you know again,
<v Speaker 3>like they make they make this big. They don't do shit.
<v Speaker 3>They don't do shit, and it's like why.
<v Speaker 9>Not, Yeah, like Bam Bam and Lawrence just have a
<v Speaker 9>straight match while they're all standing there watching Lumberjackson. I
<v Speaker 9>never called in action like you're supposed to be, like,
<v Speaker 9>you know, you should be part of this. But that
<v Speaker 9>was the year where they were so desperate to get
<v Speaker 9>relevant again that they were just overloaded what celebrities they could.
<v Speaker 3>You imagine though, if they fucking if if if all
<v Speaker 3>the football players got involved in a giant brawl, can't lose.
<v Speaker 3>That's that's that's mainstream media right there.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, that's a good point that they didn't do that
<v Speaker 9>as very interesting. I wonder if there's a story there,
<v Speaker 9>because that would to me, that's where Vince's instinct would
<v Speaker 9>go immediately exactly.
<v Speaker 3>I was just again, I was always so bummed that
<v Speaker 3>it didn't get to the place that I really thought
<v Speaker 3>it was gonna go.
<v Speaker 9>It's like, why is Jonathan Taylor Thomas here? It was
<v Speaker 9>that WrestleMania.
<v Speaker 3>Oh well, he's there to you know, he's there to
<v Speaker 3>He's there to play uh uh, you know, fucking uh
<v Speaker 3>chess with Bob Beckman.
<v Speaker 9>Sounds great, obviously, sounds like a great reason to bring
<v Speaker 9>him in. Honestly, Yeah, but no, it wouldn't be w
<v Speaker 9>W f WOOD. It would be World Championship Wrestling, where
<v Speaker 9>Steve Mango McMichael would have an enduring a role in
<v Speaker 9>pro wrestling. And here we're gonna get a little bit
<v Speaker 9>of a glimpses to what led up to that.
<v Speaker 3>I believe.
<v Speaker 9>This clip is from Ric Flair's firstwhilelu Nation podcast where
<v Speaker 9>he once had Steve McMichael and as a guest, talking
<v Speaker 9>about how the deal came together.
<v Speaker 10>Contacts you guy running the w CW, the town they
<v Speaker 10>married vishoff for selling meat here in Chicago, when I
<v Speaker 10>was doing a TV show, getting the lap Ball Wrestling podcast.
<v Speaker 1>He's fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carn Seo MJP SOO.
<v Speaker 9>Okay, wait, this is something that I've seen said about Vishoff,
<v Speaker 9>but he hasn't really talked much about at least to
<v Speaker 9>my knowledge, or maybe he's meant in this podcast over
<v Speaker 9>the years, but he doesn't mention it in his book,
<v Speaker 9>where he's pretty specific about all of the little ventures
<v Speaker 9>he found himself involved in. Of course, he was like
<v Speaker 9>trying to sell a board game with Sonny Oo before
<v Speaker 9>getting into AWA and advertising on ABA television was his
<v Speaker 9>sort of entree to vern gania and being involved in
<v Speaker 9>the world of wrestling. He's a salesman, that's what he's done.
<v Speaker 9>He did a little bit of modeling too, like catalog modeling,
<v Speaker 9>but apparently at some point, and he does mention moving
<v Speaker 9>with his wife Lurid to Chicago at one point when
<v Speaker 9>they're trying to figure out what they're going to do next.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, Bischoff from Detroit and spent a lot of
<v Speaker 9>his earliest years in Minneapolis, but at some point they
<v Speaker 9>moved to Chicago, and apparently one of his jobs was
<v Speaker 9>selling provisions out of a truck, was driving meat to
<v Speaker 9>restaurants and butcher shops and whatever, selling the meat. Yes,
<v Speaker 9>and so, according to Mongo. This is not something a
<v Speaker 9>Bischoff seems to talk about when he talks about Mongo.
<v Speaker 9>But that's how he would have gotten on his radar,
<v Speaker 9>because Bischoff would have been in the Chicago market and
<v Speaker 9>aware of him from delivering meat and being in and
<v Speaker 9>around the area. So I just had to pause on
<v Speaker 9>that one because that's something that's insane. We don't have
<v Speaker 9>a lot of details about. There's probably someone flattering pictures
<v Speaker 9>of Eric driving a meat truck at some point.
<v Speaker 3>In his life. He like like fucking like like like
<v Speaker 3>uh uh uh, you know, like round beef like on
<v Speaker 3>his face.
<v Speaker 10>Or something that thanks to you, the other guy running
<v Speaker 10>the w c W. They time, Nay married. Bischoff was
<v Speaker 10>selling meat here in Chicago when I was doing a
<v Speaker 10>TV show and was a fan because I want to
<v Speaker 10>I want the local amy for doing the sports Extra
<v Speaker 10>show here in town while I was playing ball. So
<v Speaker 10>uh you know, when he heard, you know, I did
<v Speaker 10>the WrestleMania with Lawrence Taylor and he was running the
<v Speaker 10>w cwut time. When he saw that, he said, well,
<v Speaker 10>manglem I'd be interested in coming here. He gave me
<v Speaker 10>a call and at the same time Bence McMahon was
<v Speaker 10>offering William Perry and me to come on board to
<v Speaker 10>be the All Pro tag team. But I knew William
<v Speaker 10>one of the absence to be traveling like a Carney, right,
<v Speaker 10>we would have been missing him on the road all
<v Speaker 10>the time. And Cherry Perry said his wife at the time,
<v Speaker 10>she lost her scholarship too, saying that wasn't enough money. Well,
<v Speaker 10>Eric Mischalff called me at the same time, when when
<v Speaker 10>his wife is saying this ain't gonna happen, and offers
<v Speaker 10>me this job just commentating because he knew, you know,
<v Speaker 10>I have a rip partee in a wit right when
<v Speaker 10>I get on air, just like I want the local
<v Speaker 10>leamy here. Well, I went to work for the WCW
<v Speaker 10>or you being a commentator with Bobby the stain Heenan
<v Speaker 10>And that was for calling my little black Shawa the tarantula.
<v Speaker 9>Here flare popping a lot there, Oh my gosh. So apparently,
<v Speaker 9>according to Mango, Vince McMahon had an idea for wwftag
<v Speaker 9>team called the All Americans or whatever they all pro
<v Speaker 9>whatever he said, with William Fredericka Perry and Steve McMichael
<v Speaker 9>as a tag team. And that adds up as to
<v Speaker 9>that angle we just played for you with Kama and
<v Speaker 9>how they decided to feature him prominently. But at some
<v Speaker 9>point and he says he's on scholarship. What he means is,
<v Speaker 9>you know people in a football player's life who basically
<v Speaker 9>leech off of their money, they're on scholarship, is the
<v Speaker 9>way he explains it earlier in that interview. And so
<v Speaker 9>he says that about William Refrigerator Perry's wife at the time,
<v Speaker 9>who apparently, according to Mango as he says there, got
<v Speaker 9>involved in the negotiations with WWF and was saying that
<v Speaker 9>the price just wasn't right to bring in William Perry
<v Speaker 9>and make him a wrestler. So he kind of gives
<v Speaker 9>the impression that, which always happens whenever in the wrestling business,
<v Speaker 9>your wife gets involved negotiating for you, like you never
<v Speaker 9>live it down. And so he thinks that she kind of,
<v Speaker 9>I don't know, killed the deal, and he got this
<v Speaker 9>sense that it's not going to happen, and I'm just
<v Speaker 9>sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for her to make
<v Speaker 9>a deal for William Perry and it's not going anywhere.
<v Speaker 3>And that's always We're Bischoff I got.
<v Speaker 9>To give him a lot of credit. You know, he
<v Speaker 9>finds out somehow about those little moments where he can
<v Speaker 9>slide in luger. You know, he this for the first
<v Speaker 9>nitro where he can slide in and kind of make
<v Speaker 9>an entree at a time time when for whatever reason,
<v Speaker 9>there's an impasse or there's trouble in paradise.
<v Speaker 3>And but wait, wait, wait, So so Fridge is out
<v Speaker 3>of a job as as I know, he's not he's
<v Speaker 3>not playing. So I guess my question is, so, so
<v Speaker 3>his wife vetoed the opportunity to work in the WWE.
<v Speaker 9>I don't know if she vetoed it. I think she
<v Speaker 9>just drove a hard bargain on money and overpladed their hand.
<v Speaker 3>What did he do after that? I don't know.
<v Speaker 9>He played football in London and I don't know what
<v Speaker 9>else he did, right, right, So, like, I think that's
<v Speaker 9>why he made I think that's why he made it
<v Speaker 9>a point Mango to refer to her as on scholarship.
<v Speaker 3>And the ex wife.
<v Speaker 9>Okay, say the same thing about Bonnie Steamboat, Ricky Steamboat's wife, Like, yeah,
<v Speaker 9>you can't. You can't tell the story of why he
<v Speaker 9>disappeared from WWF in nineteen eighty eight, amidst acrimonious circumstances
<v Speaker 9>without getting all into Bonnie and how Bonnie was his
<v Speaker 9>business agent and all this shit. So a similar situation
<v Speaker 9>dynamic here apparently. So yeah, Bischoff gets in what great
<v Speaker 9>you know, Bischoff, as we know, huge focus on the
<v Speaker 9>television announced side of the business. That's where he came from.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, that was his first reigns of power in
<v Speaker 9>WCW was really dressing up the television set and you know,
<v Speaker 9>running the production truck and things like that, and the
<v Speaker 9>wrestling operations side and booking and deciding who wins and
<v Speaker 9>loses in all the angles and stuff. Was a Dusty
<v Speaker 9>function or Kevin Sullivan function, or Terry Taylor function, And
<v Speaker 9>so he's always very highly interested in what the look
<v Speaker 9>and feel of the announced team is going to be.
<v Speaker 9>And of course Bischoff put himself on the Nitro announced
<v Speaker 9>team in the very beginning before he joined the nWo,
<v Speaker 9>as we talked about serendipitously not so long ago on
<v Speaker 9>the show, around the time of World War three nineteen
<v Speaker 9>ninety six. So hiring a announcer for Nitro is going
<v Speaker 9>to be squarely a Bischoff call, and he likes what
<v Speaker 9>he saw and knew if Steve Manga McMichael from his
<v Speaker 9>time in Chicago apparently was aware that he was, you know,
<v Speaker 9>had broadcast chops in addition to the chops that he
<v Speaker 9>was carrying in his frozen meat truck. So now Steve
<v Speaker 9>McMichael is getting the phone call and coming over to
<v Speaker 9>WCW now mentioning wives, And do you think there's a
<v Speaker 9>snowball's chance in hell that Steve Malcolm McMichael's ex Deborah
<v Speaker 9>is going to tell the same story about how Mongo
<v Speaker 9>got to WCW and got that contract or do you
<v Speaker 9>think she's going to end up being the whole architect
<v Speaker 9>of the whole thing if you ask her.
<v Speaker 3>I'm listen. I'm sure she did. I'm sure she is
<v Speaker 3>the architect of all of his contracts. I'm sure that
<v Speaker 3>she is the reason why they won the Super Bowl.
<v Speaker 9>This from a shoot interview done with high Spots.
<v Speaker 22>I had her friend like, when Steve retired, he can't
<v Speaker 22>want to work for Vince, but they never would really,
<v Speaker 22>you know, they never would sign him. And then my friends,
<v Speaker 22>her husband had a company or still has, called Innersport.
<v Speaker 22>You'll probably heard an Innersport, no huge company. Well, he
<v Speaker 22>was going on to meet with the guy in charge
<v Speaker 22>of I guess of Turner Sports or whatever, and they said,
<v Speaker 22>never put together a type of Steve, and you know,
<v Speaker 22>we'll show it to to How can I can I
<v Speaker 22>believe I'm having a blank Bischoff, Eric Bischoff, And so
<v Speaker 22>I went and Steve was arguing, and I was like, no,
<v Speaker 22>we're gonna put this together, and he want to help.
<v Speaker 3>Me and I was like, no, come on.
<v Speaker 22>So I got all of his tapes and I we
<v Speaker 22>went to this production place and we added music and
<v Speaker 22>we picked out parts. I think it had to be
<v Speaker 22>like fifteen I don't know how many feconds or minutes
<v Speaker 22>or whatever. And so I gave it to Charlie Bessler
<v Speaker 22>and he gave it to Eric and he looked at
<v Speaker 22>the film and I was like, I wanted to hire
<v Speaker 22>Steve as a commentator?
<v Speaker 8>Is that the position do you think he wanted initially?
<v Speaker 8>Or what do you think he wanted to get into?
<v Speaker 22>Being he wanted to get into wrestling? Oh, yes, Steve,
<v Speaker 22>because he would act. Oh Steve and Michael was a hoot.
<v Speaker 5>He was so funny.
<v Speaker 22>I mean, he was he was fun You know he
<v Speaker 22>had a bear show too and hit won Emmy. Oh
<v Speaker 22>his bear show beat like dick a sports show every Sunday.
<v Speaker 3>It was I'm thinking, like it was an actual bear.
<v Speaker 22>He'd always include me in on it. I mean, remember
<v Speaker 22>those guys from started out they go there bears. So
<v Speaker 22>they were on there one night and I had to
<v Speaker 22>like bring them all beers, and but Steve was always
<v Speaker 22>really good. It included me on that. And one time
<v Speaker 22>he had a chainsaw and it squirted fake blood and
<v Speaker 22>he acted like he was gonna chop up his host.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, good stuff makes a lot of sense. Christ So yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I think what like fucking like like the guy and
<v Speaker 3>like the Scottish guy with the fucking bear, the wrestling bear.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, what a bear show be? I was like,
<v Speaker 3>what the you're talking about?
<v Speaker 13>It?
<v Speaker 3>Like, oh yeah, wait, you played for the.
<v Speaker 9>Dumb ass well, Deborah, I think what she's talking about
<v Speaker 9>there was Harvey Schiller. There are other versions of the
<v Speaker 9>story where Harvey Schiller was the one to make the introduction,
<v Speaker 9>or at least the nudged era Bischoff that he might
<v Speaker 9>consider using Steve McMichael in pro wrestling and considering Harvey
<v Speaker 9>Schiller's history and you know, involvement in sports that that
<v Speaker 9>might make some sense. So I don't know, both can
<v Speaker 9>kind of be true. I mean, Mango post divorce of
<v Speaker 9>Deborah is not going to mention her. I mean, I
<v Speaker 9>think he even passive aggressively. He just says his acts.
<v Speaker 9>He doesn't even name her and things he would write later.
<v Speaker 9>You know, upon his passing, he was with somebody else,
<v Speaker 9>Missy is her name, and so you know you would
<v Speaker 9>expect him in interviews of his own potentially to leave
<v Speaker 9>that detail out, but to hear Deborah tell it she
<v Speaker 9>was the one really pushing that highlight tape.
<v Speaker 11>You know.
<v Speaker 9>That's that's where success has many architects, you know how
<v Speaker 9>it is. It's like this all happened, and this is
<v Speaker 9>how it happened, and then someone always has a story of, well,
<v Speaker 9>you actually weren't all for it now looking back, you know,
<v Speaker 9>but it was me that actually nudged you to actually
<v Speaker 9>do it, and if I wasn't there, it wouldn't have happened.
<v Speaker 9>And that's that's pro wrestling too, for you. Like it's
<v Speaker 9>always like, yeah, this all happened and I wasn't there,
<v Speaker 9>But if I hadn't done X, Y, and Z would
<v Speaker 9>have never come to fruition. So it'd actually Adam deserve
<v Speaker 9>all the crew. But I if I didn't exist, it
<v Speaker 9>wouldn't have happened. That's that's pro wrestling for you. And yeah,
<v Speaker 9>so getting this apparent highlight tape put together and pushed
<v Speaker 9>upon the Turner Sports executives leading to McMichael's hiring at
<v Speaker 9>WCW had a lot to do with his wife, a
<v Speaker 9>beauty queen from Texas who he married in nineteen eighty
<v Speaker 9>five and a Las Vegas ceremony. And you know, certainly
<v Speaker 9>in the nineteen eighty five Bears there was the Bears
<v Speaker 9>wives section and the lore around the wives that's always.
<v Speaker 3>A big force.
<v Speaker 9>Oh yes, and you know she was she was. She
<v Speaker 9>was one of the more well known wives. She was
<v Speaker 9>one that had quite a personality and a reputation in
<v Speaker 9>her own right in terms of being you know, just
<v Speaker 9>kind of like glamorous and kind of you know, attention seeking.
<v Speaker 9>You can tell that she lives to be on camera.
<v Speaker 9>You know, she's not get out of here, she's not comfortable.
<v Speaker 9>I mean she talks about her WW run a lot
<v Speaker 9>of the stuff. She looks into the camera and says
<v Speaker 9>about like, you know, well, that's just great. The way
<v Speaker 9>she gets her character across. Never directed at her to
<v Speaker 9>do that. She's kind of going into business for herself,
<v Speaker 9>seeing things into the camera to get cross more than
<v Speaker 9>just standing there as a as kind of an obnoxious
<v Speaker 9>Southern beauty queen. And it worked for her, and she
<v Speaker 9>ended up making a lot of money in the wrestling
<v Speaker 9>business and getting a job at WWF as a result
<v Speaker 9>in a lot of ways, and very coyly playing the
<v Speaker 9>you know, the puppies thing and the scantily clad thing.
<v Speaker 9>You know, she was right up on that line. But
<v Speaker 9>they never got her to do Playboy or anything like that.
<v Speaker 9>But she was, Yeah, we talk about Sable all the time.
<v Speaker 3>She was she was huge to that. Deborah, she was
<v Speaker 3>huge to that whole thing. Oh yeah, that whole element.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, Deborah was actually you know, there was a
<v Speaker 3>time where Deborah was like that was that I was
<v Speaker 3>more interested in that than Sable. Yeah.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, she had a little bit more allure. And when
<v Speaker 9>Jerry Lawler hit the puppies thing, it was off to
<v Speaker 9>the races.
<v Speaker 3>They did, forget it.
<v Speaker 9>The puppies cover of Raw magazine. Remember that she had
<v Speaker 9>two puppies in front of her bare breasts. And I'm
<v Speaker 9>sure she absolutely sought satisfaction, you know, attitude ere at
<v Speaker 9>WWF absolute Listen, listen, We've all got needs. I don't
<v Speaker 9>know why this is still so controversial. I mean, we're
<v Speaker 9>gonna keep saying.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, it's it's totally it's totally normal. What
<v Speaker 3>are her needs and if and listen, listen. If if
<v Speaker 3>her needs require you know, a certain element of of
<v Speaker 3>of violence, so be it. She said, Texas beauty. I mean, listen,
<v Speaker 3>if she needs to scratch and claw her way to climax,
<v Speaker 3>that's just the way that it is nothing wrong with that. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>we all have needs. Remember how shiny what he's human?
<v Speaker 9>Remember how shiny her legs would be when she'd have
<v Speaker 9>like the pants suit on, like just the top.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, oh I know how she like glistened. It's
<v Speaker 3>like she fucking was in a It's like they fucking
<v Speaker 3>like gave her a coat of crisco or something.
<v Speaker 9>Oh man, what a time, what a time with these characters. Then,
<v Speaker 9>but she ended up who does she end up catching
<v Speaker 9>in her web? Steve Austin, That's right, I mean, think
<v Speaker 9>about that, think about big game hunting.
<v Speaker 3>You know, look at that. I mean the amount of like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, wrestlers that she kind of like just passed
<v Speaker 3>through them on now, it makes you just, you know, wonder,
<v Speaker 3>Like God.
<v Speaker 9>She's not going to miss a trick. She's got that
<v Speaker 9>glint in her eye. You see that in the high spots. Shoot,
<v Speaker 9>she's she knows how to make a face when she
<v Speaker 9>doesn't want to say the word, but she wants to
<v Speaker 9>get the idea across you know what I'm saying. Yeah,
<v Speaker 9>she's very very good about that. Yeah, she says, very
<v Speaker 9>close attention. She's working now like in like witness support
<v Speaker 9>in like New Orleans and the court system or something.
<v Speaker 9>According to a recent tweet, she's really Yeah, she's not
<v Speaker 9>a much different track these days, but but still kind
<v Speaker 9>of around. She'll do conventions and stuff at the time.
<v Speaker 3>But that's her.
<v Speaker 9>Contribution to the Mongo McMichael wcw origin story. And pretty
<v Speaker 9>soon the deal is put together and Eric is looking
<v Speaker 9>for a big, impactful series of things to make the
<v Speaker 9>debut of Monday Nitro in September of nineteen ninety five
<v Speaker 9>feel like a real fresh coat of paint for wcw
<v Speaker 9>Wily wait for the broadcast. Look who's there.
<v Speaker 27>From the land up ten thousand nights, Minneapolis, Minnesota, The
<v Speaker 27>Phone of America, the Holy Building, figured out the Home
<v Speaker 27>the Dame Edition.
<v Speaker 3>I'm w c W Monday Night, Joe, we are.
<v Speaker 21>Coming to you live here, Auntie Ante hell you Bunny.
<v Speaker 21>I brought this shop along with the newest cover on
<v Speaker 21>the w CW broadcasting.
<v Speaker 2>How you been into the big Leagus? Where are your baby?
<v Speaker 2>Look at this being you here?
<v Speaker 27>This place is apropoul And that don't mean you're digging around.
<v Speaker 2>In the dirk with farming woman's baby.
<v Speaker 25>This means this is a championship place, the showcase championship athletes.
<v Speaker 2>Hell whoa ho ho whoa whoa, whoa whoa whoa.
<v Speaker 27>There is well, mister McMichael's has made it Welcome to WCTO.
<v Speaker 27>Theston means wes to have it. Don't want let the
<v Speaker 27>rest to make mo go.
<v Speaker 3>Mister n I know you've been looking forward to this opportunity.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, what's it works for us?
<v Speaker 5>I was a big fan of here.
<v Speaker 3>When you play for Denver, I enjoy all your games.
<v Speaker 3>You are good at the top. We might have played
<v Speaker 3>cottle money now I.
<v Speaker 27>Don't know, No, Limnute, what about all the stuff you
<v Speaker 27>were saying.
<v Speaker 21>Lesson, come on, now's your opportunity to say about you.
<v Speaker 2>I was kidding, I said something.
<v Speaker 3>About basketball football.
<v Speaker 2>I give you my word.
<v Speaker 18>Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
<v Speaker 3>We got a lot of great actions.
<v Speaker 27>Tub your way the w CWRO have you way, Champion,
<v Speaker 27>how covid is going.
<v Speaker 21>To be your in the main event and we're gonna
<v Speaker 21>kick things off the man, you autician, thunder.
<v Speaker 5>Gentlemen.
<v Speaker 9>Following then we're off to a Liger versus pillman of
<v Speaker 9>it very first nitro match. Unbelievable, What a time to
<v Speaker 9>be alive. But that's the first time we hear from
<v Speaker 9>a Mango right there on a ww broadcast, and that's wild.
<v Speaker 9>The gorilla esque dynamic with him and Heenan begins, and
<v Speaker 9>he didn't go on as mentioned, to call what he
<v Speaker 9>called him a tarantula, his uh, his dog a tarantula
<v Speaker 9>or cockroach. I don't know what that would call him. Yeah,
<v Speaker 9>but now we're going to get a little bit of
<v Speaker 9>a glimpse at what it would mean for Mango to
<v Speaker 9>make it into the wrestling business and and get the uh,
<v Speaker 9>the attention of the media that was so you know,
<v Speaker 9>interested in all he had to say in the locker
<v Speaker 9>room and and the immediate aftermath of his NFL career.
<v Speaker 9>Here is a clipping Boss that I wish you could
<v Speaker 9>share with the Solar System. It's from the Times of Hammond,
<v Speaker 9>Indiana from Sunday, October fifteenth, nineteen ninety five. So Mango
<v Speaker 9>has now been doing money intro commentary for about a month.
<v Speaker 9>Words getting out. It's circulating and people are interested in
<v Speaker 9>what this latest chapter is for the former Bears legend.
<v Speaker 9>And here's a little bit of a glimpse of how
<v Speaker 9>the media would be covering McMichael's transition into professional wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>Headline. I feel like I'm a natural entertainer. Oh yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's great. I go performance art. Is that what they
<v Speaker 3>called it? They're in the Bear's piece another form of performance. Yeah, yes,
<v Speaker 3>that's right. Steve McMichael got the perfect nicknames for his
<v Speaker 3>new job, Mango and Ming the Merciless, Ming the Merciless.
<v Speaker 3>I don't get that at all. The fuck Yeah. The
<v Speaker 3>former Bears All Pro defensive tackle who retired last year
<v Speaker 3>after finishing up with the Packers, is a born showman
<v Speaker 3>and prankster, and he thought he'd be perfect for pro wrestling.
<v Speaker 3>Lo and behold McMichael's working as a quote commentator for
<v Speaker 3>World Championship Wrestling's Monday night telecast on TNT.
<v Speaker 9>Commentator is absolutely in quotes.
<v Speaker 3>Yes it is. It is in quotes. He's really not
<v Speaker 3>comment to this. Why would you need a commentator for
<v Speaker 3>something that it isn't even for something he's read right exactly,
<v Speaker 3>He's just he's He's spouting dialogue, is what he's doing.
<v Speaker 3>He thus makes a weekly quick switch from a serious sport.
<v Speaker 3>There it is the NFL, which he analyzes in his
<v Speaker 3>irreverent style before and after Bears telecast Sundays on w
<v Speaker 3>FLD TV Channel thirty two, as in his Football TV
<v Speaker 3>Analyst days, McMichael co stars with his pet chihuahua Pepe.
<v Speaker 3>He had a long track record along with his wife Deborah,
<v Speaker 3>and then Bear's team made Refrigerator Perry of destroying sports
<v Speaker 3>anchor Mark Mark jin Greco's suits and ties and painting
<v Speaker 3>his face live on the air. Like Michael talked about
<v Speaker 3>his broadcast antics and a possible future as a wrestler
<v Speaker 3>with Times correspondent to George Castle, I mean, why is
<v Speaker 3>wrestling increasingly so appealing to a network TV audience? Well,
<v Speaker 3>it's not actually it's not appealing to a network TV
<v Speaker 3>audience at all. I don't know what he means. Why
<v Speaker 3>he put network in there when that just is just not.
<v Speaker 8>What it is.
<v Speaker 3>People like to be entertained. Wrestling is entertainment. Sports fans
<v Speaker 3>like contact. They've got a they've got lots of it here.
<v Speaker 3>Why do they come to auto races to see the crashes?
<v Speaker 3>It's awful true. Anybody who thinks it's oh, here we go,
<v Speaker 3>here we go. Anybody anybody who thinks it's fixed, it
<v Speaker 3>is full of shit. It's physical and it's violent. This
<v Speaker 3>is full body contact, but it's entertaining. I think the
<v Speaker 3>NFL is making a big mistake finding these guys for hitting.
<v Speaker 3>The fans come to the game to see hitting. Wow,
<v Speaker 3>just quickly, Steve. Just for the record, this is not
<v Speaker 3>full body contact. This is actually quite the opposite. It's
<v Speaker 3>if it's full body contact, someone's doing something wrong exactly.
<v Speaker 3>It's it's more like faux body contact. Well, fau is true.
<v Speaker 3>You know what it is. It's half body contact. That's
<v Speaker 3>exactly what it is. Pseudo body contact. Absolutely, yeah, that's it.
<v Speaker 3>But it's half body and that like, no, when you
<v Speaker 3>say full body you mean You're going at someone with
<v Speaker 3>everything you have, which is not wrestling, to make contact
<v Speaker 3>with the express goal of not making it full. Yes, yeah, exactly,
<v Speaker 3>it's it's right you want to make it look full,
<v Speaker 3>but it's really pseudo. Your latest stunt was biting off
<v Speaker 3>the head of a crawfish on your football show. How
<v Speaker 3>do you come up with such stunts? I feel I'm
<v Speaker 3>a natural entertainer and if if you're a character, they've
<v Speaker 3>got their eyes wide open and they're watching you. If
<v Speaker 3>you're a robot and you're in line with everyone else
<v Speaker 3>with the cookie cutter image, you're boring and not entertainer.
<v Speaker 3>The gags I can pull on people are infinite. It
<v Speaker 3>just goes off and it's ad libbed. It's a natural
<v Speaker 3>thing and I love it. Getting people's goats is special.
<v Speaker 3>B WCW is full of championship athletes who have that character.
<v Speaker 3>When I go have a couple of bruise with the
<v Speaker 3>bruise with the guys after the matches, it's like I'm
<v Speaker 3>I'm with pure kin, like at a family reunion. With
<v Speaker 3>your size, ponytail and personality, you look like a wrestler.
<v Speaker 3>Will you ever get in the ring? You never know.
<v Speaker 3>As soon as some wrestler jumps into my face and
<v Speaker 3>tries to put some pooh pooh into please please say
<v Speaker 3>it all life, Please deliver it. I can't believe it.
<v Speaker 3>The alliteration here, the rhythmic tone. As soon as some
<v Speaker 3>wrestlers umps into my face and tries to put some
<v Speaker 3>poo pooh into my concarnate poo poo to my concarnate
<v Speaker 3>picture's face. I know I will reciprocate, but when it
<v Speaker 3>comes to being a full times rap, I'm sorry. He's
<v Speaker 3>gonna say wrestler, I'll have to put some work into it,
<v Speaker 3>like going to a football camp. Working hard to achieve
<v Speaker 3>something is no problem. That mentality will stay with me
<v Speaker 3>the rest of my life. I was a free agent
<v Speaker 3>who had to fight and claw for everything I got.
<v Speaker 3>He tried to put a tag team to deal together
<v Speaker 3>with Refrigerator Perry. Can he succeed on his own as
<v Speaker 3>a wrestler. I think that if he just acts the
<v Speaker 3>way he did around the team in the locker room,
<v Speaker 3>he'd be great. He lightened up practice. He's one of
<v Speaker 3>the funniest guys I know, and if he can exude
<v Speaker 3>that to a camera or to a wrestling audience. There's
<v Speaker 3>no limit to what he can achieve.
<v Speaker 9>That is, you know, it rights itself. That's the thing
<v Speaker 9>about a fuck yes, oh my god, sit back. You
<v Speaker 9>just record him and just go, you know, because he's
<v Speaker 9>gonna say, he's gonna say something money, Because like, the
<v Speaker 9>biggest mistake you can make is be boring, you know
<v Speaker 9>what I mean, when you exactly when you become famous
<v Speaker 9>for the reasons Steve McMichael. But which is why it's
<v Speaker 9>so stunning to me that athletes these days are so
<v Speaker 9>droll and dull on interviews at a time where you
<v Speaker 9>would expect this to be the golden age, where like
<v Speaker 9>all these guys want to have podcasts, but they want
<v Speaker 9>to say fucking nothing when the press puts microphones in
<v Speaker 9>their faces. In the locker room, that's where you make
<v Speaker 9>yourself a legend, you know, and you can say things
<v Speaker 9>that the media might latch onto and just steal the
<v Speaker 9>whole narrative of the team and fuck up the psychology
<v Speaker 9>of the locker room and piss off the general manager.
<v Speaker 9>I get all that, and it's probably easier if you
<v Speaker 9>just don't do that. But my god, like it's it's
<v Speaker 9>it's why Steve McMichael is. It's why he can command
<v Speaker 9>the media's attention when when he does this years later,
<v Speaker 9>it's because they all remember him as being so imminently quotable,
<v Speaker 9>and so it's just fascinating to find out what he's
<v Speaker 9>what he's up to, because he became like a subject
<v Speaker 9>that the media regarded as warm and facilitating and good copy.
<v Speaker 9>You know, I just don't waste my time, like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>say something like be worth quoting. It's not too much
<v Speaker 9>to ask.
<v Speaker 3>Apparently it is exactly Yeah, no, it shouldn't be, though.
<v Speaker 9>But I think he stands. Steve McMichael stance is a
<v Speaker 9>great example of of what can be achieved if you
<v Speaker 9>take that element of the business very seriously, and it
<v Speaker 9>can open up doors for your post football career as well.
<v Speaker 9>Now these guys kind of have this like direct track
<v Speaker 9>to being one of the six guys we're in the
<v Speaker 9>suits on the Desk Show, and that's kind of different.
<v Speaker 9>That's kind of you have to be you still, you
<v Speaker 9>can't be that colorful to get those jobs. You have
<v Speaker 9>to kind of be a stiff, you know, just a
<v Speaker 9>little bit. You can have a little bit of personality,
<v Speaker 9>but you can't really say anything like impactful. You know,
<v Speaker 9>you have to be very like you know, they just
<v Speaker 9>want a guy who's standing there in the cole Hans
<v Speaker 9>with the white souls, like in a.
<v Speaker 3>Suit like men. You know when I was bawling, it's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>oh my god, stop. So let's get it.
<v Speaker 9>Let's hear from Bishop fun eighty three weeks talking about
<v Speaker 9>the decision not only to bring in Mongo, but to
<v Speaker 9>make him a pro wrestler, an inn ring wrestler.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't bring him in. I didn't want him.
<v Speaker 9>Let me ask you, Conrad, before we go down that road.
<v Speaker 9>Did anything bad happened as a result of this, because
<v Speaker 9>if it did, I never wanted it to happen.
<v Speaker 28>Do you think you made the right call bringing Mango
<v Speaker 28>out of the booth and getting him in the ring?
<v Speaker 29>No?
<v Speaker 24>I think that was a mistake. Wow, I understand, you know,
<v Speaker 24>I want to say I understand why we did it.
<v Speaker 24>Of course I understand why we did it, because.
<v Speaker 5>I did it.
<v Speaker 24>I know why I did it, and I guess it
<v Speaker 24>was one of those things. On paper, it kind of
<v Speaker 24>made sense. He was very anxious to get physically involved.
<v Speaker 24>Just that was Steve's nature at that time. It made
<v Speaker 24>sense to me on paper, but at the end of
<v Speaker 24>it all, I think it diminished the potential he had
<v Speaker 24>as a color commentator because the wrestling audience just they
<v Speaker 24>didn't buy it.
<v Speaker 5>He wasn't skilled enough really in this match.
<v Speaker 24>I think he does okay in this match, at least
<v Speaker 24>what I've seen so far, because it is very basic,
<v Speaker 24>and that was the only type of match that Mongo
<v Speaker 24>could have was a very basic match because he didn't
<v Speaker 24>have a decade or more experience under his belt in
<v Speaker 24>the ring. Great athlete, tough guy, but that doesn't necessarily
<v Speaker 24>make you a great performer in the ring. So in retrospect, yeah,
<v Speaker 24>it was a mistake on my partner, no doubt about it.
<v Speaker 28>Tell everybody a little bit about, you know, what Mango
<v Speaker 28>was doing prior to you recruiting him for WCW and
<v Speaker 28>why it made sense for him to be on the
<v Speaker 28>mic for you guys, Well, Mango was.
<v Speaker 5>Doing a lot of commentating.
<v Speaker 24>I think he was covering the Chicago Bears in a
<v Speaker 24>local market in Chicago, and he was a very high
<v Speaker 24>profile guy. You know, in nineteen ninety seven, he wasn't
<v Speaker 24>that far removed from being a pretty high profile Super
<v Speaker 24>Bowl champion on a legendary Chicago Bears team during that time.
<v Speaker 24>So he had, as they call it in entertainment, a
<v Speaker 24>high Q factor. But he was also known as a
<v Speaker 24>tough guy, and he was articulate. He was funny.
<v Speaker 10>You know.
<v Speaker 24>When I say articulate, I mean in an entertaining kind
<v Speaker 24>of a way. He was I could sit down to
<v Speaker 24>quote Shakespeare, but he could be a very entertaining guy.
<v Speaker 24>He Unfortunately, Steve was a lot more entertaining off mic
<v Speaker 24>than he was on. I think he he was trying
<v Speaker 24>a little too hard, or perhaps he was just not
<v Speaker 24>as familiar as he wished he was on the mic,
<v Speaker 24>so a lot of his charisma, unfortunately often didn't translate
<v Speaker 24>as well as I wish it would have. But you know,
<v Speaker 24>he had all the bona fides, you know, like I said,
<v Speaker 24>he was a sportscaster. He was high profile. He had
<v Speaker 24>a great voice. He had a big character. That's the
<v Speaker 24>other reason I liked him behind the desk is he
<v Speaker 24>had a very I mean, he came to the ring
<v Speaker 24>with Pepe, the little Pechiuala, you know, quirky as it
<v Speaker 24>may be, it was a unique characteristic and he loved
<v Speaker 24>that dog. By the way, that wasn't just a prop
<v Speaker 24>dog that was his endeavor's dog. So there were a
<v Speaker 24>lot of reasons why I think it made sense to
<v Speaker 24>put them behind the microphone, but not necessarily in the ring.
<v Speaker 9>So again I'm not sure if I'm with Eric on
<v Speaker 9>like it being an absolute awful idea to let Steve
<v Speaker 9>Wressel instead of just commentate, because if he kept commentating
<v Speaker 9>for much longer, it would have been wrestle crap. People
<v Speaker 9>would have gotten so sick of it. I feel like, right, yeah,
<v Speaker 9>he just speaks stupid sometimes. It's something that I think
<v Speaker 9>was probably all things considered, as well timed as it
<v Speaker 9>could have possibly been, Like his transition into wrestling, it
<v Speaker 9>was about what eight months after he did the nineteen
<v Speaker 9>eighty six Great American Bash tag match with Kevin Green,
<v Speaker 9>and again to the point earlier about Horseman business intersecting
<v Speaker 9>with the nWo angle and sort of not allowing the
<v Speaker 9>horseman to be the chief foil to the nWo, which
<v Speaker 9>was money. They had to do this whole Kevin Green thing,
<v Speaker 9>which is like off to the side. It's like the
<v Speaker 9>nWo was like invading. They're power bombing Eric Bischoff on
<v Speaker 9>this show. They're this huge hostile force and off to
<v Speaker 9>the side, the Horsemen are having their feud and not
<v Speaker 9>boring about it at all, and i'ven thinking about it,
<v Speaker 9>not having any concern because they have this thing to do. Know,
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green, who was probably even more decorated a Hall
<v Speaker 9>of Famer in his own right football player than Mongo,
<v Speaker 9>was really keen on getting into the business and working
<v Speaker 9>and was a great athlete and did pretty well in
<v Speaker 9>pro wrestling for the limited amount of time he participated
<v Speaker 9>in it. And so Mongo kind of came along for
<v Speaker 9>the ride. That was kind of the deal. It was like,
<v Speaker 9>let's make this a tag match, and let's actually slop
<v Speaker 9>Mango and as a Horseman as the big turn. And
<v Speaker 9>if you remember, at the end of that match, it's
<v Speaker 9>when Mongo hits Kevin Green over the head with the
<v Speaker 9>Haliburton briefcase. Yeah, because the Horseman, you know, oh yeah,
<v Speaker 9>announcing his sort of announcing his addition to the Four Horsemen,
<v Speaker 9>allowing Urnt intererson in Rick Flair to record the victory there.
<v Speaker 3>So it was, it was.
<v Speaker 9>It was an interesting time. The problem in a lot
<v Speaker 9>of ways was that as Mango was in integrating himself
<v Speaker 9>into the Horseman, there was injuries to Ric Flair as
<v Speaker 9>well as to and We talked about the injury to
<v Speaker 9>Rick Flair, Remember he had the shoulder sling on at
<v Speaker 9>the nineteen ninety six World War Three. He had just
<v Speaker 9>had shoulder surgery and then Arne Ederson of course ended
<v Speaker 9>up suffering the career ending neck injury and started to
<v Speaker 9>have you know some of the signs of that. He
<v Speaker 9>did his retirement promo right around the time of this
<v Speaker 9>Clash of the Champions. I believe it was the very
<v Speaker 9>next week where he took to the ring because remember
<v Speaker 9>the Kurt heading four Horseman thing was my spot, remember that,
<v Speaker 9>I want to give you my spot, And he was
<v Speaker 9>talking to Kurt Headick when he said that before the
<v Speaker 9>fall Brell, he'll turn. So the fact that the core
<v Speaker 9>of the Horsemen Flair and and Anderson were up in
<v Speaker 9>the air in terms of what they could do due
<v Speaker 9>to injury throughout the entire course of Steve McMichael being
<v Speaker 9>integrated into the Horseman really cost them the opportunity to
<v Speaker 9>really run as a unit for any length of time.
<v Speaker 9>And it's why it seems like Mongo's feud with Jeff
<v Speaker 9>Jared over Debra is sort of like superfluous to the
<v Speaker 9>Horsemen almost and Jeff Jarrett's involvement with the Horsemen and
<v Speaker 9>Flair technically saying once on Nitro that he was now
<v Speaker 9>officially a horseman. It all kind of was weak because
<v Speaker 9>Rick and Arn weren't really involved in a week to
<v Speaker 9>week basis, and in the ram it almost made the
<v Speaker 9>Horsemen seemed like a mid card act for a little while, honestly,
<v Speaker 9>and they really were because the nWo was so thoroughly
<v Speaker 9>dominating the main event attention. What Sting was up to
<v Speaker 9>was getting a lot of oxygen, and without Flare and
<v Speaker 9>Arn there every week working, it was really hard to
<v Speaker 9>make the Horsemen feel like they were positioned as they
<v Speaker 9>should be in the WCW pecking order. But as things
<v Speaker 9>go and ninety six plays out, there is an episode
<v Speaker 9>of Nitro where Stephen Michael's wife Deborah is seated ringside
<v Speaker 9>and Brick Flair, upon making his way to the ring,
<v Speaker 9>makes a bit of a pass at her, and the
<v Speaker 9>announcers call that out, and that's kind of the introduction
<v Speaker 9>of the fact that Steve McMichael has this wife and
<v Speaker 9>she's also going to be a WCW character to the
<v Speaker 9>equation Deborah's mentioned had married Steve McMichael in nineteen eighty five,
<v Speaker 9>and when she came to WCW, as she says in
<v Speaker 9>her shoot interview, it was also much of a culture
<v Speaker 9>shock for her, as she kind of illustrates the difference
<v Speaker 9>between being a wife in the football business and a
<v Speaker 9>wife in the wrestling business.
<v Speaker 22>Boy, that was a hole like it first, because NFL
<v Speaker 22>can be really really tough as in snotty. And he
<v Speaker 22>got the bearer wives, and you got the clicks, and
<v Speaker 22>you got what you wear and and and yeah, it's
<v Speaker 22>and that's where I learned how to how to have
<v Speaker 22>a tough skin and live in Chicago. You know, I'm
<v Speaker 22>the southern girl that's really naive and I had to
<v Speaker 22>learn and learn how to be tough skinned and and
<v Speaker 22>Steve McMichael was so good at to be in my
<v Speaker 22>little backup. So if I ran my mouth and got
<v Speaker 22>in trouble, then he backed me up. And so when
<v Speaker 22>I learned a lot from him how to be really
<v Speaker 22>sassy and he's quick witted, and so the NFL wives there, the.
<v Speaker 13>It's a whole.
<v Speaker 2>It's just different.
<v Speaker 22>Just like when I got into the wrestling, they didn't
<v Speaker 22>want to accept me at first, because you know, I'm
<v Speaker 22>the NFL wife and two and at w CW back then,
<v Speaker 22>that was the hardcore wrestling girls, you know, like Cherry
<v Speaker 22>and and you know woman she was tough too, and
<v Speaker 22>just the whole you know there. I remember one time
<v Speaker 22>Nancy was I looked Deborah and she was flipping this
<v Speaker 22>razor blood in her mouth. She says, oh, yeah, I
<v Speaker 22>want to go down to Mexico. I put this in
<v Speaker 22>my mouth so when I walk through the crowd, if
<v Speaker 22>someone grabs me, you know, I might have to use it.
<v Speaker 22>And I was like, you know, I'm coming from the NFL,
<v Speaker 22>and whoa. And then I remember one time Sherry, and
<v Speaker 22>now I understand it. Like one time she told everyone
<v Speaker 22>She's like, watch, I want to get Deborah, you know,
<v Speaker 22>and I'm doing the beauty queen and and you know,
<v Speaker 22>I don't do any kind of wrestling or anything. And
<v Speaker 22>all of a sudden she just jumps on and starts
<v Speaker 22>hitting me with that with that metal briefcase. But I
<v Speaker 22>kept in my character, but I was going, oh my gosh,
<v Speaker 22>what's wrong with her? She just freaked out.
<v Speaker 30>But she was just picking at me, So there must
<v Speaker 30>be there has to be hazing there has to be,
<v Speaker 30>oh absolutely, but that was pretty powerful for her and
<v Speaker 30>Elizabeth and Woman walking out with the Horsemen.
<v Speaker 3>That was pretty powerful. It's like, these guys are fucking awesome. Yes, Yes,
<v Speaker 3>that's all. That's it. That's because what I'm talking about,
<v Speaker 3>that's all part of it. They just they just fucking knew.
<v Speaker 9>They knew what to do, knew how to carry themselves,
<v Speaker 9>knew how to pick the people, They knew how to
<v Speaker 9>carry themselves for the most part. Yes, So there's Debora
<v Speaker 9>finding her way from NFL wife to wrestling wife and
<v Speaker 9>linking up with some rather legendary female names in their
<v Speaker 9>own right, from Shery to Liz to Nancy Sullivan Woman.
<v Speaker 9>So business is picking up here as they integrate her
<v Speaker 9>into the television show and thus Mango into the Horsemen
<v Speaker 9>and heading into the grid. American Bash Flare and Arn
<v Speaker 9>versus Mongo and Kevin Green. As we see here when
<v Speaker 9>Mongo guested on Flair's pod, it turned out to be
<v Speaker 9>quite the learning curve for Kevin Green to get his
<v Speaker 9>natural physicality under control to the extent that he could
<v Speaker 9>do a professional wrestling match and not absolutely kill people.
<v Speaker 9>And in kind of figuring that out and building around
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green. That's apparently where a lot of the bond
<v Speaker 9>between Mongo and Rick Flair was formed.
<v Speaker 17>The weight training is going fine, but the ring may
<v Speaker 17>have throne two of pro football's best up curveball the ropes.
<v Speaker 17>The ropes are strong steel cords. The playing field is
<v Speaker 17>only a sixteen by sixteen foot square. The mat is
<v Speaker 17>hard as concrete. They have looked closer than ever at
<v Speaker 17>the match strategy. We're talking we can take your baby,
<v Speaker 17>and they've come up with a plan.
<v Speaker 2>Margot, baby, I got the game plan. Check this out. Army, baby, Darmy,
<v Speaker 2>I'm here. I'm on the apron. Okay, I'm watching you
<v Speaker 2>and protecting you back.
<v Speaker 26>Just shoot baby so hard and lower with the cross
<v Speaker 26>body block here. Then you gotta get a four point
<v Speaker 26>stel football it four points, dance like you're in colde.
<v Speaker 26>You gotta penetrate more point as football. Then you gotta
<v Speaker 26>make the play in the back, in the back of
<v Speaker 26>the last scrimmage right there, tackle.
<v Speaker 25>For loss, baby, all I can see what you talk.
<v Speaker 25>What just a minute, let me get us dealer in
<v Speaker 25>a chair. Wait a minute, you're talking football.
<v Speaker 2>Bes right know. You want to get that ring and
<v Speaker 2>just drift their head off.
<v Speaker 25>Exactly because I don't know about that baby naked Tyler.
<v Speaker 2>I removed. The boy's been in the business a long time.
<v Speaker 2>Now here's us. I'm gonna put us.
<v Speaker 25>As the axes, and I'm gonna put them up as
<v Speaker 25>the oats because they're zero is you know what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 25>The first thing we gotta do is watch out for
<v Speaker 25>their signature holes. You know, the nature boy and the
<v Speaker 25>figure for him. And he starts figuring that leg.
<v Speaker 2>Us everything you can't you get out of here. I've
<v Speaker 2>seen that, all right, Anderson, he's got that DDT. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>he'll try to drive your head through the man. You
<v Speaker 2>gotta stay out of that stuff really doesn't matter. When
<v Speaker 2>you come across and you start racking and sacking, you
<v Speaker 2>planning for a tackle for loss. Baby, I don't know
<v Speaker 2>that we're.
<v Speaker 25>Wrestling now, baby. And another thing about wrestling and tag teams,
<v Speaker 25>you don't want to get your little ex all the
<v Speaker 25>way over here in their corner because them zeros will
<v Speaker 25>take care.
<v Speaker 2>Of But you gotta penetrate.
<v Speaker 26>You gotta penetrate the last privilege on their side of
<v Speaker 26>the football.
<v Speaker 25>You gotta keep You've gotta keep everything on your side
<v Speaker 25>of the match. I can see we're gonna be at
<v Speaker 25>odds here. We're what do we we gotta get together.
<v Speaker 25>We can bring us together man by somebody to coaches
<v Speaker 25>to manage us. A manager would be great, a coach.
<v Speaker 25>What are you are you thinking what I'm thinking of?
<v Speaker 2>Macho kin?
<v Speaker 22>Oh?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, gotta get I know he's can't. I know they
<v Speaker 2>bandy for wrestling, but I want to. I think it's
<v Speaker 2>so mad. He's got the phone over thinking. We gotta
<v Speaker 2>get we gotta find the call. Come on, let's go. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>it's the.
<v Speaker 1>Lapseng Wrestling podcast. He's fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Can.
<v Speaker 9>So that's how Bongo and Kevin Green went into the
<v Speaker 9>film room and he drew up the x's and o's
<v Speaker 9>in the place.
<v Speaker 3>That's just fucking hious and bash.
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green is gonna tackle Rick Flair for a loss.
<v Speaker 9>And so they you recall they kind of bring in
<v Speaker 9>Randy Savage to help train them.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I do remember.
<v Speaker 9>And actually Omongo goes through the power Plant, the w
<v Speaker 9>statebu training facility as just Kevin Green to work things
<v Speaker 9>out and get accustomed how to work in the ring.
<v Speaker 9>Never quite got it totally down, but learn fast enough
<v Speaker 9>that it wasn't a total embarrassment when he stepped into
<v Speaker 9>the ring. WCW thrived on that, you know, from Dennis Rodman,
<v Speaker 9>Karl Malone, a lot of celebrities that came through. I'm
<v Speaker 9>trying to think of what or two others, even Goldberg
<v Speaker 9>to some degree, they trained them up enough to where
<v Speaker 9>they could go out there and do a match and
<v Speaker 9>it wasn't horrible and you could go on with your life.
<v Speaker 9>It wasn't like a disaster. They knew how to do
<v Speaker 9>like that quick study kind of thing. Even j Lette,
<v Speaker 9>I mean, Jay Lennel was obviously ridiculous, but like getting
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Eubanks to do the diamond cutter and stuff. They
<v Speaker 9>even dressed that one. Oh yeah yeah.
<v Speaker 10>You know.
<v Speaker 9>They had guys like Kidman and guys like later Shane
<v Speaker 9>Helms and Chavo and others that knew how to you know,
<v Speaker 9>work with celebrities. Canyon he did a lot of that
<v Speaker 9>stuff for the Ready to Rumble movie, and you know,
<v Speaker 9>even as horrible as like the David Arquette stuff was like,
<v Speaker 9>is the chief thing that you remember the match looking
<v Speaker 9>like total Shiit not really? You know, they they you know,
<v Speaker 9>they train them up enough to be passable to get
<v Speaker 9>the thing done, and that that's something I don't think WCW,
<v Speaker 9>through their power plant infrastructure and having wrestlers who are
<v Speaker 9>really talented on roster at training people, was able to
<v Speaker 9>figure out with a pretty high degree of success. And
<v Speaker 9>Mongo fits into that that picture. As to Kevin Green, here,
<v Speaker 9>so that's the vignette they shot and the lead up
<v Speaker 9>to the bash, and of course here's the angle. Here's
<v Speaker 9>where it happens and where Steve Mongam McMichael becomes a
<v Speaker 9>four horseman?
<v Speaker 3>What is Kevin Green trying to turn this figure four over?
<v Speaker 3>But Kenny, excuse me, what is this?
<v Speaker 5>I'm right here.
<v Speaker 6>I have no idea.
<v Speaker 3>Who is that?
<v Speaker 2>Is that devil mc michael.
<v Speaker 3>She doesn't have the bear's coat on it? And what's
<v Speaker 3>what's in the case?
<v Speaker 2>What is going on here? I have no idea? You go,
<v Speaker 2>what is going on here?
<v Speaker 3>Give me a break on this?
<v Speaker 18>What's she saying here?
<v Speaker 3>Meanwhile the figure flour is still on here? What are
<v Speaker 3>they doing here? That's a four horseman shirt?
<v Speaker 2>It is money, It's a lot of money.
<v Speaker 3>This boy?
<v Speaker 20>Is that ever?
<v Speaker 22>Fuck?
<v Speaker 3>Give me a break back, Michaels, use your.
<v Speaker 2>Here and Michaels shup. Kevin Green in the middle of
<v Speaker 2>the ring with a lot of pain, flus and agony
<v Speaker 2>putting on him.
<v Speaker 3>Just turn it over. He's looking for tag.
<v Speaker 2>Look Kevin Glen let for tag, screaming for.
<v Speaker 3>Longo brother right, Oh hell of Kevin? There is the
<v Speaker 3>hell is going on here?
<v Speaker 8>Kevin Green is out.
<v Speaker 2>Boy, I'm and gentleman. What he don't happen here? Unbelievable.
<v Speaker 10>I can't believe it.
<v Speaker 21>Led by the head coach, Bunny in the nature boy,
<v Speaker 21>Eric One, Hen Puma.
<v Speaker 2>Sir Manga, his nicks in.
<v Speaker 21>Going after the two man Randy Savage. Look at this
<v Speaker 21>and Kevin Green is still out? Aren't Anderson McClair stop me?
<v Speaker 21>The machel man. Steve McMichael's got the case full of money.
<v Speaker 20>It's loaded with money, and our hutsman's shirt and the
<v Speaker 20>four of them in the ring.
<v Speaker 2>Don't tell me what is going on here?
<v Speaker 21>He even calling the shots all the half into the
<v Speaker 21>head ladies and gentlemen taking the scene and startling.
<v Speaker 2>Shot into them.
<v Speaker 5>Unbelievle.
<v Speaker 21>I give up from apparently Steve McMichael. The only thing
<v Speaker 21>I can say, it's call it from what I see
<v Speaker 21>it apparently Steve McMichael, if you all get loose from.
<v Speaker 3>That with the Fourth Horsemen, they paid him off.
<v Speaker 2>And there's Deborah McMichaels there they are fans. Take a
<v Speaker 2>look at it. Money talks, money talks, man.
<v Speaker 27>I tell you we need to take a hard, cold
<v Speaker 27>look and just cut you what really.
<v Speaker 5>Makes it all work?
<v Speaker 3>While there, oh ship stupid? Can you believe this?
<v Speaker 21>They have sold their soul for the money. And it's
<v Speaker 21>like McMichael said, is he stakes the hand of eating
<v Speaker 21>You're kidding? I mean the man that he battered with
<v Speaker 21>for so long on Night Tron his hand.
<v Speaker 5>Hey, Ebby Heenen said this plan up two.
<v Speaker 21>It's like Steve told me, I said, why did you
<v Speaker 21>jump ship to the packers?
<v Speaker 3>He said, money. Well there it is again, Wow, unbelievable.
<v Speaker 3>That's so great.
<v Speaker 9>That was that was the heel turn. And they paid
<v Speaker 9>McMichael and a briefcase full of cash to turn on
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green. And now he's in the Horseman. And here
<v Speaker 9>as a references is flair of the pot.
<v Speaker 3>It's it's just amazing, by the way, like in basically
<v Speaker 3>in a matter of months they go from being uber
<v Speaker 3>heel horsemen to being crazy baby faces simply because of
<v Speaker 3>the nWo.
<v Speaker 9>Simply because of the NBO. Exactly, the Horsemen were always
<v Speaker 9>just one step away from being baby faces to the audience.
<v Speaker 9>Like that's what frustrated Dusty so much in the late eighties.
<v Speaker 9>It's like they were just too cool and the second
<v Speaker 9>the people they opposed were like, let say, less cool.
<v Speaker 9>But the second their opposition made the Horseman's innate qualities
<v Speaker 9>what the moment called for, you know, like, oh, they're
<v Speaker 9>the greatest thing in the world. They always had their fans.
<v Speaker 9>They were one of the first acts to really have
<v Speaker 9>like you know, people come to the arenas dressed up
<v Speaker 9>like the Horsemen and the tapings right right, and so
<v Speaker 9>this was, yeah, it was great because while they they
<v Speaker 9>bued McMichael for you know, turning heel and they probably like,
<v Speaker 9>oh Jesus, this guy's going to be in the Horseman.
<v Speaker 9>After a little while it was like, Okay, this guy
<v Speaker 9>actually fits.
<v Speaker 3>This is kind of money.
<v Speaker 9>When they all come out together for the first time,
<v Speaker 9>but the first several times you're like, Okay, this is fantastic.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it's fantastic.
<v Speaker 9>I see the vision, I see the I see the
<v Speaker 9>the tableau. When it all looks together as a package.
<v Speaker 9>And you've got Woman and Elizabeth there too. It's just
<v Speaker 9>it was a really great thing. And I love your
<v Speaker 9>point about how like say what you will about how
<v Speaker 9>loaded and great The earliest iterations of the Horsemen were
<v Speaker 9>the presentation here was on par with any presentation any
<v Speaker 9>horse that stable.
<v Speaker 3>Had absolutely no question.
<v Speaker 9>And here is flair of the pod with Mango talking
<v Speaker 9>about what it took to put that moment together with
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green and make sure that Flare and Arn opposing
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Green in the ring didn't have to leave with
<v Speaker 9>some limbs detached.
<v Speaker 5>And actually.
<v Speaker 13>You caught on pretty quickly. We had a really hard
<v Speaker 13>time getting Kevin to put it down in second gear
<v Speaker 13>if you remember.
<v Speaker 10>Yeah, Kevin, Kevin was about well, you know just what
<v Speaker 10>I experienced a backstage for most wrestlers. All, I can't
<v Speaker 10>do that move for you. That's not my character. Yeah,
<v Speaker 10>Lord have margin? Well what about if I just go
<v Speaker 10>out there and take it? Yeah, Well I wouldn't have
<v Speaker 10>been working there very long, would I know?
<v Speaker 13>But Kevin Kevin good, good goal, but he We could
<v Speaker 13>never get Kevin to slow it down enough. In the
<v Speaker 13>greatest moment of my life in terms of being laughing
<v Speaker 13>and enjoying a moment because we mango sold. I'm sure
<v Speaker 13>you saw Conrad, and we gave the hot tag to Kevin,
<v Speaker 13>and uh, I was legal, and Kevin almost killed me.
<v Speaker 13>He asked me, he asked me earlier because suplex me.
<v Speaker 13>I said no, didn't make any difference. She gave me
<v Speaker 13>a vertical and then of course Iron fed and Kevin
<v Speaker 13>got down her three point stance and he hit Kevin had.
<v Speaker 3>Haren't coming to the rope of the theearm s cartwheel.
<v Speaker 13>I was laying there, dying, dying, and Arn and I
<v Speaker 13>are both begging off to the opposite corner, just waiting
<v Speaker 13>for the briefcase.
<v Speaker 10>Jesus crust, I shouldn't have to be only with that
<v Speaker 10>metal briefcase. I shouldn't have just ninted his head with it,
<v Speaker 10>oh Jesus, Yeah, yeah, I don't mean I was aroused.
<v Speaker 3>Just so you know, when they called him stiffy, that
<v Speaker 3>didn't mean he had a boner. Wow here I thought.
<v Speaker 9>But you could hear the camaraderie between those two. That's
<v Speaker 9>that's fucking hilarious. You know, those two go white guy,
<v Speaker 9>remember Mongol.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's just you know, he's gonna it just
<v Speaker 3>though for me it always just feels like, you know,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, Flaire's just kissing yes is yes, you know,
<v Speaker 3>because he's more he's more legit than he is bingo bingo.
<v Speaker 9>He loves he loves having a camaraderie with somebody who's
<v Speaker 9>you know, achieved kind of a more mainstream level of
<v Speaker 9>popularity all the way down to the rappers and everything
<v Speaker 9>that had him in music videos.
<v Speaker 3>He loves it.
<v Speaker 9>She's just the first thing about their music. Doesn't care.
<v Speaker 9>Someone told him that they have more money in the
<v Speaker 9>bank than he does, and he's all about it. And
<v Speaker 9>he knows how to charm those people. That's his endearing
<v Speaker 9>that's his key to survival.
<v Speaker 10>You know.
<v Speaker 9>Flair has never been unable to charm the people that
<v Speaker 9>will be the next ones to put money in his
<v Speaker 9>bank account. You know, Hogan's a lot like that too,
<v Speaker 9>but Flair is better at it.
<v Speaker 3>Honestly.
<v Speaker 9>He Flair can walk into any room and like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>become somebody that you want to give ten thousand dollars to.
<v Speaker 3>Honestly, I believe that.
<v Speaker 9>I believe that Evince all the way down and but yeah,
<v Speaker 9>that some fond memories from that nineteen ninety six Great
<v Speaker 9>American Bash Match. There they try to figure out a
<v Speaker 9>way to stop Kevin Green from knocking their respective heads off,
<v Speaker 9>and Mungo carrying himself in a locker room where he
<v Speaker 9>knows he could take on anybody there, but having to
<v Speaker 9>figure out the give and take necessary of pro wrestling.
<v Speaker 9>It's not easy for everybody to figure out. That was
<v Speaker 9>a big criticism of Goldberg. You know, it's like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>you have to give and take. That's the business. Like,
<v Speaker 9>just because you could kick my ass in real life
<v Speaker 9>doesn't mean that the the go forward strategy is to
<v Speaker 9>portray that.
<v Speaker 10>Right.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, if you do do that, you start spitting
<v Speaker 9>out money like a fucking ATM.
<v Speaker 3>But we don't.
<v Speaker 9>That's a dead horse already here. But Kevin Green had
<v Speaker 9>the match there. Reggie White was another guy there was
<v Speaker 9>an NFL legend who who got a match in WCW,
<v Speaker 9>and they did pretty well training him up. But Kevin
<v Speaker 9>Green eventually had three matches total and ended up signing
<v Speaker 9>a contract midstream at WCW. He ended up signing back
<v Speaker 9>in the NFL, So unlike Mongo, who put the NFL
<v Speaker 9>behind him and was pretty almost certainly done with pro football,
<v Speaker 9>when he went to work for WCW, Kevin Green was
<v Speaker 9>still being looked at by NFL teams. When he did WCW,
<v Speaker 9>he still was close enough to being a threat on
<v Speaker 9>the football field that people were approaching him. And Kevin
<v Speaker 9>Green's WCW run was cut short when the San Francisco
<v Speaker 9>forty nine Ers signed him to a six year, thirteen
<v Speaker 9>million dollar contract right in the summer of nineteen ninety seven.
<v Speaker 9>And as Dave Meltzer reported, the clause in the contract
<v Speaker 9>there he could not do any pro wrestling until the
<v Speaker 9>year two thousand and two, which of course he did
<v Speaker 9>not do. He had been cut by the Carolina Panthers
<v Speaker 9>just a few days before this, and.
<v Speaker 3>And that was that.
<v Speaker 9>So yeah, in a lot of ways, Kevin Green has
<v Speaker 9>a lot to do with why Steve McMichael transitioned because
<v Speaker 9>that was just it into a wrestler, because that was
<v Speaker 9>the idea to use him, to use Kevin Green, just
<v Speaker 9>to have Mongo as Sparkner and Turn and I'm Joined
<v Speaker 9>the Four Horsemen and and so Flair remembers, among other
<v Speaker 9>things on the aforementioned podcast, Mango showing up every Monday
<v Speaker 9>to Nitro with fifteen grand minimum cash in his pocket.
<v Speaker 9>See that's that's exactly what you were saying. He loves
<v Speaker 9>like gambling. He loves people show up with brakes, you know.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. Oh my gods, driven thousand. I showed up with
<v Speaker 3>ten thousand. I went to the bar. I got forty
<v Speaker 3>eight thousand more. I couldn't believe it. He had ten
<v Speaker 3>thousand dollars, had a diet coke, and I rum and coke.
<v Speaker 3>I had Sea Breeze, and I had about eight million
<v Speaker 3>dollars in my pocket.
<v Speaker 9>The greatest moment of my life, okay, Rick, let me
<v Speaker 9>get let me get a straight all.
<v Speaker 3>You've done.
<v Speaker 9>The greatest moment of your life under any qualifier you
<v Speaker 9>put after it is the Great American Bash nineteen ninety
<v Speaker 9>six tag match with Mongo and Kevin Green.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, first of all, okay, let's just say that
<v Speaker 3>every it seems like every second is a new greatest
<v Speaker 3>moment of Rick Flair's life. Oh my god's so great.
<v Speaker 3>And then he puts just a fucking morning He.
<v Speaker 9>Puts on that like somber, like NFL documentary tone that
<v Speaker 9>he can do, you know, with like six chains, a
<v Speaker 9>T shirt and a blazer.
<v Speaker 3>I can't with him. I just can't. I'm done. I'm
<v Speaker 3>done with Rick Flair. Piece of shit, he said it.
<v Speaker 3>Come on, ref get in there. He's done it all, man,
<v Speaker 3>He's giving us so much over the year. That's kind
<v Speaker 3>of the problem. He has done it all.
<v Speaker 9>So Bongo every Monday would show up at fifteen grand
<v Speaker 9>in his pocket. I go Mango by the time you
<v Speaker 9>went back to Los Angeles. There's a lot of Absolutely
<v Speaker 9>he come home on Monday, wouldn't go home till Friday,
<v Speaker 9>he would say. In other words, he could have went
<v Speaker 9>home after Nitro, but he didn't. Every time they touched
<v Speaker 9>down in any particular city for Nitro, to hear Rick
<v Speaker 9>Flair tell it, Mango would basically hole up and party
<v Speaker 9>his ass off till it was time to leave, as
<v Speaker 9>far as his calculus.
<v Speaker 3>On the weekend.
<v Speaker 9>And so when Thunder came around, Flair would say, you know,
<v Speaker 9>we would see we wouldn't see Mongo, Lil Thunder.
<v Speaker 3>We'd have a Nitro. He'd disappear, No know where he is.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god.
<v Speaker 9>He just used to do a lot of drugs, you know. Yeah, sure,
<v Speaker 9>I remember hearing like Scott Hall talk about it and
<v Speaker 9>stuff like he was. Bongo was a serious like cocaine guy,
<v Speaker 9>like he was where the party was at if you
<v Speaker 9>wanted to roll that way. He kind of put the
<v Speaker 9>wrestlers to shame. It sounds like in that regard frankly,
<v Speaker 9>which is really saying something. He just stayed on the road,
<v Speaker 9>and among the things he would do was check in
<v Speaker 9>with Rick back in Charlotte. Now, Rick had opened a
<v Speaker 9>gym in Charlotte, and of course there's a big move
<v Speaker 9>and shaker in that city known to all the politicians
<v Speaker 9>and the big business leaders there, sought after as like
<v Speaker 9>a spokesperson and an endorsement guy, and one of the
<v Speaker 9>you know, one of the more prominent figures in the city.
<v Speaker 9>All told even thought about running for mayor a couple
<v Speaker 9>of times, did Brick Flair. And there came a time
<v Speaker 9>when he opened the new gym where a lot of
<v Speaker 9>the hoy peloi of sharks that we're out there to
<v Speaker 9>commemorate the occasion, a lot of big movers and shakers,
<v Speaker 9>and among the people to show up at this party,
<v Speaker 9>which apparently was boy kind of a bow tie affair
<v Speaker 9>or something close to it, was Mango, and Mango, let's say,
<v Speaker 9>is not wearing a tuxedo. Mango was wearing what we
<v Speaker 9>just heard a little bit earlier, that clip you were
<v Speaker 9>reading from Boss. He was Santa and it goes the
<v Speaker 9>way you'd expect.
<v Speaker 13>Listen. So when I had the goals gyms Conrad, I
<v Speaker 13>had Steve come open up one of me him he said,
<v Speaker 13>he came into Charlotte and uh so I had a
<v Speaker 13>limo pick him up and we went and did the signing,
<v Speaker 13>and uh so, this is the greatest story of all time.
<v Speaker 11>So the.
<v Speaker 3>Steve goes, I said, Steve, I got to go home.
<v Speaker 13>I'm still married, you know, barely, but I got to
<v Speaker 13>go home and Mango and said, I'll just take the
<v Speaker 13>car for a while. So I go into my gym
<v Speaker 13>at a South Park the next day at noon, right
<v Speaker 13>to work out, and the guy that owns the company
<v Speaker 13>was working out the jim. He says, where'd your friend?
<v Speaker 13>And I said, I don't know, like this back at
<v Speaker 13>the hotel. He says that back at the hotel, and
<v Speaker 13>then and my car's that back? Yeah, I said, what's happening?
<v Speaker 13>He said, it's noon. I said, you didn't. We didn't
<v Speaker 13>find Mongo until six pm that night, and then he
<v Speaker 13>checked into the hotel. Show up, hey, Listen. Then he
<v Speaker 13>checking into the South Park suits. He calls me because
<v Speaker 13>he's already gone through ten grand and said, can I
<v Speaker 13>have fifteen hundred bucks? I said, I went and got
<v Speaker 13>fifteen hundred bucks. And he just stayed in the hotel
<v Speaker 13>for another three days. And then and then I had
<v Speaker 13>my big clothes party with three hundred people, right, three
<v Speaker 13>hundred people, bankers, you know, tall girl and Mongo comes
<v Speaker 13>walking down chairs.
<v Speaker 10>This was the first Christmas party to Frank, all his
<v Speaker 10>business parties, everything in Charlotte to oh been You've been
<v Speaker 10>good parties? Well, I show up. I'm dressed up like
<v Speaker 10>bad Santa, I got to say in the costume. You know,
<v Speaker 10>I have a shaved So I've got three days of
<v Speaker 10>stumble and I'm carrying the Jack Daniels bottle and drinking straight.
<v Speaker 5>Out of it and talking a cigar.
<v Speaker 10>Have you ever seen flair ghost white tails? I can't
<v Speaker 10>utter a word. I'm walking in this party things. Oh
<v Speaker 10>my god, I've lost them all. By the time that
<v Speaker 10>night was over, every one of them's wife had sit
<v Speaker 10>in my lamp and took a picture of smiling baby.
<v Speaker 5>Hey.
<v Speaker 13>He looked like Dan Kroydon trading places.
<v Speaker 3>The only thing he didn't have with out.
<v Speaker 10>That's what I got. The character.
<v Speaker 2>God, I don't even know if you want to ruin it.
<v Speaker 2>When did you go home?
<v Speaker 3>I don't remember.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't. I didn't.
<v Speaker 3>Jesus Salmon. By the way, he's a he's a fucking monster.
<v Speaker 3>Can you imagine him showing up?
<v Speaker 9>By the way, Can we just take a moment, I
<v Speaker 9>say all you will about how Rick Flair just like
<v Speaker 9>made a mockery of domesticity and like family life and everything,
<v Speaker 9>and just the way his his cavorting ways Flair at
<v Speaker 9>Christmas is so money to me and so funny how
<v Speaker 9>he like slows everything down and pretends to be like
<v Speaker 9>you know, the sweater.
<v Speaker 3>Right, he thinks he's tasteful, and all of a sudden
<v Speaker 3>he's like fams. He's like family. All of a sudden,
<v Speaker 3>he's all, I'm mister fucking family. It's like, yep, my
<v Speaker 3>life twenty four seven, twenty seven, I live here.
<v Speaker 9>I love everyone's given presents and pretending like been like
<v Speaker 9>in each other's lives all year.
<v Speaker 3>Like family, who comes like family comes over? Who you know?
<v Speaker 3>They don't really you know, they don't watch Flair, They
<v Speaker 3>don't really know much about him, and so like they
<v Speaker 3>just think he's this great guy who's just you know,
<v Speaker 3>he's just like he's you know, he's just the fun
<v Speaker 3>one in the family. Yeah Uncle Rick or yeah Uncle Rick,
<v Speaker 3>you know, and like he's just always good. He's always
<v Speaker 3>good for a story, you know.
<v Speaker 9>And he's on all week, like the whole week Christmas
<v Speaker 9>in New Year, he's on polo sweaters, slacks, loafers, like
<v Speaker 9>you know, he's tinting his fingers next to the tree
<v Speaker 9>while the kids opened, like just the most ridiculously opulent
<v Speaker 9>presence you've ever seen, you know, like fine China or
<v Speaker 9>whatever things from Paris. I just I just I adore it.
<v Speaker 3>And I mean just the like you know, white turtle necks.
<v Speaker 3>Ye yeah, all right, eggnog like yeh yes, that's like
<v Speaker 3>you take a turtle neck and corduroy blazer.
<v Speaker 9>You take a picture of the eggnog bowl and there's
<v Speaker 9>like like a glistening glinting light in the Christmas light
<v Speaker 9>in the distance that like creates this beautiful like and.
<v Speaker 3>He always like you know, he comes by and puts
<v Speaker 3>like a just like a little bit of nutmeg on tops.
<v Speaker 3>What's always there, you know, like he wants to create
<v Speaker 3>this perfect falsity. Oh my god. Yeah, and just like
<v Speaker 3>this big corporate Christmas party that he does, you know,
<v Speaker 3>like yep, yep, and then I don't come January. Second,
<v Speaker 3>he's gone for like three months without even calling. Oh
<v Speaker 3>my god, gone gone, like no one's ever been gone before. Yeah. Right,
<v Speaker 3>but it's like again, three months, no calling, doesn't check in.
<v Speaker 3>Nothing of how Flair remembers giving him fifteen hundred dollars, like,
<v Speaker 3>of course forget that, did he Yeah, he's still waiting
<v Speaker 3>for itthing else is a blur, yeah, yeah, he never
<v Speaker 3>forgets money.
<v Speaker 9>And then you're the heel when you remember how much
<v Speaker 9>money you gave him. Yeah, yep, but it you know,
<v Speaker 9>it's off to the races from Mango. As a singles
<v Speaker 9>wrestler in WCW, sure, he eventually feuds with the Jeff
<v Speaker 9>Jaretto comes over to the organization in nineteen ninety seven
<v Speaker 9>for a very short lived run. By the end, Jarrett
<v Speaker 9>comes in in ninety seven. Late ninety six is when
<v Speaker 9>the words starts circulating that he's coming in, and I
<v Speaker 9>think he does. He does show up on TV in
<v Speaker 9>ninety six, and by the ninety seven he's back on
<v Speaker 9>the WWF.
<v Speaker 3>It's crazy. Wow.
<v Speaker 9>So this is such a short, weird chapter in a
<v Speaker 9>lot of ways of Jeff Jarrett's career with a lot
<v Speaker 9>of false starts. A horseman, a US champion, mid Carter
<v Speaker 9>is going to be in the nWo, A ton of
<v Speaker 9>things we're talked about, and all of it like built
<v Speaker 9>up and unraveled in like record time. But really his
<v Speaker 9>signature feud, I think you could say if you don't
<v Speaker 9>consider kind of that flirtation with the Horseman in WCW
<v Speaker 9>was Steve Manga McMichael. Jeff Jarrett helped to make Mango
<v Speaker 9>in a very significant way as a wrestler that the
<v Speaker 9>fans would care about on his own terms, not just
<v Speaker 9>as part of the Horseman menageray, but a guy who
<v Speaker 9>they actually wanted to see kick some ass and wins
<v Speaker 9>some titles in and of himself, regardless of who was
<v Speaker 9>ringside or or had his back. And so they get
<v Speaker 9>into a program. Jared had won the US title from
<v Speaker 9>Dean Malenko, I think at the Slambour Show that year,
<v Speaker 9>and so now he's getting involved with Deborah and there
<v Speaker 9>comes a nitro where Jeff Gierart absolutely wallops Steve McMichael
<v Speaker 9>over the head with a briefcase, busting him open hard way.
<v Speaker 9>As Jared Is told on his podcast, Steve McMichael urged
<v Speaker 9>him to hold absolutely nothing back with the swing.
<v Speaker 3>That's the kind of guy.
<v Speaker 9>Mango is, kind of guy that bangs having a locker
<v Speaker 9>six times, and there it is, and he gets really
<v Speaker 9>dinged up from it, splits him open hardway. And that's
<v Speaker 9>kind of laying the foundation because later by doing that,
<v Speaker 9>Jared claimed it was a mistake and we were led
<v Speaker 9>to think that Mongo believes him, But really Mongo is
<v Speaker 9>just lying in wait to exact his revenge. Because it's
<v Speaker 9>not just that, it's the the dalliances with his ex
<v Speaker 9>wife and all of that that really Mike McMichael throw
<v Speaker 9>the side eye towards Jeff Giarret. So comes Chicago, June
<v Speaker 9>of nineteen ninety seven. Nitro is in Chicago, and my god,
<v Speaker 9>is this the place to shot at an angle with McMichael. Right,
<v Speaker 9>if you're gonna do something big, if you're gonna do
<v Speaker 9>something better. Yeah, So to your point earlier boss about
<v Speaker 9>how the people it's clear in the clash they want Mango,
<v Speaker 9>that they're they're hungry. It's wild, it's wild how they
<v Speaker 9>want him. They want him to do like overtly physical
<v Speaker 9>things in that ring. They want him to explode. And
<v Speaker 9>it's a tag match. I forget who the other is.
<v Speaker 9>Half of the match is. You'll hear it in the commentary,
<v Speaker 9>but it's Steve McMichael teaming with Jeff Jarrett after that
<v Speaker 9>errant briefcase shot split him open, and we're led to
<v Speaker 9>believe that they're still on the same page because Jarrett
<v Speaker 9>is kind of like this unofficial horseman, almost like he's
<v Speaker 9>auditioning for the role and the trust of the other
<v Speaker 9>horsemen in a lot of ways. And this happens when
<v Speaker 9>Jarrett invites Mango halfway through the tag match to join
<v Speaker 9>him in a classic Jeff Jarrett strut, and Mongo doesn't
<v Speaker 9>do that. Mango takes a step behind, and when Jarrett
<v Speaker 9>turns around, it's Tombstone City and Mongo has turned on
<v Speaker 9>Ji Eric. It has become a babyface.
<v Speaker 3>Put the bricks on.
<v Speaker 21>Great maneuver by Jared Jarreff gonna sit in the head
<v Speaker 21>first and again, Jeff Jared taking most of this match
<v Speaker 21>up miss the right hand.
<v Speaker 28>Oh my goodness, I don't know if he's gonna be
<v Speaker 28>able to hold.
<v Speaker 3>Back down and hes he.
<v Speaker 2>Got them boat in.
<v Speaker 31>Here comes Mango.
<v Speaker 3>Slap seventy six in the face, and see what happens
<v Speaker 3>here in Chicago. That's what happens, Jared on your tail.
<v Speaker 3>Jared wants Mango to struggle with him in Mongo will have.
<v Speaker 6>None of it.
<v Speaker 3>Get ready for the hunger. Yeah yeah, there is Listen
<v Speaker 3>to that, yep, say pile.
<v Speaker 6>Driver, Jarny, I wants to take last night.
<v Speaker 3>And when you do.
<v Speaker 26>Something like that to Longo, you're gonna suffer a consequences.
<v Speaker 3>Baby, I need get to the walls and that twenties done.
<v Speaker 2>Jared's not moving, no doubt about it.
<v Speaker 3>Mango. Wait, it throws opportunity. Looking.
<v Speaker 5>His eyes aren't blinking.
<v Speaker 3>He's laying there with his eyes open. I know if
<v Speaker 3>you can see anything or not.
<v Speaker 5>He is unconscious.
<v Speaker 3>Here's the covert academic.
<v Speaker 5>Now he'm not long a winness hone.
<v Speaker 3>And if dude wanted to.
<v Speaker 21>Destrut Mongo had other plans.
<v Speaker 3>And look at dem Brook. He is the heavier man.
<v Speaker 3>I don't care if it was an accident.
<v Speaker 23>You hit me in the back, You're gonna suffer the consequences.
<v Speaker 2>Alice over for you, baby, I don't care who finds.
<v Speaker 3>You well we have seen a devident split. Now hear that? Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Did you hear? They need it? The fans need Mongo.
<v Speaker 9>They need Mango to they need Mongo to fuck up
<v Speaker 9>a heel, you know, they need him to use his
<v Speaker 9>powers for good.
<v Speaker 3>He's undeniable. Wow are we saying this about Mongo? Yes,
<v Speaker 3>absolutely undeniable. I've I've thought that, I've never know thought that.
<v Speaker 3>I mean again, he's not He's got all the tools
<v Speaker 3>except how to wrestle. He just does not know how
<v Speaker 3>to at all.
<v Speaker 18>And and and he.
<v Speaker 3>Shouldn't in a way, he really shouldn't. He's he's just
<v Speaker 3>a fucking you know, he's just an oaf. He's a
<v Speaker 3>football player, like in a weird way, he should not
<v Speaker 3>know how to wrestle, It's true. And but he's got everything,
<v Speaker 3>He's got all the other tools, and I think he's
<v Speaker 3>great in that regard. I will make fun of every
<v Speaker 3>fucking time he gets in the ring because he looks
<v Speaker 3>like a fucking idiot, Like he looks like a complete,
<v Speaker 3>a complete just uh uh inexcusable fool.
<v Speaker 9>He looks like someone who's occasionally administered electrical shocks from
<v Speaker 9>a distance exactly he doesn't know when. But suddenly his
<v Speaker 9>body seizes.
<v Speaker 3>Like somebody, somebody exactly, somebody you know, causes him harm, okay,
<v Speaker 3>with some kind of electric shock, and you know, and
<v Speaker 3>so it's he's always, you know, something happens to him,
<v Speaker 3>but he's got everything else, He's got it all. World champion, Steve.
<v Speaker 9>Steve Michael for a world champ. Now we know who
<v Speaker 9>should have ended goldberg streak.
<v Speaker 3>Actually exactly remember fucking Mango, Like.
<v Speaker 9>Listen, Mango, Mango would end Goldberg's streak by mistake.
<v Speaker 3>He would have like yeah, he would have. He would have,
<v Speaker 3>like you know, they would have had to come up
<v Speaker 3>with some kind of excuse why the streak didn't end,
<v Speaker 3>because like it would have, he would have accidentally knocked
<v Speaker 3>Goldberg out and fallen on top.
<v Speaker 9>Of it and not realized he was knocked out and
<v Speaker 9>covered him and the ref had to slap three.
<v Speaker 3>Either that or they or like they they they they
<v Speaker 3>legitimately like knocked heads and they both knocked each other
<v Speaker 3>out and Mongo fell on top of him, and the
<v Speaker 3>referee like shit, what do I do? Like, oh fuck,
<v Speaker 3>that's what would happen with Mongo, Yeah, flailing about.
<v Speaker 9>Can you picture Mango like you threw he did the tombstone.
<v Speaker 9>Can you picture Mango being an owen Heart's position at
<v Speaker 9>Summer Slam ninety seven. Oh my, just paralyze somebody.
<v Speaker 3>It's like he would have you would have thrown himself
<v Speaker 3>out of the ring, as if by a as if
<v Speaker 3>an apparition had grabbed him by the ponytail. He would someone.
<v Speaker 3>It would have been a disaster, an absolute utter disaster.
<v Speaker 9>Work all this time on Goldberg and Mongo paralyzes them, right, Okay, okay,
<v Speaker 9>we can go somewhere with that. By the way, the
<v Speaker 9>other side of that tag match was a buff Bagwell
<v Speaker 9>and Scott Norton, who are the nWo at the time?
<v Speaker 3>God help us? And speaking of a mid ring neck injuries,
<v Speaker 3>right buff bat Yeah, oh yeah, there we go.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah no, speaking of completely botched returns from said injuries.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yes, Mongo.
<v Speaker 9>I mean so they're they're hungry. That's June, come August
<v Speaker 9>come Clash of the Champions thirty five, the show we're
<v Speaker 9>here to talk about Steve Mango McMichael becomes the champion.
<v Speaker 9>We can expect sound to that effect when we get
<v Speaker 9>to the deep dive portion of the program. But you
<v Speaker 9>might ask yourself based on you know, the things we've
<v Speaker 9>been saying about Mongo's lack of ability to really take
<v Speaker 9>gracefully to in ring pro wrestling, that there might be
<v Speaker 9>some you know, naysayers in the locker room at bel
<v Speaker 9>belting this guy, like putting the strap on him, and
<v Speaker 9>I think Kevin Nash in this k FAPE commentary's interview
<v Speaker 9>says it all.
<v Speaker 29>On that point, I couldn't fucking utter a bad word
<v Speaker 29>about fucking Mago. There's just nothing I don't like about
<v Speaker 29>that guy. How about his in ring performance?
<v Speaker 11>Who gives a fuck?
<v Speaker 21>My next question was, was anyone in the locker room
<v Speaker 21>opposed to him winning a belt?
<v Speaker 3>Or is that something only fans give a.
<v Speaker 29>Show to his fucking face? That was fucking Steve McMichael
<v Speaker 29>is a fucking man.
<v Speaker 3>Exactly like, Yeah, I think it's I give Kevin a
<v Speaker 3>lot of credit. He absolutely crystallizes it there and listen,
<v Speaker 3>he's going to say someone sucks, like, oh, I know,
<v Speaker 3>you know, in a heartbeat, if Nash isn't looking to
<v Speaker 3>cut your legs out from under you, you've got you've
<v Speaker 3>got something. So some solid ground in a stand on
<v Speaker 3>that's exactly right and so and so Jarrett's kind of
<v Speaker 3>meandering along at this point as the nWo kind of
<v Speaker 3>dominates all of the Jared I know you just go away.
<v Speaker 3>We wasn't going well for him.
<v Speaker 9>His point is that his podcast talked about this because
<v Speaker 9>of Arndt and Flair's absence, they really couldn't do anything
<v Speaker 9>but repeat the same kind of story, note the same
<v Speaker 9>story beat over and over again with him he will
<v Speaker 9>hear won't he? With a horseman and pretty suon in
<v Speaker 9>the crowd was like, this isn't advancing anywhere, and it
<v Speaker 9>was true. It was just circumstances that caused that. And
<v Speaker 9>I think probably some naysayers behind the scenes. I think
<v Speaker 9>he's if you're read between the lines and some things
<v Speaker 9>he's saying, there was someone who had booking sway at
<v Speaker 9>the time that wasn't really interested in Jeff excelling very much.
<v Speaker 9>It was it was a time of great confusion because
<v Speaker 9>while Hogan was the real boss of the company, and
<v Speaker 9>if he didn't want something to happen, it wouldn't happen,
<v Speaker 9>whether it involved him or not. Nash was becoming that
<v Speaker 9>kind of character. Bischoff had control, but that was really
<v Speaker 9>just a proxy for what Hogan wanted. For the most part,
<v Speaker 9>although if Bischoff wanted to go off and have his
<v Speaker 9>own power trip, he could do it, even if it
<v Speaker 9>had nothing to do with Hogan, and sometimes he did.
<v Speaker 9>And then you had Kevin Sullivan and Terry Taylor, both
<v Speaker 9>kind of jockeying for a position as being considered the
<v Speaker 9>quote unquote booker of WCW. At any given month, it
<v Speaker 9>was like the wind to shift in one way or
<v Speaker 9>the other. Like Terry Taylor can tell me what to do, now,
<v Speaker 9>Kevin Sullivan can tell me what to do. But neither
<v Speaker 9>of them really can tell me what to do, because
<v Speaker 9>they can be so easily vetoed in a process that
<v Speaker 9>I made completely blind to and have no idea what
<v Speaker 9>happens when the thing goes into the cauldron of different
<v Speaker 9>political considerations and comes out the other end. Chris Jericho
<v Speaker 9>was tremendously frustrated about this process at this time, as
<v Speaker 9>you can imagine, considering his upside and as he explained
<v Speaker 9>so well in his book, how frustrating it was to
<v Speaker 9>be somebody like a Terry Taylor would come up to
<v Speaker 9>a Nitro, We got big plans for you, and then
<v Speaker 9>for some reason the next week, it's just not on
<v Speaker 9>the rails. Anymore, and you don't have any why it
<v Speaker 9>takes like all this detective work after the fact to
<v Speaker 9>figure out what happened. And so that's going on, and
<v Speaker 9>those are the guys that are really paying attention to
<v Speaker 9>Jeff Jared's angle, not the tip top of the card.
<v Speaker 9>And that's a very that's kind of an unsettling place
<v Speaker 9>to be. Jared says, you know, Mango was not a
<v Speaker 9>polished talent by any stretch of the imagination. We did
<v Speaker 9>have our work cut out. And then you had Chris Benwah,
<v Speaker 9>the other member of the Horseman who's supposed to be
<v Speaker 9>a party to this. He's now going off to feud
<v Speaker 9>with Kevin Sullivan because remember the sick feud that those
<v Speaker 9>two had, Oh right, of course, it stretched all the
<v Speaker 9>way through Bash at the Beach ninety seven. So even
<v Speaker 9>ben Wah as a Horseman, is not really giving a
<v Speaker 9>shit about Jeff Jarrett and whether that story, whether he
<v Speaker 9>is in The Horseman or not. So it's kind of
<v Speaker 9>just ends up as Jarrett and Mango is really the feud.
<v Speaker 9>It's supposed to have something to do with the Horseman,
<v Speaker 9>but it really doesn't. And Mongo, he's supposed to be
<v Speaker 9>in the Horseman, but he really hardly does anything with them.
<v Speaker 9>He's pretty much a lone wolf. And when he wins
<v Speaker 9>this title at the Clash of the Champions, it's not
<v Speaker 9>like the Horseman come out to celebrate with him. Ben
<v Speaker 9>was nowhere to be found, for example.
<v Speaker 3>No one does anything. It's kind of like it is
<v Speaker 3>kind of kind of sad in a way.
<v Speaker 9>So it's just it's it's just getting repetitive the way
<v Speaker 9>Jeff Jarrett remembers it. And here he talks about kind
<v Speaker 9>of where things may may have been headed. Kevin Sullivan
<v Speaker 9>had drawn up an idea communicated to Jeff Jarrett where
<v Speaker 9>Deborah would would go to Jeff Jarrett and and and
<v Speaker 9>how the rest of that may have worked out is
<v Speaker 9>talked about here on Jeff's podcast with Conrad No.
<v Speaker 32>You know the thing that and look, I didn't know
<v Speaker 32>what was going on in their their personal life, obviously
<v Speaker 32>none of our business. But the one thing that Kevin
<v Speaker 32>Sullivan and me talked about when you just look at Mango,
<v Speaker 32>I mean, out of all the NFL teams, Packers got
<v Speaker 32>a lot of grant but the Bears and their defense,
<v Speaker 32>I mean, I mean they're a man's man, a pros
<v Speaker 32>pro A football. Badass is football, I mean everything that
<v Speaker 32>said all ultimate badass was Mango and his wife was
<v Speaker 32>a legit beauty pageant, participant, winner, whatever you want to say.
<v Speaker 32>So when you look at looked at them on camera,
<v Speaker 32>a valet didn't go with him, a second didn't go
<v Speaker 32>with him, a manager didn't go with him.
<v Speaker 11>And so.
<v Speaker 32>Kevin saw it immediately that Okay, Debora, Kevin Sullivan, that
<v Speaker 32>is Debora will will be better paired with Jeff.
<v Speaker 5>But that was the direction that was always told to me.
<v Speaker 32>And we would get there, then we wouldn't get there.
<v Speaker 32>We would get there, then we wouldn't get there, and
<v Speaker 32>you know, again we were we were just playing handcuff
<v Speaker 32>because Rick's health wasn't great and Orange health wasn't great.
<v Speaker 32>So it was really difficult. And then and then the
<v Speaker 32>another whole layer that is Chris bin Wad Nancy and
<v Speaker 32>and Kevin Sullivan Dune to Doom and that whole story.
<v Speaker 32>So it was not an easy show to write for
<v Speaker 32>Kevin Sullivan. Eighty stretch of the imagination.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, Sullivan saw Deborah and Jared as the unit. He
<v Speaker 9>didn't think a parent court of Jeff Jarrett that Mongo
<v Speaker 9>belonged with the valet, and I was not a little
<v Speaker 9>weird because it was like if he was like a
<v Speaker 9>football superstar, that kind of makes sense to me that
<v Speaker 9>he would have just this like kind of affloozy on
<v Speaker 9>his arm. You know, somebody who she was. She was
<v Speaker 9>a football wife. You know, she was a beauty queen.
<v Speaker 9>She wasn't right, She wasn't just some like hot woman
<v Speaker 9>who was with him. She wasn't just someone holding his coat.
<v Speaker 9>She was someone that had her own agenda, you know, calculating,
<v Speaker 9>And I feel like that does work as the wife
<v Speaker 9>of an NFL player.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I agree, I totally agree. I mean that definitely works.
<v Speaker 9>But by October Jarrett's gone, He's gone from the company
<v Speaker 9>she was. She's a reporting that Jerry, Jerry's dad is involved.
<v Speaker 9>Jeff's dad, Jerry, I should say, is involved some of
<v Speaker 9>the contract talks. And we know Jerry Jarrett was never
<v Speaker 9>shy about negotiating in the press so to speak, and
<v Speaker 9>being forthcoming with some of the newsletter writers about the
<v Speaker 9>state of Jeff jarreed affairs, and that annoyed Eric of course.
<v Speaker 9>On his podcast, Jeff Jarrett says that they never actually
<v Speaker 9>made an offer to him. He knew that he wasn't
<v Speaker 9>going to get a pay bump, a significant pay bump,
<v Speaker 9>and he took that as the same thing as we
<v Speaker 9>don't really want you to hear. And there was a
<v Speaker 9>reported offer of three hundred thousand dollars that came subsequent
<v Speaker 9>to Jarrett kind of hearing radio silence when he expected
<v Speaker 9>he would have heard something. So he's kind of, like,
<v Speaker 9>you know, architecting a series of things that justifies him
<v Speaker 9>talking to WWF, Like he has to have a reason
<v Speaker 9>to think that WCW doesn't want him to start talking
<v Speaker 9>to them. He can't just ride talk to them, so
<v Speaker 9>he has this whole chronology of things. And while that
<v Speaker 9>three hundred thousand dollar offer was in I guess some
<v Speaker 9>of the newsletters, Jarrett did say in his podcast that
<v Speaker 9>what eventually did come from ww as an offer was
<v Speaker 9>lower than that, and he went to Vince. He said
<v Speaker 9>his father had indeed reached out to Vince. He himself
<v Speaker 9>had talked to Vince. He flew out to the house
<v Speaker 9>in Greenwich. They were talking and there was some discussion
<v Speaker 9>apparently about WCW wanting Jarrett to do maybe like a
<v Speaker 9>per DM series of dates to fill out the remaining
<v Speaker 9>time on his tract, but that was not of interest
<v Speaker 9>to the side of the equation.
<v Speaker 29>And uh.
<v Speaker 9>In fact, Jeff says, you know, while that was offered,
<v Speaker 9>he doesn't even think Eric Bischoff really wanted him to
<v Speaker 9>even fill those dates. He just felt like he was
<v Speaker 9>done with w CW. As for Mongo after winning the
<v Speaker 9>United States Championship, it doesn't it is an all smooth sailing.
<v Speaker 9>He is getting poked fun of a bit in the
<v Speaker 9>locker room. And you know, Scott Hall, like he lives
<v Speaker 9>to fuck with people and this he's, oh yeah, he's
<v Speaker 9>at his absolute peak in that regard at this point
<v Speaker 9>in time.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, I imagine he must have just eaten that shit
<v Speaker 3>a Mongo, great match? Who tugg you to work? A
<v Speaker 3>blind man? Can't wait to kick out of your finish?
<v Speaker 3>Hey you are Mongol? What are you doing?
<v Speaker 6>Mang?
<v Speaker 1>Huh?
<v Speaker 3>Meng's like, you call me Meang? Turns around? You fucking
<v Speaker 3>pun punk was a man?
<v Speaker 9>Okay, Yeah, he's a fucking punk too, all drunk. He's
<v Speaker 9>like over Kevin's shoulder, punk.
<v Speaker 3>Monkey. Don't be a mark. Monkey, don't be a monkey,
<v Speaker 3>Mark man, Mongo, nice belt, What are you a mark?
<v Speaker 3>He calls him a Mark because the company put the
<v Speaker 3>belt on him. Or do you think you're a real champion? Huh?
<v Speaker 3>What a harmonious locker room. What a great working environment.
<v Speaker 3>Someone gave that to you.
<v Speaker 11>Man.
<v Speaker 3>How could you not succeed in an environment like this? Nobody,
<v Speaker 3>You didn't win shit.
<v Speaker 9>Not too long ago, Conrad and all of his podcast
<v Speaker 9>partners did a fundraiser from Mongo called Money from Mongo,
<v Speaker 9>and Eric was there and a bunch of others on
<v Speaker 9>the dais Rick was there, and Eric told the story
<v Speaker 9>that I think kind of crystallizes where a Mango would
<v Speaker 9>have found himself now that he's a full time wrestler
<v Speaker 9>and a belt holding one at that this is the
<v Speaker 9>kind of things that are happening when Mongo's one of
<v Speaker 9>a kind personality and quirks come to the the collision
<v Speaker 9>course with full time life on the road.
<v Speaker 24>One night, we were because often we'd go to Nitro
<v Speaker 24>and if we were close enough to the hotel by
<v Speaker 24>the time we got back from doing the show live,
<v Speaker 24>the replay was on, so we'd all sit around and
<v Speaker 24>watch the replay of Nitro after the fact at the
<v Speaker 24>hotel bar.
<v Speaker 8>We had a blast.
<v Speaker 5>But Scott Hall just love to push Mango's buttons, and.
<v Speaker 2>Mango would get hot.
<v Speaker 24>Occasionally he would get a little hot. One night we
<v Speaker 24>sat up till I don't know, one, two, three o'clock
<v Speaker 24>in the morning, whatever it was.
<v Speaker 5>I had an early flight.
<v Speaker 24>I finally gave myself to bed.
<v Speaker 3>On my door. What the hell is that?
<v Speaker 8>Bah?
<v Speaker 5>Bah?
<v Speaker 20>Fuck?
<v Speaker 24>Now what you know, because in the position I was in,
<v Speaker 24>you're kind of hurting squirrels most of the time.
<v Speaker 3>Anyway, you know, it's putting it mildly.
<v Speaker 24>And I looked out the little people and there's Mango
<v Speaker 24>standing there with a smith and wesson with a buddy,
<v Speaker 24>a forty four magnum with an eight inch barrel.
<v Speaker 5>Shit, there's no way this sends up good.
<v Speaker 10>You put it in.
<v Speaker 18>I opened the door because I was pretty sure he
<v Speaker 18>wasn't gonna shoot me. He wasn't man of me.
<v Speaker 5>I don't know who he was man at, but he
<v Speaker 5>wasn't man of me.
<v Speaker 3>So I opened up the.
<v Speaker 18>Door, said, Mango, goes here, kid, you need this more
<v Speaker 18>than I do. Turn around and walked away. Send my
<v Speaker 18>safe thanks, Mago.
<v Speaker 10>The fuck the.
<v Speaker 3>Fuck the fuck is he talking about? Mango handed him
<v Speaker 3>a gun in the middle of the night. I can
<v Speaker 3>see Mango just wandering aimlessly and I can't. I can
<v Speaker 3>see him, like, yeah, I can see him holding like
<v Speaker 3>a gun and just walking around like kind of like
<v Speaker 3>waving it around in the air.
<v Speaker 9>I would love someone when they go visit Eric at
<v Speaker 9>the ranch to ask him to show them that gun.
<v Speaker 9>Something tells me it's not at all in the safe.
<v Speaker 9>But that's fine.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, exactly, it's probably like, you know, on the
<v Speaker 3>floor someplace. The absurdity of Mango. But yeah. Another thing
<v Speaker 3>Bischoff did say was that Hall would kind of get
<v Speaker 3>in his case a little bit and would stir some shit.
<v Speaker 9>But here he is and it comes to an end.
<v Speaker 9>He eventually loses the championship and Mango just totally disappears.
<v Speaker 9>No one even really knows what happened. He's asked on
<v Speaker 9>the Ric Flair podcast why it all came to a head,
<v Speaker 9>and one of the things he said is, you know,
<v Speaker 9>he had six Crispy Creams and a chocolate milk and
<v Speaker 9>and that that caused some problems with some.
<v Speaker 3>We've all been there. We've all been there with the
<v Speaker 3>Krispy Kreams.
<v Speaker 9>Some of his blood clot and other health related issues.
<v Speaker 9>And he says, let's see how does he put it, So,
<v Speaker 9>why'd you decide to get out of the carney business?
<v Speaker 3>What happened?
<v Speaker 9>He said, they wanted me to go back and TV
<v Speaker 9>in Chicago and pay me big money to do it.
<v Speaker 9>So apparently there was an offer that Mongo liked to
<v Speaker 9>just be due television back in the Chicago market instead
<v Speaker 9>of being a wrestler. And he was kind of sick
<v Speaker 9>of the travel. That was kind of the first iteration
<v Speaker 9>of the answer. And so he doesn't get slammed around by,
<v Speaker 9>as he put it, a bunch of potato throwing carney hucksters.
<v Speaker 9>But he also chalks up to the old football injuries.
<v Speaker 9>And he revealed on the podcast that he had actually
<v Speaker 9>gone to a strip joint and he was there and
<v Speaker 9>apparently stripper started grabbing the inside of his leg and
<v Speaker 9>the big vein, he says, that runs up to your heart.
<v Speaker 9>It started to ache. He started to get significant pain
<v Speaker 9>when this stripper grabbed the inside of his thigh, felt
<v Speaker 9>like someone was just grabbing and pulling. So he goes
<v Speaker 9>to the hospital finds out he had a blood cloth
<v Speaker 9>that almost killed him.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god.
<v Speaker 9>He had to take some kumid in that night and
<v Speaker 9>and the WW crew didn't see him really for a while,
<v Speaker 9>and he had type two diabetes and the blood clots
<v Speaker 9>were coming from it. So those Krispy Kremes, you know,
<v Speaker 9>he brought that up as an example of how he
<v Speaker 9>would eat back then and how much it would contribute
<v Speaker 9>to the the issues he he was having, so diabetic, yep,
<v Speaker 9>and and having health issues and blood clot issues, and
<v Speaker 9>but you know, he's not gonna go around broadcasting that.
<v Speaker 9>So he just disappeared from wrestling. He just disappeared, and
<v Speaker 9>he became, you know, kind of a subject of media
<v Speaker 9>curiosity in the Chicago market. But you know, w CW
<v Speaker 9>closed in two thousand and one, and no one thought
<v Speaker 9>about Mango anymore in the wrestling business. It was really
<v Speaker 9>kind of fast and sudden.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's true, Like you know, I would have.
<v Speaker 9>I mean, he's not someone anyone mentioned is coming over
<v Speaker 9>in the sale, you know, no, not at all, not
<v Speaker 9>at all. No one thought about it. And that's correct,
<v Speaker 9>No one cared as the way to put it. One
<v Speaker 9>thing I failed to record here. I don't know if
<v Speaker 9>you recall this. Who did he lose the title to? Oh,
<v Speaker 9>I don't actually know who he lost the championship to.
<v Speaker 3>I can probably find that, okay, Kurt Hennick, Yep, that's right.
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow, right, No, that makes sense.
<v Speaker 9>Coming off the hill turn. So there goes, There goes Mango.
<v Speaker 9>Leave it up to him to find in a strip
<v Speaker 9>club that he shouldn't be wrestling anymore. And for what
<v Speaker 9>it's worth, I'm sure she's a lovely lady. But Deborah
<v Speaker 9>in the High Spots Shoot interview does immediately say when
<v Speaker 9>his second wife is brought up, that she is a
<v Speaker 9>stripper and that's how he met her. So it's you know,
<v Speaker 9>she's yeah, that goes it is. It is funny when
<v Speaker 9>wrestlers marry strippers and they never mentioned that about them.
<v Speaker 9>You know, I just think it's funny because I mean
<v Speaker 9>it's like, you know, it's perfecting the strip clubs.
<v Speaker 3>Man.
<v Speaker 9>It's like nothing makes them happier than being a strip club.
<v Speaker 9>And look, you know, like Mickey Rourke almost married one
<v Speaker 9>in The Wrestler. You know, there's a reason Nursa tomes
<v Speaker 9>a stripper in that movie. There's a reason. Okay, So
<v Speaker 9>Mongo kind of goes back to being mostly associated with
<v Speaker 9>football as opposed to pro wrestling. The Hall of Fame
<v Speaker 9>debate continues. People continue to make the case for him
<v Speaker 9>year after year. There was a Hall of Fame ceremony
<v Speaker 9>in twenty nineteen. Now this isn't the NFL Hall of
<v Speaker 9>Fame ceremony. This is an organization called Gridiron Greats, which
<v Speaker 9>apparently exists. It's a nonprofit that exists to support NFL
<v Speaker 9>players facing financial or medical hardships. And they have their
<v Speaker 9>own Hall of Fame which seems based more on, like
<v Speaker 9>you know, out of off the field contributions than anything else. Yeah,
<v Speaker 9>this was a chance to see Mongo up on the
<v Speaker 9>dais kind of being anointed into a hall of fame
<v Speaker 9>and carrying on in this kind of format and really
<v Speaker 9>showing all the many gifts that he had looking back
<v Speaker 9>on his life and times, and here's a sampling you'd
<v Speaker 9>be surprised to know perhaps, And this is something that
<v Speaker 9>Mongo got a lot of credit for. As far away
<v Speaker 9>as he got from the wrestling business, he was always
<v Speaker 9>very willing to mention his time in the wrestling business,
<v Speaker 9>to bring it up and to defend it, and to
<v Speaker 9>be proud of it. It was not something that was
<v Speaker 9>a point on the resume that he tried to hide
<v Speaker 9>like so many others who came through the professional wrestling
<v Speaker 9>business and got into something else afterwards. So here's a
<v Speaker 9>selection from the twenty nineteen Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame
<v Speaker 9>induction ceremony where Steve McMichael is celebrated.
<v Speaker 6>So I don't understand why people and guys play this
<v Speaker 6>game for adulation or money and fame. I've never had
<v Speaker 6>to work a day in my life in this game
<v Speaker 6>and what it meant for me after. You know, that's
<v Speaker 6>a lucky man, isn't it. You ain't never had to
<v Speaker 6>work a day in your life and made money.
<v Speaker 29>You know.
<v Speaker 6>I've had my contemporaries come up to me when I
<v Speaker 6>went into pro wrestling, how are you going to disrespect
<v Speaker 6>your pro football hair's doing that fake crap? I told
<v Speaker 6>them one thing and they didn't bring it up no more.
<v Speaker 6>You know what it was seven figures. I wasn't doing
<v Speaker 6>it for free, baby, I made more money wrestling when
<v Speaker 6>I was going to Pro Bowl for the Bears, for
<v Speaker 6>God's sakes, So.
<v Speaker 9>You would bring it up now? He sounds like he's
<v Speaker 9>been through some stuff, doesn't it. You're starting they try
<v Speaker 9>to sound a bit of a slur. You know, it
<v Speaker 9>wasn't always flattering, It wasn't always celebratory media around Steve.
<v Speaker 9>I mean, of course, listen to sixteenth, two thousand and seven.
<v Speaker 9>Wife blames us.
<v Speaker 3>And he's he's he's an athlete, he's a former wrestler's
<v Speaker 3>Cromo Cutt and son of a bitch. He's a worker.
<v Speaker 3>Guess what he the worker? He The workers eventually worked
<v Speaker 3>themselves into a shoot, don't they exactly? August sixteenth, two
<v Speaker 3>thousand and seven. You know what they do. You know
<v Speaker 3>what they do.
<v Speaker 9>They cause wife blames ex bear husband for gun and car.
<v Speaker 9>The wife of former Bears defensive tackle Steve Margot McMichael
<v Speaker 9>told officers during her arrest last week that a loaded
<v Speaker 9>handgun found in the trunk of the car she was
<v Speaker 9>driving belonged to her husband. Police Chief Randy Melvin said
<v Speaker 9>Misty McMichael in Chicago was charged with unlawful possession of
<v Speaker 9>a firearm, unlafful possession, marijuana, and speeding, connection and speeding.
<v Speaker 9>In connection with the August tenth arrest, Steve McMichael issued
<v Speaker 9>a statement defending his wife. A gentleman by the name
<v Speaker 9>of John Zoemott was apparently arrested with her and charged
<v Speaker 9>with unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and lawful possession of marijuana.
<v Speaker 9>Melvin said Misty McMichael was driving two thousand and three
<v Speaker 9>four door Cadillac east on Route twenty two, just passed
<v Speaker 9>the Domain de Plaine river Bridge in Lincolnshire when she
<v Speaker 9>was stopped for traveling fifty six miles an hour in
<v Speaker 9>a thirty five million hours zon. How dare and an
<v Speaker 9>officer approach in the car noticed that strong odor. You
<v Speaker 9>know what that strong odor would be. I searched the interior,
<v Speaker 9>found three marijuana cigarettes, a smoking pipe, two plastic containers
<v Speaker 9>with pot. Officers looked in the trunk found a loaded
<v Speaker 9>forty five caliber, two magazines containing seventeen rounds of ammunition.
<v Speaker 9>As she said, the handgun belonged to her husband. She
<v Speaker 9>wasn't aware I was in the vehicle, and the statement
<v Speaker 9>released by his publicist Stephen Michael, said Misty is pregnant.
<v Speaker 9>It would never endanger the health of the couple's first child. Misty,
<v Speaker 9>he said, absolutely had not been smoking marijuana previous to
<v Speaker 9>being stopped by the police, and told this fact that
<v Speaker 9>the police officer. It is important for everyone to know
<v Speaker 9>that Misty offered to take a field sobriety test in
<v Speaker 9>the officers felt it was unnecessary. I also want to
<v Speaker 9>make clear that the marijuana found in the car did
<v Speaker 9>not belong to my wife, nor did the gun in
<v Speaker 9>the trunk. Isn't that something that you're such a big
<v Speaker 9>deal media wise locally that you have to issue a
<v Speaker 9>statement like that, you know, making those little qualifications. It's
<v Speaker 9>important to note, too, loaded gunpal not a problem, that
<v Speaker 9>that his wife is a stripper, loaded gut not a problem.
<v Speaker 9>Stripper not a problem. Nope, not just George style. Baby,
<v Speaker 9>that's right, let's go. It's it's always the second life,
<v Speaker 9>that's the stripper not Yes. Yeah, because it's like you know,
<v Speaker 9>because this is what happens, all right. You're you're you're
<v Speaker 9>a pro athlete, you're a pro wrestler. So the first
<v Speaker 9>one you marry young, You marry young first off? Okay,
<v Speaker 9>and so you marry before. I don't know if this
<v Speaker 9>is true or not for him, but I'm just gonna
<v Speaker 9>make a speculation. You marry before you're famous, you marry
<v Speaker 9>before you are a superstar NFL player.
<v Speaker 3>His case, not Trump, but I do it your drift. Yes, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>and so yes, I don't care. It's not true what
<v Speaker 3>you usually said it's not true. And so then then
<v Speaker 3>the thing then then you start hitting the strip clubs
<v Speaker 3>with with your boys, and you're start hitting me ten exactly.
<v Speaker 3>And so then you're like, fuck, I wish I could
<v Speaker 3>marry one of these broads.
<v Speaker 11>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>They seem to do everything I asked him to do
<v Speaker 3>right exactly, seem to be happy to see me, like
<v Speaker 3>my wife, Look all I whenever I give them money,
<v Speaker 3>they do what I want. Imagine maybe I could do
<v Speaker 3>this forever yep. And so maybe you know, maybe you know,
<v Speaker 3>one thing happens, something happens here and there. You know
<v Speaker 3>that you never know. But either way, at some point
<v Speaker 3>you're just done. He's done. And so why they'd get divorced.
<v Speaker 3>You know, she's pissed because it's like, you know, what
<v Speaker 3>are you doing right? And and I was, I went
<v Speaker 3>to the fire with you, and now all the spoils
<v Speaker 3>are going to striper just like and then and so
<v Speaker 3>you get divorced. First thing he does is goes to
<v Speaker 3>strip club says, hey, you want to get married. Unbelievable. Okay, absolutely, listen.
<v Speaker 3>This is this is because those are the one you know.
<v Speaker 3>It's like because because strip a stripper's job is to
<v Speaker 3>make you feel wanted. It's the it's it's honestly is
<v Speaker 3>it is. Maybe the only con bigger than progress is stripping,
<v Speaker 3>all right, because because that that, while while wrestling is
<v Speaker 3>a con into different kinds of emotions, stripping there they are.
<v Speaker 3>They are conning both your heart and your loins. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>none of it's real, or even that nut in the
<v Speaker 3>champagne room, yep, exactly, even when exactly, even when she's
<v Speaker 3>grinding her ass right on your crotch until you fucking
<v Speaker 3>burst in your pants. All right, it's all fucking fake
<v Speaker 3>kissing stuff pal that I don't even like like of course,
<v Speaker 3>of course, but then you know, then you go in
<v Speaker 3>there and you're like, wait, I can I have enough
<v Speaker 3>money to make it real? Exactly? And she knows that,
<v Speaker 3>so she's like, fuck, I might as well spend a
<v Speaker 3>couple of years, you know, trimming the trimming the dollars
<v Speaker 3>off this fucking tree of a.
<v Speaker 9>Man, and uh, you know, it's almost like money at all,
<v Speaker 9>you know.
<v Speaker 3>Make sure to convince him not to sign a prenup
<v Speaker 3>m you know, and take get be married for like
<v Speaker 3>a year or two, put up with his idiocy and
<v Speaker 3>then fucking dumb and take half his cash. Done deal,
<v Speaker 3>easiest fucking pumpkin pot.
<v Speaker 9>Sounds like how wrestlers used promoters to tell you the truth.
<v Speaker 3>Yep.
<v Speaker 9>So uh, it wouldn't end there for Steve in terms
<v Speaker 9>of local fame and infamy. But here's a bit of fame.
<v Speaker 9>This guy runs for mayor. Oh my god, are you
<v Speaker 9>fucking do they always.
<v Speaker 3>Run from mayor? What is that?
<v Speaker 11>You know?
<v Speaker 9>They cut a promo, they think they could be the mayor.
<v Speaker 9>It's like they they they think, Jerry Lair, I'll keep
<v Speaker 9>going with.
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you what. What happens is they're bored. Yep, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>they're bored. They don't have anything else going on their
<v Speaker 3>life because they can't get in the ring anymore, and
<v Speaker 3>so they need some kind of attention. So true, and
<v Speaker 3>so they end up saying, well, fuck it, what's the
<v Speaker 3>next best thing to wrestling politics? Same fucking thing, just
<v Speaker 3>without the PI went back to his native Finland and
<v Speaker 3>did this exact scheme. I mean, Jesse Ventura Caine, like
<v Speaker 3>it's so tremendous. They're just fucking bored, and now they
<v Speaker 3>and instead now you know, now, instead of having to
<v Speaker 3>go out and spending like, you know, million dollars on
<v Speaker 3>a fucking meal, and now you can go to spaghetti
<v Speaker 3>dinners and pancakes breakfast at the fucking at the local
<v Speaker 3>episcopal church. Perfect, absolutely perfect, that's Santa Augustine's Episcopal Church.
<v Speaker 3>It didn't work out, but he ran for mayor of Romeoville, Illinois,
<v Speaker 3>which I mean, if ever there was a mayor of
<v Speaker 3>Romeoville at Steve Mango McMichael. Here's a disc Romeovilla. Yeah, Romeo,
<v Speaker 3>I'm a Paul Romeoville guy. Open up that article if
<v Speaker 3>you could. Boss from the Chicago trib there, rendering the
<v Speaker 3>final piece of reporting on this campaign where Mongo came
<v Speaker 3>up short from mayor Romeoville. In twenty thirteen colorful races
<v Speaker 3>and in few surprises, incumbents hang on, newsmakers go down
<v Speaker 3>in defeat. The crowd inside at packed Mongo McMichael's sports
<v Speaker 3>bar in Romeovill erupted in cheers today as the taverns
<v Speaker 3>namesake step forward, even though he was there to concede
<v Speaker 3>defeat in the race for mayor of the southwest suburban village.
<v Speaker 3>With all precincts reporting, unofficial tallies had Steve Mongo McMichael
<v Speaker 3>losing to incumbent John Noaki thirty. They're showing the retired
<v Speaker 3>Bears defensive lineman and first time candidate admitted meant he
<v Speaker 3>was a gunner. Quote it seems as if the fat
<v Speaker 3>lady has sung, McMichael said, and this one has been lost.
<v Speaker 3>But just because the fat lady is sung on this one,
<v Speaker 3>don't mean that it's over. He said. There's another election
<v Speaker 3>four years, isn't there. You imagine he just said. If
<v Speaker 3>he said, I'm not conceding now, that wasn't the playbook yet.
<v Speaker 3>It just fucking keeps on keeps on going. Nolack declared
<v Speaker 3>victory over McMichael, calling has win a testament to four
<v Speaker 3>years of progress. Quote. I was confident all, along with
<v Speaker 3>the voters, would decide who is the best and knows
<v Speaker 3>the issues instead of voting for someone just because they
<v Speaker 3>are a celebrity, said Noek. It's time to get back
<v Speaker 3>to work. McMichael was one of the most outspoken characters
<v Speaker 3>on the much beloved nineteen eighty five Bears Super Bowl team,
<v Speaker 3>and he staked much of his campaign on that enviable
<v Speaker 3>name recognition. The voluble Bears entrance into politics added color
<v Speaker 3>and excitement to the typically low turnout low profile character
<v Speaker 3>of most off year spring elections, but this campaign season
<v Speaker 3>has featured several other noteworthy races. The contest for village
<v Speaker 3>president in west suburban Villa Park had a brief moment
<v Speaker 3>in the national spotlight when nude photos of canada John
<v Speaker 3>John Heidelmeyer service on the internet. In North Chicago, an
<v Speaker 3>incumbent mayor battle a battle a series of police misconduct
<v Speaker 3>scandals to apparently win reelection. And in south suburban Tinley Park,
<v Speaker 3>even longtime mayor Ed Zabraki phase a spirited campaign before
<v Speaker 3>comfortably cruising to a ninth term in office according to
<v Speaker 3>unofficial results. Former defensive lineman McMichael peppered his remarks on
<v Speaker 3>the campaign trail with football analogies, but refused to debate
<v Speaker 3>in incumbent no Act Clyton. He didn't want to give
<v Speaker 3>his lesser known opponent a publicity boost. Wait, he's less
<v Speaker 3>He's the incumbent. He's not lesser. I mean, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>I suppose in terms of you know, like national the
<v Speaker 3>national spotlight. Yes, but like everyone in the area knows
<v Speaker 3>who he fuck it is, they voted for him.
<v Speaker 9>Jesse loses because they wouldn't let him in debates. Mongo's
<v Speaker 9>afraid he's gonna lose if they do let him into
<v Speaker 9>the debates. It's tremendous.
<v Speaker 3>But while he was a veteran of the NFL playing
<v Speaker 3>fifteen seasons, McMichael fifty five was a rookie politician. He
<v Speaker 3>faced allegations which were dropped before a formal election board
<v Speaker 3>hearing bus he didn't that he didn't report all donations
<v Speaker 3>to his campaign fund. Brother, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh my god,
<v Speaker 3>oh my god. Did you ever go hold and Mongo
<v Speaker 3>even tell you something. I'll give you a little bit,
<v Speaker 3>you know, sell what you give me, I'll give you.
<v Speaker 3>You give me fifty thousand, I'll give you ten thousand
<v Speaker 3>back and in charitable funds. I'll campaign. The greatest moment
<v Speaker 3>of my life was calling him and saying, hey, I
<v Speaker 3>want to I want to donate to your campaign. Yep,
<v Speaker 3>donate your CAMPI it's the greatest moment of my life, saying, hey, Mongo, Mango,
<v Speaker 3>I want to donate your campaign. Make this the greatest
<v Speaker 3>moment of my life. Make this the greatest. That's awesome, man,
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, that's awesome. What a life he must live.
<v Speaker 3>It's the greatest moment that occurs every three to four months,
<v Speaker 3>you know, like every three to four minutes. Oh god,
<v Speaker 3>oh my god, another great moment. Oh my god, this
<v Speaker 3>is the greatest moment. Beat last one, three minutes. Romeovill,
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, Marror Romeo, greatest moment, greatest moment, mayor
<v Speaker 3>now moment. Now moment is the last name? N O
<v Speaker 3>W m O Mongo. Well I like that. Actually, we
<v Speaker 3>have one of those guys in w W E the mcmoment,
<v Speaker 3>the Wrestlemaniam mcmoment. This WrestleMania mcmoment is brought to you
<v Speaker 3>by McDonald's Mongo Maniam mcmoment.
<v Speaker 9>I mean, am I the only one that kind of
<v Speaker 9>gets a little bit of a hankering from mango when
<v Speaker 9>we talk about Mongo. The word mango to me tastes citrusy.
<v Speaker 3>It does. It definitely has like a you know, it
<v Speaker 3>goes down, smooth down, smooth absolutely, Oh my god. Uh
<v Speaker 3>A no Ax supporter Coss McMichael has slot on the
<v Speaker 3>sports radio show by complaining to station managers that McMichael's
<v Speaker 3>airtime necessitated equal time for his political opponents. Yes Wow.
<v Speaker 3>The radio gig YEP in Phillip Park, the highly charged
<v Speaker 3>contest between the former village police chief and trustee, Deborah
<v Speaker 3>bullwink brother and her assistant Rocky appeared to be a
<v Speaker 3>win for Bullwinkle, who was the clear front runner after
<v Speaker 3>garnering more than seventy six percent of the unofficial vote,
<v Speaker 3>with all thirty seven thirty one precincts reporting for much
<v Speaker 3>of the evening, the DuPage County Election Commission posted limited
<v Speaker 3>results as the county's election website was down for hours.
<v Speaker 3>Both Bullwinkle and heidel Meyer spoke of the need to
<v Speaker 3>attract new developers and revitalize the town's main thoroughfare, but
<v Speaker 3>Heidelmeyer's personal problems dog dogged his campaign. Two weeks before
<v Speaker 3>the election, two photos of Heidelmeyer were posted on a
<v Speaker 3>website that touts itself as offering, quote your most diverse
<v Speaker 3>phone sex experience. What is going on? What is happening? Fuck?
<v Speaker 3>I mean nervous dude. We got the fucking think we
<v Speaker 3>fucking Bubba's wife on that too, right.
<v Speaker 9>Well he's from Illinois too, or Indiana and we got
<v Speaker 9>part of the country.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. In a written statement his camp released in response,
<v Speaker 3>heidel Meyer acknowledged the pictures were of him. He apologized
<v Speaker 3>and pledged to stay steadfast in the race. A twenty
<v Speaker 3>three year veteran of the town's police force, heidel Meyer
<v Speaker 3>fifty one, had been ousted as chief last year in
<v Speaker 3>a decision that left residents without answers, as both sides
<v Speaker 3>cited a confidential this is I mean.
<v Speaker 9>I don't know what the problem is. I'm still waiting
<v Speaker 9>for something to be of issue.
<v Speaker 3>I don't even know what's going on here. You know,
<v Speaker 3>I think guy gets ousted at it and we don't.
<v Speaker 5>Even know why.
<v Speaker 3>He apologizes that the pictures are apologizes. I apologize. I'm
<v Speaker 3>sorry that these pictures I Remaine. I'm sure you are Bell.
<v Speaker 3>You know, I know that these pictures don't pay for
<v Speaker 3>the pictures.
<v Speaker 9>Hyderville, who moved to Romeoville from fucking Stoughton.
<v Speaker 3>Six years ago. I just want to say that, you
<v Speaker 3>know these pictures are of me. I apologize that they are.
<v Speaker 9>Of Hyderville, a former mayor of kohag Rhode Island.
<v Speaker 3>I apologize that these pictures are of me. I apologize,
<v Speaker 3>but you had to see them, and I apologize that
<v Speaker 3>they've been made public as they they definitely are not
<v Speaker 3>something that the public would want to see. Thank you
<v Speaker 3>for your time. Please vote for me.
<v Speaker 9>Vote for me, and not the guy with a loaded
<v Speaker 9>gun in his wife's car.
<v Speaker 3>They vote vote for Heidelmaya, not Bullwinkle. Please thank you.
<v Speaker 9>Hey, that's the guy in Eric Safe, the one from
<v Speaker 9>the traffic style right.
<v Speaker 3>Seven. There we go. His opponent, Bullwinkle forty four, was
<v Speaker 3>one of former Chief's harshest critics on the village board
<v Speaker 3>and among those who pushed for his forced retirement. Quote.
<v Speaker 3>I suppose anything is possible, Bullwinkle said, when as Tuesday evening.
<v Speaker 3>If the racy photos led to her opponent's defeat, that
<v Speaker 3>was a pretty heated issue. But I think people just
<v Speaker 3>really wanted their voices heard. I mean, one of those
<v Speaker 3>photos put away too for them. Mate. Heidelmeyer could not
<v Speaker 3>be reached for comment. In North Chicago, a series of
<v Speaker 3>scandals involving police Wisicona dogged this is not Illinois. I
<v Speaker 3>refuse to believe this is Chicago. Dog incumbent Mayor Leon
<v Speaker 3>Rockingham Junior, but he appeared to have defeated challenger ald
<v Speaker 3>ald O Charles. Wait, what the fuck? Charles ald Charles
<v Speaker 3>January junior is probably Alderman. Alderman Charles January junior, What
<v Speaker 3>the Okay, dude, if your name is Charles January Junior,
<v Speaker 3>you need to you need to go off the way. Seriously, dude,
<v Speaker 3>if your name, if your last name is January, just
<v Speaker 3>fucking go and do that. That's a great wrestling now,
<v Speaker 3>Charles January Junior. I mean seriously, well, the whole thing
<v Speaker 3>alden Reich, Charles what is it? Aldenich, Charles January thing,
<v Speaker 3>heiden Heidelmeyer, hiden Reich.
<v Speaker 24>Uh.
<v Speaker 3>But he appeared to have defeated to the challenger Aldermand
<v Speaker 3>Almond Charles January Junior with fifty six percent of the
<v Speaker 3>vote with all precincts from reporting. Rockingham had weathered much
<v Speaker 3>criticism since the death of Darren Hannah November eleven, one
<v Speaker 3>week after he was beaten during his arrest in a
<v Speaker 3>domestic altercation. Jesus, what the fuck is going on article
<v Speaker 3>the city. The city has paid more than one million
<v Speaker 3>dollars to set a lawsuits claiming excessive police force, and
<v Speaker 3>last year, former chief Michael Newsom was charged with stealing
<v Speaker 3>from the department's drug seizar.
<v Speaker 9>My, you know, I have no idea what a character
<v Speaker 9>like Steve McMichael is doing in this company. Oh, I
<v Speaker 9>just don't see it as a referendum on who he
<v Speaker 9>really was at all.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. Well, on Tuesday evening, Rockingham refused to declare victory
<v Speaker 3>until more than two hundred early voting ballots were counted. Quote,
<v Speaker 3>I think the voters are telling me we're accomplishing what
<v Speaker 3>we need to do. He said, we need to continue.
<v Speaker 3>I guess it was Springfield, mass and not Illinois on
<v Speaker 3>the show. Oh fuck, was it? Everybody? Okay, any any
<v Speaker 3>like person of of of of of like political and
<v Speaker 3>political and and like and chiefs. They're all from fucking Massachusetts.
<v Speaker 3>They're all from fucking Boston. All right, That's the way
<v Speaker 3>it is, like a memory. I remember hearing the LA
<v Speaker 3>police chief. I'm like, Bill, you're kidding, Like all these
<v Speaker 3>fucking like are all police chiefs fucking from from Wakefield.
<v Speaker 3>For God's sake, we need to continue to reach out
<v Speaker 3>to all the people, let them know their need. That
<v Speaker 3>needs to be some healing now as we try to
<v Speaker 3>move forward.
<v Speaker 9>Mongo can help you with healing. It to spends how
<v Speaker 9>you depends how you spell it.
<v Speaker 3>A McHenry County referendum on whether to levy a zero
<v Speaker 3>point one percent property tax to help people with developmental
<v Speaker 3>Disabilities was losing sixty boring with eighty reporting. The tax
<v Speaker 3>would have cost the owner of a two hundred thousand
<v Speaker 3>dollars home about sixty dollars a year. At gets say
<v Speaker 3>it would be a huge help to families struggling to
<v Speaker 3>take care of with severe disabilities. Opponents that residents simply
<v Speaker 3>couldn't take another specialized. Seriously, if we allow this, what's next,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, what's the next? What do you a tax
<v Speaker 3>to help somebody else? We can't have that. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>Jesus Christ, you're gonna start just fucking handing people groceries
<v Speaker 3>now you're not. I'm even pay for you, but the
<v Speaker 3>the Marcus out of business, Jesus Christ. Andrew Gasser a
<v Speaker 3>McHenry County Republican Precinct commit Okay, that's what a McHenry
<v Speaker 3>County Republican Precinct committee committeeman like, serious, I mean, it's
<v Speaker 3>not off all right, just fucking like just say a
<v Speaker 3>committee man, you know, a committee, you know, like right, like,
<v Speaker 3>Jesus fucking Christ said, the vote sends a simple message,
<v Speaker 3>we're taxed enough all round. No you're not. Just wait no,
<v Speaker 3>he said. The vote came from a quote sign Island
<v Speaker 3>majority of Conservatives, despite leaders of both the Republican and
<v Speaker 3>Democratic parties opting not to take a stand on the issue.
<v Speaker 3>In other races, voters in Township District one thirteen in
<v Speaker 3>the North suburbs approved an eighty nine million dollar bond
<v Speaker 3>proposal to pay for upgrades to Deerfield and Highland Park
<v Speaker 3>High Schools. In Winnetka, the most important, Jean greb Griable
<v Speaker 3>Greable Jean Griebel, called for a mending of the fences
<v Speaker 3>in the village after a contentious mayoral campaign against Chris
<v Speaker 3>Rintz and no campaign this spring got more personal than
<v Speaker 3>the mayoral battle in south suburban Dixmore. It just hits,
<v Speaker 3>just keep coming. Seriously, where Randall Casey and his mother Wendy,
<v Speaker 3>a mother named Wendy and his mother Wendy finished third
<v Speaker 3>and fourth respectively in a contest the way mother ran
<v Speaker 3>against him his mother. So a guy and his mom
<v Speaker 3>ran against two other people and they came in third
<v Speaker 3>and fourth or just won by Dorothy Armstrong. Dude, he
<v Speaker 3>said Wendy on a pole, Can I I mean seriously?
<v Speaker 3>Chicago politics is is the greatest revelation of the mongo
<v Speaker 3>McMichael tribute.
<v Speaker 9>That he found a home in that world. Says it
<v Speaker 9>all to me. Yep, fucking you know, contributions that no
<v Speaker 9>one can trace.
<v Speaker 3>Give me great. We're gonna look at the picture in
<v Speaker 3>the fucking you know doing that that obligatory bullshit American
<v Speaker 3>flag on a lapel. Can't stand that ship and he
<v Speaker 3>looks like a fucking mango. Mango. I'll go after wrestling,
<v Speaker 3>Jesus Christ. Yeah, the guy, the guy, the guy, the
<v Speaker 3>guy with a goate the fat guy with a goatee
<v Speaker 3>sitting in the chair behind him. He's like, Yeah, what
<v Speaker 3>the fuck is this guy doing here?
<v Speaker 29>What?
<v Speaker 25>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he was on the Bears. Any other reason he
<v Speaker 3>should be the mayor? I don't think so. No, do
<v Speaker 3>you need another reason? I'm not in the debates.
<v Speaker 10>Fuck that.
<v Speaker 3>Mongo McMichael. Hey, I know it, Ay Mongo. I heard
<v Speaker 3>running water. What ticket are you?
<v Speaker 5>Are you?
<v Speaker 3>You want to be another you want to be another
<v Speaker 3>wrestler in a political campaign. It's time to put a
<v Speaker 3>wrestler in the Romeoville mayor's office. Yeah. I was once
<v Speaker 3>mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Ever been to Brooklyn Park, haven't, jess?
<v Speaker 3>Why the funk would I go to Brooklyn. He goes, oh,
<v Speaker 3>like that's a mark against you. Really, you really should
<v Speaker 3>go they haven't. Kind of a disappointment. A tremendous spring Guard,
<v Speaker 3>spring Gardenka, do you like spring Gardens? Mongo, Mongo, Mangle.
<v Speaker 9>That'd be a great question for Jesse Ventura, Jesse, were
<v Speaker 9>you sad when Mongo died?
<v Speaker 3>Who at that? Do you believe that, Jesse? Do you
<v Speaker 3>think that Mango McMichael died the way that they said
<v Speaker 3>he died? Absolutely? You know what I heard. See. I
<v Speaker 3>get personal updates, have my own wire. I have my
<v Speaker 3>own wire. You can say that again, Jesus Christ. And
<v Speaker 3>I get news reports that aren't given to the public.
<v Speaker 3>I know exactly how Mongo McMichael died, and nobody else does.
<v Speaker 3>It's all a fallacy. Someday I'll release the truth when
<v Speaker 3>they let me in the debates, I'll debate him to death.
<v Speaker 9>My god, well, oh my god. That's fucking all the
<v Speaker 9>other hoops he found to jump through. There came a
<v Speaker 9>point when Mango realized that, you know, people are going
<v Speaker 9>to notice my lack of presence in the public arena.
<v Speaker 9>They're going to notice that I'm not on the post
<v Speaker 9>bears coverage I'm not on the radio anymore. I'm not
<v Speaker 9>a man about town.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, I don't know, I don't think will
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if I agree with that. They're munks monks,
<v Speaker 3>So I.
<v Speaker 9>Need to get out there. And he actually sits down
<v Speaker 9>with the son of Walter Payton, who apparently is a
<v Speaker 9>sports reporter in the Chicago market, to make the big revelation.
<v Speaker 23>Because I'm not going to be out in the public anymore.
<v Speaker 23>I'm not going to be playing in the Chicago six anymore.
<v Speaker 23>I'm not going to be on the ESPN radio anymore.
<v Speaker 23>You're not going to see me out doing appearances. Hell,
<v Speaker 23>I can't even sign my name anymore, and everybody's going
<v Speaker 23>to be speculating, where's Mike Michael, what's wrong with him? Well,
<v Speaker 23>I'm here to tell everybody I've been diagnosed with ALS
<v Speaker 23>Lou Garrigg's disease.
<v Speaker 9>That's rough, And he goes on to explain how, of
<v Speaker 9>course ALS just gradually withers away everything, everything, to the
<v Speaker 9>point that you're literally sitting there your mouth agape, unable
<v Speaker 9>to communicate in any way, shape or form. Technically alive
<v Speaker 9>but really alive in no other appreciable way. And the
<v Speaker 9>NFL got together and decided that before he left this earth,
<v Speaker 9>Mango deserved to have that NFL Hall of Fame induction moment.
<v Speaker 9>I've sent you a link, boss, I think it has
<v Speaker 9>to be done. I think it has to come across.
<v Speaker 9>Let's open said link, and let's take in the the
<v Speaker 9>state of Mango all right upon his induction. Do you
<v Speaker 9>have an ad or anything beforehand that we need to
<v Speaker 9>guard against. Not yet, No, So if you're ready to go,
<v Speaker 9>I'm ready. All right, let's do it. Three two one
<v Speaker 9>play and you can't hear the audio along at home,
<v Speaker 9>but they're just introducing his bust at his home in Chicago.
<v Speaker 9>So he's in his deathbed at home to be inducted.
<v Speaker 9>Take a look, bus. Oh no, oh my god, oh
<v Speaker 9>my god. They reveal the bust. I mean, they're all
<v Speaker 9>clapping for him, all of famer. They're all saying, with
<v Speaker 9>their jacket tons surrounding him, that's your baby forever. His
<v Speaker 9>wife says, Steve, you were here with all your world
<v Speaker 9>champion brothers back in Canton. We have three hundred and
<v Speaker 9>seventy eight brothers. You're in a team. You could never
<v Speaker 9>be cut. I'm more released from when you die on
<v Speaker 9>this team, you will still be honored. Welcome home. Take
<v Speaker 9>a look.
<v Speaker 3>I it's I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm glad they
<v Speaker 3>honored him before he before he died. But man, it's like,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's it's it's awful. But he looks like
<v Speaker 3>a corpse already, and it's so sad. The feeding tubes
<v Speaker 3>are in, the breathing tubes are in. The mouth is
<v Speaker 3>a gape.
<v Speaker 9>The eyes are sort of moving. Yep, that's the extent
<v Speaker 9>of it. And they're all uh ah, expressing their love
<v Speaker 9>and pride in him. He's wearing his Hall of Fame
<v Speaker 9>jacket with the emblem.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, that's gonna be a hard thing to do.
<v Speaker 3>I could break him to now.
<v Speaker 9>A speech that he's been working on before he lost
<v Speaker 9>the ability to talk. This is from his sister Kathy
<v Speaker 9>and tries to share the sentiment. Here a Chicago Bears
<v Speaker 9>fans and Mongo fans woo, who I'm in the Hall
<v Speaker 9>of Fame?
<v Speaker 3>Baby.
<v Speaker 9>I want to thank the Hall of Fame, the Senior
<v Speaker 9>Selection Committee, the Chicago Bears, and all the fans, the
<v Speaker 9>best fans in the world and the best city to
<v Speaker 9>play football in. I played fifteen years in the NFL
<v Speaker 9>and loved every minute of every down. I played with
<v Speaker 9>the greatest players in the NFL and the greatest defense
<v Speaker 9>To this day, baby, I want to thank all my teammates.
<v Speaker 9>It's an honor to join my teammates, waltbra Payton, Richard Dent,
<v Speaker 9>Michael Singletary, Dan Hampton, Jimbo Culbert, Coach Ditka, Coach Ryan,
<v Speaker 9>and all the bears before us. Special thank you to
<v Speaker 9>my pseudo son Jerry Peyton for introducing me inducting me.
<v Speaker 9>I want to thank my family, my father, Max, brother Richard,
<v Speaker 9>sister Sharon, and Catherine Denise. To my wife Misty, thank
<v Speaker 9>you for giving me my beautiful daughter, Macy. To Macy'll
<v Speaker 9>always be my little girl, Daddy loves you. And finally
<v Speaker 9>to my mother. We made it, Mama, Misty and Macy
<v Speaker 9>they're down and hook him is right.
<v Speaker 8>We made it.
<v Speaker 9>Steve McMichael, Wow, shit, that's Lapel twenty third, twenty twenty five.
<v Speaker 9>At the age of sixty seven and Juliet, Illinois, Steve
<v Speaker 9>McMichael passes away and it's uh, it's reality, is what
<v Speaker 9>it is?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean it's it's it's Yeah, that's that is
<v Speaker 3>I mean, you know, in in some ways that's as
<v Speaker 3>hard as it's got similarities that you say to Mike
<v Speaker 3>Van Eric. Yep, it's really really rough.
<v Speaker 31>His battles were wage on the football field, dismantling opposing
<v Speaker 31>quarterbacks with strength and intimidation that helped bring the Lombardi
<v Speaker 31>Trophy to Chicago as a member of the eighty five Bears.
<v Speaker 31>That is how former defensive tackle Steve McMichael wants to
<v Speaker 31>be remembered.
<v Speaker 6>Look at me and look how I used to be
<v Speaker 6>denying one to be the poster boy for this. This
<v Speaker 6>is not the legacy I wanted to leave.
<v Speaker 31>During thirteen seasons with the Bears, McMichael placed himself firmly
<v Speaker 31>in the record books second most saxon team history, third
<v Speaker 31>most tackles of ferocious on field presence that had no
<v Speaker 31>off switch. But it was after football that the Texas
<v Speaker 31>native became synonymous with Chicago, the city embracing McMichael as
<v Speaker 31>a wrestler, performer, coach, and radio personality, even supporting him
<v Speaker 31>through an unsuccessful run for mayor of Romeoville in twenty thirteen.
<v Speaker 31>He was larger than life, with a fearless personality that
<v Speaker 31>remained when he was diagnosed with als in twenty twenty one.
<v Speaker 6>I've turned in from the entertainer to just somebody in
<v Speaker 6>the house, a fan. I get to sit here and
<v Speaker 6>watch games, you know, like i'd taken for granted and
<v Speaker 6>wasn't watching the sport like I used to.
<v Speaker 31>As his health continued to deteriorate, McMichael never gave up,
<v Speaker 31>and in January of twenty twenty four, he got the
<v Speaker 31>news he'd been fighting for the Bear's legend was finally
<v Speaker 31>selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
<v Speaker 3>Yaste, what's up, buddy.
<v Speaker 33>I've gotten the privilege to call you guys to let
<v Speaker 33>Steve know he is now in the Class of twenty
<v Speaker 33>twenty four Hall of Fame.
<v Speaker 5>Glad to have you all, brother.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Richard.
<v Speaker 22>We love you.
<v Speaker 8>It's better sweet because they should have done it a
<v Speaker 8>long time ago.
<v Speaker 22>When he could enjoy it.
<v Speaker 3>But it's sweet that he's still with us.
<v Speaker 19>So I'm hoping that this will inspire the Hall of
<v Speaker 19>Fame and others that well, you know.
<v Speaker 31>When somebody's out there and they deserve it, do it
<v Speaker 31>while they're alive. McMichael's enshrinement is the crowning moment of
<v Speaker 31>a Hall of Fame life both on and off the field.
<v Speaker 31>He has survived by his wife, Misty and their daughter Macy.
<v Speaker 2>It's a Lapsed fan wrestling podcast.
<v Speaker 1>He's a lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio.
<v Speaker 9>And JP Sorrow with Michael tweeting on April twenty fifth,
<v Speaker 9>first time ever to share this personal picture, a picture
<v Speaker 9>of her and Stevie on their wedding day, for Every
<v Speaker 9>twenty sixth, nineteen eighty five, she wrote, I will always
<v Speaker 9>love you Stevie rick Flair. The world just lost the
<v Speaker 9>incredible Steve Manga McMichael. He was my best friend through
<v Speaker 9>it all, an amazing athlete and human being. I have
<v Speaker 9>the I mean, come on, I have the fondest memories
<v Speaker 9>working with him. What about anymore?
<v Speaker 1>No?
<v Speaker 3>No, what about you know your best friend? About Michael conditional?
<v Speaker 3>It is extremely heart breaking loss for me. I love you, Mongo.
<v Speaker 3>You fought one hell of a battle. When would you know?
<v Speaker 3>I want to know when the last time he talked
<v Speaker 3>to his best.
<v Speaker 9>He went to see him several times when he was
<v Speaker 9>speechless with als, and I thought that would would have
<v Speaker 9>to count, you would think, yeah, he kept a regular
<v Speaker 9>touch with him. I will give him that they traveled
<v Speaker 9>very similar paths.
<v Speaker 3>And then I asked you how many times do you
<v Speaker 3>think he asked Mongo for money? Not more than four?
<v Speaker 9>I mean Mango I asked him for eighteen hundred bucks
<v Speaker 9>in nineteen ninety seven wherever it was.
<v Speaker 3>So there's that.
<v Speaker 9>But Ongo, I mean that you saw the pick, you
<v Speaker 9>saw the image.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 9>You saw him in the bed, And that's that's kind
<v Speaker 9>of try, the hard strings of it all and the
<v Speaker 9>most vicious, cruel disease. It's just it's just I can't.
<v Speaker 3>I can't.
<v Speaker 9>I can't knowing knowing that there is no other way
<v Speaker 9>for it to end than that, and just playing out
<v Speaker 9>the string, you know what I mean. And like you said,
<v Speaker 9>not wanting to be the poster boy for it. You know,
<v Speaker 9>it's like people shove cameras in your face when you
<v Speaker 9>have ALS, and it's like I don't, I don't want
<v Speaker 9>to be the spokesperson for ALS. And it's like you
<v Speaker 9>don't even have a choice if you had any level
<v Speaker 9>of fame.
<v Speaker 3>Right you know, right now you're the one fighting for it,
<v Speaker 3>and you're fighting for your life, and so you need
<v Speaker 3>to inspire others if you have no choice. That's exactly right.
<v Speaker 9>How selfish you to not want to save others? Yes,
<v Speaker 9>I have no interest in in, no interest appetit, volunteer
<v Speaker 9>for this inspiring my hand up and.
<v Speaker 3>I want to die in. Piece should be the fuck alone.
<v Speaker 9>Exactly what a living piece? Leave me the fuck alone
<v Speaker 9>as well. Let's let's keep that in mind, folks as
<v Speaker 9>we reflect upon the life and times of Steve Mongo McMichael,
<v Speaker 9>former WCW United States Champion. And it happened here a
<v Speaker 9>Clash of the Champions thirty five in nineteen ninety seven.
<v Speaker 9>A few more notes on the show before we deep
<v Speaker 9>dive this. This motherfucker wild political times as you can
<v Speaker 9>imagine coming out of the Road Wild pay per view.
<v Speaker 9>This was the show where they did that incredible Luger
<v Speaker 9>wins the title. Luger wins the title Nitro remember that?
<v Speaker 9>Oh yeah, right of course, and THENDY lost it back
<v Speaker 9>to Hogan at the Road Wild show. This is coming
<v Speaker 9>off that pay per view, Hogan goes away with the
<v Speaker 9>belt and Beltzer's reporting that Hollin Nash went to Bischoff
<v Speaker 9>and told him they thought there have been too many
<v Speaker 9>title changes in the company of late and it was
<v Speaker 9>ruining the credibil of the titles. Of course, this while
<v Speaker 9>Hollin Nash our WCW Tag Team Champions, perhaps explaining how
<v Speaker 9>all of a sudden, at Hall is going to defend
<v Speaker 9>with Savage in the main event of this Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions, despite the fact that Savage is not a
<v Speaker 9>tag team title holder. But I guess freebird rules are
<v Speaker 9>there when you want them to be. Other times guys
<v Speaker 9>get hurt and they got to relinquish the tag belts.
<v Speaker 9>So apparently there's all kinds of changes happening in WCW
<v Speaker 9>around when championships were scheduled to be dropped and then
<v Speaker 9>changed at the last minute. Melts Are reporting that just
<v Speaker 9>before the beginning of the show, three title changes have
<v Speaker 9>been switched to zero. At Roade Wild, they had three
<v Speaker 9>title changes booked on the show and none of them
<v Speaker 9>ended up happening. This threw the melts Are reported August
<v Speaker 9>twenty first, Clash the Champions, the company's next major show,
<v Speaker 9>not to mention all the upcoming house shows for a loop,
<v Speaker 9>since it was supposed to be built around the three
<v Speaker 9>title matches, all of which became almost obsolete. Steiners Melts
<v Speaker 9>of reports were to defend the tag titles Againstein Malnko
<v Speaker 9>and Chris Benoa on this paper view on this clash.
<v Speaker 9>While the Steiners don't have the belts because hallin Nash
<v Speaker 9>didn't drop them to them road Wild, as was the
<v Speaker 9>original drawn up plan, Chris Jericho's Cruiserweight title defense against
<v Speaker 9>Eddie Guerrero, which was supposed to happen, is out since
<v Speaker 9>Jericho didn't win the title back as planned at Ultimo
<v Speaker 9>Dragon's TV title defense against Alex Wright, which was booked
<v Speaker 9>that way because Wright was going to lose the Cruiser
<v Speaker 9>Belt and then be elevated to TV. Champ also looks
<v Speaker 9>to be in jeopardy because he didn't lose the Cruiser belt,
<v Speaker 9>and one would think if Bishoff believes Hollin Nash to
<v Speaker 9>have a valid point, that point would be undermined by
<v Speaker 9>having Right beat Dragon.
<v Speaker 3>So it's that's WCW at this point in time.
<v Speaker 11>Man.
<v Speaker 9>You can fault them all day for not doing long
<v Speaker 9>term booking, but the fact of the matter is when
<v Speaker 9>they laid out the long term booking, it all went
<v Speaker 9>to shit.
<v Speaker 3>Anyway. It didn't play out as planned, but.
<v Speaker 9>Eventually Chris Jericho, not not for the original plan, wins
<v Speaker 9>the Cruiserweight title from Alex Right on a TV taping,
<v Speaker 9>and they make reference to this during the Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions, so they're like rushing to make true what
<v Speaker 9>they expected to be true when this Clash Special happens,
<v Speaker 9>even though when it was all supposed to be set
<v Speaker 9>in place road Wild, there's this last minute change of things,
<v Speaker 9>but they still do tuck them in. So they do
<v Speaker 9>a TV taping where Jericho does take the Cruiserweight belt
<v Speaker 9>from Alex Right to free Upright to go for the
<v Speaker 9>TV title against Ultimo Dragon at the Clash show, and
<v Speaker 9>Meltzer reports it appears Jericho's title reign isn't going to
<v Speaker 9>last long and that Eddie Guerrero will wind up with
<v Speaker 9>the belt, and that is in fact what happens, is it, not,
<v Speaker 9>Boss Well, he goes into Halloween Havoc ninet ninety seven
<v Speaker 9>and that legendary match with Ray Mysterio as champion loses
<v Speaker 9>the belt, but it isn't exactly here. This is where
<v Speaker 9>he frog splashes him with the belt on his stomach
<v Speaker 9>right and leaves him to give Deborah McMichael a stable
<v Speaker 9>of champions. This is the idea of Guerrero wins the Belt.
<v Speaker 3>Thinking that.
<v Speaker 9>This show, he does get it, Yes, he does get it.
<v Speaker 9>Deborah McMichael, to be with Eddie Guerrero, Jeff Jarrett and
<v Speaker 9>Alex Right. Can you believe Alex Right in a stable
<v Speaker 9>with Deborah? You can picture that ever being the plan.
<v Speaker 9>But it was even Deborah here in the high Spots
<v Speaker 9>shooting interview, you can't quite see it.
<v Speaker 8>At the end. Before you left w CW, it looked
<v Speaker 8>like they were going to have you lead a stable
<v Speaker 8>of like Alex Right and a couple of other guys.
<v Speaker 8>Was there any discussions of what? I guess we never
<v Speaker 8>saw what it was supposed to happen. What did they
<v Speaker 8>tell you?
<v Speaker 22>I didn't think I knew what was supposed to happen.
<v Speaker 22>It was like I was doing that and to me,
<v Speaker 22>I was thinking, I don't work with him because I
<v Speaker 22>know I was with you, and Jeff just disappeared, right
<v Speaker 22>he went over to Yeah he did it. Yeah, he
<v Speaker 22>just one day. I showed up at Disney World to
<v Speaker 22>work with him and he was like, where's chef. He's gone.
<v Speaker 8>I was like, what, So you had no idea that
<v Speaker 8>he was leaving them.
<v Speaker 22>He just went. And then so they were doing the
<v Speaker 22>thing with Eric Ryan, But to me, that didn't make
<v Speaker 22>any sense because I didn't match his character. I didn't
<v Speaker 22>go with him. And then it was like then they
<v Speaker 22>just sort of with Steve and I getting a divorce,
<v Speaker 22>that just sort of and they paid me for the
<v Speaker 22>whole time you didn't see me anymore. They kept paying me.
<v Speaker 22>I mean, Eric was really nice like that. He kept
<v Speaker 22>you know, because I think they knew they didn't use
<v Speaker 22>it because Steve was still working in there was like
<v Speaker 22>a divorce.
<v Speaker 8>And so you being there would have been a distraction.
<v Speaker 22>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>So but they were good to me.
<v Speaker 22>They kept paying me all the way up to when
<v Speaker 22>I got the job with WWF.
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, she ended up signing it. She started doing stuff
<v Speaker 9>for free, just going with Mango to the shows and
<v Speaker 9>being on TV for free. And then eventually, during some
<v Speaker 9>dinner or something, she says that Bischoff offered her a contract,
<v Speaker 9>and she was under contract all the way U until
<v Speaker 9>going to WWF and even being paid when she wasn't
<v Speaker 9>on television. I think they got divorced in nineteen ninety eight,
<v Speaker 9>Steve and Deborah, but I think they were Splitsville kind
<v Speaker 9>of already when they were being positioned at odds with
<v Speaker 9>each other on w CV television.
<v Speaker 3>Right I thought, yeah, I mean, and you know that's
<v Speaker 3>also part of the chorus when it comes to relationships recently,
<v Speaker 3>let's put real couples against each other.
<v Speaker 9>Right on telling this as soon as possible, let's play
<v Speaker 9>that game. So it's the last clash. It's actually just
<v Speaker 9>weeks before this episode of Clash of the Champions August thirteenth,
<v Speaker 9>according to the Observer, that a memo begins to be
<v Speaker 9>circulated internally to WCW about this new second show that
<v Speaker 9>would come to be called Thunder. The state of the
<v Speaker 9>ratings is up in the air. WSW just made the
<v Speaker 9>move to go eight to ten to RAS nine to
<v Speaker 9>eleven every Monday night. So they're all playing games, trying
<v Speaker 9>to find ways to get an edge on each other.
<v Speaker 9>Nitro handily beating Raw at the time. Let's see Nitro
<v Speaker 9>doing a three point six four rating certain weeks, which
<v Speaker 9>is exceptionally high.
<v Speaker 3>They had done.
<v Speaker 9>Some monster ratings that summer. That show at Pallace of
<v Speaker 9>Arburn Hills, that three hour Nitro where Luger beat Hogan
<v Speaker 9>form the title was such a massive show for them
<v Speaker 9>and really led to the eventual decision that we need
<v Speaker 9>to go three hours, you know, and the fact that
<v Speaker 9>they eight to ten and giving Raw an extra hour
<v Speaker 9>just helped Rod do a really good ten to eleven
<v Speaker 9>hour relative to what they had had been doing, just
<v Speaker 9>even further solidified the point that we to be against
<v Speaker 9>Raw and have our own hour to ourself as well
<v Speaker 9>for all three hours of the show. So, yeah, the
<v Speaker 9>Clash of the Champions quarterly special feel. I don't know,
<v Speaker 9>people in the company like Tony and this podcast has
<v Speaker 9>talked about it being a big pain in the ass,
<v Speaker 9>And like the warmness that we felt for Clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions as fans wasn't necessarily felt internally at WCW.
<v Speaker 9>I don't think they were like they did of having
<v Speaker 9>to do a midweek live show amidst everything else WCW
<v Speaker 9>was trying to do. At the time, it seemed to
<v Speaker 9>be like a very distant afterthought, the way it starts
<v Speaker 9>to be talked about as opposed to some huge springboard
<v Speaker 9>thing that can launch big angles. And I'm sure that
<v Speaker 9>all happen after Nitro. I mean a lot of the
<v Speaker 9>clashes we talk about Boss are pre Nitro, you know
<v Speaker 9>what I mean?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, of course, I mean, yeah, there was only like
<v Speaker 3>two and a half years of clashes after Nitros started.
<v Speaker 3>That's right.
<v Speaker 9>So yeah, they're going, They're going, And here comes the
<v Speaker 9>word from TBS that thunders to become the thing. Despite
<v Speaker 9>some pushback internally, it absolutely is going to happen. And
<v Speaker 9>Bishoff is starting to you to fear dilution of the brand.
<v Speaker 9>As he says in a Guy Evan's Nitro book, you
<v Speaker 9>can only put Hulk, Kogan or Sting out there so
<v Speaker 9>many times a week before people don't feel like it's
<v Speaker 9>special anymore. They also had a Saturday night going too
<v Speaker 9>that they had to do. They had to tape that,
<v Speaker 9>so they were absolutely being taken, being squeezed for every
<v Speaker 9>ratings point they could deliver a fair time. Absolutely were.
<v Speaker 9>And there was movie advertising money that always was looking
<v Speaker 9>for home on Thursdays. A big part of the reason
<v Speaker 9>SmackDown ended up being successful because a lot of the
<v Speaker 9>movie studios want to promote opening weekends on Thursday nights.
<v Speaker 9>Of course, a course interested in spending on Monday nights
<v Speaker 9>or other nights of the week, so that that opened
<v Speaker 9>that up as well. And there was internal squabbles over
<v Speaker 9>whether T and T or TBS would I don't know
<v Speaker 9>if you want to say, get the show or be
<v Speaker 9>saddled with the show, depending on how the person in
<v Speaker 9>the particular seat was looking at it. But Ted Turner
<v Speaker 9>makes the ultimate call, according to people involved at the time,
<v Speaker 9>to put it on TBS, and he wants two nights
<v Speaker 9>of primetime wrestling, and that's the way it's going to be,
<v Speaker 9>and that's the way it was. They put money towards it,
<v Speaker 9>so it was it was a drain in so many ways.
<v Speaker 9>And I think we see that today. You know, it's
<v Speaker 9>just too much TV.
<v Speaker 3>It's just you can't. You just can't.
<v Speaker 9>Everyone's like, why is a w client It's as soon
<v Speaker 9>as they made collision, Like, as soon as they had
<v Speaker 9>two more hours of weekly TV they had to pretend
<v Speaker 9>was important.
<v Speaker 10>You know.
<v Speaker 3>It's a weird thing. It's like, you know, at this
<v Speaker 3>point all I wanted was more more TV. Well they
<v Speaker 3>knew that, the executives knew that. That's why they were
<v Speaker 3>doing this over the objections of the wrestling operations. And
<v Speaker 3>it's like, you know, care about whether you're going to
<v Speaker 3>stick around. They just care that while you care, they
<v Speaker 3>make as much as they can off of you, right
<v Speaker 3>of course, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 9>It's like I love people talk about like in TV
<v Speaker 9>they'll run something into the ground like it's like a
<v Speaker 9>bug and not a feature. It's like, yeah, of course
<v Speaker 9>they're gonna runt to the ground because they all they
<v Speaker 9>care about is maximizing the amount they can put in
<v Speaker 9>their pocket. It dies, exactly, it's all they care about.
<v Speaker 9>Ask David Lynch about that. That's yeah, I mean exactly,
<v Speaker 9>And that's you know, and that's that's the whole business.
<v Speaker 9>It's like you you you find a successful concept and
<v Speaker 9>all of a sudden, all you want to do is
<v Speaker 9>copy it, and you know, so you can you can
<v Speaker 9>just kind of lynch, you know, lynch link onto the
<v Speaker 9>uh the success absolutely, you know, and and piggyback on
<v Speaker 9>it and hope that nobody notices that you just copied
<v Speaker 9>the same ship. And as far as the vulture, how
<v Speaker 9>symbolic right that it's circling here at a clash of
<v Speaker 9>the Champions Court.
<v Speaker 3>So they definitely knew this was the last clash? Did
<v Speaker 3>they make up? Did they hype that up at all?
<v Speaker 9>As far as I can tell, they did not know
<v Speaker 9>going into the broadcast that this would be the final
<v Speaker 9>clash of the champions Okay, it only became clear after
<v Speaker 9>a little while that of course we're not going to
<v Speaker 9>have the juice to still do Clash of the Champions,
<v Speaker 9>And what night would it be on? Thunder was on Thursdays,
<v Speaker 9>and that's usually when the clashes were, not always, but
<v Speaker 9>it so I think that was kind of the thing, like,
<v Speaker 9>are we really gonna do live two hour Nitro, live,
<v Speaker 9>two hour Clash, live two hour Thunder in one week?
<v Speaker 9>Like that'll never happen. But it wasn't like, you know,
<v Speaker 9>we regret to bring to an end. They just didn't
<v Speaker 9>even talk about it anymore. That's how it ended. That's
<v Speaker 9>how thing's ended. Back then, we were so used now
<v Speaker 9>to like the final because it actually can draw because
<v Speaker 9>fans are like, you know, like Internet like goofs like
<v Speaker 9>because they you know, the first last final, they care
<v Speaker 9>about that stuff, so it will draw ratings, so they'll
<v Speaker 9>play that up. Right back then, that wouldn't have bet
<v Speaker 9>anything to anybody. This is the final clash, Like I
<v Speaker 9>don't think that would have done anything if they emphasize that,
<v Speaker 9>But maybe I'm wrong. They just cared about the character.
<v Speaker 9>All right, it's the last I don't care what's the match, Like,
<v Speaker 9>I don't even care if you call it a clash,
<v Speaker 9>like to call it whatever its seb wrestling, there's going
<v Speaker 9>to BeO involved like it's still going to be there
<v Speaker 9>like it is Hogan gonna be There's all they care
<v Speaker 9>about or the wrestlers. They don't really care about the
<v Speaker 9>right the code of paint that's put on it, or
<v Speaker 9>the set dressing. It's a lot different now in that regard.
<v Speaker 9>But as we think about the vulture and what it
<v Speaker 9>represents on this show and what it represents for kind
<v Speaker 9>of WCW's frivolous spending in pursuit of bells and whistles
<v Speaker 9>that might freshen up kind of the same thing being
<v Speaker 9>presented to you on a weekly basis. I think JJ
<v Speaker 9>Dillon's book he was at the company at the time,
<v Speaker 9>kind of gives us a nice sense of that. He
<v Speaker 9>writes the production budget for Monday Night Trow was six
<v Speaker 9>hundred thousand dollars an episode. Nobody was held accountable for
<v Speaker 9>their extravagance. If they wanted to blow up four cars,
<v Speaker 9>somebody went out bought four cars and set them on fire.
<v Speaker 9>When Sting was using the crow gimmick, they contacted an
<v Speaker 9>animal trainer to bring a crow and paid him five grand.
<v Speaker 9>They had to buy three plane tickets, one for the trainer,
<v Speaker 9>one for the crow, and one for the backup crow.
<v Speaker 9>All of that for a five second shot of the crow.
<v Speaker 9>Then the camera switched over to Sting. As if that
<v Speaker 9>wasn't bad enough. Two weeks later, why are you making
<v Speaker 9>a big dealer of that shit?
<v Speaker 3>Dude? Seriously, come a found that, But.
<v Speaker 9>Where's your Hollywood spirit god? As if that wasn't bad enough,
<v Speaker 9>Two weeks later, they brought the crow back and paid
<v Speaker 9>another five thousand dollars plus expenses. Logic tells me that
<v Speaker 9>they wanted to use the crow as a continuing part
<v Speaker 9>of the storyline with Sting. They should have shot video
<v Speaker 9>of the crow from every conceivable angle the first time
<v Speaker 9>they brought the crow. I know he's got talking about
<v Speaker 9>the vulture. He's talking about the crow that chirps in
<v Speaker 9>the Starcade nineteen ninety seven ad with all the rain.
<v Speaker 9>I think that's what he's talking about. I see later
<v Speaker 9>when they wanted a different shot of the crow for
<v Speaker 9>the new segment, all they had to do is edit
<v Speaker 9>a shot of the crow from the tape into the
<v Speaker 9>new segment. I'd like to think that I learned fiscal
<v Speaker 9>responsibility from my many years in the business. But that
<v Speaker 9>kind of thinking has nothing to do with experience. It's
<v Speaker 9>just a good old common sense. Eric Bischoff here on
<v Speaker 9>his podcast talking about the Vulture, and he knows it was.
<v Speaker 3>It was shit. And you know when he knows that shit,
<v Speaker 3>the kind of defensive bosture he takes.
<v Speaker 24>Look, if it didn't work the way it was originally intended,
<v Speaker 24>it didn't work. It was a high risk move. You're
<v Speaker 24>bringing a wild animal, in this case, a bird, you know,
<v Speaker 24>into the ringk to perform a stunted even though it
<v Speaker 24>was a trained bird, as we talked about earlier, it
<v Speaker 24>was trained to work on movie sets and had done
<v Speaker 24>this type of thing before, over and over and over again.
<v Speaker 24>You know the fact that this was live TV. You know,
<v Speaker 24>it's not a movie set. You don't get a take
<v Speaker 24>two or take three or take twenty, which is often
<v Speaker 24>the case when you're working with animals, real animals.
<v Speaker 28>Did you guys work through this earlier in the day.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, we did. That's why we That's why we felt
<v Speaker 5>we could pull it off. I guess we talked about
<v Speaker 5>that earlier. You know, when Ellis brought the guy in
<v Speaker 5>with the bird.
<v Speaker 24>We set it up and you know, we walked through
<v Speaker 24>this scene to make sure that it was something the
<v Speaker 24>bird could do, and we felt comfortable with it, and we.
<v Speaker 5>Did all the way up until the time that it
<v Speaker 5>really mattered.
<v Speaker 28>That's so weird to think about all of you guys
<v Speaker 28>gathering together before the door's open with sting in the
<v Speaker 28>rafters with this bird on his hand, and then the
<v Speaker 28>lights go out and then the bird appears.
<v Speaker 24>Like, well, we didn't We didn't rehearse with the whole group.
<v Speaker 24>It was the handler up in the rafters. It wasn't sing,
<v Speaker 24>it was the hander handler up in the rafters. You know,
<v Speaker 24>cue the bird, made sure the bird, made sure the
<v Speaker 24>bird landed where it was supposed to land, or at
<v Speaker 24>least a David Crockett of the truck knew about where
<v Speaker 24>that area was going to be so we could cover it.
<v Speaker 5>But we didn't rehearse it. You know, with a whole
<v Speaker 5>group of guys in.
<v Speaker 28>The ring, you're making that sound and supposedly he's supposed
<v Speaker 28>to have a note here, but there's nothing there.
<v Speaker 5>I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 28>Supposedly this bird note that he's going to pass to you,
<v Speaker 28>That says Hogan Soul but there's nothing there is that
<v Speaker 28>the way you remember it? Yes, how's what's going through
<v Speaker 28>your mind right now?
<v Speaker 3>What the fuck do we do now?
<v Speaker 10>Yeah?
<v Speaker 5>Because you know, the cameras are on you. We got time,
<v Speaker 5>and it's like, okay, how do we sell this?
<v Speaker 33>You know?
<v Speaker 5>And the idea I think it was to sell it,
<v Speaker 5>you know, be scared. You know, you could look at
<v Speaker 5>this two different ways, you know, you know, like the
<v Speaker 5>vulture coming down. It was obviously no stings, gimmick, right,
<v Speaker 5>it coming down into the ring.
<v Speaker 24>It would have been sufficient if that along without the note,
<v Speaker 24>no note, It would have been sufficient.
<v Speaker 5>Had we sold it properly to be like, what the fuck?
<v Speaker 24>What is that supposed to be a little intimidated by
<v Speaker 24>this ugly creature, it probably would have worked, okay, But
<v Speaker 24>I think it was the awkwardness of not knowing what
<v Speaker 24>to do that really killed it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 9>I don't know why I couldn't just pick up one
<v Speaker 9>of those pieces of paper and make a face like,
<v Speaker 9>oh my god, what does it say?
<v Speaker 3>And never show it seriously like yeah, I know, it's
<v Speaker 3>like it's so simple.
<v Speaker 9>They look up, they go, oh my god, well is
<v Speaker 9>this say what I think it says? And then you know,
<v Speaker 9>on nitro, you create a thing where it looks like
<v Speaker 9>it said Hogan's soul on it, a little bit of
<v Speaker 9>a hook and it's again it seems like Hall kind
<v Speaker 9>of went into business for himself, you know, and tried
<v Speaker 9>to come up with some idea. Picked up a piece
<v Speaker 9>of paper, and I highly doubt it was the piece
<v Speaker 9>of paper of all the pieces of paper scattered everywhere,
<v Speaker 9>and Bischoff kind of seemed to tamp it down. I
<v Speaker 9>don't know about that detail, but it seems that way
<v Speaker 9>when you go in and watch it, and knowing what happened,
<v Speaker 9>our hope was that maybe Kevin Nash would remember what
<v Speaker 9>the deal was and what the the audibles were. Of course,
<v Speaker 9>Nash grabs his tag title belt and reaches back like
<v Speaker 9>he's going to swing and take the vultures head off
<v Speaker 9>with the tag that he should he should us. He's uh,
<v Speaker 9>he's improvising as well. But you know, he remembers probably
<v Speaker 9>about as much as deserves to be remembered about this
<v Speaker 9>particular thing.
<v Speaker 5>Via cameo, Hey jpis Kevin Nash.
<v Speaker 11>I read this and I recalled the incident, but I
<v Speaker 11>don't I think we were more uh, because we went
<v Speaker 11>through a walk through, and I think that that that
<v Speaker 11>vulture wasn't exactly trained to the likings of the people
<v Speaker 11>that were in the in the ring, So who who're
<v Speaker 11>trying to take anything out of there? It's probably a
<v Speaker 11>set of eyes. But yeah, that was. Yeah, it's one
<v Speaker 11>of those one of those severy moments. And I didn't
<v Speaker 11>realize that that was the last class, but in retrospect,
<v Speaker 11>I guess it was. So I really can't tell you,
<v Speaker 11>you know, I just I know that that was a
<v Speaker 11>one of those situations where we were kind of like,
<v Speaker 11>oh great, yeah, and who exactly knows this? This this
<v Speaker 11>bird handling? So all right, Well, I hope that's clarifying
<v Speaker 11>some of it. I just I just speak for myself
<v Speaker 11>that I wasn't uh it wasn't going to get too
<v Speaker 11>close to the bird, so all right, take care of JP.
<v Speaker 9>Wasn't going to get too close to the bird. Well
<v Speaker 9>I can understand though, but uh, yeah, I think we
<v Speaker 9>got to get you know, where the funk was? He
<v Speaker 9>He wasn't a mall. It seems apparent to me he
<v Speaker 9>was all could either.
<v Speaker 3>Be an airport or a mall. Just so loud. I've
<v Speaker 3>never I've never seen him do one of those in
<v Speaker 3>such a public place before like, what do you like
<v Speaker 3>we're in a rush, sneaking that payday, you know, before
<v Speaker 3>he gets on the plane. I mean he's got he's
<v Speaker 3>got you know, got time. You know, he could just
<v Speaker 3>done it someplace else.
<v Speaker 9>Cameo is perfect for that. You know a couple of
<v Speaker 9>people who were wired to like at a thrill at
<v Speaker 9>a hunder.
<v Speaker 3>Bucks here like fucking uh, fucking folly like doing it
<v Speaker 3>while you coffee. Idiot, A fucking moron? What a what
<v Speaker 3>a glimpse into the mind of the Jarney. So there
<v Speaker 3>there it is.
<v Speaker 9>I think you think he says it all. I wasn't
<v Speaker 9>getting anywhere near the vulture. But unfortunately for us, we've
<v Speaker 9>got to do that. We've got to do that in
<v Speaker 9>a dive formatted before we get to that. Boss, I'm
<v Speaker 9>afraid it's time starting with no lesson Steve McMichael.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure we'll end with Steve McMichael actually in with
<v Speaker 3>this one.
<v Speaker 9>But yes, actually the thirty Clash of the Champions thirty
<v Speaker 9>five death toll.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, indeed we have I have sixteen now thanks to Mongo,
<v Speaker 3>Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Heenan, Gene Oakerland, Randy Anderson, Mickey j
<v Speaker 3>Mark Curtis, Eddie Guerrero, Silver King, Theano Five, Hector Garza,
<v Speaker 3>Kurt Hennig, Vincent Vincenzo. I suppose Elizabeth Scott Hall, Randy Savage,
<v Speaker 3>and Steve Mongo, McMichael.
<v Speaker 9>Rest and peace across the board. And when we return
<v Speaker 9>on the other side of the spreak, it's time for
<v Speaker 9>the deep dive of the final ever w c W
<v Speaker 9>Clash of the Champions August nineteen ninety seven, Nashville, Tennessee.
<v Speaker 9>We're coming for you. On the other side, it's that
<v Speaker 9>fucking cast