Hulk Hogan: From Rock Star Dreams to Wrestling Icon :: Ep 51 Try That in a Small Town Podcast

From sending audition tapes to Metallica and The Rolling Stones to becoming one of wrestling's most iconic figures, Hulk Hogan's journey through entertainment spans nearly five decades of unexpected twists and reinventions.

In this deeply personal conversation, the 71-year-old WWE Hall of Famer pulls back the curtain on his early years, revealing how he transitioned from playing bass guitar six nights a week in southeastern clubs to wrestling as "The Super Destroyer" for just $25 a match. Hogan shares surprising stories about living in his van on Pensacola Beach, quitting wrestling multiple times to work as a longshoreman, and how Vince McMahon Sr. gave him the name that would change pop culture forever.

The wrestling legend divulges shocking behind-the-scenes details about his breakthrough role as Thunderlips in Rocky III – including how he negotiated his $14,000 payment with Sylvester Stallone and subsequently got fired from the WWF for taking the part. Even more surprising is his revelation about the famous 1984 Madison Square Garden match against the Iron Sheik, where a competing promoter allegedly offered the Sheik $100,000 to legitimately break Hogan's leg.

Beyond the nostalgic wrestling tales, Hogan speaks candidly about his spiritual journey, describing how he's found peace through faith after the physical toll of ten back surgeries and countless other injuries from his wrestling career. Now running Hogan's Hangout in Tampa and promoting his Real American Beer, he reflects on the profound impact his character had on generations of fans worldwide.

Whether you grew up watching Hulkamania run wild or simply appreciate stories of perseverance and reinvention, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the man behind the 24-inch pythons. Subscribe now and share your favorite Hulk Hogan memories in the comments!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Same thing happened with Metallica, that's what I
was going to ask In Mania.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Bro, and everybody says Hulk lied, he tried out,
said he tried out for the Stonesand Metallica.
He's a liar.
Well, with Metallica it was thesame thing I saw they needed a
bass player.
I put a tape together and sentit to him.
Never heard a word.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
They didn't even like respond at all.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
No, no, no, no, no, nothing.
I had seen Rocky 1, and he waslike 700 feet tall in the
American public side and I waswith my girlfriend at the time.
I said, man, if I could just bein one of those movies just
sweeping the floor as a janitor,I'd love to be in the movie,
you know.
So they told me no music.
So I went to the sound guy.

(00:42):
I said the hell with this.
I had a tiger cranking.
I gave him 500 bucks.
When that music started, thatdun dun, dun, dun, the roof of
the place blew off.
And then I told Vince.
I said, man, I've been sellingmerchandise T-shirts and
headbands and hats and kooziesand wristbands and making a ton

(01:02):
of money doing it, becausenobody else is.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
And Vince picked up on it real quick the try that in
a small town podcast begins nowall right, welcome back to the
patriot mobile studios.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
This is the try that the small town podcast.
Uh, I got tully right here, Igot kayla right there, I got
thrash over there.
Yes, tonight, dudes, this isgonna be something.
This is gonna be something.
Uh, we got one of the mosticonic figures in wrestling.
How?
In?

Speaker 4 (01:38):
history.
Did we get him on?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
here.
I don't know.
He's a wwe Hall of Famer, aglobal superstar.
Welcome, hulk Hogan.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
I don't know how iconic it's going to be.
It's going to be crazy.
I can tell you that much.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Oh my God, Dang a flex right off the bat too.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
When you're 71, brother, you got to throw up
there whenever you can.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh wow, you are not 71.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
don't 72 in august god, you look amazing well, I've
been got a lot of mileage on mebro hey, for some reason you
know, when I was introducing you, we talk a lot about nicknames
on this podcast.
I have no idea why, uh, and Ithink you know, the world knows
you as hulk hogan.
Friends and family know you asterry blea, um, and I think we

(02:29):
want to get to maybe why andwhen and where the name hulk
hogan came up with.
But I really want to know didyou fight under any other names
before that?
Did you have any names thatdidn't stick?

Speaker 1 (02:40):
oh my gosh, yeah well , when I first started, I well,
I played music for 10 years yeahand when I got done doing the
circuits this six days a week,you know from nine to two in the
morning, the 45 minute setswith a 15 minute break.
So I got done doing the sameclubs over and over and over the
stone pony and you know all theones through atlanta and all

(03:02):
those clubs and back throughflorida, you know we were making
a little bit of money, butnothing really big.
We had a chance to go and allthe ones through Atlanta and all
those clubs and back throughFlorida.
We were making a little bit ofmoney, but nothing really big.
We had a chance to go on theroad and open for some national
acts and the lead singer got hisgirlfriend pregnant.
The other guy, the keyboardplayer, got his wife pregnant
and they didn't want to go Countyour music, yeah.
So I'd been training withweights a little bit and I just

(03:24):
got pissed and I just put mybase down.
I said, guys, I'm quitting andI'm going to be the greatest
professional wrestler ever.
And all the guys in the bandjust fell on the ground laughing
right Because I was just a bigfan.
But when I started I already hada good look because I'd been
putting the weights, thoseplastic weights on the back of
the big U-Haul that we bought,you know.
So the first thing would comeoff before the Ampeg and the

(03:46):
acoustics and all the Marshallequipment would be all my
weights, you know.
And so I was lifting in thehotel rooms and stuff.
So when I first started it wasa rough start.
But when I finally had a matchthey put a mask on me.
They called me the superdestroyer because they were
going to beat me all over.
That's called a job where theygive you like 25 bucks to lose

(04:07):
every night and they figureduntil I learned the craft.
They wanted to protect my faceso people wouldn't recognize me
as the guy that lost every night.
And so then then I went on tobe Terry Boulder after I quit
and went back and working on thedocks.
For a while I went on to beTerry Boulder and then quit

(04:28):
again, went back up to Atlantaand this promoter who was a
little light in his loafers, henamed me Sterling Golden, you
know.
So I was Sterling Golden for awhile.
Then I quit again, went backand worked on the docks.
I was wrestling 13 times a weekfor like 150 bucks, you know,

(04:49):
and I was making a lot more thanthat playing music, especially
unloading ships as alongshoreman in Tampa.
I made a ton of money back then.
So I kept quitting to go backto work to make money.
And then finally, when I got acall from New York, all the
wrestlers here said that's thebig man's territory and I've
been training enough, where Iwas pretty darn big at the time
and I went up there and VinceMcMahon Sr had all these

(05:12):
wrestlers like Pedro Morales forthe Puerto Rican Americans,
chiefs Jay Strong for the NativeIndian Americans, bruno San
Martino for the ItalianAmericans, so he wanted me to be
Hulk Hogan for the IrishAmericans.
So that's where the name camefrom.
Vince senior gave me that name.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Wow Sterling golden sounds like an adult film film
stars.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
There's so much that I want to talk.
I want to get to this so much.
First of all, though, you cameout to our show a couple of ago
in tampa um, at the amphitheaterthere and, uh, we knew you were
coming, couldn't wait for youto walk in.
You know, you know myself,being born in 75, I grew up
right in the golden era of, like, wrestling wwf.

(06:00):
It was huge, but we startedtalking about bass, and I don't
think a lot of people realizethat you, you played bass.
You were played in bands.
I don't know if everyone knowsthat which which.
That was fun, sitting backthere talking about bass,
guitars and how you rip thefrets out of your bass and turn
it into a fretless.
You know which was which was.
Which was great like.

(06:21):
I don't think anyone realizesyour background in music.
Yeah, it wasn't a hobby, it waslike you professionally wanted
to be a musician yeah, brother,I was just like you guys.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
I was doing anything to avoid a real job, anything to
avoid a real job, but I'd taken.
My mom played keyboards at thehouse all the time.
She had a little organ and apiano and I took music lessons
on an old guild guitar thatlooked like a 335 Gifts in that
guild, you know.
And so I played lead guitar ina couple bands until I got in a

(06:52):
really good band that brought inthis lead guitar player from
Todd Rundgren's band and so Imoved over to bass and I got
pretty good at that, but Ialways played it fretless.
And then, you know, I didn'tmess with a bass with frets,
until my daughters startedplaying music.
But I never made any moneyuntil I got into wrestling with
the music and when I was livingup in connecticut I had cindy

(07:16):
lauper and meatloaf and cindylauper's boyfriend, dave wolf,
on the same area that I was inand I talked them into doing
some stuff with us.
So me and Rick Derringer recutLand of a Thousand Dances and
Rock and Roll, hoochie Coo and abunch of stuff, and brought
Simon Cowell in to produce it,and he produced the first album
that went platinum.

(07:36):
And then we brought him in forthe Piledriver album.
The second album that wentdouble platinum.
So that's not the only time Ireally made any money.
But you know, there's just awhole bunch of music in between
that, going over the uk anddoing some stuff for simon
cowell, they had a guy therethat was kind of like um their
elvis, a guy named gary glitter,and he was this transvestite

(08:00):
guy that was all dressed up andhe had a song called leader of
the gang.
I I could recut leader of thegang with a band called green
jelly over there and that's howI got to know simon.
Then we had another kid die atringside when, uh, I was
wrestling in the uk and, uh, meand jimmy hart who had a hit
record out of sun studios, keepon dancing.

(08:21):
I don't know if you guysremember jimmy, oh yeah, but
jimmy had a hit song, keep ondancing.
Then he recuts cinnamon girland it went way up the charts.
But simon produced like 12 songsthat jimmy hart and I set up
and wrote with an auto harp allnight and uh, that did really
well for the, for the littlealbum over there on billboard,
and we gave all that money tothe family.

(08:42):
But yeah, there was, and thenthat's what got me hooked up
with simon.
Then we brought him over twotimes for the rest wrestling
album and he never left, youknow, and he stayed here.
So there was, there was a wholehistory of music, but it was
real spotty.

Speaker 6 (08:55):
I never broke through with it, you know and one thing
I thought was really cool andlistened to a couple other
interviews that you've had isthat you're playing your shows
and your rock shows andeverything, and you're seeing
wrestlers come to those showsand you're looking out there at
the time you're thinking thoseguys are badasses, they've got
cauliflower ear, they got teethmissing and stuff like that, and
you're like I want to gowrestle those guys.

(09:16):
Yeah, which is amazing, youknow no, I was.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I was scared to death of them because when I finally
came back here to florida and sothen we had a bunch of really
good high school bands so Iwould grab the best lead guitar
player out of one band, Igrabbed a lead singer out of one
band, a good drummer, goodkeyboard player, and formed this
band called ruckus, and westarted playing.
If we'd move from saint pete totampa clearwater, we had a

(09:40):
following that would follow usaround and like when we would
play, we had so much equipmentit's like the whole room would
move.
You know when we play, and itwas a crazy feel.
You know, we played like rock,funk stuff, and so the wrestlers
started coming.
Oh, my god, I was scared todeath of them.
You know, because they're all300 pounds and they were all

(10:01):
beat up and everything.
And back in the late 70s it wasa different business.
I mean, you didn't go to youknow the performance center and
learn how to wrestle with ahelmet on.
You know he, if you want to getwrestling, you had to take that
340 pound man's livelihood andthe food out of his family's
mouth to get in the business.
There were no openings forwrestlers, so it was a.

(10:22):
It was a tough sell, but Istarted running my mouth telling
people I wanted to wrestle,which was the worst thing I
could do in such a small townlike this, and so the first day
I went down there again and mattsuda broke my leg and told me
never to come back again.
So that was the beginning, butyeah, but it was.
It was weird playing music andhaving all the wrestlers coming.
I was scared to death, to deathof them.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Well, he set that up.
I mean, that's the epitome oftry that in a small town right
there.
No, kidding.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, well, it was different back then, bro.
You didn't get sued.
You could punch somebody in theface and not get sued back then
.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, you know you're talking about the grind back
then.
It's funny because people think, oh, they, whatever, whether
it's Jason Aldean or Hulk Hogan,they just see the superstar man
.
People don't understand thegrind and the journey it takes.
Like you're saying, you'remaking a hundred bucks a week
just to get your butt kicked bythese guys.
You know at what point did youstart to think, hey, this, I can

(11:18):
actually make a living doingthis.
This is something that canhappen for me.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, that was, that was the mindset.
Going into this thing was justto make a living, you know, like
I did with music.
But you know, it was kind oflike the guys in the music
business partied, you know.
But when I got in the wrestlingbusiness it was a whole other
level, brother.
So I said this is perfect forme, you know, but it was kind of

(11:46):
like I just wanted to make aliving.
But the problem was I keptquitting.
I probably quit three or fourtimes because I would go out
there and wouldn't make muchmoney.
And I slept in my van for ayear on Pensacola Beach with a
while of Simone sleeping intheir van.
We weren't making any money andI kept coming back.

(12:06):
So I'd get it.
When I was playing music inbetween bands I got a union
laborers card so I'd go to theunion hall and they'd send me
out on a different job.
And every time I'd go out on ajob for three or four days, like
a government shutdown of aphosphate plant, or go to the
university mall to put up canlighting or work with a steel
worker or brick mason.
I'd make good money, you know.
So I kept quitting to come back, to try to get back on my feet

(12:31):
and save some money.
And probably I really didn'tthink I was going to make it
until I finally got that call togo to new york from vince
mcmahon, senior, and that was,uh, 1978.
I got that call to go up thereand Vince McMahon looked at me
and I was way over 300 poundsand I was crazy as a goat and I

(12:54):
actually thought I could beatAndre the Giant up, which I got
my ass handed to me and I meanhe beat on me for eight years
before he started liking me.
But then, you know, know, then,once I got up in that new york
circuit the boston gardens, thephiladelphia spectrum, madison
square garden I started playingthose big venues, you know.
Then, you know, and theynaturally pushed me up to the

(13:16):
top of the car because of how Ilooked.
Then I knew I could make it inthe business, but I kept
quitting, I, and if I had to getthat call from New York I
probably wouldn't have went back.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
I'll tell you what I remember going to the movies 82,
and seeing Rocky III.
And there you were, thunderlips, and I got to tell you and
I'm sure you've heard thisbefore many times but you in
that movie, that was a moment,that was like a movie.
It still is like a a moment,and and stallone still post

(13:49):
pictures all the time from thatmovie and you and him and that
in the ring and that was.
That was so cool.
I thought that was.
At that point I was like who isthat?
That?
Yeah, that, yeah, that was thathad still I.
What an amazing moment, though.
Right.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Fun was had, I'm sure , and you made bank off that.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
You made bank off that right yeah right, I
couldn't believe how literallyyou made.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Here's where we have something in common, right here,
wow.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Brother, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer
when it comes to negotiating,but at the end of the day I had
seen Rocky 1.
He was like 700 feet tall inthe American public's eye, and I
was with my girlfriend at thetime.
I said, man, if I could just bein one of those movies just
sweeping the floor as a janitor,I'd love to be in the movie.

(14:41):
So fast forward.
Here comes Rocky 3.
And I was actually in Allentown, pennsylvania, doing television
for the WWWF, the WorldwideWrestling Federation, where
there were three W's.
I got a piece of paper calledSylvester Stallone, you know,

(15:04):
wants to talk about a part inNew York.
Yeah right, because thewrestlers, you know, always rib
each other.
You know they'll put rocks onyour bag or cut your clothes up
or take your car keys and throwthem in the toilet or something
you know.
So I went to Japan for aboutsix or seven weeks and I came
back, and when I came back itwas back to the Allentown Farm
Center at TV again, and when Icame back it was back to the

(15:24):
Allentown Farm Center at TVagain.
Now I got a Western Unionletter that says Stallone needs
to talk to you urgently.
So I did call him and I flew outthere and I got the part in the
movie, you know, and he kind oflike, we got in the ring a
little bit and you know we movedaround.
He says I'm going to try to hit, you see if you can get a hold
of me.
I said okay, whatever you say.

(15:45):
But as soon as he stuck his armout, I snatched his ass and
then he wants.
Then he says I want you to hitme as hard as you can.
I said no, bro, you don't wantthat.
You know we're gonna give me 50.
Well, you know, so I'll giveyou a little bit.
So I gave him a good shot and assoon as I hit him, I hit him on
the back and his down and hitmy cowboy boots and he popped up
.
He goes oh, that's great.
I said oh Jesus, he's crazy.

(16:07):
But yeah, I got the part and werolled out of the ring and he
put a camera in my face.
He goes I want you to get mad.
And so he basically wanted meto cut a promo.
So I was halfway learning howto do that.
I really wasn't all the waythere and I did the best I could
.
He goes okay, you got the partand he goes.
I'll give you $10,000 to do themovie and, of course, me being

(16:35):
the genius that I was.

Speaker 6 (16:36):
I said I want $15,000 .
That way to do it drive it up,drive it up yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
So he paid me $14,000 with no back end, no points, no
nothing.
Oh boy, it was worth it, man.
I never had an agent, I neverhad a movie part I didn't have
one.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
Hey, how did he find you in the first place?
I mean, how did he get the ideato use you in that part?

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Well, he had watched Madison Square Garden Network
and at the time I was like 335pounds and he'd watch me pick up
three guys in a bear hug and Iwas just ragdolling them, you
know, and I was holding threeguys up and I threw them all
down and there was a castingdirector named Rhonda Young.
So Stallone says he calledRhonda and goes who's this guy?

(17:18):
So Sloan says he called Rondaand goes who's this guy?
So she called her brother,peter Young, who's been my agent
for 40 years, and Mr T's agent,and Peter Young who was a
wrestling fan at the time andwasn't an agent back then.
So that's Hulk Hogan.
I'm going to Boston College.
We go see him all the time.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
So that's how they got a hold of me.

Speaker 6 (17:37):
That's amazing.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
I mean it worked out, though I mean that was 82 and
then january of 84 well, no, no,we shot them.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
We shot the movie, bro.
I think, uh, mid 80, like mid,right, okay, well, yeah but then
you got fired and startedinterrupting you got, didn't you
get fired?
didn't vince senior fire you fordoing that, yeah yeah, I was in
, uh, fall river mass I think Iwas wrestling at the high school
of the armory, I can't rememberand uh, I was supposed to go to

(18:07):
la the next day and I toldvince senior that I wanted to go
do this rocky movie and I saidI'll be gone 10 days shooting.
The party goes no, you're notdoing it.
So anyway, anyway, I call himup and I said look, I'm leaving
tomorrow to go do the Rockymovie.
He goes you're not allowed, youhave to go from Fall River Mass
.
You got to drive to Charlotteall night because they want you

(18:29):
on Charlotte TV at 10 at noonand I would have barely made it
if I drove all night.
But I said I'm sorry, mrMcMahon, but I'm going to go do
this movie.
I'll be back in 10 days.
He goes okay, you're fired andyou'll never work here again.
I went, okay, it was cool to mebecause I had a really hot
looking girl to live in Japan atthe time.
So I just, so, I just went overand stayed in Japan for a while

(18:51):
and kept wrestling the circuitover there, which was really
intense back then.
And uh, then I sent some of mypictures to this promoter in
Minnesota Vern Gagne of the AWAand there were two places that
all the wrestlers wanted to work.
That was the Madison SquareGarden Circuit or Minneapolis,

(19:12):
because the trips were short andthis guy paid really well.
So I sent him my pictures andhe said how quick can you be
here?
And so as soon as I landed fromJapan, I got back to Florida and
I drove up to Minnesota and Istarted there and I wrestled
there for about three years,three and a half years, and we
were just getting ready to comein and we bought top TV time on

(19:34):
channel nine in New York.
We were going to run up anddown the whole East coast when
Vince Jr flew out to VinceMcMahon that Coast.
When Vince Jr flew out to myhouse in Minnesota and we cut a
deal he goes I'm going to buildthe blueprint, you're going to
build the building and we'regoing to take over the whole
world.
I said, ooh, I like that.
So that means you stay in theEiffel Tower and I'm the one

(19:56):
that gets shot at.
He goes, yes, so it all workedout great.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, I heard you talking about Madison Square
Garden and that circuit and itreminded me of an interview that
I heard with you.
You were saying that was themost memorable and the best
night of your career, when youwere against the Iron Sheik.
Yeah, but it wasn't necessarilyfor the match.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Well, so many things were going on which I wasn't
aware of, you know.
I mean, first off, I just leftMinnesota and I just bought a
house there from the promoter'sdaughter, from Bernie Gagne's
daughter, so he thought I waslocked and loaded to stay there.
And I just sat out by aswimming pool that weekend
before and booked myself in allthe main event matches against

(20:49):
Nick Bockman the champion, allthese cage matches.
So I did something that wastotally unethical in the
wrestling business.
I walked out without a 30-daynotice.
So I mean, I walked away veryunprofessionally usually say 30
days, 30-day notice.
You let everybody in theterritory beat you, all the top
guys.
I locked the door and went awayand I went to Madison Square

(21:13):
Garden and Vern Gunning, thepromoter, was really pissed.
So they had a guy named the IronSheik who was Cosgrove Lacerre.
He was the real bodyguard ofthe Shah of Iran and he wrestled
in the Pan Am Games.
A real shooter, a real wrestler, not like me.
He was a real wrestler.
And so Vern tried to give him100 grand to break my leg that

(21:37):
night in the garden.
I didn't know that, I didn'tknow that was happening.
So all of a sudden we get tomadison square garden and it was
like the perfect storm.
It was the iron sheik and atthe time there were 444 american
hostages being held by iran andI was coming in as, like this,
american hero.
So when I hit that eye of thetiger music bro, the garden

(21:59):
exploded and it just changed thebusiness forever.
Because when I went back to,you know, wrestle the Iron Sheik
, they didn't play music, theydidn't sell merchandise, which I
had been doing in Minnesota,and it just the whole game
changed, you know, and it wasjust a magical night, you know,
winning that belt and stuff.
It was just amazing.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Is that when the entrance music kind of started
with with that, or had it kindof gone on before that?

Speaker 1 (22:25):
no, it hadn't lost.
I was playing in minnesota.
No one else was.
I was playing the eye of thetiger, which scotty scotty
brothers had publishing on.
As soon as I started playing itthey shut me down, wouldn't let
me use it anymore.
But I did play it for a whilein Minnesota, unnoticed.
But as soon as I went to theGarden they noticed.
But when I went to the Garden Iasked Vince about playing music

(22:45):
.
He goes.
No, we don't play music here.
So there was some other stuffthat happened that day which I
guess I should tell you about.
Right before the match started,Vince McMahon Sr and Vince
McMahon Jr were there and theguy that had gotten beat the
month before by the Iron Sheikwhen the Sheik won the belt, Bob

(23:06):
Backlund, came up and Vince Srwas looking down at me over his
glasses, clicking the quarterslike he always did.
He goes.
Well, you know, Terry, I thinkwe're going to postpone this
title switch for about sixmonths and go ahead and, you
know, get back with Bob for awhile.
So I said well, you know, guys,that's fine with me, but I'm

(23:27):
going to go ahead and do theright thing tonight.
I'm going to put the iron sheetover.
He can beat me one, two, three,but then I'm going back to
Minnesota and I'm going torebuild that huge bridge that I
burned down and beg forforgiveness.
So I went to my dressing roomand was drinking my normal cup
of beers before I go out andwrestle, and Vince Jr came in
and goes no, no, no, no, Italked to the old man, we're

(23:48):
going back to the original plan.
So that was the kink in theworks that almost ruined that
night.
But you know, the Iron Sheikdecided to do business with me.
He didn't break my leg becausehe could have.
The Iron Sheik decided to dobusiness with me.
He didn't break my leg becausehe could have, and I wouldn't
even know what was going on,because he would have done it
very maliciously.
But he decided to do businessinstead and that was a crazy

(24:09):
night in the garden.

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spirit I re-watched that matchand you know he he dropped like
a backbreaker on you and thecamel clutch, which was his move
.
That backbreaker looked like ithurts.

(25:44):
I mean, there's no way thatdoesn't hurt.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Well, brother, let me tell you Now that I've had 10
back surgeries, now there's noway I could even get in that
position.
I can't even stand up straight,much less get bent over
backwards like that.
So it was.
It was crazy.
But the cool thing about it wasthey told me no music.
So I went to the sound guy.
I said the hell with this.

(26:09):
I had a tiger cranking.
I gave me 500 bucks when thatmusic started, that don't, don't
, don't, don't they.
The roof of the place blew off.
And then I told Vince I've beenselling merchandise t-shirts
and headbands and hats andkoozies and wristbands and
making a ton of money doing it,because nobody else is.

(26:30):
And Vince picked up on it realquick and it just took off and
everybody wanted entrance music.
So Jimmy Hart sat up all nightwriting entrance music for all
the wrestlers.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Yeah, and it's kind of cool because that again is
where your rock career and musiccareer entertaining took over
and everything kind of startedgoing to the next level and you
realized because you saidyourself, which is crazy to me
that you didn't feel you were agifted athlete when you were
younger, even though you couldplay pro baseball and stuff like
that you thought that wasn'tyour gift but your gifting was
entertaining.

(27:02):
When you found theentertainment piece of the
wrestling you said that's whenthings kind of clicked.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, it really did.
It happened in Minnesota.
That guy, vern Gagne, was acollegiate wrestler, ncaa
champion, and he was just one ofthese real hardcore old guys
that would put submissions andhooks on you and make you scream
.
You know, going through hiswrestling camp.
And when I got there I startedworking with his son a lot and I

(27:32):
noticed that when I bodyslammed somebody that would get
a reaction.
But if I looked at the crowdand mugged the crowd, the
reaction got a bigger responseon oh, I got this figured out
now.
So I started, uh, working to thecrowd more than the wrestler in
the ring and, uh, it all cametogether, man, but it took a
while.
It took took at least you know,good grief, from 70, end of 77

(27:56):
till 84 for me to really figureit out.
And then I didn't have itfigured out all the way I.
I really had it figured out by85, 86, 87, you know.
So it takes a while.
You need that seat time.
Like a nascar driver, you needto put that seat time in before
you get good at anything I getit, man, it's like.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
It's like music.
You know we didn't just startplaying and know how to
entertain a crowd.
Man, you got to do it.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
You got to know how to do it yeah, the wrestling
industry is exactly like thesongwriting industry, except I
don't have to have 10 backsurgeries we take a beat just
not that kind.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
People ask me all the time.
They say, well, do you everpick up the guitar?
You ever play around a littlebit and and I very seldom do,
because my fingers have beenjammed and broken over 40 years
of wrestling.
I mean, it's you know, and whenI go to grab a guitar it's
almost like the arthritis isoverwhelming.
But I wonder what would havehappened if I'd have played
another 10 years, because I onlyput 10 good years in.

(28:53):
You know, I played in juniorhigh school bands and high
school bands, but I reallydidn't put the time in like I
should have.
I always have wondered if Iwould have played another 10
years.
What could have happened, youknow.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Are you still tinkering around with music at
all?

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Not really.
I mean, you know, somethingspecial comes up, you know, and
Jimmy Hart gets involved withsomething.
I'll mess around, but reallynot really.
I mean there's two.
I mean you know there's acouple situations where I shot
in the wrestling business.
You call it shooting at anangle, you know, and I had
pretty much gotten tired ofbeing on the road 300 days a

(29:31):
year, wrestling 350 or 360 timesa year, twice on Saturday,
twice on Sunday.
You know you get tired offlying 300 days a year.
And I remember I was in anawards ceremony in the UK with
Jerry Hall and back then thatwas Mick Jagger's old lady and
they needed a bass player, right?
So I kept my mouth shut.

(29:53):
We go to the awards show andwhen we come off stage he goes
oh my gosh, hulk, my kids arebig fans.
Could you please get them somemerchandise?
I said yes, I can.
And I said right away by theway, your boyfriend and any of
that music they play, if theyneed a bass player, I would love
to be in the band.
So I got the spots ofmerchandise together, put an

(30:14):
audition tape in there and sentit, and I never heard a word
back from him.
Never, never heard a word.
Hey, did I.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Oh my.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
God Never heard a word, hey did I the same thing
was.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
I was about to ask you Go ahead.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
No, the same thing happened with Metallica.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
That's what I was going to ask.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
And everybody says Hulk lied, he tried out.
He said he tried out for theStones and Metallica, but he's a
liar.
Well, with Metallica it was thesame thing I saw.
They needed a bass player.
I put a tape together and sentit to them.
Never heard a word.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
They didn't even respond at all.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
No, but the bass player they got is just bitching
.
That guy kills it.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
Julio, he's great.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
But I would have quit wrestling in a heartbeat to be
in either one of those bands.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
Are you serious?
You would have quit wrestling.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
Oh oh, hell yeah, oh much safer, I guess, I don't
know, because I'm hanging with abrother I tell you what, though
it, you know it worked outbecause I remember watching you
and and you'd run, I mean likesaturday night's main event,
that that kind of stuff, like wewould, you know, wait up for

(31:22):
you watching, you know, to comeon, just it was.
It was such a feeling in thecountry too.
You're so such a americanfigure, you know, and it's
amazing, like it's a, I stillget pumped up.
I was watching your old matchesand you know it still gets me
going.
Me and me and aldine alwaystalk about, you know,
wrestlemania three and what thatlooked like back then.

(31:44):
You know we were 80, 80 000people, you know, and that that
had to be something, though youand andre the giant and it's
still walking out and seeingthose people had that had to be
quite a feeling well, brother,first off it was 94 000.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Okay, but the weird thing is about saturday night's
main event.
You know, if you look at theratings, now the universe has so
many choices.
You know, with all these tvsand paramount plus and fox this,
and thought you know, there'sso many choices now for people
to make with all this streamingstuff that it's not the same as

(32:21):
it used to be.
Because I looked at the numbersfor Saturday Night Main Event
here recently and I saw what thenumbers were.
But then when I wrestled Andrethe Giant on Saturday Night's
Main Event, we had 33 millionpeople watch that night.
I mean, the numbers were insane.
So it's a whole different worldand a different universe, and so
times would be a-changing worldand a different universe and so

(32:42):
times they be a changing.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Where do you?

Speaker 4 (32:44):
see it, where do you see the future of wrestling now
moving forward?

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well, I mean, it's stronger than it's ever been.
I mean, it's just so powerful.
It's this internationaljuggernaut.
I mean it's like you know,they're always looking for an
attraction.
You know, like the Rock orAndre the Giant, you know, or
like Roman Reigns they're alwayslooking for an attraction.

(33:11):
Roman Reigns are always lookingfor an attraction.
But even if they can't findthat one guy, the machine and
the production is so big youcould actually have a wrestler
be in the main event.
If he gets hurt, you canactually replace them because
the machine is so big and itworks so well now that, uh,
they've got it really figuredout and so it's just going to
keep moving forward like amonster and it's just eating

(33:32):
everything up as it goes becauseit's getting bigger and more
popular.
And I never dreamed it wouldturn into this, but it's just
amazing to watch it happen.
I was really happy with thetime that I grew up wrestling,
but boy, I'd sure love towrestle during this era.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
I'm thinking like country music singers need to
get involved with wrestling.
I'm thinking Garth Brooks.
I would love to see him in aring.

Speaker 6 (33:58):
I would love to see Luke Combs in a ring.
Yeah, maybe like Luke Combs andJustin Moore.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Let me put it to you this way, Carter.
I'll put it to you this way IfJay Leno can do it, anybody can
do it.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
That's a fact.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Wow, I forgot about that I forgot about Jay Leno.
Maybe we?

Speaker 1 (34:12):
can get.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Al Dean interested and get him in the ring.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
I don't think he's going to do it.
Oh, I'd love to get his ass inthere.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
Oh man, get him and Luke Bryan in the ring together.
That would be fantastic.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
That's not a terrible idea actually.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
I don't have one more in me, but I'd definitely step
up for that one.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
I don't think you'd have much of a problem.
So I really I really like the.
Uh, you know, I thought themcmahon netflix doc was really
good.
I thought that was reallyreally, really cool.
I mean, it was so good it waspeeled back the curtain, you
know.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Uh, quite, quite a bit.
Some of it you know, some of ityeah.

Speaker 5 (34:49):
but so when you were wrestling at the height in the
80s, did you have I alwayswanted to ask you this and
hanging out?
I never I meant to and I alwaysforgot to did you have like a
favorite couple dudes that youwould, like you know, always
enjoyed wrestling or some thatwould you didn't like?
You know as far as like it was,you know, I know, I know how

(35:09):
that goes competition wise too.
So how does how you knowanything that goes
competition-wise too?

Speaker 1 (35:14):
So how does anything that you'd Well, back in the 80s
, everybody was vying for thattop spot.
It wasn't like now everybody'sgot guaranteed contracts and if
you get hurt you get paid Back.
Then it was like, if you didn'twrestle you didn't get paid.
So everybody was, you know,shooting for that top spot and

(35:35):
that happened to be the spot Ihad.
So, you know, the two guys thatI really loved to wrestle with
most were like macho man randysavage.
He's a total, total pro.
He was just so physical and,you know, you knew you're in a
war when you, when you were inthere with him.
And the other one that I loved,even though it was pretty
brutal, was working with andre,because the money was so crazy,

(35:57):
yeah, you know.
So those were my two favoritesand you know, like I said, after
he beat on me for about eightyears, he started to like me.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Then we became really good friends, you know, but it
took like eight years to win hisass over that's what I thought,
that's what I heard you talkabout andre and I I imagine that
was probably with a lot ofthose guys is like Tully said,
there's so much competition andeverybody's vying for the spot,
so I don't know how much youhung with those guys, but I
heard you talk about Andre, howand how you guys got close

(36:25):
afterwards.
Any of the other guys that youended up getting close with
after the fact?

Speaker 1 (36:31):
well, a lot of guys I've been friends with all along
.
You know the nasty boys youknow I was friends with.
I was friends with Britishbeefcake for 45 years, um, while
we were wrestling, and uh, youknow Haku.
Uh, I don't know if you knowwho he is, but he was.
He was uh, a good friend and uh, at the end, at the end, the

(36:54):
one guy I finally became friendswith which we did not get along
at all was Roddy Piper.
And I got real close at the end.
Yeah, right before he passedaway.
Man, we were on the phone everyday talking about scripture and
he wanted to understand aboutaccepting Christ as a savior.
Every day, I was on him,brother, every day.

(37:14):
So he was.
We became very close.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Hey, I know, speaking of that, spirituality and your
relationship with God isimportant to you and I know that
you were a Christian and been aChristian through your whole
life.
But I'm sure there's been likea reawakening of sorts.
When did that happen for youand when did you really start
that walk again with God?

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Well, recently, I mean I was saving, I was 14.
I was playing guitar at a youthranch.
You know, I was playingfootball.
And a couple of footballplayers say we come, we go to
this Christian youth ranch andwe sing every week.
So I went with them and then,you know, they said, oh, he can
play guitar, he can play guitar.
So the next week I brought myguitar and ended up playing

(37:58):
guitar for all the songs andstuff and I accepted Christ as
my savior then.
But it took a while for me toget it.
But then, you know, rock androll, music, wrestling, didn't
follow the path for many years.
And then, with all the stuffthat's happened in my life
personally, all the crashing andburning and getting up and
moving forward and starting overand crashing and burning again,

(38:20):
and this mistake.
After that mistake, I justtotally surrendered, man, and I
said you know what?
I've fought harder than anybody, I've worked more, longer hours
than anybody and I'm just sotired of being in the same empty
, back to zero space that, um, Istarted going back to church

(38:41):
every weekend and, uh, gotbaptized, totally surrendered,
and now I just tell my big Godabout my little problems and all
these people that nip at myheels, brother.
I just pray for them.
I can't get involved with thedrama because, you know, I just
let God fight those battles, man, I just let him take over and

(39:05):
no matter what type of dramacomes at me, it's always
something, you know I just sitback and try as best as I can
and I'm not always good at it,but I try as best as I can.
Just remain still.

Speaker 6 (39:14):
That's amazing.
I was going to add when yousaid about baptizing I baptized
my brother, who's a lot biggerman than I am, and I was
thinking about when you'regetting baptized, did you have
to have a couple guys in therebringing you up out of the water
just because you're a big man?
And one guy do it, and he'd sayhelp me out, brother.
You got to help me out.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
No, my pastor Aaron.
He got me in and out.
My wife Skye got baptized withall of my stepkids.
She's been a major influence incalming me down because I've
got so much turbulence in meFrom always being physical my
whole life.
About 8 o'clock at night Istart rumbling Because I'm used
to getting in the ring about 10,30, or 11 and you know, just

(39:54):
breaking this crazy sweat andhave another man beating on me
and all of a sudden you knowokay, I'm okay, but I don't have
that anymore.
So I've got all this turbulencein me all the time.
So I have to.
I've got a gym in my house,I'll work out or, you know, I'll
just go ahead and remain stilland just go back to my faith.
So it took a while to calm medown, you know, but I still

(40:17):
struggle with it every once in awhile.
But it's nothing like it usedto be, because you know Sky, who
I've been with about three,three and a half years now.
She's just been a godsend.
She's just been amazing as faras out, thanking me, you know,
out, talking me, talking me down, helping me out.

(40:37):
She's been my best friend andso it's just amazing how things
have turned out Well youcertainly left your mark.

Speaker 5 (40:46):
I mean, when we saw you in Tampa, aldine brought you
out on stage to say hello tothe crowd and that place blew up
.
I got goosebumps talking aboutit.
I felt like I was back in the80s, you know.
So it's crazy.
It's crazy like you that's gotto feel.
You accomplish something sogreat though I mean people.

(41:07):
You left just a mark on theirmemories, which, which is really
incredible.
I mean that it was.
It was crazy that night.
It was.
It was so fun seeing that, youknow it was.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
You know, yeah, sometimes I forget, you know,
and like when I'm, when I'm hereon the beach, you know, I take
the.
The only thing I'm reason I gotthe rag on the bald head is
because I knew I'd be on camerawith you guys.
But usually when I'm at home Ijust walk around with the old
bald head hanging out and stuff.
I go outside and I forget themoment I walk outside.

(41:42):
If the mailman sees me, hedoesn't want Terry to go.
Hey, how you doing.
He wants me to go.
Hey, brother, what's up?
And I keep forgetting that themoment people see me, they think
Cole Covey instead of Terry.
But what's been so great?
We've been pumping that beer,real American beer, which I
showed you guys.
We've been traveling every week, you know, kind of like being

(42:08):
back on the road with the band.
We've been traveling every weekgoing to different states, you
know, pumping this beer thing up.
And the crazy thing, you know,my wife said you told me you
were going to show me the worldbut you didn't tell me it was
going to be grocery store andgas stations.
You know one grocery store at atime.
But you know, the craziest thingis I love meeting these people
and shaking their hands andlooking them in the eye and

(42:30):
hearing their story becauseeverybody's got a Hulk Hogan
story and it really makes meunderstand how important that
character was, that I hit onbecause I had people go.
You know my father and I bondedwatching you.
I buried my brother with yourshirt on, or I was on drugs and
you saved me from being a drugaddict.

(42:51):
Or you know my, my father.
You know you were my fathergrowing up because I didn't have
a dad.
The stories are overwhelming andI see all these special kids
because when I have a huge lineof people I make sure I get to
all the special kids andhandicapped kids first and just
how they respond and theirreactions and some of the stuff
that's said to me by the parents.
It's overwhelming and I forgethow powerful that whole

(43:17):
character was on not onlyAmerica but the whole world
really, because I get the samereaction when I go overseas.
So it's just amazing to hearthe feedback now.
But sometimes I forget and assoon as I leave this house you
know I can't go to the mall oranything like that, but I mean
when I go to make an appearanceor something, I get to be around
people, the stories and howloyal they are and how nice the

(43:39):
people are.
It's just amazing.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
It's the same thing with us.
It's like we forget until we go.
Like if I go to a Jason Aldeanconcert and I hear he cranks off
into a song that I'm a part ofand I turn around and look at
the crowd and everybody'ssinging that song and then
people find out that you're apart of that song and they tell
them how it affected their lifeand you forget.

(44:02):
We take it for granted a lot.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
Yeah, it's true, it's the same thing with us.
That's a good point.

Speaker 4 (44:07):
Yeah, it really does, but the inspiration that you've
been and the walk that you'reon now is so inspiring to us and
to our listeners.
It's just awesome to hear yourjourney and where you've been
and where you are now with yourwalk.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Well, it's not easy, you know, because you can't be
too light in the loafers in thespiritual world, you know you
can't be too airy-fairy overhere and you can't be too dialed
into this human incarnation andyou have to have your foot each
one foot in both places.
But when stuff comes at me now,like negative stuff or people

(44:46):
hitting me with stuff constantly, I'll go ahead and deal with it
for a minute, Then I'll bracketit and I'll go back to center,
you know.
So it's something that affectsme, but I but I shake it a lot
better now than I used to and,like I said, I just told my big
God about my little problems andpray for these people that are
still talking and having tospread their stories or whatever

(45:08):
their fiction is or whatevertheir, their uh, reality is.
It's not what mine is or was,so I just want to keep moving
forward and not look back.
So it's amazing where I'm atnow.
In my life I didn't realize Iwas going to have to be 71 years
old to figure it out, but it'sjust an amazing place to be

(45:30):
right now and so, yeah, it'sjust a great time.

Speaker 6 (45:34):
There's a lot of life left and you can move people in
a different way now also, Ihope so, because of the platform
that you have, I was going toask you if you guys don't mind
about the ball-peen hammer,Because you'd said in this scene
you had an art with it whereyou could hit a guy with it and

(45:55):
hurt him, but not hurt him toobad.
But it was like an art, Likeyou could.
Just I don't know how you didthat, but can you preach on that
for a second?
I know we just talked aboutJesus, but if you go, back to it
.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
You know, hey, jesus got mad too.

Speaker 6 (46:11):
I mean, he got mad too.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah, jesus got mad too.
I mean, he got mad too.
Yeah, well, if you ever go backand watch the the rocky three
thing again, you know stallonewas telling me, if you're gonna
throw a punch, if the camera'sright, you can't cross.
You know you cross, you knowthis way I don't know how to
explain it like if the camera'sover here you cross that way and
pull through his chin, so itlooks like he took the punch and
he'll sell it that way.

(46:33):
I told him I'm going to throw adirect punch into your forehead
.
If you ever watched the rockythree thunderlips thing again, I
set him up and I throw a punchfrom left field, all the way
from the ground, right betweenhis eyes.
And you know, after we got theshot, we got it done.
I said, how was he goes?
Well, I felt it, but it wasperfect.
He looked back on the videoassist, he goes.

(46:54):
Oh my god, I've never seen apunch thrown like that.
I said I've been practicing along time and it's the same
thing like with a ball peenhammer, because when I went back
to the wwe after working forted turner and trying to put
them out of business, you know,for 10 years I wasn't.
I wasn't the most welcome guyin the dressing room, let's put

(47:14):
it that way.
And so you know, I was goingout to Chicago and the rock was
going to come out and interruptmy speech and challenged me, and
after he challenged me he rockbottomed me.
Then my NWO brothers came outand we basically crucified him
in the middle of the ring.
I went out and dumped a toolboxout and there was a ball peen
hammer and I said I'm going tohit you wide open in the back of
the head, but I'm not going tohurt you.

(47:36):
So I gauged it and I swung wideopen.
I caught him.
He goes.
Well, it was a little stiff.
The rocker goes, it was alittle stiff.
I said, well, did you get hurt?
He goes, no.
I said fine then.
But but then we put in anambulance and chain the
ambulance up and I get the semiand ran the ambulance over a

(47:56):
couple times.
But we we, you know we did itlive to tape and cut the tape.
We pulled them out of theambulance, of course, before I
ran it over a couple times.
But uh, yeah, I've I.
You know, I mean when I wasdoing it every night.
I got real good with timing anddistance and and.

Speaker 5 (48:12):
Uh, you know, it's just an art form you learn yeah,
yeah, stallone, I think stilltalks about that how, how you
were able to throw those punchesand just stop at the right time
.
He's yeah, he always wanted thecamera here and to cross
through and not hit him.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
But him said bro, I can throw him straight in.
You can have the camera righton you.
They're not going to see anyholes because I am going to make
contact, but I won't hurt you Iwon't hurt you.

Speaker 5 (48:42):
That's amazing Wow.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Hey, so we were talking about the film industry
and obviously and you made yourmark on that, from what I
understand you got offered therole in the wrestler, which
eventually went to mickey rourke, obviously, who did a great job
.
Uh, is that true that you gotoffered that role and you turned
it down, right?

Speaker 1 (49:05):
well, it's kind of true.
But I did say no, what happenedis what happened, jared, what,
what, what?
What happened was I'd alreadydone a wrestling movie called no
Holds Barred, which I hope youguys get to see it because it's
just crazy.
But it was like, yeah, it's afunny movie, but since I'd

(49:27):
already done a movie about awrestler, I did the first two
movies.
New Line cinema had mr nannyand suburban command when new
line cinema was first starting,and then the wolf of wall street
guy what was his name?
Um?
oh, okay no, jordan belford, no,he gave me.
He gave me some money to make acouple movies.
And then this wrestler's scriptcame through.

(49:49):
My agent, peter young, and hegoes the studio, wants you to
read this and see how you feelabout it.
And I saw the Wrestler, ofcourse, and I read it and I just
couldn't visualize it Because Iusually picture every shot and
every camera position.
I've been around the TV businessso long I try to picture
everything in my head.
I'll read a script real fast.

(50:09):
I can read like 110 pages inmaybe an hour or so.
But then I'll go a script realfast I can read like 110 pages
in maybe an hour or so.
But then I'll go back and readthat 110 pages.
It'll take me two days to blockout every shot and think about
it.
And I just didn't get a hold ofit.
And plus, I didn't want to playa wrestler again, you know,
because I just figured it'd bethe same lukewarm welcome I got
with the last film I did as awrestler.

(50:31):
So I told Peter Young, my agent, I didn't want to do it.
So I don't know if I would everbe offered the part.
But I said I didn't want to doit until before that happened.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Yeah, and 10 grand's not a lot of money anyway.

Speaker 6 (50:47):
It was 14.
It was 14.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Hey, real quick, let's talk about Hogan's Hangout
.
Is Karaoke Night still rockingyeah?

Speaker 1 (51:02):
I'm going to get my head geared up for that here in
a couple hours.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
That's what I was wondering if it was tonight.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Bro, this tonight will be wide open too.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
We're going to come down there, we're going to try
that bus.
Oh, definitely, you guys shouldcome in.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
I hope you come in and drink.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Are you kidding me?
Don't stop believing.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
I told Jason.
I said what if you come in andsing karaoke and you don't win?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
He has to do that until he does so.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah, yeah, I tell you what.
I had one of my guys come infrom the church, you know, and
he's a really good singer and hesang his butt off.
But then, man, we had somepeople come in that just were
blowing smoke, man, and theywere to put the belt on those
people and man, I don't know, Ithink I still got heat for that
one.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
What's the?

Speaker 1 (51:56):
prize for first place .
Well, we give away title belts,you know, and we give away
title belts to the best femaleand best male singer and then
every quarter we have thequarterfinals where we give cash
away.
But then at the end of the yearwe have the ultimate
championship and we give like 10grand away to the winner and

(52:19):
second place gets whatever andthird place gets whatever.
But for around here and locallyit's a lot of money.
But I get guys flying in fromJersey and Vegas and all over
the place to come down here andsing.
It's kind of like turning tolike a little the Madison Square
garden of karaoke we are.

Speaker 5 (52:35):
So there, that's going to be.
We gotta go, we have to go.
Well, originally we were.
The whole plan was to come downwith our try that in a small
town bus.
That wade hasn't got us yet todo this in person you know, but
it's we're such fans I mean inour like us and jason, like you,
coming out hanging out with us.
We really appreciate it becauseit's for us, it's like a such a

(52:56):
part of our growing up andthose memories and having you
hang out with us.
We just you know I'm sure youget sick of telling us the same
stories again, but for us itnever gets old, you know, it
never gets old like hanging outwith you, man, you know.
No, it's a lot of fun, brother,it's a lot of fun hanging out
with you man.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
It's a lot of fun, brother.
It's a lot of fun hanging outwith you guys.
No pressure, it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Like Tully said, it's just been such a pleasure and
an honor you could have beendoing a lot of things today and
that you've got to share storiesand talk with us.
We're very appreciative of you.
Keep walking the walk, brother.
We love you and we'll see yousoon.
Thank you so much you guys areawesome.

Speaker 5 (53:35):
Thank you guys have a great night tonight brother,
that was amazing.
I gotta tell ya I know I'mguilty of it, but I, whenever we
see him, even tonight, like I,go right back to being 7 8, 9,
10 years old.
Like I have to know about thewrestling stuff, and he's

(53:56):
answered the questions a milliontimes.

Speaker 4 (53:57):
I thought the music stuff was incredible.

Speaker 5 (53:59):
I had never heard well, no one even knows that
nobody knows about all thatstuff.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
I mean, he's like addicted to the music scene.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Yeah, it's a legit passion.
I'm so glad and I wanted to askhim, but he brought it up on
his own.
I thought it was amazingbecause I had heard the story of
him trying to get this Stonesgig, the Rolling Stones gig,
metallica.

Speaker 6 (54:19):
And then the.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Metallica gig.
They set tapes.
He set the tapes.
I know it's amazing and theydidn't even respond to him.
How do you not respond to HulkHogan?
At least a courtesy likebrother, that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (54:38):
Probably like that's awesome.
Probably go this direction.
How badass would he look onstage with metallica amazing.
How do they not do 30 showswith hulk?
At least let him come out well.
Well, and you know what's funnyabout that is like robert
johelio, the bass player theyhave now.
Yeah, he's great, but you cannever hear the bass.
So maybe I'll have hogan upthere doing it.
Right, you're not gonna putbass in any of the mixes or live
shows, so just have hulk upthere then I mean, why not?

Speaker 6 (54:55):
when you're thinking about that.
You talked about the fretlessbass and I was thinking is, was
he playing fretless because hewas so strong and he rubbed the
frets off?
I mean, how did that work?
You know, was he doing that?
And then also, uh, there hespent.
He didn't talk about this, buthe spent the 20 years in japan,
like six months.
You know he was, he was there,so and he talked about it on
other podcasts and he goes.
Yeah, it was great, he goes.
I mean, I was single, I wasover in Japan and um, but he

(55:18):
also, he learned there was oneof the rock stars over there had
long blonde hair, so he joineda band over there.
You know it was in a legit banddoing the wrestling stuff, and
over there he was, he wasfreaking Elvis in Japan for the
longest time it was really cool.
He used the music.
And he even said when he got inthe ring he used the cadence.
It was like when we're talkingabout the entertainment part of

(55:40):
it, he took all the music stuffand the entertaining and made
history.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
It was cool to hear all that.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
I mean he is a global , global superstar, like you
mentioned.
I mean, he was Elvis over there.

Speaker 5 (55:54):
Yeah, I mean he'd been here too, but just across
the country and a great Americanwhich we didn't really get a
chance to touch on.
We could have went on foreverwith Hulk, but at that time when
he came in, I remember I meanso patriotic He'd come running
through the crowd waving theflag.
He's fighting the Iron Sheik forthe anti-sarcade, you know I'm

(56:15):
saying and then and then nowhe's still fighting the good
fight today, you know so he'sand he's a great guy.
He'll come out and hang outwith us and I'll look over him
like, and we've been around alot of cool people, yeah, I'll
still see hulk hogan sittingover there.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
I'm like wow hulk hogan you know, totally has his
base in the dressing room, youknow we all kind of warm up or
whatever, and hulk grabs it andhe's playing your bass and it's
like dude, that's awesome yeahtell me what a slap me if I'd
have done that no, you get thegrab, you go in the dressing
room.

Speaker 4 (56:43):
Grab telly's bass gets you can grab it.

Speaker 5 (56:45):
Any of you guys can grab it thanks, my bass side is
carte blanche

Speaker 3 (56:54):
carte blanche.
I just like french.

Speaker 6 (56:56):
How hard uh, you know the story for him, even how,
how big he is physically andlike you see, see him now and
we've known him forever, like hewas a legend, first time I ever
saw him.
But but to hear you, like likeall of us, you know anybody in
sports entertainment, whateverit's, it's just not easy.
And he went through all thatstuff sleeping in vans, just
like you had you know artistssleeping in the vans and cars on

(57:19):
broadway and stuff, and makingnothing like you talked about
you playing sets eight hours andmaking 20 bucks or whatever.
Um, and then he quit severaltimes.
You know, pretty, prettyamazing, you don't realize.
He just sticks with it.

Speaker 5 (57:31):
The wrestling life is really tough.
I mean, they wrestle seven daysa week yeah, you know, twice on
some days.
And then you get in your carand you drive another five, six
hours to where you're goingpretty brutal.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
You know they don't, they don't stop no, and in
comparison to today's wrestling,where it's not as much actual
right physical contact, thoseguys were, they were landing
blows and it was.
It was a.
It took a toll on him obviously.
He said he's had like 30surgeries, 10 pack surgeries,
yeah yeah, he's in the, he's inthe 30s and it was.

Speaker 6 (58:08):
It was funny because not funny but in doing the
research went, because when Iwas a kid I mean I watched it
but I didn't follow it.
Follow it because you had a lotof people say oh, that's fake
and all that stuff and I don'twant to get into that.
You're talking to Hulk Hogan,you know.
But, um, but you know he waseven saying in other podcasts
and interviews that then theseventies said if you kick
somebody with the laces on thoseface and on their chest and all

(58:31):
that, if you hit them, theywanted to see bruising and
bleeding, stuff like that.
And so so it was.
It was a brutal game.
You know, back then, man, thatwas a man's man type of thing.
And now, not that I mean it'snot easy now it's still, it's
entertainment, but the thingsthey do you can't do that
painless, you know painlessright if they threw me around
like that it'd be broken amillion.

Speaker 5 (58:52):
He didn't talk about it tonight and we didn't talk,
or hope we talked about it.
Edit, crap, sorry, god, this ispre.
Is this post wrap up or pre?
No, it's post okay we didn'ttalk about it tonight, but you
know he picked up andre, thegiant in body slim right, that
had to be one of the backsurgeries for sure.
Well, no wait I believe I'm notwrong.
When he did that, he told mewhen he was in Tampa.

(59:14):
He said he ripped I think heripped the bicep right off the
bone when he was doing it orsomething on his shoulder.
Something got ripped off thebone and he kept going.
But he picked up Andre theGiant.

Speaker 4 (59:27):
Yeah, I mean no, it's like picking up a walrus, I
mean yeah no, it's like pickingup a walrus.

Speaker 6 (59:32):
It's incredible.

Speaker 5 (59:33):
Exactly you know, but anyway, yeah, what what yeah?
I got a cramp in my pinky.
My guitar is heavy.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
My case is heavy.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Put on my 12 pound guitar.

Speaker 6 (59:45):
Oh, my traps are so tight, yeah, so funny.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
We want to thank everybody.
It's like, as always, we sayyou know, if you're on YouTube,
leave us a comment, leave us areview.
That really helps us.
So please keep doing that.
Download what else we got.
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That's really cool for ustonight, right?
Yeah, Hulk Hogan man.
Yeah, that was really cool forus tonight right yeah, hulk
Hogan, man Still processing it.
I know it.

(01:00:14):
I can't believe we got him sofun, so fun and, like I think
Tully was saying, we're going togo down to the Hogan's Hangout,
we're going to get on thekaraoke bar.

Speaker 4 (01:00:21):
We have to.
Neil.
What are you going to sing?
I remember you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
What are you?

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
talking about.
I remember you.
All right, I think I'm justgoing to watch you guys.
That's a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
I'm going to support you, that's awesome yeah From
the Patriot Mobile Studios.
This is the Try that in a SmallTown podcast.
Thanks for joining us, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Subscribe, share rate and check out our merch at
trythatinasmalltowncom.