All Episodes

July 17, 2025 278 mins
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I mean, you know, you got to turn a
negative into a positive. Hulk Hogan being praised the week
that he testifies in Vince's trial that he roided as
hard as he could and facilitated the delivery of steroids
to him through a drug mule. That you know, these
fans are grateful that he's setting a drug free example
for the kids.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
He's such a fucking piece of ship. Come on, come on,
he's being unfairly singled out. Yeah, yeah, of course, and uh,
you know, and uh, you know what and I don't know, uh,
trying to think of something. My mom, I don't know
why this is. My Mom's in my fucking brain with
that one. Look, it's it's because he's such a fucking phony.

(00:44):
He's such a fucking phony. He's a he's a he's
a Brett Hart's favorite word. It's just like and and
I guess here, here's what it is. Because he's such
a phony at it that he doesn't even sound like
he means it, right, you know, he sounds like he's

(01:06):
he sounds like he's reciting bullshit.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, we know Hogan's voice, as wrestling fans, we know
the promo voice, but we know kind of his voice too,
and then we and you can hear the Hogan is
being interviewed by someone not in wrestling voice. Yes, it's
the same thing as that rock clip you play when
he says, I think audiences can expect.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
The part of what makes that so delicious to the
ear of a wrestling.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Fan, audiences can expect just a great, overall entertaining movie.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Is you know that that's more of an act than
when he's the Rock on ww television exactly. And that
right there on that CNN said is more of an
act for Hulk Hogan than any WWF match you ever had.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
That's that's the problem right there. That that is the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
I just turn a negative into a positive. He's got
all these talking points. I mean, I'm willing I'm willing
to wager that some of those calls were total kfab anyway,
just how they they were all like designed to address
different boxes Hogan needed to check in terms of repairing
his image heading into working for a Turner Own wrestling organization.
It's a charm offensive. It's you know what I mean,

(02:08):
It's like a reputation restoration tour.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yep. Yeah, in so many ways. Of course, you got
to you got to make the rounds and and make
sure people still like you.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
There was reference there from one of the phone callers
and having him see having seen Hulk Cogan wrestle Rick
Flair before, which I'm not sure he was expecting on
that front, because it's like we're kind of pretending this
is the first time we've ever wrestled, so that that's
a little awkward. Yes, Hogan cuts him off right away
and says he cheated, you know, because he probably knows
that the guy saw a match where Flair was declared
the winner by DQ, you know, right. He doesn't want

(02:38):
this fan bringing that up. But it's it's, you know,
it's very irrelevant that when we go down the road
with this Hogan Flair feud in WCW, as mentioned, Hogan
doesn't return the favors. I mean, Flair had an expectation
that after the Batch at the Beach, they're going to
rematch with the Clash, and Flair was going to come
out champion and win the rematch, and then Hogan wins
the rubber match to Halloween havoc. But normally does Hogan

(02:58):
want to win the rubber match? You want to win
the second match to or at least not leave without
the belt. You know, I mean, I forget does he
he does he win by DQ?

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I don't even think it does. Yeah, I mean, it's
just it's just awful what happens when you let the
devil in, you know, I know, And it makes no sense.
That's that's that's the that's the real thing is like,
it just makes no sense to not to like drop
the belt to Flair. That makes sense.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
No, I think that would be so newsworthy at the time.
Like if Hulk came into w CW won the title
in his first match, It's like, oh, here we go,
but he loses it right away. Whoa Like in a
weird w he means business here in terms of booking
to get our attention.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, like it would it would actually, it would have
meant more, you know. And it's it's funny that he
you know, I mean, I know, we know Hogan's Hogan,
and you know, it's it's never it's never that easy.
It's never going to be that easy. From the creative
control clasped exactly.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
We didn't you know, wrestling fans didn't necessarily know about
that clause in the contract when Hogan first starts did yeah,
you know, it became it became known after enough times
passed where nonsensical things were happening visa v. Hulk Hogan
and right it got out there.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
But a dungeon of doom.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Dungeone of doom and all the rest. Exactly who's running
the show here? Well, actually, Hulk isn't so because they
wanted the rubber match, which would be justified because they
would have split one and one. But all of a sudden,
Hogan's not gonna lose the second match. What are we
gonna do? How do we explain the need for a
third And that's where all this retirement shit comes from. Oh,
it comes from the fact that they needed a reason
to wrestle again. Yeap, Hogan's gonna you know, leave with

(04:34):
the belt twice, like who gives a fuck? But it
is a creative control clause and of course that's happening
behind the scenes upon Hogan's arrival here at Batch at
the Beach ninety four. Even if we the wrestling fan
were not the wiser, Eric Bischoff was certainly aware. As
he says in his book Creative Control, Hogan knew he
was surrounded by a hornet's nest.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
He wasn't what if he didn't know what if for
some reason, Bischoff didn't know that Hogan had creative control,
And a.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Lot of the things he said about being involved in
negotiating with Hulk go right down the toilet. But you know,
I think that's key, probably because a if Titan did
in fact have matching rights as melts are reported, they're
not going to match that cause no way, right, that's
an instant poison pill, And all of a sudden it's
not a negotiation over dollar figures anymore. You know, even
if Titan could come up with that money that they're

(05:17):
offering Hogan, you can't offer that. No one had ever
gotten anything like that in writing before as far as
I know. I mean, there's like defective creative control, like
you know, if you leave, it's going to hurt the territory.
So we'll do whatever you want kind of creative control, right,
but put to put it on the writing. No, I mean,
because that's in writing. We have the fucking Bash of
the Beach two thousand lawsuit. You know, there's no there's
no grounds to sue like Hulk did. If you don't

(05:39):
writing even if you kind of have that. You know,
Steve Austin didn't have a legal leg to stand on
when he walked out in two thousand and two, for instance,
You know.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Right right.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Hogan knew he was surrounded by a hornet's nest. Bischoff wrote,
he was surrounded by people whom he was completely dependent
on in the ring to make him look good. But
he knew that those people were intimidated and resentful because.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
He was coming over. They were fearful that Hulk Cogan
was going to take over the.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Come coming over again, getting over. I think they're more
afraid of him coming over. Yeah, they were afraid Hulk
Cogan is going to take over the company, which he
absolutely did. That was why Rick Flair was so important
when it came to convincing Hogan to sign with w SW.
Rick couldn't guarantee anything, of course, but he made Hogan
a lot more comfortable about the people he'd be dealing with.
Oh no, don't worry about it, Terry. These guys they're

(06:18):
in the business. They've in the business a long time.
They understand now, you don't have to worry about that.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Even worry about it, Hogan. Oh my god, don't worry
about it. It's okay. I got it. I got him
under control. A lot of young guns in that locker
room for Rick. I'm just saying, Rick, no, no, no, no,
they're not in anymore. They're not in anymore. No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Do you want me to fire Austin anybody else? Even
to manufacture a circumstance to fire mc foley, I can
get that done. I understand he split on the ww
tag built.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
It doesn't matter. Tell you what, we'll get anyone. We'll
get anyone fired. Send me a list, a list tomorrow,
we'll bring in. We'll bring in whoever you want, and
we'll do it over sea. Breeze.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
All I care about as we get back to the
bar afterwards.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know what sounds good to be a big brother?
All right? You know what, brother? That sounds like a plan. Man,
I'm digging that creative. That's a good shirt like yeah
with that like yeah like that, Yeah, that's all caps right,
that creative.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Like We've been talking about a lot, but that's the
one I dig That's the one to highlight that. Ind case,
there's been many suggestions tossed to the side up to
that point. Even so, Bishoff Wrights. Hogan worried that eventually
the US rus them mentality prevalent in the w W
would eventually sabotage him, and while he respected Brick to
a large degree, he didn't feel Flair understood the best
way to utilize the whole Cogain character. I beat him

(07:47):
over and over and over again, all right. He was
worried that a storyline that looked good on paper might
turn out to be a trap, letting other wrestlers sabotage
this character.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Talking about my god.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Sabotaging characters, so Vince Russo did. That's why he wanted
and got creative control. It assured him he wasn't going
to be sabotaged. Hogan was not subtle or shy at
all about this. Look, brother, the money's great. The opportunity
to work with Ted Turner is great. Eric, I like you, Yeah,
there can be a lot of great opportunities here. But
I have a real problem with some of the people
in this company. I don't know some of the people
I don't know. He's talking about that he would have

(08:19):
had history with. I can see him being fearful that
people who were there that he'd never worked with before
might feel like he's big footing them, but this makes
it sound like there are people he had worked with before.
I mean, I guess Rick rud was somebody that he
definitely did not get along with that okay, but was
kind of on the outs. He was just exiting WW
I think around this point. But other than that, I

(08:40):
don't really know who they're talking about.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
They're gonna look, it's so weird. It is weird that
he's just like, I mean, yeah, who you care about?

Speaker 5 (08:49):
Right?

Speaker 1 (08:50):
And who is this now? Paul Arndorf, Paul o'nore probably
hates his guts. That's a good one.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Brother, What dude, Mania what?

Speaker 1 (09:00):
I can understand you hate me too, brother, I just
get I just hooked you up with the biggest pay
days of your entire life, the important program in Spotlight
you ever got in the business. I can understand that.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
Brother.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Oh, I've been so bad to your brother. I understand.
It's payback time. Rolld Hogan.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
They're going to look at Hulk Hogan as the guy
who's going to come in and have too much control
over their lives, little do they know, and they're gonna
do everything they can to make that unsuccessful. Bishoff kind
of you know, the channeling Hulk's thoughts there. The only
way I'm making this move is with creative control. So
if the situation is not comfortable for how.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
They didn't come into like two thousand, I guess I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Oh my god, that is LOADI and Lenny are the
only one. The other thing's missing here I created of
control was Ron and Don Harris. Yeah, Lody and Lenny
were you know what they were? They were Lanny, they
were standards and practices, the heel tag team.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Fucking I swear to god, what a fucking bunch of bullshit.
It's trevendous.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
It made sense to me then Bishop off rights, and
it makes sense to me now it was the right
thing to do. You can't take an asset like Hullakog
and an established brand and throw him in a lion's den.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Did he say asset or ass hat? Asset?

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Okay, I prefer an ass hat like an ass hat
like Hulgoag and throw him into a lion's den to
be shredded up by a bunch of insecure people with
their own agendas.

Speaker 6 (10:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
I could think Hogan didn't stay in WWF because he'd
ended up in the lions Den against Ken Shamrock. Maybe
Hogan boasted about it, or maybe he just told people
that he had creative control written into his contract. In
any event, word of the clause quickly leaked and I
was roundly criticized. Admittedly, it was the first time in
ww that anyone had ever had creative control in an agreement.
But for years, if you were on top, if you
were Rick flairt WWSA, whether it was written into your

(10:42):
contract or not, you had a lot of control. You
had the title and you were the champion. If a
booker or a promoter or an executive wanted you to
do something you didn't really want to do, you had
a lot of options. Yeah, Flair had to basically uproot
his entire career because he didn't agree with Jim Hurd.
He couldn't force Jim Herd to do anything. He had
to walk out on him, you know, to shape circumstances
to his face. Of course, even though it doesn't exist

(11:03):
in a WDB contract today, Yeah, Stone Cold is creative control.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, Okay, creative control has been around in some way
for a long long time. It's just that in Hogan's case.
It was the first time it had been put in
a contract. An effect, it forced arbitration between whoever the
booker was in hul Cogan. We had to sit down
and talk through it. As it turned out, we talked
a lot.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah you did.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Hogan had a number of ways to let me know
what he wasn't pleased. I love this with the way
particular story I was going. He take days to get
back to me on the phone. Yes, Hogan's not happy,
Like what a child? What a child?

Speaker 2 (11:35):
You know? Silent? I don't know, dude, what are you?
What are you thinking here?

Speaker 4 (11:40):
Brother?

Speaker 2 (11:40):
What's what's the plan? What's it is? Dude? I heard
that this.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
I heard part of the stop on this long road
as Hull Hogan might be defined down for a little while,
and hul Hoagan might be called in a question in
terms of his dominance of the competition at w W.
And I'm just worried about those bumps on the road
and whether they're really necessary. You know, why can't we
get to the destination of me hoisting that belt and
skip the parts where I haven't faced any adversity whatsoever. Brother,

(12:08):
He'd take days to get back to me on the phone.
Or maybe i'd get word with the word through Jimmy Hart,
Hogan's assistant. Can you imagine Jimmy Hogan giving Jimmy the
word to get to Eric, because that's like he's kind
of afraid ticking fro an Eric, but he wants to.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Well, listen, he's gonna he's got a big Leagan, all right,
He's got a big league So he's not gonna fucking
you know, he's not gonna have He's not gonna do
it himself. Can't do that.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
And how humiliating for Bischoff to go through all this
leg work and all of this this rigam role to
give Hogan all of this bounty. So he comes in
and then he ends up having to deal with Jimmy
Hart on major consequent decisions.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Listen, you know what that's he's his manager. Okay, yep,
And he's his manager, and you got to deal with that.
You know who put that, especially well Eric himself.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yep, oh god, you mean it was a part of
the original negotiation. Made it really clear early on that
he depended on Jimmy a lot to help him get around,
get through airports, get him to where he needed to
be on time. He was, and that's the role that
Jimmy played I think in WWE with hulkkan for a
long long time. Yes, he was on camera that too,

(13:14):
but Jimmy's real value was behind the scenes for Hulk,
and Hulk made that very clear. So that went into
the budget. Jimmy Hart got to put into the budget
as a result, and I'm glad he did, because you know,
Hulk needed people around him that he trusted and that
he depended on it was comfortable with, and certainly Jimmy

(13:35):
Hart was one of those people.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
I'm sure what he says help Hulk get to the airport,
he means to keep fans away.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
But I just have this mention of Hulk.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
I just I just can't, Like I want he needs
a wheelchair or no.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I actually a picturehim. He's holding his hand, you know,
he's like leading in through the thing, you know, holding
his hand. But what I wanted to, Okay, how how
is Jimmy Hard? More like, I want to know what
his value really is because he doesn't seem like somebody
who really was valuable in that role. He kind of was.

(14:07):
It was kind of thrust upon him when Hogan asked
him to do it, like where did he establish this
value that he was more valuable behind the scenes, because
I just don't I don't understand that.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think that
he was just so reliable at WWF to do whatever
they needed him to do. I'm not suggesting that he
had any role bookkeeping or booking flights or anything, but yeah,
he just was somebody that always always always made the town,
did his job well, didn't fuck anything up, was reliable,

(14:39):
was was was prescient about like putting out fires, you know,
before they started. And that's that's all Hulk needs. Hulk
just needs somebody who's going to pay attention to this
because help. You know, it's pretty clear by now that
Hulk used to blow cush like a motherfucker. I'm sure
this guy who was high as a motherfucker half the.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Time he was on the road. You know, Yes, you
got to.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Think about how easily you can fuck everything up, and
logistically being on the road as hard as he was,
going so many different directions like he was. Of course,
that that's somebody that actually they're they're only or one
of their abilities is just to remember to do things
and to keep a schedule that are that alone, what's
probably enough for Hope to say, can you be my guy?

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (15:21):
You know, yeah, it's just just a weird thing, Like
I I I just I've never I'm not saying that
he doesn't have that value. It's just that I don't know.
I hope I would have seen that in him. I
just don't. I just don't know where it was established
that he had it. Like he may have been the listen,
Jimmy Hart may would very well have been the greatest
out you know, out out of ring manager that there

(15:43):
ever was. I just don't understand where he established this credibility.
Be a great question for him.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
I mean, yeah, we read what's in his book about
that point, and he probably points mostly to that night
that he filled in for Bobby Heenan to allow Hulk
to keep the match together. But yeah, just Jimmy, like what.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Did you but but you do which I get that
that that but like what is how does that translate
into exactly? Hey, can you make sure I get that
from point to point? B can you be my my
in between guy for all these things? Like it's just
it's it's a it's a weird leap that I can't compute. Right.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, Tony Altamori had no business being that guy either.
You know, I think if they just pick a guy
who's gonna who knows the shady shit they're gonna do
and knows how to keep that from becoming well known,
or it knows how to keep that kind of cloistered away.
I mean, you go all the way back to like
the van Erks and Bruiser Brody flushing the drugs down
the toilet for David. You know, it's part of the business.

(16:37):
You know, like you've got to surround yourself with people
who when the ship goes down, are going to cover
your tracks or or tell you at that last second
to zig instead of zag because you're about to walk
into a situation that could you know, compromise a number
of things, you know, everywhere helped those I'm sure he
was mob for autographs. They had to, He's talked about this.
They had to like case the airport and like create

(16:58):
like a like a fascinating for him so we could
get off the flight and get to his car without
you know, losing an hour and a half getting mobbed.
Jimmy would come in with his tail between his legs.
Eric recalls and give me the puppy dog eyes. I
don't think Hulk's very happy about this. I think you
should both wow, both of them are sad because Hulkster's
not happy. I think you should just give Hulk a call.

(17:20):
I know he'd like to talk to you, So I
got on the phone and convince him that no one
was trying to screw him, or at least that I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
I mean, this is all true. He collapsed.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Hogan is Hogan. I don't give a fuck what anybody says.
A lot of times I'd have to just drop what
I was doing and go to see him. I remember
one time going down to Tampa where Hogan lived because
he wasn't happy about something. I found out he was
in a gym working out. I drove over waited for
an hour and a half for him to finish before
he talked about the subject in hand.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's another thing. He would do a power move. He'd
make you wait.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Of course, I remember sitting in the corner of the gym, thinking, Wow,
how about a whack is this? I'm running the company,
not him. No you're not, Eric, that's the point.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
No, you're not. Exactly after you saw in his contract
once you put creative control in his contract, it's game over.
But at the time it was one of a lot
of things we had to do as a company that
I had to do as the head of the company.
The stakes were starting to get pretty high. Tremendous stubbstic
be tremendously, but it could also be a handful. Now
where we gett those stakes, dude, exactly.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Not omaha, brother, I'll tell you that roller. The politics
between Hogan and Flair, and the politics between wrestlers and
both men's camps gave me waking nightmares. There was always
plenty of maneuvering, backbiting and politicking going on. Truth be known,
the same thing exists today and wwe anytime you've got performers,
I don't care if they are musicians, actors, dancers, ice, skaters, jugglers.
Anytime you have people who perform for a living, those
people are fueled first and foremost by their self image

(18:39):
and their egos. Combine that with the fact that the
better position to performer is the more money here she
can make, and you've got a highly political situation. Dealing
with those politics was one of the most draining aspects
of my job. I was not drinking Hulkgan's kool aid
by any stretch of the imagination. There were times when
I would rather slam my own hand in a car
door than hang out and have a burger with hul
Cogan because of the ship he put me through.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I didn't say this anymore.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
He was willing to say this in the book because
there was no you know, no short term pay day
out of him. This, by the way, I should mention,
we record this as Hulk and Eric got back together,
unaventured to do live arena freestyle wrestling. Did you hear
about this venture at they I heard a little bit
about it.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
I didn't. I didn't really get the whole thing. So
I must have heard.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
About it because people were exploding with hashtag TNH because it.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Just wreaked down, right, that's what it was, right, people
were and I didn't, but I didn't like look into, uh,
exactly what it was.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, they do like a black and white nWo video
where they're talking about the Third Man. Everyone's like, what
are they doing start a wrestling company? The third Man?
It's kind of Izzy Martinez who coaches MMA fighters in
amateur wrestling, and Hulk, I guess watched the NCAA Finals
this year, where Wyatt Hendrickson upset a Gable Steveson and
one of the biggest upsets in the history probably the
biggest upset in the history of collegiate wrestling, honestly. And

(19:57):
then Trump is there and it's like this big USA thing,
and so they get this idea of like, let's do
amateur wrestling built up like pro wrestling, like no it's
been tried before, and they call it like real American freestyle,
and they're talking about they're going to sign these amateur
wrestlers that have some name value in that world. And
one of the guys they pointed to, bed Asker, ended
up having an absolutely horrific health scare where he contracted

(20:21):
a serious infection that caused him to have a double
lung transplant, and who knows if you know, he'll ever
be mobile again, let alone be able to wrestle. And
then what happened to Hogan, according to Bubba, happened and
at the very least, Hogan is hospitalized. And this thing
has sold like three hundred tickets in a fifteen thousand
seed arena in Ohio. It's going to be another complete
fucking disaster. I'm sure Bishop's got the whole thing about

(20:43):
who's you know, how he was involved but not really
and how he had All he was was was a
spokesman and he had no you know, logistical responsibility for
you know, it's time to start getting your story straight
about Yeah, right, it's.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Not your fault, right exactly, listen, yep, exactly, time to
start shifting responsibility.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's just so remarkable that that whole dynamic bubbled right
back up to the surface, because by the time we
were done with the TNH, I did feel like, for
better or for worse, we're not going to see this
repeat itself. No one else is going to I hate
to use the word fall for it, but no one's
going to see value in doing business with Hulcovi and
Eric Bischoff again. And I was wrong. I was very wrong. Ah,
that's the business that's wrestling.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
At the same time, I have to say that if
push came to shove where Hogan was involved and I
wasn't sure in my own heart what to do, I
probably would call it for Hogan. Yeah, it's pretty easy.
You don't have a choice, so I would prefer my
only option as well.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
If I were you that was this a great thing?
I heard one point. I don't know who said it,
but learn to prefer it, yes, learn to prefer it.

Speaker 7 (21:47):
Hm.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
He earned that kind of consideration. Bischoff rights. The same
thing held true for Rick Flair. I didn't question his
booking decisions. It was when they were working against each
other that things got tense, and that didn't help Rick. Frankly,
as nineteen ninety four went on, things started to fall
apart with Rick. We'd have meetings where he'd get up
in the middle and say, excuse me, guys, I gotta
go call Beth. We'd be sitting around for an hour
and a half, two hours wondering where Rick went, only
to find out he was on a plane heading home.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh my god. Rick just couldn't handle what is Greg Valentine,
Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
He took up to the plane a while. You get
warmed up and there were some real pressure situations with
Brick as a booker. So if there was a jump
ball and the parties couldn't agree, I bet on Hogan.
Hogan had a better track record and fell in line
with the look and feel our company needed. It wouldn't
have made sense to bring him in and then do
things the way we used to do things back in
the NWA. Some people took that personally. They'd look at
me and say, he's in love with hull Cogan.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
I wasn't.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
There were plenty of times he frustrated me so much
I'd go bang my head on a curb. Yeah, brother,
yeah yeah, But you don't have a pre nut, buddy,
that's the problem exactly. You know, you can say, uh,
you can say that you know you weren't in love
with hul Cogan, but you married him, right exactly, So
what's the difference. So this is however, looks back on

(22:59):
it when it comes to you know, Hulk and some
of the some may say selfishness that revealed itself in
World Championship Wrestling, and how he assesses Hogan as a person.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Looking back, you.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Know, Hulk's got a different perspective than most. He had
a brand to protect that most people don't even understand.
They've never had to protect the brand the way that
hul Cogan has to protect his brand, or had to
protect his brand. They never experienced that challenge so often
to those people who had never had to experience managing

(23:37):
their personal business. The way Hulk Hogan had to manage
his personal business because of the level of success that
he achieved. To people on the outside looking in, it
may look selfish, but it wasn't. It was what was
in the best interests of not only the Hulk Hogan business,
but the wrestling business from his perspective, and sometimes he
was right and sometimes he was wrong.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
But it wasn't out of.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Being self centered or selfish or non professional. It was
doing business the way he had learned to do business
and experience success the way he had experienced success. But
he's not a selfish person. He's a very generous person,
sometimes too generous. He's a very giving person. He's a

(24:22):
very trusting person. He's a very loyal person. But like
a lot of people who are financially very very successful
and very loyal and very trusting, there are people that
take advantage of that, and you could become cynical. Into
the outside world. It just looks like you're being cynical
and selfish, but you're really not. You're just protecting yourself

(24:44):
from yourself. In some cases, I used to a Hulk
all the time, man, I said, do you like a
big fucking apple tree? You just like this giant apple
tree with all these big giant apples on it, and
then there's a bunch of people that are running around.
They can hang out on you beneath that tree and
they shake it every once in a while so they
get some apples out of it. I saw that time

(25:06):
and time again. So he's a very generous person who's
a very loyal person, and he's very he's a good person.
He's a human Yeah, fuck ship up, sick, well did
I'll do? Made a mistake here there along the way,
But he's a good human being.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
It's good a human being.

Speaker 8 (25:28):
He's the last fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that

(26:02):
knows the boys need their candy. It's the lapsed fan.

(26:38):
He's the lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio
and JP Sorrow.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
That is the most fucking nausea.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
You had a brand to protect? What's the problem with that?
I heard you get all worked up about that or
somebody has a brand?

Speaker 2 (26:51):
No, no, no, him, you know, it was like it
was him inferring that like that that I forget what
I forget that, what the what the verbiage was, But
it made it seem like like like people I can't

(27:13):
remember what it was. I'm pissed now, but there's something
about it that was, like, you know, he.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Hulk's got a different perspective than most. He had a
brand to protect that most people don't even understand. They've
never had to protect the brand the way.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
That they don't have to, right, nobody has a brand
like that's that's it. Like the people who are complaining
about him protecting his brain because they don't know what
it is, like they don't have one to protect, like
they're just themselves, right, Like not everybody has a brand,
you know, like what do they even mean exactly? So

(27:51):
what does it fucking mean?

Speaker 1 (27:52):
So you know, that's where it all comes from. That
that's like, you know, the idea that put the Apple
logo on something and and it conveys like you know,
technological cool and sophistication and all that, and that's obviously
faded quite a bit. You know, it's kind of a
it's kind of funny, it's kind of a it's kind
of hokey to talk about the Apple brand now, you know,
no one does does. I guess some phones it still carries.

(28:14):
But remember you remember the time, like when you had
the Apple on the on your laptop at Starbucks and
that manure somebody.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
You know, yeah, exactly, were important for some reason.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
Right, for some reason exactly. And that's the point, Like,
what is the brand, Brandon? Is just what people think
when they see you. And right, if I protect the brand,
you mean do a series of non wrestling projects that and.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
I'm not saying that like, you know, listen, I get it.
You know, as much as I hate the term, I
get the idea that that you know, there are there
are businesses and stuff that you know, it's it's it's
what they you know, you know, it's Oh, what's a
great way to say it? Hold on, let me think here.
Oh fuck, I get rid of it. Damn it. Oh

(28:57):
you're ready. You had something to fire? Yeah, what we do,
what we do is right, you know, that's I get it.
I get that, That's what that's what you know, branding is.
But it's like, again, not everyone has that, Not everyone
wants that, you know, Like it's it's not a yeah,
it would be it would be kind of a joke

(29:19):
for most wrestlers to argue that they should have creative
control companies to protect their brand. Most people, you know,
that's what I mean he's like people like not understanding
Is he talking about wrestlers not understanding that? Yeah, because
I get it, talking about like like people not understanding it.

Speaker 8 (29:34):
I know.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I think what he's saying is, yeah, people don't because
so few wrestlers reach the point that there, of course
you know their name, that the the strength of their
name could determine what projects they could get and not get.
Whereas wrestling, you know, your reputation in the business is
kind of what keeps you employed and paid. It's not
it's not quite a brand. It's not something that carries
past wrestling.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
And I'm here to.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Say, by the way high over here, that hul Cogan's
brand didn't carry past wrestling either. That's the whole fucking
lesson we're learning here in the Midnight. That's the whole point.
It doesn't. It had a moment in nineteen eighty five
maybe where he would be on mainstream talk shows and shit,
but even then he wasn't there representing the Hulk Hogan brand.
He was there representing the hokey WWF hyper iroonic pop

(30:17):
culture phenomenon that was the WWF. And yes, he was
the perfect guy for that. He was the icon of that,
But he wasn't the icon of his own brand. He
was the icon of what the WWF was presenting and
how offbeat it was. That's what it was, and that's
why you know he was made such a fool of
when he tried to go and prove to Vince that
Hulkomnia can run wild elsewhere, and it absolutely cannot.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
The only thing that worked.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
Is when he completely dumped Ulkamania and went Hollywood, and
that was it worked because it was sub version of
his brand within wrestling, not outside of wrestling. Outside of
wrestling didn't give a fuck. We came to find they
didn't care if he was Hulk or Hollywood. He got
on all the same shows as Hollywood, and he couldn't
have done something more indirect diametric ofp is to the

(31:00):
brand that Bishoff is talking about and protecting them what
he did when he went Hollywood, and he nothing changed
for him. In fact, yeap based on how hot WCW got,
I'm sure the opportunities were even more numerous in ninety
eight and ninety nine or ninety eight ninety seven than
they were in ninety four ninety five when that brand
was being protected and everyone was bored to fucking tears

(31:20):
by what he was doing in the wcw ring. Yep,
no one would see his movies. There's no brand. I
know that there's no brand such that it matters beyond wrestling.
And when you say protect your brand, if all you
mean by protect your brand is I never lose, then
that that's not the sophisticated marketing exercise.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
You think, I know what's your brand? I mean, yeah, exactly,
like it's it's just.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
That word, that brand word. We got to retire it.
It's so bad, used for all events, so bad. Yeah,
it's always been bad.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
It's it's covered up a lot of sophistry. It's covered
up a lot of you know, self serving things that
people tell themselves to preserve the status quo. It it
excuses a lot of laziness. Oh yes, it wallpapers over
the fact that people are in positions they shouldn't be
in and don't have the skills and talents that you
would need to execute that position.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
Brand.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Brand, Brand, we're gonna brand yep, yeah, well we're brand
building building brand.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's when WWF jump the shark, when they started talking
about how we built this brand. So w CWK can't
beat us in the invasion. That's all brand means. It
means we won't.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Lose it really is what it is. Put anybody over,
you know what, it's an excuse. It's an excuse to
to like to not give something up, right, is what
it is.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
It's a status quo, like I said, yep, it's just
it's it's an exercise in preserving the status quo. Because
once you say it's actually your brand, that can never
be that's like, that's unfalsifiable. You know, you can never
like take that off the table. You can never point
to something and say like, well, the brand isn't the
consideration now because the brand is It's like, no, nobody's

(33:01):
gonna that's so subjective by design. Once you say it's
about the brand, you can justify doing just about anything
to prevent change.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
You know, right exactly, And you can say.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
The brand is whatever you want it to be to
justify what you want to do. You know, it's a
very nebulous and mischievous turn.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
And I don't like it. It's so annoying, is what
it is.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
But you know, you have to say that in ways
that we wouldn't necessarily see as fans, but they saw
in the back offices and at Turner hulled. Cocain's arrival
was a pivot point for WCW. Ratings were low. Interest
in WCW was at an all time low in nineteen
ninety three, as we know, when Bischoff took the helm.
I mean, just the fact that Bischoff, without any real
booking experience, was given that job tells you all you

(33:42):
need to know about how I know they had thoroughly
drained the pool of anybody who could make representations of
turning around a wrestling territory, and so they needed they
needed to lean in. You know, one thing I did
wonder about that Conrad talked to Eric about, and I
wondered about your opinion, Yeah, would there have been any
value in having Hulk do one or two other programs

(34:04):
before Flair? Or should you go right to the Flair match?

Speaker 2 (34:07):
You know, part of me wonders, if you know, as
I mentioned before earlier, that part I was kind of
bummed that, you know, that the whole card felt like
it was a little flat, right, Like, the whole like
it just didn't feel like it was part of a
big show. And part of me wonders if that is
part of it, the fact that it was such a

(34:28):
rushed thing and that Hogan wins the title in his
first fucking match, as opposed to you know, you know,
having somebody else I got, like a preliminary you know,
person like he could have done that. I mean, any
associated Flair would have been something interesting, like come by
and say no, no, no, you can't get him yet. What's
wrong with you? You know, like that's not cool.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, you don't just walk in here and get Rick
Flair right at the world title like get back of
the line, pal, you know, kind of right, you know,
And I would have enjoyed that. I'm sure that I
could have made good wrestling television out of that. But
I'm also a big believer in if you've got a
money idea, execute it as soon as humanly possible, because
you're not a shit that can go wrong, and you

(35:12):
can always end up at a situation where something that
was hot, that felt hot, by the time you get
around to it doesn't feel hot anymore. Happens all the time,
of course, yeah in wrestling, and like MMA too, it's like, fuck,
these guys get hurt all the time. You have a
super fight. If these guys are healthy in the same
weight class and it makes sense to match him up,
do it. Don't fucking say, well, he's got to get
three more wins first, and if he loses to him,
then he said, no, do the match, because I never

(35:33):
play out in a clean way like that.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
It's it's so.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Unlikely to play out that way that to plan on
that is malpractice. You know, you're you're abdicating your fiduciary
responsibility at that point. And so yeah, I'm all about
going right to Hogan and Flair immediately, even if we
can entertain ideas where we would have enjoyed, you know,
a slower burn for that.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I don't. I don't necessarily think it was the
wrong thing. It's a very I don't know. I don't know,
I don't know. You know, I certainly would be intrigued
by that. I also but I see, I would disagree
with you about that. In terms of like Kurt Angle
and TNA. I think that was a big mistake going
right after Joe. I thought that was actually deflated the
whole thing, and it made it feel less special because

(36:19):
deflated Kurt afterwards deflated everything everything like it just didn't
feel special and the same thing, you know, and then
another way they did it too. When remember Jericho comes back,
what does he want? He wants the title, that's his
big goal. He says, I want the title, and then
almost immediately he goes for the title, and it's like, oh,

(36:39):
it kind of means that I know he's not going
to get the title, right, you know, the moment that
he started going for the titles, like, oh, all right,
I guess it's not going to happen because they would
build it, they'd build it up, and you know, it
could be said too that you know, with Hogan and Flair,
it's been built up for yes, you know in fans

(36:59):
mind for ever, it's still like there's still a part
of it that's like nah, you know, still like it's
one thing that it's been built up in our mind
and it's another thing that we've you know, we almost
had it in w w EE. But at the same time,
it's like they they haven't really done it, like in

(37:24):
the same company like this, yes, you know, and to
me that that could have been a good move to
do and to like postpone it a little bit, and
you know, but yeah, I don't.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
Know, it's kind of weird. It was the thing, but
it's kind of weird that they actually did do a
slow burn. They were teasing it in March for Christ's sakes.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
But yeah, but he wasn't really in the company though,
you know, he wasn't in until that, until that clash,
that's when it was, you know, and it's like and
and I just think they could have listen, obviously they
made money on the damn show and whatever, you know,
I just I think they could have done he could
have gone a little bit longer before they did it. Yep,

(38:08):
you know.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Clearly the confidence of Ted Turner was there. As Bishoff
has said, Otherwise you wouldn't have seen Hogan out there
because the kind of you know, mountains they had to
move to get him required Ted to give the nod.
But you know, Eric starts to notice around this time
Turner broadcasting and the executive starting to believe in some
of the stuff he was doing. He was he was
hired to bring an out of the box approach, and
that's you couldn't argue that's what he was doing. But

(38:32):
w CW, as he told, it was an embarrassment to
sell for Turner, you know, they go out there and
sell their audience.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Advertisers, and you know that's so much.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
If WCW is a huge part of your weekend cumulative rating,
that that's all well and good to sell the total
audience number. But that doesn't mean that the guy selling
is comfortable putting WCW across the table the advertiser and saying, hey, yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
What does that really mean now? I mean, so we
do really are you? Are you really asking us to like, actually,
you know, say that you're part of Turner family, because
that just doesn't work for me. I just don't think
that that, you know, I don't think we're going to
get you know, advertisers with right saying hey, you know
we've got the wrassle and business or a fucking yeah.

(39:17):
I just I just don't think we should mention it.
I think we're better off we just leave it alone.
Exactly right.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
That's what it was, And that starts to change because
all of a sudden, those people can mention Hull Cogan
and yeah, to our point about brand, It doesn't mean
that it translates to commercial success, but it does open
doors more than any other person's name, whether those doors
are worth walking into it's a whole other question. Sure,
but here's Eric on his podcast talking about that dynamic.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
The challenge for me if you go back in time,
you go back to nineteen ninety four here time, and
even a little earlier, you go back to nineteen ninety three.
Turner ad Sales, which was based in New York, was
responsible for selling the Converse commercial inventory for all of
the content that was on both TBS T and t
Turner Sports, any TBS property, Turner Classic movies, whatever was

(40:10):
out there at the time. There was a large group
in New York and their job was to go out
and sell that commercial inventory. So they literally, if you
can imagine Conrad, you and I as salespeople, you know,
hitting the streets in New York, and you've got your
suitcase full of you know, all of your commercial content,
all of the television programs you represent. Typically salespeople would

(40:32):
reach in their bag and pull out the content that
was the easiest to sell. Of course, one of the
reasons salespeople are great salespeople is they take the path
of least resistance, right. They want to make as much
money as they can with at least resistance as possible,
and as they're reaching into their bag of tricks and
trying to sell their their clients, whether it be eminem

(40:52):
Mars or GM Trucks or Budweiser, whoever it is they're selling.
You know, the last thing in the world that they
wanted to reach into their bag and pull out and
put on a desk was w CW Saturday Night. I mean,
they were humiliated by it. And that's been well documented.
You know, when you when you if if you were
to talk to people who were in the Turner ad

(41:13):
sales department back at that time, or talk to guys
like Bill Burke who used to be running you know,
TBS at the time, or or Brad Siegel, they did
not want wrestling at all, not because necessarily they didn't
like wrestling on a personal level, but because it was
such an embarrassment to try to sell. That was the
challenge that we had to overcome. We had to clean

(41:34):
up the image of w CW, raise the production values.
But as you as you just pointed out very clearly,
we had to we we had to change the perception
of w CW so that we were no longer that
other wrestling company. So when people said wrestling in a
in a in a sales presentation. They didn't automatically think

(41:56):
of the WWF. As you again clearly pointed out, bringing
hul Cogan in helped change the perception, along with other
things that we were doing, including Disney. Now, all of
a sudden, our salespeople could go into a meeting, our
ad salespeople could go into a pitch and they're talking about, Yeah,
here's our here's our company.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
You know w CW.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
By the way, we produce our shows that at the
Disney MGM studios in Orlando, Florida.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
And here's what that looks like.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
And see those Mickey Mouse hears and that fly over
no over here, here's here's our number one talent, hul Cogan.
You mean hul Cogan's with w CW. I thought he
was with No, he's with w CW. All of a sudden,
the conversation changed dramatically from from an ad sales perspective.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
I mean, growing up, it was stinging enough to get
that guffaw and laugh and smirk when you told someone
you like wrestling. Can you imagine asking someone to spend
millions of dollars on.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
That, like to actually be in that, Like oh no, no, no, no,
I mean that I listen, I get it. Listen, I
would not want to be in their position at all,
like that that would be the most horrifying job of
all time to have to sell this shit.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
I kind of get it intuitively, but it does surprise
me the degree to which those people's minds would be
changed just because they shoot at Disney and because Hulk
Hogan's involved. Isn't it still pro wrestling?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
You know? I think I get the idea that I
mean Hulk Hogan. I feel like, okay, if he's if
that means something to you, okay, fine, I feel like
it wouldn't to be honest.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Because there issue really that Sting is the top guy
and not Hulk.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Right, not Hulk Hogan? Like are they really do they
really care that Hulk Hogan's not part of WWE, but
he's part of ww I don't think so. But I
can see like filming it at Disney could mean something
because like, oh wait a minute, I mean they're if
Disney is willing to welcome that's true, not something that
could be special and I should make money, you know,

(43:59):
because exactly everyone everyone wants to be, you know, giving
head to Disney. Yeah, all right, that is the bottom line.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
They feel big brother by Disney all the time. So
they yeah, that's true. Yeah, but but like the Disney
allowed us to pay them right incredible body to shoot
our TV show down like exactly, you know that that
it's it's ironic that that's the case. But nobody, nobody
like why would you like, you know, it's it's embarrassing.

(44:28):
It's embarrassing to have to try to sell wrestling to
legitimate advertisers because you've got to remember what the aura.
It's not even the wrestling in the ring, it's what
it's who they think is in the audience. And it's
probably you know true. I mean, we've been to enough
wrestling shows in our lifetime. Yes, it is not a
cross section of people that you think you can sell
high value products different.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Right, they're not buying our money products, right, all right,
you know or not that our moni fucking advertisers. But
you know they're not they're.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Not buying They're buying hot dogs. They're buying hot dogs
at the arena. They're bringing hot dogs at home. They're
hot dogs at Costco and Walmart and Wonderbread.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
All right, that's what they're buying. Where's the Wonderbred sponsorship.
You know, that's exactly right. They should have that spam sponsorship.
I mean they should have like I mean, I assume
that they were actually honestly, you know what they should
have had. They should have had any oil company, any
oil company the way they love no any kind of
oil because they you know, they use their oil to

(45:24):
make themselves shiny. They could have any oil. It could
be gasoline oil, it could be olive oil, it could
be body oil. They should have had every kind of oil,
you know, Yeah, what makes sense.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
They used to have Stridex commercials through it. Speaking of oil,
skin oils. I remember that they knew that my pimply
asked face was watching wrestling.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
They knew that much. Oh yes, oh yes. But also
keep in mind too, like when did Stridikex come into play,
like kind of not into well, I guess they were
there like in the mid nineties, right, Yeah, I remember
that ninety six. Okay, I'm sure before that, but I
think the stride X blimp and stuff. Yeah, I was
thinking for some reason, I was thinking it was more

(46:05):
of a Attitude era thing that all kind of place,
But I think no, I think a.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Touch earlier, Yeah, I'm sure it was around attitude. They
you know, they get the chef by r D thing
with Mick Foley, they got well, you know, they had
the right guard with Hogan that was kind of cool.
It wasn't all it wasn't all like cringe.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
But.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Well, the right guard was cringe. If you look at it,
you know, it absolutely was cringe. It just wasn't cringe
for a wrestling fan because it's like, oh, look it's
our guy. Our guy's a man.

Speaker 4 (46:36):
It's pretty fucking cool.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
The whole commedia thing.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Brother, it's it's going and it's going to Madison Avenue.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
You know he those words came out of his mouth
at some point.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
You know, I totally understood. You know, I used to
love watching mad Men do It's great chokes. I totally
understood it about that. I totally understood exactly what it
meant like because you know, a humane it was all
about due hul Klemania was about advertising in.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
A lot of ways, Brother hul Hogan. As we transition
out of this period that I've been in this I've
been in a lot of ways, Brother hul Hogan's going
from Madison Square Garden to Madison Avenue. Brother, You you sure
that's just going to Madison, Wisconsin, Terry for a double shot?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Are you sure you're just not becoming maddening? So Jesus
tier Bischoff talent.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Not only did it make people, uh you know, more
confident about selling WSW, it put a spring in their
step to even work for WCW when Hogan came around.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Okay, but w CW in terms of morale in the office.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Was so beat down.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
It was just so the w c W was a
laughing stock. Yes, it wasn't performing. We couldn't draw in
the arenas. You know, we had some great talent, and yeah,
we had the highest rated show on TBS on Saturday
nights and all that stuff that really doesn't matter at

(47:59):
the end of it all. But compared to w c
wwe were yeah, we were the number two company in
the world, but we were like number two hundred and
twenty two. The difference between number one and number two
was so vast that it was a silly thing to
even say. Right on top of that, to have had

(48:22):
to go through keep in mind, you know, in a
very short period of time, we went through Jim Hurd,
Kid Fry, Bill Watson, now is me. And although people
knew me, and some of the people in the office
had worked with me, and a lot of them were
very supportive, like Tony Shavani being one of them and others.
For the most part, nobody knew if I was going

(48:43):
to be including me by the way, nobody knew if
I was going to be able to turn this thing around.
But by bringing hul Cogan in, there was hope. And
I think that hope just raised everybody's morale, enthusiasm and

(49:03):
work ethlete because people were really excited about it again.
The people that I worked with, because now there's new opportunities,
they you know, they've been trying to you know, when
I talk about licensing, you know, sharing Sidell and Mike Weber,
that whole team. They've been trying to have great conversations
with some of the big toy companies and you know,
licensing companies, but they couldn't. Nobody wanted to talk to us.

(49:28):
You know, home video business was deader than debt in
that period of time. Home video business was kind of important.
We couldn't get any distribution for home video. Our own
distribution at Turner didn't want to distribute our product. They
were embarrassed by so they left it in the bottom
of their bag whenever they went out to pitch anything.
And it was just things were so down. But with

(49:49):
Whole Cogan, now there's hope. Now, maybe we can have
that conversation with those sponsors that really wouldn't return our
phone calls. Now, maybe we could get a meeting with
some of those toy companies that up until that point
wouldn't even return a phone call, or if they did,
it didn't mean anything.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
You know.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Maybe now we can have a conversation with Direct TV
about in our air pay per view partners, about our
sixty forty split and making that a little bit more fair.
So there were so many things that Whole Cohen coming
in changed for the better, at least in terms of
hope and potential that I think because of that, the

(50:29):
morale was really really high. General feeling was really negative,
and we all felt like redheaded step children that nobody
really wanted to come to the you know, to the
family picnic. Yeah yeah, ye part of the group, but
you're not a part of the family. So just you know,
I know, you got to eat, but try not to
eat in the ah rum and wear your w CW

(50:49):
bats where everybody can see you. Now, that's how It's
not that that wasn't true, but that's how we felt.
And now with hul Cogan and the hope and the
opportunity that that provides, I did it for people. You know,
Rob Garner is syndication. That's a big opportunity for Rob Garner.
You know, brother, you've been in sales for your life,
all your life, one way, shape or form. When you're

(51:10):
out there banging on doors every single day and you're
getting the same result every single day because nobody really
likes your product or is interested in it. And then
all of a sudden, you've got something that everybody's interested in,
or at least a lot of people are. That changes
the way you feel when you drive to work in
the morning. And that was true for guys like Rob Garner.
It was true for Sharon Sdello, it was true for

(51:31):
Mike Weber, it was true for whoever we had in PR.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
At the time.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
You know, all of a sudden, people will be answering
your phone calls and that was really an exciting time.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
You know, that moment.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
It didn't last right everything six months later everybody was
taking it for granted, and they were onto their other challenges.
But for that period right after Hawk got there, man,
it was like one you know, two or three month
old celebration.

Speaker 4 (51:59):
You know, it was fun.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
It was fun for a little while. I love that
point about how everyone took it for granted within months.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
You know, it's like, of course, I mean yeah, because
I mean look at it. I mean of course they did.
There was nothing you know that the the the cool
factor or the newness of it where it wore off
very quickly.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
The era of good feelings was overco Yes, that Mike
Weber he mentioned. Do you remember Mike Weber at all?

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Do you remember why he came into our sphere at
a certain point the name I don't remember why though.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
It star cast one when they were broadcasting and streaming
the whole thing on Fight, Mike Weber ran Fight and
uh after we did the Vince thing. Yeah, he's wre
for WWF in a kind of a spokesperson capacity, and
I never forget he was like, okod show, I don't see.
I don't know why Vince is like that, as if
as if we just went up there with like a
total that's right, a total read on who.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Vince really is as opposed to lampooning him, and like
he didn't even like.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Say, you guys nailed it. He just like said, you know,
we all kind of understand that. It's like as if
we get like a recording of the exactly like we
did a bunch of like interviews with people who were there.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Of course, when Conrad asks Eric like, well, what's one
advertiser that Hogan brought to the table that wouldn't work
with WW before Eric immediately well, you know, WW didn't
directly sell ads, didn't interface with agencies. Turner Rad sense
did that. Of course, the inhow sponsors like Valveline stuff,
the things you would see on the screen, Surt Nitro,

(53:31):
that's WCW. But he couldn't mention anybody there. But he
did remember one key thing that the split of money
they had to give Direct TV to be carried on
Direct TV, they were able to negotiate that down so
they collected more money more of a split because hul
Cogan was around. He feels like you can attribute that
directly to the ulkstar going from about a sixty forty
or sixty five thirty five to a fifty to fifty
split I remember when we did the Batchel of the

(53:54):
Beach two thousand show and went over his contract, not
only the one everyone knows about from ninety eight, but
the amended contract in two thousand and for him to
come back under Vini ru that remember that detail how
he added and satellite buys and satellite was missing from
the nineteen ninety eight contract. So that's a that's a concern, brother,
because that's my money. And just because I didn't put
satellite in the contract, just cable.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Brother, I'm not dude. I want to think of that. Dude.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
But in Bishoff remembers that DirecTV conversation. Uh, you know
why he remembers. It's because he took several meetings with
Direct TV.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
In la Oh. Of course. Listen. If there's one thing
we know Eric Bischoff did was he took meetings. Absolutely,
meetings were meetings were.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Took, Meetings were taken. That's exactly right. Do you know
how many financiers and high powered producers have seen his
taxidermy hanging from the wall behind his head in a
zoom call? Do you can you even begin to imagine
the amount of meetings he takes and pitches he give
and heres and decks decks, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
And you imagine the zoom calls from fucking from fucking Cody,
you know, just sucking just and and not not not
former champion either, but like, uh, you just imagine the

(55:25):
fucking like you know, you see that just there's like
imagine you get to get any room in his house.
You don't know which room he could be. So it
could be in that he could be in that fucking
gaudy office that we've seen on you know, it could
be that it's a gaudy office, or it could have
been you know, he could be down in his in
his in his uh meat cellar, you know where he's

(55:49):
got all fucking like hanging hanging meats. But he's that
he that he that he they hunted in the last
couple of months is sucking animals hanging from fucking way.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
So Eric, I thought you were joining us from home.
Are you at Disney's Wilderness Lodge in the lobby?

Speaker 2 (56:06):
No, No, I'm curing meat.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
I used to sell it in Minneapolis. So one of
the things he did was takeout ads in USA. Today
people remember this very well, I think, as well as
the Wall Street Journal. But there was a big, full
page ad for Hogan versus Flair in the USA Today,
the likes of which we hadn't really seen before. And
remember when USA Today was like a big deal because
it was the national paper. I mean it was in
every McDonald's, It was in every hotel room, and it

(56:32):
was just, you know, such an easy and quick and
cheap way to get news of weird paper.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Weird, so weird right now.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
They were like the original experimenters of like, how can
we make it so basic that a whole story fits
in like one corner of the fucking thing. But his
thought was, even if even if the ad was very expensive,
which it was, a full page ad in USA today
was in the one hundreds of thousands of dollars in
like nineteen ninety four, miles.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Would happen.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
And he was right about this as far as I remember, Like,
you know, morning drive DJs would like grab the USA
Today to think about something to talk about, you know,
Howard Stern would or whoever would. People would just grab
the USA Today if they were rebroadcasting and commenting on
the news, and so that would that would drive some
discussion and mention that Hulk Hogan was back in wrestling
if that was in there at least that was his
his idea, And then of course they came up with

(57:22):
a nine hundred line game. Echo, Gene is in full
fucking activation.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Vote on Hogan, man. I mean, if you could call
the hot line to find out what color Hulk Hogan's
socks were, you know, yeah, you can find that. You
could call the hot line to find out what Hogan
had for breakfast.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Pick option one, right, right, But they did a deal
where you could pick a match on WCW Saturday Night
by calling the nine hundred line and making a selection
and paying for the privilege. Then Hogan was involved in that.
It was like a live Saturday Night. That's the one
in center stage that Flair talks about where they had
to sweeten the sound where he comes and sits ringside
when Sting faces Flair as selected by the fans via telephone.

(57:58):
That's the one where Sherry comes in and drag They
replay that during the course of the basche of the
Beach broadcast, the pay per of your broadcast, where she
comes in dressed up like a guy in Blindside's Hogan
And that's really the Is that Am I wrong? The
reveal that she's working with Flair or was she already
aligned with Flair before that? I feel like that was like, no, no, no,
she was she aligned with Flair at the at the clash.
At the Clash when when when they unified the belts

(58:20):
with staying there.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Yeah, so I think that was post clash. I'm not
sure though it was post clash.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:27):
So you know, key thing, like like I've said, is,
you know, this is Bash of the Beach. Is the
first time that a lot of prominent Turner executives are
showing up at ww You know, they probably think it's
kind of funny that, like it's a big deal that
this wrestling company we have is it's doing something that
people are paying attention to, and it feels almost like
the place to be. You know, there are plenty of
celebrities there and here's Eric speaking to that.

Speaker 9 (58:50):
When you see that by right number and this is
the preliminary number. Of course the real one would be higher,
but when the preliminary number comes in, you've got to
be feeling like, fuck, yeah, is that fair to say?

Speaker 10 (59:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (59:02):
Because I just covered the next four pay per views,
of the next three pay per views of Hogan's contract
and one fell swoop. So yeah, it was you know,
we were all and I didn't look at it that way,
that's the smartest comment in retrospect. But we were all
excited for all of the right reasons, again, being in
the arena, the energy, you know, we had celebrities there,

(59:27):
Antonio Andocchi was there. You know a lot of our
top executives from Turner Broadcasting came down to watch that, uh,
and they all kind of got the vibe and the
energy and for the first time, and I think more
importantly for me, it represented the fact that we had
really turned the corner internally at TBS, because again, I know,

(59:48):
I beat this horse to death. But the perception and
the reality, unfortunately amongst a lot of the executives, all
of them except for Ted, was that, you know, WCW
was a huge fucking embarrassment. Nobody wanted anything to do
with it on any level. Everybody was wishing that Ted
would just change his mind and pull the plug on
it from day one, and this was the first time

(01:00:11):
that we could really see and feel that that was
beginning to change. And that to me was the most
important thing, because I really believe that if I could
change the way TBS, the parent company, looked at the property,
I could create more opportunities for it, and it began

(01:00:33):
to manifest on this particular pay per view.

Speaker 8 (01:00:36):
The last wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the

(01:01:09):
boys need their candy.

Speaker 4 (01:01:11):
It's the Lapsed Fan.

Speaker 8 (01:01:45):
He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio
and JP Sorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
So let's get more to the teases.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
As we talked about back in our summer Super Bowl
ninety four episode, Dusty Rhodes had stepped down as senior
consultant slash booker as of January of nineteen ninety four,
and Rick Flair was installed as head of the booking committee. Right,
it's back to nineteen eighty nine, which is the last
time they did anything impressive on pay per.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
View on the gate.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
By the way, that was one of the great parts
of e Lapsed Funk is. It's like shit, Not only
did he come in to w WN eighty nine and
create incredible memorable moments against Flair, that also did business.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
That's what you know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Yeah, you can't act like Funk was just some connoisseur
of doing the art of wrestling at a high level,
but couldn't draw money. No, the only reason he did
all that shit was because it actually translated into dollars
for him and for the company he was working for.
So he was like instant you know, momentum at the
box office back then. And Flair was in a position
of booking committee head then as well. So he's back

(01:02:45):
there and then he starts to Then the first thing
he does is turn himself back heel starts shooting with
the Ricky Steamboat, knowing Hulkogan is a potential potential arrival.
I think the first show that Flair had anything to
do with their in March twelfth of noineteen ninety four
had anything to do with from a booking perspective. Yeah,
so you know there's a lot of a people in

(01:03:05):
that transition, and you know Flair is trying to uh
you know, reassure people and uh w CB Center Night
undergoes the rebrand where they do the factory theme that
that we all remember so well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Yep? Is that is that with would like in the
robotic arm and ship.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
That's right, yep, Like almost a spaceship kind of deal
going on, right right. Aaron talks about you know, Ted
never showed up in WCW until he did the contract signing.
He never put himself in his face on wc television,
and that'sarily not well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
He did, he did.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
He did a turner and Fonda appeared bringside at one
of the tapings shortly after Rick took the book before
Hogan came in.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
That doesn't mean fucking Jane Fonda did. I didn't. I
don't remember that at all. Yeah, they just sat in
the front.

Speaker 4 (01:03:49):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
They would They would use that clip a lot when
they would do you know, when w W would do
WCW related documentaries and they needed to b roll of Ted,
they wouldn't always just show the press conference between Hogan
and Flair. They would show that taping as well. He
just sat there and smiled. It's not like he had
a spark world. He doesn't want anything to fucking do
with it, all right, yep, yep. As much as he
as much as he says he loves that, he wants
nothing to do. He understand he understands that that is

(01:04:11):
like just it's cancer, Yes, all right, that's what that is.
And even before Hogan came in, there was a note
in the Observer. Ww wrestlers have never received as much
mainstream exposure as they have in the past week. He
mentioned in February fifteenth of nineteen ninety four, before Hogan
came in, Sting was on Ourcineo Hall, which apparently was
not something that people expected him to be able to do.

(01:04:32):
Flair was on Larry King, and as we know, hilariously,
CNN would be more willing to cover WWF than their
own in house wrestling company over the years. So Flair
being on Larry King was kind of a cup So
there was already some momentum in terms of like turning
a positive eye toward ww before even Hogan arrived. And
March ninety four, this is when the teases first start

(01:04:54):
and we we get Thunder and Paradise sweated jarring on
WCW Television at the NAPTI Convention for Television. Hogan's talking
about returning to wrestling after filming Thunder and Paradise, which
is to debut in late March of nineteen ninety four
in Syndication. And we know that Syndication ended up being
pretty much the last stop for that show. Well, oh yeah,

(01:05:15):
there wasn't a lot of life in syndication there for him.
There's no way it airs anywhere else, right, he can't
be getting residual still.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
No, I mean I can't imagine. I mean, I don't
know where you could possibly get it outside of maybe
some kind of but no, they would they wouldn't be.
It wouldn't be any kind of first run DVD sail. No,
I can't. I mean, I don't know. I don't know,
but I cannot imagine. I should let me check one
thing I wonder. I'm curious if you can, I'll see

(01:05:48):
if he's if you can buy it on streaming, well,
the co chairman, I'll have to think twice about that. No, No,
like you can't.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
It's not there so bad it was so hokey, like
I wanted it to work, like I wanted off was like, wow,
look at this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
Yeah, I wanted you know. To me, that was at
the time, that was the next best thing to having
Hogan in the ring, and I really wanted to work.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
It ended up being more embarrassing than watching him in wrestling. Yeah, yeah,
it really was, so I think it was. March nineteenth
of nineteen ninety four was the first time that hul
Cogan appears on ww television in the form of these
promotional interviews on the beach to plug the upcoming debut
and syndication of Thunder and Paradise.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
And here it is. This is it, This is the
first seed planted.

Speaker 5 (01:06:44):
Well, I don't know if we're going to revolutionize the
television industry. I'll handle this conversation, Bobby Heenan. But it
has been a very daring, dynamic and sometimes very interesting.
Oh we're a World Championship wrestling action. Hey what about
that interview I conducted last night with the big Man.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
That's the name Holgan ring a bell?

Speaker 11 (01:07:02):
You mean Thunderlips, Yes, sire of Thunderadi, Yes, movie star, yes,
six feet eight.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Let me refresh your memory.

Speaker 5 (01:07:10):
Take a look at this, Bobby heena things.

Speaker 4 (01:07:13):
I don't mean to interrupt. I mean to interrupt.

Speaker 6 (01:07:15):
I I'm gonna ask a questioning your brother why I'm
with him.

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
I'm gonna ask you a question. I mean, are not
with me?

Speaker 5 (01:07:21):
You've had to get in some other way? Well, I
got a friend at the gate, but that's not important.
But I'm gonna ask you a question. You've done it
all in professional wrestling, so you think now.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
You've become a great television star.

Speaker 5 (01:07:29):
You got a real hot hit show, here going now.
But isn't there some unfinished business you've left behind in
your wrestling career?

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
Hogan?

Speaker 6 (01:07:37):
Well, you know something, There are a lot of people
around here that Sayhulkster, when you're gonna get back in
the ring. All the kids running around the beat say,
Hulk do the greatest river was when you're gonna do
the thing again. But as far as you're concerned, Heenan,
over the last fourteen or fifteen years, every one of
your men you threw in my face, I left them land.
So as far as my business with you goes, you
never had a chance in the first place. What kind
of unfinished business are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (01:07:59):
Any only? Heenan, Well, I'm not now all.

Speaker 5 (01:08:02):
Of a sudden, you're you're well, well, you're talking about specifically,
and I'm specifically talking about You're putting your glasses on
getting it around here right, be talking about it. If
I were the great star that you were, I wouldn't
leave things unfinished.

Speaker 4 (01:08:17):
I would take care of business. And I think you
know what I'm talking about. Do I have to write
in the sand? I think what he's saying, Haul Cogan.

Speaker 5 (01:08:23):
We saw the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated on the cover,
there was a shot of erect Is that what you're
talking about?

Speaker 6 (01:08:29):
Well, I don't like to put words in people's mouth,
but I mean, yeah, yeah, I know the Brothers on
top of the world right now, Dude. I know he's
styling and profiling limousines and lyric jets and all that stuff,
and I know I have to live with that every day.
But right now I've got another agenda. Go in here, brother,
I've got Thunder and Paradise. But I can tell you
one thing, Heenan. If something happens I get back in
the ring, I'm gonna go right to the top one

(01:08:50):
more time. And when I do get back in the ring, brother,
me and Gene is gonna be the first man.

Speaker 4 (01:08:55):
I let know what I'm doing. How about that, heenan,
When do I get the soup? Then you come off
scoop at the end of this. But that's what you'll
get and what you're.

Speaker 6 (01:09:02):
Gonna do, heenan. Hulk Hurricane Hogan.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
We're on the air.

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
Well, well, ladies and gentlemen, you just heard the comment.
You know what they called him on the set of
Thunder in Paradise, Hurricane Hogan because he's a big bag
of Wind by the way, the nature boy Rick Claire.

Speaker 4 (01:09:22):
We expect to hear from him next week.

Speaker 5 (01:09:24):
I'm very curious to get his reaction to what was
just said by mister Hogan.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
I mean, that's what the fuck is hul Cogan doing
on ww television exactly out of nowhere? No, and that's
probably that's probably why I I I used to think
it was on TBS. Yeah, that's probably why I used
to think that. I don't know, they didn't carry syndicated television,
did they on TBS.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
You're trying to say it's Under Paradise aired on TBS. Yeah,
like I saw I would watch on No, that would
be considered that wouldn't be considered syndication. Syndication is the
network affiliates, right, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:10:01):
Right, yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
Something interesting I just discovered as I was trying to
find out if it it really is not available. I mean,
you can buy DVDs on Amazon, but I do not
believe it's not first run a second you know, it's
it's uh, you know, reselling, and it's not streaming anyway
according to IMDb, like you cannot you can probably you
can probably stream it on YouTube. Someone's probably uploaded it

(01:10:25):
but it's not a there's no official stream of it.
But what I found out was something interesting. So in
the one of the one of the main cast members
who was enlisted as being in all twenty two episodes,
so he's one of four people who in all twenty
two episodes is an actor named Patrick McNee. Okay, does

(01:10:47):
that name ring a bell and ane? Yes, Well, he
was the narrator of all those James Bond documentaries like oh, yes, yes,
he's that guy, that little British voice. Oh well that
was all over it. Yeah, so he was he was
working with Hogan, sure was.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
He was thundering in Paradise.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
And you heard the reference to the magazine cover, the
magazine that we read. So these little things are seeping
out there under the guise of promoting thunder and Paradise,
and it's bleeding into the wrestling show too. It's not
just like this, this is this segment that that's inserted
and air dropped into the ww television show and they
never mentioned it again. Flair and building up his match

(01:11:32):
at Spring Stampede nineteen ninty four agains Steamboat is asked
about Hogan right there on Saturday Night on.

Speaker 4 (01:11:37):
This thank God Saturday Night from houl Cogany. Now, I
mean g Rick Claire.

Speaker 5 (01:11:42):
All right, fans, we got more excited actually coming up
here in just a moment or two my guests.

Speaker 4 (01:11:47):
At this time.

Speaker 5 (01:11:48):
And I gotta hardly wait this week to get him
out here, the WCW heavy Wait Champ. That ain't sure, boy,
Rick Clair. In light of those very interesting comments last week,
why the immortal hole, I just had to hear what
you we're gonna say to this week.

Speaker 4 (01:12:03):
Rick Flair.

Speaker 12 (01:12:04):
Well, Jean, as I said to you last week, I'm
flattered that Hunk Hogan has a renewed interests not only
in the greatest sport in the world, professional wrestling, but
obviously a renewed interest in being number one. That's why
my name comes up repeatedly. However, as you know, last week,

(01:12:29):
Steamboat won a big match over the US champion Steve Austin,
so Steamboat got the title shot in Chicago.

Speaker 4 (01:12:39):
Now back to Hogan, Wait a.

Speaker 5 (01:12:41):
Minute, don't you think we should give Hulgan to rast
and talk about steam Bolts.

Speaker 13 (01:12:44):
I think.

Speaker 12 (01:12:47):
I think, since you, a close friend of mine, have
the audacity week after a week, Jean to refer to Hunk. Hogan,
a great movie star, a guy who's got his own
series as.

Speaker 4 (01:13:01):
The immortal PAULK. Hogan.

Speaker 12 (01:13:03):
In my presence, knowing that Rick Flair, knowing it very well,
is the only eleven time world heavyweight champion, then it
would be my best interest to stead of Eugene, go
back to Orlando, get Bobby Heenan, get Hogan in a
very clothed, secure area, and ask Hunk one more time

(01:13:25):
just exactly what his intentions are and just exactly what
he sees as a future in w CW Okay, what's
right about that?

Speaker 5 (01:13:34):
I will make a promise to you'll try to get
to Hogan sometime this week down at Disney MGM and
see if I can get something more definitive.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
Please do all right?

Speaker 5 (01:13:43):
I think now onto the subject of Ricky Steamboat a
lot of time.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 5 (01:13:50):
He pack with both Saturday Night.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
Do you believe that? That's amazing? Jesus Christ, that's amazing,
and so Steamboat feel about that?

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
And maybe steam was one of those guys Hogan was
afraid of, you know, because that's a nice little fuck
you to Steamboat.

Speaker 4 (01:14:05):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
I don't know if they ever had tension in WWF.
I don't think so. But he didn't stick around very
long after Hogan came in, That's for sure. I wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:14:12):
I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
I wouldn't want to ask him on cameo, that's for sure. Oh,
I know we're gonna get the basement to another fucking
like fifteen minute fucking cameo. We should ask Tito if
Ricky and k.

Speaker 1 (01:14:24):
That's the new that's the new cameo play is you
know you got you got two wrestlers that are party
to a story, and you ask a third wrestler about it,
not the two that's not one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:34):
Of these, Yeah, exactly. It was like asking asking a guy,
Yeah about paying paying guy to answer a question about
something else, Like, Tito, what did you think of the
Montreal screw job? Well? I didn't really know. Uh uh uh, Tito,

(01:15:00):
what do you think of the main event of Wrestlania twelve?

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Well I was going to come from the rafters, but
then said to me, Tito, we're going to need you
in the a w F.

Speaker 6 (01:15:16):
This is.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
W WE Hall of Famer Tito Santana. The way he said, Tito,
what did you think about?

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
What do you think? Steve Austin was thinking when he
left the w in two thousand and two. Do you, Tito,
do you think Steve took his ball and went home.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
I had to google what you're asking me about, Jack,
and after doing that, I have to say, I don't
really have an opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Stuff pal, So gene him, ask him like totally, just
like what other people felt. You know that that's just
gonna be hisarious.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
I got a message here to Jack. It says, can
you give your opinion on whether Russia has a right
to invade Ukraine? Oh my god, so Genas's marching orders.

(01:16:33):
Flaire told him go back and ask Cogan basically ask
him again what his intentions are for WCW. And yeah,
Jeane's more than happy to take the assignment, especially if
the you know, if you can expense the drinks in
the in the airport bar.

Speaker 5 (01:16:47):
Of course, I'm checking on a condition of none other
that whole Cogan on location Thunder and Paradise up and
running worldwide.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
Well you know what's about time means to check out
what condition.

Speaker 6 (01:16:59):
I can.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
Again, I'm checking on it before I do it. Though,
I did want to remember one of those England promos
from the August ninety three tour, and Jean says he
wants to get get involved playing the bass with Hulk again.
He wants to get back into Can I can I
go to the thing? He asks, if he can go
to the jam session? And the way I think is
so great? He goes, well you figured in man, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
Idiot.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
It's such a Hogan way of saying yes, you know, yes, Well,
I love when he starts with the well too, that's
always yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
Of course, Well, well always means something dangerous is happening.

Speaker 5 (01:17:42):
I'm checking on the condition of none other that whole
Cogan on location Thunder and Paradise up and running worldwide.

Speaker 6 (01:17:49):
Well you know what's about time means, Gene, you came
back to check out what condition my condition is in,
Brother Rogers, Let's see you kind of stirred up a
hornous nest. I ever, yeah, you did, brother, by walking
around here and asking everybody at Thunder can haulk Hogan
beat Rick Flair? Was hal Cogan really the man? Or
is hal Cogan ever gonna get in the ring? Well,

(01:18:10):
you know, I know you're my friend, brother, but you
kind of stepped over the line last time, because ever
since you were here all the way from Venice Beach,
California to Disneyland. Right here at MGM, they've been asking
the same questions, HAULK Cogan, is it over.

Speaker 5 (01:18:25):
Get in the ring.

Speaker 4 (01:18:27):
When you beat Rick Flair right in the center of
the ring.

Speaker 5 (01:18:30):
Brother, Well, I'm not gonna ask you again, Halk, but
what is your answer.

Speaker 6 (01:18:34):
I'll tell you what my answer is, Dude. Something's the fact.
It's not all the people on the beach. It's not
all the people all over the world from after Asia,
North Pole South, pulling all points in between. It's a
simple fact that just the other night, brother, when I
was tucking Nicholas in bed four years old, Dude, he
looked at me and he says, Daddy, I've watched the

(01:18:56):
tapes off you wrestle. I saw that you were the
greatest of all time. But Daddy, can you beat the
man Rick Flair? Jean, it was like ice cold water
run up through my veins, Dude. Paning that camera down, Brother,
on the largest arm in the world, it was like
the ice cold veins running up the pythons.

Speaker 4 (01:19:15):
Brother.

Speaker 6 (01:19:15):
My blood turned to ice cold water. As I looked
at Nicholas and I said, I don't know, Son, I.

Speaker 4 (01:19:21):
Don't know, Son, if I'll ever meet him in the ring.

Speaker 6 (01:19:23):
I don't know, son, if I was in the ring,
if I could ever beat him.

Speaker 4 (01:19:26):
But I can tell you.

Speaker 6 (01:19:27):
One thing, me and Jean as Brutus Beefcake stands as
my witness. Dude, if I ever decide to climb in
the ring, you'll be the first one to know. And
Rick Flair, if I get my chance, will feel the
wrath of the twenty four inch pythons.

Speaker 14 (01:19:42):
Dude, you have heard that, lady says, cut him in
from the Only what you're gonna do when the largest
arms in the world run wild on you hold on.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
They're just running it back, you know, winding it up
and doing the old stick. The whole band's back together.
It's kind of hilarious, it really is.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
I don't even know what to make of fucking Gene there,
Jesus Christ. He's such a nut.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
So he calls out a Brutus who is there. Of course,
Brutus was featured on Thunder and Paradise, as we've talked about,
and one of the things it's kind of interesting that
I saw, but I couldn't find much in the way
of backup. You notice he calls him Brutus beefcake there.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
On w w TV.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
Yes, yes, I read a reference. It must have been
a Reddit thread or something that that they sent a
seasoned assist WWF because you can't call him.

Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
Of course they did so.

Speaker 1 (01:20:40):
By the time he would follow Hogan on into w CW,
there would be many other names on the menu, as
we all know, to a hilarious degree as a matter
of fact.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
And you get, you get what a brother brute eye
that one worked. The booty man, that's right, butcher man
with no name, with the man with no face too, yeah,
may have no face, man with no wrestling ability, man
with no personality and with no reason. Actually he really,

(01:21:09):
he really is the man with no face. Actually, when
you consider the parasailing action, that's kind of why they
said it. Yeah, oh is it really?

Speaker 1 (01:21:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:21:15):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
The man with no reason to be here? Well, Cogan's
friend kind of to the end, but not really a beefer.
Could they could they have called him beefcake Barber. That's

(01:21:37):
a great question. Actually they brought him tiny list for that.
They did, they did, so I wonder I wonder if
they could have called him beefcake Barber.

Speaker 1 (01:21:52):
When you put zeus, when you put beefcake first instead
a second, it just seems so much more food related.

Speaker 4 (01:22:00):
It really does.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
I mean, it's definitely, uh, you know, it's it sounds
like a like like what the fuck is it going Jesus?
Or like a isn't there like a fruit dessert something
like that. That's kind of where you have back like
background like apples something or other fruitcake. I don't know,

(01:22:22):
not a fruitcake, but it's like it's like it's like
fruit surprise or something like that, something some kind of bullshit.

Speaker 1 (01:22:31):
Fruit surprise, fruit surprise. I'm gonna say, I'm not gonna
walk in there, son.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
Or it's it's hold, I gotta look it up now.
I think it's apples. Oh okay something or other apples
or no, is it apples? Are you doing about banana Foster?

Speaker 9 (01:22:58):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what. Yeah, Cherry right exactly,
that Foster. That's what beefcake barbarous.

Speaker 1 (01:23:05):
It's like Cherry's man is Foster Cherry's you believe Cherry's right, right,
and then afterwards.

Speaker 2 (01:23:15):
That's what he is.

Speaker 1 (01:23:16):
He said, Well, of course, if Hulk's going to start
intimating that he might come back to the wrestling world,
he's not going to just contain those little hints to
w CW Television.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
He's going to work the.

Speaker 1 (01:23:27):
Circuit because there's a lot of people, boy, that want
to talk to Hulk about this new Thunder and Paradise
s indicated television show. There's plenty of opportunities made possible
by this TV show to float the possibility that he
might be interested in wrestling again. How about No less
than Regis and Kathy Lee. Oh boy, I love that.
Nothing like a wrestler in Regis back in the day
man to set your to set your day off right, yep,

(01:23:50):
on a summer vacation, fucking pay per view coming up
and all of a sudden, Stone Cold or Undertaker.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
I used to watch and Kathy Lee during the summertime religiously,
just because I knew wrestlers might be on that pun
pun nonsound.

Speaker 5 (01:24:07):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
It's Live with Regis and Kathy Lee.

Speaker 1 (01:24:13):
It's such a great job, you know. I'm sure it
was incredibly stressful, but just like Regis shows up and
be there.

Speaker 2 (01:24:20):
It's like five in the morning. I know that's that's
the tough part, but like, no, I mean, listen, it's
gonna be done. It like jobs you've done at ten thirty, right,
the rest of the day ahead of you, and all
you have to do is show up and bullshit. Everybody's
like right, setting it up, and it's just what happened yesterday.
It's just chit chatting, you know, it's it's it's just
bullshit news absolutely, you know, not serious stuff. It's it's

(01:24:41):
like it's such it's such fluff, you know, like it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:24:45):
One question that's always stumped me is what's my dream job?
You know, always kind of stump by that. But what
I really think about it, it's kind of something like
that like drivetime Radio DJ that just not DJ, but
like you know somebody that you know is the signature
morning voice, not like Howards basically, but you just bullshit.
You can just talk about what people are talking about.
You don't have to put on a front. You don't

(01:25:07):
have to create a ton of ship.

Speaker 2 (01:25:09):
You can just.

Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
Just say what comes to your mind. And it's money,
you know, right right that sounds that seems to me
like bliss, you know, when you're done with your day
at like ten o'clock, like fuck, yeah, let's go.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
But yeah, regis just just the idea, you know, my
own I'm just the idea to fucking go to sleep
at like five killed.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
I would hate it immediately. I would hate it, of
course I would hate it immediately. But conceptually, yeah, no,
absolutely absolutely. Maybe that's why we're here exactly. There's Hogan
on Regis.

Speaker 13 (01:25:44):
Why come on?

Speaker 1 (01:25:47):
You know what I know there could be a possible
return to the ring.

Speaker 2 (01:25:50):
Hulks to give. Yeah, let me want a hulk wa want?
What do you mean we want to hold you?

Speaker 4 (01:26:02):
We're talking about well, you know something, brother. I was
in the airport.

Speaker 2 (01:26:06):
Oh my god, why here to see Regis?

Speaker 6 (01:26:08):
A little old lady came up to me and she goes, oh,
con do you make me feel eighteen years old?

Speaker 4 (01:26:13):
Are you know? The lady said, I quit watching wrestling
when you were on there. You were the greatest revery
one his greatest ever will be and it's not the
same without you. I've been thinking about coming.

Speaker 15 (01:26:22):
Back for all the right reasons, you know, for all
the right reasons, because I miss it so much.

Speaker 4 (01:26:28):
I love the sport and my son Nicholas.

Speaker 16 (01:26:30):
And my daughter Brooke.

Speaker 15 (01:26:31):
He keeps saying, Dad, when you didn't get in the
ring again. So I've been talking with a few different promotions,
and there's a possibility.

Speaker 2 (01:26:39):
Two different promotions.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
Like a tag team partner or of course I'll have
Jimmy Hart with me.

Speaker 2 (01:26:47):
He's a great manager.

Speaker 4 (01:26:48):
Jimmy the both of the South the best.

Speaker 15 (01:26:49):
So I'm getting Shaken TV series right now the priority,
and as sin as that's done, I'm gonna make an
announcement in the next couple of weeks. It's gonna knock
the whole wrestling world on his heel.

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
The hook I think is coming back. He's ready for
which he'll You're ready for it?

Speaker 16 (01:27:03):
I ready?

Speaker 4 (01:27:04):
Do you have to?

Speaker 17 (01:27:05):
Because I've seen you bigger.

Speaker 4 (01:27:06):
You have to make it bigger. You've seen wow.

Speaker 13 (01:27:11):
When he's just ready for a match.

Speaker 16 (01:27:13):
He yeah, you know.

Speaker 15 (01:27:14):
I've been doing movies and now the TV series and
to be a Navy seal, you know they want to be.

Speaker 4 (01:27:18):
I've been dieting for sixty right in the ring, over
three hundred.

Speaker 15 (01:27:24):
That was when I was a lot younger. Now, I
mean the last couple of years. I waited about two
eighty two eighty five. But I've been dining down and
it's so hard to keep the food out of my mouth.
Last night and went nuts in the hotel. The Empire Hotel.

Speaker 11 (01:27:34):
I ate the hotel of the room is big enough
there for.

Speaker 4 (01:27:37):
The the bathrooms.

Speaker 15 (01:27:38):
I ate two bags of famous amuses and a bag
of Eminem's olks.

Speaker 4 (01:27:44):
Shot you.

Speaker 18 (01:27:49):
For your heart, though, I know, but I love John.

Speaker 2 (01:27:53):
No, but it's like that's true.

Speaker 5 (01:27:55):
You love.

Speaker 16 (01:27:57):
Forty years old and I feel great.

Speaker 2 (01:28:01):
Forty years old. Oh don't even it's like it's it's mortifying.
It's just mortifying.

Speaker 19 (01:28:08):
I know that.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
Like I'm older than him now. I can't believe she
called him on not being buff of course, and did
you hear how hurt he was, and how like he
did not know what to say. He did not know
what to say. He did know what to say. He
was ready.

Speaker 1 (01:28:22):
He had the whole thing off, not paradise wanted me
to be lean.

Speaker 2 (01:28:27):
He had that to say. But the way he but
he but he but he stopped for a moment. He
stopped for a moment. He may have had that on
the you know, loaded in the chamber, but he stopped
for a moment. Sure, sure, he took a brief pause.
He had to like let that soak in. That's stung?
Was that that didn't that wasn't Kathy Lee? Who was

(01:28:47):
that was that his wife? I think so, Yeah, I
know she. I remember seeing her guest host one time.
I was so disappointed because I really wanted Kathy Lee's
opinion on whoever wrestler was.

Speaker 1 (01:28:58):
Yeah, she would take the wrestler days off after Rick
Rude basically tried to stick his cock in her mouth
on TV. So uh really, I mean not so much.
But he did the whole strip tease routine and was
like basically thrusting his hips around her, and she she
ran up the little staircase they had in the set,
you know, and she played it for laughs. But yeah,
it was pretty well understood that she was extremely uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (01:29:19):
Did not expect to be in the position of Rickord
doing that.

Speaker 4 (01:29:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:24):
Interesting And then interesting thing a lot of people don't
know is she did end up blowing him at the
hotel later that night.

Speaker 2 (01:29:30):
Brother.

Speaker 1 (01:29:31):
But so Jing goes back in May, Okay, this time
the Thunder and Paradise set, and this time he's got
a hotline scheme in mind in addition to getting more
out of the holster. Is this intrigue continues into the spring?

Speaker 4 (01:29:45):
Well is it a hot one today?

Speaker 5 (01:29:47):
My word?

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
It really just cut baby bread, all.

Speaker 5 (01:29:59):
Right, little tough with all these good looking like very
Haulk Hogan, Halk Cogan, Hankster. I've been reading about it
the newspapers. I've been seeing it in magazines. It's been
a long time since I've heard a buzz like this,
And I've got to ask you what Van's are asking me?

Speaker 4 (01:30:14):
Are you gonna meet Rick Flair?

Speaker 6 (01:30:16):
Who? Let me tell you something, mean, Jean, when you
talk about the buzz, brother, about the fans.

Speaker 4 (01:30:20):
Talking about is Hulk Hogan gonna meet Rick Flair? You're
putting it kind of mody, dude. You know, it's kind
of like a shot that was heard around the world.

Speaker 6 (01:30:28):
And as far as Thundering Paradise goes, Brother, thunder and
Paradise has wings of it on, it'll just about self, dude.
You know, Thundering Paradise in the bathing suits or the
thunder scare up.

Speaker 20 (01:30:40):
Brother.

Speaker 6 (01:30:41):
Everybody wants to know, Hawk Hogan, are you really still
the man, brother, Hank Hogan? Or are you gonna climb
in the ring with Ric Flair? Mean, Jean, do you
feel what I feel?

Speaker 4 (01:30:51):
Brother?

Speaker 6 (01:30:52):
The whole world wants to know, is Haulk Hogan man
enough to get in the ring and defeat eleven times
world w c W Champion, Rick, Oh yeah, twelve times
after you hit the ten mark, doesn't really matter. Well,
you know something, brother, the way I feel right now,
if Rick Flair was on this beach, I'd rub his

(01:31:12):
face right in the dirt and strip the w c
W title off his waist.

Speaker 4 (01:31:17):
But what I'm doing, me, Gene, is I'm not gonna.

Speaker 6 (01:31:19):
Put the cart from the horse, brother, I'm gonna put
my feelers out. I'm gonna put out the green lights
all the Hulk of Maniacs.

Speaker 4 (01:31:26):
Around the world.

Speaker 6 (01:31:27):
And if they want Hulk Hogan in the ring with
Rick Flair, they better better let me know.

Speaker 4 (01:31:32):
Brother.

Speaker 5 (01:31:33):
Well, they could do that very easily, as you know
the hunks.

Speaker 6 (01:31:35):
Yeah, they can do that very easily. In the way
it goes here, all these Hulk of Maniacs right here
at the Thunderbar, brother, at the skule. But they want
to see me get in the ring. So the word's
going out right now. If you want to go along
for the ride one more time, I'm the man to drive.

Speaker 4 (01:31:52):
Just let me know.

Speaker 6 (01:31:53):
And by the way, brother, what you're gonna do if PAULK.
Hogan and the largest arms in the world run wild
are you lady, you.

Speaker 4 (01:32:01):
Said, gentleman.

Speaker 5 (01:32:02):
One of the kind the immortal Hull Coking fans call
up to number five on a hot line right now.
Pass you if you want to see them. Vote gether
dot vote one.

Speaker 8 (01:32:16):
The last fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows

(01:32:50):
the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan. He's

(01:33:26):
an lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno and
JP Soorro.

Speaker 1 (01:33:31):
Imagine paying to tell WCW that you want to see
hul Cochin versus Rick Flair. Yes, some bizarre and it's
symbolic that he rips up the Thunder and Paradise script
during the course of that promo because he does leave
it behind. Yeah, it's starting to already hit the skids.
He talks about it in his book, and you mentioned
this when we covered it under the cinemat as well.

(01:33:52):
We probably talked about it even when we did the
Thunder and Paradise movie so many years ago that there
was some kind of thing where there was questions about
kind of some of how some of the deals were
being made related to the show and the expenses and things. Yeah,
they kind of cracked down on that and brought in
a producer from RoboCop who'd been worked on RoboCop. I

(01:34:15):
think RoboCop the TV series as opposed to the movie.
Yeah yeah, And so they sent the old the old crew,
Michael Burke and Greg Boonen, who I think were the
they watch people, back to LA and this guy's going
to run the show with a guy named Doug Schwartz.
This guy being Keith Samples and Doug Schwartz not going
to run the show. And they weren't going to make

(01:34:37):
any more deals until the RoboCop guy comes into I
guess the budget was out of whack. I don't know
what it was, but as Hogan writes in his book,
money still kept getting spent unquestionable stuff. Keith told me
the only way we could keep going with Thunder and
Paradise was if I took full responsibility. But by then
I had had enough. I was beat up, burned out,
and tired of Hollywood. All I wanted was to go home.
I said, the hell with it, pull the plug. I
don't care. So the show was canceled. There goes the

(01:35:00):
torn up contract. Just at the same time, Hogan was
ready for the next uh yeah, the next Frog hop.
You know, he knew exactly what was next. Hulk always
knows what's next.

Speaker 2 (01:35:09):
And he's already he listened. He's always playing on like eight, ten,
twelve moves ahead exactly right. And so we're dialed in.

Speaker 4 (01:35:17):
You know what you know?

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
You're figured in? Dude, Well you're figured in, dude. Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:35:22):
I just can't get enough of that phraseology. I don't
know why, because it's stupid. It's it's like because it's
so stupid, Like it makes no sense. It's not a
it's not a yes, right, I'm figured in?

Speaker 4 (01:35:35):
What are you?

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
When we were making the guest list? What is this
a wedding? Figure in? But Hulks made the decision.

Speaker 1 (01:35:44):
We've you know, explained how the entreaties went back and
forth between Flair and Eric and Hogan on the set
of Thunder Paradise on the telephone leading up to these
skits being shot while Hogan's on the road promoting Thunder
and Paradise. So the deal is done, the deal is made,
but the trial is still m it's a trial coming.
Hulk's testimony is landing on the week before Back to

(01:36:06):
the Beach ninety four.

Speaker 2 (01:36:07):
Okay, it is amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
That is insane, and fortunately for us here covering Bash
to the Beach ninety four. We have at our disposal
something some material we didn't have back when we did
the trial of his life in twenty nineteen, and that
is the Vincment Man Netflix multi part documentary series. Oh yeah,
they get some new bites out of people in and
round the steroid trial and what Hulk Hogan's involvement was

(01:36:30):
like in what it meant. So here's a sampling of
that as we kind of set the backdrop for Hogan's
arrival in World Championship Wrestling.

Speaker 15 (01:36:37):
Now, I'm ture. I left the WWF. The government wanted
me to be their star witness. I was told that
if I didn't say what they wanted to hear, the
target of the investigation would be directed to me and
I might be seventeen years. I was granted immunity and said,
well cool, I got it.

Speaker 5 (01:36:58):
One on one site, the main event in the prosecution's
conspiracy case against McMahon.

Speaker 15 (01:37:05):
It's time for me to go testify. I walked straight
across the courtroom and as I walked by, there was
a Vincry Man sitting there and we were at each
other's grows.

Speaker 20 (01:37:14):
At the time.

Speaker 15 (01:37:17):
The Feds just thought that this is the perfect opportunity
for me to throw dirt on vents and all of
a sudden.

Speaker 16 (01:37:22):
Run wild with the wrestling world when testified, and I
think they were shocked.

Speaker 4 (01:37:31):
No.

Speaker 15 (01:37:31):
One of the last times I talked to Events, and
it had been months and months and months since we talked,
on the last things I said to him, Brother, I said,
we go all the way up together, and we go
all the way down together.

Speaker 4 (01:37:40):
Don't forget that. Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
Wow, there's more than I realized there in that. I
never appreciated that Terry actually felt like he might be
charged and thrown in jail if he didn't kind of
walk the straight and narrow visa via the government. Yeah,
and what the prosecution was looking for from him. But
there's more detailing that to come. But yeah, the idea
that you know, Hulk was made to testify because they

(01:38:07):
had a and you can hear them bring it out
in the remember the testimony. You can hear them kind
of hint that we might very well be able to
establish here that you were distributing the steroids or having
steroids distributed to you, that you were, you know, paying
to have them, not not directly but through a third party,
and were you buying them directly?

Speaker 2 (01:38:26):
And hey, I just want to say right now, I
was never involved with steroids.

Speaker 6 (01:38:32):
I was.

Speaker 4 (01:38:34):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:38:35):
I'm not listening. I am involved with many third parties.
I was not third party steroids. It sounds like that's
a fourth party. But I have been to three parties
in one night. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:38:50):
The last time I was involved with a fourth party,
there was fireworks and hot dogs.

Speaker 2 (01:38:59):
But I still did it. In Mexico my home, I.

Speaker 1 (01:39:03):
Sinko to my old party. I'd have Senora Guitirez come
over and she made some mean Tamali's for me and
the family. And you know, she made homemade tortillas stone ground.
Do you understand how much better the tortilla tastes when
it's stone ground? Do you know anything about that?

Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
You know, cilantro tastes much better in Mexico.

Speaker 1 (01:39:29):
The cilantro we have up in Minnesota, it's hardly cilantro
by the time it gets up there. The level of
refrigeration that you need just to transport it alone. Take
care you much of the flavor?

Speaker 2 (01:39:42):
Hey have you ever eaten avocado in Mexico?

Speaker 6 (01:39:45):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (01:39:47):
Hey, have you ever sliced up an avocado? Straight?

Speaker 1 (01:39:51):
From the farm in Mexico. You know, that's where we
get a lot of our avocados from. Anyway, I figured
i'd just go to the source. And yes, I am
shaking my head left and right really quickly as I
do this, like a marblehead. He always shakes his head
like I'm putting you in your place. I'm making a point, right,
I'm making a point that you can't refude.

Speaker 2 (01:40:14):
Jesse, I dare you. I dare come back at me.
Come back at me and tell me exactly what I'm
saying is wrong. I will prove you wrong. You cannot
talk me back. I dare you go back. I dare you.

Speaker 4 (01:40:26):
I dare you.

Speaker 1 (01:40:29):
And not only was hul Cogan's trial testimony the week
before Bash at the Beach is growing back his private
grand jury testimony, which is where you know, you establish
you know the facts of the case to potentially bring
an indictment, which Vince of course was indicted in November
of ninety three. That took place on June tenth, nineteen
ninety three, so three days before King of the Ring,

(01:40:50):
three days before King of the Ring losing to Yokazuna
Hulkgin is in a courtroom somewhere testifying before grand jury
as part of the process that would lead to Vince
McMahon being indicted. Did that have something to do with
the call of the finish at King of the Ring
ninety three. I don't know when you don't fucking understand
you of the grand joy today, pal, you went to
the grand jury they told They told me I could

(01:41:12):
talk about it now, but of course the shoul understand brother,
I couldn't talk about it before, hid.

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
You know, dude? I was you know, I was.

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
I was summoned.

Speaker 4 (01:41:17):
Brother.

Speaker 2 (01:41:18):
I didn't volunteer to go. Well, you didn't have to go,
I was my understanding, Dude, I did, dude, Brother, they
had to go, Dude. They said If I didn't go, brother,
they rolled me up from behind. The federal government said
they're gonna roll you up from behind. That's what they said,
Terry brother. Well, they didn't say it like that, do

(01:41:41):
but they implied. What did they imply exactly? What did
they imply? Did they imply that you will get pinned
by the federal government? Is that what they said? Did
they threaten your torch? Terrence? What did they I says,

(01:42:01):
what did they imply helps pin down at this point,
pinned down in his seat. How about the grand jury
of McMahon. Right, how about this? How about me? Why
about I?

Speaker 21 (01:42:17):
You?

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
You suffer my inquisition?

Speaker 4 (01:42:23):
Like what do you do?

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
How about I?

Speaker 21 (01:42:25):
What?

Speaker 6 (01:42:26):
What?

Speaker 3 (01:42:26):
What?

Speaker 6 (01:42:26):
What?

Speaker 2 (01:42:27):
What did you take offense to? So far? What did
you say in there?

Speaker 6 (01:42:30):
What?

Speaker 4 (01:42:30):
What? I?

Speaker 2 (01:42:31):
What I take offense to is that you went in
see I expect a man like you, a man who
claims to have loyalty, to say, no, I won't go
in there. I'd rather go to jail, then go into
and and and and testifying from mc grand jury. You're

(01:42:53):
willing to go to jail for me? Pale? Well? What
ean by jail, dude? I mean prison? And fifty years
in a federal penitentiary that wallris, Yes, how about I
put you in fifty years in a federal penitentiary right now?

Speaker 4 (01:43:17):
Right now?

Speaker 2 (01:43:18):
I think he has he has a federal penitentiary downstairs,
you know that he can put him in going to
like there's this like convention hall. It's like but you know,
and it's got like inside they've got they've got like
a prison with with a with a fence around it,

(01:43:40):
with the fucking barbed wire on top, like he's got
its own titan Titan prison. How about a pal? Did
you tell him I distributed steroids? Pell Did you tell
them that I that I am a drug lord, that
I engaged conspiracy to defraud? Did you say? Did you
tell them that I am the the owner and the

(01:44:01):
greatest seller of steroids in the history of humankind? Terry?
What did you tell me?

Speaker 4 (01:44:09):
What you said?

Speaker 2 (01:44:09):
And they asked you to describe what we do here
in the world Rustling Federation? What did you tell them?
I said? I said, would you family entertainment?

Speaker 4 (01:44:16):
Brother?

Speaker 2 (01:44:20):
I see so family entertainment? And when they asked you,
is Vince McMahon the greatest drug dealer of all time?

Speaker 4 (01:44:30):
What did you say?

Speaker 1 (01:44:41):
It's no idea what to say, because he knows he
did kind of agree you're a drug dealer, but he
doesn't want to get tricked into admitting that by answering
yes to saying you are the greatest.

Speaker 2 (01:44:55):
I plead the fifth dude, I can't I plead the title?

Speaker 4 (01:45:00):
Brother?

Speaker 2 (01:45:03):
Take tell you what take my fifth title? Take a
five time champion?

Speaker 4 (01:45:08):
Dude?

Speaker 2 (01:45:11):
What did you tell him? I did, Terry? What did
you tell them, Terrence? Did you give them because I've
got plenty I can use against you. Did you testify
against me in the trial of my life? Early stages
of the trial of my life? Not to be melodramatic
about it or any there, I said it was Shane.

(01:45:35):
I said it was Shane, but Shane didn't. Well, I'm
okay with that. That's fine. He can take the fall.
He's got plenty of years ahead of him.

Speaker 4 (01:45:44):
Pell.

Speaker 2 (01:45:44):
But I don't believe you. I don't believe that's all
you said. What did you say about me?

Speaker 16 (01:45:56):
What I said?

Speaker 4 (01:45:58):
You know that?

Speaker 15 (01:46:02):
I I.

Speaker 2 (01:46:04):
Oh, brother, what I did? Dude? I said, I said,
you know vincefick Man. You know, dude, he's he's an
entrepreneur of entertaining qualities. Dude, that's not bad. Yeah, I'm

(01:46:37):
really losing it.

Speaker 1 (01:46:39):
He said, what you say about me not you never
gave me steroids or no. I said, you're an entrepreneur
of entertaining qualities. That's what I told them, Like they
need me to confirm that you're an entrepreneur. That's part
of why they're calling.

Speaker 2 (01:46:57):
Me, mister Blake. Can you uh can you please let
us know? Did did Vince McMahon ever distribute steroids to
you or anybody as far as you saw. Well, brother
phick Man is an entrepreneur fountaining qualities, dude, so I'll
think that a yes, Sean O'Shea. Uh so are those

(01:47:19):
entertaining qualities involving steroids? Is that kind of a Are
you saying he entertains quality steroids?

Speaker 5 (01:47:24):
Proper?

Speaker 10 (01:47:25):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:47:25):
Wait, did did we miss your honor? Do we miss
hear him?

Speaker 4 (01:47:27):
Or did he?

Speaker 1 (01:47:27):
Did he say entertaining quantities? I've said steroids?

Speaker 2 (01:47:37):
Did I say that? Brother? I don't know what. I
don't say anything. We'll see, brother, here's a problem. Great
with the fucking stenographer right there. Yeah, that's gonna fly.
Oh Cogan said that, brother, not not terrible a dude.

Speaker 1 (01:47:52):
Immediately play that card light speed, immediately ready to go
with that one.

Speaker 2 (01:47:58):
I'll go terribly. Said that you called whole cove just
showed up.

Speaker 22 (01:48:04):
Brother.

Speaker 4 (01:48:04):
I can't control that, non.

Speaker 1 (01:48:08):
Media, no one can control command. This thing is getting big.
It's beyond, brother, beyond what we have going on. This
thing is off the rails, dude, from from from the
far east to Venice Beach, from the midwest, from Venice
Beach to Disneyland, which is about one hundred miles.

Speaker 2 (01:48:27):
Brother, I can't control whole comania. I can't control Hulk Hogan,
Turrible A has got a mine of his own. It's all.

Speaker 1 (01:48:33):
I don't know where I am. Order of the Court,
miser am I in Tampa. No, you're in contempt, well
one of the my Tampa amidst all this chaos. You know,

(01:48:56):
he's trying to get centered.

Speaker 13 (01:48:58):
Condemn.

Speaker 2 (01:49:03):
Missler would say some shit like that, thinks the bitles
fucking Ruben. Mister Hugan, you're in contempts in a while,
your honor so dead?

Speaker 4 (01:49:23):
Oh my god?

Speaker 2 (01:49:24):
So what did he say?

Speaker 1 (01:49:25):
Sure, we went through the transcripts and there was this
little snippet between him and Laura Brevetti for mister McMahon,
your honor. And as we sit here today, you are
now under contract with the WCW, that's the rival wrestling organization. Yes,
and there has been publicity about you personally on television
signing a contract with Ted Turner. Yes, and it's Ted Turner,

(01:49:47):
the owner of the rival company. I don't know who
owns it, but Ted Turner was on television with you
signing a contract with your upcoming event with as the
transcript says, Rick Blair. Because nobody doesn't it doesn't sit,
doesn't matter, no shit. They could have them, they could

(01:50:07):
point it out and say this needs to be corrected.
It wouldn't be corrected, and no one would care another wrestler.

Speaker 2 (01:50:12):
Is that right? Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:50:14):
And that even on this Sunday, I can't believe this
came up in court, And even on this Sunday we
have the press here this Sunday, you will be performing
on a pay per view for WCW. Yes, Like, what
does this have to do with steroids? I don't the
fact that what is him being on a pay per
view for another company have anything to do with steroids.

(01:50:35):
I don't remember all the contexts. You can go back
to listen to the episodes, but I'm pretty sure she
was trying to establish that, like this, if Vince McMahon
was involved in such tawdry behavior with you, don't you
think that you wouldn't have a job in wrestling anymore
if it's as bad as they say. And I think
she's also trying to She's also trying to score points

(01:50:56):
with Vince by kind of spreading out the damage, you know,
so that hulks up there going to the competition. The
least we can do is smear them with this controversy
as well for the working press that's reporting on this trial.

Speaker 2 (01:51:08):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:51:10):
Yes, And that's just a personal decision that you were
going to take a new career path, Is that right?

Speaker 2 (01:51:15):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:51:16):
And it has nothing a new career path more like
the same career path, Laura. And it has nothing to
do with this trial or your feelings for mister McMahon.

Speaker 2 (01:51:26):
Is that right.

Speaker 1 (01:51:27):
That's right, you're still friends. Yes, thank you very much,
your honor. I have no further question why I object
to that. Goddamn it, I object that. Would the defendant
like to approach, Yeah, I'll approach. Come on forward, sir,
son of a bitch.

Speaker 18 (01:51:42):
We're not friends.

Speaker 4 (01:51:44):
I fired your ass.

Speaker 2 (01:51:46):
You're a piece of shit. You don't want to be
Babe Ruth Powell. You want to work. You don't want
to be Babe Ruth. You want to go to Turner. Yeah,
you want to, he said, instead of playing with the
New York Yankees, you want to play with the fucking braves.
Fucking idiot, that's what you want to do. Slams down
the the the thing they see the galley. Well, brother, dude,
I'm not trying to do Shut up. Darry right in

(01:52:07):
the courtroom, shure.

Speaker 1 (01:52:14):
I think, And if I'm not mistaken, if I've got
my chronology correct, This is about ten minutes after he
looks to the ceiling as the whole thing devolves into
a Da Do esque carnival, and he goes mine, Tampa.

Speaker 4 (01:52:33):
So you know what to so? So what he says?

Speaker 2 (01:52:37):
What he says? You are we friends?

Speaker 4 (01:52:39):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:52:40):
I picture Vince coming up like you did in the
two thousand and five rumble. All right, and instead of
throwing down his jacket, he throws down the neck brace.
We're friends. Huh really that's what he objects to, By

(01:53:01):
the way, Yeah, he fucking stands up to call us friends.
I reject the characterization your honor.

Speaker 4 (01:53:14):
Damn it.

Speaker 1 (01:53:14):
Terry right in the courtroom, slaps him across the face,
tells him the shop and this would appear to be
a normal relationship to the men and women of the
jury as they watched this display.

Speaker 2 (01:53:31):
Am I in Tampa. No, you're in contempt, sir, fucking contempt.
You got fucking warlord who hanging out in the back
off of everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:53:41):
So good well, you got lawyer climbing a ladder in
an empty room. Remember that awesome guy, that magician. I
think it was Nick that we found that gave us
that interview of gumming in the courtroom every day. Yes,
in the courthouse. God, Yes, such a beautiful thing. The
things we've done for the wrestling fans over ten years.

Speaker 4 (01:54:00):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:54:01):
And look as the trial, uh you know, is wrapping up,
and as Hulkokan's day of testimony is over, and he
makes his way to the parking garage outside the courthouse
in Uniondale, Long Island, the camera and fans are shouting
things down to him, and he shouts right back, a
very very poignant thing. For our purposes here as we
review Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety four, what does

(01:54:22):
he tell the assembled masses.

Speaker 23 (01:54:25):
The world's most popular wrestler ever returned to the ring
last night after a three year layoff.

Speaker 4 (01:54:31):
To no one's surprise.

Speaker 23 (01:54:33):
Holy Cold It's real name, Terry Jane Bollia defeated Rick
Clair to win a w c W championship. But the
real fight has been taking place in a courtroom in Uniondale,
Long Island.

Speaker 4 (01:54:45):
This battle could determine the future of professional wrestling. There
it is.

Speaker 2 (01:54:54):
Yep, that's it. Remember that gotta watch the paper Sunday brother.
But again three year hiatus. Oh my god, they fell
for that. One yea three year hiatus? What are you
talking about?

Speaker 16 (01:55:08):
Like, where the.

Speaker 1 (01:55:11):
That's why they would come up with That's why they
would come up with those lies, because they could get
it repeated in the mainstream press, in the media. They
would repeat it. Who gives a fuck if it's all fake?
Who cares if he actually wrestled two years ago or
not or one year ago exactly, And so it fits
their narrative purpose to say he hasn't wrestled in all
this time, and they'll just repeat it.

Speaker 2 (01:55:29):
It's unreal and so uh it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:55:32):
That wasn't the only extent of the negative publicity hul
Cogan was grappling with during the course of his negotiations
with WCW and the kind of things WCW had to
take under consideration as to whether it made sense to
engage with hul Cogan. There was also this story about
the the piss test. Do you remember this one where

(01:55:54):
basically they found that Howard Finkel took a piss test
for Hulkgan for a state.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
Athletics Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:56:01):
That came out in April of nineteen ninety four that
came out as the ww negotiations were taking place. It
would not surprise me if the Titan side decided if
Hogan's going there, maybe we ought to find ways to
tell our buddies in the press some of the less
flattering things that may have come out, not in the
courtroom itself, but in you know, documents that were exchanged

(01:56:24):
between the parties and our thus public record, because there
was like a letter that got circulated to the press
that outlined the circumstances around Howard Finkland. When we read
the transcripts from the trial, it was at sidebar, not
before the audience, that mcdebni talks about this element of
things and how he expected it to come up, and
that they would not dispute that it was in fact
Howard Finkle's signature on some of the things ascribed to

(01:56:45):
Hulk Hogan, which is just tremendous stuff. We'll get to
a little bit more of that in just a moment,
but eventually, you know, the observer reports there's a lot
of strategy involved in this, because if McMahon were to
believe that Hogan would refuse to come back to Titan,
which would be Hogan's option. He couldn't the offer blocked
WCW from using Hogan, and it wouldn't cost him a cent.

Speaker 2 (01:57:03):
Think about that. You could match the offer and just
not use Hulk. Yeah, you know, Yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:57:10):
True, and there was talk about whether that might make
some sense.

Speaker 2 (01:57:15):
He says. However, Hogan would return.

Speaker 1 (01:57:17):
Obviously, we are talking about a multi million dollar offer
to a company that is taking severe financial hits at
the present time. Not to mention the situation it would
create internally if Hogan were to return to the company
at this point WWF, that is to say, for a
short period of time. That would be a wacky if
after this testimony and after all this he.

Speaker 2 (01:57:31):
Comes back to WWF. Oh, that'd be amazing. That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:57:35):
But no, it wasn't to happen. There wasn't to be
a matching offer. May sixteenth, nineteen ninety four, and The
Observer Meltzer reports as for Hogan, it's pretty much a
done deal. Titan Sports informed WCW last week that they
wouldn't be matching Hogan's offer, although at this point nobody
expected anything different. Also wrote according to a source through WWF,
which should know because Vince McMahon has seen the contract
because he had the right to match it, although that

(01:57:57):
doesn't necessarily mean the info reaches by the time it
reaches here the observer. That is, it's going to one
hundred percent correct for obvious reasons, the real provisions for
Hogan's deal for the WS to be contract expires, it says.
Melts reported that the contract was to inspire December thirty
first of nineteen ninety four, so that Hogan's deal was
only a six month deal to start.

Speaker 16 (01:58:16):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:58:16):
Bischoff disputes that. Bischeff does dispute that, but Melts said
the deal was just for three clashes and three pay
per view shows three hundred thousand dollars per show. Bischoff
is subsequently said it was for four pay per views
a year, about five hundred thousand dollars per show, with
four TVs leading up to each match, so they could
build it up. And that is pretty much how the
contract that was made public for nineteen ninety eight. Eventually

(01:58:38):
it was structured. The hope was that they could break
even on two million a year, if that was the
outlay to Hulk and Ted would be happy if they
could do that, but they weren't expecting we're turn on
an investment necessarily just be able to make up the
cost that they were investing in Hulk Hogan and hope
that it would sprout and open new opportunities elsewhere. So
on a recent interview of the Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube channel,

(01:59:05):
Eric talks about Hogan's contract a bit more, and I
think it's good to have Eric's perspective so that you know,
he's talked about it, so it's not like we only
have to rely on the contemporaneous reporting as far as
what's in the deal.

Speaker 4 (01:59:20):
So here he is.

Speaker 3 (01:59:23):
Yeah, it's interesting because Hulk really got paid. He got
paid essentially a flat fee. Like his first contract, he
committed to four pay per views a year, and each
pay per view he would also do I think it
was four television appearances leading up to the because you
got to tell the story on television, you got to
spend a month promoting it, right, So each one of

(01:59:46):
those pay per views, four of them a year also
included I think it was four TV dates to promote it,
and he was paid a half a million dollars per
pay per view.

Speaker 4 (01:59:59):
Now, one of the other.

Speaker 3 (02:00:03):
Incentives that we built into the contract was we took
the average of WCW pay per views over the course
of two years. Right, So let's say over the course
of two years, each WCW pay per view generated, just
for round numbers, a million dollars in revenue. Hall Covid
got paid half a million dollars, and if the pay

(02:00:24):
per view did more than two million dollars, in other words,
there's a massive increase because of his participation. He also
received an additional bonus.

Speaker 16 (02:00:34):
It was an incentive program.

Speaker 3 (02:00:36):
And what's interesting is everybody likes to talk about how
much money I paid Hulk Covid, and he had seven
or eight million dollars for doing this or doing that.
What people don't realize is WCW's revenues escalated dramatically because.

Speaker 4 (02:00:50):
Of Hull Covid.

Speaker 18 (02:00:51):
He was underpaid at one point.

Speaker 3 (02:00:53):
Huh, he was underpaid at one point in ninety seven nineteen.
You could argue that because of hulks in luence and
the positive contributions he made as a character part of
the NW story. Obviously, you know the fact that we
paid him according to our success and bonused him according
to his success shouldn't be that bizarre or that complicated.

Speaker 4 (02:01:16):
Of a formula.

Speaker 8 (02:01:17):
It's a lap fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that

(02:01:51):
knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan.

(02:02:27):
He's an Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast with Jack n Seo
and JP Sorrow.

Speaker 1 (02:02:33):
So that's Bischoff's download on what the contract contained and
how it was drawn up. You know, that ninety eight
deal and the two thousand amendment and stuff. They he
The thing is, he gets these guaranteed million dollar pre
advanced payments almost on these pay per views, where it's
like he's gonna get like one, one and a half.
I don't know what the numbers were, ninety four, but

(02:02:54):
it's just gonna land in his pocket before any of
these pay per view receipts come in. Right, So, yeah,
if he may over and above a certain amount, but
it's not like he makes zero. If they do zero buys,
he's already way making more than the most bought w
CW pay per view of all time would command him.
And then after that because remember he held on to
We did this during the Greed Show most recently w

(02:03:16):
W Greed the last pay per view where they played
this game where they sent him a letter saying, you know,
we're exercising our right to make you appear at this show.
And he doesn't show up because, you know, he says
his contract requires him to be the featured performer with
a storyline basis to be there and not just to
say to show up on a given date, which they
were trying to do. But what that allowed is when

(02:03:37):
he denied that, they felt within their rights to claw
back from him that guaranteed pay out for the pay
per view because he didn't do it, he didn't hold
up that into the show, but the check still went
out and helped cash that motherfucker even though he never
did the show, because he reached your side. So that's
a nuance there that I think gets lost is that

(02:03:58):
he's you know, he's paid. He's already in the he's
already in the green or the red. No, he's already
in the black. Sorry, no, I went through every color there.
He's already black, regardless of how the shows did. And
and so it's a little disingenuous to say that he
his success was tied to the pay per view success.

(02:04:19):
I mean, a certain point, he's going to get a
piece of that pie. But it's kind of unlikely that
he would hit that ceiling beyond like a you know,
Star K ninety seven super match or something like that.

Speaker 2 (02:04:30):
Yeah, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:04:31):
We talked about how it changed the advertise, the conversation
on advertising within Turner around WCW, but it didn't change
the conversation necessarily around the receptivity of people out there
in marketing world to Hulk hogies.

Speaker 2 (02:04:47):
What Hulk hogies really?

Speaker 4 (02:04:54):
And I said, someday I got to meet Hulk Hogan because.

Speaker 3 (02:04:58):
I lived in Pittsburgh a while, and where I lived
in Pittsburgh, submarine sandwiches were called hogies.

Speaker 4 (02:05:04):
They weren't called submarine sandwiches. I said, Hulk hogies. And
I looked at the.

Speaker 3 (02:05:10):
Glory and I said, can you imagine there's always people
in the arena watching hawk. I said, can you imagine
you have half of those people decided they wanted a
Hulk kogi with their beer instead.

Speaker 2 (02:05:22):
Of a hot dog.

Speaker 3 (02:05:23):
Oh, you could be rich, idiot. That's where Hulk Hogi's
was born. Long about four years before I ever got
into the wrestling business, just because I was a wrestling fan.
And it wasn't until I don't know, nineteen ninety seven,
maybe possibly even nineteen ninety eight Hulk and I actually

(02:05:45):
went to a big sandwich prepackaged sandwich manufacturing company based
only soda to try to sell them the trademark or
the idea of a Hulk Hogy sandwich. So never give up. No,
we didn't sell it. Ultimately didn't happened. But yeah, that's
where that's that's where that idea started from.

Speaker 1 (02:06:06):
I mean, that's just I mean, I don't even know
where to fucking start with that ship. Oh it's the
problem he's trying to make a buck. I mean it's
a good idea totally. I mean what I mean, what's
next Postamania? Oh way, exactly right there in Eric's backyard
of Minnesota and r.

Speaker 2 (02:06:24):
HOGI I can't. Well, hey, in Tna.

Speaker 1 (02:06:29):
You know he in that era he was coming out
with like the the microwaveable Hamburgers, remember that with his
face on him.

Speaker 2 (02:06:37):
Yes, I do. Hul Cogis isn't too far a departure
from that. There is a there is a hull Kogi's
in Pennsylvania, is there? Yeah? In Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. I
mean it looks hull hogis mean, I mean they have

(02:06:57):
they He's the fucking font too. That's that's bizarre yah
brew We're gonna get them shut down. I know totally
we are. Sorry guys, welcome brother, What I wonder I mean,
that's what it says. It says, Welcome to the Hulk.
Hogis is our sister company providing premium deli offerings for
our tap room as tap room as well as to

(02:07:21):
go prem deli offeringss that's one sandwiches, Premium, Premium sliced
cold cuts, premium live sliced cold cuts. We carry the
nostalgic nineties theme what into into our sandwich shop through

(02:07:42):
classic wrestling icons of the decade. We'll be going Yep,
every great HOGI starts with a Primo roll up. I
got on a roll up? Brother, Well, uh Primo, wasn't
he a tag team champion? Cologne? Is he? We get

(02:08:04):
fresh baked rolls and in daily from Philadelphia's finest bakery, Liscios.
All right, now, we got to see.

Speaker 4 (02:08:12):
What the menu.

Speaker 2 (02:08:18):
They got the Italian supper they got, I mean for
they got they got head cheese. So we're going back
to fucking talk about w W what is that? That's?

Speaker 6 (02:08:29):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (02:08:29):
Who was that? That was a snow and Al Snow
and Steve Blackman right, so that they have. They have
a welterweight and a heavyweight, sandwich, provolone, cheese, Cooper, sharp cheese,
el lettuce, tomato, well l t o lettuce, tomato, onion, onion,
thank you, olive oil, red wine, vinegar, oregano, black pepper,

(02:08:51):
sea salt, and mayo. Then we have hogi mania, tavern ham, Cooper,
sharp cheese, l t o, olive oil, red wine, vinegar, oregano,
black pepper and sea salt. There's a real American tailor

(02:09:12):
ham tailor, egg and cheese. I don't I don't know
what a tavern ham is. I don't know what that is.
Uh real American is braised turkey with the same stuff
and mayo, sweet chin music. Here we go. This is it.
Sweet chin music, is genoa salami, hot supercept, Italian dry salami,

(02:09:37):
some a gabba gul provolone and uh letus tomato, onion,
sea salt, black black pepper, oregano, olive oil, red redbine,
vinegar and hot pepper relish. Then we have the macho
man gabba goo, genoa, salami, provolone, cheese and the rest
of the stuff. Then the people his elbow tavernham braised turkey, bacon,

(02:10:04):
provolone cheese, and all the rest, the rock Bottom tavernham
roast beef, braised turkey, bacon, provolone cheese and the rest,
and the Tombstone pile driver choicegus roast beef, provolone cheese,
and all over the side of horseradish too. Can imagine

(02:10:25):
picking like, that's what you're gonna Shouldn't that be a pizza?

Speaker 1 (02:10:33):
Hulk hogies? Hulk hogies because it's not all about food,
It's not at all. One of the things Hulk says
in his book is, all of a sudden, I have
these Turner people all over me asking me to get
involved with w CW. So I said, if I was
going or talk about this, I wanted to do it

(02:10:53):
with Ted Turner. So I went up and met with
Ted and a guy named Bill Shaw, who's president w
CW and Ted's right hand man. I came out of
that meaning feeling good about what I was getting into.
I decided WW be a good move for me. What
do you say, Eric, was Hulk basically cutting the deal
with Ted Turner and Bill Shaw.

Speaker 3 (02:11:08):
Not you, sorry, brother, but that's not true. Okay, that's
just not true. I don't know why Hulk would have
said that, because it's just not true. Bill Shaw was
very much involved, certainly, but the conversations, the initial the

(02:11:31):
follow up, the conversations where we had to work out
issues that were challenging within the agreement, all initiated between
myself and Henry Holmes was representing Terriet or Hull Coogan
at the time, and Bill would get involved, but not
directly with Henry Holmes, and certainly Ted was not negotiating

(02:11:55):
talent contracts with anybody, including all COVID's.

Speaker 2 (02:11:57):
I don't know where that came from.

Speaker 3 (02:11:59):
I don't know Hulks said that or the guy that
wrote his books said that to make it sound more interesting.
It kind of happens a lot with wrestling books. Go'd
be a little aware of that.

Speaker 4 (02:12:09):
It's not true.

Speaker 3 (02:12:11):
I just love this, Sorry, brother, but that's not true.

Speaker 2 (02:12:16):
Oh. I know, that's fucking great and that's true. Got
E've been around Hulk Hogan way too long.

Speaker 5 (02:12:22):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (02:12:23):
If that's your that's your response.

Speaker 1 (02:12:26):
Further to the point, on the finer points of the contract,
one of the things Meltzer notes is that you know
before Hogan came in that the pay per views that
they were doing. As he notes, the possible exception of
battle Ball has been a money maker. Okay, when you
actually figure the cost, now you can say, how does

(02:12:47):
Meltzer know what cost go into the show?

Speaker 2 (02:12:48):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (02:12:49):
But there's this general understanding in the office that if
a pay per view does this many buys were in
the green. I can't stop sucking that up. We're in
the black. So so Hogan comes in and all of
a sudden, it's like, wait a minute, if we're paying
him all this money, no matter what the show does, like,
we have to do a whole hell of a lot
more to actually, yeah, make money after we've paid Hulk.

(02:13:12):
That's why Bischoff caught himself making that smart ass comment
that we played earlier where one of the key takeaways
for him on how great the Bash of the Beach
nineteen ninety four by rate was was that we made
enough money that we can pay Hulk for three more
pay per views out of these proceeds and not have
to sweat I'm putting words in his mouth, but not
have to sweat making all that up on that individual show.

(02:13:33):
You know, that show doesn't have to be all that
great because we've already made money to cover Hulk, and
then it's all gravy for us beyond just that one
patch of the beach. But that's something that's important to
remember and his Meltzer was thinking about it at the time,
throwing in the guaranteed percentage to earn the same amount
of money on pay per view shows. The WW was
before Hogan came in. The three pay per view shows
Hogan does, we'll have to average a point eight to

(02:13:54):
seven by rate, and of course it does way better
than that. I think it does a We'll have the
exact number in a second. I think it's one point
zero one point one, which nobody in the industry I've
talked with believes to be a possibility. So that's kind
of the thing is Hogan's coming in and has a
deal structure such that no one can really see these
people talking to Meltzer can't see how they're going to
make money on pay per view if this much goes

(02:14:14):
to Helkogan automatically at a time when the pay per
views were They're doing okay, But there is a lot
has come out. SAMs Guy Evans has a new terrific
book Beyond Nitro, which is just a lot of kind
of odds and ends that weren't in his first Nitro book.
But it's a huge volume with all kinds of cool
stuff in it. And one of the things that talks
about our records he got his hands on that showed

(02:14:36):
the level of like up ports of I think it
was like eighteen to twenty million dollars worth of transfers
in and out of ww's budget in nineteen ninety four,
where it's like Turner Home Entertainment is taking money out
of WCW's budget to make up for what they had
to spend to presumably, you know, put cameramen out there.
Like when you watch these pay per views, you see
the cameramen have Turner shirts on, you know, and the

(02:14:58):
truck belongs to Turner, right, the truck doesn't belong to WW.
It's not their equipment. They don't pay they didn't pay
for it, they don't carry it on their books. But
when Turner uses it to produce a WCP show, they
pull the money for it out of ww's budget. And
so there's a lot of that going back and forth
and a lot being sucked out. So you know, WP's
making whatever money it's making and a lot of it's

(02:15:20):
going out the door, not to pay if somebody outside
of Turner, but to pay someone inside Turner right across
the hallway. So that makes it super difficult to say
in any particular way that we'd made or didn't make money,
because it's like, well, if Turner, if Turner paid us
for our programming, like every other television show gets paid

(02:15:40):
for their programming, we would be profitable. But because they
own us, they don't pay us a license fee for
the right, and they did way later, way too late. Actually,
they don't pay us what everybody else would pay us
for these kind of numbers. If we were getting paid
this kind of numbers, we would show a profit, you know.
But it's like, well, you didn't. And then, of course,
towards the end, it becomes such a a prerogative to

(02:16:02):
get w CW out that even the company officials aren't
afraid to confirm these money lost numbers. Even Brad Siegel,
under oath and deposition in the Vince Russo lawsuit, as
we talked about, enumerted w CW's losses, and in nineteen
ninety nine and two thousand, So we go to another

(02:16:22):
little glimpse that Hulk himself had given into what the
structure of his initial WCW deal look like. And this
one comes where else but on the airwaves of Hub.

Speaker 2 (02:16:31):
Of the wah.

Speaker 17 (02:16:33):
Oh, what's the biggest one time paid I you ever
got from Turner Is?

Speaker 16 (02:16:38):
How to guarantee?

Speaker 3 (02:16:39):
There?

Speaker 4 (02:16:39):
I was, I was guaranteed.

Speaker 2 (02:16:40):
You heard that right.

Speaker 24 (02:16:43):
Here?

Speaker 2 (02:16:43):
No, it was all muffled. I would like to invite
you to his earner.

Speaker 17 (02:16:48):
What's the biggest one time paid I ever got from
Turner is?

Speaker 16 (02:16:53):
I'd guarantee there.

Speaker 15 (02:16:55):
I was guaranteed minimum seven rand of pay per view and.

Speaker 17 (02:16:59):
You did twelve a year?

Speaker 4 (02:17:01):
No I, But.

Speaker 2 (02:17:04):
The end the clip there, I didn't mean too.

Speaker 17 (02:17:07):
What's the biggest one time paid I you ever got
from Turner?

Speaker 16 (02:17:12):
I didn't guarantee either.

Speaker 4 (02:17:13):
I was.

Speaker 15 (02:17:13):
I was guaranteed eleven on seven hundred grand of pay
per view and you.

Speaker 17 (02:17:17):
Did twelve a year?

Speaker 1 (02:17:19):
No I, but yeah, I accidentally cut it short. But
he didn't say much more beyond that. You know he
did less than twelve, but seven hundred a years the
exact number I think that he had. Yeah, the exact
number that Meltz had in the Observer. So stay mad
about him being read about that, but we go to
that aforementioned bit of negative publicity that HO can dealt

(02:17:40):
with around pissed tests. Okay, this is just the fact
that this came out during the course of him trying
to negotiate with the Turner organization is just it's too
much for me to handle because you think you think
you've baked in all the bad news by now, you
know Vince is literally on trial. What more can come out?
And then this drops? If you can share this, We've
read it before, but I feel like it belongs here
to New York Deli News. We're going back to April

(02:18:05):
twenty second, nineteen ninety four. So right around the time
these interviews of Gene Oakerland on the set of Thunder
and Paradise interviewing Hulkgen are making air on TBS, this
hits the papers.

Speaker 2 (02:18:14):
Okay, there we go. Beleaguered pro wrestling and promoter Vince
McMahon ordered an employee to take an HIV blood test
for former champion Hulk Cogan. According to court documents obtained
by the News Pal, McMahon is under federal indictment for

(02:18:38):
illegal steroid distribution, allegedly had Titan Sports employee Howard Finkel
stand in when Hogan was required in February nineteen ninety
February two ays near February to submit the HIV test
to an unidentified licensing authority. No motive for submitting the

(02:18:58):
false blood sample uh available from court papers, nor is
there any suggestion that Hogan is HIV positive. Prosecutors plan
to offer evidence of the alleged switch and McMahon's steroid
trials at to begin July fifth and Uniondale, Long Island.
McMahon and Titan Sports are charged with five counts distributing steroids. Hogan,

(02:19:21):
who allegedly received the drugs, is believed to be the
government star witness against McMahon. Hogan's attorney, Henry Holmes, denied
the test tampering charge, saying, quote, Hulk doesn't know anything
about anyone taking a blood test for him, right, Okay,

(02:19:41):
Well that that satisfies my curiosity. How about you there,
we listen. If Hulk says no, then it's no. So
that's that's the way it is. There's nothing to be
known as far as I'm concerned, and that's good to hear.
But yeah, just.

Speaker 1 (02:19:58):
And then of course that start rumors that Hulk has aids.
Of course, that was a that was a fun one
for a little while. Just what a fucking mess this
guy found himself in. Yes, this guy, Yes, yeah, we
say it all comes crashing down, and we'd use that
as the T and H joke. It came crashing down
three times, four times for this guy. Yes, it just

(02:20:18):
it's just he builds himself back up and then someone
just pulls the djenga and the whole thing collapses again,
and we're back to building a new mansion somewhere that's
gonna put us underwater.

Speaker 2 (02:20:29):
It's such a fucking nightmare. It's an American story.

Speaker 6 (02:20:32):
It is.

Speaker 2 (02:20:33):
Oh, absolutely, you know what he is? What he's a
real American?

Speaker 4 (02:20:37):
You know what he is.

Speaker 2 (02:20:39):
He's American maid.

Speaker 10 (02:20:40):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (02:20:41):
Can we admit, if we're gonna be back to the
beach ninety four, finally admit that the whole Coogan WCW
theme is actually pretty good? Oh yeah, I mean I've
had trouble coming to terms with that, but I find
myself humming it to myself way too often to act
like it was it was objectly bad, like I thought
it was the first several times I heard it.

Speaker 2 (02:21:02):
No, yeah, I mean it took a while for me
to accept it, because I you know, you want real
American you need that. But it's it's totally fine. It's
it's a it's a it's not bad at all. It's
it's it's pretty darn good. I enjoy it. I mean
it's you know, he's a man.

Speaker 13 (02:21:27):
Mad when you get to run him through his vein. Fine,
he was bull, That's what it's such an.

Speaker 1 (02:21:57):
He's American maid, Oh Meg, he's American.

Speaker 13 (02:22:01):
May is miracanmercan pay?

Speaker 1 (02:22:07):
See I'm telling you, I'm humming. It's so I mean,
I'm going through this and I'm realizing. You know, this
is another example of my book of making up lyrics. Yes,
if you mess with the freedom, you're gonna have to

(02:22:28):
run pay.

Speaker 2 (02:22:29):
What does that mean? If you mess with the freedom,
gonna have to run pay?

Speaker 1 (02:22:34):
Why they're running there? I mean it doesn't barely make
sense anyway, But why run pay?

Speaker 2 (02:22:42):
Running patrons? Running payroll? HR motivation song? Is that what
this is?

Speaker 1 (02:22:48):
Oh my god, I'm glad we made some time for
that because that's been on my mind and I'm glad
to hear that you agree. Well, you know, one of
the things we have to it's ay it's doozy. The
things we have to do in a journey like this
is sample the mainstream press.

Speaker 4 (02:23:03):
You know.

Speaker 1 (02:23:03):
Oh, of course you make an art of it under
the cinemat. We make an art of it here on
the main show. It's just you can't just take what
the wrestling business and the newsletters are saying and paint
anywhere near a full picture. What you need when something
rises to the level of mainstream attention like Hulkogan debut
and ww IS, you need to read what the people
were reading. You need to read what your dad was reading?

(02:23:24):
Is what he the articlely just read before he felt
the deep sense of disappointment when you asked him to
order Bash at the Beach nineteen thirty four.

Speaker 2 (02:23:32):
Now what is he reading? What is he reading when
he's taking a shit? Okay, that's the question.

Speaker 1 (02:23:37):
So we began our tour of the archives with this
June seventh, nineteen ninety four article from the aforementioned USA Today.
If you could take it away, boss, oh there it is.

Speaker 2 (02:23:48):
There we go. Ah Wrestling's Incredible Hulk returns again. I
think I'll retired about five or six times. Last Hulk
Hogan announcing that he aims to be back on the
mats in July. If you'd have to call something a comeback,

(02:24:12):
this would be it. Hogan Forty will wrestle through Ted
Turner's World Championship Wrestling and wants an immediate shot at
current champ Rick Flair. He's ready, he says, even though
he hasn't wrestled regularly for three years. It is into
USA today. They did say regularly at least, yeah, but

(02:24:35):
he but listen, he did wrestle regularly with Rick Flair.
I mean, I mean not only was he right, it
is the same opponent right up until nineteen ninety two,
and then at the same time from like what's how
do they define regularly because from WrestleMania nine until August

(02:24:56):
of that year he's also wrestling regularly, just not always
on American television. Like what the fuck the three I
just don't understand the three year thing. Like again, I
could actually even I could even have them eliminate the
idea of ninety three. But why are you going back again?

(02:25:17):
You said it's because of the steroid thing, but like
it's just a weird thing to try to make people believe,
because like it's not hard to figure out that that's
not true. I can't believe that they got it into
USA today.

Speaker 4 (02:25:29):
I know, I know.

Speaker 2 (02:25:31):
At two hundred and sixty five pounds, he's confident. Just
don't call him old timer. Well, let's just say. Let's
just say I'm one of the more mature guys in
the business. He's also ready to face naysayers who will
claim his return is prompted by a dismal movie career.
Remember nineteen ninety one, Suburban Commando, Mister Nanny nineteen ninety three.

(02:25:52):
I don't either. Yes, Yes, Investors and what he calls
his B list movies have been more happy with their returns.
He says, Oh, well, they're making money that ship. He
may not be creaking out one hundred million dollars plus
Terminator film, but he's more than content with seven to
eight million dollars plus. He stars in a syndicated TV series,

(02:26:16):
Thunder and Paradise. As far as people saying I couldn't
make it, apparently they haven't seen the whole picture. A
lot of people will be saying a lot of things,
and they'll be watching my smoke because I'll be a
ball fire and running the ring. Fucking piece of that

(02:26:42):
just is great. Listen, I just appreciate his honesty and
it's you know, clarity, it's just intrepid in these trying times.
He's trying times, just intrepid USA Today journalism. You know,
you know, I think one thing we lose sight of
when we talk about Hulk in this time period is
where the kids are at. You know, how the kids

(02:27:03):
are feeling. What are the children's disposition towards Hulk after
all of this infamy? And we turned to the Chicago
Sun Times for a beat on that. This article was
published on May twenty second, nineteen ninety four, headline Boss
children help give strength to Hulk Hogan. Can you oh
my god? This is each week people plus I like this.

(02:27:31):
Each week Jeffreys Aslow talked to a celebrity about life's lessons.
So let's talk to hul Cogan. When when wrestle Mania
legend Terry Hulk Hogan was in the ring, he had
all the confidence of a champion. His opponents would be
lunging at him, the crowd would be roaring for him,

(02:27:52):
and he'd be grinning happily. He was in control. They
called him the Babe Ruth of wrestling. Yes, now, Hogan
has retired from the ring. He's an actor these days,
shooting his own syndicated TV series, Thunder in Paradise at
Disney MGM Studios in Florida. Though he has appeared in
several movies since his debut in nineteen eighty two's Rocky three,

(02:28:14):
acting is still is still a great adjustment for him.
He is not yet the Babe Ruth of Hollywood. I'm
too nervous, he says, I'm sucking guessing myself. You're too nervous.
I don't believe it.

Speaker 4 (02:28:27):
But what.

Speaker 2 (02:28:30):
I'll just say that what you've seen it, I'm saying,
you have no reason why be nervous, Terry Brother. Well,
see the fact you're saying I have no reason to
be nervous makes me even more nervous. Dude, Like, where
are you coming from?

Speaker 4 (02:28:46):
Right?

Speaker 2 (02:28:47):
Where you been? What are you doing?

Speaker 4 (02:28:50):
Why?

Speaker 2 (02:28:50):
These are getting challenging now, these questions where have I been? Well?
Where am I going?

Speaker 1 (02:28:56):
That's going to take a half hour at least Answerfe.

Speaker 2 (02:29:00):
And his kids, ages three and five, live on Florida's
West coast and and think what he does is real.
Thank you for that. I thought that was necessary. His
wife and two kids, ages three and five, live on
Florida's West coast, and do not know that he is
a fictitional act athlete, fictitious fictitious athlete, and do not

(02:29:25):
know that wrestling is predetermined, do not know that he
doesn't have a real job, and do not know that
they pull their punches, and who don't know that they
communicate in the ring to determine what happens next, and
do not know that the winner is decided ahead of
time by the promoters, not by the wrestlers. Who don't

(02:29:53):
He thought that should be in the article about the kids.
Who don't know that when Hulk Hogan does a suplex,
opponent is doing most of the work.

Speaker 4 (02:30:04):
That was in there.

Speaker 2 (02:30:07):
It's like a hyper specific example exactly. And Hogan gets
through many of his toughest days by counting down the
hours until he he'll see them on the TV show. Yes,
I love the love that he hated doing it Tuesday night.
Oh my god, I was freaking out, he says. At
the end of one day on the set, I'd drive
all the way home to see my wife just to

(02:30:29):
smell my kid's hair. What just will lay there and
hold them? Why did you say that? What did the
smell her hair for like, that just sounds creepy. That
never comes. I'm not saying that that that's like a
bad thing, but what I'm saying, but when you're a
Hull Hogan, that just sounds weird. Like imagine Hulkogan sniffing

(02:30:51):
any child's hair. You know the picture of Joan Severan's
getting her hair smelled.

Speaker 1 (02:30:56):
Exactly bare ass, you know, exactly with him fucking and
it turns out to be the heels of his foot.
But right, Yeah, it's funny. I feel like I saw
Hogan's ass in that movie because I know, I know.

Speaker 2 (02:31:08):
It's it's so true, like you really think you did Yep,
like all of us, the six foot six, two hundred
and ninety pounds muscle man has his vulnerabilities and he
has found a way to overcome them. Put simply, he
hugs his kids.

Speaker 4 (02:31:24):
Roller.

Speaker 2 (02:31:25):
That's how over here's vulnerabilities. Yeah, I guess he hears
about their day. He's energized by his love for them
and their love for him. We wonder how he would
be feeling about these situations in twenty twenty five. Would
that still be? Would they still have love for him?
Is the question. He is convinced that This love in

(02:31:46):
his family helps him quote run right over his fears.
If there's someone in your life when you love whom
you love, love them more. He says. It's like spending
more time in the weight room more. It's like spending
more time in the weight room more. Love makes you stronger.
When Hogan first got into wrestling, into pro wrestling in

(02:32:09):
nineteen seventy nine, here in one hundred and twenty five
dollars a week and played a bad guy. But in
nineteen eighty three promoters let him win his first fight.
Is that when he won his first fighters to let
him win his first fight, I guess and recast him

(02:32:31):
as a good guy with all. With his new all
American persona and grand theatrics, he changed the face of wrestling.
He also turned it into a family sport. He admitted
that much of wrestling is staged, and he had a
sense of humor about it. He also focused on children.
Nothing could send kids to the refrigerator faster than Hulk

(02:32:52):
Hogan growling at them to drink their milk. He'd pray
before getting into the ring. He'd read himself elf his
his four demandments. I want to tell you all my
demandments who's gonna read them to myself for a little bit.
Brother takes out his fucking glasses and it's like has
a fucking piece of paper. Train, say your prayers and

(02:33:15):
believe in yourself. It was a lot of time. Train,
So your prayers, eat your viotamins, believe in yourself. He
had recite mottos, you'll stay alert, don't get hurt. I
don't remember that one. Stay alert sounds on brand. And

(02:33:36):
what you're gonna do mean geen unless you stay alert
and don't get hurt. Brother, was there you listed some demandments?
Was there a fifth amendment?

Speaker 4 (02:33:45):
There?

Speaker 2 (02:33:46):
There is a fifth demandment, but he doesn't list it. Manman,
of course is you'll believe in Hulk Hogan, your brother,
I'm out a fifth dimandment. That's right, brother, there's five
of them now, he says, this man's right, dud, they're
five of them now. Train, say your prayers, eat your votamins,

(02:34:06):
believe in yourself, and believe in Hulk Hogan. What what
is he talking about? What a psychopath.

Speaker 4 (02:34:17):
Like you?

Speaker 2 (02:34:19):
Fucking what is that ship? Fucking Believe in Hulk Hogan
means believe in a Yeah, forget what I said in
right exactly, exactly a fraud. He said. What he's saying,
believe in, believe in, you know, believing someone that doesn't
fraudulens exactly by getting involved with children in need Mel Phillips,

(02:34:45):
It's like Jesus Christ. What immediately went in my brain?
Hogan says he's developed a new outlook. You know, they
helped me turn negatives into positives. He says, I do
so much work with special kids. Well, I think I've
got a problem. I will, I will out of fate. Okay,
run into a kid who's dying. What's wrong with me? Oh, ship, dude,

(02:35:09):
I'm sorry. I know you're dying again. Tackle, let's just
one again, brother, get it again to dude, Jesus Christ,
what's wrong with me? I don't have any problems? Well,
keep telling yourself that.

Speaker 4 (02:35:26):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (02:35:28):
Kids are off and welcomed the under the set of
his TV show. That's why I fucking took so long.
In a long hours keeps in fighting kids on the
damn show. They love it and their hero is inspired
by them. Everybody benefits. Can the rest of us get
stronger by hugging the children in our lives? Absolutely, says Hogan.
They can give you a reason to keep going. More

(02:35:48):
advice from Hogan. A tip would be a tip for
would be pro wrestlers. I should be in a wheelchair
now does doing the main event every night having out
do you previous matches? I'm lucky. Yeah, when did that happen?
Only in Japan? Did he outdo previous matches? I'm lucky
I get through that era. I did it by outsmarting

(02:36:10):
the system with a little bit more entertaining than wrestling.
Call yourself a good guy and you can become one.
I was just a wrestler traveling by myself through airports
that I made the character of Hulk Hogan, and all
of a sudden I was a role model. Holy smokes.
I had to I had to mature, become a responsible adult.

(02:36:31):
I mean no, he did Hulk Hogan before. You were
babyface and stuff and none of your role model. You
were a bad guy. You didn't mature. Ye, that's true.

Speaker 1 (02:36:42):
It didn't become a responsible adult. So as I can
tell you no, no, no, not if you're fucking losing money.
Then at the Sue Goker think about this is it
sort comes out before he's testified in Vince's trial. After
the article came out about someone else taking an HIV
test for him, and then this Puffy comes out. So
this gives you an idea of kind of the battle

(02:37:02):
for the hearts and minds that's going on, and really
the American mainstream press, because say what you will, our
hole Cogan he had unique access relative to other pro
wrestlers to that forum. They would write about him, they
would quote him, he could get in the papers, and
he also had to deal with the downside of that,
which was that Phil Mushnick over the New York Post,
Oh Boy wants nothing more than to see Vince McMahon

(02:37:24):
go to prison, and his writing columns and one of
the most widely read newspapers in the world about this
and about all the peripheral effects and characters involved in
This article comes out after Hulk is debuted for WCW
AT bashed at the Beach and as Vince McMahon is

(02:37:44):
awaiting his fate, or perhaps he'd already learned his fate
in the trial. This runs July twenty fifth, nineteen ninety four,
in the New York Post headline Turner's goodwill shame MMM.
There's a picture of Ted Turner and underneath it it
says Ted Turner selling garbage to kids. If there's one

(02:38:05):
thing we can all get behind, it's goodwill toward humankind. Right,
Ted Turner has the spirit sort of. He is a
peculiar brand of goodwill, the kind found in a three
card monte game. This week, what a great columns this week.
Turner's in the business of foster and international goodwill through

(02:38:27):
sports competition, as his third made for TV goodwill games
kicked off over the weekend. That's nice because last week
Turner was in the business of doing unconscionable dirt to
American children. Turner's a Grade A phony on one hand,
with these goodwill games in Saint Petersburg, Russia serving as

(02:38:48):
his vehicle, He's puffing himself up as a purveyor of
international understanding and harmony, a real nobleman, but as good
hearted deeds real or imagined, as men infested do. The
Goodwill games are what they call in pro wrestling, a work.
It's a put on. If Turner's a goodwill salesman, he

(02:39:09):
wouldn't be pumping millions of dollars into World Championship Wrestling.
The Twisted Ongoing kiddie show he owns and he wouldn't
have signed Hult Cogan too a two million dollar contract
to become the WCW's main attraction.

Speaker 2 (02:39:24):
For the next six months. This is the kind of
press they get reciting all the Cogan I mean, it's unbelievable. God,
he's such a he's going, he's such a little bit.

Speaker 1 (02:39:35):
Yeah, you know, like I I just don't remember I
turned the dark sid episode. Do you mean you're not
an entertainment lawyer? No, no, he says, He says, his
brother's you mean not a sixteen minutes producer.

Speaker 2 (02:39:51):
That's what it was. I fucked that one up. I
just don't understand. Like his his his vendetta.

Speaker 1 (02:39:59):
Yeah, I mean he thought that Vince was fucking kids
heads up and you should go to jail for him.

Speaker 2 (02:40:04):
So that's a point.

Speaker 1 (02:40:05):
It's by pumping wrestlers up with things that are illegal
to have and making them want to look like that.

Speaker 2 (02:40:11):
Thus, but but I guess, but but but again, but okay, fine,
you know what, I I understand, I can I can
totally understand. I don't know, ass I know if if
you know, uh, but what about other form of entertainment
that do the same thing. Well, you know, he doesn't
have to go after everybody. He can just pick one.

Speaker 1 (02:40:32):
Yeah, yes, you know, yes, that's that's always That's always
a big fallacy to me, this idea that like what
about that guy? It's like, yeah, well I'm focused on
this one. You have to focus on both. But if
I just want to focus on this one, does that
make it less worthy just because I don't But I
don't like wrestling, so I want that one to fare,
That's right. I like football. The Ultimate Labs editor, Yeah,

(02:40:55):
he can't get over the fact that people buy this stuff,
but he but the thing is he started to get
dime drops on the mel Phillips stuff. That's people always
associate him with Vincent steroids. And yes he wanted to
see Vince Burne for steroids. He he would love if
you know. That was the that was the law that
did it. But it was the the fact that he
was getting all these anonymous tips on the ring boy stuff.

(02:41:18):
That really and he wrote a ton about that too.

Speaker 2 (02:41:22):
That really that that's definitely worthy of O vincemim going
down that. I agree.

Speaker 1 (02:41:28):
It was much more kind of like at that rotten
moral core and then everything else was kind of like,
you know, if you could get him on it, you
get him on it, but it was that was the
core of it, was the ring boy stuff and all
the other shots he took at them, I think were
kind of like half hard, not half hearted, but like
it kind of masked the real driving force behind it,
which was you know, the Tom Coles and stuff calling

(02:41:50):
him up and giving him you know, all the wrestlers
that had been propositioned by like allegedly by Terry Garvin
and Pat Patterson over the years and all that shit,
you know, stuff he couldn't always substantiate to the point
that he could put everything he heard in the papers.
But you know, he was a columnist, he was a polemicist.

Speaker 2 (02:42:07):
He was you know, supposed to.

Speaker 1 (02:42:08):
He had a gimmick of like you know, the paper
was conservative, of course, the Post was a kind of
a write leaning paper. This is the moral majority days.
There's a lot of hate to be made about how
you know, the people who run entertainment are liberalizing things,
you know a little bit too much in exposing kids
to things that you know, back in my day they
would never be exposed to that kind of thing. So
it all works for his brand too, of where he

(02:42:30):
fits and where his paper fits in the media landscape,
but not to say he's not coming from a place
of true conviction. I'm not questioning that. I'm just saying
that it very much fit what the post was about
to to go at it this way, to pick these
targets and to harp on them, and in the form
of a column where yeah, he's doing some original reporting.
I'm not saying he's not. But he also doesn't have
to to just go off on the non events.

Speaker 2 (02:42:50):
He could just go off on him.

Speaker 1 (02:42:51):
He can call him right, he can call him Hannibal
Lecter or as he did, you know, and not have
to worry about getting sued because he's not writing an
article that's passing passing itself off is exclusively fact. You know,
he's he's giving perspective, he's giving commentary, and he's going
fucking scorched earth. Yes, and even Ted Turner can't escape
it because he associated Hogan with so much of the rot.

(02:43:15):
As far as selling to kids, I think for him
it was the fact that with all of this gross
shit under the hood, they're marketing to kids almost exclusively,
like that's their lifeblood. Is it's not only being this dirty,
But you don't even have adult customers, or at least
you're not even chasing adult customers. You're putting toys on
the shelf. It'd be like a porn company selling action figures,

(02:43:36):
you know.

Speaker 2 (02:43:38):
Yeah, But also, but I mean, thinking about it like this,
there are R rated movies that sell toys to kids too, Yes,
there are, that's right, and he would rail against that too.

Speaker 4 (02:43:46):
I bet.

Speaker 2 (02:43:46):
I don't know for sure, but that would be the
kind of thing I could se him.

Speaker 21 (02:43:49):
Right.

Speaker 1 (02:43:49):
He's didn't write only about wrestling, but I can see
him going to the toy store for his nephew and
getting all fired up and writing an article about how
we're selling you know, fucking guns and shit toy guns.
Turner's WCW takes every conceivable, negative, violent, and unsportsmanlike image
and feeds it to American children via TV. Turner's WCW

(02:44:11):
bay roll now includes Hogan, a man whose kitty loving
character is indisputedly built on years of steroid abuse and
a series of outrageous public lies about how he got
the kinds of muscles so many admiring children adolescents on
the come would die for. Turner signed Hogan at a
time when considerable public court filled evidence existed. Court filed

(02:44:32):
evidence existed to prove the Hogan character was a marketing
ploy aimed at kids and rooted in dangerous drugs that
were illegally obtained and administered. As early as nineteen ninety one,
the name Terry boleya Hogan's real name, appeared several times
in federal express shipment documents that were used to convict
and jail doctor Georgezaharian, the ex World Wrestling Federation doctor who,

(02:44:55):
at a time when pro wrestling's emphasis changed from action
to muscle mass, sold pro wrestlers whatever drugs they wanted,
no examination nor legit medical reason needed. Hogan exposed then
began to try to lie his way out, first an
appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he set the
record straight he used steroids just two or three times

(02:45:15):
in his career, all for legiti medical purposes, and all
under a physician's care. When that lie was met with
howls of derision from former colleagues, Hogan set the record
straight again he used steroids somewhat more frequently than he'd
originally admitted. Finally, two weeks ago, in a federal drug
trial of his former employer, and close friend WWF boss
Vince McMahon Hogan, testifying in exchange for immunity from prosecution

(02:45:39):
set the record straight for a third time.

Speaker 2 (02:45:42):
That's good. Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (02:45:43):
That's the kind of snarky writing that you really can
do as a columnist. That really brings it home. He
can't put that in a news article, you know. Right
in that way, he admitted to at least thirteen years
of steroid use. Don't ever forget that about the trial
of his life. Well, it didn't put Vince away. You
can't forget how they would have denied every single thing

(02:46:03):
that that trial proved about how many people were routing
in WWF. That's the takeaway is that all the things
that they were denying were a problem in their company
were all doubly as bad as you could have ever imagined. Yep,
everyone went up there and said I roided and I
roid it hard while working for WWF. If Turner was

(02:46:25):
upset to learn this American kitty superstar was built on
steroids and not on prayer, plenty of sleep and hulk
Cochin vitamins, as Hogan would tell kids, he had a
strange way of showing it. Turner had Hogan headline a
few days later in a WCW pay per view event,
with Hogan winning the WCW's m World title. That's right,
moms and dads, it makes no difference to Ted Goodwill

(02:46:46):
Turner held. Turner even appeared with anabolic Hulk capital a
by the way, anabolic Hulk in tving angles designed for
Junior to beg mom and dad to purchase Turner's WCW
pay per view events starring Hogan. Yes, by minimal standards
of common decency and goodwill, Hulk Hogan has lied and

(02:47:06):
drugged his way out of the children's entertainment racket. He
didn't do drugs on the side, He did drugs for
a living, but hulks in and in big arm in
arm with Ted Goodwill Turner.

Speaker 2 (02:47:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:47:19):
Ted Turner is so steeped in goodwill he doesn't care
who or what he's selling to American kids, just as
long as they buy it. Earlier this month, WCW announcer
Bobby the Brain heenan in between staged kicks to the groin,
head smashed against ring aprons and sucker punches, entertained the
kiddies by making an O. J. Simpson crack on the air.
How's that for goodwill?

Speaker 4 (02:47:40):
Ted?

Speaker 1 (02:47:41):
But nothing seems to stick to tefron Ted he can
simultaneously sell the goodwill games and.

Speaker 2 (02:47:46):
Hulk Hogan such a bitch going hard.

Speaker 1 (02:47:51):
Ah, what a time to be alive. That's that's what
Ted Turner gets from signing all Cogan right there?

Speaker 2 (02:47:57):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:47:58):
And Vince's on the attack too. He's gonna from both sides.
Vince is out there now that he's a free man,
he's been acquitted, he does This is something that hadn't
been on YouTube when we did the trial of his life,
so I'm really happy to have a reason to surface
it here. This is an appearance Vince made on Chicago
sports talk show called check Copic something. Oh yeah, you know,
check Copic October ninety four, recapping everything that had happened

(02:48:21):
to trial and inevitably, of course, this being October and
Hogan having not only made his debut, but heading into
Halloween havoc and stuff, Hulk Hogan is naturally going to
come up. And this is some of the first public
comments I think we get from Vince about what Hulk
in WCW is meaning to him or not meaning to him.
And of course he goes in art.

Speaker 11 (02:48:39):
Hulk Hogan, who obviously put a very major role in
the growth of the World Wrestling Federation in Titan Sports
in the nineteen eighties, in the nineteen nineties, would he
have been as appealing as he was had he not
been utilizing steroids and had that magnificently sculpted body.

Speaker 25 (02:48:56):
Well, I don't think he ever had a magnificently sculpted body. Certainly,
bodybuilder them a bodybuilder type at all.

Speaker 4 (02:49:02):
I mean, I've never.

Speaker 25 (02:49:02):
Seen a dominant night dominant people that bought tickets.

Speaker 4 (02:49:06):
There were people who bought tickets.

Speaker 25 (02:49:10):
But again, if you take a look at traditional bodybuilding
in terms of posing and take a look at what
Hulk Cogan did in his heyday.

Speaker 4 (02:49:16):
I mean we're talking now, I am taking a.

Speaker 11 (02:49:17):
Look at those people who simply buy tickets to go
to your shows.

Speaker 4 (02:49:21):
And in my opinion, the.

Speaker 11 (02:49:22):
Lure of this sun tanned baby oil professional wrestler at
three hundred pounds with the twenty four inch pythons.

Speaker 4 (02:49:31):
Was a site to behold.

Speaker 11 (02:49:32):
And he obviously had a body that was constructed at
least in part with steroids.

Speaker 25 (02:49:37):
Oh, I think there's no question about that. Certainly, he's
admitted that finally, but nonetheless, aside from that, whether or
not he would have been the success that he was,
I don't have that answer because we're not We're not
in the posing business.

Speaker 4 (02:49:53):
We're not in the body building business where you go out.

Speaker 25 (02:49:56):
And you pose and you're judged in terms of Actually,
we're all about charisma. We're all about action in the ring,
the athleticism, the glitz, the glamour, the storylines, all of
that combined.

Speaker 4 (02:50:11):
That's what the WWF is really about.

Speaker 25 (02:50:14):
Clearly, Hulk Hogan and his heyday had all of those qualities.
So there's no question he would have been a success
in the World Wrestling Federation as he was. The only
question is whether or not he would have been as
much of a success.

Speaker 11 (02:50:27):
Hulk Hogan of Courus is now a member of the
Ted Turner Operation for a World Championship Wrestling. You're a
primary competitor. Do you look upon them as a legitimate
threat in anyway to the World Wrestling Federation or are
they at.

Speaker 4 (02:50:40):
This time a minor annoyance.

Speaker 25 (02:50:42):
I would suggest more a minor annoyance than anything.

Speaker 4 (02:50:46):
I'm surprised that hul.

Speaker 25 (02:50:48):
Cogan elected to join the Ted Turner sort of a
minor league operation because do it.

Speaker 11 (02:50:55):
Feel sold out personally because Halkgan joined Ted Turner.

Speaker 25 (02:51:00):
Hulk Hogan, Terry Boleya and I were very close friends
at one time. One of the things that the Terry
always said is, Vince, you know one thing you'll never
have to worry about, is you know me working for
a competitive organization. That happened for whatever the reason, and
one of the reasons it happened is because.

Speaker 4 (02:51:15):
With where he wanted to go in his career and where.

Speaker 25 (02:51:20):
I thought he should go in his career in terms
of believability and credibility are.

Speaker 4 (02:51:24):
Two different directions.

Speaker 25 (02:51:26):
He thought that this Hulkomania thing was only beginning to
take off and he was going to really catapult it
at the Turner organization. My point of view was that
Hulk Hogan, who obviously is not the.

Speaker 4 (02:51:38):
Hulk of old. I mean, we all get older, we
all slow up a.

Speaker 16 (02:51:41):
Little bit athletically.

Speaker 25 (02:51:43):
My point of view was there was a great position
here in the WWF A is a fantastic goodwill ambassador,
notwithstanding steroids or lack of steroids, and it was a
Babe Ruth type thing where he always had that one
great match left no matter where it would be, no
matter if it was a paper or in Chicago or
in New York or whatever the case may be. It

(02:52:03):
was a wonderful position from my standpoint in terms of
that Babe Ruth living on and on and on in
the World Wrestling Federation.

Speaker 4 (02:52:11):
But you know, this is a wonderful country we live in.

Speaker 25 (02:52:13):
It's a free country, and you have choices, and they
unfortunately chose to go with Ted Turner.

Speaker 8 (02:52:18):
It's the lab Fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that

(02:52:52):
knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan.

(02:53:28):
He's a Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio
and JP Sorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:53:35):
What do you hear there? I mean, I, first of all,
I think that that's probably one of the most coherent
interviews I've ever heard him, do you know, Like I
I've never heard him make that much kind of sense.
But post post acquittal clarity, I think they call it. Yeah,
I think you're you're damn right.

Speaker 4 (02:53:55):
But he is.

Speaker 2 (02:54:00):
So angry, Yes, he's so vindictive, Yes, you know, like
and he's not doing it in like a mean, mean way,
but like he's doing it like in a business way,
like he's trying to be a matter of fact, but man,
you can tell he has fucking butt hurt so much.

Speaker 1 (02:54:21):
Well, you gotta think like he he built his whole
idea of how he's going to be successful in wrestling
around his relationship with Hogan. Yep, he probably told himself that, like,
my unique gift is being able to make a bond
with this guy, that we're going to ride this thing,
and that he basically is going to trust me after
ten years of making him a multi millionaire, that this

(02:54:44):
is the next move for you, and this is what's
best for you, and this is I've earned the right
or I've earned your trust such that you'll take my
counsel on this instead of just run to the next
guy who dangles a check.

Speaker 4 (02:54:54):
Right.

Speaker 2 (02:54:55):
You know, I bet he talked.

Speaker 1 (02:54:56):
He talked himself into thinking because he did so many
transformed things with all Cogan, the Hulk wasn't a anymore.

Speaker 2 (02:55:01):
It's just a weird thing that he fucking fired him exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:55:04):
Well, he fired him because you know, Hulk was trying
to stay on top and Vince just didn't think it
was gonna work. I mean, Vince could see what happened
in WCW in the next two years. It's not like
Hulk and Hulk fucked around and found out on that
on the Red and Yellow. You know, he really did,
and that could have happened in WWF, But he wanted
to not allow Hulk to be around so much and

(02:55:25):
just sort of have him be somebody that's drawing a
full time salary, going on the road doing promotional things.
Not unlike what they had certain Slaughter.

Speaker 2 (02:55:31):
Do for years.

Speaker 1 (02:55:32):
But you know, once a year, six times six every
six months, he comes up off the bench because somebody
talks shit and he's got to, you know, he's got
to stick it to him. That that's the Babe Ruth
role that he had in mind, a guy who you
know is there and everybody remembers this Babe Ruth, but
is actually still every now and then capable of being

(02:55:53):
taken off the shelf and put back into action. But
that's not a full time guy. And that's certainly not
the WWF champion I think we saw with Hulk when
he went ww like. He wants to be the World Champion.
He wants to rerun the whole eighties playbook again. He
wants to read he wants eighty four ninety four. It's
what he wants, and Vince is not about to do
that he's done, especially after all this negative publicity. I mean,

(02:56:13):
for God's sakes, he had to watch all of that
investment in Hulk. Hogan just gets so severely diminished and
damaged to where, you know, all people could talk about
was how Hogan was full of shit and he didn't
want Hulk to do our sineo. That was why he
was so mad. It wasn't that he was mad that
Hulk did it what Hulk said on our sineo. He
was mad that he did it at all. You know,

(02:56:34):
he counseled him not to do it, and he did
it because he thought he was fucking mister Carney and
he's gonna work an answer that's gonna, you know, somehow
carve a little neutrality space for himself and Nope, it's
not gonna happen. And you know what else, probably put
a bug up Vince's as boss. At a King of
the Ring ninety four, they asked the governor of Maryland
who his favorite wrestling was.

Speaker 4 (02:56:58):
Poor time on old Hulk Hogan.

Speaker 23 (02:57:01):
You want the great one?

Speaker 17 (02:57:02):
Enjoy yourself here today.

Speaker 2 (02:57:04):
Want to remind everybody that this is wrapping up. Governor.

Speaker 1 (02:57:07):
Thanks, you get out the actually and go edit that
out of the Hull Colseum release and edit that out
or the version of King of the Ring ninety four
that's on the network. Our second ever episode, by the way,
yes right June twenty sixth, nineteen ninety four, Miami, Harold
Politics helps the Hulkster. The first round of the battle
between Hulk Cogan and the World Wrestling Federation goes to
the Holkster thanks to an assist from Maryland Governor William

(02:57:30):
Donald Schaeffer, with Hogan jumping the arrival World Championship Wrestling.
The WBF is trying to paint the Holkster is passe. Yeah,
if you watch King of the Ring, you see those videos, man, they.

Speaker 2 (02:57:38):
Show, yeah, the old model T car Federation, yep out
the old generation and then you get fucking Roddy Piper
and and Jerry Lawler in the fucking main event.

Speaker 1 (02:57:49):
Right, He's trying to paint the Holster's passe. The WBF
film vignette titled New Generation, which paints Thehulster has been
part of the old generation of wrestlers. Footage of Hogan
is shown next to that. I'm under the Giant, Who's Dead,
the Iron Chic, and Avian Putski. The WWF spent two
and a half hours plugging the new Generation theme last
Sunday and it's King of the Ring pay per view
show before connecting a live interview with Shaeffer, a longtime
wrestling fan who attended the show because it was held

(02:58:09):
in Baltimore. Schaeffer was asked to predict the winner of
the Jerry Lawler Ruddy Piper main event. Shaeffer picked Piper,
but added he was a Hulk Hogan man. The comment
prompted a w fIF announced Todd, Patt and Gilt to
end the interview quickly. In an undermined the WWF's entire
New Generation campaign. Lawler tried to save face for the
WWF before his match, grabbing the microphone and calling Schaffer
Governor Budweiser. He also said Schaeffer was living in the past. Still,

(02:58:30):
the damage was done. Paige Bonist, Shaeffer's press secretary, so
the governor was unaware he was getting involved in the
Hogan WWF war, but Boenist said Budweiser Er Schaeffer was
adamant and insisting Hogan is the Babe Ruth of wrestling,
So this.

Speaker 2 (02:58:44):
Governor was a wild doubled down.

Speaker 1 (02:58:46):
The WS New Generation campaign is like ironic considering the
group continues rehiring stale talent Typhoon, Virgil, Nikolai Volkov, and
Teddy Biassi. The latest retread is Sergeant's slaughter, who was
being exhumed to feud with Piero Lucobecker's And that's not
I don't know what that is. That didn't that Wow, Okay,

(02:59:07):
that not happened and I don't remember it. I don't
remember that at Allso was a house show thing.

Speaker 2 (02:59:10):
But it's wild and here we are.

Speaker 1 (02:59:14):
And what else did WWF do to try to impugne
the Hulkster? What else did WWF do with I don't
know their own magazine? Oh fuck yes, talk about your
memories before I make.

Speaker 2 (02:59:27):
You read it. My god, that that issue of the magazine.
I remember seeing it, I remember being mortified, I remember
being sad, and that was kind of that was kind
of the final mail in the coffin for me. Yeah, August, Yeah,

(02:59:49):
because you know it's you know, I remember reading you know,
anytime that we've talked about the idea of Hulk Hogan
coming back to WWE in like the late nineties or
Meltzer saying, you know, he'll be back at it, you know,
I just never It's like that was never in my mind,

(03:00:09):
like he was done, he was gone, he was never
coming back to w W. That was never going to happen.
He was WCW now.

Speaker 4 (03:00:18):
You know one.

Speaker 2 (03:00:20):
And this article definitely, if it wasn't the final nail,
it definitely was one of the final nails because it
was such and I was so angry. I was so
angry at that because it was it was like this,
it just because it was full of you know, like
stuff I consider to be lies. I don't really remember

(03:00:44):
the article one hundred percent, but it was I just
was like I didn't believe any of that shit, like
I knew like they I felt. I felt the the
pettiness of it. Yes, that's it. Even even at the
age of thirteen, I felt the age I felt that
that that it was just very petty like they were.

(03:01:04):
They were acting like bitches doing.

Speaker 1 (03:01:06):
That they were they were they were so butter that
Hulk was in w W and you know, doing the
damn thing that they took their own magazine over and
reminded us. A full year plus after Yokuzhna defeated Hull
Cocin and King of the Ring. That Yokozuna defeated Hull
Cocin and King of the Ring all of a sudden,
it's relevant again. Uh the first issue, I guess after

(03:01:26):
Hogan's Bash of the Beach debut, So please take it away.

Speaker 2 (03:01:29):
This is it wouldn't have been though it would have been,
it would have come out when was Batch of the
Beach July August issue? Oh, I don't know August, as
you came out in July. They were definitely always a
month in advance, right, So yeah, so it came out
around the same time first issue. Maybe it was before
at Batch of the Beach by a week. But that's
the thing. I wonder if it came out before because

(03:01:50):
they might want to try to get people to not
you know, not read it, I mean, not watching after
the show. Yeah, well just watch it with the jaundiced eye,
you know, right right, with their perspective in mind. But
uh yeah, yeah, Yoko rules.

Speaker 1 (03:02:04):
They get animated picture of him stomping and you know,
over a city scott skyline.

Speaker 2 (03:02:09):
And he's a Godzilla type thing.

Speaker 1 (03:02:10):
And they found pictures of Hogan making this terrified face
that they had in the archives. Oh, the old hu
Comanian band on his head and they just made him
look like an.

Speaker 2 (03:02:19):
Idiot where that's from?

Speaker 4 (03:02:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:02:21):
Why would yeah, why would they have occasion to shoot
him making that face? It's kind of weird, right, And
they declare Hulkaman they put it. They put a tombstone
behind him and they write mea January twenty third, nineteen
eighty four to June thirteenth, nineteen ninety three. Man, So petty,
let's read it. Somebody has to say it. Yeah, so

(03:02:42):
I might as well be the one. Yoko Zuna was
the greatest champion in the history of the Wilson Entertainment.

Speaker 2 (03:02:48):
It's a great start. Okay, case closed. You can argue
till the cows come home. But like it or not,
the fact remain. The facts remain. He beat Hulk Hogan,
was virtually ending, ending the phenomenon we knew was hul Camania,
and he defeated the future of the Federation Brett Hart.
Two champions, two victories. No man in the Worldssing entertainment

(03:03:12):
has ever been able to accomplish that before. In my opinion,
no man will ever accomplish that again. Yokozuma. Yokozuna is
the true immortal one. It feels like an eternity since
Yokozuniverse came to North America. However, in reality, it's been
less than two years. I remember when I first saw
him in the Worldlessing Entertainment. I think it was sometime

(03:03:34):
in September of nineteen ninety two. He stopped the life
out of a preliminary wrestler, literally walking all over him.
It was reminiscent of Godzilla taking out a small town
in Japan. I don't think I was allowed every out
a small town. It was always a big city. I
think it was always a big city. I don't think anything. Yeah,
I don't think it was ever a small town. Courtesy
of an afternoon stroll. My first thought was that there

(03:03:57):
was no mortal live who could beat this monster, But
surprisingly enough, the vast majority of the fans paid no attention.
At the time, they were gaga over rumors that a
so called immortal wrestler was coming back to the Federation.
That supposed immortal was Hulk Hogan. While everybody was hoping

(03:04:19):
hopping on the red and Yellow Hulk Wagon, nobody was
noticing the unstoppable force from the land of the Rising Sun.
I noticed. I stopped everything to notice. Yes, Yokozuna was
truly on a rampage. He notched one victory after another
without even breaking into a sweat. Hell, he didn't even

(03:04:40):
must up his own hair, which was neatly collected in
a buton atop of his gargantuan head. Yokozuna was the
future of professional wrestling, and nobody was noticing. Cut to
Venice Beach, California, with babes, beaches and B rated movies,
Hulk Hogan was on top of the world. Movie star

(03:05:00):
without a warrior in the world. His biggest nemesis now
were His biggest nemeses now were Siskel and Ebert Yep.
Even though these two critics constantly chided his movies, Hulk
didn't care. He was secure for life and nothing was
going to get him back into the war zone called

(03:05:21):
the Square Circle, or so he thought. Just as quickly
as you could say. James Dean, Hogan's friend produced the
Bubble Beefcake, was attacked on Monday Night Raw by the
million Dollar Man, Teddy Biassi and Eranard Schuster. Hogan was
on the first plane back to New York and was
ready to rumble once again, and Yokozuna kept winning, Yes,

(03:05:41):
and still no one noticed. Yet it was payback time
for Money Incorporated when Beefcake and Hogan attempted to even
up the score WrestleMania nine. Even though the Mega Maniacs
the name of the Hogan Beefcake team lost the match
due to a disqualification, they felt that justice had been
served as they beat the Money Incorporated team from ringside

(03:06:02):
to ring post. It was also later wrestling in nine
that Yokozuna beat Brett Hart to become Worldless Entertainment Champion.
People noticed, being a fair journalist, I must give credit
where credit is due. Brett Hart fought a hell of
a a hell of a fight. He went toe to

(03:06:23):
toe with a Japanese beast for what seemed like an eternity.
It was seven minutes if it had been If it
hadn't been for a handful of salt thrown in the
eyes of the hit and courtesy of Yoko's manager, Master Fuji,
Hart might have scored the upset, but he didn't. With
all being fair and love and wrestling, Yokozuna was the
new champion. Enter Hulk Hogan reeking Egomania. Wow. Hulk challenged

(03:06:49):
the new champ, who had just gone over thirty minutes
with the hit Man thirty minutes, no, seven minutes, calling
the WrestleMania nine match thirty minutes long. Yes, yes, he's
saying he wrestled at har for thirty minutes. Okay, it's
a seven maybe eight minute match. It is so fucking short.

(03:07:12):
It might be one of the shortest main events ever. Absolutely,
it is, if not the shortest main events. Like the
prime thing about it is it's short. That's like, well
most people remember about it, right, and it's like definitely
not thirty minutes. Being the man that he is, Yoko
accepted this time. However, Fuji salt gag backfired and Yoko

(03:07:36):
Zuna was the recipient again. All being fair in love
and wrestling, Hogan pinned Yokozuna and became the new champion.
It didn't last long. Even though Hogan wasn't familiar with
the word sequel in the movie business, there would be
a part two to this feud just too. I mean,
he also knew the return matches for all his guys

(03:07:56):
and had fucking eight thousand matches with like Nikolai Volkar
Just two months later, Yokozuna humiliated a now forty plus
year old Hulk Hogan, this thus becoming a two time
Worldersing Entertainment champion. True Hogan will tell you that a
photographer's flash bulb went off in his eyes. But with

(03:08:18):
all fair and love and wrestling, Yokozuna was champion again.
The Yoko Bonzi splash at the end of that war
defeated Hulkamania forever. Many had tried to kill the legend,
but many couldn't. However, however, Yoko Suona did. Yes, yes

(03:08:45):
you will see Hulk Hogan wrestle again, and yes he
will win again. But the hulkstures we once knew him
as gone, break out the bugle and start playing taps.
The last we heard of Hulk Hoogan, he had popped
up in another wrestling federation in which the talent was
a far cry from out of the worldressing entertainment. Hogan

(03:09:07):
decided to sign with a federation that is composed of
a slew of ex worldressing entertainment athletes, or, to put
it more bluntly, aging wrestlers in the twilight of their careers.
It was evident that Hulk could no longer compete with
the mighty Yokozuna or with the majority of the young

(03:09:28):
talent the Federation had to offer. As a matter of fact,
during his brief two month reign as champion, Hulk repeatedly
refused to give a hungry Brett Heart breath the hit
Man Heart a shot at the world title. Right, but
what about the Hitman bredtheart? You ask? What about him?
Granted he did beat yokozunad wrestling he had ten with

(03:09:49):
the help of a faulty ring rope, And granted he
does match up to Godzilla Zuna better than Hulk ever did.
But when the time comes and will can he defeat
yo Kazuna again? Let me put it to you this way.
Will the Academy be recognizing mister Nanny when presenting its
annual awards? Somehow? I don't think so. It's exactly right.

(03:10:15):
God made me so angry. Why fucking because I again,
it was just like I just I didn't I didn't
want to believe any of that shit, and I kind
of didn't believe any of that shit. But it's like
it just stung. It's still stung. God. It's a brutal article.

(03:10:39):
I wonder put him up to it.

Speaker 4 (03:10:44):
JP, Man, how you doing it?

Speaker 24 (03:10:46):
Is Vince Russo and I remember that issue well, yeah,
I'm nineteen ninety four because it was one of the
first magazines that I did when I got there, and man,
looking back, I was even really taking chances back then

(03:11:09):
because that cover was my idea and as a fan
BRO and now working at the WWEE, my mindset was
F Hulk Hogan, F wc W, and let's make Cogan
look bad on the cover of the WWF magazine. I remember, Bro,

(03:11:33):
I had to go up and pitch it to Vince.
That in itself was taking a chance, man, because I
didn't know what his response was gonna be, but he
was absolutely cool with it. No, no, no, no pulling punches.

Speaker 4 (03:11:50):
Bro.

Speaker 24 (03:11:51):
It was a shot at Hulk Hogan, and no, there
was no response from WCW. I hope that answers your question.

Speaker 16 (03:12:02):
JP.

Speaker 24 (03:12:03):
Thank you, my friend, God bless.

Speaker 1 (03:12:08):
So there go the spirit you think is behind it
is behind it, And it was. There's Vince Russo saying
it was his idea, pitched to Vince, not handed down
to him.

Speaker 2 (03:12:18):
Why does he gotta yell all the time? Why can't
he talk normal?

Speaker 1 (03:12:21):
I don't think he trusts the mic his voice when
he's not talking to it. Well, even when he is
talking to a microphone, he screams his head off, So yeah,
I shouldn't say that. There you have it a little
bit extra color on an unfraile WWF magazine article because
it came.

Speaker 2 (03:12:36):
Out absolutely so long after Yo. That was the thing,
it was exactly and the best part being that Yokozuna
wasn't even champion anymore. But I don't by that point
out of nowhere, you know. Yep. In August ninety four
issue they have him covering Hulk on cover and the
best thing is too you know what that that cover

(03:12:56):
is not even the winning pin, No, it is he's
about to kick out. Yeah, that's when. That's when he
kicks out of the h and Hulk's up. That's amazing
at that moment, well as the year's turn. As we know.

Speaker 1 (03:13:08):
Eventually, Hulk comes back to the WWF in two thousand
and two after the collapse of WCW, and then come
up with the DVD series called Hulk Still Rules, which
features yes, a compendium of some of his best matches
across companies and a kind of a mini documentary as
well and taking the temperature of Hulk's mindset in psychology
around jumping at the time. Here's what he said, at
the moment.

Speaker 15 (03:13:31):
The thing ran wild until the early nineties, and all
of a sudden, you know, I was getting older and
I didn't stop.

Speaker 16 (03:13:38):
I kept going.

Speaker 15 (03:13:39):
I was tired, I had a bad attitude, I was hurt, I.

Speaker 16 (03:13:42):
Was beat up.

Speaker 15 (03:13:43):
And then scat Man knew that, and he came to
me and says, you know, I think it's time to
wind this thing down. That's hard to take when somebody
tells you that I understood it. But still when youre
getting on and run off the treadmill, it takes a
off your heart to quit pounding.

Speaker 16 (03:13:58):
But on the on the business side, that was hard.

Speaker 15 (03:14:00):
For me to take because I still, even though I
was getting older, I still had that eye of the
tiger thing going. You know, it's never supposed to end.
It's not supposed to end with a knockout punch, or
that you're too old to jump the hurdle, or that
you know nobody wants to see anymore. But all of
a sudden, people are getting tired of seeing the shirt
torn off, They're tired of seeing the leg drop and

(03:14:20):
we kind of ended it, you know, before it totally
faded away, and probably the best thing that we ever
did was given half of Mania break for over ten years.

Speaker 10 (03:14:29):
Hogan left the company to pursue acting and take time off,
but soon he was lured back to sports entertainment and
joined the WCW down in Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker 15 (03:14:38):
This Haultamenia thing had never been in that Southern Belt,
Southern Swing territory of Ted Turner Rassle company, you know.

Speaker 16 (03:14:45):
Smaller version of the WWF.

Speaker 15 (03:14:48):
All of a sudden, this big main event type wrestler
from the WWF came down and they opened the doors
to me.

Speaker 16 (03:14:53):
Haultamenia ran wild.

Speaker 15 (03:14:54):
We threw numbers, We got real competitive with the WWF,
and we started inching up on the ratings charts.

Speaker 10 (03:15:00):
Superstars began coming down to w CW, lured by more
money and easier work schedules, among them. An individual with
a complicated history.

Speaker 15 (03:15:09):
With Hogan, Macho Man, called me one day and said, hey, man,
I need to talk to you. And so we went
to the World's gym at midnight ahead a key, he
brought a case, s obmariently talked he wanted to go
to work.

Speaker 4 (03:15:20):
For the w c W. We talked.

Speaker 15 (03:15:24):
In the back, ye you know, marriage to a part
and he went crazy and I said, I understand. So
the next thing I know, I went Eric Bischoff, brought
him in, hooked him up with fell other William Gorgeous
George exotic dancer. The next thing you know, Georgeous George
decided to take a walk on a while side and left.
And guess what it was my fault? How what winter why?
I don't know, but I guess in my opinion, he

(03:15:47):
thought I sabotaged his career and he still hates me
to this day.

Speaker 1 (03:15:51):
Wow, I remember him. I'm uh blaming Hogan for Gorgeous
George leaving him that that was a new one.

Speaker 2 (03:15:58):
I remember. I remember that. I remember the him because
that's the article that I always I mean, the documentary
that I always remember him. Hogan that going to the
back of this gym that apparently he has a key
to and fucking open it up, and then having a
six pack in the back talking things over, and I

(03:16:20):
remember Hogan saying pretty much whatever any bad thing that
happened to him, Uh, Savage blamed him, Yes, blamed Hogan.

Speaker 1 (03:16:29):
Yep, yeahps, that would come what November ninety four, right,
Savage comes in?

Speaker 2 (03:16:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:16:39):
That is remarkable when you consider that radio WWF transcript
we read earlier months after that, you know a little
bit over a year after that, Hulk is opening the
door to ready Savage to walk into ww and we
know how much of a tail spin that sent Vince on. Yeah,
but here from the Netflix Vince documentary is Vince speaking.

(03:17:02):
Probably the most current commentary you'll find it has to
be from Vince on Hulk Cogan's departure and looking back
on it.

Speaker 3 (03:17:11):
I had been following the steroid trials and all of
the controversy and everything that went out as a result
of that. I was very well aware that Hull could
left WWE and was going to pursue television and movies.
And coincidentally, I was down at Disney MGM Studios shooting
my show for WCW, while Hulk Hogan was at Disney

(03:17:34):
MGM Studios shooting a show called Thunder in Paradise.

Speaker 15 (03:17:39):
Konzeric Mishoff wandering over to the set and he said,
we really would love to have you, you know, consider
coming back to Rustling. We know you're filming the TV series,
even if part Thomas was talk, you know, let's talk.
I was not happy with acting and being locked up
in a trailer most of the day just wasn't me.

Speaker 3 (03:18:02):
Hulk was torn because he loved wrestling. He missed it,
but he also had two very very young kids at
home and it was really important to him to not
be on the road three hundred days a year, and
WCW provided Hall an opportunity to do both. The nature
of our contract was you may have a total of

(03:18:24):
thirty appearances a year as opposed to three hundred.

Speaker 4 (03:18:28):
Ted Turner was given these guarantees. We're going to give
you a million dollars a year. How many days do
you work, well, how many days you want to work?
I want to work one hundred days. Okay, you got it.

Speaker 5 (03:18:38):
We're wwe I know when we were there it was
seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year.

Speaker 3 (03:18:43):
I just looked at it as well, I have this
amazing opportunity. I'm going to put my salesman hat on.
I'm going to get this guy to join WCW. Oh
I left.

Speaker 15 (03:18:52):
I had the meeting with Thence and it was a
real emotional me. I actually told Vince I will never
run against you because that was a concern.

Speaker 20 (03:19:00):
You said it com off do movies and do things
like that. But I don't want my release, but you're
not going to compete, you know, I really no, absolutely not.
So it was one of those things where I did
misrelease it. Next thing, you know, these were the other guys.

Speaker 10 (03:19:15):
W c W is about to dominate the globe in
professional wrestling.

Speaker 26 (03:19:19):
That's why we're here today to sign the contact for
a match two of wrestling's biggest superstars, all Cogan and
Ric Flair.

Speaker 20 (03:19:27):
We had a very close personal relationship. Took him and
of course made a huge store out him, and then
from there he decides he wants to flip to our
competition and no longer be associated with you.

Speaker 4 (03:19:40):
So sure, emotionally it hurts.

Speaker 20 (03:19:43):
It broke my heart, you know what I mean.

Speaker 25 (03:19:46):
Damn hul Cogan's defection to w CW right there in
the middle of the trial.

Speaker 4 (03:19:54):
That was an enormous slap in the face even to
this day. That was tab build light book.

Speaker 3 (03:20:02):
Vince viewed home is a lifer, but Ulk was offered
a better deal with Ted Turner. Offered guaranteed money with
Ted Turner.

Speaker 20 (03:20:10):
Money talks to his expression goes, I guess.

Speaker 3 (03:20:13):
Hulk's looking at it also like, man, I don't know
Vince is going to be there after the trial.

Speaker 4 (03:20:19):
I don't know if there's even going to be a
company there to work for.

Speaker 2 (03:20:23):
That's an underplayed part of it all.

Speaker 8 (03:20:26):
The La Fan Wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows

(03:21:00):
the boys need their candy, it's the Lapsed Fan. He's

(03:21:35):
the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Corneo, m
JP Soorro.

Speaker 1 (03:21:41):
Holsts looking around and he's like, not only does Vince
nothing I'm worth keeping on top and the money that
comes with that, but he's about to go on trial. Yeah,
and if he goes to jail like and the federal
government sees his Titan towers like it sought to like,
it might make a lot of sense now for me
to actually signed with another company that doesn't have this

(03:22:02):
existential risk to it.

Speaker 4 (03:22:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:22:05):
Yeah, that doesn't get talked about enough, I don't think.
But that's the uh, that's the pulse from the tower
right there. You heard from Shane, you heard from Bruce Pritchard,
you heard from Eric Bischoff as well as Vince McMahon
on the whole thing and what they were thinking, and yeah,
that was a promise made. Hulk acknowledges it. Vince says it.

Speaker 2 (03:22:22):
You know, I'm not going to run against you, and
that's exactly what he did. And that's pro wrestling. Yes,
damn well, saying you'll never do something is just the
beginning of the road to doing it.

Speaker 4 (03:22:33):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (03:22:35):
June sixth, nineteen ninety four, This hits the business wire.
Hul Cogan puts a hold on retirement, charges back into
the ring. Legend signs packed with World Championship Wrestling WOW.
Ringside excitement hit a fever pitch this weekend when long
standing rumors were confirmed Hulk Hogan has returned to wrestling.

(03:22:56):
The world renowned Hogan signed a deal with World Championship
Wrestling wc W that would bring him back into the
ring by early this summer. The historic signing, the biggest
acquisition in the history of the wrestling industry, was announced
on WCW Saturday night seene weekly on TBS superstation. Wrestling
fans all over the world can celebrate now that the
most exciting presence in the sport has returned to do
battles that Eric Bischoff, Senior Vice President and executive pducer

(03:23:19):
of ww programs, who is instrumental in negotiating the whole deal.
Having Hulk in our corner not only confirms the fact
that WCW is the premier wrestling organization of the nineties
only confirms the fact that WCW is the premier wrestling
organization of the nineties. WCW president Bill Shaw added, Hulk
is the crowning jewel to a glittering array of talent
such as Rick Flair, Sting, the Nasty Boys, menin g

(03:23:44):
and Oakerland and Bobby the Brain Heenan, a group who
is truly escalated to superstar status this year. I have
enjoyed following Hulk's career and look forward to a long
and happy partnership. So he's saying that the Nasties, Sting,
Oakerland Heenan escalated to superstar status that year. No, you
brought them in because they are already superstars, right. No

(03:24:04):
one would argue that they were on the same perch
with you that they were with Vins. Hogan has always
impacted wrestling in a big way. The six seven, two
hundred and seventy five pound giant exploded into American pop
culture with a phenomenon known as Hulkamania, which propelled the
industry to tremendous popularity in the late eighties. During his career,
Hogan captured five world titles, packed arenas and stadiums around
the world, and generated some of the largest pay per

(03:24:26):
view numbers ever. His most memorable bout occurred in nineten
eighty seven when he body slams seven four to five
hundred pound out of the giant Oh God, make sure
to get that in the press release, of course, on
his way to victory at the Pontiac Silver Dome, that
events are passed all indoor tendance records.

Speaker 2 (03:24:40):
To say, on his way to the Pontiac Silbrig Silverdome. Yes,
on his way to victory, Oh honestly, to victory at
the Pontiac Silverdome, that events are bay. He slammed him
on his way there that morning. Ohbody, what the fun?

Speaker 1 (03:24:51):
Before one o'clock call time, he slamm an Oni and
fucking Pontiac that events are passed all indoor tenants records.
With over ninety three thousand fans on hands, that even makes.

Speaker 2 (03:24:59):
It into WCW press releases.

Speaker 4 (03:25:01):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (03:25:02):
Hulk created an intense excitement and brought in a whole
new cachet of fans to wrestling with his signature bandana, bloods,
blonde mustache, ripping biceps, and his shredded yellow T shirts.
He parlayed his incomparable physique and persona to a motion
picture and television career. He currently starts a career that
you're actually signing with WCW signals the end of that career.

(03:25:23):
I hope you guys realize.

Speaker 4 (03:25:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:25:25):
He currently stars in the syndicated hit Thunder and Paradise.
Now that Hulk has broken the shackles of retirement, he
is I know that's such a hick generous, but that's Hulk,
you know.

Speaker 2 (03:25:36):
To him, it's a hit.

Speaker 1 (03:25:38):
Now that Hulk has broken the shackles of retirement, he
is ready for action. What you're going to do, WCW
when these twenty four inch pythons run wild on you?
Actually it's his pythons. And in a parenthesis, it says
biceps for those now, for those wandering reading this press release,
what he means by pythons. Hulk Hogan challenges, it's going
to be great to strap on those boots and get
back to the square circle. Get ready Hulka Maniacs because

(03:25:58):
the fund begins soon on wc Hogan's agreement with WW
includes participation select TBS and syndicated television programming, select pay
per view events, and merchandising. Its first appearance for WCW
could be at the live Clash of the Champions June
twenty third to eight o five Eastern. The event will
take place in Charleston, South Carolina, and will be broadcast
on TBS superstation. Helk It' is also expected to participate
in the upcoming pay per view telecast WCW's Bash at

(03:26:21):
the Beach, which will air live on July seventeenth at
seven pm Eastern time. That telecast will originate from Orlando, Florida,
and it's being distributed by Viewers Choice Request Television, Viewers
Choice Canada and Premier Satellite. The Hulkster can also be
seen weekly on such TBS and syndicated television programming in
WCW Worldwide, WCW Saturday Night, WCW Main Event, and WCW

(03:26:42):
Pro Wrestling. World Championship. Wrestling is a subsidiary of Turner
Broadcasting Systems, Inc. Big thumbs Up, which produces and markets
television programs featuring wrestlers and live events. Yes, that's the
press release. There's no turning back now. And what better
way to celebrate Boss then a ticker tape parade through

(03:27:02):
of course, the Disney MGM studios lot too far from
where Hogan shot his show and where WW shot. It's
indicated programming, So we're gonna do a quick watch along
here just a bit from WW Television. I have sent
you a link. You may have to deal with some ads,
so be ready to communicate as much. It's on YouTube
hult Cogan's arrival to WCW nineteen ninety four. This is

(03:27:26):
uploaded by a channel by the name of Wade Solomon,
and it's you know, it's what they came up with.
They weren't, you know, they necessarily, as Bishoff was talked
about to have the budget to fly to do to
the Hollywood Sign, they were already going down there. It
was you know, it was a place that could look huge.
You know that the studio a lot with the false

(03:27:46):
buildings that could look huge, that they could pack out
with just one hundred people and make it look like
thousands of people just based on the architectures set. They
would kind of revealed that same idea when they did
the Nitro open with the explosions on a similar closed
set it concept. So here we go, Hulk Cogan is
coming to w c W. All right, if you're ready,
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (03:28:07):
I'm ready. Three to one play and we wait.

Speaker 1 (03:28:13):
This was on Saturday night. They just showed the live Yeah,
imagine summer ninety four. It's been crazy hustling to the
TV to see this thing.

Speaker 4 (03:28:29):
We've been waiting for fans.

Speaker 1 (03:28:32):
Yes, it comes in the corvette, red and yellow, Jimmy
throwing gimmicks to the parade gellers and Hogan contract sticking
out the top of the convertible flexing the bict.

Speaker 2 (03:28:43):
Quick the right yellow stream has ever seen Indiana Bishops
doing their best like the.

Speaker 5 (03:28:51):
World Championship Wrestling five time World Wrestling Federation champ.

Speaker 2 (03:28:56):
Oh he said, we're watching one of the royal premieres.
It does feel a few people are actually there, but
it doesn't.

Speaker 5 (03:29:04):
Pack speculate nobody one thing from being on one.

Speaker 2 (03:29:11):
Coming down.

Speaker 21 (03:29:12):
It is going yellow vehicles, Betty coming down from the
top of the school.

Speaker 5 (03:29:18):
We've got sirens and Hault Cogan without a doubt.

Speaker 4 (03:29:20):
As we've said before, the on the mon professional.

Speaker 21 (03:29:25):
Wrestling for a long, long time, and this is a
day that I know millions of time.

Speaker 2 (03:29:29):
The shirts already c W.

Speaker 21 (03:29:33):
Set to dominate the globe when it comes to professional wrestling.

Speaker 5 (03:29:37):
Well, as you know, a lot of fans here at Disney,
MGM and Orlando from throughout the world.

Speaker 4 (03:29:42):
I talked to some folks. We have friends of ours
from Germany.

Speaker 5 (03:29:46):
They're here from the Pacific, rim countries including Australia in Singapore,
every place.

Speaker 4 (03:29:53):
The World Championship walking.

Speaker 2 (03:29:58):
So you didn't watch this live.

Speaker 5 (03:29:59):
Possibility Paul Cochan is common. It is gonna be appearing
throughout the world, of course, a lot.

Speaker 21 (03:30:05):
Of people and ever since then, of course, we know
that the unification match is coming up at the Clash
of the Champions, that of course taking place June twenty third,
between none other than the Nature Boy himself, Rick Flair
and sing And certainly Paul Cogan is gonna be watching
that one very closely.

Speaker 5 (03:30:26):
Well, Hulk is gonna be on hand.

Speaker 4 (03:30:30):
Slowly and uh and the Holster.

Speaker 2 (03:30:32):
Is gonna be allowing everybody in.

Speaker 4 (03:30:33):
The really so very long.

Speaker 5 (03:30:40):
And it's gonna give it a great feel more.

Speaker 4 (03:30:42):
Importance by.

Speaker 5 (03:30:46):
The traditional still wal title shot down the Road.

Speaker 4 (03:30:50):
Make no mistake about it. Look at these fans.

Speaker 21 (03:30:52):
I mean, here, you got a guy, you gotta you
got an eight quarter back there on stilts.

Speaker 4 (03:30:56):
He's having a ball.

Speaker 21 (03:30:57):
And that's one of the greatest things about Paul Cogan.

Speaker 4 (03:31:00):
And having you, you know, coming here to w W.

Speaker 21 (03:31:05):
That's what they wanted. They wanted to see Holkogan get
back in the ring, and that's what they've got.

Speaker 5 (03:31:09):
Well, there's one face on this particular rebeat, and that
belongs to not other than Bobby the Brain Heenan. Heenan
is sick about the the fact, the reality of sad
and that Hogan is here. He's arrived, He's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (03:31:27):
And I don't think we have the proof. Tell you what,
now that Haul Cogan is here.

Speaker 5 (03:31:37):
In w c W.

Speaker 21 (03:31:39):
But if you think about it, you look at the
toughest competition.

Speaker 4 (03:31:41):
Anywhere in the world. Where are they They're right here in.

Speaker 2 (03:31:44):
W c W.

Speaker 21 (03:31:45):
With the likes of Rick Flair Sting certainly one of
the most dangerous men ever to step inside of a
wrestling ring.

Speaker 4 (03:31:51):
Of course, we're talking about Vader and many many more.
The competition here is the best in the world.

Speaker 21 (03:31:57):
And now we've got probably without question, the single most
popular wrestling star in the history of this sport here
and I gotta keep saying it.

Speaker 2 (03:32:04):
I can't wait.

Speaker 5 (03:32:06):
We'll take a look at these fans. They say that
a picture is worth a thousand words.

Speaker 4 (03:32:11):
This is like a sicker tape parade like.

Speaker 2 (03:32:16):
Henry Aaron is supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (03:32:18):
It's celebrating arismon of this dynamic and eventual just shows
through and he likes to get in and touch to something.

Speaker 2 (03:32:28):
He likes to watch Bill watch the paperworld, Gary, Bill,
watch his successful.

Speaker 4 (03:32:40):
Make no mistake about it.

Speaker 2 (03:32:41):
This is without a dude, the commercial when they come back, A.

Speaker 4 (03:32:46):
Gentlemen, welcome back.

Speaker 5 (03:32:47):
We are live at Disney and Orlando, Florida, a press
conference and thousands of fans.

Speaker 4 (03:32:54):
Are here to see one man.

Speaker 23 (03:32:57):
Welcome honk hold good.

Speaker 2 (03:33:00):
Now my Tabinin brother, you remember the Pirate?

Speaker 6 (03:33:07):
You know something to mej We're on nationwide TV, brother,
w c W and Hult Hogan, all my whole comaniacs
are on TV with us right now. And I've told
you a little dude, that whul comedy is gonna run wild.
Check this out, brother, check it out?

Speaker 2 (03:33:23):
How surreal man, Jimmy Hart, you how surreal? This is
Hulk on w Stebby talk. That's just fucking bizarre. Doing
the whole voice, my.

Speaker 4 (03:33:33):
Host der before you do anything else.

Speaker 5 (03:33:36):
I've been asked by World Championship Wrestling officials to make
it official. Right here. I've got the contract. I'm gonna
have you with your John Henry brother, and.

Speaker 2 (03:33:50):
Do it that.

Speaker 5 (03:33:50):
This signature is the contract and sar it because history
is being made right before your.

Speaker 2 (03:33:59):
Very better look quickly does right here we go, hold
up the contract.

Speaker 5 (03:34:06):
Ready for the variety of your life ladies and gentlemen,
hank stare this kind of a reception, this great city,
what does it be a life?

Speaker 26 (03:34:15):
Well?

Speaker 6 (03:34:15):
You know something, mean, Gene, this has got to be
the greatest day in hal Cogan's wrestling career. I mean,
you dudes have been hal comaniacs since you were about
this high. If you can dig what I'm.

Speaker 2 (03:34:24):
Saying, brother, you know.

Speaker 6 (03:34:26):
And the thing is the thing is you see me
take on all comers. You see me be a champion
as many times as I get fingers on my hand. Brother,
I've body slammed on during the giant God bless his soul, man,
I beat all the best right in the center of
the ring and The one thing that I've always dreamed
about the one thing that I've always dreamed is to
make not only.

Speaker 4 (03:34:46):
Halke amania, because hul.

Speaker 6 (03:34:48):
Comania, the training, the prayers and the vitamins that's instilled
in this generation, that's gonna be a mortal. But I
want myself, Haul Hogan to go down as a mortal.
And the only way to become amoral in the w
c W is to beat the man. And you all
know whoa to beat the man? You gotta beat the man.
So my goal in the w CW is to go

(03:35:11):
all the way to the top. And when I get
ted Turner by his arm, We're gonna find out who're
the most powerful man in the WCW is Because that's
not been him down all the way.

Speaker 4 (03:35:21):
To the table.

Speaker 6 (03:35:22):
That Turner someday will say, yes, hul Cogan, you've got
the match with Rick Flair.

Speaker 5 (03:35:28):
How about that? All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have
members of the press. Obviously they've got some questions to ask.
Let's start out to write it.

Speaker 2 (03:35:41):
Okay, sir, what have you been told?

Speaker 27 (03:35:43):
I've enjoyed great success, the national wrestler.

Speaker 2 (03:35:46):
Winning five that guy behind him, the fake, the front
hope to accomplish the brother.

Speaker 6 (03:35:52):
Women five world titles is one thing, but there's always
been a lot of controversy on who really is the champion.

Speaker 15 (03:35:58):
Right now in the WCW gonna have a unification match
Rick Flair versus Sting and the great champion that Luthes.

Speaker 4 (03:36:06):
Was and gorgeous George and Harley Race.

Speaker 6 (03:36:07):
And now Rick Flair held one belt, the other belt
is being held by Sting, and the deal is now
we're gonna find out who the man really.

Speaker 4 (03:36:15):
Is between Rick Flair and Sting.

Speaker 6 (03:36:17):
And we're also gonna you got that right, brother Ryan
the man, and you're also gonna have one belt one champion.

Speaker 11 (03:36:25):
Terry.

Speaker 2 (03:36:25):
Whether it's his comfort zone, no question.

Speaker 6 (03:36:28):
I'm gonna get in the ring with one of those
guys someday and I'm gonna prove that Hall Comania is
the strongest force in the universe.

Speaker 1 (03:36:34):
Brother, I'm still kind of leaving open the possibility that
it would be Sting, not not Flaiir.

Speaker 2 (03:36:41):
Oh, now I got a commercial here, Okay, two part.

Speaker 1 (03:36:43):
Question for a pause. I'm at a eight thirty three.
Yere almost done with it anyway, But that was always
interesting how he left open the possibility that it could
be sting.

Speaker 2 (03:36:50):
You know, yes, yes, that is that is true. It
would have been quite a decision. There we go three
two one. What do you miss most, what your last
most and.

Speaker 28 (03:37:01):
What do you most look forward to when you step.

Speaker 1 (03:37:03):
Back into the ring.

Speaker 6 (03:37:05):
Well, the thing I miss most about professional wrestling is
all those haulk of maniacs out there. Brother, right, the
thousands and thousands of hostlers that believe in me stand
behind me too, thick and thin.

Speaker 4 (03:37:16):
It won't the only part of that.

Speaker 2 (03:37:17):
Questions look forward and when you step.

Speaker 4 (03:37:22):
Back in the ring, Well, I think I've already answered that.

Speaker 6 (03:37:25):
What I most look forward to is stepping into the
ring with that w c W logo in the background in.

Speaker 4 (03:37:33):
Until I get my hands on Rick Flair.

Speaker 6 (03:37:35):
That is gonna be the pinnacle of success, to get
Rick Flair in the ring.

Speaker 4 (03:37:39):
All right, sir? Question from you? Yeah, Hull, you move
from the WWF to the w c W. It's a
big move.

Speaker 6 (03:37:45):
People comparing this move to Joe Montanna's move from the
forty nine Ers to the Chiefs.

Speaker 4 (03:37:49):
God, what do you think about that comparison?

Speaker 15 (03:37:51):
How?

Speaker 6 (03:37:51):
Well, you know something, brother, the big man upstairs, he
moves mountains, dude, and in seven days and seven nights
he created heaven in the Earth, brother, And on the
eighth day, dude, he created whull comedians.

Speaker 4 (03:38:03):
Coming with a W and showing what the strongest force
is all about.

Speaker 5 (03:38:08):
Here's the genesis.

Speaker 2 (03:38:09):
Yes, young lady, God must be front office people.

Speaker 5 (03:38:14):
What w c W wrestlers would you most like to
see in the ring?

Speaker 6 (03:38:18):
Well, you know something, I'm gonna throw that out to
the crowd. I think you dudes can answer that question.

Speaker 4 (03:38:22):
What w c W own?

Speaker 5 (03:38:29):
All right? We had a telephone Paul recently, and we've
got time for one more question, sir.

Speaker 21 (03:38:37):
One of your previous interviews that your son Nicholas asked
you if you could beat Rick Flair?

Speaker 4 (03:38:42):
Do you really let me tell you something.

Speaker 6 (03:38:45):
If you were standing up here and you saw the
look at all these hull comaniacs, siyes. If Rick Flair
was right here right now, I'm letting him put that figure,
poor leglock right on my legs, I'd break the whole
then I'd break him.

Speaker 4 (03:38:57):
Brother, all right, God.

Speaker 5 (03:39:00):
Very very quickly, very quickly.

Speaker 4 (03:39:04):
Oh can you show us those twenty four inch pythons?

Speaker 2 (03:39:07):
Oh my god, I got that.

Speaker 5 (03:39:08):
This man wants to see the twenty four inch pythons.
How about it.

Speaker 2 (03:39:14):
It's gonna rip the shirt.

Speaker 5 (03:39:16):
Get the fuck out, good Gean, look at it, baby,
give me.

Speaker 4 (03:39:22):
Pray, look at him?

Speaker 2 (03:39:25):
Go full pos.

Speaker 4 (03:39:29):
What you're gonna do me, Jean.

Speaker 6 (03:39:31):
When Hulk Hogan Jimmy Hart in My Maniacs run wild
on the WCW, brother, I.

Speaker 4 (03:39:37):
Got a pretty good idea.

Speaker 5 (03:39:40):
These fans are pretty good sampling of what they expect
for this van.

Speaker 4 (03:39:43):
He has arrived.

Speaker 5 (03:39:44):
We made an official the Holsters here, Jimmy Hart is here.
You fans have got what you wanted. This fan part
of the greatest wrestling organization in the world. Hulk, I
gotta tell you it is great to have you back
where you belong.

Speaker 4 (03:39:58):
Let me tell you something.

Speaker 6 (03:39:59):
Me, Gi, I'm gonna get you a ringside seat the
very first time I stepped in the ring of a
the WCW, because it's gonna give you a boost energy.

Speaker 4 (03:40:07):
I might even get you a tag team partner someday.

Speaker 13 (03:40:10):
Brothers, I'd like to do that again.

Speaker 4 (03:40:12):
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 5 (03:40:15):
At Disney MGM in Atlanto, Alright, for the incomparable and
Eric Fishoff and our retired crew, Let's send you back
to Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (03:40:24):
Georgia.

Speaker 5 (03:40:25):
As we take a look at this fantastic crowd on hand,
Ladies and gentlemen, you're the and your nuts all right,
So there it is fans our thanks himself.

Speaker 4 (03:40:36):
I've got at Disney MGM the press Coverridge.

Speaker 13 (03:40:38):
It is final.

Speaker 4 (03:40:39):
Honk Hogan is here.

Speaker 22 (03:40:40):
He is part of World Championship Wrestlings and he will
be live or the Clash of the Champions here on
TBS Thursday, June twenty third. In addition that unification match
we've all been talking about Rick Clarence King to finally
un to buy the titles into one.

Speaker 21 (03:40:56):
What a big night is gonna be live here on
TBS break Well, Hulk Hogan is going to be there.

Speaker 4 (03:41:01):
Well, thank you, mister Hogan. I'm gonna check with our
producers and see if I can.

Speaker 12 (03:41:05):
Get in the ring and introduce interview Halk Hogan and
interview Claire at the same time.

Speaker 4 (03:41:10):
Let him confront them in front of me. Let Hogan
do that. Who what a great night this could be
for Claire.

Speaker 6 (03:41:16):
He can walk out of there with two belts, turn
it into one, walk over the busted carcass and stings
and chase Hogan's yellow tail out.

Speaker 4 (03:41:22):
Of the building. Yes, mister Hogan, it is wonderful to
have you back, certainly, yes, and speaking of.

Speaker 22 (03:41:30):
We will see you next week here on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (03:41:34):
He waves it off, He just walks off. He's fucking fantasmic,
isn't he great?

Speaker 2 (03:41:40):
Like, what a gift to have him working for you? Oh,
I know, bring him in, end up having play against
playoff of Hulk Hogan too. Like it's just brilliant, really
just brilliant.

Speaker 1 (03:41:50):
Kind of you know, from a TV rating standpoint, as
we watched TBS there did not knock it out of
the park. That's something you can't argue. June ninety two
average two point no cable rating for w W June
ninety three, two point zero average cable television rating June
ninety four, including the ticker tape raide we just saw
and a lot of other teases two point zero. So
it's yeah, it didn't have much of a significant spike.

(03:42:15):
But the clash on June twenty third that was referenced
there featured Hulk coke and arriving in a big motorcade.
This is his first in arena appearance with World Championship Wrestling.
Did you be sure to watch this boss, or was
this something.

Speaker 2 (03:42:27):
You heard about? After which I'm sorry say the champions
were hold. I watched the class Oh god, yeah, no, no, no,
I watched this clash. It was it was wonderful and
the poles up you were feeling it, yep, yep.

Speaker 27 (03:42:45):
Hi Hulkster houns a feel this kind of a reception
here on TBS and.

Speaker 2 (03:42:51):
All these signs that they something do you share like
a montage or signs we're.

Speaker 4 (03:42:57):
Going to be excited.

Speaker 6 (03:42:58):
When I signed on the dotted line with a w
c W, and as a momentum built, mean Jean, the
pythons kept getting pumped and more pump.

Speaker 24 (03:43:06):
Brother.

Speaker 6 (03:43:07):
But now that I've actually stepped out here with a
w CW, now that I'm here in Charleston, Brother, I've gotta.

Speaker 2 (03:43:14):
Say, Charleston, South Carolina is not a charitable market.

Speaker 4 (03:43:19):
Andre the Giant, God bless his soul. That was one thing.

Speaker 6 (03:43:22):
But listen to all my hull of aniacs, Brother, listen
to him, me Jean never because his whole comania ran
as wild as it's running right now. Brother, in as
far as Jimmy Hart and myself and all my hulk
of Aniacs go, Brother, this without a doubt.

Speaker 4 (03:43:39):
Is the greatest day of my life. Can you feel it? Brothers.
But there's one other thing. What about this big unification
match tonight, Well, let.

Speaker 6 (03:43:46):
Me tell you something, mean, Jane, I've had those hull Comaniacs.
They're going crazy, brother. But as far as a unification, Dude,
I've been on the top of the mountain for so long.
I didn't think Paul Cookan career could get any higher.
But now that I'm in the WCW, the two greatest
wrestlers of the nineties, Sting and Rick Flair, two great

(03:44:10):
heavyweight champions. Brother, They're gonna get it on tonight, Brother,
for the unification match.

Speaker 4 (03:44:16):
And as far as I'm concerned, the.

Speaker 6 (03:44:18):
Only way haul Comania can live forever is if my
clean up my legacy, dude, And that means I gotta
look in the mirror each and every day, Brother, And
I got ask myself, was I the greatest of all times?
But now with a unification match, one belt, one man,
one champion, and we all know how I feel about
Rick Flair. Whoever wins this match, whether it's Flair or

(03:44:42):
whether it's Sting, that's who I'm gonna set my sights on, Brother,
And that's who I'm going after.

Speaker 14 (03:44:50):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (03:44:51):
Hey, that's what they want to see.

Speaker 7 (03:44:55):
Oh yeah, you're talking to You're talking about Rick Flair.

Speaker 4 (03:45:00):
Hell, what I've been looking for you for a lifetime.

Speaker 28 (03:45:05):
You have a.

Speaker 7 (03:45:05):
Ringside Saints because I'm gonna show you first time why
I have the greatest love all dive.

Speaker 4 (03:45:17):
Wooo. Well, let me tell you something, Rick Flair.

Speaker 6 (03:45:22):
I've been watching you reach in every move for the
last fifteen years. Brother, and I knew someday means Jean
and it would come to this. This is what the
whole world's talking about. Everywhere I go, Brother, from Venis Beach, California,
to New York City, North Pole, South Pole, Japan, and
all points in between, they all say, Hault Cogan, to

(03:45:43):
beat the man. Brother, you gotta beat the man. Haul Cogan.
Will you have a wrestle for Rick Flair? Well, right
now my prayers have been answered by hook or by crook. Someday,
Rick Flair, I'm gonna show you whoo what she gonna do? Brother,
when the host destroys you.

Speaker 5 (03:46:00):
Oh right, ladies, her tournament hunk Kongan his hair and
Royal Tampionship.

Speaker 4 (03:46:03):
Breuth Wayne, We're gonna be done.

Speaker 13 (03:46:06):
Class the Champions five?

Speaker 4 (03:46:08):
Who are tbs? Oh yeah, I'm gonna get.

Speaker 2 (03:46:16):
Listening back to it now you can hear how subdued
and underwhelm the crowd is in some ways. Oh man,
did you feel that when you watched?

Speaker 4 (03:46:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:46:23):
I did, absolutely I did.

Speaker 11 (03:46:24):
I was.

Speaker 2 (03:46:26):
You know, it gave me the same feeling of the
Shawn Michaels and MSG thing you know at first Survivors
series ninety six, like what are they doing? Why are
they like? Why are they booing? Why are they booing?
The the hero? You know, yep, And it definitely was
not I was not happy about that.

Speaker 1 (03:46:47):
They later on do it vignette with Shack which they
shot at Shack's home with him calling it the Hulk
Amania is running wild. And don't forget Shacked not only
was a huge basketball star with the Orlando Magic and
his rookie year, he was a complete sensation. Shoe deals,
candy advertising, all kinds of deals around this guy. For
the very beginning. He was also in Blue Chips, Blue

(03:47:08):
Chips with Nick Nolty. Oh yeah, oh yep, yep, yeah yeah,
built a fucking movie franchise around the guy before he
even really got going in the NBA so that was
a great get for them. Shack huge wrestling fan, as
we found out years later, as he's participated in a
number of WrestleMania's even did an aw match once, and
a guy who you know had a proclivity for Hogan

(03:47:29):
even during T and H remember how random On one
episode of Impact Hogan runs in a Shack backstage of
the Impact Zone. Yep, and it goes nowhere. It's like
fifty second cameo from the guy. So there's that was
another thing, as we said that Hulk cokened up with
very easy access to celebrities in terms of getting them
to agree to appear on ww television, whereas it might

(03:47:49):
have taken a lot more money and prodding and begging
before Hogan came along. And Bash at the Beach serves
us as proof points of that. They also have the
Sting Flair match and Flair gets the one to the
roll up. During the course of the bout, Sherry comes
out and makes her her debut like we talked about
as Rick Flair's second and takes a vicious cross body
to the floor from staying where she seems to really

(03:48:11):
get knocked out, but gets back into the ring and
puts it together an attack Sting.

Speaker 2 (03:48:15):
I mean, I mean, I'm gonna tell you too. Sherry
in Rick Flair's Corner is one of the best things ever.
She has so much to do with why this was
a successful debut for Hull Cogan. Yep, yep, she's so
awesome like her. I mean, we know how awesome she is,
but it's just watching her and watching how she acts

(03:48:36):
towards Hogan is so fucking muss so money.

Speaker 1 (03:48:41):
Yeah, she was a critical part of it, and I
think he knew that he needed as many bells and
whistles as this first match she could get not just
you know, one on one exchanges with his opponents, but
with his opponent, but outside interference and all the high jinks.
And she did a wonderful job, but she always did.
And Flair gets the one with the roll up, defeating
Sting to unify the championships. In the main event of

(03:49:01):
this episode, Clash the Champions, Cherry makes the debut attack
Sting's a big attack on the Stinger and then Hulkkin
makes the save to try to baby face him to
the w's w audience. He does get a pop for that,
but it's still kind of like, you know, you have
to get used to this. You know he hulks like
a hulks like mom's second husband. You know, yes, Like, Oh,

(03:49:22):
he's here, he's saying the right things. He seems like
he wants to be here, but we're not ready to
embrace him yet his belonging and he's still not Dad.
And here are the words Hogan delivers upon the conclusion
of his final his first rather w W live television appearance.

Speaker 6 (03:49:42):
What I gotta do, brother, Now I know what all
the whole commediacs I have to do. Just like I
tore this T shirt apart, Brother, I'm gonna set my
sights on Rick Flair and I'm gonna tear him one
from him.

Speaker 4 (03:49:54):
Let me tell you something, Flair.

Speaker 6 (03:49:56):
In two days, brother, on Saturday, Brother, bring Ted Turner.

Speaker 4 (03:50:01):
Even if I gotta send this arm, I'm gonna bring
a contract and I challenge you. I dare you, Rick Flair.

Speaker 6 (03:50:08):
Let's end the myth. Let's find out who the legend is.
Let's find out who the real heavyweight champions is. I
challenge you, Rick Flair, if you've got the guts, Turner
will be there. I have a contract and what you're
gonna do brother, when the Holster and all my mediacs
destroy you.

Speaker 5 (03:50:26):
All right, ladies and channa man, I got hardly wait
this Sunday Night six a time.

Speaker 18 (03:50:42):
May do his.

Speaker 2 (03:50:58):
And so Ted Turner.

Speaker 1 (03:50:59):
That's your June twenty fourth, nineteen ninety four edition of
WCW Saturday Night. We're gonna watch it along. Here it's
the contract signing. Oh boy, Hulk versus Flair is about
to become official.

Speaker 2 (03:51:10):
Are you ready? Hold on here, let me get the link. Here,
there we go.

Speaker 22 (03:51:19):
I am.

Speaker 2 (03:51:22):
Ready in that case three two one plays that.

Speaker 22 (03:51:28):
Back with you on Saturday Night, meaning you dog Grilynd
has made his way to the CNN Center. History is
about to be made brain hunk Hogan Rick Player the
contract to.

Speaker 5 (03:51:37):
Be signed by Kid Turner.

Speaker 4 (03:51:38):
Well, I'll tell you something.

Speaker 5 (03:51:39):
He better look very carefully at the signature of Hawk
Hogan because.

Speaker 4 (03:51:43):
Hop Hogan is not an honest man.

Speaker 6 (03:51:45):
You're probably use invisible in Let's take you to the
CNN Center and this historic signing for Banks at the Beach.
Welcome to Atlanta, Georgia, home of a cable news network.

Speaker 4 (03:51:57):
Oh my god, the Turner Netward.

Speaker 5 (03:52:00):
World Championship Wrestling for the contract signing for the match
of a century.

Speaker 4 (03:52:05):
Between the challenger Holk Hogan and.

Speaker 7 (03:52:09):
Contract identified world heavyweight from Orlando.

Speaker 2 (03:52:19):
He would write things your host mean party agreed to whatever,
Neil Perlitz says.

Speaker 5 (03:52:28):
Welcome, Ladies and gentlemen, dignitaries, members of the press, and
of course World Championship Wrestling officials in booting present and Bill.

Speaker 2 (03:52:35):
Shaw, portraits of Flair and hope.

Speaker 4 (03:52:38):
To have you here.

Speaker 5 (03:52:39):
World Championship Wrestling longtime manager, the Moth of the South,
Jimmy Hart. Ladies and gentlemen, we are here on this
momentous occasion for the official signing of the contract for
the main event for the biggest pay per view in
the history of professional wrestling, coming up Sunday, July the seventeenth,

(03:53:01):
live from Orlando, Florida and the Orlando Arena. It's not
going to be just another day at the Beach. It's
going to be the Bash at the Beach. And of
that gigantic main event, Paul Covid is going to be
challenging as justin for me, indeed is here at the

(03:53:22):
building and he will be.

Speaker 4 (03:53:24):
Joining us in just a moment.

Speaker 5 (03:53:26):
With that, I would like to introduce to you a
five time World heavyweight champion, undoubtedly the most charismatic athlete
in the world today at a remarkable human being. I
could ruminate on the virtues of this man for a
long long time. Please welcome the Great Paul Cogan.

Speaker 2 (03:53:48):
Unbelievable. This is like the no holds Barred contract signing.

Speaker 4 (03:53:51):
It is yeah, and has promised his opponent.

Speaker 5 (03:53:55):
He newly crowned unified wc W Heavyweight Champ, the stranger
the fans worldwide.

Speaker 4 (03:54:01):
He is the nature boy Rick Flair.

Speaker 2 (03:54:11):
There's Flair looking fully suited with the sunshine.

Speaker 5 (03:54:14):
Yeah, we have both of the principles for the gigantic
main event at the Bash of the Beach. And with that,
it's my pleasure to introduce a man who is here
for the signing. He is the chairman of the board
of Turner Broadcast Systems Incorporated. Ladies and gentlemen, mister Ted Turner.

Speaker 2 (03:54:31):
Amazing.

Speaker 1 (03:54:33):
Yeah, I think it's wild And as we talked about
after the Starcade tour, they should have been he should
have come back to end the nWo.

Speaker 5 (03:54:39):
And with that, yes, let's turn the meeting over to
mister Turner.

Speaker 26 (03:54:42):
Thanks Jeane, it's exciting to be here today for this announcement.
Rest on Turner Network many years ago. It's been exciting
entertainment programming for all our viewers. World Championship Wrestling has
always been one of our most popular programs. The Braves
of a coming wing team in Bay Fall CNN as
the leader in and now w c W is about

(03:55:05):
to dominate the globe and professional wrestling. That's why we're
here today to sign the contact for a match between
two of wrestling's biggest superstars, Ault Cogan and with Flair.
I joined millions of wrestling fans everywhere looking forward to
this great showdown. Now, w c W Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle,
let's get this contract signed.

Speaker 1 (03:55:28):
Sitting at the the table, rule conduct yourself, the man tremendous.

Speaker 5 (03:55:36):
It is expected of both of you, as the professionals
that you are.

Speaker 1 (03:55:39):
Thank you excuse me as they signed the contract here
immediately and said, you know, it's funny Flair never signs.

Speaker 4 (03:55:47):
I guess you'd like that, wouldn't you. Huh?

Speaker 28 (03:55:49):
You know, with all due respect to you, mister Turner,
set it by me and to Cogan. Let's be realistic
for a minute. You know I'm the one who should
be so honored today. I'm sitting with a man it's
made me a millionaire many times over. And I'm sitting

(03:56:09):
with the man who I've been told for the past
ten years at the standard Bearer, it's the man that
made professional wrestling with it is thee the man that's
responsible for the millions of dollars that the wrestlers make,
that makes the industry put it to a new.

Speaker 4 (03:56:29):
Dimension, to go to a new heights. I guess I'm
the honored one.

Speaker 7 (03:56:33):
Yet you pose the question, would the world champion be here?

Speaker 6 (03:56:38):
And you asked the question, No, mister Floyer, let me
tell you the way it really is. You don't have
a choice. You're gonna have to sign that contract, brother,
simply because you couldn't even leave CNN Tower right now.

Speaker 4 (03:56:50):
The maniacs are out in the parking lot waiting on you.

Speaker 16 (03:56:52):
Brother.

Speaker 4 (03:56:52):
You know, it could have very well been staying sitting
across me after what happened last the other night.

Speaker 6 (03:56:58):
But you're gonna have to sign the contract because you're
gonna have to look at your family, yourself every day
for the rest of your life and the mirror, brother,
And as far as I'm concerned, we can do this
thing right now.

Speaker 4 (03:57:08):
And he's mister turnerus. Oh, let's not do anything, do
it make history.

Speaker 7 (03:57:12):
Don't think for one second out with him playing that,
I wasn't gonna sign this.

Speaker 4 (03:57:16):
The main reason I'm here is that when they play
this back on the big.

Speaker 7 (03:57:20):
Screen one hundred years from now, they're gonna say they're
gonna rule out any dope as to who was the best.
Rick Blair or Haulk Cogan, whatever you've been, whatever you are,
movie star, whatever it.

Speaker 4 (03:57:36):
Is, you can't beat Rick Blair.

Speaker 7 (03:57:39):
And I'm not things sitting across from you.

Speaker 5 (03:57:42):
I'm the man pal, the world.

Speaker 7 (03:57:46):
Champion, the new unified world champion.

Speaker 29 (03:57:50):
It's your mind.

Speaker 6 (03:57:51):
Letna tell you something, mister par I'll admit this is
the highest point in Halk Cogan's career, but five times
I've also been the champion. And now that you were
the old the real world's heavyweight champion, my friend, you
talk about making history.

Speaker 4 (03:58:04):
After the Bash at the Beach.

Speaker 6 (03:58:06):
In Orlando, Brother, July seventeenth, they're gonna be history.

Speaker 4 (03:58:10):
And I'm gonna prove the.

Speaker 6 (03:58:10):
Whole w c W and all the whull Cammaniacs, that
whole Comania is the strongest force in the universe.

Speaker 4 (03:58:17):
And I will be the only heavyweight champion.

Speaker 2 (03:58:19):
Of the world, stands up, stand out cut right.

Speaker 4 (03:58:27):
Yeah, why don't you take it out of the only
fashion work to the lifetime.

Speaker 7 (03:58:34):
And you're looking at a greatness in Orlando.

Speaker 3 (03:58:37):
Bash at the beach, that's where that's all.

Speaker 7 (03:58:40):
Let me tell you the whey and the next time
they're gonna be solid profiling is on your ways on
the way out of there, and I'm gonna have around
my waist, you know, as far as I'm concerned me
I was, mister Turner would facing this.

Speaker 4 (03:58:54):
Thing right now.

Speaker 6 (03:58:55):
Brother, I'd like to get you down right here and
teach a whole world of lesson.

Speaker 4 (03:58:58):
That's why seventeen. Yeah, I can wait. But what you're
gonna do, Rick Flaire, one Champion, What you're gonna do?
Whoa you?

Speaker 16 (03:59:12):
What I'm gonna do.

Speaker 4 (03:59:13):
I'm gonna make sure the deck, the deck is so
stacked in Orlando. When you get that custom made.

Speaker 7 (03:59:20):
Viper years and drive that long drive back to Tampa,
Florida and to that castle you have built down the island,
it will be the low list.

Speaker 4 (03:59:28):
Night of your life.

Speaker 7 (03:59:30):
All the prayers, all the vitamins, everything that you and Orlando,
you would Orlando, my friends a.

Speaker 5 (03:59:39):
P the best thing go to that sets the scene
for the Big One in Orlando on Sunday the seventeenth.

Speaker 2 (03:59:47):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 5 (03:59:49):
Paul Cogan has now exited the room. Say, ladies and gentleman,
I strongly suggest you call your local cable company right
now as World Championship Wrestling presents the Big One, the
Fash at the Beach live from Orlando, July seventeenth.

Speaker 4 (04:00:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (04:00:07):
It's the lab Fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that

(04:00:40):
knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan.

(04:01:16):
He's an Lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and for Seo,
MJP Soorro.

Speaker 1 (04:01:22):
Wow, it's pretty good stuff. Yeah, it's pretty good stuff.
The way escalated and they cut promise, but again Flair
never signs the contract. He forgets to do it, he goes,
Hogan storms out of the room. We can assume he
does it after Hogan leaves. But it's funny. Neil pro
recounting and Guy Evans Beyond Nitro book about getting this
whole thing together. I rounded up Ted, Bill Sean, a
couple of other people that were really important, and I

(04:01:44):
told them how he wanted to make this thing go down.
Ted was all fine with everything. I mean, he was
like that every time I ever dealt with him. When
I wrote a script for him, I was thinking that
when I sent to his assistant it would be sent
back in a couple of hours with a bunch of
changes or something like that. But I think I got
that thing back in about half an hour. Yeah, okay,
Ted'll do it.

Speaker 2 (04:01:58):
Wow, no problem, I'm fine to me. So read best
script I ever read.

Speaker 1 (04:02:05):
The greatest matches and old Championship wrestling. We're happy to
have our Championship Wrestling on TVs Superstation for many years.
It's been great entertainment for our fans. And as far
as directing, Ted goes Neil says, I don't know if
i'd call it directing so much as suggesting the pattern
of which we were going to do things. But it
was the biggest shoot in my wrestling career without question.

(04:02:25):
The Hull Coke and Rick Clair confrontation at the negotiating
table with Ted Turner at the head of it. Ted
wanted to sign the match on TV and we wanted
it to look like a live press conference. So there
you go, Ted Turner, Wow. Putting his impromad on the
whole deal wrestling fans with oblivion wrestling with Oblivion rather

(04:02:46):
Hogan and Flair get in the ring. This is none
other than future WCW television commentator Mark Madden taking to
the pages of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to get a
set for Baschel at the Beach nineteen ninety four. As
we wrap up our look through some of the mainstream
coverage of this thing, and this is where we go
back to the fact, I think that we won't get

(04:03:07):
there quite yet, but this is an interview that Madden
did with Flair. Of course, Madden for short pen of time,
but even co host a podcast with Rick Flair and
have a good relationship with Rick. I was able to
get him get quotes from him throughout the course of
Flair's career. So let's convey to the Solar System boss
what was in the pages of the Pittsburgh Post gazettehead
of the Big One.

Speaker 2 (04:03:26):
Oh Okay. Enthusiasm about pro wrestling is at an all
time low, which is a pity since one of its
all time most interesting matches occurs Sunday. World Championship Wrestling's
Rick Flair is hoping his Bash at the Beach main
event match with Hulk Hogan will jumpstart interest in pro wrestling.

(04:03:49):
The Bash Card, which will be held in Orlando, Florida,
will be shown live on pay per view Sunday. Flair,
ww's World champion has never wrestled former World Wrestling Entertainment
champ Hulk Hogan on pay per view. The wrestlers, both
in their forties, are generally regarded as the United States
Pro Wrestling's top drawing cards. Ever, this is the.

Speaker 4 (04:04:11):
Biggest match ever.

Speaker 29 (04:04:13):
It brings the two biggest names of the modern era
of wrestling together, and it means WCW have finally has
in Hulk Hogan, the vehicle it needs to take it
to the level of notoriety in perfect I can tell
you just heard Rick go Off.

Speaker 2 (04:04:34):
I can tell you just hearn Rick go Off. I
think this match has something going for it. It's the
only match people have talked about about for the past
three years. Flayer's an eleven time world champ. He was
in the WWE and held its title twice a few
years back. At forty five, he is still regarded as

(04:04:57):
US wrestling's best in ring performer. Hogan, a five time
world champion, was almost single handedly responsible for the wrestling
boom in the eighties. He has recently spent much of
his time taping and promoting his syndicated TV series Thunder
in Paradise. He was a cornerstone of Vince McMahon's w
W from nineteen eighty four into leaving the promotion last year.

(04:05:18):
Hogan signed with Ted Turner own WCW. A few weeks ago.
WWEE owner Vince McMahon is on trial in New York
for distributing, distributing, and conspiring to distribute anabolic steroids. Hogan
testified at the trial yesterday, saying that he had used
steroids for thirteen years and that wrestlers routinely used and

(04:05:39):
shared steroids. Hogan, while saying that he often ordered steroids
through McMahon's personal secretary, testified that McMahon never told him
to use steroids. Hogan, ironically has long said his physique
in arms, his twenty twenty inch pythons are the results
of quote training, prayers and vitamin He's having fun.

Speaker 4 (04:06:03):
Yes he is.

Speaker 2 (04:06:04):
The flair Hogan match would have been who would have
done gargantuan business during wrestling's peak period in the mid eighties.
But it is nothing if not historic. I say we're
the biggest names and the modern era, but I think
we're probably the biggest names ever. I'm making an effort
to be somewhat modest. The result of this, like all

(04:06:27):
wrestling matches, is predetermined, but this result is well guarded.
Our pic Flair the bad guy who Who? That definitely
says who with an age Yeah not woo.

Speaker 1 (04:06:42):
Same paper, Pittsburgh Post Becazet July seventeenth and ninety four.
They caught up with Eric Bischoff because he has the
Pittsburgh connection and it's not just around hogies. Eric Bischoff
moved from Detroit to Pennhill aged twelve in nineteen sixty seven.
It was like a dream come true. I was miserable
in Detroit, Bischoff said. When my family moved to Pennhills,
it was like I died gone to heaven tonight. Thanks
to Bischoff, a lot of pro wrestling fans will think

(04:07:03):
they've died and gone to heaven. Bischoff, the executive producer
for Ted turn Around. World Championship Wrestling, is put together
PROG Wrestling's dream match legendary WCW champion Nature Boy Rick
Flair against former World Wrestling Federation standard bearer Holkogen. The match,
which takes place in Orlando, Florida, will be broadcast across
the country at seven pm on on pay per view television. Bischoff,
thirty nine, is in charge of all wrestling operations and

(04:07:24):
television production for the company. He also serves as an
on air personality, doing play by play on the syndicated
w W Worldwide TV show. Eric's the most innovative guy
in the wrestling business right now, said Flair, who coordinates
ww's wrestling talent in addition to serving as its world champion.
He has a dream he sees where wrestling can be
in five years and is involving us with Disney MGM.
Was tremendous for our company. WW tapes much of its

(04:07:44):
TV at the Disney MGM studios in Orlando. Bischoff lives
in Penn Hills for only a few years, moving to
Minneapolis with his family in nineteen seventy, but Bischoff has
fond memories of the community. Some of the most fun
I had as a kid I had in Pennhills, he said.
I went to Lincoln Intermediate, Seneca Junior High. I still
keep in touch. Okay, no one cares about this now
he hangs out with Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair. Bischoff
first got involved with wrestling in nine eighty seven with

(04:08:06):
the now defunct American Wrestling Association in Minneapolis. I was
involved with the marketing and syndication, and then I became
a TV announcer, basically by accident, Bischoff said. One day
a regular TV announcer was unavailable for whatever reason. I
was the only one in the building in the suit
and tie, so I was forced into it.

Speaker 2 (04:08:20):
I was horrible. He got better.

Speaker 1 (04:08:21):
Bischoff moved to WW at nineteen ninety one as a
TV announcer. I really don't know how I got in
an administration, said Bischoff. WW was really in a state
of disarray the last few months previous management ran the company.
WW decided to hire an executive producer. I applied, I interviewed,
and I got it. Bischoff was appointed executive producer in
late nineteen ninety two. At mid nineteen ninety three, Bischoff's
job was expanded to put him in charge of the
majority of administrative aspects of WCW. In the long run,

(04:08:44):
Bischoff may be best remembered for the lining WW with
Disney MGM. But right now he's the man who revived Hulkmania.
Hogan left the WWF last year. He's taping episodes of
his syndicated TV series Thunder and Paradise. When Bischoff first
contacted him. Hogan's wtw contract is the most lucrative per
performance deal in wrestling history. We were talking with Hulk
for a year. Bischoff said, Now I'm pretty much a

(04:09:05):
year really a year?

Speaker 4 (04:09:07):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (04:09:08):
Does that sound right to you?

Speaker 4 (04:09:09):
A year?

Speaker 2 (04:09:10):
That does not sound right at all.

Speaker 1 (04:09:11):
Now I'm pretty much wrapped up in the excitement of
the match, which has two of the most famous wrestlers
of our time finally meeting on pay per view. There's
some anxiety like, gosh, what if it doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (04:09:19):
I mean that means you were talking from the moment
he left King of the Ring.

Speaker 1 (04:09:23):
That doesn't sound right to me. He said all that
Japan stuff and he did all the European tour for WWF. Yeah,
there's some anxiety like gosh, what if it doesn't work?
But if you look at all the excitement that's been
generated already, you can already see it has wrestling's popularity
peaked in the mid eighties, interests down now, Bischoff hopes
Hogan's comeback and pick things up. The goal today is
not to make a huge amount of money, although we
like a big payday, he said. The goal is to

(04:09:44):
move in the right direction. It's all about building momentum
the event. This event will do that with Hulk Hogan,
It's pretty obvious that we are the number one organization
in pro wrestling today. We have the best talent and
the most exciting wrestling. TV stations are clearing time for us.
Now that we have Hulk, Cable systems that never considered
carrying our paper views are carrying this one. We've created
a lot of awareness. Hulk was on the Regions and

(04:10:04):
Kathy Lee show Monday and he said that all of
a sudden wrestling school again. I hope he's right, Bischoff said.

Speaker 6 (04:10:10):
So.

Speaker 1 (04:10:10):
The business was tremendous. If you compare ninety four Bash
at the Beach to July ninety three Beach Blast WCW
saw a fifty one percent increase in the buy rate
WOW and a fifty five point five percent increase in
overall pay per view event revenue. According to Dave Meltzer,
it's fourteen thousand fans for the ninety four bash compared
to eight thousand, six hundred for ninety three. Nine hundred

(04:10:33):
eleven of those paid for a one hundred and forty
thousand dollars gate compared to a paltry thirty three thousand
dollars gate.

Speaker 2 (04:10:40):
You the nineteen ninety three Beach.

Speaker 1 (04:10:41):
Blast, that's an estimated one point two by rate. Again
has discussed. Point eight was thought to be like the
watermark they'd have to meet to be able to afford Hogan.
So Hogan more than paid for himself in the beginning
estimated two point five to eight million grossed and pay
per view revenue compared to just one point one eight
million the year before. It was an absolute smashing success,

(04:11:02):
and the next year went way down. Ninety five Bash
at the Beach went back down to nine thousand fans,
but those that was free admission with no livegate two
point three to seven million pay per viewgate gross compared
to two point five and ninety four, so a drop
of nineteen point six and by rate, and a drop
of twelve in event revenue. So this was this was
the flashpoint YEP Orlando Sentinel, they went pretty hard covering

(04:11:26):
this thing because has mentioned Hulkokein had a ton of
poll in the Orlando market. He's kind of also like
a local guy, you know, to the press Downer and
the fact that the event is the big event is
taking place in Orlando led to a ton of coverage.
So his quick sample of it, Boss, if you could
share with us with the Orlando Sentinel published on July
eighteenth and ninteen ninety four entitled Wrestling Fever has hold

(04:11:46):
on Hulk Fans.

Speaker 2 (04:11:49):
Ten year old Matthew Anderson and his pal Kevin Jenkins
and Tyler Brewer arrived at the Orlando Arena Sunday, armed
with megaphones and ready to jeer. Now we're a hull
Hogan fans, said Matthew, whose father drove the boys from
Jacksonville to see what wrestling promoters were billing as the
quote match of the century, and the crowd of more
than ten thousand came to boo. Ringside interviews were drowned

(04:12:15):
out by booze, and by the time fireworks signaled the
beginning of the pay per view of vend to seven PM,
the crowd was frenzied. They booed wrestler's Lord Stephen regal
four hundred and fifty pounds Vader and the Bad Attitude
tag team, but they saved their lustiest booze for Rick
Flair World Championship Wrestling's bad Boy Champion. By the end

(04:12:37):
of the evening, however, Hogan pinned Flare to the mat
to win the title. Orlando Magic Center Shaquille O'Neal, on
hand to present the winner with the championship belt, jumped
into the ring to congratulate Hogan, and the crowd erupted.
It was a clearly partisan crowd, packed with children and
adults wearing Hulk Hogan bandanas and T shirts and carrying
homemade Hulk banners and signs, and no wonder. Hogan's television

(04:13:02):
series Tunder in Paradise is filmed in Central Florida, and
the Hulkster, as he is known by his fans, grew
up in Tampa. Hogan's gonna win, fourteen year old John
Zedek of Orlando, promised hours before the match. Although most
fans acknowledge that the matches are choreographed and the endings

(04:13:22):
are predetermined, they love to watch a good show. That's
further down in the article than we usually get That yes, indeed, Yes,
it's that good versus evil script that keeps the thirty
million wrestling fans in the country turning in each week,
tuning in each week, said George O'Brien, a University of
Minnesota professor who has written a book on wrestling. Perhaps,

(04:13:46):
you know, people like it because it is predictable, O'Brien said,
much the way they tuned in to watch westerns or
on television. Even though the white hatted good guys nearly
always defeated the black Cats, for many fans, it was
the lure of Hogan that brought them to Orlando. Sixty
three year old Luena Smith drove from Crescent City to

(04:14:10):
watch Hogan with the hope of getting her two foot
tall Hulk Hogan doll Audio grabbed. I have followed him
since he started wrestling, Smith said. Hulk, she said, would
definitely win the evening's final bout. But if he didn't,
I've got my Nitri glistern with me, she said. Not

(04:14:31):
everyone at the arena was a certain a Hogan victory
was assured. Yeah, you know, I want Hogan to win,
said twenty four year old Tom Keenel of Orlando. My
prediction is that Flare o'll win, and when then the
Jaquille O'Neal and Flair are gonna go at it all. Yeah,
you know, fuck it yeah, spoken like a true like

(04:14:57):
sports authority type douchebag, you know. Yeah, yeah, I'll tell
you I've seen a lot of these. I know exactly
what's going to happen. Yeah, the the you know, I've
I've actually, you know, I've actually I've talked to some
whole wrestling bookers, you know. He says, bookers here and there, bookers,
you know, and so I kind of know how the

(04:15:17):
whole thing works. And I can guarantee you Ric Flair
is going to win this match.

Speaker 1 (04:15:21):
Well, I think I know boss where he gets the
idea that Shaquille O'Neil is going to get physically involved.
He probably watched this on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (04:15:28):
Night, Orlando.

Speaker 30 (04:15:29):
July seventeenth. Haulcomania is back w C w Rick Flair.
How can you beat the man when you ain't beat
the man? Hulcomania is back July seventeenth, Baby Toly seventeen.
Be there because I'll be there giving the championship belt
to the winner.

Speaker 2 (04:15:46):
Shaquilla Terrible, Uh, please continue. It wasn't to happen for
much of the thirty minute match, Hogan man handled Flair.
Flair fought back thanks to a few dirty tricks, but
the evening, perhaps predictably, belonged to Hogan. Fans gave Hogan
a standing ovation at the conclusion, and then streamed out

(04:16:06):
to the souvenir stands, where the only merchandise on sale
was Hulk Hogan paraphernalia. Hey said, one salesman broke, Flair
doesn't sell. Not true at all. He sells pretty damn well. Actually,
Flair doesn't sell. That's the first time I've ever heard
that one. Yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 (04:16:25):
Well, that's the mania created around Bash at the Beach
ninety four. As part of the charm offensive, try to
get people to buy and to see Hulk Cogan in
a different light. He hits of all circuits, the Jay
Leno circuit and goes face to face with his future
Roade Wild opponent.

Speaker 5 (04:16:42):
The last time you were here, like mister Counton, you
had a suitain tie.

Speaker 19 (04:16:46):
Well, you know what's kind of time to put the
Superman clothes on. Time for the Red and Yellow. Because
just like Jay said, this Sunday.

Speaker 6 (04:16:52):
Night, Oh I know a chance in the world heavyweight
Champions six time, and.

Speaker 4 (04:17:02):
So why are you coming? Tell us why you're coming
out of her time?

Speaker 19 (04:17:07):
Well, there's a lot of reasons. Yeah, that's why I
love to do. That's what I love to do. And
I've got two small kids, Nicholas and Brook. And Brook
is six years old and she kind of caught the
tail end of hul Comnia.

Speaker 4 (04:17:17):
Now my son Nicholas is going to be for July
twenty seventh, and he's all the time on side.

Speaker 19 (04:17:21):
Of these autographs. While I'm doing Thunder and Paradise STI
in Disney, He's going, Dad, why are you signed at
hul Cogan? I thought you were Hurricane Spencer. That's the
Navy seal name.

Speaker 4 (04:17:29):
Oh, I say, that's in the TV show.

Speaker 16 (04:17:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:17:31):
And so now all of a sudden, Nicholas is going, Dad,
I want you to wrestle them.

Speaker 19 (04:17:34):
So when I take him to McDonald's wherever Nicholas goes,
gals dude.

Speaker 4 (04:17:38):
And then my daughter Brooke is going like this all
the time.

Speaker 12 (04:17:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:17:42):
So that's where I see a woman going like that's
one good reason. Yeah. So they don't know you was
so they know you was the thespian huh oh actor? Yeah,
right now, Are you wrestling with your kids? You teach
them to rest?

Speaker 19 (04:17:58):
Yeah, we've got a thing, well even before the Lion
King came out, we've got a thing we do called
playing lion, you know, playing lion, and my wife when
I do that, well, I keep underwrock anyway, you know.

Speaker 2 (04:18:10):
Are you playing lion or you justly kids?

Speaker 19 (04:18:19):
But I crawled around and my kids get on my back,
you know, and I try to buck them off, and
finally when I buck them up, then they get down
after they get tired of being thrown around, and they
play little Lion.

Speaker 4 (04:18:28):
He was kind of like a rustling for the kids. Well, man,
they've been marrying how long years? Seven years? Okay?

Speaker 5 (04:18:34):
Now, now obviously were you was your wife or wrestling
fan when you met?

Speaker 4 (04:18:39):
Did you see you in the ring? And that's how
you know she wasn't? She was a manicurist.

Speaker 19 (04:18:43):
Lley and I just finished a Rocky three movie and
all of a sudden I was in a place called
the Red Onion and I was standing there, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (04:18:51):
A place, so you were like, babe, I believe that
actually cruising for babe, not looking for a wife, cruising
cruising for babe.

Speaker 19 (04:19:00):
And I saw Linda and I said, oh my god,
that could be championship material there and then and the
next thing I knew, you know, I kind of watched
her and I reached out and grabbed her when she
walked by, and.

Speaker 4 (04:19:09):
Said, reach out and grabbed her once you walked by,
And I said, how'd you like to have a drink?
And she says no, And then I grabbed her again
when she came out of the doctor. I don't know,
you know, it's just and she goes, weren't you weren't
you in that movie? I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
was in the movie.

Speaker 19 (04:19:25):
And so, to make a long story short, I called
her the next day and her mother answered the phone.

Speaker 5 (04:19:29):
When her mom, come let me, I went back up
a minute now, I didn't she said, weren't you in
Rocky three?

Speaker 4 (04:19:33):
Or did you say?

Speaker 5 (04:19:35):
You know? I come on, come on, I.

Speaker 4 (04:19:38):
Know guys, she said it.

Speaker 17 (04:19:39):
She said it.

Speaker 4 (04:19:40):
You didn't say it.

Speaker 2 (04:19:41):
She said it.

Speaker 19 (04:19:42):
And the next day when I called her, mom kind
of put her hand over the phone and uh, one
of this other guys called from the Rocky movie said
mister t you know, and I kind of could hear
it through her hand and she goes, ask Hima's name.
She forgot my name. So you know we've been what
do you say, Hope the time I did he said,
this is Hope the rice and say Hope. Sure, no,

(04:20:05):
it doesn't it says Terry, Terry, Terry Paul Covin. Still surprise,
they know that?

Speaker 6 (04:20:15):
Is it?

Speaker 28 (04:20:15):
Like this?

Speaker 5 (04:20:16):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (04:20:17):
Excuse me when you sign it? Sign it Terry with
a y, not an eye, the eye with a little circle.
Does your family worry about injuries? Is that a bit
like the kids, Oh, Daddy's going to get hurt and
allsta Well, they.

Speaker 19 (04:20:31):
Do, because you know, whenever we go out there, that's
one of the things that people don't realize about wrestling.
You know, even though it's a controlled situation.

Speaker 16 (04:20:37):
We're out there to entertain.

Speaker 4 (04:20:38):
There's people the control like man, because if it's fake,
that means you didn't get hurt, and you get hurt. Control. Yeah,
And we go out there and we work as hard
as we can to have good masters. I'm going to
give you. Do you as you ever think you'll see

(04:21:03):
that you'll have no get knocked out by a woman.
One time the red oneon about dolls and was.

Speaker 19 (04:21:12):
In Madison Square Garden and this is the bad guy.
His manager was a woman, and when she jumped up
on the apron, I pointed my finger out of the
teller to get down in her seat, and when she
slapped me, she kind of cupped her hand and hit
my ear like like that, and it kind of knocked
me out.

Speaker 4 (04:21:24):
On my feet.

Speaker 19 (04:21:25):
And the first thing that happens when you get knocked out,
you straighten your legs out, but usually you're laying on
your back. But I was looking with the bounce off
my knees.

Speaker 4 (04:21:32):
I was walking around the ring and knocked out from
the lady, you know.

Speaker 16 (04:21:38):
Like a box.

Speaker 4 (04:21:39):
Have you done that? You're rocky? Well, you guys saw it.

Speaker 16 (04:21:41):
I did a Rocky Balboa and.

Speaker 4 (04:21:44):
Not the movies, but I mean in in a in
a real match.

Speaker 19 (04:21:47):
Uh No, I'd never got in there and boxed a box.
So I was in the ring two weeks ago. George Foreman,
Oh yeah, it was sparring. I just well, he was
helping me out with the promotion, working out with me,
you know, because this guy in rustling, Rick Flair, he
throws these punches on the brake, you know, kind of
over the for his shoulder, So George.

Speaker 4 (04:22:01):
Gotta watch out for that. Punch. I've been washing.

Speaker 19 (04:22:03):
So we went out there and worked out at the
center there in Houston, the at the airport, and it's
a good reality check.

Speaker 4 (04:22:09):
George. It's pretty hard. Unbelievable, isn't He had me so hard.
I have my hands of like this doing the rope
a dope.

Speaker 19 (04:22:15):
George hit me so hard in my arm my body
went numb. He's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (04:22:21):
Do you think he's like a fat guy or something.

Speaker 2 (04:22:23):
He's not.

Speaker 19 (04:22:24):
It's like this, he's not by hitting the cattle and
he's so big you think he's sloped, but he's so
fast you can't even see him.

Speaker 4 (04:22:30):
It's like he's all over the place.

Speaker 3 (04:22:31):
Oh, he's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (04:22:32):
It's great. Okay, So the big matches, uh Cogan Lady gum.

Speaker 2 (04:22:42):
Hice, so immediate hit for the Hulk strike. Guess all
of a sudden, w W wrestlers are on Leno. What
a wor world. And like I said, Leno.

Speaker 1 (04:22:49):
Would eventually be in a w CW ring. Even more
insane for someone who's laughing in Hulk's.

Speaker 2 (04:22:54):
Face about being really true.

Speaker 1 (04:22:56):
So this is the big one, and we're gonna close
with this article from the Orlando Sentinel that sets it nicely.
July sixteenth is the date. Cheers jeers, wrestlers are primed,
fans are pumped for Sunday's epic fight. Yes, the Showdown
of Good versus Evil, a grappling match of gargantuan proportion,
and it will be staged right here in Central Florida's lab.

Speaker 2 (04:23:19):
You're damn right it will be.

Speaker 1 (04:23:20):
If you haven't heard or been pelted by radio and
TV ads for this huge pay per view event, take note.
On Sunday night, the Orlando Arena will be the site
of pro wrestling's biggest match in gears, as the wrestler
turned TV star Hulcogan takes on Big Mouth's bad Boy
Rick Flair, the eleven time champion of World Championship Wrestling.
The Bash at the Beach, as the event is being dubbed,
will bring thousands of rabbit wrestling hungry fans to downtown

(04:23:43):
Orlando for the comeback of hul Cogan, the good guy
phenomenon of the nineteen eighties who propelled professional wrestling into
the mainstream. The match is attracting big names, including wrestling
fan Shiquil O'Neal will be on hand to present the
championship belt to the winner, and across the country, fans
are eagerly plunking down the twenty four to ninety five
pay per view fee for the chance to watch Hogan
return to the squared Circle. That's the ring for those
unfamiliar with wrestling vernacular. We're billing it as the match

(04:24:05):
of the century between two of the greatest superstars of
wrestling ever, said Alan Sharp at w W spokesman. When
you ask anybody on the street to name two wrestlers,
Hulk Cogan is going to be one of them. The
other guy who's right up there is Rick Flair. For fans,
the match is history and the making. This wrestling event
is like of epic proportions, said Chuck Tias, a twenty
five year old salesman at Enterprise seventeen oh one, an
Orlando comic book and game store. It's like Superman versus

(04:24:28):
Spider Man. When tickets went on sale, Tias was quick
to snap up good seats and over to Orlando Arena
management is preparing for a full scale invasion of wrestlers
and fans. It really is more than just a wrestling event,
said Steve Cox, event's manager for the area. It's a
television extravaganza that we fireworks and we're bringing in sixty
three tons of sand so we can set up a
whole beach at one end of the areas.

Speaker 2 (04:24:51):
Yes, got to bury me under it, Bron, What do
you doing? What do you move sand?

Speaker 1 (04:24:55):
The signs of time or passing hul Coogan by I
mean it's that symbolic, dude, I mean what. Although the
hosts of the action will occur in the ring, the
wrestlers will be introduced in the beach area, surrounded by
surfboards and sailboats. Arena officials also plan to beef up
security along the alleyway where the wrestlers will make their entrances.
To wrestling fans, these people are their stars. It's going

(04:25:15):
to be it's like going to the Academy Awards. Cock said,
we do have security lining the area where the wrestlers
come in and make sure that the fans don't grab
the wrestlers and hang on to them. In addition to O'Neil,
who are bortally as a big Hulkogan fan, patrons also
will get to see former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman.

Speaker 2 (04:25:32):
That's not true.

Speaker 1 (04:25:32):
He did not show Up, who will serve as Hogan's
trainer for the event. Mister Ta, former wrestler and star
of TV's A Team, will also be there, and fans
who attend should be able to spot baseball great Hank Aaron,
who has one of the one hundred dollars seats near
the ring. Fans have been snatching up tickets as close
to the action as possible. Most of the seats in
the arena's lower bowl, which are priced at one hundred

(04:25:54):
and fifty, thirty five and eighteen dollars, have been sold,
but tickets in the upper bowl are still available for
fifteen day ten dollars. The seats in the upper bowl
are going to sell at the last minute. That's the
walk up crowd. Cock said the people who were buying
in the lower bowl were the ones who were excited
who bought their tickets early. The Rick Flair Hulk Cogan
match is the main event, but fans will see five
matches beforehand. The pro wrestlers are set to start at

(04:26:15):
seven pm. Our Ready managers expect the twelve thousand, five
hundred tickets for the match may sell out based on
previous two wrestling shows. The match marks Hogan's returned to
wrestling after almost two years. Now it's two years.

Speaker 2 (04:26:26):
Okay, okay, I'll take almost two years. That's fine.

Speaker 1 (04:26:29):
Tampa native whose real name is Terry Jean Blea Hogan
retired from wrestling to spend more time with his family. Recently,
he has spent most of his time working on his
syndicated television show Thunder and Paradise, which is filmed at
Disney MGM Studios. His bout in or Landel will be
his first appearance in the ring since he testified in
a New York court Thursday that he used steroids when
he was with the World Wrestling Federation. Hogann earned immunity
by testifying against his former boss WWF motor Vince McMahon,

(04:26:52):
whom Hogan accused of supplying him with steroids in the past.
Hogan has vigorously denied using steroids. Despite that controversy, Hogan's
returned to wrestling could help revive a business that needs him.
Although pro wrestling is an industry worth more than three
hundred and sixty million a year, and it's in this country,
wherever the fuck they got that number from, it has
been stressed a bunch of bullshit, I mean anything it
has been struggling lately to keep the fans interested. Fans

(04:27:13):
have gotten so accustomed to watching it on television, said
Eric Ditchoff, senior vice president of World Championship Wrestling. They
called Eric Bischoff ditch off with a diceit that was.

Speaker 2 (04:27:23):
That wasn't okay. I was wondering if that was a
mistake on your part, if that was a legit fucking
ditch off.

Speaker 1 (04:27:28):
That's spectacular that promoters are having trouble selling tickets to
live matches. The only exceptions he sat or blockbuster events
such as the Flair Hogan match to excite the fans,
the WCW, the Atlanta arrival of the WWF Wood Hogan
back into the ring. Without question, he is the most
widely recognized and popular wrestler in the history of our business.
At Bischoff, I felt he was the one star that

(04:27:48):
we could put at the top of our organization, that
could put WCW on top, or that would rather put
WCW on On June fourth, Hogan signed a contract for
with the WCW for an undisclosed demount. The contract didn't
stipulate how often Hogan would wrestle, but that he would
make what Bischoff called consistent and regular appearances for the WCW.
But the producers at WCW are confident that the addition

(04:28:10):
of Hogan will mean more publicity and more money, and
Saturday's matchup Sunday's matchup brother should be a blockbuster money maker,
especially when it comes to pay per view dollars. From
a bottom line type of number, this will probably double
anything that we've ever done, said Bischoff, but he declined
to be more specific. The appeal of professional wrestling is
lost on most Many people vitally begin to this point. Why,
for instance, would anyone regularly tune in and watch matches

(04:28:31):
in which the outcome has been predetermined? What is it
about wrestling which has been labeled a junk sport, not
unlike junk food that keeps fans coming back. People like
it because it is predictable with a certain number of
variations on a theme, said George O'Brien, a University of
Minnesota professor Let's Go and co author of Wrestling to
Wrestle an ancient sport to American spectacle like the old Westerns,

(04:28:53):
in which the white hats were good guys and the
black hats were bad guys is that is satisfying. Added
to that list is the cartoon like to mention of
pro wrestling fans yell and scream and hate the bad guys.
The bad guys hit the good guys with chairs, and
the good guys retaliate, but amazingly no one gets hurt
or should we say seriously hurt. The audience plays along
and everyone says it's all in good fun. Fans recognize

(04:29:16):
that the action is faked, O'Brien said, but they don't care.
It's much like the theater or the movies. I don't
expect that murder victim on stage to actually be dead,
and I know that my hero will come back in
another film, he said. I simply want to see a
good performance. Once found primarily at backwoods county fairs and circuses,
pro wrestling today stages its glitzy pay per view events

(04:29:37):
in an upscale, big city arenas. The ticket prices, which
in go upwards of one hundred dollars for ringside seats,
reflect the changing demographics of today's wrestling audience. The crowd
is everyone from five year old kids to eighty year
old men and women's At twenty four year old Tom Jacob,
an avid wrestling fan from Orlando who cannot attend the
Hogan Flair match because he has to work no good
stuff what wow, Just don't have to mention that that

(04:29:58):
he can't go. I know, I've seen people pull up
their old beat up pickup trucks, and I've seen people
pull up in their Mercedes. But the core audience for wrestling,
says author O'Brien, miss kids, most of whom are under
the age of fifteen, and blue collar adults. The primary
fans are people whose own lives are not associated with grandeur.

Speaker 2 (04:30:15):
And dress up glits. That's funny.

Speaker 1 (04:30:18):
You can tell that by the chatter of the wrestlers
who say things like I'm just a poor boy who
made it. They try to identify with a blue collar,
the down and out, But the fans say what they
want is a little goofy, hammed up entertainment. It's live
comic books, said Tias, wrestling fan and comic book Salesman's
good versus Evil. It's like watching Superman fight the bad guys.
Tias and Jacob find wrestling and it's soap opera week

(04:30:39):
to week hygiens entertaining. You can become good to bad overnight.
If you don't work out as a good guy, brother,
you can become a bad guy. If you're not getting
enough people in the gate. Is a good guy brother,
then to become a bad guy. Tayas said, we laugh
about that because people forget overnight. Fans clamor to sit
near the ring or the entryway with the wrestlers march
into the arena. I like to send along the alleyway

(04:31:00):
where they come in or near the ring. That way
you get to yell or boom when they come by.
Jacob said, that's the whole fun.

Speaker 2 (04:31:05):
You can do that anyway, the yelling and booing. You're
just having fun. Mm hm, And so were we as
we prepare to deep dive Bash at the Beach presenting
the final go home promos from the Nature Boy and
then of course, the man of the Hour hul.

Speaker 4 (04:31:21):
Cocin at the Bash.

Speaker 5 (04:31:24):
Back to the most exciting match in world Championship Wrestling history,
the main event at the Bash at the Beach tonight,
The phenomenon Knowing is hul Cocin with mister T in
his corner, his longtime friend meets World Heavyweight Champion The
Nature Boy, Rick Blair, who has guaranteed us that sensuous
Sherry will be in his corner now. Later on, I'm

(04:31:46):
going to be talking to the hoster. But right now,
let's hear from the champ, the nature boy, Rick Flair.

Speaker 4 (04:31:51):
Hey, Sherry, he's.

Speaker 7 (04:31:53):
Got basketball player, he's got boxers, he's got actors from Hollywood.
What does that mean to the great Rustle alive? Nothing
that gave us over that Chayer's up Tonight you gotta
Rustle and you gotta produce, and tonight you.

Speaker 6 (04:32:14):
Gotta face Flair and the sensuous to.

Speaker 4 (04:32:17):
One, and baby, we're gonna.

Speaker 6 (04:32:19):
Be back to back and side to side, right, Cherry,
that's right, Hogan, bring all your little friends there.

Speaker 7 (04:32:25):
You got a little thun trouble with thunder and paradise,
but that's okay.

Speaker 13 (04:32:29):
Come into this world.

Speaker 17 (04:32:30):
Come in with everything you got, because.

Speaker 7 (04:32:32):
Nothing you look got is going to bring the next
boy down.

Speaker 13 (04:32:36):
He is the man Tonight, tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (04:32:40):
Night, every night, every day, every year.

Speaker 7 (04:32:43):
What a doll over, Hogan, You're gonna stay there, So what.

Speaker 13 (04:32:48):
Called and all this whooo.

Speaker 5 (04:32:51):
You're gonna be re emphasized. Rick Blair has guaranteed us
that censure with Sherry tonight will be in his corner
when he meets Hulk Cogan at the Bash of the
Beach now has promised standing by. Let's get comments from
Hull Cogan.

Speaker 4 (04:33:09):
Wall to nice to night, to nice to night, baby
Pash of the beach Land. Well you know something, Jimmy Hart,
You squeaking a mouse. The hawk of.

Speaker 6 (04:33:22):
Phone is not the only thing that's going to be ringing,
brother in just a few short hours in the Orlando Arena. Brother,
the greatest match in the history of wrestling is.

Speaker 4 (04:33:32):
Gonna be going down, man. And when hal Cogan comes
through that curtain.

Speaker 6 (04:33:36):
When hal Cogan hits that ring, Brother, the thousands upon
thousands of hawk of maniacs in the Orlando Arena, Brother,
the thousands upon thousands the hawk of maniacs outside the
arena that can't get in, that are trying to carve
the walls and take get a glimpse of Hawk Cogin,
and the thousands upon thousands of.

Speaker 4 (04:33:55):
Hawk of maniacs all over the world that are.

Speaker 6 (04:33:58):
Watching their TV's, Brother, their ears are gonna be ringing
your little mouse when I hit that ring, when I
tear the shirt off, when hawk Imania runs wild, and
when the one two three of Vitory comes my way, Brother, everybody's.

Speaker 16 (04:34:14):
Ears are gonna be ragging.

Speaker 6 (04:34:16):
You know, Rick Flair, as slick as you may be,
the dirtiest player in the game.

Speaker 4 (04:34:21):
Brother, you finally met your match.

Speaker 6 (04:34:24):
I'll scratch fighting Paul to make sure that hawk Comedia
lives forever. They're training the player with the vitamins and
the believing in the little generational hostress.

Speaker 16 (04:34:33):
Brother.

Speaker 4 (04:34:34):
But you talk about stack in the deck, you talk about.

Speaker 6 (04:34:37):
Having sneaky Sherry and all your friends. Brother, I've got
that shock, my sir, right there in Orlando, hanging on
to the belt and giving it to the winner of
the match, which will be me. I've got George Foreman,
who I've trained night and day with with the loaded gloves,
watching my side at all times. And I've got Hammer
and Hank who trusted me and said going in stays

(04:35:00):
a long Brother, And this will be the home.

Speaker 4 (04:35:02):
Run of a high time.

Speaker 6 (04:35:04):
And I've also cut the maniac mugger cruise in the arena, brother,
just in case you have any more down cards up
your skinny alarm. And on top of that, my mom,
my dad, my son, and my daughter are gonna be
that a witness the fact that whole Comania is the
strongest force in the universe, and how Comania will let forever.

Speaker 2 (04:35:26):
And Jimmy Hart, you squeaky.

Speaker 6 (04:35:30):
Will good Mouse, one of your family members is gonna
be there also.

Speaker 4 (04:35:36):
Do you know who that is?

Speaker 6 (04:35:38):
It's not your age, it's not your uncle, it's your
younger brother man, that little mouse, Mickey Mouse. Oh, it's
gonna be there. But you're not gonna recognize your own
brother because when he sees Hawk Comania, when he feels
the power of the pythons, those big long ears are
gonna cover his eyes until it's safe, brother, until the

(04:35:59):
belt it's secure. We at hal Coagan's hands, but my
down card is standing right destiny. When it got tough,
when we got down to our final hours, the final week,
got training, training through the straddle of the night, brother
riding the hally Davison's and the brick walls, blushing up
mothers in Shytown.

Speaker 3 (04:36:18):
I know it.

Speaker 4 (04:36:18):
I knew there was only one man. He's been with
me since hal Comania.

Speaker 6 (04:36:23):
Was born in nineteen eighty four, and in nineteen ninety
four he's back for more. And you know something, brother,
We've got a special surprise for you dudes. Team in
tell him about the knife, the spoon, the fork and
the golden gombling. All right, go the glad.

Speaker 7 (04:36:41):
You asked me that you're not punishing up my goal
because I don't want to see we weighing gold dirty
gold at the specially emit. I just say you don't
replay at first, I say you might be the main course,
but I don't think you're tough enough. You only got
a few appetizer buddy, and the gold cup. If we
cogan taking drink the toes after you beat your buddy,
the ring back he's the king. See w whatever you

(04:37:01):
got it not get out of here, but where it goes.
For Flair, you're the final supper.

Speaker 6 (04:37:07):
Flair out of the mood sneaky Sherry, a body me
or whatever you want to call it your mind in
the center of the ring.

Speaker 4 (04:37:14):
It's just an a while.

Speaker 6 (04:37:15):
It's the greatest match of all times. One fult one man,
one champion, Brother Hawk cousin. What's gonna two When the
largest arms in the world and.

Speaker 4 (04:37:24):
The team man run wild on you?

Speaker 16 (04:37:27):
A pity.

Speaker 4 (04:37:30):
Who question?

Speaker 5 (04:37:30):
Hul Hoggan and Comedy Ready for Rick Flair tonight out
of the biggest single match in wrestling history. Bobby he else,
who's Hug Hogan arrived here at w CW. I've done nothing,
but it's turned everything upside it has and everybody knows
how I feel about the man.

Speaker 2 (04:37:43):
It has nothing to do with Rick Flair.

Speaker 4 (04:37:45):
It goes way back me and Hogan. You humanoids think
you're so smart. You like to call me weel. You
don't think I'm a brain. Here's your phone at home.
You pick it up and you calling, you order, and.

Speaker 5 (04:37:54):
You watch what happens, and when it's over and done with,
you're gonna say I was right? Can I get on?
Hogan's gonna win the title night. He's not gonna make
Flair give up. He's not gonna pin Flair. But when
all his little cronies around there, something's gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (04:38:07):
It smells ben and it stinks.

Speaker 5 (04:38:09):
So you order, you call, and you watch, and you
don't see if I'm right.

Speaker 4 (04:38:13):
Yes, I'm right.

Speaker 5 (04:38:15):
Lane back, Bobby Heenan. We've got three hours to work
to noon, Ladies and gentlemen, again, one more time, I repeat,
you can still be part of all of the live
don stop action from here in Orlando, the bash at
the Beach. Call your cable comedy we'll see up for
the Bash at the.

Speaker 3 (04:38:31):
Beach on b Review, Sunday, August third, at noon, The
Lapsed Fan takes on Times Square tickets at Comedy village
dot com.

Speaker 17 (04:38:38):
There goes the neighborhood, you fucking bitch,
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.