Ep. 434: The Complete Hulk Hogan I Alabama & Andre

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's The Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast special report. The Lapsed
Fan presents the complete Hulk Hogan, a real American story,
brought to you by Garage Beer.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, there had to be a first time. There had
to be a first time that Hulk Hogan, that Andre
the Giant Boss.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
I I don't even know where to begin with that.
I mean, the fact that it happened before nineteen eighty
is really is really just it's borderline unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yes, tired is thinking Hogan Andre didn't happened before eighty seven.
Wired is thinking it didn't happen before nineteen eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Damn right.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, we're here to tell you and as much detail
as humanly possible, considering almost none of it survives on film,
precisely what went down Southeastern Championship Wrestling. Terry the Hulk
Boulder comes face to face for the first time with
the man against whom he created perhaps more box office
than any pairing in the history of this industry, or
at the very least lit the way to crowds and

(01:31):
attention and spectacle theretofore unimaginable in the business of professional wrestling.
For all that so many of the greats created in
all the stadiums that had been filled before, including by
these two themselves in nineteen eighty as you just mentioned
at Chase Stadium nineteen eighty seven, Hogan Andre showed us
what was possible when we allowed pro wrestling to embrace

(01:56):
the things that need to be embraced for us, to
be allowed to believe, yes, to not be taken out
of it every ten to fifteen minutes, to not be
told it's a performance, and to not even think for
a second that this is some sort of figure skating
exhibition where you hold up scores of one to ten
upon execution, but in fact, know what you do is
you let the wrestlers convince you that whether they win

(02:19):
or lose this next match will determine everything.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
And where did Terry Bullaya the Future Hulk Hogan get
that muscle memory from as it regards working with Andre
the Giant. How were these two so let's say, fully
baked come WrestleMania three or nineteen eighty seven? It did
all start Friends and doth in Alabama and that tiny
television studio for WTVY that broadcast Ron Fuller's Southeastern Championship

(02:46):
Wrestling and only a handful of Alabama cities were privy
to it because that was as discussed last time on
the Complete Hulk Hogan here on the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast,
how far those television shows reached the time wasn't really
far and wide. And the level of preservation of this
footage criminal. And it's an especially sensitive time to be talking,

(03:12):
isn't it boss about losing access?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I don't know what's worse having never seen the Hogan
Andre matches and as we're going to talk about the
Hogan Harley NWA World Heavyweight Title match in this promotion,
or having been shown it, having been led to believe
we'll always have access to it and then have it
be taken away.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
I I mean, I think it's always worse to have
had it and then have it taken away. I always
work that worked.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Like the archives, I mean, look words out by the
end of twenty twenty six, by the end of twenty
twenty five, rather yeah, right, I wish it was twenty six.
I have more kind of we're holding solace in that
by the end of this year. The ww WW and
ECW archives the very foundation of the ww network. In
twenty fourteen, the very foundation of this podcast, or at

(04:08):
least the notion of it, will be taken away from
us and removed from Peacock with no certain home. I
wonder if the AWA stuff will say, yeah, look at
us grasping at what we can get. I mean, I mean,
you gotta grab as much as we can while we can.
It's it's it's it's I just don't I just don't

(04:30):
understand it. I mean, it's so they're so careless with
this stuff and you go ahead, please, I don't know, please.
It just it just makes me feel.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Disrespected as a fan, as a as a lapsed fan,
because we've had access for this stuff for eleven years now,
and now they're just like whatever just goes back into
the vault and it stays there until it's released on
the Vault I suppose on YouTube, which just the problem

(05:04):
is though as much as I love the Vault, they
just don't drop enough, okay. And it's also so scatterbrained
and it's so random you can't count on the what's
being drop on any day, right, And also I mean,
I know, like, what do you you know? I understand
that they're that they're doing, you know, the full match

(05:27):
thing that they do on the vault. It just just
don't do that. Just don't do that. If you're gonna,
if you're gonna drop it, drop the whole fucking event.
And that's it. Don't don't don't drop Yeah, exactly, don't
drop these fucking one off matches from things that doesn't
fucking matter. Also, there's no there's no frame of reference
except that they occasionally do some seasonal stuff like they've
been doing Survivor series matches and they did the World

(05:50):
Class Thanksgiving Star Wars f Min eighty five. But can't forget.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
The pressure and initiative to put the whole archive on
Peacock was because there was a new place that was
representing itself as the home for this kind of footage,
and it was pressure on Peacock not wanting to disenfranchise
all these WWE subscribers that join them overnight, that pressured
them to get the archives of WW feels no such pressure.
This isn't some some new third party that's come to

(06:16):
the table. It is afraid of angering all these WW
fans that they paid out the notes to attract.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
I just I just I. I mean, you just gotta
grab as much as you can at this point, grab
everything you can until until the year's out, and you
know where where we're fortunate. We are fortunate that there
we have had a massive amount of of listeners, members

(06:49):
of the Solar System who have built an army. We've
built We've built an army, and we have we have
an archive. We probably actually have in many ways, we
have a better archive than than the we has. We
certainly have certainly more more stuff than they than they
originally had. But there's still stuff that we need and
there's still stuff that we want, and it's all I mean, look, look, look,

(07:13):
just the raw stuff alone is a disaster. The fact
that they don't have the entire I'll be embarrassed, they
shall be shaded that that should have been Like I
don't understand why that wasn't a day one thing. The
fuck are you doing? Why that wasn't a day one thing?
And why after almost a year there's still massive gaps

(07:34):
Like whatever decades, decades, whatever.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Whatever justification you're gonna come up with on their behalf,
put a clown nose on it.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Cloud, I'll tell you what. You know, you know what
if you're gonna do, if listen, we we say it
all the time. You know, obviously you know less is
more in many ways, like you know, so if you're
going to do that, just take it away, take it
all away, don't don't, don't tease us with little bits
and pieces. Just take it all away and gradually put

(08:02):
up on the vault. If you're gonna do that, because
it's fucking bullshit.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's not lost stupid, it's stupid or born of the
of the network. We started in twenty fourteen, the year
the networks started, and because we picked up on the
signals WW is putting out about who this whole service
was really supposed to cater to, these so called lapsed fans,
remember this whole thing, yep? And how ironic is it
that almost twelve years on, here we sit the last

(08:26):
bastion of a concept that they introduced and spawned us
and so many others. I mean, there's a ton of
wrestling podcasts that were created because the network made on
demand all of this archival footage, and we salute them
as well. But I'm gonna say, man, like, how ironic
is we're the ones left like making it hurt a
little less because we're gonna do what it takes to

(08:48):
keep the archives alive in a way that we've you know,
sort of cornered the market on Yep, yep. Can't stop
it at this point. I mean, I really want to
know what they're thinking. I really want to do.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
I really want to know, and you know, I want
to know what what in what frame of mind they said,
you know what, this is the best thing. Yeah, this
is the best thing to do. This is what we
should do.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Why they just it's it's literally they don't care. Like
Peacock is done paying they could give a fuck. I mean,
it's no other might have interpreted this. Does that mean
Saturday Night's main events are dead? Yes, after after John's
said a great, I mean, as far as the contract runs,
they're still in USA, so they reupt with they can

(09:33):
re up to the NBC Universal. But as far as
Peacock itself having WWE, P L E S and stuff,
I think that's coming to an end. And uh the
beginning of the year, I believe so well. Forespn NXT
cut a deal with c W for the television show
and they took all the NXT archives off Peacock. It's like, what,

(09:55):
so you can tell me the NXT archives are part
of the c W Television contract and as far as
I know, the there's no way to watch them. Why
do you want to buy the rights to these things
if you're going to not release them?

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Right?

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Had supported I mean, just put you could make millions
of dollars tomorrow if you just uploaded, you know, one
hundred thousand videos and just put ads in it, Like,
what the fuck is wrong with you?

Speaker 3 (10:17):
Guys. It's just it's just it's a fucking it's it's
just just it's.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
A fiduciary matter at this point. Ye, I would be
concerned if I was a stockholder. Anyway, Well, we'll we'll
get through it. That's the irony. The whole thing is
Frankenstein created Frankenstein's Monster here right where we keep walking, just.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Like the Hulk, And that's the beauty of it. The
monster outlast the doctor.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
What I really mourn is the loss of the ability
of lapsed fan listeners to follow along with us, right
to be able to watch the show back as part
of the enjoyment of our revisitation and recontextualization of the events.
It's a much like under the cinemat It'd be as
if people couldn't access the movie right.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Which you know, which does happen, Which does happen from
time to time, there's some sometimes there are not easy
ways outside of purchasing the movie outright, of following of
watching the movie. It does happen. But this is this
is just a fucking disgrace.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
And even though we took the most circuitous and capitalistic
way here, it's not lost under the irony that we're
now once again as far as wrestling fans are concerned,
on the doorstep of the rebirth of physical media, yep
on a podcast that decried its loss in every way possible,
from every angle possible, and laid down the irrefutable case
that physical media was better for the fans. It was

(11:33):
better for the talent that won remuneration from video sales.
It was better for Christmases where you can magically unwrap
permanent access to magical moments. We just looked at a
magazine for PWI years ago, forty four to ninety five,
for a fucking compilation PWI tape with no WWF involvement
in the eighties. I mean, you think about how much

(11:54):
fifty bucks would be today for a VHS full of
matches that you know, kind of of middleing quality just
sort of a collection of names you've heard of, thrown
onto a tape to make a quick buck. And we
gave that up. We gave all those margins up, We
gave up the whole industry. Yeah, of selling physical movies

(12:15):
in videos. Your problem. If it wasn't for this, we
wouldn't have your problem. The Hulk Hogan Alabama stuff, we
do have. What's your problem? That stuff was dredged up
from the quote personal collections or whoever the fuck because
there was a VHS market to sell it into. If
these kind of things exist now, people, yeah, people might.
People are more motivated to scrounge them up to get

(12:36):
views on YouTube. But that's not an industry. That's not
the same thing as being powered by people with a
profit mode of seeking out this stuff. That's where you
really get the gems. And we were willing to pay
for every little bite, every little glimpse, every little morsel.
And it was proved over ten years and they just said, ah,

(12:57):
not as many people watch that then a fucking WrestleMania.
Well no shit, no shit, that was your expectation.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
Then you was there'd be that many people watching all
the time. Yeah, exactly, you're a fucking idiot. It's about
keeping people, fucking idiot, It's about keeping people. But if
you want to live paycheck to paycheck, show to show,
hype to hype, be my guest. But this is what
keeps you homestead and knowing it was all there and
we had it across the entertainment spectrum. When you subscribe

(13:25):
to a service, you knew you had that that that
IP library forever whenever you wanted to watch it. And
now this ship is getting shopped around across streaming services annually,
and we act like we're not getting fucked. We act
like this is this is clearly not an evolution. This
is a devolution, yep, of the distribution system for entertainment
in this country, and it's now finally trickled down to

(13:49):
the last bastion of hardcore fandom out there such that
would support a subscription with streaming service ninety eight percent
of which we never even want to watch, but just
because it has the archives of thirty year old wrestling shows.
We've been subscribers to peacocks ince day one, and subscribers
to the ww Networks in twenty fourteen. Yep.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, sounds like a bunch of consumers you can definitely
afford to, you can definitely afford to alienate the complete
hul Cogan. What a great time to lunch. This journey
we're cruising. We don't have to worry about someone hitting
us with a request for a show that suddenly we
don't have access to. Right, We're a lot floaded for
quite a while until the complete story of Hulk Hogan

(14:26):
is told to a level that will remain unmatched forever more,
particularly from an audio perspective, And we're excited to get
to the point in time where we come to understand
and crystallize why the Hulk Hogan Andre the Giant dynamic
didn't just work in the capable hands of Vince McMahon
junior or senior. It just worked no matter who the
fuck was at the controls. Yeah, why does it work?

(14:48):
Why does Hulk verse Andre work?

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Boss? Because honestly, it's it intangible. For me, it's it intangible.
It's like you could take it. It's the it's the aura,

(15:10):
it's the essence of these two giants of the business.
Because I mean, I guess from a practical standpoint, it's
like you've got under the giant who when did he
start again in the sixties. Yeah, under the giant, who

(15:31):
has been a spectacle since the sixties, late sixties, so
a decade basically probably in many ways unmatched. Yeah, in
terms of that, in terms of being Matt spectacle. But
then you've got another guy. Here comes this new guy
who is a giant in his own right different ways, tall, massive,

(15:59):
bloated at this point and showing signs of an un
tapped charisma. Yep.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
That and like Billy Graham and other big muscled up
guys being sold as a supernatural force.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Right right, being sold as a superhero already, this is
probably one of the first true irresistible force meeting the
immovable object of the modern era. Correct, all right, that's

(16:40):
what this is. That's what this this exemplifies. It is
it's it's I mean, it's really you know, in many
ways too when you look at it, it's it's a
legend versus you know, versus the future. Yes as well,
it's all these different things. And and it was sold

(17:00):
that way in the beginning as this young upstart threat.
It ended up shoot being that at wrestling a three right, Right,
That's why Hogan and Vince always cry when they think
about this night, because even though a lot of it,
I'm sure as crocodile tears, they know that if Andre
did not think that Hulk deserved to run with the ball,
it wouldn't have happened, right, It wouldn't have happened in

(17:22):
the way it needed to happen to really cement the
whole thing as magical and to give Hulk, you know,
several more years of gasoline in the engine, and goddamn
were with the beneficiaries and God Dan are loss to
be a fan in Dothan, to be a fan on
this fucking incredibly historically significant weekend in nineteen seventy nine,

(17:44):
and to be able to witness Hulk and Andre tie
up for the first time. For that to be a
completely new thing, you to be the first person to
witness that interpersonal dynamic. I can't.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
I'm going to go to my grave longing to be
in one of those seats.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean I want
to know, I want to I want to talk to well,
I want to talk to somebody who experienced that. Of course,
of course I don't need to experience it. I need
to know what people thought, because experiencing it it's like,

(18:19):
I know I can never have that. I know I
can never have that, But but at the same time,
I know that there are people who are still alive
who did see this.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
And to your point, it's not even it's not even
what they thought on that night. It's what they thought
ten years later, almost exactly when the whole world was
talking about this as a first of its kind matchup,
and they're like, I saw these to wrestle down the
road in nineteen seventy nine.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Is that there's a handful of people who are like, no, no,
this is fucking old news.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
And it would go to Georgia, and it would go
to Montreal, and it would go to Japan before and
around the same time it was in New York. But
let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's not get awared
of ourselves. The total, the complete Hulk Hogan allows us to,
much like a Greg Valentine, take our time, but much
like a Hulk Hogan, you better believe we're hulking up
and dialing it up to ten in the goal on

(19:11):
the stage. But it's time to put under the microscope
Hulk versus Andre for the very first time. As we
established last time, on the complete Hulk Hogan charting Hulk's
arrival in the Gulf Coast Territory, his first since taking
a year off of the business and going with Ed
Leslie to Cocoa Beach to run a bar. It is
not lost on anybody, including territorial owner Ron Fuller, that

(19:31):
this guy's money and booker Louis Tillett, they figured it
out right away. They positioned him incredibly strongly. He's taking
on the top guys, including Fuller in the ring, squashing people,
bear hugging them to blood runs from their mouths. They're
just doing the things that you do when you need
to turn a guy into money immediately, and Hulk Hogan
was money immediately. That's a key takeaway I think so
far from this whole thing is that it didn't There

(19:53):
was no baby steps with this guy. There was no
period where it was like, uh, you know, he's still
finding himself. If a booker wanted to, they could make
hul Cogan a box office attraction from day one. Not
all the bookers he worked for wanted to. That's the difference.
Ron Fuller wanted to and he pulled it off. He
pulled it off in such a way that I think
you could argue it kind of sent a shock of

(20:13):
panic through the NWA power structure. I think we're going
to be able to make that claim by the time
all is said and done, by the time nineteen seventy
nine is in the books. And as we've already soort
a forecast in nineteen seventy nine isn't just about Gulf
Coast and southeastern for Terry Bolea. It's also about Memphis.
It's also about New York, all of the Georgia GBS.

(20:33):
All these things happened for ull Cogan in his very
first year back. It all happens at once. It doesn't
happen in a very neat, predictable tidy, one year at
a time format. And thus you're going to witness the
sort of format of the complete hul Cogan evolve to
be able to pay appropriate respect to the fact that
he's all over the place. He's back and forth, He's
back and forth a series of runs. Sure life is

(20:56):
a series of runs, Terry. But do they all have
to happen at the same time? What happens when the
runs happen in parallel?

Speaker 3 (21:01):
Boss chaos, chaos, chaos, trouble and destruction.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I can only think of one way to take the
edge off of that for your co chairman.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
I think it.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I think it fits very coolly in the palm of
your hand, doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
M H.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I think it might be a presenting sponsor of this
one of.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
A kind journey.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
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Speaker 3 (21:38):
Nothing like popping a cold one, even on these cold days,
you know. It's like, yeah, I know right, It's it's
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the fireplace and just have a can of good old
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Speaker 2 (21:54):
We can we can tell you, folks, We can tell you.
These guys get it. These guys get what we're doing here.

Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
They get that they're going to go down in history
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Speaker 4 (22:31):
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Speaker 3 (22:41):
Support them. Crack it.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
If you're going to crack a can you know you're
going to do it, especially over the holidays. Make it garbage.
You can make it garage. Look, look, you know what
this is. Here's here's the deal. Holidays are here, all right,
and a lot of us are going to be around family.
Correct for better or worse. Okay, and when it gets
to the worst, excuse yourself. Yes, take a little moment,

(23:07):
say you know what, I'll be right back and head
out to the garage. Have one, crack it open, take
the edge off a little bit, have a six pack
ready like your Terry Boleya about to negotiate a heel
turn with Eric Bischoff.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Or you're about to fucking convince Macho man Erney Savage
to come to WCW Right, all right.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
I mean live in the spirit of holkg and as
the complete plays out this holiday season.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
With just to live in the spirit of Terrible laya please, And.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's how to take that is edge off, brother, that's
how to get things calm down and dialed in.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Damn right.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
But when the new year hits and it's time to
dial it up and pump up. When it comes time
to unwrap something under your Christmas tree this year, that
puts you on a different plane. Brother, almost fires up
those jets like the hulkster knew how to do when
the time came. You need to support our friends ad
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Speaker 3 (24:19):
So did we ever what a is? No oka?

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Plenty of people offered suggestions that I appreciate all of them.
I can't say any of them land that is exactly
what Hulk meant by a cube of hogendas.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
I just don't understand it.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
That's the whole point. You don't have to do anymore.
Folks like lived have figured it out. They've dialed it
in with real wrestlers that hit the real mats with
real ear muffs on, who understand low inside singles, cement mixers,
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Speaker 3 (24:49):
Gator roll is a.

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Speaker 3 (26:15):
Get it under that ass.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
If we're not going to have the archives on Peacock,
we're gonna need a little extra gasoline in this engine, brother, Yeah,
on that wide glide that we got on those guns
that were Revin Brother. Let's fucking go with live it.
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about them already, but we're going to re reiterate them,
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Speaker 3 (26:49):
Fuck yeah, I mean, listen, we're already fucking cooking with this,
with the complete Hull Cogan line, all right. We've got
Terry Bowleia with the bowling the Bowling League, We've got
Alan Rules, we've got Kenny Mania, we've got Infinity's end

(27:11):
all right, and you know, we've got more down the line,
more in the pipeline, and uh, it's just it's going
to keep coming. Your not to mention the fact that
we've also got a thousand previous Hogan ones, you know,
and and other shirts of course, just a gallery of
shirts that speak to how we ended up in a
place where you know what it makes sense to do

(27:31):
something like this. I think it's important to remember that
we do have Christmas themed.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Absolutely glad that there are so many classics buried deep
in the back catalog that people forgot about.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
They slept on. Tell them about them. Well, we got
we got the lapse hard one with the Knakotomi gogle.
We've we've got TLF. You'll need it as if it's
a IBC from Scrooge. We've got the lapse fan home
alone style, a lapsed fan Christmas as Charlie Brown christ
is the laps fan in the night member before Christmas.

(28:03):
We've got the lapse fan with the uh in the
style of a Christmas story. We got TLF in this
in the the like elf. We got them all. Not
to mention, also, we go even further back. We've got
we've got a Fritz based one. I forget what the
the actual thing was, but that was all he's got.
He's got a Santa Claus hat. He's got a Santa
Claus hat one. It's a I think, uh something old

(28:27):
Saint Fritz or something like that. Sure, Jolly old Saint Fritz.
That's it, Jolly old Saint Fritz. It's all there inspired
by so recular podcast. I believe yes, and it's a
particular podcast and fuck this, let's get it.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Dot com Slash the laps Fan, Fly the Colors Proud
in twenty twenty six and BS and this holiday season
and this holiday season, you buy one of those holiday
shirts pots just mentioned, you're gonna find yourself wanting to
wear it every Christmas time. You're just gonna be some
itch you have to scratch. You're gonna go to a
wrestling show, or you're gonna be out and about. And
these aren't things that necessarily scream. I like pretend fighting,

(29:01):
which is always important to wrestling, right right. We try
to be sensitive to that to the degree possible and
to the degree responsible. So Pro Wrestling Teas dot com
Slash the Lapsed Fans for your shwag needs and if
you need to hit somebody in the heart with a
cameo message this holiday season, your co chairman, very much,
remaining your service, cameo. Dot com Slash the Lapsed Fan
the whack. Your requests are already pouring in for this

(29:22):
holiday Oh my god, they're already there. You know, we've
got we got one we got one coming up that
I got to do that.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
You know they want, they want a special Christmas wish
from from don't say too much, all right, I want
to say too much, but that's all I want to say.
But like it's just it's always great that they h
this is the time of year to do it. Give
your We keep these voices alive in the way you
would prefer to remember them. Give Give your lapsed friend,

(29:53):
a lapse fan, cameo, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Dot com slash the laps fan, and of course the
Patreon dot com slash the lapsed fan. The heart of
the engine, the Jewel in the crown continues humming along
and don't forget coming up soon. The last time is
now the final match of John Cena the TLF premium
live call. For this premium live not quite event, we
say bye to John Cena, say bye to Peacock, say
goodbye to so much, say goodbye too, as I decided

(30:21):
to crown him during our Survivor Series live call, not
the last World Champion, but the first fake World Champion.
There we go, John Sina boss. I think that the
listeners of the main show deserve it just as much
as live call listeners. To our twenty twenty five Survivor
series coverage. Deserve it. We've settled on a theme song
for the Last Time is Now coverage, and I'm sure

(30:42):
that these I'm sure that these these strains will impact
listeners' years coming up. When Sina takes the ring for
the final time in Washington, DC, why don't you let
him have the Last Time is Now?

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Oh go?

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Last time is no? The last time is no, Last
time is no, Last time is no, Last time is no.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Unbelievable. Bring it to a holy level this holiday season
with patreon dot com. Slash the Lapsed Fan the only
way to lock in and keep your self respect as
a wrestling fan. At the same time, we'll continue watching
and monitoring modern ww so you don't have to to
say nothing of the fact, boss that there's nothing else

(31:48):
we're going to be able to watch on all these
streaming services they make us pay for anyway.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
I know, it's it's it's it's such a it's turned
into such a fucking ship show. It's so pathetic. Really
is like they've just lost all sight of what you know,
what you know the problem is is that they they
all I mean, listen, I've said it a thousand times.

(32:13):
They all looked at what Netflix did, and they all
thought they could do it, and they all thought it
would make them easy money. Then they realize and that's
and that's where the problem is, because they opened the
floodgates and they fucking they the toothpaste is out of
the tube and they can't put it back in. That's right,
And now now the resolidation is happening, no one can

(32:35):
stay in business anymore. And we all act like this
is something that was inevitable and yeah, and they realized that, hey, shit,
you know what we're we can't have all our stuff
out there because it just won't work that way. And
it's like, yeah, no, shit, right, obviously that's the case.
But you did it anyway. And now we suffer as
fans because you suck exactly because you're fucking morons, tremendous

(33:01):
Now you have more.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
You're a copycat bitch, yeah, copycat, but you're a fomo bitch,
just like somebody somebody chasing a fucking slot machine.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
Except the problem is is that unlike umlike being a copycat,
you have you have now uh, what you've done, what
they have all done is given us access has given
us access, They've proved it's possible, and now they realize
that doing that was a mistake. And I don't know,
I don't disagree with them in many ways it was

(33:34):
a mistake, but you did it, and now we're being
punished for it, right, And it's like why, Oh, because
you want money, And it's like, okay, great, well I
want money too. What am I paying for? Then?

Speaker 2 (33:49):
What am I bothering doing? Because you know what I've
I've got at least we can go to the Royal
Rumble next year and in WrestleMania the year after that.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
Yeah, as long as we can go, you know, I mean, listen,
the USA, Okay, the United Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Big fucking thumbs up from your coach chairs, big fucking
thumbs up from the coe chairs. You already know what
it is. You've presided over it a bunch of fucking idiots.
So let's go back to Let's go back to God's country.
Let's go back to where they were A man still
fears God. Let's go back to Alabama. Let's go back

(34:28):
to the Southeastern Championship Wrestling Territory owned and operated by
the Tennessee stud Ron Fuller and Terry the Hulk Boulder
is just beginning to make Let's do it his impact.
We talked last week about the feud with Fuller. Fuller
goes in there as someone who actually towers a bit
over Terry Bully in terms of height, not necessarily musculature,

(34:48):
but what a great opponent. Fortunately for him, that the
guy who ran the territory and had all of the
self interest in the world and making this green kid
a box office attraction right to save his territory, went
in there and actually let a hulk bear hug the
shit out of him, the blood out of him, and
do the same to his old uncle Leicester Welch, and
do the same to Roy Lee Welch and all these

(35:10):
other family members that have been longtime veterans of the
circuit down and around East Tennessee and Alabama, to feed
to the Hulk and having no hesitation about it, having
no bullshit Dusty Roads games about it, which drove Hogan
almost out of the business in the first place, yep,
or Mike Graham, bullshit, whoever you want to peg it on.
And here he's just taken it to Ron Fuller and

(35:33):
proving that he can hang with the biggest and baddest guy.
So this territory is known, but under the Giant is
kind of a different story. Yes, Andre, like so many
territories across the country, and indeed the world, would come
through at predictable but spaced out intervals to different territories
across the country. He'd often come in for big battle royals,
like the one at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

(35:54):
You'd often bring him in for your big annual battle
Royal show because you know, he's sort of difficult book
one on one against somebody. Unless you're going to sacrifice
one of your local guys to Andre the Giant. He's
not going to come in into a job for you necessarily.
But this way the circumstances aligned. Here in the spring
of nineteen seventy nine, Andre just happened to be coming
through at the same time Louis Tillette had begun investing

(36:16):
in this halt guy and setting him up, and it
made a perfect match. As we discussed last time, Louis
Tilette is a French Canadian, knew Andre well and on
that deeper sort of French Canadian mafia level that courses
so distinctly through the pro wrestling business.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
To you.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
You look at the Rougeaus and Patterson and Garvin and Thedino,
Bravo and so many others. They run as a pack,
and they are willing to do things for each other
that they wouldn't be willing to do for an average
booker or an average promoter that they might have a
relationship with but don't have that deeper homeland kinship with.
I think that is a big factor as to why

(36:48):
Terry Bully I got the shot like he did, and
Andre this early and this often now there it's generally
accepted that May fourth, nineteen seventy nine was the very
first match between Hulkgan and Andre the Giant in Dothan, Alabama. However,
like so many things, when you go back and actually
look at the wrestling data record and other career records,
it shows a May third, the day before nineteen seventy

(37:09):
nine match at the Boler Wrestling Arena in Panama City, Florida,
where Andre teamed with roy Lee Welch to take on
the Gladiator and the Hulk. So bullshit is what you're saying.
I think so bullshit. I think you know the best
we're going to get is Ron Fuller going back over
his notes and recalling what he can recall from his
personal archives and his personal memory about how he booked
all this stuff and how it played out, and what

(37:29):
struck him as the first instance of something happening and
what struck him as the time. He has very specific
dates on the studcast, which of course is an invaluable resource.
The podcast that we pointed you to last time, on
the Complete Hulkoken, where Ron Fuller really just goes through
his date book from the Southeastern Gulf Coast days and
Knoxville days and just delineates all the cards and all
the very first times that people showed up in the

(37:50):
territory and who they worked with, what the feuds were,
what the television segments were, like the personality profiles with
announcer Charlie Platt that they did on television to introduce
the fans of the Gulf Coast territory to new wrestlers
like Terry Bolea, And so if you follow that trajectory,
there are a lot of things that he says that
contradict with the dates that exist in these sort of
complete career records, which if of course, thankfully have become

(38:12):
a thing on the Internet over the past ten twelve years,
these master databases, these master list. Richard Land's history of
WWF is another great one. And so we have a
conflict here in that it appears this is, you know,
no different than Brian Blair swearing to God he had
Hulk's first match, and you look it up and Hulk
had two matches, including one with Brian Blair before the
one in Chieflin, Florida. And we put Brian Blair to

(38:36):
the test on that when we had her on this
show as part of the complete hul COVID, and he
stood by it. So it's not like people are just
failing to ask. It's just right. There's just going to
be conflicting recollections out there. That's the nature of everything,
let alone the pro wrestling business. But if this is
to believe, there actually was a tag match where Hogan
and Andre steered across the ring from each other in
Panama City, Florida, before their first one on one meeting
in Dothan. But suffice to say, even if that is

(38:58):
the case that they did meet in a tag match,
we can say at the very least, this is the
first Hulk Hogan Andrew the Giant one on one match,
which is really what counts anyway.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Full Yeah, I suppose that is true.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Full Of recalled that they had to do the personality
profile for the doth And market only because when Andre
came in Boss, they didn't have a lot of time.
They just had one weekend of Andre dates and not
every city in the territory was going to get Andrea
in Hulk. So think about this. Not only did they
not only did they narrow cast at the time because
they had so few cities to broadcast their TV, and
they even had to split that up into pieces because

(39:31):
they didn't want to promote Hulk versus Andre to a
city that wasn't going to get the match. So you
had to live in doth in Alabama to see this
shit like not you couldn't live in Mobile either, And
I know it's mobile and not mobile. I'm just trying
to make mobile phone jokes. And then it just set
problem with that. Then people get it. They can go
fuck themselves, but you're going to say something there I

(39:55):
don't remember. It's okay, well we'll get it back. So
Ron Fuller recalls having to do the person profile on
Terry the Hulk Boulder and Andrew the Giant and the
matchup in the Dothan market only all about this match
and that Mobile and Montgomery got different personality profiles the
week that The Hulk Andre won aired because they weren't
going to get the match. They didn't want to get
people interested in the match. So, man, that makes this

(40:17):
even more of a needle in a haystack to ever
find this. Jesus Ron recollects that after they shot their
normal television show with the matches before the fans there
at the TV studios in Dothan with an empty studio,
they kept Hulk Hogan behind there with his heel manager
Billy Spears, who he introduced you to last week on
the show. And Hulk was still part of the Spears family.
Is a heel at this point in time, of course,
in the great tradition of manager run stables of heels.

(40:41):
You know the heen And Family, Jimmy Hart's first Family,
jim Cornett's Cornett's Camp, and the Dangerously Dangerous Alliance. All
that shit, it's all part of the same formula. Wow,
And Hulk was there standing behind Billy Spears as he
went on and on as one of his many muscle men.
One thing I didn't even really appreciate until spending some
time listening to podcasts that a guy named Bo James

(41:02):
has done over the years, both on the Between the
Sheets Show and the six oh five Super Podcast. Shout
out to Steve on Patreon for pointing out that he
has a lot of good insight because bo James was
a teenager growing up in this exact market and actually
got a job working for the territory down there as
a young kid who wanted to get into the business
and became a very much historian. He spent a lot
of time documenting on the Exile from Bad Street sub

(41:25):
series that Chris Selner Between the Sheets has done on
the South Eastern Territory, particularly when it became Continental in
nineteen eighty five after Vince has gone national and Crockett
too Fuller tried to get back into the business as
Continental Championship Wrestling and tried to get you know, national
ad sales going. He wanted to make a run at
it like Bill Watts wanted to make a run at
it with UWF and so many other folks that were

(41:47):
trying to navigate this new post WWF takeover world, and
a lot of that stuff was produced and preserved and
it can be rewatched. So a lot of that stuff
from the mid to late eighties in Continental in that
area survives on tape. One of the insights that bo
James has brought is that Ron Fuller we talked about
how weird it is that none of this survives and

(42:09):
there's so little coverage of it. He didn't want the coverage.
According to bo James, Ron Fuller would not let the
wrestling magazines come to these shows. Why is it so
weird there's no after mag coverage of these epic hult
yeses Andre backlets?

Speaker 3 (42:25):
What is?

Speaker 2 (42:25):
What's the why? According to bo James. And I haven't
heard Ron Fuller say this. Maybe he has said it somewhere.
According to bo James, ron Fuller.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Is actually think I keep thinking of me to say
bow Jangles, and I'm thinking of fried Chicken. I will
not say bo Jangles. Well, maybe now I will because
you said that, But I know I keep thinking like it. Honestly,
I keep thinking you're going to say that, and I'm
getting hungry because they have incredible breakfast biscuits. They sure do.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Oh yeah, that's the way it stuff today. Yeah, I
can't deny that. According to Bo James, Ron Fuller was
concerned that if the national wrestling magazines featured his stars
and the kind of houses they were doing and the
kind of sensation they were careering in their part of
the world, that other bigger territories would raid his wrestlers.
And I wonder if that mentality is set in chiefly

(43:09):
after this, because as far as I can tell, that's
exactly what happened to him. Visa VI Hulk Cogan, He's a.

Speaker 7 (43:14):
Lapsed fan wrestling podcast.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
He's a lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno.

Speaker 5 (43:41):
M J. P.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Sorow Like he found the star in Hulk Cogan, Him
and Louis Tillette found the star in this guy and
drew the kind of houses with Andre and others that
would get the attention of a Jerry Lawler and Jerry
Jarrett in Memphis, get the attention of an Olie Anderson
and Jimmy Barnett in Atlanta, get the attention of Vince
Senior in New York, and whoever was running the Bravos

(44:04):
or the Brideaus, whoever was running Montreal at the time,
all these places Japan that booked Hogan right after this.
I mean that might have been the lesson learned in
part is because this might be one that word got
out because certainly people in the business knew about it,
that this this new this new guy. Insiders knew that
this new guy. Hull had drawn huge with with andre

(44:25):
in this market. But Ron Fuller liked it that way.
He liked that lower profile because I think he was
concerned about his ability to retain what was working for
him if word got out about how successful it was
all being. So it's really counterintuitive in a way, but
it kind of makes some sense when you think about it.
Because he had such a small territory, he didn't have
to worry about too many people laying eyes on the show,
and the wrestlers could come there knowing and knowing that

(44:48):
they could actually work and do things that not everybody
would see. So it's kind of it's kind of more
chill atmosphere that way. It's not National TBS right right,
You're in a territory of the size of the AWS
where you're pretty much reaching half of the country already anyway,
or New York. So that was something apparently to be
preserved about this part of the country and wrestling in

(45:08):
this part of the country where they took it very
seriously and had a great, great sense of local ownership.
This idea of this is our wrestling, These are our wrestlers.
And while people would cycle in and cycle out, it
seemed very important, particularly to Southeastern, to keep alive in
the fan's eyes, the sense and this is sort of
just for us, you know, this is cooked to our liking,
precisely to our liking. So after the normal show, as

(45:30):
I said, they kept hulking. There were Billy Spears according
to Ron Fuller, and the Samoans are in there and
Billy Spears family, the gladiator Eddie Sullivan, and they're talking
about how big ox Baker will be joining the family soon.
And they're putting over how ox Baker had suppose killed
two wrestlers in the past. Right, let's not forget that.
Tell the people how we know about that, Well, we

(45:51):
talked a lot about that when we did escape from
New York under the Cinema where we went into a
pretty I mean, honestly, you know, because he's a guy
that we you know, oftentimes we you know, we don't
there There are are our big time, big name wrestlers
who were not going to really come across on the

(46:12):
main show, which you know, it's it's I don't think
before now, I don't I mean, have we ever, I
don't know we ever talked about ox Baker before now
on the main show?

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Would we? I mean, he's not exactly any you know
Lapsteer of shows. No, no, no, no, no exactly. So
we we went into a full, a full dive on
him and some of these encounters and some of the
riots that happened and all that ship. It's it's not
the me. Let me let me look into there. Let's

(46:40):
going to find some of my old gems there from
from from back then.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
One thing ox Baker himself has said was that it
was supposed to be Bruiser Brodie getting that role and
escape from New York.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
Did we did he? Wow? Did I Did I know that?
I don't know if I even knew that?

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Not sure, but he's definitely talking shoot interviews, and so
it was kind of a there was an opportunity that
I think took him out of circulation at a time
when he really could have found a way to integrate
into the you know, the nationalization of wrestling. Sure, her
face at your time. But that kind of created a
potential separate Hollywood path, and Southeastern was a great territory

(47:19):
to go to when you sort of didn't want to
hustle as much as far as driving, the towns are
very close. You could live on the beach, as we've
talked about, and a lot of the guys were from
and around Florida. Anyway, you could live in Pensacola and
make all the towns in Alabama in just a few
hours in the car. You could be home at night.
One things bo James said is that I think you
said about Royally Welch. You know he's about Ron Wright.

(47:41):
He said, ron Wright just decided I don't want to
work at a territory. Think about this. I don't want
to work at a territory where I have to leave
before my kids get home from school that day.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
And he didn't have to this in this territory, and
that was a huge selling point of working there and
why guys like the Fullers and the Armstrongs and the
Goldens were so homesteaded there for many years. And so
ox Baker was being talked about on television at this
point in time, is coming to join Billy Spears' family
as well, and during this particular segment, Ron Fuller recalls

(48:12):
Billy Spears asking the Hulk in particular to step forward,
and then he tells the director, does Billy Spears, the
director of the television go to run the video that
I provided to you, And what the video was was
the submission match from three nights earlier where Hulk was
wrestling Ron Fuller in the submission match and Hulk had
Ron and a bear hug, and eventually Ron Fuller went

(48:32):
out cold and Hulk's hand was raised in victory, and
Billy Spears requested the tape be run back with Ron
Fuller pounding the Hulk and putting the leg lock on
earlier and apparently Hulk Hogan has talked about by Ron
Fuller had conceded, but the referee didn't see it, so
you know the sort of a visual pinfall gimmick going
on here. Spears says someone doctored the tape, yes, because

(48:55):
he claims to the audience, Ron Fuller never had the
Hulk in that hold and there's no way that this
is real footage. At which point, those are the liberty
liberties affonded to you? Well, I think this shit is
ourn't artificial intelligence? Oh my god, I believe that artificial
intelligence has taken a hold of this videotape, in this
footage and has has has has perverted it and something

(49:18):
that didn't happen. Well, if everything else the wrestling business
is artificial, the intelligence ought to be too, right. I've
seen a lot of artificial intelligence in the wrestling business.
Let me tell you. Whenever someone's talked about as a genius,
you watch them talk for more than forty five minutes,
you know, this guy's pretty much a fucking moron. But
it's fine feigned intelligence. So the studio empties out and

(49:41):
spears calls him Sterling the Hulk Golden. According to Ron Fuller,
I can't emphasize this enough. It's incredibly confusing to me.
But Ron Fuller swears that Terry Boleo was interchangeably called
Sterling the Hulk Golden and Terry the Hulk bolet on.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
His test show. Yes, listen, it's it's in the newspapers, Okay,
I saw it in the New Georgia though. No, no,
not a Georgia. No it's not. It was from earlier.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
It was from earlier, in seventy nine, yes, I remember
the date being November of seventy nine.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Am I wrong? Hold on?

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Because I found what I found for the Hulk read
during the Incredible Hulk Under the Sad episode that was.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Shure to go back. Maybe I've listened. I'll fully admit
if I if I if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty
sure I saw it fairly early in the year where
he was Sterling the Hulk or something like that, or
the Hulk Wrestling's Hulk Sterling Golden something like that.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Right, Yeah, let's run that down. The Solar system has
already heard it, so I remember finding that away in
my mind is okay, that makes sense. It's a Georgia
newspaper and it's after he had left Alabama, at which
point no one disputes. I mean, there's tape of him
being called Sterling Golden on WTBS.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Yeah, but Sterling the Hulk Golden.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
No, the tapes that I've seen from the territory, which
I believe is the full extent, and we'll talk about
it as the Completehull. COGA and unfolds from Georgia always
just calls them Sterling Sterling Golden, not sorry.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
This is this is the Knoxville New Sentinel Sentinel. Okay, yep,
the Hulk this is from I guess this is from
This is from later in the year. Okay, so I'm
wrong about that. This is from November and he is
the Hulk. Sterling Golden.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Does it give a date line as far as like
where the matches took place that the reporter was.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
It's the uh I have? This is the ad here,
I have the w It was a the W Knox Auditorium, Okay, Tennessee. Yeah,
and it's it was. It was on Thursday, November twenty
ninth at eight pm.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
As we'll talk about November, right, as we'll talk about
it gets really hairy out round here because those guys
like Bob Rupe who defect from Ron Fuller and take
over Knoxville, or at least try to run opposition, they
do run up position in Knoxville and try.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
To take it over.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
I'm not entirely sure that we get the whole story
from Ron Fuller as to where Terry Bullay has loyalties.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Lie Holy, he.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Kind of makes it seem like Terry just, you know,
ferried off to Memphis and didn't really take a side
in the Bob Roup versus Ron Fuller war, but I'm
pretty sure that there's evidence that Terry essentially picked Knoxville,
he picked the outlaw group, which I think might also
be a part of why Terry has very little to
say about this the particulars at this point of his
career in his books and such, for a million other

(52:29):
reasons that maybe perhaps among them, and further to the
point earlier about Ron Fuller showing away from magazine coverage
out of fear that it would, you know, attract people
to steal his talent and get hip to what he
was doing that or you know, another thing he said
was like this is what bo James said. It also
kind of makes a promoter who has expansion ambitions say,

(52:50):
wait a minute. If they're packing out every arena in
this territory, we got to run down there. You know,
you're just inviting Vince to come even sooner. And it
wasn't just Vince he'd be worried about. Is this Knoxville
drama demonstrates and others had made moves. This is a
part of the country where you got like two three
city territories and there's been four owners of six different
ways of slicing it over thirty years, they're always making moves.

(53:12):
It doesn't have to be the big, bad New York guy.
It can be to the you know, the country boy
from you know, two towns over that could try to
take their shit too, right, And so I think, you know,
I think there's there's evidence that Hulk actually went against
Ron Fuller in this war. I think too that Jimmy Barnett,
who of course helped run Georgia champion to Presting at

(53:32):
this time with oly Anderson, had some loyalties and ended
up backing the Knoxville guys too to some degree. I mean,
eventually Ron Fuller sold Knoxville to Jim Barnett, and so
maybe selling Knoxville to Jim Barnett his version of Knoxville
obviously not the version of the outlaw version, right, Maybe

(53:53):
that's what sort of put Hulk in a comfortable position
to work for him. But it looks optically like Hulk
leaves southatern Gulf Coast and goes to the part of
the territory that was up for grabs, so to speak,
and kind of was a beneficiary of all the trouble caused,
and he has to have some level of not loyalty
really but just straight familiarity with guys like Bob Rup,

(54:16):
Bob Orton Junior, and some of the other guys that
made that jump. We talked a lot in the early
stages of The Completely, the initial stages of The Complete,
about how formative and central those guys were to Florida
a CHAMPIONSI Wrestling from Florida when Hogan first was training.
So all that you have to factor in as well.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
I will say, by the way, in regards to ox Baker,
so I guess a lot of the stuff that I
had are actually sound bites, So you'd have to go
listen to you'd have to go to listen to that
episode of Escape from New York regarding an ox Baker,
Except there is one thing funny here that that ox
Baker didn't want to lose his fight New York. Yeah,

(54:56):
he didn't want to lose, and he he would. He
was upset about that for the rest of his life.
And even where Hogan got it from. Yeah, and even
claim this is this is the best part. So you
know that there's a sequel to Escape from New York,
Escape from La coming soon to the Cinement, and he says,

(55:20):
and it didn't do as well, and he says the
reason that the sequel failed was because he wasn't in it.
Of course, I mean, come on, folks, everybody knows that, everybody,
because everyone came to escape from New York for the Ox.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Okay, for the Ox, I'll tell you looking ahead of it,
not only is he coming in to join Billy Spears family,
he's coming in to work a series of matches with Theulk.
Ox Baker is waiting for Hulk, and in fact, here
Ron Fuller tell it, they would have started the Ox
Baker Hulk Hogan feud a lot earlier than they did,
and in fact, it may have even preempted the Andre
the Giant idea. If Ox was available at the first time,

(55:57):
they had the idea of matching these two up, which
it's just wild to think about.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
As well.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
So as in the Empty Studio once again, on the
Gulf Coast television, Billy Spears calls him Stirling the Hulk
Golden and he has them watching an interview that had
been cut in New York and sent to Dothan three
days earlier by the Giant.

Speaker 8 (56:19):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
So Andre's there shooting TV for WWWF and he takes
a moment to shoot TV that's going to be sent
down to Dothan for this hoping. So can you imagine
sitting at home in Dothan, Alabama watching Southeastern Championship Wrestling
and you see a tape shot in presumably Allentown, PA,
with Andre at ringside at the WWWF taping setting we

(56:41):
all know so well, and he's cutting a promo on
Hulk Hogan and he's coming Terry the Hulk Bowlder. So
that WWF has that because that's their fucking equipment being used.
That's part of one of the marathon taping sessions somewhere.
So if you don't produce andres first promo on Hulk,
out of your fucking minds, guys.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
We'll never see it. Why is that because they don't
want us to, they don't care. Suck it.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
This was not the week for this news to come out.
When we're sucking and we're knee deep in kneeds and
wants around Hulk Hogan and video.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Plats the kit. That's what I'm gonna have to do.
Like the kids, and like the kids in school used
to say, yeah, bad because bad kids. Eyebrow rings right, Yeah,
just unbelievable that a New York promo was sent to
Dothan from Andre's lips to Hulk Hogan before he'd even

(57:35):
laid eyes on the guy, just cutting a promo on,
you know, his most lucrative foe. And he's talking about
coming back to Dothan, according to Ron Fuller, because Andre
had come to the territory several times before, and they
had opened Othan in nineteen seventy eight, and Andre, ron
Fuller says, was on that first card when his family
opened up their own their uh their promotion and doth

(57:56):
in Alabama. When they opened doth into the promotion, they
were running elsewhere, and Andre said he looked forward to
coming back. And then Andre, according to Ron Fuller, here
for the first time, that's just from the stud cast
his Ron Fuller's podcast again highest recommendation for the first
time our promo turns his attention.

Speaker 5 (58:16):
To Hulk, and he said he had never heard of
this Russer, which is true. You know, he said he
never heard of this Russer called the Hulk, but everyone
that knew him said he was a very big guy.
And you know, and then andread ended up in his
normal fashion, he said, but I don't care. The bigger
the better. You know, he wasn't concerned about it. So

(58:40):
Spears jumped in, you know, the second the video ended,
and he said, this was the moment he and Sterling
had been waiting for. And then suddenly, for the first
time Hulk had done anything like this, he just stopped
Billy wrighting, Hey, Hey, hey, I got this wow, and
he asked, you know, he says that he says to Billy,

(59:04):
he says, how many times have I told you my
name is Terry. Then for the first time, he didn't
just say that little thing to say. He took over
the rest of the interview. He was like a different
person in this personality profile than we had seen from him.
So Hoaks said, basically, you know, they're going to be

(59:24):
two big phenomenal things in wrestling that were going to
happen this month, and both of them are going to
happen in Southeastern wrestling, and both of them are going
to change wrestling history forever. He said. Next Friday night,
he says, I'm going to beat Andre the Giant, and
then three weeks later, I'm going to beat the NWA

(59:44):
World Champion Harley Race.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Whoa wow, and he walked.

Speaker 5 (59:48):
Off the set. Billy Spears chasing behind him, apologizing, Hey,
you hope, whoa whoa. You know, that was a pretty
short little deal, but it was very effective so that
it showed the different personality.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
So Hulk steps into the foreground and says, I got this,
spears Andre. Not only am I going to beat your ass,
I'm gonna turn around become NBA World Heavyweight Champion.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Yeah, yeah, where's the fucking footage? Didn't happen?

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
I mean, this is him coming into his own in
every conceivable way.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Didn't happen. There's no television evidence. Didn't happen. How do
I know?

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
H nothing. I'm electrified just hearing him describe that. I know,
I mean, what what are you seeing? When he's hot?
When he's utting that picture out? I mean it's hard
because I know, why does his voice sound like I
want to see like I want to see Hull Cogan
in like eighty five. But the problem is I know

(01:00:48):
what Hull Cogan was sounding like, you know, and it
wasn't pretty, you know, because I because I also think
of so I wanted to be Hulk Hogan in his prime.
But I can't help but think it's hl Hogan on

(01:01:08):
Johnny Carson. Yes, right right, devoid of any over the.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
Top right exactly. That's that's that's my concern. But I
don't know, you know, very well could have been but
for him.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Even just for a small amount of time, to be
portrayed as this silent killer monster you know who said
less than Goldberg in those early days. Yes, by the way,
shout out to everyone on x and Patreon who noticed that, Yes,
Hulk Hogan was indeed the first coming of Bill Goldberg.
That it's precisely how he was pushed in Gulf Coast.
The for him to suddenly like not only talk but

(01:01:46):
offer more than just a grunt and acknowledgment of what
Billy Spears is saying for him is so huge. Yeah,
And to step into the foreground and say those things,
It's like, whoa, this guy is not only ready to
take on Andre, they want us as fans to now
think of him as a potential NWL champion. It's been
in the business for like three months since the return, yep.
So it's very clear. And so there's something that does

(01:02:09):
survive and we are deeply fortunate for this. And according
to the Wrestling Gold series the Kid Parker Films put out,
this comes from some private collection. It's not Ron Fuller's.
He said he doesn't have footage going much before nineteen
eighty I believe.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
Is what he said. Fucking he is, Oh, I know, idiot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
The word salad he must throw at you when you
ask him save these tapes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Well you know, yeah, yeah, fail. I just oh wow,
you know what the problem? I wanted to my memory
more than I want to live on Okay, it, so
we do have. I prefer to just sit there and
think about it and dream about it than I do
to actually experience.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
We might not know anything about this if it wasn't
for this VHS that found the Hult versus Andre in
the arm wrestling match at the doth And TV studios
to set up their first match. We have footage of
the angle. We have Billy Spears at ring side with
his back to the hardcam. We have you know, two
three rows of bleachered fans with that like pink spotlight

(01:03:07):
on the blue wall like it's fucking a w A
teen Challenge series over here, and we have we have
the full texture of what it looks like. Yeah, we're
gonna watch that along with you. You can find it on YouTube.
A simple Andre Hulk arm Wrestling Alabama. We'll get you there,
but we're gonna watch it here along with you. And
if you're ready, boss, I am ready. Have you ever
seen this before? First, No, I have never seen this before.

(01:03:28):
This is a man. This is brand new to me.
I'm very very this is you know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
I used to always find want these these kind of
tapes of the unseen Hulk Hogan stuff. Yes, this one,
I've never seen this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Here we go three two one, play.

Speaker 5 (01:03:48):
And headed for the ring.

Speaker 4 (01:03:49):
Terry the Hulk Bowlder is in the ring now.

Speaker 9 (01:03:52):
Yes, we have a challenge here. And Andre looks huge.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
There you see the eighth wonder of the world, Andre
the Giant.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
The history right here is like and.

Speaker 4 (01:04:13):
Terry the Hawk Boulder Nicky Steinborn into instruck the gentleman
on the rules of his arm wrestling match.

Speaker 9 (01:04:26):
No, I can't hear the grips.

Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
Look at the size of a.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
Yeah, stronger going on? Here we go?

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Here we go, Steinborn laying in the rules all across
this wooden table.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
In the middle of the ring. The xplaining Hogan's locks
are flowing.

Speaker 9 (01:04:45):
What must be done to win this match?

Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
We get there, have started evenly matched so far.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Struggling.

Speaker 4 (01:04:55):
Willie Spears at ringside still looks like he's hurting, right
that seven Dickie Steinborn, the lean.

Speaker 10 (01:05:02):
Wolf, got park Old looking who andric But the whole
looks like on these frings some expressions the haultage, it
looks like on the half springs and expression duck.

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
Maybe ongres coming down? Oh yeah, o Russell.

Speaker 8 (01:05:20):
Then you want to be.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
Shaped like it says.

Speaker 10 (01:05:22):
Here and tell him the whole time back he's gonna split.
Let's look at him, look at him God and his sandals.
Yeah right, that's montre A. Matt Billy Spears is got
in the ring, Aldredes after Spears, look for Spears.

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
Plugget's got the table, Holgan's got the table after on
the table roll and stumping the ship out of him
and sandals like he's called Ardwarf to Vader Sweet clubbing entre,
the off road entre, y Ronhouse rats on the classic

(01:06:01):
rights and I blade too. H is trying to do
what's the andre the clubbing gloss in the.

Speaker 4 (01:06:07):
Funds to the floor on the manager of the Hulk
sus him back Yender again, he dogs Hunger again.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
So I'm hearing that cut place on and.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
On the.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Giant is down in the corner and the Hawk is
still on.

Speaker 9 (01:06:30):
He's paring at him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:32):
He's trying to really open him up and.

Speaker 9 (01:06:34):
Take him out of him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
Had a commission for good. He's bowling at me now, Charlie,
Let's see if we get somebody in there to stop this.

Speaker 9 (01:06:44):
Andres the word and the Hawk is back into a game.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
This is the harst time I've ever Sirs shop to
stay alive.

Speaker 4 (01:06:56):
I've guys coming back where he comes.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Said, halt, why bit right?

Speaker 4 (01:07:01):
I hate the man Terry Boulder shoes now, but he's
fighting him.

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
We're those two superman in the way and ten other
shot and Terry Bales. Andre's got a whole of them.

Speaker 9 (01:07:15):
That's the wildest thing, obviously.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
And there was that wrestling world's biggest man right there,
and he's been busted open.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
By the first time you've seen that. I'm so happy
that you hadn't seen that before. I've never seen that before,
So just say things about it, please, I am. I
mean you know what, I I take it all back.
I mean, Hogan was like Hogan was a was a
was a madman and really yeah, yeah, I mean he's
like he's got he's got there's such a.

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
A sense of him that you know him in the future.
You know, he's got that. That the way he was
holding Andrey's hand and he was like shaking his head
and all this stuff, that's that's classic Hogan right there.
That's vintage Hogan. A lot of the mannerisms and no
he it was. And but you know what I love
the most, and it's what we talked about and discovered

(01:08:08):
in in the Uh in the AWA is the kind
of the badass Hule Cogan. Yes, the whole Cogan who's
coming in with with you know, is it. He's just
got intensity and he's he's trying to hurt. He's trying
to hurt his opponent.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
He's not trying to entertain, he's not trying to be
a fucking matinee idol. He's just trying to kick ass,
which is why people fell in love with them the
first place, and why he became the biggest baby face
attraction in the business. Yeah, because money drawing babyfaces come
to kick ass, and you believe they're here to kick ass,
and if they have a ton of charisma on top
of it, that's all gravy, except your babyface isn't here

(01:08:47):
to fuck somebody up. They're not maximizing their box office appeal, right,
and had that in him and he had that in
him from from from the beginning as a heel. I mean,
I'm going to notice all kinds of like first journey
of things as we go. But the way he's shaking
in that Armorsson contest, that's the way he shakes in
any test of strength he would ever do in the
big w af Matt exactly exactly, same trembling we recognize

(01:09:12):
even on this grainy footage. And he's got wild like
you know, almost like pajama pants on and sandals. Yeah,
that's fascinating to me. The whole corpse sell goes into
the ring and there's Andrea his cowboy boots with no
shirt on in his own right, flailing all over for
the whole I don't know, man, Andre's not doing that
for many guys in seventy.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
No, no, I mean he ah the way that Andre
sells for Hogan in that I mean he is, He's
letting you know that this is a big deal.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
Right exactly, especially if you're in the business and you
know what it takes to get Andre to sell like
that for you, what you have to show Andre in
terms of spark to get him to believe it's worth
handing over his equity as this you know, monster that
can't be stopped to somebody like. And that's that's what
everyone says, from Ron Fuller on down, what Andre we

(01:10:00):
saw in this guy was a guy I could actually
work with. When you're of such freakish proportions, it's really
hard to find an opponent you can go around the
horn with and make money with that the fans will
buys a legitimate physical threat to you, and Hulk was
the right place, right guy in that regard. Andre saw
it right away. He's in the territory for just one weekend,
just one weekend, and we shoot this TV angle that

(01:10:22):
were privileged to watch all these decades later as a
first glimpse of a chemistry between Hulk Cogan and Andre
the Giant that would to say they very at least
go to the bank, go to the fucking bank. Yes,
So it's time for the match in Dothan, and according
to Ron Fuller, it set an all time record not
just for Southeastern at that point, but for the building
they were running in itself, of any farm it's called

(01:10:45):
the Houston County Farm Center, where Hulk and Andre wrestled
for the very first time. According to Ron Fuller, the
building was built to hold five thousand people, but they
had six thousand squeezed into the building because people watch
that angle that we just saw were Hulk waffles Andre
over the head, Yeah, with a fucking wooden arm wrestling table,
and Andre blades like a motherfucker and bleeds and suffers.

(01:11:09):
And you don't think the fine people of Dothan are
gonna think it's worth five six bucks to see Andre
beat the shit out of this guy, Yes, or maybe
even more tantalizingly, to see if maybe Hulk can actually
take the fight to Andre. Because they've seen nothing but
credible physical opposition from hul Hogan, they have reason to
believe that maybe this guy is actually gonna beat Andre

(01:11:29):
the Giant. I got to be there to see that
shit the all time record. Houston County Farm Center a
very important building to this territory, and a very important building,
come to find out, to the history of Hulk Hogan
and Andre the Giant. Recently, the building was undergoing extensive renovations,
and this television news clip from WDHN Television down there

(01:11:52):
puts it all into perspective as to what's happening at
the former Houston County Farm Center site, which now it's
firmly established thanks to the complete Hulk. Hogan is a
pilgrimage site. It's a holy site.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
If it's where Hogan and Andre first wrestled, it's got
to be a holy site.

Speaker 3 (01:12:05):
We got to make that a thing.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
So here we'll bring up to speed on what's there now,
what's happening at the site now, and you better believe
that this ends. This clip here ends in the most
money way possible.

Speaker 11 (01:12:17):
The Wiregrass Tonight, a historic landmark in Houston County, is
undergoing a multi million dollar makeover, and almost a year later,
the foundation is starting to come together. The WDHNS Robert
Smith has the story.

Speaker 8 (01:12:29):
Not even a full year since the makeover on the
Houston County Farm Center began, and county officials are blown
away by the progress of the iconic landmarks.

Speaker 12 (01:12:36):
I'm very excited, you know, a lot of work is
finally starting to come together, and we're starting to see
kind of things take safe and so very exciting.

Speaker 8 (01:12:44):
Months ago, the roof was replaced with standing scene metal
that will last about fifty years. And now a majority
of the work has taken place inside the arena.

Speaker 12 (01:12:52):
Interior is pretty close to being done. The bath rooms
are gonna be flown down pretty soon. It's closed to
start laying the concrete foundation next week, so that'll be good.
And you can see we've actually been able to save
some of the other structures that used to be here
on the grounds, like the horse barn, so the horse
born is now the way is coding for the arenas.

Speaker 8 (01:13:14):
With the farm Center being historic to many, Shoop says
they wanted to make sure history is preserved but also
make it more modern into a flexible event space mainly
used for the home of the Farmer's Market, but not
only limited to it.

Speaker 12 (01:13:25):
Future generations will be able to enjoy the structure just
as as much as the previous generation has. We think
that this building is something that will be special, and
we think it's something that everybody will appreciate that everybody
will do.

Speaker 8 (01:13:38):
Product Shoe says. County Services will also occupy the farm Center.
The Commission to prove the Sanitation and Building Department to
be a tenant there.

Speaker 12 (01:13:45):
Offended this property so it will join the arena it
will join the new DHR building and needs something new
coming to the farm Center property. The space that we
have now is just not conducive to taking payments, and
there's just a law of you over step with literally
still and let each other's stones in there.

Speaker 8 (01:14:02):
Shoot says he's thankful that the City of Dothan canceled
the original set of the Farm Center and allowed them
to invest in it, also using multiple local contracts. Right
the center has expended to be completed.

Speaker 12 (01:14:12):
In February, looking forward to having a grand opening. I
don't know what the first event is going to be,
but if I had my pick, it would be wrestling.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
If if I had my pick, it would be wrestling.
I mean, is there another option if it is to
be wrestling? If there is to be a wrestling card
upon the reopening of the Houston County Farm Center in Dothan, Alabama,
site of the very first Hulk Hoganonner, I think I

(01:14:44):
can commit to making the pilgrimage. Yes, I don't care
who I can card.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
Yeah, it'll be some fucking goofball, probably headlined by Billy
Gunn or something, and we will.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Make We'll make pit stops at any video archive and
library in the Tri State area. Yes, to see what
we can find. Let's go to the courthouse. I mean,
let's fucking go. Okay, let's go to wherever he lived. Well,
he lived in the beach, So maybe we'll get an RV.
That's what we should do.

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
Yeah, we should written RV and just fucking drive down
and and live life like hul Cogan Leslie. Yeah. Well,
I don't know about Ed Leslie to come with us.
Imagine show us where so much where you showered. I mean,
all right, it's kind of weird, guys, but oh I
don't I don't know about you said I do it.

(01:15:34):
Then you said you pay me in travelers checks, right, Yes,
if that's what you want travelers checks, don't worry if
we have cash. Jesus, it's that time. It's that time,
holidays are here. It's time to get home alone. I can't.

(01:15:56):
I mean, this is just too much the history. I mean, yeah, dude, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
It's I mean, you don't have any idea about this
growing up, no clue. I mean they didn't know about
this until three years ago when he started doing this podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
Right, Because that's part of it, too, is the is
there's so much you know, because like, like we've been
saying that there's so much stuff that that's really just
a very like not even not even a handful, but
like a pinch, a pinch of the United States population

(01:16:39):
witnessed any of this shit a pinch, and it was
like no one knowing any clue. It might have well
have been buried by the rest of the country. It's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
And the more I think about it, the more it
does fit Terry in a lot of ways in his
personality because one of the things with him looking there
was book you really feel this way, But both of them,
there's these chapters like why did he write a book?
A MiG read chapter about that there's a fucking reason
to address this one thing out of the million things
that happened to him. I think what you realize is
he's got the kind of brain, the kind of organizational
brain and like photo recall brain, where he doesn't forget

(01:17:15):
a single thing that was ever published about him, right,
and what's reality to him isn't what happened to him.
It's what other people can confirm happened to him. What
right independent verification exists. That's why he freaks out when
he's on these modern podcasts and they can pull up
video and the snap of the finger via Google of

(01:17:36):
things he actually said and the way he actually put things.
He's not comfortable in that world because no, no, he's
for him to settle the narrative to his advantage. He's
got to be able to characterize what was said in
the first place, counting on no one having the wherewithal,
if not the motivation or time to go track down
the source material themselves, which of course is one of
the many reasons that doing something like the complete Hull

(01:17:58):
Cogain is so invigorating for us, because we can go
we have all the time in the world, and all
the resources in the world, and all the support from
our listeners in the world to go right to the
mat to find the source, the primary source every time yep.
And so here he is not having to talk about
this part of his career because it wasn't documented anywhere.

(01:18:18):
There's not a photo out there that he has to
explain and have a story about, particularly how maybe the
photo would conflict with all he told people for years
about how the first time he ever met or saw
Andre the Giant was in New York Because as I
point out last time he does talk about Dothan, he
does talk about wrestling in Alabama and living with Ed
Leslie on the beach and seeing Ron Fuller rob Fuller's cock, right,

(01:18:41):
and when he's jumping off the diving board with a
titlele he acknowledges that he came through this area, but
he never mentions crossing paths with Andrea the Giant for
the first time in his life in this area. Why
would that be Why would he act like the first
time he ever saw Andrea's when he goes to New
York the next year or at the end of the
year seventy nine. I don't know, but I think it's

(01:19:03):
probably because he didn't think anybody would ever see it
or hear about it, and therefore it's not part of
his reality. But what about this video though, this videotape,
This videotape, I agree. I mean, I don't think as
unplugged as Hogan seemed to be around YouTube and what
it was, I wouldn't surprise me if he didn't even
know this was out there, honestly by the time he
sat down to recollect for his two books. But it's

(01:19:25):
just so weird that, of all the hours and hours
of interviews Hogan has done about Andrew the Giant that
he never talks about where it all started. He never
talks about this arm wrestling angle with the table. It's unbelievable.
It's unbelievable. There's just something about it. He doesn't want.
In my way of thinking, Hulk doesn't want people to
start directing their attention to this stage of his life.

(01:19:47):
They don't want to. He doesn't want them to be
asking questions about this stage of his life. And I
think we've nibbled around the edges a little bit. I
think doctor d David Schultz may have told us exactly
why that might be.

Speaker 3 (01:19:58):
There might be, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
I just envisioned some police stations somewhere around there having
one too many documents about what other ways Hulk may
have been making ends meet at this particular point in time. Brother,
I didn't know.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
I'm not saying, I'm just in my mind. I know, brother,
you know, you know sometimes true. I mean, I have
done something, dude, but you're implying that I did everything.
I think David Chelton implied and I just repeated it.
But it's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
Jesse and Randall call Randy Coley and the publicists that
you used to have around the story trial, and and
in your own book, how you talked about how you're
afraid that the government might have evidence to flip I
don't call you a dealer.

Speaker 3 (01:20:43):
Well I don't have Well, probably they they may have
evidence on Hulk Hogan. They don't have answered Terry Boy
about Terry Boulder. There's a curve ball he's never had
to deal with before. You're talking about Terry Boulder. Who
bring Terry Boulder? What do you bring him for? Why

(01:21:04):
did you bring up Terry Boulder? Which wamp we've been
here about. You're talking about who you're talking about Terry?
What if I asked you about No one ever asked
you about this guy ever in your life. Tell me
about Billy Spears. Oh, I don't know. Well, you're telling
him Billy Spears brother. You think you know so much
about him? That was brother. That was my original idea

(01:21:25):
of my name for Goldberg about you know Billy Spears,
Goldberg brother. You know the spear man, Billy Billy Spears,
Philly Spears brother, he'd be spearing motherfuckers. I mean, why
do you ask me who was that? Who's Billy Spears.
Have you seen tape? Yeh, there's something called the newspaper archive. Now,

(01:21:50):
but you got tape, dude, you taping? Not right now?

Speaker 2 (01:21:58):
I'm just asking you about Billy Spears. I know he
was an important part of your early career.

Speaker 3 (01:22:03):
But you recording this conversation, dude, Oh it is a podcast? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:22:09):
He says it like, Oh, I'm not I wasn't born yesterday. Brother,
I've heard that one before.

Speaker 3 (01:22:16):
I don't want this podcast, busess. Brother, I'm talking about
Blue Spears. Dude, who told you about Blue Spears? Where
you getting your sources from?

Speaker 7 (01:22:21):
Brother?

Speaker 5 (01:22:22):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:22:22):
I don't know if you know this, Terry, but a
lot of some collectors had tape of you when you
were being managed by Billy Spears, working with Andre, doing
an angle with Andre before anybody even heard about you
in seventy nine in Dothan.

Speaker 3 (01:22:35):
I never, I don't even know who Andre is, dude,
What Andre under the Giant? What do you mean what
Andre and and the Giant? Brother? Yeah, Andy Russ Andrew
the Giant? Correct, Andre the Giant? Broll I never, I mean, see, brother,
here's the thing, do you see. I'm Hulk Cogan never

(01:22:56):
saw under the Giant brother Nady. But I asked you,
what about Terry Boulder. We don't know what what about
Terry Boulder.

Speaker 1 (01:23:07):
LA fan wrestling podcast. He's lapsed fan wrestling podcast with

(01:23:32):
Jack and.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
This Terry Boulder cease to exist when you got back
to the trailer on the beach the second you stepped
out onto the onto the beach in Pennsylvania, Brother will
Hop dude, when I leave the house, brother on Hulk Hogan,

(01:23:55):
what about what.

Speaker 3 (01:23:58):
Yet? Where I left the house Hulk Hogan. But you
weren't in seventy nine. I was. I just didn't know
it yet, Brother Hulk cogd. But I didn't know it yet.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
Hey, that's kind of makes some sense anyway, because we
just saw the raw material in that clip there, one
of the precious few we have, and I want you
to know just so to to lower expectations, yeah, you know,
in a fair way. And that what we've watched him
in that match against the mask guy where he gives
them the bear hug. We just saw him attacking Andre

(01:24:31):
and the armor.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:24:32):
Yep, that's all the video that anyone is. There's one
more match we're going to talk about, but it's sort
of it's after a Hulk leaves Alabama and then kind
of comes back, and it's it's more than of a
Knoxville clip than it is a golf closed clip.

Speaker 3 (01:24:46):
But as far as him in his.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
Earliest stages is Terry the Hope Boulder.

Speaker 3 (01:24:49):
This is it. We just saw it all.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Unfortunately, thanks to Ron Fuller, we haven't heard it all.
What a fucking what a fucking travesty. Andre was just
coming in for three days and agree to do all
this stuff, shoot the angle and do two matches with
the guy, and part of his agreement will close.

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
So he's coming for three days? What do they do it?

Speaker 1 (01:25:09):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:25:10):
So what are they gonna do?

Speaker 1 (01:25:11):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:25:11):
Is he gonna come back?

Speaker 2 (01:25:12):
Or is he he comes in, he does the angle
on live TV to promote the match that night in
Dothan and then they have another match.

Speaker 3 (01:25:18):
So and that's it?

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (01:25:21):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
And uh here, Ron, I'll put it. He kind of
he tells different versions of this and we'll go through
both of them. I kind of get a little confused
as to when Ron says Andre first laid eyes on
Hulk because of course they have to get you know,
put their heads together backstage before encountering each other in
the studio.

Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
When and how that happens. There is a couple of
different versions. I think he's told just imagine imagine Wrestlingia three. Okay,
Andre comes to Hogan in the back, goes are the
words from all about your dolphin? What we talk about Dothan?

(01:26:02):
What are you talking about? Brother? Also doctor dollhund and
whole brother. I think he's losing mine. But I don't know,
is he okay? Brother? Brother? How many he had? Dudes?
He had one hundred and fifty. Brother, he's one hundred
gas like you, brother. I don't even know what Alabama?
What do you talk about Alabama? Dude? But I didn't.

(01:26:25):
I didn't. I don't even know what you're talking about. Dude.
I've never abandoned.

Speaker 6 (01:26:33):
Anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:26:33):
I can't say it. How about this?

Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
How about this for a complete hull Coogan pull quote
that that will be remembered for years.

Speaker 3 (01:26:43):
Say Alabama?

Speaker 4 (01:26:44):
Eye shut dolphim.

Speaker 2 (01:26:49):
I mean, who would have thought that we'd end up
laser focused on Andre trying to Pinhogan down about this
actually having happened, quib and just insisting on referring to
it only as Dothan, So that Hogan can't run away
and pretend it was somewhere else in Alabama.

Speaker 3 (01:27:11):
What episode was it? Oh, yeah, you know what it was.

Speaker 2 (01:27:14):
Oh Jesus was the first Hulk Andrea edition of the
Complete Hulk Hogan. Now Here is Ron stud Ron Fuller
in some more detail describing Andre's sort of feeling about
the whole program with Hulk and meeting this guy.

Speaker 5 (01:27:30):
So after just meeting Hulk the afternoon before their first match,
Andre was shot man with the response in the size
of the crowd that night, and he had nothing but
good things to say about the hope. He was sold
on the fact that we had found for him the
opponent of his future, you know, someone big enough for
Andre to have a legitimate match with. So no wonder

(01:27:54):
he was all in when Louie and I we went
and suggested to him Saturday morning TV day we do
a little arm wrestling contest that day on the TV,
and he was all in.

Speaker 2 (01:28:06):
Wow, it was all wud So the arm wrestling contest
we just saw. This is to clarify the timeline, happens
the morning after the first match. Okay, So he saw
that just Hulk looking into the camera and saying, I'm
going to beat you and then beat Harley Race and
Andre's tape from New York. Filled this building in Dothan,

(01:28:28):
Phill Winderston County farm Center. And here's a description of
that match, also from Ronstad. This is how it actually
played out in the ring. These are the details we
were missing until Run did the podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:28:40):
Well, I can tell you this, man, It was absolutely
electric in that building.

Speaker 7 (01:28:44):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:28:45):
When I walked out, I looked at it. The only
way I could describe it. It was a see of
human team that farm Center. Every seat was filled and
there maybe a thousand people standing behind the ringside on
both ends of that farm Center. You know, you had
the two bleachers on one side, but on the other
end you had a great expanse between the ring side

(01:29:07):
and the entrances and exits to the building, and that
was all full of people standing.

Speaker 7 (01:29:14):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:29:15):
And you know the strength versus strength match, Man, this
is what it was. I watched this match and and
basically it was a strength versus strength match. In the
early part, the fans were so into it they stood
up on everything.

Speaker 7 (01:29:29):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:29:30):
And at the end of it that kind of turned
violent instead of just being who's the strongest, and spears
got hoped basically disqualified intentionally, and Willie Spears ran to
the dressing room I remember by himself say round the
ring there before he went back after it was all over. Wow,

(01:29:52):
And there were so many people in there he could uh,
Spears could hardly get to the dressing room.

Speaker 2 (01:29:59):
So the disqualification caused by Billy Spears. But the building
is full and Andre notices the building is full, and
Boss Andre makes a mental note, doesn't he that this
hul covid guy is someone I can make money with?
And the first place he realized it was in Dothan, Alabama,
off of just the promos we just played for you.
So the next morning, as Ron stud just laid out

(01:30:21):
when it comes time for television, which again the magic
of shooting live TV in the morning to sell tickets
to the arena that night, the immediacy of it, the
the your ability to just attribute one piece of height
to one gate. You know, it's like, we put these
guys on TV that morning, and we featured this angle
and we drew this many people. We did these two

(01:30:42):
guys and we drew this many people. What a fucking
great way to tell what's.

Speaker 3 (01:30:46):
Walking And it's exciting too, Like it's exciting to think that,
like what you're you know, because even even watching you know,
you don't get that they would never have live TV

(01:31:07):
in the morning right of like a pay per view
or something, you know, like we never had live TV.
They always said they were live you know, they always said,
you're watching you know, All American or the Action Zone,
and they're acting like they've got to wrestle that night
after wrestling in the morning. But that didn't happen. So
to think that you can turn on the TV undecided,

(01:31:30):
perhaps undecided whether or you're going to go to the
matches tonight, just think about that. Just think you have
kind of an open Saturday night. Yeah you know, I
went last week. I'm not going to go this week,
you know. But yeah, well, alt's see what's going on.
You throw on the TV. You see this angle with
Hogan and Andre and you're like, well, guys, I got

(01:31:51):
plans for tonight. Fuck it's drivable. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:31:57):
It's not like you watch something and now you've got
to make a week's worth of playing to get there.
You just go and you get to the building, you
buy the ticket, you get in, you sit down. It
takes two hours because your territory wasn't that big. And
that's that's the buildings they were trying to point you
to were so close that you could make a decision
that morning to go that night.

Speaker 3 (01:32:15):
That's also the beauty of the lost, the lost, I
don't know what you call it, but.

Speaker 2 (01:32:27):
The magic, the lost dynamic, the lost the law.

Speaker 3 (01:32:30):
Yes, you're right, the lost dynamic of local television. Of course.

Speaker 2 (01:32:35):
Oh this opens that whole vean, doesn't it. You know,
when I'm talking about Bill Cardill again, let's go exactly,
that's what I mean, Like, you know, we we we
there's really nothing, there's nobody. There's nothing like that anymore.
Everything is close, you know, except for except for like
local news. But there was something so cool that I

(01:32:56):
didn't apprecialling, anyone really appreciate it at the time, the
idea of local television. This is a thing that hundreds
of years from now, if we haven't blown up the
earth by then, is people aren't even gonna even pay
attention to in the history books. It's gonna be such
a small blip in the history of humankind. Experience one

(01:33:16):
city and one and two generations. You know, that lasted
for just a just a small, little bit of time.
It's it's just it's such a idea that you could
have a TV station that made money broadcasting to and
only selling to people within a certain radius of the

(01:33:36):
TV studio, and that was more than enough for everybody
to become stars. Everyone was happy, and everyone was going
back home at night, including the talent themselves. They were home.
They didn't have to travel over the place to make impact.
They didn't have to, you know, be vagabonds to be
television stars. That was something available to them locally, and

(01:33:57):
you could become a local celebrity as a television presenter
in your city, and that was a damn fine living
and you were beloved for it, you were remembered for it.
And I'll be damned if professional wrestling wasn't the absolute
best at figuring that out. There were, as we've talked about,
you know, shows like local horror movie specials, right presentations
that you would do, other shows with local flavor that

(01:34:19):
people from these cities remember for years, kids shows, you know,
people portraying kids show characters that only broadcast in certain markets,
like mister Rogers started and I think Pittsburgh, and it's
like those generations will never forget these people that presented
that were sort of the the prism through which television

(01:34:39):
entered your your mind at a time, and there was
only so many channels, and the local ones are probably
the ones you watch the most because it had local
information on the news and all of that. And there's
a reason that the legendary television wrestling announcers of the
territorial days by and large came from the news divisions
of the same studios where they taped the fucking wrestling.

(01:35:00):
You think of Lance Russell and Dave Brown and Memphis
television newsmen weather men. You think of me and gen
Oakerland Minneapolis area radio personality Charlie Platt, who we've heard
on commentary in Southeastern over and over again. He was
a very prominent broadcasting figure in that part of the
country and in these markets before Ron Fuller set up

(01:35:20):
and hired him to do commentary.

Speaker 3 (01:35:22):
You can go on and on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
The list goes on and on to these people that
were Bob Coddle, who just passed away. He was a
weather man in Charlotte who became the voice of mid
Atlantic wrestling.

Speaker 3 (01:35:33):
Folks.

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
It was where it was at, It was where it
was at. It was a way to experience wrestling in
a way that was just engrossing.

Speaker 3 (01:35:41):
And here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:35:42):
These markets are so small. You had fucking half of
the population of some of these cities watching these television shows.
So no television manager worth as salt could afford to
GFA at pro wrestling. It was the goddamn biggest rating
straw he had in his little station. Everyone he knew
was watching it, even if they didn't admit it, and advertisers.
I wanted to be in front of those eyeballs, those
captive eyeballs, for sixteen ninety minutes, one hundred and twenty

(01:36:04):
minutes every single Saturday morning, live in the city that
you were based in, coming to you from a building
where you knew where it was. You watched championshipressing from
Florida from the Sportatorium. You knew where that fucking sportatorium
was in North Albany.

Speaker 3 (01:36:19):
You knew you could go. Might I get in? But
you knew you knew you could go.

Speaker 2 (01:36:23):
You knew where the the tech would drive studios were
for Georgia Championship and then later, of course some World
championshiprestling under Crockett. Fuck this man, God damn it.

Speaker 3 (01:36:35):
YEP Nope.

Speaker 2 (01:36:35):
As if I needed further proof points that I was
born in the wrong decade, I know, man, you got
to see Hogan wrestle Andre after watching the fucking arm
wrestling angle for anybody else, So that was the finish DQ.
Andre's pleased to punch with what he's seeing, very happy,

(01:36:56):
and we're on our way. And this is the seed
that will sprout into superstarredhom for Hulcogan because he wins
over Andre right away, right away.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
It's not that he did it.

Speaker 2 (01:37:06):
He did it in his first two months in the business.
I consider it. You know, if you don't count seventy
seven and the aborded run is super destroyer in Florida,
if you could please navigate bosson your Alabama folder to
nineteen seventy nine, dash oh five, dash oh four. This
for now is probably the best we can do as
far as want to talk to somebody who was there,
want to talk to someone who witnessed it last time

(01:37:28):
on the complete hullcog and we read from a Facebook
post where people were conveying really general memories of who
Hulcogan was to people in and around Dothan who were
watching wrestling in nineteen seventy nine, people reflecting upon his passing,
of course, and Facebook threads and comments about what they
remembered in these little moments of seeing him in and
around town at the gym, or at a restaurant or
whatever the case may be, and being a personable guy.

(01:37:50):
Here is a comment posted to the Wrestling Classics message
board all the way back in two thousand and three
by someone by the name of Callaway and this, this
is one of them in the wild boss.

Speaker 3 (01:38:00):
What does he remember? Waitineteen seventy nine, Dash O five
dash four dash secw Oh okay one, oh okay? Is this.

Speaker 7 (01:38:17):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:38:20):
We got a couple? Oh, here we go? Start with yep,
there we go. Yep, yep, yep, yep. I was in
the Houston County Farm Center that night. If I remember correctly,
it was late March early April nineteen seventy nine for
romfo Or Southeast and Wrestling Terry the wrestling Hulk. Boulder

(01:38:42):
was a bad guy managed by Belly Spears. The angle
to set things up that night is available. It's the
one where I dream Boulder you have the arm wrestling contest.
Well over five thousand fans crammed, creamed, creamed the Farm
Center that night. They had to bring an extra football
bleach just to accommodate seating. I can recall the finish

(01:39:04):
to the match. A few weeks later, Boulder would turn
good guy when the Southeastern title from ox Baker have
what I believe was his first World championship match substituting
for Ron Fuller against NWA champ. Harley Race feuded with
ox Baker, Austin Idol, and Toro Tanaka while in the
area before finally leaving in October nineteen seventy nine.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
Wow remembers it all. Guy remembers it all. And look, yep,
as we go through run Fuller's recollections, all that tracks
that that fan remembers. So there are some who are
posting at least in two thousand and three, which is
like a lifetime ago, now more than twenty years ago,
reflecting I don't know that gentleman or that woman is
still with us. But if you click forward a few
times to get to nineteen seventy nine Dosh five six,

(01:39:50):
you'll see what appears to be in shout outs to
the intrepid homie Matt for finding this. I'm not sure
what the source of it is. But it's clearly a
ringside photo that's not shot by a professional. But there
is Hulk, and there is Andre and his big red
trunks and red boots.

Speaker 3 (01:40:05):
Andre that is, and.

Speaker 2 (01:40:07):
There's Terry the Hulk boulder and what I'm supposed to
be the blue singlet with the red knee pads.

Speaker 3 (01:40:13):
This is this is the match.

Speaker 2 (01:40:15):
And those ropes look red, white and blue. Although the
white is up top. It looks so ratty and shitty,
but it's raw. Yeah, I wanted to not be polished yet.
I want to see Hogan Andre before people knew what
they want, you know, right, I mean I want to
see I want to see Andre and Hogan in front

(01:40:35):
of five in front of five thousand people. That's that's
that's where the magic is. Right there, there's a newspaper
clip seeing this whole thing, like from from a time
when you know it just it almost wasn't supposed to happen, right,
that's right. And here's a clipping from their match. Let's

(01:40:56):
see this had been the May sixth, the next nine,
eight fifteen PM belt but the Municipal Auditorium, which I
think is Montgomery or it wasn't, Houston County Farm Center
obviously it was the Municipal Auditorium main event, hunder the
giant seven foot four inches, four hundred and eighty four
pounds versus the Hulk. All it says is the Hulk,
right boss. Yes, no dary Bolea, no Arry Boulder, no

(01:41:20):
Sterling Golden, the Hulk. That's all I'm selling you. Yes,
six foot six and ninety five. Okay, that's a farm primer.

Speaker 3 (01:41:33):
At least they got the fucking ad write instead of
in it in the actual copy for the news the
news article. Yeah, that's nice and also only only eight
eight pounds shy of three three. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Yeah?
Can I can I get the footage? Can I see

(01:41:53):
this match? Please? Please? Nope, because they replay it on
the fucking television show. According to Ron Fuller, they taped it. Nope, nope,
you'll never see it. It's all erased. Think of that.
Think of that. Somebody said, you know what, we don't
need to archive this, let's just fucking tape over it. Hmm.

Speaker 2 (01:42:21):
And Ron's all distracted by the Knoxville War, so it
doesn't even sink in and what is achieved here? In fact,
Cogan wrestles hardly when we get there, he's not even
there because he's so preoccupied with Knoxville. He's basically moved
to Knoxville to run the war room over there. It's
fucking amazing, unbelievable. That's what we deserve, I guess is
wrestling fans.

Speaker 3 (01:42:40):
Yes, Ron said.

Speaker 2 (01:42:43):
When they announced it the fans that Andre would be
in studio that morning. They announced it the week before.
The studio was so packed for television time they couldn't
get him in. And Andre came out with Charlie Platt
right off the bat, and they watched the end of
the match from the night before. So that morning when
they shot the angle with arm Wrestling, they had already
watched with Charlie Platt footage of the very first Hull

(01:43:06):
Cogan versus Andrea the Giant won on one matchup from
the night before Houston County pharm Center, where it all started.

Speaker 3 (01:43:12):
They watch it, So there's tape of it? What the
fuck there's tape of it? Well, there was, it's over right,
you're not. How did I not?

Speaker 2 (01:43:27):
How did I not account for the pain that the
complete Hull Cogan would bring. I mean, it's always been
about come on, come on, I mean, I thought it
was all laid out before I thought all the.

Speaker 6 (01:43:38):
Hurt.

Speaker 3 (01:43:39):
This is gonna Listen, if there's one thing we're.

Speaker 2 (01:43:42):
Gonna watch it all and all I'm gonna to think
about it at the end is what I couldn't see exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:43:46):
That's what I'm That's it. You know. If there's one
thing that you should have known, that you should have known,
is that this is gonna hurt more than anything else.
This whole journey is gonna hurt more than any anything
else because of what we won't get, because of what
we don't have, and having things actively taken away from

(01:44:10):
us as we exactly exactly all right? Does that teach
us about life? Nothing fucking matters, nothing's permanent. Ooh baby,
you better be careful too much truth Not everyone's ready

(01:44:30):
for that. Oh listen. I have had in twenty twenty five,
I have had more like I've become very I have
been very introspective over the last year. Sure, thinking about mortality. Sure,

(01:44:52):
thinking about immortality, immortality, Yes, thinking about legacy, not the faction.

Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
But oh shit, I was just about to say, that
makes two of us. I can't stop thinking about if
Ted Dibiassi Junior still is ready.

Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
To come back. I think you can put those lawsuits
behind him. Thinking about like the for example, okay, thinking
about I was talking about this with my cousins over Thanksgiving,
actually talking about the idea that you know, I have

(01:45:36):
this mental idea of what Thanksgiving is supposed to be,
which stems from high school, college era thanksgivings. That's what
Thanksgiving is supposed to be. But the reality is that

(01:46:00):
each Thanksgiving will never happen again. That's correct. The Thanksgiving
that just happened is never going to happen again.

Speaker 2 (01:46:11):
And what was so perfect about it you come to
find out later is that it won't happen again.

Speaker 3 (01:46:15):
Yes, exactly is that you can't have all these things
like you can't you can't ruin it because you can't
revisit it right, right, But and and also that things
that nothing that that nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:46:36):
Lasts, nothing lasts forever, and especially tapes of Hogan versus
Andre at the Houston County Farm Center.

Speaker 3 (01:46:49):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:46:51):
So I knew that we would get to these kind
of life lessons at the end of the complete Hull
Hogan because this is in many ways the story and
the love letter to wrestling.

Speaker 3 (01:47:00):
From us.

Speaker 2 (01:47:00):
But yeah, I didn't expect this much reality this soon.
I mean, it's all crashing down right away.

Speaker 3 (01:47:06):
We get it at the beginning. That's correct. Okay, we
get it at the beginning. How about it ain't gonna
stop anytime soon.

Speaker 2 (01:47:15):
So Andre and Charlie Platt watched the end of the
match from the night before, and at the end of
the video, Billy Spears brings Hulkgan out to the set.
According to run about the vis, no, I think we're.

Speaker 3 (01:47:27):
Well, well, why why do you think you could do better?
But wow, how about you go to that? I don't know,
but something could be done that would make it better
than this is his answer. It's stuff. Hell, how about
you go up to the top rope? Exactly?

Speaker 9 (01:47:47):
Well, those are about top rope.

Speaker 3 (01:47:51):
Why don't you go up at top rope? See what happens?
Oh see what happened to a mischievous son of a
bitch this Charlie Platt is huh, why don't you just
go up there? That's a Southern Uh, that's an opra?
What do you think about that? And be Andy Giganty

(01:48:15):
what you call? No, Andy Giganty?

Speaker 6 (01:48:20):
I don't like that, un Charlie Platt. Fine, I go
up to the top rope. I show you what happened.
I go to the top rope.

Speaker 2 (01:48:32):
Another thing Vince stole from the territories, making Andre go
to the top rope and fall. All right, now, who
was Charlie Platt? That didn't first Terry came here, Andre's
going to the top rope?

Speaker 3 (01:48:46):
What plot, plot? Other idea would import to New York.
I want to want you to do what I want
you to do, Terry. I want you to cut the
top rope right when Andre's gonna jump. Bo bro what
you heard me? Well, I don't know, I do that's
hard of the drawing boiler. Now, I'm Charlie fucking blad Ship,

(01:49:10):
Oh ship, oh ship, I didn't see that coming exactly.
Drop names. This is dothing, all right, my name Travels.
Let me tell you right now, we're not in fucking
sunny Florida, all right. We're in goddamn motherfucking dot And
and I'm gonna fucking cut your fucking judgly if you

(01:49:30):
don't do like goddamn saying you understand me a little
fucking bitch.

Speaker 13 (01:49:34):
Ship, I'm crying to the top he is, I see
your dumb fat bitch, you.

Speaker 3 (01:49:48):
Boy, what do you got I'll tell you how. What
an absurd situation? You cut the damn rope right now
with my with my my hunting knife. Okay, brother, al On,
what do you want to do on the top rope?
I want you to jump as high as you can.

(01:50:10):
Andy Giganty, Now good luck coming back from that. Holy shit,
I think the fucking die is cast. Andy Giganti, get
on our level. Fucking hell no, Terris coach.

Speaker 7 (01:50:32):
Oh ro ro.

Speaker 10 (01:50:36):
Ro oh holding them, I'll cor.

Speaker 9 (01:50:48):
War old hold road, our brogue wire, oh.

Speaker 3 (01:50:57):
Char bribe wire, because I want to tell you who
the god damn reel giant. He's this gold bracelet war
and Southern boy. Oh fuck that. Yeah, I'm gonna expect
that the soon either.

Speaker 4 (01:51:19):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:51:19):
After watching the video, Billy Spears brings Hulk out to
the set challenges Andre right then and there to an
arm wrestling contest Billy Spears does against his sterling, the
Hulk Golden. According to Ron Fuller, he loved to call
the Hulk sterling and Terry didn't like that. As has
already established, Andre accepted the challenge. Studio exploded at the
prospect of this happening. In front of their eyes. They
did not expect to see this on television, and indeed

(01:51:41):
they saw this on television this same TV taping, Ox
Baker debuts in Southeastern and Billy Spears brings in Ox
Baker standing behind him just like the Hulk did. So
not only his Hulk starting to take issue with how
Billy Spears is referring to him and getting him involved
in arm wrestling things and sending him in to double
down on Andre when he was trying to get away.

(01:52:03):
He saw on the clip. He's also bringing in a big,
monstrous heel that you can make Hulk feel like he's
about to be supplanted in the Billy Spears family and
further adding to his insecurities. And you can already start
to feel that little nudge towards thinking of Hulk potentially
as a babyface, which is also fascinating that it happened
so soon that he started to rebel against his manager

(01:52:23):
so soon. Jesus and they knew. Ron Fuller knew that
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race was coming to the
territory in just two weeks to defend his championship. And
here he has two men, two big men who are
ready to beat Harley in the territory Ox Baker and
Terry the Hulk Boulder. How will he play his cards? Well,

(01:52:46):
that is too unfold. So, as we just saw on
the clip, Dick Steinborn, who was a longtime wrestler and
a promoter for Ron Fuller in the Territory as well
as a television color commentator, sets up the arm wrestling
contest between these two as sort of the you know
the Bob Geigel, you know office representative Stanley Blackburn type
figure on the show Connects. The hands went back to

(01:53:06):
the set because you actually heard Dick Steinborn with that
New York accent, commentating over the Hulk Andre arm wrestling contest.
So they battle, and Fuller says, as far as he
remembers knowing Andre well, teaming with him, as we talked
about before he ever came in to work Hulk, knowing
him around the Horn, being familiar with his work everywhere
he met things. The only time he saw Andre bleed.

(01:53:28):
This may been the first time. Wow that Andre bladed
for an opponent. Now maybe you can find examples of
it elsewhere. I know, be interested and keen, but you
would think Ron Fuller would have a vested interest in
you know, yes, if this is the first time Andre
ran the razor, you would think that would come up
as a point of conversation in formatting. What was going
to happen on the television show that day when he

(01:53:49):
asked him to grab a razor blade and slice his
forehead open so as to attract the ticket buying public
by bleeding for real on television.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
You know that looks yeah, I think that would be
an important thing.

Speaker 2 (01:54:00):
So after seeing a huge crowded Othan and the arm
wrestling contest on television and they wrestle, according to Ron
Fuller and Pensacola Romra remembers telling Roy Lee Welch to
call people at the Pensacola Auditorium and add as many
seats as they possibly could, because if what they saw
in Dothan was any indication, compounded by the interest of
the arm wrestling angle that we just watched that morning

(01:54:20):
on television, Pensacola was in for a full fucking house.
And that is indeed what happened watching, or at least
hearing what's happening here, according to Dave Meltzer is Terry Funk.
Terry Funk, of course, coming off his run as NBA
World Champion, was still an executive and an owner in
the I'marilla territory.

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
His father.

Speaker 2 (01:54:42):
Very much involved in the NWA at the board level,
as was his brother. They were power brokers in the business.
They were, you know, the Funk family was royalty. They
had influence everywhere, and they were always, especially Terry Funk,
keeping their ear to the ground of what was drawing
and what parts of the country at what points in time.
Terry Funk of course known to the family. In fact,
think about the stud Stable right in WCW.

Speaker 3 (01:55:04):
Remember that.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
Yeah, yeah, Stud Stable started in Gulf Coast with arn
Anderson involved by the way, and Rob Fuller and company.

Speaker 3 (01:55:11):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
And I think Jerry Stubbs, who trained arn Anderson and
teamed to them, was involved to and the stud Stable
was kind of like the precursor to the Horseman before
uh sure, sure the Horseman ever attacked Dusty Roads in
a gas station parking lot and slammed a car door
in his arm. The television viewers of South Eastern Wrestling
were told that Austin Idel had been attacked by the
stud Stable in a gas station. Wow, they didn't According

(01:55:34):
to Bo James, the aforementioned bo James. They didn't film
this angle because to film it would give away the
fact that it was a big put on for television.
You remember the horseman angle. They kind of made that.
They took the time to explain why a camera would
have been there, that the horseman essentially commandeered someone to
film this attack, but they didn't think that. So, according
to bo James, they did the angle at an actual
gas station in Alabama somewhere where Austin Idl got attacked

(01:55:57):
by the stud stable and got his arm broken. They
didn't film it, but they just let it. Let words
spread throughout the community from people who happen to be
bystanders and witnesses to this attack, that it in fact happened. Wow,
that was enough to do business back then. Can you
imagine that's insane angles happening in the wild at the
fucking grocery store. That's another advantage. You fucking love it.
I fucking love it so much. You run into the

(01:56:19):
guy in public, and you got to have a at
least a shouting match with the guy. You know, at
least a shouting match. Ah, many people being nervous, like
fucking like, oh, my god.

Speaker 3 (01:56:29):
Around nervous.

Speaker 2 (01:56:30):
Ed Leslie said, Terry was when the Samoans would hang
out and an Ox Baker would hang out with him
at the camp on the beach, and they shouldn't be
seen together because Hulk was gone, baby amazing. Hulk was
so nervous about it. But I mentioned Terry Funk because
he's an important part of the story.

Speaker 4 (01:56:46):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:56:47):
Hulk has the thing in his first book about how
Terry Funk saw him working at the docks after showing
some promise as a professional wrestler and convincing him to
give it another shot. That's pretty much Terry Funk never
said that. That's pretty much accepted. It's kind of like,
I don't know, Hulk creating an anecdote to explain something
that he may have heard happened that reversed his fortunes

(01:57:07):
in the business, but that he wasn't actually directly a
party to the conversation. But Terry Funk was involved and
asking around and trying to understand what's happening down here
in Alabama. As much as Ron Fuller tried to keep
the lid on it. From a wrestling magazine publicity perspective,
Bird's going to travel if you put a program together
that fills the house like that, it's going to travel,
especially in a smaller territory.

Speaker 3 (01:57:26):
What did you do?

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
Who's involved? Who's this guy that Andre's working? And according
to Dave Meltzer's obituary for hul Cogan and Meltzer stayed
in regular touch with Terry Funk for years and years
and years. This is how it went down. Terry Funk
first took notice of Hulk Cogan when he heard then
a match between Andre the Giant and Terry the Hulk.
Boulder and Dothan, Alabama had set the all time gate
record for that city on May fifth, nineteen seventy nine,

(01:57:48):
and An angled the TV tapings at WTVY Studios where
Boulder and Andre were to to do an arm wrestling match.
Boulder was losing and turned the table over and attacked Andre,
leading to a match there and in Pensacola, Florida, and
perhaps other cities that week. On the sur there wasn't,
according Ron Fuller, was just three matches. In nineteen eighty.
That angle was copied on WWF television in Allentown, PA,
lead two Hogan vers Andre matches not only in WWF,

(01:58:12):
but that tape of Hogan putting a foreign object in
his elbow pad, hitting Andrea with the Hogan Hammer a
closed line, and then body slamming him was playing on
television and several other circuits leading to Andrea Versus Hogan
matches all over the Northeast, including at Chase Stadium, as
well as matches between Hogan and Andre Boss at the
Superdome in New Orleans, Bill Watsonster, the Omni in Atlanta,

(01:58:34):
Olie Territory, the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, and the
Paul Suave Arena in suburban of Montreal. All these cities
got Hogan vers Andre off. The buzz that what we
just watched created.

Speaker 7 (01:58:48):
The Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:59:11):
He's a Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno JP.

Speaker 2 (01:59:18):
Hogan's only working Andre right away. He's working Andre around
the fucking horn right away.

Speaker 3 (01:59:22):
I'm I'm I'm I'm at a loss.

Speaker 2 (01:59:24):
Gordon Meltzer Funk talked Jim Barnett, who of course owned
Georgia Championship at the time, into bringing Hulk into Georgia,
but Ole Anderson, Barnett's booker, always said he wasn't impressed
and we'll get to that, and claimed that he fired him.
Claim that he fired Hogan.

Speaker 3 (01:59:38):
I'm all about that.

Speaker 2 (01:59:39):
Hogan claimed the same and told the story.

Speaker 3 (01:59:41):
Of starlang Sterlang Wah shit fuck, Oh he's coming.

Speaker 4 (01:59:49):
He is.

Speaker 2 (01:59:50):
He is flying to Hong Kong to get some of
the finest knockoff suits tailored for this complete in his
role in the Terry story. But yeah, apparently despite all
the success, Oli doesn't see it in the guy, and
Hogan's thinking about quitting again by the end of seventy nine,
oh God, and working on the loading docks in Tampa.
That's where the docks come in. And that's where the
whole story about how Terry Funk being the one to

(02:00:12):
come to the docks to talk to him comes from
from Hulkoga's first book, because he was on the docks
before really leaning in to wrestling again. I don't know
what he had to be so bearish about. I guess
OI didn't believe in him, and there was more of
a if you look at if you look at the
chronology of it, it looks like he just makes a
nice clean jump from Atlanta to New York and he's
off for the choruses. But as we'll get to there

(02:00:33):
may have no there may have been a lot more
doubt in there than than would meet the eye. We
played some audio in a prior episode of The Khalete
Hulkogan from Anthony Barcello, who of course was Hulkgan's bandmate
in Ruckus courtesy of Brad Bluccian, and Barcello talks about
remembering Hulk, you know, basically showing kind of a beat
down nature and basically talking like he wanted to quit

(02:00:55):
the business. It was hard to tell when Anthony Barcellos
said that if he was talking about nineteen seventy seven,
after the Super Destroyer tobaccle and the Hero Matsuda stuff
and not getting paid, he was talking actually about giving
up on the business again after portraying Sterling Golden in
Georgia Championship and going back to work in the Tampa Docks.
And it's there where Hulk creates the fable that Terry

(02:01:15):
Funk came up to him and talked him back in
to getting into the business. There's others who have different stories,
but suffice to say, Hulk not only comes back, he
goes to the number one territory in the world in
New York and starts really earning the kind of money
that will keep Hulk Hogan in play. Japan gets interested
because Andre's already a legend in Japan. Andre more than
happy to bring Hogan with him to Japan to earn

(02:01:37):
more japan money, because when you cannot forget as much
as we glorify the territorial days and justifiably so from
a fan enjoyment standpoint, the one thing that that did
mean is that there was no place close to Japan
as far as how much you could make for working
day by day, night in, night out. So that meant
that all the top stars in the wrestling business in

(02:01:58):
this country were gone for like six months of the
year making as much money as they could in Japan.
I'm pretty soon that's crazy. Ichibon is Hogan's song. Pretty
soon ichi bon is Hogan's song on the fucking complete
Hulk Hogan. That's all coming faster than you could ever
possibly expect. But the Pensacola match May sixth, nineteen seventy
nine under the Giant Versitory, the Hulk Boulder winner unknown

(02:02:19):
according to the results that survived. Pensacola is the second
city in the territory. According to Ron Fuller to Mobile
and the Samoans lived there, and that's, of course, like
we said, where Roman Reigns was born. Ron full of
a crowd recalls in Pensacola having the massive crowd on
their feet, just like the Houston County Farm Center was.
It was less of an open expanse for this kind
of standing room only dynamic, but still it was packed out,

(02:02:41):
and Ron Fuller, indeed, anticipating a big crowd, said that
the Pensacola Arena added as many seats as they could.
Lots of people from Mobile and fifty miles away had
come to Pensacola, he recalls to see the second Hulk
Andre match, and he told Roy Welch. By the end
of the night, the management upfront of the building said
it was one of the largest crowds they'd ever seen
in the building, around five six hundred people to see

(02:03:02):
the Hulk match versus Andre that came off of the
arm wrestling angle we just watched. And Ron Fuller says
he didn't even think they could put that many people
in that building, and.

Speaker 3 (02:03:11):
Roy told him.

Speaker 2 (02:03:12):
Roy Welch told Ron Fuller that three thousand people as
many as three sat three thousand people were turned away. Wow,
being able to see Hulk for Sandre and Pensacola.

Speaker 3 (02:03:21):
Wow, Ron believe that.

Speaker 2 (02:03:24):
I don't know how they could possibly count, but I'm
sure there are people. Yeah, they couldn't get in. Bo
James remember seeing pictures of people on the steps of
some of these buildings when they couldn't get in, you know,
just sitting there.

Speaker 3 (02:03:36):
Yeah. Yeah, But I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:03:38):
I don't know how he could possibly count how many
people didn't get in at the end of the match.
This is Fuller's recollection of how the match actually played out.
Andre started to take over on Hulk and Billy Spears
got in the ring, so the referee stopped the match.
At this point, the Samoans come to the ring and
attack Andre the Giant, and of course Hulk was still
a line with Billy Spears and the Samoans in the
stable at that time, so Hulk was on him as
well Andre. So there's four guys on Andre the Giant

(02:04:00):
and along with Billy Spears and at this point Ron
Fuller himself as well as Territory babyfaces Ricky Fields and
Terry Latham hit the ring to make the save for
Andre and a bunch of those guys and those heels,
run Fuller recalls definitely had to fight their way back
to the dressing room that night because part of the
fun of going to the matches back then was fucking
attacking the heels as best you can, of course, and

(02:04:21):
he recalls even doing another SALID in Pensacola the next
Wednesday night, even without Andre the Giant, because the building
and the territory got so hot as a result of
this matchup, even without Andre.

Speaker 3 (02:04:31):
So it's time.

Speaker 2 (02:04:32):
If Andrea's leaving, if Andrea's done his duty and was
glad to do it, I mean, that's pretty much the
extent of it. I don't think there were three matches.
I think there were just actually two Dothan and then
they did the arm wrestling Angle, and then that night
they worked Pensacola and that was it. Roup meets with
Ron Fuller as they plan their Phase two for Hulk Cogan,

(02:04:54):
the Phase two plan, as Ron Fuller refers to it.
After the Andrea program, Bob Roup meets with Ron Fuller
and the war for the Knoxville Territory is about to commence.
Oh boy, this will cause the full and permanent distraction
from all of the things that the Hulk Andre program
should have catalyzed, crystallized and excited him about. We're gonna

(02:05:19):
read a couple more clippings from back in the day,
just to track where Hogan's at in May. If you could, Boss,
direct your attention to nineteen seventy nine Dash Out five
Dash ten wrestling card Thursday. This one from the Trustee
Panama City, Florida and News Herald Sunday, May sixth, nineteen
seventy nine. As the Hulk is riding the wave of

(02:05:40):
being associated in such a high profile way with Andre
the Giant. Wait, there are two here wrestling card Thursday.
Okay that one may both of them.

Speaker 3 (02:05:53):
An all star professional wrestling card will be presented Thursday
night at Bowl Air Wrestling Arena. The main evental feature
a tag team battle between the Hulk Giant Grappler and
his manager Billy Spears on one side, and the popular
Rickey Fields and Terry Latham on the other. Another tag
team battle will pit the wrestling pros Numbers one and

(02:06:13):
number two against suitable opponents to be announced later. In
other matches, Inferno number one will wrestle Burhead Jones, Eddie
Sullivan will meet Superstar and Dave Doctor D Schultz will
face Ron Slinker. Action will start at eight pm. How
about Giant Hulks will wrestle According to the Hulk, the

(02:06:38):
giant wrestler who has been having things more or less
his own way and matches here, will team up with
Wiley Manager Billy Spears and a tag team scrap against
popular Ricky Fields and Terry Latham as the main event.
That's the night's professional wrestling card at Bowl Air Wrestling Arena.
In another tag team match, the wrestling pros Number one
and number two will take on suitable opponents lowercase suitable

(02:07:01):
lowercase yeah. There will be three other matches on the
car beginning at a PM. At e Sullivan will wrestle
Superstar Dave Doctor D Schult will meet Ron Slinker, and
Infernal Number one will wrestle quote Burrhead unquote Jones.

Speaker 2 (02:07:18):
And we move one click forward. Coming to the Municipal
Auditorium here in Pensacola, Ron Slinker, the Gulf Coast Champion
at the time, to take on the Hulk in the
main event, as well as a lumberjack match hair versus
mask Roy Welch to.

Speaker 3 (02:07:35):
Face is that Ron Slinker on the on the right there.
I believe that is Ron Slinker. Yes, well, all known
in the area and little other places. I would imagine watch.

Speaker 2 (02:07:46):
TV Channel five Saturday at one pm is when you
could catch territory footage in Pensacola. Also c Toba champion
Thunderbolt Patterson, who was a remarkable figure in the business
for many many reasons, is also in the territory of
the Austin Idol. We'll talk a lot about the significance
of him being no, I'm sorry, it's Austin ivy I

(02:08:07):
v ol. Great stuff. The Samoans Pro one and two
and Rickey Fields and more. How about Southeastern and Gulf
Coast Championship at the Montgomery Civic Center on Monday, it
appears to be May fourteenth, nineteen and seventy nine, the
Southeastern Gulf Coast Tag Champs, the Samoans to face Rickey
Fields and Cherry Latham. Thunderbolt Patterson to defend his championship

(02:08:31):
against Eddie Sullivan in an attag match. The Hulk and
Billy Spears versus roy Lee Welch and Ron Slinker with
the Austin Idol on the card there as well. The
ringside What is it? What do you go for ticket
prices four dollars ringside, three dollars general admission and two
dollars for children. Why don't we read it to the

(02:08:52):
Solar System Boss. The May seventeenth, nineteen seventy nine clipping
from the News Herald Hulk once again you guessed it to.

Speaker 3 (02:09:00):
That's the headline. Hulk to wrestle indeed one of the
biggest professional wrestlers in the business. Two hudred ninety five pounds,
six foot six terry in parentheses the Hulk Boulder. We'll
team up with Eddie Sullivan in a tag team match
with the Continental Wrestling Association champion Thunderbold Patterson, A Black,

(02:09:22):
Matt Stares, and Roy Welch Thursday night at the Bowl
Air Wrestling Arena. The Southeastern Gulf Coast Hitaway champion Ron
Slinker will wrestle Austin Idel, who has been termed the
highest paid wrestler in the world. That clipping definitely got
Hulk's attention. Brother. What what'll he doing?

Speaker 5 (02:09:42):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (02:09:43):
What? Hey? Dude? Man? How much you wait?

Speaker 9 (02:09:45):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (02:09:45):
How A'm you getting paid? Getting paid? Brother?

Speaker 1 (02:09:49):
What?

Speaker 4 (02:09:49):
What?

Speaker 3 (02:09:50):
How much? How much? Brother? I just wont know who
you're talking to?

Speaker 1 (02:09:56):
You?

Speaker 3 (02:09:56):
I get that, you know, highest paid buler. No, I
don't want to be highest paid. I just want to
be paid.

Speaker 2 (02:10:03):
What's this idle mania I'm hearing about. You've been cupping
your year brother, You've been tearing your shirt in the bag,
You've been cutting.

Speaker 3 (02:10:10):
Holes, your python's brother, blonde hair down on your shoulders. Dude,
did you get what's helping your arms? You got a
deep tan. You claimed to be from the West Coast
brother or Tannon brother. Well you go outside of the beach.
What do you do tanning bed? What's going on? Shades
on indoors? Brother? We were red yellow? So with that

(02:10:32):
you like red and yellow? That why are the highest
paid wrestler red and yellow? Real American?

Speaker 12 (02:10:37):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (02:10:37):
Are you American? Huh? Nice to meet you too, sir.

Speaker 2 (02:10:47):
I mean I'm the news Herald, brother. I see hulk
of the headlines as it should be. A hold to
wrestles is the headline. I'm in the lead sentence here.
My match is the top building in the article. All
of a sudden I read the second paragraph and it
says someone else is the top I'm wrestler in the world.

Speaker 3 (02:11:00):
I just want I'm just I'm just curious about how
you know your top paid wrestler. Brother, How do you
know how the paper know that?

Speaker 5 (02:11:05):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (02:11:05):
Is they print it some me? True? I mean when
they get access to our you know, payroll where they
work at the bank. I used to work at. Is
there a bank look at in Alabama? What do you know?
We're all the wrestler's bank. Dude? What do you know, dude?
You work at the bank that all the wrestlers. Are
you a banker? Brother? Right? Ron Slinker? Like banker?

Speaker 1 (02:11:24):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (02:11:25):
I mean, what was the deal? Dude's ron Slinker work
at the bank?

Speaker 4 (02:11:28):
Dude?

Speaker 3 (02:11:29):
What are you saying? Ron Ston is a banker on
the side due Slinker Community credit Union? Dude? Are you
talking about? What do you count money? Wait? Sting there
is he is? He tried to payroll?

Speaker 2 (02:11:39):
Brother, trying to take the track of all what's going on.
I mean, I understand you know the deal, but I've
got to get a way up to speed here.

Speaker 7 (02:11:44):
Brother.

Speaker 3 (02:11:45):
Well, I'm just trying to you know, I'm trying to
get kind of get things back from track.

Speaker 5 (02:11:48):
Brother.

Speaker 3 (02:11:49):
I just wanted to figure out what's going on in
the cell. What are you doing that's making you the
highest paid wrestler. I want to copy it for the
rest of my life, dude. Basically, I want to know
what the evidence of brother. I want to know how
you got that at level, Dukes. I want to take
things up for the next level. Brother. I wonder how
I can take your life? Brother? Wow, And he will

(02:12:09):
and he will. But continue the article here. Southeastern Gulf
Coast Tag Team Championship match will pitt the Samoens current
champions against former title holders Ricky Fields and Terry Latham.

Speaker 2 (02:12:21):
Push you ahead here. This is the May twentieth card
at the Municipal Auditorium double main event as the Masked
Gladiator to take on champion Ron slinker In in a
special challenge match. You better believe. It's the Hulk versus
Ron Fuller ce WA title on the line, Thunderbolt Patterson
taking on Von Hess and it's Austin Idle versus Roy
Welch plus a six man tag team matchup. Southeastern Pro

(02:12:43):
Wrestling returns Wednesday in this next article here, this is
from the Press Register and Boss, I'd love for you
to read the accompanying article. As we see a photo
of Harley Race and all of his license plate belt
carrying glory Mutton Shops on full effect.

Speaker 3 (02:13:00):
Oh Yes Southeastern Professional Wrestling sanctioned by the Continental Alliance Wednesday,
May twenty third. Bell time will be eight pm. After
an absence of several months, wrestling returns with a tremendous card.
Leading the way will be about for the World's heavyweight
title with Harley Race, the National Wrestling Alliance Champion, defending
his title against Ron Tennessee stud Fuller. Fuller get the

(02:13:23):
title shot. That's right. The challenger has faced Race before
and has always been a good given a good account
of himself. This then is Fuller's golden opportunity, but he
faces a true title holder who was defended his belt
many times in the last few months. In a Gulf
Toast tag match, the Samoans champions will defend their belts
against the youthful Rickey Fields and Terry Latham. This should

(02:13:45):
be a rousing battle. Popular Bob Armstrong has his work
cut out for the Moon he takes on the Hulk
in a single bout. Thunderable Patterson is back on the
scene when he swaps holds with Inferno Number One in
a Continental title wrestling match. Ox Baker makes his first
appearance in Mobile when he takes on Ron Slinker. There

(02:14:09):
will be others on the card, including Austin Idel. This
great program marks the return of professional wrestling to the
Mobile area Wednesday, May twenty third.

Speaker 2 (02:14:18):
So there it is Harley Race come into the territory
and he's going to meet or at least we're led
to believe the Tennessee stud Ron Fuller for the World's
Heavyweight Championship. You see there the poster to the left.
Southeastern Wrestling returns Wednesday, May twenty fourth, eight pm, Bell
Time World's Heavyweight Championship match Harley Race the champion versus
Tennessee Stud Fuller. The Samoans with manager Billy Spears defend

(02:14:40):
the Southeastern Tag Team Championships against Ricky Fields and Terry Latham.
Thunderbolt Patterson meets in Frontal number one for the CWWA title,
and The Hulk versus Bob Armstrong. On the same card,
we're Hardley Race to defend the richest prize in the
game against Ron Fuller. Austin Iidel also on the card,
and many more bouts. Watch wrestling Saturday one pm on
Channel five. So there it is Harley's coming to town

(02:15:00):
and Ron fullernew this he knew he's got Andre comming
and then he's got Harley coming big one, two special
attractions for Tory Lake Gulf Coast. You better have big
plans to leverage it and leave people behind after those
two leave town. That can draw for you, and you believe,
you better believe that Terry the Boulder figures prominently as
we just described, not just in the Andre scenario, but
in the Harley Race scenario as well, Because if you

(02:15:23):
think that, in fact, Harley Race ends up defending against
Ron Fuller on this fateful night in Mobile, Alabama, you're
not paying attention because Hulk Cogan is about to step
into the foreground just like WrestleMania nine mmmm and come
to run Fuller's injured rescue and challenge right then and

(02:15:44):
there for the world's have a right title.

Speaker 3 (02:15:47):
So even that fucking angle is ripped off, that would be.

Speaker 2 (02:15:57):
Correct and we will get there the complete Hulkogan I
mentioned Bob Rup. It's important to remember that this is
happening at the same time. According to Ron Fuller, right
around this time, just as Hulk is hitting his stride
against Andre and preparing to be programmed against Harley Race,
the world's heavyweight champion Bob Roup comes to Ron Fuller

(02:16:18):
running Knoxville for him. He says that he and Ron
Wright both witnessed the ticket sellers that Ron Fuller had
put in Knoxville to two ladies. Oh, steal money, steal
money from the gate.

Speaker 3 (02:16:31):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (02:16:33):
Ron Fuller is beside himself, said he'd never heard anything
like that about these particular women that he put in
that position. And he says there was a referee in
that part of the territory named mac McMurray.

Speaker 7 (02:16:44):
What are you accusing me of?

Speaker 3 (02:16:45):
Huh? You accuse me of steal money off my goddamn
what do you think? I'm selling tickets and I'm poking
on the daddamn change.

Speaker 2 (02:16:53):
There's not a whole lot of Kate Spade around here
that you often see. Suddenly you gals are turning up,
You're jangling with their rings.

Speaker 3 (02:17:00):
So I'm gonna tell you so, I'm gonna jangle your
throat with my goddamn hands in the fendll out two
minutes you stop accusing that bullshit. I'm an artist, goddamn woman,
and I got these through hard work and through the
cut of my jib, And I'm gonna tell you I
work sold goddamn, I don't mind killing the motherfucker a
half tow wight to his face. I've killed before, and

(02:17:22):
I'll kill again at that Bob rup and I'll put
your fucking name on my goddamn list. Ron knows how
to pick him, and he knows how to deploy him,
doesn't he knows how to depend. I'll fuck you afterwards too,
after your dad. Your mama sure does love you, boy.
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (02:17:43):
So Mac McMurray, the guy that Fuller put, you know,
sort of like the Arnold skulln position in charge of
monitoring the gate and everything and a referee in that area,
and in fact someone who had lent run full of
himself money to buy the territory and get started as
an owner. He was the one that Fuller trusted to
keep track and verify ticket saless in the Knoxville part
of the territory, and he was the one that brought
the money back on a nightly basis to make sure

(02:18:04):
the office got what they were do And once Ron
Fuller kind of according to him, pushed back at Bob
Roop saying that these two women in particular were skimming tickets, saying,
I really don't think they would do something like that. Suddenly,
according to Ron Fuller, Bob roops which is his story,
and he says, well, you know what the payoffs forget that,
we're just not getting paid enough for these shows at

(02:18:26):
the Knoxville Coliseum. He kind of accorded. Ron Fuller just
kind of drops the whole conspiracy theory about these ladies
keeps shifting around why he's discontented, and to Ron's conspiratorial mind,
what rob Roup is doing is basically setting a series
of pretenses to try to make a run on the
territory and to try to set a bunch of pretenses
for why the wrestlers would want to go with Bob

(02:18:46):
Roop's alternative outlaw group instead of sticking around and still
work for Ron Fuller. Fuller says, you know, it's weird
because I don't handle ticket sales at the coliseum, this
venue that you claim is selling out way more than
you guys are getting paid up per year percentage that's
actually run by the building. The office, the wrestling office
doesn't handle that money. It's kind of a unique arrangement

(02:19:06):
out there. And you know, pretty good wrestlers have got
pretty good a judging houses have been going there for years.
So Roup changes tack again according to Ron Fuller and says,
A right, fine, Well all the wrestlers are very unhappy
with their payoffs. You know why and how and who
runs what and who's responsible is besides the point? And
Fuller says, well, you're the booker. Attendance has been down

(02:19:29):
in Knoxville. That's why the payoffs are down. The payoffs
are a percentage of how much you draw at the gate.
And if you're not booking cards, the people want to
buy tickets to come to see. Of course the payoffs
are going to be down. You're not doing this on purpose,
are you?

Speaker 1 (02:19:40):
So?

Speaker 2 (02:19:41):
According to Ron Fuller, Bob Roup changes history again, mentioning
the two Knoxville Hardley Race states upcoming, and suddenly Bob
Roup says, you know what, Ron Fuller, I want you
to wrestle Harley when he comes to the town. I
want you to wrestle Harley on my car.

Speaker 1 (02:19:54):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:19:55):
Ron's like, but I you know, I've been down in
Dothan and Mobile and Montgomery. I been out in Knoxville
in seven weeks. They're not even accustomed to me being
out there, let alone building me up for a title shot.
And the last time I was on a card in
that market, I was like third match. I wasn't even
the main event. Why don't you put Ronnie Garvin, who
was headlining in Knoxville for Bob Roup at the time,
in there against Harley Race?

Speaker 7 (02:20:15):
Do that?

Speaker 2 (02:20:16):
This is what Ron Fuller recalls saying, and he says
that Rob Rupe responded that Ronnie actually wanted to see
if Fuller could put the asses in the seats. Mmm,
is she gonna come over here?

Speaker 3 (02:20:26):
This is Bob Roup.

Speaker 2 (02:20:27):
You'd come over here and say that payoffs are down
because I don't know how to book and fill buildings.
Will find Harley Race is coming here. That's the most
guaranteed money night you could have in the NWA days.
You go against him, We'll see how much Ron Fuller
draws to see if you've got a point. And ron said, fine,
book me. Book me for the world title on the
first show and a Texas death match against Harley Race

(02:20:48):
on the next show for the dates we have on Harley.
And with that, Ron Fuller recalls, Bob Roup left his
house and it was the last time that Ron Fuller
would be alone in a room with Bob rup things
are happening, Sands are shifting, and Hulkovin is kind of
just a party to it. But he will be caught

(02:21:08):
up in the winds and the storm that old cyclone
down there. But of course, Hulk isn't just Terry Bolea
a brilliant mind is He isn't just subjecting himself to
the vicissitudes of what might happen in this power struggle
between Ron Fuller and Bob Rupe. He's not leaving his
fate in the hands of these two small time promoters

(02:21:32):
arguing over small time money. No, Terry's always had his
eye on the bottom line, and according to the match
result chronologies that are out there from his career, even
though he's just wrestled Andre in May and he's about
to be programmed against Hartley Race later that month, he's
already dipping his toe. Is Terry Bolea in Memphis, Memphis.

(02:21:58):
The earliest result I can see for hul Cogan wrestling
in Memphis is May fourteenth, just week after wrestling under
the Giant. He's the Mid South Colisseum, the mecca of
wrestling in Memphis, and he's taking on the stumper for
the NWA Southern heavyweight title. Now, this might not be
entirely surprising because, as we've already discussed on the Complete
Hulk Hogan, Ron Fuller's brother Rob Fuller, was booking Memphis

(02:22:20):
upon the onset of nineteen seventy nine, and while there
had been some disagreements between Rob Fuller and Jerry Jarrett
and Jerry Lawler about how much of the gate as
the territory was recovering should go to the talent from
twenty eight percent down to twenty two percent is but
Ron Fuller says Jerry Jarrett wanted to do it still wasn't,
according to Ron Fuller, complete Splitsville between him and Memphis.

(02:22:42):
They were still allies more than they were enemies. Yeah,
but something tells me that Terry Boley as Antenna, very
quickly picked up that there was trouble in Paradise. Yeah,
and there may very well Boss be a rich opportunity
for Terry for the first of many many times in
his life, to play both sides against each other. This

(02:23:04):
is from Hulk's second book. I've just sent it to you.
Apologies for the color there of the font, No probably,
but I think this is very clearly puts us into
the mind of this cherry bolea who's now starting to
see by the houses he drew with Andre the Giant,
by the way, that it's trouble in paradise for the
Knoxville territory and for the Memphis relationship, that he may

(02:23:27):
have a chance here to parlay the buzz that's spreading
around on the inside of the business around what he'd
done with Andrea to much greater riches and much more
leverage at the bargaining table.

Speaker 3 (02:23:39):
Technically, I wasn't the best wrestler. I wasn't quick, I
was an athletic. I couldn't jump off the top ropes.
On the other hand, I wasn't an old fashioned, thick
headed fat wrestler either. I was right in between, and
the more I wrestled, the more I developed my own style.
In fact, it was right during this time that I
started using the leg drop to finish off my opponents.

(02:24:03):
The crowds went nuts for it a few months later.
If you want us into this routine, Louis de lett
made a big mistake. So I'm I'm booking you out
this Monday night. You told me I want I want
you to go up to Memphis. By this time, brother
it was a Memphis dude. Of course it wasn't his fault.

Speaker 5 (02:24:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (02:24:27):
By this time, I had started to understand that wrestling
this is a little bit more, you know, I'd picked
up on things. I didn't have those blinders on like
I did when I first started in Florida, and I
knew that Memphis could be a major stepping stone to
wrestle in New York City. The Memphis Territory, run by
Jerry Lawler and Jerry Drartt, was known for doing the
kind of all kinds of circus stuff. They had tar

(02:24:50):
and leather matches and loser leaves, towel matches and hanging
the manager in a cage above the ring matches, you know,
crazy stuff. It was also the perfect play develop a gimmick,
and that was key because because all of the guys
were making the really we're making the really big money
in New York had a gimmick? Did did? Did Bruno

(02:25:12):
Summer here have a gimmick? Right? Bruno having a gimmick?
You know there are sargeist laughter, the Russian Bear, Iron,
the Iron Chic. You know, there there were no there
were no Joe blows. You know, brother, what what Joe
blow do Brother. You wrote a brother? What do you
not wrote to do? What we're talking about brothers in

(02:25:36):
your book? Brother? You know you wrote the book brother.
I know I wrote, Dude, You've got a Joe blow
push brother. Don't said anything about Joe Bull push brother.
You're talking about Joe Blow push Brother. Well, I didn't
say that, Joe.

Speaker 2 (02:25:49):
You would be a hell of a studio wrestler job
or name.

Speaker 3 (02:25:53):
You imagine. Also, I mean just the idea of now
Hogan's getting nervous from himself, of course, is pretty fucking.

Speaker 7 (02:26:05):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:26:05):
You know, no regular name wrestlers just got in the
ring and wrestled. You know, everybody had something extra, So
Brutus and I drove up the Memphis by this one
night to wrestle as the Boulder Brothers. I mean, they
put on a hell of a show. I know because
Jared and Lawler you know, pulled me aside immediately after
the match and said, Yo, Terry, you know we wanted
to come work here. I told him I couldn't because

(02:26:28):
I was committed to the Alabama territory, you know, Louis Tiletta,
and give me a break when I really when I
really needed it, and I couldn't let him down, you know.
Then they asked me how much money I was making?
Only one fifty one seventy five a week. I said, well,
we'll give you an eight hundred dollars a week guarantee.
About a shocker. You know, I wasn't as much of

(02:26:49):
a mark as I used to be, but I wasn't
totally disloyal either, So I played really cool and told
him I needed to go back and talk to Tilette
about it, exactly what I did. Now I'm back Alabama
and confronted to that, I said, we know I'm wrestling
seven is a week for you. You know, the Bowler
Brothers are making a name and draw on audiences. You know,
how come I'm only making you know, one seventy five tops?

Speaker 1 (02:27:11):
You know?

Speaker 3 (02:27:11):
His response, that's all you're worth and all you deserve.
So I hit him with the eight hundred a show week,
eight hundred a week guarantee. I've just been offered a
Memphis and said Ed and I were leaving and to
let just about shit a brick, right, and we called
Jared Lawler up the Memphis screaming, how can you steal talent?
How did you a favor for one night and this

(02:27:34):
is what happens. How can you do this? He was pissed.
It didn't matter, you know, Brutus and I had already
had one foot in the van at that point, and
we were on our way to the big time, and
we knew it.

Speaker 2 (02:27:48):
On our way to the big time, and we knew
it as well. For Terry bulay A, Memphis counted as
the big time at this fertile, furtive stage of his career,
and it's going to be fascinating to watch him play
many promoters out of each other simultaneously. He's established himself
with the Andre match early and often, and Ron Fuller

(02:28:08):
is not able to keep a lid on it. Other
territories are making plays. But what can't we forget? We
can't forget that, According to ed Leslie has read from
his book last week, it wasn't that all of a sudden,
Louis Toilette had an idea to send these guys to Memphis.
According to Eddie Boulder, Jerry Jarrett recruited them out of
Cocoa Beach and said, we'll bring you in as the Boulders,

(02:28:29):
but we want you to go somewhere else to get
the gimmick working first, and that would be Alabama now
conspicuous by his absence and everything we've talked about thus
far and Golf Gulf Coast results is Ed Boulder himself,
who never appears to have anything to have had anything
to do with Terry the Hope Boulder in Southeastern Championship President.
There are no match results that exist of him teaming

(02:28:50):
with Terry or even wrestling on any of these cards,
even wrestling in SECW until nineteen eighty, after Terry has
already left. But I think, as we've established, I think
it is will to suggest that he certainly was living
with and traveling with Terry at this time, learning the
business along with Terry, ascending in the business at this
point in time, and maybe got on some prelim cards
or some cards where results are under reported somewhere around

(02:29:12):
the way, and perhaps even teamed with Terry before any
official or surviving match results indicate. But that is a
key distinction that the Memphis was expecting them from the beginning,
and we're using Alabama as approving ground. Is that a
story you make up after the fact to paper over
the fact that you essentially just went for the higher

(02:29:32):
bidder and said fuck you to Louis Delay, who made
you a made man in the business when nobody else
wanted to book you. Or is it as simple as
what hulc Can just outlined in his book as it
can't be both. It can't be that they came with
the eight hundred dollars guarantee, so I'm going to Memphis,
and Memphis sent us here to work on the gimmick
with the understanding we were coming back. But at least
according to Hulk Coke and it was Louis Tolay, the

(02:29:53):
guy that brought the Hulk in, created the Hulk programmed
against Andrea, had the stroke with Andre to make it
happen and blew out the business in that territory that
suggested that made perhaps the fatal suggestion that Hulk go
and give Memphis a try, because he's gonna fucking hit
it big out there as well, because even more than Alabama,
Memphis was a territory absolutely known across the wrestling world

(02:30:17):
that would go super ridiculous with gimmicks and fantasy angles
and monsters and the supernatural, and in the hands of
artists Jerry Lawler, you think he's going to hold back
in some of the sketch work he can do. Now
that he has the Hulk marvel Ip coming to his territory,
you get.

Speaker 3 (02:30:36):
Another thing coming.

Speaker 2 (02:30:37):
It's about piled up to a whole new level. Memphis
is knocking, and just as hul Cogan is prepared to
stare across the ring from NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley
Race in the Gulf Coast, it is just as quickly
over for Hulk Cogan in the Gulf Wow. Not only
is it over for hul Cogan in the Gulf Coast,
It's soon going to be over for Ron Fuller himself

(02:30:58):
and then the territory that and so much more to
come on the Complete Hulk Hogan as Terry the Hulk
Boulder stares across the ring from n w A World
Champion Harley Race,

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