What do you think of WCW releasing a lot of talent, especially older talent?
Well, my honest opinion of that is that you have to look at the person, the individual themselves because there were people who said that I needed to step aside in power pro. There are people who said that, but as the champion, whenever I came out there was a packed studio and I had 200 kids in my face, thatยs who makes the decisions.
As far as the older guys, I donยt know. I donยt know how big a pop Kevin Nash gets. To me I will always be a Hulk Hogan fan. Whether I think hulk Hogan can wrestle, I donยt know and Iยm not really going to comment on that. But I will say the man has sold out buildings and the man puts butts in the seats. But whether or not I think he deserves to step down so somebody else can step up, even he said on his interview, yes he would if a person came along who could do what he did, what he does which is put butts in those seats. I think the people who dogged Hogan out forgot the fact that Hogan had no problem stepping aside for Goldberg. Matter fact, heยs one of the only ones who did at first, so now I think itยs a point that do I think the older guys need to step aside or do they need to step up the pace; thatยs the question. For instance everybodyยs looking at Rock and HHH for instance the matches theyยve had; you take that match and you look at a WCW main event. But now you got Booker T. and Jeff Jarret, guys who will go and they will go and they will you know, Booker T. will work his ass off and Jarret will work his ass off, so can you compare that main event to a Rock and HHH main event? Yeah, so I donยt know if thatยs an older guy stepping down if you take Kevin Nash out of the picture or Rick Steiner out of the picture I donยt know; I guess it depends on how you look at it?
Do you have any idea when weยll see you on TV with WCW?
The story was supposed to be things were supposed to happen mid- to late-September probably after the Pay Per View, but something a lot of people donยt know I blew out my knee and I have a torn Lateral Meniscus that has to be repaired. Thatยs why Iยm home now. I got the MRIs yesterday and theyยre going to look at them and let me know if I have to be operated on so I could be out for 2-3 weeks. Which will pretty much blow my September start date. There was an opportunity that looked like it may have happened soon but it probably will be moved back until Iยm completely healed, so itยs hard to say. But I can definitely say will be before the end of the year. Put it this way: after the knee is healed Iยm going to push even harder and do everything I can to get that spot going, so I donยt plan on waiting any longer than I have to.
Everybody in Memphis knows youยre going to be on TV in no time!
Iยm hoping so, I mean they pulled me off of TV there so, Iยm hoping so. Iยll admit Iยll miss working down there–the fans are great there and like I said in my last interview, I think we shocked a lot of people, by we I mean myself and the fans, and PPW we shocked a lot of people being able to keep our heads afloat and things built up with what we were up against. I would like to see how things go now with the PPW and the MCW situation. Competition is good.
I would like to give an opinion on something:
This has been totally bothering me that Iยve been reading about and I donยt know how many people are into your newspaper or whatever, but you know this is something …
First of all, a lot of people nowadays say that Randy and MCW certain older people from wrestling are talking about Randy and MCW are killing of this business. Thatยs a bunch of bull. First of all theyยre killing off the business by saying these things. The fact of the matter is, wrestling is show business it always has been from Day One; way back to the days when it was a shoot, it was still entertainment.
When wrestling first started it was a carnival attraction and a guy first had to let one or two people beat him before they put the big bets out there. It was a wrestling attraction back then — then he kicked the guys butt. The fact is this: as we grow up, as you and I have grown what we saw and caught our attention does not catch the eye of the fans these days. You know, we got up the guy worked a hold for 20 minutes worked up, got back in the hold, if it was a good guy We were totally in that phase of good guy/bad guy. These days it doesnยt work like that because half the people nowadays cheer for the bad guys more than they cheer for the good guys.
And I heard about an interview that a certain person did on one of these major Internet things and everybody talked about. If we went out there. I do think thereยs not enough wrestling in pro wrestling these days but I also know that without those high spots and stuff like that it wouldnยt be no different than it was 10 years ago and people wouldnยt watch it. Its like a car; there are people out there saying they made a new Corvette they messed it up but if you say that to a 16 year old kid, heยll say what the hell you talking about? The new corvettes are the funk!! Thatยs the same thing here. The people who barely watch wrestling anymore — you got to think about wrestling is geared to people 16-35 or 40 years old people. And they try to keep the wrestling in it for the 25 and up. But the rest of the biggest people who buy those t-shirts are kids. And they want to see stuff thatยs going to make them go ooohhh and ahhhhhhhh so that crap about weยre killing wrestling; no the reason why Randy ยnยem canยt draw is because there are two national TV shows, and when these guys are talking all that shit, whatยs his name Kenny Wayne or whatever his name was–Buddy Wayne, I told Buddy to his face the fact is ยIยm not the Rock.ย
Youยve got to give people what they want to see, yes that is true, but Lawler doesnยt even pull anymore. And thatยs in Memphis! MCWยs been running shows with Lawlerยs name on posters forever and they donยt draw. The fact is, if youยre not an national TV; if youยre not something that people want to see with the posters up in their rooms and all that kind of stuff, itยs hard to draw down there. Thatยs all there is to it. Thereยs a lot of competition now.
When they talk about how many people they used to draw, thatยs where there was territories; they didnยtย have the WWF to deal with…Iยd like to see Buddy Wayne — now remember Buddy Wayne has drawn some shows, his own shows. I suppose he was putting the shows together the way he said they should be down. He doesnยt draw shit. I know; we worked some of them. He didnยt draw nothing! Thatยs the bottom line to it. When the WWF of the WCW comes somewhere youยre talking about thousands and thousands of dollars of advertising money. Randy doesnยt have that; MCW doesnยt have that. Youยre also talking about what youยre you going to do, youยre going to save your $10 and have $20 to go to a WWF show or spend your $10 to go to a PPW show? Youยre going to save and go to those WWF shows and get you a front seat ticket. And thatยs the bottom line to it.
So all these people going around talking that crap about, you know they forget back then it was territories and people waited for it because it wasnยt on national TV. I think there were only two shows out: Wrestling at the Chase, AWA, and USWA. Neither of them was on national broadcast. So when you came to a town it was something to see. Thatยs why they drew back then. And Harley Race will tell you that; thatยs where I got it from. Harley Race, Jake the Snake any of those guys will tell you the difference now than the difference then. So when all those people are talking all that trash, No–thatยs a bunch of trash. They make it sound like the young guys are killing off the business because we do–shit man come on, that made me mad, Iยm sorry I was just venting on that one cause I keep hearing about this stuff and itยs like man weยre not killing anything, weยre trying to keep it alive.
Yeah, itยs pretty obvious that peopleยs tastes have changed otherwise there would be no ECW.
Ainยt that the truth I mean people want realism, and if I donยt like you and you and I are really fighting and weยre fighting for the title, Iยm going to hit your ass with a chair. Buddy Wayne refereed a match I did in Nashville and he got real upset about the sleeper hold. Well, first of all, Buddy, people donยt go to sleep on a sleeper hold anymore. First of all nobody is going to sit there and let you hold them long enough to do it. Itยs just my opinion, but it seems to be the opinion of a lot of the young wrestlers coming up and as far as when theyยre talking PPW and MCW suck and they draw fleas its not a point they canยt draw fleas. Itยs the fact that most towns you go to people donยt know about the shows #1 thereยs not enough advertising out there. #2 depending on what else is going on, PPW you can watch that stuff for free on TV. Itยs a whole different. I donยt know, thatยs just my opinion. I would like to see everybody quit dogging the independents out saying that they canยt draw; no you canยt draw compared to the WWF and WCW and I would love to see any of those guys who are talking all that trash about how they used to draw because, shit, Ohio Valley doesnยt draw like they had how many WWF stars on their last big show and what did the draw 5 or 6 hundred? Building will hold 3000?
So do you think independents are still needed with the popularity of the WCW and WWF?
Oh yeah, cause without them where would we come from? Your new stars if you look at both of the shows thereยs a lot of new talent and thereยs a lot of people who never wrestled before. I mean look at Kurt Angle he did Olympic wrestling, but where did he learn his trade? Last I remember he was down there at power pro with us? Where did he learn to work the mike? Last I remember he was down at Power Pro with us. Where would I come from? Where would half those guys come from? You know. You need independents, even though both of the big two have their own wrestling schools, they really donยt like the idea of starting fresh with somebody. Kevin Northcutt and me came into the Power Plant and were proud to be there. But weยre also helping guys that are new learn, so you need that, you know? You need guys that have been around and know that basics, that way, the coaches themselves, Like the Sarge, would be going through a lot if he had to deal with all the guys that come through there by himself. Heยd be taking bump, after bump, after bump, after bump.
So thereยs definitely a place for Indies. Without them, you wouldnยt have the superstars. But the problem is, there people that run independents that need to understand that, ยHey look, when Iยm looking at something on TV, when I go to an independent show, thatยs what I want to see — not some fat ass ยJug-a-lugย–ย When a woman comes to a show, she wants to see a Rock, or a HHH–you know, a well built man! She doesnยt want to see her husband.
Thatยs the problem with Indies nowadays. The only people I know who [really encourages the wrestlers to get in shape] are Harley Race–and Bert [Prentis] –And down South, you have so many wrestling groups that think they know something–They all think they have what it takes to be a star–but ask they how many times they have been to a gym. You see them in the locker room smoking cigarettes, and drinking in the locker room–and they canยt cut a promo to save their life!
(You can e-mail James Haley at jhaley@memphisflyer.com)
