We roll on total NonStop action, total NonStop Hogan, Boss. It's two
thousand and eleven, and it's time for us too once again. I'm afraid
to tell you grapple with the realities of impact in realities, you're talking about
realities and the fantasies and the falsities of impact. We've touched on it a
bit. Broad strokes were building to Hogan, Sting you excited by the time
you're done watching this bow liss of episodes. I don't know about excited,
but there's definitely something there. I think, you know, they do have.
Sting does a good job. You know. I hate saying that,
I really do because I don't want I don't want any you know, I
don't want that to be a thing. But he does do a good job.
I'm kind of, you know, entertaining a thesis here that as much
entertainment as Rick Flair gave us in twenty ten, it didn't really go anywhere.
It particularly is regarded Hogan. I think Sting might be the hero of
the ten h journey. He might be. I mean, he's really he's
at least proven to me. There's a lot there that he was not um
uh like he wasn't how to say it, uh that that there's a lot
more there than I think he was ever given credit for or get or was
allowed to give it a chance to show. Right, Yeah, the character
of Joker Sting really brought a side of his personality out that, you know,
the characters he played in the past really had no reason to act that
way or show that kind of you know, just psy psychosis. He was
just like silent or he was like a nabulliant baby kissing baby face. And
right, you can't really show the you know, the twisted kind of multiple
personality schizophrenic type thing that apparently live somewhere within Steve Borden. I mean,
I guess it's I guess it's there. I guess it's there. So twenty
eleven Dons in TNA. Last time we were with you, we talked about,
you know, the year ending with Jeff Hardy as champion, hul Coogan
uh kind of on the shelf due to the laser spine treatments and the eventual
fusion surgery, as well as the series of skits in which it was announced
that Dixie Carter was going to try to get her company back in a court
of Law. After Hogan and Bischoff pulled the fast one it Bound for Glory,
turn heel created the megahel faction, and we're just running rough shot over
the program again. As twenty eleven dons, they get started with the Genesis
pay per view and the first Impact after Genesis on January thirteenth does one point
seven million viewers, which was the best number one months. So there was
interest as twenty eleven dons into what you know they were doing on pay per
view and who's what, But unfortunately the show patterns still aren't so great there.
They're losing a lot of viewers from high rated segments, but they're still
doing the biggest rating since the post Bound for Glory Impact in October of twenty
ten. No kidding, but the numbers pattern indicates that in both cases,
every fan who sampled the show out of curiosity had quit. By the end
every show, every fan who sampled it over the typical average. So while
there's a reason to celebrate for the overall show average here in one of the
early numbers of twenty eleven, the ratings pattern doesn't indicate that the people that
are checking in or sticking with the show throughout all of its two hours now,
Kennedy, who wins the championship the Jeff Hardy Belt from Jeff Hardy at
Genesis, burries that championship belt on television, really saying they were going to
get rid of it and bring out the new TNA World Championship. Even though
Dixie Carter is supposed to be fighting for control of our company in court.
If you go to a TENNA how show in England in January twenty eleven,
she's coming out and thanking everybody for coming to this TNA show announcing being announced
this TENDA president And what are you saying? It's it's all work perhaps what
stingers on the shelf. And as you know, it's part of contractual negotiations
that he would go through just about every year and tenas he would only sign
one year deals. We talked last time about how Kevin Nash and book or
t we're negotiating with TNA to be part of this, you know stable of
Maine of entners that would come back and try to rest the company from Hogan
and Bischoff for Dixie Carter. Sting also awaiting a contract to participate in that
angle. But ultimately Dixie had Kevin Nash pretty much secured, but then let
him go to WWE. They're in the twenty eleven a Royal Rumble as you
remember, yea, and that becomes history there that they be in Kevin Nash
and book or T but Sting doesn't go. But I don't know that pattern
really made people think he was coming, you know, when you see Nash,
when you see book Or I think they even had a couple more TENA
personnel around this time. You think suddenly a door is open. Yeah,
sure, of course, this is the year Boss. This is the year
where they did a series of videos that indicated that they were going to do
Undertaker versus Sting in Atlanta. Yes, people were so in love with the
idea of that match. Yep. I don't know. I mean it was
kind of weird, like everyone calls the dream match and I'm like, is
it? I mean, I guess, but I never thought that was never
the first That was never the match I had in mind, you know,
for a w crossover match. Ever, Yeah, it was kind of like
a you know, the two supernatural characters in both companies that never crossed.
And of course the novelist Rustling in WWE was stings supernatural, I guess,
coming out of the ceiling and with the crows and everything and the lasers,
lasers, you know, when he came out at Starcade, he used the
closest thing the Undertaker that w step didn't have like powers like Undertaker supposedly had
lightning powers and shit, that's true. He was brooding, long trench coat,
you know, silent but violent. People were very excited about the possibility,
and they were doing a series of videos and they turned out to be
promoting the return of the Undertaker, not the coming of Sting And they were
like, all right, you know, edgewise about what it was about.
There were very those vague videos, right, and wasn't there there was a
lot of stuff that seemed very like, yeah, like stingish, weren't there
like crows and stuff in it, something heavy black and white scheme, a
lot of like storms. It looked like the videos that they did before Starcade
ninety seven of him in the rain and shit, acting like Brandon Lee And
yeah, it was like a two twenty one eleven. That was the date
that the videos promoted, and all that ended up being as the announcement of
the return of the Undertaker. TNA turns around picking up on this, knowing
they're about to get Sting back into the fold and start rolling out their own
campaign of T's videos, hyping three three eleven, Oh my God, which
was the day that the first on the Road TNA Impact tapings aired on Spike
TV and featuring the return of Sting. So they really even duplicated a lot
of the look and feel and elements of those Undertaker videos that ww is doing,
with the same rain and some dude in boots and all of that.
But Stinging at an interview around this time with a Daily Star saying that when
he did the Angle with himself and Kevin Nash after Bound for Glory where they
quit, he did expect to be brought back to continue the angle in January,
so he committed to doing another year. There was a contractual issue that
they didn't finalize right away, so that's why he didn't come back until a
few months into two thousand and eleven, and it did open the doorframe to
have an unofficial discussion with WWE. But once TNA came back to finalize the
deal, he agreed to go to TNA, and so he returns as we're
about to chronicle on the March third, twenty eleven Impact to win the championship.
Meanwhile, they released Jay Lethal because fuck everything he did in two thousand
and ten. What a bitch? Right? What do you do? Nothing?
Start promoting they again. Remember in the clip we played from Age Styles,
he says it again. They're still doing it and it turns out to
be Fortune turning baby Face. That's they So as the world turns in total
NonStop action wrestling. There was a data announced that Hogan was supposed to return
in February. That came and went and he didn't return. As indicated in
the quote that we read from the Monday Night Mayhem Show, he did have
a kind of a setback in terms of how quickly he expected to be able
to get back in and due to the back fusion surgery. But once he's
back, he's all the way back. Jack and Fortune feuding with the Mortal
apparently was always the plan according to the Observer, but they pushed it up.
The feud was going to be Fortune and Immortal against the main event Mafia,
which was to be like I said, Sting, Kevin Nash Book or
t probably Kurt Angel and some others Scott Steiner, who they eventually ended up
bringing in any way. But instead of waiting for that whole thing with those
main e enters to run its course in fortune turning face, they just did
it and fortune means nothing for the rest of the year, I mean nothing.
They start positioning Bobby Rude to go for the world title as a breakout
single star. I remember that as being a thing. I do remember that
kind of in a way of like, oh, really we're going They're going
there. Okay, you remember being excited or just I didn't watch the show,
Yes, it's enough too. There was something about Bobby Rude. I
don't know why I was. I was somewhat invested in him for some reason.
Again, I never watched the show, but it tells me a lot
that you even were aware of it, because back then it was very hard
for them to do anything that would break through into where you were at as
a wrest of the town. Uh. Yeah, I definitely remember. I
mean I must have read about it and stuff, but I was aware of
it, for sure. We'll talk about a lot of it. But they
did a series of really great vignettes Kevin Sullivan, not that one the production
Kevin Sullivan put together for TNA where you know they did the whole life stories
has been my dream, talked to the family, show the kids. He's
like us, you know, sports kind of inspirational treatment, and it was,
it was, It was brilliant. It was a lot like although of
course on a smaller scale, the series of bits and angles and videos they
did for Cody leading into WrestleMania this year, and you better believe the outcome
was exactly the same. Bobby Rudy shit and loses his opportunity and loses his
chance to actually matter as champion. He gets the belt eventually, but you
know how that goes when you don't win him that first opportunity of that first
time, it's a comp waste. Yeah, it's like nowhere, you're not
fooling anybody when you do that and act like it's for story. You're not
fooling anybody. You've decided to deprive them of the moment because somebody at the
last minute God in your ear and convinced you that that's not the move to
ming like always in wrestling. But that's way ahead of us here. As
we turn the page to February, Tiene is still doing strong ratings at one
point three on February third, two million viewers, which is the third largest
audience in the Thursday night history of Impact. So they're doing really well.
This episode had no big plunge at the end. And here's the thing whole
Cogan's nowhere to be found on these shows. Wow, this is a problem,
brother one. I mean, what well, brother, I was there,
dude, I know you weren't. I was the Curt Angle Jeff Jarrett
Karen angle storyline that's doing pretty good numbers as they go through all their hijinks.
Why, I don't know. I think people were pretty clicked into the
idea that it was real life spilling into the ring and that was a little
more compelling than your run of the mill angle that tena put together kind of
like the edge mad hearty leader thing. Sure, and it came to the
point where they did a stipulation where custody of Kurt's kids who were on the
line, and after they did that, match ratings momentum for this feud subsided.
That wasn't bridge too far for folks, I think is a fair read
of it. But if these kind of numbers are getting put up for Impacts
without whole coken on the screen. That's gonna have to be remedied real fucking
quick, and indeed it is against all odds. The February pay per view,
Jeff Hardy takes back the TNA title from mister Anderson, just to make
sure Anderson really gets momentum winning that championship and a ladder match, and they
start talking about the network all the time. We telegraphed it a bit when
we played that that sound bite in part one of you know, the switch
over to the Blue Ropes and the Impact Wrestling Wrestling Matters branding campaign. But
suddenly, you know, if they're not going to have Dixie versus Hogan,
Dixie versus Bischoff and Hogan, they got to have somebody opposing the tyranny of
the Hogan Bischoff regime. Yeah, so they just start talking about the network.
The network actually had the trump card the whole time. I don't know
where they've been. Well, fucking Dixie got totally ram rotted in court and
lost our whole company. I don't know why they had nothing to say until
now I know. And they never say Spike, and Bischoff wanted to say
Spike, but Spike kind of didn't like the idea of being named in particular
on the air. Why. I don't know. I don't know what their
problem was with it. I think there might have been a concern that it
really makes it seem like they're I just want to be them. I mean,
Eric, I appreciate Listen. I like any kind of publicity for the
for the you know, for for for Spike and any any in New York.
Now they're not the national network anymore, so you might want to put
the the Brad Seagle voice on. Well, Eric, look, I I'm
I listen. I love I love the idea that that we get. You
know that you talk about the you know, talk about the network on TV.
That's great. Listen, I'm all about I think. I think any
kind of publicity for Spike is good. It's it's really it's really original,
even though it is Paul Haymon did it in nineteen ninety nine and the same
network. I think, I think what you know, I think the the
idea of of of kind of bringing in that that kind of a reality situation.
Listening all three people in New York, Bishop on the front of Nashville,
by the way, all about that all right. You know, we've
been discussing it since you was since you ran in the idea of bias.
But you know, here's the thing, this is, this is what what
it kind of comes down to, and we got to balance a lot of
interest here Eric in the TV business as Yeah, there's that, But I
also don't want to listen. I don't I don't personally like to go on
and disparage any of our programming, right, you know, because I think
all of it is valuable. All of it brings in something obviously, you
know, whether it be viewers or any kind of financial reward. You know,
all of our programming is either like our children, all right, we
consider that we consider every one of these uh, every one of our shows
to be our own, our own child. But you know, saying Spike
on the Impact Show, I it's just embarrassing, you know. I just
don't think that that we want to really acknowledge the fact that Spike owns a
wrestling company. Well, we don't that. We don't we that we put
a TV show on. You know, I don't think we want to acknowledge
that on on on to I know they ever, I mean, yeah,
I mean, honestly, if if it weren't commonplace, I take the logo
off the show, you know, in the corner, I wouldn't have the
Spike logo. I think that's you have to appreciate, Eric. I mean,
we're part of the Viacom family here, we've got it's not just I
mean, it's not just us, it's it's it's paramount. It's the lea.
All right, you know what, what's he gonna say? If you
know Spike is a is a is a baby face and a wrestling show,
you know, you know exactly like like they're gonna be like, well,
what are your character you? We do? We take you seriously like I
don't understand, like what And look I have I've had a glimpse into my
crystal ball here. I've seen the future. I've seen the way you've talked
about being associated with wrestling in your bankruptcy hearing you understand what it means to
be ashamed to have anything to do with the right. I mean, look,
I I know you know where we're coming from because I know that outside
of outside of the wrestling world, you don't talk about it, right,
you just talk about Hervey and exactly talk about your reality shows. And then
listen. I'm with you, man, Yep, absolutely, we're excited about
a lot of the concepts you've brought to us. I think what past week.
I wish to god we didn't have wrestling on Spike, all right,
I wish to god we didn't have because it's such a fucking bullshit thing.
It's not even real. It's not even real. Did you know that,
Eric? Did you know that that what you produce isn't real? It turns,
it turns hostile on Eric. Eric's trying to get off the phone.
Now, Yeah, the network, Okay, the network is doing things too
so fucking awful, pull a trump card. Including It's like, why why
do we have to keep going to things that aren't wrestling to try to make
this wrestling show work? Because the people who make the most money other guys
who can't go in the ring necessarily, So we got to build a company
around the idea that what really moves the ship here is the talking and the
intrigue of the people to make the biggest salaries. Listen, I don't I
don't mind the talking in the intrigue, but why do you have to involve
the network? Like why can't it be somebody else. Why can't it be
uh, you know, why can't Sting? You know? Why are there
always elements you can't control? Right? You know? Right the people who
have the power never right in front of your eyes, seems like right.
Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy still has his drug trafficking case out of North Carolina that
gets continued to March twenty first, and the thought is they put the championship
back on him because they realized with that delay, that continuance, which is
now becoming high comedy, how many times they delayed this thing that they have
enough time to get the title off him if need be. So they're actually
booking the ten if I'm reading this right. They're booking the tena title around
when Jeff Hardy has court dates and when he might predictably be sentenced to prison.
What's wrong on that? I mean, it's perfectly fine if you ask
me, absolutely and insane behavior. But now, in fact, he loses
the championship he just won back from Anderson, who whose first reign and only
reign. I think now he wins it later, but it meant nothing.
Hardy does drop the belt to the returning Sting. The show takes place February
twenty fourth in Faithful, North Carolina. But that's taped for the March third
Impact. They taped two, I believe not three, two episodes of Impact
going on the road for the first time. And yeah, the thought is,
well, let's gets Bolt often because if he pleads guilty, he's not
going to be our tompion at the time. Yeah, February twenty fourth,
twenty eleven, Impact does one point five five million viewers, so it's starting
to come in a little bits. Twenty eleven, early twenty eleven begins to
unfold, and in fact, at actual viewers they are below they're twenty oh
nine average, even though Spike picked up several million homes over the past year
in terms of exposure. So there are many ways to slice indise the numbers,
and there are some bright spots, but you always have to anchor back
to where were they before Hogan and Bischoff came in and what was a reasonable
expectation for growth because they're involved and there's no growth, So you tell me.
We turned to the March third Impact lie atmosphere, huge screens, three
of them, as a matter of fact, one lifts up in the center
and in the entranceway. That's right. What do you think of the set?
I think it looks pretty good. Yeah, yeah, no, listen,
I think I think it looks fine. No problem at all. JB
welcomes us, and uh, the moment of truth has arrived this episode.
Fuck no, no, no, no, no no no no no no
no no no no no no. Times sometimes bid me out kind of what
Oh hang hang hang hang hang hang hang. Dixie Carter is back on TNA
television. After all those rights, she's here, and she's here to tell
us the decision by the judge in Texas, even though we're in North Carolina,
to the outcome of the court struggle. Remember Bishop and Hogan had her
signed a piece of paper that gave them the company, and she was like,
no, that's not going to hold up. And she's got a friend,
remember on Thanksgiving, I got a friend in the court. It's gonna
help me. And uh, what's the result, what's the outcome? For
some reason, it takes till March, some random day in March to announce
this, and she comes out looking sad in her brown leather coat, and
for some reason, she holds so cal VAL's hand climbing the ring What the
fuck is that about? She drunk? It just felt I just whenever you
I hear that, I think of just a Titan tron video of her walking.
That's it's walking, walking, walking, sometimes power walking in heels.
Yeah. Um, it's federal judge decision time. Okay, the ruling waiting
for. What's she crying about? I didn't actually know what she was crying
about. It's like, what the fuck is this about? She was crying
because she lost the companies, Oh my god, or she lost in an
attempt to get it back. So at this time too in real life or
Twitter account has had been suspended. You know why? Oh, please tell
me she added the verified Twitter checkbox to her background or her page when she
wasn't actually verified. Oh god, does that sound familiar today? What the
fuck? I mean? That's just like a hint of things to come.
She had to go, you're gonna pay for that verification now. First of
all, I wanted to say thank you. You're Oh you know, I
can't. I can't hang hang, I can't pass up a fucking Dixie.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to say
thank you so much to each and every one of you who reached out to
me over the last several months for your kind words and support and what digital
formats, your emails, your tweets, your Facebook messages, and especially talking
to you in person around the world few weeks has meant the world to me.
Your support has given me strength and I am very, very grateful.
I'm here tonight. I'm here tonight to share with you the outcomes of the
legal proceedings that started back in November and the court ruling that came down this
morning. And while things did not go as I had hoped, I can
promise you I WoT this music. It's so bad. It's like that wo
rumans. I gotta tell you, Michael Dixie stuff dispositions. I here bas
at the moment when Dixie Carter, who's gonna go public with the judge's ruling
the imperance of the mortel Eric fishaw not Hardy got hurting. I don't even
know I have the fucking people are this immortals, So the dirtiest players play
making their way to the bringion has that got to agree with you? Listening
to Dixie watching your body language doesn't look positive? DISI also an ar Fish
offs his disposition. His body language is kind of blocking and fucking fun's at
Dixie. Dixie, when we agreed earlier today to let you come out here
and say goodbye to all of your fans, that didn't mean we wanted you
to come out here and try to do your pr spin and spread your Dixie
dusts around. I try to twitter your why wow out of the reality of
the facts. You see, we're very busy guys, and we got a
lot to do tonight, and but Franklin time is more valuable than that.
So before we see you go, I just want to say, Dixie,
I respect you book a man. I've learned so much from you I can't
begin to tell you. And even though I know you're a woman, Dixie
sounds like you have one massive set of boss. Are you starting to understand
that you are to that young lady. She's so free things to be called
flair country. You got that vibration and they all know that had you taken
my room key that night, nor we would have avoided all this, and
you would have been on a long, year long ride and steady and steading.
You elect to text, tweet, email, voicemail. Stop the gross
you dude, because you think that they're gonna love to you. If that
but gets you off your don't you understand we get them off, don't get
us off. And you know what catch be off libbs rag shits like kidstand
We really women that want to go whoa, oh my lord. And to
get that, you gotta have money. You gotta have money. That means
you gotta have power. And if we gotta have the power, we want
your money, your time, your energy, We want everything you have.
That's who we are, so want do the most toys wins the game.
Now if you really want to hear what the legally wants, say Dixie,
And by the way, there's a hold and right down the road, Bill,
I reduced to the legend the man that makes your mott hu hug getting
buller while a yat guy the right, while a rat yard right now small
a right, war a right a right Wi s t time come down y,
that's show yes right, yes, yes, yes not hunter moved do
do domes happened to me? And we will be before you to get used
to my friend, because it seems like they mean it. You know what
I noticed here too, Hogan's skin so dry that looks so walks. My
opinion, it seems like he's the man in shocks, you know something.
Maybe act here we go. Maybe I'm all amped up because the electricity in
this building, or maybe my trino clams that I'm not fishing straights. But
seeing how I was in that courtroom with you today, Dixie Carter, I
think it's safe to say that I now control one hundred percent now, so
it confirms your thoughts. It's all the assurance. He's gonna court room,
He's going a lot of things going on at the same time, from everything
that happens in this ring to everything that happens in my office in Nashville.
I make all the decisions. Yeah, like he's going to Nashville playing you,
Dixie. Well, you you're just unemployed. You know, somewhere along
the way you kind of became delusional. You know they talk about me being
an egomaniac, the well, nobody blieves their own hype like you do,
Dixie. That's a fact. And when I think about the way you spoons
that all these fans made him believe in you. We used you, Dixie,
Eric and I used you to get right back on top of the wrestling
business. Somewhere along the way while you were being I'm sorry, on top
of the wrestling business, on top of what excuse me, well, what
was going to be on top of Dixie? If I oh god, all
this time, you've forgot what your place in Tena is wasn't always will be.
You supply the money period. Do you understand that, Dixie? You
supply the money period. This thing wasn't about you and me being partners.
This whole thing was about me and my real partner, Eric Bischoff, using
you to get back on top of the professional wrestling business. You know,
one of the MCCUs having to being gay when Dixie, because you're a weak
woman, we used you in your whole family and the only thing that you
have left is your dignity, and like they say in Nashville, we are
fixing to take that away right now too. Let's come to them. But
you know, you do have one thing, like Dixie Carter. You've got
all these fans out here, okay, But you know something, Dixie,
these fans out here that love you, if you don't have much to say
about it, now do they? You don't have a damn thing to say
about it. The Fox are this Jack, it's you and me and I
run this company. Just you and me in here, Dixie. That's it
next time on TNA. Also, why is he calling you out? What
did you do? I know he calls her Jack all of a sudden,
Hey, is is he being kind of mean to her? In a whole
cogen way? Yeah? At right? I mean she's sitting her crying like
a child who lost her toy in the at the theme park, I mean
exactly, And that's kind of what happened the theme park being Universal Studios,
you're a weak woman. Well, I'm like your boss, but I'm just
endlessly and true tell you. I'll tell you what. I can't wait to
see the matches, what happens next? Exactly the match I mean, isn't
a twist supposed to be? Not a continuation of the state of play.
I mean, like, why is this such a big deal if we're exactly
where we were before she came out here? Right? Exactly? Nothing has
changed, nothing has changed. So basically there was a pause in the goings
on from November until now. That's the same ship. Sounds like they put
the whole thing on hold till health was ready to show up In person brother
one. At least we have that immortal plus fortune music, and now we
have new fortune music Fortune four. They say, oh Jesus Christ, can
you pull that up for me? I want you to listen to it and
read. All right, we can't see what we get here for fortune A
fortune theme? Fortune four? Was it? The TNA fortune? AJ comes
out at this point in the show and his boy band Blazer. They throw
the hands signals up stop. Kaz has the X title Storm and rude to
have the tag titles. AJ has no title and that will be the there
we go. Stay, don cares fortune four four? Oh what is fortune
four? Are? We're about to change things? Okay? Four fu please?
Thanks? Were about to change things. Uh the way we dress,
we dress, the way roll mean look, Ty's music is fucking shit.
Okay, really it is always so fucking like not to change things. Uh,
hang him on my hand hand wrap rock. I'm here to say the
thing. Boo boo boo delted dingan Ah, you're a little bit of French
there wa wa A J says we can do this the easy way or the
hard way. We like to do it the hard way. But there's a
man in the ring because Aerian, he's not talking about you, a Bishop,
because Arian cuts in and says, now we're talking about Dixie Carter.
What a lady we care deeply about. Okay, now they can about Dixie
Carter. Since when the same lady that gave us all an opportunity here at
TNA, and this same already lady that brought us to give you an opportunity.
What's that? But Jared gave you an opportunity here to Fayetteville, North
Carolina, and they pop for that. Get out of the ring. Dixie
Bishop says, you have her. We've had our fun. You can have
her Today says it's just so tough timing and watch Dixie Carter deal with this.
No, Mike, it's tough having to hear you and pretend to feel
for these angles. You know what, Mike, Actually it's tough being a
TNA fan. Yes, Dixie Carter, Boss, I don't know if you've
forgotten Dixie Carter. Okay, emails, tweets. Damn. It gets to
the point that Flair is screaming different means of digital communications at her in the
ring, and this is supposed to be one of the big text email They
think it's such a. They think it's such a burn, no right to
talk about sixy being on her phone all day. Um, so this is
one of those moments in twenty eleven where Robert Rude suddenly steps into the foreground
and we're supposed to go, wait a minute, this guy's getting a little
uh spotlight. He's stepping up. Yeah, I got I got some.
I got him leading into the uh the end of the end of the promos,
right, Just who the hell do you think you are? Jokay,
he think he's my friend. Hey, hey, talking to you? You
think you are? You are talking to me? Yeah? Yeah, no,
you're talking to god. Oh God, don't ever cracking on Wogan?
You kiss his ass? Do you kiss my ass and you keep walking?
You know where, Ricky? How about a stait of kissing your ass?
We kick your ass? She's out of arms? Why he first words out
of his mouth after that showed down between Flair, What a goofball? I
want? You know? Hulk took his shades off as soon as Rude started
talking to him. Oh so he was serious or he takes them seriously.
Okay, good says, I can't believe you were the reason I became a
professional wrestler, Hulk. You know, there's an old saying, Hulk,
that you should never meet your ridles, because at the end of the day,
although going to just let you down, and as sure as I'm standing
here today, that statement couldn't be any more true. Hogan makes the face
brother just too when the hell do you think you are? And that's when
Flair says, he thinks he's my friend. He thinks he's my friend,
which is not exactly the kind of thing you want to say, Flair,
unbelievable. He thinks he's my friend, So is he not? Are you?
Are you swerving him? Now? Flair? What's the deal? Pal?
I had? Hurts, So there's a night drop. Bishof says,
get him out of here. There's booze as Fortune is held back from hitting
the ring, there is booze. I'll tell you that immortal telling himself are
stepping on the ropes, taking them on, So Holk's comfortable taking a rope,
which is a step forward. Yep um. They show backstage Hogan strutting
with the crew and more backstage meetings. They got Bischoff bitching about this network
guy not telling him who Jeff Hardy's opponent's going to be tonight. They're all
talking about the network. H as hell, But I'm not anymore brilliant brilliant
drop. That's the new miss test mocker, fucking network. Hogan goes,
they know I'm in charge of anything wrestling related in rings. What I read
Bishop's contract. That's not true, Terry Hogan backstage, Um on the phone
in the office. Yeah, guys, I know this business. Yeah,
I got him, I got him, can't not have him? Yeah,
guys, I know this business. Believe me just as well as you do.
In the Eiffel Tower where you're sitting right, does defend the title on
a regular basis. He's a fighting champion Theiffel Tower, idiot. No,
no, no, you know it's not the fact that he has to defend
the belt. It's the guessing game. You know, Anderson would be the
perfect match. He would be the perfect guy for ratings, if that's what
you want. But hide the ball. You know we are on the same
team. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, but you know I don't
agree with surprises equal ratings. You know, we need to plan things out,
we need to be ready. Nothing surprise. You don't surprise business with
Okay, I get it. You do, yes, sir, I get
it. Okay, we'll be ready, thank you. Man. Yeah,
I mean I agree. Man, I don't. I don't know why they
have these fucking I can't. It's so we're back to the ship. It's
like there's nothing they came up with in the interim that's any better than what
they were doing before. It's so stupid. I mean, it's so stupid.
I don't like these these I don't know where they think that this sort
of stories are these sort of stories are interesting, Like nobody cares about conversations
with the television networking executives, all right, Like I mean, is this
show sponsored by like Cisco network engineering, like in enterprise phone systems? You
know, I know, why would Hope be so concerned about surprises anyway?
What how about what his Eiffel Tower? Well, actually he may have been
talking about what what him and Warrior want to do with Linda. Maybe that's
what he's talking about. But as I said, dude, you want to
Aniffe tower, Linda Brother, I know that's not how you feel up in
your Eiffel Tower, all right, Terry Eiffel Towers, moron. So yeah,
the Silver Dome yeah, now work is not roping him in, dude,
not letting him know. Later on with Jeff Hardy, Hogan says,
I know we talked about a vacation, brother, but the company's on a
roll. Brother. Yeah, Jeff, Jeff's gonna take a vacation, all
right, yeah, oh yeah, oh yes he is. So he tells
Jeff, we need you to step up again tonight. I don't know if
you have this, but Jeff's in a suit and tie, and no,
I don't have this one. Hogan says, you cannot tell the network to
tell me who you're who are going to be wrestling. Hardy says that incredulously.
So I'm not trying to throw this off on anybody. But the network
smells blood. They smell ratings every time you get in the ring. Hulk
Hogan is the manager of the Santa Land level of Gimbals in elf. Yes,
yeah, yeah, coming from my job's code word, Santa's got a
brand new bag, Terry Hogan's got a brand new bag. Brother, all
right, dude, look we're all in this together. Brother. Heye these
ratings when you were gone, Terry, Yeah, a little too good,
brother. I think they're bringing in professional work. That's so awesome. Does
that qualify l for under the cinemat? Maybe every time you get in the
ring and they think a big surprise is going to put this thing over the
top. Jeff, that's the problem in jeff'sons. You of all people want
me to come out and defend against the unknown. It's a good one.
It's the unknown. I love you, man, like you're like a son
to me. We are in this, We're you're in as much jeopardy as
we are or something. If I knew who he was your opponent, I'd
set him up, leave him laying up the road at the seven eleven.
For you. It must be abyss wow, I'll say if it was,
if it was a buss, he'd already be at the seven eleven. Hogan
tells Jeff Hardy, you're the one we wanted. You stepped up and won
the title. You're our guy man, all right. Later, there's a
meeting with Kennedy where Hogan produces a back brace. For some reason. In
the spring of twenty eleven, Hogan is bringing his back brace to television and
showing it on screen. Of course, why not, Brother and Anderson math
off to him and he goes, let me know next time you slam a
seven hundred pound giant asshole, Terry. We read the laser spine deposition.
We know you don't think he's actually seven hundred pounds Jesus Christ. So the
main event comes on the March third, twenty eleven Impact and it's going to
be Jeff Hardy defending the championship against the network chosen mystery man. That's right,
and the diva's title is back. By the way, the Jeff Hardy
Special, Um no more modest to the top anymore for Jeff Hardy's interesting.
That's weird. That other another lifeward you will never see. Oh God,
poetry, you say that again, speaking poetry. Jemmy Borash takes the microphone
and now introducing his opponent. Yeah, I got that because it was a
good reaction when he came out, now introducing his opponents. H's the video
they'll play better take off Hang Hang Kangang Gang Gang. It says three three
eleven on the screen, even though they take it all twenty four hang hang
Hall harn y'all hundred party two pis there he is, He's back. You
know the beginning of his song always sounds like Randy Orton's old theme. Sure,
hey, hi, there he is in red black white paint with a
roon and gold rob on. Yeah, started this back, turned the aisle
to the ring, turns to face Jeff, who's selling like, oh shit,
here we go. Says that Jeff's about to vomit because he has to
face thing. I think he has to vomit for other reasons. I'll be
at Victory road test strobe lights going off. Is Sting doing it for the
network? That's my question today, says Sting walked away from T and a
hell deal with Hulkgan and Company. But the network has spoken and the network
has chosen Sting. Somebody asked Kevin Kay, Hell, I'm not going anymore.
Next time someone sees Kevin Kay asked him if he chose Sting Lemon see
as when the network chose Sting. Task makes reference to a lot of rubers
and speculation over the past several weeks about Sting where he would end up or
not. Well, folks, he's not going anywhere. He's right here mentioning
you know the ww speculation tests. Jeff Hardy's about ready to vomit, like
you said, because it doesn't want to face Sting. They assume Hulkken and
Ark Bishof must be livid at this turn of events as hard He gets up
on the apron and is yanked in for the opening bell clotheslines and Hardy SCRAMs
and his Neon green belt to get out of the ring. Neon green belt
not a problem, just checking, No, no, yeah, it's total,
total problem. Well it's a problem. After this staying moving swiftly around
the ring, looking pretty good, he looks ready to go. Sure sure
Red Padding on the thighs back in and Hardy kicks the gut and slugs away.
Tries to suplex, but Sting puts the block on double legs Jeff.
Hardy steps through, turns him over into the scorpion deathlock and sits down.
But Hardy makes the ropes to break and rolls out of the ring. Sting
chase up the aisle way, sup plexes Jeff on the ramp, takes him
around the rails and then splash in against the rail that always misses. Sting
never learns. He never hits the splash on the floor. He always hits
the rail. And that happens again here impact ye proud lively with chance,
that's for sure. So they're really getting some bump out of that live audience
element. Can't deny that. Back in, Jeff with a sleeper tries to
twist of fate, but he's pushed off and he slugged. Sting begins to
hulk up and beats his chest and starts slinging hands at Jeff. Hardy Teney
says, when they got to the striking game, its advantage. Sting really
is Ta's version of undertakers. I guess so Sting with running up pier,
the best pier striker in total NonStop action, looks the death drop and scores,
but only gets two on the cover off the scorpion death drop, Stings
paint is peeling and Jeff dodges a stinger splash in the corner. Stings stumbles
into a back elbow and Jeff hits the whisper and the wind. It goes
for the whisper in the wind, but he's tripped and crotched in the top
rope, and then Sting does a scorpion death drop off the top rope.
I like that. I like that a lot. Actually, I've never seen
him do that before. I don't know if he's on that before, but
I never saw it. Thumbs up up to the center ring. Sting hooks
him again in the Scorpion deathlock. Now, pardon me, the Scorpion death
drop in scores and I don't know. Something so lame about the teena ring
noise. I don't know what it is. Yes, probably because it's in
a fucking studio. In this case, it isn't. Oh yeah, they're
live right, Yeah, I'm on. I don't know. Then, I
don't know. Well, whatever it is, it's good for the one,
the two, and the three. I'm gonna pick him up again. Stingstop
done, scorpion drop. So many title changes, I know, what does
it? Fucking sounds like nine Vince Russo. It's almost like Vince Russo still
book in the company. At this point, the Sting hoists the Divas title.
How about that Sting with that Jeff Hardy belt. You know the fact
that he still has the belt after this night that always bothers me. Yeah,
get rid of that fucking belt, get the other one back. Jeff
crawls out of the ringing Tazas on a night where Whole Coken gain control of
TNA and Immortal loses the only the holy grail known as the TENA Heavyweight Championship.
I thought, but the belt lent the power though, that's what they
say, And somehow Hogan and Bishoff are still peg keen about winning the company
in court even though they don't have the belt. Well, I guess we'll
see so again. These took place in Fayetville, North Carolina, these set
of tapings, and according to the Observer, did thirty five hundred fans in
attendance with three fifteen paid, so a huge success considering, you know,
grading on a curve for TNA. That's a very very good crowd for them.
And their rating was very good, one point eight five million viewers,
the highest rated episode of Impact since October fourteenth of twenty two. And they
even beat out a UFC show that was running head to hand on the much
lower profile Versus cable channel that evening, which did six hundred eighty one thousand
viewers, So they were able to yeah, up, puff their puff their
chest out about you know, doing better than UFC for a week. Of
course, they would ride that horse all year, but it was it was
a success for sure. The March Shirt third show, and if there's one
thing we know about TNA boss, especially in this era, they can have
nice things, right, No, they don't have to immediately watch nice things
fall off the shelf and shatter on the floor. Right Oh they's they have
to completely ruin everything they have. It's nice. It's time for Victory Road
twenty eleven. Well, I don't even know where to begin with this fucking
thing. What did you know about this, if anything ahead of time?
Nothing? Christ All I saw was a guy stumble out to ring who I
immediately knew was fucked. You could tell, Oh, yeah, he fucking
stumbled around like he looked like a disaster. TNA, TNA. Oh god,
it's time for our Victory Road made event in the Impact Zone. And
of course the graphics still has Jeff Hardy holding the title belt. It's Jeff
Hardy taking on Sting for the TENA title a week after that episode of Impact
There so that we just talked about main event of Victory Road pay per view
Tale of the Tape and I don't know. The announcer seems somewhat distracted as
they read copy for the Tale of the taps to tape. Sorry Hardy coming
in at six, one, two or twenty five pounds. Of course,
the Swanton Bomb is his finisher sting at six two two fifty. I guess
he gained four pounds or five pounds since the March third impact Scorpion death Drop
is the finisher stings shocking return leads to title win. That's part of tale
of the tape with Hogan and Dixie. With Hogan in control, it says
can immortal regain gold. That's another part of the tale of the tape.
The tape is being told, I'll tell you that. It also says no
excuses tonight for Jeff Hardy. We'll see about that. Hardy comes out well,
his music hits and get a kind of a mild pop from mostly girls
in the Impact zone. Another me is what there will never be another life
like this. You'll never see. We can only hope because what emerges from
the tunnel is well. He says, also, I want to end,
and I agree, I want to end. Please. The camera's trained on
the entranceway, no one's coming out, and then suddenly there he is.
Look at the movements like molass. He like yeah, he he barely moves,
he stumbles. I mean, I was just like, he's got to
be fucked up. He needs to be completely utterly fucked up. He's singing
into the camera and almost floating down the ramp going left to right when he's
supposed to be going straight and face paint chewing gum. He looks like,
how why did they let him go out? If he if he was really
fucked up? Don't think we're going to get to that, all right,
I know. Jeff is grabbing at ringside fans, probably to hold himself up
more than anything. He even tries to lean on the ringside post and almost
falls down the ring post gets up to the apron has his heart. He
didn't have ample time to prepare for sting last time, and apparently this is
what he does with ample time to prepare ample time. You know, you
gotta be careful to ample time for Jeff Hardy a little too has advantage of
ample time. So well, yeah he does. He puts his arms out
like he does when he takes the corner, but he does it so awkwardly
you can see everything's off. Oh yeah, everything slightly off. Stings music.
He steps out with the Jeff Hardy belt in his hand and hoists it
up in the air. Why has he got Jeff Hardy's belt. It's been
a weak stop trucks changed it hard. He's limping around incredulous to Sting.
You can just tell he's uncloud nine. He leaves the ring of Sting,
gets in and lifts the belt. They talk about how many more matches are
left in this man? They mean Sting, by the way, not Jeff
Hardy. That's the funny thing there. Yeah, there's um uh yeah,
I got, I got that conversation because it's it's a weird it's it's weird
the way that it's it's phrase by Tonay, the words that I keep going
back to. Sting told us the fire he's not going out. I mean
when will go out? When will the fire inside? Gets pretty outlet but
this legendary restler, when will the fire go out? And Sting? Okay,
Taz, if you said the same thing three times, you don't have
to change your inflection like that fire just fucking christ Man, Like what the
fuck Jeremy Boris, let us know that reefree. Brian Hebner will be presiding
with the championship in his hand. Sting hits the ropes, introducing first in
the corner of my left is he Oh yeah, he's down there on the
floor. Jeff Hardy flips him off and it's pixelated, or at least someone
flips him off. I'm in a notation and he does this wild eyes thing,
threw his paint into the camera. Charismatic indigna. Jeff Hardy, he
waited in this morning at two hundred and fifty eight pounds. I love that
this morning, right this morning. What are you weighing now? Ye?
Sting gets some booze in cheers as he's introduced to people, and Sting looks
to the aisle and what's going to happen here? Well before that, Taz
says that Sting shocked the world, and we know Sting isn't the first wrestler
to who shocked the world. Hey, that's right, I shocked the world.
Thank you. Yes, that is a tea. We shocked the world.
We're about to shock the world in a very small but dramatic way here
at Victory Road. This is shock him again. I was in Mexico off
the grid. It's like Jeff dranks and marijuana. Jess. Hey, you
know, you know I've I've I've had I've done alcohol and I've drunk marijuana.
Okay, good, did you ever do that? No, No,
that's a magical substance there. So Stingo and something's amiss, right, something's
not someone doesn't have to go ahead to proceed. And suddenly Eric Bischoff,
who is supposed to be aligned with Hogan, So I guess maybe he's coming
out to support Jeff. That's what you would think, stomps out to the
ring, gives a wave of a hand in the time out signal. As
Jeff starts taking off his shirt to wrestle. My Bischeff takes the mic,
insists light chaine of plans here, ladies and gentlemen. I'm like, okay,
what he said. See, we had a little situation on March third
with a network got involved in our business. Wait the network, you haven't
met all with the primal forces of nature. And he DAPs up Jeff.
And when he does that, you can tell that he's whispering directions, that
he's communicating a change in plans to these wrestlers. Well, you know,
in the disguise of this promo that I will say, neither Sting or Jeff
Hardy knew was coming. Oh my god. He taps up Jeff, gives
him the finish, Bishoff sucks chant Jeff's in the corner chewing gum, trying
to pop process what he was just told. Bischoff wants Sting to know I'm
going to be fair to night. He puts his hand out and when Sting
shakes it, he whispers the finished to Sting as well. Um. Sting
mouths, you got to tell me what to do first. I swear I
saw that Hardy's in motion with his back to the corner. Bischoff says,
to make this the level playing field. What's what's un level about this playing
field? I got? I got, I got this whole promo because it
was so fascinating to me. In order to make this a level playing field,
here's what we're gonna do. Had a chance to talk with mister Hogan
exact, get producer to level the playfield. And since mister Hardy wasn't able
to prepare for you. On March third, we got together with mister Hardy
let him know that we were gonna change this match. Add a little stipulation.
We're gonna make it a no disqualification match. Mister Hardy has been able
to prepare for That's why it is okay. Then there, Yeah, Staying
drops Bishof and he could tell the announcers have no idea where they go at
this thing. Um, so yeah, that's mister Hardy's been able to prepare
for a no disqualification match. How do you prepare? Just go in the
backyard and get people over the heapen things or get beaten up to make sure
you grow callouses on your back. So he drops bish Off, He stomps,
and Bishof hits the floor. The bell sounds. Jeff turns his back
to Staying with his shirt like he's gonna throw it into the crowd, and
Jeff just goes into this drug induced like thing with the shirt. It lasts
like a minute. Oh, he turns and looks at Staying teases throwing into
the crowd again. Stings standing there with his hands on his hip and Jeff
T's is throwing it to the crowd again, and Stings starts circling him,
and Jeff keeps doing these fake T shirt throws into the crowd. What is
he? I mean? My god? Finally Sting closes in and Jeff begs
off in the corner ducks his head under the ropes. Hardy does the T
shirt thing again, Test says, what the hell is Jeff Hardy doing here?
Finally just drops the shirt on the canvas. They lock up, Sting
yanks him back, kicks the gut right and Chop grabs him by the hair
drags him in the middle of the ring. Stings here is a disaster in
this match too, by the way, yeah, that's the last thing I
noticed, But okay, good, I noticed. I noticed, by the
way, you know, one other thing too before he get to the you
know, finish with this match. It's such a fast one. I was
actually kind of surprised that they let Sting have a title. He's very not
tan, yes exactly. Dixie apparently doesn't care as much about that, so
well, Yeah, he drags him in the middle of the ring, hits
the scorpion death drop in really sloppy fashion. Jeff doesn't even really seem to
know what's coming, and he covers him tight one, two, three,
and Jeff clearly tries to kick out. Yeah, which solves a great mystery
to me, like, could these wrestlers actually keep your shoulders down for three
if you didn't want them to? And at least in the case of Sting
and Jeff Hardy, yes, is the answer, because Jeff apparently was not
expecting this to be the finish. But it's very clear that the edict was
even if Jeff does kick out slap three, but Sting manages to keep the
shoulders down, and yeah, it's a minute, a minute and a half,
whatever it is, and Steing becomes the champion. Sting obertains the title.
I should say he does the pin the way you have to do it
for that, which is the locking of the hands. You know, if
you're able to eat. Once you put your chest on the guy and you
roll, you and you hook a leg and you roll, you put your
hand, your other arm under the shoulder and through the arm. It's hard
to kick out. That's interesting hands. Yeah, so it's over. And
I just got to ask you, since you don't the backstory, what did
you make of this? I mean, I I had nothing. I mean,
I was just I was very shocked. I was actually, in a
weird way relieved because he thought I was making you watch a thirty minute staying.
No, not even not even because of that. It was mainly because
he was he was so fucked up. Yeah, and he wasn't fucked up
like Davy Boy, who I could, you know, kind of see as
carriable, like he looked uncarriable, right, And I was a little nervous
that that something really bad was going to happen. So I was kind of
grateful that it ended as fast as it did. It was shocking, but
I was glad that it ended as fast as it did. Jeff on his
ass looks incredulously off to the side after the bell sounds, staying with his
hands in front of his face, has handed the belt. He's kind of
like frozen faced. Jeff gets in Hebner's face, no selling whatsoever of the
scorpion death drop. Sting's arm is raised. Jeff just stands in there and
does nothing with Sting right there in the ring with him. They're just standing
in the ring. Ye Instant leaves his arms raised in the aisle way.
His eyes are wandering in the aisle trying to deduce what to do and say.
Someone says this is bullshit, and he answers back, I agree,
does the stinger? Yeah? Yeah. Because it was so short and truncated,
the announcers are forced to recap essentially the whole show. Oh, it
was such a nightmare. It was such a fucking nightmare to go over the
whole show again to fill time as they fade out. And not only that,
but they you know, they have all these replays that are going through
as well. So what happened here? Yes, what does it say about
the state of TNA under the Hogan Bishop regime in March about twenty eleven.
It says that things are under control, Things are great, and you know,
we just sound decisions are being made exactly exactly, and that we know
what we're doing, we know where we're going, and there's nothing to worry
about. We know how to assign consequences to talent that cost us from a
reputation standpoint, so it doesn't happen again exactly, and we'll get into it.
Of course. Eric Bischoff, as we mentioned as a February early February
twenty eleven, is executive producer. At least Bischoff every entertainment is of TNA
impact, so he's got a widened role. He's sort of in charge.
Bruce Prichard is inching into more prominent roles. He said that he actually knew
he was in for the job of head writer and head of talent relations even
before all the formalities even as early as this point in time, so he's
sort of someone in charge backstage. Vince Russo's head writer, still he's kind
of in charge. And Dixie Carter, of course is the president of the
company. She's there as well and in charge. So it's time to do
what we do best here at TLF and triangulate many lies to try to detect
the truth. What are the concentric circles here along all these different accounts of
this infamous ninety and a history. We're going to start with Bischoff on his
podcast eighty three weeks talking about it with Conrad Thompson, boss ad Eric Hardy.
One. Let's start at the beginning. When did you first see Jeff
Hardy this day? About three minutes before he walked out. Jeff's mo at
the time was to get get to the lot Universal Studios, check in,
and go hide until he was absolutely necessary and it was either interview time or
match time. But he I don't even to this day, I don't know
where he did. But he found a little nook in a cranny somewhere where
he could I can tell you. On this night, I think it's safe
to assume he was hiding wherever he was hiding and doing whatever drugs he brought
with him. Okay, so you got that. Cat yep, didn't see
Jeff Hardy till three minutes after he went out because he was hiding. I
don't believe that, all right, make a note of that. Next up,
we go to Bruce Pritchard on Something to Wrestle, talking about the situation.
Bruce on Hardy or we were you know, we're at Orrel and it's
time for the match and we're looking for Jeff. Where the hell's Jeff?
Where the hell's Jeff? So we just playing where the hell's Jeff? Jeff?
And so I ran out the studio and I see two guys carrying Jeff.
I thought he was passed out they have been, but he's over both
that are you know, his arms over their heads and they're dragging him in.
His feet are just dragging the ground behind him and around. What happened?
Found him in his locker room? Oh god, like, see awake?
Is he what? Jeff? And he was yeah, and just out
of it? So like holy shit. So I ran back and Eric was
ais thing was arras man. I do we can't send him? We can't
We can't do this. I don't even know that he can. He can't
walk. They're carrying him right now. And so they get him through the
door and they're like throwing water in his face and just trying to get him
to drink something and all the stuff, and he's out of it. Russell
was in was in the truck, and I want to say, I think
Dixie was in the truck too, but I'm not trying to talk to him
and tell him what's going on. We gotta make a call, right yeah,
And Eric's there and like Dixie doesn't want to cancel the match. I
wanted to cancel the match. I was like, we need to come up
with something else, whether we send Anderson out or something. And so then
Eric and I talked and I was like, dude, I don't think he
should should send him out. And then Jeff comes walking up and he's swaying
and he's like, well, you know, and then they hit his music
and he goes and I'm like, oh, fuck man, this is gonna
be bad. Dude, and Eric and I were talking and we talked to
Sting and Sting was livid, livid, and we're trying to figure out what
we're doing, trying to talk to Dixie, trying to talk to Russo and
everybody on headsets and like their city. And I will say this kind of
pissed me off, but at the same time I also understand it. They
sat in the truck. Nobody came to see it for themselves. Actually,
you know, looked in Jeff's eyes and went, oh god, we've got
got an issue here. Um and Dixie finally, you know, to her
credit and to Russo's credit, they were like, you know, make the
call, all right. So they sit in the trailer. They don't come
out. This is Achie keeps giving Jeff chances, and everybody says, well
it to mother, Jeff Hardy and all of that. So she sits in
the truck scared out of her fucking mind to make a decision. Russo is
not. And that's the state of play. Just that visual of Jeff's feet
dragging minutes before he has to go out for the main event and pay per
view. What the fuck Eric Hardy too? Please? Knowing and hearing that
they were having a difficult time of finding Jeff, I kind of made my
way over to Gorilla. When I saw Jeff approaching, I didn't really notice
Jeff being twisted up as much as I noticed the look on the agent's face.
And that's kind of what brought me in closer to Gorilla, just to
try to figure out what the fuck's going on. So Pat makes the approach
and he said to you, what the fuck are we gonna do? Or
you can just see it on his face. No, by that time,
once I got close to Jeff, it was obviously was fucked up, and
I'm identifying Pat. I'm not sure if it was Pat, but whoever the
agent was essentially said he's fucked up, he's too fucked up to work.
And then it became okay, who's calling this? Because it wasn't my job.
You know, I was the executive producer of the television show. I
technically had whatsoever official role in the paper view unless I was ship or unless
I was asked to, which was not always. Just I'm kind of standing
there waiting for somebody to make a decision. Who decisions are being made?
What a bit? Eric Hardy three. Yeah, there was no captain of
the ship in Gorilla, okay, and Dixie would have I think Dixie was
close because she was she was there, and it was my exchange with Dixie.
That was the catalyst for me to say, fuck it, everybody else
is going to do anything, shits. The bell's gonna ring, and it
can't go down like this. I just didn't. And I don't want to
make this sound like I'm putting myself over or I cared so much about Staying,
or it was the show. I was concerned about the show. I
didn't want Sting going out there and trying to have a match with a guy
who was completely fucking wasted. Number one. I wasn't worried about Sting getting
hurt because Sting was able to take care of himself, but the match would
have been the shits, and I didn't want Sting to be in that position.
Sting didn't know that Jeff was gonna He had no idea that Jeff was
gonna show up fucked up? What was he was? Where was Staying when
you see Jeff Hardy making the approach with Pat Kenney backstage? So he was
gorilla? Is there a verbal communication or do y'all just lock eyes and realize,
oh this is bad? Blocked eyes okay, And then I'm looking for
a decision for somebody to come up with an idea, what do we do?
Clocks ticking? We don't have a lot of time. Folks can't call
the meeting, can't call Dallas. Somebody's got to call the ball. Who's
going to call it? Crickets? Bucket? Yeah, crickets, fun,
crickets? Fuck it? Eric Hardy four, Well, I knew what I
was gonna do. Well, there were two things that were crossing my mind,
okay, and it were happening simultaneously. My first instinct was because I
was a heel, right, I thought I might and this is gonna sound
like tough guy shit. By the way, my daughter could have knocked out
Jeff Hardy right at that point, So this is bullshit. Could from ringside
to go in and punch Jeff in the mouth and he would have dropped like
a rock, right, Okay. So my first thought, because it seemed
like the easiest, most direct line between A and B, is for me
and my heel character to go out and just knock him out, just drop
him and then have the referee called the match and disqualification and whatever we could
come up with. What the fuck. By the time I walked through the
curtain, by the time I got halfway up down the aisle. I realized
that wouldn't work because of the no DQ thing, so I started improving a
story in laying out a promo that I could, and what I was trying
to do is by time to figure out how to communicate to both Jeff,
the referee and Sting, because now I got to rewrite the show while I'm
in the ring and the show's happening and one of the people in the match
is completely disabled and not able to continue. So I did what I did.
I basically, you know, told Jeff take his finish. We're gonna
shorten us up. Take his fucking finish. I went to Sting. Now
that's where I got I had to get a little more creative because I was
trying to talk to Sting at the same time I was trying to cut a
promo, yes, and trying to hide it all and make it look like
it was part of the show, right. But I basically told Sting,
hit him with your finish, get him the funk out of here, let's
go home. Sting was able, I think, to communicate with the referee.
I didn't have to talk to the referee, so that was it.
Go ahead. I mean, he caught himself in a big fucking lie.
What do you mean? And Matt, he announced the no DQ thing,
But no, there's no DQ thing prevented him from knocking Jeff Hardy out.
Why would he knock out Jeff Hardy? I mean, I get his point
is that like Jeff could fall over like it, But why would Bishoff,
representing Bischoff Hogan regime knock out Jeff Hardy? And why would that? Makes
no sense at all? Why would he want to disqualify Jeff in favor of
sting right? And you had the power to make it no DQ. You
had the power to just not say no DQ. That's you know, that's
a Bischoff, like, yeah, trying to express that he's so mad at
Jeff and then concocting a story to where actually could have knocked you out,
you know, And I understand he did. He did issue the proviso that
he's not trying to sound like a tough guy that his daughter could have knocked
out Jeff Hardy. But Okay, didn't happen. Didn't go through your mind,
Eric, didn't happen now, right? Um, maybe it's going through
your mind now exactly. That's a big difference. So if you're taking careful
notes, I want you to compare the beats of that story with one last
piece of sound here from Bruce Pritchard in his recollection On the night Bruce n
Hardy two was that was an embarrassing night to be in the business. Horrible,
just so unprofessional and horrible. The thing was, we had all seen
Jeff what throughout the day. Excuse me, we saw him throughout the night.
The show started, he was just Jeff Hardy bouncing around and Jeff I
thought he was in hiding and whatever he did, whatever it is, he
took hit him right at that moment, and it was it was terrible.
That was a horrible black guy. Yeah, it was pretty damn bad.
Yeah, it was the I guess the part about it that was so bizarre
was that everyone had seen Jeff, everyone had spoken to Jeff just and interacted
with him, and there was no sign of anything. And then he's just
not there. When it's time to go out for the match, and you
know, walk out and see those guys dragging him. I'm like, oh
my god, it was two big guys dragging him. The fact that he
walked too, I like, I don't know what it was. It made
him catch a snap either whether you know they're given him water, they're given
him coke, they're throwing shit in his face and he's like, yeah,
okay, I'll be fine. The quote was people we interacted with him all
day long. I think it's what Bruce Pritchard just said. Believe that's what
he just said. Yes, but what did Eric say? Didn't he's in
hiding. I see he's in obviously almost like the version of the story i'd
come up with if I wanted to excuse myself for not taking action earlier in
the day. But you know, to each his own, what a fucking
shit show. Staying hard I've spoken sparingly about it, but they did do
one of those Jeff Hardy comes back from the Brink of Self Destruction documentaries one
time where they got Staying to sit to talk about it in Jeff Hardy to
talk about it. So this is sort of a a rough brush of what
these two would say if you were to ask them about this Victory Rode twenty
eleven debacle. Here's Sting Hardy, so I have it, should have it?
Oh yeah, I do? All that's right. Yeah, he was
in no condition to have a match, so pin him. Get it over
with quick. I had to wrestle Sting, one of my all time favorite
wrestlers of all time, and I couldn't even perform. I was all summing
up and he had to like pretty much thumb me down to the mat.
All right, now, look at that wowing off the mats. Be in
that drop. If you're going play, you got him? Great? Wow,
God, I was just out of my mind. I was like a
damn zombie out there. I wasn't even mad at him. I was disappointed.
Yeah, I mean everybody was disappointed. I agree. I agree.
I wasn't. Bruce Pritchard, Sting was livid Sting. I wasn't even mad
at him. Yeah right, right, Um, it was Solma's if you're
wondering, and that's what's mid nineties shit. Jeff is really going hard if
he's on Soma's in two thousand and eleven, not even at the show,
No, on top of it, right, that's probably where there's extra supply.
That's probably there probably was a we probably just opened up Nash's locker for
the first time. But you know, it's fine. He uh goes on
to have a great career and walk out during a tag team match in w
W and UH twenty twenty one, and subsequent word that he was being urged
to attend rehab and refuse. Now I'm pretty sure he has denied that,
but that's, you know, very much in the air. Anytime Jeff already
makes an about departure, he goes to a w UM which of course isn't
a problem, and get suspended without pay after being arrested for driving under the
influence and just came back to AW a couple of weeks ago, so it
continues to be perfectly fine. I just don't I don't understand why they get
this guy so many chances, Like what do they what do they think?
Do they think that if they keep him here that he's gonna at least he's
under your umbrella and a good one, Because like, I don't understand it.
I just don't think it doesn't end the way I'm afraid it will.
But it's gonna end that way. I mean, I'd want him as far
away from me as possible. So Tena sends him home after this, not
much in the way of like communication is to actual you know, discipline or
anything like that. He just sort of disappears for a while. He's got
the court case coming up anyway, right, so he's getting bombed. I
would get bombed on national television too if I had a prison sentencing date coming
up for trafficking. What the fuck? So what a fucking lunatic um.
They TENA offers to any fan who purchased the pay per view six months of
free access to their website than on demand streaming library at the time as a
mate good They posted this on their website. TENA Wrestling strives to give fans
who purchase our pay per views as close to a full three hour event as
possible. This Saturday's TENA victory wrote fell short of that standard. Your support
of TNA has never taken for granted to show. Now they talked about there.
They recapped the whole show for a half hour half Yeah, they try
to get there. You know, we got the whole We got three hours
worth of content. And this in a way is historically relevant as regards TNA
because it's Jeff Hardy's sudden absence from the scene due to this debacle that opens
the door for a heel spot. And it's here that Bully Ray steps into
the Foreground as one of the main singles Heels and TNA really suddenly he was
scheduled for a big push after feuding with Divon, but it gets accelerated and
suddenly we're gonna have to grapple. I think a lot more here in the
TNAH series. Boss with the reality of Bully Ray. No, well,
I mean I've I've again never seen it, but I've I've heard that it
was Okay. Yeah, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to f cast
that it's going to be bad or anything. I'm interested in getting your thoughts.
But he's going to be you know, he's already sort of insinuated himself
under the creative process backstage at TNA. We've seen, you know, glimpses
of him at the meetings and stuff, and he definitely has won over Bischoff
and Hogan as somebody that's a good idea guy and passionate about the business.
So it's about to exert that influence and it would last. It doesn't hurt
you when you when you when you basically make a handshake promising I will never
stand behind you. Yeah, yeah, that's the first lesson learned. I'm
behind you, Terry, but not in that way. I'm behind you,
but I will never stand behind you. Meanwhile, AJ's watching all this with
no role, you know what I mean, hardly any anything to do,
and he's remembering the last one of the last TENA pay per views before Hogan
and Bischoff took over, where Aj pin Sting to win the world title in
the main event was hoisted on the shoulders of the whole roster at a time
that they were doing pretty much the same writing they're doing now in twenty Who
are you talking about? And he said in an interview around this time,
I don't know the whole thing with staying and I the torch was supposedly passed,
but here he is back again as world champion. I don't know if
there is a torch to be passed anymore, because so many people change their
minds about whether they're staying or going or retiring DNA. That's right, so
we keep moving. The March thirty first Impact had Hogan and Bischoff watching a
monitor, so that's great. They had a cage match with Sting already and
Anderson versus Bubba Abyss and Jeff Hardy. This is only significant because It's some
of the first physicality we see from the Holster since returning from backfusion. He
definitely had been in the ring as we mentioned and doing promos and stuff,
but here he throws some punches on mister Anderson at ringside and rams him into
the fence and it's basically cracking whip on mister Anderson with the back brace on,
and they're playing up the back brace too for some reason. Anderson shoves
Arbready off the top in this case match, and there's a bubba bomb from
Bully Ray on RVD for the one two three. Anderson then opens the door
and gets the hell out of there if they continue insulting RVD and staying,
at which point Fortune four make the save. Flaire comes out locks the door.
They do the old school heat where the cage is locked and the baby
Faces are getting killed, and that's when Christopher Dale turns TNA jumps the cage.
My God, does a plunch off the top of the cage on to
everybody and joins fort Now it's just get out of here, right seriously.
Afterwards, on React with those reaction style shots. Reaction has been canceled,
but they're still doing those that style of production and inserting it into the main
body of the show. Rick Flaire goes, who is that piss aunt who
jumped off the cage at us? Oh my god? And Bully Ray says
another pretty boy, and Flair goes, he weighs one hundred forty pounds.
What just happened? We're moving out of the April twenty first Impact. This
be Impact after Lockdown twenty eleven, in which Hogan had fed a pipe through
the cage door to Rob Van Dam but Vandam refused to use it through it
back at him. Doesn't want to win. That the first time that RVD
ever refused to pipe, and it's on twenty one no less all right,
we have it you and RVD refused to use a pipe on four twenty Now
only Impact was on Monday Nights. Oh Man a low interest to take the
pipe and crack RVD with it, and then Sting hit a scorpion death drop
and retain the champions and crack Lockdown US in Cincinnati this year as they continue
to put you know, a couple shows a year on the road and the
Triple threatnained events. Sting retains the championship and then um, you know does
a gesture to Hogan like we're gonna fight Hogan saying we're gonna do it on
my time, and and they're starting the tease there to Hogan and Sting.
As early as April m on this episode of Impact, Hogan comes out with
the pipe to his music and he talks about how Hogan. They talk about
Hogan's not going to be in a good mood with all that's happening, and
TNA um a lot of his immortal folks are losing matches and RVD turned down
his his entry Dees. Of course, as they say this, Hogan has
all smiles on his way to the ring. There's nothing quite like the the
Schizophreni of Hogan TNA where he comes out and just acts like baby Face Hogan
every time on the walk and then it gets in the ring in as a
whole heal routine. Absolutely, he has no idea who he is. Welcome
to the h two Araboss where he's got the H on his bandanna and the
two like squares. Oh I'm not a fan, really, I'm not a
fan. No, no, no, just knock it off. Takes some
mice. Is the man who made pro wrestling, who runs the show around
here is standing right in front of you. He goes face to face with
Van Damn and says, you're a few fries short of a happy meal,
which disappoints Abyss. You had your chance to become a mortal at lockdown.
What oh my God already had full fries, Harved smiles. Hey, Huk,
remember back in the day before you re such a heel, when fans
all over and the boys gave you mad love for being the men that carried
pro wrestling into all our lives. And just every storyline is about how we
watched you as a kid. Remember that, and remember oh man, and
you disappointed us. That's the story, like it all has to be about
I was a hulkimaniac, or I wanted to be a hulkimaniac, or I
hated Hulk Hogan. That's every minimum storm Huac. But then you turn your
back on everyone for ratings or ratings top das Hulks. So instead of going
down in the history for greatness, everyone just kind of wishes you'd get the
hell out of the business. That gets a pop needle to stay. This
is the end of the nag run on top. So Hogan, you know,
brother, you're on borrowed time. I heard about r v E Body
Slam and Giants indoor dens. Right, God, he's got to go to
that fucking place. What the hell have you done? R VD? Oh
dude, come on. Then Sting comes out of this hang Hang Hang Broker
with the now the original TEENA heavyweight title, the Jeff Hardy Belt is now
officially gone by April, so we don't see it anymore God and goes to
Hogan. Did I think we say RBD was a mid card wrestler. We're
really doing this, We're really Hogan is calling RBD a mid carter Now,
okay, um, what's the problem. You know, when you kind of
break that fourth wall, you gotta kind of you know, you know,
shades of grade. Brother. Sting says that's a little bit hard to digest
because he's going to be in the main event with me at Sacrifice, So
yeah, there's that. They're fucking they're having Hulk can call the main eventor
of their next pay per view of mid carter on television. What's wrong?
Brother goes, wait a minute, are you high? To Stinger smoking the
same crap he's been smoking, and they all crack spiles. They think it's
funny when Hogan says that be smoking crack brou Because if you are, give
me some, He says, Hulk, I want to be delusional too.
I want to be like a fruitcake out here. Jerry. I think he
said you still got planning in the medicine cabinet from the laser spine days.
I think I think I think there's enough fruitcake and you're fucking what about them
Fetti's Hulk Sting says, no, health. I'm not delusional because I went
came back to TNA in March third. I came back here knowing that the
Spike Spike network. He says, it put a clause in my contract.
It's about clauses, Santa clauses. That's what DNA is, the Santa clause.
I could choose the opponent if I won the title, and that's who
I'm choosing. RVD. That's what's gonna happen. Hoaxes, you, you're
the network are all floating on a cloud. And then he says, hide
the ball, ying Yang, yes, no high low here today, gone
tomorrow. I think someone needs to hide the eight ball from this guy.
I mean, what hide the ball. He says this over and over during
this time period. You gotta add that to the Hogan lexicons. Back on
track. Hide the ball, you got hide the ball, dude, which
means, I guess you know, operate in secret, behind the scenes to
mitigate the Ying Yang. Yes no, Yang ying Yang. Brother, Yes,
no, dude, that's where are we going? Brother? What's that's
him revealing that when you say something to him. What's creative, right,
that's him revealing him when you say something to him, he immediately considers the
possibility that what you mean is the absolute opposite of what you said. Sting
says, Look, the exacts might not. Oh no, come on,
since the network exacts, Hulks says, aren't here and you are the dream
match with RVD that's happened a hundred times. Guess what. RVD has got
a big problem tonight. He's got to face the man that flayed him like
chop sirloins Hey, no chopped Sirloine, Chop Sirloine. No more, hide
the ball, No more yin Yang yes, no high you know, no
more. No more goats and sheep too, you know, no more chasing
around the monkey. Brother. It's too much. Man, he's just off
the fucking you know no no more, you know, no more ring around
the gutterball dude. H Later, everybody gets nailed by a pipe by Abyss
and a black hole slam for the one two three Jesus and Hogan gets him
with the pipe and rvd's held open and Crimson. We see glimpses of this
guy, Crimson, who was a Tommy mercer, a worker they brought in
gave a big push to. At first, they cast him as amazing red
older brother. Yeah, a good look in some size, couldn't kint a
promo, worth the ship, and wasn't a great worker, but they over
pushed him in twenty eleven as part of an attempt to make people, and
Crimson makes the Save and True Religion genes and spears. Abyss great says he's
first in line to get um said. He says on this episode of Impact,
he's gonna be the first to get in line to get Jeff Hardy back
in t NA because he's one of the best of all time. So clearly
Jeff's coming back, oh man. And he just starts, he starts sting,
starts letting out these these random laughs that he never used to. It
starts here, he starts going out of nowhere, like what was that?
But he's not thinking the face yet. He's just starting to let these little
verbal ticks show. It's pretty pretty, pretty amazing, um. And he's
feuding with Anderson. Anderson lays out sting and Hogan says that Innerson is sparted
than he looks, making it so long in this damn business. Lockdown was
his last chance, though, to become immortal. It's his demise. And
he says, this whole network thing is just coming at me like a double
fisted gangaroo. Brother. Hey, I understand, dude, I totally get
it. I'm so tired of the network playing hide the ball. I'm You've
got to explain to us if you're gonna say it four times at per impact
on means. I'm telling you, brother, I'm so sick and tired of
the network playing hide the ball all the time, dude, And what the
fuck problem? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm hide the ball,
he says. Dixie's in some rest home in Nashville, waiting every Sunday night
for the grand old Opera to come her way. And here I am dealing
here, I am trying to fucking find the ball. He says. The
network has to show their face. When they grow as set, they're going
to realize how bad they screwed up. Intrigue impact may fifth Hogan and company.
In the ring, you got all of Immortal Bully Ray, Rob Terry
Gunner, Murphy Abyss, Matt Hardy. I mean, where do I sign
up? Why do they have all these fucking I mean, it's the NW
all over again. It's it's fucking totally NW Hollywood. The B Team's the
fucking B Team all over again, Absolutely the same thing. So there's a
continue the Sting RVD feud stings as you can hide behind these clowns all you
want, but no more idle threats. If there's a network rep that's going
to come here in my show and try to tell me what to do,
I want to know about it, he says. Bully Ray sucking a lollipop
the whole time. I don't know what that's about to help with you in
your head games staying, Hogan says, I'm not going down that road anymore.
Oh really, no more head games. We'll see about that, get
ready, He screams at Sting. If you know something I don't know about
this rep. You better tell me. Oh, Rep Sting says, Hey,
Hulk, I know quite a bit, but I don't have to speak
for the network because next week a rep from the network is going to talk
face to face. And then he knows she he says, he says,
she will deal with you. Then Hulk it ends up being mcfoley, So
I don't know what the fuck that she was about. And then Hulk gets
paranoid, drops the microphone and what And then Hu gets so paranoid he levels
Delo Brown with the right hand. Wow, I mean that's about time.
Little bumps hard and then they all jump on the agents. And by the
way, Hulk has found a pair of red and yellow sneakers, so he's
gonna be work knows for a while in TNA, and uh yeah, here
comes up Fortune, who I like to call the button up Brigade. Back
in twenty eleven, they clear the ring and Rude gets another star. Turn
Hey Hoe, he screams at Bobby Rude, does it Cogan? Hey Hogan,
you coward who does the slow turnaround? Turn around to listen to me,
you son of a bitch. Ooh, he's trying to get over.
Oh, Bobby Root says, I've listened to you talk over the last six
months and I've had it, and it's time for you to start listening to
somebody else. And that's going to be me, and that's going to be
right now. And don't worry, holk, I'm not going um to sit
here and talk about how me and my buddies here built this company from scratch.
This company once again, take a take a shot. I mean,
these are these are important things. You know, you gotta we gotta you
know you gotta you gotta worry about the company or how you have a Bischof
and Ric Flair cashed in our blood, sweat and tears over the last eighteen
months. When I'm gonna talked about from my heart is I thought I knew
you. What I thought I knew here was a guy who was a child,
who is a child, taught say my prayers, eat my vitamins,
the who has inspired me. What's going on to become a child to become
a professional wrestler. Hogan screens, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
me, you clown. But they're totally too, totally different people, clown,
We're two totally different people, I guess, he says, Oh my
god, the one you do not, and it's a little who has with
something you do not, and it's a little thing called pride, Hulk Hogan,
what you see. I'm proud of the fact that each and every week
I lace up the boots, getting into this ring and bust my ass.
Okay please, And I do not do it just for me and not for
these fans, but every human being that is associated with this great wrestling company
company. What do you mean, fans, brother, I'm proud of the
fact that I earned my dollars around here and at the end of the day,
when I fly home and I'm able to put food in my kid's mouths
and clothes on their back, that is the most gratifying feeling a man can
have. Yeah, because everybody on the tena roster can do that. He's
got a good point. If they're getting paid, they're still tweeting about we
won, we won, we qualified for food stamps. Isn't this amazing that
happened? By the way, Jesse neil Um, it's called blue collar work,
he said. He says, I'm a blue collar worker, brother.
What who do you say you're a worker? Is that what you saying?
What do you work? What do you mean blue Who are you a blue
collar and elbow worker? Brother did when you say when you do? When
you say when you do? When you get? He doesn't say what you
do? He just say what you say? He just was. He never
finishes the thought. Brother's his half of America or blue collar workers. He's
Canadian. He's Canadian, by the way, and they are proud of the
fact that they earned their key. Who's working? But what the hell have
you earned, Hulk Hogan? He says, Hogan takes the shades off.
I don't know who the hell you think you are. Rude gets up on
the ropes. Let me tell you what you've learned. You haven't earn a
damn thing. The only thing you've done last eighteen months is rape and steal
from my wrestling company. Oh it's his company, now, okay, it's
gonna be somebody's rape and steal from these fans. You ruin people's lives,
Hulk. You took this wrestling company right out from under the feet of Dixie
Carter, and you didn't blink an eye. Who you crush people's dreams?
He told them, and then they actually called this out on their own air
waves. Last week, a close personal friend of mine was fired by you,
Jay Lethal. They say that on the air. Wow a man,
a warrior that would come to work each and every week and be proud of
the fact that he wrestled in this company. I don't know. You need
to listen. My friend j Lethal comes to work every week and he was
told what he did. He did what you're supposed to do, and did
it with a smile on his face. Whether it sucked, whether it was
great, what sucks, brother, or difference? So I guess he's he's
telling us all is mister Rude here, that it's all a work that you
come to the you come to the wrestling show and you get told what to
do, and then you do it. Goes. Guess what you're next?
Oh god, Rude goes. The games are over over. Hulks. Let
me properly introduce myself to you. My name is Bobby Rude. Hulks like,
brother, what what are you, Rud? What are you? Rick?
Rude? Are you? Are you? What do you hold on?
Dude? Let's dole of it back in, brother, what are you?
What are you? Saying, dude, who are you? Brother? Bobby
rude? What? How do you spell rude? Are? What do you
o? D hold on, here's my question, brother, why are you
rude? Who's being rude? Who's being screwed? What? I watch you?
I didn't know why you brought that up? Brother? I love I
love this one. Ready? Why'd you? Why'd you? And then he
goes and I'm the man who's gonna stand up to you, you selfish son
of a bitch. What I'm gonna be the man to stand up to you
because next week things are going to change again. Things are gonna change.
Everything's gonna change every three months in DNA. Oh, enough is enough,
It's time for a change. Broking four and we get a nice shot of
Hogan with the chit with the tattoo of cursive on the blade of his forearm,
furthering my theory that you have to save a person before or they get
a tattoo on the blade of their hand or the blade of their forearm.
Yes, it's too late once they go down that road. Um, So
that's that. And of course the next guy to be ascended to single start
him has to have something to do with Hulkogan and it's Bobby Roodstern Boss.
He's going to go through the Hulkogan wax treatment before he comes out of the
car. Horse. I don't see the problem. We'll see about that.
So Hogan a bish Offer in the back. I've been way too laid back
and it felt great to hit De Lo hoaks as And if I have to
take out everybody in this roster, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm sick
of this crap with the network crap. So they're wondering who could it be?
They say it could it be Flair? For some reason, they are
pictures of Rick Flair all over Hulkogan's office and it's driving him nex. Him
and Bischoffer debating who the network could be and Holk just as you know,
that's not how Rick Blaze. He's the dirtiest player in the game. This
is a little too subtle for that. Let's think it through, he says
to bish Off. Let's go down this Huldy figure this out. Brother.
Let's kind of go back to you know, to day one, dude.
Let's kind of let's go you know, let's let's go back over our tracks,
dude. You know, let's let's kind of find that a ball.
Brother, Let's kind of find the ball, dude. You know what I'm
saying, Brother, We got to kind of go back, you know,
kind of stop playing these games of of of of turtle and mouse. All
right, dude, kind of bring it back, dude. You'll stop climbing
the tree. You know, enough of the ying and the yang, brother,
No more hiding the ball, dude. All right, this is about
you and me, brother, and we're talking about you know, we're talking
about the carnivore versus the herbivore. Yes, you know what I'm saying,
dude, that's what we got to figure out. Brother. Where are we?
Who are we? What the fuck is going on? They speculate,
how about a referee? Maybe he's the network? And then Bishop says,
what about Jack Welch, the fucking CEO of General Electric? What about Donald
Trump? He says, there's a a lot of people out there that know
a lot about the wrestling business more than the network. And they're going back
and forth, but I don't know about the wrestling business. Brother. The
closing scene of this episode of Impact, Hogan and Bischoff are going back to
the dodge charger to leave the impact zone lot and someone spray painted your next
on the car. Oh no, and they go get the hell out of
here. He's dead and gone. Next week can't come soon enough? Brother,
What the hell Goldberg does mean? Goldberg's coming? They say it,
They say it, they say it, and they speed away with the car
spray painted. And then we find out that it's these young punks, the
Young Bucks and Amazing Red and Brian Kendrick. They tagged the card or laughing
at Hogan thinking that it's going to be Goldberg. You imagine you imagine that
being the end of your impact. You teachase Goldberg, and then you immediately
tell people that it's these teenager X Division guys that tagged Hogan's car. Yeah,
good problem. You know it's not a problem. The May twelfth,
eleven Impact is called The Network's Revenge. Yeah. I saw that one.
Do you have any sound on this? I don't know. I don't have
any sound on that, but I saw the title Hogan's with a pipe?
What are you doing, man? I'm waiting for the Network rep can attack
him with a pipe. Bischoff says, come on, man, there's gotta
be a better place to do this going back and forth this ye, you're
kidding me, over and over. That's a big one. Flair says that
Hogan says that bischof, are you kidding me? That's their go to phrase,
and they don't know what to say. Flair's power walking. They confront
him as to whether he's the network. He's just up in arms. Are
you kidding me? Eric is in a v neck like never before, and
then Hogan immediately apologizes for he's so paranoid. He goes, you disappeared for
the last two damn weeks, where Flair, I'm what, what the hell
have you been? What are you doing? Dude? He says, I
knew it was you, man. I called Delessandro's office and you canceled your
damn appointment. Hogan is what the fuck? Hogan's telephoning around to see if
Rick Flair is making his appointments to build the case that he's the network,
and he gives up on this theory within twenty five seconds of the same segment,
and I've phone calls, dude, I don't know where you've been,
I don't know who you've been with. Brother. What the fuck is going
on? Dude? Who wait? A minute. Why Then he apologizes.
He says, this is the biggest damn thing we've come up against yet.
I'm telling you it's had us rattled twenty four seven. We have to find
out who it is. Brother, Hogan says, the games are over?
How many times are the game is going to be over? Oh, the
games are never over. I run this place. You've got to be around
here somewhere. And they just keep teasing. The network representative is going to
show his face, and they talk and they talk and they talk, and
Hogan says, the games are over. I want to know who the network
representative is. I run this damn company and I want them right now.
In my ring Pantom Padham pound potum patam pound click, click, bang bang,
both hands on the wheel and something high way. Mcfol's back and Hogan's
mouth is wide open, and Mick is in a blazer that he got from
like a thrift store, and he says, you never thought you were the
smartest in the history of the business, And maybe you were. Things are
going your way. But March third, things started to unravel, didn't they.
Hulk Immortal came together, Hardy was the champion, and then someone known
as the network got on the way, introduced sting, and your plans started
to unravel, didn't they. Somehow, they're there to check the mat every
step of the way. Check Matt Woll, checkmate you. I'm sorry,
someone has been there to checkmate you every step of the way, Hulk,
to make sure your grasp on TNA was not concrete. That someone is me
and they don't pop Why, Yeah, nobody cares, no one that's not
interesting. Pie faces down there Aschoff says, I'll know you'll drop me help,
but I might get get up and if I do, you and your
network here, you'll never You'll you and your crew will never work here again.
Fully says, I'm a network executive. This is so dumb. I
mean, it's so so dumb. And he's this show is about wrestling,
and so Mick is going to be the steward of the wrestling matters thing.
Hogan puts the shades up as soon as he says this show is about wrestling?
Do you wrestling matters? Once again, Fully says to Hogan, it
mattered when I was a kid in Madison Square Garden and saw you in the
world title. It mattered when I saw you and Ricky Steamboat put in forty
eight minutes in East Rutherford. He's pointing it Rick Flair when he says that
not old COVID, I didn't What are you saying what? And sometimes fully
says, we forget the fact that wrestling matters. So I'm saying it now.
From now on, this show is about wrestling, and this show is
no longer TNA wrestling. What it's what Impact wrestling. Oh No, you
can't do that, and fully says, I just did. And every time
you hear the name impact at every time you hear the word chanted, they
don't chant impact wrestling. They're not ready to do that yet. You'll think
about this day and remember, this was the day when you stopped making a
difference, Oh, Mick. As it regards the Holtster, that was long
ago. Yeah, what was the last day made a difference? January four,
twenty ten. I think if my math is I don't I guess.
I mean, if you want to give him that much credit, sure,
And to show you that wrestling matters, Mick says, and show all of
you what impact is all about. Tonight he books a new main event of
twenty five man Battle Royal to get the politics out of it. The winner
gets the world title shot number one contender. That's that and that's wrestling.
Oh and because you're gonna be wrestling on Sunday night, Jeff Jarrett, who's
in the ring as well, I'm gonna tell you, I call the shots
and you gotta it's gonna be you and Karen in a tag match against Kurt
Angle and a mystery partner at Sacrifice. You know who Kurt's mystery partner was?
China? No, are you serious? They bring in China? Why?
Why? That's awful? Why would they do that? Ah? A
bunch of fucking morons. Um. There was some woman that was in the
developmental program that they had, or that was in development, I should say.
She was like seven foot tall and she was a big bodybuilder. She
was of freakish proportions and they wanted to push her, but she wasn't ready.
So they called Joni Lauer uh to do this tag match and it is
all right. She lasted one show. She said zero words on the microphone.
She did like two spots in the match and then disappeared again. Did
she get a pop at all? Like when she came she did? Yeah,
that's one thing TEENA was always reliable for if you were with WWE your
first night, you're going to get a huge pop. And then they stopped
caring about you immediately. It was like the damnedest thing. Probably Folly coming
in had a lot to do with it. He was very close with her.
And there's even a scene in this Impact where their backstage and Mick even
makes a joke. There's always been vague sexual tension between the two of us.
So when Mick skips TNA immediately after this, so does China. I
don't think those two things are coincidental. Now that wrestling matters, mister Anderson
says later, I've been saying it all along. Pro wrestling is real.
People are fake. Excuse me what? And the Battle Royal, Anderson steps
up and does the Chris Benois Royal Rumble two thousand and four guillotine to muscle
out Bully Ray and win the Battle Royal, and he's now the number one
contender and sacrifices the first Blue Rope to pay per view. Oh Man,
But again, as we talked about, they're in a tough spot because mcfole
leaves TNA after doing this promo and they're stuck with this new set, in
this new marketing campaign, in this new slogan that's supposed to be antagonistic towards
Hoult Coogan and Eric Bischoff. This idea of wrestling matters is supposed to be
an attack on their vision. But Folly's gone. So they like we played
last time. They have Bischoff come out and say, well, Hogan talks
some sense into the network and they took Hogan's side over mcfoley, And if
the network wants to create a new look, field, design and slogan for
TNA, we're a one hundred percent behind it. I mean, this happens
in like two weeks. It's the It's like these guys, it's like,
you guys have to lock up people before you build a whole fucking you know,
story arc around them. What the fuck is wrong? Seriously, that's
that's atrocious. During all this, there's no attention on the X division whatsoever.
But they still have the Destination Next pay per view on the calendar as
they do every year. And here's a little sound of how they were promoting
it this year in twenty eleven, Boss hit Destination X please right, But
them have showed in competition in every corner of the globe, both as friends
and foes over the years. Now, the question is how well do they
know each other? What is their mindset going into this matchup? Who was
able to get the edge and this incredible evening? Well they don't each other
so well? Did you pick up that chant I did? That's daring the
destination next show? That's really uh pathetic wrestling. Yayoo. I hope that
was like somebody in there, Like I got like a fucking you know,
like a a crowd member or something, you know, like or like somebody
it was, you know, one of their um like like like borash fucking
having them do that, oh like putting them up to it. Yeah,
they brought the six setted ring back for this show. It's unacceptable push for
Daniels to interview live audio wrestling around this point in time. Sauce I was
walking in and out of the back as some of the shows going on,
and to hear the reaction from the people that were in the building. If
that is indicative of what happened outside the building, if that's indicative of the
pay per view buys of the fans that watched, then I feel like their
voices have to be heard. You know, the people were very energized tonight.
They were energized for everybody. They were energized for the action. That's
what I think brought the buzz to TNA in the first place, having that
difference from everything else that was going on. You know, hopefully people look
at the results tonight and they go, you know what, this is the
direction that we should follow. This is the direction that we should put some
effort into. Okay, Destination Next actually does better than Slam Aversary by five
hundred buys, coming in at eight thousand yep, is it really? And
it does better than a Hardcore Justice as well with sting verst carin Angle in
the main event. So people actually do when you tease them, with the
X division being the heart of the product, respond but we have to pretend
we don't see it. And that's TNA. As for the young Bucks,
they're out, as they're write in their book. The next time we came
back to Orlando, we were book from a match on a explosion and while
talking over the match, our producer couldn't remember whether Matt and I were baby
faces or heels. At that moment, we knew our time was coming to
an end. That night, instead of keeping quiet like we usually had done,
we expressed our anger and disappointment online. We tweeted about multiple things.
We were upset about j Lethal's firing, late payments, and are bad creative.
It was so unlike us, but we were beyond frustrated, and it
felt like nobody would listen to us whenever we voiced our concerns. We had
simply had enough. Naturally, this made us quite unpopular in the office,
and word was Bruce Pritchard had a ton of heat with us. We finally
decided the next time we were booked to be in Orlando, we would ask
for Teenage to release us from our contracts. We'd officially had enough. Matt
put up bluntly to me, We've got to get out of here before they
completely kill us. On July tenth, twenty eleven, before the Destination Next
pay per view, we set outside Bruce's trailer in the hot Orlando's sun for
what seemed like hours, waiting for him to come out. I practiced exactly
what I was going to say to him in my head over and over again.
Finally he appeared, as Matt shook his hand Bruce went to walk away,
but Matt held on, we need to talk. I don't know much
time, so we're gonna have to walk and talk. Bruce answered, I've
got a baby on the way and girl losing money and talk. Oh,
he's Bruce Brichard is a master of walk and talk. And then Matt says
to him, I've got a baby on the way and I'm currently losing money
working here. This is well, You and your brother would probably be getting
booked more if you didn't complain about everything on Twitter. Bruce replied, wow,
he repeated to us verbatim what we had tweeted. We apologize for the
tweets. We really did feel bad about them, but it didn't change the
fact that our bookings had been atrocious and mismanaged, and that we were both
broke. By this point, the conversation had turned into more of a loud
argument, and we happened to be standing right in front of catering where half
the locker room was sitting and watching. Right, Yeah, that's where half
the half the locker room is always better believe is anything but turkey legs on
the menu? By the way, what do you think Jeff Hardy talking Turkey
legs station. Nobody were talking turkey legs. Yeah. Where do you think
Jeff Hardy had at the Impact Zone? Oh? Man, imagine Brian Kendrick,
who knew the contents of this conversation, walked by and rubbed both Matt
and my shoulders and whispered, you guys are doing great. Brian gave me
the bet boost of confidence I needed. I looked at Bruce and said,
you want another point of this conversation. We want our release. His eyes
got big and he went completely silent. It took him by total surprise.
It was unusual for wrestlers to ask for their release at this time. Jobs
and wrestling were limited, and once you got in somewhere, you held on
for dear life. Bruce shook shook off rather the surprised look in his face,
and said he grant us our release from our contracts and that he'd do
it instantly. We got what we wanted a few minutes later, we approached
our boss, Dixie Carter and told her we were leaving one time at an
offsite promotional of entering a pay per few weekend, Dixie mistook Matt, I'm
sorry, who are you exactly? Dixie? Mistook Matt as a fan ah
and mentioned he had a great look and should consider getting into the wrestling business.
Oh my god. So needless to say, we didn't feel like Dixie
was too affected by our big news. So long to the Young Bucks.
Off to other things. Let's say r VD and the Miami Hero old around
this time was talking about a match he had with Jerry Lynn and then said
this, and this followed the Young Bucks for a decade in the business and
actually provided a launchpad for the gimmick that created millions of merchandise sales and created
AW Essentially, he says, quote one asked about TNA and whether the younger
wrestlers in the organization should be asking older wrestlers veterans to watch their matches and
give advice. Quote that ever happens enough. Some of the young guys who
are or were there, I don't want to mention any names. There were
two young guys who just left and looked like they were out of high school.
The whole time they were here. They never introduced themselves or shook my
hand. Things are way different than they used to be. Yeah, don't
think, don't think that Rvd's be getting an AW contracting in time. So
Id's like the number one guy to complain about stupid locker room metice right.
You hear his interviews about his w W run and everything, it's like he's
turning into Shawn Michaels, his least favorite person in the whole world. That's
really funny. Pumas power who So, yeah, the young bucks don't shake
hands. That would be a thing for years with them is they don't walk
around the locker room and shake hands. So that happened and I those little
fucking those, those stupid fucking rules that nobody really totally who cares? What's
your dumb ass rule? Absolutely disgusting. So they're building and we get to
the June ninth impact and there's blue ropes everywhere, and we we find out
that papers had been served to Eric the week prior and the parking lot and
we're like, what were the papers? Right? What what could those who?
What could they be? Who cares? Well, there's that too,
that's stop asking the tough questions. Um yeah, And we find out that
those papers were just what I just mentioned, the announcement that everything's hunky dory
with the the network and that they now are in Hogan and Bishop's corner and
it's fine. And obviously Hogan steps out with a blue bandana, white shades,
and its Impact Wrestling blue all the time. I can't heal that.
You know, wrestling may matter, but impact doesn't matter. You will stand
for it now. So yeah, the network papers are revealed and Hogan welcomes
all you held comani Ya. I got this one. Welcome all you hold
Comaniac to Impact Wrestling. Brothers. You know the rules are the same,
dude, nothing's changed, Nothing ever changes around here, brother, except the
fucking names, dude. And now the network moving forward, they realize they
don't need a stooge, they don't need some watchdog looking over Eric's in my
shoulders. Brother. From this point on, the network finally realized what Eric
and I said all along about the selfish, evil agenda that the former network
representative had. So from this point forward, it's smooth sailing, brother,
and we got one hundred percent confidence get us from the network. Oh,
based on that, it's Bischoff's turn says, we're gonna work hard to maintain
the confidence. I was on the phone with the network. I can't,
can we stop? I'm done? And they made it clear they saw through
mc foley as hell, but I'm not gonna take this anymore. They were
impressed with the fact that it is now impact wrestling. You have meddled with
the primal forces of nature and I won't have it. Bischef says. They
love the fact that wrestling matters, and God, by God, so do
we network. One thing. One thing they made very clear. Who made
it clear network is the X Division is something that's near and dear to them
and high on their agenda. So I want to assure every one, Bischof
says, We're going to maintain our integrity and present the X Division in a
fair and balanced manners. Fucking uber heels like they talk about EX Division every
quarter as something like we're going to start giving to you, because then they
never do it. But the fact that they have to keep carving out time
on their airwaves to give voice to it is like an irrefutable piece of evidence
that that's where the heart of TNA is, that that's the only thing,
that's the only horse you're ever going to ride to create a promotion that has
a goddamn chance of meaning something in the business in twenty eleven, and they
just keep finding themselves in this position of having to acknowledge that there's this,
um, this direction they could be going that would make it. I mean,
they could have been a w they how do the fucking wrestler st w
end up having for the most part and colding access to Ocada early and often,
by the way, and not to say anyone's going to see anything in
Ocada in twenty eleven, including New Japan by the way, which was lost
to history that he wasn't even presented that strongly in New Japan at the time.
But what win came back. But it's just so um, I don't
know, it's just amazing, It's amazing how willfully blind they are. Oh
yeah, now to the signals coming to them, Like, this is where
you need to place the emphasis. This is something that when you do it,
you actually notice an uptick or you notice an increased passion from the audience.
You just notice something a different vibe altogether. And clearly the current vibe
isn't getting you anywhere. Um that they're like three days out from the Slam
Anniversary pay per view and just starting to promote the card and just starting to
announce the card even and Anderson's in his face and he's got a lollipop too.
Is there like a bowl near the entrance at the Impact I don't understand
what the fuck this is. Tenay comes out a thing comes out rather with
the belt, and Tenais's want has to wonder how the Clog and Eric Bischoff
power regime will influence our World Championship out. One has to wonder, does
one have to yes, actually it is it was they did to send out
like a a mailer out to everybody in the world. So again, Hogan
Bishoff kind of have to kind of turn baby face to keep this Impact Wrestling
Wrestling Matters alive, and he says to both of them, Harbdy and Amerson,
you know, guys, I'd like to thank both of you guys for
coming out here because we seem to be in kind of a sweet spot on
one heck of a roll brothers, and now that Eric and I have rebranded
this company to Impact Wrestling and it's on fire because wrestling matters. I wanted
to make one thing perfectly clear to the two of the most important players in
this company. See, Eric and I are not going to go through what
we went through again with the Network. Brother all Right, dude, I
sat me off as a week ago in New York, and I gave the
network my word. I sat me off the hood. I gave the Hulk
Hogan word that I would run this company in the most professional manner possible.
And when I gave my word, I'm meant it. So when it comes
to Slam Anniversary time, I promised the network you have metled with the primal
forces of nature, there would be a winner and there would be a loser.
Dudes, there would be no tricks, no gimmicks, no agendas,
no runnings, no mothers, no sisters, no brothers, no aunts,
no uncles, no no no, no daddy's with the long legs or anybody
else who may be related to the either two of you brothers coming down interfering
in the biggest main event in the history of Impact wrestling. Now that I've
made myself perfectly clear, if you got a problem with with it, or
if you get a problem or you got something you want to say, I
suggest you speak now or forever hold your peace. Okay. That that was
a lot and nothing at the same time. Tricks, gimmicks, agendas,
hide the ballin and yang, yes and no, now, brother, We're
not gonna play hide the guinea pig. Dude. All right, man,
we're not playing. We're not playing stick the stick up your ass, brother,
Pinning the tail on the gimmick, We're not playing. We're not playing
pinning the pin on the fucking gimmick, man talking about the tire. We're
here. We're are your tissing aying brother, impizzle brother, all the fucking
way because wrestling Mattizzle's dude, what an idiot. Of course, Anderson's hand
goes up like a little schoolboy during this segment. Oh he's such a you
know, I'm like, it's over. I like there are certain parts of
his kind of like carefree gimmick thing, his assholeness that I kind of enjoy.
But then at the same time, he just doesn't feel like anything right
at all. No, because he you know, he's all right in the
ring, but once he gets past, once you realize, oh, he's
just gonna repeat this thing over and over forever, it's like, Okay,
well that was you know, maybe for six months it was all right,
but yeah, he's done. He's so boring now and he's like wearing a
T shirt and jeans and like a mesh hat every week, and he looks
like a JABRONI I know, I know. And he died his hair for
a movie role and that took away like that peroxide blonde thing he had gone
for him. He's clearly dialed down on the I don't know the stuff it
takes to have the physique, which is, you know, good for him.
I hope it improves his health and well being, and I hope he's
living a longer life as a result of it. But I don't know.
He just looks like some guy that works at a universal right right, looks
like he's going to be there to fucking, you know, let people in
on rides, absolutely sustaining. I don't know if you're aware of this or
not, but I've been coming out here imitating you, mocking you, sting,
making a joke out of you. Do you know why? Because everything
you stand for is a joke. Oh you say you're a fighting champion,
all about these people? Who are you trying to kid man? At least
I'm an asshole enough to admit that I'm in this for me and me and
only me. And here's what's going to happen on Sunday night, I'm going
to get my hand raised and be the new champion Champion. Be in.
He hands the mic to Sting and then drops it, and Hulk has the
cutout holes in the back of his impact. Sure if you're wandering, Oh
god, I do appreciate the champion Champion thing that he did. Yeah,
I will take that, sure, Holgan hand Sting the mic. Sting,
you talk. Sting says, you talk as though I'm not going to be
able to do anything about that, Kenny, I'm going to be able to
do a whole lot about that. If you want to fulfill your destiny,
you gotta beat me first. I can't lose. This is the only thing
that stands between Hulko and and Eric Bischoff making complete mockery of this company.
The belt. Yeah. I don't think that's stopping that from happening at all.
It just happened. Well. They had to retro fit an explanation for
why they're on board with the Wrestling matters, a rebranding campaign that that that
so floored them. A week ago or two weeks ago. He says,
I'm gonna have to come out of the victory in that match, and I'm
not leaving the victor in that match, and I'm not leaving this place either.
I've got a lot of things, Sting says, I want to do
here. One of two things needs to happen before I leave this place.
Hulk. Either you keep going down the road you're going down a nice stay
in your face the whole way, making your life miserable until you disappear.
Or number two, this would be my choice that the real Hulk Hogan,
Sting says, would stand up again, and Hulk shakes his head with a
smirk. I'm talking about Hulk Cogan, the wrestler, Sting says in the
back that everybody idolized many did. I'm talking about the Hull Cogan. That
many of these fans idolized Hulk. They bought Hulk Hogan T shirts. They
bought Hulk Coogan action figures and lunch boxes and sleeping bags, and on and
on it goes. As Hogan makes the hoof face and you slap them on
the face, Hulk, maybe I should also slap you on the back,
Slap you back and return the favor, Knock you back into reality, Hulk.
But when you cut through all the years and get a clear view and
understand what's really going on around here and where the true infection is. Sting
says, the kind of infection that Eric Bischoff is that history says, breeds
a slow and miserable death. I'm talking about you. Eric gets in his
face, Hulk, take the scalpel out of your pocket, Sting says,
and cut away the cancer before it's too late, and tell me you don't
have a choice. Okay, Paws, you do, Sting wants. They
all Cogan back. That's it. Uh. Later in the show, Hernandez
approaches um Hogan's office with his fellow teammates in Mexican America, which was a
stable in TNA that had Hernandez and Anarchia and Rosita and Sarrita. I believe
Rosita or Sarta no rositare um Oh my god, I forgot her name.
That's so so incredibly sad. Selena Vega in uh in wwe what Selena Vega
here in TNA is part of Mexican America and here if you can, Hogan,
Mexicans. I don't know, just just amazing that this this exists in
the archives, considering the future state of U of Terry Bala. Did you
just see what happened out there, Homes. At the beginning of this show,
you said that this is an even plain fields. So now I got
a question for you. Is sir, your thing? Why don't we have
a tag team title shot? Is it? Because? Oh, I don't
know where mexicanan. Let me tell you something, Punk, you better be
careful what you're saying who you're talking to, because the word racist is getting
ready to come out of your mouth. It's gonna be a real big issue
with me and mister Bischoff, nobody else, anybody nothing around here. And
if you and you're familiar, think you're gonna come in here and tell me
how to run my company, you need to think about it real good,
brother, because I just might turn into the real life terminator and play a
game a Holster says, with your two beautiful Latin ladies, and then we'll
have a real And when you at least expected homes, that's right, said,
When you least expected, said Hogan, what the fuck nowhere? Of
course they'd never attackled, nothing ever happened. The word racist is getting ready
to come out of your mouth. Dude, I've got I've got a surreptitiously
recorded conversation in a bedroom and to play for you, brother Jesus, Remember
when he said that, uh that Russo's bashed at the beach promo, implied
he was a racist because he was holding down Booker and and that that's the
same thing as calling Martin Luther King a racist because on the website it said
that Hulk Hogan was um like the Martin Luther King of wrestling on the ww
site or something that website. I mean, the guy is I don't know,
he just he should. He reveals so much about himself while trying to
preemptively defend himself from future talks. Absolutely know it's so true. He's just
because I mean, the conversation with Bubba's wife where he says all the racist
things, it's already it's already been recorded, He's already said them, and
there I don't know, there might be reason to think that by this point
in twenty eleven, he's aware of the possibility that those tapes may surface and
that they're and that the tapes that Bubba made are out in general circulation and
being shopped around. Is things you can buy and publish. So I don't
know, just fascinating that little moment there. Later on in the show,
they have Gunner pins Sting. Okay, I repeat, they have what's wrong
with that? I'm going to build stars and they know how to pick him.
Staying chases Kennedy into a trailer backstage on this episode and beats his ass
and screams at him, you want to mock me, puts him on a
table. It collapses, you want to mock me. Sting takes out red
face paint and smears it on the lips and face of mister Anderson, thus
further graduating the stage joker character into existence. Kennedy is flailing, says,
you're gonna mock me. Huckkenny. It's laughing a little bit, still,
just a little bit. Staying still pretty much keeping it together, but he
has these moments of breakdown. And the lips are The way he puts the
red lip with the red paint on the on the lips is very much like
Keith Ledger. Yes, Jesus Christ. They launched the Bounce of Glory's series,
which is not complicated at all. It's a multi month tournament to determine
who gets the title shot for the world titled Down for Glory twelve wrestlers involved.
They're in a wrestle in a series of matches over the next three months.
Of course, what's hilarious is nobody in the tournament has an even number
of matches. That some people have to wrestle thirteen times, others only wrestle
three times. It doesn't make any sense. That's wrong, I'm man.
But there's a point system, the highest one. I guess I don't understand
why. Like, it's just wrestling, It doesn't matter. I'm trying to
build it up just whatever. People wrestle a certain amount of times and other
people wrestle another amount of times. It's like it doesn't matter how many times
you wrestle. Just well, but if you get here, you have to
realize you get ten points for submission win, seven points for pinfall win,
five points for count out win, three points for a DQ win to But
but if I want anyone to just fucking get more points or just add them,
you know, if I realize that the fucking points are all are all
fucked up, I'll just have them. It doesn't matter. But if everyone's
trying to win this Bound for Glory series, and this guy's got five matches
to try to win ten points. The other guy only gets two chances.
They guy with two chances, no matter how well he does, is never
going to compete. But then I'll just change it. And nobody really,
nobody really wants the stuff. They want it because we're telling them, you
know, because we're telling a story. It's just fake. You're absolutely right.
It doesn't matter, you know, We'll just we'll fudge the numbers if
we have to. It's not hard. Like I was paying attention staying looks
at Hogan backstage. He goes, you know what, this is one time
I can tell by looking in your eyes that you actually mean what you say.
Ogan says, you know, you and I have a history that around
this. This is this is a good I got this thought. This whole
thing here with that, with including the Jarret bit. Oh yeah, this
Jarrets in the office. Yeah, I'm just telling you da big enough for
both of us. One of us is going tonight. Thanks for making that
official. The network was blown away by your exchange. You're ten times and
I bet I'm betting on you, brother. Thank you in Mexico. You
are too much. Oh, Jarret is the king of Kings Mexico. Fu
singer I'm gonna honor your contract, brother, I was just coming to find
you what the laws everything in your contract. I'm gonna take it by the
book, by the n and on the fourteenth spot. Dude, you're gonna
get your rematch brother against mister Anderson. It's totally done you and Anderson.
Wow, I'm a man of my word, brother. This is one time
when I can tell by looking in your eyes you actually mean what you say.
You know, staying, we have a history that nobody around here notes
about. Yeah, that's right and I owe that much to you. Wow.
Okay, does this mean that the real hull Coken is back? Answer
my question? This is the real Hull cokeing brother. I mean, come
on, a little shred of honor and and dignity is it still there?
Come on, Hulk, not get off likes. Don't get it, do
you? I'm trying to make this work, my way scene work. The
fans will always be there, staying, you know that you know what you're
You're forgetting. You're forgetting that I have a history with you. You're forgetting.
I remember what it was like the day you came in, what your
mindset was like when you came to WCW. You came in with a positive
attitude. You wanted to be a positive influence to WCW, to all the
wrestlers there. I remember that you had respect for me. You had respect
for the groundwork that I had already laid. I respected you. I wanted
to follow in your footsteps. Remember what I was talking about a few weeks
ago, when I was talking about all the fans buying all your stuff,
all the wrestlers that worship the ground that you walk on, did that matter
to you at all? Say your prayers, take your vitamins. Did you
say that just for the money? Is this the legacy that you want to
leave behind? This? Is it right here? Is this the legacy you
want to leave for all the wrestling fans, all the wrestlers. Let me
ask you a question. Is this the legacy that you want to leave behind
for Brooke and Nick Brother? That's enough? That's enough. I struck a
nerve, didn't I? Who the hell do you think you are? I'm
a stayer, That's who I am. I'm a stayer and I'm not done
yet. We'll get the no, no, no, no, I'm not
I'm not done. Oh I'm excited this is good. Who Terry, I
am not Terry. No, I am not finished. I'll leave what I
want to leave, Jerry Stawn, Terry, you want to wear a mask.
You want to be a masquerade around here and put on a facade for
everybody. Terry, let me just put the facade on for you, buddy.
From come on, you all have you out wearing your mask? Is
this? What a lacy? You know what? You have only yourself to
blame this time. You don't got a choice, Terry. You can change
things. You got the power to do it, but first you gotta make
the choice. Wow. Oh whoa yes, Holy shit. And then in
the fucking like Hogan like he's fucking It's like he's getting a blowjob. So
what that was my Sting just getting up in his face and smearing the red
paint all over him. Yeah. And then after Sting leaves, we don't
see Hogan. He's out of frame. I swear to god, You've never
seen a funnier thing in your entire line. It's the fucking funniest thing.
Hogan's head leans into the frame and his bandanna is balanced on the top of
his head like a dense cap. It's like my like my like my uh
um, you know, like my my great uncle's like my, my grandmother's
brother is wearing fucking baseball hats. You know, they just kind of like
put it on their head, so there's about three inches of space between the
top of them, and they're fucking dome. And he's got red smear around
his lips. Oh god, and he looks like the biggest fucking weirdo you've
ever seen in your life. I'm looking about picks right now, what exactly
I mean, truly alarming. I mean he's such a dufest. Look at
that fucking moral institutionalize this man, John Wayne Gacy, sorry, Terry Wayne
Gacy right here, Yeah, right exactly. So stings pretty much Joker Sting
is in full effect. Terry Hulk and Gaycy. That sounds like an LA
Lock credits sequence. I mean, this is weird stuff. I'm so glad
you captured that sound because yea, all of us. And that's the thing
about TNA, Like whenever they hit on something interesting, like it's always a
backstage fucking deal, right. They never have these like really like important character
development moments in front of the people. No one of the people. It's
like all the usual taglines. So weird man. Here it is Barrett in
a random episode of impact and May of or June is it um of twenty
eleven? Not oh yeah, June, it's June yet June sixteen, sixteenth,
if you're looking for it. Um Sting turns the corner and acts completely
fucking psychotic yep, packed on June twenty third has a bit of follow up.
Sting is pissed off, I mean Eric Bischoff rather is pissed off,
calls him an ungrateful son of a bitch, and Sting I didn't I've got
some I've got I've got some sound here, I don't know what. Okay.
Actually, Labeling has a little bit of extra paint in the corner of
his mouth, so maybe we're about to star it in his voice. If
it is Sting you're about to play it is I think you take care of
him tonight. Pieces of Sting's ass? Is that before afterwards? I talking
about yeah, okay, yeah, all right, I'll say it with him,
gets in his face and it says, unlike you, I'm not a
coward. They cut to Sting with his mouth agape, I'm a coward with
his arms open, so bizarre Bishof lets us know he was taking a leak,
a leak when Sting got in Hogan's face. That's a that's a refrain,
isn't it. Whenever Bishof gets caught alone, Hogan's taking a leak.
Whenever Hogan gets caught alone, Bishop's taking a leak. I really don't care
impacts on him in the sandwich when whenever impact, I don't turn it on.
How about that impacts on my television's off right? When impacts on I'm
usually you know, choking myself. Sting smiling creepily, and Bishof says,
do you think for a second, I don't watch my own show, the
show I produce that I star in. And then he calls him an ungrateful
son of a bitch again, and Sting gets wide eyes and looks at the
mat. Bischeff says, we did nothing. Betweat you with the respects since
to day one? How much more slack do I have to cut you?
What do you want? And Sting is crying. What hurts most are my
feelings, he says. They all laugh the rass off. He goes,
Eric, you you cussed it me, you verbally abused me. That's so
great, whatever shall I do? And he looks down and cringes and hello,
before I snap your scrunning little neck, and then he starts coughing and
laughing. You know, it's like that joker, like he's acting funny and
silly, but he's saying like he's gonna fucking disembowel you, right, and
that that's exactly what I plan on doing. And he looks off into space
and he says, I'm gonna tell you why you and I never got along.
It's because you're a calm artist. He says to b You're a thief,
a liar, a low life, a losers some of the earth,
a dirt bag. You're a really bad virus. Eric, You're a cancer.
And like the cockroach that crawled in between the bottom of the door on
the floor you ended appeared Impact wrestling and it makes wide eyes and he goes,
you know what cockroaches do. They spread disease. You're a disease,
Eric, and that disease is spread to Hult. But it's only a matter
of time before Hult's eyes are open and the real Hulk Cogan stands up again.
Bischoff doesn't like that it's not going to happen, he says. No
matter what you try, it's always going to be Hogan and Bischoff, he
says, and he's right, we are a team. This is never going
to change. There's nothing you're going to do and say that's going to change
any of that. So you can give that up right now. The only
thing that's going to change, Bischoff says, is you, and you're going
to change because of me and what I'm about to do. So you may
have a contract and a rematch for the world title in July fourteenth with mister
Anderson right here on Spike, but I have the ability to change that.
So you've got a match tonight with the best to make sure that even if
you get to July fourteenth, you won't be in any shape to win a
belt. And Sting says, you said that with such conviction, like I
got a price to pay. You're wrong, Eric, because you're the one
that's got the price to pay. And he shakes his shoulders and takes off
his jacket. Tests this guy's unstable broiler and then Sting starts strutting around the
ring almost like a dance, and he walks bish Off back into the corner
and he's laughing, and he grabs him by the face and plants a right
hand right in the gut of bishof wow, and it doubles him over and
he does the walk with his shoulders bunched up, does Sting and throws another
right hand, and hul Coken's nowhere to be found. And Sting hits bish
Off with the scorpion death drop right here in impact and takes out the paint
and puts bish Off in the corner and smears the corners of his mouth and
then his whole face with red paint. There it comes away and Sting does
the strut again. And better he did this, I guess after he saw
a dark night than yeah, better to do this after you see dark knight
than shoot up a movie theater, you know. Yeah. Single leg turns
Eric over in a scorpion deathlock and Bischoff's stomach is exposed for the world to
see. Nobody wants that. That's the further character development as Joker Sting comes
into relief June thirtieth, Impact Hogan's backstage with Scott Steiner, old on,
let me play that audio though from the oh yeah you had something yells at
is too well it's abyss to. This is funny, but yeah, I
know, I remember what it is. Now you take care of him tonight.
I want to see bits and pieces of Sting's ass. I do not
want him walking out of the arena to stand me. Get it done,
get out of my sight. Yeah, give me an ass brand, give
me a till, give me something. This is killing me for God's sake,
pieces of his ass? Bits off? Is uh, let's say,
gotten to by this new Stinger? Yes so yeah. June thirty Compact Hoken's
backstage with Steiner and Company. Oh yeah, I got I got that cop
starting off this fucking thing. Brother's right to Welcome to my nightmare. You
have now made immortal, really immortal. Thank you, Thank you, Van,
you the man. It's time to kick some ass once again, the
man. You take care of it all tonight. Man, I love got
Steiner Booty. Terry. Yeah, hey, Terry, you nervous. You're
afraid of the nast time a movie screen tween four year out the next corner,
Terry. You know kind of like when you were a little kid,
you were sleeping in your van and you thought there was a monster underneath you,
and then you come to find out he was never there. Why because
he was right here all along, Terry, it's me, let's stay here.
Well, the show is getting ready to start. Any vay it now,
Terry, Yeah, it's gonna start. Beat nervous, what because she
should be brother? What? He's watching a monitor and Sting has his back
to the camera the whole time, and then he turns around with the new
paint on. Now he's got the full joker paint, no lines up and
down his face. He's just got ship going left to right out of his
lips, and he's out of his mind. And um, Hulk doesn't know
what to make about this video appearance of Stinger backstage. But he just come
out to a pop with a big pyro and his arms folded, and tasn't
today talk about Sting disturbing Hule Cogan in a real way, And they say,
yeah, he's renting real estate, and whole Cogan's head again, on
went Steve Boorden know about renting real estate? Brother Hogan says, I just
don't get how someone who used to be so great could work could be such
a coward. Hide the ball peekaboo here today gone, Yeah, I got
I got, I got this one. I got this one. I have
this one. I just don't get how someone that used to be so great
could be such a coward behind the ball the Baku Boo, Here, Today,
gone tomorrow. Marco Polo. Let me tell you some steaks you gotta
take with me, brother, and I'm gonna take care of you on my
own time, in my own way. Your day's coming. What the fun
Polo was added this time, Marco Polo. Dude, you know Reba Rumba
brother King coming, Godzilla Dude. Tacos and burritos brothers here. So there's
Anderson and your papa's eating the tangerines. Brother going to Tangatown. And then
later there's a noise of someone getting beaten up backstage, and they cut backstage
and Sting is slapping people with a bat and making silly sounds and going running
and saying, you're not going to stop me. I want to talk to
the Hulkster tonight. We're gonna have a little chat. And Hogan is shown
with his mouth agape at the sight of a laid out Bubba and Abyss Scott
Steiner. Sting has just taken names back there and laughing. The whole time,
and then Sting's music hits and they light up Sting in the ring and
he nails Hogan in the knee with a bat Oh. I guess something else
when he comes out with Anderson, though, I actually have a I have
a sound here for you. Um what the referee was going to do?
I see for Anderson? The referee was getting ready to cow one two?
The fuck is this guy talking about ninety percent of the time? What is
he talking about? The referee was getting ready to cow one two. It's
so fucking weird. I rewound that many times, Like what, I'm trying
to figure out if there's anything you know that makes sense for no reason.
The referee was getting ready to cow one two? Brother, hide the ball
Fornoli, you know, dude? Fuck? What the absolute FUCKI Stromboli?
Brother fast five? Dude, dude, beef stroking off brother with your clam
sauce. You know Twoli you played again? Just to be clear, the
referee was getting ready to cow one two. I'm assuming the spelling is th
h R E N O L. I wasn't Threnoli on the pasta mania menua?
I believe so, And I think there was yeah, uh, there
was beef that. Yeah, well what a complete lunatic. So after Sting
lays out the guys in the back like the lights go out to come on,
and Sting nails so good in the knee with the bat and Anderson bales,
and Sting grabs the mic and says to an ailing Terry, wait here
for a second. Yeah, I think I get the whole thing, Ancellent.
I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm I think there's stuff before that.
Now that's okay, let's let's go for it. Yeah, this is man,
I'm trying to get through to your Hulk. Listen. I I'm gonna
be the first to admit it. Okay, I was a Hulk Hogan,
Mark I was. Yeah, you know what. I was at the sports
arena way back when when I started my career. And then I'm telling you,
they had those red and yellow bandanas and T shirts fine like cream red
and yellow, Kilo fellow red Hulk and I go way back. I'm just
trying to get the real Hulk Hogan to stand up again. Come on,
not the Hollywood one, the real Hulk Hogan. Now, I've tried every
approach I know how to do. Terry but I'm thinking maybe we should go
with maybe something a little more visual. Okay, you said train hard,
say your prayers, and take your vitamins. That's what you said. Okay,
it wasn't just a tagline. I know that it's obviously you've been trained,
because when you used to talk about going down PC in California with those
twenty one ins pythons hanging out those eight hangers. Man, I'm telling you
what you're obviously working out. There's still twenty one in pythons right there.
You're a mark. Okay, that's a whole part of the show, something
about taking your vitamins. Let's go with the more visual approach here it comes
to tech nutrition tablets. Ah, brother, I can't breathe binding time with
the Hulkster. Hey, let's do some bottlemins now, okay, come here,
I'm free. You can do here. One for me, yeah,
one for you for you? Fwallow it. Anybody having water here? I
need a bottle of water? Somebody? Hey, alright, I'm on hair
take I'll take some heart. I'm a couple of met Hey, am I
get thirty about saying? Stick? Not done? My god? Oh my
no? Enough The Scorpion hook, I'm a scorpion, and god, he
Hagan over so many back operations, so how many back operations's had? So
jabs him in the knee and they got the ribs with the bat and just
does some ah, oh, you broke my fucking ribs, dude, and
then does some character work, does the stinger. He does fistfuls of tight
nutrition pills right down Hogan's gullet and um. Then immortals music hits. Enough,
it's Bubba with the whole Cogan change t shirt on saying get away from
him. Bubba is sick and tired of making of Sting, making a mockery
of Hulk Kegan took you long enough, Uh, you're all right fucking torturing
him for thirteen minutes. He does maybe have the I'll sell you a line
that actually made me laugh out loud when he he talks about when Bully Ray
talks about hating bullies. Oh, he really nailed that character as a guy
who would say things like that, would take on Bridge with things others were
doing that he does all the time. Right, he actually embodies, Yeah,
that was that was pretty good stuff when he was doing back then.
Sting laughs at that and there's a mock salute to all of them. Says,
you impose your will on people. What you did to bishof last week
was deplorable. That's a five syllable word, you psycho, He says to
him. Tonight, you and Scott Steiner are going to wrestle, and that
was another thing Bully would do as he talked big and then volunteer somebody else
to fight the fight. Yeah, that's really awesome. That's great. It's
good. Cut cut that damn music. Let me tell you something, Sting,
that's the last time he Hulk says, you're ever going to embarrass me
before tonight's over, I'm gonna wipe that stupid smile off your stinking face,
and Sting acts like ooh with his back stiffen, and then he bounces,
and then Hulk late later on at the back you see him walking around tape
in his fists, mumbling about showing you how to get hurt in my world,
thirty five years of hate, you won't be laughing anymore. Sting beat
Scott Steiner later in the main event with the Scorpion death drop for the one
two three, and then they all attack Sting. Hogan's music. Hancy comes
out with the tape fists and they hold Sting open and Holk peppers them with
shots to a course of booze, and then Karnegal hits the ring for the
saving cleans house and Holk bounces July seventh impact Um they're coming off destination.
Next backstage, Hogan hits Sting and Sting shakes it off and makes a woo
noise and then Hogan lands are right, and they're actually imposing punch sound effects
like the movies for it's so bad. It's so and the only reason they
do this is so that they have an explanation as to why Sting doesn't run
out later on when when you might expect him to. They totally like blow
off the physicality of Hogan coming back on Sting and some pre taped backstage thing
that is an afterthought and serves like and it's just a beat in someone else's
story, and it's so hokey because he picks up and hits him with them
and grabs a bat and swings it barely and just he swings it in a
way where like the camera trick is still like hi, the fact there's no
impact kind of like how Kevin Dunn cuts away from the point of Impact all
the time, right, and then there's a voice over if Holgan's voice saying,
I told you Sting, you'll never embarrass me again. It's just so
potally produced, so hokey. It's such a strange piece of follow up.
I don't understand the point of it, but it's very strange. So he
beats a ship out of Sting and leaves him laying in the back so later
they can explain that Sting's not there for the main event. And then Anderson
turns on Angle and joins a mortal I shit, you're not. Hogan's out
there clapping, and this is all to build up the July fourteen Sting Anderson
title match. So July fourteenth comes. They named this episode of Impact Midsummer's
Nightmare, and it kicks off with a mortal all coming out in tuxedos and
everything, including Abyss with a cut off tuxedo and mister Anderson in a fucking
tuxedo that looks like it was made out of you know. They were still
time. I was looking for titles. I couldn't find titles. Looking for
titles, oh of the shows showing them at the beginning. Yeah, oh,
it's just this is the only one, like it was actually tagline Midsummer's
Nightmare. And then Anderson comes out in a tuxedo that's made out of like,
you know, the the camouflage you wear while hunting the green kind of
like whatever the fuck like Steve Auston used to wear the hat and stuff.
Oh yeah, a whole tuxedo made out of that. I don't know if
that's about Okay, Hope looks like he's about to the Hall of Fame induction
and a full tuxedo with a fucking bow tie on and a bandana. Of
course. Tess's bubble tuxedo looks like my uncle Tony from the fifties. Bischofs
still v necked, however, and there's a bunch of ladies around, so
they're acting like it's a big formal occasion for Immortal. What they're trying to
do is like a mafia induction ceremony basically for Ken Anderson, because he's now
joined Immortal, and Bischoffs has really here to night dressed in festive spirits because
Ken Anderson came out here, came out there himself, and premature. Oh
it's bad. It's such a bad pun of m I'm gonna it's so stupid
the things Bischoff says here. Um, well, now I need to know
he came out here and threw himself a party and no one came, Ken
Anderson, he had done that earlier. He had like a win and he
came out in the ring and he had like a table set up with snacks
that like it was going to be a party, and no one was there.
So stupid, and I think Gunner like beat his ass something random.
And then then Bischof says, it's kind of like a premature party lation e
party lation if you will, as in premature ejaculation. Yeah, I mean
you've never heard less people make noise. I mean you know he loves Eric
Bischoff loves ejaculate to night. Ken. We're gonna make it up to you,
he says, because now you're part of our family, and when you
are, that comes with love, respect, dignity, and most of all,
solidarity. Brother what Jesse solidarity hebe? We believe in what mattel Vince
dude, I'm I knew what was you, Terry? I knew all the
time. I got him in a deposition. I got you, I got
I got Vince McMahon in a deposition saying it was Hulk Hogan sworn testimony,
sworn testimony. What do you got? My lawyer says, Oh, yeah,
well he told you that Jesse was thinking about unionizing the boys before wrestling.
To Hugan hesitation at all, not even a moment's thought there. I
had to find out in a deposition. I had to find out through a
third part, essentially. So Hogan says to Ken Anderson in the tuxedo,
I love the look, my brother. You've been called a lot of things
in this short time you've been here, and you and I haven't always seen
i'd eye and been kind of a rocky road. Would this be in this
thing being the same way. One thing has been a constant is the fact
that you and I have always tried to be the best we possibly could be.
I want to formally welcome you and into our family, my brother,
and he DAPs him up, and all this shit's going on on, and
then the lights go out, and when they come back on, Sting is
sitting at the poker table that Immortal has arranged in the ring as part of
this ceremony, and he says gamble. Did I hear someone say gamble?
And Bischof says Sting, I don't know what the hell you're up to.
You must have forgotten our history. I've always respected you as Sting the stand
up guy, but this is nuts. You accuse me of being a cancer.
I don't think so. I think you are a CanCERN tonight you have
Anderson in the ring, you freak, And Sting says, would you like
me to bet on that one? Eric? Are you a betting man?
I got a poker table for crying out loud? He licks his lips a
lot, now does the joker Sting? Yes, yeah, yeah, I
caught. That's what That's what he fledged. Okay. I see things coming
out a whole lot different than you do, Eric. I see me becoming
the heavyweight champion once again. That gets a pop, and as part of
my crusade to bring the company back to its right, Felon or Dixie Carter,
so he's still even in this beautiful transition name dropping Dixie Carter, Dixie
Carter, Hogan. Let me tell you something, Sting, don't push it
any farther or I'll strip this Tucks off and he teach you a lesson I've
never taught before. No whatever that means, not only are you going all
the way down? What they And then Sting springs up from the poker table
and goes, oh no, no, no, no no. He says,
I'm starting to worry about me. Helkamania, you're wrong about that.
He calls him, Howkamania, that's funny, that's funny. That's very fun
because I've got kind all kinds of aces in the hole. You see,
I've got the network Ace look Ace and network ACE. I recall the network
told you in Bishoff you're on a very short lease leash, very thin short
lease. Now that's the other side of his business. It could be that
too. Not a whole lot of room for error anymore for you guys,
Sting says, A month to month. Yeah, are you sure, a
stinger, there's not a whole lot more room for Bishof and Hogan to make
errors. I don't know. I wouldn't put my money on that one,
he says. Let's just say the slightest bit of shenanigans from any of you,
and there's a lot bigger bite than a bark around here. That's a
whole other story. I'm gonna leave it here tonight. I'm gonna leave here
tonight, the world heavyweight champion, not leaving in a body bag or a
stretcher. I've got all these aces, look at another and another. Those
are called my magic bullet aces, he says to him. So you know
why they're called magic whole comania because they're going to appear before your eyes.
Look, look, look, nothing. And then the lights go out,
and when they come back on. In the balcony, there are clowns in
the catwalk, people dressed up like killer clowns walking around. Yeah. Eric
goes, you're a freak, stinses thank you, and then he says,
that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Eric. These are my
friends, and tonight they're gonna watch my back. And tonight I'm going to
leave the world heavyweight champion. You talk about the clowns or his friends,
Let's just say I'm all in. And he flips the table over and the
lights go out and Mike Tenego's evil clowns up in the rafters, turning Impact
Zone into a fun house. Oh that'd be something new. I'm sorry what
it's about a long time since. Impact has been a fun house, Sin's
for sure, and yep, Hogan takes the jacket off, ready to fight.
Sting is gone, holds like brother where and in that main event,
stats on the scorpion deathlock bully blindsides him and then a guy in an evil
clown outfit comes out, takes him out, hits him of the bat lights
go out again, Anderson's alone in the ring. Um Sting hits a scorpion
death drop on Anderson. Roferee climbs in one two three, stings the champion
once again, and then the clown peels off his mask and it's Kurt Angle.
So whatever. This is where that scene comes from. Where Kurt looks
like all strung out and like ultra thin face. It's when he takes the
clown mask off and he's got like stubble and no hair. He's got like
the hair or all comfort. Oh my gosh, so disturbing. Glass is
this moment. I'm sure there are many moments he looked like that, but
this is the one you see freeze frame most often. He takes the clown
mask off at the top of the ramp. This was a big impact.
They built it up. They gave it a name to put the world title
on the main event Stings teena title win. Ellie did one point five eight
million viewers. Normal range has to be disappointing. I'm sure there not great
signs going into the fall for a total NonStop action. We moved to July
twenty eighth. There's an in ring confrontation between Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle.
Um, if you get at Hogan Angle, that'll get us most of where
we need to be. Okay, Hogan, Let's get one thing clear.
I'm not Kenny Anderson. I can't be bought. When I sigh with Pixie
Carter five years ago, I promise her I'd be the best rusher on the
roster, and I take pride knaw. But if you want to go all
the way back back to Hull Comedian, let's go back to Hull Comedia.
Yeah. I paid to see you, just like everybody else. You know
why, because you were great, You were something different, you were something
that no one's ever seen before. And now, twenty five years later,
the name Hulk Hogan brings on a whole new meaning because the fact that you
can't go anymore. You know something, Brother, you're crossing the line right
now into some real dangerous territory. And if you're thinking that I'm gonna climb
in this ring and wrestle again, well I'm gonna tell you right now,
I'm never gonna step in this ring and wrestle again. I had to make
a choice. After thirty years of being the greatest wrestler to ever step in
this ring, eight back surgeries, need replacements, and hip replacements. I
had to make a decision my life or no life, and I chose quality
of life. Brother, Wow, Sting was right. I lit a fire
under your ass, didn't I. You know what, Hogan, You're right,
just like in the Olympics, I want to go back to the Olympics.
The older we get, the more the fire burns. There's no doubt
in my mind you can still go. But you need to prove that to
yourself. Well, you know, Kurt, why don't you just spit it
out? Why don't you just talk straight to me and quit beating around the
bush. What are you trying to say, Kurt angle, Well, let's
see, Hogan, Um, you want to pay me a great deal of
mighty to take out Sting? Why don't you take out sting brother. Listen,
Hogan, every great warrior has one more fight left in So why don't
you prove it to yourself and to everybody in this world? You can still
do it and don't call me again. So they're going hard now, I'll
say, they built it up like it's gonna be a baby face. It's
the strangest thing right here. I'm gonna send you something because this is what
this is, what this is. What more than that image of Kurt Angle,
which yeah, I understand, is the fact that they actually made this
and sold those figure looking like that with you know, like what the fuck?
Like who buys that? I mean, Oh god, I mean I'm
gonna this is even this is almost worse. This one window here, like
what the fuck? I mean, like, come on, who, let's
see the problem. Did they make a Hogan figure with the red paint in
his face and the bandana floating on his head? My god, that would
be absolutely tremendous, the greatest thing they ever fucking did. As for Kurt,
Well, come September twenty eleven, he's arrested in Woodstock, Virginia,
charged with driving while intoxicated. But it's fine because his blood alcohol content ended
up although above the legal limit. He had to take a second test at
the headquarters, at which time it came in below the legal limits. So
nothing to see here, even though they had an interview with hul Coogan on
a serious radio and what he ended up saying is, you know, I
talked to his ex wife and he said he's a horrible driver, that's why
he was swerving. Oh my god, Well I heard that, you know
what, dude, I heard that that Vince Russo was actually in the Carbreller.
That's why he was swerving down right. That's where he learned how to
do it. The whole time they were married. She wouldn't even let him
drive the kids. He texts when he drives. He's great in the ring
as far as focusing, but his people's skills are horrible. He's got two
left feet, and it translates into was driving about making any excuses for him,
But I want to know what the facts are before I passed judgment.
But I'm also making a lot of excuses for him. Brother and Kurt Angle
Karen Karen Jarrett Angle later posted people should never make false statements and say they
had conversations with people they didn't. That's good except for Kogan, Karen,
except for Hulko. What Later Eric gets another note from get Ready the network
hid as hell, But I'm not take this anymore, says based on the
current success of the Extivision and pay per view, our network expects you to
build and brand the X division this out loud. We further expect you to
hire more Extivision wrestlers. I do this, Wow, I don't know.
Hogan comes in, breaks in, barges in it all stops now angles a
dead man on the agenda tonight, takes off the shades. The only thing
I care about is cutting Kurt's throat and eliminating him. Why is he so
mad? What did Kurt say? All he said was I think you can
fight. I think you can do it. What? What? What do
you that at this point? Sting, what are you saying? First into
the room with a red blazer and he's got a big cage with a black
tarp over in his hand. Oh, I have this one. I got
this one for you, So fucking get him on the phone, put him
through now phone conversations network. Oh me, I'm fine, I'm perfect,
I'm just freaking dandy. How are you. The only way that I could
be better is if I wasn't being disrespected, humiliated and treated like garbage.
But the network who I'm working with, I'm Avid, Eric Bischoff. Do
you know what we mean to your company? Do you know what we mean
to your network? Remember what we're capable of doing for you? And then
to insult us, disrespect the greatest by having Stay name is your network consultant,
to your network executive, or whatever the hell it is you think you
need. You think were your problem, he's your problem? What what do
you mean? You haven't talked to Stay in weeks story? I don't understand.
I'm no, no, I'm confused. I'm your here. Um,
I'm I'm. I'm gonna claim that I'm sorry suddenly, I'm trying to get
my composure. Eric. I I've had this stuff story just it's been bottled
up inside me, this whole show, and I can't hold it anymore Ready
it does. I know that the truth sets free, and so I'm gonna
pass up right now. Okay, I'm I'm, I'm not. I'm not
the network exact. It's so fucking crazy. I'm not the network exact.
The Ultimate X Match and the cage hatch. So sorry, he go,
so sorry. It was all just right here in my head. It was
just concocted in my head. I got made a love art. But you
know what boggles my mind. What boggles my mind is what happens when you
wear a nice suit for Sawchi. It's Italian four thousand dollars. It sounds
like Jim Carrey. Listen to you get your way. You got stuck and
it feels good. But this is good, feel good for you. Remember
the Hitchcock movie The birds. Yeah, they're just pack pack pack pack pack
pack pack pack pack pack pack pack pack pack pack pack away at you don't
move, that's when they want to get you. He'll go right for the
eyeballs. It's okay, you're gonna get along good with him because these birds
have six cents making smell of garbage from a mile away. Eric got a
key an outdoor lock. I'm gonna go watch a cage match. See you
stack down you stick stick stick sick stick stick. It's not like he was
saying stick stick stanks take sick time time. I mean, it's what it
sounds like. He takes out a c in Bischof's office. The thing flies
and lands on Bishop's monitor. It was really funny, and Bishop's too afraid
to move, and so he's frozen in place backstage, while Sting continues to
carry on his lie told earlier the night that he's been designated the network wrap
and has power and starts making matches. Bischoff realizes on the phone call that's
bullshit, but now can't do anything about reversing the things. Sting is set
in a motion because he's trapped in his office because of this bird. Yeah
right, it's here. Erica reflect on this h this dimmick in this segment
on his podcast eighty three Weeks, Eric Crowe Sting. I loved it.
I was great. We did. I remember a scene that we did backstage
where I was sitting in my desk scene, he says, and Sting came
in and he had a vulture. I think, Yes, it was silly,
but it was fun. Oh fuck, it was a riot. Yeah.
I had so much fun with that, and Sting loved that character.
He had a blast because he got to do something different. Yes, and
kind of expand his repertoire, so to speak. But stay loved it.
I had a blast doing it, and it was really interesting. It was
an interesting spin on the Crow character. No pun intended staying. In an
interview with The Ringer recently with Cameron Hawkins, in which he talked about this
period of his career, he said, quote, that's really an extension of
me. Most people don't see that unless you get to know me. But
I do have a personality and I love to have fun. I love that
kind of stuff. I don't know. It was something that I felt like
I needed to do again, evolve and try something different and step out of
the box and take risks. You talk to somebody like Kevin Nash, Marcus
bag While, Lex Luger, the Steiner Brothers, I'll tell you it was
just kind of who I was. I was constantly doing impersonations, doing voices
and accents. I can remember playing cards with Randy Savage in the dressing room.
Every hand I was beating him, and every hand I was playing the
part of a different person. And I was just on him and on him
and on him, and he got so mad because I was taking his money
and Eiels knock it off. I feel like I'm playing ten different people.
It's not fair. I love that kind of stuff with the joker, sting
it kind of Sting is a fucking weirdo. I was. I fucking love
it, all right, exactly, alright or right right, right, right
right, Steve, I don't know who am I playing with right now?
My playing with Sting? Am I playing with Psycho? Fuckar? Too many
moving pieces. There's so much going on right now, and I'm not making
any money. Oh I know is that I keep giving it to somebody else
and I don't know where it's going. Freak out, freak out, fuh
what? Fine? All right, what I'm gonna deal all right, all
right, all right, new chord game, gonna take it from the top.
We're gonna play war. That's it. No poker, all right,
nothing else, simple to the t, all right. We're gonna do it
one way. I'm not asking Look, hey, Steve, I'm not asking
you to say anything. I don't want you to get excited. I want
you just play. You and me, Randy Poffo, Steve Borden, We're
just playing chords, all right. I like that. Alright, Mano Imano,
you know what I mean. You get the fuck away from you right
now. This is Manportan right now, alright, alright, alright, here
we go, just simple, simple war. You win a hand, you
make money. I may I win a hand, I make money. It's
it's gonna be all right, all right, flipping the cards war? Wait
a minute, Who the fuck are you now? You're making me nervous right
now? Right I'm wondering exactly where I am. That's your problem. I
don't know why I met. Playing ten different characters disrupts your sense of where
you are. You're somebody else entirely. Right now, I'm wondering exactly what
I'm doing here with you. Did I come here? Did you drive me?
I'm wondering where exactly I am right now? Okay? Did I come
here? Did you drive me? That? Did you drive me? It's
kind of whole fucking point. That is the question, hmm. That communicates
the essence of the macho man Randy side. Did you drive me right into
a tree? You know I'm looking around. I only see two people?
Is that you see? Mean? All right? I don't know what's what.
I don't know who is who, I don't know where's we're all might
know was that you and I are playing cards right now. I didn't come
here on my own accord. I don't know if I even gave permission to
come. I think I came here in my own accord. However, I
didn't come here on my own accord, but I maybe you came in and
with your accord. Check the parking garage. Check it out, Chick,
where we are? Chick? What's going on? I don't know. I
don't see Elizabeth. That makes me nervous. I don't see you right now.
It makes me nervous. I see invisibility. I see invisibility, or
that explains it. I don't see you right now. He's looking at You've
been talking to you, and that's what he says. I don't see you
right now. And what do you see? I see invisibility. I see
a cornfield right see the person made out of water? I see your corn
field. I see the fall. I see exactly the things that you're nerves
supposed to see with a human eye. I see clowns. Yeah, that
was last week on Impact. There's carn angle. Actually we see clown infrastructure.
Okay, shut the fucking station down, hold the fall, stop the
presses, back up, the DTG printers, pause, pause all production,
pause all production processes. I want not another T shirt. To come off
the press until we've printed ten thousand of the following the Randy Savage silhouette at
the top, I see clown infrastructure. H oh shit, what I mean?
What does that look like? I'll tell you this is what I picture.
I picture a a a glass skyscraper, sure, shiny glass, very
tall skyscraper. And in front, go ahead. Is it isn't any bitty
car? Is it? What? An any batty car? Just just clowns
coming out and going into the building in single file. That's cloon in single
file, in single file, funny assembly line through the family glass door of
this funhouse skyscraper, also known as clown infrastructure, this building building, this
clown infrastructure because they're walking into it. How they're tiny thumbnail sized car.
Oh shit, Oh my god, my head hurts so bad. Right,
I know we crossed the line from laugh to your silent laugh to where like
you're having an episode. Oh your body's trying to shut down. Oh is
that that podcast where they say clown infrastructure and laugh for twenty minutes? Yes,
it is, you fucking bitch. Oh And if you don't like it,
you don't know what it's good for you. D So the Hardcore Justice
pay per view. Hogan was going to hit Sting with a chair in his
Magic against Kurt Angle, but Angle grabbed it away in Cracksting with a twin
the title new champ Kern Angle, and then Immortal turns on Ken Anderson,
so it's fine impact August elev The fuck goes on in the thin Gaunt World
Champion Kurt Angle, who's pretending he's going to try for the Olympic team again,
which was hilarious because only pro wrestling even paid attention to his proclamations.
No one in the him, which a wrestling community covered for a second,
the former nineteen ninety six Olympic gold medalist saying he's going to try to make
a comeback because that's how far away from possible. It was said that three
days before Hardcore Jestice, someone called me who has been talking to Karen and
Jeff and they know what they did was unjust. But this person explained,
all wrestlers our scumbags. They have no ethics. Jeff saw a beautiful woman
and Karen and he went forward even though she was married. It doesn't matter.
That's the way this business is. Kurn Angle says the third person has
blood on their hands, a third party. He says. That third party,
Kurt Angle reveals was Dixie Carter, and he crushes around. He says,
three years ago, the Reform Party. She's not there, but I'm
not the reformed part of the Reform Party. Three years ago, I came
to you and told you about Jeff and Karen, and you told me you
didn't know anything. You told me. I was paranoid. Well, Jeff
and Karen told this individual. You knew everything. I was going to break
Jeff's neck, but I didn't want a pr disaster for you, so I
took the high road for you. Sting was your ally and your friend.
I had to eliminate him at Hardcore Justice with this chair. When I came
here, Dixie, you wanted me to be the centerpiece of this company and
surround me with young talent. I'm going to take that young talent and hurt
them one by one. Here we go again, and I'm going to send
them home, Dixie, until no one has left but Kurt Angle. Dixie
Carter, as long as Kurt Angle is here, you will never ever get
your company back again. So for some reason, they've got to sit down
a storyline reason why Kurt Angle is at odds with Dixie Carter again by finding
out that she knew Jeff was absolutely obliterating Karen Angle from every possible position before
admit it to Kurt. I don't know what that's about, but that's the
story they're telling. Okay, just a pulse check on TNA September sixteenth,
they run Rahway, New Jersey, and they draw three hundred and twenty five
fans, less than New Japan Pro Wrestling, which had essentially no television exposure
in the United States back then, could draw in the same building. So
it's not all it's not all great. September fifteenth Impact Hogan is there for
Angle and defense against Sting at No Surrender, which was September eleventh show,
and there's red, white and blue ropes and everything because it's the tenth anniversary
of nine to eleven and the action hit ringside. Sting goes into the rail.
Hogan pops up out of the crowd and spray paint something in Sting's eyes,
allowing Angle to the Angle Slam one, two three and retain against Sting
and embraces Angle afterwards. I'm gather they're letting sting. You hold onto those
whims seriously, and there were some rigamarole too, where like sting and angle
love to finish they had and then Hogan shows up at the last minute.
If Vince Russo tells this story and starts messing around with the finish even though
he was gone all day and couldn't be bothered to go to the production meetings
or at least stick around after the production meetings and see things very busy.
He's very busy. He's got the things things to this. So on this
episode of Impacts number fifteenth, Flair comes out to start the show in his
black and blue robe and uh oh yes he does, holds out his most
storied rival, staying one more time. He does, here, I got
this, I got most of this. I think for you save there it
is. Say it's an age, you boy, and I'm gonna talk to
you one last time. Come on, come on boy, come on,
let meet you maker. Come on boy, you can run, but you
can I we're doing it. We're doing the stinging. Rick Flair in twenty
eleven. Now I was flare, he said ten years after the Final Night
trail in the final he shouldn't he didn't sit well, come on, it's
time. It's on, It's on. Get un It's time tonight, Tonight,
you versus God, the franchise icon versus God. One man walks on
this ring either retired for life, or one man goes to the hotel and
gets drunk. Okay, okay, but I want back. I want back
to the light I was in. And I sworn to Hulk Hogan that I
would beat you against odds. And you know who I am. Brother,
The name's Nature more ric Flair, sixteen times your world champion. Tonight I
beat you. You go home and the older. The way you get the
Hogan is over my dead body, saying, okay, good, It's the
only way that I can get to Hogan. It's over your dead body.
You die tonight, Rick, You're gonna die tonight, Rick, you were
gonna die. Hit my hands. You know who I am. I am
the stand and I'm gonna put the scorpion death luck on you. I'm gonna
scorpion death drop you. I'm gonna throw you off the top route. I'm
gonna make your life. I'm leaving hell starting Nah, take your robot freak.
No, Hey, why don't we just do this go right now,
up the figures that big blood swap tears for your ass. I'll blake that
figure off. I'm telling you, ready to off. Let's go. Now,
what do you take? Come on, come on, let's go right
now, let's turn them off. Stings ready to do battle. I just
called your blusket yea once again? Horse you you look done again, you
looked gone again. Gonna get who We're gonna do it again. Ten years
after the final Nitro Flair versus Sting, I don't know why, I'm Impact,
they came up with this little wrinkle to the Hogan story that Flair is
standing up for Hogan and you got to go through me to get to Hulk.
Why, I don't know. There were some stuff in The Observer about
how the idea was that when they had the Sting Hogan matchup, bound for
glory of Hogan was too limited physically when he got there, that Sting pardon
me, Flair in Hogan's corner on the floor could do a lot of bumping
for him and keep the action up. But that plan went out the window
real quick because on this episode of Impact, guy fucking doing that. I
know, as in this episode of Impact or In the match with Sting,
Flair suffers a very bad shoulder injury and it's out off a superplex for some
time. In addition, on this Impact Jeff Hardy is back and he's walking
around personally apologizing to several members of the roster, including aj Styles and Kurt
Angle, and they chew him out. So they're basically putting on television the
apology tour that he had to make in real life to get back into the
Impact locker room. So that's good stuff. I'm just I've done it's Flair
versus thing. How did you think of this one? Uh? Yeah,
I mean it I don't I don't know why he wrestles Flair, yeah anymore.
I mean it's just it's like, you know, I'll tell you what
the thing that I gotta wait that I got that. I really there are
two things that really struck me from this match. Number One, at the
very beginning, when Flair smiles, there is an element where he is going
to be You imagine that he's excited to do this with Sting one more time,
right, because they've done it so many times. So you know,
there's a part of me that's like, yeah, this this should be fun.
It should be fun. It's not gonna be, but it should be
fun in theory. And then the other thing is I'm in awe of Sting
in this match. He makes Flair look way better than he has any right
to look in this match. Well, Flair starts getting a look on his
face halfway through the matches before the shoulder injury, where it's like he's focusing
on his breathing and he's oh, he's like spaced out. It's not unlike,
honestly, the look you saw in his face when he had that disastrous
last match experiment. Yeah, I mean, he looks completely out of his
element. He looks out of his element, and it's amazing because like you
watch him throw he tries to throw a Sting around and it's like wow,
it's like he's got no effort. There's nothing behind what he's doing. It's
all Sting running as fast as he can because he's not you know, he's
still gut something. Sting even does a kip up in this match at his
age. Yeah, yeah, he does. It's not great, but it's
it's a lot better than all the ship that Flare's doing. Yeah, because
they're going through all the spots they did a million times in those great WCW
matches. Right, there's just something, like you said, that's so much
softer touch about Flair at this point. It's like he can't he can't do
anything with conviction. He just can kind of do. It's rough. It's
really rough. And when they go up for the Superplex, Flair falls because
he had torn his left tricep and you can see he holds the arm and
kind of like at ad L shape at his side after absorbing it. So
it's tough to watch knowing that that's happening to the to the man, because
he looks frail enough as it is. But you know, they go back
and forth, they do the figure four exchanges and um, you know,
Flair does the begging off. He hits the floor and yeah, he is
egos from the motions and it's fine. But when Flair lands in the Superplex,
he comes up with the right arm and absolute absolute agony. You can
see him try to straighten it out and it's not cooperating and just tucks the
arm. Hogan comes out, Bully comes out, Anderson comes out. Um
runs off Bully with a chair. Hogan feeds Flair brass knucks. Flair can
barely get them because he canna use one hand on his on his fingers,
and he slugs staying with him and drops him, put him in his trunks.
Flair actually blesses himself before he drops and hooks the leg one two sting
lifts the shoulder. Um Flair comes up, hair frayed like never before.
That flare. It's a bad place, very bad. I mean, just
described very bad. He's just mean. He just looks awful. It's expanding
east to west, you know. It's yeah, yeah, it's pushing out
and there's nothing on top. It's like it's so much thinner on top than
it looks when he combs it. Mhm, what is he doing? It's
so embarrassing doing It's just it's so embarrassing, like what why why? Why
did he do this to himself? Awful flair flop when he tries to protect
a broken arm is not a pretty thing. Basically, he does it and
then he has to leap onto the mat. He can't fall straight down like
a timbering tree. He takes a jump and land on the mat to keep
the other rob a goof. He's such a goofball Hogan is standing in the
aisle with his mouth open watching this play out, trying to say something to
herds and he hit Flair brass nucks or something like that. Shot Fla,
I think that's a shoot there. He's in shock. Yeah, this fucking
this ship show that's going on in front of him. It's uncomfortable enough watching
Flair try to put brass knuckles on a hand with the other arm is broken.
How about trying to get turned over in his scorpion deathlock and you're just
worried about planting that arm the whole time. And they say he tapped,
but he can't because Nevin arm right. Sting defeats Rick Flair to get to
Hogan here in the September fifteenth the Impact Hogan staring at Sting, Sting staring
back at him. Tenay says, Philadelphia, get ready, it's Sting versus
whole Cogan it bound for glory. Hulk says, your day is coming.
As for as for Flair, yes, he doesn't ergo surgery for left torn
trisep from the superplexum. And he also is the subject of a very unflattering
article on grant Land. Oh my god, really, there's a laundry.
List of the issues that have resulted from his many public spats um loans he
didn't pay back that resulted in lawsuits, I RS, troubles being built by
friends for money problems, and marriages living beyond his means. Come on,
that just all all comes out. This is also the time when high spots
Susan for money owed and uses the world title is Collateral and they find out
that the title of Flair used the title is collateral for another loan. Oh
no, really, Flair gets He goes on the bus it tries to get
a cash draw and they deny him the money and he has a has a
fit about it. It's just it's just so so unflattering of a year for
him in that regard impacts a number twenty second stings is one way or another.
I will get the real whole Going to stand up again, I hope
like I told you, I'm never going to wrestle again. You don't deserve
to be in the same Wait a minute, you told me I told you
I'm never going to wrestle again. What okay? You don't deserve to me
in the same ring with me and bound for glory. You're not even going
to make it to the building because you're messing with the wrong people. Brother,
cut the cancer away. I love you, Hoax or see you a
bound for Glory. I don't know what that's about. He made playing head
games. I guess the Sting comes out and a whole Cogan T shirt and
jeans and he's got a contract in his hand and times are good. Sting
says, he beat Flair and it opened a wide line to Hogan. It
bound for glory, something everyone said will not happen is going to happen,
I promise you, and he gets a good Hogan chant going the music.
Hogan comes out. Tony says the days of hulkoke and refusing to get in
the ring with Sting have come to an end once and for all. Okay,
and he grabs the mic away and says, haha, very funny.
Sting the dog and pony show the smoke and mirrors singing in the rain.
Brother, you're delusional. This is not going to happen. And my pants
brother, you know, talking up a storm, dude, walking and bugging
around, brother around Mark Polo hide the ball, yes and uh and Yang,
I'm not medically cleared. Sting, you gotta be kidding me. Sting
takes a bump and kicks his legs out At that suggestion, Sting says,
I got some footage. I'm confused, but let's just get a bird's eye
view. Roll the footage. They show Hogan smacking Sting with a chair and
dropping him with punches, and Hogan says, you don't I run the show
around here. I did not clear that footage to be shown. This is
not funny. Sting said, it happened. There's nothing you can do about
it now. Sting says, I can see the vascularity there in your arms,
Hulk, see the biceps coming out again. And I took a haymaker
from you not too long ago, and you still got it. Hulk.
You knocked me silly, So don't tell me you're not ready to rustle me
a bound for glory. Hogan says, it's what it's time to knock it
off. Sting to end the game. Oh, I got nothing to approved,
brother. You've been chasing me your whole career, and you never quite
caught up to Holkamania. So I'm not going to give you a bonus package.
I run this company. I'm the businessman. You have to realize that
paper you've got that isn't going to hold up with me. Brother, Sting
says, it's forget about bound for glory. Then let's do it right now,
right here. Hogan begs off to the audience, whoa, whoa,
whoa like Hollywood Hogan would his hands out all paranoid, and Bischoff's music hits
and I go, yes, fuck yes, just what I wanted. Bischof
says, I don't want to hear any more of what I'm hearing in that
ring. Who the hell do you think you are? You are talking to
every reason you even have a job. You're talking to the very reason you
have a job, responsible for the fact that this industry even exists. I'm
talking to you, damn it. Sting, did you say something? And
then Sting clocks him, and Bischof takes a bump. It's awesome. And
then Hogan gets all pissed at that, and he kicks the ropes and frustration
and sells the back. When he kicks the rope, Sting says, did
you catch that one? Right there? He kicks the rope and mock and
that he mocks Hogan selling his own back. He still got at Holkamania.
No matter what it's want to happen, there will be a match between you
and me. It Bound for Glory. Nothing's going to stop it. Believe
me, Tata for now. Hogan looks down to Dirk Bischoff's carcass and a
sting holds out a contract that has the Impact logo ontop and all it says
is, I'll It's printed on the piece of paper is twenty eleven Bound for
Glory match. Contract sounds good to me and you can see the gears are
turning in Hogan's head as he walks around, and later on Bischoff is backstage
icing his face talking about loop holes. Hogan says, I got this.
I'm gonna drop a bombshell on this company next week. It's going to change
this business forever God, and he goes to praying hands. September twenty second,
Impact Sting comes out in Hogan's shirt, calls out Bobby Rude says,
I've done everything it takes and I'm proud of you and I believe you can
beat Kurt Angle. Bobby Rude as they built their match at Bound for Glory
for the title. I believe I'm looking at championship caliber right here. But
you've got to stay focused, he tells Rude. You got to convince me
you're ready. Root says you're the man Sting, this is your time right
now, though. Bobby Sting replies, thirteen years in this business. I
promise you in these people, but most of all myself. Route says that
come down for glory. I'm gonna walk out of there the next world champion.
Sting goes nuts trying to get them up for that prospect. In the
crowd, he says, that's what I want to hear, Bobby, next
world champ chant breaks out and he promises him is going to give him everything
he's got, and you need to make a promise, Staying, Promise me
you'll take care of Hulk Hogan. Bobby Rude says, then together you and
I Sting will finally get this company back to her belong. Aj Styles gets
involved too. He says, I haven't had a title shot. I beat
Kernangl to be the world champion. Because unless you're friends with the right people
around here, Brother, he says, who knows when you're gonna get another
shot? So do it, Bobby Rude, do it for me. And
aj dapts rude, and then Flair is ranting to Hogan backstage. You're talking
about doing something that's completely unacceptable. Flair says to Hogan, You're going to
change the history of this business if you do this, your whole Cogan,
you're the franchise and industry. You cannot do this, and Hogan says,
I'm doing it. Rick, this is not a good decision. You're Hulk
Hogan. What is the thing he's going to do. Hogan comes out to
close the show. I feel like there's been I want to retire, brother.
I feel like there's been a million pounds lifted off my shoulders. He
tells the crowd. This is um an impact that was taped on the road.
By the way, they did Huntsville, Alabama late in September, and
is it Pikeville, Kentucky. They did another shot to somewhere else down there,
puts the shades up. I did a lot of soul searching the last
couple of months. I realized everything in life is about a run. Remember
that from the body by by how much how much fun was it? How
good was it? Really? The run? I realized that whole Cogan,
the whole Cogan run and all the whole the Maniacs has been the best run
of all times. And they start clapping like, oh man, he's he's
going to give us a heartfelt goodbye speech. You know, guys, when
I started thinking about the things, we go back way over three decades,
and I started thinking about the very first day when I got in this and
Harramatsuda broke my leg. He taught me respect, what it meant to step
up and be a man in this ring. I wrestled in little high schools,
did road trips. I got lucky. I got the big break,
a chance to Wrestlandreane for a ninety four thousand people. And the more I
started thinking about how good things were, I couldn't help but think how many
times Madison Square Garden had been sold out. Mister t Cindy Lapper, Roddy
Piper wore to settle the score and they cut the sting. Watching backstage kind
of incredulous as to what hul Coogan is saying. But at the end of
the day, this thing with Ulkamania could go on forever. So then I
had a chance at the lifetime. After all the indoor tenants records SkyDome in
Canada, records at the Egg Dome in Japan. Oh my god, every
single guy that helped to get me here for over twenty years. I had
a chance of a lifetime to come to Impact Wrestling with over three decades of
knowledge, to step into this company and make a difference. All I saw
where eyes, and these eyes were hungry. I've been here almost two years,
and when I see these guys like Rude and Storm and Kazarian and Daniels
and a j R VDJFF finally back on track, I realized that every moment
I spent here was worth it. Well, you guys don't see is what
goes on backstage. I taught them everything I knew about getting by in this
ring, not getting hurt, told him everything I would tell I would.
I told them things I wouldn't tell my best friend about how to survive in
this business. I gave them soul, my life, my blood, everything
I knew. A lot of them took the information. A lot of them
didn't need a lot of it. I felt I did everything I could to
help Impact. And they show Sting again in the split screen and he says
to the camera, am I the only one that sees this. He says,
the first time I saw him in Suburban Commando, I knew he was
a phenomenal Hulk. You get an oscar for that one, he says to
the TV, and then we jump cut for some reason back to Hulk in
mid sentence, and they jump cut earlier when they did the sting Wick flair
in ring confrontation. There was a report that when they first went out to
the ring and did it, they were like referencing, like, I beat
you so bad you had to run to New York. And they're like talking
about their flair leaving for the w w F one. Sting was on top
and they had them redo that, edited that out, thank you very much.
When I feel the pounds, the pounds poundage, when I feel the
weight off my shoulder, I made the decision enough is enough. This is
for me. This is the end of the road, guys, Hogan says
to a course of booze. But when I sat down and made the decision
to say this is what I wanted to tell people that that followed me and
were loyal and supported me the most, That's why I wanted to tell you
fans. First, I haven't even told Jennifer. Yet because at the end
of the day, when everything went down and I bottomed out, when I
lost my family, when financially I bottomed out, when I lost my uh,
when I lost my something and had eight surgeries in a row, the
only thing that I didn't lose were the fans. I lost. My smile
absolutely is doing the whole thing, and they find women to kind of way
to crying in the crowd, so credit to that. The only thing Hulk
says that has ever been with me since day one and never turned their back
on me was you guys. But I never turned my back on you,
no matter how far down I went. All I knew was when I walked
out those doors of the house, you guys were there. After I lost.
Those guys in the back were there for me. That's the part.
You guys. I thought that was part of the problem. I know,
but they're always there. I made the decision. It's the end of my
run. My time is done here. There's nothing more for me to do.
The Roods, the Storms, the Kazarians, the Ajs, the up
and run. They're up and running. They're the stars of the future.
The Zahoreans are the stars of the Future. Cut to Sting. He's crying
backstage, and he says, next week in Knoxville the Civic Coliseum, I'm
inviting all the fans, my friends, people that have been part of my
life. I want everybody to be there because we're going to have a celebration
because Hulk Hogan is going to make a formal announcement next week in Knoxville,
and that will be the last time you ever see me in this ring.
Thank you, guys, I love you with all my heart. Hogan chance
explode. Cut to Sting. Okay, all right, well he's talking about
friends. I'm one of his good friends, and believe me, I'm going
to be in Knoxville front row. I'm going to celebrate with the Hochster.
It's showtime. As for Jeff Hardy, he was finally sentenced on September eleventh
of Well know he was arrested on a Nutber eleven, three thousand and nine.
We mentioned that already Viking and the Maxwell House coffee can that was the
the thing. More details come out. He would meet a wrestling fan in
Florida and if the fan offered him pills, he accepted it, and they
would mail Jeff the pills in a Maxwell House coffee can. But the postal
service and inspected the can because I thought it was suspicious that two hundred twenty
six two hundred and sixty two pills. Yes, so they sealed it up
and delivered it back to Hardy to see if he take delivery, and he
signs for it. So they raided the house because they had probably they got
hundred soma is five hundred and fifty milli laters of annabolic steroids, some out
or cocaine, drug paraphernalia. Let's go. He checks himself into jail that
Jeff Hardy on October third of twenty eleven and serves about ten days in jail.
He didn't have any bookings during that period. He had melted her notes
and wanted to get it taken care of him. He only got he only
get booked into prison. He got booked that right and his brother Matt gets
arrested that week after a raid on his home, announcing a three month rehab
stint. Did Matt Hardy after the Morse County Sheriff's Office raided his home on
September fourteenth, eleven, after they had come to his house eight days prior
to check in an appearance suicide note tease that he put up on the internet.
According here to the Observer, Deep but he searched the home twenty miles
and a bolos one dose of ecstasy, nineteen hundred dollars in cash, drug
paraphernalia is Safe charged with possession with intent to sell her delivery Schedule three and
Abolo's possession of Schedule one ecstasy, maintaining and dwelling to keep control substances,
and possession of drug paraphernalia. Melzer notes it was his fourth arrest in recent
weeks, the other being for driving infractions. Yeah, it's problem. His
girlfriend made a nine one one call saying my Hardy was strung out on pills
and needed help. Impact October sixth, What a fucking lunatic emotional gravity music
to start with Hulk and SloMo doing T and A things and slapping hands.
Over the months, just walking and absolutely walking, slapping hands, maybe shaking
his head on the phone backstage. Just thing could go on forever. They
recall from last week. I made the decision enough is enough for me.
It's at the end of the road. Knoxville Coliseum on the banks of the
Tennessee River, and it looks a lot smaller than Fayetteville. When they had
gone on the road last time, it looked like a bigger building. This
kind of looks even smaller than the Impact zone from some angles. But they
reflect back on Hulk moments throughout the broadcast, of course, going back to
January fourth, but the March eighth match with Abyss, the March that are
twenty eleven thing where Dixie Carter declares um, where they declare victory over Dixie
Carter in court, which was definitely a whole Cocon highlight. I guess um,
of course, Yeah, I mean you know, I don't understand.
Why why are you? Why are you why? Why why are you giving
him a hard time? Well, all right, Jesus, fine, let's
step back and let's give the man his flowers, because he's not going to
Wrestless Sting. He's coming to Knoxville to call it a career here after just
about eighteen months in Impact Wrestling, and Boss, I'd imagine you have some
sound from this one. I do, I have, I have this this
whole ten h And let's turn it over to Hogan for some wistful commentary as
he faces down Bound for Glory. Very familiar promo starting too. By the
way, you know, I knew that what happened in Nashville without a doubt.
Brothers. You know that's royal double. As I was saying, When
my feet hit the ground this morning and I woke up, the very first
thing, I realized that today was the final day I would be in the
wrestling business. You know, after the thirty plus year run that I've had.
That was a tough cup of coffee for me to swallow first in the
morning. But you know what, guys, I put on my game face.
I came to Knoxville, and from the moment I walked through the airport,
everybody in Knoxville welcomed me with open arms. I mean, the love.
All I gotta say is you guys made me feel so much love today.
I felt like it was my first day back in this business in Knoxville.
Thank you very much for that. You know, it's just been so
crazy trying to explain to my family that, guess what, I'm back home.
I'm gonna be hanging out a lot. You know, I kind of
started thinking today what am I gonna do with myself? You know, it's
kind of like I've been on the road for so many years, I just
really didn't think about when I formerly retired, what was I gonna do?
Start golfing or go out fishing. I mean, I gotta find something that's
gonna replace the love that I feel in each and every one of these buildings.
I'm telling you, Yeah, you know. It got so crazy today
because I was going through Twitter and looking at Facebook. I had some fans
on the Twitter going, Hogan, if this is really your last night.
We have a ten hour drive. We want to know if you're really retiring.
And I had to answer each and every person back that yes, this
is the end of the line. This has been the greatest career I could
have ever dreamed of. And because of all the fans, everybody at home
and at all these arenas, thank you, guys, thank you for everything.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. At the end of the
day, there have been generations and generations. Brother, why dude, why
dude? Why you know, guys, this could go on for another thirty
years. But at the end of the day, Talkamania had the longest run
of anybody in this business. And now it's time to put Talcomania to rest.
And there's only one thing left. Guys, we might as well left
the celebration began, Guys, hold a Hogan says, let the celebration begin.
But Sting coming to the rain. I'm gonna ask your cast, is
this a tribute to Paul Covid from Sting? Even see icon is pusting out
the red and yellow tonight. You never know what stink stinking whom as I
can't answer that movie thot stinks thinking, But this puss it is. Folks
woman, you are not welcomed out here, and you're not gonna turn this
into a damn clown show. Paul crap. Listen, listen, I I
really am am so sorry to come out here and and and bring a little
bit of rain to this lovely and momentous evening. But I just gotta ask
this question. Is there anybody in Knoxville or anywhere else in the whole wide
world this buying this stuff about retirement? Brother, You know you need to
understand one thing. Nothing lasts forever in this business, and you need to
know when it's time to leave me alone. I'm officially done. I've said
my goodbyes. I'm retired. My brother, I supput no no, No,
hold on, I suppose there's a good chance that I've just become so
jaded because of this business, so hardened and callous, that I just can't
let you have your just do. I'm sorry about that, Holtan World.
Fine, but but then what again? Maybe maybe it's that I know you
better than anyone on the face of this earth. Hogan. Yes, maybe
it's true, Hogan. Yes, you know something. It's all really amazing
about all the cameras that are on every corner in every building, on every
street, everywhere, including this building right here. Brother, It's amazing.
There is nothing hunked A's sacred in this business any longer. No, I've
got some compelling footage on you. Yes, you're caught on what whoa whoa?
Well? Hold on, games are officially over. If you would now
leave, I've got one last thing I have to say, and this party's
over, brother, Okay, I'll leave after we play the footage, and
I promise it's gonna be ugly. Hulkster, please play it now. Do
you really think they bought the fact that I'm retired tonight? Er, I
mean, please, I'm so worried something. You know, I've heard a
lot of feedbackers. Some people are saying, are you sure you're really doing
this? To Twitter has been born up saying okay, we're driving eight hours
if this is your last night. We fooled everybody. I mean, I
get the head of the Netfork calling me any why did you tell us in
advance? How could you do this to us? I can forbody, and
these hill billies here and next knox Field. I mean they're mortgaging your trailer
home so they can go out and buy oh COVID, remember billiam Hersman basis,
I'm worried about tonight walking the Walking Canada. We're in Mouthfield till c
we wrote the women don't even have a te fear and dude, what a
play all that an you retire from. Go to the wye, catching a
little bit of some tan, take them out to the beach, throw a
few coconuts around, maybe somebody you one of those. That's just for your
mental hands off. That's enough. It's not that damn footage. T turn
that off. You know something, Please cross the line staying do you have
cross the line? You're broken every damn all. You ruined everything in this
wrestling business. I am so sick of you. I can't stand you.
You want to rustle Hell no, I'll never wrest you out, but you
push me so far. You want to fight, I'll fight you, Stinger.
I'll fight you at confer going, and if you can beat me,
I'll get the company back to you. Fixty Carter, Well, slip of
the tongue there. I don't want to talk to offer now. So lame
riveting television, huh has reflected in the ratings. UH. This episode of
impacted one point three eight million viewers, the second lowest number of viewers of
twenty eleven. Nobody cares about the about the status of fucking TNA impact whatever.
You don't care about no, because no one. I mean seriously,
it's amazing that they wasted that angle, Like Sting Hogan was ready set,
it was fine, Like why did they have to add this thing where he
retires in the last two weeks and then was lying to the people, Well,
what's the point of that. I mean, that's something you can save
for down the road, a really hot angle, you know, yeah,
absolutely play out the retirement for a long time. But they just like cram
it in yea on the go home for what already will be their biggest pay
per view of the year anyway, such bizarre decision making and in such a
wasted emotion because you can't go back out there ever again and do the retirement
speech after that. You can't. No, no, no, you can't.
I mean you can try, but you've lost what's so important to a
dynamic like that, and that being the first time you've heard someone utter those
words on the microphone. Ye, yep, Alkamani's not going anywhere. It's
all a gimmick, brother, And he got those peep, he got them
all. You heard him, didn't you. Yeah? Oh, he got
everything in there aboutely all thought they all wanted to have a moment yeah where
they were licensed to cheer for Hull Coogan like they actually want to. Yeah,
not allowed, folks, because we're doing because we're opening this thing wide
open, brother, taking this to a whole other level. These are middling
numbers for impact going into the biggest show of the year built around whole Coogan.
Not great for Terry houpebolea clown and I'll take it definitely. And then
he's got micro Championship Wrestling on True TV and that's going down every week.
Eight hundred seventy thousand viewers in September twenty first, which was twenty that's still
going on. Well, he was promoting it, but it didn't actually come
out until September. Why was all right? How long did it last?
Eight weeks? I think it was. It's twenty one percent below True TV's
primetime average. Jesus, what a fucking what a goofball? What a fucking
loser? Well, let's go hometime. Yes, it is, because I
wish the leopard spots have been exposed. The Emperor has no clothes and whole
Cogan while there's nothing now between him and staying in bound for glory and wrestling
one more time, or as he puts it, fighting one more time.
Yeah, I mean that's that's a smart because he ain't gonna be a wrestling
match, that's for sure. You heard him carve that out, And that's
big because you know, last year approved in Hogan's entirety andigh run, it's
like it's always, even that March match with Abyss, it's always touch and
go. You know, there's always some out they need to have in case
Hogan wakes up one morning and can't fucking move. You know, it's oh
no, dude, not feeling this one bro the very real possibility at all
times. Wait, wait, I didn't I just want to say it.
You know, I didn't know. I wasn't being serious when I say I
fight sing dude, right, I mean I was kind of just being being
facetious, you know, kind of taken, you know, you know,
kind of playing hide the ball. Yeah, I think one ball I should
have hid. You know, I understand someone getting you so upset that you
say I will fight you even though I said I wouldn't. But why do
you then follow it on with and I'll give you the entire company? Like
why why did he blurt that out? And why is that binding? I
mean, I know the fact that he just said it. You know,
Bischoff and Hogan had to get a document signed under false pretenses to get the
company. But Hogan can just give it back to Dixie by saying two words
in the ring that he didn't mean to say. Doesn't he have to sign
something too? Very bizarre, very lazy? That's the problem. What do
you You don't know what you're talking about? Just you know, Hogan wrestling
sting is enough. You don't have the layer on the future of t a
A. But I guess you do one of the They fucking suck, is
what the problem is. Impact October thirteenth, Go home time, they do
a contract signing in the ring. Jeremy Borash says, this Sunday Bound.
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. I hate him
so much. Well, they're so stupid its ink to be put on paper
here, which is actually the most Hogan segments, because you know what,
like they're there there there, you know that it's gonna be something's gonna happen,
right, you know, because if you if because why don't we have
contract signings for every single fucking match? So true? You know Crockett used
to do it well in the boardroom and they would talk shit. But it
isn't It shouldn't be physical, it should be verbal, right right, But
here Bores says this Sunday Bound for glory. The very future of this company
hangs in the balance. One match, one night to determine it at all.
And here it comes hole to a chorus of booze. He's in front
of the same crowd that he just turned on. They taped two weeks of
television in Knoxville, so they really hate him Hulk standing there with the forearms
folded like whatever, good, that's that's smart. Then, yeah, that
was smart, and it's it's really good for go home shows, for big
pay per views, you know, creates energy around the product. Sure,
only people would watch the show. Making the scowl face. As he walks
to the ring, too many mistakes, man signs his Whole Comania hashtag fail
wow. Put his foot in his mouth tests as unlike usual when he puts
his foot in someone else's mouth, that they're shooting them off. Oh look
at that, look at that. Sting comes out, makes the walk to
Nassis. For several years, Sting has asked for one thing, the chance
to fight Whole Cogan, and that opportunity presents itself this Sunday. They both
take a seat. Has he asked for years? Huh? Has he asked
for years? Um? I don't know. I guess not. I mean
he's wrestled him several times. Yeah, not that we've seen. I know.
They act like he only wrestled them once at Starcade. I mean he
wrestled him February at the following February and then they wrestled at Fallbrawl nine.
Did so? I don't see what the big deals. So they both take
a seat at the table with JB between them. He tells them, you
both have agreed to the terms of this contract. That is now time to
make it a weird looking motherfucker. Jeremy borash yes, oh yeah, he
really concerns me. Ester Hogan, if you would please, Hogan, with
his elbows on the table, just stands there. Sting flips open with his
weird red gloves that he wears and signs the contract again. Jeremy Boris says,
mister Hogan, if you would please, chorus of booze, looks off
into space, does the mustache face, and finally Hogan flips it open and
signs. As they chant, Hogan sucks. It is official. Final words.
Do we have some final words from the principles? We do have final
words from our principles. I do have something to say. I've been watching
you dance around Paul Togan for over thirty years. Sting, we had a
brief encounter, but she were really happy when that moment was over with brother,
So here we are again. I've watched your song and dance. I
wrestled all over the world. Brother, you could have chased me, and
you could have found me, because I'm not hard to find. Brother.
But for you to come here to TNA in the twilight of my career,
when I was here to help this company, when I was here to make
things right, where I was here with Eric Bischoff, to get this company
back on track, something at you and all your little TNA originals couldn't get
done. The kind of man that you are staying. You dug down as
low as you could go. You went ahead, danced around my career,
hid from the monster Hulk Hogan, and finally, in the eleventh hour,
when I was at peace with my career, you dropped your down card with
the big scary man face on it. So I'm here to tell you,
if you don't understand you wanted Hulk Hogan, You've got the real damn Hulk
Hogan. Now that's all you ever wanted. Hall, that's all you ever
wanted. I want here to tell you be careful what you wish for one
more time for the record book. My wrestling career is over. But for
you to insult me in front of all these people that love me, for
you to embarrass me, for you to embarrass me the way you have in
front of all these people that support me and are loyal to me. I
want to let you know this is gonna be the fight of your life,
my brother. And there's gonna be no games played. There's gonna be no
interference. There's gonna be no pieces of a puzzle that you can't figure out
staying. It's gonna be you and me and on man one of us walks
out out this ring and one of us dozens. You've got my word on
it. Man on man, Brother, Yeah, okay, man on Man,
You and me, nobody else. I hope you're ready. Oh whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's one little teas some business
seeing you laid your hands on me two weeks ago. And if there's anything
left over, but how ko he gets done with you? I'm good kid,
You're destruction and enables hooge. You come up from behind, hope of
this? Her tears on? Come up from man? Brother? What come
up from? Oh behind? What did you just turn about? Fair play?
Dude? Whoa stinger? Oh? Sorry about that out there? Brother,
and I get you hard way in the back of the head. Dude.
Look, I'm real sorry. I came from behind, Dude. I
wonder if you think that that justifies you maybe doing the same to me a
bound for glory and if we need to have a talk about that eventuality.
I mean, you know, I just want to talk. You know,
we'll talk turkey about that. Brother. I'm all about storylines con playing through,
you know, to the pay per view, Brother, But you know,
I got a little I'm just wondering, dude. You know, I'm
wondering we could maybe pull a twist on the fans. Dude. You know
they're gonna maybe expect you come on from behind, brother, But what if
you didn't, if you just came out. Let's talk about that, if
you just came out from front, brother, and we just kind of had
a straight match instead of you, you know, like you're just you got
the honored thing going on. I'll see in Philly, dude, Brother,
Brother, I'll see in Philly what you mean Philly, dude,