Speaker 1: You know, Boss, we've gone over what happened on television
Speaker 1: when Terry the Hulk Boulder made it to Memphis. Yes,
Speaker 1: not so much the interpersonal dynamics of important.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what fucking matters.
Speaker 1: And what interpersonal dynamic could be more important in the
Speaker 1: territory of Memphis in nineteen seventy nine than that between
Speaker 1: Jerry the King Lawler and Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 2: That's the only that's the only dynamic, the only dynamic that.
Speaker 1: Matters, because, like you said, the mind immediately goes to
Speaker 1: that wrestling gold match. You knew about it before we
Speaker 1: ever even launched the Lapsed fan yep, I have that tape.
Speaker 1: Have that tape and sit with you preep tape. How
Speaker 1: did it sit with you when you first watched it?
Speaker 1: That's that's a great question. Like I don't, I don't remember,
Speaker 1: you know, I just didn't. I didn't really appreciate Jerry
Speaker 1: Lawler in terms of his his legacy and in terms
Speaker 1: of Memphis and whatever. If anything, it made me realize
Speaker 1: Jerry Lawler was old, was older than I thought he was.
Speaker 1: Perhaps sure, you know, because I don't think it really
Speaker 1: I don't think it hit me as as how kind
Speaker 1: of Yeah, that's my question for you to hit you
Speaker 1: as I just watched Hulkogan lose to Jerry Lawler. No, no,
Speaker 1: it didn't hit me like that.
Speaker 2: It was not that I recall anyway. I think, if anything,
Speaker 2: what bothered me more was that just that Hulk Hogan lost,
Speaker 2: because even though he was a heel, I was I
Speaker 2: want him to win, right, you know? That was always
Speaker 2: a thing, no matter what Hulk Hogan was, I always
Speaker 2: wanted him to win.
Speaker 1: And as we'll talk about, this is hardly the first
Speaker 1: time Jerry the King Lawler was in a bit of
Speaker 1: a controversy like this around framing himself in wrestling media
Speaker 1: as having picked up a victory in his territory over
Speaker 1: big time superstars who went on to greater fame and
Speaker 1: fortune than just the Mid South Coliseum. And it's a
Speaker 1: fun little wrinkle in how the Jerry Lawler office would
Speaker 1: play games in a nineteen seventies pro wrestling territorial scene
Speaker 1: that man, are we stewing in as part of the
Speaker 1: complete hul Cogan here on the rast Fan Wrestling podcast
Speaker 1: and Oh Yes, Hull Cogan and Eddie Boulder's journey to
Speaker 1: Memphis in the summer of seventy nine remains our focus
Speaker 1: with a bit of a stretch goal here on what
Speaker 1: I think will probably be our final episode on Hogan's
Speaker 1: Memphis Run, because it's very awkward. You have these months
Speaker 1: in seventy nine. As we talked about last time. May
Speaker 1: seventy nine, he comes up from Alabama to do a
Speaker 1: couple shots teaming with Jerry Lawler, Joles Yes, and Ed Boulder,
Speaker 1: and then kind of skirts back to Alabama, does all
Speaker 1: the stuff we talked about in prior episodes, including the
Speaker 1: Harley Race match, and then ends up back in Memphis
Speaker 1: on a bit of a full time commitment teaming with
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder. Is the Boulder Brothers on television, feuding with
Speaker 1: the likes of Ron Bass, Pete Austin and others that
Speaker 1: we've talked about, and then eventually kind of peeling off
Speaker 1: and challenging guys like Bass for Singles Championship while Ed
Speaker 1: Boulder as a single fell further down the card. That
Speaker 1: should be the sum and substance of his Memphis run.
Speaker 1: There shouldn't be much more to say, because after this
Speaker 1: he goes to TBS Georgia Championship. He goes to WWF
Speaker 1: in New York, he's in New York for all of
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty. He starts in Japan in nineteen eighty where
Speaker 1: as we're going to talk about, you better believe, as
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about, his stardom reaches a whole
Speaker 1: new dimension and his appeal becomes completely undeniable to anyone
Speaker 1: with a pulse paying attention to the wrestling scene. And
Speaker 1: it's only after all of that hoopla, and just as
Speaker 1: he's on the doorstep of making that fateful jump to
Speaker 1: vere Gania to become an explosively popular babyface, that he
Speaker 1: has this one match in February of nineteen eighty one
Speaker 1: against Jerry Lawler in the Mid South Colosseum. He comes
Speaker 1: back to Memphis really for just that match. They do
Speaker 1: rematch each other in nineteen eighty one, but it's not
Speaker 1: in Memphis. It's at the Bayfront Center in Florida. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: But it's so hard to who what what promotion was
Speaker 1: that that was Chimp to Prestling from Florida. That was
Speaker 1: kind of like an Eddie Graham co. Promotion if you
Speaker 1: will see. They kind of carried the feud because Lawler
Speaker 1: would make appearances in Florida as well on a regular
Speaker 1: basis while being you know, obviously homesteaded and having a
Speaker 1: percentage of the office in Memphis. He did get around
Speaker 1: a little, right, Oh, we know that in more ways
Speaker 1: than perhaps you're thinking. So it's so hard because you
Speaker 1: want to put a bow in Hulk Memphis. You want
Speaker 1: to put a bow on it, you want to put
Speaker 1: a pin in it as seventy nine. But there's this
Speaker 1: eighty one and goddamn it, it's it's the most famous
Speaker 1: thing he did in Memphis. It's the thing everybody thinks about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because match and the tape, and that's tape.
Speaker 2: I imagine if that tape didn't exist, no one would
Speaker 2: give no one even fucking think about it.
Speaker 1: So our mission here as we finish walking in Memphis
Speaker 1: with the Hulkster, is to explain that, explain how it
Speaker 1: very much fit a pattern of how Jerry Lawler was
Speaker 1: conducting himself in the wrestling industry as not only a
Speaker 1: top headliner in the Memphis territory, but an executive and
Speaker 1: someone you know, subject to n WA politics but not
Speaker 1: necessarily beholden to them like so many other promoters seem
Speaker 1: to be. How that fit the pattern and how basically,
Speaker 1: you know, much like Dusty Rhodes, Hulk borrowed and learned
Speaker 1: from the top baby face, like Jerry Lawler all the
Speaker 1: tricks of the trade of getting the people behind you,
Speaker 1: and then just left the territory and was off to
Speaker 1: the races to put those wears to use in different
Speaker 1: regions and under brighter spotlights. So it's time to uh,
Speaker 1: not only cap off what Hogan in Memphis was, but
Speaker 1: what it meant for where it is he's he's going.
Speaker 1: And so we need to be lathered right at mean memorial.
Speaker 1: If we're going to go down a road like this,
Speaker 1: we need to be satiated. We need to be sated.
Speaker 1: Our thirst needs to be quenched. Yes, we talked a
Speaker 1: long journey ahead of us. We talk a lot about
Speaker 1: quenching thirst, don't you talk about the hunger? But the
Speaker 1: thirst also.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's all ways a brutal thirst.
Speaker 1: Brutal thirst when you're engaging in a journey like ours.
Speaker 1: I mean you don't go, uh, you don't go meandering
Speaker 1: out in the desert for three weeks without proper supplies, Okay,
Speaker 1: because you'll like go end of Blake Evandanner Okay, and uh,
Speaker 1: what we like to pack what we like to have
Speaker 1: in our corner is garage Beer. Fuck yes, completely, a
Speaker 1: real American story, brought to you by this real American brew.
Speaker 1: Garage Beer supporters of the journey, supporters of the show,
Speaker 1: and my god, it's the fastest growing beer brand in
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Speaker 1: favorite varieties, Classic and Lime. They're coming to a store
Speaker 1: and they're probably already there. Honestly, just go to drink
Speaker 1: garage Beer dot Com.
Speaker 2: Hit there. Oh, for God's sakes, they're they're they're there.
Speaker 2: They are spreading out faster than I could fucking possibly imagine. Solutely,
Speaker 2: I'll say, I think it's safe to say that garage
Speaker 2: Mania is running wild. The garage is open, you damn
Speaker 2: fucking straight, and we're open too. We're open to any
Speaker 2: and all possibilities here on the Complete Hulk Cogen Journey.
Speaker 2: We covered so much material last time, Like I said,
Speaker 2: the ins and outs of what was happening in the ring,
Speaker 2: a bit more of a behind the scenes treatment here,
Speaker 2: Boss I think we ought to start in the seventy
Speaker 2: nine folder there and nin can seventy nine dash nine
Speaker 2: to three, because with this marks is a bit of
Speaker 2: press coverage here in the Birmingham News that basically brings
Speaker 2: to an end the Nick Gooulis Roy Welch era of Memphis.
Speaker 2: Remember we talked about how Jerry Jarrett made a move
Speaker 2: on them and took over. Yes, and this is sort
Speaker 2: of like the last gasp. This is like those articles
Speaker 2: back in the lamentable tragedy of World Class where all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, Fritz was selling to these like random
Speaker 2: media figures in the Dallas Fort Worth market and you realize, like,
Speaker 2: this guy, after decades of owning this part of the
Speaker 2: country from a professional wrestling perspective, is truly going to
Speaker 2: go out with a whimper. And here the full changing
Speaker 2: of the guard and essentially the end of involvement in
Speaker 2: Memphis of the Welsh family, which, as we've come to
Speaker 2: appreciate at this point in the complete Hulkogan, is a
Speaker 2: very important one to getting Terry Bully jump started in
Speaker 2: the wrestling industry.
Speaker 1: Yes, so it's a fact. The headline reads Gulis did
Speaker 1: sell Birmingham. Wow, what's the date again? Nineteen seventy nine?
Speaker 1: Dash oh nine, dash o three.
Speaker 2: Oh there it is right there. It's a I'm sorry
Speaker 2: that that picture of whoever Hal Hayes's be a columnist?
Speaker 2: Yeah too much for me? Yess like Jesus Christ. How
Speaker 2: many chins has that guy got? Anyway? The divorce came suddenly,
Speaker 2: unexpectedly too. As far as any of us knew, at least,
Speaker 2: there had been no visible or audible signs of trouble,
Speaker 2: and gossip was non existent. We all thought the union
Speaker 2: was still solid. Then the news came first by whisper.
Speaker 2: When it was confirmed, the impact hit like a small bomb.
Speaker 2: Nick Goulis had indeed divested himself of his mate of
Speaker 2: twenty five years, professional wrestling in Birmingham for one reason.
Speaker 2: I told my interests there for one reason, the veteran
Speaker 2: entrepreneur said Monday from his nation. He's a veteran entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: That's one industry, Yeah exactly from Uh said Monday from
Speaker 2: his Nashville, Tennessee home. Come September, I'll be sixty five
Speaker 2: years old, and I've been at this promotion's business. I've
Speaker 2: been at this promotions business forty four years. Forty four years,
Speaker 2: he repeats, and I just figured it was time that
Speaker 2: I started enjoying my life. That's the only reason I
Speaker 2: sold really well. I think Hogan enjoyed life when he
Speaker 2: didn't sell you bright, because it's because he didn't sell
Speaker 2: why he enjoyed me. I gave it a lot of
Speaker 2: thought before I ever did it. I made a lot
Speaker 2: of money from my Birmingham cards. It's a great wrestling town.
Speaker 2: But he continued deliberately. I just got tired of driving
Speaker 2: down there every Monday night, week after week for all
Speaker 2: those years. So in those two gentlemen, Curtis Mackenzie and
Speaker 2: Tonio Ladoux came to me and offered to buy me out.
Speaker 2: I said, okay, they proved themselves to me. They prove
Speaker 2: that they are committed to continuing the high grade of
Speaker 2: professional wrestling the folks down here down there used to.
Speaker 2: The two local businessmen are said to have paid well
Speaker 2: into six figures for the franchise.
Speaker 1: Here lies just another small little puzzle piece in what
Speaker 1: used to be the vast territorial system of wrestling in
Speaker 1: the United States. Of course, the Mackenzies weren't able to
Speaker 1: do much with it. Before Vince even took over nationally.
Speaker 1: This from nineteen eighty. McKenzie is crying uncle and giving
Speaker 1: up his brief career as a wrestling promoter in Birmingham
Speaker 1: as president McKenzie Wrestling Enterprises, Inc. He his filed for bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: Report surfaced earlier this year that McKenzie's wrestling venture was
Speaker 1: on the ropes, or nearly so, when paying customers for
Speaker 1: the Monday night matches that apparently Nick Goulis was sick
Speaker 1: of driving to right boss, yeah right at Boutwell Auditorium
Speaker 1: dropped below the break even mark. About the same time,
Speaker 1: Nick Goulis, a long time wrestling promote in the Southeast,
Speaker 1: sued McKenzie. Big thumbs up for these strong businessmen who
Speaker 1: came around, sue m.
Speaker 2: Bout Well. By the way, the Boutwell Auditorium. That's great,
Speaker 2: that's right. How about bout poorly poor about Apparently that's
Speaker 2: what was going on. I guess so for a twenty
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars payment which Goulis claimed was overdue in
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand dollars contract. McKenzie got into the wrestling
Speaker 2: promotion business in December nineteen seventy eight after contracting with
Speaker 2: Goulis for his interest in Birmingham Wrestling. The final payment
Speaker 2: of twenty five thousand dollars wasn't paid last January. An
Speaker 2: associate of McKenzie said it wasn't paid because Goulis had
Speaker 2: not fulfilled his promise ah Yes, to provide quality wrestlers
Speaker 2: for the Birmingham matches that payment. I don't know why he.
Speaker 1: Had to pride the wrestlers would provide a contract back
Speaker 1: end bullshit were like, he's not the owner, but basically
Speaker 1: the owner's subcontract to him to staff the cards, which
Speaker 1: if he was doing a good enough job, the damn
Speaker 1: thing wouldn't be on the auction block anyway. But as
Speaker 1: Nickoolas said, he's selling for one reason because all of
Speaker 1: a sudden he's sick of driving to Birmingham.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, i'd say too, I'd say, I say one
Speaker 2: of the reasons he also, uh, I'd say the main reason,
Speaker 2: and he's probably not going to say this here, is
Speaker 2: that somebody offered him money for it. Yeah, that's the
Speaker 2: fucking main reason.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden it's for sale when someone comes
Speaker 1: around with waving some cash. He certainly wasn't driving to
Speaker 1: the Mid South Coliseum on Monday nights anymore because Jerry
Speaker 1: Jarrett had had firmly dominated him in that arena, had
Speaker 1: fulfilled his promise to Pride Quality wrestlers. Yes, that payment
Speaker 1: with a notation that is in litigation. I don't let
Speaker 1: nobody dominate nobody on my watch. No, that's why knowing
Speaker 1: gets over. It's the largest dead listed on the McKenzie
Speaker 1: Wresting Enterprises petition in US Bankruptcy Court. Goulis of Birmingham, Naive,
Speaker 1: whose wrestling empire is based in Nashville.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So one little interesting factoid about this Birmingham part of
Speaker 1: the territory that Nikolas retained after Jerry Jarrett closed in
Speaker 1: on Memphis and those main areas out to Evansville, Indianna
Speaker 1: as well, is that Hulk did make his way through there.
Speaker 1: In fact, on September fourth, nineteen seventy nine, the Birmingham
Speaker 1: News ran this piece, the Hulk Captures Wrestling feature.
Speaker 2: That's the headline. I don't even know what that fucking means.
Speaker 1: So he wasn't competing for a championship or a belt.
Speaker 1: He was competing for a feature. What is this an audition.
Speaker 2: Like feature? What feature? What exactly? Feature? Film? Feature?
Speaker 1: Article and no sign of Bolet or anything like that
Speaker 1: or Boulder the Hulk, It says one Wrestling's main event
Speaker 1: at the Auditorium Monday night. When look who he's wrestling,
Speaker 1: Dennis Condrey, Oh my god of the future. Midnight Express
Speaker 1: was disqualified to Jesus Christ, I invite you to consider it, fucker, Oh,
Speaker 1: invite you to consider the Terry Boulder we've been watching
Speaker 1: in action in the Memphis Ring in seventy nine wrestling
Speaker 1: Dennis Condury.
Speaker 2: One on one, Condrey is like just one of those.
Speaker 2: He's one of those, like just perennial, perverted looking motherfuckers.
Speaker 2: Dennis Contracy, the.
Speaker 1: Guy who like could pass, is like having appealed to
Speaker 1: ladies in the eighties, but you look at him like
Speaker 1: forty years later and it's like this guy would not
Speaker 1: be allowed in public today. No, not at all, not
Speaker 1: at all with that chest hair showing.
Speaker 2: Not that's the thing not allowed in public, meaning he
Speaker 2: cannot leave his house. Okay, that's exactly, that's exactly. It
Speaker 2: sounds like an appropriates to me. What a what a
Speaker 2: dirty looking man? And boss.
Speaker 1: Take a look at the poster to the left. Mackenzie
Speaker 1: Wrestling enterprises this labor Day is super spectacular. How is
Speaker 1: he listed our front Terry Malay?
Speaker 2: They might as well just call him Lou for Rigno
Speaker 2: for Gugno in action. What does it say is his
Speaker 2: main event? Six foot six inch and two hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty eight pound the incredible Hull versus Dennis Oh, this
Speaker 2: is actually holy shaid, this is even better versus Dennis Conrad.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, oh fuck, some good.
Speaker 2: Should not handle these fucking typeos is so bad. That's
Speaker 2: his name, Conrad Conrad, No Condrey, Well I never heard
Speaker 2: that fucking name before. He's coming to Conrad and miss
Speaker 2: fucking Boston. My god, he's a ship. How are you? Also? Now?
Speaker 1: Underneath there's an ape man tag Tojo Yamamoto huge in
Speaker 1: The Great Togo Jimmy Jones, The Red Terror versus Prince Tonga,
Speaker 1: Tony Ludou and Armand Hussein who's no, No, Husien Armond
Speaker 1: Whosian who's Hussyan, Yeah, Hussian. It's supposed to be Hussein
Speaker 1: and it's supposed to be Armond. We talked about him
Speaker 1: in the in the Dallas Journey. It's one of Gary
Speaker 1: Hart's guy's tremendous.
Speaker 2: Armand Husien Larry Bolden, Oh, Michel Larry Bolden, is that
Speaker 2: a long lost Boulder brother? I don't know about fucking cavities.
Speaker 1: I want you to also read it was the last
Speaker 1: adviso at the bottom of the ad tell me why
Speaker 1: you put this, just in case you're wondering.
Speaker 2: There will be an increase in ticket prices for Monday
Speaker 2: Night match. Which one.
Speaker 1: That's the That's the title of my documentary on the
Speaker 1: history of Monday Night Raw. There will be an increase
Speaker 1: in ticket prices for Monday Night Match. I think that's
Speaker 1: better than Monday Night Raw. Monday Night Match, don't you.
Speaker 2: What will be the Monday Night Match? I just can't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm looking at this and I can't not smile.
Speaker 1: It just says the Incredible Hulk is going to be wrestling.
Speaker 2: I mean, if they even.
Speaker 1: Try to claim that they were like fully aware of
Speaker 1: what they were doing, oh my god, such pieces of
Speaker 1: shit and other bouts. The team of Tony LaDou, Mike Jackson,
Speaker 1: Larry Bolden and Prince Tonga defeated the combination of Tojoyamoto,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jones, the Great Tonga and the Red Terror, and
Speaker 1: Ken Lucas beat David Kenny so yeah, Tojo and Earl
Speaker 1: Yamamoto there definitely a well known heel, one of the
Speaker 1: guys that really mentored Jerry Jarrett coming up as an
Speaker 1: inn ring worker and one of the top heels in Nashville.
Speaker 1: The problem was in Memphis. But when Jerry went off
Speaker 1: on his own, a bunch of wrestlers stayed with Nick
Speaker 1: Gulis and Tojo Yamamoto was among them, so hear evidence
Speaker 1: of that bit of a divided loyalties. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of the the state of the territory and the last whimper.
Speaker 1: Like I said of Nicholas's involvement in and around, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just the closing of the Birmingham leg of the territory.
Speaker 1: But they all fall in a similar way like Dominos,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure end up in some six paragraph story
Speaker 1: about a bankruptcy filing somewhere eventually. So those are those
Speaker 1: last gasps, and Halt's life moves on from here, and
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about and set the stage for
Speaker 1: the Jerry Lawler match and take us through kind of
Speaker 1: where Lawler's mentality was as it regards Terry Boulder coming
Speaker 1: through the territory. Here's something I want you to take
Speaker 1: a look at to start with, this ran in one
Speaker 1: of the aftermags.
Speaker 2: I believe it was.
Speaker 1: In nineteen and seventy five. If you could describe to people,
Speaker 1: boss what it is you're looking at? Yes, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus Christ. Okay, okay. So the image is of
Speaker 2: Jerry Lawler. Who I mean, you know Lawler. He looks
Speaker 2: like sometimes he looks like a high schooler from this
Speaker 2: time period. You know, he just looks like a stupid teenager.
Speaker 1: He looks like a you know, like a twenty five
Speaker 1: year old that plays a teenager in a movie about
Speaker 1: high school, right right, exactly exactly. And he's got a
Speaker 1: side headlock on under the Giant, but he's you know,
Speaker 1: Andre's basically holding him up like Lawler's feet are not
Speaker 1: touching the ground. And the headline reads the night a
Speaker 1: quote midget unquote defeated under the Giant, and on top
Speaker 1: it reads compared to under the Giant, Jerry Lawler is visible.
Speaker 1: Yet on one remarkable night, Lawler should showed size isn't important.
Speaker 1: When the will to win burns bright and Andre learned
Speaker 1: every wrestler, no matter what his size, must be taken
Speaker 1: seriously believe I guess he beat Under the Giant, well,
Speaker 1: just like you guess he beat Hulkogan, right, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess Yep. This was the first example of this kind
Speaker 1: of playbook because Lawlers were about to get into always
Speaker 1: wanted to get on the cover of the Aftermags. He
Speaker 1: always was trying to engineer circumstances.
Speaker 2: That just makes so much sense to me.
Speaker 1: Yes, And now do you think he did this and
Speaker 1: this kind of headline came out with the full acceptance
Speaker 1: of none all the NWA, but Vince McMahon Sr. Who
Speaker 1: basically had booking rights to Under the Giant. Did you
Speaker 1: think he took kindly to this little gamesmanship?
Speaker 2: No, I would imagine that that Lawler did this to
Speaker 2: be a.
Speaker 1: Bitch, to be a bit. Yes, And it's important context
Speaker 1: because not only the connective tissue between Hulk Andre of course,
Speaker 1: but it's not unlike the way that it's almost like
Speaker 1: they use this as sort of a storyline to explain
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty one series between Lawler and Hogan. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, I think there was a bona
Speaker 1: fide real effort once Hogan hit it big to kind
Speaker 1: of revisit this put it out on video and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, just so you know, Jerry Lawler beat him,
Speaker 1: you know, back in the day. This is from Lawler's
Speaker 1: book Unbelievable. I finally did get a cover story in
Speaker 1: the magazine, but when I did, it got me into
Speaker 1: trouble with the NWA. I met Vince McMahon senior, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, was back in good graces with the
Speaker 1: NWA in the seventies. You know, you had all manner
Speaker 1: of talent from what dbiasse Flair Roads Race. So many
Speaker 1: NWA luminaries were wrestling in the garden at this point
Speaker 1: in the seventies. I met Vince McMahon senior at a
Speaker 1: National Wrestling Alliance convention, the annual meeting of all the
Speaker 1: promoters I mentioned before. It was always in places like
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or Reno. Like most conventions, it
Speaker 1: was more or less vacation or get away for the
Speaker 1: promoters and a chance to visit with each other, take
Speaker 1: care of a little business, but mostly to get away
Speaker 1: from their wives and do a little gambling. The main
Speaker 1: and in the case of the Van Eric boys, have
Speaker 1: some prostitutes.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: The main business concern at this particular meeting was that
Speaker 1: TV stations were starting to charge rest to feed my
Speaker 1: sons younger. They went to the golden steer, all right
Speaker 1: in the past, absolutely okay, So the big controversy apparently
Speaker 1: that they were going to meet there was always like
Speaker 1: a big agenda item. This year it was TV station,
Speaker 1: you're charting to charge wrestling companies for their shows. God forbid,
Speaker 1: you know, make us pay to be on the air.
Speaker 1: That's insane. In the past, Lala.
Speaker 2: Wright fucking wrestling where they fucking complain about every every
Speaker 2: little thing, like I.
Speaker 1: Know, any like disruption to the way business was done
Speaker 1: forty years ago. It's like an existential threat. In the past,
Speaker 1: it had been a barber a barter wrestling promoters made
Speaker 1: the show, the station would air it. Now the stations
Speaker 1: were starting to realize that we wouldn't be in business
Speaker 1: without the show, So why not make motors pay for
Speaker 1: the airtime too. This was a major corporate problem and
Speaker 1: to put a lot of motors out of business. But
Speaker 1: the promoter from the Northeast, Vince McMahon Sr. Had something
Speaker 1: he wanted to bring to the attention of his colleagues.
Speaker 1: This was something he thought more important than any TV contract.
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon Senior stood up at the meeting and said,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what a big problem with the business is. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's things like this here, and he held up boss
Speaker 1: a copy of Wrestling Superstars magazine and on the cover
Speaker 1: there was a headline the night a midget beat Andre
Speaker 1: the Giant. Yes, I was sitting in the room at
Speaker 1: the time, Lawla writes, and I kind of slunk down
Speaker 1: a little in my seat. That was because the midget
Speaker 1: the article was referring to his me. You had to
Speaker 1: book Andrea the Giant through the Worldwide Wrestling Federation. You
Speaker 1: could call Vince Senior and ask for Andre for three
Speaker 1: days a week or whatever. It was just pretty much
Speaker 1: how Louis Tillett got him and how Hogan wrestled him
Speaker 1: in seventy nine. To get him, you'd have to guarantee
Speaker 1: Andrea a certain amount, and you had to pay the
Speaker 1: company an extra booking fee. We had Andrea wrestled me
Speaker 1: in Memphis, Evansville, and Louisville. When we were wrestling in Louisville,
Speaker 1: there was a photographer who took pictures of the pair
Speaker 1: of us in action. They were great. The size difference
Speaker 1: looked amazing, Andrea looked colossal, and I looked like, well,
Speaker 1: a midget. Of course, I'm not a small guy, but
Speaker 1: Andre was listed to seven to four and weighed more
Speaker 1: than five hundred pounds. He was significantly bigger than Paul
Speaker 1: White the Big Show, which is saying something. I sent
Speaker 1: Bill Apter the pictures of me and Andre. I used
Speaker 1: to send him pictures all the time to try to
Speaker 1: get in the magazine. Oh boy, so lending some credence
Speaker 1: to the idea that Bill Apter was the one that
Speaker 1: put Andy Kauffman in touch with the Memphis office, Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: always an intermediary, Bill Apter, always uh. He said the
Speaker 1: Andrea pictures were great, and he asked if I minded
Speaker 1: him calling me a midget in the story. He also
Speaker 1: said what he wanted to title the story at the time,
Speaker 1: you couldn't beat Andre the Giant. He wanted to say
Speaker 1: that Andre had been thrown out of the ring and
Speaker 1: couldn't back in and got counted out. But the whole
Speaker 1: deal was great to me because I finally made it
Speaker 1: on the cover of the magazine. I didn't think anything
Speaker 1: more about it until Vincent J. Mcmahonsr. Held the magazine
Speaker 1: up and said, here's what's wrong with the business today,
Speaker 1: stories like this. He was angry. No one's ever beaten Andre.
Speaker 1: He's one of the biggest attractions in this business and
Speaker 1: he needs to be part. We go out of our
Speaker 1: way to make sure none of this ever happens. And
Speaker 1: then someone sends in pictures and write stories. Can you
Speaker 1: picture Vince Senior to the New York write stories, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna write an article. Come on, we go through
Speaker 1: all this trouble to protect Andre and they're gonna write
Speaker 1: an article.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna write. They're just gonna They're just gonna write
Speaker 2: this article. I'm just gonna print it in the in
Speaker 2: the little magazine, and they're gonna they're gonna ruin everything
Speaker 2: for everybody. Do you hear that? Do you hear the
Speaker 2: cling of the silverware? Yes? I do.
Speaker 1: At the convention, the son of a bit, not only
Speaker 1: did someone beat Andre the Giant, Lawla writes, a midget
Speaker 1: beat Andre the Giant. At this point, mister McMahon's face
Speaker 1: was starting to turn red. He was boiling. My face
Speaker 1: was turning red as well from embarrassment. I slunk a
Speaker 1: little farther down in my chair. Terry Funk, who loved
Speaker 1: this kind of thing. Terry's there, God rub his hands together.
Speaker 1: Oh he loves the disorder. He loves you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, the chaos. Terry Funk, who loved this kind
Speaker 1: of thing, thought it was really funny at these meetings.
Speaker 1: Terry was like the mischievous kid in school who didn't
Speaker 1: want to get called on by his tucher fucking in
Speaker 1: the back of the class. He was sitting back there
Speaker 1: looking at me, and he shouted out, well, who was
Speaker 1: the little bastard who beat Andrea the Giant fans?
Speaker 2: Who book to whim? He shows in it because he
Speaker 2: doesn't want Lawala to get off the hook. He doesn't
Speaker 2: want just absolutely it's like generic of this midget guide. Oh, well,
Speaker 2: who was the little bastard who beat Andre the Giant fans?
Speaker 1: Jerry Lawler, That's who it was, Vince yelt Back, son
Speaker 1: of a bit. It wasn't a secret, but Funk made
Speaker 1: sure that everyone in the room knew I was there.
Speaker 1: So I had to stand up and explain how this
Speaker 1: came about. I said, I hadn't called anybody to say
Speaker 1: I'd beaten Andre the Giant. I said, Bill After was
Speaker 1: a friend of mine, Vince McMahon said, that's what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. These magazine writers don't check with anybody. They're
Speaker 1: right in this stuff. That's not good for the business.
Speaker 1: These kfabe rags who agree to pretend it's not a
Speaker 1: complete fucking put on, by the way, who were fully
Speaker 1: complicit in the fraud, the consumer fraud that was professional
Speaker 1: wrestling in that era. And they they're up there hemming
Speaker 1: and han and pissing and roaning because for once they
Speaker 1: featured a match that they want to pretend didn't exist.
Speaker 1: They wanted a memory hole. Pathetic. That was really my
Speaker 1: only dealing with Vince McMahon, Sr. Lawla, writes Bill, after
Speaker 1: had got a number of furious calls from Vince McMahon
Speaker 1: Senior over the story. Vince said the story had killed
Speaker 1: Andre the Giant's career. Did you know Boston Andre's career
Speaker 1: ended in seventy five? You know, I had a feeling,
Speaker 1: but uh I wasn't sure. I'm glad we confirmed it.
Speaker 1: You got you just ended the man's career. Come on, Lola,
Speaker 1: you know what you did. You you'd just ruined him
Speaker 1: for everybody. No until Vince Junior that for wrestling.
Speaker 2: You ruined him. You ruin his hulk.
Speaker 1: He'll never draw a fucking scent again thanks to you,
Speaker 1: Lawla and your Memphis bullshit. Fucking Connie's down man, not
Speaker 1: real businessmen that jingle quarters. As they tell Billy Graham,
Speaker 1: he's got to lose the belt, even though he's drawing
Speaker 1: better than anyone ever has with the belt.
Speaker 2: In the garden a bunch of fucking Carnie workers down there,
Speaker 2: there's pieces of shit. Fuck you all, fuck you. That's
Speaker 2: where it starts.
Speaker 1: Yes, you fucking cunt, Fuck you like I fucked Vicky.
Speaker 2: Ask you.
Speaker 3: Wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1: Dint said the story had killed on the Giant's career.
Speaker 1: I spoke with Bill and we had a bit of
Speaker 1: a disagreement about the story. We both thought the other
Speaker 1: would come up with the line that I'd beaten Andre.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Of course, Bill and I didn't call each other for
Speaker 1: a while after that. The magazine made amends with another
Speaker 1: cover of Andre, this time he was posed, and the
Speaker 1: headline was why Andre the Giant is Wrestling's only undefeated superstar.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's how you made amends back in
Speaker 1: the day, Boss, Yeah, right exactly. Shit, you grubble, you
Speaker 1: beg for forgiveness so that we can thank your credentials
Speaker 1: again when Vince Senior, When Vince Junior takes.
Speaker 2: Over, he's undefeated, nobody, no fucking lawless man, fucking defeated Andre.
Speaker 2: Fuck you. What's his name? Jerry Lawless? Jerry Lawless. It's
Speaker 2: a lawless world we're in. It's true.
Speaker 1: That's satisfied, mister McMahon. Andre the Giant was a big deal.
Speaker 2: And I also love that he's calling Vince Senior mister McMahon.
Speaker 2: I love it too. It's so tremendous. What are you
Speaker 2: doing in there, Laura? We call my dad, miss McMahon.
Speaker 2: Why are you doing that? I'm mister McMahon. He's he's
Speaker 2: Daddy McMahon, Daddy mac macdaddy, but he's not mister McMahon.
Speaker 2: That's right. I will kill you. Yeah, it's already too late.
Speaker 1: But Under the Giant was a big deal in a
Speaker 1: huge drawing card all around. We used to have him
Speaker 1: for a week at a time, and he'd work all
Speaker 1: our main towns, Memphis, Nashville, Evansville, Louisville. A lot of
Speaker 1: the guys have different opinions of what Andre was like.
Speaker 1: If he liked you, he was fine. If he didn't
Speaker 1: like you, he didn't mind letting you know it, and
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have anything to do with you. Plowboy Fraser
Speaker 1: told me one day, you know what labor that honor
Speaker 1: of the giant.
Speaker 2: He don't like me.
Speaker 1: I said, oh, Fraser, what makes you think that? And
Speaker 1: plow Boy said he told me. He said, damn it,
Speaker 1: you're a fucking asshole. I mean, I don't need. I
Speaker 1: don't need occasionally, Jerry Allah, I don't know what the
Speaker 1: problem is. I don't know why people pretending we haven't
Speaker 1: been saying for a decade that it's all about food,
Speaker 1: and when it's.
Speaker 2: Proven, what a fucking what a fucking mammoth of a
Speaker 2: human being goes on TV and with a microphone in
Speaker 2: his fucking mouth, he says a lot.
Speaker 1: That's just not to look ahead or anything. But here's brutus.
Speaker 1: Here's brutus. I mean, do I have to keep showing
Speaker 1: up with proof? Is that what you want receives?
Speaker 2: No? I mean, not to look ahead.
Speaker 1: But you know, Ron Bass, he worked all kinds of
Speaker 1: territories before he went to work for the WWF and
Speaker 1: eighty seven, and what's the one thing he said, and
Speaker 1: shoot interviews about what told him that he was now
Speaker 1: working at a first class operation when he went there,
Speaker 1: unlike any he had worked at across the country and
Speaker 1: then the world. In fact, the fact that they had
Speaker 1: steak and catering.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: It's about the food, people, It's about the food. He
Speaker 1: remembers not going out with stan Hansen, you know, and
Speaker 1: getting drunk trying to find food. He remembers trying to
Speaker 1: get noodles. He remembers exactly what he wanted in Japan,
Speaker 1: what he ate and what he put in his face. Yep,
Speaker 1: because it's about food always. It's always about what goes
Speaker 1: in your mouth gets chewed and swallowed and then shot
Speaker 1: out at the end of the day. Thank you, just
Speaker 1: like the whoppers with Hogan exactly. Andre knew Jerry Jarrett
Speaker 1: and I own the territory lawa right, so when he
Speaker 1: came in he was basically working for us, although he
Speaker 1: wound up working with me in the matches. He was
Speaker 1: always very respectful and he would call me boss, a
Speaker 1: term he used for people he liked. He'd greet me
Speaker 1: heady balls. He was real easy going. He'd let you
Speaker 1: do anything you wanted in a match, other than beat him. Well,
Speaker 1: so that doesn't really count as anything you want, does it.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, Hulk Helgan was like that too. If he liked you,
Speaker 1: he would sell like crazy and he could make you
Speaker 1: look like a million dollars. Yeah, memo to Terry Bolea
Speaker 1: who didn't know what the fuck he was doing. And
Speaker 1: there's Andre busted open getting a table smashed on his
Speaker 1: head in Dothan.
Speaker 2: You had his hair fucking cut off, the whole thing
Speaker 2: like just you could do. You'd do it all.
Speaker 1: You had to work to get him off his feet.
Speaker 1: But once you did, man, it looked good. You could
Speaker 1: choke him, pull his hair, punch kick everything. He would
Speaker 1: stay down and sell until it was time for the
Speaker 1: big comeback. So again, just a little bit of a
Speaker 1: little bit of a glimpse into kind of the opportunistic
Speaker 1: mindset of this territory that Terry Boulder.
Speaker 2: Was making his way.
Speaker 1: Waller, Yes, well that's exactly fucking Lawler, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: And this is Jerry Jarrett's take on the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Vinzuckman Senior had booked Andre the Giant to me for
Speaker 1: a week. This was a huge favor because they seldom
Speaker 1: sent Andre out for more than one shot at a time.
Speaker 2: That's what I heard.
Speaker 1: I heard you would put down seventeen eighteen shots at
Speaker 1: a time. But one of the towns we booked Andre
Speaker 1: and was Louisville, Kentucky, and that match Jerry Lawler won
Speaker 1: by disqualification. From the first time I booked Andrea, I
Speaker 1: understood that Andre could not be beaten. I mistakenly assumed
Speaker 1: that a disqualification would be okay. So here's Jerry Jarrett
Speaker 1: falling on his sword for the finish.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The time between an event and it being covered in
Speaker 1: a wrestling magazine was weeks, so a considerable amount of
Speaker 1: time had passed before Vince called me. He said, Jerry,
Speaker 1: I'm very upset with you. Of all people, we had
Speaker 1: a gentleman's understanding about the matches Andre was booked in.
Speaker 1: I replied that I was aware and that I could
Speaker 1: assure him that nobody had ever come close to beating
Speaker 1: Andre while he worked for me. Vince said that I
Speaker 1: should go get the latest wrestling magazines. Oh busted, Oh boy.
Speaker 1: I then asked what was in the magazine, and Vince
Speaker 1: read me the headlines. Can you picture Vince Senior at
Speaker 1: his desk at the fucking the hotel and queens that
Speaker 1: they used to have the offices in Yep. Just pounded
Speaker 1: finger on the on the on the piece of paper
Speaker 1: on his desk. Oh God, is it to be alive
Speaker 1: back then?
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 1: I then asked what was in the magazine, and Vince
Speaker 1: read me the headlines, which meant the magazine was on
Speaker 1: his desk in front of him. This meant he was
Speaker 1: taking the magazine article seriously. Of course, I began defending
Speaker 1: myself by replying, Vince, I had no idea that disqualifications
Speaker 1: were included in the understanding. Oh that good stuff. Oh
Speaker 1: you didn't say anything about d qs, Vince, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: I thought DQ's were fair game.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Andrea said a lot about dq Yes he did.
Speaker 1: On top of that, I personally handled the match and
Speaker 1: I discussed the match with Andre in private. As always,
Speaker 1: Andre had no objections. In fact, Andre said he thought
Speaker 1: it would set up a good return for his next trip.
Speaker 1: Vince confirmed that he could talk to Andre, and the
Speaker 1: Giant confirmed he discussed the match with me. Vince said
Speaker 1: that he understood and there were no hard feelings, but
Speaker 1: to not let it happen again at the NDABA meeting,
Speaker 1: Vince Senior was at the podium discussing the Louisville match
Speaker 1: in which Andre lost by disqualification to Jerry Lawler. Vince
Speaker 1: held up the magazine which ran Andre loses to midget.
Speaker 1: Vince went on to say that promoters must realize that
Speaker 1: the wrestling magazines allowed everybody in the world to know
Speaker 1: everything that happened in any match in any town. This
Speaker 1: gets back to remember we were speculating about Ron Fuller
Speaker 1: being shy about having wrestling magazines's photograph his stuff, which
Speaker 1: is why yes, we have nothing of Terry Boulder in
Speaker 1: his earliest days. Probably it'd avoid shit like this so
Speaker 1: we could actually book heat with Andre and not go,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, fucking called out at the NBBA meeting yep
Speaker 1: by the fucking New York mafia to know everything that
Speaker 1: happened in any match in any town. Vince then said
Speaker 1: that every promoter had an obligation to protect another promoter's talent.
Speaker 1: Everybody in the room was wondering who allowed a midget
Speaker 1: to beat Andre. I sat frozen, hoping that nobody had
Speaker 1: seen the magazine. Suddenly, a voice from the back of
Speaker 1: the room said loudly, fiance who was the little bastard.
Speaker 1: The room broke out and laughter until everyone was that.
Speaker 2: I don't mind telling you, I went ahead and looked
Speaker 2: it up for you. I took a phone myself. I
Speaker 2: hope you don't mind. I took it upon myself. It was,
Speaker 2: you know, wonderful, and here it is. I want to hear.
Speaker 4: It was that son of a bit lawler, that a
Speaker 4: sucking doll, that child molester.
Speaker 6: I saw.
Speaker 2: I saw him sucking balls backstage one time, and Mary
Speaker 2: was sucking off under the giant.
Speaker 1: You had to know the laps trunk was going to
Speaker 1: find its way through the surface somewhere on that complete
Speaker 1: on that complete listen.
Speaker 2: As we said before, it's a tale of two terries.
Speaker 2: I do have to give.
Speaker 1: Props to whoever on Patreon entitled this leg of the
Speaker 1: Journey walking in Memphis. When Terry met Jerry, Oh fuck
Speaker 1: tremendous fence.
Speaker 2: Who was the little bastard?
Speaker 1: The room broke out and laughter until everyone realized Vince
Speaker 1: Senior did not think it was funny. The laughter stopped
Speaker 1: as abruptly.
Speaker 2: As I mean, you know, it makes you think, actually,
Speaker 2: it makes you think of It makes me think of
Speaker 2: that scene in Jaws. You know, they get that town meeting,
Speaker 2: they need a bigger boat. No, no, not the bigger boat.
Speaker 2: But when somebody says the somebody says, well, the first
Speaker 2: thing I want to know, You know when when the kittener,
Speaker 2: you know, the mom who lost the kid in the
Speaker 2: in that scene, and the guy says, well, I want
Speaker 2: to know is that money going to be in cash
Speaker 2: a check? And then everyone's laughing. But there's the there's
Speaker 2: the one woman who says, I don't find that funny.
Speaker 2: I don't find that funny at all. That's Vince, that's
Speaker 2: Vince Seniors. Yeah, I don't find that funny. I don't
Speaker 2: find that funny at all.
Speaker 1: So if you need to picture it in your mind's eye,
Speaker 1: get your copy of Jaws out damn straight. So that's
Speaker 1: let's put it that this way, boss. That's some of
Speaker 1: the gamesmanship that Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett too were
Speaker 1: willing to engage in back then. Totally fine. Ask for forgiveness,
Speaker 1: not permission, right, That's that's the name of the game.
Speaker 1: So that is the pattern of behavior that huh yes,
Speaker 1: our subject, Hulk Hogan Terry Bullet is walking into and
Speaker 1: just to revisit and sort of reset what it was
Speaker 1: like in those earliest days of figuring out how Hulk
Speaker 1: and Ed were going to make their way to Memphis
Speaker 1: and the interaction with Jerry Lawler. We're going to reset here, boss,
Speaker 1: if you can convey to the solar system from the
Speaker 1: Hulkster second book, kind of how it all worked out
Speaker 1: to get to get those two up there.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, Yeah, So Brutus and I drove up to
Speaker 2: Memphis for this one night to Russell as the Boulder Brothers,
Speaker 2: and we put on a hell of a show. I
Speaker 2: know because Jared and Lawler pulled me aside immediately after
Speaker 2: the match and said, Terry, you know we want you
Speaker 2: to come work here. The offer game at the perfect
Speaker 2: moment because just as we were rolling into Memphis, the
Speaker 2: motor Bleue and that gold van. It's about the car,
Speaker 2: that's right, exactly right. Not only was that van our home,
Speaker 2: but it was also the only transportation we had to
Speaker 2: get to wrestling gigs. Now, no one flew in those days.
Speaker 2: No one knew what an airplane was, no one, and
Speaker 2: the matches were all over the place. You in the
Speaker 2: Memphis territory. You know, it would be a two hundred
Speaker 2: mile drop the Nashville one night, then two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty miles, so two Polo of Mississippi the next followed,
Speaker 2: but followed, but followed by Evansville, Indiana, nine hours away.
Speaker 2: You know, the venues were never lined up in a row,
Speaker 2: uh to make it easy, and nobody planned like that,
Speaker 2: so you were literally all over the map. Imagine if
Speaker 2: the van had broken down while we were broke and
Speaker 2: living in the beat at the beach, what we had done. Oh,
Speaker 2: I don't know, sell steroids. I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know, got a job maybe? Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: These guys are like, if they can't find a way
Speaker 1: to get checks for being ripped, they are fucked right.
Speaker 2: Exactly as soon as we rolled into Memphis, Jared took
Speaker 2: me straight out and bought me a big Lincoln Continental
Speaker 2: as well as eight whoppers. I'll pay you. I'd pay
Speaker 2: him back for it, but he was more than happy
Speaker 2: to front me the money. He treated me like one
Speaker 2: of his own right away. And since he was paying
Speaker 2: me eight hundred dollars a week, you know I didn't
Speaker 2: need a fan of sleeping anymore.
Speaker 7: Brother.
Speaker 1: I only didn't know he had, because that's not really like,
Speaker 1: that's not really an emphatic line that calls for that,
Speaker 1: you know that little extra garnish.
Speaker 2: Uh fucking Terrence?
Speaker 1: Now what did he what was he sure to say?
Speaker 1: What did we just say last time on the complete
Speaker 1: that he's always keeping a ledger of who he does
Speaker 1: and doesn't.
Speaker 2: Owe money too? Yes?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, or to know by the time his second
Speaker 1: book came out, Jerry Lawler, as we'll talk about and others,
Speaker 1: have told the story over and over again about how
Speaker 1: they fronted Terry Bulay the money to buy that greenling
Speaker 1: in Continental and that they never saw the money back.
Speaker 1: That's right, and what does Terry make sure to squeeze
Speaker 1: in somehow into his book? Read the line again?
Speaker 2: What the fun was right there? I'd pay him, I'd
Speaker 2: pay him back for it, but he was more than
Speaker 2: happy to fraught me the money. Dude, I'd pay him
Speaker 2: back for it before him Go ahead and assume I
Speaker 2: did not. That's a postures, right, I just think I
Speaker 2: had I did, and flying I did pay him back.
Speaker 2: I mean that's that those are his books, just a
Speaker 2: complete comprehensive So yeah, it really doesn't necessarily mean that
Speaker 2: he did. It also mean, I would you know i'd
Speaker 2: pay him back for Yeah, that's yep, yep, that's that's
Speaker 2: that's very Terry right there. It's like a full compendium
Speaker 2: of him answering every little, single, little thing and one
Speaker 2: said about him since the last time he wrote a
Speaker 2: book in a way where he can also kind of
Speaker 2: pretend that he's above it all and didn't hear any
Speaker 2: of that shit. But that's not how he operates.
Speaker 1: He gets calls three times a day about what people
Speaker 1: said about him in the last twelve hours, you know.
Speaker 1: But here's Lawler's take from his book in terms of
Speaker 1: first laying eyes on the guy he would help front
Speaker 1: money to buy that green Lincoln Continental for as soon
Speaker 1: as we saw Terry Boulder, who had become Hollywood Holk Cogan,
Speaker 1: we knew right away he had tremendous potential. Wait wait
Speaker 1: he called him Hollywood Hulk Cogan. Yeah, because by the
Speaker 1: time Terry Lawler's book came out, Hulk was back in
Speaker 1: ww's Hollywood hold Cogan.
Speaker 2: Oh, for God's sakes, we knew right away.
Speaker 1: So annoying, I know, I know, it's annoying that, like,
Speaker 1: we can't just buy for Kate the Hollywood era to
Speaker 1: just w CW Right.
Speaker 2: Right, we have to kind of or that we have
Speaker 2: to even like include it in general, Like why can
Speaker 2: we just fucking call it, call him Hulk Hogan doesn't
Speaker 2: need to be Hollywood Hogan. Ever, that's not what we're
Speaker 2: going it has right now, pal oh, you know where
Speaker 2: it's all about branding, brand brand integration, brand design, not
Speaker 2: in tradition of the brand design. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like we have a we have a prerogative right now,
Speaker 1: a branding prerogative that trump's all from a house style perspective.
Speaker 2: We believe in the brandalization of certain uh you know,
Speaker 2: certain properties.
Speaker 1: Right, you know, as if I'm gonna go along and
Speaker 1: be like, I know what you mean, you know certain properties?
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: He's talking about a book. When he says that, by
Speaker 1: the way, you.
Speaker 2: Can't just say he also said brandalization.
Speaker 1: By the way, Yeah, I love how it gave him
Speaker 1: a pass on that this goes in one air at
Speaker 1: the other.
Speaker 2: But this is Lawler's story.
Speaker 1: This is not uh, this is very much in contrast
Speaker 1: to Jimmy Hart's story that we conveyed last time on
Speaker 1: the Complete Hope. Oh boy, yes, it was immediately we're
Speaker 1: according to Jimmy Hart. Jerry Lawder was immediately dismissive of
Speaker 1: Hulk Cocain's future in the business and just thought he,
Speaker 1: of course he was had no star power. As soon
Speaker 1: as we saw Terry Bolea, a boulder who had become
Speaker 1: Hollywood Houlkogan, we knew right away he had tremendous potential.
Speaker 1: He had a great look with the blonde hair. We
Speaker 1: made the first video of the Hulk. Michael Saint John
Speaker 1: was the voice. It started at his feet and we
Speaker 1: went up his body, legs like tree trunks. He'd wrestled
Speaker 1: as the Super Destroyer in Florida and then he came
Speaker 1: to Memphis. See everyone skips Alabama, man, yep, they do.
Speaker 1: It does not exist. And being involved from the promotional
Speaker 1: side like he was, There's no way Jerry Lawler didn't
Speaker 1: know that this guy was working in Alabama before he
Speaker 1: came to him. There's no way that he was blind
Speaker 1: to that fact. You brother, what, I'm Alabama right, such
Speaker 1: a memory hole. The Bama thing is so weird. It
Speaker 1: is weird because everyone's story that you read as we go,
Speaker 1: every single person sticks to the program of pretending Alabama
Speaker 1: basically didn't happen. Or if you acknowledge it, you certainly
Speaker 1: don't acknowledge that he wrestled Andrea and Hardy race there
Speaker 1: or that he basically discovered what was money about him
Speaker 1: in his first three months in the business. In the territory.
Speaker 1: The problem was, Lala rights. He brought this other guy
Speaker 1: with him called Dizzy. They didn't call him or Dizzy
Speaker 1: at all. I mean they did later, but we just
Speaker 1: watched the Lynce Russell introduction of the guy. It's Ed Boulder,
Speaker 1: super di is super Diz?
Speaker 2: What is the is? That's the question.
Speaker 1: Well, my brother was supposedly his brother. He was really brutish,
Speaker 1: beefcake or read Leslie, whichever you prefer. He was awful
Speaker 1: at the time, Lala writes, at the time, yes, come on,
Speaker 1: rep getting it.
Speaker 2: Jerry Jarrett he's talking about. Couldn't stand him. He was
Speaker 2: so bad.
Speaker 1: Terry had no money. Jerry Jarrett and I co signed
Speaker 1: on a car for him. He'd been there a few
Speaker 1: months and he left mainly because we wouldn't use the
Speaker 1: other guy. He went to Vince Senior, who wouldn't use
Speaker 1: the other guy either, so that doesn't make any sense,
Speaker 1: and worked with Andre the Giant as a heel. It
Speaker 1: was then that he became the Hulk, and the rest
Speaker 1: is Hulkamanium.
Speaker 2: Wait when did he become a Hulk when.
Speaker 1: He went to uh, you were calling him, okay, the
Speaker 1: Hulk the whole time?
Speaker 2: All right, all right, I mean it's fine. Maybe maybe
Speaker 2: maybe just the Hulk can use didn't understand that the
Speaker 2: incredible Hulk is a different thing. I think we're all
Speaker 2: just confused. Is really what it exactly? That's exactly what
Speaker 2: it is. It's our fault.
Speaker 1: It was then that he became the Hulk, and the
Speaker 1: rest is hul Comania. Come to think of it, I
Speaker 1: don't know if Hogan ever paid us back for the car,
Speaker 1: I'd pay him back. Dude. What does Brutus have to
Speaker 1: say about automobile relating parts of this God the journey?
Speaker 1: This is Oh my god, I'm speaking to Hannibal not
Speaker 1: too long ago about you know, living in the van
Speaker 1: in Pensacola and food sure and food sure food food
Speaker 1: is important and eating in the van. Guess where they do?
Speaker 1: You know, without the van raft mac and cheese at
Speaker 1: Hulks driving only can Continental. They don't have the van
Speaker 1: anymore to live in. Where do you think they ended
Speaker 1: up living. You you take your bets, put your put
Speaker 1: your steaks on the table, and we're about to find
Speaker 1: out just steaks and potatoes on the table.
Speaker 8: Time.
Speaker 6: Pitts Cold. We had a van custom man and we
Speaker 6: picked up from the bar on our Florida. It was
Speaker 6: a nice custom man. And basically that's where we lived
Speaker 6: in Pitt's Cold.
Speaker 9: We lived in our van, basically made enough money, moved
Speaker 9: to buy gas and eat.
Speaker 10: And buddy, let me tell you, we ate a lot.
Speaker 10: Five pounds, you know, we were.
Speaker 6: Both of us were venge in excess of four fifty
Speaker 6: squat and five hundred.
Speaker 10: We took two and a quarter military presses.
Speaker 6: Seated pretty strong couple of young lads there, and we
Speaker 6: you know, we ate a lot.
Speaker 10: And we went.
Speaker 6: To Memphis for they did Jarrett's for Jerry Jarrett.
Speaker 10: And then that's that's when they began to uh start
Speaker 10: calling Terry at Hull. You know, they did shark this
Speaker 10: little thank God, a little thanks we started Steve. You know,
Speaker 10: it's tan giant tearing the whole stuff in. Uh.
Speaker 9: I think we lived in Nashville. No, No, we didn't
Speaker 9: live in the guys lived in Nashville. We lived in Memphis.
Speaker 9: And because I remember we were not far from where Elvis,
Speaker 9: the Elvis estate was.
Speaker 6: We lived in a days in and I'm just a
Speaker 6: hotel and maysically with two beds in it.
Speaker 10: And that's that's where we lived. And that was our
Speaker 10: that was our house at that time.
Speaker 1: So can you picture Terry and Ed Boulder living in
Speaker 1: a days in in Memphis?
Speaker 2: Yes, you kind of can get you I mean yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean can you imagine the two of them, like
Speaker 2: just imagine, you know, thinking about it like this. You know,
Speaker 2: Brutus wakes up one morning in a day's in and he
Speaker 2: sees what fucking you know Joan Severn saw and U
Speaker 2: no holes barred, all right, that's what she would witness.
Speaker 1: I mean the Continental Breakfast, you know, the oldis punk
Speaker 1: Meyer Pastry.
Speaker 2: Like can you just imagine these two buffoons, like like
Speaker 2: you know, Hogan in some kind of like tight tight
Speaker 2: white white wife beater, you know, Brutus wearing a fucking
Speaker 2: and with his stupid feathered seventies hair, you know, and
Speaker 2: he's he's probably walking down with I imagine I don't
Speaker 2: know why, but I imagine brute off, brud of brute off.
Speaker 2: I don't want brutal fucking what the fuck that is?
Speaker 2: But brutus is is is uh got like a like
Speaker 2: a white denim shirt, but it's the sleeves are cut off.
Speaker 2: I don't know why, but that's what I picture. I
Speaker 2: bet you're him wearing that Hogan wearing wearing wearing the
Speaker 2: white wife beater and it's a fucking devouring like pastries.
Speaker 2: Assorted pastries. Yeah, yeah, assorted pastries.
Speaker 1: The key and peel sketch for the guy like digs
Speaker 1: into the breakfast in a hotel. And I can't with
Speaker 1: them in a day's in.
Speaker 2: I can't. I'm in a van.
Speaker 1: I can't do this buddy cop movie, this Beavis and
Speaker 1: butt Head and stuff. I just can't get enough of
Speaker 1: picturing these two just staying ripped, staying roided, staying like loaded,
Speaker 1: and just living like like homeless people, like people who
Speaker 1: just got out of rehab.
Speaker 2: Two real life balloons is what they are, okay, And
Speaker 2: they're floating towards the sky. Their balloon animals is what
Speaker 2: they are. No, they are human balloon animals, That's exactly
Speaker 2: what they are.
Speaker 7: They are.
Speaker 1: They're floating as if pushed across the ocean surface, across
Speaker 1: Memphis and the Pensacola and Dothan, and this is just too.
Speaker 2: Much for me. Man oh Geez is correct.
Speaker 1: And savor it because it short lived. While they remained
Speaker 1: kind of close locked at the hip for years in
Speaker 1: wrestling as friends and went to WWF together and all
Speaker 1: of that, it really would be quite a while as
Speaker 1: far as I can tell from where we stand now
Speaker 1: in the research, that they would really run together again.
Speaker 1: You know, this is like, these are the foundational moments
Speaker 1: why these two are always associated together. But very soon
Speaker 1: Terry's going to really break out on his own, and
Speaker 1: ed would go and wrestle in a ton of territories
Speaker 1: and achieve a fair degree of success on his own,
Speaker 1: not as the brother of Hulk Cogan, or at least
Speaker 1: not wrestling as the brother of Terry Boulder for the
Speaker 1: territory right, he would go elsewhere Texas and others. There's
Speaker 1: clips of like Eddie Boulder being referred to on television
Speaker 1: as the brother of the big wrestler you know of
Speaker 1: as Hulk Hogan. But Hulk Hogan isn't in the same territory.
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder isn't at the same time, yet they're still
Speaker 1: making reference to him to kind of boost the stature
Speaker 1: of Ed Boulder, and that fork in the road is
Speaker 1: coming right very soon, pretty much right after Memphis. So
Speaker 1: we need to enjoy it while we can. We need
Speaker 1: to enjoy him saying things like this while we can.
Speaker 1: I don't doubt it. I mean, he got into detail
Speaker 1: about what they ate in Alabama with the wild Samoans
Speaker 1: at the fucking the all you could Eat. So let's
Speaker 1: turn to his book again, Bruce Beefcake's book with Kenny
Speaker 1: cass Nova high recommendation. Here were the beneficiaries of him
Speaker 1: getting into all these colorful stories from his earliest days
Speaker 1: running the roads with Terry Boulder. So Boss, please get
Speaker 1: us oriented in terms of what Brutus wants us to
Speaker 1: know about living in Memphis and riding and mephis Oh
Speaker 1: God Almighty.
Speaker 2: All right, here we go. From July to September of
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy nine, I wrestled in the famous Memphis territory.
Speaker 2: The Bolder Brothers were not signed to any type of
Speaker 2: contract with a non competitive clause you might see today.
Speaker 2: Back then, guys move pretty freely from territory to territory.
Speaker 2: Keeping faces fresh was all part of the business. So
Speaker 2: we took a match wrestling. We took a match wrestling
Speaker 2: a one off show for Continental Wrestling Association CWA in
Speaker 2: Memphis for Jerry Jarrett. Memphis was a huge wrestling town
Speaker 2: and the fans had done their homework. They all knew
Speaker 2: who we were, and we got a huge response from
Speaker 2: the What do they do for homework? Just fucking watch television?
Speaker 1: How would they do any homework on these guys? That
Speaker 1: makes no sense at all. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 1: he hadn't wrestled with Terry. I think we've established this
Speaker 1: in Southeastern at all. It was only available at a
Speaker 1: handful of television markets. What Hulk was doing down in Alabama.
Speaker 1: There might be some parts of the Memphis Nashville territory
Speaker 1: that overlapped with where Ron Fuller's television reached, but not much.
Speaker 2: It's very, very, very bizarre. Do their homework, motherfuckers? We
Speaker 2: all knw who we were. We got a huge response
Speaker 2: from the crowd. This promotion was a major NWA territory
Speaker 2: during the nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties that operated
Speaker 2: out of Tennessee and Kentucky. Working for them and getting
Speaker 2: a great response was huge for us. The promoter was impressed.
Speaker 2: He approached us after our last night and offered us
Speaker 2: a job in Memphis for eight hundred dollars a week.
Speaker 2: We didn't even need to talk about it. The offer
Speaker 2: was far more than the one hundred and seventy five
Speaker 2: dollars a week that we were making for to Let
Speaker 2: and the Fullers. We could quickly accepted the offer and
Speaker 2: left Pensacola. Things changed immediately. We could now actually afford
Speaker 2: to stay in hotel rooms. When we got to Memphis,
Speaker 2: the first thing we did was sell the Anchor van
Speaker 2: and buy a new buy a new long Green Hey,
Speaker 2: he mean, Jean's happy with long Green Lincoln in anticipation
Speaker 2: for the of the extra money we would be earning.
Speaker 1: A mention of the money being fronted, not at all.
Speaker 1: And by the way, the mention of the apartment that
Speaker 1: Charlie play said they lived in Pensacola, not the van.
Speaker 1: Now we can afford a hotel. So you were renting
Speaker 1: a place, dude? What don't you want us to know
Speaker 1: about that place? What don't you want us to know about?
Speaker 1: What was happening in that place? What was moving through
Speaker 1: that place? What are you hiding? Brutus?
Speaker 8: Nothing?
Speaker 2: Come on? Stop? Is the is the tap stop, m no, listen,
Speaker 2: no problems. I'm glad you agreed. Questions. I'm glad you agreed.
Speaker 2: No problems at all. Look listen, if anything we've established wrestling,
Speaker 2: you know, wrestlers are just they they Yeah, they displayed
Speaker 2: just normal proper behavior.
Speaker 1: Tell you for guys who lived in a van, they
Speaker 1: certainly uh had a mailing address that was well known
Speaker 1: in Cocoa Beach. Mohamma, mama knew exactly how to uh
Speaker 1: and that and that. Ain't that a nice way around?
Speaker 8: Uh?
Speaker 1: And I'm going away afield here. This is just me
Speaker 1: having funds. Isn't me trying to indicate that I know something?
Speaker 1: But isn't it a great way to get around allegations
Speaker 1: that you were pushing shit through the mail if you
Speaker 1: don't even have a mailing address?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm saying, just saying. I mean, it's all.
Speaker 2: Lived, no wonder. They always lived in hotels and shit, exactly,
Speaker 2: they don't have homes. For this reason, it was a
Speaker 2: would be earning. We would travel around it for several
Speaker 2: more years to go. It was a status symbol. After
Speaker 2: a month or so, waiting to officially debut us to
Speaker 2: the roster as full time members in the locker room.
Speaker 2: They decided to start me out first. I was still
Speaker 2: pretty green, but found myself in a high profile match
Speaker 2: at the mid South Colisseum. I walked out and couldn't
Speaker 2: believe my eyes. I was in a Memphis ring. It
Speaker 2: was the biggest match for me, exposure wise, that I
Speaker 2: had seen to date. The Memphis shows aired everywhere, they
Speaker 2: got massive press, and they were in the NWA. They
Speaker 2: put me in the ring as Eddie Boulder in a
Speaker 2: tag team bout, but not with my brother Terry. No,
Speaker 2: not yet. I was tagging with another guy named Dallas Montgomery.
Speaker 2: My first appearance on the Championship Wrestling show was against
Speaker 2: Ron Bass with his lackey Pete Austin and with their
Speaker 2: manager Danny Davis. The idea is that I would be
Speaker 2: the catalyst to start a feud with Ron and Terry. Immediately,
Speaker 2: Bass started targeting me. When I turned my back, he
Speaker 2: attacked me before the bell. Referee Jerry Calhoun started the bout,
Speaker 2: but the fans knew it was too late for me.
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to quote get color yet, but
Speaker 2: it was going to happen. Some wrestlers back then taped
Speaker 2: a small blade to the side of their finger and
Speaker 2: with a protective flap over it. When the right moment came,
Speaker 2: they would flip it back and cut a small incision
Speaker 2: in their hairline before the match. Again normal behavior. Before
Speaker 2: the match, they would take a bunch of asperin to
Speaker 2: thin their blood and get their heart pumping. This would
Speaker 2: make a guy. I can't it's just the amount of
Speaker 2: like the way you how out of the way you
Speaker 2: go to make yourself bleed better.
Speaker 1: So that everyone in the crowd can say it's a
Speaker 1: blood capsule or catch it.
Speaker 2: Right right exactly. This would make a guy bleed like
Speaker 2: a stuck pig. Other guys didn't like to didn't like
Speaker 2: to tape the blade to their fingers. They would hide it.
Speaker 2: They would either hide the blade under the ring someplace,
Speaker 2: or have the referee pass it off to them at
Speaker 2: an opportune moment during the match. Getting color was really
Speaker 2: an art for him, and one I hadn't yet mastered.
Speaker 2: So Ron said he would help me out. The big
Speaker 2: cowboy Ron Bass jumped me from behind and started stopping
Speaker 2: a Texas mud hole in my bag. What time is it?
Speaker 2: I was green, and honestly I was scared to death.
Speaker 2: Here comes kids, he said. He nicked me a little
Speaker 2: high on my forehead, and I barely felt anything. I
Speaker 2: thought it was gonna hurt far worse than it did,
Speaker 2: but it was a little bit of nothing. How trumendous
Speaker 2: is that? Here it comes, kid, Yep, here comes kid.
Speaker 2: Let's go the way of the blade. But then, yeah,
Speaker 2: I thought it was gonna hurt far worse than it did.
Speaker 2: But it was a little bit of nothing. But then
Speaker 2: the blood started to come. Right, he got me too deep.
Speaker 2: It's time to draw some really, there was so much
Speaker 2: blood that he must have poked right through a vein
Speaker 2: in my head. This was TV with the big guys.
Speaker 2: I couldn't just run out and cry for a band
Speaker 2: aid to put over my boo boo. Tremendous. Such a
Speaker 2: child like, it's funny, it's lurious. He's talking about not
Speaker 2: being a child, but he sounds like a child to say.
Speaker 1: That if he did, if he did seek attention, it
Speaker 1: would be like a child seeking a.
Speaker 2: No I know, but but but in describing this, he
Speaker 2: sounds like a child. You know, my first Memphis match
Speaker 2: had to look had to look good, and that's just
Speaker 2: what I was going to do. Even if I had
Speaker 2: to die. In the process, I made bass like he
Speaker 2: was murdering me, and I sold it like I was dying.
Speaker 2: My heart was racing, blood was squirting out everywhere. My
Speaker 2: long bleach blonde hair was the perfect white canvas to
Speaker 2: compliment all the red. It was spraying out like a hose.
Speaker 2: There was a puddle forming in the ring. There was
Speaker 2: so much juice in that that the place actually started
Speaker 2: to smell so fucking gross. Ah, it was so nasty
Speaker 2: that it looked like someone had cut a deer open.
Speaker 2: I get it. You were bleeding pretty heartily, like He's
Speaker 2: been a whole fucking paragraph talking about how badly you
Speaker 2: were bleeding, Like I got it the first time. At
Speaker 2: the end of the match, the director had had to
Speaker 2: back the cameras off me because I was such a
Speaker 2: bloody mess. Back to the locker room, everyone congratulate to me.
Speaker 2: At the curtains, I posed for some horror pictures for
Speaker 2: their programs and some magazines. Then I headed off to
Speaker 2: the showers. Under the water. I watched all that goofy
Speaker 2: blood drip drip down the drain, just like the movies,
Speaker 2: Just like the movie Psycho. I still had to had
Speaker 2: to have a medic put a couple of stitches in
Speaker 2: and Butterfly bandaged me up.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ disgusting. Yes, So, how's old cowboy Ron Bass,
Speaker 1: a veteran of the business at this point in times,
Speaker 1: going out working with these new whipper snappers. Fortunately, he
Speaker 1: did a shoot interview with high Spots where he got
Speaker 1: into it, and it turns out that they actually hit
Speaker 1: it off a bit Ron Bass and the Boulders so
Speaker 1: much so that as he's about to explain, Terry got
Speaker 1: to making a bit of fun out of a dog
Speaker 1: that Ron Bass had. Was so small, it was so diminutive,
Speaker 1: it was so tiny, and Ron Bass resolved to get
Speaker 1: Terry Boulder back at some point for poking fun. And
Speaker 1: you better believe the Lincoln Continental was what paid the price.
Speaker 1: Here's Ron Bass.
Speaker 11: Uh, Hogan was was just getting started the business at
Speaker 11: He's a big old strapping boy. He was going as
Speaker 11: Eddie Bowler. I mean he was going as Terry Bowler
Speaker 11: and Beef Kate was going as Eddie Bowler. And they
Speaker 11: were there in Tennessee, and uh we were.
Speaker 10: I was pretty hot there.
Speaker 11: I was there champion, and of course they wanted to
Speaker 11: put Hogan in make some money with him and and
Speaker 11: Hogan and I hit it off pretty good. I mean
Speaker 11: we both liked to train. We loved it like both
Speaker 11: like to do different things. And and uh, he'd always
Speaker 11: tease me. I tease him, and uh, howed got started.
Speaker 11: He knew that I had had this one little dog
Speaker 11: I was just fond of. Her name was Toutsy, and
Speaker 11: he used to make fun of me and my dog.
Speaker 11: So we were in Jonesboro, Arkansas. We had a big
Speaker 11: show one night. My son, my oldest son, was with me,
Speaker 11: and I saw Terry and Eddie leaving a fast food
Speaker 11: place and Terry just bought him a brand new Lincoln.
Speaker 11: So I'm just kind of laying back and well, let
Speaker 11: him come out back on the street and I come in.
Speaker 11: I got a big link in myself and I Randy Buddy.
Speaker 11: I hate him pretty good.
Speaker 10: Boy.
Speaker 11: He hit the brakes and he jumped, throw that thing
Speaker 11: up and part he comes out of there.
Speaker 2: He's man, he.
Speaker 11: Kinds walking by there, and I throw a big three
Speaker 11: fifty seven if the window.
Speaker 12: Right his face.
Speaker 11: The boy he started backing that and then saw that
Speaker 11: it was He said, oh, you son of a bitch.
Speaker 10: He's cost me all this life. He goes and gets
Speaker 10: back in his car.
Speaker 11: He says that his hammer, he gets all over his seat,
Speaker 11: and I got him back.
Speaker 10: Let's put it that way. It was a good thing.
Speaker 10: I remember that one.
Speaker 12: Yes, that was a good one.
Speaker 1: So he got back in this link green linking Continental
Speaker 1: and sat on his burger. Of course, I mean, is
Speaker 1: it why is there always a burger within arm's reach
Speaker 1: of Terry Bulloy every story?
Speaker 2: I mean it's kind of ironic because you know, everyone
Speaker 2: calls Lawler the burger King. No Winter Lawler felt like
Speaker 2: he was a threat. Yeah right, he.
Speaker 1: Had triple the fucking burger king crown collection that Jerry
Speaker 1: Lawler had after just like two weeks.
Speaker 2: In the territory.
Speaker 1: I mean, so many waters, so many burgers, so many
Speaker 1: Yet then pull it up to a drive through man
Speaker 1: and that Continental in Memphis and seventy nine looking like they.
Speaker 2: Look yes, yes, Eddie, What do you want? Brother? Dude?
Speaker 2: They have strawberry shake. What are you feeling, brother? What
Speaker 2: are you feeling?
Speaker 7: Brother?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I don't think I'm gonna be able
Speaker 2: to go to a double burger, brother. What are you feeling, dude?
Speaker 2: Burger fries? Brother? Won't you want double burger? Dude, huh,
Speaker 2: what are you feeling when she's in the burger double cheese?
Speaker 1: I pictured Terry driving and like ed like leaning over
Speaker 1: to shout through the driver's window into the drive through microphone.
Speaker 2: Doble like fucking uh, fucking Casey fucking Goodwill hunting. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 2: that's exactly what I'm thinking of, have a broger double burger.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, it's all fun games, but
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that funny if you fucking t
Speaker 1: bone me in my new car, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Because I made fun of your dog, Like, seriously, what
Speaker 1: the fuck? So apparently clown, what an absolute clown their
Speaker 1: whole game plan of not being ribbed anymore because they
Speaker 1: ran together as brothers and if you fucked with one,
Speaker 1: you had to fuck with another. Apparently Ron Bass didn't
Speaker 1: get the memo.
Speaker 2: That's not surprising.
Speaker 1: The guy who carves up Eddie Boulder not only to
Speaker 1: get Hulk started as Terry Boulder in Memphis, but again,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about doing it years later in the WWF,
Speaker 1: to get a to get a hot angle going with
Speaker 1: Brutus Beef.
Speaker 2: So it does beg the question.
Speaker 1: Having shared the ring as we've already talked about here
Speaker 1: in the Complete Hulk Cogan with Terry Bolea in Memphis
Speaker 1: and his early formative years of in days rather of
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine. Did Ron Bass see a superstar in
Speaker 1: Hulk Cogan?
Speaker 2: Probably?
Speaker 13: So, I mean again with Hulk Coogan, I mean did
Speaker 13: you at the time, I mean, did you see it?
Speaker 10: I had no idea what what star Hulk was gonna be?
Speaker 12: Okay, so I mean he didn't anything.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I saw potential.
Speaker 2: Of course, he got out.
Speaker 11: You know, he was, let's face it, he was the
Speaker 11: first big, big, good cut up man in the sport.
Speaker 11: But to charisma, my first mini I didn't see and
Speaker 11: he developed that.
Speaker 10: And I'm gonna tell something.
Speaker 12: You'll never hear me.
Speaker 11: He ever say a bad word about Hug Kogan the time. Men,
Speaker 11: I've been around superstars that you couldn't stand, and Hug
Speaker 11: him by passed him all, and he stayed. He remembered
Speaker 11: who he was, and he remembered the little people. He
Speaker 11: there in the big people, and he treated him all right.
Speaker 11: And to me, that says a lot for a person.
Speaker 11: And I believe Hogan was not straight up as anybody
Speaker 11: who ever doubt we have been around or seen, and
Speaker 11: I think he deserves everything. He every gout coach. To me,
Speaker 11: he's one of the good guys. I've dealt with some
Speaker 11: of these other primum diyes that he couldn't hold look
Speaker 11: candle with what Hogan's done his business and the heck
Speaker 11: with them. But Hogan's a good day.
Speaker 1: Well we have it. We finally have it.
Speaker 2: Boss.
Speaker 1: Somebody who doesn't claim to have seen Superstar and Hulk
Speaker 1: cogin since day one.
Speaker 2: I mean that's great in all, but like, what the
Speaker 2: fuck is like sucking them off again? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I mean that is a street that runs
Speaker 1: through anybody who worked with him from eighty four to
Speaker 1: like eighty nine, maybe the ninety ninety one, It's like
Speaker 1: they knew the reason they made enough money to retire
Speaker 1: on is because he let them come into the company
Speaker 1: and they were on his cards. And the way the
Speaker 1: economics worked, percentage of the gate, Hogan's gates were bigger
Speaker 1: than anything anybody had ever seen in the business. You
Speaker 1: get a piece of that, to say nothing of merchandising
Speaker 1: rights and licensing rights are being on videotapes and stuff
Speaker 1: and something else. Ron Bass talked about in the shoot
Speaker 1: interviews that he did, how he continued getting a royalty
Speaker 1: stream on stuff like the Saturday Night's Made Event match
Speaker 1: against Brutus beef Cake that he didn't even know was
Speaker 1: being redistributed.
Speaker 2: But the checks show up. Wow, you know that's it.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 1: Anybody who wrote rode that Hogan gravy train, especially guys
Speaker 1: like him who had kind of toughed it out and
Speaker 1: lower paying territories for like fifteen years before sure, Sure
Speaker 1: Terry Boulder became Hulk Hogan. They all felt that way
Speaker 1: about the guy because he is the reason that they
Speaker 1: afford a house. And shit, it's pretty it's a pretty
Speaker 1: important part of the story. At the time, though didn't
Speaker 1: see it. I find it weird, he said, I didn't
Speaker 1: see any charisma in him, because we just watched all
Speaker 1: the footage that exists of Hulk wrestling in Alps in
Speaker 1: seventy nine. I saw quite a bit of charisma. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, it's a weird statement to make. Honestly, to me,
Speaker 1: wasn't this lumbering that you can tell the people are
Speaker 1: with everything he's doing. He's not Billy Robinson in there,
Speaker 1: but he's, you know, from a technical standpoint of course,
Speaker 1: not but the one thing he did have in abundance
Speaker 1: was charisma. I'm not saying he wasn't a little awkward,
Speaker 1: but I mean that promo that that he cut with
Speaker 1: Lance Russell, it's not the promo of it's not the
Speaker 1: greatest promo of all time or anything like that, but
Speaker 1: he just he cuts a good promo. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: not the kind of promo you get, you know what,
Speaker 1: you know what a promo sounds like from someone who
Speaker 1: doesn't have any charisma or or pizzazz. The one that
Speaker 1: Eddie Boulder cut right before him. That's yeah, right. I
Speaker 1: think they're saddling Terry with Eddie's deficiencies in some ways
Speaker 1: because they were so Yeah.
Speaker 2: That is strange, isn't it. It really is.
Speaker 3: Wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1: And even though at the tail end of this Memphis run,
Speaker 1: Terry was pretty much working by himself solo, cleaved off
Speaker 1: from association with ed Boulder, it continues so more now
Speaker 1: from a British Beefcake's book, just more color about the road,
Speaker 1: because you know, we've talked about food, We've talked about
Speaker 1: cars and transportation, We've talked about hotels and things like that,
Speaker 1: and lodging. Yes, but one important lynchpin of Eddie and
Speaker 1: Terry on the Road that we haven't touched on yet
Speaker 1: from a Memphis perspective, is fucking on the road, Oh
Speaker 1: fucking bitches on the road.
Speaker 2: Listen, listen. It's it's the it's the second most important thing. Okay,
Speaker 2: we need to know because you know what there's there's
Speaker 2: there's your stomach hunger, and then there's your cardinal hunger.
Speaker 2: And these are the things that need to be discussed,
Speaker 2: and these are the things that need to be that,
Speaker 2: you know, we need to get to the bottom line
Speaker 2: about that got.
Speaker 1: The carnal hunger addressed here. Further from Brutus Beefcake's book
Speaker 1: Cutting and strutting with Kenny Casanova. When we were on
Speaker 1: the road, we would hit different gyms and the guys
Speaker 1: would yell hulk when they saw a center. People everywhere
Speaker 1: saw that. Terry said that Terry looked like a bigger
Speaker 1: here we go, like a bigger Lou Farigna. I didn't
Speaker 1: we didn't include it. But he goes all into all this,
Speaker 1: all these fables and fantasies about this television appearance, and
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: The new name was perfect. Terry started to get national
Speaker 2: exposure and weightlifting magazines as well as the gym. Did
Speaker 2: he I don't know what he's talking about. I have
Speaker 2: no idea. I think he's thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaker 1: I know I've never a bodybuilding article about him before
Speaker 1: he was.
Speaker 2: Not at all, which led to appearances outside of wrestling.
Speaker 2: No guys like Robbie Robinson in California paid quote the
Speaker 2: Hulk to come to work out at his place and
Speaker 2: sign autographs. My cat is no way that happened. My cat,
Speaker 2: who owned a big gym in New Haven, Connecticut, also
Speaker 2: paid for an appearance, even though even though the big
Speaker 2: name weightlifters called him that, there was no heat from Lou.
Speaker 2: Lou loved being able to have had a hand in
Speaker 2: Terry's success. God we hung out with him quite a
Speaker 2: bit back in the day, and even today he sees
Speaker 2: me and gets giddy about remembering the good old days,
Speaker 2: back when they were God's. One night, Jerry, that Jerry Jarrett,
Speaker 2: did that happen? The loof Rigno thing? No just time,
Speaker 2: No got it? No, No, I mean sounds like war,
Speaker 2: but I got the no out of it one night
Speaker 2: before a big show, not before the big show by
Speaker 2: the way before a big show, A girl started following
Speaker 2: Terry and me around while we were showing, shoping to
Speaker 2: kill them. Yeah. She looked a little bit like Daisy
Speaker 2: Duke with short cut off jeans and had that farmer's
Speaker 2: daughter appeal. When you were in the spotline or have any.
Speaker 1: Bless you, bless you for the voice you're doing much
Speaker 1: a picture it coming out of brutus Beefcake's face.
Speaker 2: So it's creepy, fucking the giant forehead, all right, and
Speaker 2: just eyes bugging out of your fucking face. It is
Speaker 2: easy to tell when someone is watching you. You developed
Speaker 2: a six thins, you feel a hole burning in your
Speaker 2: back from their eyes, even if you haven't spotted them yet.
Speaker 2: Terry and I weren't show opping center somewhere, and this
Speaker 2: same girl was always about fifty feet behind us. I
Speaker 2: started to get that feeling we were being watched fresh
Speaker 2: off the for regnant appearance. I figured she wanted to
Speaker 2: meet Terry. While Terry was looking at a wrestling magazine
Speaker 2: at a news stand, I turned around and made eye contact.
Speaker 2: She smiled, used to playing wigman. I pointed to Terry,
Speaker 2: pointed to Terry, and then pointed at her. She nodded. No.
Speaker 2: Well then she didn't nod. Brutus, you don't nod. No,
Speaker 2: you shake your head. No, you only nod. Yes, that's
Speaker 2: that's just, that's just a thing. Then she pointed at
Speaker 2: herself right, and then she pointed at me. Yep, I'll
Speaker 2: see you at this show, she shouted as she disappeared.
Speaker 2: I immediately became aware, who's that? Can you picture it?
Speaker 6: It?
Speaker 2: Can't you not? Yep? Who's that? Dude? Terry asked, distracted
Speaker 2: a moment from his reading. Oh, just some fan. I
Speaker 2: was a single guy. I had come up with some
Speaker 2: extra filthy plans for the farmer's daughter if she was serious.
Speaker 2: I thought about her for the next few hours. I
Speaker 2: finally told Terry on the way over to the show,
Speaker 2: and he laughed. You're probably never even seared, he said.
Speaker 2: Before the show, I looked around for Daisy Duke, where
Speaker 2: the fans hung out. She was nowhere to be found.
Speaker 2: I also looked out from behind the curtain a few
Speaker 2: times to scan the audience, and still no. Diice told
Speaker 2: your brother you should have you should have gone her number.
Speaker 2: You might as well just forget it now. And it's
Speaker 2: the ben cut to Terry fucking the you know, the
Speaker 2: crowd was hot. Correct. During the match, I finally spotted
Speaker 2: the girl a few rolls back from ringside. She was
Speaker 2: better looking than I remembered from fucking like two hours ago.
Speaker 2: I waved at her. She pointed at me and then
Speaker 2: pointed herself again. Then she had a new gesture to
Speaker 2: the formula, the international symbol for blow job. Correct. I
Speaker 2: became aware once again. But what I don't understand? I
Speaker 2: became aware once again. I nodded at her. Wearing span
Speaker 2: nex was not the best for concealing the way I
Speaker 2: was feeling that very moment. Yeah, bulging member, it's like
Speaker 2: fucking like running down again again. Picture picture brutus beefcake
Speaker 2: all right, you know and his fucking at bolder days
Speaker 2: and hispanics, Yeah, you know, with a fucking raging herd
Speaker 2: on standing on the fucking ring aprinten the complete hell coken. Indeed,
Speaker 2: you know that stupid smile that he has in that
Speaker 2: in that time? Uh? Where the was I here? Oh?
Speaker 2: I conveyed her to meet me after the match. I
Speaker 2: had to look away from her after that and immediately
Speaker 2: think of baseball. After the match, she met me over
Speaker 2: by mill over by the curtain near the locker room entrance.
Speaker 2: Wait a second, I told her Darty was off talking
Speaker 2: with someone, so I grabbed the keys at the lincoln
Speaker 2: I might back up with the daisy girl. I went
Speaker 2: to speak again, and she shook her head no and
Speaker 2: put her fingers over her lips to indicate her rules.
Speaker 2: I don't understand what that means. Her fingers over her
Speaker 2: lips to her rules, I usally mean shut up. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I guess, oh, I see, but two fingers.
Speaker 2: Put her fingers over her lips to indicate her rules.
Speaker 2: No speaking aloud, Kinky. We stuck out the back to
Speaker 2: the lot with no words. I backed the big green
Speaker 2: pill up to the furthest darkest part of the lot
Speaker 2: makeout session. The only thing you could hear in the
Speaker 2: car was the smacking of lips. My window was open
Speaker 2: because the arena was more like a huge because of
Speaker 2: their arena was more like a huge pavilion. I could
Speaker 2: still hear all the body slams and the reaction of
Speaker 2: the crowd coming through the openings around the entire structure.
Speaker 2: Then we can make out. But I got to keep
Speaker 2: the windows old so I can hear the matches off well, God,
Speaker 2: so the opening is around the entire there was a
Speaker 2: little rustling sound from the spandex, and then the country
Speaker 2: girl started to go to town. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2: Everything was perfect. I felt a little bit bad, though,
Speaker 2: because I was all sweaty. I just finished wrestling, and
Speaker 2: it is possible I didn't smell the best. So I
Speaker 2: felt a little bad, but not that bad. Trying to
Speaker 2: be impressive, I was holding out thinking about baseball again.
Speaker 2: Then all of a sudden, I heard the announcer began
Speaker 2: to announce the next match and coming to the ring
Speaker 2: from Tampa, Florida, weighing at a total combined weight of
Speaker 2: five hundred and thirty five pounds. Here are Eddie and Terry,
Speaker 2: the Bolder brothers. Where is hedude?
Speaker 7: Brother?
Speaker 5: Was?
Speaker 2: Dude? Where's Eddy brother? Terry? Do you know where Eddie is?
Speaker 2: Eddie Boulder? Did what he says? Eddie Boulder?
Speaker 10: Dude?
Speaker 2: It's like, what did you say his name? Like that?
Speaker 2: What was that? I didn't say his name, brother? You
Speaker 2: just said his name, dude. I'm just wondering. I'm just
Speaker 2: sitting here. What where is he? Brother? Did he Where's who?
Speaker 8: Calgary?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 2: God, fucking dumb so colgar it.
Speaker 1: Oh fuck, he's freaking out that Edie's to be found,
Speaker 1: freaking out that they're like they've somehow taken him out
Speaker 1: and they're gonna like plug another opponent in and double cross.
Speaker 2: In the exactly. I sat up in my seat. Wait
Speaker 2: a minute, what, brother, I'm possible I'm positively called my
Speaker 2: name again. Doesn't make any sense. I just I just wrestled.
Speaker 2: Why are they calling me out again? Then it hit me,
Speaker 2: I didn't actually wrestle before. I was just sweaty from
Speaker 2: nothing great story. Then it hit me. About a month ago,
Speaker 2: the same thing happened. When the show was going to
Speaker 2: end early. A few of the guys had to wrestle
Speaker 2: again and stretch to stretch match to stretch things out
Speaker 2: because they said one of the matches finished too quickly.
Speaker 2: No more baseball, I needed this match. Talk about finishing quickly.
Speaker 2: I'm brother to hurry up and finish too quickly, he saidn't.
Speaker 2: I thought of every filthy thing I could I could
Speaker 2: I could think of. I went through my raunchy rolodex
Speaker 2: and finally hit her with my finisher. Right then I
Speaker 2: gave her a high five and started running back to
Speaker 2: the ring. Pulling up my tights. When I got back
Speaker 2: into the dress room, it was clear that everyone knew
Speaker 2: what had just happened. Terry must have seen me heading
Speaker 2: out to the car with the rizz At. No he
Speaker 2: did not, fucking you didn't add that, he fucking no,
Speaker 2: he wrote, rizz at. Hey, it's life in Memphis, man,
Speaker 2: what do you want? The rat is fine, it's the
Speaker 2: rizz at is what the problem is here? Okay, that's
Speaker 2: just like, don't fucking write that in your book. You
Speaker 2: have fucking dumbass m Yeah, I'll say hello. I think
Speaker 2: she did most of the eton this time. That is
Speaker 2: why they picked up it. It picked us the tag
Speaker 2: team just to rib me Jerry Jarrett and everyone gathering around.
Speaker 2: They roared, laughing, all right, cash for your third match
Speaker 2: of the night. Wow, Wow, one of the boys said,
Speaker 2: up my hair, Now get out there. I rushed down
Speaker 2: the aisle up, a little frazzled. The audience had no
Speaker 2: idea why I was late, but it felt as if
Speaker 2: but it felt like they were all in the know
Speaker 2: when they started clamping. When I climbed up to the apron,
Speaker 2: I saw Terry take one look at me and practically
Speaker 2: lose it. He was in the ring getting beat up
Speaker 2: by our opponents. This should have been seen in Young
Speaker 2: Rock Christ dramatic absolutely beat up my opponents and taking
Speaker 2: the heat from me, but biting his lip all it's
Speaker 2: all the while not to lose it. He looked at
Speaker 2: me and shook his head laughing. Horrible, he said, as
Speaker 2: he tagged me in. You have lipstick on your face
Speaker 2: and everything, dude, And I wiped my cheek off, stepped
Speaker 2: between the ropes and went to work. So good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I completely don't believe that happened, But no,
Speaker 1: I just I love the story.
Speaker 2: Nonetheless, there's nothing better than the fucking like you know.
Speaker 2: Then then then guys having some sort of sexual activity
Speaker 2: and then having me forced to go back in the ring.
Speaker 2: All right, that's just that's just gold right there, in
Speaker 2: an absolute goal, like a haste you've never seen before.
Speaker 1: So they visited with many rizats. But if I told
Speaker 1: you the one they they they stepped in on that
Speaker 1: they paid call to h during this particular point in
Speaker 1: their lives, I think your eyes might bug out.
Speaker 2: Of your head.
Speaker 1: I want you to read this passage and I want
Speaker 1: you to reveal the solar system who was among the
Speaker 1: Ladies of the Evening, Terry and Eddie Boulder encountered in Memphis.
Speaker 2: One night, Oh god, Terry and I met up with
Speaker 2: it's insanetional Sherry.
Speaker 1: Adder to the list strip Joint, add her to the
Speaker 1: list of people who would you know, basically get dividends
Speaker 1: of Hultkgan for the rest of their lives, just justifiably
Speaker 1: so she earned every penny she ever made of the
Speaker 1: wrestling business. What Bash of the Beach ninety four, She's coming.
Speaker 1: She's the whole match with Rick Flair for Christ's sake.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but.
Speaker 1: It started bass all these people that stuck with him,
Speaker 1: the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Mmm, here it is listen, needs, desires, hunger, Yep, the
Speaker 2: whole fucking thing. Okay, here we go. One night, Terry
Speaker 2: and I met up with sensational Sherry at a strip
Speaker 2: joined long before she became a wrestling We watched her dance.
Speaker 2: Oh she was a su stripper. She was a stripper.
Speaker 2: I didn't have to think, I ever knew she was
Speaker 2: a stripper. And our eyes were bugging out of our heads. Man,
Speaker 2: she was a really good dancer. Terry and I watched
Speaker 2: her for a long time, and we tipped the hell
Speaker 2: out of her. Later on, she came up to us
Speaker 2: and told us that she knew who we were, right.
Speaker 2: She loved the sport and hit it off with Terry.
Speaker 2: After that, she never really went away. How many people
Speaker 2: know this, but she was really good friends with both
Speaker 2: of us, and I think she kind of considered dating
Speaker 2: Terry for a short time one night. Huh, oh my god, listen,
Speaker 2: I'm sure I'm sure that that's something. That's something.
Speaker 1: There's no chance nodding at least once. Yea, And it was.
Speaker 1: It was a series. It was like a real knockdown,
Speaker 1: drag out affair. It wasn't.
Speaker 2: Think sensational share of screaming, the screaming, the just like
Speaker 2: the violence involved in them on. Now, all right, come
Speaker 2: on so hot, like you know, like I picture I
Speaker 2: picture her getting rammed from behind, right like all right,
Speaker 2: she's you know, Terry's got her bent over the bed,
Speaker 2: all right and just going to going to town. But
Speaker 2: she's slapping the bed like she does the mat when
Speaker 2: her guy's losing. You know, she's always slapping the mat.
Speaker 2: That look, that is a tremendous visual and I want
Speaker 2: to give it it's just due, but.
Speaker 1: I can't help but notice that you just casually use
Speaker 1: the verb rammed like he didn't even accentuate it at all.
Speaker 1: So he's ramming up from behind the Oh that's a
Speaker 1: key detail. That's a key showing some words there. That's
Speaker 1: a key verb.
Speaker 8: Yeah, m hm.
Speaker 12: And I've heard you say this isn't true. But the
Speaker 12: way he tells anythick in his book, I.
Speaker 2: Was trying to find something, you know what I was
Speaker 2: trying to find.
Speaker 10: And he was whipped.
Speaker 2: Foaming at the crock and he was.
Speaker 3: Whipped one two and he's which this.
Speaker 10: Is before he got him ready for the shoot.
Speaker 3: We a cut snow down.
Speaker 10: That's cool, that's who.
Speaker 2: What we had was a line like sam My should
Speaker 2: Larry let me? Thanks at Dad, you're in dangerous.
Speaker 12: Came so let me again?
Speaker 2: Ho you was?
Speaker 10: I was just getting started.
Speaker 2: Say that again, Ron, you can say that again.
Speaker 3: Mon was shooting at a table.
Speaker 12: And he was.
Speaker 14: Went, you motherfuckers, understand what's going on here? And someone
Speaker 14: tell me because I don't it a long time, but
Speaker 14: we have reached.
Speaker 2: Post modernity on the complete Hotel.
Speaker 1: Complete dar dah Dolly. Kafa asked, oh, so what else
Speaker 1: did they find out about Shery.
Speaker 2: After that? She never really went away. How many people
Speaker 2: know this, but she was really good friends with both
Speaker 2: of us, and I think she kind of started one night.
Speaker 2: One night, Terry and I were both sharing the same hotel.
Speaker 2: One night, like one night they were sharing the same
Speaker 2: hotel room. I thought, you lived in the hotel over
Speaker 2: your entire fucking life. We got a call and Cherry
Speaker 2: said that she wanted to come over with her friend
Speaker 2: and have some drinks with us. Now, who's going to
Speaker 2: turn down to beautiful men asking if they can come
Speaker 2: over to your room with alcohol in the mix? Right,
Speaker 2: we were both singing all the time, so we were
Speaker 2: down with it. The girls came over as planned, and
Speaker 2: they were all dressed to the nines. Chan reintroduced her
Speaker 2: to or introduce me to her friend, who she wasted,
Speaker 2: who she wanted to hook me up with, cold beers
Speaker 2: and hot bodies. About one thing to lead to another.
Speaker 2: Terry was on his side of the room with Sherry,
Speaker 2: and I was with her friend and the other. Now,
Speaker 2: let me be clear, this was by no means about
Speaker 2: to ever turn into a crazy orgy scene or something
Speaker 2: in parentheses. Not that I'm opposed to org. I'm just
Speaker 2: not going to engage one, engage in one with my
Speaker 2: good buddy, the Hulkster in the mix. If you catch
Speaker 2: my drift brother, all his words, all his words, wildly
Speaker 2: entertaining stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a orgy with you? But
Speaker 1: what's this deal with don't want to be involved?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 2: That's suspicious? I do, I don't understand. I don't want
Speaker 2: to be nordy with you. Why don't you want to
Speaker 2: be norgy with me? The question, it's a good one.
Speaker 2: My girl was very forward. She practically attacked me. I
Speaker 2: knew that stuff was soon to happen on my side
Speaker 2: of the room. I turned the lines out. I remember
Speaker 2: kissing my girl and then hearing what sounded like Sherry
Speaker 2: making ridiculous crazy noises across the room. Now the room
Speaker 2: was big enough and dark enough. Then I couldn't see
Speaker 2: what was yep on Darry's side of the room. I
Speaker 2: don't know if she was taking, if she was faking
Speaker 2: noises to make us laugh, or if what I was
Speaker 2: hearing was legit. But it didn't matter. I am a
Speaker 2: competitive guy, and I wasn't and I wasn't gonna going
Speaker 2: to let Terry outshine me in any athletic event. Cherry
Speaker 2: started breathing hard and making more outlandish noises. So I
Speaker 2: worked my girl and hit her with a couple of
Speaker 2: stiff and hit her with a couple of stiff potatoes.
Speaker 2: What's hitting her now? It's fucking smacking her.
Speaker 1: No, But when Vader hit you with stiff potatoes, it's
Speaker 1: full Idaho spuds.
Speaker 2: You spotted me, Sherry. I mean, when fucking when Vader
Speaker 2: potatoes you, it's it's it's mashed, it's fries, it's fucking
Speaker 2: tater todds, it's the whole fucking thing. He's just every
Speaker 2: kind of potato you can imagine. He's hitting you with it.
Speaker 1: She had a kink, but let me tell you, brother,
Speaker 1: it wasn't for work, bunches.
Speaker 2: She knew how to work, so she sold it. Well,
Speaker 2: I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. I mean,
Speaker 2: is he he hit her? Is that what he's saying?
Speaker 2: Is he fucking her? Is it like his way of
Speaker 2: dirty song?
Speaker 7: Here?
Speaker 2: Yes, I think he's implying the Oh my god. Then
Speaker 2: the other side of the room followed suit. It was
Speaker 2: on five minutes later. There were all kinds of moaning, groaning,
Speaker 2: and slapping sounds going on. The cheap bedsprings were working
Speaker 2: over time. It sounded like the Three Stooges, only there
Speaker 2: were four of us in the room. The next morning
Speaker 2: we met up to get breakfast. We looked at each
Speaker 2: other and laughed, but we didn't say a word about it.
Speaker 2: We both thought it was weird, and I guess we
Speaker 2: just decided never to do that again. I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't know. You don't know what to say about that story.
Speaker 1: I mean, but needless to say, welcome to the cannon
Speaker 1: sensational Sherry. Yeah, I mean, holy, talk about an auspicious start.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's beat. I don't even know what to say.
Speaker 1: So Brutus moving down the cards. As we illustrated last
Speaker 1: time we were with you in the Complete Hulkgan Terry
Speaker 1: and his second book saying Brutus didn't last very long
Speaker 1: in the Memphis fact territory. I guess in some ways
Speaker 1: there's only room for one big blonde wrestler in any
Speaker 1: given circuit.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, it wasn't then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you weren't a long for the territory either, Terry, Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: But Brutus here in the aforementioned Hannibal Shoot interview, talks
Speaker 1: a little bit about how it all evolved to the
Speaker 1: point that he was being defined down the card and yeah,
Speaker 1: Terry Lawler's name does come up and explaining why.
Speaker 6: Or new young sighting stallions that people were excited.
Speaker 10: Uh, Jerry Lawler was the top guys.
Speaker 6: In there, you know, and he had his fifet brought.
Speaker 10: You know, he was, I guess, I mean in a way,
Speaker 10: probably excited to see the new blood coming in, but
Speaker 10: on the other hand, not want to see these see
Speaker 10: when guys come and.
Speaker 6: Taking his money because you know, he's had his little
Speaker 6: deal there and his his main event. He had his
Speaker 6: deal and he's made you know, guys like us threatened him.
Speaker 10: You know, you think it would be a good thing,
Speaker 10: that it's going to bring us all.
Speaker 3: Up well, going to draw better houses.
Speaker 10: Were all gonna make more money. The guys didn't think
Speaker 10: that way. Anyone to give up betting their money to us.
Speaker 15: So there was there was always something going on there
Speaker 15: they which was Evan Adam, and they took and and
Speaker 15: uh separated, separated us and so.
Speaker 6: We're a tag team matches started making must warp single
Speaker 6: matches and it wasn't long after that and we wounded.
Speaker 1: Up leaving the wrestling podcast. So that's uh, that's brutuses read.
Speaker 1: They were cutting in, cutting in on that cozy baby
Speaker 1: face spot, and it started to become a problem. I mean,
Speaker 1: I say, I'm not totally dismissing it, but that is
Speaker 1: the story. With all the territories. You know, you're never
Speaker 1: going to be bigger than the incumbent babyface.
Speaker 2: Sure, you know the van Eric's all the way through.
Speaker 1: And so at a certain point if they catch a
Speaker 1: whiff that the fans are getting into you such that
Speaker 1: they may prefer to see you over the top, earner
Speaker 1: in the top incumbent, and slowly they start nitpicking and
Speaker 1: start finding reasons to define you down. But frankly, we
Speaker 1: watched him in the in the ring, he was so bad,
Speaker 1: ed Boulder, he was actively all bad, actively bad, And
Speaker 1: so I can see how it say what we can
Speaker 1: do with this guy. I mean, he just he can
Speaker 1: barely grab a headlock, honestly, front of facelock, and they
Speaker 1: just flails around the ring like he's drunk.
Speaker 2: He might he might actually not know the difference between
Speaker 2: a wristlock and a wristwall.
Speaker 1: And they've inspired the very phrase. Yeah, but it's already
Speaker 1: trouble in Paradise Here for the Boulder brothers. Here's another
Speaker 1: snippet Boss from Beefcakes book about it all coming undone
Speaker 1: before it even really had a chance to coagulate in Memphis.
Speaker 2: After a while in Memphis, we could only go so
Speaker 2: far with the big brother avenging the younger brother storylines.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think Hogan's pretty good at re
Speaker 2: kling story over and over and over again. And they
Speaker 2: wanted us to split us up in the end. See I
Speaker 2: knew it. They wanted to put Hulk by himself and
Speaker 2: not have me there just to serve as as lackey
Speaker 2: or whatever. Looking back, it would have it would have
Speaker 2: better served him to put him out there as a
Speaker 2: singles competitor. But the problem was we were problems were
Speaker 2: we were traveling around together. We still liked the idea
Speaker 2: of watching each other's backs and pushing each other to
Speaker 2: do better. Terry became Terry became my brother. I mean,
Speaker 2: we did everything together. We trained ate and traveled together,
Speaker 2: and fucked together too. We had become family. Hot off
Speaker 2: the new name Terry the Hulk Boulder and around May,
Speaker 2: around May of nineteen seventy nine, Jim Barnett made good
Speaker 2: with his promise. He gave Terry a great booking for
Speaker 2: a shot against the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race.
Speaker 2: This was one of the highest honors in wrestling and
Speaker 2: really increased his stock. Terry ended up winning the Northern
Speaker 2: Division and WA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship, which was recognized in
Speaker 2: Alabama and Tennessee. At the same time, he was working
Speaker 2: for Georgia Championship Wrestling under the name Sterling Golden. We
Speaker 2: wrestled around a bit, but there were the things were
Speaker 2: a little tough and the cash just wasn't coming in.
Speaker 2: Terry decided then again to quit wrestling again for a time,
Speaker 2: bummed out that he wasn't making very much money. Not
Speaker 2: knowing what to do, I suggested we go back to
Speaker 2: the docks in Tampa, where we quote could really make
Speaker 2: some good cash pouring concrete and loading big cargo ships.
Speaker 2: The money was good. We went from making something like
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty a week wrestling to seven hundred
Speaker 2: or eight hundred dollars. Yes, if you can believe it,
Speaker 2: we're headed back to the docks. I can't believe that
Speaker 2: that's crazy. To the docks.
Speaker 1: As far as Hogan remembers it. In his second book.
Speaker 1: He says Beefcake wound up transferring to Portland, Oregon, where
Speaker 1: he started to become a star in his own right.
Speaker 1: He was fine with the move. Terry Wrights has had
Speaker 1: nomad in his blood or something. He just didn't care
Speaker 1: where he sleeps, and he'd make the best of any situation.
Speaker 1: He's up in Oregon for two weeks and I get
Speaker 1: a call and he's got a girl in bed with him.
Speaker 1: He's having the time of his life. Me not so much.
Speaker 1: Being on the road in the car and in hotels
Speaker 1: all the time. That whole lifestyle was really draining to me.
Speaker 2: I missed having a.
Speaker 1: Friend on the road, and even at eight hundred a week,
Speaker 1: it was starting to feel like I was getting ripped
Speaker 1: off again. The thing is, there's no security in wrestling.
Speaker 1: I always knew that. I didn't think I cared, because
Speaker 1: at least it wasn't one of those regular jobs with
Speaker 1: the period at the end of the sentence. But even
Speaker 1: at the Memphis level, it was much more of a
Speaker 1: fly by night business than I ever imagined. There were
Speaker 1: nights when you'd walk into some building to go to
Speaker 1: work for a promoter and rather than it being a
Speaker 1: smart businessman or maybe a former wrestler who wanted to
Speaker 1: make something of himself. It would just be some guy
Speaker 1: who owns an electrical supply company who happens wrestling.
Speaker 2: On the side.
Speaker 1: Wrestling was my life. I wanted to grow my fan base,
Speaker 1: sell out bigger arenas, and make more money. I wanted
Speaker 1: to keep moving forward. How could that happen when I
Speaker 1: wasn't in charge of my own destiny, and when the
Speaker 1: men who were in charge were treating it like a
Speaker 1: side gig or were too small minded to see anything
Speaker 1: above and beyond they were already doing in whatever tiny
Speaker 1: little territory they considered their domain. I kept obsessing over
Speaker 1: it and complaining, mostly to myself, that things should be better.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to fix it, though, and I
Speaker 1: didn't really make any effort to take control. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how. Plus it was just so weird to walk
Speaker 1: in every night and know that if you got cut
Speaker 1: or you got hurt, it was up to you to
Speaker 1: go to the doctor. There was no insurance, there was
Speaker 1: no retirement plan, none of the stability that a normal
Speaker 1: job has. There was no structure to it. I started
Speaker 1: to feel like there was nobody there to back me
Speaker 1: up if I ever needed help. To be a wrestler
Speaker 1: meant that everything you had, your future, your health, your sanity,
Speaker 1: all of it was stuffed into this little bag you
Speaker 1: carried with your boots and your tights. You'd put on
Speaker 1: this costume to go perform like a dancing monkey. Then
Speaker 1: you'd take the costume off, get paid, and move on
Speaker 1: to the next town's circus to look around at the
Speaker 1: sold out arena, to hear them roar and chant your name,
Speaker 1: to know that they're walking out of there where their
Speaker 1: buddies were living. Every moment of the show you put
Speaker 1: on just like Vick and I used to do when
Speaker 1: we left the armory back in Tampa as kids. And
Speaker 1: then after all of that, a guy hands you twenty
Speaker 1: five bucks and says, see you next week. It all
Speaker 1: seemed like such a letdown. After a while, the rays
Speaker 1: up to one hundred bucks or so didn't make it
Speaker 1: any better. I was just still The price of a
Speaker 1: few seats in that whole arena was that all I
Speaker 1: was worth. I knew a good portion of those fans
Speaker 1: were there to see me. I had built a following.
Speaker 1: I was the one out doing spots on TV and
Speaker 1: helping her promote this whole thing. I knew I deserved more,
Speaker 1: I knew I was worth more. So when it was
Speaker 1: clear that there were no giant Raises in my future,
Speaker 1: I took a step back and tried to evaluate this
Speaker 1: whole situation. My conclusion, wrestling for no money sucks. Wow,
Speaker 1: he's coming to the brink, Boss, He's coming to drink
Speaker 1: now he remembers his buddy going to Portland. But according
Speaker 1: to the record of his career, where ed Boulder actually
Speaker 1: goes is to Southeastern down to Alabama. As we talked
Speaker 1: to a whole prior episodes, you don't start to see
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder actually having recorded matches in Ron Fuller Southeastern
Speaker 1: Wrestling until after both he and Terry had gone to Memphis,
Speaker 1: not before, and certainly not in those earliest Helcyon days
Speaker 1: where he was first becoming Terry the Hulk Boulder and
Speaker 1: working with Andre the Giant.
Speaker 2: Bruti's beef.
Speaker 1: Kake points to the Harley Race match almost as if
Speaker 1: it took place to lure him back from Memphis, but
Speaker 1: in fact it took place in early July, and they
Speaker 1: came in mid July, So the Harley match had already
Speaker 1: happened in Dothan before they made treks to Memphis, not
Speaker 1: the very first time in May when they did that
Speaker 1: very brief first appearance where they did the six man
Speaker 1: tag with Jerry Lawler. I'm talking about the more semi
Speaker 1: permanent run where they did the interview we've listened to
Speaker 1: with Lance Russell and got that whole storyline rocket and rolling.
Speaker 1: So again, a lot of that, a lot of the
Speaker 1: chronology becomes very difficult to follow in seventy nine, but
Speaker 1: suffice to say Ed's moving on and really splitting off
Speaker 1: to seek his own fame and fortune as a pro wrestler,
Speaker 1: while Hulk is considering what whether he wants to continue
Speaker 1: doing it. But there was this interregnant period, this underdiscussed
Speaker 1: sort of second round of quitting the wrestling business that
Speaker 1: Terry Boley went through. Amidst all of this incredibly eventful
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, he throws up his hands once again,
Speaker 1: and we'll certainly get there. But even as he acquired
Speaker 1: the Hulk nickname, the thought of that dream becoming real,
Speaker 1: he writes, kept falling further and further into the back
Speaker 1: of my mind. Despite the new name and how popular
Speaker 1: I was getting on the Memphis circuit. The whole business
Speaker 1: of wrestling quickly started to become a drag all over again.
Speaker 1: And speaking of Big Lincoln town Cars, Boss, speaking of
Speaker 1: brother Cars and association with the Memphis territory. We had
Speaker 1: some questions about the Van Tournament. Didn't you the Big
Speaker 1: Van Tournament? Yes, the Big Van Vader Tournament. Is this
Speaker 1: like why? Unfortunately the Homie Matt has our back. They
Speaker 1: used to do tournaments where the winner will get a
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine Lincoln Continental town Car, just like the
Speaker 1: one that Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler supposedly gifted to
Speaker 1: Hulk Covie. So he just had these fuck and things
Speaker 1: like on at the ready. Well, there's probably there was
Speaker 1: some relationship with some dealer, I'm sure who gave him
Speaker 1: a discount.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Look at this ad was the Lexington, Kentucky newspaper.
Speaker 2: Read what you see? Okay? So I see professional wrestling
Speaker 2: at the Rupp Arena in lexingon Kentucky, Thursday, June fourteenth,
Speaker 2: ninety seventy nine, eight pm, one night. And the main
Speaker 2: event is the nineteen seventy nine Lincoln Continental town Car
Speaker 2: Tournament First round tournament match Jerry Lawler versus the Stomper.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've heard of the Intra Continental Championship, but
Speaker 2: the Lincoln Continental Championship. That's that's fucking they Honestly, that
Speaker 2: would be amazing. They should do that. The Lincoln Continental
Speaker 2: championshipre's a big d of a Lincoln on the ad,
Speaker 2: the print ad, Yeah, probably done by Jerry Lawler. You
Speaker 2: get Lawler and Stomper. There, you get pictures of Robert
Speaker 2: Fuller and Bill Dundee as well. The first round tournament
Speaker 2: match Jerry Lalla versus the Stomper. Special added attraction card
Speaker 2: will be highlighted by six Man Texas Tornado match. All
Speaker 2: six men in ring during entire match. Wow Professor Tanaka,
Speaker 2: Mister Fuji, Gorgeous George Junior, Robert Fuller, Ron Fuller, Bill Dundee,
Speaker 2: More first round tournament matches, Tommy Gilbert versus Ron Bass,
Speaker 2: Thunderbolt Patterson versus Gorgeous George Junior, c w A and
Speaker 2: who I guess was the c WA Heavyweight champion at
Speaker 2: the time. Yeah, according to that, Tony Charles versus Wayne Ferris,
Speaker 2: Tommy Gilbert versus Rick Oliver, Playboy Fraser, oh plowboy. Sorry,
Speaker 2: not playboy Plowboy Fraser versus Larry Lank Playboy Fraser. I
Speaker 2: don't think he was the call. Plus eighth and eight
Speaker 2: finalist matches, fifteen matches starting at eight BM. Take us
Speaker 2: on a sale at Lexington Center, not the Lincoln Center.
Speaker 2: The Lexington Center. Five dollars ring side, four dollars general admission,
Speaker 2: two dollars children five and under. So apparently this was
Speaker 2: your Yeah, you're not a child if you're six years old,
Speaker 2: I guess to Jerry Lawler. No, well that's a good
Speaker 2: point actually.
Speaker 1: But the the town car, the van tournament, the tournament
Speaker 1: for a boat. Apparently this was like a Fuller family gimmick.
Speaker 2: And uh oh good. Another thing here important.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we were talk about the van tournament that we
Speaker 1: saw reference to when we were going through clippings relative
Speaker 1: to Huax time in Memphis. And here is a clipping
Speaker 1: of who won that tournament in nineteen seventy nine. Let
Speaker 1: the people know, all right, here we go another then
Speaker 1: commercial commercial Appeals Sports Sports, Memphis, Tuesday, May nine, nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy nine, Page fourteen.
Speaker 2: Fuller heads home in style. Robert Fuller defeated the Stomber
Speaker 2: to win the Van tournament. Fuller won the Van tournament
Speaker 2: in ret I mean, but did he actually win a van,
Speaker 2: like because it's fake? Probably not honestly, right, So this
Speaker 2: is what I don't understand. This was so fucking weird.
Speaker 1: Like I never you didn't want one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: for winning a battle rial either.
Speaker 2: Right, there was no purse money, you know. In wrestling
Speaker 2: action last night at the mid South Coliseum before four thousand,
Speaker 2: seven hundred and six, Fuller, who took home a van
Speaker 2: as his prize one matches over Dix. I mean, can
Speaker 2: you imagine if you brought him a van. It's like
Speaker 2: you want a van, like, I don't even give you
Speaker 2: a van on fucking on on on like wheel of
Speaker 2: Fortune or something like that. Right, you get a you know,
Speaker 2: full event. I want to matches over Dix later and
Speaker 2: Wayne Ferris to reach spelled f A r R I
Speaker 2: S to reach the Is that how we spec I
Speaker 2: thought it was f E R R I S. Right,
Speaker 2: it is? Yes, Okay, I listen, I'm going to call
Speaker 2: them out every time they make a typo to reach
Speaker 2: the championship. About in the first round Tommy gillberb comic
Speaker 2: Gilbert beat Larry Latham. Tony Charles was victorious over mister Fuji,
Speaker 2: Fuller pinned Wayne Ferris Thunderbolt, Patterson up ended Gorgeous George
Speaker 2: Junior Brothers, Dick Slater defeated Bill Dundee, and the Stomper
Speaker 2: upset Jerry Lawlervill What do you do? What do you do?
Speaker 2: Upset him In the quarterfinals. Patterson and Tanaka were both
Speaker 2: disqualified in their match. Slater beat Charles and the Stomper
Speaker 2: won his bout with Gilbert. In the semifinal round, Fuller
Speaker 2: topped Slater and the Stomper advanced because of the earlier
Speaker 2: double disqualification. In two non title bouts, Ron Bass defeated
Speaker 2: Tommy Gilbert Junior and Rick Oliver got the best of
Speaker 2: Jerry Bryant.
Speaker 1: There we go, incredible, incredible stuff. So that's what the
Speaker 1: then tournaments were all about. Indeed, one of the things
Speaker 1: I wanted to really nail down for the complete Hull
Speaker 1: Coogan was, Yes, when was the first time he was
Speaker 1: in an aptormag.
Speaker 2: Ooh, good call.
Speaker 1: And we know it wasn't Southeastern because, as we've talked about,
Speaker 1: Ron Fuller was no fan of having his match as photographed,
Speaker 1: so it wouldn't have been Dothan. But my god, have
Speaker 1: we not established that Jerry Lawler ran towards magazine coverage
Speaker 1: more than perhaps any other promoter in the country at
Speaker 1: the time. Yeah, so how did it happen? Well, as
Speaker 1: best we can report back, and it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: funky for the timeline, but it actually relates to Memphis
Speaker 1: more than it does where Hogan would be in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1: But the February nineteen eighty edition of The Wrestler Wow,
Speaker 1: which has cover stories including will Avenging Dusty Rhodes destroy
Speaker 1: Steve Kern?
Speaker 2: Let me of what special feature the Avenging? How I
Speaker 2: have the Avenging? I don't know.
Speaker 1: A special feature is Andre's pictured splashing looks like Johnny Valiant?
Speaker 1: How I saved Backland's title by Andre the Giant? So
Speaker 1: Andre picking up the pen for this issue or a
Speaker 1: wrestler that's very important. Also, picture Rick Flair going to
Speaker 1: work in what looks like black Jack Mulligan with the
Speaker 1: headline ric Flair's days is a fan favorite are over?
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Also Ted Dibiassi must be given the North American title.
Speaker 1: These are all the pressing issues of the day for
Speaker 1: the wrestling fan in February nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2: But the pressing issues or depressing.
Speaker 1: Issues, well, the issues that made it to the press,
Speaker 1: I should probably say, and it was in the photo
Speaker 1: feature beyond the squared circle, where they would show sort
Speaker 1: of like candids of wrestlers and wrestlers doing things that
Speaker 1: we first see, as far as we can ascertain, a
Speaker 1: picture of Terry buleya in the pages of the magazines
Speaker 1: that we spent so many years, so many years as
Speaker 1: kids thumbing through. Look at that, God, he looks fucking
Speaker 1: massive massive. So while holy shit, the magazine was published
Speaker 1: in February nineteen eighty, the copy the text was apparently
Speaker 1: set down when he was still in Memphis, because they
Speaker 1: refer to him as if he was still wrestling in Memphis,
Speaker 1: which is why it belongs right here on this leg
Speaker 1: of the Complete Hulk Hogan Boss tell us what they
Speaker 1: decided to caption it.
Speaker 2: Terry Boulder, currently wrestling in the Memphis area, would much
Speaker 2: prefer to be referred to as the Incredible Hulk. Boulder,
Speaker 2: who has twenty two inch biceps, claims to possess twice
Speaker 2: the strength of television's Incredible Hulk Lou for Rigno, so
Speaker 2: there's a direct hit.
Speaker 8: Huh.
Speaker 2: That is a direct hit.
Speaker 1: And if you're wondering if they were if he was
Speaker 1: marketing himself as the real Incredible Hulk, there you have it. Also,
Speaker 1: Bob Geigel looks like a looks like a criminal. Well,
Speaker 1: he looks like the guy is like Uncle Junior in
Speaker 1: the Sopranos Uncle Junior and Sopranos, or the guy, the
Speaker 1: creepy guy in the six Flags commercials.
Speaker 2: Yes and Sun Dun. What else is on this page?
Speaker 2: Don Curtis, formerly Mark Lewin's tag team partner, is now
Speaker 2: a successful promoter in Jacksonville, looking kind of like the
Speaker 2: the more like, better looking brother of Martin Scorsese.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to handle the unibrow issue. Yeah. And then up here, oh,
Speaker 1: up the right corner.
Speaker 2: Andy Kaufman, star of television's Taxi and a frequent guest
Speaker 2: on Saturday Night Live, grapples with Dusty Rhodes a headlock
Speaker 2: on Dustin's.
Speaker 1: I Wonder Hogan felt compelled to pretend that he was
Speaker 1: around when Andy Kaufman was Seriously first time he opens
Speaker 1: a PWI to see you pictures of himself, and according
Speaker 1: to add Leslie, sometimes they would just stop and look
Speaker 1: at wrestling magazines. That was That was the setup to
Speaker 1: where that woman eventually lured them into a tag team scenario.
Speaker 1: He's looking for pictures of himself when he did see it.
Speaker 1: There's a the old son of a bitch in Florida
Speaker 1: who didn't believe in him and never let him work
Speaker 1: the hester.
Speaker 2: Now and then we got on the bottom right corner.
Speaker 2: Sweet brown Sugars fans come in all ages. As an
Speaker 2: old lady with Sweet brown Sugar. The high flying mast
Speaker 2: has masked man has quite a following. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 2: she's listen. I guess she's one of the older ring rats.
Speaker 2: Apparently that's the only takeaway. I greds finally greets fine. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's kind of behavior that needs to happen.
Speaker 1: So to conclude the Memphis leg of the journey, we
Speaker 1: have to flip forward in the timeline a bit, because
Speaker 1: this reference doesn't really make sense to go into all
Speaker 1: the other places Hulk's about to go to and then
Speaker 1: do one quick foray over to Memphis for one match,
Speaker 1: which is essentially what happens in February of nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1: So let's set the stage. Yes, in eighty one, he's
Speaker 1: wrestling for WWF for the most part, he's working all
Speaker 1: their television tapings in Pennsylvania wrestling the likes of Tony Garia,
Speaker 1: Tony Altamare, Jim Duggan even who was coming in for
Speaker 1: some shots back then. And then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: in the middle of all of this, including a basically
Speaker 1: the two days after Tonygree and Rick Martel, the tag
Speaker 1: team champions face Hulk Cogan and the Hangman in Baltimore
Speaker 1: at the Civic Arena. Two days later, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: Hulk's back in Memphis. A deal's made and Hulk is
Speaker 1: back and it's the February ninth, nineteen eighty one c
Speaker 1: WA Mid South Colisseum card in Memphis, where yes, the
Speaker 1: record book shows Boss that Jerry the King Lawler defeats
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan. Wow, and man with this come in handy
Speaker 1: later for Jerry Lawler. Oh yeah, as Hulk becomes a
Speaker 1: national phenomenon and we sense kind of a pattern to
Speaker 1: the use Jerry would put visiting superstars when they come
Speaker 1: through Memphis back then.
Speaker 2: And it's only four.
Speaker 1: Days later that Hulk is back for WWF at a
Speaker 1: high school gym in New Jersey Wrestling, Rick McGraw and
Speaker 1: continues with the WWF through February of nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1: So it's that kind of one aberration in February eighty one.
Speaker 1: This one match, yep, that adds one little PostScript to
Speaker 1: the story of Terry Bulea in Memphis, and we're going
Speaker 1: to watch it. We're going to watch the match Lovely
Speaker 1: Lovely that was on Wrestling Gold. You can find it,
Speaker 1: which came out in nineteen eighty eight. I believe it
Speaker 1: was on home video. I'm going to send you the
Speaker 1: link and folks out there in the Solar System can
Speaker 1: find it as well.
Speaker 2: This is this is.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we'll just do this when you're right
Speaker 1: it is. But okay, let's just do it. This was sure,
Speaker 1: whatever's easier, So yeah, just quickly. I mean we've already
Speaker 1: touched on it a bit, but for the sake of
Speaker 1: the fact they're about to play on it, this is
Speaker 1: big for you, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I honestly, you know what, I don't think I've
Speaker 2: seen this match since then, so I'll be I'm very
Speaker 2: I'm very curious to see how it all, how it
Speaker 2: all plays out, and if it jogs any memories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a wild thing to see
Speaker 1: because just where Hulk's at in his life and career
Speaker 1: is just yes, it's it's weird that he's a big
Speaker 1: enough deal that he's you know, a headliner against Jerry Lawler,
Speaker 1: but not a big enough deal yet that we consider
Speaker 1: him truly having arrived as right. It's like this, he
Speaker 1: was over before he was over? Does that make sense? Like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and it does.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna have to but there is like, you know,
Speaker 2: but there is a thing like you know, there's being
Speaker 2: over in there's being over with the wrestling crowd, with
Speaker 2: the wrestlers, and being with wrestling promoters, and there's also
Speaker 2: being over you know, in a bigger fashion. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just saw as I'm trying to pull this up
Speaker 1: that the Vault guys put up the Superstar Gram Harley
Speaker 1: Rayed super Bowl stuff that we talked about, and the
Speaker 1: Florida leg of the journey. Oh no, kidding. So they're
Speaker 1: they're paying attention. Hopefully they follow our lead, they continue
Speaker 1: to follow our lead because there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: that they they have Hull Cogain that we're gonna have
Speaker 1: to see as the complete Hull Cogain unfolds and if
Speaker 1: they post it, if they if they want us to
Speaker 1: pretend we don't notice that we gave them the idea
Speaker 1: or more than, we're going to do that because so
Speaker 1: it's it's for the greater good, as we've established. So
Speaker 1: if you're loaded up, I am, this is only about
Speaker 1: a four minut loaded up clip.
Speaker 2: Here. No, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: That was on the tape. So we're going to hit
Speaker 1: play in three that one play.
Speaker 4: N's wrestling the call help already with the big gold
Speaker 4: Cape is betting managed by Frank Blasser's speaking at the out,
Speaker 4: Let's go out and.
Speaker 2: Stas from valley five mits of this legend. It's not
Speaker 2: a legendary matric and fucking you know, let him see
Speaker 2: the flore And what's he coming out to Rocky?
Speaker 1: She already lawler Oh coming out to Rocky stand Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a job because he'd already done Rocky through.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Februar eighty one away. I don't think so. No,
Speaker 2: he had the well, that's right, so I guess it's, uh,
Speaker 2: Terry get the idea. Look at Terry. I guess they
Speaker 2: walked out and held up with a crown on and
Speaker 2: like a magic carpet drive. That is Zodie. I always think,
Speaker 2: you know, it's a weird thing, and I wonder if
Speaker 2: anyone else feels this, But.
Speaker 1: You just always feel like Hogan didn't start wrestling until
Speaker 1: he fucking look did Rocky and everything came after that?
Speaker 2: Or you know, like that's ok cars to ride a
Speaker 2: white horse to the room.
Speaker 1: The Hulk stands on the wing and Peacocks's feathers out
Speaker 1: with that big gold KP's get out one more time
Speaker 1: headlining in memshis with the King.
Speaker 2: Look at this?
Speaker 1: Do you look at the size of Hogan a black trunks,
Speaker 1: black pads, silver books.
Speaker 2: Before the n W o ye.
Speaker 1: Coloren elbow to push off and out Coloren elbow to
Speaker 1: the side headlock for the wallers. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: watch this because you gotta see the size difference between
Speaker 1: the two of them now is remarkable. Pulp lifts from
Speaker 1: the headlock in a back suplex and deposits Lola and
Speaker 1: the top shows ease. Not even a struggle ring, definitely
Speaker 1: a powerhouse.
Speaker 3: Ring.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good. You'll see Jimmy Hart down at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the screen. Yeah, managing Hogan Hill are sitting
Speaker 1: on the little rope blocked the right hand and hit
Speaker 1: hit Holt in the head and.
Speaker 2: They did the rafergo struck. They're going nuts in the
Speaker 2: midst of the Jeff Jarrett stroke.
Speaker 8: There.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, flash forward and help this clubbing the back.
Speaker 1: And that's the problem with this match is it's just
Speaker 1: shipping fragments yep, slipping elbow by Hulkobra and chops dwl
Speaker 1: the ball elball scoop and slam man.
Speaker 2: Oh, here we go, here we go like drop, that's
Speaker 2: a vintage form. We flash forward. Yeah, Actually, Bomba's confusing.
Speaker 1: Backshandel and he knew the finish, his halts finish, and
Speaker 1: he does it here and then the match does it in.
Speaker 2: Verse web. Hogan stumbles out of the corner of the
Speaker 2: back pick up and slam. He lean on his showld
Speaker 2: there's too you see that. It wasn't a it wasn't
Speaker 2: a clean slam.
Speaker 16: Hope with Litter says, he called all that song. He's
Speaker 16: already saying, wheels down. I Hope with Litter said, he
Speaker 16: called for that slang in the room. Waller now yes,
Speaker 16: Pepper and Hogan's forehead of rights to.
Speaker 7: Break all are up, pounding away with that right hand
Speaker 7: founding away on that right hand the hoop back into
Speaker 7: the ropes and he sank.
Speaker 1: His son's drunk right forward the referee's out. Whiler is
Speaker 1: punching Hogan on the canvas. Jimmy Hart has been unswing
Speaker 1: around the ringside the panic and then he slipped in
Speaker 1: the fans who don't care.
Speaker 2: Their fans are just walking around, don't care. Oh, look
Speaker 2: at look at it.
Speaker 10: Look at it.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Hard going to town and the keys will find
Speaker 1: as he attacked before the ref begin his cunt. Hogan
Speaker 1: picks up the walk and stick the chivy Hard has
Speaker 1: so them fell sounds, assaulting Lulla with it. Clearly this
Speaker 1: thing has been thrown out, and Cherry Lawler is the
Speaker 1: victor if he had a qualification.
Speaker 2: On the hog.
Speaker 7: Going up heart going after the hawk with a walking stick.
Speaker 1: The walking stick sent Sturry and the walking stick. Shots
Speaker 1: of Lawler begging off now and he takes a shout
Speaker 1: right hand down goes any Hard's heart.
Speaker 7: That heart scrambles to the floor into the security of
Speaker 7: the halt. Lawler the winner in fourteen twenty eight by
Speaker 7: discual of it.
Speaker 2: Wow, we lost ten minutes. We lost ten minutes of
Speaker 2: that match. We did. We did. That sucks.
Speaker 1: It's very it's very weird how that is the only
Speaker 1: version that survives, because well, I feel like it's one
Speaker 1: of the I feel like it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where they they watched it. It was like one of
Speaker 1: those like recap where they watch it. They you know,
Speaker 1: they they would air it. You know what what they
Speaker 1: did had the guide studio commenting over.
Speaker 2: Right, right right. It looks like that so kind of
Speaker 2: a thing.
Speaker 1: There's got to be some the full match has to
Speaker 1: exist on tape somewhere, because I don't think they destroyed things.
Speaker 1: I've seen full length matches even without commentary from the
Speaker 1: Mid South Colosseum from the late seventies and eighties. But
Speaker 1: if it exists, I haven't seen it in a more
Speaker 1: fuller form. And what's key is that this is what
Speaker 1: was fuller form n fuller form. What's key is this
Speaker 1: is how it was distributed to the country on the
Speaker 1: Wrestling Gold release in right exactly see them playing that
Speaker 1: up a bit. And you know, Jerry Lawler was not
Speaker 1: above going on Memphis television and talking about all the
Speaker 1: national wrestling stars that he'd already beaten, that he found
Speaker 1: ways to get to come into Memphis before they were
Speaker 1: established and get wins over them that he could later,
Speaker 1: you know, in his little fiefdom there talk about having
Speaker 1: defeated Andre the Giant, as we talked about earlier, fell
Speaker 1: victim to do it as well. Right, But you saw
Speaker 1: Jimmy Hart's involvement. And what's key is the difference between
Speaker 1: what Jimmy Hart was about in Memphis and seventy nine
Speaker 1: when Terry first came in, and what he was about
Speaker 1: in Memphis in eighty one when Terry came back were
Speaker 1: much different in terms of allegiance. And in fact, one
Speaker 1: of the things we've often puzzled over in the Lapsed
Speaker 1: Fan over the Year's Boss is how did Jimmy Hart
Speaker 1: become this trusted CONSIGLIERI to Hulk Hogan, Yes, of all
Speaker 1: the people, why Jimmy Hart. What did Jimmy Hart do
Speaker 1: to win him over? And this may provide some of
Speaker 1: the answer. We go to Jimmy Hart's book reflecting on
Speaker 1: this point. In nineteen eighty one, I was bringing in
Speaker 1: that unstoppable object, the walking stick, every Monday night to
Speaker 1: keep Jerry Lawler from killing me. One week, Lawler says,
Speaker 1: guess who I've got coming in next. Hulk Hogan's going
Speaker 1: to be here Monday night. Oh my god, I said,
Speaker 1: that's great. The house was sold out, But more important
Speaker 1: than the night's receipts was the bond that formed between
Speaker 1: Hulk and me before the match. He said, Look, Jimmy,
Speaker 1: I'm worried. In fact, the full quote is and I
Speaker 1: shit you not Jimmy Hart's book. Look, Jimmy, I'm worried
Speaker 1: that these guys might try to swerve me.
Speaker 10: Brother.
Speaker 1: A swerve is a surprise trick of reversal that's part
Speaker 1: of a match's plan. The local territories were notorious for
Speaker 1: editing videotape to change the outcome of a match. Usually,
Speaker 1: when a wrestler's down for a near fall, the count
Speaker 1: goes one, two, and then he barely kicks out of
Speaker 1: the pin before the ref says three. Well, you can
Speaker 1: take a piece of video and edit and splice it
Speaker 1: to the point where a near fall looks like a
Speaker 1: three count. Back then, Oh my god, Hulk Hogan was
Speaker 1: already big enough that a clean pinfall victory, even if
Speaker 1: it occurred on a doctor tape, would have been damaging
Speaker 1: to his star power. With a growing reputation, to protect
Speaker 1: Hulk was justifiably worried. As Hulk's manager that night, I was,
Speaker 1: of course supposed to jump into the ring while Lawler
Speaker 1: had him in a pinning predicament. My job, My job
Speaker 1: was to hit Lawler with my cane just before the
Speaker 1: count of three and save my guy from losing well
Speaker 1: in the back. Before the match, Lawler took me aside
Speaker 1: and said, Jimmy, look, we want to make sure that
Speaker 1: Hulk's shoulders are down for a while, long enough that
Speaker 1: if we want to do a little bit of stuff
Speaker 1: with the tape down the line. Well, wah, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: you know, so, don't come in too fast. Whatever you do,
Speaker 1: don't come in too fast. And we wonder, Boss, where
Speaker 1: Hogan gets the paranoia from. Lawler wanted to be able
Speaker 1: to make it look like he had Hulk pinned before
Speaker 1: I jumped in the ring.
Speaker 2: So that was the key.
Speaker 1: The key was the visual pinfall that Hulk Cogan was
Speaker 1: in mortal fear of.
Speaker 2: That's always a thing.
Speaker 1: And this is where it stems from. Lawler wanted to
Speaker 1: have a tape of him even if the referee was out.
Speaker 1: The idea is the ref could have counted three if
Speaker 1: he was conscious because Jerry Lawler had Hulk Hogan dead
Speaker 1: to rights, and if the finish is going to be
Speaker 1: a disqualification with Jimmy Hart's interference, Jimmy Hart has to
Speaker 1: make sure that those three seconds elapse before he gets
Speaker 1: in the ring. But it's here where Jimmy Hart decides
Speaker 1: to pledge his allegiance to Terry Boleya instead of Jerry Lawler,
Speaker 1: and perhaps perhaps the rest is history.
Speaker 2: Live.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Hart writes, everything would end with the DQ after
Speaker 1: I entered, Lawler would bump me around and beat up
Speaker 1: a bit on Hogan, and then the ref would call
Speaker 1: the whole thing off. There would be no clean victory
Speaker 1: on tape. It might be a different story.
Speaker 2: Mm hm.
Speaker 1: Anyway, like I said, Hulk suspected some kind of swerve,
Speaker 1: and just before our match, he looked at me and said, Jimmy, please,
Speaker 1: on the count of one, make sure your rass was
Speaker 1: in that ring. Yes, brother, make sure you're hitting Lawler
Speaker 1: with that cane. I met his gaze and told him
Speaker 1: I'd be there, buddy. When that referee got down for
Speaker 1: the count, I was in like a bullet, whaling Lawler's
Speaker 1: ass with that cane, which is not true. The referee
Speaker 1: did not go for the count. The ref was splayed out.
Speaker 2: Unconscious exactly, which maybe even a bigger thing like fucking
Speaker 2: me get in there right, and I even don't even
Speaker 2: wait for the ring.
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what he's saying. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: remembers getting in like a bullet. In fact, he remembers
Speaker 1: he actually got in before the ref even started to count.
Speaker 1: Boom boom, boom boom five times. I hit him. I
Speaker 1: didn't even give him the chance to get the near fall.
Speaker 1: It was the best move I ever made. If Lawler
Speaker 1: had been able to manufacture a three out in the
Speaker 1: editing room, it might have been horrible for Hulk, possibly
Speaker 1: even changing the course of his career. Certainly, it would
Speaker 1: have temporarily damaged his reputation and status. I had a
Speaker 1: clear choice. I could either do things Lawler's way or
Speaker 1: stand with Hulk, and I went with Hulk, not knowing
Speaker 1: that I'd ever be connected with him years later, at
Speaker 1: the end of the Rainbow, after the match, Lawler was agitated, going, man,
Speaker 1: you jumped in too fast, but Hogan was relieved seeing
Speaker 1: things much differently. Fabulous brother Browler, who were right there
Speaker 1: right on the spot. That would be just the first
Speaker 1: of many moves I'd make in support of Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's big. That's a moment. That that
Speaker 2: is a moment, And uh, I don't even know what
Speaker 2: to fuck. I mean, you know it, but it's some
Speaker 2: of one of those things that it's just kind of weird,
Speaker 2: like I don't know, like you're siding with Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 2: I mean really, what's weird to me is that he's saying,
Speaker 2: without having any clue about to me, you do that
Speaker 2: because you establish a relationship with the guy. Yes, not
Speaker 2: because of you know, you know, you don't know you're
Speaker 2: going to have you're going to beat with him later.
Speaker 2: Like I don't know, I don't know if I buy that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does kind of seem like something that perhaps
Speaker 1: didn't have as much significance when it happened. But in
Speaker 1: trying to paint the picture of how he stayed loyal
Speaker 1: to Hogan, he would kind of creatively remember this match
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one as him taking more of a
Speaker 1: stand than he actually took. I don't know, because you're right,
Speaker 1: it's not like there'd been some allegiance between Jimmy Hart
Speaker 1: and Hultkogan. Such that it made any sense that Jimmy
Speaker 1: Hart would pick it was probably that it was pissed
Speaker 1: off at Lawler, because you know, Lawler was the king
Speaker 1: of the castle, and everybody eventually had a disagreement with
Speaker 1: him that worked in that territory, especially worked with him
Speaker 1: in that territory. You know, eventually he's going to piss
Speaker 1: you off. Eventually he's going to big league you. Eventually
Speaker 1: he's going to do something that crowds you out of
Speaker 1: an opportunity to become perhaps a name on par with
Speaker 1: his in Memphis. And I'm not saying Jimmy Hart had
Speaker 1: aspirations in that direction, but he's pretty clear in his
Speaker 1: book and interviews over the years that there were some
Speaker 1: points of friction. Not that they can't stand each other anymore.
Speaker 1: I mean they both sat in the room together for
Speaker 1: the Tales from the Territories in the Memphis territory, for instance.
Speaker 1: But I do think for Jimmy he prefers to see
Speaker 1: his life in times, as you know, sniffing out Lawler's
Speaker 1: bullshit and hitching himself to a much more lucrative train
Speaker 1: in Hulk Hogan at a time when most would have
Speaker 1: picked lawl or over Hogan, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: particularly in Memphis. So I think he takes some pride
Speaker 1: in that. Now, I don't know, I have no reason
Speaker 1: to disbelieve that he didn't follow Hulk's lead. I get
Speaker 1: flashes to star K ninety seven here. I don't know
Speaker 1: about you. Yeah, yeah, that's true. I didn't think about that,
Speaker 1: but that totally makes sense because the only thing that
Speaker 1: ever made sense to me was that Nick Patrick was
Speaker 1: told to slap three by Hulk in the back and
Speaker 1: then pretend it was an accident because Sting didn't kick
Speaker 1: out in time, right, right, right, So I think that
Speaker 1: made sense.
Speaker 2: And this is kind of like that.
Speaker 1: This is kind of Hulk going to the ring with
Speaker 1: the other guy thinking something was going to happen, but
Speaker 1: sneaking something in that advantages him from a perception standpoint,
Speaker 1: even though you know, ultimately the result is Jerry Lawler
Speaker 1: defeats Halkogan by disqualification. That was but this little twist,
Speaker 1: this little thing Lawler wanted to happen for visual purposes,
Speaker 1: Hogan gout wind of and I feel like that's what
Speaker 1: pretty much happened in the Sting match as well. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so he inserted that leg drop spot to save face.
Speaker 1: And he's just playing, like you said, he's just playing
Speaker 1: the same game, running the same playbook over and over
Speaker 1: over against same angles.
Speaker 2: Fucking thing. It's so funny. I mean, it's so funny
Speaker 2: that it's it's it's not even just ww angles that worked.
Speaker 2: It's like from from before, from way before before. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's learning all these lessons outside the auspices of
Speaker 1: New York even. And we're going to go now to
Speaker 1: a promo that hul Cogan cut on Florida television to
Speaker 1: set up the rematch with Jerry Lawler. This one would
Speaker 1: be in Saint Petersburg, Florida, at the Bayfront Center, so
Speaker 1: as part of the CWF circuits we've talked about, not
Speaker 1: in Memphis. But they're already playing up this idea, which
Speaker 1: I actually makes me even more specious as to Jimmy
Speaker 1: Hart's account, they're clearly playing up on television the idea
Speaker 1: that Jerry Lawler was doctoring footage to make hul Cogan
Speaker 1: look bad, not that he would doctor it years and
Speaker 1: years later, after hul Cogan was the WWF champion in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight, in eighty one, they were talking on
Speaker 1: television like Jerry Lawler was trying to take false credit
Speaker 1: for a victory over hul Cogan, who at the time
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily being portrayed as unbeatable. He certainly wasn't the
Speaker 1: world beating superhero baby Face.
Speaker 2: He was a heel.
Speaker 1: He was a heel in New York primarily, and so
Speaker 1: the idea that he would take umbrage with Jerry Lawler
Speaker 1: doctoring the footage was something a heel would say. It
Speaker 1: was It's something a heel would say, is an excuse
Speaker 1: for having lost to Jerry Lawler. Right, It wasn't something
Speaker 1: a baby face was saying to try to throw shade
Speaker 1: at a Jerry Lawler and make him seem like some
Speaker 1: kind of Charlottean or some kind of manipulative dickhead or
Speaker 1: something like that. So hear it for yourself. This is
Speaker 1: as part of a segment that used to air on
Speaker 1: Florida Television with Gordon Soley in the host chair, but
Speaker 1: a co host or a special correspondent named Barbara Cleary
Speaker 1: would do a Q and a segment called Take five.
Speaker 1: This would be at the Sportatory in the same place
Speaker 1: where Terry made his first inroads into the business working
Speaker 1: with Charlie Lay to get in with Hiro Matsuda and stuff,
Speaker 1: and this is where they would take Florida television. It's
Speaker 1: so hot in here and Terry is so wet from
Speaker 1: sweat that you can see I can see his hair
Speaker 1: blowing from the fan that they undoubtedly had to point
Speaker 1: at him, so he didn't turn into a human amount
Speaker 1: of perspiration.
Speaker 2: During the course of the promo.
Speaker 1: But this one survives, and it's great because in some
Speaker 1: ways it's Hulk finally coming back to Florida. I'm being like,
Speaker 1: you see, you know here, I am looking me. I'm
Speaker 1: cutting promos against one of the top territorial baby faces
Speaker 1: in the country, and I'm back in Florida and you
Speaker 1: got to put me on television like I'm a big
Speaker 1: deal after you basically ran me out of town on
Speaker 1: a rail. It made me feel like I had no
Speaker 1: place in the wrestling business. And so that's kind of
Speaker 1: sweet in and of itself. But again, the working relationship
Speaker 1: between Vince Mcmahonsonior and Eddie Graham can't be overstated. They
Speaker 1: were sharing talent extensively. So Hulk's here in Florida on
Speaker 1: television in Florida by virtue of the fact that he's
Speaker 1: with Vince up in New York, clearly, and so it's
Speaker 1: more that then this is like part of some extended
Speaker 1: run that Hulk had and championship wrestling from Florida.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 1: This is kind of part and parcel of his WWF run.
Speaker 1: So if you've got this queued up, Take five with
Speaker 1: Barbara Cleary, this is on the Fantastic one oh six
Speaker 1: North Albany YouTube page. With all this great Florida stuff,
Speaker 1: We're going to hit play three two one play.
Speaker 5: Can you have any comics to make before We're gonna
Speaker 5: tell you something Hulk Hogan only it's the only true
Speaker 5: champion in the wrestling world today. But Hulk Hogan has
Speaker 5: the biggest arm in the world, the best looking face,
Speaker 5: and without a doubt, always tells the truth. Whenever you
Speaker 5: hear Halk Cogan talk to you, I guarantee you, mister
Speaker 5: Sully and missus Barbara, you will never you will.
Speaker 2: Never ever hear me tell a lie. I got rid
Speaker 2: of that and legor.
Speaker 5: Goof and now I'm getting down the business. About three
Speaker 5: weeks ago, there was the most biased people piece of
Speaker 5: film shown, the most boasted piece of film is shown
Speaker 5: Hulk Hogan down in his back getting beat by mister j. Now,
Speaker 5: I went to the NBA, the review board, I went
Speaker 5: to the highest part of the council, and I have
Speaker 5: the film. The film in its entirety. The truth will
Speaker 5: come out because Hulk Hogan never tells ol Ray.
Speaker 8: Roll off sounds right.
Speaker 7: On Florida end of the road and that elbow put
Speaker 7: him down hard. Lord man ants too, you have to
Speaker 7: take money to light.
Speaker 2: Thanks dropping. So here's the same tum the same cat yep.
Speaker 7: So clearly wrestling going to took this off of r
Speaker 7: and the red bree says, bring it up, revert So
Speaker 7: that's same brother all hutting up and put him down
Speaker 7: on a body slams down.
Speaker 2: Don't sound enough.
Speaker 7: He's wrestling attire.
Speaker 2: What's suspects territory that super body face, that everything light
Speaker 2: just take that's down over.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 7: There he goes down.
Speaker 2: Crowd, that's a wun surprised A.
Speaker 7: N said, rep raid trying to break aholler up, pounded
Speaker 7: away with that right hand.
Speaker 3: And lawa.
Speaker 7: What wedding the hope No, regardless of the outcome of
Speaker 7: this one, it's he that won't.
Speaker 4: Hear them we just say I think so yeah, Walla
Speaker 4: peppering the jacks and right and hope so the rope.
Speaker 2: So we definitely didn't.
Speaker 7: See us back into the rope that he sang.
Speaker 2: Now the rough is down over there, James, this is
Speaker 2: but you know, John said that you ahead what you
Speaker 2: want to say us.
Speaker 7: Yet breaks the walking stick over Lawyer's back.
Speaker 2: I was so happy to the killing the tent.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and a referee. Let's ring the bell so it'll
Speaker 7: be had this qualification on a Hawk.
Speaker 2: After the studio.
Speaker 5: Now you can see the true, unheedited piece of film,
Speaker 5: mister Solviy. The truth has come out. Hawk Hogan's was
Speaker 5: in controlled one hundred percent of the time. I may
Speaker 5: have played a little possum, but I was in control.
Speaker 5: Now I've got them, Matt signed, Jerry Lawer, I am
Speaker 5: ready for you. The biggest arms in the world are
Speaker 5: twenty fourth python will end your wrestling career. And this time,
Speaker 5: mister Jerry Lawer, this time when I clapped these arms
Speaker 5: around your waist in the state of Florida, I've got them,
Speaker 5: Matt signed, you are going down for the count. And
Speaker 5: now that I've been on national TV one more time,
Speaker 5: this show shall.
Speaker 3: Go to the highest ratings.
Speaker 5: And yes, mister Lawery, never again, after I clapped these huge, massive,
Speaker 5: biggest arms in the world around your waist, never again
Speaker 5: will you wrestle in the state of Florida.
Speaker 3: What do you think of that?
Speaker 2: Hopefully this will.
Speaker 10: End the controversy surrounding Hawk Cogan and the film and
Speaker 10: part take five for the series.
Speaker 2: Great stuff. Wow, that's incredible. What stands out to you?
Speaker 2: I mean, uh, the the frank they said pythons number
Speaker 2: one is is is crazy. I don't think we've heard
Speaker 2: that before thus far. And he says it then, so
Speaker 2: he's saying it as early as it stay tuned. But
Speaker 2: that and and I don't know, it's it's funny to
Speaker 2: see him clearly getting better doing a promo, but also
Speaker 2: so nervous and and flubbing and flubbing words and trailing
Speaker 2: off at the end. Ha ha ha, what do you
Speaker 2: think about? Awful? Awful?
Speaker 1: And he's just he is so gratuitously mimicking the cadence
Speaker 1: of Superstar Graham on this You're gonna say you're no, no, no,
Speaker 1: And he's like wagging his index finger and everything. He's
Speaker 1: doing the exact Billy Graham, which is different than in
Speaker 1: New York because Freddy Blassi did most of the talking,
Speaker 1: not all the talking, right, or Freddy Blassi would do
Speaker 1: a lot of the talking for Hulk, so he didn't
Speaker 1: really speak extemporaneously like we just saw much in New York.
Speaker 1: So that's that's to set up the rematch. They had
Speaker 1: a double count out in that one took place later
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one, between Jerry Lawler and Hulk Cogan.
Speaker 1: I said, Dusty, because guess what the main event was
Speaker 1: underneath the Hull Cogan Jerry Lawler rematch, or on top
Speaker 1: of it, the main event that night was Dusty Rhodes
Speaker 1: versus Terry Funk for the NWA World Championship.
Speaker 7: Wow.
Speaker 1: So think about that. Think about how full circle that is.
Speaker 1: Terry Buley is back in Dusty's orbit after just a
Speaker 1: few years.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: So it's it's quite a history, suffice to say, between
Speaker 1: Hulkogan and Jerry the King Lawler on this Memphis leg
Speaker 1: of the journey and his book, Laura writes, obviously he
Speaker 1: recalls some on Men in the Moon being reminded of
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan because Jim Carrey, as we've talked about, and
Speaker 1: as the brilliant under the cinemat you put together on
Speaker 1: the movie talks about oh yeah he uh Carrie was
Speaker 1: in character okay on the set. Oh sure, he was
Speaker 1: carrying on like he was trying to channel Andy Kauffman's
Speaker 1: k fabe and yep, yeah, oh god, his best he
Speaker 1: could to legitimately get under Jerry Lawler's skin between takes.
Speaker 1: And there's a documentary of it and everything showing some
Speaker 1: of those moments. And one of the things that Jim
Speaker 1: Carrey did was Hulk Hogan adjacent. Lawla recalls it in
Speaker 1: his book. Obviously carry was trying to be Andy. After
Speaker 1: a while, it started to piss me off. One time
Speaker 1: he did it, and he actually stuck a piece of
Speaker 1: paper on my back. I was walking around the set
Speaker 1: for a while with a sign on my back that said,
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 2: Wanna be That's That's insane.
Speaker 1: Definitely not a burn that I think Lawler would have expected, Boss,
Speaker 1: not at all back when he was playing these games
Speaker 1: with tapes of him beating hul Cogan in Memphis. But
Speaker 1: that's fun, Hulk Hogan want to be even more full
Speaker 1: circle on a SmackDown taping. Lawa writes about in his
Speaker 1: book This is one Hull could come in as Hollywood
Speaker 1: Hogan and O two. Lawa writes SmackDown tapes on Tuesdays
Speaker 1: and goes out on Thursday for fans who haven't meant
Speaker 1: to a live show. They are at matches that go
Speaker 1: on before the TV cameras are running that are just
Speaker 1: for the benefit of the fans in the house, so
Speaker 1: they're called house matches or dark matches. I was booked
Speaker 1: to do a house match to the SmackDown taping in Tupelo, Mississippi,
Speaker 1: the night after Raw in Memphis. I drove down with
Speaker 1: my mom and my then girlfriend Joni. I've rustled Tupoulou
Speaker 1: many many times, though never at the ten thousand Seed
Speaker 1: arena they have now the Bank of Corpse South Center.
Speaker 1: My mom and Janie had been watching from the pre
Speaker 1: tape room, which is where they put together some of
Speaker 1: the vignettes and posed shots of the wrestlers used in
Speaker 1: the graphics before the matches. When I got back there,
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan was in the room fixing himself a cup
Speaker 1: of coffee.
Speaker 2: I can picture that. Oh boy, oh my god, the
Speaker 2: strategic nature going on. What's going on? Dude?
Speaker 1: Oh hey, wan A couple wanle to cover of the
Speaker 1: Jizo bro. Can you imagine like the sank of steam
Speaker 1: and his mustache hair. Oh, I mean you you know
Speaker 1: all day that Terry had a coffee Okay, if you're
Speaker 1: anywhere around him, mm hmmm, because of the way that
Speaker 1: those fibers preserve the essential oils and.
Speaker 2: Grounds.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, sheep cup of coffee and catering that he got.
Speaker 1: And you know he's strategic about when he gets to
Speaker 1: get coffee. You know he yes, pretended he had to
Speaker 1: go get a coffee because he wanted to get out
Speaker 1: of having to talk to somebody, you know. Yes, So
Speaker 1: there he is fixing himself a cup of coffee. Now,
Speaker 1: how can I go way way back, Lawla writes, and
Speaker 1: I know him as Terry. I wanted to introduce Terry
Speaker 1: to my mom. Terry was great, really gracious and friendly.
Speaker 1: He told my mom that her son had given him
Speaker 1: his first real break in the business. That's a list
Speaker 1: of about forty people long at this point. I mean
Speaker 1: anybody Hogan met, anyone who didn't give him a break,
Speaker 1: anyone who didn't point him in the direction that ultimately
Speaker 1: led to fame and fortune. He recalled the time he
Speaker 1: had worked in the Mid South Colosseum in Memphis almost
Speaker 1: thirty years before. At the time, he was an inexperienced
Speaker 1: young wrestler and I had, in his words quote, thrown
Speaker 1: him to the lions. He's very cool of Hulk to
Speaker 1: say those nice things about me to my mom. But
Speaker 1: all that, all that revisitation of Memphis almost didn't happen
Speaker 1: because back in nineteen seventy nine, after his brush with
Speaker 1: Jerry Lawler and teeming with Ed Boulder, just like his
Speaker 1: first brush with Dusty, it wasn't all adding up in
Speaker 1: the wrestling business for Terry Bolea and Boss Tampa was
Speaker 1: calling once again.
Speaker 2: Brother.
Speaker 1: But before we take it to Holt's book to get
Speaker 1: an idea of what I mean by that, we want
Speaker 1: to remind you, just for clarity's sake, that according to
Speaker 1: Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett, they put the money out
Speaker 1: for that Lincoln Continental, so we'll help be driving in
Speaker 1: Memphis and we're not to find out. Let's turn to
Speaker 1: Terry's second book because, like I said, once again, despite
Speaker 1: all of the promise that we've seen glimpses of when
Speaker 1: he's in the ring working with Jerry Lawler as a
Speaker 1: partner on the microphone with Lance Russell and the Memphis
Speaker 1: TV studio, Hulk is once again wondering if this wrestling
Speaker 1: thing is for him. Okay, this is yeah, it's time
Speaker 1: for one last gut check for Terry Bullet in the
Speaker 1: wrestling business. And here in his second book is how
Speaker 1: he describes his thought process.
Speaker 2: The thing is, there's no security in wrestling. I always
Speaker 2: knew that. I didn't think I cared because at least
Speaker 2: it was one of those regular jobs with a period
Speaker 2: at the end of the sentence. I don't know what
Speaker 2: that means. I don't know. Maybe he means a cap salary.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I've never heard that phrase before, a
Speaker 2: regular job with a period at the end of the sentence.
Speaker 2: But even at the Memphis level, it was much more
Speaker 2: of a fly by night business than I ever imagined.
Speaker 2: There were nights when you'd walk into some building to
Speaker 2: go to go to work for a promoter, and rather
Speaker 2: than it being a smart businessman or maybe a former
Speaker 2: wrestler who wanted to make some of himself, it would
Speaker 2: be just some guy who owns an electrical supply company
Speaker 2: who happens to promote wrestling on the side. Wrestling was
Speaker 2: my life. I wanted to grow my fan base, sell
Speaker 2: all bigger arenas, and make more money, you know. I
Speaker 2: wanted to keep moving forward. How could that happen while
Speaker 2: I wasn't in charge of my own destiny? Okay, and
Speaker 2: when the men who were in charge were t treating
Speaker 2: him like a side gig or were too small minded
Speaker 2: to see anything above and beyond what they were already
Speaker 2: doing in whatever tiny little territory they considered their domain.
Speaker 2: I kept obsessing over and complaining, mostly to myself, that
Speaker 2: things should be better. You know, it didn't. I didn't
Speaker 2: know how to fix it though. Oh no, sorry. I
Speaker 2: didn't know how to fix it though, And it really
Speaker 2: it didn't really make any uh. And I didn't really
Speaker 2: make any effort to take control. I didn't know how.
Speaker 2: Plus it was just so weird to walk in every
Speaker 2: night and know that if you got cut or got hurt,
Speaker 2: it was up to you to go to the doctor.
Speaker 2: There's no insurance, there's no retirement plan, none that none
Speaker 2: of the stability was that I quote normal job has,
Speaker 2: and there was no structure to it. I started to
Speaker 2: feel like there was nobody there to back me up
Speaker 2: if I ever needed help to be a wrestler meant
Speaker 2: that everything you had, your future, your health, your sanity,
Speaker 2: all of it was stuff in this little bag you
Speaker 2: carried with your boots and your tights. You'd put on
Speaker 2: this costume and to go to go like a dancing monkey.
Speaker 2: Then you take the costume off, get paid, and move
Speaker 2: on on the next town circus. To look around at
Speaker 2: this sold out arena, to hear them roar and chant
Speaker 2: your name, to know that they're walking out there with
Speaker 2: their buddies, were living every moment of the show that
Speaker 2: you put on, just like Vick and I used to
Speaker 2: do when we left the armory back in Tampa, when
Speaker 2: back in Tampa's kids. And then after all that, I
Speaker 2: got hands you twenty five bucks and says see you
Speaker 2: next week. It all seemed like a letdown after a while.
Speaker 2: The rays up to one hundred bucks or so didn't
Speaker 2: make it any better. You know, they were still just
Speaker 2: the price of a few seats, and that whole arena
Speaker 2: was that all I was worth. I know, I knew
Speaker 2: a good portion of those fans were there to see me.
Speaker 2: We're there to see me. I had built a following.
Speaker 2: I was the one out doing spots on TV and
Speaker 2: helping them to promote this whole thing, this whole thing,
Speaker 2: another whole thing, right, this thing, this whole thing, this thing.
Speaker 2: I knew I deserved more, I knew I was worth more.
Speaker 2: So what it was clear that there were no giant
Speaker 2: raises in my future. I took a step back, yes,
Speaker 2: and tried to reevaluate this whole situation. My conclusion. Wrestling
Speaker 2: for no money sucks. So that was it. So that
Speaker 2: was that, once again, I decided to quit. I drove
Speaker 2: back to Tampa, where where I'd always return whenever we
Speaker 2: had a few days off. This time I really thought
Speaker 2: I was quitting for good. So that was that, once
Speaker 2: again I decided to quit. I heard you, I heard you, Terry.
Speaker 2: Oh no, they said this is actually an accidental repeat.
Speaker 2: I think, oh, okay, got it.
Speaker 1: So he's having it's not adding up, mister math Mister
Speaker 1: worked at the bank and starting to think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: quit again because he's wrestling for no money sucks, And
Speaker 1: in Tampa, you know, he sends his opportunity, he sends
Speaker 1: his a chance to swell his wallet. And hell, there's
Speaker 1: the fringe benefit that if he leaves Memphis behind. Not
Speaker 1: only is he leaving behind what he thinks is a
Speaker 1: neutered opportunities, also leaving behind some debts. According to Jerry Lawler,
Speaker 1: came through.
Speaker 12: The church story for I appreciate period of time.
Speaker 13: My memory is that Jerry Jarrett and I co signed
Speaker 13: for Huk's first car and we never got reimbursed.
Speaker 2: Wh let's gipp that on of course.
Speaker 12: And Hope, you know, you made all this big money,
Speaker 12: can at least pay Hi back for that car.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 13: No.
Speaker 12: I remember when when Hope first came in.
Speaker 13: You know, I can't remember if he came to us
Speaker 13: from Florida or if he I believe he did, uh,
Speaker 13: and then went from Us.
Speaker 12: Up to vern and then of course verned to UH
Speaker 12: to Vince.
Speaker 13: But he was one of those guys that when you
Speaker 13: when you saw him, you knew that it was gonna
Speaker 13: he was gonna be something special. Just lookause he had
Speaker 13: such a unique look, uh and and the and the
Speaker 13: voice and and at this time he was really just.
Speaker 12: He was just because coming the holp, you know.
Speaker 13: And I think we kind of helped shape and molding
Speaker 13: along that road by doing some you know, we were
Speaker 13: one of the first companies that sort of innovated the
Speaker 13: wrestling vignettes or the music videos and that sort of thing.
Speaker 12: To help get guys over.
Speaker 13: We always felt that that that you could do more
Speaker 13: than just have somebody beat somebody in the ring to
Speaker 13: help them get over with the people.
Speaker 12: And and we did some really really entertaining and great
Speaker 12: little videos on the Hulk.
Speaker 13: And you know, at the time it was there, Memphis
Speaker 13: was just Memphis was a great place to work. I mean,
Speaker 13: you get a lot of work there, but it was
Speaker 13: not ever a place that you were going to make
Speaker 13: a lot of money at that time.
Speaker 12: And you you had to really want to be there
Speaker 12: and want to you know, improve your skill or.
Speaker 13: Whatever, and know that that's what we were going to
Speaker 13: get to do there, because certainly weren't going to get
Speaker 13: rich there.
Speaker 12: They just weren't.
Speaker 13: There were a lot of wrestlers there, the payoffs were
Speaker 13: spread in and uh, you know, even though we wrestle
Speaker 13: every night that the houses were uh a lot of
Speaker 13: times not all that big and and so the payoffs
Speaker 13: were not that great.
Speaker 12: And and I think that that helped realized after he
Speaker 12: was there for a while that he just.
Speaker 13: Anyway, he just didn't think he was making enough money
Speaker 13: and was going to try to go on somewhere where
Speaker 13: he could make more money in and then of course
Speaker 13: he went on up for for Verne Gun yet and
Speaker 13: then and then came back through after he was uh,
Speaker 13: after he was the Hulk, and we had some we
Speaker 13: had some He and I had some pretty memorable matches
Speaker 13: in and and you know, I like to think that
Speaker 13: I think that he would say that he probably learned
Speaker 13: a little bit working working with me. We had had
Speaker 13: some pretty good matches. And uh, you know, a lot
Speaker 13: of people knock Terry, but I I, you know, I
Speaker 13: can't knock the guy.
Speaker 12: He's that he's probably the best self promoter that has
Speaker 12: ever come along in this business. And that's what you
Speaker 12: have to be in this business to be successful. Nobody's
Speaker 12: done it anybody day.
Speaker 13: And he made a lot of money for himself, made
Speaker 13: a lot of money for other companies, and and really
Speaker 13: helped bring a lot of attentions to this business.
Speaker 12: So, you know, I long says the more power to him.
Speaker 1: So there it is all in one big long sound bite.
Speaker 1: Addresses the low pay and how that was just kind
Speaker 1: of something that was the case in Memphis, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of front running what he knew. Hulk felt about
Speaker 1: how he was not being necessarily fairly compensated, well at
Speaker 1: the same time saying the reason he left Alabama for
Speaker 1: Memphis was because he was being so incredibly fairly compensated.
Speaker 1: But for Hulk, he's starting to learn that if you
Speaker 1: act dissatisfied with your pay, it only goes up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's registering there because he's started to realize
Speaker 1: it as much smoke as promoters will blow up his
Speaker 1: ass about how they see potential. But he's green and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of work to do, so we need
Speaker 1: to underpay you. He's like, no, no, actually, I can
Speaker 1: basically become a highest paid guy in territory and you'll
Speaker 1: still push the shit out of me because you know,
Speaker 1: if you put a guy that looks like me in
Speaker 1: front of your audience, you're gonna sell tickets. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: already hip to that after just you know what, seven
Speaker 1: eight months back in the business, and that will be
Speaker 1: the story in so many ways of him trucking off
Speaker 1: from Memphis. So, I mean, basically, if you look at
Speaker 1: his wrestling data list of matches, there's a match on
Speaker 1: June's sixteenth in Chattanooga against Terry Gordy, which God damn it.
Speaker 1: Do I invite you to consider Terry Boulder versus Terry
Speaker 1: Gordy in nineteen seventy nine. It's kind of like the
Speaker 1: Dennis Condury match we talked about, Yeah, and then it's
Speaker 1: July fourteenth, seventy nine Terry Boulder and Ed Boulder over
Speaker 1: the Destroyer and Buddy Wayne. July sixteenth, Mid South Colosseum
Speaker 1: in Memphis, Terry Boulder and Ed Boulder over Ron Bass
Speaker 1: in Pete Austin which we looked at, and then then
Speaker 1: Evansville on July eighteenth of seventy nine, and Indiana. The
Speaker 1: Hangman versus Terry Boulder is recorded as winner unknown two below.
Speaker 1: July twentieth, seventy nine. Terry Ed Boulder, Steve Regal and
Speaker 1: Randy Tyler versus the Gestapo, Hans Schroder, Ron Bass and
Speaker 1: Pete Austin when are unknown July twenty four, seventy nine, Jackson, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: Lawler Terry and Ed Boulder over Ron Bass, Pete Austin
Speaker 1: and Danny Davis, Memphis, July twenty third, seventy nine, Mid
Speaker 1: South Coliseum, Ed and Terry Boulder over Ron Bass and
Speaker 1: Pete Austin. July twenty fourth, Louisville Gardens, Louisville, Kentucky. Terry
Speaker 1: and Ed Boulder over, Ron Bass and Pete Austin are
Speaker 1: actually win or unknown. Evansville July twenty fifth, seventy nine Hulkan,
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin win are unknown.
Speaker 1: July twenty six Boonville, Mississippi. Terry and Ed Boulder defeat
Speaker 1: Hans Schroeder and the Gestapo July twenty sixth, Booneville and Mississippi.
Speaker 1: It's part of a multiple person match here. Bill Dundy
Speaker 1: and Jerry Lawler defeated Buddy, Wayne and Danny Davis and
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder and Eddie Gilbert and Elie Martin, Eddie Martin, Comarlin,
Speaker 1: Gestapo Schroeder, Jerry Jarrett, Ken, Wayne, Larry Latham, Pete Austin,
Speaker 1: Ready Tyler, Ricky Morton, Ron Bass, Steve Regal and Terry
Speaker 1: Boulder as well as Tommy Gilbert and Wayne Ferris in
Speaker 1: a battle Royal two below July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: Terry Ned Boulder win are unknown against Ron Bass and
Speaker 1: Pete Austin. July thirtieth, Mid South Coliseum, Memphis, Ron Bass
Speaker 1: as the NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion. The Mid America version
Speaker 1: of the championship defeats Terry Boulder and Terry's first title
Speaker 1: crack in Memphis, July thirty, first seventy nine. Terry Ned
Speaker 1: Bolder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win are unknown.
Speaker 1: In Louisville, then to August Evansville August first, seventy nine, Hulkin,
Speaker 1: Ed Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win or
Speaker 1: unknown August second, nineteen seventy nine. Ropperena Lexington, Terry and
Speaker 1: Need Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win are unknown. Blitheville,
Speaker 1: August third, seventy nine. Tommy Gilbert and Terry Boulder defeat
Speaker 1: Ron Bass and Pete Austin so Tommy Gilbert filling in
Speaker 1: for Ed Boulder for some reason on that night. Chat Nooga,
Speaker 1: August fifth, seventy nine. Tony Perkins and Jerry Ralph versus
Speaker 1: the Magnificent Hulk of Magnificent Ulk. There is no evidence
Speaker 1: that he was at times called the Magnificent Hulk as well. Memphis,
Speaker 1: Mid South Colisseum August sixth seventy nine. Terry Boulder and
Speaker 1: Jackie Fargo. That's a pairing if I've ever heard one,
Speaker 1: the Memphis legend, that's like Terry Boulder teaming up with
Speaker 1: I don't know, verne Gania or Yea lu Fez or
Speaker 1: Jack Briscoe or something. Defeating Ron Bass and Sunny King. Louisville,
Speaker 1: August seventh, Terry Boulder defeats Ron Bass by a d
Speaker 1: Q for the Southern Heavyweight title in Louisville Gardens. So
Speaker 1: you're starting to see Terry break off in a singles action. Evansville,
Speaker 1: August eighth, Ron Bass and Terry Boulder for the championship
Speaker 1: winner unknown. August tenth, seventy nine, Tupelo, Mississippi, Ron Bass first,
Speaker 1: Terry Boulder win or unknown. August thirteenth, seventy nine, Mid
Speaker 1: South Colisseum Bass first Boulder ended without a winner and
Speaker 1: a no contest for the championship. Louisville, August fourteenth, Terry
Speaker 1: ned Boulder beat Sunny King and Ron Bass. Tupelo, August seventeenth,
Speaker 1: Terry ned Boulder versus Bason King won a unknown. Owensboro, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: August eighteenth, Ron Bass first Terry Boulder for the championship
Speaker 1: win a unknown August twentieth, Mid South Colisseum Terry Boulder
Speaker 1: defeats Sunny King, a match we saw clips of during
Speaker 1: the course of our Memphis slate. Louisville, August twenty first,
Speaker 1: seventy nine, Bass and Boulder ended in a no contest. Evansville,
Speaker 1: August twenty second, Bass and Boulder went a unknown for
Speaker 1: the championship. Helena, Arkansas, August twenty third, Hulk NN at
Speaker 1: Boulder for Sunny King and Pete Austin win a unknown.
Speaker 1: Helena August twenty third, seventy nine Battle Royal win a unknown,
Speaker 1: but Hulk part of the seventeen man slate very similar
Speaker 1: to the moment we just read off two Blow. August
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, Bill Dundee and Terry Boulder team together to
Speaker 1: face Ron Bass and Sunny King win a unknown. The
Speaker 1: Memphis TV tapings in August twenty fifth at the WMC
Speaker 1: Studio saw Tommy Gilbert and Terry Boulder team together defeat
Speaker 1: Pete Austin and Buddy Wayne. August twenty seventh at the
Speaker 1: Mid South Coliseum saw Terry Boulder and Tommy Gilbert defeat
Speaker 1: the future Hunky Tongue Man, Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham
Speaker 1: and an aw A Southern Tag Team Championship match Louisville, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: August twenty eighth, Terry Boulder over Sunny King Evansville August
Speaker 1: twenty ninth Sunny King versus Terry Boulder winner unknown. August
Speaker 1: thirty first Sunny King versus Terry Boulder winner unknown in
Speaker 1: two below and then September Jones Burrow, Arkansas, September one,
Speaker 1: Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes The Fabulous free Birds defeat
Speaker 1: Terry Boulder and Steve reeg That's a match to see.
Speaker 1: Man Birmingham, Alabama, September ninth, third seventy nine has talked
Speaker 1: about Dennis Condry versus Incredible Hulk. Louisville, Kentucky September fourth,
Speaker 1: seventy nine. Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham, the WA Southern
Speaker 1: Tag Team Champions defeat Terry Boulder and Tommy Gilbert and
Speaker 1: then Evansville, Indiana September fifth, seventy nine, Wayne Ferris and
Speaker 1: Latham over Boulder and Gilbert. And finally September sixth, seventy nine,
Speaker 1: rupp Areena Lexington, Kentucky. Ron Bass defeats Terry Boulder on
Speaker 1: Terry Boulder way out of the territory. So it's back
Speaker 1: to Tampa, Boss. It's back to Tampa for Terry Boulet
Speaker 1: to see about the docks. And there was an old
Speaker 1: friend Terry and Ed had left behind and Tampa.
Speaker 8: Huh.
Speaker 1: His friend had fallen on hard times. He'd gotten divorced,
Speaker 1: a nasty breakup. The golf courses that he franchised down
Speaker 1: there had been shut down by the city. His weight
Speaker 1: was getting out of control, and his spirit was broken.
Speaker 1: In fact, he had driven his white Volkswagen out to
Speaker 1: the iconic Skyway Bridge in Tampa after going on a
Speaker 1: serious coke bender that had him up for days. There
Speaker 1: were concrete barriers preventing cars from driving off the bridge
Speaker 1: back then, but he felt he could get around them.
Speaker 1: And as this person told our friend Brad Beluccian in
Speaker 1: this piece of audio that Brad sent us from research
Speaker 1: for his book The six Pack. A reminder, by the way,
Speaker 1: that Brad is offering any lapsed fan listener who joins
Speaker 1: his patreon dot com slash the Brad Pack Patreon a
Speaker 1: free personalized and autographed book plate as part of our
Speaker 1: cooperation here on the complete Hull Kelgan. You told this
Speaker 1: to Brad and.
Speaker 3: I drove all the way out at the end.
Speaker 17: This is it was late skill dark out, and I
Speaker 17: don't know where my head was, but I remember getting
Speaker 17: out there and I'm in a white Volkswagen and I
Speaker 17: could push the side of the deal and the thing
Speaker 17: pivoted and I could get around it. And I was
Speaker 17: just going to drive and drive off the fucking thing.
Speaker 3: Maybe nobody even.
Speaker 17: Know, you know, but that's how fucked up I was.
Speaker 17: And all of a sudden, it's like this is happening
Speaker 17: and I can't stop it. And next thing I know,
Speaker 17: the sun's coming up and there's birds coming around hitting
Speaker 17: the water, Helkin saying all that, and it's getting brighter,
Speaker 17: and I'm crying. I'm just I've been up a couple
Speaker 17: of days and we're just wired.
Speaker 3: Somehow. I got I got in the car and I
Speaker 3: drove home.
Speaker 17: So Terry at that particular time, Terry and Beefcake are
Speaker 17: up in Tennessee and they're eddy Boulder and they're taken off.
Speaker 3: They're doing there. It's going good.
Speaker 17: But then for a couple of days they had a
Speaker 17: big Lincoln at the time, I remember that, and he
Speaker 17: had it for a little while. They had a big
Speaker 17: Lincoln town car because they hit a post and piss
Speaker 17: some people off. And they had a poor sugar at
Speaker 17: one of the beach bars. And a guy comes out
Speaker 17: and all of a sudden, he just he wouldn't say
Speaker 17: a word, and then Terry starts tying his shoes on
Speaker 17: his on the bumper sport.
Speaker 3: Anyway, it's old another story, and then the place burned down.
Speaker 3: So anyway, so they come in.
Speaker 17: I get home, it's probably ten or eleven o'clock in
Speaker 17: the morning, and I just crash in the you know,
Speaker 17: the doors and lock and on it. They come blowing
Speaker 17: in about right afternoon. Yeah, you know, I always loud,
Speaker 17: and I'm just fucked up. They have no idea what
Speaker 17: I've been to, and Beefcake knows it, and I can't
Speaker 17: fuck it. I'm like, oh fuck, I can't. And you know,
Speaker 17: fuck with these guys. And Beefcake is just on my ass.
Speaker 17: I mean, and he's just and he's look at you,
Speaker 17: and they're just he's slapping me and all this shit.
Speaker 3: And they I don't want to say they saved my life,
Speaker 3: but they, I guess got me through that it's over.
Speaker 3: Get fucker, you know, well, they jugged my ass. To
Speaker 3: this gym.
Speaker 17: It's in North Tampa. It's off Hillsborough. It wasn't an
Speaker 17: open gym. One of the Burscos was in there one
Speaker 17: of the times we went there. We went there today
Speaker 17: for like they killed me, but they've killed me what
Speaker 17: to do and they were telling me, if you get
Speaker 17: your ass in shape, you could do this stuff.
Speaker 1: Next time on the Complete Hulkogan, you may have thought
Speaker 1: you've heard it all thus far about Terry Bullays upbringing
Speaker 1: in Tampa, but there was one friend we haven't introduced
Speaker 1: you to yet. It will become increasingly important, from the
Speaker 1: time on the edge of the bridge that we just
Speaker 1: heard him describe, to the road during Hulk's glory years
Speaker 1: in the WWF, to the courtroom in Vince McMahon's steroid trial.
Speaker 1: His name is Danny Brower. He'd be known to wrestling
Speaker 1: fans as Danny Brazil, and to Hulk, he'd eventually be
Speaker 1: known as his mule. Next time on the Complete Hulkog
Speaker 1: and Terry Boleya and we revisit the Tampa that reared
Speaker 1: him set off for a quick foray to neighboring Georgia
Speaker 1: Championship Wrestling as Sterling Golden and end up where else
Speaker 1: but New York and the WWF, where Terry Boleya finally
Speaker 1: becomes Hulk Hogan and name as well as in essence,
Speaker 1: and finally, there is no turning back.