Speaker 1: Well, we are privileged here as part of the complete
Hulkogan to welcome in the living legend himself forty glorious
years in the wrestling business. Larry's Abisco has deemed us
worthy of his time, and we're very grateful because Larry,
you can't get to Chase Stadium in nineteen eighty without
talking to you, because you and Bruno a fascinating program,
fascinating series of promos, fascinating build up and what a
night in Chase Stadium. So, first of all, thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I appreciate it, and I appreciate it.
It was a different time and the build up was
I mean everything that happened around Chase Stadium and Bruno,
which involved him coming out of retirement and some other things,
and we didn't realize it at the time, but if
you look to wrestling history, Chase Stadium kind of marks
the biggest event ever at the end the end of
the old school. Yes, And when I say that, I
mean it was the beginning of the territories disappearing in
the beginning of nationwide TV and pay per view. I
mean the Chase Stadium was before that, but it led
to that absolutely.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you first about what Vince
Senior was like. You know, we hear and know so
much about how Vince Junior runs the company, but you're
able to give that perspective of what it was like
before Vince Junior got his hands on the reins. What
can you tell us about what it was like working
for Vince Senior.
Speaker 2: Well, Vince Junior, I'm a very smart guy, and he
was there, you know, but he kind of was quiet
a lot at that time, but he was sucking all
the information in his mind. Vince is a sharp guy.
And McMahon's senior. Vince Senior had two partners, a guy
named Willie Gilsenberg and another guy who was a real
character named Bill Zacho. And it was different in those
days because there wasn't sponsors and and pay per views
and all that, and some of the promotions even had
to pay some TV stations to show the thing. But
but what happened with you know, and then and then
the era changed to nationwide television and pay per view,
and but working with Ben Senior, I mean it was
it was tough dealings in those days because I had
an idea to get myself a name, and Bruno was
already retired. But Ben Senior and his partners, they were
the guys that really had to take a chance and
take out their checkbooks. Can you imagine what it costs
to wrench a stadium for a day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's an outlay and a half.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it was like over forty four thousand people,
which was unheard of in those days. But the other
thing is they turned away like five thousand or more
people because the baseball park didn't allow chairs to be
put on the outfield and are on the infield, you know,
closed up ringside because they thought that chairs would tear
up all the grass and stuff for the baseball season.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, yeah, because we've seen I think the other
Shay Stadium shows they did in the seventies there were
some seats on the grass, but not I mean, you
watch your stuff in nineteen eighty and it's just these
these random people just walking around ringside. I suppose they
have a job to do, but it's it's really kind
of jarring to see these random people walking by while
these matches are going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know what, I'm going to
tell you something because you sent me I got an
email on yesterday, the day before where you sent me
the match, you know, and I've never seen the match,
and you made a comment about it, I might want
to watch it and stuff, and I thought about it,
but then I changed my mind and I said, you
know what, I'm not gonna watch it. Everything I say
today is the first time I've watched it.
Speaker 1: So that's great.
Speaker 2: It's purely purely ad lib and spurred the moment it's
going to be. You know, I don't have any pre
planned lines to say or clever crap or what good good?
Speaker 1: Yeah that was I was so excited. The real deal
that you were willing to do that for us is
to watch the match. So let's do that. I mean
that that's as best a segues we're going to get.
And then after after we watch it, I'm sure that'll
open up more lines of questioning. So if you have
it there, Larry.
Speaker 2: Tell me what you want to do, sure, logan or whatever?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah we will. But let's let's let's
watch the match. Let's take the fan through it.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: If you can hit play, I should be able to
pick it up where you are in the matchup. Just
just describe what you're seeing. If you see the time.
Speaker 2: Code, okay, I'm seeing it says eleven seconds.
Speaker 1: Okay, great.
Speaker 2: But I'm walking around the ring and there's an announced.
Speaker 1: That's Vince McMahon himself. That's Junior right there.
Speaker 2: It's hard to see what it looks like Vince. Yeah,
and they're announcing me in the crowd was booing the
hell out?
Speaker 1: Was it more than you expected? I mean, what was
that like?
Speaker 2: No, they hated me by the time we got to Shay.
I mean, I didn't realize how much they'd hate me. Shit.
I walked around and took a gun with me on
the airplane, still a ts wow kicked in. But I
had no idea intact. I made a record in nineteen
eighty called Boo on Me.
Speaker 1: Boo on Me.
Speaker 2: Yes, and a friend of mine, Andrew You talked to him.
He put it on Spotify, and if you go to
Spotify and type in hashtag talent boo on Me, you'll
see a picture of me and I sing the song.
You get to hear boo on Me. And I got
some shirts. A friend of mine at Pro Wrestling Teas
made bow on Me shirts and they're bright yellow with
a big boo on me. So I'm hoping to see
a bunch of fans with bright yellow because they stick
out in the crowd. Bow on me shirts just started.
So did you work to attack them?
Speaker 1: Did you work it out that he knew you were
going to attack him right at the the fence there,
right at the door.
Speaker 2: No, you know what I mean? Back in those days,
and I think I don't know. People realize it now,
there new generations. But back in those days, the good
guys had their own dressing room. The bad guys had
their own dressing room. You couldn't have the same dressing room.
You couldn't ride with a bad guy if you were
a good guy in a car town to town. It
was a very secretive, closed door business. So I didn't
have any talks with Bruno before this match and was
throwing me bouncing the Aftercado. I tell you, Bruno, God
bless him. He was a gorilla. I mean I'm looking
at him on TV. He looks like a gorilla. I
mean he was the most believable, impressive guy. And back then,
in those days, it was a big man business for
main events. It really still is today, but there's way
too many cruiserways. I mean, you got guys that are
pushing to be top guy that weigh one hundred and
fifty pounds. It's like, oh, come.
Speaker 1: On, yeahs Bruno got he ran under the fence like
five times in a row. Is He's saying, we're hitting
the fence again? What time? And again? Like when do
you know it's time to switch it up?
Speaker 2: Well, we didn't know what time. Like I said, we
didn't talk to each other. And Bruno was serious about
this because, like I said, he was retired and he
didn't want to go you know, into full retirement being
a loser his you know, last match, right, So he
wasn't going to take any crap. I mean, I mean,
he was a gorilla. And in my in my time,
I was trying to make a name for myself and
get a break, yep, because I was. I was having
a hard time getting a break in the business at
that time because people knew me as Bruno's protege. Yes,
of course, the whole was Larry's abisco. It was oh yeah,
what's that guy's name, Oh yeah, Bruno.
Speaker 1: Right, so there's the low Startlarry. There's the low blow
right there, the low blow Bruno down he goes.
Speaker 2: I had to because he was beating the crap.
Speaker 1: I always wondered that about this era, Like, you know,
does Bruno know that he's going to beat your ass
and then eventually I know you didn't talk beforehand, but
do you get it across to him in the ring
that eventually the low blow is coming, or all of
a sudden he gets hitting the balls and he realizes.
Speaker 2: It's I freaked out because I didn't want to get
killed in five minutes. I kind of took advantage of
it because I knew how it kind of invincible Bruno was.
I mean I worked out with him for years. I
was his protege. He told me psychology, taught me holes
and you know, how to think. So I knew it
was given my all ar my career could be finished
because now Bruno's trower.
Speaker 1: So you know, you know that Bruno expects you at
a certain point when he's throwing you all around the fence,
he expects you at a certain point to get back
at him and to hit him somehow. Word you can
start getting some heat on.
Speaker 2: Well. I don't know if he expected it, but when
you look at the timing, I mean, Bruno is God,
probably in his mid forties or so. Sure, and he
and he's had your neck surgery, broke his neck and
other stuff. And I was still in my twenties, so
I had kind of an advantage in terms of not
being injury prone and having more wind.
Speaker 1: And so one thing that's fascinating is that he will
get to it here. Eventually he blades his arm in
this match, not not someone his forehead, but his arm,
and I think he's got he's gonna start. You hit
the corner turned buckle pat off. Pretty soon he starts
doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the coin was there was I mean, people got
to realize these stupid metal fences. Some of them had
like pieces of I remember I remember Bruno going into
a corner and then I saw blood on his shoulders
and I know it was a piece of the metal
and one of the cage corners. Would I try to
put him together? Okay, they stick out.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll just pretend to not see him blading
his arm. That was one thing about Bruno. Bruno used
to blade very obviously, was that thing. Yeah, I kind
of felt when you when you hit him with a
wooden chair. And in the TV tapings in Pa to
start this whole thing. It was like very obvious, but
you know, I don't think that the fans of the
time had any idea. But it's it's it's it's cool
because obviously you guys came in. I mean you knew
you knew to carry a blade, right, I mean that
you you have one, and you get colored in this match.
So you came in knowing at some point I need to,
I think, so yeah.
Speaker 2: To tell you that I haven't seen this since night.
You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it wasn't really. The thing was, it wasn't
really televised in a very easy to find way. They
released it on home video years and years later. But
now Bruno's turned the tides on you and you're you're
you're in peril right now, Larry Well, I'm in trouble.
Speaker 2: Bruno was limping a little thing. I mean, like I said,
he's he's already had a long career, was basically retired.
So yeah, his body, like my body now, feels it
hurts and you can see him limping kind of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. When you when you climb,
when you climb the cage he yanked you off. There
are you are you sort of giving him a second
to get to you, to yank you off the cage.
Does he know you're gonna climb? How does that work?
Speaker 2: God? God, if you don't remember it? O, no, I
think and yeah, I mean you're talking something that happened
with forty yeah, six years ago.
Speaker 1: Amazing. Yeah, it's such a significant mask.
Speaker 2: How long ago? It's well, come my god, forty years
forty six years soon by I could be dead any day,
you know, I'm getting that old.
Speaker 1: It's here we go again and climb, climbing the ropes,
and here Bruno and I.
Speaker 2: Want to get the hell out of here. And you
can see how you can get cut easy with you?
Speaker 1: Whoa what a gorilla? Press off the top? You tucked
at the last second, Larry almost lay it on your
head right there.
Speaker 2: I was great.
Speaker 1: That looked looked awesome. It looks like Bruno is just
killing you, and he is. I mean, let's be honest
to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he was a gorilla. I mean it's
really hard to get across how ye strong he was.
And if you look at him, his chest, his shouldered,
his arm, it was hard to hurt his neck because
his traps were so big, he really didn't have much
of a neck.
Speaker 1: Right, so he's just kicking.
Speaker 2: I worked out with him in his basement figure. I
mean when I was with Bruno with the one second
pause on the wide grip, you know, on the bench press,
my record was four hundred and sixty five and a
half pounds. I was twenty one years old and weighed
two forty five.
Speaker 1: It's wild. What do you think of cage matches like
the WWF did him where you can climb out or
go through the door as opposed to pin or submission
in the cage.
Speaker 2: Well, you know what, to be honest with you, I'm
kind of like old school. And when the cages came
and then they had belts hanging from the ceiling, you
gotta have ladder matches, that stuff started getting like beyond me. Yeah,
but I mean something about getting out the door. I
mean this was all kind of new stuff back in
that era.
Speaker 1: Yeah sure, yeah. New York used to do the escape
the cage, and it made for some great spots, like
when you try to scurry up the cage and he
gangs you down. It's awesome. But all the other territories
seemed to be much more like you know, the cage
just is to contain keep out interferers. And you beat
the hell out of the guy and you pin him.
You don't try to escape, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I got Bruno in trouble.
Speaker 1: And turned the tides. Bruno shot you into the corner
shot maybe a little whisper.
Speaker 2: Because I mean it was very emotional for me because
he was my mentor. He helped me, he gave me
a break. I mean, he didn't have to do that right.
And then it just got to the point where he
was retired doing the broadcasting Evince and I was getting like,
you know, no one's fault, but there's so many guys.
I was becoming another one or the guys. Then I
would be another No Boddy. You know you gotta give
him territories. But I had to pull something big off.
And when I saw Bruno retired, plus I saw the
way the business was, and I think at this time
was Bob Backlin the championshire.
Speaker 1: Was Yes, you had worked him in June at the Garden.
Speaker 2: When when Bob Backlin was champion after Bruno retired, I
mean the business tanked Madison Square Garden. You'd be lucky
if it was half full, and what that meant to
have been. Senior and his partners were they were losing money.
Backlin wasn't drawing money. I saw. I've seen Backlan walk
out and they had him against three guys and he
won the whole place. Start chanting bullshit.
Speaker 1: Definitely talk about Backland, because I mean that's huge on
this show that he's not even really in the title match.
But you see Bruno here grape scraping away at his arm.
You're attacking the arm, not the head, not the gut.
And Bruno is getting color in his arm here and
see that.
Speaker 2: Well, I saw the blood, so I figured you hurt
his shoulders, so I start punching.
Speaker 1: I love it. There you are going to town and
he's really showing the arm. Dusty used to do that too.
He's got all those he used to have all that
scar tissue on his on his arm, not just the forehead.
Speaker 2: I guess I'm scared to death of that kind of.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, were you were you kind of squeamish about
getting color when you were in the business.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it really wasn't my thing. I mean I
rarely started bleeding. Yeah, I mean, my head doesn't have scars,
and the butcher had so many scars, so deep you
could put a quarter in.
Speaker 1: I've seen it. Disgusting, bless him, but my goodness, so
you just called for the door to get open. It opened,
Larry cut off. So you got to keep punishing the arm.
You can see he's feeding you the arm there, and
he's just he's giving you a lot right here. You
were going off like, why do you think you're supposed
to stop?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, door opens, he grabs you again. Here you go.
Speaker 2: I mean you're talking about things, and I mean the
way matches are today, I mean the way the business
has changed. I can't believe how many, how these guys
who are incredible athletes. I mean, you got amazing athletes,
but they do so much. I'm thinking, how do they
memorize this?
Speaker 1: I know it's it's actually in its own way. It's impressive,
you know it's it looks like you're struggling, if I'm
not mistaken, Larry, looks like you're struggling with a white
wrist tape here to get that gig out. You keep
reaching for the wrist. You're flailing about. Oh my goodness,
this is amazing.
Speaker 2: Good. Yeah, that's the first time I've seen this guy.
I'm still I'm looking at Bruno on him. I'm just
so impressed. Look, and he was my hero and I
kind of got us a little Bruno looked because I
did the same workout, you know. Yeah, heavy, heavy chest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he had quite a h I gotta see it,
quite a rug on his head at this point. I
love the guy. But oh, I mean the height he
got on that hair, that afro that he that he
discovered in late seventies.
Speaker 2: Earl, well, that was part of your business psychology because
Bruno is going bald, right, and all of a sudden
he got to weave something, some kind of thing they
came out with. Why they sowed the weave onto the
hair on the side of your head, right, because Bruno
always said, you know, and that's right. You want to
look the best and the youngest and most that you
can so the fans will believe. You don't want to
look like a little old ball guy if you don't
have to.
Speaker 1: You know, my god, you just threw yourself over the
top rope into the fence, came down between the ropes
in the fence. He is You're just you just at
his mercy at this point, right, I mean, he's just
guiding you like this is where you're going next and
good luck. Oh yeah, yeah, you've got color here, Larry.
I'm surprised you don't remember that. I see a red
forehead on you.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at my forehead. Yeah, and that arm is
is Jack.
Speaker 1: So he just he just this is such an interesting ending.
He just stomps you in the head and he just
like walks off like the hell with you. Look, this
is how it ends. The hell with you and the
crowd goes nuts and he just steps out of there.
That's a great photo when he raises his arm. There's
a photo that was taking Arnie school in there. He
sells the arm because he, you know, Arnie tries to
raise the arm and that's it. I remember if When
I first I thought it was a little abrupt, But
the more I watched, I think it's a great ending
because it's just like he just he just shows you, right,
he just shows you whose boss, who's the master, and
just leaves you there to point and collar and cavetch.
Speaker 2: Oh stay that's now off the step. Well I went
down and after a match I realized I made a
stupid mistake, but I still had the utmost respect for Bruno.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you did say the promos, you did not hate him.
Speaker 2: I mean he was look at that blood. I had
to acknowledge him. He was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he raised his arm.
Speaker 2: He was He was the original living legend. And then
I wound up taking his trademark. Cuche Stadium was kind
of what passed it down to me. And then as
I got older, it made sense.
Speaker 1: Get that off. You walk into the the New York night,
the hot summer New York night, and there's Bruno. Really
one last time. I mean, you've already touched on it, Larry,
I mean, this was really the end of the Bruno era.
This match. He did make a few more comebacks, but yeah.
Speaker 2: But this was really the This really marks the end
of an era, the end of the old school era.
And shortly after this was the beginning of nationwide cable
pay per views and the death of the territories. Right,
So it changed the business because back in these days
we were watching me and Bruno in the eighties, seventies, eighties,
if you were in a territory pro a while and
got burnt out where people have seen you so much.
It's like, okay, anybody else to see. But then you
always had another territory to go to if you're trying
to go to a WA then but then after it changed,
there was only two WWF and it turned into WCW.
Speaker 1: So lastly, on the safe Stadium match, we have here
the Wide Shot show to replay. I do want to
ask you, you know, how how did you go into
the ring expecting it to end? I mean, certainly you
knew that Bruno was going to go over? Was there
a certain point where he just said, all right, this
is it, I'm walking out of here and just started.
Speaker 2: I know, I can't trussure. I didn't know, but it
was a double edged sword because Bruno was so great,
so loved. If I would have won, I probably would
have felt guilty and the tremendous you know career. I
mean he was the most loved to rest forever. I
mean I couldn't blame this that either, right, he sho
he should retire the greatest.
Speaker 1: Are you are you suggesting right here and now, Larius
Bisco that you let Bruno win this match?
Speaker 2: Well? I didn't let him win, but it wasn't easy
to stop.
Speaker 1: Him, all right, well, hey, thank you for doing that.
I mean, I want to talk to you about because
it's a great transition to the new area. You're talking
about because who comes in in November nineteen seventy nine
to New York Hulk Hogan and Cumsha Stadium. He's the
co main event underneath you guys against Andrea where he
slams him for the first time. What did you think
of Hulk Hogan when he first came into New York
You were.
Speaker 2: There, well, those Yeah, that was the very beginning of
a new era and it was interesting. I'll tell you
a little Hogan story because Hulk I'm not sure where
he started, but he was a big guy. Yep, he
had good balance. He was smart enough to talk good.
I mean, guys who got over with the crowds were
able to talk good on the microphone. You know, they
were great on the stick. Hulk was great, I was great,
Flair was great. There was more of them, and that
was one of the secrets. But the funny bit was
haulk by the time we got to say stadium, Hawk's
been there a while and he came in from the AWA. Yes,
and back in those days, if you were you know,
six seven like the Hulk or whatever, three hundred pounds
you were like naturally taken advantage of as a bad
guy because people had their local wrestlers they loved, you know,
from that territory, and you know, and and but the
AWA was the territory that made a hulk a babyface.
Speaker 1: That's right, And that would be to be clear on
the timeline. He hadn't gone to a w A yet.
He went to a WA. The year after this he
had come to vill Yeah, yeah, he had come to
Vince after having worked for Ron Fuller in Alabama. He
worked for Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett in Memphis. He
went to Ole and Georgia for a little while, and
then in November of seventy nine he came to Vince.
And he worked a little bit in Knoxville too, in
the end of seventy nine, after Ron Fuller sold Knoxville
to Jim Barnett. So he'd had you know, he'd been
around quite a bit. But here he is walking in
and here he is second from the top here in
Chase Stadium. And you had said in your book that
you know, Hulk was Hulk was somebody that came up
to you when you did the power play to try
to get the championship and try to you know, convince
Vent Senior to give you the belt instead of Bob Ackland,
and you were able to, you know, get your percentage
of the gates and things.
Speaker 2: You know, wasn't drawing anything now.
Speaker 1: Hulk Hulk like that though, right, Hulk Hulk gave you
props for the way you kind of.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, And it was an interesting time because when
the Hulk came in, they brought him in to work
with Andre because Andre was so big that Hulk was
like the only opponent they had that I didn't squash
them already. That people could say, hey, this guy might
have a chance, because you know, even though Andre was
so big, the Hulk was super big guy. So the
fans really got into that. But the part that got
me was one night, Monday night, I'm standing in the
back hallway up Madison Square Garden. The match was going on,
and I'm watching through the curtains, and the Hulk came
up to me and he's already been there some months.
He says, Larry, I got to ask you some advice
because he saw what I did with Bruno. And then
he says, I got to ask you some advice because
I don't know what to do with my career. I'm
getting buried here. I mean, he was getting tired of
Andre beating him every night in all these clubs, you know,
on the weekdays and the weekends. So he was basically
for a while, Andre's job a guy, if you want
to put it that way. But he was the only
guy big enough where it would make any sense to
have any kind of a match at all. And I
told the Hawk, I said, you know what you know,
and I think i'm I think that's when I gave
him the advice. I said, you know, we get all
the publicity here. If you're tired of getting you know,
squashed every night by Andre, call the aw A, call
the NWA. I mean, because all the all the publicity
back then came out of New York, Georgia Poltono Bill
after Wrestling Review, the Wrestler. So the other territories had
no TV of you, but all the fans had the
magazine and knew who you were before, you know, so
when you showed up, they knew who you were basically,
and that would have prolonged your career. So I gave
the Hawk that advice. Maybe that's when he went to
the AWA and then they changed them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he well, he did Rocky three and then Vern
brought him in, and he always said that he had
a disagreement with Vince Senior over whether he should be
able to do Rocky three, and so that's why he
left in New York Territory to shoot that movie. And
then coming off that movie, Vern brought him in first
as a heel and then as a babyface. And you
came in in eighty four to the WA But as
far as nineteen eighty, just to set the picture a
little bit, I think you put it perfectly, he was
kind of kind of ensure of whether he was getting
the raw deal and how they were programming him with Andrea.
I mean, it's not like he was losing to Andrea.
In the clubs one, two three, there were a lot
of dqs and fuck finishes and things like that. But
you got the sense that Hulk kind of felt like
he was sputtering a little bit because he was just yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, he just got feeling like, Okay, it's been
months and I just get killed every night, right, you know?
And Andre was Andre was more of an a traction
than a wrestler. He'd be in the WWWF for three
or four months and Vin Senior would book him out
a different territory. He'd book him in Japan. Andre was
huge in Japan, you know. But you know, so Hulpe
was trying to make a name for himself and and
all that. But you know, but he was getting a
little frustrated. And he wasn't the only guy who realized,
my god, not back. When everybody calls him, how he
do he use the champ? No one, No one believes it.
Speaker 1: He's wrestling podcast.
Speaker 2: He's a LAPS fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Canio
and j Pisaro.
Speaker 1: In his first book that Hulk came out with, he
was talking about Chase Statium and he said in the book,
the top match on the card that day was Brunos
e Martino against disport Je Larry's Abisco And then he
had to say this, and I want to want to
get your reaction to it, he wrote, But to be
honest with you, nobody cared about the Sammartino's Abisco matchup.
The only confrontation the fans really cared about was Andre
versus Hulk. Hogan got you on that one.
Speaker 2: Well, hey, you can't blame the Hulk for trying to
put himself over. But yeah, like I said, for months,
he's already been beaten all over the territory by Andre Plus.
I mean, if you look at the card, you also
had Boba versus a Nocchi.
Speaker 1: Well, no, you had a Noch versus Larry Sharp. Baba
had nothing to do with with New York at that time. Yeah,
he was, Oh he was. It was just New Japan, Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 2: It was. He was there because I remember, you know,
hearing that he came in for free, no money, don't
pay me. He just wanted the publicity for being at
say stadium, because he knew how huge it was. And
then god, some years later and we had like over
forty four thousand some people because I wouldn't let more cherish.
But then some years later I wrestled Nasa Saido in
the Tokyo Dome and it was sixty six thousand people
held that out. Yes, And that was the day before
the Mike Tyson Buster Douglas fight. That's right, that's right, yes,
which did like thirty three thousand people.
Speaker 1: Did you, Larry, did you ever work with Hulkgan in
the ring. Did you ever match with him?
Speaker 2: You know what, I never did.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, No, Wow, I never did.
Speaker 2: And the other guy I think I would have had
great matches with at the time because of the territories
was Flair and they never had a match with a Rick.
Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, that we came to fruition. That one's
a little more famously what could have been. But yeah,
the Hogan match never happened either. One of the things
you say in your book about Vince Senior is he
loved the racetrack. Can you tell us a little bit.
Speaker 2: About that they had? Well, I didn't know much because
they didn't talk to the wrestlers much, you know, I mean,
and the business they were involved in, you know, him
and his two partners, you know, I don't want to
say shady characters, but you know who knows what goes
on in some of these big arenas and payoffs for
the you know New York Athletic Commission people, and and
you know Madison Square Garden is not owned by New
York City. That was privately own yes, and man is
this square Garden was like a place to get a
name and notoriety. But when you rented the garden. They
took so much money, you really didn't make much of
a profit. It was more of a publicity thing, you
know than big money thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And and like you said, they didn't talk a
lot to the wrestlers. Was it your perception that Vince
Senior was sort of like a you prefer to be
at the track in the garden, Like I love that
little morsel there of what he would really want to
be doing with this time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean to be honest with you, I mean,
you know, I was in my twenties, you know, protege a,
you know, new guys starting off, So I rarely spoke
to Ben Senior, you know, I mean it just I
really don't know. The only thing I heard is they
had their privacy at the racetrack. And I know they
put money in and back you know boxers and other sports,
so you know they were promoters spread the actually back
in those days. Yeah, back in those days, you could
get away with things you couldn't get away with these days.
Speaker 1: How are you being booked? Before you did the Bruneau program,
we were looking at some of the matches and some
of the cards Hogan was on before shea stadium and
you're on those cards, but you're kind of like third
fourth match, and then of course you springboard of the
main event against Bruno. And back then before that, do
you remember kind of feeling like I'm way too low
on the card and I got to make this Bruno
thing happen. Or was there always an idea in the
office that we're working towards you eventually becoming a main
eventor with Bruno.
Speaker 2: You know what, I don't think there was an I
don't think that the office, you know, was saying to themselves,
oh yeah, we got to get some Bisco ready for
a purse soon. And that's why I did what I did,
because after Bruno retired, me being stuck in the cliche
protege thing, I had to do it myself. And you know,
me and Vince Senior had some talks, you know, nothing bad,
but I wouldn't say arguments, but you know, just saying
the truth, like, come on, Vince, bob back when don't
draw money. I know you're losing money, give me a chance. Jesus.
Everybody hates you know, but I knew I had to
make a move for my career, and with Bruno being retired,
and being the guy that was the biggest way to
do it, because if I'd be back when that really
wouldn't make me a big, super duper star anyway, because
no one cared.
Speaker 1: Do you do you remember, Larry And this is I know,
kind of a really specific question, but do you remember
that they had a show that was going to happen
at Shae and they needed a main event that would
fill the house or did they put it in Shae
after they realized that they were going with you and Bruno?
Do you remember if it was like a cart before
the horse kind of thing or.
Speaker 2: You know, the only thing that is in the back
of my mind, I think I'm writers. We had a
couple of matches in Madison Square Garden, yes, and we
built it up for the cage, and I think they
realized how hot it was.
Speaker 1: The makes sense.
Speaker 2: Madison Square Garden was too small. I mean, they could,
you know, do a lot more people if they you know,
did a stadium, which in those days was rare if
it happened at all.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, yeah, that's that that that rhymes with
kind of we were following the chronology. You also worked
Bruno with the Spectrum in Philly, the crowd was red
hot coming off the angle. Oh yeah, I mean the
Angle of the Way Pittsburgh. Yeah, you did the angle
in the winter, so they had plenty of time to
run it around the circuit and realize that, you know,
we add a cage to this thing. We had broke
Bruno perhaps in a go home promo saying that if
I can't beat Larry's Bbisco, I have to retire, and
we could fill a stadium here. So yeah, maybe that's
the answer to the question.
Speaker 2: The one thing on my mind, Jack, was it was
an outdoors show, which is rare.
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah, were you
afraid it was gonna raina What if it rained? What
would you have done?
Speaker 2: That was in my mind. I'm thinking, oh my god,
please no thunderstorms, not next, you know, make it good weather, please.
I could see Jesus Christ sit in ringside heat the
storms away.
Speaker 1: Did they have a plan, Larry, do you remember did
they say, like, if it does rain, we're gonna just
go with it, figure it out.
Speaker 2: No, no, no one said nothing. But yeah, you know,
thank god, it was a beautiful day.
Speaker 1: That seemed like a beautiful night. So yeah, great. So
so they kind of realized they had a stadium program
on their hands and went ahead and uh and booked it.
So that's terrific. But but I did notice a couple
of things. First of all, the month before or two
months before, you actually wrestled Bob Backland in the Garden
in the main event for the Championship at ends via
blood stoppage. The referee stops it because Backland is bleeding
too much. Were you trying to make that a title
change or had did they just have you go with
Bob to set up Shay like? Did you?
Speaker 2: Well? I was trying to get a title change only
because I knew Ben Senior was a smart man, and
I knew they weren't pulling in, you know, money like
they needed to. So I figured if I pleaded with
him and then bugged him and pestered him, and you know,
because he was a smart guy, he knew he could
draw more money with Backland, I think what the situation was.
And I heard this might have been from Bruno too,
because all the years Bruno was on top, Bruno was
the guy who booked himself. Yes, he'd hear about other
talents see and say, hey, bring this guy three hundred
pounds George Steele and let me wrestle this guy. Bring
this three hundred pound Ivan coat and let me wrestle
this guy. Let me wrestle Killer Kowalski, Let me crush.
So Bruno was basically running the show for some years,
which worked out good for Evince because he made money. Yep.
But I think it got to the point where after
Bruno has done that been senior, he wanted control. He
wanted to be the one him and his partners and
made the decisions of who's going to be who because
they haven't been doing it for years because Bruno did
it right. That's the one story behind that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh. Yeah. There was a lot between Bruno
and in the McMahon's that he's he chronicle in his
book and when he was alive, talked a lot about
so we've got a pretty good idea where he was
coming from and all of that. But it gets to
the point where after you, well you work Backland, and
so I wondered, like when you say that Backland didn't
draw out the Garden like you were one of those
main events and it seemed to be a pretty full
house to me. Of me, I set you up on that.
Speaker 2: Well, but back then I really was the guy that
had all the heat for a while.
Speaker 1: After the show after Shae Stadium, I'm watching the Garden
Cards and then you're wrestling Tony Garia in the third match.
You're wrestling dom de Nucci in the second match. What
was it like after Shaye Stadium? What happened there?
Speaker 2: Well, nothing really happened, except it got to the point
where I think I think that might have been the
time when the era was starting to change. And then
McMahon still didn't want me telling him what to do
and didn't want me. You know, a couple of shows,
hold them up for money and say I want this
much before I get in the ring, because Bruno told
me to do that. Otherwise they wouldn't. They cheat me
because they needed it. But I think it was before
the time, right before the beginning where the business is
going to change, and the other promoters, know Burn Guyn
there from Minnesota, that area and the crust, and then
the Crockets with their area in the South and Georgia,
they really didn't notice it. They were millionaires, they had
their territory, their business, and they didn't see it coming.
I think Vince Junior, you know, because Senior passed away,
but he was the first one on the block that
saw the new era coming, yes, and he started bringing
in people from other territories. You know, you'd have Jesse
the Body and me and Bobby Heenan and somebody in
the Carolina is Yead Snooker and Macho and Piper and whoever.
So the ww EF provert was at that time, it
was getting crowded, you know, with guys they wanted to
push from the other territories. And I've been there a
while and did my thing. And the good thing that
worked out for me was because the w W took
the other territories top guys. It made it easy for
me because the top the territories needed me, they did
other top guys especially.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's such a good point. So after I
don't want to lose. So in nineteen eighty, after Shay Stadium,
to you, it's like you're pretty much done with the
territory because it doesn't seem like they try to come
off the Bruno program and put you in Maine events anymore,
or had you pissed them off with your you know,
ten percent of the gate thing that you talk about
in your book, and they just tried.
Speaker 2: To well, that could have been part of it, but
again they knew how close I was with Bruno, And yeah,
I mean, who knows, who knows? I mean, the business
was just changing.
Speaker 1: And absolutely do you remember kind of feeling like you
remember feeling kind of disgruntled that, like you put thirty
five thousand plus in Jay with Bruno and did some
magnificent promos to fill that place and had had the
match everyone wanted to see, and then afterwards you weren't
in the main events anymore.
Speaker 2: Well kind of, I mean, and I tried to push
for it, you know, with the back him the thing
and stuff. Right, I could see it wasn't going to happen.
But I wasn't too disgruntled because, like I said, the
doors of the awa enwa i A had a place
to go.
Speaker 1: He went to Georgia. I went to Georgia. After that,
you went to IWF with Bruno because Bruno left too,
and you did a little bit of work with them
in the Northeast.
Speaker 2: So so yeah, I mean, so I always had opportunities,
so it really wasn't like that. But then you know,
shortly after that, things changed and in the w w
EF wanted to make their own stars. You know, that's
when Hogan started getting his big break and the Matra
man was getting his big break and Piper and so
I didn't want to get lost in the shuffle where
they just wanted me to get beat by everybody they
took from the other territories. So I left and went
to the other territories.
Speaker 1: Well, indeed, one of the things I love in your
book is you describe young Vince Junior when Vincent You're
still in charge and you're looking for your percentage of
the gate, you know, on Bruno's recommendation, and you're kind
of at cross us. You're kind of at a cross
purpose with the WWF for a second there, negotiating hard,
and you know it's getting tense. And when you start
dealing with Vince Jr. You write in your book, he's
got that laugh, you know, despite the tension in the air.
It's can you tell us about that? Like, what what
was Vince Junior's manner like during this time of negotiation
over the gate?
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, I mean, Vince was a smart guy.
I mean, I mean he really built a hell of
a empire and wrestling. I mean, WW is a great company,
you know. I mean, it's not like the old days.
If you got hurt, you're out of business. You get hurt,
now they pay for your surgery, they pay for your rehab,
you know. But Vince was smart. So but but but
he was a worker.
Speaker 3: So if he thought he had to laugh, right, if
he thought he had to do so, he did whatever
he thought he had to do to get what.
Speaker 2: He wanted, you know, without someone walking out on him
or holding them up or yep, you know, leave it.
So you mean he was smooth. It's very smart and smooth,
and you know, he work any way he could to
get what he wanted done.
Speaker 1: And you got great work in the business after leaving
New York in nineteen eighty. You've talked about it, you know,
we've talked about it, a W a champ, you worked
for the Crockets, You worked for WCW for years and
did very well there. But never never did it seem
to be a rumor that Larry's going to go back
to New York. And in fact, when Vince bought WCW
in two thousand and one, I don't think there was
discussion about you potentially being hired at WWF. Do you
think that Vince Junior saw the whole back and forth
with the Bruno stuff and his dad and said, I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna have Larry again.
Speaker 2: No. To be honest with you, I really don't think so.
I think what happened back then was I meancent Vincent
by TBS, you know, C W. Turner sold out TBS
to Turner, Time Warner of course, yeah, Time Warner whatever
it is, and Time Warner didn't want sports, so they canceled,
you know, the wrestling show, the number one show on
TV on cable in their network. They canceled, and there
was like, you know, two hundred people or so that
got a one week notice. Oh hey, in the week
you are, you're out of a job. No one's contracts
getting renewed because AOL wants to mix T in the
twenty four hour you know, fake news station.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, for sure, Well that's certainly w BE came
to an end. But do you think Vince Junior never
wanted to to hire you? Why didn't you have a
work for him?
Speaker 2: I don't know. And to be honest with you, I mean,
it was working out so good for me. I mean,
Ben Vince was loaded with talent, and I was already
now at this time, you know, late thirties, getting close
to forty years old. Yeah, you know, a couple of
knee surgeries already.
Speaker 1: Sure, and.
Speaker 2: And with the AWA you know treated me nice in
the NWA. When I was with Turner, I mean it
was great. I was employee. He made a bunch of money.
It was at the time they were giving money away
like it was candy. Yes, you know, so I really
had no reason to leave. You know, Vince had all
the talent and stuff he needed, but you.
Speaker 1: You weren't on his You weren't on his ship list
because of the the Bruno stuff. You weren't on his
ship list because of that.
Speaker 2: No oh no, yeah, Now you're talking years and years
later after the Bruno stuff and Vince again, yeah, I mean,
he wouldn't even care about that stuff that he Oh yeah,
you're a promoter, right, so he wants to make the
most money he can.
Speaker 1: You know. But when you made those demands around the
Bruno time in nineteen eighty round percentage of the gate
and things, you said in your book that Hulkogan himself
gave you props for that he said. I think you've
even quoted him as saying, you're my hero for doing this.
Did do you remember Hulk being kind of impressed by
the way you drove a hard bargain And do you
think he went on to kind of do the same
thing in his career.
Speaker 2: Well, I think he was impressed with your advice I
gave at the beginning, and then he saw all the work.
And Terry was a smart guy and he caught on quick,
and he realized because of his size and the reaction
he'd get that people born him. You know, yes, I
mean when walked up he was like holy shit.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. What was it like when he came into New
York when he came into Atlanta you were there working
as first talent in ninety four and then later as
an announcer. Was it sort of like, wow, I haven't
seen you since nineteen eighty or was he a different
person and not really talkative to you? What was he
like then, you know what?
Speaker 2: To be honest with you, I mean, when the cable
Wars started, yeah, you know, the WCW against the WWE.
I was just finishing up and I started doing the broadcasting.
But I never planned on being a broadcaster. It was
the weirdest thing. But Bill Watts came in. He was
a real a hole and he was proud of being
an a hole, and he started a group with me
and Arn and Bobby and Rude and Standing Steed, dangerous alliance.
Yet I didn't want to be in a group. And
I was already like maybe forty forty one at this time,
which for a wrestler who was in the ring for
twenty years every day, you know, And I have already
had two or three knee surgery. I've been lucky, nothing bad,
but there's some tared cardilis and stuff. But I didn't
want to be part of a group. So I had
a good deal with Turner at that time, and I said,
oh my knee hurts. So they said okay, So they
paid for it. And I was home floating the pool
for a couple of months. We having and I get
a call from I think his name is Craig Leathers,
I remember, one of the producers, and he said, Hey, Larry,
can you do us a big favor Jessee the body
just quit and can you come down to CNN here
and voice over a couple of you know shows. We
got on tape, all done for the syndicated markets, and
I went, yeah, sure, help hey me, I can sit
there and talk. So I went down and I did
the color commentating on a couple of shows they had,
and I like, again, I never thought about it, you know,
never even thought about it. And Craig comes busting through
the door and says, hey, you're the greatest colored man
I've ever heard. We talked, I talked to sell and so,
and we'll give you this much a year. I'm going
what almost fell off the chair. It was twice as
much as I was making being a wrestler, amazing, and
I was an employee, so I had almost a ten
year run being a broadcaster. And then getting back to
the home thing. Some years went by and me and
Eric Bisho from the a w A, I kind of
helped him get in with the NWA with w CW
a little bit, and he wound up being the boss
for a while. Yes, and I gave him some advice
and then and then he had this idea. But I'm
the one who named an influenced actually I influenced the
name the New World Order, Yes, And and then I
programmed how Scott Hall first showed up. How you know
this happened? And then Eric, it got so hot. Eric
want to be involved, so I programmed me versus bishof
to save Nitrol from the New World Order, the world Odor.
Speaker 1: We all remember you calling it the New world.
Speaker 2: The New World Order. And then the New World Order
got so hot, and then you'd see a bunch of
guys that were in New York and not a contracts
were getting bigger because the fight between promotions. But then
you know, Hulk Hogan showed up in w c W.
I think Macho Man showed up, Piper showed up. So
it was a real it was a real, you know,
influx of top guys all wanting to be a big,
big star again during the wrestle wars between the two companies. Yes,
and they've been in the w W for some years now,
they're going to try it here.
Speaker 1: How and how was Hulk that were?
Speaker 2: Eric, let me just say, instead of listening to like
one or two guys like me and someone else, he
had ten guys up his ass. You know I could
be telling him this idea, Mato would be telling him
this idea, this rember my show. Eric told me once
Mancho said to him could you ask Forbisco not to
stand up and wave to the crowds at the beginning
of the show because your announcers more over than I am.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's a dizzying I mean, he was just
he had he had it coming from every direction when
when the egos got involved. But I was wondering if
you noticed a different hult Cogan when you saw him
again in WCW versus nineteen eighty Like, what was was
he nice? Was he was? He personable? Was he?
Speaker 2: Ye? He was always nice and personal around me. The
thing is, in those days when the New World Order
was coming and I was broadcasting, I did the first,
you know, half of the show, and then Bobby he
did the other half. Or I drive down during the
week because CNN Center and tape, you know, tape over
a show that they got in the can and that.
But I didn't really in those days. I didn't. I now,
with the boys, I had my wife, I had some kids.
I played golf three four times a week, sure did so.
I I mean I wasn't on the road working with
the boys and and all that. Yeah, I really and
I really don't know. And a lot of them I
wouldn't even mess with the sun. Were nuts? Half cub
were dead because had them were dead because they abused, Yes,
some certain things so much, you know, just some drugs
and the steroid abuse. And I mean you got ridiculous
for a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. You know, it's funny to bring up
the golf thing because viewers of WCW at the time
were very knowledgeable of that, because you would often talk
about how you were, you know, leisurely living on the
golf course and you know, you very little could bother
you because you were living that glorious life. And we've
always kind of joked on the show about like, but
what was Larry's Tuesdays? Like would you hit the golf
course and then hit the bar at TGI Fridays on
a Tuesday afternoon? What did it look like? You know what?
Speaker 2: I never drank alcohol my whole life. I never drank.
I think it should be illegal, to be honest with you.
But I mean I killed two of my young cousins
years ago there driving run. Yeah it's just silly, but
but yeah, my wife, I mean, god, I used to
have the energy. I'd wake up in the morning and
I'd go to the gym and I'd do a heavy workout,
you know, do some reps with over four hundred pounds
heavy curled. Then I'd go back home, have a protein shake,
and then one one thirty drive down the road to
the golf course and golf till dark. And I'm thinking,
now that I'm sitting here talking to you, where the
hell and I get all this energy? Can I do that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Amazing?
Speaker 2: I can hardly walk without hurt. Mean, my god, it's
amazing what you can do when you're young and hell
and take care of yourself as opposed to it's getting
old shit again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not a lot to recommend it. Let me close
this great conversation. I'm really enjoying this, Larry, and thank
you for giving me so much time. I wanted to
talk about what we kind of picked up on before.
Hogan going to the WA was an eighty one. He
went over there after the Rocky movie and over you know,
as he was writing about it in his book, he said,
as time went, I want to get your thoughts on this.
He said, vern you know, had a couple daughters, and
seems he was always talking about how great Kathy was,
his older daughter. Olks says in his book, invited me
over to dinner with his family. He always seemed like
Kathy would come down and watch his tape TV. It
just seemed like to Hulk that Vern wanted Kathy around
him all the time. He said, it became a quote,
a very uncomfortable situation. Probably Vern was figuring it was
part of the family. I would if I was part
of the family, I would never leave. But I didn't
want to marry his daughter just to get a wrestling belt.
You were married to Kathy. What do you think of that?
Speaker 2: You know, I had no idea of what was going
on with the Hulk or Burn or any but I
really didn't the first time I heard of it, I
didn't know. I didn't know, and just I don't know.
Just I've known Kathy for a while again, a couple
of times in and out of the territory, and then
I don't know what happened. But one day we went
to a Bob Seegar concert and it went out a
couple of times, you know, and we just hit it
off and it worked out great. She was very nice sort.
She just turned seventy five a couple of months ago.
Oh wow, Yeah, was healthy.
Speaker 1: That's that's really good to hear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 1: You know, she was on TV a little bit. Fans
remember her. It's but we don't hear a lot about her.
Of course we know what happened with Vernon stuff. Was
that Verne's m Did you think he was happy to
have his champion paired up with his dog? Was that
kind of something he wanted to see happen?
Speaker 2: I don't think so, because I think when you're in
that position, you just want your daughter to be happy,
and a wrestler really isn't a good hobby candidate. When
I was starting off, a lot of the old timers
would tell you don't get married because it's it's not
the business. You're never home. You're in a different city
every night wrestling, or you say to your wife, hey, yeah,
I'm going to Japan for five weeks, see you next month.
Take care to get I mean yeah, I mean I
was married to one woman who was very nice from Iowa.
But after a year and a half she had like
a nervous breakdown because we had a house and then
the kid, but I was never there. Yeah, you know,
so it was a tough business to be married and
married once before did somebody. It was a doctor or
a lawyer. Oh wow, I can't remember.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, So that wasn't all right, So that
wasn't like a Vernon you know, because you see it
with with with Hunter and steph you know, it's like,
it's interesting how that works out, how the top guy
ends up interested in the daughter of the promoter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I worked out. I mean, Paul's a great guy,
loves the business. Stephanie's very sweet woman, very smart, and
sometimes you know that's again, WW is a great company.
If you can get in and work for them, you're
in good shape. Just sure save your money and don't
get hurt because wrestling is not a long term, guaranteed
career right least.
Speaker 1: So when you were with Vernon eighty four, you went
to a WN eighty four. Do you remember him and
Greg trying to make plays to bring Hogan back. There's
some there's there's always been things Greg has said that
indicates that even though Hull could you know, went and
won the belt for Vince Junior and was this big
TV st are that Vernon Greg felt like they could
get him back in the AWA. Do you remember any
of that?
Speaker 2: You know, I really don't. Okay, But then again, I
wasn't involved in the office, you know. I mean, sure
they were the office, and I was a wrestler, so
I really wasn't involved in any business stuff. I was
just worrying about my ass. Ah.
Speaker 1: You know, Greg Gania wrestled on the Shea Stadium show.
I thought that was all that was weird. I mean
I didn't I know, Vince Senior and Vern got along.
But that's the one match on that show, Larry, that
does not survive on videotape. Greg Ganya's match against Rick McGraw, I.
Speaker 2: Don't even remember. I didn't. I didn't even know he
was on.
Speaker 1: Yeah that many many many don't. Many don't. Well, just
wrapping up on this great perspective on a like you said,
an end of an era for WWF, and you can
feel the Hulk era coming on, not necessarily that it
was going to be Hulk, but that there was going
to be a change in the next you know, Top
Babyface wasn't going to be like a Bruno were a
backland and.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of them, and like I said,
unfortunately it started changing to where they weren't real wrestlers.
They were all like you know, steroid up body builders,
some died, some needed to deliver trains plants like Billy Graham,
And then you had a bunch of young guys dropping dead.
Got guys like Kurt Heading, Eddie Carrero, you know in
the WWE. Finally they put their foot down to this bullshit. Yeah,
they instituted the drug tests and if someone needed rehab,
they paid for it to you know, fix them up.
Speaker 1: The heart. The heart scans were a big one too,
the heart helse.
Speaker 2: But for a while it was some of the guys
weren't that smart, you know, the Ultimate Warrior when he
dropped dead walking through a parking lot and you know,
I mean, and they weren't old guys, but they were.
They were so gassed up and they croaked. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been sad to see. And you're absolutely right,
so used to the whole is the last one for you.
You started the whole Bruto program by refusing to grant
him an interview at the TV tapings in Pennsylvania. You
walk right by him when you try to get your
your ear, Can you can you can you bring us
back to coming up with that whole concept and that
coming up with that whole idea that you were gonna leave.
Speaker 2: I mean after kind of talk Bruno and then Vince
and into doing that, Bruno came up with really most
of the ideas, and he's the one that's set up
the programming where I'd walk right past him the first time.
Great to know ye he said something. I guess you
didn't hear me this, We'll throw it back to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was so so great, so subtle, was so effective,
and it filled Shaye Stadium to a to a significant degree.
So it obviously is a great example of how to
how to draw money in pro wrestling. And you did
an interview you woul draw money where you said, you
know you would you know Vance or a Vince Junior.
I've grown very depressed, you know, I feel stifled in
my career because I realized the man who helped me
so much is standing in my way. I was watching
that and you were delivering it so genuinely that I
did wonder like, was there a little bit of reality
in that you did you actually have a period where
you were kind of depressed in WWF in nineteen eighty
and work that into your promise.
Speaker 2: I wasn't depressed. I just knew it was time in
my career to make a move to become a top guy.
That's right now you're talking. I'm getting close to you
at twenty nine years old, twenty eight years old, So
it was getting time for me to do something to
become a top name, a big name in the business,
which almost everybody else in the business was trying to
do at the same time for themselves because you had
to otherwise it didn't need So yeah, yeah, it was
just out of hey, you know, this is the time
to make a move before it's it goes too long
or I get too old and it's time to go.
Speaker 1: So I went, so you went. So it made the move,
Sure did, and it was great to watch it play
out in real time. Even if you know we came
and focused on Hulk, we had to take this pit
stop and really appreciate what this program was and what
it represented. So thank you, Larry. We want to wish
you many more glorious years.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I'll be around and I'm always getting
a request to do a podcast. I'm in a movie
called The Unbreakable Bunch with Glacier and Mean and Ernie
the Cat and Miller, a couple other guys, it's on
Amazon Dot Crime, not Primate Prime, The Unbreakable Bunch. It's
a good movie and it's not about wrestling. It's about
some wrestlers that save a town from aliens. I'll son
very well. People got to check it out. And then again,
if if you want to, I'm not sure how you
do this, but if you want to download or I
doing a sudden and Spotify, yep, you just you just
go to hashtag talent and push on boo on me,
boo on me. And if you want to, if you
want a bright yellow T shirt to wear at the
shows that say boo on me, brother, you can contact
Pro Wrestling.
Speaker 1: Teas wonderful stuff. Well, I'm sure our listeners are going
to be game to support the living legend. Thank you,
Larry for taking some time to reflect with us. We
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Jack, and you have a good one
And I'll be here if you need me.