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Post by Error on Jan 29, 2010 15:05:52 GMT -5
HULK HOGAN SAYS TNA KNOCKOUT 'CAN'T WORK', WANTS SAVAGE TO COME IN, SAYS TNA WILL KEEP 'PUSHING THE ENVELOPE'; ERIC BISCHOFF SAYS HE HASN'T HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IMPACT ON MARCH 1ST by Scott Remington @ 2:33 PM on 1/29/2010
A huge thank you to Scott Remington for sending along this report of the Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff "State Of TNA Address" that was held on the Bubba The Love Sponge show. As with anything on the Bubba show, or said by Hogan, you may want to take some answers with a grain of salt.
This was a very informal Q and A session with lots of rambling and side comments. But below is what transpired.
Q: Confirm or deny Honky Tonk is joining TNA
A: EB “I would rather drive an icepick through my thigh than work with the Honky Tonk Man”
Q: How do you feel about Dixie wanting to go family friendly?
A: Hulk: Not going to happen, we are going to keep pushing the envelope.
Q: Are you going live on March 1?
A: EB: Haven’t heard anything, I have just been reading it on the internet.
Hulk: Nothing has been confirmed, it’s not a lock. I would like to have it but it's not set yet.
Q: Ongoing talks with Savage?
A: Hulk: “I would love to have him come in and manage his illegitimate son.”
Q: Can you tell me the peaking order of how the writing goes
A: Hulk: Bottom line is that Eric has the final say.
Topic comes up with Vince Russo about the "fake wrestling" twitter post. Not really answered just some disparaging words thrown at Russo.
Q: What do they think of Lacey Von Erich?
A: Hogan says she can’t work.
EB: "We will teach her how to work", and likes her look.
Q: Are you guys big on Desmond Wolfe?
A: EB: Very high on him, good look.
Hulk says he killed it last night, he’s "real close."
Q: What is the Montreal angle really, is it a shot at Vince?
A: EB: It’s a shot "kind of", but it’s entertaining and as long as they (fans) love it or hate it’s about whether they are talking about it. Hang with it and watch where it goes.
Q: WWE has a farm system, are you guys going to be doing something?
A: EB: There is no developmental as such. Brian Knobbs and Saggs have a school they are looking at. "Hopefully we will be able to develop our own but we aren’t ready for a farm system".
Name Associations.
Black Pope: Both EB and Hulk love him and he is going to be getting a push.
Abyss: Hulk: My favorite wrestler of all “he’s my next John Cena”. EB likes him a lot and committed to his character.
Q: Are you interested in taking a look at FCW guys?
Hulk: He says they definitely would be interested.
EB: Says "if they are free we could".
Q: Any WWE talent interested in TNA?
Hulk: Yup.
Q: Sting no showing them.
A: Hulk: Sting’s a great talent, wishes he would have come up north for the WWE. He understands why personally he wasn’t there but professionally it hurts the company.
EB: "Everyone has to make a commitment. I understand where Hulk’s coming from. But if you’re not 110% committed then it’s probably not going to work out."
Q: Any chance we will see Hogan vs. Flair on TNA PPV.
A: Hulk: Doesn’t really answer the question.
Q: Will we see the Australian tour on PPV?
A: EB: Not likely for financial reasons.
Caller: Hulk is the worst wrestler since 1989 and how can you evaluate talent? Stone Cold hates you and won’t work a program with you?
Lots of banter back and forth lots of swearing. Bottom line is they don’t answer the question.
Q: Has working with Vince McMahon changed your thought process?
EB: There’s no denying he’s a great businessman, he’s arrogant but he likes him and "I wouldn’t hang out with him" but he thinks he’s great. On a business level he is very smart. On a creative run he thinks he takes credit for too much and he doesn’t think he’s that good.
Q: Was there a time when you were going against the Rock and you just thought WCW was going to fail?
A: EB: "When AOL/Time Warner took over and put more hands on our product by making it more family friendly, that’s when things starting taking a turn for a worst. Now history is repeating itself and we have a chance to go after that older audience."
Q: Are you going to be signing any more books Hulk?
A: Hulk: Not in the near future.
Q: Richard Ortiz, are you interested in him.
A: EB: I don’t know him.
Q: Is there one talent from WWE you both want?
A: Hulk: Orton and Cena. But he would also love the Big Show.
EB: "I have a problem with Show, never been committed, he’s lazy. I would like Cena and Orton."
EB says he never crapped on Jericho, likes him, but doesn’t think he can headline.
Hulk would love to have Chris in TNA.
Q: Why do you feel it’s necessary to acknowledge Vince on TNA?
A: EB: You can’t win a fight with throwing a punch, "we are going the fight".
Q: If you could wrestle one person in TNA.
A: Hulk: AJ Styles, "if he doesn’t get too full of himself".
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Post by Fishbone is Marshall Law on Jan 29, 2010 15:14:17 GMT -5
At last, Lethal's gettin a push! Lethal-Savage would be so awesome. I would literally mark my balls off.
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poseph
Mike the Goon
Posts: 12
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Post by poseph on Jan 29, 2010 15:22:24 GMT -5
SERIOUSLY. If I saw Lethal come out with old gray-haired Savage as his manager I think a brick would fall out of my a**.
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Post by Error on Jan 29, 2010 15:37:40 GMT -5
A little more from PWInsider;
HOGAN & BISCHOFF QUESTION STING'S COMMITMENT TO TNA; ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF 'STATE OF TNA ADDRESS' by Timothy C. @ 3:02 PM on 1/29/2010
Rough Transcript of Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff on The Bubba The Love Sponge Show.
12:15 PM Est
The first thing I heard was a weird song from what I suppose was a caller about Awesome Kong kicking Bubba's ass . . .
Apparently Hulk and Bischoff are late, so Bubba is filling time and took a caller. The caller asked Bubba why he was so hard on Hispanics coming to America. He basically called the caller a "f-ing idiot" and kicked him off the show.
Next he went to talking about Ted Haggard (The Larry King interview) including calling him a certain epithet for gays. He's basically calling him a hypocrite and his wife stupid for taking him back. I guess this is what they do on satellite radio.
12:37 PM Est
Bubba says that Hogan and Bischoff are next after the commercial break
12:45 PM Est
Finally, Hogan and Bischoff join the show.
Hogan plays a message of Linda yelling at him, which he says he keeps to make him realize why they are apart.
Bubba says they aren't letting him be as edgy as he wants.
Hogan says it isn't his fault that Kong punched him out.
Bischoff reads a message from someone asking whether they could change Bubba's role and just have him do an interview segment ie Brother Love; and says that it is an interesting idea.
Bischoff reads a rumor of Honky Tonk Man coming to TNA. Hogan says HTM owns the trademark "Linda Hogan" and Bischoff says that's because he is a piece of crap. Bischoff says he'd rather drive a rusty ice pick through his thigh than work with HTM. Both Hogan and Bischoff said they tried to work him 15 years ago, but HTM's wife stopped him. Bischoff says HTM can't draw flies if you rolled him in horse s***.
Caller: I am 30 years old and have been into wrestling my whole life . . . now with WWE going backwards and marketing to kids, I like the direction you are going in. How do you feel about Dixie saying she wants to be family friendly?
Hogan: We're not going into that direction, we will keep pushing, I might have to clothesline Dixie.
Bubba: Are you going live Monday?
Bischoff: I haven't heard that we are going live, except from what I read on the Internet.
Hogan: March 1st would be perfect, but nothing has been confirmed. We will keep pushing and raising the bar so they will have to say yes.
Bubba: How about Randy (Savage)?
Hogan: I would love to have him come in and manage his illegitimate son Machismo.
On the Montreal thing, Bischoff says it is episodic television; a soap opera for people that want to see guys kick each other's ass.
Emailer wants to know the pecking order with Vince Russo, because they can see that the product has changed even though Russo is writing . . .
Hogan: Does not want to reveal it initially, says that Russo writes it and Bischoff gets it and fixes it. Bischoff does that because I (Hogan) cannot do all of that. Eric has a running theme, fixes the bulls*** and comes back to me and I say 'cool, I like that'. I don't really change anything other than add some ideas. . . .
On Russo saying that wrestling is fake, Hogan says that “some of us have destroyed our lives and families and he's talking about it's fake and s*** . . .”
On Russo's book Hogan asks "Who the f*** is going to read it?"
Hogan says Linda Hogan should go work for Vince.
On Lacey Von Erich, Hogan says she does not know how to work, and Hogan has no idea why she is there, but she is one of the boys.
Eric says she just needs a little work, has a great character, and that they will teach her how to work.
Caller is glad to see Eric and Hogan back and wants to know if Eric is big on Desmond Wolfe.
Eric likes Desmond’s character, look and think he's finding himself as a character.
Hogan jokingly says “no comment” and then says that he “watched him last night and he killed it, and the girl has a James Bond type thing going on” and that “Desmond is on point; something has to be dialed in, but he is real close.”
Caller wants to know if the Montreal Screwjob angle is a shot at WWE?
Eric says that it was partially a shot at WWE, but it was more to get people talking; and is only the beginning of the story.
Hogan says “We will do anything we can. We are relentless. We will do everything we can to get on Monday night.”
Hogan says “We have the guy that screwed Bret. Earl had to have the balls to do it, because Bret could have whooped his ass.”
Caller asks if they will do anything with a farm system and how would somebody become a creative team member in TNA, since WWE requires a bunch of writing degrees?
Eric says there is no developmental territory; and that they look at different schools, like Knobb's school and a school in Los Angeles.
Bubba wants to play the name game with a few names . . .
Bubba: The Pope
Eric: I think he is great. One of my favorite characters.
Hogan: Tired of seeing him getting beat; we will give him life after death.
Bubba: Abyss
Hogan: My favorite wrestler of them all. I love him to death. He is perfect. He is my next John Cena. He is awesome.
Eric: I like him a lot. He has a good attitude. He is 100% committed.
Hogan: He is a genius.
Bubba: If there are some FCW guys wanting to jump ship, would you be interested?
Hogan: Yeah, we want them and Steve Keirn too!
Bubba buddy Spice: I know a couple of guys that are unhappy and want to leave.
Eric: I don't know contractual situations; if they are free and available, we are looking.
Bubba: have you heard from any WWE guys at the end of their contracts.
Eric and Hogan: Yep (they did not go into any further details).
1:12 PM Est
Commercial break
1:20 PM Est
On Jeff Jarrett
Eric: Put him in a little bit of a gut check situation.
On Sting, not showing up for Genesis, Bubba says that Sting no-showed.
On Sting, Hogan says "Love him to death, I know how heavy it can get with what I had to go through with Nick, but that he knows how important it is for everyone to show up."
Eric: "Everyone has to make a commitment; if you're not willing to do that, then it is probably not going to work out. We have a whole new set of opportunities, with the potential to go live every Monday."
Caller: What about bringing in Brooke as a character?
Hogan: "What if she's in the crowd and then leaves and shows up in the back playing strip poker with Val Venis?"
Tom: Any chance we'll see Hogan vs Flair one more time on PPV?
Hogan: "I don't think he can keep up, I'm ready."
Tom: Will the Hulkamania Tour be released on DVD?
Eric: Not likely, issues with a promoter there and television, and they (Eric and Hogan) have leverage to approve or not approve the DVD, and unless something changes they will not allow it to be released on DVD.
Caller: You're one of the biggest f***ing scumbags in the business; you haven't had a good match since 1989 (that is all I got from this very emotional and rambling caller). . .
Hogan: I didn't have a good match before 1989, if you know a lot about the business, tell us what you have done?
That same caller went off on Hogan with some stuff that could not be made out, other than the caller saying that everyone in the business hates Hogan.
Bubba: Tells him to shut up and take a breath so we can understand what he's saying.
The caller goes nuts again, and I still can't figure out what he is saying.
Eric: How much speed have you taken?
Same caller to Hogan: You never put people over.
Eric: If you've made more money in the business than everyone . . .
Same caller: Stone Cold and The Rock made more money than you...
Eric: He put the Rock over.
Same caller: He was putting over people previously as Mr America and then came back wanting a heavyweight title run.
Bubba: Calm down and let me have Hogan clear up some of your misconceptions.
Same caller: He had creative control and wouldn't put people over; and he and Eric Bischoff ruined WCW and ran Stone Cold off (and the caller went on with some more stuff that nobody could make out, he may have had some good points if he were not too emotional to express them)
New caller: Why did you do the Montreal Screwjob on taped TV and not on PPV, since everyone knows it is a taped show?
Bubba: Prior to this angle, what has got you this pissed off or into this company?
Same caller: Says they did the same thing as the Montreal Screwjob and everybody knows Kurt wasn't going to WWE.
Eric: Contrary to your opinion, people did want to see it according to the minute by minute ratings, it is no different from when I would go on Nitro 5 minutes before Raw and reveal what would be on their show
Hogan: I could have seen Kurt going to WWE. It is kind of funny to mess with Vince with it, and inside sources say it was supposed to be Bret-HBK at Mania.
1:37 PM Est
Commercial Break
1:42 PM Est
Text: What does Eric truly think about Vince McMahon as a promoter and person after working for and against him?
Eric: Vince is a great businessman. I kind of like him because he's arrogant and takes care of business. He is honest whether you like it or not. He gets too much credit for creativity.
Bubba wants to know the moment when they said "oh s***" during WCW years.
Eric: That time came in 1998, when the merger came and the suits started telling them what Nitro was going to be. They wanted it to be more family friendly like WWE right now. As they were taking the edge off, WWE was putting the edge onto the product. One of the great things about where they are now, is that history has repeated itself. WWE is now going back to PG stuff, and TNA has an opportunity to be edgier.
Caller: Asked if Hogan would be signing books anytime soon, so he can get his son a signed book.
Hogan: No book signings have been scheduled, but told the caller he would send him a signed book for his son.
New Caller: Are you interested in former WWE wrestler named Ricky Ortiz?
Eric: Free agent is the same thing as unemployed. Never heard of him . . .
New Caller loves that the 6 sided ring is gone; and likes the creative direction.
Eric agrees with Bubba saying that they are trying to tell great stories and provide great action; with an attitude and edge to it.
Bubba: If there is one talent from WWE that you could have who would it be?
Hogan: Orton and Cena, and says that Show is not being used right.
Eric: I have problems with Show, he's always been lazy, though he's a good person.
Hogan: He was a different person when he was into boxing
Eric: I like Cena and Orton both, and even Jericho.
Bubba: I thought you took a s*** on Jericho.
Eric: It isn't true, that’s what Jericho had to say to WWE, we wanted to keep Jericho. We didn't believe he should hold the title for any length of time, and he also hasn't done that for long in WWE. Would love to have him
Bubba: You [Hogan] said Jericho was one of the best you've worked with
Hogan: He was perfect for me when we worked together in WWE. I'd love to have him in the TNA locker room.
Caller: I love Hogan and appreciate Eric's mind for the business, why mention Vince?
Bubba: Because Vince is on top right now and everybody knows him, so why not acknowledge him?
Eric: You can't win the fight if you don't throw a punch. We are going to throw punches and win the fight.
Caller: Vince would never mention you
Bubba: #1 doesn't mention #2
Caller: If there is one person in TNA you’d [Hogan] want to have a match with, who would it be?
Bubba: Probably Flair?
Hogan: Depends on if AJ Styles keeps getting more full of himself
Bubba ends the time with Hogan and Bischoff by mentioning how the caller (Joe) pleasures himself to Hogan
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Post by Michael Coello on Jan 29, 2010 15:49:12 GMT -5
New Caller: Are you interested in former WWE wrestler named Ricky Ortiz? Eric: Free agent is the same thing as unemployed. Never heard of him . . . ouch.
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Post by The Genesis of KoOS on Jan 29, 2010 15:50:16 GMT -5
So is Abyss going to unmask and become a rapper and the a marine?
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dc09
Team Rocket
Posts: 889
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Post by dc09 on Jan 29, 2010 16:00:04 GMT -5
So is Abyss going to unmask and become a rapper and the a marine? Nope he's going to unmask, get worried about May 19th and chokeslam Bischoff.
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Post by The Tank on Jan 29, 2010 16:01:14 GMT -5
Oh, PLEASE bring in Savage. That would be so awesome.
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Post by Pounder on Jan 29, 2010 16:39:45 GMT -5
Caller: You're one of the biggest f***ing scumbags in the business; you haven't had a good match since 1989 Hogan: I didn't have a good match before 1989
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Full of IT.
ALF
If you wanna win............. make it a win.
Posts: 1,072
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Post by Full of IT. on Jan 29, 2010 18:18:55 GMT -5
I'm listening now on youtube, it's getting irritating how many times Bubba uses the word "shoot".
Here it is:
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Post by ________ has left the building on Jan 29, 2010 18:23:21 GMT -5
The interview seems like Hogan and Bischoff were in work mode for most of it.
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Ragnal
Game Genie
Yanno what they say: All toasters toast El Dandy
Posts: 8,677,836
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Post by Ragnal on Jan 29, 2010 18:30:29 GMT -5
Q: If you could wrestle one person in TNA. A: Hulk: AJ Styles, "if he doesn’t get too full of himself". I don't like the sound of this...
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comahan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 17,899
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Post by comahan on Jan 29, 2010 18:32:09 GMT -5
Caller: If there is one person in TNA you’d [Hogan] want to have a match with, who would it be?
Hogan: Depends on if AJ Styles keeps getting more full of himself
Seems like a kayfabe response about Hogan wanting to potentially take on AJ if AJ keeps his heel act up.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2010 18:35:48 GMT -5
A lot of it seemed worked, but interesting nonetheless. I hope Hogan isn't as high on Abyss as his answer seems to indicate. And fess up, which one of you Hogan haters called up to yell at Hulk?
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Square
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Official Ambassador
Grand Poobah of Scavenger Hunts 2011
Square-Because he looks good at all the right angles.
Posts: 18,702
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Post by Square on Jan 29, 2010 18:38:14 GMT -5
I'm disappointed that there was no challenge towards if they were going to bring any new guys not from the E or WCW in, see how well they have scouted the indies
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
Fed. Up.
Posts: 37,742
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Jan 29, 2010 19:08:17 GMT -5
If Hogan gets the Pope a mega-push, I'll honestly consider forgiving him for Starrcade '97.
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Rick Mad
Grimlock
Rick Mad Champion
Posts: 14,613
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Post by Rick Mad on Jan 29, 2010 20:11:30 GMT -5
Yeahhh I HOPE a lot of that was a work. Mostly the Sting thing - I highly doubt Sting actually "no showed" or anything.
Also don't understand the Abyss love. I mean, he's good and all, but the next John Cena? Thats ridiculous. I feel like Abyss must just be a huge kissass backstage or something. His character of the "semi-retarded monster who is also a mark or something" is just strange.
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Post by donners on Jan 30, 2010 1:50:24 GMT -5
Hogan needs to either fire Russo or stop burying him. It reflects really badly on the company to know that he is a key part of putting the shows together, and have Hogan and Bischoff bury him like that.
You don't see JJ Abrams goiing around promoting the Star Trek movie saying "Wow, our scriptwriters are really crap, but luckly I'm around to fix things up." Either fire him or shut up.
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hassanchop
Grimlock
Who are you to doubt Belldandy?
Posts: 14,910
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Post by hassanchop on Jan 30, 2010 2:45:00 GMT -5
Abyss: Hulk: My favorite wrestler of all “he’s my next John Cena”. EB likes him a lot and committed to his character. Oh my. Could that mean he will rap, overcome the odds and call Mick Foley poopy? "On TNA Against All Odds, Abyss will overcome the odds!" "Yo this A-B-Y-Double S!"
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Post by Janitor From Mars on Jan 30, 2010 3:11:26 GMT -5
Thats ridiculous. I feel like Abyss must just be a huge kissass backstage or something. His character of the "semi-retarded monster who is also a mark or something" is just strange. EUGENE WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!
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