I come from this as a person COMPLETELY on the outside, having no direct knowledge of any situation, really…but I get the impression that Bubba was a friend of convenience for Hogan. He constantly pole jokey’d and pickle buffed so what’s not to like? Dude even let him bang his wife…I mean come on. You don’t sue your friends for millions of dollars and your friends don’t creepily keep copies of your cuckoldy sex tapes lying around
For a long term on and off wrestling fan who has listened to podcasts this interview is actually kinda gold. We always hear all these stories about Hogan saying “that doesn’t work for me brother” and having creative control. So hearing him actually say “that doesn’t work for this brother” is hilarious. And him acknowledging his creative control and how he could use it if he wanted to. And in the end what actually happened goes against the Hogan narrative. He showed up to Halloween Havoc, laid down for a three count for Sting. He then did what Russo asked and stayed off TV for awhile. And in the PPVs after he returned in 2000 he was in some matches he probably didn’t want to be in. The two PPVs prior to Bash at the Beach he was on he faced Billy Kidman, who was obviously nowhere close to the level he was at. If he was such a nefarious guy I don’t think he’d have agreed to those matches. Even though he won them he didn’t gain anything from that. You don’t really hear any confirmed times he used the creative control thing until the Bash where he used it there and Russo ignored it. And then we never saw him in WCW again.
If you listen to the interview he said that he doesn't mind doing the job as long as the story is good for it. I'm sure he also didn't mind putting the younger talent over as long as they could hang with the Hulkster
I wonder why he didn’t mention the names Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara. He just said “A couple guys that came down from New York that used to work for Vince (McMahon).
Because this is the year 2000 and 90% of wrestling fans didn't know who they were, and 99.9999% of people listening to Bubba's show didn't know who they were
The 90% number is high in my opinion. I was 16 when they left wwf for WCW, and I was aware who they were. Not going to pretend I know how many other fans knew too, but if a teenager from Salem, Oregon was in the loop, I’d have to guess anyone that wanted to be could’ve. That said, I agree that nobody outside the bubble had a chance in heck of knowing who they were. This is almost cringe worthy to listen to, knowing it’s a work and how the match/story went. Ol’ Hulkster, never met an opportunity he won’t exploit…
Yet he mentioned some executives that nobody outside the loop would know either. Come to think about it, the reason he didn’t say their names coulda been his way of disrespecting them, or weren’t they still the “Powers that be” or whatever? Meaning they hadn’t been on camera…just Russos’ voice (and fingerprints, all over the slowly sinking show).
I almost wonder if he didn’t mention their names because he didn’t want to give them the exposure. The executives being named can make sense as they’re Turner people. But I can see him not naming Russo and Ferrara because mentioning them would’ve been big exposure for them. And he didn’t want to give that to them. It could also just have been disrespect that they weren’t important enough to him to mention by name. Who knows.
hogan says he has creative control so I never understood why he went in and lay down for sting. this wasn't the finish he wanted, it damages his brand and it confuses the audience into thinking he's the problem as nobody knew at the time that Russo was being an ass. Surely hulks creative control would allow him to simply sit in the back until an agreement was made on a finish he is satisfied with
