23.11.2006, 19:26
Am 8 September gab es vom PW Torch in Form von Wade Keller ein drei stuendiges Gespraech mit Scott Hall. Daraus entstand ein interessantes und bei Scott Hall selltenes Interview das man auf der Torch Website sich anhoeren kann (wenn man VIP Mitglied ist).
Hall spricht indem Interview, ueber sein Razor Ramon Gimmick, die Clique, sein Wechsel zur WCW 1996, den Monday Night War, die NWO Era, Bobby Heenan und vieles vieles mehr. Hier der Auszug aus dem Interview mit Hall.
Keller: Your Internet biography says you were discovered in a grocery store in late 1984 by Barry Windham. Is that true?
Hall: That's true. I was training with Hiro Matsuda. You know what he used to be, bro? I moved to Tampa. I've never had a real job, bro. I used to tend bar in a strip club. It was the hottest bar in Orlando - the Doll House at the time. I worked three nights a week there and the rest of the time I lifted weights and laid in the sun. I'm 22, 23. I know that the wrestling office is in Tampa. I save up a little money. A couple of my buddies give a hundred backs. I move to Tampa. I don't know a soul. I get an apartment and I join every gym in town. So finally I go to Athlete's Fitness Center. I ran into Kevin Sullivan. One time I did squats with him. I'm hanging around and trying to get in. But see I'm not going to guys, going, "Hey man, how do I get into wrestling? How do I get into wrestling? Because I know they don't want to hear that. So one day in the end, me and Barry are in Publix and we're both looking at steaks. We're picking out steaks. We're standing look at steaks and I say, "Excuse me, you're Barry Windham, right?" He says, "Yeah, how you doin'." Because Barry's cool as f---. I said, "Hey, I'm Scott Hall. How ya' doing, man?" He says, "Hey." I said, "I know the last thing you wanna be is bothered when you're out on your own time, but I'm really trying to break into your business." He said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm working out with Hiro Matsuda." He said, "F--- Hiro Matsuda." He's going to have you doing Hindu Squats around the building. Meet me at the Sportatorium tomorrow, one o'clock. I showed up at noon. Cause I know Barry Windham ain't gonna show up. That's Barry Windham. You know who showed up? Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo. You know what they did, too? They didn't bump me. They bumped each other. They said, "Look, pick him up, slam him like this. Boom boom boom." Then they had me slam them. I didn't get bumps, I gave bumps. Then they had to go to a town and wrestle. Barry was really good to me That's why I was so happy when I had a little bit of stroke with that NWO gimmick to get Barry on the payroll. I did it with (Larry) Zbyszko, too. When I was in the AWA and I was a jobrone, Larry Zbyszko really took care of me one night in Winnipeg. So during commercials when he was a broadcaster during Raw commercial breaks, I used to shoot angles with Zbyszko. I'd toothpick him. I'd just motion at him. (Eric) Bischoff would be standing there. I'd say, look at the man, he's a star, he's money. He got two or three pay-per-views out of it. He wrestled Eric at Starrcade. He did a thing with Dusty where we turned Dusty NWO. Remember when Louie Spicolli was my young boy, man? I mean, when I look back - Kid (Sean Waltman) was just at my house this weekend. We went through all of these old tapes. I have this old tape library that I've never really watched. We went through all of this stuff, man. It was kinda fun. It got a little fire under my rear end.
Keller: I'm glad you watched that old stuff because it'll help when we talk about it as you go along.
Hall: Well, go on, man. Time for you to ask questions.
Keller: I don't have to talk much, but I'll try to lead the way here. Talk about being a fan growing up and what some of the things were about wrestling that did catch your eye in particular. What attracted you to wrestling?
Hall: My dad was a career army soldier, so we lived in Ft. Rucker, Alabama. So my dad took me. I was eight years old on my birthday. My dad took me and my buddies to a wrestling match, and the main event was a hair match. At eight years old, all my friends would say, It's fake, it's fake, but I don't think it is. I remember I ran down to the ring and grabbed a piece of the guys hair and it still had a piece of scalp on it. I still have the folder and the hair and everything. I remember asking my friends, "Would you let somebody shave your hair, man? Would you let somebody do that to you?" Of course, you all know now, yeah, you get the money right, you shave my hair ***** , I don't care. But back then, I was eight years old. Next month, I'm going to be 48. So that was a long time ago. Times have changed.
I moved to Florida when I was, like, 17. I got into weight lifting, laying in the sun. I always wanted a job that was cool. I was never a very good student. I was a wrestling fan, so what do you do when you wanna wrestle? I just talked to Kid and he told me there's this one kid, Johnny Storm. Kid told me this the other day. He used to be the hugest Razor fan - a huge Razor mark. He would come to town, so I could send him on errands. Go get me a sandwich and silly stuff like that. I know his parents and everything. Kid told me he's the hottest thing in Europe now. That makes me feel kinda good. Because you know what, we smartened him up. We did not kayfabe this kid at all. We told him this is the way it goes, this is where you are. F--- that, don't do that, act like this, do this, do that. We gave him the edited version of being a star. I think so many old timers when I broke in were so selfish because, you gotta remember, that was before the time of guaranteed money. So everybody was real competitive. You know, when I worked for Vince, it wasn't guaranteed money. I was the first guy that Vince ever offered guaranteed money to. A lot of people don't know that. I was the very first guy, and I turned him down.
Keller: Was that when you gave him notice and he tried to keep you?
Hall: I gave him notice. He wanted me to stay there. He offered me a check for 75 grand; I didn't even look at it. I said, "I'm figuring that's what you owe me for now, and now let's talk.
Keller: We'll get into that in detail as we march through your career, because that was obviously a huge moment in the industry's history. When you were getting into heavy training to be a wrestler, did you gain more respect for it? Did you have some preconceived notions that were shattered?
Hall: Well, I came into it like every other big musclehead comes into it. F---, I'm bigger than you. You have to remember, bro, I broke in in the late-'80s when we still sold out business as being real. Know what I mean? The die-hard fans kinda knew it was fake. You know one thing people always say to me, Wade? It never varies. They go, "How much of that sh-- is fake?" I go, "All of it." They go, "Well, I don't know. What about when that guy hit you with a chair? What about when he hit you with a ladder? Don't you hurt? I go, "Yeah, it hurts, man. It hurts like f---, but you gotta understand, in my concept it's fake because it's in the script; I know it's coming. To me, it's either all fake or it's no fake. How can it be partially real? The director says, "Okay, at this point, you get hit with the chair, you get some juice, you do this and you do that." Sometimes the people go, "Is that sh-- fake? I go, "Have you ever seen it? Have you ever seen a match?"
I always thought in my mind, it's not a question of real or fake. It's question of good or not good. Did you have fun? Did you get your money's worth? I always felt if you got your money's worth, f--- it. Are rock concerts real? Theater is not real. Movies aren't real. Did you get your 12, 15 bucks worth or not. I never was hung up on the real or not real sh--.
Keller: Did you find when you were breaking in that the veterans or the guys training you did instill in you more of an old school attitude than the guys today probably get in terms of "protecting" it?
Hall: Well, you know what happened was, I used to do jobs. Remember Rufus R. Jones? Rufus was in his 60s and he looked every bit of it. His finish was two freight trains and a headbutt. Two tackles and then his jumping headbutt. And he's pinning a guy who is 298, f---in' shredded. Back then, whatever, I'm not going to say nothing about - I can admit to nothing, but I was in pretty good shape. Then I'd have to go to a bar or a club or a restaurant and people would come up to you and go, "Wait a minute, that old f---in' black guy couldn't beat you." I always had to go, "You wanna try me? He's tougher than he looks. You wanna try me?" It's so immature, but that's the way the business was, and that's why I broke in. That's what we did.
Hall spricht indem Interview, ueber sein Razor Ramon Gimmick, die Clique, sein Wechsel zur WCW 1996, den Monday Night War, die NWO Era, Bobby Heenan und vieles vieles mehr. Hier der Auszug aus dem Interview mit Hall.
Keller: Your Internet biography says you were discovered in a grocery store in late 1984 by Barry Windham. Is that true?
Hall: That's true. I was training with Hiro Matsuda. You know what he used to be, bro? I moved to Tampa. I've never had a real job, bro. I used to tend bar in a strip club. It was the hottest bar in Orlando - the Doll House at the time. I worked three nights a week there and the rest of the time I lifted weights and laid in the sun. I'm 22, 23. I know that the wrestling office is in Tampa. I save up a little money. A couple of my buddies give a hundred backs. I move to Tampa. I don't know a soul. I get an apartment and I join every gym in town. So finally I go to Athlete's Fitness Center. I ran into Kevin Sullivan. One time I did squats with him. I'm hanging around and trying to get in. But see I'm not going to guys, going, "Hey man, how do I get into wrestling? How do I get into wrestling? Because I know they don't want to hear that. So one day in the end, me and Barry are in Publix and we're both looking at steaks. We're picking out steaks. We're standing look at steaks and I say, "Excuse me, you're Barry Windham, right?" He says, "Yeah, how you doin'." Because Barry's cool as f---. I said, "Hey, I'm Scott Hall. How ya' doing, man?" He says, "Hey." I said, "I know the last thing you wanna be is bothered when you're out on your own time, but I'm really trying to break into your business." He said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm working out with Hiro Matsuda." He said, "F--- Hiro Matsuda." He's going to have you doing Hindu Squats around the building. Meet me at the Sportatorium tomorrow, one o'clock. I showed up at noon. Cause I know Barry Windham ain't gonna show up. That's Barry Windham. You know who showed up? Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo. You know what they did, too? They didn't bump me. They bumped each other. They said, "Look, pick him up, slam him like this. Boom boom boom." Then they had me slam them. I didn't get bumps, I gave bumps. Then they had to go to a town and wrestle. Barry was really good to me That's why I was so happy when I had a little bit of stroke with that NWO gimmick to get Barry on the payroll. I did it with (Larry) Zbyszko, too. When I was in the AWA and I was a jobrone, Larry Zbyszko really took care of me one night in Winnipeg. So during commercials when he was a broadcaster during Raw commercial breaks, I used to shoot angles with Zbyszko. I'd toothpick him. I'd just motion at him. (Eric) Bischoff would be standing there. I'd say, look at the man, he's a star, he's money. He got two or three pay-per-views out of it. He wrestled Eric at Starrcade. He did a thing with Dusty where we turned Dusty NWO. Remember when Louie Spicolli was my young boy, man? I mean, when I look back - Kid (Sean Waltman) was just at my house this weekend. We went through all of these old tapes. I have this old tape library that I've never really watched. We went through all of this stuff, man. It was kinda fun. It got a little fire under my rear end.
Keller: I'm glad you watched that old stuff because it'll help when we talk about it as you go along.
Hall: Well, go on, man. Time for you to ask questions.
Keller: I don't have to talk much, but I'll try to lead the way here. Talk about being a fan growing up and what some of the things were about wrestling that did catch your eye in particular. What attracted you to wrestling?
Hall: My dad was a career army soldier, so we lived in Ft. Rucker, Alabama. So my dad took me. I was eight years old on my birthday. My dad took me and my buddies to a wrestling match, and the main event was a hair match. At eight years old, all my friends would say, It's fake, it's fake, but I don't think it is. I remember I ran down to the ring and grabbed a piece of the guys hair and it still had a piece of scalp on it. I still have the folder and the hair and everything. I remember asking my friends, "Would you let somebody shave your hair, man? Would you let somebody do that to you?" Of course, you all know now, yeah, you get the money right, you shave my hair ***** , I don't care. But back then, I was eight years old. Next month, I'm going to be 48. So that was a long time ago. Times have changed.
I moved to Florida when I was, like, 17. I got into weight lifting, laying in the sun. I always wanted a job that was cool. I was never a very good student. I was a wrestling fan, so what do you do when you wanna wrestle? I just talked to Kid and he told me there's this one kid, Johnny Storm. Kid told me this the other day. He used to be the hugest Razor fan - a huge Razor mark. He would come to town, so I could send him on errands. Go get me a sandwich and silly stuff like that. I know his parents and everything. Kid told me he's the hottest thing in Europe now. That makes me feel kinda good. Because you know what, we smartened him up. We did not kayfabe this kid at all. We told him this is the way it goes, this is where you are. F--- that, don't do that, act like this, do this, do that. We gave him the edited version of being a star. I think so many old timers when I broke in were so selfish because, you gotta remember, that was before the time of guaranteed money. So everybody was real competitive. You know, when I worked for Vince, it wasn't guaranteed money. I was the first guy that Vince ever offered guaranteed money to. A lot of people don't know that. I was the very first guy, and I turned him down.
Keller: Was that when you gave him notice and he tried to keep you?
Hall: I gave him notice. He wanted me to stay there. He offered me a check for 75 grand; I didn't even look at it. I said, "I'm figuring that's what you owe me for now, and now let's talk.
Keller: We'll get into that in detail as we march through your career, because that was obviously a huge moment in the industry's history. When you were getting into heavy training to be a wrestler, did you gain more respect for it? Did you have some preconceived notions that were shattered?
Hall: Well, I came into it like every other big musclehead comes into it. F---, I'm bigger than you. You have to remember, bro, I broke in in the late-'80s when we still sold out business as being real. Know what I mean? The die-hard fans kinda knew it was fake. You know one thing people always say to me, Wade? It never varies. They go, "How much of that sh-- is fake?" I go, "All of it." They go, "Well, I don't know. What about when that guy hit you with a chair? What about when he hit you with a ladder? Don't you hurt? I go, "Yeah, it hurts, man. It hurts like f---, but you gotta understand, in my concept it's fake because it's in the script; I know it's coming. To me, it's either all fake or it's no fake. How can it be partially real? The director says, "Okay, at this point, you get hit with the chair, you get some juice, you do this and you do that." Sometimes the people go, "Is that sh-- fake? I go, "Have you ever seen it? Have you ever seen a match?"
I always thought in my mind, it's not a question of real or fake. It's question of good or not good. Did you have fun? Did you get your money's worth? I always felt if you got your money's worth, f--- it. Are rock concerts real? Theater is not real. Movies aren't real. Did you get your 12, 15 bucks worth or not. I never was hung up on the real or not real sh--.
Keller: Did you find when you were breaking in that the veterans or the guys training you did instill in you more of an old school attitude than the guys today probably get in terms of "protecting" it?
Hall: Well, you know what happened was, I used to do jobs. Remember Rufus R. Jones? Rufus was in his 60s and he looked every bit of it. His finish was two freight trains and a headbutt. Two tackles and then his jumping headbutt. And he's pinning a guy who is 298, f---in' shredded. Back then, whatever, I'm not going to say nothing about - I can admit to nothing, but I was in pretty good shape. Then I'd have to go to a bar or a club or a restaurant and people would come up to you and go, "Wait a minute, that old f---in' black guy couldn't beat you." I always had to go, "You wanna try me? He's tougher than he looks. You wanna try me?" It's so immature, but that's the way the business was, and that's why I broke in. That's what we did.