06.12.2006, 16:48
Keller: What did you think of the time where they had you coming out to the ring with drinks in your hand, acting drunk and stumbling, really making a public spectacle out of issues you were really going through?
Hall: It was no secret to anybody who knew me that I was battling my demons - and I still continue to to this day. I remember when (Eric) Bischoff said that's what he wanted to do. I remember looking at Eric and at that time, we had already built up a pretty good rapport. The sh-- was hot, we were the sh--. They were used to wrestling in front of half-empty arenas and every place we went was sold out. So I remember telling Eric, "I'll do whatever you want because you're the boss and I love getting them fat checks. I think it's in poor taste." So they had me doin' it. I us;ed to mix Gatorade and other sh-- and put an umbrella in it. I never drank before I went to the ring ever. After the show, I was drinkin' like a son of a gun and anybody who knows me knows that ain't no secret. But we did it and we did it with some success. I've actually had people tell me that they were kind of impressed with my acting ability because it takes a little bit of skill to act f---ed up because you can't f---ed up and still perform. Somebody told me they were impressed with how I acted like I was hammered.
It actually came down when I was still seeing Emily and her uncle, Brad Siegel, was the president of TNT. It came down through the chain of command and Eric told me, "You're not doing the drunk think anymore." Because Siegel heard from his supervisors - maybe (Ted) Turner, I don't know who the heck he heard it from - but somebody said this is ridiculous. You're mocking a serious disease. There are people who struggle with this as a disease and you're making light of it. So, they just all of sudden, I went from being hammered all the time to bang, I wasn't drinking anymore. Not on camera. I wasn't drunk on screen anymore. That was the way that went. I was against it. I felt that it was personal to me. I am struggling with it. I didn't want to broadcast it.
Keller: What do you think was the motivation for having you do it? Did they think it would make good TV? Was it mean-spirited? Was it meant to embarrass you?
Hall: I would never say that Eric ever did anything mean-spirited to me. Eric, in my opinion, always wanted to do things a little bit shoot because he's an Internet guy, a dirt sheet guy, he likes that kind of stuff. So to me, Eric would say, "It's no secret that people know you've been in rehab, you've had a problem with drinkin', blah blah blah, so we're going to do this." So that, in my opinion, was the reason for it. I don't think Eric did it to embarrass me or humiliate me in any way. I think he thought in his mind shoot stuff sells. I just thought, no, Eric, it's a fake business, so no. Just send the checks. We used to laugh and say, "Send the check, monkey."
Keller: Kevin Nash talked about how WCW was like rock bands at their worst in WCW and it was one big party. How much did you enjoy that atmosphere and how much of it just kind of seemed like a storm you wanted to get out of?
Hall: What are you talking about? Wild party mode?
Keller: When I say partying, it's a euphemism for drugs, popping pills, drinking, smoking pot, doing cocaine, whatever mixtures people put together, and every Monday night was a party. How much of that was a blast and how much of it became this cauldron that you actually kind of wanted to escape from?
Hall: One thing I discovered as I grew older in the industry is that I can remember the hardcore people all hang out with the hardcore people. I can remember sitting in the corner of the bar. It'd be people like me, Kev, maybe Taker, Yoko, Davey Boy, some of the heavy duty partyers. We'd all be sitting in the corner and we didn't want no p---y, we didn't want no nothin'. We'd rather just sit there and put ourselves over. Then you'd look across the bar and all the young guys would be dancin' and laughin' and hittin' on the broads and having some drinks and sh-- like that. I'll never forget one time looking at Kev, we're all drinking shots of Jack. I go, "Kev, can you remember when it was fun?" He went, "No, I can't. I can't remember." We were just doin' it because, well, it's what we did. It's like, I don't know. The thing is, too, a lot of people want to blame it on wrestling and sh-- like that. Sometimes I think about it myself. I wonder if I pumped gas for a living, I probably would have been a womanizer and drank too much then. I don't know, cause I didn't do that. It is kind of fun, kinda cool to walk into a bar and have people put you over and everybody wants to buy you a drink and everybody's saying, "You're great! You're great! Can I have your autograph and buy you a drink." I mean, I don't know. I'm not blaming wrestling for my poor decisions, but it was a party. A never-ending party for me and the guys I hung out with.
I asked Kev yesterday when I spoke to him. I said, "Kev, can you name ten guys in the industry who didn't, like, get wasted?" He went, "Nobody that mattered." I said, "Is that just because we didn't hang out with the guys that didn't party, or was it because that's what you really think?" He goes, "That's what I really think." One thing I learned, and I told you this last time, is the best advice and the worst advice I've ever gotten in the wrestling business is Curt Hennig in 1985, he told me, "A lot of business gets done in the bars. Because, you know, wrestling's a relationship. You gotta trust the guy. If you're a babyface, you gotta make sure if you sell for this guy, is he gonna give me a good comeback or am I going to get buried? Back before the guaranteed money, everybody had to worry about looking bad because, f--- that, it hurts my money, it hurts my value, and all that kind of sh--.
Curt told me a lot of business gets done in the bars. That's when you get a few drinks in you and you break down and talk to the guy and go, "Hey, you know, when you did that one thing to me in there, why'd you do that?" "Oh really, I didn't know you didn't like that. What would you rather I do?" "Well, think about this." It sounds so immature to say this. I'm sure all my therapists and psychiatrists and AA counselors would tell me it's immature, but that's the way we did business. We sat around, we took pills, we smoked dope, we did whatever. We sat around and talked about how to rock the house the next night.
Keller: Does the business create that or does the business draw people who are predisposed to live that lifestyle in the first place?
Hall: Wow, that's like a hard question to answer. Who knows? Are people who are addictive and crave the spotlight and are they drawn to that? Or does that lifestyle bring it out in them? I can't really answer that. I think that maybe it's a little bit of both. I mean, you gotta remember, for me, all my dreams were coming true. I got to travel all around the world and get treated like a big deal. That's pretty darn fun, man. I've been Israel and had people f---in' screaming for me. One time we were staying in Israel and we were staying at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza right on the beach. There was thousands of people there and they had security there with machine guns around us. They had the area roped off so it was just the boys in one part of the bar. And all the marks were standing on the other side. And we would just point and go, "You. No no no, not you. That one." And we'd have them bring that girl over here. That kind of treatment goes to your head. It went to my head. F---, it makes you feel pretty good.
Hall: It was no secret to anybody who knew me that I was battling my demons - and I still continue to to this day. I remember when (Eric) Bischoff said that's what he wanted to do. I remember looking at Eric and at that time, we had already built up a pretty good rapport. The sh-- was hot, we were the sh--. They were used to wrestling in front of half-empty arenas and every place we went was sold out. So I remember telling Eric, "I'll do whatever you want because you're the boss and I love getting them fat checks. I think it's in poor taste." So they had me doin' it. I us;ed to mix Gatorade and other sh-- and put an umbrella in it. I never drank before I went to the ring ever. After the show, I was drinkin' like a son of a gun and anybody who knows me knows that ain't no secret. But we did it and we did it with some success. I've actually had people tell me that they were kind of impressed with my acting ability because it takes a little bit of skill to act f---ed up because you can't f---ed up and still perform. Somebody told me they were impressed with how I acted like I was hammered.
It actually came down when I was still seeing Emily and her uncle, Brad Siegel, was the president of TNT. It came down through the chain of command and Eric told me, "You're not doing the drunk think anymore." Because Siegel heard from his supervisors - maybe (Ted) Turner, I don't know who the heck he heard it from - but somebody said this is ridiculous. You're mocking a serious disease. There are people who struggle with this as a disease and you're making light of it. So, they just all of sudden, I went from being hammered all the time to bang, I wasn't drinking anymore. Not on camera. I wasn't drunk on screen anymore. That was the way that went. I was against it. I felt that it was personal to me. I am struggling with it. I didn't want to broadcast it.
Keller: What do you think was the motivation for having you do it? Did they think it would make good TV? Was it mean-spirited? Was it meant to embarrass you?
Hall: I would never say that Eric ever did anything mean-spirited to me. Eric, in my opinion, always wanted to do things a little bit shoot because he's an Internet guy, a dirt sheet guy, he likes that kind of stuff. So to me, Eric would say, "It's no secret that people know you've been in rehab, you've had a problem with drinkin', blah blah blah, so we're going to do this." So that, in my opinion, was the reason for it. I don't think Eric did it to embarrass me or humiliate me in any way. I think he thought in his mind shoot stuff sells. I just thought, no, Eric, it's a fake business, so no. Just send the checks. We used to laugh and say, "Send the check, monkey."
Keller: Kevin Nash talked about how WCW was like rock bands at their worst in WCW and it was one big party. How much did you enjoy that atmosphere and how much of it just kind of seemed like a storm you wanted to get out of?
Hall: What are you talking about? Wild party mode?
Keller: When I say partying, it's a euphemism for drugs, popping pills, drinking, smoking pot, doing cocaine, whatever mixtures people put together, and every Monday night was a party. How much of that was a blast and how much of it became this cauldron that you actually kind of wanted to escape from?
Hall: One thing I discovered as I grew older in the industry is that I can remember the hardcore people all hang out with the hardcore people. I can remember sitting in the corner of the bar. It'd be people like me, Kev, maybe Taker, Yoko, Davey Boy, some of the heavy duty partyers. We'd all be sitting in the corner and we didn't want no p---y, we didn't want no nothin'. We'd rather just sit there and put ourselves over. Then you'd look across the bar and all the young guys would be dancin' and laughin' and hittin' on the broads and having some drinks and sh-- like that. I'll never forget one time looking at Kev, we're all drinking shots of Jack. I go, "Kev, can you remember when it was fun?" He went, "No, I can't. I can't remember." We were just doin' it because, well, it's what we did. It's like, I don't know. The thing is, too, a lot of people want to blame it on wrestling and sh-- like that. Sometimes I think about it myself. I wonder if I pumped gas for a living, I probably would have been a womanizer and drank too much then. I don't know, cause I didn't do that. It is kind of fun, kinda cool to walk into a bar and have people put you over and everybody wants to buy you a drink and everybody's saying, "You're great! You're great! Can I have your autograph and buy you a drink." I mean, I don't know. I'm not blaming wrestling for my poor decisions, but it was a party. A never-ending party for me and the guys I hung out with.
I asked Kev yesterday when I spoke to him. I said, "Kev, can you name ten guys in the industry who didn't, like, get wasted?" He went, "Nobody that mattered." I said, "Is that just because we didn't hang out with the guys that didn't party, or was it because that's what you really think?" He goes, "That's what I really think." One thing I learned, and I told you this last time, is the best advice and the worst advice I've ever gotten in the wrestling business is Curt Hennig in 1985, he told me, "A lot of business gets done in the bars. Because, you know, wrestling's a relationship. You gotta trust the guy. If you're a babyface, you gotta make sure if you sell for this guy, is he gonna give me a good comeback or am I going to get buried? Back before the guaranteed money, everybody had to worry about looking bad because, f--- that, it hurts my money, it hurts my value, and all that kind of sh--.
Curt told me a lot of business gets done in the bars. That's when you get a few drinks in you and you break down and talk to the guy and go, "Hey, you know, when you did that one thing to me in there, why'd you do that?" "Oh really, I didn't know you didn't like that. What would you rather I do?" "Well, think about this." It sounds so immature to say this. I'm sure all my therapists and psychiatrists and AA counselors would tell me it's immature, but that's the way we did business. We sat around, we took pills, we smoked dope, we did whatever. We sat around and talked about how to rock the house the next night.
Keller: Does the business create that or does the business draw people who are predisposed to live that lifestyle in the first place?
Hall: Wow, that's like a hard question to answer. Who knows? Are people who are addictive and crave the spotlight and are they drawn to that? Or does that lifestyle bring it out in them? I can't really answer that. I think that maybe it's a little bit of both. I mean, you gotta remember, for me, all my dreams were coming true. I got to travel all around the world and get treated like a big deal. That's pretty darn fun, man. I've been Israel and had people f---in' screaming for me. One time we were staying in Israel and we were staying at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza right on the beach. There was thousands of people there and they had security there with machine guns around us. They had the area roped off so it was just the boys in one part of the bar. And all the marks were standing on the other side. And we would just point and go, "You. No no no, not you. That one." And we'd have them bring that girl over here. That kind of treatment goes to your head. It went to my head. F---, it makes you feel pretty good.