13.12.2006, 16:59
Keller: How seriously do you think Vince took it over the years that taking pain pills to get up and taking sleeping pills to get to sleep, and variations of that, to stay on the schedule were a reality. Did he know that? Did it not bother him? Did he think it was healthy to take that approach?
Hall: Well, didn't I tell you my Brian Nobbs story? They did a bunch of vignettes of me. I'm in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Nobbs got fined ten thousand dollars for being dirty for smoke. It was his fourth dirty **** test. So I'm standing behind Vince. He's got his suit on with the f---in' shoulder pads in. He used to put pads in his shoulders of his suit. Nobbs is going, "What the f---! You f---in' fine me ten thousand dollars. Why can't I relax in my room, you mother f---er! How the f--- am I supposed to calm down? I'm on the road 300 days a year. What the f---? Vince went, "I guess you're just gonna have to drink more and take more pills." I was standing behind Vince and I'd just come to work for the company. I hadn't even had a match yet. All they did was shoot videos of me. I remember going, wow. Cause, see, I wasn't in that drug culture then. I wasn't a pillhead then. I wasn't a hardcore drinker then. I remember going, "Wow, this guy's the devil." Cause that impacted me. Those are exactly the words he said. It's burned into my brain. I went, wow, this mother f---er don't give a f---.
Another thing I remember, too, is I never had a straight job. I worked at strip clubs and I've been a wrestler. And there's really not that much difference between the two industries. You're a piece of meat. Vince don't give a f--. Oh, you're hurt? Take this. Another thing, too, there's a lot of pressure. You can't really blame the office. What really happened was, in the locker room, you gotta remember, if you're working an angle with the guy, his family is dependent on the income just like yours is. So if you're in a long program with some dude and your ankle's hurt or your knee's hurt or your back hurts or your neck hurts or somethin', but you're in Chicago on a sellout, it's like, f--- man, what do you mean? What they used to do was say, "Can you just go out there and do anything? Just go to the ring. Just go do anything." See, the agents would pressure you to do that, because then your pride is going to take over. So you go, well, f--- that, I'm not going to go out there and look like a f---in' goof in Chicago. But, see, what your opponent would do, or your friend, would say, "Here, take this. You won't feel a f---in' thing. Take these. Then you'd be all geeked down on those and go, f---, I've gotta catch a six a.m. flight, so (someone goes), "Here, take these, it'll make you go to sleep." Don't get me wrong. Nobody ever held me down and pushed pills in my mouth. You know, nobody ever did that to me. Nobody ever poured booze down my throat. I chose to do it. But I was also surrounded by other guys who were doing it and it was accepted. You gotta remember, too, that our bosses are former wrestlers. So when you're sitting in the lobby bar of the hotel sitting around, the agents are sitting there drinkin', hitting' on broads, too. So, it's kinda weird. It was cool and it was weird. It was such a fantasy world that I'm actually having a little trouble adjusting to the real world because I'm so used to anything goes. That's why I have conflict with the law and sh-- like that. I go, "What do you mean?" Who do I make it out to? We used to laugh sometimes. We'd be driving down the highway and we'd laugh and go, "Wait a minute officer, who do I make it out to." Like we had eight-by-tens. "Excuse me, you must not know who I am. Who do I make it out to."
Keller: Back to the Vince comment. That was quite a few years ago at the beginning of your career, and that was before guys were dying from complications that had a lot to do with pain pill addiction and probably a concoction of other things. Do you think that you probably at that point, and I'm trying to defend Vince a little bit here even though it was still a shocking thing to say and out of line pretty much indisputably, I can't imagine him saying something like that now knowing how many people have died.
Hall: It's the truth. I will stand by it. I'll stand in front of a f---in' judge and say that's what Vince said to Knobs. You can probably get Knobs to say the same thing. Now, am I saying that Vince advocates drug use and alcoholism. No. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is, what Vince was saying was, "Look, you damn fat f---. You got caught for the fourth time smoking dope. It's costing you ten thousand dollars. F---ing knock it off." So Vince's message was quit smoking dope because it's illegal. If you get caught with marijuana, it's bad for business. If you get caught with some pills, DUI, ehhh, not good for business, but DUI, not so bad. You get caught with an illegal drug, bad for business. That's all Vince cares about, is business. If I owned the company, it would probably be the same way.
Keller: It's not good for business to have your wrestlers dying frequently enough that it draws attention to itself with the mainstream media, with advertisers, and investors. That's where it does affect business, if you want to just boil it down to just business. Vince came out with a DVD last month and he talks about how all he cares about is what's good for business. He said he feels good when he fires people because the only time he fires people is when it's good for business to fire them, and my job is to run my business. But, it is bad for business to not have a healthy crew. It is bad for business to have guys dying. If you want to strip away the humanity, there is a consequence to the business when that happens.
Hall: Well, true, true. That's a statement, so it's not really a question. At the same time, I don't think you can hold Vince responsible or Eric of whoever is running the show for the way society is these days.
Hall: Well, didn't I tell you my Brian Nobbs story? They did a bunch of vignettes of me. I'm in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Nobbs got fined ten thousand dollars for being dirty for smoke. It was his fourth dirty **** test. So I'm standing behind Vince. He's got his suit on with the f---in' shoulder pads in. He used to put pads in his shoulders of his suit. Nobbs is going, "What the f---! You f---in' fine me ten thousand dollars. Why can't I relax in my room, you mother f---er! How the f--- am I supposed to calm down? I'm on the road 300 days a year. What the f---? Vince went, "I guess you're just gonna have to drink more and take more pills." I was standing behind Vince and I'd just come to work for the company. I hadn't even had a match yet. All they did was shoot videos of me. I remember going, wow. Cause, see, I wasn't in that drug culture then. I wasn't a pillhead then. I wasn't a hardcore drinker then. I remember going, "Wow, this guy's the devil." Cause that impacted me. Those are exactly the words he said. It's burned into my brain. I went, wow, this mother f---er don't give a f---.
Another thing I remember, too, is I never had a straight job. I worked at strip clubs and I've been a wrestler. And there's really not that much difference between the two industries. You're a piece of meat. Vince don't give a f--. Oh, you're hurt? Take this. Another thing, too, there's a lot of pressure. You can't really blame the office. What really happened was, in the locker room, you gotta remember, if you're working an angle with the guy, his family is dependent on the income just like yours is. So if you're in a long program with some dude and your ankle's hurt or your knee's hurt or your back hurts or your neck hurts or somethin', but you're in Chicago on a sellout, it's like, f--- man, what do you mean? What they used to do was say, "Can you just go out there and do anything? Just go to the ring. Just go do anything." See, the agents would pressure you to do that, because then your pride is going to take over. So you go, well, f--- that, I'm not going to go out there and look like a f---in' goof in Chicago. But, see, what your opponent would do, or your friend, would say, "Here, take this. You won't feel a f---in' thing. Take these. Then you'd be all geeked down on those and go, f---, I've gotta catch a six a.m. flight, so (someone goes), "Here, take these, it'll make you go to sleep." Don't get me wrong. Nobody ever held me down and pushed pills in my mouth. You know, nobody ever did that to me. Nobody ever poured booze down my throat. I chose to do it. But I was also surrounded by other guys who were doing it and it was accepted. You gotta remember, too, that our bosses are former wrestlers. So when you're sitting in the lobby bar of the hotel sitting around, the agents are sitting there drinkin', hitting' on broads, too. So, it's kinda weird. It was cool and it was weird. It was such a fantasy world that I'm actually having a little trouble adjusting to the real world because I'm so used to anything goes. That's why I have conflict with the law and sh-- like that. I go, "What do you mean?" Who do I make it out to? We used to laugh sometimes. We'd be driving down the highway and we'd laugh and go, "Wait a minute officer, who do I make it out to." Like we had eight-by-tens. "Excuse me, you must not know who I am. Who do I make it out to."
Keller: Back to the Vince comment. That was quite a few years ago at the beginning of your career, and that was before guys were dying from complications that had a lot to do with pain pill addiction and probably a concoction of other things. Do you think that you probably at that point, and I'm trying to defend Vince a little bit here even though it was still a shocking thing to say and out of line pretty much indisputably, I can't imagine him saying something like that now knowing how many people have died.
Hall: It's the truth. I will stand by it. I'll stand in front of a f---in' judge and say that's what Vince said to Knobs. You can probably get Knobs to say the same thing. Now, am I saying that Vince advocates drug use and alcoholism. No. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is, what Vince was saying was, "Look, you damn fat f---. You got caught for the fourth time smoking dope. It's costing you ten thousand dollars. F---ing knock it off." So Vince's message was quit smoking dope because it's illegal. If you get caught with marijuana, it's bad for business. If you get caught with some pills, DUI, ehhh, not good for business, but DUI, not so bad. You get caught with an illegal drug, bad for business. That's all Vince cares about, is business. If I owned the company, it would probably be the same way.
Keller: It's not good for business to have your wrestlers dying frequently enough that it draws attention to itself with the mainstream media, with advertisers, and investors. That's where it does affect business, if you want to just boil it down to just business. Vince came out with a DVD last month and he talks about how all he cares about is what's good for business. He said he feels good when he fires people because the only time he fires people is when it's good for business to fire them, and my job is to run my business. But, it is bad for business to not have a healthy crew. It is bad for business to have guys dying. If you want to strip away the humanity, there is a consequence to the business when that happens.
Hall: Well, true, true. That's a statement, so it's not really a question. At the same time, I don't think you can hold Vince responsible or Eric of whoever is running the show for the way society is these days.