You have to make a choice, and you have to commit to a character. You're either a babyface or a character that the fans relate to, support, love and aspire to be, or you're not. And if you're not, you're a heel: you're despicable, and they need to learn to love to hate you.
— Eric Bischoff
WCW had its moment, and that's what it was: it was a moment. And we created some great stories and changed the industry to a large degree.
One of the reasons The Bullet Club is what it is, while it may be kind of a wink and a nod to the nWo, it's also young, fresh guys of a new generation.
The only reason TNA hired me was because they had no choice. Dixie Carter wanted Hulk Hogan - that was obvious - but Hulk Hogan didn't trust anybody in TNA. When I say trust, I don't mean to be devious or malicious or anything like that, but he didn't trust their judgment or their ability, nor did he trust Vince Russo in any way, shape, or form.
Here are the facts: when Eric Bischoff came to work for WCW as a 'clean up batter' on the announce team working alongside Tony Schiavone, I came with a guaranteed contract.
I never got close to the creative in AWA; not only was I not close to it, I wasn't allowed to be in a room close to it when they were talking about creative. That is how tightly held Verne Gagne believed in kayfabing people who he didn't believe needed to be in the process.
When you hang on a little too long, you disappoint your fans, and deep, deep down inside, you're disappointing yourself, and that's the part that hurts you the most.
WWE had years to develop and train their staff. WWE makes sure the production team got exactly what Vince McMahon was looking for and how he wanted it.
People always said during the Monday Night Wars that the only way we were able to compete was due to a large checkbook and deep pockets. That's not very true at all. That is a false narrative designed to shape history. WWE had significant advantages over WCW and vice versa.
Shakespeare is still Shakespeare because story rules.
You can't just run through a cookie cutter press and crank out a wrestler that looks like Bill Goldberg.
This isn't a competitive sport. Wrestling is not the NFL or the NHL. It's not really sports. It's entertainment. And in order to be entertaining, you have to create emotion. And you can't create emotion by simply having a wrestling match.
Sports entertainment in general, it's a very competitive business.
I'm not the type of person that lives in the past, quite honestly.
You could cure every disease known to man, and still, someone's going to hate you.
When I came out for the 25th anniversary of Raw, I got a great reaction, and it made me feel very good, but as amazing a moment as that was, I know, after two months, fans would want to move on.
There are very few voices that can speak with any kind of authority or credibility on what happened back during the time when WCW and WWF were going head to head, and I think the audience is interested in that period of time, clearly. And like I said, nobody could speak to it quite the way I could.
Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, myself, and even Bill Goldberg, for crying out loud, main-eventing Wrestlemania. That is WCW's legacy.
People are finally figuring it out that, at the end of the day, that WCW created some of the best talent in the history of the world. It was a great run.
Hulk will always be a part of sports entertainment/professional wrestling history, and there's nothing that's gonna change that. His relationship with the WWE, whether it's official or unofficial, is something that can't really be erased.
Professional wrestling... is no different than a Broadway play except that in a Broadway play, actors are using dialogue to tell a story and establish their characters, while in WWE, they're using a physical dialogue to tell their story and build their characters. That's a very unique art; it really is.
Bret Hart, you don't really understand the business of the Pro Wrestling business. You only understand the Bret Hart business of the Pro Wrestling business, and they are two different things.
You know that Vince Russo... when Russo and I agreed to work together, one of his big ideas was that he wanted Lance Storm to be my son.
I have a lot of respect for the folks over at WWE, and I have a ton of respect for what they've accomplished within the industry.
By the time my attempt to acquire WCW fell apart and Time Warner decided they didn't want anything remotely associated with wrestling near their networks, once that happened and really cut the cord, it was in my rear view mirror and didn't care or think about it too much.
I've always believed that the audience and the energy that the audience creates is sometimes just as important as the action inside of the ring.
A lot of respect for Ric Flair; he's just a great guy.
I think most people, most rational people, most people that I would feel comfortable sitting in a room with, understand that wrestling is scripted entertainment. But they don't want you to remind them of that.
When WCW first really began to enjoy the success that we enjoyed, it was because of the story lines that we were putting out in front of people.
The television business, by virtue of what's happened to streaming, it's really turned the traditional television business upside down.
Professional wrestling, the WWE, and being in the Hall of Fame represent such a large part of Hulk's life, as does his connection to the audience.
You're going to have haters no matter what you do.
A character like mine, there is only so much you can do from a storyline perspective. You can be that heel authority figure, which I was for a few years in WWE and WCW, and it's interesting, and it's fun, but after a while, you've kind of done everything you can do creatively.
You no longer have to have a big record label behind you and have to kowtow to the politics that enabled you to get there. You can be a phenomenal artist and put your stuff out there on YouTube and find yourself becoming a star.
The fact that we are watching a live 'Monday Night Raw' every week is due to 'Nitro.'
I really like Braun Strowman. I would turn the volume down on him just a little bit. I think he is a little bit overly animated, and he doesn't have to be. He is already a larger than life character when he wakes up and has a cup of coffee.
When I ran WCW, I obviously had a lot of control over the business, but when I was in TNA, I had no control over anything other than creative.
There's a way of getting heat that works for you, and there's a way of getting heat that works against you.
I had zero exposure to creative in WCW up until 1993, 1994. Even then, I was at a distance.
Tony Schiavone - I have always liked and respected Tony.
The reason we didn't acquire WCW is an incoming, rotating door, new head of Turner at that time, took prime time television literally out of the deal that we had already negotiated. Once that happened, there was no way to make any sense of it. It was really just a video library and some ring mats.
One of the advantages and disadvantages of WCW had to deal with was being a member of Turner Broadcasting.
Bumps often require giving yourself completely to the talent you're in the ring with, and that's what makes wrestling such a performance art that is different from every other.
It's really gratifying to see, after all these years, and I've been in the business for 30 years, and after all of these years, to see fans wearing nWo shirts and fans of WCW who still remember make me feel good.
One of the reasons wrestling works is because it allows people to suspend their disbelief. They may know it's not real, but if it's done well enough, they get sucked into it emotionally. And that's why they watch.
Florida was a hotbed of professional wrestling, one of the hottest in the country.
I don't reflect back too much on moments in my career.
To many generations of fans, Hulk Hogan really represents the beginning of what became this amazing industry that we have.
I'd like to manage someone, a young talent that maybe doesn't have the mic skills.
AOL-Time Warner didn't want a WCW property on their platforms - being TNT or TBS or anything else - in any way, shape, or form, and that was the death nail.
