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Under The Ring Extra With Hulk Hogan And Roddy Piper

Posted: Sep 19th 2012 By: CMBurnham

It?s hard to talk to both Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper and not have a few stories to tell.

The story on Hogan and Piper?s return to the area for Northeast Wrestling?s ?Wrestling Under the Stars? ran in today?s Poughkeepsie Journal, but as promised, here is a little bit more from each guy. At the end of the post, I will post the current card for Wrestling Under the Stars. Tickets are still available at northeastwrestling.com

HULK HOGAN

? One of the projects he is currently working on is something called Hogan?s Beach Shop in Clearwater, Fla. He said, living in Florida, that tourists were consistently coming by the house where his VH-1 reality show, ?Hogan Knows Best? was filmed and looking to either catch a glimpse of him or get an autograph. So he figured he?d open up a shop where fans could get some memorabilia and merchandise and where Hogan would appear himself from time to time. When we spoke, they were in the process of moving the shop downstairs (with help from old friend Jimmy Hart).

?I think the people are really going to enjoy coming into the place,? Hogan said. ?So far we haven?t opened the doors yet, but we?re getting swamped and there seems to be some general interest and right now, it?s the two slowest months of the year.?

You can check out Hogan?s Beach Shop on Facebook here.

? He said he recently came to a development deal for a reality television show with Fremantle Media, but he ?creatively can?t let anything out, but we will not be bringing cameras into the house,? but said he was excited about it.

? I asked him if there was anything he was passionate about outside the wrestling business or if there was anything about him that people don?t know. His answer?

?Pretty much meeting people,? Hogan said, ?I love talking to people. I really enjoy meeting people. Whenever people come up to me, they say, ?Oh, I am so sorry? or ?I don?t want to be a nuisance or a pain in the butt.? But if there?s anything I would like people to know, it?s that I enjoy meeting and talking to people.?

? I asked if he got to enjoy his travels around the world now that he was no longer on the hectic schedule he took part it in the 1980s.

?It?s a different type of pressure,? Hogan said. ?I?m not trying to complain, but when I was WWE Champion and running hard, I was in the flow and I didn?t realize it was hard at the time. I was so used to only sleeping a few hours, whether I was wrestling four or 10 times a week. I really didn?t realize it was anything. I was into the pressure. I was into the groove. It?s like if you were in Vietnam for 20 years, you?d be used to being in Vietnam for 20 years. I was used to the schedule and I was used to the pressure.

He said that even this appearance, which had to be pushed back a month came with a condition. He needed his left hip replaced and was not going to be able to travel because of the injury.

?I booked it to get up in the area and see all the fans and stuff and then the unexpected happens and you have a hip replacement. You can?t travel and do appearance for eight weeks after a hip replacement or jump on a plane. You can only stand on your feet for so many hours. Things have to be calculated and it changes the game a little bit. Once I do get there, I enjoy myself immensely and everything?s great.?

He said his hip was doing a lot better and he was going to go train his legs right after we got off the phone.

?I?m at the 14-week mark, so I?m pushing the envelope,? Hogan said. ?I?m acting like I?ve got the main event in Madison Square Garden coming up.?

? I asked him what advice he would give to aspiring pro wrestlers..

?First off, if you?re getting into this business or you?re trying to get in, much respect for making that decision. Anybody who really, really, really wants to win at this business, it?s a huge sacrifice and you have to choose and you have to put yourself first. Anybody that has a girlfriend or a wife or a family or has any type of commitment, such as mortgage payments or is bogged down with bills is a huge disadvantage. You want a clean slate. If you need to be in Japan a certain day, you can go to Japan. If you get booked in Mexico and need to stay there for whatever reason, you can. You need to be flexible. A lot of guys get in the business and they?re on TV for one or two days, and their girlfriend gets pregnant or whatever. Guys that get in, you need to have as much going for you as you can and you need to be as free as you can be. You could be home and then Vince McMahon could call you and you?ll be on the road for the next 15 years like John Cena. My advice for those who are looking to get in the wrestling business is have no strings attached and no baggage.?

? I asked Hogan about early influences in his career from any veterans.

?My career has really been in stages. I?d be a fool not to be honest about the guys who have helped me. I?m grateful for every step along the way. I look at is, as wrestling goes in stages or in chunks. When I first started, it was Hiro Matsuda, Jack and Jerry Brisco and Pat Patterson. All those guys were wrestling in Florida. Then, I had certain stages along the way that were some small territories I went to. My next really big step was when Vince McMahon Sr. hired me. I had quit two of three times where it did really click that well, but when Vince Sr. hired me, that was a huge deal. The next chunk was when I went to Minnesota for Verne Gagne. That was huge in that it was where I really figured out how to be a good guy, really turn the heat on and was really making the crowds go crazy.I?d be lying if I didn?t talk about Vince McMahon Jr. hiring me back. From that point, we had the Eric Bischoff Era, where we turned the world upside down. Now I am rounding the corner to the twilight of my career in TNA, which has been around for eight or nine years trying to get this little company in the launch position. We?re trying to get it to the same place where WCW was. In WCW, we were filming at Disney, and Dixie Carter with TNA is filming at Universal. We?re going live now and we?re almost ready to shoot out of the cannon. Every week, the show is getting more consistency. We?re pushing wrestling a lot harder than just talking. All of those people I mentioned helped me and were the main important people in my career.?

? It?s Jan. 23, 1984. What was going through your mind as you were about to become WWF Champion for the first time? Obviously, you knew that Vince McMahon was going national, but take us through what your thought process was.

?It was different. I had just burned a huge bridge in Minnesota where I was on top wrestling for Verne Gagne. I made a deal with Vince McMahon to come in and wrestle The Iron Sheik. Moving forward to right until the night in the Garden, Vince wasn?t sure. I?m sure he was thinking of changing his mind and even putting the belt back on Bob Backlund until the last moment I was going into the ring. I was thinking that if things didn?t go down the way we had talked about that maybe I?d have to go and rebuild that bridge in Minnesota. But everything worked well and Vince made the right decision. It was an intense day, but in a much different way than people imagine. I wasn?t nervous, but it had more to do with what was going on behind the scenes.?

? What can people expect from your appearance and from the show on Saturday?

?The show speaks for itself. They have a ton of good talent. The wrestling matches are going to be fun to watch for me. I?ll have an autograph session that?s supposed to last two hours, but I told the promoter if it only last two hours, I?m in trouble. A lot of fans will come out and want to get autographs. I?m just going to go to the ring and probably tell the fans how much I appreciate everything they?ve done for me and let them know how I feel.?

ROWDY RODDY PIPER

On coming back to the Poughkeepsie area.

?It was the heart of the WWF. If (Mid-Hudson Civic Center), could talk, oh man. That building must be protected by God because Satan would have burned it down.?

On a potential faceoff with Hogan

??Do you think Michael (Lombardi) is trying to play sneaky sneaky and get us to face off? Neither one of us is stupid enough to take three steps forward. It will be a little tenuous. I bet those people won?t be let down a bit. I?m kind of looking forward to it. I?m usually always proud to be there, but this puts a little layer over it that raises my awareness of what?s going on.?

Other things we talked about and with Piper, it is very easy to run the gamut of topics: meeting the prime minister of Aruba, Mike Eman; visiting his original homeland of Scotland with his son Colt, whom he said is now considering a career in the wrestling business; getting the kilt and flashes from a young man in Scotland, who had a very sick father; mentoring youngsters who had bullied other children in Newfoundland, having Jerry Lawler as a guest in Piper?s Pit two days before his massive heart attack on Monday Night Raw. ?I turned on him pretty hard and then a couple of days later, had the crowd chanting his name in Newfoundland.?

He said he stopped at the place in Lewisporte, Newfoundland. He had recently gotten a letter from a pastor in the area, who remembered Adonis? passing vividly and shared his memories of that day with Piper.

?Adrian?s was the last funeral I went to and I gave the eulogy,? Piper said.