On the latest episode of Wrestling with History on VOC Nation, Ken Resnick talks about the period between 1983 and 1983 and goes in depth about how he came up with his interview style, not overshadowing the talent, and how he got smartened up by Hulk Hogan. Check out some of the highlights below:
On coming up with his own style:
Gene was so fantastic with his comedic timing within the body of interviews. I was just smart enough to know that there wasn’t anyway I could do that anyway near the level of greatness that Gene did. So I just kinda subconsciously said that I’m going to play this absolute legit, that it’s totally real. So even when we were doing shows together there would be a marked difference. So when Gene kinda left suddenly for the WWF (and) I was the main guy, some of the best advice I got was to just be yourself. If you try and be someone you’re not it won’t be believable.
On if he knew wrestling was a work when first entering the business:
I knew it wasn’t completely what it appeared to be. Punches were thrown, and holds that looked like they would be extremely painful there wasn’t a lot of pressure being applied. But early on I had a pretty good idea, but I didn’t realized it was quite as scripted as it was.
On Hulk Hogan smartening him up in regards to pro wrestling:
At TV, Verne had said ‘when we get back next week I’m going to take you out to the camp and just show you some different hold so you’ll understand the pressure points and things that’ll really help you in your play by play.’ Well I was a little naïve so I was like ‘OK well that makes sense.’ Gene had left so there was a time where I was doing both the interviews and the play by play, and even doing some ring announcing. So I said (OK) and that was it. So Wednesday night (Hulk Hogan calls and says) I’ll pick you up tomorrow when we go to the airport. I was thinking ‘is he trying to pull a rib and get me to miss a plane or whatever?’ Hulk says ‘listen, you know this is fake right? All Verne wants to do is take you out to that camp, stretch the hell out of you, and hurt you making you think this is believable and real.’ It was Hulk that said ‘whatever you do, don’t go out there.’ So it was actually Hulk Hogan that smartened me up.
You can listen to the entire interview below. Wrestling with History features former AWA and WWF announcer Ken Resnick and drops every Wednesday on VOC Nation. Ken looks back at the 80s and early 90s and tells stories from his time in the business.
READ MORE: Ken Resnick Talks Verne Gagne’s Mistakes, Hulk Hogan Jumping From AWA, More
