Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling is joined by “The Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time”, The Honky Tonk Man. With his long sideburns and his hair slicked back, the HTM joins John and Chad for a stroll down memory lane is a fancy pink Cadillac with the Colonel in the back. In a 60+ minute interview, HTM shares classic stories and reflects on being one of the most identifiable characters of the 1980s Federation era and looks at the current state and climate of the wrestling business and in typical fashion his take is out of this world.
Below are some interview highlights with a H/T to John & Chad for the transcription.
Working on his NEW one man show, “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and Ric Flair’s recent incident at Logan Airport:
It’s fun to do and it’s kind of like what we are doing right here for the last hour and I throw in a lot of humor. I can make it PG or I can make it X-Rated (the X-Rated Show is much better) but it’s fun and it’s a lot of interaction from the fans because it’s like you guys, for every question there is a story behind that question and it makes it easy. I’ll also throw in my Ric Flair (impression) and strut across the floor, but more spastic and exaggerated than he does it and everything and maybe he must have been doing it the other morning to fall over and bust his head. But you know, they said it was his hand. I don’t know who spun that story, but it was not his hand, he cracked his skull (laughs) and apparently somebody had tweeted even before the police came and got him that he was in the bar and he was really, really hammered. But WWE is going to spin the story the way they want, they are real good spin doctors.
Typical heel psychology being a lost art in today’s wrestling:
No one knows how to be a bad guy anymore and no one knows how to be a good guy and what you have now are just stunt men. You have a five minute match of all stunts as fast as you can go, as much as you can do and try to keep the people from changing the channel on the clicker because like I said before, the TV pays a lot of money. They want ratings and if they have ratings they sell ads, ads cost more if the ratings are higher. It’s a television product now, we were a wrestling show on television. Now it’s a television show that features wrestling. I say that about this other thing that we used to have, it was a football game and it was televised and called the Super Bowl. Now it’s a big television show that features a football game where the Half Time advertisements more people know about those then who is playing in the game and it’s the same thing with wrestling. It’s a TV show called RAW now that’s what it is.
What can be done to change the direction of where they are going in the midst of lackluster ratings:
Anytime they want to do anything that gets heat or do something that is hot, who do they bring out? Mr. McMahon. Vince goes out and is the ultimate bad guy. He does the things that we did as bad guys. He says things that humiliates people and then the good guy gets revenge. For some reason they will just not turn some of these other kids loose and let them go out and be bad guys. I don’t know if it has to do with share-holders or television people. Until they get back to doing very, very personal issues with two guys you are going to see this stunt man show, that’s all you are going to see.
Should WWE have some of the older legends come in and teach psychology:
They don’t want it. If they did they would have us there. They have people training the guys down there in the training center that never worked Main Events anywhere. Nothing against the guys that are doing the training but they have guys as trainers that never was the Main Event at Madison Square Garden and sold Madison Square Garden. I sold Madison Square Garden out I think eight times, which is nothing because Bruno sold it out every month for ten years. When you think about you are on a Main Event and you are selling out all these buildings across the country and the guys training people now, well I don’t know I guess you don’t have to be a great player to be a great coach.
I could promise you though, Vince knows what he has to do to get a heel hot, he knows what he has to do to make an angle hot, and believe me he knows that. You just don’t forget someday how the business is designed. It’s good vs. evil and you can’t reinvent it. I don’t care, you just can’t do it.
Does he watch currently watch WWE:
I’ll be perfectly honest with you and all the fans. I don’t watch it, I don’t even know what time it comes on here in Phoenix. The last time I saw one of the shows was when I was there three years ago in Buffalo and they pipe it into the locker room and the kids in the locker room are playing video games on their phones and they weren’t even watching. So no I don’t watch the product because I’m not involved with it. If I don’t work for the Post Office I don’t care what the Post Office does. I’m more concerned with the independent wrestling scene. I am more in touch with that and what is going on there than anywhere else.
The Hall of Fame controversy and his exclusion from the WWE Hall of Fame:
There are different variables to that. I’ve had different squabbles with the office over things and they are a little bit vindictive and they hold grudges and sometimes that plays a part in a lot of things, so who knows. I don’t sit around and wait on that particular 203 area code to pop up on my phone.
If you are sitting there waiting for that phone call you could be an old man in a wheel chair by the time that phone rings. You have to pick up the pieces and move on and let the chips fall where they may. If we can do business we can, if we can’t, we can’t. That’s just how it is. Everything is negotiable.
Honky Tonk Man also discusses his greatest feuds with such legends as Macho Man Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, Being The Greatest IC Champ of All Time, Arriving in the WWF As A Face, Working in Memphis, His Favorite Territory, Who He Could Have A Great Match With Today and so much more.
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
