You know, Boss, we've gone over what happened on television when Terry the Hulk Boulder made it to Memphis. Yes, not so much the interpersonal dynamics of important.
Yes, that's what fucking matters.
And what interpersonal dynamic could be more important in the territory of Memphis in nineteen seventy nine than that between Jerry the King Lawler and Hulk Hogan.
That's the only that's the only dynamic, the only dynamic that.
Matters, because, like you said, the mind immediately goes to that wrestling gold match. You knew about it before we ever even launched the Lapsed fan yep, I have that tape. Have that tape and sit with you preep tape. How did it sit with you when you first watched it? That's that's a great question. Like I don't, I don't remember, you know, I just didn't. I didn't really appreciate Jerry Lawler in terms of his his legacy and in terms
of Memphis and whatever. If anything, it made me realize Jerry Lawler was old, was older than I thought he was. Perhaps sure, you know, because I don't think it really I don't think it hit me as as how kind of Yeah, that's my question for you to hit you as I just watched Hulkogan lose to Jerry Lawler. No, no, it didn't hit me like that.
It was not that I recall anyway. I think, if anything, what bothered me more was that just that Hulk Hogan lost, because even though he was a heel, I was I want him to win, right, you know? That was always a thing, no matter what Hulk Hogan was, I always wanted him to win.
And as we'll talk about, this is hardly the first time Jerry the King Lawler was in a bit of a controversy like this around framing himself in wrestling media as having picked up a victory in his territory over big time superstars who went on to greater fame and
fortune than just the Mid South Coliseum. And it's a fun little wrinkle in how the Jerry Lawler office would play games in a nineteen seventies pro wrestling territorial scene that man, are we stewing in as part of the complete hul Cogan here on the rast Fan Wrestling podcast and Oh Yes, Hull Cogan and Eddie Boulder's journey to Memphis in the summer of seventy nine remains our focus with a bit of a stretch goal here on what I think will probably be our final episode on Hogan's
Memphis Run, because it's very awkward. You have these months in seventy nine. As we talked about last time. May seventy nine, he comes up from Alabama to do a couple shots teaming with Jerry Lawler, Joles Yes, and Ed Boulder, and then kind of skirts back to Alabama, does all the stuff we talked about in prior episodes, including the Harley Race match, and then ends up back in Memphis on a bit of a full time commitment teaming with
Ed Boulder. Is the Boulder Brothers on television, feuding with the likes of Ron Bass, Pete Austin and others that we've talked about, and then eventually kind of peeling off and challenging guys like Bass for Singles Championship while Ed Boulder as a single fell further down the card. That should be the sum and substance of his Memphis run. There shouldn't be much more to say, because after this he goes to TBS Georgia Championship. He goes to WWF in New York, he's in New York for all of
nineteen eighty. He starts in Japan in nineteen eighty where as we're going to talk about, you better believe, as we're going to talk about, his stardom reaches a whole new dimension and his appeal becomes completely undeniable to anyone
with a pulse paying attention to the wrestling scene. And it's only after all of that hoopla, and just as he's on the doorstep of making that fateful jump to vere Gania to become an explosively popular babyface, that he has this one match in February of nineteen eighty one against Jerry Lawler in the Mid South Colosseum. He comes back to Memphis really for just that match. They do rematch each other in nineteen eighty one, but it's not
in Memphis. It's at the Bayfront Center in Florida. Oh wow, But it's so hard to who what what promotion was that that was Chimp to Prestling from Florida. That was kind of like an Eddie Graham co. Promotion if you will see. They kind of carried the feud because Lawler would make appearances in Florida as well on a regular basis while being you know, obviously homesteaded and having a percentage of the office in Memphis. He did get around a little, right, Oh, we know that in more ways
than perhaps you're thinking. So it's so hard because you want to put a bow in Hulk Memphis. You want to put a bow on it, you want to put a pin in it as seventy nine. But there's this eighty one and goddamn it, it's it's the most famous thing he did in Memphis. It's the thing everybody thinks about. Yeah, because match and the tape, and that's tape.
I imagine if that tape didn't exist, no one would give no one even fucking think about it.
So our mission here as we finish walking in Memphis with the Hulkster, is to explain that, explain how it very much fit a pattern of how Jerry Lawler was conducting himself in the wrestling industry as not only a top headliner in the Memphis territory, but an executive and someone you know, subject to n WA politics but not necessarily beholden to them like so many other promoters seem
to be. How that fit the pattern and how basically, you know, much like Dusty Rhodes, Hulk borrowed and learned from the top baby face, like Jerry Lawler all the tricks of the trade of getting the people behind you, and then just left the territory and was off to the races to put those wears to use in different regions and under brighter spotlights. So it's time to uh, not only cap off what Hogan in Memphis was, but what it meant for where it is he's he's going.
And so we need to be lathered right at mean memorial. If we're going to go down a road like this, we need to be satiated. We need to be sated. Our thirst needs to be quenched. Yes, we talked a long journey ahead of us. We talk a lot about quenching thirst, don't you talk about the hunger? But the thirst also.
Oh, there's all ways a brutal thirst.
Brutal thirst when you're engaging in a journey like ours. I mean you don't go, uh, you don't go meandering out in the desert for three weeks without proper supplies, Okay, because you'll like go end of Blake Evandanner Okay, and uh, what we like to pack what we like to have in our corner is garage Beer. Fuck yes, completely, a real American story, brought to you by this real American brew.
Garage Beer supporters of the journey, supporters of the show, and my god, it's the fastest growing beer brand in the United States of America, folks. Crisp Crushable brewed for good times, garage Beer, no nonsense, four percent abv logger, just ninety five calories, three grams of carbs. Two crowd favorite varieties, Classic and Lime. They're coming to a store and they're probably already there. Honestly, just go to drink garage Beer dot Com.
Hit there. Oh, for God's sakes, they're they're they're there. They are spreading out faster than I could fucking possibly imagine. Solutely, I'll say, I think it's safe to say that garage Mania is running wild. The garage is open, you damn fucking straight, and we're open too. We're open to any and all possibilities here on the Complete Hulk Cogen Journey.
We covered so much material last time, Like I said, the ins and outs of what was happening in the ring, a bit more of a behind the scenes treatment here, Boss I think we ought to start in the seventy nine folder there and nin can seventy nine dash nine to three, because with this marks is a bit of press coverage here in the Birmingham News that basically brings to an end the Nick Gooulis Roy Welch era of Memphis. Remember we talked about how Jerry Jarrett made a move
on them and took over. Yes, and this is sort of like the last gasp. This is like those articles back in the lamentable tragedy of World Class where all of a sudden, Fritz was selling to these like random media figures in the Dallas Fort Worth market and you realize, like, this guy, after decades of owning this part of the country from a professional wrestling perspective, is truly going to
go out with a whimper. And here the full changing of the guard and essentially the end of involvement in Memphis of the Welsh family, which, as we've come to appreciate at this point in the complete Hulkogan, is a very important one to getting Terry Bully jump started in the wrestling industry.
Yes, so it's a fact. The headline reads Gulis did sell Birmingham. Wow, what's the date again? Nineteen seventy nine? Dash oh nine, dash o three.
Oh there it is right there. It's a I'm sorry that that picture of whoever Hal Hayes's be a columnist? Yeah too much for me? Yess like Jesus Christ. How many chins has that guy got? Anyway? The divorce came suddenly, unexpectedly too. As far as any of us knew, at least, there had been no visible or audible signs of trouble, and gossip was non existent. We all thought the union was still solid. Then the news came first by whisper. When it was confirmed, the impact hit like a small bomb.
Nick Goulis had indeed divested himself of his mate of twenty five years, professional wrestling in Birmingham for one reason. I told my interests there for one reason, the veteran entrepreneur said Monday from his nation. He's a veteran entrepreneur. That's one industry, Yeah exactly from Uh said Monday from his Nashville, Tennessee home. Come September, I'll be sixty five years old, and I've been at this promotion's business. I've
been at this promotions business forty four years. Forty four years, he repeats, and I just figured it was time that I started enjoying my life. That's the only reason I sold really well. I think Hogan enjoyed life when he didn't sell you bright, because it's because he didn't sell why he enjoyed me. I gave it a lot of thought before I ever did it. I made a lot of money from my Birmingham cards. It's a great wrestling town.
But he continued deliberately. I just got tired of driving down there every Monday night, week after week for all those years. So in those two gentlemen, Curtis Mackenzie and Tonio Ladoux came to me and offered to buy me out. I said, okay, they proved themselves to me. They prove that they are committed to continuing the high grade of professional wrestling the folks down here down there used to. The two local businessmen are said to have paid well into six figures for the franchise.
Here lies just another small little puzzle piece in what used to be the vast territorial system of wrestling in the United States. Of course, the Mackenzies weren't able to do much with it. Before Vince even took over nationally. This from nineteen eighty. McKenzie is crying uncle and giving up his brief career as a wrestling promoter in Birmingham as president McKenzie Wrestling Enterprises, Inc. He his filed for bankruptcy.
Report surfaced earlier this year that McKenzie's wrestling venture was on the ropes, or nearly so, when paying customers for the Monday night matches that apparently Nick Goulis was sick of driving to right boss, yeah right at Boutwell Auditorium dropped below the break even mark. About the same time, Nick Goulis, a long time wrestling promote in the Southeast, sued McKenzie. Big thumbs up for these strong businessmen who came around, sue m.
Bout Well. By the way, the Boutwell Auditorium. That's great, that's right. How about bout poorly poor about Apparently that's what was going on. I guess so for a twenty five thousand dollars payment which Goulis claimed was overdue in one hundred thousand dollars contract. McKenzie got into the wrestling promotion business in December nineteen seventy eight after contracting with Goulis for his interest in Birmingham Wrestling. The final payment
of twenty five thousand dollars wasn't paid last January. An associate of McKenzie said it wasn't paid because Goulis had not fulfilled his promise ah Yes, to provide quality wrestlers for the Birmingham matches that payment. I don't know why he.
Had to pride the wrestlers would provide a contract back end bullshit were like, he's not the owner, but basically the owner's subcontract to him to staff the cards, which if he was doing a good enough job, the damn thing wouldn't be on the auction block anyway. But as Nickoolas said, he's selling for one reason because all of a sudden he's sick of driving to Birmingham.
Yeah, well, i'd say too, I'd say, I say one of the reasons he also, uh, I'd say the main reason, and he's probably not going to say this here, is that somebody offered him money for it. Yeah, that's the fucking main reason.
All of a sudden it's for sale when someone comes around with waving some cash. He certainly wasn't driving to the Mid South Coliseum on Monday nights anymore because Jerry Jarrett had had firmly dominated him in that arena, had fulfilled his promise to Pride Quality wrestlers. Yes, that payment with a notation that is in litigation. I don't let nobody dominate nobody on my watch. No, that's why knowing gets over. It's the largest dead listed on the McKenzie
Wresting Enterprises petition in US Bankruptcy Court. Goulis of Birmingham, Naive, whose wrestling empire is based in Nashville.
Okay.
So one little interesting factoid about this Birmingham part of the territory that Nikolas retained after Jerry Jarrett closed in on Memphis and those main areas out to Evansville, Indianna as well, is that Hulk did make his way through there. In fact, on September fourth, nineteen seventy nine, the Birmingham News ran this piece, the Hulk Captures Wrestling feature.
That's the headline. I don't even know what that fucking means.
So he wasn't competing for a championship or a belt. He was competing for a feature. What is this an audition.
Like feature? What feature? What exactly? Feature? Film? Feature?
Article and no sign of Bolet or anything like that or Boulder the Hulk, It says one Wrestling's main event at the Auditorium Monday night. When look who he's wrestling, Dennis Condrey, Oh my god of the future. Midnight Express was disqualified to Jesus Christ, I invite you to consider it, fucker, Oh, invite you to consider the Terry Boulder we've been watching in action in the Memphis Ring in seventy nine wrestling Dennis Condury.
One on one, Condrey is like just one of those. He's one of those, like just perennial, perverted looking motherfuckers. Dennis Contracy, the.
Guy who like could pass, is like having appealed to ladies in the eighties, but you look at him like forty years later and it's like this guy would not be allowed in public today. No, not at all, not at all with that chest hair showing.
Not that's the thing not allowed in public, meaning he cannot leave his house. Okay, that's exactly, that's exactly. It sounds like an appropriates to me. What a what a dirty looking man? And boss.
Take a look at the poster to the left. Mackenzie Wrestling enterprises this labor Day is super spectacular. How is he listed our front Terry Malay?
They might as well just call him Lou for Rigno for Gugno in action. What does it say is his main event? Six foot six inch and two hundred and eighty eight pound the incredible Hull versus Dennis Oh, this is actually holy shaid, this is even better versus Dennis Conrad.
Oh my god, oh fuck, some good.
Should not handle these fucking typeos is so bad. That's his name, Conrad Conrad, No Condrey, Well I never heard that fucking name before. He's coming to Conrad and miss fucking Boston. My god, he's a ship. How are you? Also? Now?
Underneath there's an ape man tag Tojo Yamamoto huge in The Great Togo Jimmy Jones, The Red Terror versus Prince Tonga, Tony Ludou and Armand Hussein who's no, No, Husien Armond Whosian who's Hussyan, Yeah, Hussian. It's supposed to be Hussein and it's supposed to be Armond. We talked about him in the in the Dallas Journey. It's one of Gary Hart's guy's tremendous.
Armand Husien Larry Bolden, Oh, Michel Larry Bolden, is that a long lost Boulder brother? I don't know about fucking cavities.
I want you to also read it was the last adviso at the bottom of the ad tell me why you put this, just in case you're wondering.
There will be an increase in ticket prices for Monday Night match. Which one.
That's the That's the title of my documentary on the history of Monday Night Raw. There will be an increase in ticket prices for Monday Night Match. I think that's better than Monday Night Raw. Monday Night Match, don't you.
What will be the Monday Night Match? I just can't.
I mean, I'm looking at this and I can't not smile. It just says the Incredible Hulk is going to be wrestling.
I mean, if they even.
Try to claim that they were like fully aware of what they were doing, oh my god, such pieces of shit and other bouts. The team of Tony LaDou, Mike Jackson, Larry Bolden and Prince Tonga defeated the combination of Tojoyamoto, Jimmy Jones, the Great Tonga and the Red Terror, and Ken Lucas beat David Kenny so yeah, Tojo and Earl Yamamoto there definitely a well known heel, one of the guys that really mentored Jerry Jarrett coming up as an inn ring worker and one of the top heels in Nashville.
The problem was in Memphis. But when Jerry went off on his own, a bunch of wrestlers stayed with Nick Gulis and Tojo Yamamoto was among them, so hear evidence of that bit of a divided loyalties. So that's kind of the the state of the territory and the last whimper. Like I said of Nicholas's involvement in and around, I mean, that's just the closing of the Birmingham leg of the territory. But they all fall in a similar way like Dominos, and I'm sure end up in some six paragraph story
about a bankruptcy filing somewhere eventually. So those are those last gasps, and Halt's life moves on from here, and we're going to talk about and set the stage for the Jerry Lawler match and take us through kind of where Lawler's mentality was as it regards Terry Boulder coming through the territory. Here's something I want you to take a look at to start with, this ran in one of the aftermags.
I believe it was.
In nineteen and seventy five. If you could describe to people, boss what it is you're looking at? Yes, nineteen seventy five.
Oh Jesus Christ. Okay, okay. So the image is of Jerry Lawler. Who I mean, you know Lawler. He looks like sometimes he looks like a high schooler from this time period. You know, he just looks like a stupid teenager.
He looks like a you know, like a twenty five year old that plays a teenager in a movie about high school, right right, exactly exactly. And he's got a side headlock on under the Giant, but he's you know, Andre's basically holding him up like Lawler's feet are not touching the ground. And the headline reads the night a quote midget unquote defeated under the Giant, and on top it reads compared to under the Giant, Jerry Lawler is visible.
Yet on one remarkable night, Lawler should showed size isn't important. When the will to win burns bright and Andre learned every wrestler, no matter what his size, must be taken seriously believe I guess he beat Under the Giant, well, just like you guess he beat Hulkogan, right, Yeah, I guess Yep. This was the first example of this kind of playbook because Lawlers were about to get into always wanted to get on the cover of the Aftermags. He always was trying to engineer circumstances.
That just makes so much sense to me.
Yes, And now do you think he did this and this kind of headline came out with the full acceptance of none all the NWA, but Vince McMahon Sr. Who basically had booking rights to Under the Giant. Did you think he took kindly to this little gamesmanship?
No, I would imagine that that Lawler did this to be a.
Bitch, to be a bit. Yes, And it's important context because not only the connective tissue between Hulk Andre of course, but it's not unlike the way that it's almost like they use this as sort of a storyline to explain the nineteen eighty one series between Lawler and Hogan. But at the same time, I think there was a bona fide real effort once Hogan hit it big to kind of revisit this put it out on video and be like, hey, you know, just so you know, Jerry Lawler beat him,
you know, back in the day. This is from Lawler's book Unbelievable. I finally did get a cover story in the magazine, but when I did, it got me into trouble with the NWA. I met Vince McMahon senior, who, by the way, was back in good graces with the NWA in the seventies. You know, you had all manner of talent from what dbiasse Flair Roads Race. So many NWA luminaries were wrestling in the garden at this point
in the seventies. I met Vince McMahon senior at a National Wrestling Alliance convention, the annual meeting of all the promoters I mentioned before. It was always in places like Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or Reno. Like most conventions, it was more or less vacation or get away for the promoters and a chance to visit with each other, take care of a little business, but mostly to get away from their wives and do a little gambling. The main and in the case of the Van Eric boys, have some prostitutes.
That's right.
The main business concern at this particular meeting was that TV stations were starting to charge rest to feed my sons younger. They went to the golden steer, all right in the past, absolutely okay, So the big controversy apparently that they were going to meet there was always like a big agenda item. This year it was TV station, you're charting to charge wrestling companies for their shows. God forbid, you know, make us pay to be on the air. That's insane. In the past, Lala.
Wright fucking wrestling where they fucking complain about every every little thing, like I.
Know, any like disruption to the way business was done forty years ago. It's like an existential threat. In the past, it had been a barber a barter wrestling promoters made the show, the station would air it. Now the stations were starting to realize that we wouldn't be in business without the show, So why not make motors pay for the airtime too. This was a major corporate problem and
to put a lot of motors out of business. But the promoter from the Northeast, Vince McMahon Sr. Had something he wanted to bring to the attention of his colleagues. This was something he thought more important than any TV contract. Vince McMahon Senior stood up at the meeting and said,
I'll tell you what a big problem with the business is. Yes, it's things like this here, and he held up boss a copy of Wrestling Superstars magazine and on the cover there was a headline the night a midget beat Andre the Giant. Yes, I was sitting in the room at the time, Lawla writes, and I kind of slunk down a little in my seat. That was because the midget the article was referring to his me. You had to
book Andrea the Giant through the Worldwide Wrestling Federation. You could call Vince Senior and ask for Andre for three days a week or whatever. It was just pretty much how Louis Tillett got him and how Hogan wrestled him in seventy nine. To get him, you'd have to guarantee Andrea a certain amount, and you had to pay the company an extra booking fee. We had Andrea wrestled me
in Memphis, Evansville, and Louisville. When we were wrestling in Louisville, there was a photographer who took pictures of the pair of us in action. They were great. The size difference looked amazing, Andrea looked colossal, and I looked like, well, a midget. Of course, I'm not a small guy, but Andre was listed to seven to four and weighed more than five hundred pounds. He was significantly bigger than Paul White the Big Show, which is saying something. I sent
Bill Apter the pictures of me and Andre. I used to send him pictures all the time to try to get in the magazine. Oh boy, so lending some credence to the idea that Bill Apter was the one that put Andy Kauffman in touch with the Memphis office, Right, yeah, always an intermediary, Bill Apter, always uh. He said the Andrea pictures were great, and he asked if I minded him calling me a midget in the story. He also said what he wanted to title the story at the time,
you couldn't beat Andre the Giant. He wanted to say that Andre had been thrown out of the ring and couldn't back in and got counted out. But the whole deal was great to me because I finally made it on the cover of the magazine. I didn't think anything more about it until Vincent J. Mcmahonsr. Held the magazine up and said, here's what's wrong with the business today, stories like this. He was angry. No one's ever beaten Andre. He's one of the biggest attractions in this business and
he needs to be part. We go out of our way to make sure none of this ever happens. And then someone sends in pictures and write stories. Can you picture Vince Senior to the New York write stories, and they're gonna write an article. Come on, we go through all this trouble to protect Andre and they're gonna write an article.
I'm gonna write. They're just gonna They're just gonna write this article. I'm just gonna print it in the in the little magazine, and they're gonna they're gonna ruin everything for everybody. Do you hear that? Do you hear the cling of the silverware? Yes? I do.
At the convention, the son of a bit, not only did someone beat Andre the Giant, Lawla writes, a midget beat Andre the Giant. At this point, mister McMahon's face was starting to turn red. He was boiling. My face was turning red as well from embarrassment. I slunk a little farther down in my chair. Terry Funk, who loved this kind of thing. Terry's there, God rub his hands together. Oh he loves the disorder. He loves you know what
I mean, the chaos. Terry Funk, who loved this kind of thing, thought it was really funny at these meetings. Terry was like the mischievous kid in school who didn't want to get called on by his tucher fucking in the back of the class. He was sitting back there looking at me, and he shouted out, well, who was the little bastard who beat Andrea the Giant fans?
Who book to whim? He shows in it because he doesn't want Lawala to get off the hook. He doesn't want just absolutely it's like generic of this midget guide. Oh, well, who was the little bastard who beat Andre the Giant fans?
Jerry Lawler, That's who it was, Vince yelt Back, son of a bit. It wasn't a secret, but Funk made sure that everyone in the room knew I was there. So I had to stand up and explain how this came about. I said, I hadn't called anybody to say I'd beaten Andre the Giant. I said, Bill After was a friend of mine, Vince McMahon said, that's what I'm talking about. These magazine writers don't check with anybody. They're right in this stuff. That's not good for the business.
These kfabe rags who agree to pretend it's not a complete fucking put on, by the way, who were fully complicit in the fraud, the consumer fraud that was professional wrestling in that era. And they they're up there hemming and han and pissing and roaning because for once they featured a match that they want to pretend didn't exist.
They wanted a memory hole. Pathetic. That was really my only dealing with Vince McMahon, Sr. Lawla, writes Bill, after had got a number of furious calls from Vince McMahon Senior over the story. Vince said the story had killed Andre the Giant's career. Did you know Boston Andre's career ended in seventy five? You know, I had a feeling, but uh I wasn't sure. I'm glad we confirmed it. You got you just ended the man's career. Come on, Lola, you know what you did. You you'd just ruined him
for everybody. No until Vince Junior that for wrestling.
You ruined him. You ruin his hulk.
He'll never draw a fucking scent again thanks to you, Lawla and your Memphis bullshit. Fucking Connie's down man, not real businessmen that jingle quarters. As they tell Billy Graham, he's got to lose the belt, even though he's drawing better than anyone ever has with the belt.
In the garden a bunch of fucking Carnie workers down there, there's pieces of shit. Fuck you all, fuck you. That's where it starts.
Yes, you fucking cunt, Fuck you like I fucked Vicky.
Ask you.
Wrestling podcast.
Dint said the story had killed on the Giant's career. I spoke with Bill and we had a bit of a disagreement about the story. We both thought the other would come up with the line that I'd beaten Andre.
Well.
Of course, Bill and I didn't call each other for a while after that. The magazine made amends with another cover of Andre, this time he was posed, and the headline was why Andre the Giant is Wrestling's only undefeated superstar. Oh my god, that's how you made amends back in the day, Boss, Yeah, right exactly. Shit, you grubble, you beg for forgiveness so that we can thank your credentials again when Vince Senior, When Vince Junior takes.
Over, he's undefeated, nobody, no fucking lawless man, fucking defeated Andre. Fuck you. What's his name? Jerry Lawless? Jerry Lawless. It's a lawless world we're in. It's true.
That's satisfied, mister McMahon. Andre the Giant was a big deal.
And I also love that he's calling Vince Senior mister McMahon. I love it too. It's so tremendous. What are you doing in there, Laura? We call my dad, miss McMahon. Why are you doing that? I'm mister McMahon. He's he's Daddy McMahon, Daddy mac macdaddy, but he's not mister McMahon. That's right. I will kill you. Yeah, it's already too late.
But Under the Giant was a big deal in a huge drawing card all around. We used to have him for a week at a time, and he'd work all our main towns, Memphis, Nashville, Evansville, Louisville. A lot of the guys have different opinions of what Andre was like. If he liked you, he was fine. If he didn't like you, he didn't mind letting you know it, and he wouldn't have anything to do with you. Plowboy Fraser told me one day, you know what labor that honor of the giant.
He don't like me.
I said, oh, Fraser, what makes you think that? And plow Boy said he told me. He said, damn it, you're a fucking asshole. I mean, I don't need. I don't need occasionally, Jerry Allah, I don't know what the problem is. I don't know why people pretending we haven't been saying for a decade that it's all about food, and when it's.
Proven, what a fucking what a fucking mammoth of a human being goes on TV and with a microphone in his fucking mouth, he says a lot.
That's just not to look ahead or anything. But here's brutus. Here's brutus. I mean, do I have to keep showing up with proof? Is that what you want receives?
No? I mean, not to look ahead.
But you know, Ron Bass, he worked all kinds of territories before he went to work for the WWF and eighty seven, and what's the one thing he said, and shoot interviews about what told him that he was now working at a first class operation when he went there, unlike any he had worked at across the country and then the world. In fact, the fact that they had steak and catering.
That's right.
It's about the food, people, It's about the food. He remembers not going out with stan Hansen, you know, and getting drunk trying to find food. He remembers trying to get noodles. He remembers exactly what he wanted in Japan, what he ate and what he put in his face. Yep, because it's about food always. It's always about what goes in your mouth gets chewed and swallowed and then shot out at the end of the day. Thank you, just
like the whoppers with Hogan exactly. Andre knew Jerry Jarrett and I own the territory lawa right, so when he came in he was basically working for us, although he wound up working with me in the matches. He was always very respectful and he would call me boss, a term he used for people he liked. He'd greet me heady balls. He was real easy going. He'd let you do anything you wanted in a match, other than beat him. Well, so that doesn't really count as anything you want, does it.
Yeah?
Right, Hulk Helgan was like that too. If he liked you, he would sell like crazy and he could make you look like a million dollars. Yeah, memo to Terry Bolea who didn't know what the fuck he was doing. And there's Andre busted open getting a table smashed on his head in Dothan.
You had his hair fucking cut off, the whole thing like just you could do. You'd do it all.
You had to work to get him off his feet. But once you did, man, it looked good. You could choke him, pull his hair, punch kick everything. He would stay down and sell until it was time for the big comeback. So again, just a little bit of a little bit of a glimpse into kind of the opportunistic mindset of this territory that Terry Boulder.
Was making his way.
Waller, Yes, well that's exactly fucking Lawler, that's exactly right. And this is Jerry Jarrett's take on the whole thing. Vinzuckman Senior had booked Andre the Giant to me for a week. This was a huge favor because they seldom sent Andre out for more than one shot at a time.
That's what I heard.
I heard you would put down seventeen eighteen shots at a time. But one of the towns we booked Andre and was Louisville, Kentucky, and that match Jerry Lawler won by disqualification. From the first time I booked Andrea, I understood that Andre could not be beaten. I mistakenly assumed that a disqualification would be okay. So here's Jerry Jarrett falling on his sword for the finish.
Yeah.
The time between an event and it being covered in a wrestling magazine was weeks, so a considerable amount of time had passed before Vince called me. He said, Jerry, I'm very upset with you. Of all people, we had a gentleman's understanding about the matches Andre was booked in. I replied that I was aware and that I could assure him that nobody had ever come close to beating Andre while he worked for me. Vince said that I should go get the latest wrestling magazines. Oh busted, Oh boy.
I then asked what was in the magazine, and Vince read me the headlines. Can you picture Vince Senior at his desk at the fucking the hotel and queens that they used to have the offices in Yep. Just pounded finger on the on the on the piece of paper on his desk. Oh God, is it to be alive back then?
I know.
I then asked what was in the magazine, and Vince read me the headlines, which meant the magazine was on his desk in front of him. This meant he was taking the magazine article seriously. Of course, I began defending myself by replying, Vince, I had no idea that disqualifications were included in the understanding. Oh that good stuff. Oh you didn't say anything about d qs, Vince, I'm so sorry.
You know.
I thought DQ's were fair game.
Meanwhile, Andrea said a lot about dq Yes he did. On top of that, I personally handled the match and I discussed the match with Andre in private. As always, Andre had no objections. In fact, Andre said he thought it would set up a good return for his next trip. Vince confirmed that he could talk to Andre, and the
Giant confirmed he discussed the match with me. Vince said that he understood and there were no hard feelings, but to not let it happen again at the NDABA meeting, Vince Senior was at the podium discussing the Louisville match in which Andre lost by disqualification to Jerry Lawler. Vince held up the magazine which ran Andre loses to midget. Vince went on to say that promoters must realize that the wrestling magazines allowed everybody in the world to know
everything that happened in any match in any town. This gets back to remember we were speculating about Ron Fuller being shy about having wrestling magazines's photograph his stuff, which is why yes, we have nothing of Terry Boulder in his earliest days. Probably it'd avoid shit like this so we could actually book heat with Andre and not go, oh yeah, fucking called out at the NBBA meeting yep by the fucking New York mafia to know everything that
happened in any match in any town. Vince then said that every promoter had an obligation to protect another promoter's talent. Everybody in the room was wondering who allowed a midget to beat Andre. I sat frozen, hoping that nobody had seen the magazine. Suddenly, a voice from the back of the room said loudly, fiance who was the little bastard. The room broke out and laughter until everyone was that.
I don't mind telling you, I went ahead and looked it up for you. I took a phone myself. I hope you don't mind. I took it upon myself. It was, you know, wonderful, and here it is. I want to hear.
It was that son of a bit lawler, that a sucking doll, that child molester.
I saw.
I saw him sucking balls backstage one time, and Mary was sucking off under the giant.
You had to know the laps trunk was going to find its way through the surface somewhere on that complete on that complete listen.
As we said before, it's a tale of two terries. I do have to give.
Props to whoever on Patreon entitled this leg of the Journey walking in Memphis. When Terry met Jerry, Oh fuck tremendous fence.
Who was the little bastard?
The room broke out and laughter until everyone realized Vince Senior did not think it was funny. The laughter stopped as abruptly.
As I mean, you know, it makes you think, actually, it makes you think of It makes me think of that scene in Jaws. You know, they get that town meeting, they need a bigger boat. No, no, not the bigger boat. But when somebody says the somebody says, well, the first thing I want to know, You know when when the kittener, you know, the mom who lost the kid in the in that scene, and the guy says, well, I want to know is that money going to be in cash
a check? And then everyone's laughing. But there's the there's the one woman who says, I don't find that funny. I don't find that funny at all. That's Vince, that's Vince Seniors. Yeah, I don't find that funny. I don't find that funny at all.
So if you need to picture it in your mind's eye, get your copy of Jaws out damn straight. So that's let's put it that this way, boss. That's some of the gamesmanship that Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett too were willing to engage in back then. Totally fine. Ask for forgiveness, not permission, right, That's that's the name of the game.
So that is the pattern of behavior that huh yes, our subject, Hulk Hogan Terry Bullet is walking into and just to revisit and sort of reset what it was like in those earliest days of figuring out how Hulk and Ed were going to make their way to Memphis and the interaction with Jerry Lawler. We're going to reset here, boss, if you can convey to the solar system from the Hulkster second book, kind of how it all worked out to get to get those two up there.
Yes, indeed, Yeah, So Brutus and I drove up to Memphis for this one night to Russell as the Boulder Brothers, and we put on a hell of a show. I know because Jared and Lawler pulled me aside immediately after the match and said, Terry, you know we want you to come work here. The offer game at the perfect moment because just as we were rolling into Memphis, the motor Bleue and that gold van. It's about the car,
that's right, exactly right. Not only was that van our home, but it was also the only transportation we had to get to wrestling gigs. Now, no one flew in those days. No one knew what an airplane was, no one, and the matches were all over the place. You in the Memphis territory. You know, it would be a two hundred mile drop the Nashville one night, then two hundred and fifty miles, so two Polo of Mississippi the next followed, but followed, but followed by Evansville, Indiana, nine hours away.
You know, the venues were never lined up in a row, uh to make it easy, and nobody planned like that, so you were literally all over the map. Imagine if the van had broken down while we were broke and living in the beat at the beach, what we had done. Oh, I don't know, sell steroids. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, got a job maybe? Yeah, I know.
These guys are like, if they can't find a way to get checks for being ripped, they are fucked right.
Exactly as soon as we rolled into Memphis, Jared took me straight out and bought me a big Lincoln Continental as well as eight whoppers. I'll pay you. I'd pay him back for it, but he was more than happy to front me the money. He treated me like one of his own right away. And since he was paying me eight hundred dollars a week, you know I didn't need a fan of sleeping anymore.
Brother.
I only didn't know he had, because that's not really like, that's not really an emphatic line that calls for that, you know that little extra garnish.
Uh fucking Terrence?
Now what did he what was he sure to say? What did we just say last time on the complete that he's always keeping a ledger of who he does and doesn't.
Owe money too? Yes?
Yes, yes, or to know by the time his second book came out, Jerry Lawler, as we'll talk about and others, have told the story over and over again about how they fronted Terry Bulay the money to buy that greenling in Continental and that they never saw the money back. That's right, and what does Terry make sure to squeeze in somehow into his book? Read the line again?
What the fun was right there? I'd pay him, I'd pay him back for it, but he was more than happy to fraught me the money. Dude, I'd pay him back for it before him Go ahead and assume I did not. That's a postures, right, I just think I had I did, and flying I did pay him back. I mean that's that those are his books, just a complete comprehensive So yeah, it really doesn't necessarily mean that he did. It also mean, I would you know i'd pay him back for Yeah, that's yep, yep, that's that's
that's very Terry right there. It's like a full compendium of him answering every little, single, little thing and one said about him since the last time he wrote a book in a way where he can also kind of pretend that he's above it all and didn't hear any of that shit. But that's not how he operates.
He gets calls three times a day about what people said about him in the last twelve hours, you know. But here's Lawler's take from his book in terms of first laying eyes on the guy he would help front money to buy that green Lincoln Continental for as soon as we saw Terry Boulder, who had become Hollywood Holk Cogan, we knew right away he had tremendous potential. Wait wait
he called him Hollywood Hulk Cogan. Yeah, because by the time Terry Lawler's book came out, Hulk was back in ww's Hollywood hold Cogan.
Oh, for God's sakes, we knew right away.
So annoying, I know, I know, it's annoying that, like, we can't just buy for Kate the Hollywood era to just w CW Right.
Right, we have to kind of or that we have to even like include it in general, Like why can we just fucking call it, call him Hulk Hogan doesn't need to be Hollywood Hogan. Ever, that's not what we're going it has right now, pal oh, you know where it's all about branding, brand brand integration, brand design, not in tradition of the brand design. You know.
It's like we have a we have a prerogative right now, a branding prerogative that trump's all from a house style perspective.
We believe in the brandalization of certain uh you know, certain properties.
Right, you know, as if I'm gonna go along and be like, I know what you mean, you know certain properties?
Yes, thank you.
He's talking about a book. When he says that, by the way, you.
Can't just say he also said brandalization.
By the way, Yeah, I love how it gave him a pass on that this goes in one air at the other.
But this is Lawler's story.
This is not uh, this is very much in contrast to Jimmy Hart's story that we conveyed last time on the Complete Hope. Oh boy, yes, it was immediately we're according to Jimmy Hart. Jerry Lawder was immediately dismissive of Hulk Cocain's future in the business and just thought he, of course he was had no star power. As soon as we saw Terry Bolea, a boulder who had become Hollywood Houlkogan, we knew right away he had tremendous potential. He had a great look with the blonde hair. We
made the first video of the Hulk. Michael Saint John was the voice. It started at his feet and we went up his body, legs like tree trunks. He'd wrestled as the Super Destroyer in Florida and then he came to Memphis. See everyone skips Alabama, man, yep, they do. It does not exist. And being involved from the promotional side like he was, There's no way Jerry Lawler didn't know that this guy was working in Alabama before he came to him. There's no way that he was blind
to that fact. You brother, what, I'm Alabama right, such a memory hole. The Bama thing is so weird. It is weird because everyone's story that you read as we go, every single person sticks to the program of pretending Alabama basically didn't happen. Or if you acknowledge it, you certainly don't acknowledge that he wrestled Andrea and Hardy race there or that he basically discovered what was money about him in his first three months in the business. In the territory.
The problem was, Lala rights. He brought this other guy with him called Dizzy. They didn't call him or Dizzy at all. I mean they did later, but we just watched the Lynce Russell introduction of the guy. It's Ed Boulder, super di is super Diz?
What is the is? That's the question.
Well, my brother was supposedly his brother. He was really brutish, beefcake or read Leslie, whichever you prefer. He was awful at the time, Lala writes, at the time, yes, come on, rep getting it.
Jerry Jarrett he's talking about. Couldn't stand him. He was so bad.
Terry had no money. Jerry Jarrett and I co signed on a car for him. He'd been there a few months and he left mainly because we wouldn't use the other guy. He went to Vince Senior, who wouldn't use the other guy either, so that doesn't make any sense, and worked with Andre the Giant as a heel. It was then that he became the Hulk, and the rest is Hulkamanium.
Wait when did he become a Hulk when.
He went to uh, you were calling him, okay, the Hulk the whole time?
All right, all right, I mean it's fine. Maybe maybe maybe just the Hulk can use didn't understand that the incredible Hulk is a different thing. I think we're all just confused. Is really what it exactly? That's exactly what it is. It's our fault.
It was then that he became the Hulk, and the rest is hul Comania. Come to think of it, I don't know if Hogan ever paid us back for the car, I'd pay him back. Dude. What does Brutus have to say about automobile relating parts of this God the journey? This is Oh my god, I'm speaking to Hannibal not too long ago about you know, living in the van in Pensacola and food sure and food sure food food is important and eating in the van. Guess where they do?
You know, without the van raft mac and cheese at Hulks driving only can Continental. They don't have the van anymore to live in. Where do you think they ended up living. You you take your bets, put your put your steaks on the table, and we're about to find out just steaks and potatoes on the table.
Time.
Pitts Cold. We had a van custom man and we picked up from the bar on our Florida. It was a nice custom man. And basically that's where we lived in Pitt's Cold.
We lived in our van, basically made enough money, moved to buy gas and eat.
And buddy, let me tell you, we ate a lot. Five pounds, you know, we were.
Both of us were venge in excess of four fifty squat and five hundred.
We took two and a quarter military presses.
Seated pretty strong couple of young lads there, and we you know, we ate a lot.
And we went.
To Memphis for they did Jarrett's for Jerry Jarrett.
And then that's that's when they began to uh start calling Terry at Hull. You know, they did shark this little thank God, a little thanks we started Steve. You know, it's tan giant tearing the whole stuff in. Uh.
I think we lived in Nashville. No, No, we didn't live in the guys lived in Nashville. We lived in Memphis. And because I remember we were not far from where Elvis, the Elvis estate was.
We lived in a days in and I'm just a hotel and maysically with two beds in it.
And that's that's where we lived. And that was our that was our house at that time.
So can you picture Terry and Ed Boulder living in a days in in Memphis?
Yes, you kind of can get you I mean yeah, I mean can you imagine the two of them, like just imagine, you know, thinking about it like this. You know, Brutus wakes up one morning in a day's in and he sees what fucking you know Joan Severn saw and U no holes barred, all right, that's what she would witness.
I mean the Continental Breakfast, you know, the oldis punk Meyer Pastry.
Like can you just imagine these two buffoons, like like you know, Hogan in some kind of like tight tight white white wife beater, you know, Brutus wearing a fucking and with his stupid feathered seventies hair, you know, and he's he's probably walking down with I imagine I don't know why, but I imagine brute off, brud of brute off. I don't want brutal fucking what the fuck that is? But brutus is is is uh got like a like a white denim shirt, but it's the sleeves are cut off.
I don't know why, but that's what I picture. I bet you're him wearing that Hogan wearing wearing wearing the white wife beater and it's a fucking devouring like pastries. Assorted pastries. Yeah, yeah, assorted pastries.
The key and peel sketch for the guy like digs into the breakfast in a hotel. And I can't with them in a day's in.
I can't. I'm in a van.
I can't do this buddy cop movie, this Beavis and butt Head and stuff. I just can't get enough of picturing these two just staying ripped, staying roided, staying like loaded, and just living like like homeless people, like people who just got out of rehab.
Two real life balloons is what they are, okay, And they're floating towards the sky. Their balloon animals is what they are. No, they are human balloon animals, That's exactly what they are.
They are.
They're floating as if pushed across the ocean surface, across Memphis and the Pensacola and Dothan, and this is just too.
Much for me. Man oh Geez is correct.
And savor it because it short lived. While they remained kind of close locked at the hip for years in wrestling as friends and went to WWF together and all of that, it really would be quite a while as far as I can tell from where we stand now in the research, that they would really run together again. You know, this is like, these are the foundational moments
why these two are always associated together. But very soon Terry's going to really break out on his own, and ed would go and wrestle in a ton of territories and achieve a fair degree of success on his own, not as the brother of Hulk Cogan, or at least not wrestling as the brother of Terry Boulder for the territory right, he would go elsewhere Texas and others. There's clips of like Eddie Boulder being referred to on television as the brother of the big wrestler you know of
as Hulk Hogan. But Hulk Hogan isn't in the same territory. Ed Boulder isn't at the same time, yet they're still making reference to him to kind of boost the stature of Ed Boulder, and that fork in the road is coming right very soon, pretty much right after Memphis. So we need to enjoy it while we can. We need to enjoy him saying things like this while we can. I don't doubt it. I mean, he got into detail about what they ate in Alabama with the wild Samoans
at the fucking the all you could Eat. So let's turn to his book again, Bruce Beefcake's book with Kenny cass Nova high recommendation. Here were the beneficiaries of him getting into all these colorful stories from his earliest days running the roads with Terry Boulder. So Boss, please get us oriented in terms of what Brutus wants us to know about living in Memphis and riding and mephis Oh God Almighty.
All right, here we go. From July to September of nineteen seventy nine, I wrestled in the famous Memphis territory. The Bolder Brothers were not signed to any type of contract with a non competitive clause you might see today. Back then, guys move pretty freely from territory to territory. Keeping faces fresh was all part of the business. So we took a match wrestling. We took a match wrestling a one off show for Continental Wrestling Association CWA in
Memphis for Jerry Jarrett. Memphis was a huge wrestling town and the fans had done their homework. They all knew who we were, and we got a huge response from the What do they do for homework? Just fucking watch television?
How would they do any homework on these guys? That makes no sense at all. I mean, first of all, he hadn't wrestled with Terry. I think we've established this in Southeastern at all. It was only available at a handful of television markets. What Hulk was doing down in Alabama. There might be some parts of the Memphis Nashville territory that overlapped with where Ron Fuller's television reached, but not much.
It's very, very, very bizarre. Do their homework, motherfuckers? We all knw who we were. We got a huge response from the crowd. This promotion was a major NWA territory during the nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties that operated out of Tennessee and Kentucky. Working for them and getting a great response was huge for us. The promoter was impressed. He approached us after our last night and offered us a job in Memphis for eight hundred dollars a week.
We didn't even need to talk about it. The offer was far more than the one hundred and seventy five dollars a week that we were making for to Let and the Fullers. We could quickly accepted the offer and left Pensacola. Things changed immediately. We could now actually afford
to stay in hotel rooms. When we got to Memphis, the first thing we did was sell the Anchor van and buy a new buy a new long Green Hey, he mean, Jean's happy with long Green Lincoln in anticipation for the of the extra money we would be earning.
A mention of the money being fronted, not at all. And by the way, the mention of the apartment that Charlie play said they lived in Pensacola, not the van. Now we can afford a hotel. So you were renting a place, dude? What don't you want us to know about that place? What don't you want us to know about? What was happening in that place? What was moving through that place? What are you hiding? Brutus?
Nothing?
Come on? Stop? Is the is the tap stop, m no, listen, no problems. I'm glad you agreed. Questions. I'm glad you agreed. No problems at all. Look listen, if anything we've established wrestling, you know, wrestlers are just they they Yeah, they displayed just normal proper behavior.
Tell you for guys who lived in a van, they certainly uh had a mailing address that was well known in Cocoa Beach. Mohamma, mama knew exactly how to uh and that and that. Ain't that a nice way around?
Uh?
And I'm going away afield here. This is just me having funds. Isn't me trying to indicate that I know something? But isn't it a great way to get around allegations that you were pushing shit through the mail if you don't even have a mailing address?
Uh?
Yeah, I'm saying, just saying. I mean, it's all.
Lived, no wonder. They always lived in hotels and shit, exactly, they don't have homes. For this reason, it was a would be earning. We would travel around it for several more years to go. It was a status symbol. After a month or so, waiting to officially debut us to the roster as full time members in the locker room. They decided to start me out first. I was still pretty green, but found myself in a high profile match at the mid South Colisseum. I walked out and couldn't
believe my eyes. I was in a Memphis ring. It was the biggest match for me, exposure wise, that I had seen to date. The Memphis shows aired everywhere, they got massive press, and they were in the NWA. They put me in the ring as Eddie Boulder in a tag team bout, but not with my brother Terry. No, not yet. I was tagging with another guy named Dallas Montgomery. My first appearance on the Championship Wrestling show was against Ron Bass with his lackey Pete Austin and with their
manager Danny Davis. The idea is that I would be the catalyst to start a feud with Ron and Terry. Immediately, Bass started targeting me. When I turned my back, he attacked me before the bell. Referee Jerry Calhoun started the bout, but the fans knew it was too late for me. I didn't know how to quote get color yet, but it was going to happen. Some wrestlers back then taped a small blade to the side of their finger and
with a protective flap over it. When the right moment came, they would flip it back and cut a small incision in their hairline before the match. Again normal behavior. Before the match, they would take a bunch of asperin to thin their blood and get their heart pumping. This would make a guy. I can't it's just the amount of like the way you how out of the way you go to make yourself bleed better.
So that everyone in the crowd can say it's a blood capsule or catch it.
Right right exactly. This would make a guy bleed like a stuck pig. Other guys didn't like to didn't like to tape the blade to their fingers. They would hide it. They would either hide the blade under the ring someplace, or have the referee pass it off to them at an opportune moment during the match. Getting color was really an art for him, and one I hadn't yet mastered. So Ron said he would help me out. The big cowboy Ron Bass jumped me from behind and started stopping
a Texas mud hole in my bag. What time is it? I was green, and honestly I was scared to death. Here comes kids, he said. He nicked me a little high on my forehead, and I barely felt anything. I thought it was gonna hurt far worse than it did, but it was a little bit of nothing. How trumendous is that? Here it comes, kid, Yep, here comes kid. Let's go the way of the blade. But then, yeah, I thought it was gonna hurt far worse than it did. But it was a little bit of nothing. But then
the blood started to come. Right, he got me too deep. It's time to draw some really, there was so much blood that he must have poked right through a vein in my head. This was TV with the big guys. I couldn't just run out and cry for a band aid to put over my boo boo. Tremendous. Such a child like, it's funny, it's lurious. He's talking about not being a child, but he sounds like a child to say.
That if he did, if he did seek attention, it would be like a child seeking a.
No I know, but but but in describing this, he sounds like a child. You know, my first Memphis match had to look had to look good, and that's just what I was going to do. Even if I had to die. In the process, I made bass like he was murdering me, and I sold it like I was dying. My heart was racing, blood was squirting out everywhere. My long bleach blonde hair was the perfect white canvas to compliment all the red. It was spraying out like a hose.
There was a puddle forming in the ring. There was so much juice in that that the place actually started to smell so fucking gross. Ah, it was so nasty that it looked like someone had cut a deer open. I get it. You were bleeding pretty heartily, like He's been a whole fucking paragraph talking about how badly you were bleeding, Like I got it the first time. At the end of the match, the director had had to back the cameras off me because I was such a
bloody mess. Back to the locker room, everyone congratulate to me. At the curtains, I posed for some horror pictures for their programs and some magazines. Then I headed off to the showers. Under the water. I watched all that goofy blood drip drip down the drain, just like the movies, Just like the movie Psycho. I still had to had to have a medic put a couple of stitches in and Butterfly bandaged me up.
Jesus Christ disgusting. Yes, So, how's old cowboy Ron Bass, a veteran of the business at this point in times, going out working with these new whipper snappers. Fortunately, he did a shoot interview with high Spots where he got into it, and it turns out that they actually hit it off a bit Ron Bass and the Boulders so much so that as he's about to explain, Terry got to making a bit of fun out of a dog
that Ron Bass had. Was so small, it was so diminutive, it was so tiny, and Ron Bass resolved to get Terry Boulder back at some point for poking fun. And you better believe the Lincoln Continental was what paid the price. Here's Ron Bass.
Uh, Hogan was was just getting started the business at He's a big old strapping boy. He was going as Eddie Bowler. I mean he was going as Terry Bowler and Beef Kate was going as Eddie Bowler. And they were there in Tennessee, and uh we were.
I was pretty hot there.
I was there champion, and of course they wanted to put Hogan in make some money with him and and Hogan and I hit it off pretty good. I mean we both liked to train. We loved it like both like to do different things. And and uh, he'd always tease me. I tease him, and uh, howed got started. He knew that I had had this one little dog I was just fond of. Her name was Toutsy, and he used to make fun of me and my dog. So we were in Jonesboro, Arkansas. We had a big
show one night. My son, my oldest son, was with me, and I saw Terry and Eddie leaving a fast food place and Terry just bought him a brand new Lincoln. So I'm just kind of laying back and well, let him come out back on the street and I come in. I got a big link in myself and I Randy Buddy. I hate him pretty good.
Boy.
He hit the brakes and he jumped, throw that thing up and part he comes out of there.
He's man, he.
Kinds walking by there, and I throw a big three fifty seven if the window.
Right his face.
The boy he started backing that and then saw that it was He said, oh, you son of a bitch.
He's cost me all this life. He goes and gets back in his car.
He says that his hammer, he gets all over his seat, and I got him back.
Let's put it that way. It was a good thing. I remember that one.
Yes, that was a good one.
So he got back in this link green linking Continental and sat on his burger. Of course, I mean, is it why is there always a burger within arm's reach of Terry Bulloy every story?
I mean it's kind of ironic because you know, everyone calls Lawler the burger King. No Winter Lawler felt like he was a threat. Yeah right, he.
Had triple the fucking burger king crown collection that Jerry Lawler had after just like two weeks.
In the territory.
I mean, so many waters, so many burgers, so many Yet then pull it up to a drive through man and that Continental in Memphis and seventy nine looking like they.
Look yes, yes, Eddie, What do you want? Brother? Dude? They have strawberry shake. What are you feeling, brother? What are you feeling?
Brother?
Yeah, I mean I don't think I'm gonna be able to go to a double burger, brother. What are you feeling, dude? Burger fries? Brother? Won't you want double burger? Dude, huh, what are you feeling when she's in the burger double cheese?
I pictured Terry driving and like ed like leaning over to shout through the driver's window into the drive through microphone.
Doble like fucking uh, fucking Casey fucking Goodwill hunting. Yeah, exactly, that's exactly what I'm thinking of, have a broger double burger.
I mean, I don't know, it's all fun games, but I don't think it's that funny if you fucking t bone me in my new car, you know what I mean? Because I made fun of your dog, Like, seriously, what the fuck? So apparently clown, what an absolute clown their whole game plan of not being ribbed anymore because they ran together as brothers and if you fucked with one, you had to fuck with another. Apparently Ron Bass didn't get the memo.
That's not surprising.
The guy who carves up Eddie Boulder not only to get Hulk started as Terry Boulder in Memphis, but again, as we've talked about doing it years later in the WWF, to get a to get a hot angle going with Brutus Beef.
So it does beg the question.
Having shared the ring as we've already talked about here in the Complete Hulk Cogan with Terry Bolea in Memphis and his early formative years of in days rather of nineteen seventy nine. Did Ron Bass see a superstar in Hulk Cogan?
Probably?
So, I mean again with Hulk Coogan, I mean did you at the time, I mean, did you see it?
I had no idea what what star Hulk was gonna be?
Okay, so I mean he didn't anything.
Yeah, I saw potential.
Of course, he got out.
You know, he was, let's face it, he was the first big, big, good cut up man in the sport. But to charisma, my first mini I didn't see and he developed that.
And I'm gonna tell something.
You'll never hear me.
He ever say a bad word about Hug Kogan the time. Men, I've been around superstars that you couldn't stand, and Hug him by passed him all, and he stayed. He remembered who he was, and he remembered the little people. He there in the big people, and he treated him all right. And to me, that says a lot for a person. And I believe Hogan was not straight up as anybody who ever doubt we have been around or seen, and I think he deserves everything. He every gout coach. To me,
he's one of the good guys. I've dealt with some of these other primum diyes that he couldn't hold look candle with what Hogan's done his business and the heck with them. But Hogan's a good day.
Well we have it. We finally have it.
Boss.
Somebody who doesn't claim to have seen Superstar and Hulk cogin since day one.
I mean that's great in all, but like, what the fuck is like sucking them off again? Oh?
Yes, yeah, I mean that is a street that runs through anybody who worked with him from eighty four to like eighty nine, maybe the ninety ninety one, It's like they knew the reason they made enough money to retire on is because he let them come into the company and they were on his cards. And the way the economics worked, percentage of the gate, Hogan's gates were bigger
than anything anybody had ever seen in the business. You get a piece of that, to say nothing of merchandising rights and licensing rights are being on videotapes and stuff and something else. Ron Bass talked about in the shoot interviews that he did, how he continued getting a royalty stream on stuff like the Saturday Night's Made Event match against Brutus beef Cake that he didn't even know was being redistributed.
But the checks show up. Wow, you know that's it.
Man.
Anybody who wrote rode that Hogan gravy train, especially guys like him who had kind of toughed it out and lower paying territories for like fifteen years before sure, Sure Terry Boulder became Hulk Hogan. They all felt that way about the guy because he is the reason that they afford a house. And shit, it's pretty it's a pretty important part of the story. At the time, though didn't
see it. I find it weird, he said, I didn't see any charisma in him, because we just watched all the footage that exists of Hulk wrestling in Alps in seventy nine. I saw quite a bit of charisma. Yeah, I agree, it's a weird statement to make. Honestly, to me, wasn't this lumbering that you can tell the people are with everything he's doing. He's not Billy Robinson in there, but he's, you know, from a technical standpoint of course, not but the one thing he did have in abundance
was charisma. I'm not saying he wasn't a little awkward, but I mean that promo that that he cut with Lance Russell, it's not the promo of it's not the greatest promo of all time or anything like that, but he just he cuts a good promo. It's it's it's not the kind of promo you get, you know what, you know what a promo sounds like from someone who doesn't have any charisma or or pizzazz. The one that
Eddie Boulder cut right before him. That's yeah, right. I think they're saddling Terry with Eddie's deficiencies in some ways because they were so Yeah.
That is strange, isn't it. It really is.
Wrestling podcast.
And even though at the tail end of this Memphis run, Terry was pretty much working by himself solo, cleaved off from association with ed Boulder, it continues so more now from a British Beefcake's book, just more color about the road, because you know, we've talked about food, We've talked about cars and transportation, We've talked about hotels and things like that,
and lodging. Yes, but one important lynchpin of Eddie and Terry on the Road that we haven't touched on yet from a Memphis perspective, is fucking on the road, Oh fucking bitches on the road.
Listen, listen. It's it's the it's the second most important thing. Okay, we need to know because you know what there's there's there's your stomach hunger, and then there's your cardinal hunger. And these are the things that need to be discussed, and these are the things that need to be that, you know, we need to get to the bottom line about that got.
The carnal hunger addressed here. Further from Brutus Beefcake's book Cutting and strutting with Kenny Casanova. When we were on the road, we would hit different gyms and the guys would yell hulk when they saw a center. People everywhere saw that. Terry said that Terry looked like a bigger here we go, like a bigger Lou Farigna. I didn't we didn't include it. But he goes all into all this, all these fables and fantasies about this television appearance, and it's ridiculous.
The new name was perfect. Terry started to get national exposure and weightlifting magazines as well as the gym. Did he I don't know what he's talking about. I have no idea. I think he's thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I know I've never a bodybuilding article about him before he was.
Not at all, which led to appearances outside of wrestling. No guys like Robbie Robinson in California paid quote the Hulk to come to work out at his place and sign autographs. My cat is no way that happened. My cat, who owned a big gym in New Haven, Connecticut, also paid for an appearance, even though even though the big name weightlifters called him that, there was no heat from Lou. Lou loved being able to have had a hand in
Terry's success. God we hung out with him quite a bit back in the day, and even today he sees me and gets giddy about remembering the good old days, back when they were God's. One night, Jerry, that Jerry Jarrett, did that happen? The loof Rigno thing? No just time, No got it? No, No, I mean sounds like war, but I got the no out of it one night before a big show, not before the big show by the way before a big show, A girl started following Terry and me around while we were showing, shoping to
kill them. Yeah. She looked a little bit like Daisy Duke with short cut off jeans and had that farmer's daughter appeal. When you were in the spotline or have any.
Bless you, bless you for the voice you're doing much a picture it coming out of brutus Beefcake's face.
So it's creepy, fucking the giant forehead, all right, and just eyes bugging out of your fucking face. It is easy to tell when someone is watching you. You developed a six thins, you feel a hole burning in your back from their eyes, even if you haven't spotted them yet. Terry and I weren't show opping center somewhere, and this same girl was always about fifty feet behind us. I started to get that feeling we were being watched fresh off the for regnant appearance. I figured she wanted to
meet Terry. While Terry was looking at a wrestling magazine at a news stand, I turned around and made eye contact. She smiled, used to playing wigman. I pointed to Terry, pointed to Terry, and then pointed at her. She nodded. No. Well then she didn't nod. Brutus, you don't nod. No, you shake your head. No, you only nod. Yes, that's that's just, that's just a thing. Then she pointed at herself right, and then she pointed at me. Yep, I'll see you at this show, she shouted as she disappeared.
I immediately became aware, who's that? Can you picture it?
It?
Can't you not? Yep? Who's that? Dude? Terry asked, distracted a moment from his reading. Oh, just some fan. I was a single guy. I had come up with some extra filthy plans for the farmer's daughter if she was serious. I thought about her for the next few hours. I finally told Terry on the way over to the show, and he laughed. You're probably never even seared, he said. Before the show, I looked around for Daisy Duke, where the fans hung out. She was nowhere to be found.
I also looked out from behind the curtain a few times to scan the audience, and still no. Diice told your brother you should have you should have gone her number. You might as well just forget it now. And it's the ben cut to Terry fucking the you know, the crowd was hot. Correct. During the match, I finally spotted the girl a few rolls back from ringside. She was better looking than I remembered from fucking like two hours ago. I waved at her. She pointed at me and then
pointed herself again. Then she had a new gesture to the formula, the international symbol for blow job. Correct. I became aware once again. But what I don't understand? I became aware once again. I nodded at her. Wearing span nex was not the best for concealing the way I was feeling that very moment. Yeah, bulging member, it's like
fucking like running down again again. Picture picture brutus beefcake all right, you know and his fucking at bolder days and hispanics, Yeah, you know, with a fucking raging herd on standing on the fucking ring aprinten the complete hell coken. Indeed, you know that stupid smile that he has in that in that time? Uh? Where the was I here? Oh? I conveyed her to meet me after the match. I had to look away from her after that and immediately
think of baseball. After the match, she met me over by mill over by the curtain near the locker room entrance. Wait a second, I told her Darty was off talking with someone, so I grabbed the keys at the lincoln I might back up with the daisy girl. I went to speak again, and she shook her head no and put her fingers over her lips to indicate her rules. I don't understand what that means. Her fingers over her lips to her rules, I usally mean shut up. I
don't know. I guess, oh, I see, but two fingers. Put her fingers over her lips to indicate her rules. No speaking aloud, Kinky. We stuck out the back to the lot with no words. I backed the big green pill up to the furthest darkest part of the lot makeout session. The only thing you could hear in the car was the smacking of lips. My window was open because the arena was more like a huge because of
their arena was more like a huge pavilion. I could still hear all the body slams and the reaction of the crowd coming through the openings around the entire structure. Then we can make out. But I got to keep the windows old so I can hear the matches off well, God, so the opening is around the entire there was a little rustling sound from the spandex, and then the country girl started to go to town. I couldn't believe it. Everything was perfect. I felt a little bit bad, though,
because I was all sweaty. I just finished wrestling, and it is possible I didn't smell the best. So I felt a little bad, but not that bad. Trying to be impressive, I was holding out thinking about baseball again. Then all of a sudden, I heard the announcer began to announce the next match and coming to the ring from Tampa, Florida, weighing at a total combined weight of five hundred and thirty five pounds. Here are Eddie and Terry, the Bolder brothers. Where is hedude?
Brother?
Was?
Dude? Where's Eddy brother? Terry? Do you know where Eddie is? Eddie Boulder? Did what he says? Eddie Boulder?
Dude?
It's like, what did you say his name? Like that? What was that? I didn't say his name, brother? You just said his name, dude. I'm just wondering. I'm just sitting here. What where is he? Brother? Did he Where's who?
Calgary?
Oh?
God, fucking dumb so colgar it.
Oh fuck, he's freaking out that Edie's to be found, freaking out that they're like they've somehow taken him out and they're gonna like plug another opponent in and double cross.
In the exactly. I sat up in my seat. Wait a minute, what, brother, I'm possible I'm positively called my name again. Doesn't make any sense. I just I just wrestled. Why are they calling me out again? Then it hit me, I didn't actually wrestle before. I was just sweaty from nothing great story. Then it hit me. About a month ago, the same thing happened. When the show was going to
end early. A few of the guys had to wrestle again and stretch to stretch match to stretch things out because they said one of the matches finished too quickly. No more baseball, I needed this match. Talk about finishing quickly. I'm brother to hurry up and finish too quickly, he saidn't. I thought of every filthy thing I could I could I could think of. I went through my raunchy rolodex and finally hit her with my finisher. Right then I gave her a high five and started running back to
the ring. Pulling up my tights. When I got back into the dress room, it was clear that everyone knew what had just happened. Terry must have seen me heading out to the car with the rizz At. No he did not, fucking you didn't add that, he fucking no, he wrote, rizz at. Hey, it's life in Memphis, man, what do you want? The rat is fine, it's the rizz at is what the problem is here? Okay, that's just like, don't fucking write that in your book. You have fucking dumbass m Yeah, I'll say hello. I think
she did most of the eton this time. That is why they picked up it. It picked us the tag team just to rib me Jerry Jarrett and everyone gathering around. They roared, laughing, all right, cash for your third match of the night. Wow, Wow, one of the boys said, up my hair, Now get out there. I rushed down the aisle up, a little frazzled. The audience had no idea why I was late, but it felt as if but it felt like they were all in the know
when they started clamping. When I climbed up to the apron, I saw Terry take one look at me and practically lose it. He was in the ring getting beat up by our opponents. This should have been seen in Young Rock Christ dramatic absolutely beat up my opponents and taking the heat from me, but biting his lip all it's all the while not to lose it. He looked at me and shook his head laughing. Horrible, he said, as
he tagged me in. You have lipstick on your face and everything, dude, And I wiped my cheek off, stepped between the ropes and went to work. So good.
I mean, I completely don't believe that happened, But no, I just I love the story.
Nonetheless, there's nothing better than the fucking like you know. Then then then guys having some sort of sexual activity and then having me forced to go back in the ring. All right, that's just that's just gold right there, in an absolute goal, like a haste you've never seen before.
So they visited with many rizats. But if I told you the one they they they stepped in on that they paid call to h during this particular point in their lives, I think your eyes might bug out.
Of your head.
I want you to read this passage and I want you to reveal the solar system who was among the Ladies of the Evening, Terry and Eddie Boulder encountered in Memphis.
One night, Oh god, Terry and I met up with it's insanetional Sherry.
Adder to the list strip Joint, add her to the list of people who would you know, basically get dividends of Hultkgan for the rest of their lives, just justifiably so she earned every penny she ever made of the wrestling business. What Bash of the Beach ninety four, She's coming. She's the whole match with Rick Flair for Christ's sake.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but.
It started bass all these people that stuck with him, the whole thing.
Mmm, here it is listen, needs, desires, hunger, Yep, the whole fucking thing. Okay, here we go. One night, Terry and I met up with sensational Sherry at a strip joined long before she became a wrestling We watched her dance. Oh she was a su stripper. She was a stripper. I didn't have to think, I ever knew she was a stripper. And our eyes were bugging out of our heads. Man, she was a really good dancer. Terry and I watched her for a long time, and we tipped the hell
out of her. Later on, she came up to us and told us that she knew who we were, right. She loved the sport and hit it off with Terry. After that, she never really went away. How many people know this, but she was really good friends with both of us, and I think she kind of considered dating Terry for a short time one night. Huh, oh my god, listen, I'm sure I'm sure that that's something. That's something.
There's no chance nodding at least once. Yea, And it was. It was a series. It was like a real knockdown, drag out affair. It wasn't.
Think sensational share of screaming, the screaming, the just like the violence involved in them on. Now, all right, come on so hot, like you know, like I picture I picture her getting rammed from behind, right like all right, she's you know, Terry's got her bent over the bed, all right and just going to going to town. But she's slapping the bed like she does the mat when her guy's losing. You know, she's always slapping the mat.
That look, that is a tremendous visual and I want to give it it's just due, but.
I can't help but notice that you just casually use the verb rammed like he didn't even accentuate it at all. So he's ramming up from behind the Oh that's a key detail. That's a key showing some words there. That's a key verb.
Yeah, m hm.
And I've heard you say this isn't true. But the way he tells anythick in his book, I.
Was trying to find something, you know what I was trying to find.
And he was whipped.
Foaming at the crock and he was.
Whipped one two and he's which this.
Is before he got him ready for the shoot.
We a cut snow down.
That's cool, that's who.
What we had was a line like sam My should Larry let me? Thanks at Dad, you're in dangerous.
Came so let me again?
Ho you was?
I was just getting started.
Say that again, Ron, you can say that again.
Mon was shooting at a table.
And he was.
Went, you motherfuckers, understand what's going on here? And someone tell me because I don't it a long time, but we have reached.
Post modernity on the complete Hotel.
Complete dar dah Dolly. Kafa asked, oh, so what else did they find out about Shery.
After that? She never really went away. How many people know this, but she was really good friends with both of us, and I think she kind of started one night. One night, Terry and I were both sharing the same hotel. One night, like one night they were sharing the same hotel room. I thought, you lived in the hotel over your entire fucking life. We got a call and Cherry said that she wanted to come over with her friend
and have some drinks with us. Now, who's going to turn down to beautiful men asking if they can come over to your room with alcohol in the mix? Right, we were both singing all the time, so we were down with it. The girls came over as planned, and they were all dressed to the nines. Chan reintroduced her to or introduce me to her friend, who she wasted, who she wanted to hook me up with, cold beers and hot bodies. About one thing to lead to another. Terry was on his side of the room with Sherry,
and I was with her friend and the other. Now, let me be clear, this was by no means about to ever turn into a crazy orgy scene or something in parentheses. Not that I'm opposed to org. I'm just not going to engage one, engage in one with my good buddy, the Hulkster in the mix. If you catch my drift brother, all his words, all his words, wildly entertaining stuff.
I don't want to be a orgy with you? But what's this deal with don't want to be involved?
Like?
That's suspicious? I do, I don't understand. I don't want to be nordy with you. Why don't you want to be norgy with me? The question, it's a good one. My girl was very forward. She practically attacked me. I knew that stuff was soon to happen on my side of the room. I turned the lines out. I remember kissing my girl and then hearing what sounded like Sherry making ridiculous crazy noises across the room. Now the room was big enough and dark enough. Then I couldn't see
what was yep on Darry's side of the room. I don't know if she was taking, if she was faking noises to make us laugh, or if what I was hearing was legit. But it didn't matter. I am a competitive guy, and I wasn't and I wasn't gonna going to let Terry outshine me in any athletic event. Cherry started breathing hard and making more outlandish noises. So I worked my girl and hit her with a couple of stiff and hit her with a couple of stiff potatoes. What's hitting her now? It's fucking smacking her.
No, But when Vader hit you with stiff potatoes, it's full Idaho spuds.
You spotted me, Sherry. I mean, when fucking when Vader potatoes you, it's it's it's mashed, it's fries, it's fucking tater todds, it's the whole fucking thing. He's just every kind of potato you can imagine. He's hitting you with it.
She had a kink, but let me tell you, brother, it wasn't for work, bunches.
She knew how to work, so she sold it. Well, I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. I mean, is he he hit her? Is that what he's saying? Is he fucking her? Is it like his way of dirty song?
Here?
Yes, I think he's implying the Oh my god. Then the other side of the room followed suit. It was on five minutes later. There were all kinds of moaning, groaning, and slapping sounds going on. The cheap bedsprings were working over time. It sounded like the Three Stooges, only there were four of us in the room. The next morning we met up to get breakfast. We looked at each other and laughed, but we didn't say a word about it. We both thought it was weird, and I guess we
just decided never to do that again. I mean, I don't know. You don't know what to say about that story.
I mean, but needless to say, welcome to the cannon sensational Sherry. Yeah, I mean, holy, talk about an auspicious start.
It's it's it's beat. I don't even know what to say.
So Brutus moving down the cards. As we illustrated last time we were with you in the Complete Hulkgan Terry and his second book saying Brutus didn't last very long in the Memphis fact territory. I guess in some ways there's only room for one big blonde wrestler in any given circuit.
Okay, Okay, it wasn't then.
Yeah, you weren't a long for the territory either, Terry, Yeah, right, But Brutus here in the aforementioned Hannibal Shoot interview, talks a little bit about how it all evolved to the point that he was being defined down the card and yeah, Terry Lawler's name does come up and explaining why.
Or new young sighting stallions that people were excited.
Uh, Jerry Lawler was the top guys.
In there, you know, and he had his fifet brought.
You know, he was, I guess, I mean in a way, probably excited to see the new blood coming in, but on the other hand, not want to see these see when guys come and.
Taking his money because you know, he's had his little deal there and his his main event. He had his deal and he's made you know, guys like us threatened him.
You know, you think it would be a good thing, that it's going to bring us all.
Up well, going to draw better houses.
Were all gonna make more money. The guys didn't think that way. Anyone to give up betting their money to us.
So there was there was always something going on there they which was Evan Adam, and they took and and uh separated, separated us and so.
We're a tag team matches started making must warp single matches and it wasn't long after that and we wounded.
Up leaving the wrestling podcast. So that's uh, that's brutuses read. They were cutting in, cutting in on that cozy baby face spot, and it started to become a problem. I mean, I say, I'm not totally dismissing it, but that is the story. With all the territories. You know, you're never going to be bigger than the incumbent babyface.
Sure, you know the van Eric's all the way through.
And so at a certain point if they catch a whiff that the fans are getting into you such that they may prefer to see you over the top, earner in the top incumbent, and slowly they start nitpicking and start finding reasons to define you down. But frankly, we watched him in the in the ring, he was so bad, ed Boulder, he was actively all bad, actively bad, And so I can see how it say what we can
do with this guy. I mean, he just he can barely grab a headlock, honestly, front of facelock, and they just flails around the ring like he's drunk.
He might he might actually not know the difference between a wristlock and a wristwall.
And they've inspired the very phrase. Yeah, but it's already trouble in Paradise Here for the Boulder brothers. Here's another snippet Boss from Beefcakes book about it all coming undone before it even really had a chance to coagulate in Memphis.
After a while in Memphis, we could only go so far with the big brother avenging the younger brother storylines. I don't know. I think Hogan's pretty good at re kling story over and over and over again. And they wanted us to split us up in the end. See I knew it. They wanted to put Hulk by himself and not have me there just to serve as as lackey or whatever. Looking back, it would have it would have better served him to put him out there as a
singles competitor. But the problem was we were problems were we were traveling around together. We still liked the idea of watching each other's backs and pushing each other to do better. Terry became Terry became my brother. I mean, we did everything together. We trained ate and traveled together, and fucked together too. We had become family. Hot off the new name Terry the Hulk Boulder and around May, around May of nineteen seventy nine, Jim Barnett made good
with his promise. He gave Terry a great booking for a shot against the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race. This was one of the highest honors in wrestling and really increased his stock. Terry ended up winning the Northern Division and WA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship, which was recognized in Alabama and Tennessee. At the same time, he was working
for Georgia Championship Wrestling under the name Sterling Golden. We wrestled around a bit, but there were the things were a little tough and the cash just wasn't coming in. Terry decided then again to quit wrestling again for a time, bummed out that he wasn't making very much money. Not knowing what to do, I suggested we go back to the docks in Tampa, where we quote could really make some good cash pouring concrete and loading big cargo ships.
The money was good. We went from making something like one hundred and twenty a week wrestling to seven hundred or eight hundred dollars. Yes, if you can believe it, we're headed back to the docks. I can't believe that that's crazy. To the docks.
As far as Hogan remembers it. In his second book. He says Beefcake wound up transferring to Portland, Oregon, where he started to become a star in his own right. He was fine with the move. Terry Wrights has had nomad in his blood or something. He just didn't care where he sleeps, and he'd make the best of any situation. He's up in Oregon for two weeks and I get a call and he's got a girl in bed with him. He's having the time of his life. Me not so much. Being on the road in the car and in hotels
all the time. That whole lifestyle was really draining to me.
I missed having a.
Friend on the road, and even at eight hundred a week, it was starting to feel like I was getting ripped off again. The thing is, there's no security in wrestling. I always knew that. I didn't think I cared, because at least it wasn't one of those regular jobs with the period at the end of the sentence. But even at the Memphis level, it was much more of a
fly by night business than I ever imagined. There were nights when you'd walk into some building to go to work for a promoter and rather than it being a smart businessman or maybe a former wrestler who wanted to make something of himself. It would just be some guy who owns an electrical supply company who happens wrestling.
On the side.
Wrestling was my life. I wanted to grow my fan base, sell out bigger arenas, and make more money. I wanted to keep moving forward. How could that happen when I wasn't in charge of my own destiny, and when the men who were in charge were treating it like a side gig or were too small minded to see anything above and beyond they were already doing in whatever tiny little territory they considered their domain. I kept obsessing over it and complaining, mostly to myself, that things should be better.
I didn't know how to fix it, though, and I didn't really make any effort to take control. I didn't know how. Plus it was just so weird to walk in every night and know that if you got cut or you got hurt, it was up to you to go to the doctor. There was no insurance, there was no retirement plan, none of the stability that a normal job has. There was no structure to it. I started to feel like there was nobody there to back me
up if I ever needed help. To be a wrestler meant that everything you had, your future, your health, your sanity, all of it was stuffed into this little bag you carried with your boots and your tights. You'd put on this costume to go perform like a dancing monkey. Then you'd take the costume off, get paid, and move on to the next town's circus to look around at the sold out arena, to hear them roar and chant your name, to know that they're walking out of there where their
buddies were living. Every moment of the show you put on just like Vick and I used to do when we left the armory back in Tampa as kids. And then after all of that, a guy hands you twenty five bucks and says, see you next week. It all seemed like such a letdown. After a while, the rays up to one hundred bucks or so didn't make it any better. I was just still The price of a few seats in that whole arena was that all I was worth. I knew a good portion of those fans
were there to see me. I had built a following. I was the one out doing spots on TV and helping her promote this whole thing. I knew I deserved more, I knew I was worth more. So when it was clear that there were no giant Raises in my future, I took a step back and tried to evaluate this whole situation. My conclusion, wrestling for no money sucks. Wow, he's coming to the brink, Boss, He's coming to drink
now he remembers his buddy going to Portland. But according to the record of his career, where ed Boulder actually goes is to Southeastern down to Alabama. As we talked to a whole prior episodes, you don't start to see Ed Boulder actually having recorded matches in Ron Fuller Southeastern Wrestling until after both he and Terry had gone to Memphis, not before, and certainly not in those earliest Helcyon days where he was first becoming Terry the Hulk Boulder and working with Andre the Giant.
Bruti's beef.
Kake points to the Harley Race match almost as if it took place to lure him back from Memphis, but in fact it took place in early July, and they came in mid July, So the Harley match had already happened in Dothan before they made treks to Memphis, not the very first time in May when they did that very brief first appearance where they did the six man
tag with Jerry Lawler. I'm talking about the more semi permanent run where they did the interview we've listened to with Lance Russell and got that whole storyline rocket and rolling. So again, a lot of that, a lot of the chronology becomes very difficult to follow in seventy nine, but suffice to say Ed's moving on and really splitting off to seek his own fame and fortune as a pro wrestler, while Hulk is considering what whether he wants to continue
doing it. But there was this interregnant period, this underdiscussed sort of second round of quitting the wrestling business that Terry Boley went through. Amidst all of this incredibly eventful nineteen seventy nine, he throws up his hands once again, and we'll certainly get there. But even as he acquired the Hulk nickname, the thought of that dream becoming real, he writes, kept falling further and further into the back of my mind. Despite the new name and how popular
I was getting on the Memphis circuit. The whole business of wrestling quickly started to become a drag all over again. And speaking of Big Lincoln town Cars, Boss, speaking of brother Cars and association with the Memphis territory. We had some questions about the Van Tournament. Didn't you the Big Van Tournament? Yes, the Big Van Vader Tournament. Is this
like why? Unfortunately the Homie Matt has our back. They used to do tournaments where the winner will get a nineteen seventy nine Lincoln Continental town Car, just like the one that Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler supposedly gifted to Hulk Covie. So he just had these fuck and things like on at the ready. Well, there's probably there was some relationship with some dealer, I'm sure who gave him a discount.
Right.
Look at this ad was the Lexington, Kentucky newspaper.
Read what you see? Okay? So I see professional wrestling at the Rupp Arena in lexingon Kentucky, Thursday, June fourteenth, ninety seventy nine, eight pm, one night. And the main event is the nineteen seventy nine Lincoln Continental town Car Tournament First round tournament match Jerry Lawler versus the Stomper. I mean, I've heard of the Intra Continental Championship, but the Lincoln Continental Championship. That's that's fucking they Honestly, that
would be amazing. They should do that. The Lincoln Continental championshipre's a big d of a Lincoln on the ad, the print ad, Yeah, probably done by Jerry Lawler. You get Lawler and Stomper. There, you get pictures of Robert Fuller and Bill Dundee as well. The first round tournament match Jerry Lalla versus the Stomper. Special added attraction card will be highlighted by six Man Texas Tornado match. All
six men in ring during entire match. Wow Professor Tanaka, Mister Fuji, Gorgeous George Junior, Robert Fuller, Ron Fuller, Bill Dundee, More first round tournament matches, Tommy Gilbert versus Ron Bass, Thunderbolt Patterson versus Gorgeous George Junior, c w A and who I guess was the c WA Heavyweight champion at the time. Yeah, according to that, Tony Charles versus Wayne Ferris, Tommy Gilbert versus Rick Oliver, Playboy Fraser, oh plowboy. Sorry,
not playboy Plowboy Fraser versus Larry Lank Playboy Fraser. I don't think he was the call. Plus eighth and eight finalist matches, fifteen matches starting at eight BM. Take us on a sale at Lexington Center, not the Lincoln Center. The Lexington Center. Five dollars ring side, four dollars general admission, two dollars children five and under. So apparently this was your Yeah, you're not a child if you're six years old, I guess to Jerry Lawler. No, well that's a good point actually.
But the the town car, the van tournament, the tournament for a boat. Apparently this was like a Fuller family gimmick.
And uh oh good. Another thing here important.
So yeah, we were talk about the van tournament that we saw reference to when we were going through clippings relative to Huax time in Memphis. And here is a clipping of who won that tournament in nineteen seventy nine. Let the people know, all right, here we go another then commercial commercial Appeals Sports Sports, Memphis, Tuesday, May nine, nineteen seventy nine, Page fourteen.
Fuller heads home in style. Robert Fuller defeated the Stomber to win the Van tournament. Fuller won the Van tournament in ret I mean, but did he actually win a van, like because it's fake? Probably not honestly, right, So this is what I don't understand. This was so fucking weird.
Like I never you didn't want one hundred thousand dollars for winning a battle rial either.
Right, there was no purse money, you know. In wrestling action last night at the mid South Coliseum before four thousand, seven hundred and six, Fuller, who took home a van as his prize one matches over Dix. I mean, can you imagine if you brought him a van. It's like you want a van, like, I don't even give you a van on fucking on on on like wheel of Fortune or something like that. Right, you get a you know,
full event. I want to matches over Dix later and Wayne Ferris to reach spelled f A r R I S to reach the Is that how we spec I thought it was f E R R I S. Right, it is? Yes, Okay, I listen, I'm going to call them out every time they make a typo to reach the championship. About in the first round Tommy gillberb comic
Gilbert beat Larry Latham. Tony Charles was victorious over mister Fuji, Fuller pinned Wayne Ferris Thunderbolt, Patterson up ended Gorgeous George Junior Brothers, Dick Slater defeated Bill Dundee, and the Stomper upset Jerry Lawlervill What do you do? What do you do? Upset him In the quarterfinals. Patterson and Tanaka were both disqualified in their match. Slater beat Charles and the Stomper
won his bout with Gilbert. In the semifinal round, Fuller topped Slater and the Stomper advanced because of the earlier double disqualification. In two non title bouts, Ron Bass defeated Tommy Gilbert Junior and Rick Oliver got the best of Jerry Bryant.
There we go, incredible, incredible stuff. So that's what the then tournaments were all about. Indeed, one of the things I wanted to really nail down for the complete Hull Coogan was, Yes, when was the first time he was in an aptormag.
Ooh, good call.
And we know it wasn't Southeastern because, as we've talked about, Ron Fuller was no fan of having his match as photographed, so it wouldn't have been Dothan. But my god, have we not established that Jerry Lawler ran towards magazine coverage more than perhaps any other promoter in the country at
the time. Yeah, so how did it happen? Well, as best we can report back, and it's it's kind of funky for the timeline, but it actually relates to Memphis more than it does where Hogan would be in nineteen eighty. But the February nineteen eighty edition of The Wrestler Wow, which has cover stories including will Avenging Dusty Rhodes destroy Steve Kern?
Let me of what special feature the Avenging? How I have the Avenging? I don't know.
A special feature is Andre's pictured splashing looks like Johnny Valiant? How I saved Backland's title by Andre the Giant? So Andre picking up the pen for this issue or a wrestler that's very important. Also, picture Rick Flair going to work in what looks like black Jack Mulligan with the headline ric Flair's days is a fan favorite are over?
Wow.
Also Ted Dibiassi must be given the North American title. These are all the pressing issues of the day for the wrestling fan in February nineteen eighty.
But the pressing issues or depressing.
Issues, well, the issues that made it to the press, I should probably say, and it was in the photo feature beyond the squared circle, where they would show sort of like candids of wrestlers and wrestlers doing things that we first see, as far as we can ascertain, a picture of Terry buleya in the pages of the magazines that we spent so many years, so many years as kids thumbing through. Look at that, God, he looks fucking
massive massive. So while holy shit, the magazine was published in February nineteen eighty, the copy the text was apparently set down when he was still in Memphis, because they refer to him as if he was still wrestling in Memphis, which is why it belongs right here on this leg of the Complete Hulk Hogan Boss tell us what they decided to caption it.
Terry Boulder, currently wrestling in the Memphis area, would much prefer to be referred to as the Incredible Hulk. Boulder, who has twenty two inch biceps, claims to possess twice the strength of television's Incredible Hulk Lou for Rigno, so there's a direct hit.
Huh.
That is a direct hit.
And if you're wondering if they were if he was marketing himself as the real Incredible Hulk, there you have it. Also, Bob Geigel looks like a looks like a criminal. Well, he looks like the guy is like Uncle Junior in the Sopranos Uncle Junior and Sopranos, or the guy, the creepy guy in the six Flags commercials.
Yes and Sun Dun. What else is on this page? Don Curtis, formerly Mark Lewin's tag team partner, is now a successful promoter in Jacksonville, looking kind of like the the more like, better looking brother of Martin Scorsese.
Yeah, to handle the unibrow issue. Yeah. And then up here, oh, up the right corner.
Andy Kaufman, star of television's Taxi and a frequent guest on Saturday Night Live, grapples with Dusty Rhodes a headlock on Dustin's.
I Wonder Hogan felt compelled to pretend that he was around when Andy Kaufman was Seriously first time he opens a PWI to see you pictures of himself, and according to add Leslie, sometimes they would just stop and look at wrestling magazines. That was That was the setup to where that woman eventually lured them into a tag team scenario. He's looking for pictures of himself when he did see it. There's a the old son of a bitch in Florida who didn't believe in him and never let him work the hester.
Now and then we got on the bottom right corner. Sweet brown Sugars fans come in all ages. As an old lady with Sweet brown Sugar. The high flying mast has masked man has quite a following. Yeah, I guess she's listen. I guess she's one of the older ring rats. Apparently that's the only takeaway. I greds finally greets fine. Yes, it's kind of behavior that needs to happen.
So to conclude the Memphis leg of the journey, we have to flip forward in the timeline a bit, because this reference doesn't really make sense to go into all the other places Hulk's about to go to and then do one quick foray over to Memphis for one match, which is essentially what happens in February of nineteen eighty one.
So let's set the stage. Yes, in eighty one, he's wrestling for WWF for the most part, he's working all their television tapings in Pennsylvania wrestling the likes of Tony Garia, Tony Altamare, Jim Duggan even who was coming in for some shots back then. And then all of a sudden in the middle of all of this, including a basically the two days after Tonygree and Rick Martel, the tag team champions face Hulk Cogan and the Hangman in Baltimore at the Civic Arena. Two days later, all of a sudden,
Hulk's back in Memphis. A deal's made and Hulk is back and it's the February ninth, nineteen eighty one c WA Mid South Colisseum card in Memphis, where yes, the record book shows Boss that Jerry the King Lawler defeats Hulk Hogan. Wow, and man with this come in handy later for Jerry Lawler. Oh yeah, as Hulk becomes a national phenomenon and we sense kind of a pattern to the use Jerry would put visiting superstars when they come through Memphis back then.
And it's only four.
Days later that Hulk is back for WWF at a high school gym in New Jersey Wrestling, Rick McGraw and continues with the WWF through February of nineteen eighty one. So it's that kind of one aberration in February eighty one. This one match, yep, that adds one little PostScript to the story of Terry Bulea in Memphis, and we're going to watch it. We're going to watch the match Lovely Lovely that was on Wrestling Gold. You can find it, which came out in nineteen eighty eight. I believe it
was on home video. I'm going to send you the link and folks out there in the Solar System can find it as well.
This is this is.
Oh yeah, yeah, we'll just do this when you're right it is. But okay, let's just do it. This was sure, whatever's easier, So yeah, just quickly. I mean we've already touched on it a bit, but for the sake of the fact they're about to play on it, this is big for you, right.
Yeah, I honestly, you know what, I don't think I've seen this match since then, so I'll be I'm very I'm very curious to see how it all, how it all plays out, and if it jogs any memories.
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a wild thing to see because just where Hulk's at in his life and career is just yes, it's it's weird that he's a big enough deal that he's you know, a headliner against Jerry Lawler, but not a big enough deal yet that we consider him truly having arrived as right. It's like this, he was over before he was over? Does that make sense? Like, yeah, yeah, and it does.
I'm just gonna have to but there is like, you know, but there is a thing like you know, there's being over in there's being over with the wrestling crowd, with the wrestlers, and being with wrestling promoters, and there's also being over you know, in a bigger fashion. Yeah.
I just saw as I'm trying to pull this up that the Vault guys put up the Superstar Gram Harley Rayed super Bowl stuff that we talked about, and the Florida leg of the journey. Oh no, kidding. So they're
they're paying attention. Hopefully they follow our lead, they continue to follow our lead because there's a lot of stuff that they they have Hull Cogain that we're gonna have to see as the complete Hull Cogain unfolds and if they post it, if they if they want us to pretend we don't notice that we gave them the idea or more than, we're going to do that because so it's it's for the greater good, as we've established. So if you're loaded up, I am, this is only about a four minut loaded up clip.
Here. No, that's crazy.
That was on the tape. So we're going to hit play in three that one play.
N's wrestling the call help already with the big gold Cape is betting managed by Frank Blasser's speaking at the out, Let's go out and.
Stas from valley five mits of this legend. It's not a legendary matric and fucking you know, let him see the flore And what's he coming out to Rocky?
She already lawler Oh coming out to Rocky stand Yeah, that's a job because he'd already done Rocky through.
Wait a minute, Februar eighty one away. I don't think so. No, he had the well, that's right, so I guess it's, uh, Terry get the idea. Look at Terry. I guess they walked out and held up with a crown on and like a magic carpet drive. That is Zodie. I always think, you know, it's a weird thing, and I wonder if anyone else feels this, But.
You just always feel like Hogan didn't start wrestling until he fucking look did Rocky and everything came after that?
Or you know, like that's ok cars to ride a white horse to the room.
The Hulk stands on the wing and Peacocks's feathers out with that big gold KP's get out one more time headlining in memshis with the King.
Look at this?
Do you look at the size of Hogan a black trunks, black pads, silver books.
Before the n W o ye.
Coloren elbow to push off and out Coloren elbow to the side headlock for the wallers. You gotta you gotta watch this because you gotta see the size difference between the two of them now is remarkable. Pulp lifts from the headlock in a back suplex and deposits Lola and the top shows ease. Not even a struggle ring, definitely a powerhouse.
Ring.
That's pretty good. You'll see Jimmy Hart down at the bottom of the screen. Yeah, managing Hogan Hill are sitting on the little rope blocked the right hand and hit hit Holt in the head and.
They did the rafergo struck. They're going nuts in the midst of the Jeff Jarrett stroke.
There.
Oh yeah, flash forward and help this clubbing the back. And that's the problem with this match is it's just shipping fragments yep, slipping elbow by Hulkobra and chops dwl the ball elball scoop and slam man.
Oh, here we go, here we go like drop, that's a vintage form. We flash forward. Yeah, Actually, Bomba's confusing.
Backshandel and he knew the finish, his halts finish, and he does it here and then the match does it in.
Verse web. Hogan stumbles out of the corner of the back pick up and slam. He lean on his showld there's too you see that. It wasn't a it wasn't a clean slam.
Hope with Litter says, he called all that song. He's already saying, wheels down. I Hope with Litter said, he called for that slang in the room. Waller now yes, Pepper and Hogan's forehead of rights to.
Break all are up, pounding away with that right hand founding away on that right hand the hoop back into the ropes and he sank.
His son's drunk right forward the referee's out. Whiler is punching Hogan on the canvas. Jimmy Hart has been unswing around the ringside the panic and then he slipped in the fans who don't care.
Their fans are just walking around, don't care. Oh, look at look at it.
Look at it.
Jimmy Hard going to town and the keys will find as he attacked before the ref begin his cunt. Hogan picks up the walk and stick the chivy Hard has so them fell sounds, assaulting Lulla with it. Clearly this thing has been thrown out, and Cherry Lawler is the victor if he had a qualification.
On the hog.
Going up heart going after the hawk with a walking stick.
The walking stick sent Sturry and the walking stick. Shots of Lawler begging off now and he takes a shout right hand down goes any Hard's heart.
That heart scrambles to the floor into the security of the halt. Lawler the winner in fourteen twenty eight by discual of it.
Wow, we lost ten minutes. We lost ten minutes of that match. We did. We did. That sucks.
It's very it's very weird how that is the only version that survives, because well, I feel like it's one of the I feel like it's one of those things where they they watched it. It was like one of those like recap where they watch it. They you know, they they would air it. You know what what they did had the guide studio commenting over.
Right, right right. It looks like that so kind of a thing.
There's got to be some the full match has to exist on tape somewhere, because I don't think they destroyed things. I've seen full length matches even without commentary from the Mid South Colosseum from the late seventies and eighties. But if it exists, I haven't seen it in a more fuller form. And what's key is that this is what was fuller form n fuller form. What's key is this is how it was distributed to the country on the Wrestling Gold release in right exactly see them playing that
up a bit. And you know, Jerry Lawler was not above going on Memphis television and talking about all the national wrestling stars that he'd already beaten, that he found ways to get to come into Memphis before they were established and get wins over them that he could later, you know, in his little fiefdom there talk about having defeated Andre the Giant, as we talked about earlier, fell victim to do it as well. Right, But you saw
Jimmy Hart's involvement. And what's key is the difference between what Jimmy Hart was about in Memphis and seventy nine when Terry first came in, and what he was about in Memphis in eighty one when Terry came back were much different in terms of allegiance. And in fact, one of the things we've often puzzled over in the Lapsed Fan over the Year's Boss is how did Jimmy Hart become this trusted CONSIGLIERI to Hulk Hogan, Yes, of all the people, why Jimmy Hart. What did Jimmy Hart do
to win him over? And this may provide some of the answer. We go to Jimmy Hart's book reflecting on this point. In nineteen eighty one, I was bringing in that unstoppable object, the walking stick, every Monday night to keep Jerry Lawler from killing me. One week, Lawler says, guess who I've got coming in next. Hulk Hogan's going to be here Monday night. Oh my god, I said, that's great. The house was sold out, But more important than the night's receipts was the bond that formed between
Hulk and me before the match. He said, Look, Jimmy, I'm worried. In fact, the full quote is and I shit you not Jimmy Hart's book. Look, Jimmy, I'm worried that these guys might try to swerve me.
Brother.
A swerve is a surprise trick of reversal that's part of a match's plan. The local territories were notorious for editing videotape to change the outcome of a match. Usually, when a wrestler's down for a near fall, the count goes one, two, and then he barely kicks out of the pin before the ref says three. Well, you can take a piece of video and edit and splice it to the point where a near fall looks like a
three count. Back then, Oh my god, Hulk Hogan was already big enough that a clean pinfall victory, even if it occurred on a doctor tape, would have been damaging to his star power. With a growing reputation, to protect Hulk was justifiably worried. As Hulk's manager that night, I was, of course supposed to jump into the ring while Lawler had him in a pinning predicament. My job, My job was to hit Lawler with my cane just before the count of three and save my guy from losing well
in the back. Before the match, Lawler took me aside and said, Jimmy, look, we want to make sure that Hulk's shoulders are down for a while, long enough that if we want to do a little bit of stuff with the tape down the line. Well, wah, Jesus Christ, you know, so, don't come in too fast. Whatever you do, don't come in too fast. And we wonder, Boss, where Hogan gets the paranoia from. Lawler wanted to be able to make it look like he had Hulk pinned before I jumped in the ring.
So that was the key.
The key was the visual pinfall that Hulk Cogan was in mortal fear of.
That's always a thing.
And this is where it stems from. Lawler wanted to have a tape of him even if the referee was out. The idea is the ref could have counted three if he was conscious because Jerry Lawler had Hulk Hogan dead to rights, and if the finish is going to be a disqualification with Jimmy Hart's interference, Jimmy Hart has to make sure that those three seconds elapse before he gets
in the ring. But it's here where Jimmy Hart decides to pledge his allegiance to Terry Boleya instead of Jerry Lawler, and perhaps perhaps the rest is history.
Live.
Jimmy Hart writes, everything would end with the DQ after I entered, Lawler would bump me around and beat up a bit on Hogan, and then the ref would call the whole thing off. There would be no clean victory on tape. It might be a different story.
Mm hm.
Anyway, like I said, Hulk suspected some kind of swerve, and just before our match, he looked at me and said, Jimmy, please, on the count of one, make sure your rass was in that ring. Yes, brother, make sure you're hitting Lawler with that cane. I met his gaze and told him I'd be there, buddy. When that referee got down for the count, I was in like a bullet, whaling Lawler's ass with that cane, which is not true. The referee did not go for the count. The ref was splayed out.
Unconscious exactly, which maybe even a bigger thing like fucking me get in there right, and I even don't even wait for the ring.
I think that's kind of what he's saying. Yeah, he remembers getting in like a bullet. In fact, he remembers he actually got in before the ref even started to count. Boom boom, boom boom five times. I hit him. I didn't even give him the chance to get the near fall. It was the best move I ever made. If Lawler had been able to manufacture a three out in the editing room, it might have been horrible for Hulk, possibly even changing the course of his career. Certainly, it would
have temporarily damaged his reputation and status. I had a clear choice. I could either do things Lawler's way or stand with Hulk, and I went with Hulk, not knowing that I'd ever be connected with him years later, at the end of the Rainbow, after the match, Lawler was agitated, going, man, you jumped in too fast, but Hogan was relieved seeing things much differently. Fabulous brother Browler, who were right there
right on the spot. That would be just the first of many moves I'd make in support of Hulk Hogan.
Oh my god, that's big. That's a moment. That that is a moment, And uh, I don't even know what to fuck. I mean, you know it, but it's some of one of those things that it's just kind of weird, like I don't know, like you're siding with Hulk Hogan. I mean really, what's weird to me is that he's saying, without having any clue about to me, you do that
because you establish a relationship with the guy. Yes, not because of you know, you know, you don't know you're going to have you're going to beat with him later. Like I don't know, I don't know if I buy that.
Yeah, it does kind of seem like something that perhaps didn't have as much significance when it happened. But in trying to paint the picture of how he stayed loyal to Hogan, he would kind of creatively remember this match in nineteen eighty one as him taking more of a stand than he actually took. I don't know, because you're right, it's not like there'd been some allegiance between Jimmy Hart
and Hultkogan. Such that it made any sense that Jimmy Hart would pick it was probably that it was pissed off at Lawler, because you know, Lawler was the king of the castle, and everybody eventually had a disagreement with him that worked in that territory, especially worked with him in that territory. You know, eventually he's going to piss
you off. Eventually he's going to big league you. Eventually he's going to do something that crowds you out of an opportunity to become perhaps a name on par with his in Memphis. And I'm not saying Jimmy Hart had aspirations in that direction, but he's pretty clear in his book and interviews over the years that there were some points of friction. Not that they can't stand each other anymore.
I mean they both sat in the room together for the Tales from the Territories in the Memphis territory, for instance. But I do think for Jimmy he prefers to see his life in times, as you know, sniffing out Lawler's bullshit and hitching himself to a much more lucrative train in Hulk Hogan at a time when most would have picked lawl or over Hogan, you know what I mean, particularly in Memphis. So I think he takes some pride in that. Now, I don't know, I have no reason
to disbelieve that he didn't follow Hulk's lead. I get flashes to star K ninety seven here. I don't know about you. Yeah, yeah, that's true. I didn't think about that, but that totally makes sense because the only thing that ever made sense to me was that Nick Patrick was told to slap three by Hulk in the back and then pretend it was an accident because Sting didn't kick out in time, right, right, right, So I think that made sense.
And this is kind of like that.
This is kind of Hulk going to the ring with the other guy thinking something was going to happen, but sneaking something in that advantages him from a perception standpoint, even though you know, ultimately the result is Jerry Lawler defeats Halkogan by disqualification. That was but this little twist, this little thing Lawler wanted to happen for visual purposes, Hogan gout wind of and I feel like that's what
pretty much happened in the Sting match as well. Yeah, yeah, so he inserted that leg drop spot to save face. And he's just playing, like you said, he's just playing the same game, running the same playbook over and over over against same angles.
Fucking thing. It's so funny. I mean, it's so funny that it's it's it's not even just ww angles that worked. It's like from from before, from way before before. Yeah.
Yeah, he's learning all these lessons outside the auspices of New York even. And we're going to go now to a promo that hul Cogan cut on Florida television to set up the rematch with Jerry Lawler. This one would be in Saint Petersburg, Florida, at the Bayfront Center, so as part of the CWF circuits we've talked about, not
in Memphis. But they're already playing up this idea, which I actually makes me even more specious as to Jimmy Hart's account, they're clearly playing up on television the idea that Jerry Lawler was doctoring footage to make hul Cogan look bad, not that he would doctor it years and years later, after hul Cogan was the WWF champion in nineteen eighty eight, in eighty one, they were talking on television like Jerry Lawler was trying to take false credit
for a victory over hul Cogan, who at the time wasn't necessarily being portrayed as unbeatable. He certainly wasn't the world beating superhero baby Face.
He was a heel.
He was a heel in New York primarily, and so the idea that he would take umbrage with Jerry Lawler doctoring the footage was something a heel would say. It was It's something a heel would say, is an excuse for having lost to Jerry Lawler. Right, It wasn't something a baby face was saying to try to throw shade at a Jerry Lawler and make him seem like some kind of Charlottean or some kind of manipulative dickhead or
something like that. So hear it for yourself. This is as part of a segment that used to air on Florida Television with Gordon Soley in the host chair, but a co host or a special correspondent named Barbara Cleary would do a Q and a segment called Take five. This would be at the Sportatory in the same place where Terry made his first inroads into the business working with Charlie Lay to get in with Hiro Matsuda and stuff,
and this is where they would take Florida television. It's so hot in here and Terry is so wet from sweat that you can see I can see his hair blowing from the fan that they undoubtedly had to point at him, so he didn't turn into a human amount of perspiration.
During the course of the promo.
But this one survives, and it's great because in some ways it's Hulk finally coming back to Florida. I'm being like, you see, you know here, I am looking me. I'm cutting promos against one of the top territorial baby faces in the country, and I'm back in Florida and you got to put me on television like I'm a big deal after you basically ran me out of town on a rail. It made me feel like I had no place in the wrestling business. And so that's kind of
sweet in and of itself. But again, the working relationship between Vince Mcmahonsonior and Eddie Graham can't be overstated. They were sharing talent extensively. So Hulk's here in Florida on television in Florida by virtue of the fact that he's with Vince up in New York, clearly, and so it's more that then this is like part of some extended run that Hulk had and championship wrestling from Florida.
He is.
This is kind of part and parcel of his WWF run. So if you've got this queued up, Take five with Barbara Cleary, this is on the Fantastic one oh six North Albany YouTube page. With all this great Florida stuff, We're going to hit play three two one play.
Can you have any comics to make before We're gonna tell you something Hulk Hogan only it's the only true champion in the wrestling world today. But Hulk Hogan has the biggest arm in the world, the best looking face, and without a doubt, always tells the truth. Whenever you hear Halk Cogan talk to you, I guarantee you, mister Sully and missus Barbara, you will never you will.
Never ever hear me tell a lie. I got rid of that and legor.
Goof and now I'm getting down the business. About three weeks ago, there was the most biased people piece of film shown, the most boasted piece of film is shown Hulk Hogan down in his back getting beat by mister j. Now, I went to the NBA, the review board, I went to the highest part of the council, and I have the film. The film in its entirety. The truth will come out because Hulk Hogan never tells ol Ray.
Roll off sounds right.
On Florida end of the road and that elbow put him down hard. Lord man ants too, you have to take money to light.
Thanks dropping. So here's the same tum the same cat yep.
So clearly wrestling going to took this off of r and the red bree says, bring it up, revert So that's same brother all hutting up and put him down on a body slams down.
Don't sound enough.
He's wrestling attire.
What's suspects territory that super body face, that everything light just take that's down over.
Man.
There he goes down.
Crowd, that's a wun surprised A.
N said, rep raid trying to break aholler up, pounded away with that right hand.
And lawa.
What wedding the hope No, regardless of the outcome of this one, it's he that won't.
Hear them we just say I think so yeah, Walla peppering the jacks and right and hope so the rope.
So we definitely didn't.
See us back into the rope that he sang.
Now the rough is down over there, James, this is but you know, John said that you ahead what you want to say us.
Yet breaks the walking stick over Lawyer's back.
I was so happy to the killing the tent.
Yeah, and a referee. Let's ring the bell so it'll be had this qualification on a Hawk.
After the studio.
Now you can see the true, unheedited piece of film, mister Solviy. The truth has come out. Hawk Hogan's was in controlled one hundred percent of the time. I may have played a little possum, but I was in control. Now I've got them, Matt signed, Jerry Lawer, I am ready for you. The biggest arms in the world are twenty fourth python will end your wrestling career. And this time, mister Jerry Lawer, this time when I clapped these arms around your waist in the state of Florida, I've got them,
Matt signed, you are going down for the count. And now that I've been on national TV one more time, this show shall.
Go to the highest ratings.
And yes, mister Lawery, never again, after I clapped these huge, massive, biggest arms in the world around your waist, never again will you wrestle in the state of Florida.
What do you think of that?
Hopefully this will.
End the controversy surrounding Hawk Cogan and the film and part take five for the series.
Great stuff. Wow, that's incredible. What stands out to you? I mean, uh, the the frank they said pythons number one is is is crazy. I don't think we've heard that before thus far. And he says it then, so he's saying it as early as it stay tuned. But that and and I don't know, it's it's funny to see him clearly getting better doing a promo, but also so nervous and and flubbing and flubbing words and trailing off at the end. Ha ha ha, what do you think about? Awful? Awful?
And he's just he is so gratuitously mimicking the cadence of Superstar Graham on this You're gonna say you're no, no, no, And he's like wagging his index finger and everything. He's doing the exact Billy Graham, which is different than in New York because Freddy Blassi did most of the talking, not all the talking, right, or Freddy Blassi would do a lot of the talking for Hulk, so he didn't really speak extemporaneously like we just saw much in New York.
So that's that's to set up the rematch. They had a double count out in that one took place later in nineteen eighty one, between Jerry Lawler and Hulk Cogan. I said, Dusty, because guess what the main event was underneath the Hull Cogan Jerry Lawler rematch, or on top of it, the main event that night was Dusty Rhodes versus Terry Funk for the NWA World Championship.
Wow.
So think about that. Think about how full circle that is. Terry Buley is back in Dusty's orbit after just a few years.
Yep.
So it's it's quite a history, suffice to say, between Hulkogan and Jerry the King Lawler on this Memphis leg of the journey and his book, Laura writes, obviously he recalls some on Men in the Moon being reminded of Hulk Hogan because Jim Carrey, as we've talked about, and as the brilliant under the cinemat you put together on the movie talks about oh yeah he uh Carrie was
in character okay on the set. Oh sure, he was carrying on like he was trying to channel Andy Kauffman's k fabe and yep, yeah, oh god, his best he could to legitimately get under Jerry Lawler's skin between takes. And there's a documentary of it and everything showing some of those moments. And one of the things that Jim Carrey did was Hulk Hogan adjacent. Lawla recalls it in his book. Obviously carry was trying to be Andy. After
a while, it started to piss me off. One time he did it, and he actually stuck a piece of paper on my back. I was walking around the set for a while with a sign on my back that said, Hulk Hogan.
Wanna be That's That's insane.
Definitely not a burn that I think Lawler would have expected, Boss, not at all back when he was playing these games with tapes of him beating hul Cogan in Memphis. But that's fun, Hulk Hogan want to be even more full circle on a SmackDown taping. Lawa writes about in his book This is one Hull could come in as Hollywood Hogan and O two. Lawa writes SmackDown tapes on Tuesdays and goes out on Thursday for fans who haven't meant
to a live show. They are at matches that go on before the TV cameras are running that are just for the benefit of the fans in the house, so they're called house matches or dark matches. I was booked to do a house match to the SmackDown taping in Tupelo, Mississippi, the night after Raw in Memphis. I drove down with my mom and my then girlfriend Joni. I've rustled Tupoulou many many times, though never at the ten thousand Seed arena they have now the Bank of Corpse South Center.
My mom and Janie had been watching from the pre tape room, which is where they put together some of the vignettes and posed shots of the wrestlers used in the graphics before the matches. When I got back there, Hulk Hogan was in the room fixing himself a cup of coffee.
I can picture that. Oh boy, oh my god, the strategic nature going on. What's going on? Dude?
Oh hey, wan A couple wanle to cover of the Jizo bro. Can you imagine like the sank of steam and his mustache hair. Oh, I mean you you know all day that Terry had a coffee Okay, if you're anywhere around him, mm hmmm, because of the way that those fibers preserve the essential oils and.
Grounds.
Oh yes, sheep cup of coffee and catering that he got. And you know he's strategic about when he gets to get coffee. You know he yes, pretended he had to go get a coffee because he wanted to get out of having to talk to somebody, you know. Yes, So there he is fixing himself a cup of coffee. Now, how can I go way way back, Lawla writes, and I know him as Terry. I wanted to introduce Terry to my mom. Terry was great, really gracious and friendly. He told my mom that her son had given him
his first real break in the business. That's a list of about forty people long at this point. I mean anybody Hogan met, anyone who didn't give him a break, anyone who didn't point him in the direction that ultimately led to fame and fortune. He recalled the time he had worked in the Mid South Colosseum in Memphis almost thirty years before. At the time, he was an inexperienced young wrestler and I had, in his words quote, thrown him to the lions. He's very cool of Hulk to
say those nice things about me to my mom. But all that, all that revisitation of Memphis almost didn't happen because back in nineteen seventy nine, after his brush with Jerry Lawler and teeming with Ed Boulder, just like his first brush with Dusty, it wasn't all adding up in the wrestling business for Terry Bolea and Boss Tampa was calling once again.
Brother.
But before we take it to Holt's book to get an idea of what I mean by that, we want to remind you, just for clarity's sake, that according to Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett, they put the money out for that Lincoln Continental, so we'll help be driving in
Memphis and we're not to find out. Let's turn to Terry's second book because, like I said, once again, despite all of the promise that we've seen glimpses of when he's in the ring working with Jerry Lawler as a partner on the microphone with Lance Russell and the Memphis TV studio, Hulk is once again wondering if this wrestling thing is for him. Okay, this is yeah, it's time for one last gut check for Terry Bullet in the
wrestling business. And here in his second book is how he describes his thought process.
The thing is, there's no security in wrestling. I always knew that. I didn't think I cared because at least it was one of those regular jobs with a period at the end of the sentence. I don't know what that means. I don't know. Maybe he means a cap salary. I don't know. I've never heard that phrase before, a regular job with a period at the end of the sentence. But even at the Memphis level, it was much more of a fly by night business than I ever imagined.
There were nights when you'd walk into some building to go to go to work for a promoter, and rather than it being a smart businessman or maybe a former wrestler who wanted to make some of himself, it would be just some guy who owns an electrical supply company who happens to promote wrestling on the side. Wrestling was my life. I wanted to grow my fan base, sell all bigger arenas, and make more money, you know. I wanted to keep moving forward. How could that happen while
I wasn't in charge of my own destiny? Okay, and when the men who were in charge were t treating him like a side gig or were too small minded to see anything above and beyond what they were already doing in whatever tiny little territory they considered their domain. I kept obsessing over and complaining, mostly to myself, that things should be better. You know, it didn't. I didn't know how to fix it though. Oh no, sorry. I didn't know how to fix it though, And it really
it didn't really make any uh. And I didn't really make any effort to take control. I didn't know how. Plus it was just so weird to walk in every night and know that if you got cut or got hurt, it was up to you to go to the doctor. There's no insurance, there's no retirement plan, none that none of the stability was that I quote normal job has,
and there was no structure to it. I started to feel like there was nobody there to back me up if I ever needed help to be a wrestler meant that everything you had, your future, your health, your sanity, all of it was stuff in this little bag you carried with your boots and your tights. You'd put on this costume and to go to go like a dancing monkey. Then you take the costume off, get paid, and move
on on the next town circus. To look around at this sold out arena, to hear them roar and chant your name, to know that they're walking out there with their buddies, were living every moment of the show that you put on, just like Vick and I used to do when we left the armory back in Tampa, when back in Tampa's kids. And then after all that, I got hands you twenty five bucks and says see you next week. It all seemed like a letdown after a while. The rays up to one hundred bucks or so didn't
make it any better. You know, they were still just the price of a few seats, and that whole arena was that all I was worth. I know, I knew a good portion of those fans were there to see me. We're there to see me. I had built a following. I was the one out doing spots on TV and helping them to promote this whole thing, this whole thing, another whole thing, right, this thing, this whole thing, this thing. I knew I deserved more, I knew I was worth more.
So what it was clear that there were no giant raises in my future. I took a step back, yes, and tried to reevaluate this whole situation. My conclusion. Wrestling for no money sucks. So that was it. So that was that, once again, I decided to quit. I drove back to Tampa, where where I'd always return whenever we had a few days off. This time I really thought I was quitting for good. So that was that, once again I decided to quit. I heard you, I heard you, Terry.
Oh no, they said this is actually an accidental repeat. I think, oh, okay, got it.
So he's having it's not adding up, mister math Mister worked at the bank and starting to think I'm gonna quit again because he's wrestling for no money sucks, And in Tampa, you know, he sends his opportunity, he sends his a chance to swell his wallet. And hell, there's the fringe benefit that if he leaves Memphis behind. Not only is he leaving behind what he thinks is a neutered opportunities, also leaving behind some debts. According to Jerry Lawler, came through.
The church story for I appreciate period of time.
My memory is that Jerry Jarrett and I co signed for Huk's first car and we never got reimbursed.
Wh let's gipp that on of course.
And Hope, you know, you made all this big money, can at least pay Hi back for that car.
Uh.
No.
I remember when when Hope first came in.
You know, I can't remember if he came to us from Florida or if he I believe he did, uh, and then went from Us.
Up to vern and then of course verned to UH to Vince.
But he was one of those guys that when you when you saw him, you knew that it was gonna he was gonna be something special. Just lookause he had such a unique look, uh and and the and the voice and and at this time he was really just.
He was just because coming the holp, you know.
And I think we kind of helped shape and molding along that road by doing some you know, we were one of the first companies that sort of innovated the wrestling vignettes or the music videos and that sort of thing.
To help get guys over.
We always felt that that that you could do more than just have somebody beat somebody in the ring to help them get over with the people.
And and we did some really really entertaining and great little videos on the Hulk.
And you know, at the time it was there, Memphis was just Memphis was a great place to work. I mean, you get a lot of work there, but it was not ever a place that you were going to make a lot of money at that time.
And you you had to really want to be there and want to you know, improve your skill or.
Whatever, and know that that's what we were going to get to do there, because certainly weren't going to get rich there.
They just weren't.
There were a lot of wrestlers there, the payoffs were spread in and uh, you know, even though we wrestle every night that the houses were uh a lot of times not all that big and and so the payoffs were not that great.
And and I think that that helped realized after he was there for a while that he just.
Anyway, he just didn't think he was making enough money and was going to try to go on somewhere where he could make more money in and then of course he went on up for for Verne Gun yet and then and then came back through after he was uh, after he was the Hulk, and we had some we had some He and I had some pretty memorable matches in and and you know, I like to think that I think that he would say that he probably learned a little bit working working with me. We had had
some pretty good matches. And uh, you know, a lot of people knock Terry, but I I, you know, I can't knock the guy.
He's that he's probably the best self promoter that has ever come along in this business. And that's what you have to be in this business to be successful. Nobody's done it anybody day.
And he made a lot of money for himself, made a lot of money for other companies, and and really helped bring a lot of attentions to this business.
So, you know, I long says the more power to him.
So there it is all in one big long sound bite. Addresses the low pay and how that was just kind of something that was the case in Memphis, you know, kind of front running what he knew. Hulk felt about how he was not being necessarily fairly compensated, well at the same time saying the reason he left Alabama for Memphis was because he was being so incredibly fairly compensated. But for Hulk, he's starting to learn that if you act dissatisfied with your pay, it only goes up.
Yeah.
I think that's registering there because he's started to realize it as much smoke as promoters will blow up his ass about how they see potential. But he's green and there's a lot of work to do, so we need to underpay you. He's like, no, no, actually, I can basically become a highest paid guy in territory and you'll still push the shit out of me because you know, if you put a guy that looks like me in
front of your audience, you're gonna sell tickets. Yeah, he's already hip to that after just you know what, seven eight months back in the business, and that will be the story in so many ways of him trucking off from Memphis. So, I mean, basically, if you look at his wrestling data list of matches, there's a match on June's sixteenth in Chattanooga against Terry Gordy, which God damn it. Do I invite you to consider Terry Boulder versus Terry
Gordy in nineteen seventy nine. It's kind of like the Dennis Condury match we talked about, Yeah, and then it's July fourteenth, seventy nine Terry Boulder and Ed Boulder over the Destroyer and Buddy Wayne. July sixteenth, Mid South Colosseum in Memphis, Terry Boulder and Ed Boulder over Ron Bass in Pete Austin which we looked at, and then then Evansville on July eighteenth of seventy nine, and Indiana. The Hangman versus Terry Boulder is recorded as winner unknown two below.
July twentieth, seventy nine. Terry Ed Boulder, Steve Regal and Randy Tyler versus the Gestapo, Hans Schroder, Ron Bass and Pete Austin when are unknown July twenty four, seventy nine, Jackson, Tennessee, Lawler Terry and Ed Boulder over Ron Bass, Pete Austin and Danny Davis, Memphis, July twenty third, seventy nine, Mid South Coliseum, Ed and Terry Boulder over Ron Bass and
Pete Austin. July twenty fourth, Louisville Gardens, Louisville, Kentucky. Terry and Ed Boulder over, Ron Bass and Pete Austin are actually win or unknown. Evansville July twenty fifth, seventy nine Hulkan, Ed Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin win are unknown. July twenty six Boonville, Mississippi. Terry and Ed Boulder defeat Hans Schroeder and the Gestapo July twenty sixth, Booneville and Mississippi.
It's part of a multiple person match here. Bill Dundy and Jerry Lawler defeated Buddy, Wayne and Danny Davis and Ed Boulder and Eddie Gilbert and Elie Martin, Eddie Martin, Comarlin, Gestapo Schroeder, Jerry Jarrett, Ken, Wayne, Larry Latham, Pete Austin, Ready Tyler, Ricky Morton, Ron Bass, Steve Regal and Terry Boulder as well as Tommy Gilbert and Wayne Ferris in a battle Royal two below July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy nine. Terry Ned Boulder win are unknown against Ron Bass and
Pete Austin. July thirtieth, Mid South Coliseum, Memphis, Ron Bass as the NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion. The Mid America version of the championship defeats Terry Boulder and Terry's first title crack in Memphis, July thirty, first seventy nine. Terry Ned Bolder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win are unknown. In Louisville, then to August Evansville August first, seventy nine, Hulkin, Ed Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win or
unknown August second, nineteen seventy nine. Ropperena Lexington, Terry and Need Boulder versus Ron Bass and Pete Austin Win are unknown. Blitheville, August third, seventy nine. Tommy Gilbert and Terry Boulder defeat Ron Bass and Pete Austin so Tommy Gilbert filling in for Ed Boulder for some reason on that night. Chat Nooga, August fifth, seventy nine. Tony Perkins and Jerry Ralph versus the Magnificent Hulk of Magnificent Ulk. There is no evidence
that he was at times called the Magnificent Hulk as well. Memphis, Mid South Colisseum August sixth seventy nine. Terry Boulder and Jackie Fargo. That's a pairing if I've ever heard one, the Memphis legend, that's like Terry Boulder teaming up with I don't know, verne Gania or Yea lu Fez or Jack Briscoe or something. Defeating Ron Bass and Sunny King. Louisville, August seventh, Terry Boulder defeats Ron Bass by a d Q for the Southern Heavyweight title in Louisville Gardens. So
you're starting to see Terry break off in a singles action. Evansville, August eighth, Ron Bass and Terry Boulder for the championship winner unknown. August tenth, seventy nine, Tupelo, Mississippi, Ron Bass first, Terry Boulder win or unknown. August thirteenth, seventy nine, Mid South Colisseum Bass first Boulder ended without a winner and a no contest for the championship. Louisville, August fourteenth, Terry ned Boulder beat Sunny King and Ron Bass. Tupelo, August seventeenth,
Terry ned Boulder versus Bason King won a unknown. Owensboro, Kentucky, August eighteenth, Ron Bass first Terry Boulder for the championship win a unknown August twentieth, Mid South Colisseum Terry Boulder defeats Sunny King, a match we saw clips of during the course of our Memphis slate. Louisville, August twenty first, seventy nine, Bass and Boulder ended in a no contest. Evansville, August twenty second, Bass and Boulder went a unknown for
the championship. Helena, Arkansas, August twenty third, Hulk NN at Boulder for Sunny King and Pete Austin win a unknown. Helena August twenty third, seventy nine Battle Royal win a unknown, but Hulk part of the seventeen man slate very similar to the moment we just read off two Blow. August twenty fourth, Bill Dundee and Terry Boulder team together to
face Ron Bass and Sunny King win a unknown. The Memphis TV tapings in August twenty fifth at the WMC Studio saw Tommy Gilbert and Terry Boulder team together defeat Pete Austin and Buddy Wayne. August twenty seventh at the Mid South Coliseum saw Terry Boulder and Tommy Gilbert defeat the future Hunky Tongue Man, Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham and an aw A Southern Tag Team Championship match Louisville, Kentucky, August twenty eighth, Terry Boulder over Sunny King Evansville August
twenty ninth Sunny King versus Terry Boulder winner unknown. August thirty first Sunny King versus Terry Boulder winner unknown in two below and then September Jones Burrow, Arkansas, September one, Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes The Fabulous free Birds defeat Terry Boulder and Steve reeg That's a match to see. Man Birmingham, Alabama, September ninth, third seventy nine has talked about Dennis Condry versus Incredible Hulk. Louisville, Kentucky September fourth,
seventy nine. Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham, the WA Southern Tag Team Champions defeat Terry Boulder and Tommy Gilbert and then Evansville, Indiana September fifth, seventy nine, Wayne Ferris and Latham over Boulder and Gilbert. And finally September sixth, seventy nine, rupp Areena Lexington, Kentucky. Ron Bass defeats Terry Boulder on Terry Boulder way out of the territory. So it's back to Tampa, Boss. It's back to Tampa for Terry Boulet
to see about the docks. And there was an old friend Terry and Ed had left behind and Tampa.
Huh.
His friend had fallen on hard times. He'd gotten divorced, a nasty breakup. The golf courses that he franchised down there had been shut down by the city. His weight was getting out of control, and his spirit was broken. In fact, he had driven his white Volkswagen out to the iconic Skyway Bridge in Tampa after going on a serious coke bender that had him up for days. There were concrete barriers preventing cars from driving off the bridge back then, but he felt he could get around them.
And as this person told our friend Brad Beluccian in this piece of audio that Brad sent us from research for his book The six Pack. A reminder, by the way, that Brad is offering any lapsed fan listener who joins his patreon dot com slash the Brad Pack Patreon a free personalized and autographed book plate as part of our cooperation here on the complete Hull Kelgan. You told this to Brad and.
I drove all the way out at the end.
This is it was late skill dark out, and I don't know where my head was, but I remember getting out there and I'm in a white Volkswagen and I could push the side of the deal and the thing pivoted and I could get around it. And I was just going to drive and drive off the fucking thing.
Maybe nobody even.
Know, you know, but that's how fucked up I was. And all of a sudden, it's like this is happening and I can't stop it. And next thing I know, the sun's coming up and there's birds coming around hitting the water, Helkin saying all that, and it's getting brighter, and I'm crying. I'm just I've been up a couple of days and we're just wired.
Somehow. I got I got in the car and I drove home.
So Terry at that particular time, Terry and Beefcake are up in Tennessee and they're eddy Boulder and they're taken off.
They're doing there. It's going good.
But then for a couple of days they had a big Lincoln at the time, I remember that, and he had it for a little while. They had a big Lincoln town car because they hit a post and piss some people off. And they had a poor sugar at one of the beach bars. And a guy comes out and all of a sudden, he just he wouldn't say a word, and then Terry starts tying his shoes on his on the bumper sport.
Anyway, it's old another story, and then the place burned down. So anyway, so they come in.
I get home, it's probably ten or eleven o'clock in the morning, and I just crash in the you know, the doors and lock and on it. They come blowing in about right afternoon. Yeah, you know, I always loud, and I'm just fucked up. They have no idea what I've been to, and Beefcake knows it, and I can't fuck it. I'm like, oh fuck, I can't. And you know, fuck with these guys. And Beefcake is just on my ass. I mean, and he's just and he's look at you, and they're just he's slapping me and all this shit.
And they I don't want to say they saved my life, but they, I guess got me through that it's over. Get fucker, you know, well, they jugged my ass. To this gym.
It's in North Tampa. It's off Hillsborough. It wasn't an open gym. One of the Burscos was in there one of the times we went there. We went there today for like they killed me, but they've killed me what to do and they were telling me, if you get your ass in shape, you could do this stuff.
Next time on the Complete Hulkogan, you may have thought you've heard it all thus far about Terry Bullays upbringing in Tampa, but there was one friend we haven't introduced you to yet. It will become increasingly important, from the time on the edge of the bridge that we just heard him describe, to the road during Hulk's glory years in the WWF, to the courtroom in Vince McMahon's steroid trial.
His name is Danny Brower. He'd be known to wrestling fans as Danny Brazil, and to Hulk, he'd eventually be known as his mule. Next time on the Complete Hulkog and Terry Boleya and we revisit the Tampa that reared him set off for a quick foray to neighboring Georgia Championship Wrestling as Sterling Golden and end up where else but New York and the WWF, where Terry Boleya finally becomes Hulk Hogan and name as well as in essence, and finally, there is no turning back.