WWE legend The Honky Tonk Man recently appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Here are the highlights.
On if WWE have some of the older legends come in and teach psychology:
They don’t want it. If they did they would have us there. They have people training the guys down there in the training center that never worked Main Events anywhere. Nothing against the guys that are doing the training but they have guys as trainers that never was the Main Event at Madison Square Garden and sold Madison Square Garden. I sold Madison Square Garden out I think eight times, which is nothing because Bruno sold it out every month for ten years. When you think about you are on a Main Event and you are selling out all these buildings across the country and the guys training people now, well I don’t know I guess you don’t have to be a great player to be a great coach.
I could promise you though, Vince knows what he has to do to get a heel hot, he knows what he has to do to make an angle hot, and believe me he knows that. You just don’t forget someday how the business is designed. It’s good vs. evil and you can’t reinvent it. I don’t care, you just can’t do it.
On if he currently watches WWE:
I’ll be perfectly honest with you and all the fans. I don’t watch it, I don’t even know what time it comes on here in Phoenix. The last time I saw one of the shows was when I was there three years ago in Buffalo and they pipe it into the locker room and the kids in the locker room are playing video games on their phones and they weren’t even watching. So no I don’t watch the product because I’m not involved with it. If I don’t work for the Post Office I don’t care what the Post Office does. I’m more concerned with the independent wrestling scene. I am more in touch with that and what is going on there than anywhere else.
On his exclusion from the WWE Hall of Fame:
There are different variables to that. I’ve had different squabbles with the office over things and they are a little bit vindictive and they hold grudges and sometimes that plays a part in a lot of things, so who knows. I don’t sit around and wait on that particular 203 area code to pop up on my phone.
If you are sitting there waiting for that phone call you could be an old man in a wheel chair by the time that phone rings. You have to pick up the pieces and move on and let the chips fall where they may. If we can do business we can, if we can’t, we can’t. That’s just how it is. Everything is negotiable.
