Hulk Hogan Says Wrestling WCW Star Was “Like Pulling Teeth”
Hulk Hogan reignited his career in WCW when he joined up with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the NWO but by 2000, not even The Hulkster could pull the company out of the tailspin it was in.
One of the low points in an era littered with them in WCW was when, at Bash at the Beach in 2000, Vince Russo told Jeff Jarrett to lay down and lose the WCW World Title to Hulk Hogan after Hogan had initially refused to do the honours for Jarrett.
Hulk Hogan left the arena with Vince Russo going on to cut a promo on the star that resulted in legal action being taken by Hogan.
Around this time, Hogan had moved uncharacteristically from working with seasoned stars and veterans to working with talent further down the card, in particular Billy Kidman. Unfortunately, if the idea was to elevate Kidman to Hogan’s level, it didn’t work, only dragging Hogan away from the main event scene and lowering his worth.
Speaking in a recently unearthed interview on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show recorded one day after the events at Bash at the Beach, Hulk Hogan let rip on having to work with Billy Kidman, calling the situation a “f*cking joke”:
“We know that’s a rib. Kidman can’t go through Sting, Goldberg, and Jarrett. I’m just sticking it up Russo’s ass. Kidman never should have had the spot with Hogan anyway. If Russo would have been right, then he would have went with Kidman all the way.
“It was such a f*cking joke and all I did was get respect and sympathy from the fans because, ‘Here’s Hogan and all he’s been through. He won’t work with the young guys and every week he’s getting beat by Kidman. We got respect for that son of bitch.’ That’s all that did.”
“Two to three times, Jarrett doesn’t get in the ring. I think he’s working the crowd and we’re going to tear the place down. I got them right in the palm of my hand. When you have them like that, you can fart in the ring and the place will go crazy. Not like pulling teeth with Billy Kidman where you have to work your ass off and there’s no reaction.”
During the interview, Hulk Hogan also revealed he went to the ring at Bash at the Beach with blades in case anything happened that he had to fight his way out of.
h/t Fightful