Lil' Bitch

I liked The Man With The Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies, but that's just me. My favorites: Connery - From Russia With Love Moore - For Your Eyes Only Brosnan - The World Is Not Enough

The irony was that they showed the trailer for Apocalypto before Borat started.

I wouldn't advise it.

Alanis Morissette is playing as a lesbian this season.

Where do I go to get the 4th Piper DVD?

Did anybody get the Ultimate Edition boxsets yet?

I think it was all bullshit just to swerve internet fans. I mean c'mon, Spider-Man without Venom? I heard Raimi hated Venom since he's a fan of the old school villains, but I think the fans forced him to change his mind and include V. SPOILER

Kanye's a douchebag. Old news.

1.) At what show did the infamous "We're live, pal!" Sid interview botch happen?

TNA dug themselves into a hole with this one. I like the choke-out DQ finish idea though, they should go with that.

FUCK! I wanted Styles to go against Sting.

I'd mark out. Me too. This card looks great!

They should save Cena Vs. Federline for WM. That way you get the "celebrity feel" from the first WM and Cena can be out of the title picture.

I liked The Hulk, but yeah I can see why some people didn't like it (too slow, mutant poodles. etc) My beef was that they changed it so now COME ON!!! I hope Bana comes back too so he can fight The Abomination and / or The Leader.

I had a great time watching this! Anybody who gets offended gets what they deserve! They should have known what they were getting themselves into. My favorite part was with Pamela Anderson and my favorite line was "We support your war of terror!"

I enjoyed his role in Batman as well. RIP Jack.

I'm sorry to inform you...

Saw the trailer last night. Looks totally awesome!

Vince is actually doing a favor to Britney.

They need to quit bullshitting about giving Batista the belt. You can only build up the guy so many times and make him look like a choker because fans soon lose interest in the chase. See Randy Orton.

Damn, I actually wanted to see the Cena / HHH / HBK Vs. Booker / Batista / Kennedy Vs. Big Show / RVD / Sabu match. The RAW Vs. SD match from last year was pretty much it.

Part 7 Final Installment Wade Keller: Did you feel any sense when you were in WCW that wrestlers felt it was a gravy train that Time-Warner was going to pay for and it would never end because ratings were too good? Was there a sense of being bullet-proof? Scott Hall: Well, I mean, you gotta remember, too, when you work for Vince, until I left - and here I'm patting myself on the back again - but until I left - and now, see, people get guaranteed dough in New York. Back then, bro, you didn't get no guaranteed dough. You would get your check. The envelope would come in the mail. Sometimes I'd be on the road and I'd call my old lady and my Summerslam check would come in. I'd ask, "How much it it, baby?" She'd go, "It's only 65 grand." I'd go, "I told you not to buy that lamp! We can't afford it." I mean, see the sweet thing about working for Turner was... Barry Blood, who is a super, super human being and a shark at negotiating, Eric Bischoff actually asked Barry if he would negotiate his contract with Turner. Barry said, "I can't. It's a conflict." See, once you know you're locked in - the funny thing, too, is, cause when you work for Vince, you're only as good as your last match. It's like what have you done for me lately. I'll never forget the first couple of times me and Kev went to the ring and did interviews and went out and came back and the people sitting at the backstage area with the table guys with the headsets on and sh--. We'd come back, and they'd go, "Great great, excellent excellent." I looked at Kev and went, "What the f---? That was f---in' brutal. If we did that for Vince, we'd get f---in' yelled at." But (at Turner) you hear, "That was great. Really good job. Thanks." I said, "F---, they don't even know." WCW was so used to being a failure that they didn't have a clue, so basically we just raped 'em. I was happy for all the other guys. I don't know what other guys made. Kev and I had matching contracts. We brought Kid (Sean Waltman) with us because he's my boy and Kid is money. The one thing about Kid is, people don't know until they've been in the ring with him, he's fantastic. But people don't realize it until they've actually been in the ring with him because he can't really interview. But in the ring, he is money. It was so funny, we were the WolfPac. Me, Kevin, and Kid. The funny thing is, Kid was our enforcer. He was the stiffest prick of all. Kid would knock your lights out. Keller: I saw him in a semi-shoot fight before there were shoot fights back in the late-'80s in a bar in Minneapolis against Wellington Wilkins, who was a super-tough guy, and they went out there and just stretched each other old style. Kid was, like, 18 at the time, and he was beat up afterward, but this Wilkins guy who looked like Dean Malenko, a super super tough strong mat guys with submissions, he and Kid just slapped the sh-- out of each other and they were stretching and twisting each other. Afterward in the locker room, they were just all beat up, but Sean just had this smile on his face like he just went through the best thing he possibly could have. He was just so deceptively, unbelievably tough. Hall: I'm a huge fan of Kid. Vince hooked us up. I would have never known Kid if Vince hadn't shot that angle with us. But now, so many years have gone by and stuff, and now we're married to each other in a sense. I just think he's money. I just talked to him today. He called me this afternoon. He did some shows in Guadalajara. He went down there and said he was working with Juvi. I think Juventud Guererra is a major, major star. I can't figure out why he isn't working in the U.S. Keller: Because he's a flake. Hall: Everybody has their little demons. I heard Juvi is going a little bit crazy so he can't get a job in the U.S. Keller: At his peak I thought he was at times better than Rey Mysterio athletically. But that was a long time ago and he's been through a lot since then. Hall: I haven't seen Juvi in a while, but see, I used to hang with the Mexican guys. I always hung out with the Mexican dudes because they're cool. We would just hang out, laugh, and talk. When me and Kev worked for Turner, we had free rooms, free hotels, free luxury cars. They paid for everything. The thing is, though, they gave me and Kev both Cadillacs because we didn't want the Lincoln Town Cars. We wanted Caddies. We insisted on Caddies. What we would do is, we were going to ride together anyway, so we would either give our other car to one of the Mexican boys or we'd give it to the referee or one of the dudes a little lower on the food chain. Like, "Here you go, bro. And don't bother putting gas in it because it's all on Uncle Ted." We had free rooms and at that time I was dating this really sweetheart of a girl, Emily Sherman, she was a production assistant. Her uncle was Brad Siegel, the president of TNT. I didn't know that when I met her, but she's smokin' hot, so me and her used to hang out. So she had a free room and I had a free room, so then I would give my room to somebody and my car to somebody. I'm getting sidetracked again, man. Get me on track! Keller: Talk about the Emily situation. How was that politically. I remember hearing about that. It was kind of a big deal. How long were you dating her? Hall: I'll tell you what. She is smokin' hot. She's really, really intelligent. She has a double-degree. She went to the University of Miami. She has, like, a double degree. I never went to college so I don't really know what that means. Her family is super-wealthy, but I'm way older than her. We had a great relationship. I don't know. We dug each other. I used to say, "Emily, look at me, man. I was out of control. I was f---in' just, you know... I was hanging out with Steve McMichael back when he was going through his drama. Me and Bongo - I always called him Bongo (laughs). Everybody else called him Mongo. I used to call him Bongo. And we were doing whatever the f--- we wanted to do. We were talking about these guaranteed contracts. What are you gonna do to me? One time I remember walking into a production meeting when Bischoff was sitting there. I walked in and said, "Hey, Bischoff. You know what, I ain't no lawyer, but I have read my contract, and there is no asshole clause. There is no alcohol policy. In fact, all I have to do is show up on time and pass your piss test and I get my money." I said, "I don't even have to be good at what I do. I just happen to be good at it because I take pride in it because if the whole world is watching me, I like to be good at what I do. Bischoff just looked at me like, "F---, you're right. What can I say to that?" Legally he was bound. Like, all I had to do was show up, piss clean, and I get my money. I can act like a f---in' jackoff and there was nothing he could do. It's not a popularity contest. That's what me and Kid were talking about. We had so much f---ing heat, but we don't care. It's kind of like, almost a good kind of heat. Everybody hates you, but everybody kisses your ass. Keller: Kevin Nash said, in the Torch Talk with him last year, that there were times he was an asshole, times he was a prick... Hall: Kev? You kidding me. We used to call him grouch. F---, I used to call him grouch. That was his name. We would say "grouch." The funny part was, we'd be sitting around the meeting - Kev is seven feet fall. He's 6-11 and a half in his bare feet. So we'd be sitting around, you know how you sit around a meeting and they're talking over a finish. So Kev would go, "I think we should do this, this, this, and this." Everybody would always bow down to Kev. For one thing, he's very articulate. He's educated. And he's so f---in' big. But sometimes, I think I was the only person, and I think Kev will validate this - I was the only person who would say, "No, that's wrong, Kev. We need to do this. We need to do that." He'd go, "Oh, okay." Sometimes we'd be sitting around meetings. Kev would just go off. Everybody would be afraid of him because he's a big, scary f---er. He had Bischoff in his pocket. He had Bischoff so f---in' worked, he ended up booking the company. He was f---in' booking for a while. Keller: How much of the time did Kevin, and you too, take advantage of that power you had? How much of the time was it for the good of you and for the good of the company, versus good for you but not good for the company? Hall: Well, see, that's a tough call for me to make. Know what I mean? Because, you know, I'm a selfish prick, so what am I going to say. I think that I'm real giving. I think I did more jobs. Like I told you, I'm the highest paid job guy in the business. I made millions of dollars lying on my f---in' back. Sometimes I used to tease Emily and say, "I look pretty lying on my back." F---in' shoot me. Sometimes the referee, too - I would do a job for somebody, and I wasn't supposed to. I would do a job on Nitro, and I'll be lying there until the other guy's music's done playing and he's left the arena. I would still lay there. The referee would be going, with their earpiece and sh--, and they'd be going, "Come on, get out of the ring. Get out of the ring." I'll be going, "F--- you, man. F--- you!" Because when you lie there long enough, and then you stand up, f---, you get a pop. I'll tell you what else. Me and Kid were talking about this. I don't think you'll ever find three other guys. If you beat me, beat us both. Let me get this right. I'm standing in the corner and you pin my partner or he submits. Why don't I make a save? So, I don't know if we invented it, but we damn sure perfected it in my overblown egotistical opinion. You know, if you beat us, you beat all of us. All three of us would lay out. One time in Charlotte we worked with Kevin Greene when he was a big star with the Carolina Panthers, Roddy Piper, and Ric Flair. So I told Flair (what we were going to do). We shine him up. We get some heat. We do whatever. I told Flair, "Bang, I'm gonna scoop you up like I'm going for my finish. Scoop my legs, put me in the figure four. Kev's gonna rush in, Piper's finish at that time was the sleeper, then Kid rushed in, and Kev powerslammed him. I told Flair, "I got no problem with submitting, but I think the people like 1-2-3 better. Know what I mean? You get a better pop off of 1-2-3. So I'm just going to put my shoulders down and let the referee count 1-2-3 because I was, like, the legal guy. But you know what was so f---ed up about WCW, in my opinion - and you have to remember, Wade, that everything I say is my opinion. They had so much money invested in me and Kev and Kid also but not to that degree, that we all three were laid out and we didn't move and when they shot the shot, when I saw the PPV back, and I saw the shot, they shot those guys from the waist up and you never saw all three of us laid out. To me, I'm going, "What the f---! Come on!" We were trying to make movies and they were shooting after school specials. I mean, I don't know. One thing, too. I think the guy, and I don't even remember his name, but the guy who was directing the show, I did not have that much respect for. This will probably come back to haunt me because I'll probably end up working with this prick some day. He was the voice of the NWO. We used to have our own commercials and stuff, where they go, "The preceding announcement is brought to you by the NWO." That's his voice. He directed the hottest show on cable for several years, so I'm going to give him his props, but I disagree with some of the direction we went because I just thought that sometimes they missed some things. I barely made it through high school, so what do I know? I want to be sure to quality everything I say because I don't want this thing to come out and people go, "That Scott Hall, what an egotistical prick he is." You know what I mean? I don't want that to happen. I don't want to bury anybody. If I want to bury somebody, I'll do it to their face. I don't want to do it to you on the phone. Keller: Let's go back to you burying yourself a little bit because you can do that. Hall: I'm good at that. (laughs) Keller: I want to re-ask the question and have you elaborate on it a little bit more. Looking back, how much of the time when there was no asshole clause, do you think you more often used it (to help yourself)? Obviously, you're going to do things to help yourself, but you can do things to help yourself that also help the company, or things that help yourself and f-- the company, screw the company. How often did you just arbitrarily say, "Let's screw the company to help ourselves" rather than try to find a way to help yourselves and help the company? Was there a balance there you're proud of, or do you look back and think, Yeah, we were kind of assholes a lot of the time? Hall: I never did answer that question, did I? I my mind - you gotta remember, too, I want to quality every statement by saying, In my opinion. I think I was a pretty good businessman. I lot of times, they would say things, I was always the one to go, "I think we should do this." I remember telling you before, I used to go to Bischoff and go, "Look, you're the boss and I'll do whatever you say because I love gettin' them big fat checks. But I think, if I was the boss, and I'm not, but if I was the boss, I'd do this." And see, you gotta remember, when it was me, Kevin, and Hulk, see Hulk had written in his contract creative control over his character. So anything he did, which meant anything that we did, he had control. So all we had to do was sway Hulk, and our relationship with Hulk was real dicey at the beginning because, I'll admit, I was jealous. I remember standing at the monitor watching Hulk one time - me and Bischoff were standing at the monitor watching Hulk, and he was out there, and I wasn't that impressed. I looked at Bischoff and said, "Let me get this right, this guy is three times as good as me? You pay this guy three times more than you're paying me? You f---in' ribbin' me. But then I'll tell you what, the more I got around Hulk, the more I learned that he is undeniably, undisputedly The Man. Hulk is The Man. Because, you know, like, I don't know (laughs), the more I got around him... Keller: When you say he is The Man, is that because he was so good at being a self-preservationist in doing things to help himself and protect himself? Or are you saying he was The Man because fans knew who he was because of all of his exposure. Was he the man because he has this charisma? Hall: It's everything. It's everything. One thing I will say, too. One time, it was so funny because they wouldn't even ask Hulk to do a job. He's Hulk Hogan, so he does not get beat. But then he started seeing me and Kev do jobs, like, all the time. We were putting mother f---ers over all the f---in' time, then beatin' 'em up after, you know what I mean? We'd put 'em over, then we'd beat 'em up and spray paint them. Hulk saw that. One time Hulk worked with Roddy Piper in Nashville on a pay-per-view - Starrcade of whatever it was. He worked with Piper in Nashville. Hulk took the sleeper and f---in' Piper beat Hulk with the sleeper. We were in the limo with Hulk going back to the hotel and I have never seen Hulk so f---in' juiced. He was so f---n' psyched because the people went crazy. They talk about jocks when they leave the business and there's nothing else that gives you that rush, you know? When we were in the limo sitting with Hulk, and he still had his gear on, and we just bolted. As soon as the match was over, we just jumped the limo and went back to the hotel. Hulk was so f---n' psyched. It wasn't like he just beat Andre in the Silverdome in Detroit. He f---n' did a job for Piper and he was more excited. And that's when I thought, wow. See, one thing, too, that I learned a long time ago is it's fake. It's all fake! The whole idea is make it entertaining. All I want is the people walking in the parking lot going, "That f---er Scott Hall is a hell of a f---in' entertainer." I want them to go in their car and go, "That f---in' prick, boy, he's funny on the microphone, he takes a lot of bumps. He had a heel of a match. He's got a good body." Whatever the f---. That was always my idea, I wanted the people walking the parking lot going, "That f---in' guy is really somethin'." I mean, that's the way I broke in. That's what I learned from Dusty. Dusty Rhodes told me that the finish doesn't matter. He said what happens after the finish matters. Dusty actually told me on time, he says, "It's just like if you're f---n' a broad. You can f--- her, but it's what happens afterward is whether she invites you back or not." And this is almost like when you run a town and you want to draw a house the next time, I mean, that is what Dusty told me and I never forgot it. You can f--- her. You can't just roll off and say, "See you later, baby doll." You gotta lay there and whatever it is. That was the reference Dusty gave me, and I've always had tons of respect for Dusty because, let's face it, he ain't gonna win no beauty contest, he ain't gonna win no bodybuilding show (laughs), he's not Ricky Steamboat, you know what I mean? He's not the greatest technical worker. But he's always been on top. In most situations, he's been writing the scripts. He's been the booker. I was so blessed to be around this guy. And then I was so lucky that Dusty helped me break in. So years and years go by, then I come in to this NWO thing which is blowing up. And Dusty's an announcer. But I don't know if you remember, but we did a thing one time, I think was wrestling (Larry) Zbyszko or some sh-- in some gimmick match with Louie Spiciolli out there. He was, like, my young boy. We did a thing where we turned Dusty heel. Dusty joined the NWO. Because I wanted to pay him back. The same thing with Zbyszko. When I was a green horn in the AWA in Minny, Zbyszko made me one night in Winnipeg. I was a nobody. I was a jobroni. And Zbyszko was a big star at that time. And he made me. I always like to give back. So, if you're talking about abusing the power and sh-- like that, I don't know if I'm really guilty of it, but see, again, ask around, know what I mean, Wade? Ask other people. They'll probably say those guys are f---in' pricks and all they care about is themselves. I can't answer that. I keep saying is this is my point of view. Keller: Let me ask this. I'm intrigued by your answer to this. If your money was on the line - a lot of it - if you were a part owner of WCW, let say you had 25 percent interest in it, what would you have done differently in those peaks years to preserve the company and keep it running? Hall: See, you know what, a lot of people say this and a lot of people are correct. A lot of people say it really got watered down when you kept adding people. I remember one time Bischoff came to me and asked, "How do you feel about putting (Scott) Norton in the NWO?" I said, "F---, what, are you gonna say to Norton? He'll kick my f---in' ass (laughs). I don't want no trouble with Norton. He'll beat the f--- out of me." He said, "Well, we use him in Japan a lot." Because at that time WCW had a relationship with New Japan. We were so f---in' red hot that they wanted an NWO presence in Japan. "So what do you think about Norton," asked Bischoff. I said, "Okay, no problem." But then we just started adding people. You know why? Because that way, me and Kev didn't have to make all the f---in' towns. We were making TVs and PPVs. We were having, like, Hulk's schedule. We weren't doing sh--. All you had to do was - Hulk said one time in an interview, all you had to do was a slap an NWO t-shirt on a guy and all of a sudden he was a big deal. At that time. That sh-- was smokin' hot. And the thing is, too, I wish at the same time - you know what happened, to me, the downfall of the NWO was one time Bischoff got real pissed off at me and Kev because we had accused him and Hulk of some sh-- and he was really pissed off at me and Kev. So he fired Kid. Now Kid is sitting at home with a broken neck. He injured his neck and he was fillin' in on a match. I was supposed to wrestle Lex in Mankato, Minnesota. My back was messed up, so I was at ringside and Kid was filling in for me. I went to do the thing where, you know how you shoot the guy in for the backdrop, and then he dropkicks ya'? They did it, but it got a little bit messed up and Kid landed a little weird and messed his neck up. So, and then during that time, me and Kev and Hulk and Bischoff had a little falling out. So they couldn't do nothing to us because our contracts were iron clad, plus we were kind of the sh--. So they fired Kid. So when I find out about that, I think the next time I go to a show, I think it was Philly. We used to always hang out in the arena when it was empty. I used to love to sit down in the seats when they were empty, and we would sit out there. One time I walked up to Kev and he went, "Sh--s O-N." I said, "We got a place to go?" He said, "Already talked to Vince." I said, "Fine with me. F--- these mother f---ers." He said, "We're out of here. F--- these mother f---ers." Cause they fired our boy. I tell you what, that was when Kev showed up on Raw, did an interview burying f---in' Bischoff and Hogan. And if you chart the ratings, they f---in' went down from then. That's when WWF started to win, or WWE, that's when the whole - because we quit helpin'. Because before they would come to us and go, "Okay, what do you guys want to do?" We go, "Well, how about this, this, this, and this." We used to lay out the sh--. So then they'd send the agent in and go, "Okay, you guys are wrestling Harlem Heat. We need you to go about 12." So we'd go to Terry Taylor or whoever, "What's the finish?" (The agent would say), "Whatever you guys want to do." I said, "No, man. What's... the... finish? I'm talent. I only get paid to wrestle. I don't get paid to think. What's the f---ing finish. You give it to me." And we just turned. Kev is bigger than me. I'm a pretty good sized prick, too, so, we were f---in' brutal. And that was the downfall of the NWO and WCW. We quit helping. Now that sounds like, gee, I could have kept the company going and we could have kept it going. I don't mean to say that. What I mean to say is, you know, when you fired our boy, we just went f--- this place. Cause I'm getting my checks anyway, know what I mean? I can go out there and have an abortion. I can walk to the ring and do nothing and that fat ass check comes in the mail anyway. Guys like Sting and (Lex) Luger were getting them checks anyway, and they sucked. Keller: Bischoff, I don't know if he's ever fully acknowledged - I guess he has said he regretted firing Sean (Waltman) by FedEx notice. Hall: Right. Kid's sitting at home with a broken neck and he gets a f---in' letter he's fired. And he's got a family and sh--. At that time he was married man with two kids. I'm thinking, f--- you. Keller: Why would Bischoff think that was even a humane thing to do, to fire someone else because he's mad at you guys. He was trying to get at you, but didn't he understand Sean was a human being. There are ways to get back at you without hurting somebody else who didn't do anything wrong. Hall: Well, exactly. I guess there's nothing to say. Just put a period at that end of that statement because what do you say? At the same time, as I told you last time we spoke, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Eric. Eric is a very, very intelligent man, and the thing I liked about Eric is, we've had f--- you, f--- you discussions. You could say, "F--- you!" And he'll say, "F--- you!" I mean, that doesn't bother me. I'd rather do business with a guy like that. Vince won't say f--- you to your face, but he'll say it behind your back. You know, Vince says (imitating Vince McMahon): "Oh, how you doin'. Hey, how are you?" I mean, I don't know. I don't want to burn no bridges with Vince because Kev and I are fixin' to go rock with DX up there... Keller: They both had different ways of going about it, and they both had plusses and minuses to their approach. With Eric, he was hot-headed, but at least you knew it. Hall: Exactly. Eric wasn't as, I don't know - Vince is real polished. Vince grew up in wrestling. One time I think, Hulk told me Eric used to sell meat out of the back of a f---in' truck. Eric's been a hustler. He's been this and that. He climbed the ladder at TBS. He did good for himself. And he was the golden boy. But Vince is just a little bit slicker. But once you get around Vince a little bit, at first you're in awe of Vince because it's Vince McMahon. Oh my God! Plus, the first time you meet Vince, he's a big man. He's physically imposing. He's intelligent. Oh my God, it's Vince McMahon. Me and Kev were talking this morning. Like, people call Vince a good business man. F---, I could run the WWF, the WWE and keep it going. XFL, bombed. His bodybuilding thing, WBF, bombed. IcoPro, bombed. Keller: He tried to promote boxing, Sugar Ray Leonard and Donny Lalonde. Hall: Brutal. Bombed. Lost money, lost money, lost money. But guess who's pocket it was coming out of? See, I was working there then. We were drug tested. They get a bunch of bodybuilders laying around in California taking steroids and they got one show a year and their making two, three hundred grand a year and we're paying for these pricks. Then Vince has this big federal steroid trial. It was like, what the f---, man. I don't know. I ain't taking nothing away from Vince. He's a very smart guy. I think it was kind of handed to him. His grandfather did it. His father did it. It was handed to him. Just like it's going to be handed to Shane. I think Stephanie's smarter than Shane, but Shane's a hell of an athlete for a guy who doesn't work. I've been impressed by his athleticism and some of the stuff he does. But I have been around both of them, and I actually think Stephanie has the sharper head for business. Keller: I think even Shane would admit that Stephanie is a little more of a booking mind, and Shane is a little more of a concept guy. Hall: The one thing about Shane is that he has that McMahon in him. He's a little bit of a hot-head. Shane is a little fiery. He's real defensive. I got no problem with that. If somebody's knocking your family, you should jump up. But they've got a dynasty going on. God bless them. The more wrestling the better.

Part 6 Wade Keller: Was Kevin Nash always as enthusiastic about leaving Vince for the 750K contracts with one-fourth the dates? Did he ever have more second thoughts about jumping than he did? Scott Hall: I agreed to leave before him. My contract ended ten days before Kev’s. I had a “most favored nation” clause (with WCW) that said nobody could make more money or more perks than me. So I listed ten top guys in the business, and Kev was one of them. So I went to Kev and said, “Kev, I’m leaving.” He said, “I’m stayin’.” I said, “If you change your mind, look, this is what I’m getting.” And I was sworn not to show it to anybody. I hope that doesn’t get me in trouble. But I told him, “This is what I’m gettin’. If you go there, try to get more, because then I get more.” So that was when he had that match with Bret in the cage. The finish was he was supposed to powerbomb Bret, and then Taker was going to come up from the bottom of the cage and pull Kev down. It was sweet as f—. The whole match Taker under the cage. Kev was supposed to powerbomb Bret and before he could pin him, Taker was going to reach up through a slit in the canvas and pull Kev down. Bret wouldn’t take the powerbomb. Bret went, “No.” So when Kev went back, he said, “F— this. I’m leaving, too.” I said, “Great. At least I’ll know one more guy down there.” I felt like I was selling out. I felt like the people in Madison Square Garden were right, that I was just taking the money. F— being a starving artist. I’ve already proved I’m one of the best performers in the world. I wanted the dough. Keller: I think probably if you looked at the books at the time, it would be pretty obvious that you guys were being underpaid for what you were worth. Hall: Gee, you think so. Keller: It’s not like WCW was overpaying for you. You guys probably made triple that money within a couple of years. Hall: We got three raises in 18 months. Keller: And that wasn’t something Vince was willing to do for you when things were really good. Hall: You gotta remember this, too. When I worked for Vince, Federal trial going on, ICOPRO, f—ing (World) Bodybuilding Federation. We’re paying everybody’s f—in’ bill. You had a bunch of bodybuiders laying around working out, they get one contest a year, and I’m paying some prick 200 grand a year to lay around on his ass - and there’s like 15, 20 of them. Keller: And you guys weren’t making that much more than that at that time. Hall: F— no. And we were on the road every night. Keller: I don’t think a lot of people realize that before the Monday Night War era, top top paid guys were making between three and six hundred thousand a year. Hall: Exactly. Keller: And working a lot of dates. So Eric Bischoff blew up the salary structure of wrestling and for several years it paid off big time for everybody. Did Shawn Michaels or Triple H ever even entertain the notion of going to WCW, or were they 100 percent loyal no matter what the schedule? Hall: I think we made some calls to Shawn, but you know, he was locked up with Vince. Keller: Contractually, he had no choice? Hall: I don’t know the situation was, but he stayed. Keller: The MSG farewell incident - did you have any qualms about that, or did that happen organically. How did that whole thing play out? Hall: I just put Hunter over in a f—in’ sweet ass match. It was going to be Shawn and Hunter. Me and Kev were done. We were all travelling together. And Vince calls me into his office. He says, “Damn it, you still work for me.” Blah blah blah. How much are they paying you. Blah blah blah. We had that conversation. Shawn comes in and he goes, “Vince, I want Razor to come out and get me. I want Razor to come to the ring with me. And I want Paul (Hunter) to come to the ring against Kev.” Because Kev just took the superkick, bang down in the middle, 1-2-3. So we go out in the ring. I’m milking it. Me and Shawn have a history. Kev is down and Hunter hasn’t come out yet. So Shawn’s in the ring and I’m looking at Shawn and the people are buzzing because they ain’t quite whether me and Shawn might (fight). At the Garden, we’ve been buddies, we’ve been enemies. Of course, he killed it by as soon as I stepped into the ring, he just grabbed me and hugged me. So we all hugged, and then he bent down and kissed Kev on the lips. That was a little bit gay. Then they all stood there. The Japanese press got it. I don’t think the fans did. Me and Kev stood and squared off with Hunter and Shawn. We knew we were leaving. A lot of the fans didn’t know. Then, for some reason, we just went to the corners. They asked me about it. I said, “You know, I felt like I had to say good bye to the New York fans. Thank you for your support, you know. Thanks you so much and good bye.” That’s how I felt about it. Keller: Did it break kayfabe in a way that was damaging to business? Hall: A lot of guys would say that, but what the f—. I mean, I don’t know. I guess it did, right. We broke kayfabe. Wooooo! Anybody who was standing outside the arena saw the four of us drive out in a Cadillac together. We broke kayfabe. Does that mean it’s real? So now we’re saying it’s real? How can it be kayfabe if it’s real? I don’t know. There were some people who said we broke kayfabe and we were trying to hurt the business because we were leaving. First of all, it was Shawn’s idea for me to come out there. I don’t want to come out there. So he wanted me out there and he stayed. So, I don’t think it hurt kayfabe. I don’t know. Who knows? Keller: If you knew that Hunter would end up being punished for it and that a planned King of the Ring tournament victory would be taken away, would you have changed your mind? Hall: Well, I can’t read minds, but I’ll tell you one thing. (Steve) Austin would have never gotten pushed if that hadn’t happened. Keller: I had that written down in my notes for this interview. I think that MSG Farewell was among the top three or four things that happened that changed the course of the industry because the WWF without Steve Austin on top to counter the hip popularity of the NWO, I don’t know that they would have made the comeback they did because I don’t know that Hunter was ready yet. So really, Hunter being knocked out of the King of the Ring was the best thing that happened to the WWF during that Monday Night War. Austin owes you a big thanks, let’s put it that way. It’s crazy how history works sometimes. Hall: For sure. Crazy, wasn’t it. Keller: Under what circumstances was it proposed to you that Hulk Hogan join the Outsiders, and did you see it as a self-preservation move for Hogan. The way I saw it and a lot of people saw it, you and Nash were so over at that point that if you guys feuded with Hogan, you two would have been cheered, not Hogan, because his act was stale. Did you ever see him as glomming onto you guys, or did you see it as an honor that he wanted to join your act? Hall: Well, the Outsiders was always me and Kev. There were only two Outsiders. But no, Hulk’s the man. Anybody who ever doubts that doesn’t know anything about wrestling. Hulk made the NWO. Hulk’s the one for the big launch of wrestling. I tell you one thing that is cool about travelling through the airports. One time me and Kev are travelling through L.A., we’re walking through the airport with Hulk. We were invisible. No one even said a word to us. We walked straight to the counter. Hulk got stopped a hundred times. I mean, it’s kind of cool to not be hassled. Hulk’s the man. I don’t care where you go. You can go to any city in the world. You know what’s cool, is people who don’t know wrestling, they know Hulk. Keller: I know that Kevin Nash and Hulk had a falling out and a period where there was tension as everyone was scrambling for the big contracts and political moves being made against each other. As you went along, did you grow to admire Hogan more than you had? Did you have preconceptions about him that were broken having been around him? Hall: I learned a lot from Hulk on the etiquette side of business and then the business side of business. He didn’t really teach me anything in the ring. But he taught me. You know what they used to say. If you act like you’re the sh–, you’re the sh–. Because who’s gonna call you on it. I learned that from Hulk. I learned patience. I learned timing from Hulk. I learned to slow down from Hulk . One of my favorite, favorite moves was one time they did this thing in the ring where Giant snuck up on Hulk. And he was standing right behind Hulk. Where normally you would spin around and let the guy nail you, right? You don’t wait too long. But Hulk took it beyond the uncomfortable spot to the “what the f—” spot to where it became movie star sh–. He stood there and looked around like, “What? What? What?” And then when he turned around, the pop was ten times louder than it would have been. I stole that from Hulk and when I used to work against Kev, I used to do it against Kev. I did some of that. Keller: How about the addition of NWO members as time went on? Did that get to be too much? Hall: The more people you get in NWO shirts, all of a sudden they’re big deals, so all of sudden, me and Kev get more days off, if you know what I mean. So that’s the way the NWO grew. It watered it down, but we were on guaranteed contracts. Keller: You talked about getting three raises in your first 18 months. Were those offered to you, or did you have to initiate them? Hall: Well, we had an agent. Keller: So you didn’t have to do the dirty work. Hall: No, that’s the cool part about that. You just talk to creative and the other guy does the dirty work. Keller: What was your impression of Bischoff? Had you crossed paths with him at all before? Hall: No. Keller: So what did you think of this brash guy who said he wanted to crush Vince McMahon and put him out of business, and that was his mission statement? Hall: You know what I like about Eric? He’s like a guy. I’ve had f-you f-you conversations with Eric. But I remember one time when he wanted to put Vince out of business, it might have been Kev that said, “No, no, no, you don’t want to do that. Because then you won’t be the golden boy of TNT because if you’re not beatin’ somebody every week, who are you? We just want to beat him every week, we don’t want to put him out of business.” I think Eric’s a smart guy, dude. Keller: Do you think that it was forces out of his control that led to the eventual downward spiral, or do you think he played a part in it? There is no doubt, as Nash talked about in his Torch Talk, that WCW when things were going well, was one big party. And everybody was having fun, including Eric Bischoff, and I think from an outsider looking in, as someone who wasn’t involved, it was real clear the wheels were coming off the cart at certain points, especially when Thunder was introduced and there was this additional programming and new babyfaces weren’t being created for the heels, and the one they had to rely on was Goldberg, and he wasn’t well-rounded. I mean, there were so many things happening, but it seems Eric’s attention wasn’t 100 percent where it needed to be in finding out what’s the next big wave. Hall: I remember one time I was sitting there in catering at Nitro with Eric. He comes up and sits down with me and says, “Guess what? TBS wants a piece of the pie.” TNT was so red-hot, now TBS wants some of this wrestling. He goes, “They want a two hour show every Thursday.” I said, “Well, that’s more money, right?” He goes, “Is that all you ever f—in’ think about?” I said, “Not just for me. For everybody. For the whole company.” But, I mean, what do you do when you work for this giant conglomerate and they tell you they want a show, produce a show. Keller: Did you see any signs along the way of Eric Bischoff losing control of the situation or the inmates running the asylum in a way that he should have stepped in, a point where Vince would have stepped in? There was that time when Vince flew out to Columbus to meet the wrestlers at a house show because there was so much tension. Hall: That was us. He came to me with the Clique. That was us. Keller: Vince had that kind of power with wrestlers, that respect, where if things got a little out of control, he could step in and make it happen. Was it the guaranteed contracts in a sense that kind of took away Eric’s power to try to keep things in order when things did start to spin out of control a little bit. Hall: When you start having legal rights and sh– like that, it’s way different. I never felt like Eric lost control. I just felt like people over Eric’s head were asking too much from him. Keller: Did you sense that the wrestlers during the hot run felt it was a gravy train that would never end, or did you as an astute observer of the business who had seen a lot, did you see that this couldn’t last forever the way things were going. Hall: That’s why I asked for my money up front.