Guest Trivia247 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 Listen to via Live stream The following are highlights from Xtreme Mayhem's interview with "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart! The interview was conducted by "The Xtreme Icon" Mike Nagel and "The West Coast Sucker" Jeff Meacham and runs over 70 minutes! Listen to the interview by clicking on one of the links below, or by visiting http://xtreme.themayhem.com/ which contains the current show plus archived shows! - The interview started off with Jimmy talking about breaking into the wrestling business. Before he got into wrestling, he was part of a band for seven years called "The Gentrys" and they had a million dollar selling record called "Keep on dancing" in the 1960's. He had gone to the same high school as Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Jimmy was always a big fan of wrestling and Lawler was a big fan of music. Lawler came over to the studio one day to do one of his records, and they ended up hitting it off after talking about wrestling and sports. He told a story about Lawler touring with The Gentrys. Eight months later around 1978, Lawler asked Jimmy to be his manager in wrestling and the rest is history. Lawler ended up breaking his leg, and Jerry Jarrett came to Jimmy and told him that the territory was going to be built around him, and there would be an eventual feud between Jimmy and Lawler. Jimmy would bring in names like Hulk Hogan and the Funks in to feud with Lawler. - Jimmy talked about the first Wrestlemania being one of his career highlights. He said back then, everyone was scared to death of Vince and Jimmy was happy that he was one of the guys that Vince chose to be part of something really big. When Jimmy arrived, the WWF booker told him who he was going to manage, and when Hogan asked if Jimmy would be managing him, Jimmy said that he was just going to be a heel manager. He talked about Wrestlemania IX and how Hogan suffered a jet ski accident two days before. Nobody thought Hogan could wrestle, and he told them he was just wearing makeup even though he was really in extreme pain. - He talked about his managing career in the WWF, and how back in the day everyone could come up with their own interviews because nothing was scripted. They could form their own characters and he said it was so much fun. Vince gave him as many guys as possible, because he knew Jimmy would get them over and Jimmy brought up how he had different jackets for every guy he managed. He talked about how nothing was ever rehearsed, and how the ring was sacred and nobody stepped in it until the show. He said when the camera was on, you had to roll with it. He feels that the art form of wrestling has been lost in the sense that you learn quicker when you don't rehearse and just go with the flow and listen to how the crowd reacts. - When Andy Kaufman got involved, Jimmy was put with him so Jimmy could give him some pointers and help him along. He talked about how he managed Kaufman, and then they feuded, and how the whole thing was a fun soap opera. He talked about how Lawler told Jimmy that Hulk Hogan would never draw him a dime in the business, and to this day Lawler denies that he ever said that. - Jimmy talked about Vince McMahon and how he never has anything bad to say about Vince, because Vince is the reason he is doing this interview today. Jimmy said that back then there weren't guarenteed contracts and he made sure that he made every PPV, every Saturday Night's Main Event, and every other big show. Once he got his foot in the door with Vince, he kept his foot there by not bitching and just doing his job. Vince saw somebody use a megaphone in Japan, and he gave it to Jimmy to use just like Mr. Fuji used a cane. All Jimmy did was just paint it up to match his jackets. - Jimmy talked about he is going to Japan this week to manage Hogan and he talked about the new Hogan jacket he made. Jimmy said that the Hogan/NWA TNA deal is very close to being complete and Hogan is very excited about it. Jimmy talked about how Hogan turned WCW around, and how they hope to repeat history. He said that if Hogan's first match in TNA is a success, he will likely continue to make appearances. He said TNA is hoping that Hogan can take them to the next level, possibly getting a network television deal. Jimmy brought up Hogan's popularity and talked about a time that Hogan was with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Everyone around them was yelling for Hogan, and Stallone told Hogan that was the reason why he was in Rocky III. - Jimmy said that the feud between Hogan and Randy Savage is really only hot with fans of the Bubba the Love Sponge show, and it's mostly Bubba that has been taking shots at Randy on every show. Jimmy said that he's always like Randy, but he doesn't see how anybody would want to see a match because a 54 year-old man made a challenge in a rap song. He feels that the Hogan/Jarrett/Russo storyline that started in WCW would draw better than Hogan and Savage. - Jimmy talked about how great Dusty Rhodes is at interviews, and how he would catch Florida Championship Wrestling just to see Dusty cut a promo. Jimmy also talked about he preferred the old days when Vince McMahon or somebody else would announce all the matches and segments at the top of the program, instead of today where commisioners would make matches during the show and then rearrange matches during the show. He said that Memphis tries to be like the old days and they keep the show clean. Jimmy talked about doing Memphis Championship Wrestling today, and how they did a 5.1 Saturday rating on the local UPN affiliate. - Jimmy talked about the demise of WCW, and how he was part of a booking commitee with about 800 people. He said the top talent wouldn't like their storyline and would want it changed, and people were always making changes to the show at the last minute. That affected everything from the camera shots to the interviews to the storylines. He talked about Hogan's feud with Billy Kidman and how Hogan went through tables and bled to get Kidman over. Instead of pushing Kidman after a high profile feud with Hogan, they booked him a Viagra on a pole match with Shane Douglas and Kidman lost. He talked about a time in Buffalo where he had Gary Coleman on one side next to him, and Vince Russo on the other, and Mike Awesome's 70's bus was right in front of them. Russo whispered to Jimmy that he was going to win the world title, and at that point Jimmy wondered what the hell he doing there. - They brought up Jimmy Hart's upcoming book, which will be released within the next couple of months. Jimmy doesn't expect to sell any copies because he doesn't trash anybody in this book. He said the book talks about everything from Memphis to music and he said the book will have lots of great pictures from Memphis and his stint with The Gentrys. - Some of Jimmy's favorite songs that he produced were Shawn Michaels' Sexy Boy theme, the Honky Tonk Man's songs, The Mountie, American Made, and many others. Jimmy was flattered that five of his songs were put on the WWE Anthology CD. He also mentioned that he wrote "Together" which was the wedding song for Randy Savage and Elizabeth. He said he has a demo of Randy and Liz recording the song. He also said that he has Randy's first rap song and Bubba the Love Sponge would die to have it. - Jimmy talked about Goldberg, and how his streak was patterned after the Ultimate Warrior who won quick squash matches. Jimmy said that he never heard Goldberg say anything bad about the wrestling business. He talked about the incident with Goldberg and the limo. Jimmy said that they knew WCW was like the titanic, and Jimmy made sure he had his life reverser on that last year. Jimmy talked about the XWF and how they lost any possible television deals when guys like Lawler, Hogan, and Hennig went back to WWE. - Mike Nagel's "World Famous Word Assocation" went as follows: Bobby Heenan (the greatest), The Honky Tonk Man (greatest IC champion of all-time), Meng/Barbarian (two of the toughest guys he's known), The Big Show (Jimmy told a story about him getting into WCW), Adrian Adonis (a really creative guy, and Jimmy told a story how the Flower Shop got created), Bret Hart (a great guy who always took his time with his work), Owen Hart (a really funny guy), Brutus Beefcake (very colorful), Hulk Hogan (one of the best things to happen to Jimmy's life), Ric Flair (casual fans don't know what he has meant to this business), HHH (great look), and Jimmy Hart (can't believe he got paid for doing what he has done). Jimmy wraps up the interview by saying to never trust a midget! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slickster 0 Report post Posted October 10, 2003 HHH (great look) He certainly skirted around THAT one, didn't he? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Boo_Bradley Report post Posted October 10, 2003 Jimmy talked about the demise of WCW, and how he was part of a booking commitee with about 800 people. He said the top talent wouldn't like their storyline and would want it changed, and people were always making changes to the show at the last minute. That affected everything from the camera shots to the interviews to the storylines. He talked about Hogan's feud with Billy Kidman and how Hogan went through tables and bled to get Kidman over. Instead of pushing Kidman after a high profile feud with Hogan, they booked him a Viagra on a pole match with Shane Douglas and Kidman lost. Good he forgot about Hogan squashing Kidman on a PPV or 2 (?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Boo_Bradley Report post Posted October 10, 2003 He turns 45 on 11/15! OH YEAH! Ahh Maybe Ten years ago? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ace309 0 Report post Posted October 10, 2003 He talked about a time in Buffalo where he had Gary Coleman on one side next to him, and Vince Russo on the other, and Mike Awesome's 70's bus was right in front of them. Russo whispered to Jimmy that he was going to win the world title, and at that point Jimmy wondered what the hell he doing there. Best story ever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Boo_Bradley Report post Posted October 10, 2003 He talked about a time in Buffalo where he had Gary Coleman on one side next to him, and Vince Russo on the other, and Mike Awesome's 70's bus was right in front of them. Russo whispered to Jimmy that he was going to win the world title, and at that point Jimmy wondered what the hell he doing there. Best story ever. Considering some of the dumbshit Memphis booked in the early 80's Jimmy should've been surprised.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
