What Do You Wanna Talk About? - Jimmy Hart

26:12But I saw one girl there, and she was so excited. And I just said, I know you were coming to see because she had one of your jackets. I guess they sell y 'all's jackets now. Full replica jackets. Yeah, so it was great. But she had that. And she said, that's why I came to see. Because I always ask them, who'd you come to see? Even though they have a shirt on with them. But I remember her saying that and everything. But I always watch that. So what makes you over selling merchandise, tickets in the arenas, you know what I mean? And so, like I said, when they called me to do this, I said, I'm really going to be with the champ.

26:43Are you kidding me? This is great. I'm excited. No, this is awesome, man. I was so excited for you to come on here and talking about just the amount you lived with music alone. And also something I feel like this is WWE. It's the home of sports entertainment, right? This is taking it back, but you're right there right around the time that Andy Kaufman hits the scene. and I'm thinking is that the first or the most significant moment where because now I'm coming off of multiple WrestleManias where there's been celebrities and outside and we've merged the worlds and we want to merge the audience right but is that the first time sports and pro wrestling was sports entertainment is that the first moment or it was such a big thing and so unique well you Senior was going to use Andy, but didn't do it for whatever reason, because he didn't want to because people talked to me about it, the story I got, and that Bill Aftor was telling me this.

27:47And so they tried to get him up in New York. And so he didn't want to do it. He said, ah, the entertainment thing, whatever. So man, we jumped on it. He called us. I was at Lawler's kitchen back then. Not a big office, right? We were in the kitchen. Lawler was trying to book and do the program. And I was sitting there trying to help him with it. And so Bill called and he goes, look, got this guy, Andy Kaufman, comedian. Yeah. From taxi. Yeah. He was still on taxi at the time. He loves wrestling. He's doing this intergender thing with these girls and stuff. Lauder said, man, we'll take him, bring him on down.

28:15We don't have the money to fly him in. No, he's going to fly himself in. He said, well, we don't know what we're going to pay him what he wants. He goes, he'll do it for nothing. We went, Oh, that's right down our alley. Fly himself in doing for nothing. We're in baby. Jimmy picked him up at the airport. Okay, baby, I will. So he came down and the rest was history, but he loved the business. He'd stay at my house some. I got to manage him off and on too after Lauder had the program with him because what would happen, you know how the wrestling business worked. If you stay on one thing too long, it ain't good.

28:46And so he would be outside doing his comedian thing too much and people are here on Monday night are going, well, we got to go to work tomorrow morning, so let's get him in the ring. He didn't want that to happen, so I started managing him so I could say, okay, that's good enough. Let's get in the ring and do what we got to do. But Andy would stay at my house. You know, when he passed away, he still had all of his checks. He never cashed any of his Memphis checks. I don't know because they were so bad or he just didn't want to get. No, I'm just kidding. They were good. But he still had them in his drawer.

29:13He sure did. I just donated to a company up here, one of his pair of his sunglasses. I gave it to Ben Brown, one of a pair of his sunglasses that we bought. He loved Elvis at the time. After we did the matches on Monday night, he'd always go, I'd have to take him by Elvis's house back the day before it really got commercialized. And we'd sit across the street for at least 30 minutes. And he goes, you know, Jimmy, I know Elvis is not dead. He's going to come out of that gate tonight. He'll have a disguise on, but I'll know him. And I'm going, Andy, please, it ain't going to happen, brother. No, I'm going to do it.

29:43And I say, look, I've got to drive all the way to Louisville, Kentucky tomorrow, almost 400 miles. So I'd stay for 30 minutes and then get him back to a hotel. But he was great. He loved this business, man. I thought a lot about Andy and that connection you had and being there, and he loved it. And you fast forward from then to now. I'll give you two examples. I don't know if you've rubbed shoulders with them or chatted them up, but have you spoken with Little Yachty or Jelly Roll at all? You know what? I saw Little Yachty, and I saw him at WrestleMania after the match with him, and I told him, I said, man, I love the gimmick you all got going on.

30:19People still use gimmick. I don't know if we say that anymore. It might be old school. But I said, man, y 'all work so good together and everything else. He said, well, thanks for saying that. I said, great. And Jelly Roll, I haven't really had a time to say anything to him. He's right up your alley in a sense of the wrestler's dream. Loves this. Wants to be here. Oh, that's awesome. Wants to advance it to the point where sometimes we're not used to that. And Jelly just very much classic. You would have seen it and go, one of the boys. One of the boys. If there was a battle royal, he could be in it.

30:52You know, he was one of the boys. But I'm glad it was like that with Andy and all the stories you hear about him. It was great. He loved it. When I was coming back to the WWE at WrestleMania 38, of course, I had my doubts. I thought, is this really the right decision for me? What if I fail? What if it doesn't go how I planned? Choosing to make that leap of faith was clearly one of the best decisions I have ever made. If you're starting a business, you might feel the same. So much work goes into this thing that you're not entirely sure will work out. That's why it's helpful to have a partner like Shopify by your side.

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32:10That's shopify.com slash Cody.

32:16Have you watched the Hogan documentary? No, I haven't seen any. We spent seven months doing it. I know everybody from Netflix did a tremendous job on it. But I know it's getting over because in the airport, when I go through the airport now, I mean, people would recognize you off and on. But now it's more than ever people coming up, Jimmy, I'm so sorry for your loss. And I say, but you know, I tell the same thing. I said, number one, Hulk's in a better place right now. No more pain, no more suffering, no more having to look at the internet over Gaga Goo Goo. And I just said, so he's happy. I like that, Gaga Goo Goo.

32:51That's everything right now. Yeah, I like that. But that's true. And they said, man, we loved it. We loved it so much. We learned. And I said, well, thank you. I said, the guys did so much. And, of course, when Hulk passed away, we had to go ahead and put another ending on it. So it took a little bit longer than what they wanted, but the company just did tremendous on it. So I was so happy. Hulk would be happy over that. I'm going to reveal something on this show that is going to, there's going to be a lot of interviews that people look back on and go, uh-oh, I have trouble watching anything internal.

33:25Oh, wow. And it's because I grew up in it. Yeah. Sometimes you can smell the work. Sometimes I don't want to know. I grew up in this. Show me what's on screen. I don't want to. So there's been a lot of interviews where I've had to navigate. What did you think of the Iron Claw? What did you think of the wrestler? Even with Unreal at first, which Unreal and I have finally come to this really great place together. But even Unreal, I'm always like, it's great. I have some pre-ready to answer because I want wrestling to always be seen in the best light. But I really struggle when someone else documents the inside of what we do because it's going to be a little bit their version.

34:02With that said, this Hogan doc, anyone who's come on my bus in the last few weeks has been annoyed. It's on repeat. He would love that. It's on repeat. And I find something new in it each time. I find something new in it each time that I didn't know or I didn't think of or, my gosh, didn't realize the magnitude of it. But there is a fun question in the Goo Goo Gaga land of online that is circulating. And I don't know if you have been asked this question, but one of the revelations of this documentary is you have the nicest house of anyone. And I came up with theories. I said it's the music money.

34:51I came up with the I said, yeah, that makes sense. It's Jimmy Hart, baby. that house. Look, I hate to bust the bar, but let me tell you what happened. Here's a real story. I'm so glad you asked me that. I was hoping you would ask me that. I never said it was mine. I didn't say anything. That's what they wanted to film. It's yours if you're in it. A multi-millionaire friend of mine by the name of Ben Mala has that house. He bought it for some baseball player for $29 million or whatever. He played for Philadelphia. I can't even think of his name. Here's what happened about six years ago he said he met with me and hulk and he said look i want to have a hogan's beach over here yeah right on the water over here he said i think we can draw three or four thousand people we thought what every week we said okay he goes with the only thing about it now he said if that's the case he said i'd like jimmy to manage it i went oh my gosh here i go again you know yeah this is it he said you can still go out and do your wrestling stuff because I was still doing that, because I loved that.

35:46So what happened, we went over there. And so my house, because I had a nice place down in Tampa, because let's say you made a little bit of money. WWE is great. I love WWE. Oh, yeah, yeah. You made a little money off the music, too. But my wife has dementia, so finally we had to put her in a home, which she is now, still hanging in, God bless her soul. And so my kids all grew up and left. My daughter had passed away. six months, about six years ago. And so I had my two sons, but they live there. So nobody was in the house but me. And I'm going, what am I doing here? He said, look, sell your house.

36:21Because he does all the real estate. He said, we'll help you sell it. Just come over here and live at the hotel. We'll give you a good room over there, but that way you're there 24-7 running the place. So I did that. So it turned out to be great. So I stayed there for the whole two years because what he does, he gets them going, then he wants to sell them. That's what he does with everything. So it turned out to be awesome. So then he sold it. So he said, well, look, Jimmy, now I bought another hotel up in Daytona. I want to put a bar in up there for you. We put all your memorabilia up there. And I thought, well, it's a way to get everything, you know, framed and stuff.

36:51So why not? But I was still able to go do my wrestling. So we went dead end. I didn't know how rough Daytona, I had to get a gun permit. The last thing I want to do is shoot anybody, including myself. So I had to get a gun permit. And I'm going, oh my gosh, it's like the wild, wild west. So finally, finally, finally, he sold it. So then he said, I said, what are you doing? I said, well, I've got to try to find me a place. He goes, no. He said, you're living over here. I said, no, I don't want to live in here. He goes, no, Jimmy, I've got this whole side over here. This place is so big. It's got a little miniature golf course there.

37:20It's got a bowling alley. It's got a pool that's got a remote to it that goes around there. And you're on the beach, right? And I said, well, look, I don't go on the beach. I'm not going to play miniature golf. I sure don't bowl. And I don't want to go swimming with a chlorine because when I dye my hair once a month. I don't want it to fade off, you know, have the chlorine to do that. So I said, I said, but I'll take you up on it. So that's what I have. I have that whole side. It's got the guarded gate, but everybody, the whole video, everybody goes, man, I love your house. And I went, wait a minute.

37:46I spend more time going, it's not mine. It's my friend's house, but I do live there, but it's not mine. So I'm glad you brought that out. Thank you so much. But it's wrestling. So we've seen you in it. It's your house. I love you. It's wrestling. We've seen. Oh, man. Also, the fact that you brought up a gun permit for Daytona, your clothes definitely, I feel like I could see you carrying something under one of those jackets from time to time. You know what I'm saying? You may not. And also, from the days of your heel work, you were around some very riotous crowds, right? It was a great time. But you know what?

38:21It was like a badge of acceptance. I loved it. When we had beer thrown over us, I didn't complain or get mad. I loved that. when we had people, you know, I got shot one time in Louisville, everybody has, in the rump with a dart gun. A guy made a homemade dart and went, phew, hit me right. What bothered me the most? Hold on, hold on, just for context. A man in Louisville took a dart gun, blow style. He got a cheap little straw from Wendy's or McDonald's or whatever, built a big one, made a homemade little, took a little needle, like threading needle put it in there put a little thing on it and went as I was coming up because they had me draped over and he shot you in the end Handsome Jimmy right Handsome Jimmy's shoulder it was a six man tag it was like Jerry Lawler Jerry Jarrett and Dylan Dee against me the dream machine and Handsome Jimmy Valiant and I'm leaning over the back they're carrying me out of course I got beat right so I'm leaning over the back and all of a sudden I'm going oh and I thought man I hope nobody burnt my tights because we didn't make a lot of money back then so I got back and I went I hope my tights aren't burnt.

39:27They go, no, look. They went, whoo. And I went, what is it? And they go, look, it's a dart. And I went, oh, my God. And Miss Jarrett ran the cheek. You've got to go get a technoshot. I went, what? You've got to go get a technoshot. I went, oh, my God. I said, it's going to take my whole payoff to go get a technoshot. But I went and got a technoshot. I didn't have anything, thank goodness. But that's what happened. But I went, oh, my gosh. I couldn't believe it. But you know what? I don't really get mad about it because we get the people upset over it. And then we get mad because they get upset.

39:56I don't know if you remember, but my dad had that splotch is what it's often called. He had that mark. Oh, yes. I've just heard fans call it the splotch. I asked what it was. This is a mark on his stomach. And he told me a fan stabbed him. It's a birthmark. Yeah. That's what he told me. He told me it was a birthmark. I'm going. It's a birthmark. But I remember thinking like, dang, it was when him and Dick were together. I thought you were that. there was that much heat and that people would come that guy came to shoot you in the butt with a blow like that he came for that that's how angry you had gotten him you know we want them to come in and have a great time and sometimes they they have too great of a time but that's okay you know it is what it is you you said something on the hogan doc that uh i really um again i've been i've just so i it's the it opened up a whole new world for me i i started watching stuff that i had put on the back burner and I lied about watching just I gotta see how this is how we're represented how we're seen but you said something about the fans because you're talking about Wrestlemania 18 he said something about how the fans can change and for they can change your trajectory your fate that they have that much power that they in any night they might go a different way or they might accept something and cling to something and love something or they might hate it I think one of the reasons I was so excited about you being on the pod, and maybe it's being from the South, maybe it's just the way you were raised, but you love wrestling fans.

41:28And you said something else. I mean, this doc is, you're full of insight, including the put on that seatbelt. I don't know if you recall saying, hey, it's going to be a bumpy road. Put on that seatbelt. I don't remember saying anything. Oh, my gosh. No, it's a prime example of the full journey. there's some real highs here. This is in every wrestling, you know, a good wrestling career. You're up, you're down. All the things. Have you, is there ever been a time? And I don't know, maybe it's a hard question to answer. Has there ever been a time, Jimmy, where you weren't feeling this? Where you weren't at the level of excitement and all joy that you always bring to what you do?

42:08A quick story. I'll try to make this short and sweet. The reason I love wrestling so much is my uncle, JB, that lived in Jacks, Mississippi when I was about 10 years old. Every summer, my mother would let me go with my uncle down to Jacks, Mississippi and his family. And that's when I first saw the wrestling in Jacks, Mississippi. And every year I got to spend two weeks down there. And I loved his house and everything. He was great in business and everything, had a construction service. But on Tuesday or Wednesday night, we got to go watch wrestling. And I fell in love with it. I'd always loved it, just always loved it.

42:40And I just, from that day on, and back even when I was in tour with Dick Clark, with the Beach Boys or Chicago who we were with, when I'd go to the major cities, if we were in Atlanta, I'd watch Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair and those guys down there. Then we'd go to Carolinas and I'd turn the TV on Saturday mornings, you know, because on the weekends we'd play and I'd turn the TV on and watch whatever superstars were there. Same thing in Minnesota, same things in Texas, the funks, everywhere. But I still always loved it, even when I was in music. So when I had the chance with Lawler, when he called me to ask me to help him cut a wrestling album.

43:13We got in with that. And then all of a sudden it just fell into place where I started doing the music and doing the wrestling. And then the one day came when he said, look, he said, we love you, man. He said, Jerry Jarrett said, why don't you ditch this music for a while? You can always go back and manage me. I've got an angle for you to do on Monday night. And buddy, he didn't tell me anything. Monday night, come at South Coliseum. He said, when I raise my hand, I want you to throw me this chain. I went, okay. So I'm sitting there with Lance Russell at ringside and he goes, raise a hand. I see it.

43:43He didn't tell me to lob it where people could see it. I threw it like a baseball, man. And look, and it went right by him, but this is a rope and it goes wrapped around the rope. It looked like it was, he just reached back and got it. Knocked Dundee out. Bam. One, two, three. It was like perfect. He goes, man, that was great. And I went, I don't know what I was even doing. The next week I'm on TV, can't wrestle a lick, but I watched it my whole life. So, Lauder goes, we're going to have a match between you and a guy named Pat Hutchinson. So, Dundee comes out and goes, Jimmy Hart, you big sissy, you're a music guy, blah, blah, bloom, bloom, bloom.

44:16I challenge you to a match with Pat Hutchinson on Monday night. And I said, Pat's been wrestling three years, right? I go there Monday night. Now, Lauder dresses me like a clown. He gives me his robe that's three feet too long. I was dragging. He said, what size shoes you wear? I said, eight and a half. He gives ten and a half boots to wear. I mean, his boots, candy stripe boots. He gets one of those Tarzan outfits. The strap keeps falling down. I can't even move. It keeps falling down. I'm going to pull it back up. I mean, you know. So I get to the ring. We do the match. When the match was over, the little guy got goo goo.

44:47We get back, and Jerry Jarrett wasn't there, but he saw the film, and he said, it looked like Jimmy Hart had been wrestling for three years because I loved it so much. And, you know, a quick story. I really never left up here to go to WCW. What happened, And we did a thing where they switched me baby face. I guess it's okay to say that. I'm sure. Oh, yeah. I said it already. I hope, you know, I don't want to do anything wrong, please. I'm on scholarship up here in WWE, so I love it. So what happened? So we do the thing where they got me. I was managing Brutus and Hulk at WrestleMania 9 against the team I turned on.

45:24I got to be the worst manager in the world. Look, I had the Hart Foundation. We had championship titles. Money in. What did I do? I leave them to join the Nasty Boys. So I give a screw job to the Hart Foundation to give the belts to the Nasty Boys. So, I mean, title. Excuse me, can't say belt. Title. You can say it. So I give the title to the Nasty Boys. And so now, then I turn on them to give the titles to Money Incorporated. So I don't know who I want to be with, but I did all this stuff. So I'm managing Huck and Brutus against Money, Inc., right? So we do that match. So now we come back. So now we have one more match in Madison Square Garden.

46:02Hulk's fixing to leave to go do Thunder in Paradise. So he goes, man, I want you to come with me. And I said, well, man, I love that. He goes, if you come with me, if you don't like it, you can go back. So he's going to talk to Vince. So I went and talked to Vince up in Madison Square Garden in the room. He met with me. And I said, look, Vince, I said, I've managed 23 or 24 different people here, and I've loved it. But right now you've got me with Hulk and them, and they're leaving. So what am I going to do? He goes, don't worry. He goes, man, I got to do this. And I said, well, look, what I'd like to do is take a little time off, if I can, and go do Thunder and Paradise with him.

46:32He goes, how many times have you heard this? If you want to come back, you can, right? But he didn't say I could. He said, if you want to come back, Jimmy, you've been great for us. We love you. And so you can do it. So I left to go do that with him, with Hulk down Thunder and Paradise. So I did it. So really, I never left the territory. But while we were down there, after we were down there for six months, it's when Eric and Ric Flair came through and said, Hulk, are you going back up there? I don't know if I am or not. Well, let's go down. I'm going to take Jimmy with me. He goes, yeah, he can do music for us and manage.

47:00So that's how it all really worked out. So I really never left here in my mind. You've always been here, right? I've always been. I've always loved it, though, you know. Summer is coming up, and there are so many things to get out and do. Concerts, sports, live events. I'm always on the lookout to find the best deals on tickets, which is why I want to give the sponsor of today's video, SeatGeek, a huge shout-out. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than 70 ,000 events listed on SeatGeek, including concerts, sports, festivals, and more.

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48:18Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. Thank you, SeatGeek. One thing I think Discovery, having chatted with you and seen how you are with all your guys, and you're 20-something, the amount of people you manage, you weren't just manager on screen. you were manager very much in several real ways and with especially with hulk to a degree and helping run elements of uh of that empire and his endeavors and your your endeavors what do you think and maybe this is just too broad what do you think is missing today in terms of when you look at the current product and we don't have as many we have very few managers uh What do you think is missing?

49:13Do you think that piece of it, that actual partnership that was there, is missing? Well, you know, everything changes, though. Like, I know I've changed a lot, too. I look at things a lot different than maybe some of the people my age, and I've been around this long in the wrestling business. They look at things, but they go, I don't like the product. I don't like this. I still love the product, you know? And I still watch NXT on Tuesday. You know, I watched Raw on Monday. I watched SmackDown. I love it all. It's like, you know, people threw some – they said, who do you like from NXT? And I said, I loved Ethan Page, and I love – that's his last name.

49:49I love him, and I love Ricky Saints, and I loved Sol Ruka. You know, Sol Ruka reminds me of Charlotte Flair meets Javon Evans, you know, with her acrobatic ability and his acrobatic ability and everything else. And somebody told me that and said, what would you do with Sami Zayn? Because I rode with Sami Zayn in the van at WrestleMania. I cannot imagine that car ride. I know, but listen. I cannot. I know, but trust me. And so we were talking everything else, and I knew he was going against Trix. And, you know, that's Trix. You know, look, when you got the outfits Trix got, and you got the music, and you got the manager, and you got everything you got, people are going to love you.

50:25You know that. I do too. And I didn't say it to Sammy, but I wanted to say, you know, Sammy, when you make a change, you got to change that look. I wanted to say, dye your hair black. That's a change. Cut your beard different. Black, that's a change. Do a different outfit, because sometimes you can't just keep the same look and be the same, you know, people, you know, but I didn't want to say that because, you know, he probably stretched me. So I said, I'm keeping my mouth shut. But, but sometimes you have to really do that. But I, but the business now, everything changes and it's going to change and you just kind of got to roll with it.

50:55But I just think that, that if, if I had a, if I was doing something, I always look, who's doing merchandise, you know, what are the ratings for these segments? I'm sure they do it anyhow. And you look and see what's happening. And so sometimes you keep doing something so long, like with Hawk and the NWO. What happened with us, before we changed on it, we'd look at merchant. Hawk and I, because we were talking about maybe we could have changed, and I said, well, look at merchandise sales. We looked at that. We saw that was dipping a little bit. Then we looked at certain house shows, how much you were drawing the house shows back then when we were doing them, and that was dropping a little bit when he was on top.

51:28And I just said, you know the old saying, if you do what you've always done, you're going to have what you've always had. So sometimes it might be time to change. And so then, but I said, great quote, but here's the thing. And then when they had, and I said, but look, here's what's good about this hook. If we do this, I said, look, who's coming over two guys, red hot Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. So you're going to have two bookends. We are that are so good and so bigger than life that you've never really had that before, you know? And so it just, it was just magic. It was just magic that happened on that type thing.

51:59And so sometimes things, and I'm not saying it's going to work with everybody, you know, But I always look at everything on doing it. If I had a wrestling school, which I never will because I can't wrestle, but if I had one, I'd get somebody that could talk first, had charisma first, and had a look, and then I'm going to train them. I'm not going to train them and then go, damn, they can't talk. What am I doing out here doing this? Well, what can we do with him? Well, let's put him in a mask and make him a goo-goo-ga-ga. I want to actually take, with your permission, I think we need to take three things and put them in the what do you want to talk about vernacular because they've blown me away.

52:35Goo Goo Gaga feels very interchangeable and usable in the best wrestling parlance in the way. So we want that word if we can use that with your permission on the show. I think we also you're the first person and maybe the last who's still saying the wrestling. And I love that. I love I'm going to we would like that. And then the quote, which was the quote. So this is my favorite thing about what do you want to talk about is Craig, who produces a show, puts this whole sheet together of these questions that I should ask in history and bios that Ben Brown sets this whole warehouse up of the history of the business running through here.

53:15Everyone who loves it comes. There's a gallery of people who are sitting here watching us right now, but I'm not a podcaster. My favorite thing is to, is the wrestling, the wrestling is that. That's what I want to do. And I often come here and think, all right, this would be really fun. These are great guests. But the best thing that can ever happen for me as a wrestler is when I can sit here and learn. And I can only learn when it's someone like you. And to hear that, and the quote is, when you do the same thing, what is the exact quote? If you do what you've always done, you're going to have what you've always had.

53:54I needed that today. Now, if it's doing good, but if it's doing good, keep it up. You know what I mean? But if it ain't, you better change that menu real, real quick. But look, don't say something to somebody. Don't say something to Triple H and get me fired. Now I'm on scholarship. No, no, no. I think you're on scholarship, one of the better, if not the best guy on the scholarship. When I was talking to Triple H before, when I went out with Huck for that California deal we did, I had the flag, Triple H, go, Jimmy, whatever you do, don't let that flag touch the ground. I said, don't worry, baby, I ain't.

54:22If I'd have raised it any higher, man, I'd have ripped my arms out of the socket. Man, I had that going up through the roof. Well, I was waving the heck out of that darn thing. Well, speaking of, that's the Netflix premiere. It's a lot happening on that show. Yep. I was in the front row. Rock was talking to me. Just a lot happening. I knew into it the way that arena is set up. There's so much going on. That's the – you're out there. That's Hogan's last moment. Right. Before the documentary, of course. and the crowd being what they were. Right. And here's what happened, though. And I told Hulk before we went, and, you know, I love you, Hulkster, but I'm going to tell the truth on this.

55:00Yes. Here's what happened. He wore a Trump Vance T-shirt when we did some pre-God-God-Goo-Goo to do this stuff. I said, you know where we're going? We're going to California. And like I said before, I'm not a Democrat or Republican. I'm a jabroni, okay? Thank you, Rock. I'm a jabroni, okay? But here's the deal. I said, I don't like this. Jimmy, don't worry about it. I went, okay. We get out of the van there, the nice town car picture there. Some fans go, Hulk, we loved you, but we don't like you anymore because you're, you know. Oh, my God. I said, Hulk. You knew. I don't feel good about this.

55:35Jimmy, don't worry about it. Oh, okay. We go in the back. You know, I'm worrying about it because I'm thinking about it. So we're in the back and, you know, in the Hulk. And I said, he goes, Jimmy Hart, what do you think? He'd always ask before we do something. And I just said, no, everything's good. You know, everything's okay. He goes, so we went out and did the little thing with, you know, rehearse where we were going to stand and coming out and do his little deal. And I'm waving the flag. Remember how I said, Triple H, whatever you do, Jimmy, don't let the flag. Don't worry, baby, I won't.

56:03I promise you. Boy, I had that thing stretched up there waving. And we go out and we do it. And I'm really worried about it, okay? So I go out and we do the thing. And all of a sudden, boo, and I went, uh-oh. Now I'm thinking to myself, well, that's okay, Jimmy, because, you know, I'm playing like I'm managing the Hart Foundation against the British Bulldogs back in my heyday. So I'm waving the heck out of the flag, buddy. And it gets more and more and more. And I could see Hulk. I look over there and I'm going, okay, here we go. So we finish it and then we go in the back. And of course then, and Hulk calls me the next guy and goes, hey, the ratings were good on that segment we did.

56:34And I said, well, I guess they should be because with all the commotion that happened on it, I guess we should have. And I said, but you kept telling me, don't worry about it. Well, I was worried about it. And he goes, Jimmy, look, sometimes you got to do what you got to do. And he said, I've made my bed and I've got to lie in it. That's who I wanted to vote for. That's what I wanted to do. He said, I knew in my heart going in there might be a catchy thing, but he knew it. And then the next day, Pat McAfee, I'm going to get on the show and make a big – it was a great skit. They have a guy dressed up like Hulk going, I told Jimmy Hart not to wear that silly jacket like that.

57:06I told Jimmy Hart not to have that hairstyle still. But it turned out great. I've watched it. I mean, I was there, and I watched it. And then, of course, the documentary, you see it again. But one of the things that I saw was funny was the Hulkster, the artist was still in there in terms of he did what we often have to do where it's safe. Get the information out. Finish the segment. But you could also see. Hmm. Maybe I'll turn on them now. You could also see you could also see it stirring, which is always when you first hear at the moment. All right. I could do some heel things here. But a segment like that, you've got to just land the plane and take it home.

57:51But just seeing him feel it and hear it, you could tell he knew if he needed to play that role, he could. But you're smart, too, because when we got in the back, he goes, I knew I should have wore the NWT shirt. You know, he said, I want to turn hell on. I'm so bad to do it. And I said, Huck, look. I said, look, toward the end, you and Nash and Hall, people love y 'all. You know? Yeah. I mean, they were, you know, anything in life, you know. And everybody hits a situation where if you stay into one thing too long, you've got to be thinking, what's the next thing I'm going to do to come out of this, you know?

58:24And so it's just the way this business is always going to be. You know, ride it as long as it's riding. And when it's not, you know, you've got to turn around. If you do what you've always done, you've got to have what you've always had. That's when you change and go plan number two, baby. Yeah. You know? Being that that was a moment and you're out there and you're waving the flag, like you said, have you thought at all? Would it interest you at all to do one more type moment, one more match, manage somebody one more night? First of all, Paul Heyman is phenomenal. I tell him every time I see him, I love Paul Heyman.

58:57And I'm not just saying it because I love him. And it's just, you know, he's so good on everything he does. And I told him, I said, you know, Paul, I said, people respect what you say because a lot of times the crowd used to go, if people say something, they'll go, what? What? But when Paul talks, they'll listen to it. I'm like you. I watch all those things, too. Listen, right now gas is at, what, almost$5 a gallon. I've still got a little bit of that$2.95 gallon gas left in the old tank. For sure. So I could probably still go out and do a few little things. But what I found out this, if the company ever wanted me to do something, but you know I'd be there until they want me to do it, because you can't force yourself on anybody.

59:39It's like having a girlfriend going, you can buy them flowers, you can buy them candy, but if they don't love you, listen, you can buy them everything. There's a song out. I don't know if you remember the song by Bonnie Raitt. And it goes, I don't think you love me. I can't make you love me if you don't. The old story was these two guys went to write this song. They were trying to go everywhere. They said, we got to write another hit song. We hadn't had any hits. He said, why don't we go to this court today? And they went to a courthouse that day. and this guy was in there and he goes, he goes, the guy was up, he goes, well, Mr.

1:00:12So-and-so, he goes, yeah, he goes, guilty or not guilty, he said, we want to read this story, he goes, yes, sir, he said, your honor, I'm probably guilty of it, but let me hear him, he goes, you had your girlfriend, you gave her a dog and you took it back, yes, sir, I did that, he said, you gave her a car and you put your initials in it, yes, sir, that was me, he said, he said, you came over to her house and you bought her a condo and with a condo and everything else, He said, you vandalized it when she went home. Yes, sir, I did it. He said, have you learned anything for a day? And he goes, yeah, you can't make somebody love you when you don't.

1:00:44And they wrote that, it was that hit song, you know, that one line in that song. And so I always thought that. But no, I would love to do something. You know what I'd like to do? Here's what I really want to do. I'd like to do a kid's TV show. I talked to Ben Houser the other day. I said, here's what. The Ben Houser. Huh? Oh, my gosh. I know it. I said, here's what I'd love to do. Because nobody's doing it. I said, y 'all are doing so many great things. the company isn't so busy. I said, I'd like to do a kid's, I said, look, you had Mr. Green Jeans, older guy, Jimmy Hart, older. You had Happy Hal, who had Howdy Doody, older guy doing it.

1:01:17I said, I'd like to do that. I'd like to take Little Ro, who was part of the Hulk Hogan videos and stuff, let him be my co-host. And I said, let me take Dan Howes and let me take R-Truth. Let me take anybody you'll give me and have segments on it. And I wanted to call it SMACT. like you know and i said smack stands for saturday morning action club kids if you spell it out right right or it could be on saturday morning or sunday morning but y 'all aren't doing a kid's tv show you know and i said i'd love to do that maybe he'll hear this idea and a lot of things i gave him i got all the pictures together i put all the segments out and i gave it to him but i said that's the one thing that nobody's doing i said if you go to walmart and target if you look at everything there which i look all the time 70 of that stuff is for kids when y 'all go to the major shows that y 'all do it's more adults that buy the stuff and kids so one of the things i was just i just did an unreal interview right before we sat down and one of the things i was saying is the are there's so many kids in our audience but their voices are small voices and what i mean by that is i can hear the grown men i can hear them but sometimes at the expense of the smaller voices that you can't hear i don't like to dictate entirely what i do based on that older male demographic because those small voices they're they're just a little quieter that's all they're just good is there just a little they're just a little quieter and i don't want to do anything if you find yourself in a situation john cena is the greatest example he he turns heel and well he's not a heel because they grew up with him and they were they they grew up with him and they were not those voices during his heyday that were booing him and all no these this is the crew that he was their guy.

1:02:57So it's just something that I, in terms of the acoustics of the audience, I don't want to ever discount the, okay, yeah, I can hear you guys. I gotcha, gotcha. But also that the small voices are their voices. So I just, on record, did, I'm interested in, I wanted, I'm glad you said, so you would be interested in doing another match. Oh my gosh, yeah. But I also have to tell you this. Yeah. Because you said it a bunch and you're again filled with a room. And I think I have the right to tell you this as WWE champion. I think WWE loves you. So don't worry about it. You can do all the things for WWE.

1:03:36They love you. WWE has always loved you, and the whole roster does. I hope you know that. Well, you know what? I've never, but because I watch all the TVs, I feel like I'm old school, but not like old school because a lot of the guys, they don't see how wrestling's changed. Yeah. But I do because it's just, I mean, you've got to change and everything. Look how athletic all the people, I love watching NXT, you know? It's like I said about Sol Rukas. She reminds me of Javon Evans because of his acrobatic stuff. Yeah. But Charlotte Flair, you know? I'm glad you brought up Ethan Page too. Yeah, well, Ethan's the new Mios.

1:04:11He's a friend. He doesn't act like it. Listen, Ethan's the new Mios. Yeah. You know, when Mios decides, he's got a lot of my, I love the Mios. But, you know, me and The Miz did our first tour together when he came off that TV show, Orlando, Florida. We did the first little autograph thing together promoting the show. I still got that picture, by the way, but I love The Miz. Miz can change. He can do any kind of character whatsoever. Miz is mad at me right now. Why? Because I asked him last week, I said, when's Gladiators come out? It's already out. Oh, shit. Yeah, I wasn't a good friend. So I've been overly promoting it on my social.

1:04:45But he can fit into anything. And that's the way I think about Ethan Page. He can fit into anything. He's got a great, he can talk, great facial expressions. And so Ricky Saints, you know, it's hard for me to get used to that name, though, you know, after he came over. But I know you've got to do it on that. But he's got something. Both those guys seem to have a little bit more experience than ever. I think they've been around a little bit longer. The way they get in the ring, the way they work, the way they do the audience and everything. And I've done a couple of things for Ricky at WrestleMania the last two years.

1:05:14And I said, I feel like I'm managing you because we do. They have us up doing the autograph. When y 'all are wrestling, we're up in the booths with the people that pay the money for the special booths. That's when Jimmy Hart comes, hey, how you doing? Your Uber driver's here. Hey, you know. So we're all up. We have so much fun doing it, though, but they're all great. The On Location team. I know, but it's great. It takes everybody. We did a pod for On Location. Those are the best fans. I love it. It's all great. They tell you, they're just so cool. You know, it's all good. But I've had so much fun doing this my whole life, you know.

1:05:45I feel like I like, I love music, but still, this is always my first love. It was just crazy that because of Dave Wolf, I got to do a lot of the songs, you know. Oh, my gosh. So it's fun doing them. I've never seen this demeanor with you before because, you know, when I see your interviews, it's always, they've got you so tense every time you come to the ring. So even though you go, is there anything you want to talk about? Then all of a sudden it goes, you know, which is great the way you do it. But I'm like, I've never seen him so laid back. It's awesome. Got to be. I know. This is great, though.

1:06:11The plight of a baby face, though, is I just get my, I feel like I'm getting beat up every week. And then if you get to the big P and then you're talking about beating that guy up, you know, Michael Hayes even brought it up last week. He's like, we leave you laying a lot, don't we? I'm like, yes. Yeah, I wouldn't mind, you know, like, but hey. Big news. WWE and sports fans, the world's number one sports fan festival, Fanatics Fest, is making its return to New York City. Fanatics is bringing you closer to the leagues, teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action-packed days in July.

1:06:46Meet your favorite WWE superstars, get your hands on exclusive merch, and interact with the biggest names in sports. Tickets are on sale now, and fans of the podcast can use code CODY10 at checkout for 10 % discount. Head to FanaticsFest.com to get your tickets today. You talked about potentially gas in the tank, managing one more time, maybe more than one more time, who on our roster appeals to you and who do you think would fit? You know what? Everybody is so cool. They wouldn't be up there, number one, if WWE weren't ready for them. And Shawn Michaels has everybody ready before they get there.

1:07:25Trust me on that. So it'd really be hard for me to really fit into anything. I'd have to look and see at the agents or the promoters or whoever's behind the scenes to put me with somebody, if it ever happened, that I would really fit in with because they're with the product seven days a week and I only watch it three times a week until you've got a pay-per-view. So I watch it on Mondays and, of course, Tuesdays and, of course, the Friday night shows. But, you know, like I said before, I just, like I still got a little gas left in the tank. Do you think you'd fit with me? Listen, I think you're doing so good right now.

1:08:00I'd be the one to come in that if the T-shirts started not selling, the ratings went down. the scholarship wouldn't be over Jimmy Hart you're out of here brother so please now you've always been great I followed your career with the other company too I tried to get you to walk me to the ring at Ring of Honor I know you did but I was in Europe I told you that though I'd love to do it but I'm over here that would have been a big thrill but you know what no matter where you've gone you've always landed on your feet I mean you know it more than anything But I just, the way you groom yourself, the way you look, the way you talk, the way you speak.

1:08:37And that's why all these kids and everywhere I go, and adults too, you know, when I'm out doing autographs and doing stuff, I've always watched the merchandise. I watch everything, what they're buying and who they talk about and what, you know, and I've always done that. Speaking of merch, you'll probably see this as you keep doing the autographs and all the things. You're someone who's very similar energy and is Dan Housen. Oh, I love Dan Housen. It's a phenomenon. Listen to this. When I saw him, I saw him about six months ago before I saw him at WrestleMania, and I'd always tell him, I said, Dan Howzen, ask him this.

1:09:13He'll know him. I said, Dan Howzen, let me tell you something. With the merchandise you have now, if you can ever get in WWE, I'm telling you, oh, my gosh, bring in the armored truck to put that money in. I said, I love this and everything. And so I saw him when I saw him at WrestleMania. I told him, I said, remember he told him? He goes, yeah, you did. And he goes, well, I'm here. And I said, okay, bring the armored truck. That SOB is the safe shirt to buy because if you buy a Roman shirt, you're drawing a line in the sand. If you buy a punk shirt, you're drawing a line in the sand. You buy a Cody shirt, you're picking a side.

1:09:48You buy a Danhausen shirt, you're good. Everyone, you're against and for everyone. It's just a very smart, and what you told them was 100 % true because the group outside of WWE, be that being one hour teas and Ryan wonderful guys when they lost Dan Housen, that was a, that was a sad moment. There's a kind of a retirement of, he really filled that block and now somebody else will have to take that mantle and he's here doing it. You weren't wrong. Well, you know what? Years before y 'all had seen Santino Morelli doing that and then our truth. And so Dan Housen fits right in, you know, the other class is graduating slowly, but surely.

1:10:25And so you got to new class coming in. That's Dan Housen. Absolutely. So I love him. I love him. When I saw him at WrestleMania, we talked and everything else. And he's a good dude. He really is a good guy. You think he'd do well on the podcast? Sorry? You think he'd do well on the podcast? If you do 30 minutes of it. Yeah. It might be very short. All right. As long as he don't put the curse on you. Yeah, no, you can't get cursed. I told him, I said, please don't curse my megaphone. Please don't curse my megaphone. I want it to still work. Oh, man. Which, by the way, listen, I've got to tell you this.

1:10:59This is a special megaphone. At least to me it is. Because on here it's got almost all the guys. We couldn't get everybody on it, but almost over 20 of something of the people that I got to manage when I had my little run in WWE. And a couple of people that I had in Memphis like Jerry Lawler and Andy Coppin. But I know you've got a great charity. And last year, Jason Aldean called me, country music singer. I know you're familiar with him. He called me and he said that his wife had a charity for abused women. and he wanted to know would I send him something that he could auction off. Well, I sent it to him up in Nashville, and Kid Rock, of all people, bought a Jimmy Hart megaphone that I sent for$10 ,500.

1:11:40So I guess that's okay for me to say it, Kid Rock, so I'm doing it anyhow. I think that's great. So I did that for him. And so what I want to do is I want to give this to you for your charity when you have your next time that y 'all put things up for auction off and everything else. but if you'll accept it, I'd love to do it. Well, I will. It's too much, but thank you. Yes, please. And I'm going to sign it. You got to sign it. I hope this doesn't hurt. I hope the money deal on it. No, no. But I'm going to do that, but I want you to, this is yours, man, and I want to thank you for putting food on everybody's table for another year.

1:12:14So I love you for that, and it's just been so great doing this, man. When they called me about doing this, I said, are you sure you ain't calling Bret Hart? you know i said instead of jimmy heart and so that was the whole deal so but i love you man thank you so much oh i hear a phone ringing back who is that that was the loudest it was like a fake phone ring bent brown's running yeah there he goes oh thank you so much this is yours man but it's you know it's got a little bit of everybody on it but this is yours and uh thank you hope it can make some money for your chair it certainly will and uh oh this this means a great deal and we a hundred percent wanted you had been trying to find the time to do it this would this is wonderful and i feel like you mentioned a lot of the next you just said it the class graduated another class comes in i hope they watch this because i got so much out of sitting here with you oh man you know if i can't ride in a car with you from louisville to cincinnati or whatever it is and doing these shows i i can sit here right now and it's just a wealth of knowledge and experience and well yeah i love you for having me here man oh thank you so much glamour girls are on here glamour a lot of people don't realize i managed the glamour girls and what was so cool about it we had the jumping bomb angels that came in yeah and the jump we had nobody to fight him so i went to vince and it's events i've got an idea he goes what well i went to pat really and pat gave vince the idea pat patterson he goes jimmy's got an idea of bleaching their hair blonde he wants to call them the glamour girls and he goes but they're not glamorous i said yeah but That's why I want to do it because they're not glamorous.

1:13:49It makes sense because I'm coming in. He goes, yeah. So we made them gold capes, gold outfits, and I had a gold jacket. And the reason I did gold because I had a gold jacket already, so I didn't have to make me one. And so we did save money. And so we did that. We had a great run for about seven or eight months. And so it turned out. At the very end, I was happy. I got to take a drop kick from the jumping bomb angels at the end of the matches. So it turned out great. You got Bret Hart on here. Yep. You've got Greg Valentine, Jerry Lawler, Andy Kaufman, Natural Disasters, Dory Funk, the Rougeau Brothers, Money, Inc., Nasty Boys, Adrian Adonis, Dino Bravo, Hart Foundation, King Kong Bundy, Terry Funk, obviously the mouth of South Jimmy Hart, Hulkamania here.

1:14:32Think about just what's on this megaphone. And you know what? In Memphis, a lot of people don't know, I managed in Memphis, I had King Kong Bundy and Nightheart down there. I had the Iron Sheik. I managed the Iron Sheik in Memphis before we went to New York. And I had Rick Rude. just so many of the guys that finally went to New York that I had down in Memphis too. So I learned so much from everybody really. But I'm going to tell you something. This company here has the best production of anybody ever in the business. And you know that. We've all been different places and stuff, but you just can't beat the production and the staff and everything.

1:15:04And so I love doing what I'm doing. So whenever they call me, I'm like a fireman, buddy. I say, feet, don't fail me now, baby. I'm on my way. Well, I mean, the production is everything you just said. and hats off to they are the best. And often in the field, we'll find that some of our partners don't always realize that until they see it and realize, oh, these guys got it. They know what they're doing. That aside though, this has to have heart and soul and you are just some of the biggest heart and soul that's in the wrestling business. I love you. Thank you so much. Coming for you, it means so much.

1:15:38Like I said, it really does. And remember one thing before I go, keep on dancing, baby. Keep on dancing, baby. Keep on dancing. Ladies and gentlemen, mouth of the towel, Jimmy Hart. Thank you. The champ. The champ. That was so much fun. No, thank you, man. That was fun. That's great.