Recap of Hogan & Eric's "State of TNA" Address

[Schizophrenic]

- Hulk Hogan and Erich Bischoff were on the Bubba The Love Sponge show today, giving their State of TNA Address, here are the highlights…

Q: Confirm or deny Honky Tonk is joining TNA

A: EB "I would rather drive an icepick through my thigh than work with the Honky Tonk Man"

Q: How do you feel about Dixie wanting to go family friendly?

A: Hulk: Not going to happen, we are going to keep pushing the envelope.

Q: Are you going live on March 1?

A: EB: Haven't heard anything, I have just been reading it on the internet.

Hulk: Nothing has been confirmed, it's not a lock. I would like to have it but it's not set yet.

Q: Ongoing talks with Savage?

A: Hulk: "I would love to have him come in and manage his illegitimate son."

Q: Can you tell me the peaking order of how the writing goes:

A: Hulk: Bottom line is that Eric has the final say.

Topic comes up with Vince Russo about the "fake wrestling" twitter post.

· Not really answered just some disparaging words thrown at Russo.

Q: What do they think of Lacey Von Erich?

A: Hogan says she can't work.

EB: "We will teach her how to work", and likes her look.

Q: Are you guys big on Desmond Wolfe?

A: EB: Very high on him, good look.

Hulk says he killed it last night, he's "real close."

Q: What is the Montreal angle really, is it a shot at Vince?

A: EB: It's a shot "kind of", but it's entertaining and as long as they (fans) love it or hate it's about whether they are talking about it. Hang with it and watch where it goes.

Q: WWE has a farm system, are you guys going to be doing something?

A: EB: There is no developmental as such. Brian Knobbs and Saggs have a school they are looking at. "Hopefully we will be able to develop our own but we aren't ready for a farm system".

Name Associations.

Black Pope: Both EB and Hulk love him and he is going to be getting a push.

Abyss: Hulk: My favorite wrestler of all "he's my next John Cena". EB likes him a lot and committed to his character.

Q: Are you interested in taking a look at FCW guys?

Hulk: He says they definitely would be interested.

EB: Says "if they are free we could".

Q: Any WWE talent interested in TNA?

Hulk: Yup.

Q: Sting no showing them.

A: Hulk: Sting's a great talent, wishes he would have come up north for the WWE. He understands why personally he wasn't there but professionally it hurts the company.

EB: "Everyone has to make a commitment. I understand where Hulk's coming from. But if you're not 110% committed then it's probably not going to work out."

Q: Any chance we will see Hogan vs. Flair on TNA PPV.

A: Hulk: Doesn't really answer the question.

Q: Will we see the Australian tour on PPV?

A: EB: Not likely for financial reasons.

Caller: Hulk is the worst wrestler since 1989 and how can you evaluate talent? Stone Cold hates you and won't work a program with you?

- Lots of banter back and forth lots of swearing. Bottom line is they don't answer the question.

Q: Has working with Vince McMahon changed your thought process?

EB: There's no denying he's a great businessman, he's arrogant but he likes him and "I wouldn't hang out with him" but he thinks he's great. On a business level he is very smart. On a creative run he thinks he takes credit for too much and he doesn't think he's that good.

Q: Was there a time when you were going against the Rock and you just thought WCW was going to fail?

A: EB: "When AOL/Time Warner took over and put more hands on our product by making it more family friendly, that's when things starting taking a turn for a worst. Now history is repeating itself and we have a chance to go after that older audience."

Q: Are you going to be signing any more books Hulk?

A: Hulk: Not in the near future.

Q: Richard Ortiz, are you interested in him.

A: EB: I don't know him.

Q: Is there one talent from WWE you both want?

A: Hulk: Orton and Cena. But he would also love the Big Show.

EB: "I have a problem with Show, never been committed, he's lazy. I would like Cena and Orton."

- EB says he never crapped on Jericho, likes him, but doesn't think he can headline.

- Hulk would love to have Chris in TNA.

Q: Why do you feel it's necessary to acknowledge Vince on TNA?

A: EB: You can't win a fight with throwing a punch, "we are going the fight".

Q: If you could wrestle one person in TNA.

A: Hulk: AJ Styles, "if he doesn't get too full of himself".

Hopefully this will put some people's faith in Eric & Hulk some more. He said on here how he likes the new guys like Wolfe & Dinero even calling Dinero the next Cena. It seems like they are heading on the right path and just need to adjust a few kinks. Glad to see them liking guys like Styles, Dinero, Wolfe, Lethal and others.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Well first of all, I must strongly disagree with the comparison of Dinero to Cena. I like the guy, but another Cena? No way. I don't think Hogan and Bischoff have evil intetions with TNA like some people might think. From what we've all seen so far, I think Hogan and Bischoff are trying to elevate TNA, and not have all the veterans run the place. Again, we still have to wait to see how all of this will unfold.

 

[BradXXX]

Abyss: Hulk: My favorite wrestler of all "he's my next John Cena". EB likes him a lot and committed to his character.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, isn't Hogan calling Abyss his next Cena?

I'd love to see the Abyss character taken more seriously. Although I don't know if he could ever be John Cena. However, it'd be great to see something happen which would turn Abyss into a "monster" again!

 

[danny]

wow!! over on anti hogan 411mania dot .com their calling hogan and eric every damn name in the book........stupid ass mother fuckers!!! really get a damn life people and stop taking this shit so seriously, hogan never said he could work miracles!!

 

[capoxstatus]

"Q: Ongoing talks with Savage?

A: Hulk: "I would love to have him come in and manage his illegitimate son."

lol i loved that line and i for one would like to see that, they could make a good storyline out of it. Manage him to the global title and just cut funny old promos.

Another thing i really like was the talk of pushing the pope dangelo dinero hes over with the crowd, entertaining mic work, and really solid in the ring. So im hoping they will build him up and let him get a good push to the title

One thing that i was surprised about is that they want the big show. I could really see the big show wanting to go to TNA and get out of wwe. Hes one of the few wwe people that i can see going to TNA easily.

 

[sTyLnK]

Interesting read especially about how EB thinks Big Show is lazy and not committed. He works a full time schedule and is extremely mobile for his size. He's also been very reliable in terms of not missing a lot of time with injuries and what not. (At least not for a long time anyways.)

Good read though.

 

[skotch]

Bishoff saying that Jericho isn't a headliner, if I read that correctly, has to be the funniest thing I have ever heard.

Jericho is the best overall wrestler in the world. He is an extremely creative and talented in ring performer, he has superior mic work to anyone, he elevates any other wrestler he is in a program with and he's been doing all of that for 10 years now.

If this is Bishoff's honest opinion then he is a poor judge of talent.

But it doesn't really matter anyways... As a WWE and TNA fan, I hope they go head to head Mondays to elevate both of their storylines.

 

[AMH]

I bet you any money had Jericho and Big Show decided to leave the WWE, they'd be welcomed to TNA with open arms. For real, Jericho not a headliner? Like Skotch said he's one of the best wrestlers in the world. Not only that, but he has a good reputation for being a team player. As does the Big Show. Face it Bischoff, if either of these two had left, you'd do whatever you can to make them the next big "superstar aquisition." I don't mean to criticize, but there's no wrestler (especially those who work a WWE schedule) who should be shot down by a borderline egomaniacal little elf like Bischoff.

 

[proofinlife]

wow!! over on anti hogan 411mania dot .com their calling hogan and eric every damn name in the book........stupid ass mother fuckers!!! really get a damn life people and stop taking this shit so seriously, hogan never said he could work miracles!!

I don't know if saying the 1/4 Impact was going to get 3.0 in a radio interview isn't him saying he could work miracles or not, but it was definitely a good point of proof that he's extremely full of himself.

Alot of the things Hulk says are works, complete, 100% works. Most of the things he says in interviews aren't his realistic opinion, merely him working his new "GM-Like" character he's got going on. Generally most of the stuff they are doing are building to bigger and better things, but they need to get all the hokies out of the main events like the Nasty Boys, Nash and Hall. Although Nash and Hall and Hogan peek some interest, Nasty Boys have no right headlining TNA's tag division with Team 3D. They've just been hanging in obscurity for far too long (aside from CCW).

Like the round table jokes go, once we see Brutus Beefcake walk through that guerilla stage entrance, we know 100% what is going on.

 

[olds95supreme]

WHAT ABOUT THE PART THAT SAID (STING NO SHOWING THEM) THAT I DONT GET, DID STING NO SHOW A TNA EVENT OR AM I MISREADING IT COMPLETELY?

Q: Sting no showing them.

A: Hulk: Sting's a great talent, wishes he would have come up north for the WWE. He understands why personally he wasn't there but professionally it hurts the company.

EB: "Everyone has to make a commitment. I understand where Hulk's coming from. But if you're not 110% committed then it's probably not going to work out."

 

[TheFOUR]

No he's talking about when Sting was personally called up before they fired alot of WCW wrestlers after the buyout and Sting not showing up on Monday Night Raw after saying he might. Sting is back in TNA because of Hogan and Flair, now he has help to help the young guys out and make them the next household names.

 

[justinept]

Gotta say, I do like the route I believe Hogan/Bischoff to be going. They're adding some interest to the TNA product, but they don't have much room for error.

A lot of us posters on here have an idea of where the product is heading ... and if it veers off in a completely different direction - a direction that many of us don't like - then TNA is going to right back to being a 2nd rate option to the WWE.

For example, I see Bischoff turning on Hogan and joining with The Band to wreak havok on Hulk's company. I see a power struggle developing between the two. If we get Hogan turning heel, I might turn off the TV.

Just saying. These two have had a great start. It was a very exciting month of January for TNA. But the company doesn't have the credibility to make a wrong move.

 

[Encyclopedia of Wrestling]

Agreed in all but one way the stinker isn't gonna do any good for TNA when he can't wrestle a decent match just cuz those puppets in orlando chant you still got it don't me you have it....by the way didn't you lose it in 1996 when your hair started to get dark and you didn't wrestle for a yr..come on man wake up people if TNA wants to get better its putting these guys as agents and not on tv have them teach guys how to get over not put them selves over.

 

[Schizophrenic]

Agreed in all but one way the stinker isn't gonna do any good for TNA when he can't wrestle a decent match just cuz those puppets in orlando chant you still got it don't me you have it....by the way didn't you lose it in 1996 when your hair started to get dark and you didn't wrestle for a yr..come on man wake up people if TNA wants to get better its putting these guys as agents and not on tv have them teach guys how to get over not put them selves over.

First off.....what?! Dont me you have it? Is that some alien language? What are you speaking about in 96? You have utterly confused me. From the the small amount I can understand from your post I have to say that Sting is one of the better workers from the older generation. The guy can still put on a match. Watch BFG 09 and see his match with AJ. Sure he didn't match up exactly with AJ but Styles is a good 30 years younger? Of course he is gonna look slower. Plus I love AJ but the guy doesn't have the psychology that Stinger does. Sting is used to wrestling a match where you sell and sell and sell. You dont get up after flipping over the ropes landing on your head and knocking yourself out. And that's exactly what these guys are doing, they are teaching the newer generation and getting them over. A new guy facing a new guy is getting neither over for very long. A young guy beating a vet is going to get them over as legit.

 

[daletango]

I think it's enlightening and cool to see them speaking openly infront of the fans. I'm quite new to TNA and I'm only watching every episode since Hulk and Bischoff came in. Before I really didn't have interest and saw it as.. well.. 2nd rate and quite amateur. But like alot I'm tired of the WWE childrens tv and don't care if I miss Raw anymore. Now I just want to give TNA the chance to evolve and see Hulk+Bischoff show longterm loyalty to the show.

 

[Melina]

I think speaking candidly is fine as long as what they say is consistent. If they start contradicting themselves, or it shows in their product; whether justified or not, fans will react negatively. A lot of fans refuse to read between the lines.

 

[JackBurton]

Its got to a point now where Hogan and Bischoff are smart enough to recognize that fans are smarter now than they were 10/15 years ago. There also smart enough to recognize that if they are going to gain any momentum they have to convince those fans that are smart that maybe, just maybe, this time its a shoot - its real.

So to put what Im trying to say in a nutshell;

they are trying to work the internet. If they do that - those fans will tell there friends/family or w/e who are casual fans, that "hey man, no seriously though, this *insert angle/issue/feud* is for real man - you know Im smart and Im you telling this was a shoot - you have to watch it"

Bischoff created realism In wrestling at a time when it was all fairy tales and lolly pops - who took 15 million fans and convinced them that, hey, these guys dont work here and they're invading our territory.

Using Bubbas show is smart and I would be surprised if we didn't see a proliferation of these types of interviews in the future, especially if and when they go live on a regular basis; where "anything can happen".

 

[hellod245]

I dont know. From above interview i didnt agree with Bischoff at all that Jericho is not a main eventer. I mean cmon Bischoff Jericho is the top player in wwe rite now. He is the reason that i stil watch wwe. He proved him time and again so this was a total disgrace to him and all jerichoholics. I agree with Hogan on Wolfe and the Pope as they can become huuge in future and help TNA to elevate to the next level.

 

[RasslingFanatic]

I advise everyone actually listen to this and don't judge the transcript.

After listening to them I think they are so 'full of themselves', not as in the think they can make anyone a star, but that they can see how easy it is with the talent they have.

 

[Tastycles]

I don't think that there is anything particularly insightful about the interview at all. It's pretty clear that they are just saying what they think the audience want to hear. There is no way that anybody views Abyss as the next John Cena, much less two men who have done nothing to suggest Abyss will be pushed after they've been around for a month. They sidestep all of the truly big questions such as those of Russo and how Hogan has no experience of talent evaluation and has a lot of enemies. If you had doubts and these have allayed them, then I'm afraid you are very gullible.