Future Projects and Final Thoughts

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Because now they got dry rubs. You can get their famous fingers and wings in three signature flavors, zesty lemon pepper, savory garlic palm, and spicy Nashville hot. Which means there's a little something for everyone chasing a bold hit of flavor. If you've been sleeping on Zaxby's, this new dry rub menu is about to wake you up. Zaksby's Dry Rubs. Try all three flavors before they're gone. Who's got the sauce? Zacksp Hello, everybody. I'm the American Nightmare. Welcome to What Do You Wanna Talk About Today? An incredibly special guest. I wanted this guest for a very long time. I am so excited. A Hall of Famer inducted in 2005, man with the bull horn, all the amazing jackets. the mouth of the south, the founding member of the gentries, the one and only. Please welcome to What Do You Wanna Talk About, a Fanatics and WWE original production, The Mouth of the South, Jimmy Hart. Cody, this is awesome, man. Thanks for inviting me here. This is cool. I uh I wish the energy that you have. And the Passion. You you just exude it. You live it. You look it, you believe it, you is is uh Your style for how you approach this, how you do interviews, how you've done everything you've done. This is a uh maybe a strange question to jump off with, but is it from Memphis? Is it from is it from the upbringing? Is there someone who you looked at that was Maybe Jimmy Hart before Jimmy Hart? Well, you know what? I was raised by a single parent. My mom raised me, you know, just us two by ourselves. And so uh it was kinda crazy back then, but uh I realized back then if I'm gonna do anything in life, wh whatever it might be, I'm gonna have to do it myself. You know, I didn't have a a rich mother, a rich father, or anybody else to fall back on. So uh uh that's the way it really started back then. We just um we had to we had to make it ourselves. She worked two jobs. When I got through playing football, I played, believe it or not, I played ball in high school, a wing back at Treadwell High School. Same school Jerry Lawler went to. Uh but uh when everybody else would go home to a good old hot meal I went right to Pic Pack Grocery Store at thirty five cents an hour back then. But I'd do my little sack groceries and stuff and then finally I'll work my way up to Stock Boy. That was forty cents an hour. And then finally the bottle boy, fifty cents an hour. So Uh it turned out great. Everything turned out beautiful. Oh my gosh, did it turn out beautiful? You uh you talk about Jerry Lawler. talking about Memphis, Continental and Territory wise. I I I I I'm curious as far as Florida Territory. Uh Verns Territory, uh Shire, California, Bosch, Texas, up in the Northeast. What In terms of Memphis and just that in the south. What do you think you guys were the best at? Well, you know what? I had a chance to visit Florida for a while and uh which was great, and also go to Vern's territory for a little bit and uh a couple of other places, but uh I uh I don't know, it's just something special happened in Memphis, you know. Yeah before I got into the wrestling business down there, I started watching it, of course, with Jerry the King Lawler and all them and one of my favorites a guy named Sputnik Monroe. I love Sputney Monroe. Something about Sputnik was so cool and so great. And um when I would c um go to the Coliseum, well really auditorium back then, I'd go out front and I'd sell programs. I'd be out front of the door and they'd come out, pick you, you, you, you, and I'd sell programs for popcorn, whatever they wanted me to do. And I'd always hustle as much as I could because I knew that night I got to watch the main event because they'd come and check up all the money before that. And that's when I got to see Spunt Ningman rolling Billy Wicks in that main event for that Cadillac week after week after week. And I just loved it. It was just something about it that I loved. So finally, when Jerry Lawler gave me a chance to uh to join the company down there. Um I just said, you know, I'm gonna make this work whatever, whatever it takes. And it just turned out to be great. But I think a lot of things that we had, we got to do our own interviews. A lot of drove me crazy because when I was there, I'd have three or four uh matches I'd have to do it uh on each Saturday morning live TV. But he'd wait till the last minute to tell me what he would like to happen, right? And I'd go, King, please I said, Oh you're are you're doodling around in there drawing pictures. It's thirty minutes before we start. He goes, Jimmy, get him about ten minutes till I went, ten minutes till But the reason he did that because he wanted me to really think hard. And be my best. If I to plan too much for it, sometimes if you plan too much on anything, it doesn't turn out the way you want it to turn out. So I think that was one of the things that we had, just spontaneous stuff that we were able to do. But Nick Monroe. Yeah. Wow. I th I think you might be the first mention uh person to mention on the pod. Uh What was it about him? Wha what was it? Well, it was just something about him. His interviews, you know, when he would talk to you, you really believed everything that he said you really believe that's up what was gonna happen on that particular Monday night, or whoever he was fighting. And I'm gonna tell something too, what Sputney was really known for later on, which we found out Back in that day, uh, of course, you know, back in our early area for us too, every we didn't have guaranteed contracts. Everything was on a percentage, what you did off the door. And he was the one of the ones that uh we had a great African American fan base down there, but they only had a small section they could sit in. at the uh old Coliseum back the auditorium back then for them. Coliseum later. So they only had X amount of seats where they could really go. So Sputney got with the guys and he has look This is crazy. We we're half full. You know, downstairs we got a uh a another five or six hundred people, African Americans, standing out front wanting to come in. They've only got X amount of seats for them. We need to make sure that they let everybody in that wants to buy a ticket and come in. He got that change really quick. He got with all the boys and they got with the promoter down there at the time and just said, look, this is what we want. And they went with it. It made a lot of sense. And so he was really responsible for that back in the day. That is Absolutely wild. And I I know that was the the the situation, but Good on him. He did great. He really did. Good on him. I I mentioned it uh in the introduction, and I I mean I could go on and on and on, but something I knew about you very early on because my dad told me when I'd watch. So if I watched you on TV or when you uh when I got to see you up close and personal at WCW, he always talked about the gentries. And I feel like anytime we talk about Jimmy Hard in wrestling, I feel like not enough people talk about the gentries and your musical roots and what you did because it leans into the amount of music you provided for wrestling. I feel like tell me tell me about the Gentries. Well, we uh we're in high school, Treadball High School, Jerry Lauder was of course one of my uh roommates or room mates or whatever you want to call it back in the day, back in the day of schoolmates. And so what he did, he went into artwork. And I w and the and the wrestling, of course, and we went into music, of course, but uh what happened is our first group of gentries, what we had, we were in high school. We did a show uh called Ted Mac's original amateur art. We won a talent contest in Memphis and we got to go to Miami Beach to do uh which is kinda like American bandstand our uh our America's Got Talent now. our American idol. But that was back in the day. So we won the talent contest in Memphis and we got to take a train from Jackson Tennessee all the way to Miami Beach, Florida. And that's where we met Ted Mack. And so uh They had all different they had a a juggler there contest for him. They had all kind of singers and stuff, but we played a song called Do You Love Me Live. Nobody'd seen that on TV before for that type audience. So the votes came in a month later and they go, guess what? You guys won. We go back to Miami again, same train, same way, we go down. We won twice. The third time, we got disqualified because we'd already signed a record contract with a guy named Chip Smallman. Chip Smallman was a friend of a guy named uh George Klein, who was the best friends of Elvis Presley, okay? And so George Klein had a show called Talent Party that was in Memphis at the time, which was like American Bandstand, which was like American Idol. So We got on that show and we cut a song called Uh Som Times and the other side was called Keep On Dancing. And all of a sudden back then when you got a record played, the kids in your school could vote for that. And so every week we have the number one record. So MGM records came in and said, Well look It might be a freak deal because th they have all the votes for here because they're from here. Let's put this record out in Nashville. And in Chattanooga, Tennessee, of all places. But it did real well there. So that gave us our record deal on MGM Records. And then after that, the rest was history, man. We just took off from there. On the weekends, we'd go to school during the week, and on the weekends The M GM would they would spend the money to fly us out to do American Bandstand with Dick Clark or Hullabaloo or Shindig or where the action is. And uh uh we did a lot of those gigs like with Steppenwolf and Chicago and Um the beach boys. I loved playing with the beach boys. So the weekends would go, then we'd come back on Monday and go back to school. And this was all happening. So a lot of people say if Jimmy Hart's lips are moving, he's lying, but I got a lot of posters in my stories to prove it. So um but that's how it really clicked. And um It just took off from there. So we had four Gentry albums off one hit single. How that happened, I really don't know. And then uh after that we jumped to the Sun label. Which um talking about your dad, every time I saw your dad, he'd always go, Jimmy, saying keep on dancing for me. And I said, Come on, Dusty, don't make no, I can't start this show. Do you saying keep on dancing? I'm going, Okay, I'll say keep on dancing. So I did a little, you know, a little part of that. And I'd always he'd always call me to go pick him up. at the airport sometimes when he was up doing the T and A stuff later on. And I'd go pick him up and he'd go, If this was Hulk Hogan, he said, Why wouldn't you come pick me up in a Cadillac? I said, Dusty, I pick you up in my IKEA because you're the common man. And if people see me picking you up in a limit, he go, Jimmy Hart, you got me again, baby. You got me again. Yeah Just the short snippet of what you told me just now about your musical career. Right. How many years was that? The gentries in those MGM and those four records. How many years was that? From nineteen sixty five, all the sixty five, sixty six to almost nineteen seventy nine, but we did all those tours and I had different members, of course, that came and went. And then when we jumped over the Sun label, we kinda had uh a re a rejuvenation of the Gentries. We had a hit record, top forty record called Cinnamon Girl, written by Neil Young. And back with our original Gentries, I'd met Neil Young when he was in a group called The Buffalo Springfield when we played the whiskey of go go for two weeks. And we were out there with a Buffalo Springfield. They were our warm up group and we we th we were the main event, I guess you could call it back then. But I still have posters of that too. Uh believe it or not, some of the doors would come to see us each week, uh the birds would come to see us. On our breaks, I'd go next door to the Rainbow Room, a little Richard be playing there. The turtles will be playing the at at the rainbow room. Down the street. So it was just a great era back in the day. I believe it. And the fact that it all happened in such a sh short span of time compared to what you're going to then do next in the wrestling space. What a life. What a and I feel like wrestling fans, I just hope they look at what all you just said. the amount of hustle and go get him and successful four albums. MGM. This is a I didn't even know. I just the old man would say the gin trees. He'd talk about 'cause 'Cause this is this is what I'm thinking in terms of come into wrestling and you are very responsible for some of the best ever. wrestling themes. Or as you'll hear a lot of people outside of it say, What's the walkout song? Whatever it is. Who was the first person to wanna merge those worlds, your musical talents w and your wrestling love. When Jerry Lawler down in Memphis, he said, look, you got carte blanche, let's do some music videos, so he let me do music videos and and of course back then we didn't have a lot of money in a budget, right? So like uh I would take, say, like Eddie Gilbert when we did his song Hot Stuff. Which was a a song already out. But I barred My friend that At Treadwell High School, I borrowed his his uh Corvette. Put him in the out. Uh a friend of mine had a place called Chelsea Limited down there. We had all closed from Europe. So we go in, we put him in an outfit, come out the door, film a little bit, go back in and change, come out the door. We did that over and over. And so we did all that. Oh, on the motorcycle I had a uh another team called the Dirty White Boys. We only had one motorcycle. So I hooked that on the back of a truck. with a heart feel and we came over one side, we let one guy ride across the bridge with it. Then we'd go back, put the other guy on it, right across the bridge. And so we had him one guy pointing to the right, one guy pointing to the left. So it looked like they were riding together, you know, coming in on that. But that's the way we had to make it back then, you know? Yeah. No budget. So we just did everything we could, but Jerry let me do a lot of crazy stuff back then, songs like We Hate School and Lance Russell Snows, all the big ones if you're from Memphis. And um and so we just had fun doing it. So when I got to New York, um Vince let me uh do a lot of the musical stuff up here, you know? And so um by the way, sexy boy, but Shawn Michaels, which he still uses. Thank you, Sean, uh has over twenty four million hits on Spotify, if you check it out. So Would that be your favorite one that you did that you worked on? Well, I love that one because Sean did it. The songs that we Jimmy Johnson did great songs up here. Some of the guys were able to really participate in 'em and maybe sing 'em too, like the Rougeot brothers, you know, the big line, We don't like heavy metal, we don't like rock and roll. All we like to listen to is Barry Manalo and people would laugh and go, Why'd you say Barry Manilow? And I said, Well if we'd have said Led Zeppelin, people would have loved them, you know? And so we had to make them kind of quirky too along with it. But we had so much fun. All the honky tonk man's hits, you know, a honka honk a honky love. You ain't nothing but a honky dog baby and uh all the big ones, right? And so um And so we just uh we had so much fun doing 'em and um and then when I first came up to do WrestleMania One, which I was lucky to be on that, but I was I was so excited, I met Dave Wolf, who was Cindy Lauper's manager. And so he said, We're cutting a wrestling album. Have you got a song for it? And I said, Well I got one called Eat Your Heart Out, Rick Springfield. He heard it, he goes, I love it, let's do it. Yeah. So it just all kind of fell into place. Let's take a moment to talk about power moves. When you bet on yourself, leave the comfort of the status quo, and come back to Headline WrestleMania, that is a power move. 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Spring weekends are all about family, sunshine, and evenings on the patio. Before everyone arrives, I stop by my local Total Wine and More to grab a great bottle to share. With such a wide selection and the lowest prices, it's easy to find something amazing for everyone to enjoy. if you're not sure what to pick. Their friendly guides can help. Find what you love and love what you find only at Total Wine and More. Total Wine and More in store or online. Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly. B21. Zaksby's giant chicken finger wraps are no snack. In fact, they're so big, they get their own menu. Get one in your choice of Asian sensation, Buffalo Blue, and Chicken Bacon Ranch. And you know they're coming packed with three crispy, handbreaded famous fingers, fresh ingredients, and their signature sauce all wrapped to perfection. Big on size, bold on flavor. But that's just how they do it at Zacksby's. Zach Spee's giant wraps. They're no snack. Who's got the sauce? Zach Spee. This is something I've thought about wrestling music for a long time, but you are by far the expert. So I'm gonna ask your opinion on this is Wrestling songs, the entrance the the music. Think The answer is not always having the best song, but having the most catchy song. Yes. Yes. Okay. That's and I feel your tunes because there's sexy boy. What else? Give me give me the catalog of what you did. There's sexy boy. Okay. Yes. Road Warriors. We did the Road Warriors up there 'cause they couldn't use the um The rock group that you handed out. And so Metallica or whoever had that. And so then we had um Uh, Road Warriors, uh, Snookas, Repo Man, um of course the Heart Foundation thing. Yes. And um We had um uh oh Ted D B Yossi the million dollar money money money money. Yes. And what I did on his, I just took the words that he would do, you know, use for a promo, I chopped them up, and I said, Look, Ted, you just read these words. Let's w I'm gonna show you when to come in for 'em and doing them. So we put the thing together and he did it like in his own voice, so it turned out good. For him, you know. So we did that. Um I'm kind of list of uh You kinda caught me off guard here, but uh Did you do Dusty's? Yeah, we did all your dads. Oh my God. But I gotta t here's a quick story. This is so funny with him. Dusty goes, Hey, I just talked to Vince and he said you can write me a song. I said, Okay, what do you want it? He goes, Okay. He I had my list. He goes, Okay, I want a cow bell. I went, Cowbell He goes, Give me some Soul Sister Singing from Memphis. I said Soul sister singing from Memphis. He goes, Give me some horns. Those Memphis horns. Okay, the Memphis horn. I said, damn, Dusty, why don't you just write it yourself? He went, oh, so we did it, but we got that cowbell in the front of it. Man, I had those girls in the front going, he's a merry dream. Boom, boom, boom. He's just a common man. You know, they were rocking out. We had the horns in there. Bam bam. You know. And so I I couldn't wait to play it for him because I always loved him, man. And and so um so he he listened to it, he goes And I'm going, Oh man, this don't look good. This this is not good. I said, this ain't gonna be good. I know what he came back, he goes Not only did I don't like it, I love it. He said, I love it. I it made me feel so good because, you know, I always I always loved him, man. And um That was so great when he did that. We did American Made for H 'cause when we left New York and went to uh WCW, we couldn't use real American. So we did American Made for Him and I got a question about that. Okay. Okay. I have been on record. It's gonna not everyone loves this, but I have on record said that I have preferred American made over real American. Oh don't don't don't get on it. I I don't know. And I I remember uh there's I was in Japan one time, I sang the whole thing. You and me and uh Matt and Nick everybody was out there working in Japan at the time. We were all singing it because we were about American made. There was a whole discussion. Guy named Scorpio Sky. It was a whole discussion on what was better. I'm g I remember you got this. You did. You sent it to me. I showed you Hug. He goes, Oh my God, this is great. We knew the whole we were at a train station singing the whole song. Hulk he goes, Dusty Wrote sent that to you and I said I went, Yes, I got it. I said I said, uh you know, I said, Cody sent it to me and I just said I was so excited to get that, you know? Matter of fact, we still have that. We sure do. Well which one is better? Which one's better? Well, here's what it is. For the people like Real American, it's better for them. For the people like America May, it's better for them. Uh let me just tell you something. Here's what I've learned. I ain't no Democrat, I ain't no Republic, all I am is just a Jabroni. And that's just the way it is. That's all I am. That's all I'll ever be. But uh same thing on that, you know, whoever likes what they like, let 'em like it. Well too, it's it speaks to your experience when when you're watching. So I was so excited when Hulk came to WCW. for what it meant for WCW. He was gonna be across from Sting. He was gonna see all these guys I've liked and And I will have that huge star that was out there in the world is now part of WCW. So his music, all of it, I was I was into it. I actually into every I I think a pretty good track record for the Hulkster in terms of all the musical choices he made from Real American and then all the way when we did the you know Hendrix, which is never on anything you watch anymore. It's I assume that costs a lot of money or whatever. But all good all good choices. In terms of I'm looking 'cause uh we there's multiple megaphones throughout this room and Your jackets uh which have become signature to you, no one doing it like you. Um, who who did you enjoy most? I feel like I know the answer, but you got to really manage. And you're part of this era of managers. That we all wish we could have back. Who did you enjoy most managing? Well, a quick story, the reason I did my jacket's like that is because the first time we did American with Dick Clark, and all the tours with Dick Clark, well, our first tour was with the Beach Boys with Dick Clark, and he said, Everybody into a room, Cody And he said, look, when you're on that stage, you might not feel good sometimes. You might not feel like you want to go out there. He said, but you got to remember one thing. You're dressed your dress is so important because if you dress like the audience, one day you're going to wind up sitting in the audience meeting and give the people their money's worth. When they say they want to see somebody dressed like them, they want to see somebody different. And that's why I kept that up. So in WWE, Vince let me dress the way I wanted to dress. I'd always show my jacket, Jimmy, whatever you want to do, you do it. I went okay, you know, he's the one that brought me the megaphone. Uh honky and I were sitting in And Poughkeepsie, New York, getting ready to go out for a match on live TV. And he said, This is gonna be yours. He just got he came back from Japan with it. And I said, Can I paint it? He goes, Whatever you want to do with it, just don't overuse it. Yes, sir, thank you. And so I'm I'm glad he didn't bring me a piano to carry around with me. Thank you, defense. So uh So um I had that and so that's how I've used it too. But the jackets, I wanted to be different. I wanted to be special, didn't want to be gaudy, but I realized this. When you have so many people I had twenty three different people that I managed up in New York during that whole length of time. Twenty three? Yeah, twenty three different ones. But here's why everybody was so important. Yeah. If I was with earthquake and typhoon I didn't want to wear a honky tonk jacket out while they were doing that, right? So and I I realized that that I've gotta make a jacket for everybody that I'm gonna manage. I've gotta make them feel special, feel important. Because I'd have never got this Hall of Fame ring here if it wasn't for all the guys that I was able to go to the ring with. And let me tell that. They were the Cadillac, I was the hood on my on the Cadillac. That was it. But they were so important to me, everybody. So that's why I was able to create all the jackets. If it was honky, you know, honky doing the Elvis gimmick, and I'd wear the Colonel Parker outfit. I'd wear the Jimmy Hart musical note stuff, you know. And if it was with the Rougeos that had the Florida leaves and stuff for Dino Bravo, or Earthquake and F Town, or if I was with Terry and Dory Funk when I managed them, I'd have the kind of buckskin stuff. So I just made sure that everybody was special. Talking about honky tonk, man. I got honky is uh so m I have so I have a a bunch of honky tonk stories, but I um This is something that I was thinking about before you came on and I was really I've told you this story before, but it was a really, really important moment for me learning wise was Miami, WrestleMania is there and uh they sent uh you know how it goes around mania time, talent relations, they got a list of names. Uh someone on the roster, one of our luminaries, one of our legends are all we need people going. They're going to this TV station. Me and you went I think six AM first shift. So we were there. And something was bothering me. I was uh in just because you were talking about how you feel on stage, something was bothering me. Maybe I didn't like what Big show and I were gonna do a mania, or maybe I was just struggling in the beginning, it uh kind of struggling on how do I continue to climb the ladder. All those questions, right? Right. And you were just quiet and you're sitting next to me and um She opened up the the newsfeed again. It was first thing in the morning. And I thought she was gonna go to me, but she swung over to you and you had the program for WrestleMania and you had your thumb on my page and you flipped it open and you said, I'm here with this young man right here. He's wrestling for the Intercontinental title. This is what we should be talking about. You just went into this whole promo. highlight me. And then you said and we're opening up seats and it was just Such a wonderful, genuine, authentic sales pitch. And I remember thinking I felt like such a jerk. I felt like such because that was Again, that Hall of Fame ring. That was the difference, right? Is when it was time, you were you were the most professional. And it was a great moment. I remember going later, I told Brandy, I told whoever I was talking to that day, I said, I I learned something today. I might not be loving this or unhappy with this, but this is what I'm paid to do. And this is a pretty lucky job to have in terms of where I was at. And man, you just it it changed me. I still think about this to this day in terms of you went there to sell tickets for WrestleMania and the way you highlighted me and having the program ready. Never said anything was so, so just cool. This is just thank you. It was a special moment. Well, you know, I love you for saying that, but you know what? Just in your lifetime you see certain certain people that you just know are gonna do great. And I just always felt that about you. You know, it's like when Hulk, when we went to W CW and your dad and everything else, he'd always tell your dad, It's like, you know, Dusty, of course, you know what he said, I stole a little bit from Dusty Rhodes, I stole a little bit from superstar Graham. You know, Hulk would always admit that, you know? And he just said he because he loved w watching the way your dad would take care of the and it's the same thing with you too, you know, the way you are now. You know, when I see all the kids with all the merchandise, you know, when I see all the kids, so I don't care what you do in life. I mean you can You can do you can have the best music. You can have the the best outfits. You can have everything you want. But if the people wearing that outfit are coming out to that music doesn't have that special thing inside, you know, well your look. You've got such a different look, you know? And it's just something there. And you know, when I'm out all the time, you'll be surprised. Well, I know you're not because you see them too. But w but I when I go out sometimes and do autographs or do stuff for WWE or whatever, I always like to watch who's wearing the merchandise. You know, I always watch the merchandise. Who's got this on, who's got that on. And and I w that way it it kinda helps me who I think might be over. You know, certain towns different people might be over more than other towns. Sure. But at WrestleMania, I watched the merchandise at WrestleMania. And I remember uh your you your stuff is all I'm not saying it 'cause you're here, but your stuff's always the kids love you, man. And the adults too. But but I saw one girl there and she was so excited And I just said, I know he would come to see 'cause she had one of your jackets. I guess they sell y'all's jackets now. Your your your uh full replica jacket. Yeah, so it was great. But she had that. And she said, That's why I came to see 'cause I always ask them, Who'd you come to see? Even though they have a shirt on with them, but but she I remember her You know, saying that and everything, but always watch that. So what makes you over m selling merchandise, tickets in the arenas, you know what I mean? And so like I said, when they call me to do this, I said Where they're gonna be with the champ, are you kidding me? This is great. Oh, this is how I'm excited. Now this is awesome, man. I was so excited for for for you to come on here and talking about just your the amount you lived with music alone. And also something I feel like this is WW, it's the home of sports entertainment. Right. This is uh 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 merge the worlds and we want to merge the audience, right? But is that the first time sports in pro wrestling was sports entertainment? Is that the first moment or it was such a big thing? And so unique. Well, you know what was so cool about it? I think Vince Sr. was going to use uh uh Andy but didn't do it for whatever reason 'cause he didn't want to I guess people talked to him about it. The story I got and that Bill Aptur was telling me this and so they tried to get him up in New and so he didn't want to do it. He said, Ah, the entertainment thing, whatever. So man, we 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. Lot of us 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 Copan, comedian. Yeah, from Taxi. Yep, he was still on Taxi at the time. He loves wrestling. He's doing this intergender thing with these girls and stuff. Law said, Man, we'll take, bring him on down. We don't have the money to fly him in. No, he's gonna fly himself in. He said, Well we don't know what we're gonna 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 pick him up at the airport. Okay, baby I will. So he came down and the rest was history, but um he loved the business. He you know, he stayed at my house some I got to manage him off and on too. After Lauder had the program with him, 'cause what would happen? He You know how you know how the the wrestling business work. You know, if you s if you stay on one thing too long, you know it ain't good, you know. And so he would be outside doing his comedian thing too much and people are here on Monday night are going, Well, we gotta uh go to work tomorrow morning, so let's get him in the ring. And 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 gotta do. But Andy would stay at my house some you know, when he passed away He still had all of his checks. He never cashed Memphis Memphis checks. I don't know if because they were so bad or he just didn't want to catch No, I'm just kidding, they were good. But um but uh but he still had 'em in a straw. He sure did. I just donated um to uh to a company up here one of his pair of his sunglasses. I gave it to Ben Brown, uh one of a pair of his sunglasses that we bought at when 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' house back in the day before it really got commercialized. And we'd sit across the street for at least thirty minutes and he goes, You know, Jimmy I know Elvis is not dead. He's gonna come out of that gate tonight. He'll have a disguise on, but I'll I'll know him. And I'm going, Andy, please it ain't gonna happen, brother. No, I'm gonna do it. And I say, look, I've gotta drive all the way to Louisville, Kentucky tomorrow. Almost four hundred miles. So I'd stay for thirty minutes and then get him back to a hotel. But uh he was great. He loved this business, man. Yeah. I thought a lot about Andy and that connection you had and being there and he loved it. And you fast forward from from from then to now. I'd give you two examples. I don't know if you've uh rubbed shoulders with them or chatted them up, but have you spoken with little Yachty or Jelly Roll at all? You know what? Uh I saw little Yachty and I I saw him this at WrestleMania after the match with him and and I told him, I said, Man, I love the gimmick y'all got going on. That's what people still use gimmick. I don't know if you say that anymore. It might be old school. But I said, man, I said, Y'all work so good together. And I everything else. Well thanks for saying that. I said great. And then um and Jelly Roll, I was I haven't really had a time to say anything to him, you know? He's 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 in go one of the boys. One of the boys. He he if where was a battle royal, he could be in it. You know, he's he was one of the boys, but that's I'm I'm glad it was like that with Andy and all the stories you hear about it. It's great. He loved it. When I was coming back to the WWE at WrestleMania thirty eight, 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. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the US. From household names to brands just getting started. Get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand style. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash Cody. That's Shopify.com slash Cody. You uh you uh have you watched the Hogan documentary? No, I haven't seen any uh we we spent seven months doing it. Yeah uh I know everybody for Netflix did a tremendous job on it. But I know it's getting over because uh 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 Hooks in a better place right now. No more pain, no more suffering. No more having to look at the internet over ga go goo, you know? And I just said so he's happy. I like that gaga goo goo. That's what it is. Yeah, I like that. But uh but but that's but that but that's true. And they said, man, we loved it. We loved it so much. We learned it. 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, you know, it took a little bit longer than what they wanted, but the the company just tr did tremendous on it. So I was so happy over Hulk would be happy over that, you know? I'm uh I'm going to reveal something on the show that is gonna there's gonna be a lot of interviews that people look back on and go, Uh oh I have trouble watching anything internal. Oh 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 the what's on screen. Right. I don't wanna. So there's been a lot of interviews where I've had to navigate, What'd you think of the iron claw? What'd 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 readied answer. So 'cause 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. Right. Cause it's gonna be a little bit their version. That with that said. This Hogan doc. Anyone who's come on my bus in the last few weeks has been annoyed. It's on Oh repeat. It's on repeat. And I find something new in it each time. I find something new in it each time that I just 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. Anyone and and I came up with theories. I said it's the music money. It's the I he I came up with the I said, Yeah, that makes sense. Jimmy Hart, baby. Like uh That house. I hate to bust the bar, but let me tell you what happened. Here's the real story. I'm so glad you asked me that. I was hoping you would ask me that, but the we I I didn't I never said it was mine. I didn't say it I didn't say anything. That's where they want to feel. It's yours if you're in it, you know. A multimillionaire friend of mine by the name of Ben Mala has that house. He bought it for some baseball player for twenty nine million dollars or whatever, 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 on Hook 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. Okay. He Hulk goes the only thing about it now, he said, if that's the case, he said I'd like Jimmy To manage it. Oh my oh my gosh, here I go again. You know? This is it. He said you can still go out and do your wrestling stuff 'cause I was still doing you know, that okay, 'cause I love that. So what happened? We went over there. And so uh My house 'cause I had a house nice place down in Tampa, you know, 'cause let's play you made a little bit of money W W W I love W W made a little money out the music too. But but 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, you know, uh and and and left there. My my daughter uh had passed away six months, uh, 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? I said, look, sell your house. 'Cause he 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 twenty four seven, 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 hope, anyway. So it w turned out to be awesome. So then he sold it. So he said, Well look, Jimmy, now I 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. So why not? But I was still able to go do my wrestling. So we went dead in. I didn't know how rough Daytona is. 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 finally he sold it. So then he said I said he said what are you doing? I said, Well I've got I've gotta try to find me a place now. He goes, No. He said, You're living 'em over here where I I said, he I said, no, I wanna 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. It's got a bowling alley, it's got a pole 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 gonna play miniature golf. I sure don't bowl and I don't wanna go swimming with a chlorine because when I dye my hair uh once a month, I don't want it to fade off, you know, without 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 uh the whole video everybody goes, Man, I love your house and I went, Wait a minute. I 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 up. Thank you so much. It's wrestling. So you we've we've seen you in it. It's your house. I love it. Oh my god. Also the fact that you brought up a gun permit for Daytona. You 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? Like the you may not and also yeah from from the days of uh your heel work. You were around some very riotous crowds, right? It was a great time. But you know what? It was like it was like It was like a badge of acceptance. I loved it. When we had beer thrown on us, I didn't complain or get mad. I love that. When we had people, you know, I got shot one time in Louisville, everybody has, in the in the rump with a with a dart gun. A guy made a homemade dart hit me right in my what bother me the most at just Hold on, hold on, just for context. A man in Louisville. Yeah. Uh yeah. Took a dark gun. Well blow style. Made a made a home at little took a little um Needle, like threading needle, put it in there, put a little thing on it, and went as I was coming up, 'cause they had me draped over handsome Jimmy Vall, handsome Jimmy's shoulder. It was a six man tag. It was like Jerry Laward, uh, Jerry Jarrett, and Dylan D against me, the Dream Machine, and and handsome Jimmy Vallett. 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, Ooh. I thought and I thought, man, I hope nobody burnt my tights 'cause we didn't make a lot of money back then. Yeah. So I got back and I went, Oh my I hope my tights aren't burnt. They go, No, look. They went, Woo, and I went what is it? And they go, look, it's a dark I went, Oh my God. And then and Miss Jarrett ran that she go, You've got to go get a techno shot. I went, What? You gotta go get a techno shot. I went, oh my God. I said it's gonna take my whole payoff to go get a techno shot, you know? But uh I went and got a techno shot. I didn't have anything, thank goodness, but that's what happened. But I went, oh my gosh, I couldn't believe But you know what? I didn't really get mad about it because we get the people upset over it. And then we get mad because they get upset with oh it didn't make any sense, right? I don't know if you remember, but uh my dad had that um splotch is what it's often called. He had that mark. Oh yes. He I've just heard fans call it the splotch. I asked what it was. Mark on his stomach, and he told me a fan stabbed him. Oh uh it's a birthmark. Yeah. Yeah. He told me it was a birthmark. It's going it's a birthmark. But I remember thinking like, dang, you were 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 them. You know, we want 'em 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 had lied about watching. Just got I gotta see you how this is how we're represented, how we're seen. But you said something about the fans, because you're talking about WrestleMania eighteen. And you said something about how the fans can change in for f they can change your trajectory, your fate, that they have that much power, that they and 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. And r 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 gonna be a bumpy road, put on that seat belt. 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. There's some this is in every wrestling, you know, over in a good wrestling career, you're up, you're down. Oh, great. All the things. Have you is there ever been a time I and uh I don't know, and 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 and all joy that you always bring to what you do? Quick story. I'll try to make this short and sweet. The reason I love wrestling so much is my uncle J B that lived in Jacks, Mississippi when I was about ten 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 Jackson, Mississippi. And I every year I got to spend two weeks down there. And I 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. And I just uh from that day on and back even when I was in tour with uh Dick Clark with the Beach Boys or Chicago who were with, when I'd go to the major cities, if we were in Atlanta, I'd watch Dusty Rhodes and Rick Flair uh Dusty Rhodes and Rick Flair and those guys down there. Then we go to Carolinas. And I'd turn the TV on Saturday mornings, you know, uh 'cause we'd w on the weekends we play and I'd turn the TV on to watch whatever superstars were there. Same thing in Minnesota, same things in Texas, the funk's everywhere, but I was still always loved, even when I was in music. So when I had the chance with Lawler, when he call me to ask me to help him cut a wrestling album. We got in with that. And then all of a sudden it just fell into place where I started doing the the music and doing the wrestling. And then the one day came when he said, Look Uh he said, We love you, man. He said to Jerry Jarrett said, Why don't you uh Dis 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 to 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. He 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. Knock 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. Yeah. The next week I'm on TV, can't wrestle a lick. But I watched it my whole life. So Lauder goes, We're gonna 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 blomb. I challenge you to a match with Pat Hutchinson on Monday night. And I say he p Pat's been wrestling three years, right? I go there on Monday night. Now the Lauder dresses me like a clown. He gives me his robe that's three feet too long. I'm dragging. He said, What size shoes you wear? I said, uh eight and a half. He gives ten and a half boot to wear. I mean his boots, candy striped boot. 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, you'll let a guy got goo goo, uh we get back and Jerry Jarrett wasn't there, but he saw the film and he said, Looks like Jimmy Hart had been wrestling for three years 'cause I loved it so much. And um, you know, a quick story, you know, I really never left. up here to go to W C W. What happened? I um We we did a thing where they switch me baby face. I guess it's okay to say that, I'm sure it is. Oh yeah. I said it already. I hope uh you know I'm don't want to do anything wrong, please. I'm on scholarship up here in W W so I love it. So so so uh so what happened? So uh We do the thing where they they got me I was managing um Brutus and Hook at WrestleMania nine against the team I turned on. I gotta be the worst manager in the world. Look, I had the Hart Foundation. We had championship titles. Money in. What did I do? I tr I leave them to join the nasty boys. So so I I give a screw job to the Hart Foundation to give the boys the belts to the nasty boys. Yeah. So uh I mean title, excuse me, can't you say Bell? Title. So uh 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 how worse manager I can't I don't know who I want to be with, man, but I did all this stuff. So so I'm managing um and Brutus against uh Money Inc., right? So we do that match. So now we come back. So now we have one more match in Madison Garden, Hooks fixing a leave to go do Thunder in Paradise. So um He goes, man, I want you to come with me. And I said, Well, I man, I love that he goes, but if you come with me, if you don't like it, you can go back. So he's go talk to Vince. So I went and talked to Vince up in Madison Square Garden, 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 Hawk in them. And they're leaving. So what am I going to do? He goes, Don't worry. He goes, Man, I got what 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 in Paradise with him. He goes, if you want how many times you've heard that if you want to come back, you can, right? But but he didn't say I could he said if you want to come back, Jimmy, you you've been great for us. We love you. And so you can do it. So I left to go do that with them. And so uh with with Hook uh down to Thunder in Paradise. So I did it. So really I never left the territory, you know? But while we were down there, after we were down there for six months, it's when Eric and Rick Flair came through and said, Hook, are you going back up there? I don't know if I am or not. Well let's go down. Well I'm gonna take Jimmy with me. He goes, Yeah, he can do music voice and manage. So that's how it all really worked out. So I really never left here. In my mind, right? I've I've always been I've always loved it though, you know. Summer's 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. 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One thing I think discovery having chatted with you and and seen how you are with all your guys and you twenty something and the amount of people you managed, you weren't just manager on screen. You were manager very much in several real ways. And with but especially with Hulk to a degree and helping r uh 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's missing? Do you think that piece of it, that actual partnership that was there is missing? Well, you know, everything changes though. Yeah. Like I know I've changed a lot too. I 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 that, I don't like this. I still love the product. Yeah. You know? And uh I still watch NXT on Tuesday. Uh you know, I watched um Raw on Monday, I watched SmackDown, I love it all. It's like You know, people threw some at me say, Who you like from NXT? And I said, Uh I I loved Ethan Page and I love uh that's his last name. I love him and I love Ricky Saints and I loved um Sol Ruka. You know, Sul Sol Rucha reminds me of a Charlotte Flair meet Javon Evans. You know, with her acrobatic ability and his acrobatic ability, and everything else. And somebody told me the other say, What would you do with Sammy Zane? 'Cause I I rode with Sammy Zane in the um in the van at WrestleMania. I know but listen I can imagine. But trust me. And so we were talking everything else and and he I knew he was going against trick, and you know that's Trey. You know, well look when you got the outfits Trick's got. And you got the music. And you got the manager. And you got the everything you got. People are gonna love you. You know that. I do too. And and I didn't say it to Sammy, but I wanted to say, you know, Sammy, when you make a change, you gotta change that look. I wanted to say, dye your hair black. chain cut your beard different yeah black that's a chain do a different outfit because sometimes you can't just keep the same look and be the same you know people are not you know but I didn't want to say that because you know it probably stretched me so I said I'm keeping my mouth shut but but sometimes you have to really do that But I'll but the business now, everything changes. And it's gonna change and you just kinda gotta roll with it. But I just think that That If if I had a ch 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. 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 merchandise. Huck and I was because we were talking about maybe making a change 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 back then when we were doing them, and that was dropping a little bit when he was on top. And I just said, You know the old saying, if you do what you've always done, you're gonna have what you've always had. So sometimes it might be time to change. And so then but I said quote but here's the thing. And then when they had and I said, But look here's what's good about this, Hawk, if we do this. I said, look who's coming over. Two guys red hot, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. So you're gonna have two bookends we 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. And so sometimes thing and I'm not saying it's gonna work with everybody. Yeah. You know, but I always look at everything on doing. If I if I had a wrestling school, which I never will because I can't wrestle, but but if I had one, I'd get somebody that could talk first. had charisma first and had a look. And then I'm gonna train 'em. I'm not gonna train 'em 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 uh Goo goo ga. I w I wanna actually take If 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 you they've blown me away. Goo goo gaga feels very interchangeable and usable in the best wrestling parlance in the way it so we want that word if we can use that with your permission on the show. I think we also need you're you're the first person and maybe the last who's still saying the wrestling. And I love that. I love I'm gonna we would like that. And then the quote, which was the quote. I so this is my favorite thing about What do you want to talk about? 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. Everyone who loves it comes. It's 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 to is the wrestling. The wrestling is that. That's what I that's what I wanna 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 it's Someone like you. And to hear that, and the quote is when you do the same thing. If you do what you've always done, you're gonna you're gonna have what you've always had. I needed that today. Now now if it's new and good, but if it's new and 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. Oh 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 he he 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 if I'd a raised it any higher, man, I'd a 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. That's uh it's a lot happening on that show. Yep. Um I was in the front row uh was talking to me. Just a lot happening. That new into it, the the way that arena is set up. There's so much going on. That's the was You're you're out there. That's Hogan's last Moment. Right. Um b before the documentary, of course, and the crowd being what they were. Right. It and here's what happened though, not told ho before we went. And you know, I love your hooks, Rob. I'm gonna tell the truth on this. Here's what happened. He wore a Trump Vance t shirt when we did some pre pre ga goo goo to do 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 a Republican. I I'm the 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. Oh, okay. We get out of the we get out of the van. There, the nice town card puts it there. Some fans go, Hook, we loved you, but you love we don't like you anymore because you're you know, oh my God. I said, Hook? You knew. I don't feel good about this. Jimmy, don't worry about it. Okay. We go in the back. You know, but I'm worrying about it because I'm thinking I'm thinking about so we're in the back and you know in the hook 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, where Hurst where we were gonna stand and Hulk coming out and do his little deal and I'm waving the flag. Remember what I said? Triple H. Whatever you do, Jimmy don't let the flag Don't worry, baby, I won't, I promise you, boy, I had that thing stretched up there waving it. And we go out and we do it. And I'm really worried about it, okay? So I'll 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 heart 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 I look over there and I'm going, Okay. Yeah we go. So we finish it and then we go in the back. And of course then Hulk calls me the next guy and goes, Hey, the radius were good on that segment we did. And 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 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 a lie in it. That's who I'm 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 a catchy thing, but he knew it. You know? But um You know, it was and then the next day Pat McAfee and get on the show and make a big f they that it's a great skid. They have a guy dressed up like Huck going, I told Jimmy Hart not to wear that silly jacket like that. I told Jimmy Hart not to have that that that hairstyle stuff but it turned out great, you know. I uh I watched it and Well, 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 uh Hulkster. The artists was still in there in terms of He did what we often have to do where it's say get the information out, finish the segment. But you could also see Hm. Maybe uh I'll turn on them now. Yeah, you could also see you could also see it stirring, which is always when you first hear it, the moment of Yeah, all right. I could do some heel things here, but a segment like that, you've gotta just land the plane and Take it home, but uh just seeing him. feel it and hear it, you could tell he he knew if he needed to play that role, he could. Well you're you're smart too, because when we got in the back, he goes, I knew I should have wore the NW T shirt. You know, he said, I want to try yelling up so bad to do it. And I said, hook, 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, i i anything in life, you know, in in everybody hits a situation where if you stay into one thing too long, you gotta be thinking, What's the next thing I'm gonna do to come out of this, you know? Yeah and so it's just just the way this business always gonna be. You know, ride it as long as it's riding and when it's not You know, you gotta turn around if you do what you always done, you're gonna have what you always had. That's when you change and go plan number two, baby. Yeah. You know? I um Being that that that was a a moment and you're out there and you're waving the flag, like you said. Uh have you thought at all? Uh does it would it interest you at all to do one more? Type moment, one more match, manage somebody, one more night. And it's just, you know, he's so good on everything he does. And and I told him I I said you know, Paula, I said, people respect what you say because a lot of times The crowd usually go, if people say something, they'll go, What? What? Yeah. But when Paul talks, they'll listen to it. You know, so I watch I'm like you, I watch all those things too. Listen. Right now gas is at what almost five dollars a gallon. I've still got a little bit of that two dollars and ninety five cents gallon gas left in the old tank, okay. For sure. So I could probably still go out and do a few little things, but what I found out this. If if the company ever wanted me to do something, but you know I'd be there. But until they want me to do it because you can't force yourself on anybody, you know? It's like having a girlfriend going You can buy em flowers, you can buy 'em candy, but if they don't love you. Listen, you can buy 'em everything, you know. There's a song out. I don't know if you remember the song by Bonnie Rate. Um Uh and it goes, you know, I don't I don't think you love me if you y 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 they had they were trying to go everywhere. They said, We can't think we gotta write another hit song. We we we hadn't had any hits. He said, Why don't we go to this court today? And they went into a courthouse that day and this guy was in there and he goes He goes, the guy was up and he goes, Well Mr. So and so. He goes, Yeah. He goes Guilty or not guilty? He said, We want to read the short. He goes Yes, sir. He said, Your Honor, I'm probably guilty of it, but uh let me hear him. He goes You 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 card and you put your initials in it. Yes, sir, that was me. He said he said you you came over to a house and you you bought her a condo and and with the condo and everything else, he said, you you vandalized it when she went home. Yes, sir, I did it. He said, If you learned anything for day he goes, Yeah, you can't make somebody love you when you don't. Mm and they wrote that th that was that hit song, you know, that one line in that song. And so I always thought that. But um no, I'd I would love to do something. You know, you know what I'd like to do? Uh here's what I really want to do. I'd like to do a kids T V show. I talked to Ben Hauser the other day. I said. Huh? Oh my gosh. I know what I said, here's what I'd love to do, because nobody's doing. I said, Y'all are doing so many great things the company isn't so busy. I said, I'd like to do a kids' I said, look, Uh You had um Mr. Green Jeans, older guy, Jimmy Hart older. You had happy Hal. who had Howdy Duty, older guy doing it, said I'd like to do that. I'd like to take Little Roe, who was part of the Hulk Hogan videos and stuff, let him be my co host. And I said, Let me take Dan House 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 Smacked. And I said Smack stands for Saturday 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 kids TV show, you know? And I said I'd love to do that. Maybe he'll hear this idea and the a lot of things that you're gonna do. Well here's what I did. I gave him I I've 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 should do it. I said if you go to Walmart and Target, if you look at everything there, which I look all the time. Seventy percent of that stuff is for kids. When y'all go to the major shows that y'all do it, it's more adults that buy the stuff and kids. So one of the things I was just say I just did an Unreal interview right before we sat down, and one of the things I was saying is the our 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 they're just a little quieter. That's all good. They're just a little quieter. And I don't wanna do anything. i if you find yourself in a situation, John seen as 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 this is the crew that he was their guy. Right. So it's 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 got got ya. Gotcha. But also that the the small voices or their voices, um So I just on record did I'm interested in I I wanted I'm glad you say so you would be interested in doing another match. Oh my gosh, yeah. I also have to tell you this. Yeah. Because you said it a bunch and uh you're again filled with a room. And I think I I have the right to tell you this as WWE champion. I think WWE loves you. So I if you don't worry about you can give them all the the you can do all the things for WWE. They love you. WWE has always loved you and you the whole roster does. I hope you know that. Well, you know what? I've never but 'Cause I watch all the T V I I I feel like I'm not I'm old school, but not like old school because A lot of the guys they don't see how wrestling's change. Yeah. But but I do because it's just I mean you gotta change and everything. Look at look how athletic all the people I I love watching NXT, you know. It's like I said about Sol Ruco. She reminds me of Geron Evans because of his acrobatic stuff. But Charlotte Flair, you know? And uh I'm glad you brought up Ethan Page, too. Well Ethan, here's Ethan's. He's a friend, he doesn't act like it. Listen. Eaters and new measure. Yeah. You know, when Mia Sass he's got a lot of my I love the Miz you know, me and the Miz did our first tour together of when he came off that T V show. We Orlando, Florida. We did the first little uh autograph thing together promoting the show. Um I've still got that picture, by the way, but I love the Miz. Miz can change he can do any kind of character with the Why? 'Cause I asked him last week, I said, When's Gladiators come out? It's it's already out. And uh Yeah, I wasn't a good friend. So I've been overly promoting it on my social top. But he can fit into any but he can fit in anything, and that's why I think about eating page. He could fit into anything. He's got a great he could talk great facial expressions. And uh and uh and so and uh Ricky Saints, you know, uh it's hard for me to get used to that name though, you know, after he came over, but I know you gotta do it on that. But he's got some both those guys seem to have a little bit more experience than ever. I think they've been around a little bit longer. They see 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. And I said, I feel like I'm managing you 'cause we do the 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 uh the special booths. Yeah. That's when Jimmy Hart comes, Hey, how you doing? Your Uber driver's here. Hey you know. So so we're all up. We have so much fun doing it though, but they're all great. Oh, the on the occasion team. It takes everybody. We did a pod for On Location. I love it. It's all great. They tell you that 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. I feel like I I like I love music, but still this is always my first love. It was just crazy that I because of Dave Wolf, I got to do a lot of the songs, you know. Oh my gosh. So it's it's fun doing 'em I've never seen this demeanor with you before because you know, when I see your interviews it's always they've got you all 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 well, 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. Gotta be. I mean this is great though. The plight of a baby face though is I just get my I feel like I'm Getting beat up every week. And then you 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, we, uh Leave you laying a lot, don't we? I'm like, Yes. Yeah, I wouldn't mind, uh, 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 league's teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action packed days in July. Meet 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 who who do you think would fit? Whew. You know what? Everybody is so cool and so I'm you know, they wouldn't be up there number one. if uh WW went ready for 'em. And Shawn Michaels has everybody ready before they get there. Trust 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 um 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 only watch it three times a week. Right. And until you got a a pay per view or you know. So I watch it on Mondays and of course Tuesdays and of course the The Friday night show so But um You know, like I said before, I just uh like I still got a little gas left in the tank, so do you think you'd fit with me? Listen, I think you're doing so good right now. I'll I'd be the one to come in that if you start if if the T shirt started not selling, the ratings went down, I uh the scholarship would be over. Jimmy Hart, you're out of here, brother. So uh please. No, you've always been great. You know, I d I I followed your career with the other company too, you know. I know you did. We were talking about it. But I was in Europe, but that's a and I told you that though. I said, Man, I'm I'd love to do it, but I'm over here. That would have been a big thrill. You know? Um But but you know what? No matter where you've gone, you've always landed on your feet. You've been s I mean I mean you know it more than anything, but I just uh the way you groom yourself, the way you look, the way you talk, the way you speak And 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've watch everything, what they're buying and And who they talk about and what the you know, and it just I've always done that. Speaking of merch, you'll probably see this as you Doing the autographs and all the things. You're uh is someone who's very similar energy and is Danhausen. Oh, I love Danhausen really it's it's 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 Halson? Ask him this. He'll know. How's it Dan House? 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 said, I love this and everything. And so and I saw him when I saw him at rest of my I told him I said, Remember you tell him he goes, Yeah, you did. And he goes He goes, Well I'm here and I said, Okay, bring the armor truck. That 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 b you're picking a side. Did you buy a Danhausen shirt? You're good. The whole b everyone. Uh you're against and for everyone. It's just just a very smart And what you told them was a hundred percent true because the group outside of WW B, that being one hour tees and Ryan, the wonderful guys, when they lost Anhausen, 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. And so you got your new class coming in. That's Dan Housen. Oh, absolutely. So I love him. I love him. I when I saw him uh at WrestleMania, we talked and everything else. And um he's just he's he's a good dude. And he really is a good guy. You think you do well on the podcast? Sorry? You think you do well on the podcast? Uh if you do thirty minutes of it. Yeah. It might be very short. As long as he don't put the curse on you. Yeah, no, you can't get curse. You don't want to. Please don't curse my megaphone. Please don't curse my megaphone. I don't want it to still work. Which, by the way, listen. I've gotta tell you this. This is a special megaphone, at least to me it is, because on here it's got almost all the guy, we couldn't get everybody on it, but almost over twenty of something of the people that I got to manage when I had my little run in WWE, you know, and a couple of people uh, you know, that I had in Memphis like Jerry Law and Andy Copin. But I know you've got a great charity. And last year Jason Aldean called me, country music singer. No you're familiar with him. He called me and he said that uh his wife had a charity for abuse women and uh he wanted to know what I sent him something they 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 ten thousand five hundred dollars. So I guess that's okay for me to say it, Kid Rock, so I'm doing it anyhow. It's a great but uh 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 um time that y'all, you know, put things up for auction off and everything else. Yeah. But if you'll accept it, I'd love to do it. Well I will Uh it's too much, but thank you. Yes, please. And I'm gonna sign up. I hope this doesn't hurt hope the money deal. No, no. But uh But I'm gonna do that, but I want you to this is yours, man. And I wanna thank you for putting food food on everybody's table for another year. So I love you for that. And um it's just been so um you know so great doing this, man. When they call me about doing this, I said, You sure he ain't calling Brad Hart? You know? I said, instead of Jimmy Hart. And so that that was the whole deal. So but I love you, man. Thank you so much. Uh oh. I hear a phone ringing back. That was the loudest that was like a fake phone ring. Ben Brown's running. Yeah. There he goes. Oh thank you, sir. Hey, look, this is yours, man, but it it's uh you know, it's got a little bit of everybody on it, but unless it's yours. And uh hope it can make some money for your channel. 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.