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BRUTUS BEEFCAKE & HILLBILLY JIM INTERVIEWS
ONLINE |
 The Interactive Interview has become
accustomed to delivering 2 interviews every time we send out a press release.
But, this is the first time we are sending out a press release for 2 different
episodes at the same time!
It's no secret that Erik and James are probably what you would consider "super
marks." Well, our super mark roots show as we have been doing our own very
special "Road to Wrestlemania" discussing 2 Wrestlemania's at a time every
few days. And, as we reached Wrestlemania 9 and 10, the time came for our
LIVE Tuesday show on KASC "The Blaze" 1260 AM and for that broadcast, we
were joined by the one and only Hillbilly Jim. This interview indeed did
air on that Tuesday broadcast and has been archived for download on our
Wrestlemania 9 and 10 recap!
Also joining us this week was the legendary Ed Leslie perhaps known better
to fans as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake. This interview is completely off
the chain and has been placed with our Wrestlemania 11 and 12 recap on our
very special Road to Wrestlemania!
Brutus "The Barber"
Beefcake
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Hillbilly
Jim
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HILLBILLY JIM
-- The show opens up with Hillbilly Jim's classic "Country Boy" theme off
the WWF Wrestling Album from 1985. This album is available on CD. To purchase,
visit
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=theinteract04-20&path=tg/detail/-/B00000HXJH/qid=1111733632/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1?v=glance&s=music
-- Hillbilly Jim joins the show. Hillbilly is doing really well and is looking
forward to being in Arizona on March 25 and 26 as part of the "Road to
Wrestlemania" tour.
-- The "Road to Wrestlemania" tour is an event where the WWE reaches out
to their fans and lets them know that they know without the fans, there would
have been no Wrestlemania's let alone 21 of them. The tour hits the malls
on the weekends and makes other stops and you can read the full schedule
of the Road to Wrestlemania tour on www.WWE.com.
-- Those in the Arizona area can meet Hillbilly Jim, Ron Simmons, and Rob
Van Dam on Friday and Candice Michelle (the Godaddy.com model) on Saturday
at the Fiesta Mall. The event is free for all to attend and as an extra bonus,
Chuck and James from the "TII Live!" crew will also be in attendance!
-- James mentions that the man who trained Hillbilly, at least in storyline,
was Hulk Hogan who is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Spike
TV Saturday, April 2. James asks if Hillbilly would ever like to be inducted
in himself. Hillbilly says he's heard a few people talking about that and
he really would feel good about it if it were to happen. He is, however,
happy that Hulk and all the other legends he himself wrestled along side
for many years that are going in this year and is looking forward to this
big weekend for the WWE.
-- Wrestling in front of 93,000 fans at Wrestlemania III was an experience
one doesn't get to experience many times in their life. At that event, all
he had to do was raise his hand and there was a roar of a response. He felt
both honored and privileged to have been a part of it and says of all the
matches he has had, that is the one that everybody continues to ask him about.
-- James mentions that most guests who were with the WWE tell us they feel
lucky to have had a 4 or 5 year run with the company -- Hillbilly is on year
20. James asks, "What's your secret?" Hillbilly laughs and says that's like
asking someone how they managed to live so long. Hillbilly mentions he has
been able to be diverse in what he does with the company in that he wasn't
in the ring for 20 years but ended up doing video sales with Coliseum Home
Video and now has been doing fan conventions and things such as the Road
to Wrestlemania. He mentions he's always been pro WWE and will always be.
-- We close out with a few word associations including Owen Hart, Andre the
Giant, and Vincent Kennedy McMahon!
-- The show then goes into our special Road to Wrestlemania segment as we
make a pit stop at Wrestlemania 9 and Wrestlemania 10 and close out with
a little Hair of the Dog!
ED LESLIE (BRUTUS BEEFCAKE)
-- The next show we are hyping is the Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) interview
which contains our pit stop on the Road to Wrestlemania with Wrestlemania
11 and 12 recaps as we are joined by Wrestling Epicenter Forums member RSBH123!
-- Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's theme song borrowed from Smackdown VS RAW
for Playstation 2 which you can purchase by visiting
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=theinteract04-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0002RQ3KC/qid=1111746088/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1?v=glance&s=videogames&n=507846
plays loud and proud as Erik introduces Ed Leslie to the show. Ed is doing
well as he joins the show.
-- Erik asks how close the real friendship is between Ed and Hulk Hogan.
"Best of the best, man. He's more of a brother than my real brother. He was
there for me in 1990 when I had my accident. Basically I was high and dry.
He was there -- Pulled me out of the fire. Fed me, took care of me, clothed
me, got me back on my feet, got me back in the wrestling business... I owe
him everything!"
-- James mentions a quote by a former guest, Bruno Sammartino, where he basically
says without Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake wouldn't have been successful in
the wrestling business. Ed replies with, "What do you expect from a freaking
loser like him? He's just pissed off because I beat his ass in his home town
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He got his ass whooped by a guy in pink tights.
I guess you can understand why he's a little upset. I kicked his ass... His
kids ass too... All the Sammartinos are losers, you know? I played Hulk's
brother for 6 years, okay? When Hulk decided, not anybody else, that it was
time for me to go on my own, he didn't want me to only be known as Hulk's
little brother. He felt I had plenty of talent to make it on my own, he wanted
people to see that." Ed goes on to say that Brutus Beefcake was a success
and was never linked with Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake was
an even more huge success, he teamed with Hulk Hogan a few times but Ed feels
he did it on his own talents.
-- "Did Hulk Hogan go out and wrestle for me? Did Hulk Hogan... Thousands
of matches! Man events! Pay per views! No! Brutus Beefcake went out there,
got the job done and that's all there is too it, man."
-- Jake Roberts shared a funny story with us stating that the name Brutus
Beefcake came to be because Beefcake was a popular gay magazine in the San
Francisco area and Brutus came from, "Oh, he's such a brute!" This is mentioned
to Ed in a jovial way and turns a little ugly. "Jake Roberts is running around
with about half a freakin' brain cell after he smoked 500,000 pounds of crack
so what would you expect out of him? He can tell you a good story... I'm
sure he can tell you a good story but as far as there being any truth in
it, NO!"
-- The name actually came from a meeting with Hulk, Vince, and Linda McMahon.
Linda liked the name Beefcake and Hulk came up with the name Brutus. Originally,
they were going to call him Baron Beefcake.
-- Ed goes on to talk about how he came up with his own look and colorful
attire which is a trademark of Brutus Beefcake. "I was the originator, not
the immolator, brother. Lets get it freakin' straight. I was the man that
fucking pioneered all this shit. All these other clowns came along and copied
everything I did."
-- James asks about how he enjoyed teaming with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
as part of the "Dream Team." Ed says those were some of the best days of
his life and says he and Greg are still great friends. "He's a great friend,
a great person, and a great wrestler... Second generation wrestler!"
-- Erik asks about the idea to become "The Barber." Ed says, "As far as I
know, it was something Pat Patterson probably cooked up. As far as I know,
his gay lover, his name was Louie, was a hairdresser. As far as I knew, I
took it as a rib on me because Brutus Beefcake was getting over huge. Why
would you change something that was getting over huge? That's like taking
Hulk Hogan and saying, "Oh, you can't be Hulk Hogan now. Now that you're
getting over huge, lets change your name!" To me, brother, it was a screw
job. But at the end of the day, because I am a talented and pretty whiley
coyote, I turned it around, made it Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, turned
it around, took it 10 levels farther than they ever even dreamed about and
made a huge success, even bigger than Brutus Beefcake, out of the barber!
Blew everybody's mind! Nobody ever thought I could do it! I didn't do it
because I was Hulk Hogan's friend, brother. I did it because I've got talent,
I've got know how, I've got will power! I got out there and kicked ass until
both shoes were shitty."
-- James chimes in to let Ed know that he does not fall under the same mind
set as Bruno Sammartino on this subject. As a fan of the business, he understands
that if you make it and succeed in the WWF/E, it's like making it in the
NFL in Football. You wouldn't be there unless somebody thought you had the
talent to be there and you wouldn't be successful unless you actually are
talented and above the rest.
-- Erik jumps in to ask about Summerslam 1988. Brutus was over and was prepared
for the Intercontinental Title when all of a sudden Beefcake was taken out
of the match and the Ultimate Warrior was put in. "Well, the Warrior threatened
to quit... He's a big cry-baby. And, I guess that was how Vince had to playcate
him, by giving him the title. Was I getting pushed aside? Yeah, I was kind
of getting screwed."
-- "I had 8 titanium plates, 32 screws, 100 feet of stainless steel wire
in my skull. As far as me being okay? Yeah, I'm 100%. As for as being able
to wrestle. Yeah, I do it. As far as doctors clearing me to wrestle, no.
It would be insanity for anybody to clear me after that kind of surgery...
They didn't want me driving a car. I had to go on with my life. I couldn't
just lay in a bed for the rest of my life."
-- Ed says it's all about cojones. "Are you going to be a pussy and lay down
and die or are you going to keep fighting? Brutus Beefcake is a fighter.
That's why I am a success. That is why I will always be a success!"
-- James asks if Ed enjoyed the "Barber Shop." "Absolutely. The Barber Shop
was another huge success that they had to bury. I was getting over too big!
They had to figure out another way to take it down too. When you get over
too much, people want to chop you down and bring you back to Earth."
-- The common belief among the Internet elite is that Curt Hennig was to
be the masked man that would attack Hulk Hogan in WCW. But, contract signings
never materialized with Curt and Ed was put in his place. Ed says this was
not true.
-- Ed has fond memories of Curt Hennig. He mentions that Curt was one of
his best friends and he knew Curt and his father very well. He sounds a little
down when discussing this subject.
-- Erik rattles off a list of all the gimmicks Ed Leslie had in WCW including
Brother Bruti, The Butcher, The Man Without a Name, The Man Without a Face,
The Zodiac, The Bootyman, The Disciple, and his real name Ed Leslie. Erik
asks what one of the bunch was his favorite and why. "The Disciple was definitely
my favorite and at the end of the day, because of trademark problems, not
being able to do Brutus Beefcake... They kept saying they cannot repackage
me because I was just too well known as Brutus Beefcake.
So, Hulk and I sat down, cooked up the gimmick and no one, and I mean no
one, knew I was the Brutus Beefcake. And the gimmick got over and when it
kept getting over, thanks to a jealous prick named Eric Bischoff and his
bunch of cronies, once again, a person they said couldn't be repackaged...
I came out and blew everybody's minds! And then they came out with this One
Warrior Nation. They handed me off to the Warrior, the Warrior quit, and
that left me out in no man's land."
-- Was Ed surprised WCW went down the way it did? "Not at all! How can you
screw up such a good thing. Well, when you've got some of the people Bischoff
hired and fired... I don't want to name names. He cut his own throat, killed
the territory almost single handedly, Diamond Dallas Page being one of the
others. There's just no talent, guys that just don't want to work, all they
want to do is get paid... They got what they wanted. They hired a bunch of
losers... Got rid of all the guys that were money makers. What happened to
the company? They went bankrupt."
-- Ed still loves getting in the ring. He feels after 29 years of doing it,
you can't just stop. He adds that is unless you're bitter towards the business
like Sammartino is.
-- Ed says it is not his decision if he should make it to the WWE Hall of
Fame or not but he says he would like to be. His guess is he would be one
day but the guys they have been inducting are a few years older than he is
and were around longer.
-- Ed believes Nikolai Volkoff was just kidding with us when he made the
remark about Hulk Hogan killing the business. It is obvious by Ed's laugh
that the statement is just so ridiculous that he can't believe Nikolai would
actually say it. I, James Walsh, both believe Nikolai meant it and it is
perhaps the most ridiculous thing he could have said. How could a guy that
set all kinds of attendance records have been bad for the business? That's
like saying KISS was bad for music because they painted their face and blew
stuff up... It sold. Like it or love it, it sold.
-- Last year, a story broke about Ed being caught with cocaine at work and
causing an anthrax scare. Ed says it was a misunderstanding at work and goes
on to say, "I'm not perfect." He then poses a question to us asking if we
have ever heard of someone getting caught in a drug bust and them not getting
charged? James says, "Not unless they are guilty." Ed was never charged with
anything.
-- Ed is gearing up for the big Valiant Brothers Reunion show on May 14 in
New Jersey. For all information regarding the big show, check out
www.WrestlingThenandNow.com. The event will feature Brutus Beefcake, Greg
Valentine, Nikolai Volkoff, "Genius" Lanny Poffo, Captain Lou Albano, and
all 3 Valiant brothers!
-- We then roll into word associations with names such as Ric Flair, Eric
Bischoff, Vince McMahon, and more! Want to hear these colorful responses?
Only one way to do it! Listen! It's free!
-- We then roll into the recap discussing Wrestlemania 11 and 12 on our Road
to Wrestlemania tour! We then roll out to a little Buckcherry as they rip
off KISS' Shock Me guitar riff with Lit Up. Hey, it's still a good song!
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