A new story from The Jim Ross Report
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I don't know what to say about that. I like the king of the ring. A king of the ring put Austin on the map, for example. Yeah. And that meant they put us on the map. So I like the king of the rank concept, and I was surprised when it was dropped. Let's mention that the next raw from Long Island starts to build for Booker T and Triple H it's been talked about a lot over the years, a lot of people felt like there were some unnecessary racial overtones to the build and a lot of us say this now with the benefit of Han signed, you were there watching at ringside, did you feel that way at the time? A little bit. I think we took a road that we didn't need to take. Without saying it. I didn't like it in that respect. Didn't think it had a place to be honest with you. So but you know, I know hunter's not a racist. Right. He's a heel. And he was trying to get personal with a Booker T and one of the avenues of that being personal was some quote unquote racial overtones. I just didn't think it was necessary. I don't believe that race or religion have any place in pro wrestling. I just don't. I don't think we need it. I don't think the world needs it. We didn't need to point out the Booker was a black man. Hunter wasn't? The fans can decide all that stuff that they choose. So I didn't like the innuendos of the racial aspect of it quite frankly. Sure. So it made me uncomfortable a little bit. Maybe that sort of supposed to do. Deeper there being any backlash amongst the talent roster, was this a topic of discussion backstage at all at the time? No, I think guys were basically happy for Booker. That he was finally getting an opportunity to play in the last match on a major show, and Booker had a lot of respect from the talents. It paid news and had paid him often. So I think most people were probably supportive of Booker's opportunity. And that he had earned and deserved. And I agree with that. I was happy for Booker. Because he got his opportunity. You got his flower, shall we say? What the kid say today? He got his flowers. By being booked in the match, and I was happy for him. I really was. Well, the build for Austin and rock starts on the same show where Austin is going to dispatch three minute warning in a segment and rock is standing behind him once he was finished. At this point, did you know this was going to be Austin swan song or is that not a parent until we get closer to the actual show? Well, I think it was a more apparent as far as my dialog with Steve, he was just more concerned about it not getting out. Right. And he didn't want to have an adverse effect on the card or the procession of the card or what have you. And so like I said, I marched for keeping that under wraps. And we all kept it under wraps. You know, and the only two people there were Steve. And we were there pretty much all night. And trying to figure out what's next. How do we handle this? And so he handled the best you can. Steve wanted to be kept a secret and that's what we did. And I admire his his intentions and what he was trying to do. He's trying to make sure that nothing but the match mattered. Not the fact that Steve was wrestling his last match, which would adversely affect the perception of this contest. It would affect the outcome, it would affect potential finish and things of that nature. So I mean, it wasn't a shock that Steve that Steve did the honors for Booker, or excuse me, for rock. To me, that was a no brainer. And it worked out just fine. It worked out just fine. And rot deserves to get the win back. And Steve was the kind of guy that wanted to do business the right way. And he did. Well, we know that the big controversy with Hogan and was he supposed to be here or wasn't he supposed to be here, comes to a head the next day, or the next week rather. In Bridgeport, Connecticut. There is a big public debate, a promo battle, if you will, between Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon and they're discussing their history together. Of course Vince is saying that he created hulkamania and he's responsible for all of this success, of course we're setting up this match today and Hogan says something like, hey man, if it wasn't for my testimony, you'd still be in jail. And if Hogan loses, he has to retire. So we're setting up the match here. What'd you just think of the decision to say, we're going to go with Hogan versus McMahon? Well, I'm going to pay for it. It's pretty damn attractive. It's unpredictable. You know, it really is unpredictable. I admire this. For pulling back the curtain and sent us, I'm going to wrestle Hogan.