Expanded: Hogan Talks Aries, Hardy, Roode, Bully Ray, Devon and Storm

[Testify]

Austin Aries as TNA World Heavyweight Champion:

"He crossed the line, he came in fighting for a contract in the X division and talent speaks for itself. I watched him, he had a little NWO vibe to him, a little Macho Man vibe to him, and very talented in the ring. Right away, I said everyone keeps one upping each other, and all of a sudden Austin is showing us this crazy new level that we need to function on all the time. He raised the bar. So right away, when there was an opportunity for Austin Aries to be the champ, I was like I really hope everything works out perfectly with him and the belt. And so far, he has really stepped up and changed the look of TNA all of a sudden. He got himself over; he really stepped up and got himself over first. When you talk about Hulk Hogan, the normal traditional wrestling train of thought mind set from Vince Sr., to Vince Jr., to Eric Bischoff, to everybody I ever worked for is, don’t talk about the bald headed Hulk Hogan, don’t talk about how old Hulk Hogan is, talk about how devastating he is, and the greatest wrestler of all time. That’s always the mindset, and keeping with that old school philosophy, I tell Austin Aries don’t talk about your size and being the underdog, it has nothing to do with it. If you’re the greatest man in the world, you’re the greatest man in the world. At the end of the day, focus on your strong points and that’s what he has done and I really think that this kid is going to be around for a long time, actually he’s not a kid he’s a grown man, but I think he’s going to be around for a long time, barring no serious injuries. When I walked in the WWWF, The World Wide Wrestling Federation, when it was 3 W’s and an F for Vince Sr., I wasn’t the only guy that worked with Andre the Giant, or Swede Hanson, or King Kong Mosca, there were a bunch of guys, Big John Studd, and we all were like okay here is an even playing field and everyone gets a football, let’s see how far you run with it. They gave me the ball bro and I ran with it to the goal line and back 20 times. Basically you got to get yourself over. You can push somebody and call them the greatest this or the greatest that. You can push them, but all of a sudden you can push a guy for 18 months and really put your horse power behind him and all of a sudden somebody like a Jeff Hardy can stand in the ring that hasn’t been pushed at all and listen to the crowd, the crowd is telling you who they want. All of a sudden you go, oh my gosh, we have been pushing this guy and doing everything we can to get him over and all of a sudden Jeff Hardy walks out there and the crowd is screaming three times as louder than for the guy you put all your energy into. Sometimes you have to switch gears."

Jeff Hardy in the main event at Bound for Glory:

"He’s new age, he’s ahead of the curve, and he’s ahead of the whole curve of the professional wrestling business. He’s got his own language that he speaks to his fans, he’s an innovator. He’s way out there and you have to watch and listen to him to understand. I keep telling everyone this whole business is about selling, it’s not about who does the greatest move, who’s the greatest, the best, the most phenomenal, it has nothing to do with that. It’s the art of selling, making people believe and care about the character. When Jeff Hardy sells, he shines while he sells he doesn’t die. He’s got something, some magic, and if his offense isn’t that great, and you’ve seen the flip, the kick, or the double leg drop, whatever he does. He really comes alive when he starts selling. The more you beat on him, the longer he stays down, the more it starts rumbling. He’s something special; this is going to be a great main event."

Bobby Roode:

"My opinion was you put the belt on him as a baby face and he is going to die 7 deaths. So my idea was to stop the craziness, get everybody upset and mad at me, and said you know what guys, it’s not his time he’s not the guy. Let’s get him to be real consistent, solid as a rock, and then when you put the belt on him, it means something. So his progress to this day right now, no matter who wins the belt at Bound for Glory, you can switch the belt back to Bobby Roode off Aries, you can switch the belt off Hardy and back to Bobby Roode, and you can be safe, because Bobby Roode is that damn good . Bobby Roode has come into his own as a heel, he’s got credibility now and he doesn’t miss a beat. If I’m in the ring with him bro, standing there doing a promo I can tell when something is going to be hard. I’ve been in the ring with guys, when I’m like oh my gosh I’m going to have to work my ass off to get this match over. When you’re in the ring with Bobby Roode it just works now. He’s got himself over, he’s established as a heel, and now he’s wedged in, now if you got in trouble if Austin Aries got hurt or if Jeff Hardy got hurt, you can put the belt on Bobby Roode tomorrow and he’d be gold, he’d be safe."

Devon and Bully Ray:

"He has really stepped up, and speaking of Bully Ray, I have to say something about Devon. One of my biggest disappointments this year has been Devon and I really wish he was with the company. You talk about a guy that got in shape, you talk about a guy that carried himself well, you talk about a guy that’s a good person, you talk about a guy that went out with fire every night and tore the young guys up, you talk about a guy if you book him on a house show with no security and no ride and you tell him to go to six different media events and go to TV stations and he doesn’t bitch and complain and makes all the appearances driving himself on time and still gets to the building before anybody. To lose someone like Devon, it’s like what are you thinking! It’s been one of my biggest disappointments so far this year. I pray to God we get him back. Now talking about Bully Ray, I hated seeing the team breakup because I loved 3-D. Okay so it happened, and he then got in crazy shape all of a sudden, and he told me, “I want to be the single best main event heel in the business” and I heard that about a year and a half ago, and I’ll be damned he’s definitely the single best main event heel we have right now to date. And I can’t even imagine how much bigger he can get, but he’s on fire."

James Storm:

"He is a fan favorite, I just think direction wise, it’s almost like “the little engine that could”, when a company is up and running, you got to get the steam, you got to get build up, before you put the belt on a huge baby face like a Hulk Hogan, or a Rock, or a Stone Cold. I just think that this company needed to be building, and with the roster of heels and baby faces I just really feel that our timing, and it’s not his fault, it’s not Storms fault, I think our timing was off with this whole thing and me flipping the Roode thing and all the stuff I got my nose into, because they asked me. I think it kind of screwed his momentum up also, but he is such a good baby face and such a constant. I think this whole Roode thing is going to get him back on track and at the end of the day he is going to be better because he is not backing off and he is not discouraged. I think it was a timing thing and nothing to do with him as a baby face or his run."

 

[Jonathan]

My eyes are literally hurting. This is gonna take a while.

 

[Lacky]

Read this not too long ago. Good read.