The Honky Tonk Man Talks Hogan, Piper, Roberts & More

The Honky Tonk Man took part in a Q&A at today’s Mid-Atlantic Fanfest. Here is a selection from the session, courtesy of Mike Johnson and Pwinsider.com…

Honky was asked about The Ultimate Warrior and Roddy Piper. He said Warrior was a good businessman. He said it was weird in that it sounded like he gave his own eulogy. He said Piper’s passing was sad and he looked ill in recent photos. It’s always sad when someone from the industry dies. When he was young and starting in the business, he was worried about being stabbed in West Virginia or in a car accident. He said wrestlers have to learn they can’t live the way they were in their 20s and 30s. He said he’s 62 now.

Honky was asked about Hulk Hogan. Honky said it was brought up in a recent interview with a newspaper in Canada as he’s going there in a few weeks. He said it’s a tragic situation in that it could happen to anyone from any walk of life anywhere in the world of any religion. Tiger Woods did things he was not proud of but you can’t wipe him out of history and say he can’t exist anymore. He said you can’t take away from what people achieved in their lives and history and that’s what WWE is doing. They are publicly traded and he understands what they are doing and why but that’s not going to work for fans. He said Hulk Hogan changed wrestling. And that’s the truth.

Honky asked why Bubba the Love Sponge is always in this situations and said he warned Hogan through Jimmy Hart to distance himself a long time ago. He said he really has no axes to grind but everyone has their differences and joked he just had a fight with his wife because he was back on the road.

Honky was asked about the build to his Wrestlemania 3 bout with Jake Roberts. He said the build was great but he did not hit Jake Roberts and send him to rehab. What sent him to rehab was not the guitar. Jake wrestled a year more before he went to rehab. He nailed Jake with the guitar and turned Jake babyface. It was Jake’s idea to bring in Alice Cooper since he was from Detroit and they had the snake connection. After he won the IC belt, Jake was gone and he lost to substitutes in non-title matches and allowed him to go on TV and say he was the greatest of all time.

Honky was asked of memories of the Blonde Bombers. He said that is a part of history that seems to have been lost and God bless YouTube for bringing them back and making them available. He doesn’t know if there is a lot from Larry Latham online. They were put together in Tampa for a tournament and put them together since they both had blonde hair. They worked 5 or 6 matches going to the finals losing to The Briscoes. They were asked if they could stay in Tampa, then they went to Memphis where they had the Tupelo Concession Stand brawl. Jerry Jarrett needed something and came up with that brawl. None of it was planned out. They were told to win the belts and then tear the building down so they did. The cameras would come on Friday and filmed it. He said they created hardcore and ECW although they weren’t the only ones who did it. They captured people’s Imagination and it worked.

100% DIRECT LINK (PHOTOS): Chris Benoit’s Son Training For Wrestling?! THEY LOOK IDENTICAL!!