WCW Booker Says Hulk Hogan Promo Almost Ruined PPV, Claims Ric Flair Begged To Book Hogan Defeat

Former WCW matchmaker Kevin Sullivan joined Mister Saint Laurent and special guest Alex Greenfield on Episode 163 of MLW Radio and shared some stories about his time in the promotion, including a situation in which WCW production staff accidentally blew the ending to a pay-per-view event on live television.

"You remember the when Hogan came in and won the belt and we did an interview prior to him winning the belt? And [he] talked about? winning the belt?" asked Sullivan of the other men. "And we're on Nitro and his interview comes up?because we used to do some pre-shot interviews, if you remember?and Hogan starts talking about beating? I think it was Vader for the belt. And I'm going, 'What is going on here? We just gave the finish to the pay-per-view!' ? So now? I'm beside myself; Eric [Bischoff] is beside himself, Hogan is beside himself. Everybody is saying, 'Oh, we can't overcome this!' Mean Gene Okerlund went out and cut a promo that saved the company. He said, 'This promo that you just saw was my wish. I was hoping that Hogan was going to beat Vader.' ?If he'd have been [Lee Harvey] Oswald's lawyer, Oswald would have gotten off? Mean Gene Okerlund never got the credit he deserved. He's a very smart guy. "

Sullivan also told a story in which Roddy Piper had put together a really bad angle in which he defeated a batch of five different wrestlers in a series of lousy matches. Piper apparently thought that the angle was good but he sought feedback from other people in the company.

"Eric was trying to blow this thing over," Sullivan said. "Hogan was trying to be diplomatic because he and Piper didn't get along very well. Flair and Piper were dearest friends, so he's not going to say anything. So they're all trying to calm it down and he's saying, 'Well, what did you guys think and they're all, 'Well, it wasn't that bad?' And he turned to me and said, "What do you think?' and I said, 'It sucked. It was absolutely a f?king abortion.' And he said, 'What can we do? What can we do?' And I said, 'What you've got to do is hire The Horsemen to be your bodyguards?' or whatever it was that he needed. That really worked out because The Horsemen were hot. So that mistake transcended it being a mistake and it became better."

Returning to Hulk Hogan, Sullivan recalled that Ric Flair personally went to him shortly after WCW signed Hogan and asked Sullivan to book Hogan to lose his first match against Vader.

"Flair came to me on bended knee, hat in his hand, begging me to beat Hogan the first time he was going to wrestle Vader," Sullivan explained. "We had just sold the company store, the first-born child to anyone who worked at TBS, and Flair is telling me 'We've got to beat Hogan!' "

You can listen to the entire episode of MLW Radio at this link.