Kevin Sullivan On Creating Goldberg, Convincing Vince McMahon To Put The Title On Hulk Hogan, WCW
Former WCW booker Kevin Sullivan was interviewed by Hannibal TV to discuss his time with WCW and regrets throughout his career. Here are some of the highlights:
His proudest achievements with WCW:
"The thing was, I have to thank Vince McMahon because it was his talent I was using. Really he got them over. I had Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, a guy that's over looked, Syxx Pac. The only person that was in The Kliq, DX, and NWO. He's a guy that gets looked over. We had them all and it just worked. Hogan turned heel, Randy [Savage] turned heel. It was a great run and I had great baby faces. Sting, Luger, the Steiners."
Convincing Hulk Hogan to turn heel:
"He was at my house. I had to keep him in my house. Everyone was telling me you can't do it, you're going to kill yourself. It revitalized Hulk because at that time Mean Gene did something amazing. One night in Chicago Hulk came down for an interview and they were booing him out, and Gene said 'You can hear the somber mood here.' So I went to him and I said, 'you gotta turn'. Hulk stayed in my spare bedroom and I wouldn't let his agent sleep in the bed, I made him sleep on the couch, because till the last minute he was trying to keep him babyface. I arrived at the building, during the semi-final I didn't want anybody to get to him, and he did the job and history was written back then."
Any regrets with WCW looking back on it now:
"The main thing is, I wish I could've talked them out of putting a [nWo] t-shirt on everybody, thinking a t-shirt was gonna get them all over. If it [nWo] had stayed the four of them [Hogan, Nash, Hall, The Giant], it would've been such a – we could probably still be talking about it today."
His thoughts on Goldberg headlining Wrestlemania after having created him in WCW:
"I was the one that started Bill Goldberg, I saw the streak, I changed him into Mike Tyson with the short boots with the tights. Before that he was just an Atlanta Falcon. I am very proud of Bill and God bless him, I hope he wrestles another 12 years."
If he ever considered working for WWE:
"I had talks with them we had a couple of meetings, I used to talk to Vince quite a lot. I was the one that convinced him into giving Hogan the belt the last time. I guess life takes funny turns and my life turned out good. That's the only thing I regret, never working for that company."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Hannibal TV with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Hannibal TV