Col. Robert Parker On Booking Hulk Hogan Before WWE, How Helping Jeff Jarrett Got Him A Job Later On
Col. Robert Parker spoke with the Wrestling Epicenter on booking Hulk Hogan, his relationship with Jeff Jarrett, and Honky Tonk Man. Here are some of the highlights:
His relationship with Jeff Jarrett:
"It is funny how things come back to help you after you help somebody. I had also spent time with Jeff Jarrett working for his father in the USWA. He was having trouble. Guys said he was too young or too small and they didn't want to put him over or do anything for him. I went in and I said 'Hey, I can really do something with this kid.' I went in and we worked a program for probably two years, he and I. He never forgot it so when I finished up in WCW, they called me right away at the WWF. They said 'Jeff Jarrett needs a manager. We can bring you in right away as Tennessee Lee.' I was just sitting around considering retirement and all of a sudden, because of all the nice things I had done for Jeff, I wound up in this position and getting some time up there with WWF."
First booking Hulk Hogan in Alabama:
"We gave Hulk Hogan the first dollar he ever made. He came in for us as Terry 'The Hulk' Bolder. He had a very hairy body and he shaved his chest like Superman. We taught a lot of these guys how to work the business. We put Hulk with real good workers like the guys that run the school for Vince, Danny Davis and some of these people that worked for us as Nightmares, and we'd just marry them until they learned the process of the way we wanted them to work. They didn't last. We brought in his 'brother' Ed Leslie and called him Eddie Bolder. They went right off to New York."
The Honky Tonk Man's gimmick:
"I gave him the gimmick. I told Honky Tonk Man to go ahead and get a Elvis suit and bring a guitar to the matches. I'm going to play rock and roll music going to the ring. He was like, 'I can't play a guitar.' I said, 'You don't have to. Just act like you are and be as goofy as you can be.' Later on, when he left the WWF, Vince sued him for using the Honky Tonk Man. He said it belonged to the WWF. He showed them, in court, a program from our show where he was the Honky Tonk Man from our show. That was the end of the deal."
You can check out the full interview in the video above or more highlights by clicking here.