Konnan On If Wrestlers Knew Hulk Hogan Was Joining The NWO, If Nancy Benoit Should Be In WWE HOF
During my recent interview with Konnan to promote the upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view, we discussed the memorable night of Bash at the Beach 1996. At the pay-per-view, Konnan competed against Ric Flair, losing his United States Championship to Flair on that night. Konnan explained how it was working with Flair.
"I looked up to him. How could you not? He was an incredible performer," said Konnan. "It was kind of weird because he was kinda talking to me like in carny and I didn't understand like what language he was talking in the ring. So, I was kind of lost out there, to tell you the truth. But when I looked at the match, the match wasn't bad at all... working with Flair was great. And I even asked him to do a couple of his 'Flairisms', you know like the bump that he takes on his face, he did that. So, it was really cool working him. I just didn't understand was he was telling me in the ring, because he was kind of most of the match in the ring like he probably did billions of times. He probably had so many matches in his head."
The conclusion of Bash at the Beach was Hulk Hogan turning heel after over a decade of being pro wrestling's top babyface, joining Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as the mysterious "Third Man." I asked Konnan if wrestlers knew backstage if the third man was Hogan.
"We didn't know who it was gonna be," said Konnan. "They really kept that a secret." I asked Konnan if wrestlers backstage were surprised that it was Hogan, and he said, "Yeah. Super."
During his time in ECW, Konnan worked with Nancy Benoit, who was popularly known by her wrestling character of Woman. Based on her pro wrestling resume alone, I asked Konnan if Woman should be in the WWE Hall of Fame aside from the tragedy that happened in 2007.
"Oh yeah, for sure, 1000 percent," Konnan said. "She was really smart. You gotta remember, she grew up in the business at a very young age with Kevin [Sullivan] and doing all those crazy promos... down there in Florida with Mark Lewin and all that. So she knew about the business, you know. When I first came to ECW, I didn't know anything about American wrestling. Really nothing, because I was trained in Lucha Libre. I went directly to Mexico, and I was there for 10 years in the Mexican bubble. So I didn't look at the United States, I never really thought about wrestling in the United States, to tell you the truth.
"So when I went to ECW, I was lost. I didn't know the style, and Paul E. put me in with a guy the very first time I went there, the second time, against this guy that didn't know Lucha Libre and I didn't know American wrestling. And I was like, 'bro, why are you putting me in a match like this?' He goes, 'oh, I thought you knew how to wrestle American style.' I go, 'yeah, because I speak English? No, I don't. I started in Mexico.' And so that's when he started teaming me up with Rey Mysterio, and they brought in Parka, and Psicosis, and those matches were incredible. And I kinda did something with Sandman, next thing you know, I was off to WCW. But, the short time I was there, she helped me out a lot, and she was really, really, really, smart to the business, more than what people know. So, yeah, definitely, I think she deserves to be there."
Konnan also talked about LAX dominating the tag team division over the past year, what make Impact Wrestling different now than what it was before, and more. You can listen to the full interview above.