Bob "Hardcore" Holly recently appeared on Sean Waltman's "X-Pac 1,2,360." The former WWE superstar talked about his past as "Sparky" Plugg, his dislike of "The Kliq," and why he's not scared of CTE. They submitted these highlights:
Starting out under the ring name Thurman "Sparky" Plugg in WWF:
"People laugh at it. I'll tell them, what am I going to tell these guys?! No?! I guarantee you if they gave you that name you wouldn't tell them no, especially when that's been your goal all your life. You wanted to be in WWF. You would take whatever name they gave you, whether it's humiliating or not and just run with it."
Vince McMahon gifting him the race car he used in vignettes:
"He goes, no, I'm gonna let you have it. I'm going to sell it to you. I think he was screwing with me. He had to have been. I was in a panic because I was like, oh my God how am I going to get the money to pay for this? There's no way. Even if they took it out of my pay I would end up with nothing for years and years and years. I was freaking out. So then he goes, I'm going to sell it to you for a hundred dollars. I'm like, excuse me? He goes, a hundred dollars. I said no, I will sell it and get you your money out of all this equipment and give it back. He goes, nope. It's yours for a hundred dollars. I insist. Stay on the phone with my attorney and we'll send you all the paperwork and blah, blah, blah, and he hung up. To this day I never saw that hundred dollars come out of my paycheck."
Bill DeMott consoling Matt Cappotelli after Bob beat him up in the ring:
"That was a huge oxymoron, wasn't it? I mean really. He was consoling him and everything. I'm like, are you kidding me...I was recovering so I never did talk to him [Bill]. Bill and I probably had talked about it but I can't remember the conversation. Actually I know we talked about it but I honestly can't remember the conversation. It's not ballet what we do. It's a rough business. I did the same thing with Randy Orton on a nightly basis, because that's what they asked me to do. Randy, not one time, not one time complained about me being too rough with him. That's just the way I wrestle a lot of times, because I don't mind it back. If I'm going to do something to you, I'm fine with it back, and that's the way it is in wrestling."
Sean and Bob discuss Bob's dislike for The Kliq.
Sean: "When Vince and Jerry Brisco came and met us and we had this big meeting and we ran down a list of all the guys, you were one of the guys that we were like, Bob Holly! You're not doing anything with him and you need to. That was the thing about us that a lot of people don't realize. We were going to bat creatively for a lot of guys that we knew didn't really care for us much."
Bob: "It is what it is. The thing is, if I would have been If I had an opportunity to be with those guys and be as tight as you guys were, Sean, believe me I would've had no problem being a part of that group whatsoever, because that's what you need in the wrestling business. You can't do it by yourself. That's the thing."
Eric Bischoff offering him a job at WCW when he was with WWF:
"They did... It wasn't even an option for me. It was not even an option because Vince had taken such good care of me, and not monetarily - just through the whole race car thing. I'm a loyal person. You know, I've worked the man. I never had any problems for him. I just felt like my loyalty was important."
His response to his feelings about CTE, and the recent lawsuits filed by wrestlers against WWE:
"I'm not worried about it. The thing is, that's what I chose to do. Vince didn't twist my arm and say, get in that ring and do this and this and this. I chose to get in that ring. I chose to have the matches, as far as how rough I was. I chose that. He didn't tell me to go out there and be rough. He didn't tell me to go out there and take a chair shot to the head, or anything like that. I chose that career path. That's what gets me. It's like, these guys chose this and some of them are even still wrestling. So how can they sit there and say they're having post-concussion syndrome when they're still wrestling? I just don't understand that. It's a crock of s--t if you ask me."
His current lifestlye?:
"I have to be very frugal. I can pick and choose what I want to do. I've afforded that luxury because I saved my money...I pick and choose what shows I want to do. I don't work every single weekend...As long as I watch how I'm doing everything, I don't have to work ever again."
Changing his mind about women's wrestling since criticizing it in his book:
"Women's wrestling has evolved so much. I honestly think they can carry a show. I really do. I think they can main event a pay-per-view now. It has evolved so much and the talent has become so incredible now."
You can check out the full episode in the video at the top of the page, or download the podcast version on iTunes.
