Paul Roma Slams Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan And Brooke Hogan
Former WCW tag team champion Paul Roma was recently interviewed by ClubWWI.com with James Guttman for an all new one hour edition of his audio show "Glorious".
The show opens with the subject of TNA. James Guttman points out a story that Paul Roma told during a past appearance about Lisa Sliwa of the famous Guardian Angels. During his WWF stint, Roma was asked to work an angle that would essentially put her over Paul on TV. He refused and stands by the decision. JG compares it to Brooke Hogan's debut and how, despite her non-wrestling role, she's presented as being above the knockouts.
"It's always about who you know and really not much about what you know. So, you know, Hogan obviously has a lot of pull. He knows what kind of business the business is. One of the things was always that you never bring family members into professional wrestling in any nature whether announcers, ring girls, valets, or whatever you want to call them. That being said, he's going to have to travel everywhere with her and probably room with her too, because he's not going to trust everybody else around her. And he's probably trying to get her a payday because her singing career flopped. Look, at the end of the day, when someone's a singer, it doesn't matter if your father is Hulk Hogan. Either you can sing or you can't sing. Make it or you won't make it. But he has to realize something. He's not that guy anymore. Nobody gives a s–t about him anymore. He has no juice as far as in the real world. So, that's why she's in wrestling. Can't make it anywhere else."
Hulk's many returns to wrestling have been slowly getting less and less attention. James brings up how Hogan appeared to be accepting the dimming spotlight? but then the N.W.O. era followed by his popular 2002 run came along. Now, he's losing some steps, but still puts himself over on TV. JG asks Roma if it's hard to see those lost steps when you're constantly hearing positive praise from those around you.
"I still run into people who know me and say, 'hey, you look great' or you were this or you were that. Great. But that's gone. It's over. If I was to come back, sure, you'd get some people who would come out. But you're preaching to a new audience. Either they're going to accept you or they're not. At least my body still looks great. He looks like s–t. He comes back and does the same s–t. His skin and everything is flapping all over the place. He's out of shape and thinks he's still that same guy back in the day and he's not. It's over. His notoriety is over. These companies that keep bringing him back in thinking he's going to do something, how long does it take them to figure out he's not drawing the crowds he used to?"
When the subject of WWE Raw's move to three hours comes up, James mentions how three hours seems too long to do anything. With three hour Raws, two hour Smackdowns, two web shows, and a three hour PPV ? weeks with pay-per-views will have 10 hours of new wrestling content. It feels like way too much and a misstep. Roma gives his theory on why this is happening.
"Maybe he's testing the waters to see how many suckers there are out there?Maybe if you add in a lot of commercials and get endorsements from that. It has to be about making money. At the end of the day do you seriously think (Vince) cares about the fans anymore??We can go back and forth until we're blue in the face. It's not gonna change anything. He's an egomaniac. He thinks everything he touches turns to gold. That's why he brings back the Hogans and Flairs and he thinks it's gonna make him money and it flops. You'd think he's have learned when he tried to start his own bodybuilding federation. Then he tried to get into football. Had his own league. Then he tried to promote boxing. He makes movies. And he flops. But he's that guy who looks in the mirror and says, 'Wow. I'm doing well.' Well, it ain't from everything else you're doing because everything else you're doing flopped. Now he's losing sight of what got his company to where it was. Maybe he has so much money, he doesn't have to. I don't know."
Guttman interjects that it sometimes feels like the man who profited the most from wrestling and controls the wrestling industry actually despises wrestling. It feels as though Vince is embarrassed by it and wishes he was famous for something else. JG brings up the chapter in his first book "World Wrestling Insanity" that lists the words announcers were told not to say on TV. One of them ? wrestling.
"I think Vince should have realized he didn't have the power he thought he had when he went up against WWF for the rights to (the name) and he lost. He had to change to WWE. That should have told you something. He beat the drug investigation. He beat that. Then he does the battle with WWF and he lost that. Then he did movies and he lost that. Then he promotes boxing, he loses that. Promote football, loses that. Tries to create his own bodybuilding world, he loses that. But, like the fat girl in the mirror with her skirt hiked up to her ass, exploding through it, he doesn't see it. He just doesn't see it.
"He's a very jealous, insecure man. Hence back to Power and Glory. They didn't create our dolls because he never liked me. He's jealous of me. Couldn't look like me. Couldn't get the women I got. Couldn't have the body I had, and still have. A little smaller, but still. He didn't have the security that I have. The self confidence that I have. So he pushes people back. Don't do this. Don't do that. Don't create t-shirts for Power and Glory. Don't send them to the top. Get them close, but then pull them back down. Then split the team up. That's him, man. That's what he's all about. He can look in the mirror and see what he wants to see, but the people who know him, know the real him. And if he looks deep enough, he knows the real him. He's just a punk ass b—h."
Source: ClubWWI.com
Aaron Hymson contributed to this article.