Weasel Tales: The Bobby Heenan Archives - The Brain On Promoters

When the police lights flashed behind us on that dark Manitoba road, my guest, a wrestling legend, knew it wasn't part of the show. Buckle up, listeners, as we embark on a journey through the golden age of professional wrestling with stories that blur the lines between performance and reality, and a candid look at the brotherhood formed amidst chaos. This episode is a treasure trove of hilarious road trip mishaps, mistaken identities, and the kind of camaraderie that turns fellow wrestlers into family. Our guest isn't holding back, sharing a riotous tale complete with a run-in with the law that cost more than just a few bucks for hitchhiker hospitality.

Beyond the laughter, there's a heartfelt nod to the promoters who became the unsung heroes behind the scenes and a raw reflection on the struggle for respect in a business where your value is constantly tested. Our seasoned guest walks us through the evolution of a wrestling career—from establishing a ring persona to the bittersweet reality of earning your stripes in this unpredictable spectacle of sports entertainment. Whether you're a die-hard fan or new to the world behind the ropes, this conversation is packed with the kind of authenticity that only comes from a life lived in and out of the squared circle.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Pop goes the weasel guy. The weasel says pop, yeah, come on. Yeah, half a pound of Tarponny rice, half a pound of treacle. That's the way the money goes. Pop goes the weasel, a friend in need, get a pest. You're gonna be a successful WWF villain hated by millions. Yeah, and Wally would yell at you.

Speaker 1: 0:30

But Ray Stevens and I are Wally, and Wally has this girl driver who's driving us up to Dawson, manitoba, 500 miles north of Winnipeg. So we're in the back, wally, we're in the back, wally. We're coming back that night. We don't know where we're at. We're lost. We had some beer in the back and a bottle of wine.

Speaker 1: 0:53

So Wally gets out and goes in the hotel to find directions. His cops pull up. He said what are you guys doing? So we're hitchhiking. He said whose car is that? I don't know. Now we're hitchhiking. He said whose car is that? I don't know. I went in the hotel. He said whose wine and beer is this? I said his. So we get out of the car. Cop stands there. He said okay, get back in. He goes in there. Wally comes out. He's mad as hell. He's looking at me. We get back in the car. He slams the door. He says you, you, you, you. He says he's spending $250 for having an open bottle in the car and for picking up hitchhikers.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Oh, you know what? You know why? I got that two and a half back Many times over. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, so Roy Shires would yell. You like to spit on the floor and yell in front of people? Sam Mushnick never yelled at anyone that I knew of.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Paul Bosch was the best put-off man in the business. Paul always treats you like a gentleman. His wife, valerie, and I are very good friends. There's his son, joey, who turned out to be just a marvelous job and Paul was just a very fair guy, just great with the money paid you in cash and I was a big envelope and if I got in St Louis you could slide under the door. But things don't change as I got more established and people know who I was and my money got better. But at the beginning, first of all, I don't believe you get any respect where you start and Bruce started me so naturally he knew me before I was Bobby, so I had no respect there to begin with. He would never pay you like he would pay a star because he feels in their mentality. He said you beat Nick one more time. You get to keep him. Put the word in the streets.