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rt316
  • 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00So, Slai,
00:04this is really devastating news.
00:07I mean, Hulk was a force in wrestling,
00:10but he was also a force in your world.
00:13He was, very much so.
00:15When we met, I guess it was 82.
00:19He, maybe even, maybe 81,
00:22because we started rehearsing.
00:24He just came in and you knew that this guy
00:27had a glow about him.
00:29He was a force to be reckoned with.
00:32You know, the thing, I had a,
00:35I had lots of chances to sit down and talk with him.
00:39And doing Rocky III for him
00:41was one of the biggest things in his life.
00:43And he was so proud of it.
00:45And he has, you know,
00:47he has models in his office of his character in Rocky III.
00:52Right.
00:53It was so meaningful to him.
00:55Talk to me about that.
00:56Well, it was.
00:58This fellow was very,
01:00he was just at the beginning of his career.
01:02He hadn't quite come into his own yet.
01:06So we got him at a point where he was so enthusiastic.
01:09And I remember he was immense.
01:12He was probably about 315 pounds,
01:15but very smart.
01:16He had this deep, calming voice.
01:19And he was willing to do anything
01:21that would make the show better.
01:23Now, no one at first, no one wanted him because he was too big.
01:29I said, that's the whole point.
01:30It's like David and Goliath, the bigger, the better.
01:33So he showed up in magnificent shape.
01:35And the thing was, we started to roll around and he would literally pick me up and drop me to the ground.
01:41I thought I'm going to be literally pulp by the time I land.
01:46And yet he would always break the fall.
01:48He would do things that you wouldn't see like a magician.
01:51And I'll say, I've had a lot of punches thrown at me.
01:55No one was more accurate and precise than him.
01:59It was extraordinary for a man that size.
02:01Literally, he would punch with his knuckle like this and it would come right, just touch the skin.
02:07And I thought he was great and such a good sport.
02:11He just met my daughters at a signing the other day.
02:16He was very busy, took time out for them.
02:19It's truly a tragic loss.
02:21It's like him, Carl Weathers.
02:25I mean, it's, you know, you're losing some of these irreplaceable human beings.
02:30Like you'll never see a man like him come down the pike again.
02:34So I just hope everyone really covets the memory, appreciates the visual of this, this icon.
02:41And probably the greatest wrestling icon you will ever see.
02:45You know, you and Hulk have some things in common, as I think.
02:50Because, you know, he didn't just conquer one area, wrestling.
02:57He became a movie star with the help of you.
03:01He became a television star the way you did with a family reality show.
03:06Right.
03:07So in a way, you guys have something in common that's really unique.
03:12Because most people, if they hit it big, they hit it big in one area.
03:16Right.
03:17And he did it at least three times over.
03:20I'm glad you said that because he's also was very smart.
03:24You know, quite often people judge a book by its cover.
03:27I know what that feels like.
03:28And they did the same with him.
03:30But he was very smart, very entrepreneurial, musical.
03:33He had a plethora of all these subjects that he was interested in.
03:38And the thing is, he just was in a lot of pain.
03:41I know he had so many injuries.
03:44I've had a lot of back operations.
03:46He said 10 plus.
03:48And yet he never complained.
03:50He just tried to persevere and be as pleasant as possible.
03:55I miss him terribly.
03:57Like, God damn.
03:58It's just, you know, it's irreplaceable.
04:01And it's been a rough week between this and Ozzy Osbourne.
04:05And just you've lost some real monumental human beings.
04:10And, you know, you and him, you and Hulk have something else in common.
04:16I mean, he was a star, maybe the star at the RNC last year.
04:24Right.
04:25And took a lot of heat.
04:26Yes.
04:27For his association with Donald Trump.
04:29I mean, the country's divided 50 50.
04:32And I think you're feeling some of that now.
04:35And I'm wondering if you relate to that part at all.
04:40I do relate to it because it gets to a point where it's where politics stop and people start.
04:47And that's what you really have to say.
04:49What is the soul of a person all about?
04:51Just it doesn't matter.
04:53Anything else doesn't matter.
04:54That's the way I look at it.
04:56And he was a unique giving soul.
04:59And people really didn't understand how deep he went.
05:04I can say I'm just a better person for knowing him.
05:09And the beauty is that we have that on film forever.
05:13And I just hope the fans appreciate it because that was the beginning of a titan of a real unique individual who was not afraid to stand up, as you just mentioned, and put himself on the line for his beliefs.
05:28And that's to be commended.
05:29Always.
05:30Do you have just any kind of a of a story, a funny story or anything you can remember about just your interactions with him shooting the movie with him?
05:42I love what you said about wrestling, about rather being gentle with you, because he learned that skill from wrestling because you can't actually punch people that way.
05:50Yeah.
05:51I know.
05:52You know, people underestimate how gifted some of these behemoths are.
05:58And he was the most gifted of all.
06:01I just remember two things.
06:02One.
06:03He throws me into the corner.
06:06He goes, I'll be gentle.
06:07Okay.
06:08He throws me into the corner.
06:10I go about six feet in the air.
06:12I hit the corner.
06:13And the whole point is for him to run towards me and go boom and hit me hard and I fall down, which naturally I would.
06:23Instead, he decided halfway across the ring that he's going to jump up.
06:28Are you kidding me?
06:29And it looked like the white whale from Moby Dick.
06:32He came down and hit me with his shin bone.
06:35Shin right here.
06:37I went face forward and I literally laid on the canvas.
06:42And people go, Sly, you okay?
06:44I said, I don't want to get up.
06:46I know my collarbone is sticking straight up and I don't want to see that.
06:50I realized my career over.
06:52I've never been hit so hard.
06:54And he was mortified.
06:56I said, okay, all's forgiven.
06:59But the point is, Harvey, he literally leaped up.
07:03His shin was here.
07:06So I'll give you an idea of how athletic he was.
07:09And then the second time, I said, you know, at the end of the fight, Rocky jumps on you and I strangle you and I choke you out.
07:19He goes, what is the possibility of that happening in real life?
07:22He goes, zero.
07:24And I go, prove it.
07:26I'm choking him.
07:27He literally took me off like a donut and threw me like, boom.
07:31Again, gently.
07:32But I go, oh, there's no way he can get out of this chokehold.
07:35He went, oh, boom.
07:38So he was a force.
07:40He was a force.
07:41I got to tell you.
07:42I got to tell you.
07:43I got to tell you something.
07:44Finally, this is just so funny to me because I have known you for years and I've always viewed Rocky as this kind of invincible character ultimately.
07:54And every time you and I talk, you tell me how you got beaten up by somebody.
07:59I know.
08:01Luckily, I have editing approval.
08:03I'll tell you.
08:04And the last thing I said, Hulk, when you throw me into the audience, which he does, I want you to jump down into the audience and like fight people off.
08:15And those will be stuntmen there.
08:17So you can, you know, be a little aggressive.
08:21I should have never said that.
08:23So when he throws me out of the ring, he jumps out of the ring and we have stunt guys dressed as cops.
08:29And he starts doing this move.
08:31If you run the film, boom, four of them, four of them were retired for the day.
08:36Literally, I wouldn't say unconscious, but close to it.
08:41I mean, that's so when people say it's fake.
08:45No, it's you can't fake gravity.
08:49And when he's coming down like this and he's whacking you with forearms this big.
08:54It was truthful.
08:55So we at least have that on film of him just going through all these stunt guys like a lawnmower.