SBNation recently sat down with HHH and Shawn Michaels to discuss a variety of subjects including the possibility of Bill Goldberg being involved in WrestleMania 27 and the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia next year. Somehow TNA star Hulk Hogan got dragged into the conversation as well. Here is an excerpt:
Jason Kirk, SB Nation Atlanta: Now, Goldberg played for the Georgia Bulldogs, played for the Atlanta Falcons, and wrestled for WCW in Atlanta. What would you think about him coming back for Atlanta’s WrestleMania?
Triple H: Bill’s trying to get into the Hall of Fame. If there’s a rumor about him coming back, he probably started it. I’ve not seen any mention of his name.
Shawn Michaels: You want to move on into the future. It’s tough to not go back and get some big-name guys here and there, but I don’t know about any of the older WCW guys. It might be good for a one-shot deal but where do you go from there? As a company, you’re trying to move into the future. It’d be like bringing Michael Jordan back.
MT: Yeah, that didn’t work out too well.
HBK: There’s a time when you just have to make a decision to just move on.
HHH: As far as the Hall of Fame goes, it’s tough. We have a unique business, and we try to do a legitimate Hall of Fame. We try to honor the guys that deserve it. To the guys that go in, it’s something special. I heard Hogan sh*t on it, but I don’t think anything’s special to him except for money. Like, if you called Michael Jordan to put him into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and he said, “All right, but I’m only gonna show up if I get to play for the Bulls next year.” We get that all the time. We call a guy to honor him in the Hall of Fame, and he goes, “I want to do an angle. I want a one-off. I need a hundred grand.” So when you say, “What about Goldberg?”, no offense to Bill, but you’ve got guys like Bruno San Martino that were legends with longevity that should be in there, but they’re holding out because they think they’ve got one more run. Just using Bill as an example, how many years did he wrestle? Not many.
HBK: To me, he’s not even in the ball park. Not because he’s not talented, but greatness doesn’t happen in a few years. Greatness is established over a long period of time. We try to promote people and get them over, but you can’t do it that quickly. In our line of work, there are other qualities that make somebody viable besides just whether they’re tough or not. In every other line of work — like if you’re a lineman who can’t play, everybody knows you can’t play.
I’m not sure why they always feel the need to take a swipe at Hulk Hogan. Is there some fear or jealousy on their part? I’m not defending Hulk, he has made his share of mistakes but why the hostility if he doesn’t matter?
I find it a bit disingenuous for them to say that bringing any WCW guys in would be a step backward and not forward when Michaels recently wrestled for the WWE and HHH will be returning shortly. HHH is a former WCW wrestler and Michaels wrestled in Central States Wrestling and the AWA both pre-dating WCW.
