Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast steam rolls into its 100th episode with WWE Hall of Famer “The Magnificent” Don Muraco. In a very rare and candid interview, Muraco shares his thoughts on some of the current events involving some of his greatest rivals like Jimmy Snuka and Hulk Hogan as well as his thoughts on the current pro wrestling product. However, what would a talk with the original “Rock” of the WWE be without digging deep into the maniacal mind of the “Magnificent One” as we discuss his most memorable matches, his promo style and of course his acting chops as part of the infamous “Fuji Vice” segments on Tuesday Night Titans.
Full Episode Download Link: http://tmptow.podomatic.com/entry/2015-09-23T21_00_00-07_00
Don Muraco Talks The Infamous Fuji Vice Segments On TNT: https://youtu.be/4l6sGteoKfA
The difference in working for Vince McMahon Sr. vs. working for Vince McMahon Jr.
It’s apples and oranges. Two different times. Vince Sr. was an old promoter in the old days. He had his area and his promotion and his territory. Vince Sr. was graceful and a gentleman. Not that Vince Jr. isn’t. But he was an honorable and classy type of guy and then Vince (Jr.) got in the new generation with cable TV and the networks and pay per view and marketing and commercials, cartoons, this and that. Vince Sr. was your traditional promoter in an area that was an outstanding area so it was hard for him to not be an outstanding classy guy. Vince Jr. is the wild man you’ve seen. Pushing and taking a chance. Two different types of guys and just a transition. I was lucky to be a part of the Vince Sr./Eddie Graham/Jim Barnet into the Vince McMahon Jr. high wire act.
Did he think pro wrestling would change after Jimmy Snuka leaped off the Steel Cage in Madison Square Garden:
We were going through a whole change at the time. It wasn’t Hulk Hogan yet but the business was doing so well and had been doing so well. It more evolved and picked up. I was talking to Bruno (Sammartino) one time and he said he got it from Rocca, we got it from Bruno and Backlund and that’s why that East Coast business was always fabulous for us. With the growth of television and the incorporation of TV and cable TV it was all just a natural progression.
Working the North East crowd and were they easy to agitate:
Oh yeah, we loved it. I thought I was pretty hot. I go back and watch some old tapes of myself and see like the first five, eight ,ten minutes of a match and all I do is get the sh*t kicked out of me and the people are popping the whole time. They never seemed to come down or get enough of it. It was an entertaining time to have everything so hot, I look at the matches now and it’s just one comeback after another. Beach-bum was going wild, it was so great.
His promo style and attacking Jimmy Snuka hard in interviews:
Well we broke in about the same time. I was back here wrestling in Hawaii and I had been wrestling in Vancouver and Portland, I hadn’t been in the business more than a year and Frankie Laine was breaking in Jimmy so that’s where we became familiar with one another. So yeah it was easy to communicate. Polynesians, we work for each other and want to see each other both get over.
Was he aware of Snuka’s issues with Nancy Argentino at the time of their feud:
I was right there around it the whole time. It was the week after we shot the thing where he tore all my clothes off and I hit him with the microphone. The same night, it was the oddest coincidence. That same night Eddie Gilbert had run his brand new Lincoln Town-car off the back end of a semi-truck and got drug down the freeway and he called me in the middle of the night and that’s how I ended up crossing over with all of the State Troopers and everything else and that’s how I got involved but I could see my whole future going down the drain there for a while.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
