»Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 12:11 AM EST

Tim Stein of WrestleTalkRadio sent in the following recap...

With a medley of some of The Gentrys' greatest hits playing in the background ‘WTR Sunday Nights’ welcomed to its environs a member of the WWE Hall Of Fame’s Class Of 2005, The ‘Mouth of The South’ Jimmy Hart. Jason, Jeff, Doc and Tim started off the interview by graciously thanking Jimmy for being a part of ‘WTR Sunday Nights’ and congratulating him on his induction to the WWE HOF. Jimmy was as energetic as ever and the interview just took off from there. You can check out the show, and the site by clicking here.

Jimmy began by recalling the “great fortune” he felt having been associated with some of the greatest Canadian wrestlers, how the circumstances always seemed to find him associated with them and some of the memories he took away from traveling across Canada and getting to meet people like the legendary Stu Hart. The stories of traveling with the likes of The Rougeaus led into some tales of life on the road with The Gentrys and some of the bands they toured with including The Beach Boys. Jimmy spoke at length about how his experiences on tour ended up influencing his persona as a manager and how his flamboyant outfits were inspired by his memories of bands he toured with.

A great segment of the interview focused on how Jimmy compared the wrestling of today to the wrestling of the mid-80s when he was involved with the then-WWF. Not only did he touch on the work ethic but he spoke about the personalities, the creative side of the business, the scope of control McMahon had then as opposed to now and how some of the greatest workers are in the business right now.

Jimmy told a great story about accompanying Hulk Hogan on a tour of Japan where the ‘Hulkster’ warned him that he would see a TOTALLY different Hulk Hogan than what he was used to and how the ‘Hulkster’ character in WWF had somewhat limited Hogan’s ability to showcase his full talent. Talk then turned to his time in WCW with Hogan as well as against him and how Jimmy’s experiences were nothing but positive and his gratitude for being handed the creative reigns to the Saturday night slot by Eric Bischoff and all the great workers that came out of that project.

Doc Maybrick then asked Jimmy about his extensive managerial portfolio and whether there was anyone he wished he could have managed, wished he had managed better or did not enjoy managing at all. Jimmy’s answer took the WTR listeners through another lesson on professional wrestling touching on the vast experience he had managing not only in WWE and WCW but in Memphis Wrestling as well. By the end of his answer the list of who he had not managed in the business was considerably shorter than the list of who he had. Definitely a great listen for any fan of professional wrestling.

Jason then brought up Jimmy’s extensive library of music both written and produced for wrestlers throughout the years. Jimmy spoke about what went into writing the music for the wrestlers as well as accommodating the wrestlers own personal tastes. What was most interesting was the amount of planning that went into the music selection for “faces” and “heels”, how you had to make a bad guy’s music bad and a good guy’s music good, sometimes proving more difficult than it sounds. Jason followed up by asking Jimmy about the recent rumblings from ‘Ring of Honor’ and whether he would be interested in working for the promotion at some point in time.

While on the subject of Indy promotions Jimmy was asked about his working with Scott D’Amore on the tribute show for Sabu, how he had become involved with the project and how he had spoken with Sabu in the airport only days before Sabu was hospitalized. This led into his recollections of those wrestlers he called friends who are no longer alive. His recollections of people like Ray Traylor and Curt Hennig were poignant and heartfelt, truly a special opportunity for WTR listeners to hear such honest feelings. Focusing back on his talents as a music producer Jimmy was asked how he came to be involved with Akklaim’s ‘Legends of Wrestling’ series of video games. At first being approached about lending his name and likeness and then working to developing the music for later releases. He also spoke about some future projects that might possibly be in the works regarding other video game releases.

Jason asked Jimmy about his recent offering to the ballooning library of wrestling related literature and what sets his book apart from all the others. Jimmy spoke about how his book does not really focus on the negative aspects of professional wrestling because he has very little if anything negative to say about it. He supposes that the recent string of negativity by some authors might be due to their own situation but as far as he was concerned he owed everything he had to wrestling and for him the business has been nothing but positive. One area that Jimmy did have issue with was the lost art of managing and how it has become almost extinct. He offered up a solution that may help bring it back in some form but managing as “old school” knows it is pretty much gone.

Jimmy turned his attention to the promotion he is currently associated with, NWA/TNA. He spoke at length about his impressions of the current crop of young talent in TNA citing such guys as AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Chris Harris and James Storm. He also had such high praise for them saying that they could affect the future of professional wrestling. He spoke about the direction TNA is taking and praised the work done by both Dusty Rhodes and Jeff Jarrett.

As the interview drew to a close Jimmy took the opportunity to set straight a couple of situations involving his friend Hulk Hogan. First off he dealt with the recent legal problems between Hogan and his neighbors regarding the Hogan family “farm” and lamented how the most mundane of situations when exposed to the microscopic analysis of the celebrity spotlight can lose all perspective. Secondly, and definitely more importantly, Jimmy set the record straight on what exactly happened with Hogan’s failed run with NWA/TNA, why things fell through and what truly brought Hogan’s plans to work with NWA/TNA to such an abrupt end.

As WrestleTalkRadio approaches its one year anniversary we look back and consider ourselves extremely lucky to have been able to bring to the WTR Community such great guests as WWE Hall Of Fame member “The Mouth of The South’ Jimmy Hart. Bringing quality guests to our listeners is something that Doc, Tim, Jason and JJ take most seriously and doing so on a continuing basis is their commitment. Head over to www.wrestletalkradio.com and check out the archived interview with Jimmy Hart, drop our hosts a line in the forums and tell them how they are doing and do not forget to tune in EVERY Sunday night @ 8:00pm EST for ‘WTR Sunday Nights’