Former WWF Champion and Hall of Famer Bob Backlund recently took part in a new interview with Camel Clutch Blog while promoting his new biography, Backlund: From All-American Boy to Professional Wrestling’s World Champion.
Backlund talks about his book, working with the Iron Sheik and dropping the WWE title, why Hulk Hogan should have been fired years ago, Jimmy Snuka, and much more. You can read a few excerpts below, and listen to the interview in the player below:
Why his title matches aren’t heavily featured on WWE Network:
“They might get over. They were good matches, they were solid matches, and people could get into this. It might catch on. They might be worried about that. I don’t know, again I was the guy who said “no” so that may be the reason too.”
Bob Backlund On Why Hulk Hogan Should’ve Been Fired:
“When you’re champion and you’re telling kids not to do this and not to take this drug and not to take that drug and I don’t hate him, I don’t dislike him, I respect what he did in the ring but I don’t respect that he was telling kids not to do those things and he would go and do them himself. You have to stand up and you have to walk to walk or you’re not the man. You don’t walk the walk, that’s the most important thing about being WWF champion or any champion at all. You can’t be lying to kids and expecting them not to do it and you’re going out and doing the same things you’re asking them not to do. That’s the reason. I like all of the wrestlers, I don’t like the things some of them do.”
Backlund comments on a report of his alleged ‘shoot’ angle at an ECW show:
“Oh just it wasn’t much, oh that was yeah. I had a couple of people sitting in the front row and I was in the back of the dressing room and I asked the referee, “When would be a good time for me to go down and get those guys?” because we were going to leave. He goes, “after this match.” So I went up to the top of the building, it was kind of in a theater where it was built up and I started walking down the aisle to find those two people I was going to pick up and the people started, they got into it, they got into the character of Mr. Backlund, they went wild. I just walked out, they didn’t do anything. What they had, after that match they ended with they were going to do something after that match. They weren’t going to leave, they had a finish that was going to be extended after the match so they were still taping. I was told that was a good time to go out and get them and get out of there. It wasn’t because they didn’t tell me about, “okay it’s going to be a pin but there’s going to be something after-match stuff going on in the ring that they’re going to film.”
