Brutus Beefcake’s co-author Kenny Casanova did an interview with The Wrestling Estate to discuss the new book, other wrestlers he’s working with and the Twitter feud with the Hulkster.
Here are some excerpts:
On the Beefcake-Hogan Twitter war:
Cavanova: “Man, I was on the phone with Hogan’s lawyer for hours. I’m telling you, it was not a work. If it was, then Hogan and Beefcake worked me as the writer and Hogan’s own lawyer. I’ve gotta tell ya, that’s not the case. They sent warnings about making sure the book was clean and free of error, and no added ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ that weren’t correct. Hogan went through the very public Gawker trial which hurt him as far as looking like some sexual deviant as well as dropping racial slurs. When Beefcake said, ‘Brother, I’m going to put this book out soon and it’s a tell all,’ Hogan got perhaps worried. You know, when they first started out, they were like rock stars. They were probably all over the place with girls to some degree. Anyway, they’re a bit estranged right now.
At the same time, I believe that the story Hogan was concerned about the most, had something to do with an argument with Beefcake’s wife and him, and none of that is in the book. That one element, much later in life, isn’t in the book and I think that’s the thing he was most concerned about. But that’s pure speculation on my part. I don’t even know.”
How he ended up ghostwriting for Kamala:
Casanova: “I was going to put out a sci-fi book when I saw an article about Kamala losing both of his legs to diabetes. It hit home for a couple of reasons: I worked with him a lot and he’s a great guy, and my mom passed away from diabetes. I played Kim Chee for him a number of times in the Northeast, so I felt obligated to try and help the guy. I wanted to give something back.
So I gave him a call and started putting his book together. We launched a Kickstarter that brought in like $17,000 in the first week or two. We used the Kickstarter as a platform to get a little awareness back to his character, and then we started putting out T-shirts and 8x10s, too. Steve Austin put us on his podcast, Roddy Piper did the same. Jason King from Bleacher Report helped with an additional GoFundMe page. Kamala was able to pay off his medical costs and get himself out of debt. You know, a lot of these guys don’t have any retirement or medical insurance.”
Working on Vader’s book:
Casanova: “We did Vader’s book. Some of the wrestlers like to have control as far as their voice is concerned. Right now Vader is going through the book and he’s picky, but arguably that’s a good thing, because it will make the book more him. Once he’s happy with the final draft, we’ll probably put it out around WrestleMania time.”
The link to the full interview is:
http://thewrestlingestate.com/index.php/2018/01/11/behind-the-beefcake-hogan-twitter-war/
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